(>.z.lii 


^v'  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  'fj^ 


Purchased  by  the 
Mrs.   Robert   Lenox   Kennedy  Church   History   Fund. 


Division Q.  /N, .  [Q^.O 

Section ft.LT..  ..(..fc™ 


HISTPORY     ,.#sn™«^ 


OF  THE 


JUN    3   1914 


Churches  of  Qod 

IN   THK    UNITBD    SXATBS   OF 
NORTH    AMBRICA 


BY 

C.  H.  FORNEY,  D.  D.,  LL.D. 


Thou,  too,  O  church!  which  here  we  see. 
No  easy  task  hath  builded  thee. 
Long  did  the  chisels  ring  around! 
Long  did  the  mallet's  blow  rebound! 
Long  worked  the  head  and  toiled  the  hand 
Ere  stood  thy  stones  as  now  they  stand. 

— Breviary. 


PRICE.  $2.65.  POSTPAID 


Published  by  the 
Board  of  Directors  of  the  Publishing  House  and  Book  Rooms  of  the  Churches  of  Go» 

1914 


Authorized  by  the  General  Eldership  of  the  Churches  of  God,  in  session  at  Fort  Scotty 

Kansas,  in  igog 

Read  and  Approved  by  the  Book  Committee  of  the  Board  of  Directors 


Copyrighted  in  the  year  1914,  by  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the 
Publishing  House  and  Book  Rooms  oj  the  Churches  oj  God 


Harrisburg,  Pa.: 

Pt'BLisHiNG  House  of  the  Churches  of  God 

1914 


7<?  //^^  heroic  ministers  of  the  gospel  who,  in  the 
early  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century,  despite  dis- 
paragement, persecution  and  poverty,  tmder  the 
leadership  of  John  Winebrenner,  of  whotji  none 
but  himself  could  be  his  parallel,  set  up  their  ban- 
ner in  the  7iame  of  the  Lord,  in  defense  of  one 
common  faith  once  for  all  delivered  unto  the  saints, 
a7id  for  the  hiilding  of  the  house  of  God,  which  is 
the  church  of  the  living  God,  the  pillar  and  grotmd 
of  the  truth,  the  following  pages  are  appriciatively 
inscribed.  The  Atithor. 


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o 

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o    . 

OS 

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INTRODUCTION. 


How  far  wrong  Napoleon  was  in  his  definition  of  history,  when  he  said  it  is  "but 
a  fiction  agreed  upon,"  the  following  pages,  with  the  bibliography  of  even 
French  history,  will  abundantly  testify.  In  one  particular  Faust  is  more  nearly 
right,  when  to  an  enthusiasic  student  he  said:  "My  friend,  the  times  which 
are  gone  are  a  book  of  seven  seals;  and  what  you  call  the  spirit  of  past 
ages  is  but  the  spirit  of  this  or  that  worthy  gentleman  in  whose  mind  these  ages 
are  refiected."  The  biographies  of  a  dozen  ministers,  thoroughly  written,  would 
be  the  history  of  the  churches  of  God.  Hence,  the  pages  following  necessarily 
give  pre-eminence  to  a  few  men  out  of  the  two  thousand  and  more  which  have 
been  ordained  to  the  Christian  ministry  in  the  churches  of  God.  Yet  this 
characterization  does  not  describe  the  History  of  the  Churches  of  God  as 
now  written.  Nor  yet  do  these  pages  conform  to  the  thought  of  Bishop  Butler, 
who  says,  that  "the  best  booE  which  could  be  written  would  be  a  book  con- 
sisting of  premises,  from  which  the  readers  should  draw  their  own  conclusions 
for  themselves."  And  so  the  reader  of  these  pages  is  apprised  in  advance,  that 
they  contain  few,  if  any,  direct  conclusions  drawn  by  the  Author.  In  an  elaborate 
outline  of  a  proposed  "History  of  the  Church  of  God  in  North  America,"  pub- 
lished in  1872,  the  suggestion  was  made,  that  the  work  should  have  nine  Divi- 
sions, the  writer  concluding,  that  "doubtless  upon  mature  reflection  many  other 
important  and  useful  things  will  suggest  themselves  which  are  not  here  men- 
tioned at  all."  Histories  are  written  on  a  variety  of  methods,  or  plans,  the 
best  of  which  are  an  imitation  of  "God's  plans,  which  like  lilies  pure  and  white 
unfold." 

The  first  recorded  suggestion  of  "History  of  the  Church  of  God"  came  from 
the  pen  of  A.  Snyder,  who  in  a  two-column  article  in  The  Advocate  of  March  6, 
1872,  strongly  urged  the  General  Eldership  in  May,  1872,  to  make  provision 
for  the  writing  and  publishing  of  a  "History  of  the  Church  of  God  in  North 
America."  There  were  no  public  funds  which  said  body  could  use  for  such  a 
purpose,  and  it  was  too  expensive  a  project  for  private  capital  to  undertake, 
and  so  it  fell  through.  But  later,  when  funds  were  available,  on  at  least 
three  occasions  the  General  Eldership  took  definite  action  to  have  such  a  work 
written  and  published.  In  1899,  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  reported  the  fol- 
lowing, written  by  S.  G.  Yahn,  which  was  unanimously  adopted: 

"Whereas,  there  is  among  us  an  unquestioned  need  for  a  brief,  but  com- 
prehensive, work  covering  the  history  and  doctrines  of  the  churches  of  God;   and 

Whereas,  we  believe  that  such  a  work  would  be  of  great  value  to  the 
brotherhood    in    general,   and  especially    to    the  ministers;  therefore. 

Resolved,  That  we  request  Rev.  C  H.  Foraey,  D.  D.,  to  write,  and  the 
Board  of  Publication  to  publish,  such  a  volume,  provided  that  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  advance  subscribers  can  be  secured  before  January  1,  1900,  to  justify  the 
undertaking." 

Nothing  resulted  from  this  action  because  the  suggested  writer  of  the  work 

(vii) 


viii  Introduction 

was  already  burdened  with  other  labors  and  duties.  In  1902  the  Committee  on 
Resolutions  reported,  and  the  General  Eldership  adopted,  a  resolution,  "recom- 
mending and  urging  C.  H.  Forney  to  edit  and  publish  a  concise,  plain  and  prac- 
tical treatise,  setting  forth  the  history,  doctrines  and  polity  of  the  churches  of 
God  as  held  by  this  body  in  the  United  States."  But  for  a  like  reason  this 
action  bore  no  fruit.  In  1909  C.  I.  Bi'oa\ti  submitted  for  action  by  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership  the  following,  which  was  "adopted  by  a  rising  vote." 

"Whereas,  there  is  a  continued  and  deepened  conviction  among  the  members 
of  the  churches  of  God,  that  the  history  of  the  Church,  together  with  the  doctrine 
and  polity  of  the  same,  should  be  carefully  written  and  published  so  as  to 
be  available  for  the  class-room  of  our  educational  institutions,  our  Eldership 
Courses  of  Study,  and  for  introduction  into   the   homes   of  the   Church;  and, 

Whereas,  the  conviction  deepens  from  year  to  year,  that  Rev.  Dr.  C.  H. 
Forney  is  the  one  man  pre-eminently  qualified  to  write  such  a  historical  and 
doctrinal  treatise;   therefore. 

Resolved,  That  the  General  Eldership  hereby  most  earnestly  requests  Rev. 
Dr.  C.  H.  Forney  to  write,  and  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Publishing  House 
and  Book  Rooms  to  publish,  a  work  in  one  or  more  volumes  on  the  History, 
Doctrines   and   Polity  of  the   churches     of    God." 

Having  retired  from  the  editorship  of  The  Advocate  in  1909,  the  suggested 
writer  of  the  work  indicated  would  have  the  time  to  write  the  volume  or  volumes; 
but  it  was  early  realized  that  this  undertaking  would  require  a  vast  amount  of 
exhausting  and  laborious  work,  extending  through  several  years,  at  least,  and 
so  was  undertaken  with  unconcealed  reluctance.  But  in  July,  1909,  work  was 
begun.  It  was  entered  upon  without  a  definite  plan,  excepting  the  guiding 
principle  of  all  true  history,  that  it  be  a  faithful  record  of  facts.  The  thought 
of  forming  a  plan  in  advance,  and  gathering  the  facts  to  suit  the  plan,  did  not 
commend  itself  sufficiently  to  be  accepted.  The  outline  given  by  A.  Snyder,  in 
187  2,  was  suggestive,  to  wit: 

1.  "That  the  material  would  be  gathered  from  living  men  and  women,  wit- 
nesses of  the  facts.  That  this  should  be  done  by  a  paid  Agent,  or  by  commit- 
tees   of   Annual   Elderships." 

2.  "That  the  contents  should  consist,  first,  of  chronological  reports  of  the 
origin  and  progress  of  the  Church,  containing  names  of  all  the  first  preachers, 
with  short  sketches  of  their  lives  and  labors;  first  churches  organized,  location 
and  names,  and  the  names  of  members    and    of    their  officers." 

3.  "Reports  of  the  first  regular  circuit,  where  it  was  formed,  its  limits,  and 
what  it  was  called,  and  who  traveled  it.  When  and  where  the  second,  third  and 
other  circuits  were  formed,  and  what  they  were  called,  and  the  name  or  names 
of  the  preacher  or  preachers  who  first  traveled  on  them." 

4.  "When  and  where  the  first  Eldership  was  held,  the  names  of  all  the 
members  that  constituted  it;  the  order   in   which   it   was  held,  its  name,  etc." 

5.  "When  and  where  the  first  protracted  meetings  and  camp-meetings  were 
held;   when  and  where  the  first,  second,  third,  etc.,  meeting-houses  were  built." 

6.  "When  and  where  the  first  General  Eldership  was  held,  the  names  of  the 
members  that  constituted  it,  its  order  of  business." 


Introduction  ix 

7.  "Report  of  the  extension  of  the  Church  in  the  several  States  of  the 
Union;  the  name  or  names  of  preacher  or  preachers  who  were  first  sent  into 
this  or  that  State,  and  where  and  when  the  first  churches  and  circuits  were 
formed." 

8.  "Of  the  special  awakenings  in  the  different  counties,  towns  and  neigh- 
borhoods; why  they  occurred;  what  preachers  labored  there,  and  also  of  the 
special  opposition  and  persecution  of  the  wicked,  and  all  other  remarkable  oc- 
currences." 

9.  "Of  the  missionary  operation  of  the  Church,  where  the  first  missionaries 
were  employed  by  tlie  Church;  the  name  or  names  of  the  mission  or  missions,  and 
the  names  of  the  preachers  employed  as  missionaries;  also  of  the  formation  of 
missionary  societies,  when  and  where  first  formed,  and  the  second,  third,  etc.,  and 
the  names  of  the  officers." 

10.  "History  of  the  printing  press,  and  when  it  was  started;  the  name  or 
names  of  its  editors;  the  difficulties  it  encountered;  its  success."  He  admitted 
that  this  was  not  an  exhaustive  plan;  but  it  was  suggestive. 

For  sources  of  information  The  Advocate  was  found  the  best  and  most  re- 
liable. Next  to  this,  the  Journals  of  the  Annual  Elderships,  and  of  the  General 
Eldership.  Recourse  was  also  had  to  the  prominent  workers  in  the  mission 
enterprises,  in  missionary  societies  and  in  the  Christian  Endeavor  work.  The 
formative  idea  of  the  work  as  it  is  now  given  to  the  public  was  first  to  get 
all  the  available  historical  facts,  classify  them  and  then  organize  the  work.  In 
large  measure  this  has  resulted  in  a  History  embodying  all  that,  and  much 
more  than,  was  contemplated  by  Snyder.  It  required  an  amount  of  labor  which 
experience  alone  can  appreciate.  Nearly  seventy-seven  volumes  of  The  Advocate 
had  to  be  searched,  page  by  page,  and  a  score  of  books"  of  historic  value,  besides 
hundreds  of  documents  in  pamphlets  and  manuscripts.  Notes  or  data  thus  taken 
filled  nearly  800  pages  of  manuscript,  which  would  cover  nearly  400  pages  of  the 
work  as  printed.  First  to  gather  all  this  material,  and  then  to  rewrite  the 
Notes  under  classified  Divisions,  occupied  the  Author's  time  from  July  1,  1909,  to 
July  19,  1911.  The  work  of  writing  the  History  was  entered  upon  July  17,  1911, 
and  was  finished  September  11,  1913.  The  amount  of  material  gathered  was  so 
enormous  that  it  required  constant  efforts  at  condensation  and  abridgement.  And 
with  all  the  strenuous  endeavor  to  keep  the  work  within  800  pages,  it  was  found 
impossible.  It  was  to  be  a  "history  of  the  churches,"  and,  hence,  they  occupy  more 
than  customary  space.  With  the  countless  details  and  dates  found  in  the  work, 
it  is  conceded  that  there  may  be  many  inaccuracies  and  errors.  Explanations  for 
these  are  easy  to  find.  How  true  the  words  of  ex-President  Roosevelt  are  was 
realized,  and,  too,  how  difficult  the  task  he  lays  down  for  the  historian,  when  he 
says  in  a  historical  address  delivered  at  Boston,  in  1912:  "The  great  historian 
of  the  future  would  be  the  man  who  had  the  genius  to  reconstruct  for  his  readers 
the  immense  panorama  of  the  past.  He  must  possess  knowledge  and  wisdom.  He 
must  use  his  material  with  such  potent  wizardry  that  we  shall  see  the  life  that  was, 
and  not  the  death  that  is.  If  the  facts  permit  him,  he  will  put  before  us  the  men 
and  women  as  they  actually  lived,  so  that  we  shall  recognize  them  for  what  they 
were,  living  beings."  This  has  not  always  been  possible,  for  a  vast  amount  of  the 
material  is  impersonal  and  official. 


X  Introduction 

One  of  the  most  critical  features  of  the  work  was  that  which  relates  to  char- 
acter sketches.  The  material  was  mainly  of  an  incidental  nature.  The  danger  of 
underestimation  or  exaggeration  was  an  ever  present  one.  It  was  not  thought 
necessary  in  order  to  be  true  to  facts  to  give  any  prominence  to  foibles  and  natural 
human  weaknesses.  The  critical  judgment  would  use  these  to  modify  the  coloring 
of  the  pricture,  knowing  that  this  faculty  rarely  works  in  unison  with  the  creative 
faculty  so  as  to  secure  harmony  and  unity.  It  is  a  dangerous  thing  to  label  a  per- 
sonality, and  possibly  the  more  so  where  there  is  personal  knowledge.  The  reader 
may  have  a  different  angle  of  vision,  or  he  may  belong  to  the  class  spoken  of  by 
the  Roman  poet  Horace,  when  he  says:  "The  luster  of  a  lofty  character  and  an 
excelling  genius  is  galling  to  inferior  men;  but  when  the  man  of  genius  dies,  envy 
is  changed  into  love."  The  supreme  aim  in  all  that  is  written  along  this  line 
has  been  to  see  character  vindicated  and  truth  and  justice  come   to  their  own. 

When  the  question  was  tentatively  decided  that  the  insistent  request  of  the 
General  Eldership  should  be  heeded,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Directors,  held 
on  October  7,  1909,  the  question  of  one,  or  of  two  volumes  was  taken  up.  The 
decision  reached  was  that  there  should  be  two.  One  was  to  be  "The  History  of 
the  Churches  of  God;"  the  other,  "Doctrine  and  Polity  of  the  Churches  of  God." 
This  was  also  to  be  historical,  and  not  a  System  of  Theology.  It  was  also  de- 
cided that  the  History  should  be  illustrated,  which  added  to  both  its  size  and  cost. 

The  work  has  been  done  with  special  care.  Not  only  is  this,  true  so  far  as  the 
gathering,  arranging  and  classifying  of  the  materials  are  concerned,  and  the  compo- 
sition, or  preparing,  of  the  manuscript;  but  the  manuscript  before  going  into  the 
hands  of  the  printer  was  critically  read  by  a  very  competent  committee.  Another 
committee  read  the  proof  with  special  care.  The  inaccuracies,  mistakes  and  errors 
which  doubtless  will  be  found,  despite  special  care  to  be  accurate,  are  such  as  no 
vigilance  could  reasonably  have  avoided,  and  which  charity  will  cover.  The  weary 
hours,  running  into  months  and  years,  while  the  execution  of  this  great  task  has 
been  in  progress,  have  also  been  hours  of  unusual  pleasure.  The  historian  walked 
and  communed  with  the  fathers  of  the  Church  over  their  old  fields  of  labor  and  toil 
for  the  Master,  and  through  scenes  which  are  now  unknown.  A  vast  majority  of 
these  he  had  personally  known,  and  so  in  prosecuting  the  work  he  was  associated 
with  those  whose  labors  and  merits  were  an  open  book,  and  for  whom,  whether 
living  or  dead,  he  cherishes  the  sentiments  of  true  Christian  affection  and 
regard.  If  the  readers  of  these  pages  should  become  equally  absorbed  in  their 
contents  they  will  become  better  acquainted  with  the  past  labors  and  triumphs  of 
the  Church;  will  cultivate  a  higher  regard  for  the  noble  and  heroic,  the  altruistic 
and  self-sacrificing  spirit,  and  the  true  greatness  of  the  early  and  later  leaders  in 
the  Church,  and  will  have  their  zeal  for  future  enlargement  greatly  quickened. 
That  these  may  be  results  of  the  publication  of  this  work,  leading  to  the  praise  of 
the  Great  Head  of  the  church,  is  the  cherished  hope  of  him  who  commits  it  to  the 
considerate  judgment  and  the  good  will  of  all  its  readers. 

THE  AUTHOR. 
Harrisburg,  Pa.,  Sept.  11,  1913. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


Page. 

Dedication iii- 

Frontispiece,     v. 

Introduction,     vii.-x. 

Table    of   Contents,    xi.-xii. 

List  of  Illustrations ; xiii.-xiv. 

DIVISION  I. — CxENERAL  HISTORY. 

Chapter  I.— 1797-1820 3-10 

Chapter  11.-1820-1825 11-18 

Chapter  III.— 1825-1830,     18-36 

Chapter  IV. — 1830-1835 36-45 

Chapter  V.— 1835-1840,    46-54 

Chapter  VI.— 1840-1845,     55-67 

Chapter  VII.— 1845-1850 68-78 

Chapter        VIII.—  1850-1855 79-101 

Chapter  IX. — 1855-1860 101-118 

Chapter  X. — 1860-1865,     118-129 

Chapter  XI. — John  Winebrenner,  His  Character  and  Works 130-141 

Chapter  XII. — 1865-1870,    141-158- 

Chapter        XIII. — 1870-1875 158-173 

Chapter        XIV. — 1875-1880,     173-189 

Chapter  XV. — 1880-1885,    189-207 

Chapter        XVI. — 1885-1890 207-219 

Chapter       XVII. — 1890-1895,    219-234 

Chapter     XVIII.— 1895-1900,     234-250 

Chapter        XIX. — 1900-1905 250-264 

Chapter  XX. — 1905-1910,     264-278 

Chapter        XXI. — 1910-1913 278-288 

Chapter  XX. — Life  and  Work  of  C.  H.  Forney, 289-310 

DIVISION   II. — HISTORY   OF  THE   ANNUAL   ELDERSHIPS. 

1.  The  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,    313-37  7 

2.  The  Ohio  Eldership, 377-394 

3.  The  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership, 394-425 

4.  The  Indiana  Eldership,    425-453 

5.  The  Iowa  Eldership 453-486 

6.  The  Michigan  Eldership 486-508 

7.  The  Illinois  Eldership, 509-541 

8.  The  German  Eldership 541-556 

9.  The  West  Ohio  Eldership 556-589 

10.  The   Texas    Eldership, 589-595 

The  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership,    595-608 

11.  The  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership 609-617 

The  Southern   Indiana   Eldership,    618-628 

12.  The  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership, 628-634 

13.  The  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership, 634-652 

14.  The  Nebraska  Eldership, 652-669 

15.  The  Missouri  Eldership, 669-682 

(xi) 


xii  Table  of  Contents 

Page. 

16.  The  Maine  Eldership, 683-688 

17.  The  Kansas  Eldership 689-704 

18.  The  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North,    . 705-718 

19.  The  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership 719-729 

20.  The  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territory  Eldership 729-737 

21.  The  West  Virginia  Eldership,  South 737-745 

22.  The  Arkansas  Eldership  (Colored) , 745-750 

23.  The  Colorado  Eldership, 751 

DIVISION  III. 
History  of  the  General  Eldership, 755-800 

DIVISION  IV. 
History  of  the  Printing  Establishment,    803-813 

DIVISION   V. 
History  of  the  Periodicals  of  the  Church, 817-841 

DIVISION    VI. 
History  of  Institutions  of  Learning 845-87  0 

DIVISION    VII. 
History  of  Mission  Work  and  Missionary  Societies,    873-896 

DIVISION    VIII. 
Hymnology,     899-910 

DIVISION    IX. 

Bibliography,     913-918 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Page. 

Board  of  Directors,    Frontispiece 

Glade  School  House 7 

First  Church  Building  in  Harrisburg, 11 

Salem  German  Reformed  Church,  Harrisburg,  Pa., 13 

Stone  Church,  Opposite  Shiremanstown,  Pa 17 

Mulberry  Street  Bethel 21 

Present  Bethel,  Fourth  Street, 22 

First  Bethel,  Linglestown 24 

Second   Bethel,   Linglestown 25 

Third  Bethel,  Linglestown, 26 

First  Bethel,  Shippensburg,    31 

Second  Bethel,  Shippensburg, 32 

Present  Bethel,  Shippensburg,    33 

First  Bethel  at  Landisburg,  Pa., 38 

Second  Bethel  at  Middletown,  Pa 39 

St.  Lucas  Church  Building,  Uniontown,  Md., 41 

Present  Bethel  at  Uniontown,  Md., 42 

John  Winebrenner, 44 

Thomas  Hickernell, 49 

Jacob   Keller,    50 

John   Hickernell,    51 

Alverton  Bethel, 52 

Lancaster    Bethel,    60 

Second   Bethel,   Landisburg,    62 

Ruins  of  First  Bethel,  Auburn,  Pa 73 

Present  Bethel  at  Auburn,  Pa. 74 

Bethel  at  Camp  Hill,  Pa 75 

Joseph    Ross, 80 

B.  Ober,    82 

E.  Marple, 83 

George  Sandoe 84 

Daniel  Wertz,   85 

A.  Megrew 86 

J.   M.   Klein,    87 

Kimmel's  Bethel,    92 

James    Colder,     96 

G.  U.  Harn, 98 

I.  B.  Boyer, Ill 

John  Winebrenner, .130 

Monument  of  Winebrenner,    133 

A.  Swartz 143 

J.  M.  Domer, 144 

J.  C.  Forncrook, 180 

First  Bethel,  Oklahoma 230 

Lamar  Bethel,  Colorado 285 

George  L.  Chapman, 2  87 

C.  H.  Forney, 291 

Andrew  Miller, 314 

David    Maxwell,    315 

James  Richards, 316 

(xiii) 


xiv  List  of  Illustrations 

Page. 

John  Martin 426 

Jonathan  Hawk, 454 

Alexander  B.  Slyter, 486 

House  in  Which  Illinois  Eldership  was  Organized, 510 

David   Keplinger 629 

S.  Spurrier 636 

C.  B.  Konkel, 690 

Gravel  Street  Bethel 705 

Thomas  Woods, 706 

J.  F.  Schoch, 719 

E.  M.  Kirkpatrick 729 

L.  F.  Murray 738 

George  Ross, ' 807 

Central  Printing  and  Publishing  House 809 

G.  W.  Fox, 811 

H.   W.   Bowman 812 

J    F.  Weishampel 819 

E.  H.  Thomas, 823 

S.  G.  Yahn 828 

J.  H.  Redsecker 831 

George  Sigler, 832 

W.  A.  Laverty,    833 

P.    Loucks,    834 

J.   M.   Carvell,    835 

D.  S.    Shoop,    836 

Lydia  A.  Forney, 83  8 

W.  J.  Schaner,    839 

Findlay  College, 853 

John  R.  H.  Latchaw 854 

William  N.  Yates, 858 

Charles  T.   Fox,    859 

Charles  Manchester, 861 

Charles  I.  Brown 863 

William   Harris  Guyer 865 

Barkeyville  Academy, 867 

Fort  Scott  Collegiate  Institute 868 

O.  A.  Newlin,    869 

Clara  Landes,  Missionary  to  India 883 

Group   Picture   of   Miss   Hershey   and   Rev.    Bowers   and   Wife,   Missionaries  to 

India,     887 

Mrs.  M.  B.  Newcomer, 888 

Mrs.  Clara  M.  Ritchie, 889 

Miss  Mary  Witsaman,  Missionary  to  India, 890 

Miss  Leah  Becker,  Missionary  to  India 891 

A.  E.  Myers,  Missionary  to  India 892 

H.  W.  Cover,  Missionary  to  India 893 

Mrs:  C.  I.  Brown 894 

Mrs.  O.  B.  Huston 895 


DIVISION  I. 


GENERAL    CHURCH    HISTORY. 


DIVISION  I. 


GENERAL    CHURCH    HISTORY. 


CHAPTER    I. 


1797—1820. 


HISTORY  in  general,  in  a  work  on  "The  Study  of  Biology,"  is  defined  by 
Thomas  Hobbes  to  be,  "The  register  of  knowledge  of  fact."  But  as  Church 
History  especially  has  two  sides,  a  divine  and  a  human,  it  must  include  more 
than  a  recital  of  bare  facts.  On  the  part  of  God  it  is  his  revelation  in  the  economy 
of  grace  and  in  the  order  of  time  of  his  plan  of  infinite  wisdom,  justice,  mercy  and 
love,  looking  to  his  glory  and  the  eternal  well-being  of  mankind.  On  the  part  of 
man  it  is  largely  the  biography  of  prominent  actors,  and  of  the  moral  and  spiritual 
development  of  those  who  have  come  under  their  influence,  or  through  their 
agencies  under  the  saving  power  of  the  gospel.  And  in  the  establishment  of  a 
religious  body  of  people  its  history  is  largely  the  history  of  one  man.  Hence,  the 
story  of  its  founding,  like  that  of  the  great  Reformation,  is  best  told  by  a  biography 
of  the  man  under  God  whose  work  assumed  the  largest  proportions.  Every  move- 
ment, political  and  religious,  also  has  its  indirect,  previous  and  often  hidden  causes, 
which  may  extend  into  a  more  or  less  remote  past.  It  is  not  against  a  divine 
providence,  nor  yet  against  an  intelligent  human  purpose,  that  this  fact  is  recog- 
nized. The  environment,  physical,  moral,  political  and  economic,  has  a  determin- 
ing force  in  the  history  of  even  our  highest  activities.  This  important  feature  of 
written  history  requires  some  investigation  into  these  mediate  causes  and  their 
portrayal  in  a  clear  light.  That  the  picture  itself  may  be  clearly  and  correctly 
painted  it  is  a  prerequisite  that  there  be  first  a  true  historical  background.  More 
than  a  century  has  passed  since  the  man  was  born  who,  in  the  divine  providence, 
laid,  humanly  speaking,  the  ecclesiastical  foundations  of  the  churches  of  God. 
It  is,  therefore,  the  more  necessary,  in  order  that  the  history  of  the  churches  of 
God  may  be  as  nearly  complete  as  practicable  that  the  reader  have  a  correct 
perspective;  that  the  antecedent  facts  be  given  their  relative  importance.  True 
history  requires  that,  so  far  as  may  be,  the  view  be  taken  from  the  standpoint  of 
an  actual  observer.  Neglect  of  this  important  principle  gives  a  distorted  view  of 
the  distant  past.  Or,  on  the  contrary,  as  Hazlett  so  justly  remarks:  "Seen  in  the 
distance,  in  the  long  perspective  of  waning  years,  the  meanest  incidents,  enlarged 
and  enriched  by  countless  recollections,  become  interesting." 

The  proper  measurement  of  the  present  is  by  the  past.  And  only  as  we  know 
the  past  in  its  entirety  can  we  correctly  estimate  it.  We  live  in  a  new  world. 
Marvelous  changes  in  every  department  of  human  life  have  taken  place.  Not  only 
in  State  and  Nation  is  this  true,  but  in  all  ecclesiastical  affairs.  A  century  ago  the 
wildest  romancer  could  not  have  pictured  the  present  age.  Nor  can  the  living 
generation,  in  the  absence  of  historical  data,  conceive  conditions  at  the  close  of 
the  eighteenth  century. 

"With  smoking  axle,  hot  with  speed,  with  steeds  of  fire  and  steam, 
Wide-waked  to-day  leaves  yesterday  behind  him  like  a  dream; 
Still  from  the  hurrying  train  of  life,  fly  backward  far  and  fast 
The  milestones  of  the  fathers,  the  land-marks  of  the  past." 

The  growth  and  development  of  our  common  country  have  had  no  parallel  in 
the  world's  history.  The  meager  millions  of  '7  6  have  become  almost  one  hundred 
millions  to-day.  The  first  census  of  the  population  of  the  United  States  was  taken 
in  1790.  The  total  population  as  then  computed  was  3,929,214.  In  1900  it  was 
75,303,387.  Three  years  after  the  birth  of  Winebrenner  it  was  .5,308,483.  This 
population  was  scattered  principally  along  the  Atlantic  sea-coast,  extending  a  few 


4  '  History  op  the   Churches  of  God 

hundred  miles  inland.  Of  the  sixty-seven  counties  in  Pennsylvania  only  twenty- 
five  were  organized  prior  to  1800.  The  population  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania 
in  1790  was  less  than  one-third  of  the  present  population  of  Philadelphia.  This 
relative  proportion  is  everywhere  evident.  The  total  Continental  troops  in  the 
entire  period  of  the  Revolution  was  but  130,917.  Great  things  then  would  seem 
insignificant  now. 

There  are  many  land-marks  of  historical  and  biographical  importance  which 
the  thoughtful  reader  will  recall  with  profit  in  this  connection,  so  as  to  secure  a 
proper  setting  for  the  story  of  the  founding  of  the  churches  of  God  in  the  United 
States.  They  will  transport  the  reader  into  the  environment  of  the  last  decade  of 
the  eighteenth  century.  Thus,  the  birth  of  the  great  American  Republic  occurred 
twenty-one  years  before  the  birth  of  Winebrenner.  Seven  years  before  the  latter 
event  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  adopted  by  the  last  one  of  the 
original  thirteen  States,  while  a  year  earlier  Washington  was  inaugurated  the  first 
President  of  the  new  Republic.  The  corner-stone  of  the  Capitol  at  Washington 
was  laid  but  four  years  prior  to  the  birth  of  Winebrenner,  and  it  was  not  until 
three  years  after  his  birth  that  the  archives  of  the  Government  were  removed  from 
Philadelphia  to  Washington,  preparatory  to  the  convening  the  ensuing  November 
of  the  first  Congress  in  the  new  metropolis.  Two  years  after  the  birth  of  Wine- 
brenner Columbia's  most  honored,  venerated  and  renowned  son,  George  Wash- 
ington, ended  his  illustrious  career.  His  Farewell  Address  was  published  in  Sep- 
tember, 1796.  In  his  case,  as  in  many  in  less  exalted  station,  the  ordinance  of 
divine  wisdom  was  verified,  that  the  great  boon  of  earthly  immortality  shall  be 
attained  only  through  the  portals  of  the  grave,  to  which  decree  the  illustrious  and 
the  humble  are  alike  subject. 

While  every  youth  in  America  remembers  that  John  Adams,  the  second  Presi- 
dent, was  inaugurated  in  179  7,  and  Thomas  Jeffei-son,  Vice  President,  it  is  not  so 
generally  remembered  that  among  the  distinguished  men  born  in  that  year  are 
Dr.  Charles  Hodge,  a  powerful  ecclesiastical  leader  and  a  fine  example  of  the  mod- 
ern expositor  of  the  dogmas  of  Calvinism;  John  Hughes,  Catholic  Archbishop  of 
America;  Samuel  Joseph  May,  American  clergyman  and  abolitionist;  Franz  Schu- 
bert, "the  immortal  melodist";  Thurlow  Weed,  one  of  the  oldest  American  journal- 
ists, and  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  born  but  twelve  years  later.  John  AVesley, 
founder  of  Methodism,  died  six  years  before  the  birth  of  Winebi-enner,  and  Charles, 
his  brother,  the  celebrated  Hymn-writer,  nine  years  earlier. 

At  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  economic  conditions  of  the  country, 
with  its  largely  preponderating  rural  population,  were  of  the  most  primitive  and 
antiquated  character.  Slavery  was  not  yet  abolished  in  Pennsylvania,  as  in  17  80 
there  were  11,000  slaves  in  the  Colony,  which  probably  marked  the  highest  figures 
in  its  history.  Maryland  in  1800  had  105,635  slaves.  There  were  no  public  service 
utilities;  no  transportation  lines  except  the  stage  coach  and  the  Conestoga  wagon. 
In  1790  there  were  only  twenty-five  post-offices  in  the  whole  country,  and  up  to 
1837  the  rates  of  postage  were  twenty-five  cents  for  a  letter  sent  over  four  hundred 
miles.  There  were  no  canals,  no  railroads,  no  telgraph  or  telephone  lines,  no  gas 
or  electric  lights.  The  most  sententious  contrasts  can  be  drawn  between  1801  and 
1901  in  economic,  civic,  political,  scientific  and  religious  conditions.  In  area  alone 
the  figures  for  1801  are  827,844  square  miles,  and  for  1901,  3,631,000  square 
miles.  Then  they  had  the  quill  pen,  now  we  have  the  fountain  pen  and  the  type- 
writer. Then  the  springless  stage  coach,  now  the  locomotive,  the  dining-car,  the 
bicycle  and  the  automobile.  Then  the  tallow-dip,  the  fiint  and  steel  to  strike  fire; 
now  the  sulphur  match,  the  Roentgen  rays  and  the  electric  light.  Then  the  needle; 
now  the  sewing-machine  and  the  knitting-machine.  Then  the  sickle,  the  scythe 
and  the  fiail,  the  farmer's  harvesting  tools;  now  the  reaper  that  cuts  and  binds  and 
the  header  and  steam  thresher.  Then  hand  type-setting  and  the  slow  printing 
press;  now  the  almost  human  linotype  machine,  and  the  octuple  steam  press,  turn- 
ing out  one  thousand  papers  a  minute,  pasted,  folded  and  counted.  Such  wonderful 
achievements  as  these  and  scores  of  others  make  the  grandest  epochs  in  the  history 
of  the  world.     They  are  also  the  exponent  of  the  mental  development  of  the  race. 

In  newspaper  enterprise  the  same  remarkable  progress  has  been  made.  Its 
beginning  dates  back  to  1690,  when  "Publick  Occurrences"  appeared  in  Boston. 
Progress  was  slow  the  greater  part  of  the  century  which  followed.  By  the  com- 
mencement of  the  struggle  for  independence  the  Colonial  press  numbered  but  thirty 
publications,  all  weekly.  But  with  the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century  the 
periodical  press  grew  rapidly  in  number,  circulation  and  influence.      And  at  the 


General   History  5 

close  of  the  century  the  number  of  the  newspapers  and  periodicals  of  the  United 
States  easily  leads  the  world.  The  annual  expenditure  of  a  single  metropolitan 
daily  operated  on  a  large  scale  is  computed  at  not  less  than  $3,000,000.  The  re- 
ligious press  has  had  an  equally  rapid  development.  The  first  distinctively  relig- 
ious newspaper  the  world  had  ever  seen  appeared  at  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  in  Septem- 
ber, 1808.  To-day  the  number  of  religious  publications  of  a  periodical  character 
exceeds  the  wildest  anticipations  of  a  century  ago. 

The  churches  of  God  in  modern  times  having  had  their  origin  in  Eastern  Penn- 
sylvania and  the  border  counties  of  Maryland,  it  is  quite  important  that  something 
should  be  said  of  the  early  immigrants  to  these  sections,  their  culture,  language, 
customs  and  religious  peculiarities.  In  the  study  of  the  history  of  any  people,  as 
Pierson  says  of  all  great  forward  movements,  "it  is  always  important  to  begin  at 
the  beginning."  For  "history  is  a  constant  ethical  lesson  to  the  studious  and 
candid  observer."  The  first  general  settlement  of  Pennsylvania  by  Penn  with  a 
colony  of  English  Quakers  was  in  1682.  This  was  followed  by  the  first  cargo  of 
German  immigrants  in  October,  16  83.  A  few  years  later  this  immigration  assumed 
large  proportions,  aggregating  over  thirty  thousand  names  of  Germans,  Swedes 
and  Hollanders  by  the  close  of  the  year  177  6.  They  were  all  of  the  poorer  class 
of  people,  and  lived  at  first  in  small  log  cabins  in  the  primeval  forests.  In  many 
sections  extending  as  far  westward  as  the  Cumberland  Valley,  in  Pennsylvania;  the 
northern  counties  of  Maryland,  and  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  in  Virginia,  they  formed 
fully  nine-tenths  of  the  population,  while  throughout  the  Province  they  constituted 
more  than  one-half  of  the  population.  The  Netherlands,  the  Palatinate,  Scotland, 
Ireland,  Bavaria  and  other  countries  contributed  their  proportion  to  the  mixed 
population  of  Pennsylvania  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

Religiously  these  people  who  fled  from  the  terrible  persecutions  of  the  Old 
World  represented  quite  a  variety  of  religious  organizations.  English  and  French 
Infidelity  was  also  represented,  especially  during  and  following  the  War  of  Inde- 
pendence. The  principal  denominations  thus  early  established  in  Pennsylvania 
and  the  border  counties  of  Maryland  were  the  Dunkards,  the  Mennonites,  the 
Moravians,  the  German  Reformed,  the  Lutherans,  the  Presbyterians,  the  Quakers 
and  the  Methodists.  There  were  also  organizations  of  some  less  widely  known 
bodies,  such  as  the  River  Brethren,  Schwenkfelders,  Swedenborgians  and  Shakers. 
The  United  Brethren  Church  originated  in  Lancaster  county.  Pa.,  with  the  revival 
preaching  of  Philip  Otterbein,  of  the  German  Reformed  Church,  and  Martin  Boehm, 
a  Mennonite  minister,  about  1789.  Simultaneously  the  "outward  organization"  of 
the  Evangelical  Association,  then  more  generally  known  as  the  German  Methodist 
Church,  was  effected.  In  the  formation  of  both  these  religious  bodies  the  pressure 
of  external  circumstances,  the  passion  in  a  few  devout  souls  for  a  deeper  spiritual 
experience  and  the  burning  desire  and  zeal  for  the  salvation  of  their  fellow  men, 
under  the  divine  providence,  were  the  predominant  factors. 

The  religious  life  of  the  church  has  been  a  succession  of  ebbs  and  fiows,  of 
high  tides  and  low  tides.  It  is  human  to  degenerate.  And  so  after  the  high  tides 
of  spiritual  revivals  in  the  past  two  centuries  there  followed  a  season  of  depression 
and  dearth.  Ritualism,  sacramentalism,  secularism,  rationalism  and  infidelity 
proved  fatal  to  genuine  piety  and  spirituality.  The  Mennonites,  Dunkards  and 
those  of  other  faiths  fied  from  the  intolerance  and  oppressions  of  the  Old  World 
to  enjoy  liberty  of  conscience,  and  a  free  worship  in  the  New  World,  but  to  become 
enslaved  in  forms  and  ceremonies.  When  they  reached  the  New  World  their  piety 
was  unaffected,  their  morality  of  a  high  order,  and  the  spirituality  of  their  religion 
genuine  and  sincere.  But  before  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  there  was 
a  general  eclipse  of  vital  godliness.  In  most  sections  of  the  country  religious 
experience  had  ceased  to  be  a  test  of  church  membership  and  disappeared  from 
the  pulpits  as  a  theme  of  discourse,  and  even  the  ministry  was  filled  with  unregen- 
erate'men.  Laxity  of  belief  and  morals  prevailed,  and  candidates  for  the  ministry 
often  refused  to  answer  inquiries  in  regard  to  both  faith  and  experience.  Then 
came  "The  Great  Awakening"  under  Edwards  and  Whitefield.  It  did  not,  however, 
deeply  effect  the  spiritual  life  of  Churches  in  the  Middle  States,  and  was  soon 
followed  by  the  inevitable  reaction.  General  moral  degeneration,  skepticism  and 
infidelity  prevailed  to  an  alarming  extent.  This  condition  was  somewhat  relieved 
by  the  introduction  of  Methodism,  which  dates  its  organic  existence  back  to  1766. 
A  more  general  revival  followed  all  over  the  country,  which  has  been  characterized 
as  a  counter  reaction  against  the  skepticism  and  immorality  which  had  distinguished 
that  period  of  the  century.     These  earlier  Methodists  were  originally  from  the 


6  History    of    the    Churches    op   God 

German  Palatinate,  and  were  to  some  extent  scattered  among  the  German  settle- 
ments in  eastern  Pennsylvania.  Their  first  house  of  worship  was  erected  on  Fourth 
street  below  Vine,  Philadelphia,  in  1769.  They  were  self-sacrificing,  zealous  and 
persevering  in  their  efforts  to  disseminate  experimental  religion  in  the  Colonies. 
Their  converts  multiplied  with  unprecedented  rapidity.  The  first  Conference  was 
held  in  1773,  in  Philadelphia,  with  ten  preachers  and  eleven  hundred  and  sixty 
members.  But  when  the  General  Conference  convened  in  New  York  City  in  1812 
there  were  reported  six  hundred  and  eighty-eight  preachers  and  one  hundred  and 
ninety-five  thousand,  three  hundred  and  fifty-seven  members.  But  the  Methodist 
ministers  followed  in  the  main  the  English  population. ,  They  discouraged  German 
preaching,  believing  that  tht;  German  language  would  die  out  at  an  early  day. 

The  Revolutionary  War  had  a  disastrous  effect  upon  the  Churches.  Moral 
deterioration  is  a  concomitant  and  a  consequence  of  war.  The  twenty  years  fol- 
lowing the  Revolution  was  a  time  of  the  lowest  general  morality  up  to  that  date 
In  American  history.  In  the  churches  there  was  general  lukewarmness  and  griev- 
ous apostasies.  There  was  a  lamentable  decay  of  vital  piety,  and  gross  immorali- 
ties increased  to  a  signal  degree.  French  infidelity  came  into  the  country  during 
the  continuance  of  the  war.  It  spread  with  unusual  rapidity,  and  swept  over  the 
country  like  a  devouring  fire.  Colleges  and  universities  were  filled  with  youthful 
skeptics.  At  Yale,  in  1795,  there  were  but  four  or  five  who  were  willing  to  admit 
that  they  were  members  of  churches.  Similar  conditions  existed  at  Harvard, 
Princeton,  the  University  of  Virginia  and  others  of  the  then  large  institutions  of 
learning.  They  were  as  thoroughly  hotbeds  of  skepticism  as  they  were  nurseries 
of  higher  learning. 

The  dawn  proverbially  follows  the  darkest  hour  of  the  night.  It  was  hastened 
by  the  labors  of  such  men  as  Otterbein,  Boehni,  Albright,  Dwight,  Asbury,  Griffen 
and  a  host  of  local  co-laborers.  British  Christianity  had  been  powerfully  quick- 
ened, and  new  beneficent  agencies  were  starting  into  being.  There  were  indica- 
tions of  an  immense  advance  all  along  the  lines  of  Christ's  militant  host.  The 
churches  of  the  new  world  happily  were  destined  to  share  in  this  onward  and 
upward  movement.  The  Great  Awakening  under  Edwards  had  been  arrested  in 
Pennsylvania  by  the  German  language.  The  German  churches  were  now  them- 
selves to  be  the  agents  in  this  new  awakening.  And  so  the  pen  of  history  has 
recorded  on  its  annals  the  equally  great,  but  more  widespread,  revival  of  the  closing 
years  of  the  eighteenth  and  the  opening  years  of  the  nineteenth  centuries.  The 
influence  of  this  revival  extended  into  almost  all  portions  of  the  country,  quicken- 
ing and  multiplying  churches,  turning  back  the  dark  and  desolating  floods  of  infi- 
delity and  immorality,  and  giving  birth  to  numerous  powerful  religious  and  re- 
formatory agencies.  Perhaps  the  Churches  least  affected  by  this  great  revival 
were  the  Dunkard,  the  Mennonite,  the  German  Reformed  and  the  Lutheran,  whose 
members  and  adherents  constituted  the  largest  part  of  the  population  of  eastern 
Pennsylvania  and  the  northern  counties  of  Maryland.  In  these  Churches  the  spirit 
which  prevailed  to  so  unhappy  an  extent  was  arrayed  against  men  who  preached 
experimental  religion,  and  procured  the  expulsion  of  most  of  them  from  the  com- 
munions in  which  they  stood. 

It  was  at  the  inception  of  the  great  revival  of  1800-1803  that  John  Wine- 
brenner  was  born.  Two  different  dates  have  been  published,  one  in  Histories  of 
Dauphin  county.  Pa.,  respectively  by  Dr,  AVilliam  Egle,  and  by  Luther  Reily 
Kelker.  The  other  is  given  in  the  "Biography  of  Elder  John  AVinebrenner,"  by 
Dr.  George  Ross.  The  former  give  the  date  of  March  24,  1797;  the  latter  gives  it 
as  Saturday,  March  25,  1797.  The  publications  of  the  churches  of  God,  however, 
uniformly  quote  the  date  given  by  Dr.  Ross.  The  correctness  of  this  date  is 
■verified  by  Winebrenner  himself  in  the  article  which  he  furnished  over  his  signa- 
ture for  "The  Testimony  of  a  Hundred  Witnesses."  He  says:  "I  was  born  in 
Frederick  county,  Maryland,  on  the  25th  day  of  March,  1797."  He  was  the  third, 
son  of  Philip  and  Eve  C  AVinebrenner,  whose  maiden  name  was  Barrick.  The 
place  of  his  nativity  is  Glade  Valley,  Woodsborough  District,  Frederick  Co.,  Md., 
near  the  present  town  of  Walkersville.  This  section  of  the  county  is  known  as 
the  Glades,  the  most  fertile. and  wealthy  part  of  the  county,  having  within  its 
limits  five  farms,  with  beautiful  and  picturesque  scenery,  affording  the  delightful 
variety  of  mountain  and  valley  and  woodland.  His  parents  were  of  German 
descent,  but  German  was  not  spoken  by  them  in  their  family.  His  father  was 
born  near  Hanover,  York  Co.,  Pa.,  Dec.  4,  17  59,  and  when  a  young  man  moved 
on  the  farm  in   Maryland,  where  he  died  Dec.    11,   1841.      His  mother  was  born 


General   History  .       7 

June  1,  1757,  and  died  Sep.  14,  1831.  His  father  had  a  limited  education,  but 
possessed  a  strong  mind,  a  remarkably  retentive  memory  and  unusual  decision  of 
character.  His  mother  was  a  woman  of  gentle  and  pious  disposition,  with  a  good 
mind  and  scripturally  adorned  character.  The  father  pursued  the  occupation  of 
a  farmer  with  a  good  measure  of  success.  The  farm  which  he  owned,  and  on 
which  his  eminent  son  was  born  and  raised,  is  a  valuable  homestead  of  about  two 
hundred  acres,  with  a  spacious  stone  mansion,  built  in  1810",  to  take  the  place  of 
the  old  log  house  in  which  John  was  born.  Both  his  parents  were  members  of  the 
German  Reformed  Church.  Their  bodies  rest  in  the  Glades  Reformed  church 
grave-yard,  a  country  church  about  one  mile  from  the  old  homestead.  Young 
Winebreimer  received  his  rudimentary  education  in  the  Glades  school,  a  log  school- 
house,  standing  by  the  roadside  within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  church,  and  about  a 
mile  from  his  home.      It  still  stands,  and  is  occupied  as  a  dwelling  house. 


Glades    School-House. 

Thence  he  went  to  an  academic  institution  in  Frederick  City,  eight  miles 
south-east  of  his  home.  Later  he  went  to  Dickinson  College,  Carlisle,  Pa.,  at  that 
time  and  until  1833  under  the  control  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Here  he 
pursued  his  classical  course,  being  a  non-graduate  of  the  class  of  1818.  From 
Dickinson  College  he  went  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  studied  Theology  for  about 
three  years  under  the  instructions  of  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Helfeiistein. 

Winebi-enner's  religious  training  began  in  infancy.  He  was  baptized  accord- 
ing to  the  ritual  of  the  German  Reformed  Church  when  two  months  old,  May  28, 
1797,  by  Rev.  John  William  Riinkel,  pastor  of  the  Glades  Reformed  church  from 
1784  to  1801.  At  this  church  he  attended  services  while  at  home,  Rev.  Daniel 
Wagner  becoming  his  pastor  in  1801.  In  Philadelphia  he  attended  the  ministry 
of  Dr.  Jonathan  Helfenstein,  pastor  of  the  First  Reformed  church,  Race  street, 
between  Third  and  Fourth.  These  ministers  are  characterized  in  "The  Fathers 
of  the  Reformed  Church"  as  "eminently  good,  active  in  the  ministry,  and  aiming 
as  much  as  possible  at  immediate  effects." 

But  Winebrenner  contemplated  the  ministry  and  was  pursuing  his  studies 
with  that  end  in  view,  when  he  was  as  yet  destitute  of  the  saving  knowledge  of 
God.  It  was  in  Philadelphia,  in  his  twenty-first  year,  when  his  theological  studies 
had  been  already  commenced,  that  he  became  scripturally  converted.  The  graphic 
narrative  of  his  conversion  is  thus  recorded  with  his  own  pen,  dated  at  Harrisburg, 
Pa.,  July  22,  1858:      "As  my  mother  trained  me  from  my  youth  up  in  the  fear  and 


8  History   op   the    Churches    oe    God 

admonition  of  the  Lord,  and  instructed  me  in  the  great  principles  and  duties  of 
religion,  I  was  graciously  brought  to  feel  my  obligations  to  God  at  an  early  age, 
and  my  mind  was  deeply  exercised  on  the  subject  of  my  soul's  salvation.  These 
convictions,  however,  would  sometimes  wear  off,  and  then  be  renewed  again. 
Hence  I  continued  sinning  and  repenting  for  a  number  of  years,  till  in  the  Winter 
of  1817  [But  in  a  Note  in  The  Gospel  Publisher  of  Feb.  18,  1842,  he  says:  "I 
was  converted,  or  born  again,  in  the  Spring  of  1817"],  when  deep  and  pungent 
convictions  laid  hold  of  my  guilty  soul.  Then,  lilie  Job,  'I  abhorred  myself;  lilie 
Ephraim,  'I  bemoaned  myself;  with  the  prodigal,  I  said,  'I  will  arise  and  go  to  my 
Father,'  and  with  the  publican,  I  cried,  'God  be  merciful  to  me,  a  sinner.'  And 
after  'chattering  like  a  swallow,'  and  'mourning  as  a  dove'  for  three  or  four  months 
my  poor  woe-fraught  soul  found  redemption  in  Immanuel's  blood,  even  the  for- 
giveness of  sins.  It  was  on  Easter  Sabbath,  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  in  the 
presence  of  a  large  congregation  of  worshipers,  that  Jesus,  the  'Sun  of  Righteous- 
ness' arose  and  shone  upon  my  soul  'with  healing  in  his  wings.'  Truly  that  was 
the  happiest  day  of  my  life!  My  darkness  was  turned  into  day,  and  my  sorrow 
into  joy.  Jesus  became  the  joy  of  my  heart  and  the  center  of  my  affections.  His 
people  became  lovely  and  precious  in  my  sight.  His  word  was  my  delight.  In  it 
I  beheld  new  beauties  and  beatitudes.  Sin,  that  dreadful  monster,  became  more 
odious  and  hateful  to  my  soul.  Zion's  welfare  lay  near  my  heart.  My  bowels 
yearned  for  the  salvation  of  sinners.  I  was  in  travail  for  my  friends  and  kindred. 
I  felt  constrained  to  join  with  'the  Spirit  and  the  bride'  and  say  to  all,  'Come,  O, 
come  to  Jesus.'  "  Winebrenner's  conversion  is  in  many  respects  almost  parallel 
to  that  of  Albright,  the  founder  of  the  Evangelical  Association.  He  was  instructed 
in  the  catechism  and  confirmed  by  a  Lutheran  minister,  baptized  and  entered  as  a 
member  of  that  Church,  but  knew  nothing  of  true  conversion.  He  had  similar 
experiences  before  conversion,  and  finally  his  conviction  became  clear  and  deep, 
and  he  emerged  into  the  light  with  unspeakable  joy.  And  still  a  more  complete 
parallel  is  the  religious  experience  of  Otterbein,  founder  of  the  United  Brethren 
Church.  He  was  brought  up  in  the  German  Reformed  Church  and  became  a  min- 
ister and  pastor  in  it  before  his  conversion.  During  his  pastorate  in  Lancaster, 
Pa.,  the  great  crisis  in  his  religious  experience  "brought  about  a  most  marked 
change  in  his  spiritual  consciousness." 

AVinebrenner's  inclination  toward  the  ministry  of  the  German  Reformed 
Church  developed  early  in  life,  so  that  when  a  lad  he  often  essayed  to  preach  to  his 
school  comrades,  and  at  other  times  he  would  "preach  in  a  wood  near  his  home," 
or  under  a  "majestically  beautiful  oak  along  his  road  to  school."  He  was  reverent 
in  his  demeanor  at  church,  and  an  ardent  lover  of  the  truth  as  he  understood  it. 
Plato's  striking  definition  of  man  as  "the  hunter  of  truth"  applies  to  Winebi-enner 
from  boyhood  to  old  age.  He  exemplified  it  in  making  devotion  to  truth  his  chief 
end,  and  found  in  searching  for  it  his  highest  pleasure.  He  was  always  ready  to 
make  sacrifices  in  the  interest  of  truth.  After  his  conversion  "the  work  of  the 
ministry  became,"  as  he  says,  "the  uppermost  desire  of  my  heart.  This  desire 
became  like  a  pent-up  fire  in  my  bones  from  youth  up.  In  later  years  my  mind 
became  strongly  impressed  with  the  duty  of  preparing  myself  for  the  gospel  min- 
istry." He  opened  his  mind  to  his  parents,  and  requested  them  to  have  him  edu- 
cated for  the  sacred  calling.  His  mother  readily  consented,  but  his  father  opposed 
it,  and  sought  in  every  way  to  divert  his  mind  to  mercantile  pursuits,  to  medicine, 
or  to  the  law.  This  only  seemed  to  intensify  his  desire  to  become  a  minister  of  the 
word.  When  his  father  finally  yielded  he  entered  upon  the  necessary  course  of 
preparation,  which  he  completed  in  1820.  The  Reformed  Church  in  Harrisburg, 
Pa.,  having  been  without  a  pastor  for  several  months,  on  the  recommendation  of 
Rev.  Jonathan  Helfenstein,  of  Frederick  City,  Md.,  invited  Winebrenner  to  preach 
a  Sabbath  for  them.  He  accepted  the  invitation,  and  delivered  his  first  religious 
discourses  Sunday,  Feb.  28,  1819,  and  revisited  them  Sunday,  May  21st,  and  Nov. 
2  8th.  Very  favorable  impressions  were  made  by  these  sermons,  so  that  at  a  meet- 
ing called  by  the  Vestry  of  the  church,  held  Dec.  16,  1819,  the  young  theological 
student  in  Philadelphia  was  elected  pastor  of  the  Harrisburg  charge.  He  received 
forty-three  out  of  forty-eight  votes  cast,  his  competitor,  Rev.  Lewis  Mayer,  D.  D., 
receiving  five.  But  the  call  was  made  unanimous.  In  a  letter  dated  Dec.  27, 
1819,  the  unanimous  call  was  communicated  to  him  to  become  the  pastor  of  the 
four  churches  constituting  the  charge,  viz.:  Harrisburg,  Shoop's,  Wenrick's  in 
Dauphin  county,  and  Salem's,  near  Shiremanstown,  in  Cumberland  county.  His 
salary  was  fixed  at  $1,000.00  per  annum.      This  call  was  accepted  in  a  letter  dated 


General    History  9 

Jan.  28,  1820,  with  the  statement  that  he  could  not  take  charge  of  the  congrega- 
tions until  he  had  completed  his  theological  course  and  been  ordained  by  the  Synod 
within  whose  bounds  these  churches  were  located.  This  being  agreeable  to  the 
churches,  he  proceeded  to  Hagerstown,  Md.,  where  the  General  Synod  of  the  Ger- 
man Reformed  Church  convened,  in  Zion's  church,  where  he  was  ordained  to  the 
office  of  the  sacred  ministry  on  Sep.  24,  1820.  He  then,  on  Oct.  4th,  sent  his- 
formal  letter  of  acceptance  of  the  above-named  charge.  He  preached  his  intro- 
ductory sermon  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  on  Sunday,  Oct.  22,  1820. 

During  these  years  of  preparation  for  Winebrenner's  life-work  important 
events  were  transpiring  whose  influence  his  receptive  mind  could  not  escape.  In 
the  religious  world  there  was  a  series  of  new  movements  of  momentous  import. 
These  included  the  distinct  and  separate  organization  of  some  religious  bodies 
destined  to  exert  a  far-reaching,  powerful  influence  on  American  ecclesiastical  life. 
Otterbein  and  his  followers  had  previously  organized  the  first  Conference  of  the 
United  Brethren  Church.  But  it  was  in  1800  that  titles  of  the  new  organization 
were  dropped,  and  the  present  distinctive  name  assumed.  The  relation  of  this 
new  organization  and  its  possible  effect  upon  the  German  Reformed  Church  may 
be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  the  analysis  given  of  the  original  Roll  of  Conference 
members  shows  that  of  the  seven  men  present  five  were  of  Reformed  antecedents 
and  two  of  Mennonite;  of  those  enrolled  but  absent  four  were  Reformed,  two  Men- 
nonite  and  one  Moravian.  Otterbein  indeed  never  formally  severed  his  relation  with- 
the  Reformed  Church,  and  he  persistently  cherished  the  hope  of  seeing  the  revival 
movement  inaugurated  under  his  preaching  spread  more  extensively  among  the 
Reformed  churches  than  Pietism  had  in  Germany.  While  Martin  Boehm,  his 
faithful  coadjutor,  labored  earnestly  to  develop  a  true  spiritual  life  among  his  own 
people,  the  Mennonites.  He,  like  Otterbein,  did  not  desire  to  separate  himself 
from  the  Church  of  his  childhood.  They  were  eminently  successful  in  promoting 
revivals  in  the  lower  tier  of  counties  in  Pennsylvania,  including  Dauphin,  and  in 
Maryland  and  Virginia.  Many  members  of  Reformed  and  Mennonite  churches 
accepted  the  gospel  invitation  which  they  heralded  throughout  those  regions. 

At  this  time  the  Methodist  pioneer  Bishop,  Francis  Asbury,  had  much  fellow- 
ship with  Boehm  and  Otterbein.  The  Methodist  Church  operated  largely  in  the 
more  eastern  counties  of  Pennsylvania,  coming  westward  into  Lehigh,  Berks,  Nor- 
thumberland and  Dauphin.  Their  itinerant  system  was  better  adapted  to  country 
evangeliaztion.  But  they  were  disinclined  to  perpetuate  a  German  ministry. 
When  Jacob  Albright,  founder  of  the  Evangelical  Association,  was  converted,  he 
joined  the  Methodist  Church.  He  was  born  in  the  Lutheran  Church.  He  was  a 
man  of  great  zeal,  and  an  effective  exhorter  and  later  a  preacher  of  unusual  power. 
He  was  deeply  interested  in  the  spiritual  welfare  of  his  German  fellow  citizens. 
He  began  his  ministerial  labors  in  Montgomery  county.  Pa.,  in  a  community  of 
Schwenkfelters.  He  felt  specially  called  to  lead  the  neglected  Germans  to  a  life 
of  vital  piety.  This  he  would  do  in  the  Methodist  Church.  Like  Otterbein,  he 
had  at  that  time  no  intention  of  organizing  a  new  denomination,  a  step  which 
would  have  antagonized  the  sentiments  of  the  better  disposed  professors  of  religion. 
But  "classes"  were  formed,  organized  work  was  planned,  "big  meetings"  were 
held,  Pentecostal  meetings  were  inaugurated  and  new  circuits  were  formed.  They 
also  began  holding  camp-meetings  in  1810,  as  did  the  United  Brethren  in  1815. 
Thus  his  work  extended  into  the  northern  parts  of  Lancaster  county,  into  Lebanon, 
Schuylkill,  Dauphin,  Mifflin  and  Huntingdon.  Like  burning  and  shining  lights 
these  heralds  of  a  true  spiritual  life  went  through  these  eastern  counties  of  the 
State.  So  thoroughly  Methodistic  was  this  work  that  the  first  Conference  adopted 
as  a  name  "The  Newly-formed  Methodist  Conference."  It  was  a  German  Metho- 
dist organization,  with  the  Methodist  Discipline,  Confession  of  Faith  and  Polity. 
But  this  movement  toward  a  higher  spiritual  life  had  little  effect  upon  the  older 
religious  bodies.  It  reached  scores  of  individuals  in  those  Churches.  But  the 
doors  and  hearts  of  these  Churches  were  closed  against  this  new  gospel.  And  by 
1810  the  lines  were  so  strongly  drawn  that  but  few  converts  were  made  from  these 
older  faiths.  Revivals  on  an  extensive  scale  did  not  occur  between  1810  and  1825. 
Not  only  is  there  a  periodicity  in  revivals,  but  the  religious  life  of  a  people  is  like 
the  surface  of  the  earth  as  seen  in  some  of  the  American  States.  There  are  the 
lofty,  majestic  mountains,  the  lower  foot-hills,  the  ravines  and  the  deep  valleys, 
with  their  streams  and  rivers,  their  deep  soil  and  their  fertile  plains.  So  there 
are  great  upheavals  of  a  religious  character  as  seen  in  the  memorable  and  wide- 
reaching  revivals  when  a  continent  was  stirred  to  its  very  heart.      Others  like  the 


lo  History    of    the    Churches    oe    God 

foot-hills  of  our  mountain  ranges.      But  the  quieter  seasons  yield  the  largest  per- 
manent results. 

Besides  these  movements  out  of  which  grew  the  United  Brethren  Church  and 
the  Evangelical  Association,  in  the  year  1803  the  "Christians"  assumed  the  form 
of  a  united  body,  composed  of  Methodists,  Baptists  and  Presbyterians.  The  Re- 
formed Methodist  Church  was  organized  in  1814.  In  1816  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  was  organised,  and  in  1820  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Zion  Church.  In  1818  the  first  General  Convention  of  the  Swedenborgian,  or  New 
Jerusalem,  Church  was  organized.  The  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  origi- 
nated in  Tennessee  in  1810.  In  other  lines  there  was  also  a  decided  increase  in 
religious  activities.  In  1810  the  American  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  was  or- 
ganized, followed  by  the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union  in  1814,  and  the 
Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  1819.  Indeed  it  was  in 
these  two  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century  that  the  missionary  movement  which 
places  the  present  time  above  any  since  the  apostolic  days  began  to  manifest  itself. 
And  almost  simultaneously  came  in  the  spirit  of  division  and  sectarianism  which 
divided  the  Christian  forces  in  America  into  so  many  hostile  camps. 

Other  eponymous  events  during  this  period  are  the  Second  War  with  England, 
1812,  which  as  usual  had  a  dem.oralizing  effect  upon  the  people;  the  admission 
into  the  Union  of  Ohio  in  1802;  of  Louisiana,  in  1812;  Mississippi,  in  1817; 
Illinois,  in  1818,  and  Alabama,  in  1819.  Among  the  renowned  men  who  occupy 
so  large  a  part  in  the  history  of  the  United  States  that  were  born  during  this  period 
and  were  Winebrenner's  cotemporaries  are  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  great  War  Presi- 
dent, whose  apotheosis  has  been  proclaimed  by  an  admiring  world;  AVilliani  H. 
Seward,  his  brilliant  Secretary  of  State;  Kobei't  E.  Lee,  the  master  spirit  of  the 
militant  Confederacy;  Charles  Sumner,  the  illustrious  champion  of  the  anti-Slavery 
movement;  John  Lathrop  Motley,  accomplished  author  and  diplomatist;  Frederick 
Douglass,  the  ex-slave,  whose  oratorical  fame  is  world-wide;  John  B.  Gough,  of 
unsurpassed  talents  as  a  temperance  orator;  and  abroad  such  celebrities  as  Count 
Bismarck,  the  iron  Chancellor,  Premier  and  Statesman  of  Germany;  William  E. 
Gladstone,  England's  greatest  prime  minister,  who  as  a  theological,  political  and 
economic  writer  and  an  orator  and  debater  has  ever  had  few  superiors;  Lord 
Beaconsfield,  author  of  "Endymion"  and  other  great  works  manifesting  originality, 
vivaciousness  and  wit,  and  a  controlling  figure  in  the  government  and  prosperity 
of  England,  and  Queen  Victoria,  the  beloved  Sovereign  of  Great  Britain,  under 
whose  beneficent  reign  greater  and  richer  advantages  in  religion,  science,  art,  com- 
merce and  literature  were  enjoyed  than  under  any  other  modern  sovereignty. 
Among  the  princes  of  the  American  pulpit  born  during  this  era  may  be  named 
Henry  Ward  Beecher,  the  most  eloquent  of  pulpit  and  platform  orators;  Matthew 
Simpson,  the  most  celebrated  Bishop  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  a  cen- 
tury; Thomas  H.  Stockton,  who  in  his  time  is  said  not  to  have  had  a  peer  as  a 
pulpit  orator  in  the  country;  Horace  Bushnell,  Congregationalist  author  and  di- 
vine, and  Theodore  Parker,  Independent  minister  and  representative  of  Liberal 
Theology. 


General    History 


II 


CHAPTER     II. 


1820—1825. 


WHEN  in  October,  1820,  Winebieuiier  "settled  in  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  as  a  min- 
ister of  the  German  Reformed  Church,  he  took  charge  of  four  congrega- 
tions, one  in  town  and  three  in  the  country."  The  town  congregation 
worshiped  in  an  old  log  building,  on  Third  street,  below  Chestnut,  the  logs  having 
been  cut  in  the  woods,  or  forests,  in  the  immediate  vicinity.  It  was  the  first 
•church  building  erected  in  the  town,  and  was  built  by  public  subscriptions,  in  1787. 
It  was  repaired  and  weather  boarded  in  17  9  5,  and  so  has  by  some  been  called  a 
frame  house. 


First  Church  Building  in  Harrisburg. 


Prior  to  this  the  people  of  all  Protestant  denominations  worshiped  together, 
when  a  minister  came,  in  a  one-story  log  school-house  then  standing  at  the  foot 
of  Capitol  Hill,  on  the  north-west  corner  of  Third  and  Walnut  streets.  When  the 
town  was  laid  out  the  pioneer  settlers  took  measures  for  the  erection  of  a  church 
building,  and  John  Harris,  its  founder,  granted  a  lot  on  the  town  plot,  at  the 
corner  of  Third  and  Chestnut  streets,  for  that  purpose.  On  the  lower  end  of  this 
lot  the  first  church  building  was  erected.  The  building  had  a  front  of  thirty-five 
feet  on  Third  street,  and  a  depth  of  thirty-five  feet  on  Cherry  alley.  The  subscrip- 
tion list  states  that  the  building  was  to  be  "a  church  and  school-house,"  and  was 
"to  be  used  by  all  denominations."  The  Lutheran  and  Reformed  churches  in  1791 
erected  a  separate  school-house  on  the  same  lot.  After  the  death  of  John  Harris 
his  heirs  released  their  interest  in  the  church  lot  to  the  trustees  of  the  Reformed 
and  Lutheran  churches.  In  April,  1816,  the  Reformed  congregation  purchased 
the  interest  held  by  the  Lutherans  in  the  old  church  lot  and  buildings,  and  became 
the  sole  owners.  In  anticipation  of  this  severance  of  the  two  churches  the 
Lutherans  had  purchased,  in  1814,  a  lot  on  Fourth  street,  between  Market  and 
Chestnut  streets,  on  which  the  same  year  they  erected  a  handsome  brick  church, 
dedicated   October   1,  1815. 


12  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

The  history  of  Harrisburg  begins  in  1733,  when  it  was  known  as  Karris'" 
Ferry.  It  was  platted  by  John  Harris  in  1784,  and  called  Harrisburg.  In  1785 
the  name  was  changed  to  Louisburg.  In  1791,  the  year  that  Harris  died,  it  was- 
incorporated  as  a  borough,  and  called  Harrisburg.  At  this  time  it  had  two  hundred 
and  twenty  houses.  In  1811  the  seat  of  government  was  removed  from  Lancaster 
to  Harrisburg,  and  the  first  Governor  inaugurated  at  the  new  capital  was  William 
Fiiidlay,  on  December  16,  1817.  The  corner-stone  of  the  new  capitol  was  laid 
May  31,  1819,  and  the  building  completed  in  1821.  During  the  building  of  the 
capitol  the  Legislature  met  in  the  Court  House.  The  language  spoken  by  the 
people  was  so  largely  German,  that  the  first  English  services  in  the  Reformed 
church  were  held  about  1808.  And  preaching  in  German  and  English  continued 
in  the  Reformed  and  Lutheran  churches  for  many  years. 

The  population  of  Dauphin  county  in  1820  was  German  and  Scotch-Irish,  the 
former  largely  preponderating.  The  latter  were  Presbyterians,  the  former  prin- 
cipally Reformed  and  Lutherans,  with  small  organizations  of  Methodists,  United 
Brethren  and  Evangelicals.  The  earliest  churches  to  be  established  were,  by  tne 
Presbyterians,  in  1730;  the  Lutherans,  in  175  3;  by  the  German  Reformed,  in 
1768;  by  the  Episcopalians,  in  1766;  by  the  Methodists,  in  1801;  the  United  Breth- 
ren and  Evangelical  Association  about  1800,  and  the  Catholics,  in  1810.  Only 
four  of  these  Churches,  Presbyterian,  Lutheran,  Reformed  and  Methodist,  were- 
represented  in  organic  form  in  Harrisburg  when  Wiiiebrenner  began  his  ministerial 
labors,  the  Methodists  having  built  a  church  in  1816  and  the  Presbyterians,  in 
1808.  The  religious  condition  of  nearly  all  these  Churches  was  low,  and  desti- 
tute of  spirituality.  It  was  void  of  soul  and  faith,  a  form  without  substance.  A_ 
writer  of  that  period  describes  this  condition  as  being  "mostly  formal,  the  mem- 
bers having  a  form  of  ceremonial  religion,  but  without  the  enjoyments  which 
true  spiritual  religion  affords."  "There  was  a  great  want  of  a  genuine  work  of 
grace."  The  churches  were  barren  and  stagnant,  producing  a  state  of  religious- 
Inactivity.  Even  the  ministers  of  the  Evangelical  and  United  Brethren  Churches 
lamented  the  barrenness  and  stagnation  among  their  people.  While  the  con- 
census of  views  is  that  among  the  other  religious  bodies,  with  few  exceptions, 
"ministers  and  members  were  unconverted  and  ignorant  of  the  right  ways  of  the- 
Lord." 

Under  these  conditions  Wiiiebrenner  began  his  ministry  among  the  people  of 
his  charge.  He  preached  in  German  and  English,  as  especially  the  churches  at 
Wenrick's  and  Shoop's  were  composed  of  German  farmers.  Being  a  man  of  fer- 
vent piety  and  an  earnest  Christian,  his  preaching  was  clear,  pointed  and  powerful. 
He  was  in  favor  of  revivals  of  religion,  Sunday-schools,  prayer-meetings  and  other 
evangelistic  measures.  Soon  after  his  settlement  in  his  charge  a  work  of  grace 
commenced  among  the  people,  both  in  town  and  in  the  country.  This  developed 
great  and  bitter  opposition,  which  became  more  intensified  with  succeeding  years. 
It  continued  for  five  years,  and  resulted  in  his  separation  from  the  German  Re- 
formed Church.  He  was  not  unmindful  of  the  material  interests  of  his  charge. 
The  congregation  in  Harrisburg  had  outgrown  the  old  log  church,  and  on  January 
15,  1821,  at  a  congregational  meeting  it  was  resolved  to  erect  a  new  church,  front- 
ing on  Chestnut  street,  corner  of  Third  street.  The  corner-stone  of  the  new- 
structure  was  laid  June  11,  1821,  and  the  new  church  was  dedicated  August  4, 
1822. 

Under  Winebi-enner's  leadership  a  Sunday-school  was  organized  soon  after 
he  became  pastor  of  Salem  church.  He  became  popular  among  the  more  spiritual 
people  of  other  Churches,  and  would  preach  in  their  pulpits,  and  would  invite  min- 
isters not  ordained  according  to  the  theory  of  apostolic  succession  to  preach  for  his- 
congregations  and  to  assist  him  in  evangelistic  meetings.  These  things  gave 
serious  offense  to  some  of  the  members  of  his  charge,  and  accordingly  an  appeal 
was  sent  up  to  the  Synod  of  the  Reformed  Church,  which  met  at  Harrisburg,. 
September  29,  1822,  requesting  an  investigation  of  the  causes  of  dissatisfaction 
existing  in  the  congregations  of  the  charge.  Another  document  was  submitted  to- 
Synod  containing  a  series  of  complaints.  Synod  only  noticed  the  appeal,  upon, 
which  it  appointed  a  committee  of  seven  of  its  members,  which  met  in  Harrisburg,, 
October  2,  1822.  It  took  up  the  whole  matter,  and  after  careful  deliberation  it 
decided  to  advise  reconciliation  by  forgiving  and  forgetting  all  past  differences  and 
living  in  future  in  peace  and  harmony.  The  following  are  the  items  in  the  com- 
plaints sent  to  Synod: 


GKNERAL     HiSTORY 
"Coniplaints  against  the  Rev.  John  AVlnebrenner. 


13 


"I.  That  he  proceeds  in  the  affairs  of  the  church  at  Harrisburg  as  if  there 
'were  no  Vestry,  as  he  never  consults  them  on  any  occasion. 

"II.  In  his  recommendation  to  attend  strictly  divine  worship  he  mentioned 
the  Methodist  church  particularly  as  a  suitable  place  for  his  congregation,  and  on 
the  same  day  after  such  recommendation  he  preached  in  the  Methodist  church. 
He  further  stated  that  if  any  members  could  not  derive  benefit  by  attending  our 
■church  they  should  leave  it,   and  that  he  himself  would   never  have  joined  this 


Salem  German  Kefoi-med   Church,   Hanisburg,   Pa. 
Built  During  Winebrenner's  Pastorate. 


Church  if  he  had  not  devoted  himself  to  the  ministry.  And  at  the  time  of  the 
Quarterly  Meeting  of  the  Methodists,  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  he  attended  there  and 
took  Love-feast  with  them,  and  kept  his  own  congregation  waiting  till  he  returned 
from  the  Methodist  meeting-house. 

"III.  He  held  prayer-meetings  denominated  anxious  meetings,  where  he  di- 
vided the  members  into  two  classes — first,  those  who  say  they  have  experienced 
a  change,  and  believe  themselves  to  be  Christians;  and,  secondly,  the  sinners,  those 
who  believe  themselves  to  be  mourning  sinners.     And  during  all  prayer-meetings 


14  History   of    the    Churches    of    God 

he  encourages  groaning,  thereby  disturbing  others  who  might,  if  the  groaning  were- 
omitted,  receive  some  benefit.  Allows  during  prayer  certain  persons  to  respond 
'Amen!  Amen!'  thereby  drawing  the  attention  of  the  gazing  crowd  which  usually 
collect  on  the  outside. 

"IV.  At  a  meeting  held,  which  he  called  a  conference  meeting,  on  the  last 
Monday  of  July,  he  allowed  persons  to  converse,  encouraged  the  Christians  to 
speak  to  sinners,  when  Mr.  Wiiiebreuner,  Mr.  Jacob  Helfenstein,  Mr.  Knouse,  Mr. 
Krause,  Mr.  Officer,  Mi-s.  Wetherholt  and  others  at  one  and  the  same  time  ex- 
horted, prayed  and  continued  until  James  Officer  commenced  singing  a  lively  tune, 
which  produced  a  state  of  confusion  among  them.  After  that  Mr,  Wiiiebrenner 
called  out  if  any  person  wished  to  be  prayed  for  they  should  come  forward.  That 
then  numbers  came  forward,  and  Mr.  Knouse  prayed  for  them. 

"V.  At  a  meeting  held  the  last  Monday  in  May,  which  he  called  an  experience 
and  conference  meeting,  which  began  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening,  he  kept 
together  all  who  would  stay  till  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  at  the  breaking  up  of 
which  he  said,  'This  is  the  way  to  fan  the  chaff  from  the  wheat.' 

"VI.  His  denunciation  from  the  pulpit  towards  members  and  others  has 
caused  members  to  withdraw  themselves  from  the  church.  And  on  one  occasion, 
when  he  preached  a  funeral  sermon,  he  said,  'If  I  were  to  judge  from  Scripture,  the 
majority  buried  in  the  neighboring  graves  must  be  in  hell,'  from  which  expression 
he  gave  a  general  dissatisfaction  to  the  by-standers  on  the  burying  ground.  After- 
ward he  said  from  the  pulpit,  he  excepted  the  children  from  the  expression  given 
in  the  grave-yard,  thereby  evidencing  the  general  displeasure  his  expressions  have 
given  to  the  people. 

"VII.  He  is  now  making,  or  has  already  made,  arrangements  to  give  up  two 
of  the  congregations  which  form  a  part  of  our  connection,  viz.:  at  Wenrick's  and 
Shoop's  churches,  thereby  imposing  a  burden  upon  the  two  remaining  congrega- 
tions to  provide  support  for  himself  and  his  successor,  which  was  ere  this  done  by 
the  four  congregations.  All  this  is  done  without  consulting  the  Vestry,  or  mem- 
bership of  the  adhering  congregations. 

"VIII.  He  has  given  such  general  dissatisfaction  that  on  several  late  occas- 
ions where  there  were  funerals  in  families  of  his  members  they  passed  [him]  by; 
would  not  have  him  attend  their  funerals,  and  obtained  ministers  of  other  denomi- 
nations. 

"IX.  He  has  admitted  persons  (who  on  account  of  misconduct  in  the  church 
they  previously  belonged  to  were  expelled  from  membership)  to  become  members 
of  our  church  without  consulting  the  Vestry. 

"X.  He  is  very  remiss  in  visiting  members  of  our  congregation,  especially  at 
such  times  when  any  are  sick;  and  he  absents  himself  from  his  residence  that  he 
can  not  pay  the  necessary  visits  to  his  members,  and  he  has  refused  to  baptize 
children  of  the  members  when  he  had  been  particularly  requested." 

Winebrenner's  defense  was  based  largely  on  the  incorrectness  of  these  allega- 
tions. He  said:  "I  am  brought  to  the  disagreeable  necessity  of  declaring  a  great 
portion  of  them  incorrect,  and  devoid  of  truth.  There  are,  however,  I  admit,  some 
facts  contained  in  the  paper,  which,  when  freed  from  error  and  misrepresentations, 
I  am  not  ashamed  to  confess."  He  admitted,  under  the  first  complaint,  that  he 
did  not  always  consult  the  Consistory,  because  he  knew  that  no  harmonious  co- 
operation could  be  had;  but  he  did  sometimes.  Besides,  the  Consistory  did  not 
consult  him  invariably  either. 

On  the  second,  he  admitted  that  he  did  preach  for  the  Methodists,  took  Love- 
feast  with  them,  and  on  a  certain  occasion  when  he  intended  to  preach  for  them 
he  invited  his  people  to  come  to  hear  him.  And  as  his  congregation  was  without 
preaching  every  other  Sabbath  he  recommended  it  to  go  to  other  churches  on  the 
intervening  Sabbath.  But  that  he  kept  his  congregation  waiting  longer  than  usual 
at  any  time  he  took  Love-feast  with  the  Methodists  was  incorrect.  Moreover  he 
was  grieved  to  see  so  many  professors  of  religion  so  desitute  of  charity  as  scarcely 
to  go  into  any  place  of  worship  than  their  own. 

On  the  third,  he  stated  that  he  held  anxious  meetings,  and  in  order  to  ascer- 
tain who  were  awakened  and  who  were  not,  it  was  mentioned  that  they  should 
occiipy  separate  rooms,  or  different  parts  of  the  same  room;  but  every  one  was  free 
to  determine  where  and  with  whom  to  sit.  That  he  did  not  encourage  groaning; 
however,  when  sinners  groan  for  redemption  he  delighted  to  hear  it,  but  when  it 
proceeds  from  mere  habit  it  was  vain  and  unprofitable. 

On  the  fourth,  his  words  are:      "The  object  contemplated  at  that  meeting  was 


General    History  15 

to  hold  a  free  conversation  with  each  other  on  experimental  religion."  He  con- 
ceded that  what  was  complained  of  is  true,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  mistakes. 

On  the  fifth,  he  stated  that  he  did  keep  up  the  meeting  till  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning;  "but  the  last  expression  was  unfounded." 

On  the  sixth,  he  said:  "If  men  will  become  my  enemies;  yea,  withdraw  them- 
selves from  the  church,  because  I  tell  them  the  truth,  I  can  not  help  it.  But  I 
know  of  none  save  perhaps  the  few  men  who  have  lodged  these  complaints  against 
me."  And  in  reference  to  the  probable  state  of  the  dead,  other  than  unaccount- 
able children,  he  referred  them  to  Matthew  vii.   13,  14,  and  Luke  xiii.  24. 

On  the  seventh,  he  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  as  Middletown  and  Hum- 
melstown  were  once  part  of  the  Harrisburg  charge,  and  are  destitute  of  preaching, 
he  intended  to  supply  them  for  awhile,  provided  the  arrangements  could  be  made 
with  the  country  churches. 

On  the  eighth,  he  revealed  the  strong  affinity  between  kindred  spirits,  by  say- 
ing: "I  do  rejoice  to  say,  that,  so  far  as  I  know,  the  pious  and  serious  part  of  the 
congregation  have  always  been  my  warm  and  affectionate  friends." 

On  the  ninth,  he  admitted  that  he  did  receive  one  person  who  was  formerly  a 
member  of  another  Church,  and  had  been  excommunicated;  but  that  at  the  time 
he  was  admitted  to  church  fellowship  he  had  professed  religion. 

On  the  tenth,  he  stated,  that  he  was  not  aware  of  the  fact  of  a  certain  person 
being  sick,  or  he  would  have  visited  him.  He  acknowledged  that  he  had  refused 
to  baptize  the  children  of  unbelieving  parents,  and  declared  his  intention  to  con- 
tinue to  do  so. 

Conditions  at  Harrisburg  remained  unsettled  during  the  Winter  of  1822-3. 
An  incident  occurred  on  March  23,  1823,  which  precipitated  the  final  crisis.  On 
that  day  Wiiiebrenner  preached  in  German,  and  having  a  funeral  in  the  country 
in  the  afternoon,  he  announced  that  he  had  engaged  a  Mr.  Brown  to  preach  in  his 
stead.  As  Brown  was  not  a  minister  of  the  German  Reformed  Synod  some  of  the 
authorities  of  the  church  prohibited  the  sexton  to  ring  the  bell  and  to  unlock  the 
church  door.  In  the  evening  Winebrenner  preached  in  English,  and  at  the  close 
of  the  services  he  said:  "I  shall  not  appoint  the  time  for  another  meeting,  as  I  do 
not  know  that  I  can  be  the  pastor  of  this  congregation  any  longer,  unless  that  I 
shall  again  preach  on  Friday  evening  next.  And  if  I  do  preach  then,  I  will  preach 
on  the  following  Sunday."  A  conference  with  the  Vestry  followed,  when  Wine- 
brenner was  asked  why  he  had  made  this  announcement,  to  which  he  replied,  that 
he  desired  to  know  whether  they  approved  of  the  course  of  one  of  the  Vestry  in 
preventing  Mr.  Brown  from  preaching,  and  also  whether  they  would  pay  him  the 
same  salary  they  had  paid  him  the  first  year.  To  the  first  question  the  Vestry  an- 
swered, "Yes."  To  the  second,  one  vestryman  replied,  "No;  because  through  your 
course  many  of  the  paying  members  stayed  away,  and  consequently  we  could  not 
do  it." 

A  very  critical  condition  had  now  been  reached.  Efforts  were  made  by  Wine- 
bi-enner's  friends  to  bring  about  harmony.  A  division  of  sentiment  existed  in  the 
congregation,  and  an  effort  was  made  to  reconcile  the  parties,  on  condition  that 
Winebrenner  would  quit  holding  so  many  prayer-meetings,  to  which  he  declined  to 
agree.  For  some  reason  he  did  not  preach,  as  conditionally  announced,  on  Fri- 
day evening.  This  the  Vestry  regarded  as  a  virtual  resignation  of  the  charge. 
W^inebi-enner,  however,  did  not  so  understand  it,  and  continued  to  manifest  a  de- 
sire to  preach  for  the  congregation.  On  this  account,  and  because  fully  one-half 
of  the  membership  were  his  friends,  the  Vestry  met  at  his  home  on  a  week-day 
evening,  when  it  was  stated  that  they  had  come  to  have  a  conference  with  him  as 
to  what  he  intended  to  do,  and  also  to  inform  him  what  arrangements  they  pro- 
posed to  make  with  him  for  the  future.  The  Vestry  stated  that  they  had  collected 
the  salary  due  him,  and  that  if  he  would  conform  to  their  rules  they  would  pay 
him  the  money,  and  continue  him  as  their  pastor.  They  insisted  that  he  must 
preach  for  them  only,  and  not  for  other  congregations,  and  thereafter  not  invite 
so-called  unordained  ministers  to  preach  in  his  pulpit,  and  not  to  hold  more  than 
one  prayer-meeting  a  week,  nor  keep  it  up  later  than  nine  o'clock  at  night.  Wine- 
brenner answered:  "I  will  not  consent  to  these  arrangements;  for  I  am  a  free 
man,  preach  a  free  gospel,  and  I  will  go  where  the  Lord  calls  me  to  go."  The 
revival  spirit  by  this  time  was  dominant  in  his  heart.  February  19,  1822,  he  had 
written  to  his  sister,  stating:  "We  have  very  good  and  pleasant  times  here;  from 
three  to  four  prayer-meetings  in  our  congregation  each  week.  And  the  Lord 
sometimes  comes  in  sacred  nearness  to  our  souls  while  we  are  waiting  for  him. 


t6  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

Sinners  are  awakened  and  made  to  cry  for  mercy.  Oh,  that  God  may  be  with  us 
still,  and  delight  to  bless  us."  The  church  had  largely  increased  numericaly  dur- 
ing his  short  pastorate. 

The  Sunday  following  the  conference  between  the  Vestry  and  AVinebrenner 
he  went  to  the  church  to  preach,  but  the  door  was  locked,  and  a  large  crowd  had 
collected  on  the  pavement  and  street.  Finding  that  he  could  not  enter  the  build- 
ing, he  and  about  one-half  the  congregation,  with  many  others  who  were  attracted 
there,  proceeded  to  the  bank  of  the  Susquehanna  river,  two.  blocks  away,  near  the 
grave  of  Harris,  where  he  preached  his  sermon.  The  line  of  division  had  thus  been 
drawn.  Part  of  the  congregation  soon  after  this  held  a  meeting  and  resolved  that 
it  considered  itself  freed  from  the  relation  of  pastor  and  people  which  had  hitherto 
existed  between  it  and  Winebreimer,  dating  from  his  announcement  from  the  pul- 
pit on  March  23,  1823.  This  did  not  accord  with  the  views  of  the  other  and  larger 
part  of  the  congregation.  Accordingly  another  meeting  of  the  male  members  of 
the  congregation  was  held  on  Friday,  April  18th,  for  the  purpose  of  deciding 
whether  he  should  resume  the  pastorate.  After  what  they  called  "a  full  debate 
and  a  great  discussion,"  they  resolved  by  a  unanimous  vote  not  to  retain  him  as 
their  pastor.  But  this  vote  consisted  of  but  twenty-one  ballots,  as  the  friends  of 
Wiiiebrenner  had  withdrawn  before  the  vote  was  taken.  The  whole  difficulty  was 
brought  before  the  German  Reformed  Synod  at  Bedford,  Pa.,  which  decided  that 
the  Harrisburg  charge  was  not  vacant,  and  that  an  election  must  be  held  to  de- 
termine whether  Winebreimer  shall  be  their  pastor.  The  Synod  met  in  September, 
1824,  and  on  October  11th,  AVinebi-enner  notified  the  Vestry  of  its  decision.  No 
attention  being  paid  to  this  notice,  printed  notices  were  served  on  the  congrega- 
tions by  Winebrenner's  friends,  ordering  an  election  on  November  3,  1824, 
by  printed  tickets,  as  follows:  "For  J.  Winebreimer;"  "Against  J.  Wine- 
bi-enner."  But  this  election  did  not  heal  the  breach,  nor  cure  the  trouble, 
because  Winebrenner's  opponents  did  not  attend  the  election.  Of  those  who  did 
attend  a  majority  of  nearly  two  hundred  male  members  voted  for  him.  His  oppon- 
ents ignored  the  whole  matter,  for  long  before  this  meeting  they  had  called  and 
elected  Alfred  Helfenst^in,  Jr.,  who  became  pastor  March  24,  1824.  A  formal  sep- 
aration had  thus  been  effected,  and  a  large  number  of  the  friends  of  Winebrenner 
withdrew  from  the  congregation.  These,  with  Winebrennei',  worshiped  in  the 
Court  House,  in  the  market-house,  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  in  private  houses  and 
In  groves.  AVinebi-enner  also  preached  at  other  points  in  Dauphin  and  Cumberland 
counties,  as  it  is  said:  "The  work  of  grace  spread  far  and  wide,  and  calls  for 
preaching  came  from  many  places,  which  were  cheerfully  and  quickly  responded  to. 
As  the  word  was  preached  with  great  power,  both  in  English  and  in  German,  by 
the  now  noted  revivalist,  multitudes  flocked  to  the  standard  of  the  cross." 

At  the  other  three  churches  of  which  Winebrenner  was  pastor — Shoope's  and 
Wenrick's,  in  Dauphin  county,  and  the  Stone  church,  or  Salem,  in  Cumberland 
county — he  received  similar  treatment  to  that  in  Harrisburg.  At  Shoope's  there  is 
no  available  record  beyond  the  fact  that  "the  members  voted  Winebrenner  out." 
At  Wenrick's,  a  member  of  said  church,  and  afterwards  a  minister  in  the  church 
of  God,  Jacob  Myers,  who  settled  in  Linglestown  as  a  physician  in  1823,  briefly 
narrates  events  at  that  church  in  1824.  He  says:  "My  wife  and  I  were  com- 
municant members  of  Winebrenner's  church,  and  AV^inebrenner  christened  our  first 
child.  At  that  time  there  was  considerable  opposition  to  AA'^inebrenner  by  many 
here  as  well  as  in  Harrisburg,  where  he  resided.  They  said  he  was  too  much  of  a 
Methodist,  and  departed  from  the  old  landmarks  of  the  German  Reformed  Church. 
The  reason  they  said  so  was  because  he  held  prayer-meetings,  and  preached  earnest- 
ly, and  insisted  on  the  people  to  repent  and  embrace  heartfelt  religion."  The  doors 
of  this  church  were  also  closed  against  AA'inebi-enner,  but  not  until  a  few  years 
later.  An  eye  witness  of  the  last  services  which  AA'^inebrenner  held  at  the  Stone 
church  says:  "I  was  also  present  during  the  time  that  a  meeting  was  held  in  the 
Stone  church,  near  Shiremanstown,  Pa.,  about  five  miles  west  of  Harrisburg.  A 
great  reformation  was  going  on,  many  were  at  the  altar  for  prayers,  with  many 
weeping  and  some  shouting  praises  to  the  Savior  on  account  of  salvation  from  sins 
forgiven.  After  this  revival  meeting  had  continued  for  about  a  week,  the  door  of 
this  church  edifice  was  locked.  John  Winebrenner  stood  on  the  stone  steps  before 
the  house  and,  looking  up  toward  heaven,  said  to  a  large  congregation  which  had 
come  to  hear  him:  'The  people  can  lock  houses,  but  they  can  not  lock  the  door  of 
heaven.'  This  saying  affected  and  excited  the  people  so  much  that  many  wept,  and 
others  praised  God  aloud.     Then  the  audience  went  to  the  old  school-house  close 


Genicrai,    History 


17 


by,  and  Winebreniier  preached  there,  continuing  the  meetings  for  many  days,  and 
many  were  saved  from  their  sins."  This  building  is  still  standing,  but  the  Re- 
formed church  is  about  extinct.  Th^  Lutheran  church,  which  worshiped  in  the 
same  house,  built  a  fine  brick  edifice;  but  once  a  year,  the  last  Sunday  in  September, 
they  "hold  the  chief  service  in  the  old  Stone  Church."  This  church  was  built  in 
1798,  the  corner-stone  having  been  laid  June  12,  1798,  and  the  church  dedicated 
May  19,  1799.  The  school-house  was  also  the  property  of  the  Stone  church  con- 
gregations, and  stood  on  the  corner  of  the  grave-yard.  It  has  been  replaced  by  the 
township  with  a  brick  school-house,  and  is  used  by  the  common  school  of  the  dis- 
trict. 

Thus  Winebrenner's  relation  as  pastor  was  broken  with  two  of  the  churches 
of  his  charge,  yet  he  continued  to  preach  at  the  other  two  points,  and  was  still  a 
member  and  minister  of  the  German  Reformed  Church,  in  regular  standing  in  the 
Synod  which  ordained  him.  The  proceedings  by  the  two  churches  of  his  charge 
had  not  been  brought  before  the  Synod.  But  his  work  in  the  Reformed  Church 
was  evidently  nearing  its  end,  although  the  Synod  had  not  yet  dissolved  the  pastoral 
relation.      There  was  also  more  or  less  unrest  among  other  Churches  during  this 


The  Stone  or  Peace  Church,  Opposite  Shiremanstown,  Pa. 


period.  Among  the  Lutherans  the  revival  spirit  spread  to  a  limited  extent.  But 
the  general  religious  condition  in  both  the  Reformed  and  Lutheran  Churches  was 
not  improved.  Persecution  was  the  weapon  taken  up  against  those  who  were 
classed  as  Methodists.  The  old  element  seemed  to  wax  worse,  and  the  pulpits  were 
replenished  with  unrenewed  men.  It  is  the  testimony  of  men  of  this  period  that 
"all  kinds  of  sin  and  vices  reigned  in  all  the  Churches,  or  so-called  Christian  con- 
gregations; and  when  now  and  then  a  person  was  found  who  saw  the  corruption  to 
some  extent,  and  ventured  to  censure  it  and  to  disapprove  the  spurious  service  of 
God,  he  was  considered  and  despised  as  a  fanatic.  The  few  individuals  who  were 
better  disposed  and  anxious  to  save  their  souls,  were  suppressed,  and  had  but  little 
influence  on  their  rough  fellow-members."  -  Even  among  the  United  Brethren  and 
Evangelicals  "the  work  had  begun  to  stagnate,  and  then  to  retrograde."  But  this 
served  only  to  inflame  the  zeal  of  those  self-denying  ministers  who  endured  the 
hardships  of  an  itinerant  life.  Through  their  prayers  and  efforts  the  dawn  of  a 
more  blessed  day  began  to  break  with  the  year  1823.  There  were  "glorious  awak- 
enings" in  counties  within  a  radius  of  fifty  to  seventy-five  miles  from  Harrisburg. 
The  first  camp-meetings  in  this  section  were  held  by  the  Evangelicals  "which  were 
richly  blessed  with  God's  grace  and  the  conversion  of  many  precious  souls." 

C.  H.— 1* 


i8  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

In  1822  the  "True  Reformed  Dutch  Church"  was  formed.  It  seceded  from  the 
Dutch  Reformed  Church  on  account,  as  they  declared,  of  errors  of  doctrine  and 
looseness  of  discipline;  but  in  reality  it  was  the  culmination  of  an  old  feud.  Yet 
generally  more  stress  was  placed  on  doctrine  than  on  piety  and  morality.  A  knowl- 
edge of  this  fact  makes  it  more  easily  conceivable  that  matters  of  doctrine  in  no 
wise  entered  into  the  original  movement  which  resulted  in  the  organization  of  the 
United  Brethren  Church,  the  Evangelical  Association  and  the  Church  of  God. 

In  1820  the  first  Methodist  church  was  organized  in  Harrisburg,  in  what  is 
now  the  Jewish  Synagogue,  on  North  Second  Street.  Later  a  house  of  worship  was 
built  on  Locust  street.  It  was  with  this  church  that  Wiiiebrenner  sometimes  wor- 
shiped, participated  in  the  Love-feast,  and  for  which  he  occasionally  preached.  It 
is  now  Grace  M.  E.  Church,  on  State  street. 

Two  events  of  this  period  of  a  political  character  occurred  which  became 
memorable  in  their  subsequent  effect  on  the  ecclesiastical  and  political  history  of  the 
country.  These  are  the  admission  into  the  Union  of  Maine,  in  1820,  and  of  Mis- 
souri, in  1821.  The  former  was  the  first  State  to  adopt  a  rigorous  Prohibitory  Act, 
which  became  known  as  the  "Maine  law,"  and  which  figured  so  largely  in  the 
temperance  discussions  and  deliverances  of  religious  bodies  for  a  number  of  years. 
The  admission  of  the  latter  marked  a  new  epoch  in  the  political  world,  as  it  began 
the  first  geographical  division  of  political  parties  in  the  United  States,  and  was 
intimately  connected  with  the  religious  controversies  and  the  ecclesiastical  schisms 
of  later  years. 


CHAPTER     III. 


1825—1830. 


THE  year  1825  marks  a  new  epoch  in  the  life  and  labors  of  Winebrenner.  He 
was  still  the  minister  of  Shoope's  and  Wenrick's  churches,  and  the  Synod  of 
the  German  Reformed  Church  had  not  yet  acted  on  his  case.  But  he  soon  ceased 
to  be  a  pastor,  and  became  an  aggressive  revivalist.  He  had  not  changed  his  theo- 
logical views,  which  had  always  been  consistent  with  evangelistic  conceptions  and 
methods.  But  soul-saving  now  became  the  dominant  principle  of  his  ministerial 
life,  and  he  became  distinctively  and  preeminently  an  evangelist,  in  which  line  his 
labors  were  crowned  with  unusual  success.  He  modestly  recorded  this  fact  in  the 
"History  of  All  the  Religious  Denominations  in  the  United  States"  in  these  words: 
"About  this  time  (1825)  more  extensive  and  glorious  revivals  of  religion  commenced 
in  different  towns  and  neighborhoods,  to  wit:  Harrisburg,  Shiremanstown,  Lis- 
burn,  Mechanicsburg,  Churchtown,  New  Cumberland,  Linglestown,  Middletown, 
Millerstown  [or  Annville],  Lebanon,  Lancaster,  Shippensburg,  Elizabethtown, 
Mount  Joy,  Marietta  and  various  other  places.  In  these  glorious  revivals  there 
were  hundreds  and  multitudes  happily  converted  to  God.  The  conversion  of  these 
scores  and  multitudes  in  different  places  led  to  the  organization  of  churches." 
Under  his  "searching  ministrations"  this  work  of  grace  began  in  Reformed 
churches  of  which  he  was  pastor,  and  had  already  resulted  in  the  closing  of  the 
houses  of  worship  at  Harrisburg  and  near  Shiremanstown.  The  latter  was  later 
reopened  for  preaching  by  Winebrenner,  and  he  preached  there  until  1827,  when  he 
closed  his  labors  and  "left  it  of  his  own  free  will,  whilst  a  large  majority  of  the 
members  of  that  church  followed  him  as  he  preached  in  private  houses  and  other 
meeting-houses  as  an  independent  preacher."  It  was  on  this  independent  basis 
that  churches  of  God  were  first  organized,  as  AVinebrenner  stated  in  1844 — "Sub- 
ject to  no  extrinsic  or  foreign  jurisdiction."  At  Wenrick's  church  he  continued  to 
preach  with  the  consent  of  the  church  until  the  Spring  of  182.6,  when  there  were 
two  other  candidates  for  the  pulpit,  and  AVinebrenner  was  defeated  by  one  vote, 
two  of  his  friends  being  absent.  He  continued  to  preach  in  said  church  until  the 
following  Spring,  when  the  do6r  was  locked  against  him,  and  he  preached  an  im- 
promptu sermon  on  the  stone  steps,  from  the  text:  "The  door  was  shut."  The 
congregation   at   Shoope's   church   in    1826    also   voted   him   out. 

But  AA'inebrenner  was  still  a  member  of  the  Synod  of  the  German  Reformed 
Church.  In  1825  the  troubles  between  AA'inebrenner  and  the  churches  of  his 
charge  came  before  Synod  from  the  Lebanon  Classis,  an  intermediate  judiciatory 


Gi-:nerai,    History  19, 

between  the  churches  and  the  Synod.  The  action  of  the  Classis  was  approved,  but 
the  character  of  the  action  is  not  on  record  on  the  Minutes  of  the  Synod.  Wine- 
brennei"  was  present  at  this  meeting  of  the  Synod,  the  last  one  he  attended.  At 
the  meeting  of  the  Synod,  held  at  Frederick,  Md.,  September,  1826,  records  show 
the  following: 

"The  Committee  on  Correspondence  reported: 

"A  letter  from  the  Rev.  Henry  Hoffniier,  in  which  he  complains,  in  a  moderate 
way,  of  the  disorderly  conduct  of  the  R«v.  J.  AVinebi-enner,  H.  Habliston  and  D. 
Werz. 

"Resolved,  That  this  Synod  can  not  take  up  and  decide  this  matter,  because 
the  complaints  in  the  letter  against  the  brethren  should  properly,  in  the  first  place, 
come  before  the  Classis." 

In  1827  the  Synod  met  at  York,  Pa.,  when  the  matter  came  up  from  the  Leb- 
anon Classis  through  the  Committee  on  Minutes  of  Classis.  The  Committee  re- 
ported from  said  Minutes: 

"Charges  against  the  R«v.  John  Winebrenner. 

"Resolved,  That  they  be  referred  to  a  committee,  who  shall  meet  in  a  place  to 
be  appointed  by  themselves,  to  try  these  charges  against  Rev.  John  Winebrenner, 
and  make  report  to  Synod.  The  Committee  are  Rev.  F.  W.  Vandersloot,  Lebrecht 
L.  Hirsch  and  Jacob  Beecher." 

At  the  meeting  of  Synod  held  in  1828,  at  Mifflinburg,  Pa.,  the  following  action 
was  taken: 

"The  Committee  which  had  been  appointed  by  the  Synod  at  a  meeting  held  at 
York,  Pa.,  to  investigate  the  case  of  Revs.  Messi^s.  Winebrenner  and  Hobliston,  and 
to  report  at  this  meeting,  reported  that  Mr.  Winebrenner  had  not  obeyed  their 
citation,  and  he  did  not  appear  before  them,  and  that  in  their  opinion  he  ought  not 
to  be  any  longer  considered  a  member  of  this  body." 

"The  report  and  the  judgment  expressed  in  it,  were  approved." 
Two  different  constructions  were  afterward  put  on  this  final  action,  and  hence 
two  different  dates  are  given  when  AVinebrenner's  connection  with  the  Reformed 
Church  ceased.  The  action  of  the  Synod  has  been  interpreted  as  equivalent  to 
expulsion,  and  thus  the  date  of  Winebrenner's  severance  from  the  German  Re- 
formed Church  would  be  September,  1828.  A  letter  dated  September  30,  1843,  by 
"A  Friend  to  Truth,"  calls  the  action  of  Synod  "the  expelling  act."  And  a  letter 
dated  July.  14,  1843,  by  "A  Friend  to  the  German  Reformed  Church,"  states  that 
"Synod  excommunicated  him  in  1828."  But  the  former  also  declares  that  "Mr. 
Winebrenner  did  secede,  or  cease  to  meet  with  Classis  and  Synod  for  three  years 
before"  1828.  This  accords  with  the  Minutes  of  Synod.  Winebrenner  nowhere 
speaks  of  having  been  expelled.  He  says:  "However,  my  reasons  for  withdraw- 
ing from  your  Church  were  not  merely  because  1  found  her  thus  exceedingly  de- 
generated, and  was  persecuted  by  both  ministers  and  people.  I  withdrew  from  her 
communion  for  various  reasons."  Hence,  biographers  of  Winebrenner,  writing 
from  his  point  of  view,  have  generally  stated  that  he  himself  severed  his  relation 
with  the  German  Reformed  Church  in  1825.  This  is  confirmed  by  his  own  state- 
ment in  a  letter  to  Dr.  J.  W.  Nevin,  dated  "Harrisburg,  Pa.,  Sept.  30th,  1842,"  in 
which  he  says:  "1  withdrew  from  the  German  Reformed  Church  in  the  year  1825, 
and  not,  as  you  state,  in  1829." 

The  movement  by  Winebi-enner  was  not  schismatic.  It  was  reformatory.  If 
the  German  Reformed  Church  had  responded  to  it  a  reformation  would  have  re- 
sulted in  the  Church.  It  did  not  divide  the  Church,  nor  detach  a  part  of  it  to  form 
a  new  Church.  But  the  larger  portion  of  the  converts  under  Winebrenner  the  first 
few  years  of  his  independent  labors  were  members  of  Reformed  and  Lutheran 
churches.  The  religious  conditions  in  these  two  denominations  were  extremely 
low.  The  membership  was  largely  composed  of  unsaved  persons.  Under  the  char- 
acteristic preaching  of  Winebrenner  large  numbers  of  these  unconverted  members 
were  brought  under  conviction  and  sought  the  blessing  of  regeneration.  These 
Churches  constituted  good  ground  on  which  to  do  evangelistic  work.  Not  only  did 
Winebrenner  characterize  the  Reformed  Church  of  that  early  day  as  "exceedingly 
degenerate,"  but  also  possessed  of  "a  diabolical  temper — 1  mean  a  spirit  of  pride, 
biogtry  and  persecution."  Dr.  Nevin,  one  of  the  great  leaders  in  the  Reformed 
Church,  acknowledges  that  "True  serious  piety  is  too  often  treated  with  open  and 
marked  scorn.  In  the  bosom  of  the  Church  itself  it  is  stigmatized  as  schwaermerei. 
kopfhaengerei,  or  miserable,  driveling  Methodism.  Experimental  religion  in  all 
Its  forms  was  eschewed  as  a  new-fangled  invention  of  cunning  impostors  brought 


20  History    of    the    Churches   of    God 

in  to  turn  the  heads  of  the  weak  and  to  lead  captive  silly  women-  Prayer-meetings 
were  held  to  be  a  spiritual  abomination.  .Family  worship  was  a  species  of  saintly 
affectation  barely  tolerable  in  the  case  of  ministers  (though  many  of  them  gloried 
rather  in  having  no  altar  in  their  houses),  but  absolutely  disgraceful  for  common 
Christians.  To  show  an  awakened  concern  on  the  subject  of  religion,  a  disposition 
to  call  upon  God  in  daily  secret  prayer,  was  to  incur  certain  reproach."  The  con- 
census of  historical  views  is  that  in  this  third  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century 
among  these  Churches  of  the  Reformed  faith  scarcely  any  spiritual  life  could  be 
discerned;  that  formalism  took  the  place  of  religion;  that  to  have  been  baptized, 
then  confirmed,  and  afterward  to  take  Communion  once  a  year  was  considered 
quite  enough  to  constitute  a  man  a  good  Christian,  and  that  all  kinds  of  sins  and 
vices  were  practiced  both  among  professors  and  non-professors  of  religion. 

Winebrenner  did  not  entertain  the  purpose  of  founding  a  new  denomination. 
These  bodies  he  stigmatized  as  sects.  Professor  Nevin  called  the  United  Brethren 
and  like  bodies  "rolling  balls,"  and  accused  Winebrenner  with  "putting  in  motion 
a  similar  ball,  which  continues  rolling  to  this  hour  [1842],  not  without  abundance 
of  noise."  Winebrenner  denounced  this  as  gross  misrepresentation:  "But,  sir,  I 
did  not  retire  for  the  ignoble  purpose,  as  you  have  intimated,  of  putting  another 
sectarian  ball  in  motion.  No,  not  at  all.  I  had  seen,  through  mercy,  the  great 
evil  of  these  rolling  balls,  put  in  motion  and  kept  in  motion  by  the  cunning  crafti- 
ness of  men  and  devils,  and  how  by  their  repeated  and  unhappy  collusions  they 
hindered  and  marred  the  work  of  God  in  the  earth;  and,  therefore,  I  resolved  to 
fall  back  upon  original  grounds — to  stand  aloof  from  all  these  sectarian  balls,  and 
to  do  the  work  of  an  evangelist  and  minister  of  Christ  by  building  up  the  church 
of  God  (the  only  true  church)  according  to  the  plan  and  pattern  as  shown  us  in  the 
New  Testament.  This  is  the  high  and  firm  ground  we  take.  Our  ball,  therefore, 
is  not  like  your  ball,  nor  similar  to  other  human  balls.  Ours  is  the  Lord's  ball. 
It  was  not  cut  out  of  the  Romish  Church  by  the  hands  of  Calvin  and  others  as  was 
yours.  But  it  was  'cut  out  of  the  mountain  without  hands.'  The  ball  commenced 
rolling  upwards  of  eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  and  it  continues  rolling  to  this 
hour;  yea,  and  it  will  never  cease  rolling  till  every  other  man-made  ball  shall  be 
either  crushed  or  rolled  up  by  it,  and  until  the  sound  of  it  shall  be  'like  the  sound 
of  many  waters,  and  as  the  voice  of  great  thunder.'  " 

Though  these  views  were  expressed  much  later  than  the  date  of  Winebrenner's 
first  revival  campaign,  they  represent  his  original  purpose.  The  results  of  those 
early  labors  were  the  manifestation  and  exponent  of  that  purpose — "extensive  and 
glorious  revivals."  These  began  at  Harrisburg,  near  Shiremanstown,  at  Lisburn 
and  Linglestown,  at  which  points  he  labored  as  a  Reformed  minister,  and  where 
some  hundreds — "multitudes" — were  converted  before  a  church  was  organized. 
During  this  period  his  labors  extended  as  far  as  York,  Lancaster,  Lebanon  and 
Shippensburg,  but  principally  were  limited  to  a  radius  of  nine  miles  from  Harris- 
burg. The  converts  were  largely  members  of  Reformed  and  Lutheran  churches. 
These  no  longer  found  a  congenial  home  in  these  formal  churches,  and  so  began 
to  agitate  the  question  of  local  church  organizations.  During  the  revival  in  Har- 
risburg, which  followed  the  closing  of  the  doors  of  Salem  church  against  Wine- 
brenner, there  were  about  one  hundred  conversions,  which  with  those  who  came  out 
of  the  church  with  him  made  a  company  of  nearly  two  hundred  souls.  They  had 
no  permanent  place  of  worship.  The  use  of  the  old  log  church  which  the  Reformed 
congregation  vacated  on  August  4,  1822,  was  refused  to  Winebrenner  and  his  fol- 
lowers, and  they  were  obliged  to  worship  in  the  Court  House,  the  Market  House, 
on  the  river  bank,  in  private  houses  and  lumber  yards.  AVlnebrenner  was  indis- 
posed to  begin  the  organization  of  churches.  The  uniform  testimony  of  his  con- 
temporaries is  that  he  "had  not  at  the  beginning  the  remotest  idea  of  organizing 
a  distinct  or  separate  body  of  people."  But  driven  out  of  the  pulpits  of  the  Re- 
formed Church,  ostracised  and  persecuted,  he  was  led  to  a  closer  personal  investi- 
gation of  church  polity.  He  went  to  the  highest  source  for  light.  He  applied 
himself  with  singleness  of  purpose  to  the  study  of  the  word  of  God.  The  result 
was  a  material  modification  of  his  former  views  on  ecclesiology.  As  he  himself 
testified  later:  "As  the  writer's  views  had  by  this  time  materially  changed  as  to 
the  true  nature  of  a  scriptural  organization  of  churches,  he  adopted  the  apostolic 
plan,  as  taught  in  the  New  Testament,  and  established  spiritual,  free  and  inde- 
pendent churches,  consisting  of  believers  or  Christians  only,  without  any  human 
name,  or  creed,  or  ordinances,  or  laws."  The  local  church  was  the  unit.  It  possessed 
perfect  autonomy.      It  was  wholly  independent  of  every  other  unit.     Each  such 


General,    History 


21 


unit  "possesses  in  its  organized  state,"  as  AVinebrenner  expressed  it  in  1829,  "suf- 
ficient power  to  perform  all  acts  of  religious  worship,  and  everything  relating  to 
ecclesiastical  government  and  discipline.  Every  individual  church  is  strictly  in- 
dependent of  all  others  as  it  respects  religious  worship  and  the  general  government 
of  its  own  affairs."  Fellowship  between  these  "free  and  independent"  units  there 
would  be,  but  no  higher  organization  was  then  recognized  by  Winebrenner  which 
could  limit  the  powers  of  the  local  church.  Each  of  these  local  organizations  would 
accept  no  human  name,  creed  or  ordinances;  but  would  adopt  the  divine  name, 
and  creed,  and  ordinances.  Winebrenner  had  not  yet  changed  his  views  on  doc- 
trine and  ordinances.  In  his  broad  platform  he  saw  a  basis  of  the  union  of  all 
Christians  and  Churches.  And  so  the  imperative  duty  of  cultivating  union  between 
all  believers  was  strongly  urged.  These  views  prepared  the  way  for  Winebrenner 
to  fall  in  with  the  growing  demand  for  local  church  organization.  For  the  multi- 
tudes of  converts  had  "conceived  the  idea  of,  and  begun  to  talk  about,  organizing 
themselves  into  churches  founded  on  Bible  doctrines  and  principles  even  before 
W^inebrenner  had  determined  in  his  own  mind  to  do  so." 


Mulberry    Street   Union    Bethel. 
The  First  House  of  Worship  Built  by  a  Church  of  God. 


There  has  been  a  good  deal  of  contention  over  the  question  of  priority  in  the 
organization  of  churches  of  God.  Claims  have  been  strongly  urged  in  favor  of 
each  of  three  organizations,  viz.:  Lower  Paxton  Township,  commonly  called  Mil- 
ler's church;  Linglestown,  and  Harrisburg.  Winebrenner  has  left  nothing  on 
record  touching  this  question.  Primacy  has  to  be  established  by  other  testimony. 
The  earliest  date  given  is  1825.  Judge  Pearson  gives  this  date  in  his  Opinion  in 
the  Equity  suit  of  John  Winebrenner  et  al.  versus  James  Colder  et  al.  He  says: 
"In  the  year  1825  a  congregation  of  worshipers  was  formed  in  this  place  [Harris- 
burg], calling  itself  'the  church  of  God  at  Harrisburg,'  and  professing  to  have  no 
other  creed  than  the  Bible,  with  an  independent  church  government.  The  denomi- 
nation thus  started  continued  to  flourish  and  spread  over  the  State,  forming  many 
congregations,  having  no  connection  with  each  other  until  the  year  1830,  when  a 
confederation  took  place,  as  the  witnesses  say,  for  the  mere  purpose  of  co-operation, 
by  which  an  Eldership  was  formed."  This  Opinion  was  delivered  Aug.  3,  1861. 
Winebrenner  was  one  of  the  witnesses,  as  the  case  was  started  more  than  n  year 
before  his  death.     The  principal  corroborative  testimony  is  found  in  the  "Bill  in 


22  History    of    thk    Churches    of    God 

Equity"  in  the  suit  above  referred  to,  in  which  is  this  statement:  "Your  Orators 
further  show  that  the  church  of  God  at  Harrisburg  was  duly  organized  about  the 
year  1825."  That  the  organization  was  effected  prior  to  1827  is  the  testimony  of 
A.  O.  Raysor,  who  received  his  data  from  Andrew  Miller,  in  whose  house  the  Lower 
Paxton  church  was  organized,  and  who  was  a  member  of  the  first  Eldership.  Upon 
this  and  other  evidence  he  avers  that  the  church  in  Harrisburg  was  the  first  organi- 
zation of  a  church  of  God.  In  September,  18  56,  J.  F.  Weishampel,  Sr.,  who  was 
connected  officially  with  The  Gospel  Publisher  and  The  Church  Advocate  when  the 
editorial  department  was  in  the  basement  of  the  "Mulberry  Street  Bethel,"  wrote 
that  said  bethel  was  "built  by  the  first  congregation  of  the  church  of  God."  J.  Q. 
Fryer,  in  March,  187  3,  gave  public  testimony  that  the  church  in  Harrisburg  was 


Fourth  Street  Bethel,  Build  1854. 


first  organized:  "I  was  present  when  they  went  into  the  first  organization  at  Har- 
risburg, Pa.  That  created  considerable  stir  among  sectarians,  but  up  to  that  time 
some  of  them  had  hoped  that  Winebrenner  would  unite  with  them.  They  raised 
the  cry  that  he  had  set  up  for  himself."  So  that  while  a  later  date  has  been  given 
(1829)  by  some  writers,  it  seems  evident  that  "the  church  of  God  at  Harrisburg" 
was  organized  prior  to  1827,  and  possibly  in  1825. 

As  to  the  date  when  the  first  house  of  worship  by  a  church  of  God  was  built  there 
can  be  no  dispute.  True,  there  has  been  rivalry  on  this  point  between  the  advo- 
cates of  priority  for  Linglestown  and  Harrisburg;  but  the  testimony  in  favor  of 
either  is  clear  and  explicit,  and  is  in  favor  of  the  latter.  Inscriptions  in  stone  are 
better  than  the  testimony  of  witnesses.  Weishampel  calls  the  bethel  in  Harrisburg 
*'the  old,  original  bethel."      He  saw  the  corner-stone,  and  states  that  "the  church 


Ge:neral,    History  23 

here  has  reserved  the  pulpit  for  their  own  use,  and  the  seats  for  sale;  and  they  also 
will  take  out  of  the  wall  the  corner-stone  and  its  contents."  He  adds,  that  the 
bethel  was  built  in  1827.  AVinebi-enner,  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the 
Fourth  Street  Bethel,  in  September,  18.54,  in  his  Address  on  the  occasion,  says: 
"Twenty-seven  years  ago  we  laid  the  corner-stone  of  the  'Union  Bethel'  on  Mul- 
berry street."  A.  C.  Kaysor,  later  a  member  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership, 
but  who  was  born  and  raised  within  two  miles  of  Harrisburg,  and  whose  father 
was  a  member  of  the  church  organized  at  the  farmhouse  of  Andrew  Miller,  wrote 
in  February,  1880:  "I  remember  reading  the  inscription  on  the  corner-stone  of 
the  bethel  on  Mulberry  street  many  times.  I  think  it  reads:  'This  Union  Bethel, 
built  A.  D.  1827.'  "  According  to  AVeishampel's  statement  this  corner-stone  was 
"reserved"  by  the  church  when  the  Mulberry  street  property  was  sold,  and  for  many 
years  it  was  lying  in  the  cellar  of  the  Fourth  Street  Bethel.  When  the  Nagle  Street 
Bethel,  Harrisburg,  was  built  it  was  removed,  and  changed  to  be  the  corner-stone 
of  that  bethel.  But  the  old  inscription  remains  on  the  stone.  "The  Harrisburg 
Telegraph,"  in  its  issue  of  Nov.  6,  1874,  gives  an  account  of  the  corner-stone  laying 
of  the  Nagle  Street  church,  in  which  is  this  paragraph:  "The  corner-stone  was 
taken  from  the  old  church  building  on  Mulberry  street,  where  the  City  Hospital 
now  stands.  It  bears  the  following  inscription:  'The  Union  Bethel.  Built  A.  D. 
1827.'  " 

Other  testimony  is  to  the  effect  that  it  was  in  the  early  part  of  the  Summer  of 
1827  that  this  Union  Bethel  was  built  and  dedicated.  This  property  was  sold 
when,  in  1854,  the  present  house  of  worship  on  Fourth  street  was  erected,  and 
which  Winebrenner  strenuously  insisted  should  be  called  "The  Metropolitan 
Bethel." 

In  1824-5  AVinebi-enner  began  preaching  at  intervals  in  Linglestown,  or  St. 
Thomas  as  it  was  originally  called,  before  the  doors  of  Wenrick's  Reformed  and 
Lutheran  church  were  closed  against  him.  This  church  is  located  about  half  a 
mile  eastward  from  the  village.  Later,  in  1827,  he  preached  regularly  in  the  vil- 
lage, in  the  school-house,  in  private  houses  and  under  the  trees.  As  school-houses 
were  everywhere  open  for  preaching  there  was  less  immediate  need  for  the  building 
of  a  house  of  worship.  Yet  the  order  was  reversed,  and  the  bethel  was  built  before 
the  church  was  organized.  A  number  of  Winebi-enner's  friends,  some  of.  whom  had 
been  catechized  by  him  and  who  were  afterwards  converted  under  his  preaching, 
withdrew  from  the  church  and  followed  him  to  the  village.  They  felt  that  "they 
could  not  retain  their  spiritual  life  by  remaining  in  those  churches  to  which  they 
had  formerly  belonged,  and  which  had  totally  sunk  into  a  dead  and  spiritless  for- 
mality." Yet  for  more  than  two  years  they  maintained  their  separate  existence 
without  an  organization.  According  to  the  official  Records  a  meeting  of  these  con- 
verts was  called  for  June  29,  1829,  when  a  regular  church  organization  was  effect- 
ed.    They  drew  up  a  regular  "covenant"  in  these  words: 

"We,  the  undersigned,  do  hereby  mutually  covenant  and  agree  to  form  our- 
selves into  a  church  of  God  on  the  New  Testament  plan. 

"We  further  agree  to  take  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  as 
the  only  authoritative  rule  of  our  Christian  faith  and  practice. 

"And,  moreover,  we  promise  cheerfully  and  quietly  to  submit  to  the  order  of 
•Christ's  house,  and  to  obey  the  office-bearers  who  are,  or  at  any  time  may  be, 
placed  over  us  in  the  Lord." 

To  this  covenant  were  signed  the  following  names:  John  Moyer,  Peter  Bona- 
witz,  John  Walborn,  Frederick  Deal,  John  Forney,  John  Bretz,  Daniel  Lingle,  Abra- 
ham'Shope,  John  Strohm,  Conrad  Laudermach,  John  Carmany,  David  Shafner,  Solo- 
mon Felty,  John  Huffnagle,  William  Cassel,  William  Crum,  Jacob  Huffnagle,  Wil- 
liam Pretz,  Christian  Forney,  George  Burgoen,  John  Geesey,  John  Duncan,  Joseph 
■Gerverich,  Thomas  Pretz,  Benjamin  Reeme,  Peter  Crum,  Samuel  Hicks,  Augustus 
Stoner,  John  Hatz,  Jacob  Burgoyne,  Henry  Geesey,  David  Maxwell,  David  Walborn, 
John  Shope,  Elizabeth  Gerberich,  Elizabeth  Crum,  Sarah  Miller,  Catherine  Bretz, 
Elizabeth  Shope,  Margaret  Walborn,  Barbara  Urich,  Barbara  Lingle,  Sarah  Smith, 
May  Shartzer,  Catherine  Unger,  Polly  Pletz,  Catherine  Shaffner,  Jane  Culpin,  Ame- 
lia Fritchey,  Sarah  Strohm,  Elizabeth  Nantel,  Mary  Stoner,  Elizabeth  Garverich, 
Matilda  Dorsey,  Catherine  Wenrich,  Elizabeth  Reeme,  Mary  Felty,  Maria  Baker, 
Jane  Pergey,  Anna  Burgeon,  Elizabeth  Shaffner,  Dorothy  Fritchey,  Elizabeth 
Dumars,  Mary  Bretz,  Mary  Reeme,  Mary  Burlin,  Polly  Carson,  Barbara  Forney, 
•Catherine  Foeht,  Susanna  Smith,  Elizabeth    Forney,    Catherine    Huffnagle,    Mary 


■2\ 


History    of   the    Churches    of    God 


Stuart,  Margaret  Stuart,  Rebecca  Feezer,  Barbara  Bonawitz,  Mary  Garverich,  Mar- 
garet Garverich,  Sarah  Huft'nagle  and  Anna  Cassel. 

The  church  thus  constituted  proceeded  to  effect  an  organization  by  the  election 
of  the  following: — Elders:  John  Walborn,  Peter  Crum,  Peter  Bonawitz,  William 
Pretz,  Christian  Forney.  Deacons:  John  Bretz,  John  Forney  and  Benjamin  Reeme. 
"These  brethren,"  the.  Minutes  state,  "were  duly  elected  by  a  majority  vote  of  the 
members." 

The  date  of  the  building  of  the  first  bethel  in  Linglestown  is  not  quite  so 
definitely  known.  Benjamin  Reenie,  one  of  the  deacons  elected  in  1829,  in  a  letter 
published  in  February,  1880,  says  he  worked  at  the  bethel  during  its  erection,  and 
that  it  was  "built  in  the  Summer  of  1827,  just  before  harvest."  A.  Snyder,  in  a 
discussion  of  this  subject  in  the  same  year  concludes  that  "the  old  bethel  in  Lingles- 
town was  built  in  the  forepart  of  the  Summer  of  1827."  But  evidently  the  work 
was  not  finished  at  the  time  here  indicated,  for  Benjamin  Reeme  further  testifies 
that  the  house  was  "dedicated  on  Christmas  day." 


First  Bethel,  LinglestoAvn. 


A  "protracted  meeting"  began  with  the  dedication,  which  resulted  in  quite  a. 
revival  and  a  number  of  accessions  to  the  as  yet  unorganized  church.  Those  were- 
the  "seasons  of  glorious  revivals"  with  which  these  young  churches  were  blessed. 
In  them  many  "who  were  confirmed  as  members  of  the  Reformed  and  Lutheran. 
Churches,  but  who  afterward  found  themselves  still  poor  sinners,  without  religion, 
and  without  peace  to  their  troubled  souls,  sought  the  Lord  like  weeping  Mary,  and 
found  him  to  the  joy  and  comfort  of  their  souls." 

After  standing  twenty-four  years,  in  1851  a  tower  and  steeple  were  built  at 
the  south  gable  end  of  the  bethel  and  a  bell  placed  therein,  "which  continued  to 
call  the  multitudes  to  the  service  of  the  sanctuary  till  the  old  bethel  was  replaceci 
by  a  new  building,"  in  the  year  187  0. 


GiiNERAL    History 


25 


struck  by  lightning  during  funeral  services  September  15,  1893,  it  escaped 
serious  damage,  and  withstood  the  storms  of  thirtj'-five  Winters,  to  be  finally  torn 
down  and  replaced  in  a  new  location  in  the  village  by  a  building  of  modern  archi- 
tecture, in  the  year  1905. 

The  work  in  Lower  Paxton  Township,  Dauphin  county,  at  Andrew  Miller's, 
was  peculiar.  Andrew  Miller's  dwelling-house,  on  his  farm,  a  mile  south  of  Shoope's 
church,  was  the  "meeting-house."  There  was  stated  preaching  there  every  eight 
weeks  by  John  Neidig  and  Jacob  Roop.  The  former  was  a  regular  minister  of  the 
United  Brethren  Church,  a  farmer,  of  German  birth,  and  formerly  a  member  of  the 
Mennonite  Church.  Roop  at  this  time  was  not  a  minister  of  the  United  Brethren 
Church,  but  had  affiliated  with  them.  He  taught  and  practiced  immersion  and 
feet-washing,  as  did  Neidig.  It  is  from  this  source,  and  not  from  AVinebrenner, 
that  they  received  these  ordinances,  and  that  they  were  introduced  into  the  United 
Brethren  Church  of  that  day.     Boehm,  a  prominent  leader  in  said  Church,  was 


Second  Bethel,  Linglestown. 


also  originally  a  Mennonite.  Abraham  Moyer,  another  minister  of  the  United 
Brethren  Church,  baptized  Andrew  Miller  and  his  wife  and  one  daughter.  Many 
of  the  members  of  this  little  company  of  believers  were  converted  as  long  as  ten 
years  before  a  church  organization  was  effected,  or  even  before  Winebrenner  left 
the  Reformed  Church.  They  were  principally  German  farmers,  and  worshiped  God 
in  the  humble  simplicity  of  those  early  days.  It  is  not  in  evidence  that  any  of  them 
had  been  members  of  the  Reformed  Church.  But  whether  or  not,  they  stood  aloof 
from  all  ecclesiastical  bodies,  and  because  of  their  aversion  to  sectarianism  did  not 
organize  themselves  into  a  local  church  for  some  years.  Neidig  and  Roop  urged 
organization.  Winebrenner  had  no  connection  with  them.  They  had  ministers 
of  the  United  Brethren  Church  to  preach  for  them.      They  held  prayer-meetings 


26 


History    of    tiii-:    Churches    of    God 


and  observed  the  three  ordinances  of  immersion,  the  Lord's  Supper  and  washing 
of  the  saints'  feet. 

When  these   believers  were  finally   prevailed   upon  to  consider  seriously  the 
matter  of  church  organization,  a  meeting  was  called  for  that  purpose  at  the  farm- 


Third  Bethel,  Linglestown. 


house  of  Andrew  Miller,  four  miles  east  of  Harrisburg.  The  meeting  was  called  by 
Jacob  Snyder  and  Jacob  Roop,  Snyder  also  being  an  accredited  minister  of  the  Uni- 
ted Brethren  Church.  They  were  both  present  and  participated  in  the  delibera- 
tions and  the  services.  Koop  joined  the  organization,  but  Snyder  did  not.  Roop 
afterwards  went  back  to  the  United  Brethren  Church.      The  date  of  this  meeting 


General    History  27 

can  not  be  positively  fixed.  It  was  on  a  Tuesday  evening,  but  the  day  of  the  month 
and  the  year  are  uncertain.  A.  C.  Raysor  states  in  a  communication  of  February 
25,  1880,  that  it  was  "in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1830,"  but  in  a  general  state- 
ment in  the  same  communication  he  says  it  was  between  1828  and  1830.  The 
point  was  a  part  of  a  United  Brethren  circuit,  and  Raysor  Icnew  that  Neidig  was 
preacher  in  charge  of  this  circuit  during  the  period  from  1828  to  1830,  "and  in  that 
time  the  church  was  organized."  Samuel  Miller,  son  of  Andrew  Miller,  in  his  "Rec- 
ollections of  the  History  and  the  Origin  and  First  Organization  of  the  Church  of 
God  in  North  America,"  published  in  1905,  says  the  church  at  his  father's  house, 
was  organized  "about  the  year  A.  D.  1828."  He  fixes  this  date  by  the  date  of  the 
first  organization  at  Linglestown,  June  29,  1829,  which  was  "soon  after  the  or- 
ganization of  the  church  at  the  dwelling-house  of  Andrew  Miller."  ' 

Winebrenner's  connection  with  this  movement  began  with  this  meeting.  He 
was  invited  to  be  present,  and  "to  aid  them  by  his  counsel."  When  the  company 
had  assembled  they  concluded  that  a  sermon  should  be  preached,  by  one  of  the 
preachers  present,  on  "The  Scriptural  Organization  and  Government  of  the  Church." 
Winebrenner  was  selected  to  preach  the  sermon.  He  at  first  declined,  saying,  that 
he  "had  not  come  there  to  take  any  part  at  all,  but  simply  to  see  and  to  hear." 
But  being  strongly  urged,  he  finally  consented,  and  preached  the  substance  of  what 
is  since  known  as  "Winebrenner's  Brief  View  of  the  Formation,  Government  and 
Discipline  of  the  Church  of  God."  As  this  work  was  first  published  in  1829,  and 
possibly  prior  to  the  organization  of  the  Lower  Paxton  Township  (or  Miller's) 
church,  it  helps  to  fix  the  date  of  said  organization  in  1829.  After  the  sermon  they 
proceeded  to  enroll  the  names  of  those  who  were  ready  "to  enter  into  a  church  re- 
lationship with  each  other,  and  to  take  nothing  but  the  Bible  as  their  rule  of  faith 
and  practice."  Nineteen  names  were  subscribed,  viz.:  Andrew  Miller,  Abraham 
Bomberger,  Christian  Hoover,  Daniel  Raysor,  John  Raysor,  Jacob  Roop,  Daniel 
Shell,  John  Lenkert,  Barnard  Shope,  Thomas  Whitmyer,  Henry  Herr,  Anna  Miller, 
Fanny  Hoover,  Esther  Hoover,  Barbara  Raysor,  Susannah  Raysor,  Elizabeth  Shope, 
Nancy  Swartz,  Catharine  Lenkert.  The  officers  elected  were: — Elders:  Andrew 
Miller,  Abraham  Bomberger  and  Daniel  Raysor.  Deacons:  John  Lenkert  and 
Barnard  Shope. 

At  the  close  of  these  services  the  ordinances  of  the  Lord's  house  were  admin- 
istered, and  Winebrenner  was  "invited  to  participate  with  them  in  the  ordinance  of 
washing  of  the  saints'  feet  religiously."  He  replied:  "Brethren,  I  can  not  go  any 
faster  than  I  have  light."  Miller  states  that  "soon  after  that  meeting  he  received 
light,  and  observed  the  ordinance  of  the  washing  of  the  saints'  feet  religiously,  and 
advocated  its  observance."  Up  to  this  time  he  had  changed  his  views  only  on  the 
organization,  name,  government  and  discipline  of  the  church.  This  Lower  Paxton 
church,  though  it  became  largely  disintegrated  by  removals  and  withdrawals,  is  the 
parent  of  the  Progress  church  of  God,  and  the  grand-parents  of  the  Penbrook 
church  of  God. 

One  of  the  most  notable  meetings  held  by  Winebrenner  in  his  early  years  was 
what  was  called  "the  great  revival  at  Lisburn,"  in  Cumberland  county,  near  the 
York  county  line,  south  of  Shiremanstown.  He  paid  his  first  visit  to  this  little 
village  in  1824.  "The  people  of  Lisburn  hired  him  to  preach  for  them  in  the  year 
1825."  A  nvimber  were  converted  during  that  year,  among  them  were  Samuel 
Sherick,  Benjamin  Mohler,  Isaac  Millard  and  "the  father  of  Thomas  Hickernell," 
subsequently  the  great  revivalist  of  the  West.  But  "the  great  revival"  followed, 
in  1826,  when  the  Hickernell  brothers  were  converted.  Thomas  Hickernell  states 
that  "the  meetings  were  held  in  a  large  room  in  a  tavern-stand  owned  by  Mr.  Mc- 
Cann.  He  himself  was  converted  on  the  last  Friday  in  February,  1826.  In  graphic 
language  he  recites  one  of  the  most  impressive  scenes  of  the  great  meeting:  "On 
the  evening  of  the  above-named  day,  when  the  congregation  was  assembled,  \\  inc- 
brenner  came  from  an  adjoining  room  with  a  child  in  his  arms,  and  held  it  up  be- 
fore the  people,  and  said,  'Except  ye  be  converted  and  become  as  little  children,  ye 
can  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.'  A  certain  Presbyterian  lady  cried  out 
most  bitterly  for  mercy.  In  less  than  five  minutes  her  soul  was  set  at  liberty,  and 
she  called  on  her  husband,  and  after  they  embraced  each  other,  weeping  over  each 
other's  necks,  they  took  their  seats.  AVinebrenner  still  stood  erect,  with  his  eyes 
closed  and  his  arms  stretched -out,  crying  out  with  a  loud  voice,  'My  God!  and  hast 
thou  sent  me  here  to  preach  to-day?'  He  then  stood  up  on  a  bench  and  preached  a 
short  but  plain  discourse.  When  he  was  through  quite  a  number  got  down  where 
they  were  sitting  to  be  prayed  for."      Others  came  forward  to  a  bench  near  where 


28  History   oi"   thk    Churches    of    God 

Winebrenner  stood  while  he  preached.  An  unusually  large  number  of  persons  pro- 
fessed conversion  at  this  meeting. 

Many  of  these  converts  associated  themselves  together  and  held  prayer-meet- 
ings and  other  religious  services.  John  Hickeniell  not  long  after  his  conversion 
"occasionally  exercised  in  exhortation,"  and  later  entered  the  regular  ministry. 
Thomas  Hickeniell  "commenced  opening  religious  meetings  at  the  age  of  sixteen," 
and  when  twenty  years  of  age  he  entered  the  ministry.  For  about  two  years  these- 
converts  were  thus  held  together,  when  in  1828  the  first  organization  was  effected. 
Thomas  Hickeniell,  March  31,  1880,  recorded  this  fact  in  these  words:  "The 
church  at  Lisburn  was  organized  in  1828,  two  years  after  I  was  converted."  But 
there  was  considerable  native  talent  in  this  church,  by  the  use  of  which,  and  the 
deep  personal  piety  of  the  members,  its  life  was  preserved  and  its  growth  continued 
uninterruptedly  during  this  chaotic  period.  Five  of  these  converts,  including  the 
two  Hickernells,  became  preachers  of  that  same  gospel  which  so  gloriously  saved 
them. 

Andersontown,  York  county,  within  a  short  distance  of  Lisburn,  has  by  some 
been  given  priority  over  all  the  other  organizations  of  churches  of  God.  The  pastor 
of  the  circuit  which  includes  Lisburn  and  Andersontown,  in  1880,  stated  that  his 
field  embraced  "some  of  the  points  where  the  Church  was  first  organized  and  known 
as  the  Church  of  God  a  little  over  fifty  years  ago."  He  then  claims  that  "the 
church  at  Andersontown  was  first  formally  organized  about  the  year  1826,  with  the 
following  named  persons:  John  Hutton,  William  Tate,  Jacob  May,  John  Ayres, 
Samuel  Arter,  Henry  Beck  and  a  few  others  whose  names  are  not  mentioned." 
Among  others  "who  were  gradually  added  were  John  Wiley,  George  Wiley  and  wife, 
Jacob  Traver  and  wife  and  a  few  others."  Jacob  Traver  died  at  Marysville,  Pa.,  in 
October,  1880,  and  was  survived  by  John  Wiley,  who,  according  to  his  pastor's 
statement,  was  "the  only  one  of  the  original  organization  which  survived  him." 
He  stated  at  that  time  that  "the  church  at  Andersontown  was  organized  in  the  year 
1836." 

"The  History  of  Dauphin  County,  Pa.,  by  Luther  Reily  Kelker,"  1907,  states 
that  "the  first  members  of  this  congregation  [the  Middletown  church  of  God],  in 

1827,  were  Susanna   Smuller,  Bare,   Elizabeth   King,  Jacob  Rife,   Joshua 

Heppich,  Jacob  Benner,  John  Benner,  Henry  Siple,  Joseph  Ross,  George  Smuller, 
George  Etter,  Conrad  Seabauch,  George  Baker,  John  McFarland,  Eliza  Longhead 
and  Eva  Crist.  The  first  elders  (1827)  were  Joshua  Heppich  and  John  McFarland." 
The  corroborative  item  in  this  narrative  is,  that  this  occurred  about  the  time  of 
the  organization  of  the  church  at  Linglestown.  This  evidently  refers  to  the  build- 
ing of  the  bethel  at  Linglestown,  and  not  the  organization  of  the  church.  This 
date  also  corresponds  with  other  facts  and  evidence  which  are  accessible. 

As  early  as  1822  AViiiebrenner  contemplated  preaching  at  Middletown.  One 
of  the  complaints  heard  by  the  trial  Committee  on  October  2,  1822,  was  that  Wine- 
brenner "has  already  made  arrangements  to  give  up  two  of  the  congregations  which 
form  a  part  of  our  connection."  Winebrenner's  answer  to  this  was,  "That  as  Mid- 
dletown and  Hummelstown  were  once  part  of  the  Harrisburg  charge,  and  are  desti- 
tute of  preaching,  he  intended  to  supply  them  for  awhile,  provided  arrangements 
could  be  made  with  the  country  churches."  How  long  he  preached  at  Middletown 
can  not  be  determined,  but  he  had  made  quite  a  number  of  friends,  some  of  whom 
were  recognized  as  "members  of  his  congregation,"  and  who  secured  his  services  at 
the  funeral  of  Mrs.  Black  prior  to  the  Winter  of  1825.  He  also  had  pronounced 
enemies,  who  at  this  funeral  "refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with  him,  on  the 
ground  that  he  was  not  a  minister  in  good  standing  in  any  Church."  The  funeral 
sermon  was  preached  in  the  old  Lutheran  stone  house  of  worship,  and  so  favorable 
was  the  impression  made  upon  the  minds  of  many  in  the  congregation  that  he  was 
invited  to  return  and  preach.  This  he  did  in  the  Winter  of  1825.  At  this  time 
there  were  only  two  houses  of  worship  in  the  town.  The  doors  of  the  Lutheran 
house  were  soon  closed  against  him,  the  interest  being  so  intense  that  the  house 
at  times  could  not  contain  half  the  people  that  gathered  from  town  and  country  to 
listen  to  the  eloquent  and  impressive  sermons  which  fell  from  the  lips  of  Wine- 
brenner." But  Mrs.  Flanagan,  who  had  charge  of  the  Ebenezer  Methodist  meeting- 
house, opened  that  building  to  him,  and  under  his  ministrations  a  great  revival 
commenced.  He  continued  preaching  alternately  in  this  house  with  the  Methodist 
circuit  preacher  for  some  time.  Jacob  Benner  was  one  of  the  converts  of  this  meet- 
ing, the  first  revival  services  Winebrenner  held  at  Middletown.  But  no  church  or- 
ganization was  formed  at  this  time. 


General    History  29 

In  January,  1827,  "AVinebrenner,  in  connection  with  some  other  ministers," 
again  conducted  a  revival  meeting  in  Middletown.  One  of  the  converts  of  this 
meeting  w^as  Jacob  J.  Miller,  later  a  minister  in  the  Iowa  Eldership,  who  died  July 
5,  1874.  He  gave  the  date  of  his  conversion  as  "Sabbath  evening,  January  27, 
1827,"  and  states  that  this  was  "before  there  were  any  churches  of  God  organized." 
But  as  at  the  time  he  was  living  in  Conawago  township,  York  county,  he  might  not 
have  been  informed  of  what  had  been  done  in  other  localities  in  Dauphin  county. 
In  his  account  of  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  second  bethel  at  Middletown, 
July  8,  1874,  the  pastor,  George  Sigler,  read  a  brief  history  of  the  church  of  God  at 
Middletown.  He  states  that  "the  little  group  of  Christians  which  was  formed  in 
1827  continued  to  spread  its  influence  until  this  whole  community  has  felt  its  power 
for  good."  If  this  statement  is  equivalent  to  the  organization  of  the  church,  then 
the  year  is  positively  fixed. 

Winebi-enner's  first  visit  to  Elizabethtown,  Lancaster  county.  Pa.,  was  in  the 
Summer  of  182  6.  Dr.  George  Ross,  a  native  of  the  place,  and  later  one  of  the  most 
prominent  and  influential  laymen  of  the  Church,  in  1880  gave  an  interesting  ac- 
count of  Wiiiebrenner's  preaching  there  at  that  time.  The  news  of  his  separation 
from  the  Reformed  Church  caused  "the  wildest  opposition  and  the  most  intense 
religious  excitement."  The  multitude  are  impulsive;  move  quickly,  and  lack  the 
self-restraint  of  the  few.  They  were  anxious  to  hear  the  new  leader  of  religious 
thought,  and  he  received  many  invitations  to  visit  the  town  and  proclaim  the  gos- 
pel. His  fame  had  preceded  him,  and  wherever  he  went  large  numbers  flocked  to 
hear  him,  traveling  often  long  distances  for  that  purpose.  There  were  remarkable 
displays  of  God's  power  under  his  preaching.  When  he  consented  to  preach  a 
sermon  at  Elizabethtown  no  church-house  could  be  secured  in  the  village,  and  ar- 
rangements were  made  for  him  to  preach  at.Ober's  meeting-house,  on  the  turnpike 
about  two  miles  west  of  the  town.  A  great  crowd  came  together,  many  walking 
the  two  miles  from  Elizabethtown.  AVinebrenner  was  no  sensationalist.  It  was 
only  the  power  of  the  gospel  he  preached  which  created  sensations.  Many,  how- 
ever, believed  that  he  possessed  supernatural  powers  over  his  audiences.  His  text 
on  this  occasion  was  characteristic:  "Behold,  I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock.  If 
any  man  hear  my  voice,  and  open  the  door,  I  will  come  in  to  him,  and  will  sup  with 
him,  and  he  with  me."  The  report  went  out  from  this  service  that  "the  preaching 
was  very  plain,  and  wonderful  in  its  power;  that  he  was  a  superior  preacher,  and 
spoke  nothing  but  the  truth."  This  gained  him  an  entrance,  through  one  of  the 
ruling  elders,  into  the  pulpit  of  the  Lutheran  church  in  the  town.  There  he  held 
services  later  in  the  same  Summer.  But  it  made  such  a  disturbance  in  the  church 
that  one  of  the  elders  withdrew  from  the  church,  and  the  pastor  was  obliged  to 
defend  himself  for  permitting  Winebrenner  to  preach  in  his  pulpit.  On  this  occa- 
sion his  text  was,  "Our  Father,  which  art  in  heaven."  He  insisted  that  only  Chris- 
tians could  say,  "Our  Father"  with  truth,  and  that  the  wicked  and  unconverted 
could  with  more  propriety  say,  "Our  Father,  which  art  in  hell." 

He  next  visited  Elizabethtown  and  preached  in  the  Fall  of  1826.  The  services 
were  held  in  the  bar-room  of  the  hotel,  kept  by  Major  Michael  Breneman,  in  which 
benches  and  chairs  had  been  placed  to  accommodate  the  people.  While  opposition 
became  fiercer,  friends  increased  and  gathered  around  the  faithful  gospel  mes- 
senger. The  use  of  an  old  school-house,  standing  in  an  alley,  was  secured,  and 
here  Winebrenner  preached  occasionally.  Many  were  converted  at  his  meetings, 
which  were  nearly  always  held  on  week  evenings.  His  plan  was  to  preach  in  the 
afternoon,  and  hold  prayer  and  inquiry  meetings  in  the  evening.  In  some  in- 
stances violence  was  threatened;  but  while  opposition  was  intense,  a  restraining 
providence  held  back  the  enraged  mob.  The  converts  of  these  meetings,  however, 
were  not  constituted  a  church,  and  duly  organized,  until  about  ten  years  later. 
Persecuted  and  despised;  practically  driven  out  of  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed 
churches,  "they  banded  together  and  defended  each  other  against  the  assaults  of 
their  enemies.  The  scoflings  of  the  people  brought  about  a  strong  bond  of  union, 
and  love,  and  Christian  fellowship.  They  kept  together,  however,  and  held  prayer- 
meetings.  For  a  while  there  was  no  preaching  in  Elizabethtown,  but  in  the  vicinity 
of  it,  chiefly  at  the  house  of  Michael  Cramer,  east  of  town." 

While  Lebanon  county  is  referred  to  as  territory  on  which  work  was  done  by 
Winebrenner  prior  to  1830,  no  churches  were  organized  in  said  county  until  later. 
He  held  a  protracted  meeting  in  Annville  (then  Millerstown) ,  near  the  town  of 
Lebanon,  "soon  after  he  had  commenced  his  labors  independent  of  the  Reformed 
Church";    but  the  church  at  said  place  was  not  then  organized,  though  quite  a 


30  History    of   thi>    Churches    of    God 

number  of  unconverted  members  of  the  Reformed  Church  sought  and  found  the 
blessing  of  the  new  birth,  which  AVinebrenner  so  faithfully  preached."  Some  of  the 
converts  at  a  camp-meeting  held  at  Middletown  in  1827  were  from  Annville,  and  car- 
ried the  good  news  to  that  village.  Besides,  in  1827  a  camp-meeting  was  held  in 
a  woods  close  to  the  borough  of  Lebanon,  at  which  Winebrenner  preached,  and  in 
the  meeting-house  near  by.  "There  were  marvelous  displays  of  God's  power.  Men 
fell  prostrate  on  the  ground;  scores  cried  for  mercy,  and  pardoning  grace  was- 
poured  into  many  hearts." 

The  church  of  God  at  Lancaster  city,  Lancaster  county,  Pa.,  is  the  oldest  con- 
tinuous organization  of  the  Church  of  God  in  the  United  States.  It  was  established 
about  the  year  1816,  under  the  ministry  of  John  Elliott,  a  member  of  the  first  Eld- 
ership. It  was  an  independent  church,  of  Baptist  tendencies,  but  had  Reformed, 
Methodist  and  Baptist  ministers  in  addition  to  Elliott.  The  date  when  it  first 
affiliated  with  the  followers  of  Winebi-enner  can  not  be  definitely  fixed,  but  prob- 
ably about  1827.  The  fact  that  the  first  churches  of  God  were  all  organized  "on 
an  independent  basis,"  and  that  their  faith  was  virtually  identical  with  that  of  the 
Lancaster  church,  also  called  a  church  of  God,  would  prepare  the  way  for  mutual 
fellowship.  They  owned  a  house  of  worship  known  as  the  "White  Bethel,"  located 
on  East  Chestnut  street  nearly  opposite  the  present  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Station. 
Elliott  was  an  Englishman,  "a  great  and  mighty  man."  Winebrenner  was  invited 
to  Lancaster  in  1827,  and  assisted  in  a  revival,  characterized  as  "the  first  great 
revival  in  Lancaster."  "He  preached  with  wonderful  power.  He  was  so  wrought 
upon  that  in  the  middle  of  his  sermon  he  stopped,  .and  with  extended,  uplifted  arms- 
and  trembling  hands,  stood  in  the  pulpit  and  wept.  The  congregation  wept  aloud. 
The  people  fell  on  their  knees  all  over  the  house,  crying  for  mercy.  About  forty 
were  converted  that  night."  It  may  be  assumed  that  from  this  date  on  the  Lan- 
caster church  was  one  of  the  local  organizations  marshaled  under  the  banner  of 
the  Church  of  God. 

The  divine  will,  like  the  human,  works  through  the  instrumentality  of  means. 
The  Duke  of  Argyll,  in  his  profound  and  subtle  book,  "The  Reign  of  Law,"  thinks 
it  curious  how  the  language  of  the  grand  seers  of  the  Old  Testament  corresponds 
with  this  idea.      They  ascribe  all  the  operations  of  nature  to  the  working  of  divine 
power.      All  things,  too,  are  represented  as  in  some  way,  often  very  mysterious  to 
us.  working  out  the  divine  purpose.      Even  the  heat    and    passion    of    men,    their 
"wrath,"  shall  be  permitted,  restrained  and  controlled  to  praise  God.      Thus  the 
passion  of  wicked  men  against  the  servants  and  people  of  God  is  often  tributary  to 
his  praise.      Furious  winds,  says  Spurgeon,  often  drive  vessels  the  more  swiftly  into 
port.      So  it  was  in  more  than  one  instance  in  the  absence  of  such  purpose  in  the 
rapid   succession   of  events  in  those  earlier  years  of  AVinebrenner's  labors.      The 
origin  of  the  church  at  Mechanicsburg,  Cumberland  county.  Pa.,  was  of  this  char- 
acter.     Winebrenner  had  been  in  the  neighborhood  of  this  then  small  village  as 
early  as  1823,  as  a  minister  of  the  German  Reformed  Church.      He  held  some  re- 
vival meetings,  which  were  stigmatized  as  "new  measures,"  and  earnestly  taught 
the  necessity  of  regeneration  as  a  prerequisite  to  church  membership.     Oa  this  ac- 
count he  was  proscribed  by  many  of  the  Reformed  ministers  and  people.      Five 
years  later,  or  "about  the  year  182  8,"  occurred  the  dedication  of  the  Trindle  Spring- 
church,  near  Mechanicsburg.      One  of  the  elders  of  the  Reformed  church  invited 
Winebi-enner  to  attend  the  dedicatory  services.      He  did  so,  but  "was  slighted  by 
the  Reformed  ministers  present,"  and  not  invited  to  dine  with  them  "because  of  his 
zeal  in  revival  measures."      One  of  the  elders  of  that  church  invited  Winebi-enner 
to  dine  with  him;   "but  Winebrenner  preferred  praying  to  eating."      This  carried 
conviction  to  the  heart  of  the  elder,  and  he  invited  Winebi-enner  to  preach  in  his 
carpenter-shop,   which   he   agreed   to   do.      At   the   appointed   time  this   rustic   old 
building  was  temporarily  converted  into  a  meeting-house,  and  in  it  under  Wine- 
bi-enner's  affecttng  preaching  of  the  word  "a  great  revival  of  religion  commenced," 
which  resulted  in  the  conversion  of  nearly  all  who  were  members  of  the  first  or- 
ganization in  that  vicinity  of  the  church  of  God.    Among  them  was  Daniel  Markley, 
an  elder  in  the  Reformed  Church  whose  carpenter-shop  was  used  for  church  ser- 
vices.     Also  William  Hinney  and  Jacob  Beelman,  elders  in  the  same  church.     Fol- 
lowing this  revival  a  church  was  organized,  on  the  following  basis,  in  the  form  of 
a  church  covenant: 

"We,  the  undersigned,  do  hereby  mutually  covenant  and  agree  to  form  our- 
selves into  a  church  on  the  New  Testament  plan,  called  the  church  of  God  at  Me- 
chanicsburg, Cumberland  county.  Pa. 


GENERAL    History 


31 


'•We  further  agree  to  take  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  as  the 
only  authoritative  rule  of  our  Christian  faith  and  practice. 

"And,  moreover,  we  promise  cheerfully  and  quietly  to  submit  to  the  order  of 
Christ's  house,  and  to  obey  the  office-bearers  who  are,  or  at  any  time  may  be,  placed 
over  us  in  the  Lord." 

This  is  an  exact  copy  of  the  Linglestown  covenant,  suggesting  the  inference 
that  it  was  drafted  by  AVMnebreiiner,  and  that  the  two  organizations  may  have  been 
effected  about  the  same  time.  The  testimony  indicates  that  Winebrenner  organ- 
ized the  Mechanicsburg  church.  The  names  subscribed  to  this  covenant  are:  Jacob 
Coover,  Ann  Coover,  Jonathan  Rees,  May  Rees,  John  Greeger,  Jonathan  Ward, 
Elizabeth  Ward,  Jacob  Beelman,  Elizabeth  Beelman,  David  Wise,  Daniel  Markley, 
William  Hinney,  Samuel  Beelman,  John  Zearing,  Mrs.  John  Zearing,  Samuel  Worst, 
Mrs.  Samuel  Worst,  Michael  Hoover,  John  Houser,  Mrs.  John  Houser  and  William 
Wiley.  The  church  was  organized  in  the  dwelling-house  of  William  Wiley,  half  a 
mile  west  of  Mechanicsburg.  The  officers  elected  were: — Elders:  William  Hinney 
and  Jacob  Coover.  Deacons:  Jonathan  Rees  and  Michael  Hoover.  For  some  years 
the  dwelling-houses  of  Daniel  Markley  and  William  Wiley  were  used  as  preach- 
ing places,  while  other  meetings  were  held  in  other  private  houses  in  the  surround- 
ing country.  The  power  of  the  Spirit  was  realized  in  these  meetings,  and  there 
were  frequent  conversions.  The  memory  of  these  precious  experiences  lingered 
long  and  kept  warm  the  hearts  of  those  that  realized  them. 

Before  the  people  in  the  neighborhood  of  Oak  Grove  Furnace  had  feven  heard 


First  Bethel  at  Shippensburg. 


of  Wiiiebi-enner,  in  1826  or  1827,  a  work  of  grace  resulted  at  that  place  from  the 
earnest  labors  of  E.  West.  Scores  were  converted,  among  them  William  Adams, 
who  in  183  6  was  ordained  as  a  minister  in  the  Ohio  Eldership.  Also  John  Reiber 
and  wife,  M.  Finacle  and  wife,  G.  Dentler,  A.  Bony,  T.  Such  and  many  others.  They 
had  no  preaching  for  some  time  after  West  left.  At  the  end  of  a  year  or  more, 
during  which  time  they  read  the  Scriptures  closely,  counseled  together,  held  prayer 
and  experience  meetings,  they  bcame  convinced  of  the  duty  of  closer  relations  to 
each  other.  They  knew  little  of  any  movement  to  organize  churches  of  God.  A 
meeting  was  called  at  Reiber's  school-house,  where  those  present  "entered  into 
an  agreement,  pledging  themselves  to  live  as  brethren,  take  the  word  of  God  for 
their  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  and  whatever  they  found  there  to  be  their  duty 
they  would  do."  They  adopted  no  name,  but  "believed  that  they  were  born  into 
the  church  of  God  when  converted."  They  learned  that  "nothing  but  being  buried 
with  Christ  in  baptism  would  answer,"  and  so  they  "refused  to  be  sprinkled."  West 
returning  about  this  time,  he  immersed  thirty-four  in  Sherman's  creek.  This  be- 
came a  little  later  the  church  of  r-cd  qt.  Onk  Grove  Furnace. 

The  history  of  the  church  of  God  at  Shippensburg,  Pa.,  begins  earlier  than  its 
first  association  with  other  churches  of  God.  It  elucidates  the  principle  that  the 
living  are  not  to  be  looked  for  among  the  dead.  Live  Christians  under  whatever 
ministry  converted  can  not  remain  in  dead  churches.  Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  in 
1825-6  a  number  of  the  members  of  the  Lutheran,  the  Reformed  and  Presbyterian 
churches  at  Shippensburg  were  converted.      Through  their  endeavors  many  others 


z^ 


History   of    the    Churches    of    God 


were  brought  into  the  fold  of  God.  These  associated  together  for  worship  and  re- 
ligious work,  which  aroused  strong  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  other  members  of 
these  churches.  The  Lutherans  and  Presbyterians  jointly  occupied  what  was  known 
as  "the  Brick  church."  Because  of  differences  of  views  in  regard  to  doctrine,  ex- 
periences and  manner  of  worship,  the  doors  of  this  church  were  finally  closed 
against  all  who  favored  this  new  departure.  Thus  excluded  from  their  church- 
home,  they  entered  into  a  separate  organization,  holding  their  meetings  in  private 
houses  until  they  became  able  to  build  a  house  of  worship  for  their  own  use.  This 
they  did  in  1828,  when  they  drew  up  the  following  "reasons  for  the  building  of  this 
house:" 


Second  Bethel  at  Shippensbur^ 


"The  German  Lutherans  and  Presbyterians  held  the  'Brick  Church'  together 
in  the  borough  of  Shippensburg; 

"And  whereas,  some  differences  took  place  as  to  the  manner  of  worship,  and 
then  to  the  right  of  said  church,  it  caused  disturbance  in  the  ranks  of  both  congre- 
gations; 

"And  whereas,  there  were  some  of  both  congregations  wishing  to  live  in  peace, 
it  was  thought  best  to  build  a  house  of  worship  for  their  use,  and  a  meeting  was 
held  at  the  house  of  David  Kenower,  in  Shippensburg,  on  the  first  day  of  January, 
1828,  and  subscriptions  were  drawn  up,  and  some  days  after  the  following  named 
persons  were  appointed  a  building  committee,  to  wit:  John  Blymyer,  John  Mull, 
David  Kenower,  David  Waggoner  and  Samuel  S.  Redat,  all  of  the  borough  of  Ship- 
pensburg, and  said  committee  entered  upon  their  duties  immediately,  and  on  the 


General    History  33 

2oth  of  February,  1828,  the  contracts  were  given  out  for  the  mason  and  carpenter 
work.  On  the  16th  of  April,  1828,  the  corner-stone  was  laid,  on  which  occasion 
public  service  was  held  on  the  walls  of  said  building  by  Kev.  Brown,  in  the  German 
language." 


»-^  4^  _i*t 


Third  JU'thel  at  Sliippensburg. 


This  house  of  worship  was  dedicated  October  27,  182  8,  by  Rev.  Rebo,  assisted 
Tjy  Revs.  McLane,  Moody,  Wilson  and  BrowTi,  of  Shippensburg.  On  October  13, 
182  8,  a  meeting  of  those  who  were  associated  together  in  this  work  was  called, 
when  they  entered  into  a  new  organization,  adopted  a  constitution  for  their  govern- 
ment, and  assumed  the  name  of  "The  Union  Christian  Church."  The  officers  who 
signed  the  constitution  were: — Elders:  John  Hick,  Jacob  Dewalt  and  John  Bly- 
myer.  Deacons:  David  Waggoner,  Michael  Ziegler,  Henry  Keifer  and  John  Taugh- 
enbaugh.  Trustees:  Jacob  Knisely  and  John  Carey.  One  Article  in  this  constitution 
provided  that  no  minister  should  be  called  who  was  known  to  be  a  Free  Mason. 

C.   H.— 2 


34  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

Preaching  was  to  be  half  the  time  in  the  English  language,  and  half  the  time  in 
the  German. 

The  church  prospered.  Its  doctrines  and  practices  gradually  became  identical 
with  those  of  the  other  churches  of  God  organized  during  those  years,  so  that  later 
it  came  into  fellowship  with  the  Eldership,  adopted  the  name  church  of  God  about 
1834,  and  received,  or  called,  ministers  of  the  Church  of  God.  It  outgrew  the 
limited  accommodations  of  its  first  house  of  worship,  and  in  1870  a  more  commo- 
dious bethel  was  erected,  during  the  pastorate  of  George  Sigler. 

The  third  bethel  in  Shippensburg  was  built  in  1903-4,  and  dedicated  Septem- 
ber 25,  1904,  under  the  pastoral  labors  of  C.  I.  Brown. 

Some  years  ago  a  letter  was  written  to  America  from  a  Spanish  port  relating 
to  the  death  of  a  friend  who  had  perished  in  the  wreck  of  an  ocean  liner  which  had 
gone  ashore  on  the  coast  of  that  country.  The  writer,  in  referring  to  his  friend, 
rightly,  from  a  Christian  point  of  view,  laid  stress  on  the  fact  that  her  death  was 
the  will  of  God,  and  was  therefore  best  for  her.  A  scientific  writer,  looking  at  the 
same  event,  might  have  viewed  it  as  part  of  an  immense  context  of  phenomena. 
He  would  have  taken  all  the  proximate  causes  into  consideration  to  show  how  these, 
and  the  more  remote  antecedents,  would  naturally  account  for  the  catastrophe. 
When  in  later  years  we  watch  the  career  of  that  masterful  leader  and  great  editor 
of  the  Church  of  God,  Edward  H.  Thomas,  we  wonder  what  causes  were  operative  . 
one  hundred  miles  away  from  Harrisburg,  where  the  name  of  Winebrenner  had  not 
yet  been  heard,  to  bring  this  man  into  the  fellowship  of  the  Church  of  God.  Our 
researches  are  rewarded  by  finding,  in  1827,  that  there  was  a  Methodist  Protestant 
church  located  in  West  Kensington  (now  Cohocksink)  district,  on  Cadwallader 
street,  above  Columbia  avenue,  which  Thomas  joined  after  his  conversion  on  "the 
first  Sabbath  evening  in  January,  1828."  In  1829  about  forty  of  the  members  of 
this  church,  including  Thomas,  withdrew  from  this  church  "on  account  of  difference 
of  views  on  the  subject  of  human  creeds,  human  church  titles  and  the  ordinance 
of  baptism,  and  organized  the  church  of  God  in  West  Kensington,  with  no  other 
creed  or  rule  of  Christian  faith  and  practice  but  the  New  Testament."  In  1830 
they  first  heard  of  Winebi-enner,  and  in  1832  or  1833  co-operation  with  the  Elder- 
ship was  begun.      Later  the  church  was  disbanded. 

While  no  church  was  organized  in  York,  York  county,  Pa.,  as  early  as  the 
first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century,  Winebrenner  preached  there  at  least  on  one 
occasion,  and  a  gracious  revival  of  religion  followed.  This  was  in  the  Winter  of 
1825-6,  in  the  German  Reformed  church.  The  pastor  was  Rev.  James  R.  Reily, 
and  he  invited  Winebi'enner  to  assist  him  at  a  Communion.  "The  Lutheran  Ob- 
server" of  August  17,  1877,  in  a  brief  history  of  the  Reformed  work  in  York,  speak- 
ing of  this  meeting,  says:  "Mr.  Winebrenner  was  then  in  his  prime,  and  was  a 
powerful  and  effective  preacher,  especially  in  German.  The  interest  commenced  in 
the  Reformed  church,  but  soon  spread  over  the  whole  community." 

The  "new  measures"  introduced  under  Winebrenner  were  the  mourners' 
bench,  the  inquirers'  meetings,  camp-meetings  and  woods-meetings.  But  these 
measures  were  not  absolutely  new  with  Winebrenner,  as  the  mourners'  bench  was 
used  as  early  as  1800,  and  camp-meetings  and  woods-meetings  were  held  earlier 
by  the  Methodists,  United  Brethren  and  the  Evangelical  Association.  But  they 
were  relatively  new  in  this  section  of  the  State.  Besides,  Winebi-enner  was  far 
more  concerned  about  the  salvation  of  souls  than  any  human  methods  of  conduct- 
ing the  services.  He  early  became  an  ardent  advocate  of  camp-meetings,  which 
developed  largely  out  of  the  environment  of  the  earlier  settlers  in  Pennsylvania  and 
In  other  sections  of  the  country.  In  1810,  when  the  Evangelical  Association  did 
not  have  a  single  church  edifice,  and  "private  houses  were  too  small  to  accomo- 
date the  masses  of  the  people,"  the  Conference  ordered  two  camp-meetings  to  be 
held  in  the  eastern  part  of  Pennsylvania.  Under  Winebrenner's  labors  the  first 
camp-meeting  was  held  in  a  woods  near  the  Dauphin  county  Poor  House,  in  1826. 
It  was  a  union  meeting,  participated  in  by  Methodists,  Presbyterians,  United  Breth- 
ren and  others.  Winebi'enner  preached  at  this  meeting  with  marvelous  power.  A 
camp-meeting  was  held  in  the  same  woods  five  consecutive  years  by  the  churches 
of  God.  In  1826  one  was  also  held  in  Andrew  Miller's  woods,  when  some  of  the 
members  of  the  Lower  Paxton  church  were  baptized.  It  was  a  union  camp-meet- 
ing. In  1828  the  United  Brethren  held  a  camp-meeting  in  John  Raysor's  grove, 
not  far  from  A.  Miller's,  at  which  Winebrenner  and  Maxwell  were  present  and 
preached.  In  1828  the  first  camp-meeting  was  held  in'  Cumberland  county,  in  a 
woods  owned  by  John  Bowman.      The  same  year  one  was  held  in  George  Millizen's 


Generai,    History  35 

woods,  near  Linglestown.  In  the  same  grove  another  one  was  held  in  1829.  Also 
in  Andi-ew  Miller's  woods.  The  United  Brethren  at  their  camp-meeting  immersed 
believers  and  observed  the  Communion  and  washing  of  the  saints'  feet.  At  this 
time  AVinebrenner  had  not  yet  accepted  feet-washing  as  an  ordinance.  Neither  did 
he  practice  immersion,  as  in  a  conversation  with  J.  Myers,  later  a  minister  in  the 
Eldership,  in  1828,  he  told  him  that  he  had  "nothing  myself  of  baptism  but  what 
I  received  in  my  infancy,  and  my  parents  have  told  me.  I  sometimes  think  if  we 
have  plenty  of  spiritual  baptism,  it  is  of  more  importance  than  all  water  baptism." 
Myers  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  as  he  was  sprinkled  in  infancy  he  had  not 
been  scripturally  baptized,  and  asked  Winebrenner  for  advice.  Winebrenner  had, 
however,  abandoned  infant  baptism. 

As  early  as  1827  there  was  considerable  religious  interest  aroused  in  Frederick 
and  Carroll  counties,  Maryland,  intensified  by  the  reports  of  the  great  revivals  in 
and  around  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  under  Winebrenner,  and  denunciations  against  him 
from  German  Reformed  pulpits.  Winebrenner  had  also  preached  at  several  points 
in  these  counties  prior  to  1827,  but  there  was  no  formative  church  work  done  in 
the  State  up  to  1829. 

In  1829  Winebrenner  published  his  "Brief  View  of  the  Formation,  Government 
and  Discipline  of  the  Church  of  God."  This  was  an  enlargement  of  the  sermon 
which  he  preached  at  the  organization  of  the  church  at  Andi-ew  Miller's,  or  the 
sermon  an  epitome  of  the  book.  It  is  a  masterly  discussion  of  ecclesiological  sub- 
jects. He  here  assumed  the  suffix  "V.  D.  M.,"  which  subsequently  was  used  by  him 
for  many  years,  and  by  other  ministers  of  the  Church  of  God.  The  only  departure 
from  the  German  Reformed  faith  indicated  in  this  book  relates  to  church  name, 
and  church  formation  and  government.  He  taught  that  "church  of  God"  is  the 
only  proper  name  for  an  organized  body  of  believers,  and  that  it  applies  to  the  local 
church.  The  local  church  is  absolutely  self-governing,  having  no  subjection  to 
any  power  outside  of  itself.  He  had  as  yet  no  conception  of  an  Eldership  (pres- 
bytery) outside  of  the  local  church.  How  co-operation  between  these  local 
churches  was  to  be  carried  on,  if  at  all,  does  not  appear.  These  views  in  later 
years,  as  well  as  the  title  of  the  book,  occasioned  the  churches  and  ministers  much 
trouble.  And  while  AVinebrenner  changed  his  views  on  some  points,  he  did  not 
publicly  recant  what  he  had  written  in  this  book. 

The  churches  at  once  proceeded  to  put  these  views  into  effect.  In  the 
"Records  of  the  church  at  Linglestown,  Pa.,"  is  an  entry  of  the  first  ordination  of 
ministers.  It  reads:  "November  15,  1829,  David  Maxwell  and  John  AV'alboni, 
having  applied  to  the  church  of  God  at  St.  Thomas  for  ordination,  the  church  ac- 
cordingly met  together  at  the  house  of  Brother  Shaffner,  on  the  evening  of  said 
day,  when  their  cases  were  made  known,  and  the  vote  of  the  church  was  taken  on 
the  question,  'Shall  our  brethren  be  ordained  to  the  office  of  teaching  elders  in  the 
church?'  Whereupon  it  was  unanimously  agreed  that  they  be  solemnly  ordained  to 
preach  the  gospel.  They  were  ordained  the  same  evening."  This  Record  further 
shows,  that  on  "January  19,  1831,  Jacob  Myers,  having  applied  to  the  church  of 
God  at  St.  Thomas  for  ordination,  the  church  accordingly  met  at  the  house  of 
Brother  Peter  Bonawitz,  on  the  evening  of  said  day,  when  his  case  was  made 
known,  and  the  vote  of  the  church  was  taken  on  the  question,  'Shall  our  brother 
be  ordained  with  the  laying  on  of  hands  to  the  office  of  teaching  elder  in  the 
church?'  Whereupon  it  was  unanimously  agreed  that  he  be  solemnly  ordained  to 
preach  the  gospel.  He  was  ordained  the  same  evening,  and  got  his  license." 
From  the  churches  at  Miller's  and  Linglestown  seven  preachers  entered  the  field, 
viz.:  Andrew  Miller  and  John  Lenkert  from  the  church  at  Miller's,  and  John  AVal- 
bom,  Jacob  Burgoyne,  David  Maxwell,  C.  Forney  (local)  and  J.  Myers  from  the 
church  at  Linglestown.  There  are  no  available  records  to  show  whether  other 
churches  thus  ordained  men  to  the  ofl[ice  of  the  gospel  ministry. 

While  these  events  were  transpiring  in  eastern  Pennsylvania,  what  is  called 
"a  schism"  occurred  in  the  southwestern  section  of  the  State.  Thomas  Campbell, 
the  leader  of  the  movement,  was  a  minister  of  the  "Secession"  branch  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  the  north  of  Ireland.  He  emigrated  to  this  country  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  century,  and  settled  in  Washington  county.  Pa.  Having,  like  Winebren- 
ner, conceived  a  strong  aversion  to  ecclesiastical  creeds  and  discipline,  he  drew  up 
and  published  a  "declaration  and  address,"  setting  forth  these  views,  and  inviting 
all  who  sympathize  with  his  sentiments  to  form  a  union  upon  that  basis.  A  num- 
ber responded,  and  the  first  congregation  was  formed  at  Brush  Run,  Washington 
Co.,  Pa.,  Sept.  7,  1810.     Campbell  was  polemical,  and  having  rejected  sprinkling  he 


36  History   of   the    Churches   of   God 

soon  became  known  as  a  champion  of  immersion,  and  several  public  debates  were 
held.  In  1823  the  Brush  Run  church  became  connected  with  the  Redstone  Baptist 
Association,  but  upon  the  express  stipulation  that  "no  terms  of  union  or  com- 
munion other  than  the  Holy  Scriptures  should  be  required."  Friction  soon  arising 
between  the  Association  and  this  local  church,  a  number  of  its  members,  with  Ale.\- 
aiuler  Campbell,  who  had  become  joint  pastor  with  his  father,  was  dismissed  to 
Wellsburg,  Va.,  where  they  constituted  a  new  church.  This  church  united  with  the 
Mahoning  Baptist  Association,  Ohio.  As  a  result  of  almost  constant  discussions 
with  such  a  disputatious  leader  as  A.  Campbell,  the  whole  Association  adopted  his 
views.  In  182  8  it  rejected  all  human  formularies  of  religion  and  relinquished  all 
claim  to  jurisdiction  over  its  churches,  and  resolved  itself  simply  into  an  annual 
meeting  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  reports  of  the  progress  of  the  churches,  for 
worship  and  mutual  co-operation.  Thus  originated  the  Disciples,  or  Church  of 
Christ. 

In  the  year  1829  another  important  event  transpired  in  western  Pennsylvania. 
The  General  Synod  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church,  sometimes  called  the 
New  Light  Covenanting  Church,  or  for  brevity,  the  Covenanters,  was  organized.  The 
Covenanters  hold  that  public  social  covenanting  is  a  duty;  believe  in  the  leadership 
of  Christ  over  the  nations,  and  reject  hymns  of  human  composition,  and  use  only 
the  Psalms. 

The  body  known  as  the  Hicksite  Quakers,  or  Friends,  was  organized  in  1827, 
having  seceded  from  the  parent  organization.  The  schism  grew  out  of  heretical 
views  promulgated  by  Elias  Hicks,  "denying  or  invalidating  the  miraculous  concep- 
tion, the  divinity  and  atonement  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  also  the  authenticity 
and  divine  authority  of  the  Holy  Scriptures." 

In  1828  the  first  steps  were  taken  toward  the  organization  of  the  Methodist 
Protestant  Church.  This  movement  was  hastened  by  the  expulsion  of  some  from 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  because  of  their  opposition  to  the  office  of  Bishop 
and  desire  for  lay  representation  in  the  Conferences  of  the  Church. 

Several  prominent  religious  newspapers,  which  still  survive,  were  started  dur- 
ing this  period.  The  first,  which  for  that  time  soon  secured  a  phenomenal  list  of 
subscribers,  was  the  "New  York  Christian  Advocate,"  which  has  ever  since  been  the 
organ  of  the  Methodist  General  Conference.  In  1827  the  German  Reformed  Church 
began  the  publication  of  "The  Reformed  Church  Messenger." 


CHAPTER    IV. 


1830—1835. 


WITH  the  opening  of  the  third  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  United 
States  entered  upon  an  era  of  unprecedented  progress  and  development  in 
every  line  of  thought  and  activity.  There  began  a  new  stage  of  vital 
energy.  The  nation  experienced  a  rebirth,  a  renaissance  more  marvelous  than  that 
which  marked  the  transition  from  the  period  of  history  which  we  call  the  Middle 
Ages  to  that  which  we  call  Modern.  The  population  had  increased  from  9,638,453 
in  1820,  to  12,866,020  in  1830.  Immigration  from  the  various  countries  in  the 
Old  World  and  increasing  streams  of  emigrations  westward  in  the  United  States 
kept  up  a  steady  flux  of  the  population.  The  amalgamation  of  German,  English, 
Scotch  and  Irish  nationalities  produced  a  race  of  energetic,  intelligent,  progressive 
and  indomitable  people.  Their  development  in  the  arts  and  sciences,  in  philosophy 
and  literature,  in  mechanical  and  inventive  genius,  and  in  all  that  made  for  better 
conditions  was  unprecedented.  One  of  the  first  fruits  of  this  spirit  of  progress, 
this  political  rebirth,  was  the  building  of  railroads  and  other  improved  means  of 
transportation.  In  1830  there  were  but  twenty-three  miles  of  railroad  in  the 
United  States.  In  that  year  the  first  railway  steam  engine  built  in  America  made  its 
first  run  on  the  first  railway  constructed  for  locomotives.  The  first  omnibus  was  built 
and  run  in  New  York  City.  R.  M.  Hoe  made  the  first  cylinder  printing  press  in 
America.  The  great  Canadian  Welland  Canal  was  opened  for  navigation.  It  was 
not  until  after  1830  that  the  dreams  indulged  in  from  the  date  of  the  discovery 
that  electricity  could  be  conducted  by  wire  to  a  distance  were  beginning  to  be 


General    History  37 

realized  in  the  use  of  chemical  electricity  to  operate  a  telegraphic  apparatus  for 
the  transmission  of  messages. 

This  development  was  also  manifest  in  morals  and  religion.  There  was  grow- 
ing dissatisfaction  with  formalism,  sacerdotalism,  priestly  authority  and  sectarian- 
ism. The  ministers  of  the  Evangelical  Association  reported  unusual  "progress, 
persecutions  and  victories."  "Great  numbers  of  the  people  were  awakened  and 
professed  to  have  experienced  a  change  of  heart  and  to  have  found  peace  with 
God."  Under  the  preaching  of  ministers  of  the  United  Brethren  Church  extensive 
revivals  were  promoted.  Winebrenner  with  renewed  energy,  assisted  now  by  sev- 
eral ministers  ordained  by  local  churches,  became  more  aggressive,-  and  the  terri- 
tory was  much  enlarged  and  the  converts  greatly  multiplied.  Church  extension 
now  became  the  paramount  object.  Among  these  "able  men,  who  took  upon  them- 
selves the  solemn  and  responsible  office  of  the  gospel  ministry,"  were  David  Max- 
well, John  AValbom  and  Andrew  Miller.  These  supplied  the  different  churches  with 
preaching,  and  went  abroad  on  missionary  tours.  But  AV^inebrenner  was  the  leader, 
and  did  most  of  the  evangelistic  work,  besides  ministering  to  the  congregation  at 
Harrisburg. 

The  church  at  Fredericksburg,  Lebanon  county,  was  one  of  the  first  churches 
organized  in  1830.  Under  whose  ministry  is  not  known.  The  town  and  neighbor- 
hood were  visited  in  that  year  with  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit,  and  many  experi- 
enced religion.  The  most  of  "the  converts  joined  the  United  Brethren,  and  others 
the  Evangelical  Association,  while  a  small  number,  believing  the  Bible,  and  it 
alone,  to  contain  the  whole  will  of  God  to  man,  and  being  sufficient  in  itself  to 
govern  the  Christian,  resolved  to  form  themselves  into  a  church  upon  the  New 
Testament  plan,  choosing  their  elders  and  deacons  to  take  care  of  the  little  flock." 
It  does  not  appear  that  any  minister  of  the  Church  of  God  was  present. 

Charles  Huff,  who  in  1851  removed  to  Grandview,  Iowa,  had  earlier  resided  in 
Cumberland  Co.,  Pa.,  near  Oyster's  Point,  not  far  from  the  Stone  church,  states 
that  "Winebrenner  preached  at  said  place  in  Bro.  AVanier's  house  in  1830,  and  or- 
ganized the  church,  consisting  of  Warner  and  wife,  J.  Bowman  and  wife,  J.  Sadler 
and  wife,  Parens  and  wife,  J.  Rupp  and  wife  and  myself  and  wife." 

The  work  in  Lancaster  city  made  steady  progress,  the  church  attaining  a 
membership  of  about  four  hundred  souls.  Winebrenner  preached  there  in  1830. 
In  June,  1830,  he  came  up  from  Lancaster  to  Mt.  Joy  and  held  the  first  meetings 
in  that  town.  A  camp-meeting  was  held  near  there  at  the  time,  and  a  few  persons 
were  converted.  A  revival  followed  in  the  school-house  in  town,  at  which  Israel 
Brady,  later  a  minister  in  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  was  one  of  the  converts. 
There  was  at  this  time  no  house  of  worship  in  the  town.  During  the  Winter  of 
1830-31  a  great  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit  was  manifested,  scores  were  con- 
verted and  a  remarkable  reformation  .took  place  under  the  labors  of  AVlnebren- 
ner,  Ma.\well,  Richards  and  others.  Following  this  revival,  on  the  evening  of 
March  15,  1831,  Winebrenner  organized  the  first  church  of  God  in  Mt.  Joy,  con- 
sisting of  thirty-five  members,  as  follows:  William  McFadden,  Israel  Brady, 
George  Brady,  William  Booth,  David  Booth,  Samuel  Minichen,  Levi  Herr,  Henry 
Bender,  John  Mateer,  David  Snyder,  Jacob  Ehrhart,  John  Barlow,  John  Leh- 
man, David  Brady,  Mother  Booth,  Elizabeth  Booth,  Nancy  McFadden,  Catha- 
rine Sulivan,  Anna  Brady,  Jane  Henry,  Esther  Myers,  Jane  Barlow,  Jane  Ray- 
mond, Louiza  McFadden,  May  Flint,  Mary  Develin,  Jane  Lehman,  Fannie  Stoh- 
ler,  Mary  Carickner,  Catharine  Carickner,  Mother  Hess,  Mary  Breneman  and 
Margaret    Brady. 

Israel  Brady  and  AVilliam  McFadden,  also  later  a  minister  in  the  East  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership,  were  appointed  the  first  elders.  And  the  first  deacons,  elected 
in  1843,  were  John  C.  Booth,  later  a  minister,  and  David  Stoner. 

At  the  Eldership  held  in  December,  1833,  James  Richards,  residing  in  Col- 
umbia, Lancaster  county,  reported  work  in  Columbia,  to  which  his  labors  were 
principally  confined  "in  consequence  of  their  peculiar  situation  as  an  infant 
church." 

Considerable  work  was  done  in  Perry  county.  Pa.,  in  1830-1831.  A  few  Church 
of  God  families  had  moved  into  the  county.  In  1831  a  camp-meeting  was  held  in 
Shafer's  Valley,  and  some  of  the  converts  who  were  baptized  by  John  AA^albora 
united  together  in  church  fellowship.  But  the  year  1833-34  were  the  seasons  of 
the  greatest  revivals  in  that  county.  Meetings  in  Landisburg  were  at  first  held  in 
the  house  of  Henry  Wingprt,  a  local  minister  of  the  church,  and  pioneer  emigrant 


38 


History   O'F    the    Churches   of    God 


of  the  Church  of  God  to  Perry  county.  Winebrenner  had  visited  Landisburg  and 
preached  in  the  Reformed  church  April  10,  1821,  while  collecting  funds  to  build 
Salem  Reformed  church,  Harrisburg.  Heni-y  Wingert  began  preaching  in  Landis- 
burg in  1828,  and  in  1832  he  organized  a  church  in  an  old  log  school-house  in  the 
village.  This  was  used  for  religious  services  by  the  little  church  until  1836,  when 
Wingert  was  instrumental  in  building  a  small  bethel  on  a  lot  which  he  owned. 

One  of  the  remarkable  beginnings  of  church  work  in  those  early  years  occurred 
at  Churchtown,  Cumberland  Co.,  Pa.,  in  the  Winter  of  1832.  A  "protracted  prayer- 
meeting"  was  held  at  the  private  houses  of  Samuel  Biicker  and  Rudolph  Krisher. 
A  "revival  broke  out,  and  was  carried  on  from  house  to  house  until  the  whole 
neighborhood  was  filled  with  the  gospel  of  the  Son  of  Cod."  A.  Megrew,  who  be- 
came a  minister  later,  removing  to  Ohio  and  thence  to  Iowa,  was  a  convert  of  this 
meeting.  Samuel  Bricker  was  another  convert  of  this  meeting.  Winebrenner 
preached  sometimes  during  this  meeting,  as  did  Maxwell,  Machlin  and  McFadden. 
An  organization  was  effected  on  Feb.  19,  1833.  Later  Bricker  leased  to  the  church 
the  ground  from  the  corner  of  his  farm  on  which  the  first  bethel  was  built  by  the 
church. 

In  the  early  history  of  the  Church  emigrants    from    eastern    points    where 


First  Bethel  at  Landisburg,  Pa. 


churches  had  been  established  to  more  western  points  proved  like  seeds  scattered 
by  the  winds,  as  in  apostolic  times.  Wherever  a  Church  of  God  family  located  a 
church  would  spring  up.  In  18  32  John  W.  Mateer  and  wife  removed  from  Lan- 
caster county.  Pa.,  to  Blair  county,  the  famous  Morrison's  Cove,  and  evef  after 
made  their  home  in  Martinsburg  and  vicinity.  It  was  through  their  fearless  ad- 
vocacy of  the  primitive  faith,  and  their  earnest  and  self-denying  efforts  that  the 
Church  of  God  was  first  established  in  that  country.  They  had  embraced  religion 
under  Winebrenner's  preaching,  at  Mt.  Joy,  Pa.  When  located  in  their  new  home 
they  began  holding  prayer-meetings,  and  also  called  for  ministers  to  visit  and 
preach  for  them.  E.  West,  Israel  Brady  and  William  McFadden  were  among  the 
earliest  ministers  to  visit  the  Cove.  But  it  was  not  until  some  years  later  that  or- 
ganizations were  formed  and  systematic  work  begun. 

In  1832  the  church  at  Middletown  erected  its  first  bethel,  on  the  east  side  of 
Union  street,  near  Center  Square.  It  was  a  frame  structure,  lathed  and  plastered 
on  the  outside.  It  had  a  basement,  in  which  the  Sunday-school  was  held.  In 
1852  it  was  enlarged  by  extending  the  front  to  the  house-line,  casing  the  outside 
with  brick  and  adding  a  vestibule  and  gallery.  In  1873  it  was  decided  to  erect  a 
new  house.      A  lot  was  bought  for  this  purpose  on  the  northeast  corner  of  Spring 


General    History 


39 


and  Water  streets.  Ground  was  broken  June  9,  187  4;  the  corner-stone  laid  July 
8th,  and  the  house  dedicated  Oct.  22,  1876. 

The  worlc  at  Camp  Hill,  Cumberland  Co.,  Pa.,  was  closely  connected  with  the 
movement  near  the  Stone  church,  at  Oyster's  Point,  as  some  of  the  members  of  the 
church  organized  at  Warner's  house  were  later  members  at  Camp  Hill.  The 
date  of  the  organization  of  this  church,  as  nearly  as  can  be  determined,  was  in 
1833.  It  worshiped  in  the  Walnut  Grove  school-house  until  1849,  when  the  build- 
ing was  erected  which  is  still  used. 

The  church  at  Shippensburg  continued  to  receive  accessions.      In  1833  Wine- 


,   ■■  ^.t. 


it^ii  i  '* 


Second  Bethel  at  Middleto^vn,  Pa. 

brenner  and  Mackey  held  revival  services  there,  and  a  number  were  converted,  bap- 
tized and  received  into  fellowship.  Mackey  had  been  "called"  by  the  Shippens- 
burg church  as  its  pastor.  He  submitted  the  call  to  the  Eldership  "to  confirm  or 
reject  the  same."  He  was  then  appointed  to  said  church,  and  took  charge  on  April 
1,  1834.  About  this  time  the  name  "Union  Christian  church"  was  dropped,  and 
the  title  "church  of  God"  accepted,  and  the  church  came  into  connection  with  the 
Eldership. 

The  first  revival  meeting  held  at  what  is  now  Goldsboro,  York  Co.,  Pa.,  was 
conducted  by  J.  Keller,  D.  Maxwell,  William  McFadden  and  Winebrenner  in  1833, 
in  a  school-house  on  the  river  bank. 

At  Mechanicsburg  Winebrenner  held  special  meetings  in  the  Winters  of  1833 
and  1834,  when  the  church  received  quite  substantial  additions. 


40  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

When  Mackey  assumed  charge  of  the  Shippensburg  church  he  also  entered 
upon  evangelistic  work  in  the  villages  in  the  upper  end  of  Cumberland  county  and 
adjoining  sections  of  Franklin  county.  He  was  the  leader  in  the  work  in  that  sec- 
tion, and  those  of  like  faith  were  long  known  as  "Mackeyites."  One  of  the  villages 
in  which  he  did  his  first  work  was  Newburg,  where  he  "organized  a  church  in  the 
old  meeting-house  (the  only  place  of  worship  in  the  town),  in  1834."  The  follow- 
ing names  were  enrolled  as  members:  Levi  Diehl,  Martha  Diehl,  John  Myers, 
Eliza  Myers,  Christian  Pislee,  Catharine  Pislee,  Margaret  Miller,  E.  Hawk,  Jacob 
Ober,  Eliza  Ober  and  Susan  Thompson. 

The  work  in  Maryland  was  measurably  of  local  origin,  and  began  at  Union- 
town,  Carroll  county.  In  1830  there  were  two  churches  in  that  town,  the  Metho- 
dist Protestant  and  St.  Lucas'  German  Reformed.  Winebi-enner  had  preached  in 
St.  Lucas'  church  at  different  times  while  yet  pastor  of  the  Reformed  church  in 
Harrisburg.  But  the  reformation,  except  as  to  vital  godliness,  did  not  originate 
with  his  preaching.  As  to  experimental  religion  the  same  conditions  existed  at  St. 
Lucas'  as  elsewhere  in  Reformed  churches.  "Many  of  the  members  of  said  church 
became  converted,  and  enjoyed  the  indwelling  of  Christ's  Spirit,  and  felt  a  longing 
desire  to  conform  more  to  the  will  of  God  in  all  things.  These  were  not  satisfied 
with  anything  short  of  a  knowledge  of  divine  truth  as  taught  by  Christ  and  his 
Apostles."  Abraham  Appier  and  a  few  others  began  also  to  entertain  doubts 
about  the  validity  of  infant  baptism  and  the  different  modes  by  which  the  ordi- 
nance was  administered.  "In  reading  the  Commission  they  saw  that  Christ  only 
authorized  the  baptism  of  believers."  And  they  also  soon  saw  that  the  mode  was 
"the  burial  or  immersion  of  the  body  in  water."  This  created  a  schism  in  the 
Reformed  church  about  1830.  And  as  most  of  the  prominent  members  were  per- 
sonally acquainted  with  AVinebrenner,  and  had  heard  of  his  great  work  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, they  invited  him  to  come  to  Uniontown  and  hold  a  series  of  meetings.  As 
he  had  other  engagements  he  sent  John  AValborn  and  Andrew  Miller  in  his  stead. 
This  work  continued  thus  in  St.  Lucas'  Reformed  church  for  about  four  years. 
Meanwhile  the  first  four  persons  to  be  baptized  were  Abraham  Appier  and  wife, 
Mrs.  Charity  Hollenberry  and  Mrs.  Nancy  Senseney.  "This  event,"  says  a  writer 
in  reviewing  the  record  of  this  church,  marks  the  establishment  of  the  church  of 
God  in  Uniontown,  as  it  is  the  first  record  of  a  change  of  faith  by  any  members  of 
the  old  congregation."  But  there  was  no  separate  organization,  and  St.  Lucas' 
church  continued  to  be  the  place  for  public  worship,  except  when  services  were  held 
in  Appier's  house.  "The  church  building  was  held  by  Jacob  Appier,  Sr.,  father  of 
Abraham  Appier,  and  his  co-trustees  virtually  as  their  own.  In  fact  the  building 
was  sometimes  called  'Mr.  Appier's  church.'  "  By  1834  the  Appiers  and  nearly  the 
whole  of  the  St.  Lucas'  church  went  "into  the  young  organization."  "The  church 
of  God  thus  became  the  established  successor  of  the  German  Reformed  church  at 
St.  Lucas,  first  by  most  of  the  Reformed  members  adopting  the  faith  of  the  Church 
of  God;  and  second,  by  the  organization  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  as  authorized  by 
Act  of  the  Legislature  in  1834."  They  thus  became  the  legal  owners  of  the  church 
property.      This  was  the  first  church  building  erected  in  Uniontown. 

St.  Lucas'  church  was  beautifully  located  on  a  hill  at  the  edge  of  town.  The 
architecture  was  of  the  prevalent  German  character,  a  type  of  the  Reformed  and 
Lutheran  churches  erected  a  hundred  and  more  years  ago.  It  had  galleries  on 
three  sides.  There  were  three  entrance  doors,  one  at  the  end  opposite  the  pulpit 
and  one  on  each  side,  with  the  two  aisles  crossing  each  other  in  the  center.  The 
aisles  were  laid  with  brick.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  Feb.  22,  1815,  and  the 
building  was  completed  and  dedicated  in  1819. 

The  present  church  edifice  was  erected  in  1882,  and  was  dedicated  Oct.  29th 
of  that  year.  Abraham  Appier  was  a  delegate  to  the  Eldership  in  1833.  A  field 
of  ministerial  labor  in  Maryland  was  established  at  said  Eldership,  and  called  the 
"Maryland  Circuit,"  with  E.  West  as  pastor. 

Work  was  also  begun  about  this  time  in  Washington  county,  Md.  AVinebren- 
her  preached  there,  with  Mackey  and  AA'alboni.  The  church-houses  were  closed 
against  them,  and  the  meetings  were  held  in  school-houses  and  private  dwellings. 
AA^inebrenner  was  also  instrumental  in  the  conversion  of  his  nephew,  John  P,  AA'^ine- 
brenner,  in  Frederick  county,  Md.,  in  1831.  He  later  removed  to  the  West,  and 
was  successively  an  earnest,  active  and  influential  member  of  the  church  at 
Wooster,  Ohio,  and  at  Decatur  and  Chicago,  111. 

Cedar  Spring,  now  Milltown,  in  Cumberland  county.  Pa.,  is  another  of  the 
original  churches  of  God.      It  is  nearly  two  miles  south  of  Camp  Hill.      Religious 


Gkneral    History 


4i 


services  were  held  here  as  early  as  1833,  in  an  old  distillery,  and  in  that  year,  or 
1834,  a  church  was  organized. 

Work  also  began  in  the  neighborhood  of  Landisville,  Lancaster  Co.,  Pa.,  as 
early  as  1834. 

The  influence  of  these  revivals  and  the  reports  of  camp-meetings  gradually 
spread  northeastward  into  Schuylkill  county,  Pa.  In  1832  a  "number  of  brethren 
and  sisters  from  near  Orwigsburg"  attended  a  camp-meeting  held  in  the  grove  of 
George  Milleizen,  in  Dauphin  county,  when  some  of  them  were  baptized.  James 
Mackey  was  baptized  at  this  camp-meeting.  In  the  same  year  Samuel  Steigei-Avalt, 
after  whom  the  Steigerwalt  Bethel  is  named,  near  McKeansburg,  Schuylkill  Co., 
Pa.,  was  converted,  and  later  was  a  leader  in  that  church.  Hawk  was  preaching 
then  in  that  section.  In  1833,  during  the  time  of  "the  great  meteoric  showers,"  a 
revival  was  promoted  at  Orwigsburg,  in  said  county.  John  Walboni  was  the 
preacher.  "The  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  God,  a  new  thing  then,  stirred  up  the 
people  greatly.      A  class  leader  of  the  Evangelical  Association  and  nearly  his  entire 


St.  Lucas'  Reformecl  Church,  Uniontown,  Md. 


class  embraced  the  faith  of  the  Church,  and  came  out  and  constituted  a  church  of 
God  organization."  This  was  George  Kimmel,  subsequently  so  prominently  identi- 
fied with  the  work  of  the  churches  of  God  in  that  county.  The  History  of  the 
Evangelical  Association  calls  him  "the  chief  leader  of  the  division  at  Orwigsburg, 
an  honorable  man,  but  very  much  inclined  to  new-fangled  notions  and  fanaticism." 
Perhaps  the  most  significant  event  of  this  period  was  the  change  in  the  doc- 
trinal views  of  Winebrenner,  and  his  consequent  adoption  of  immersion  and  of  the 
washing  of  the  saints'  feet  as  a  religious  ordinance.  His  own  silence  and  the 
absence  of  any  documentary  evidence  render  it  impossible  to  speak  with  any 
degree  of  certainty  on  these  points.  But  it  has  already  appeared  that  probably  in 
June,  1829,  he  had  not  yet  "received  light"  on  these  points.  But  he  received  it 
soon  after  so  far  as  washing  the  saints'  feet  is  concerned.  And  while  he  immersed 
believers  prior  to  1827,  at  the  Poor  House  camp-meetings,  he  did  so  as  any  pedo- 
Baptist  minister  would  when  the  candidate  demanded  it.  He  had  changed  his 
views  on  the  subjects  of  baptism,  but  not  on  the  action.  The  Mulberry  Street 
church  was  principally  a  baptized  church  in  1829,  when  there  were  about  three 
hundred  members.      Winebi-enner  was  slow  in  changing  his  doctrinal  views.      "He 


42  History    of   the    Churches    of    God 

did  not  reach  a  decision  until  he  had  given  the  subject  a  most  thorough  investiga- 
tion." He  first  took  a  decided  stand  on  the  formation,  government  and  discipline 
of  the  church,  in  1829.  He  had  not  yet  decided  the  question  of  baptism.  He  had 
rejected  infant  baptism,  but  the  "mode"  was  still  an  open  question.     When  Jacob 


Present  Bethel,  Uniontovvn,  Md. 


Erb,  of  the  United  Brethren  Church,  was  pastor  of  a  "field  including  Halifax  and 
Fowl's  Valley,  Dauphin  county,"  in  1830  and  before,  Winebrenner  "baptized 
Susan  Etter  by  the  mode  of  trine  immersion."  This  inference  is  admissible  from 
what  J.  Myers  wrote  in  1872:  "There  was  not  much  said  on  the  subject  of  baptism 
until  the  year  1830.  I  then  resided  in  York  county,  Pa.,  when  baptism  was  agi- 
tated more  than  any  time  since  the  great  revival.      Winebrenner  and  the  converts 


General    History  43 

in  and  about  Harrisburg  awoke  on  the  subject.  Winebrenner  wrote  and  published 
a.  sermon  on  the  subject."  This  is  the  sermon  he  preached  on  the  day  he  was  bap- 
tized. In  1828,  at  a  camp-meeting  near  Camp  Hill,  H.  Habliston  preached  a  ser- 
mon, declaring  most  positively  that  washing  of  the  saints'  feet  is  an  ordinance. 
Winebrenner  sat  on  the  pulpit  an  apparently  unconcerned  looker-on.  J.  Erb  came 
to  him,  clapped  him  on  the  knee,  and  asked  him  to  participate  in  the  ordinance. 
Winebrenner  replied,  "Do  not  bind  your  brother's  conscience.  You  believe  that  it 
is  a  positive  command,  and  I  do  not."  But  during  the  year  he  gave  the  question 
a  thorough  examination,  and  at  a  camp  held  at  the  same  place  a  year  later  he  pub- 
licly participated  in  the  celebration  of  the  ordinance.  So  on  the  subject  of  bap- 
tism. At  the  Poor  House  camp-meeting  in  1826  he  baptized  the  converts  by  several 
different  actions.  But  by  1830  he  had  studied  this  subject  by  "reading  the  Bible 
on  his  knees,"  and  had  reached  the  conclusion  he  ever  afterwards  defended  with 
great  clearness  and  ability.  And  having  decided  the  question,  he  at  once  arranged 
to  practice  his  new  faith.  He  selected  Jacob  Erb,  a  United  Brethren  minister,  to 
baptize  him.  Erb  was  preaching  on  the  Dauphin  county  circuit,  extending  as  far 
up  the  river  as  Halifax.  On  the  morning  of  July  4,  1830,  he  preached  at  Peter's 
mountain  appointment  at  10.30,  and  thence  rode  horseback  to  Harrisburg,  a  dis- 
tance of  fifteen  miles,  where  a  large  congregation  had  assembled  at  2  o'clock  p.  m., 
in  the  Mulberry  Street  Bethel  to  listen  to  a  sermon  on  baptism  by  Winebrenner. 
Immediately  after  the  preaching,  between  3  and  4  o'clock,  they  proceeded  to  the 
Susquehanna  river,  a  hundred  yards  from  the  bethel,  where  Erb  baptized  him. 
This  sermon  was  written  and  published  in  a  neat  pamphlet,  and  republished  in 
1873.  The  United  Brethren  Church  was  in  advance  of  Winebrenner  on  Feet-wash- 
ing. They  also  immersed  three  times  forward,  as  do  the  Dunkards.  Erb  was 
seven  years  younger  than  AVinebrenner,  having  been  born  in  1804.  He  was  con- 
verted near  Wormleysburg,  across  the  river  frem  Harrisburg,  when  sixteen  years 
old,  and  was  living  at  Wormleysburg  at  the  time  of  Winebrenner's  baptism.  He 
was  ordained  in  1823,  and  in  1849  he  was  elected  Bishop  by  the  United  Brethren 
General  Conference. 

The  revivals  following  Winebrenner's  separation  from  the  Reformed  Church 
gave  occasion  for  a  new-  hymnody.  Few  of  the  old  hymns  were  suited  for  revival 
services.  This  need  Winebrenner  supplied  by  the  publication  of  his  "Revival  Hymn 
Book,"  March  25,  1825.  Several  editions  were  published,  and  new  and  popular 
hymns  were  added.  He  also  published  "Das  Christliche  Gasong  Buch,"  a  German 
hymn-book,  which  became  very  popular  among  the  German  people. 

Camp-meetings  became  quite  popular  as  the  revival  spirit  spread,  and  were 
meetings  of  unusual  power.  Hundreds  were  converted  at  these  meetings,  and  the 
churches  were  greatly  strengthened.  Houses  of  worship  were  few,  and  preaching 
services  were  infrequent.  Churches  everywhere  held  camp-meetings.  Among 
the  most  memorable  ones  held  between  1830  and  1835  was  one  in  1830  on  the  farm 
of  Jacob  Beelman,  between  Mechanicsburg  and  Churchtown,  where  a  large  number 
were  converted.  Another  one  at  the  Poor  House,  Dauphin  county,  at  which  time 
Winebrenner  for  the  first  time  insisted  on  immersion  one  time  backward  "as  the 
only  way  in  which  he  would  administer  the  rite."  Fifty-nine  were  thus  baptized 
by  him  at  this  time  in  the  river  at  Harrisburg.  Another  one  was  held  here  in 
1831,  with  most  encouraging  results.  This  ground  having  been  refused  for  1832, 
this  camp-meeting  was  held  in  Millizen's  woods,  and  over  one  hundred  conversions 
were  reported.  Other  camp-meetings  of  great  power  were  held  at  Mt.  Joy;  one 
near  Shippensburg,  in  1832;  one  in  the  grove  of  John  Heck,  Cumberland  county, 
the  same  year,  and  again  in  1834;  one  near  Roxbury,  Franklin  county,  in  1832; 
one  between  Shiremanstown  and  Lisburn,  in  1833;  also  the  same  year  in  Millizen's 
grove,  in  Lower  Paxton  township,  Dauphin  county,  and  one  near  Middletown.  In 
1834  one  was  held  in  Lebanon  county,  3  miles  west  of  Jonestown.  The  one  held 
on  the  farm  of  George  Kinmiel,  near  Orwigsburg,  Schuylkill  county,  in  1834,  is 
notable  as  being  the  first  in  that  county.  One  English  sermon  was  preached  dur- 
ing this  meeting,  by  J.  Myers.  G.  W.  Wilson,  later  a  minister  in  the  Ohio  Elder- 
ship, who  had  met  Winebrenner  the  first  time  in  1832,  was  at  this  camp-meeting. 
At  some  of  these  meetings  there  were  marvelous  displays  of  divine  power. 

In  the  early  Summer  of  1830  a  movement  was  begun,  looking  toward  some 
system  of  co-operation  between  the  churches  which  had  then  been  organized.  It 
at  once  encountered  opposition.  This  grew  out  of  the  intense  anti-sectarian  spirit 
which  characterized  the  whole  revival  movement  of  182  5-30.  It  was  stimulated 
into  renewed  vigor  by  the  views  W^inebrenner  advocated  in  his  "Brief  Scriptural 


44 


History   of   the    Churches    of    God 


View  of  the  Formation,  Government  and  Discipline  of  the  Church  of  God,"  in  1829. 
He  insisted  that  all  power  is  in  the  local  church,  and  that  there  is  no  human  au- 
thority, or  power,  or  organization,  above  and  over  it.  But  the  idea  of  inaugurating 
some  system  under  which  all  could  co-work  prevailed,  and  finally  "these  min- 
istering brethren,  able  men  whom  it  pleased  God  to  raise  up  to  take  the  office  of 
the  gospel  ministry  upon  themselves,  with  a  few  other  great  and  good  men  with 
similar  views  and  kindred  spirits,  agreed  to  hold  a  meeting  for  the  purpose  of 
adopting  a  regular  system  of  co-operation."  This  was  in  October,  1830,  when 
what  is  now  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  was  organized.  Winebrenner  was 
elected  to  preside  over  the  meeting,  and  after  the  organization  and  "spending  the 
morning  session  in  solemn  prayer  and  deliberation,  the  meeting  was  adjourned  till 
2  o'clock  p.  m.,  when  a  sermon  was  preached  by  the  Speaker,  based  on  Acts  v. 
38,  39. 


John  Winebrenner. 


The  question  of  Sunday-schools  received  early  attention  by  AVlnebrenner. 
Shortly  after  the  building  of  the  new  Reformed  church  under  his  pastorate  he  took 
up  the  subject  and  prepared  "A  Compendium  of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  or 
Method  of  Instruction  in  the  Christian  Religion,"  published  in  1822,  which,  as  he 
says  in  the  Preface,  "I  have  chiefly  intended  for  the  use  of  the  Sunday-school." 
Only  about  sixteen  Sunday-schools  were  known  to  have  been  organized  before  1800. 
They  were  strongly  antagonized  and  "fierce  onslaughts"  were  made  upon  them  as 
"subversive  of  that  order,  that  industry,  that  peace  and  tranquility  which  consti- 
tute the  happiness  of  society."  But  in  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  the 
movement  took  new  life,  and  made  rapid  progress.  In  1824  the  "American  Sun- 
day-school Union"  was  organized.  State  conventions  were  organized,  and  finally, 
in  1832,  the  first  national  convention  was  held  in  New  York.  The  system  of  con- 
ventions grew  out  of  local  organizations.  But  it  required  years  of  persistent  effort 
to  overcome  the  deep-rooted  prejudice  against  the  institution  which  regarded  it  as 
"so  far  from  deserving  encouragement  and  applause,  it  merits  contempt,  and 
ought  to  be  exploded  as  the  vain,  chimerical  institution  of  a  visionary  projector." 
Among  the  Germans  in  Pennsylvania  this  opposition  was  most  persistent,  and  but 


General    History  45 

few  Sunday-schools  had  been  organized  among  them  prior  to  1830.  AVinebrenner 
became  somewhat  familiar  with  Sunday-school  work  in  Philadelphia,  and  he  never 
lost  his  interest  in  it,  but  steadily  threw  his  influence  in  its  favor. 

There  is  a  close  connection  between  the  Sunday-school  and  the  day  or  com- 
mon schools  of  the  United  States.  The  former  was  for  some  years  "a  school  for 
secular  instruction  on  Sunday,"  as  well  as  for  "instruction  in  the  catechism  and  the 
Scriptures."  Even  the  American  Sunday-school  Union  "petitioned  the  Legislature 
of  Pennsylvania  for  the  establishment  of  Sunday-schools  as  free  schools."  The  seed 
thus  sown  bore  fruii  in  1834,  when  the  first  public  school  law  was  passed  by  said 
Legislature. 

Other  events  of  importance  in  the  religious  world  during  this  period  include 
the  organization  of  the  Mormon  Church  in  1830.  The  Book  of  Mormon  was  first 
printed  in  1830.  The  same  year,  April  6th,  the  first  regularly  constituted  church  of 
the  Mormon  faith  was  organized  in  Manchester,  N.  Y.  It  had  six  members.  And 
in  June  1,  1830,  the  first  Conference  of  the  Church  was  held  at  Fayette,  N.  Y. 
In  1833  the  so-called  gift  of  tongues  was  conferred. 

The  Plymouth  Brethren  had  their  origin  about  1830,  in  England. 
The  origin  of  the  Adventists  may  be  dated   from  the  time  when  in   1831-3 
William  Miller  began  his  preaching  and  predictions  as  to  the  time  of  the  end  of  the 
world,  in  1843. 

The  association  of  the  ministers  and  churches  of  God  with  the  Free  Baptist 
Church  has  been  closer  than  with  any  other  denomination.  It  is  the  more  inter- 
esting, therefore,  to  note  that  the  General  Conference  of  said  Church  was  organ- 
ized in  1827.  Their  Book  Concern  was  started  in  1831.  Their  Foreign  Mission- 
ary Society  was  organized  in  1833.  Like  the  Church  of  God,  the  Free  Baptists  for 
a  number  of  years  practiced  the  washing  of  the  saints'  feet.  In  a  work  called  the 
"Faith  of  the  Free  Will  Baptists,"  published  in  1834,  by  authority  of  the  General 
Conference  of  said  denomination,  the  following  is  found:  "The  following  ordi- 
nances or  institutions  were  appointed  by  Christ  or  his  Apostles,  and  are  obligatory 
on  the  Church:  I.  Christian  Baptism.  II.  The  Lord's  Supper.  III.  Washing 
the  Saints'  Feet."  "Baptism  is  immersion."  Except  as  to  name,  the  Free  Bap- 
tists then  were  identical  with  the  Church  of  God.  So  the  United  Brethren  in  their 
Confession  of  Faith  of  1815  "recommend.  .  .  .that  baptism  and  the  remembrance 
of  the  Lord  in  the  distribution  of  the  bread  and  wine  be  observed,  also  the  washing 
of  feet  where  the  same  is  desired,"  as  "outward  signs  and  ordinances." 

In  1834  the  United  Brethren  Publishing  House  was  established,  and  "The  Re- 
ligious Telescope,"  a  semi-monthly  folio,  was  started.  Both  were  located  in  the 
basement  of  the  church  at  Circleville,  Ohio. 

The  first  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church  convened  in 
Georgetown,  D.  C,  May  6,  1834,  with  sixteen  ministerial  and  fourteen  lay  dele- 
gates. This  item  derives  much  of  its  significance  from  the  fact  that  lay  repre- 
sentation was  one  of  the  demands  whose  refusal  resulted  in  the  secession  from  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  the  organization  of  the  Methodist  Protestant 
Church. 

The  history  of  Oberlin  College  begins  with  the  location  of  P.  P.  Pease  on  the 
ground,  April  19,  1833.  The  beginnings  of  this  institution  destined  to  occupy  so 
prominent  a  place  in  the  great  slavery  agitation  in  later  years  were  of  the  humblest 
character.  Not  less  than  half  a  dozen  ministers  of  the  Church  of  God  later  re- 
ceived part  of  their  classical  and  theological  training  at  this  institution. 

Prior  to  183  5  considerable  missionary  work  was  done  beyond  the  Allegheny 
mountains.  The  tide  of  emigration  to  Ohio  began  to  rise  about  this  time.  Among 
the  early  families  locating  in  the  State  were  the  Beei-ys,  Sheriicks,  Beidlers,  Funks, 
Metzlei-s  and  Hartmans.  Samuel  Sherrick  devoted  a  great  deal  of  his  time  "to  the 
promotion  of  the  cause  of  God.  He  was  very  plain  and  pointed  in  his  preaching. 
He  was  very  successful  in  doing  good."  John  Beidler  labored  much  in  a  local  ca- 
pacity. Peter  Hai-tman  did  much  in  the  way  of  opening  new  points,  and  was  a 
good  instructor.  Samuel  Metzler  and  John  Funk  were  spiritual  and  zealous 
workers,  sound  in  the  principles  and  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  God.  These  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  regular  circuit  preachers  who  traveled  in  Wayne  and  ad- 
joining counties  and  helped  to  build  up  the  Ohio  Eldership.  These  local  ministers 
helped  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  appointment  of  a  minister  by  the  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  to  the  "Ohio  circuit,"  in  1833,  in  response  to  a  call  in  a  letter  written  by 
J.  Greeger,  "praying  that  help  might  be  sent  them."  They  all  became  members 
of  the  first  Eldership  organized  in  Ohio,  in  1836. 


46  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 


CHAPTER    V. 


1835—1840. 


THE  second  half  of  the  fourth  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  rich  in  re- 
sults crowning  the  labors  of  the  ministers  of  the  Church  of  God.  In  Penn- 
.  sylvania  and  Ohio  the  number  of  conversions  and  of  churches  organized  was 
relatively  very  large.  There  was  an  active,  aggressive  campaign  over  the  whole 
territory  as  if  Church  extension  had  been  the  inspired  motto.  The  number  of 
active  workers  steadily  increased,  and  there  was  co-operation  on  every  hand.  So- 
called  "Big  meetings,"  "Protracted  meetings"  and  camp-meetings  were  held  all 
over  the  territory,  and  at  quite  a  number  of  new  points.  The  term  "evangelistic 
meetings,"  or  "evangelistic  efforts,"  was  not  then  in  use.  The  protracted  meeting 
so  commonly  meant  a  "revival,"  the  conversion  of  sinners,  that  the  term  "revival 
meeting"  was  quite  generally  used  even  in  anticipation.  The  "big  meeting"  was- 
so  called  because  of  the  unusually  large  attendance.  Churches  co-operated  ia 
these  meetings,  and  members  would  go  long  distances  to  attend  them.  Every 
church  would  have  its  protracted  meeting,  and  it  proved  a  serious  disappointment 
if  there  were  no  conversions.  A  number  of  churches  in  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio 
originated  in  revivals  held  in  private  houses.  The  churches  were  taught  to  work 
and  pray  for  revivals,  as  "the  spirit  of  revival  is  the  genuine  spirit  of  Christianity. 
No  believer  in  divine  revelation  who  will  attentively  and  prayerfully  read  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles  can  doubt  the  truth  of  this  position.  A  correct  answer  to  the  oft- 
repeated  and  truly  important  question,  'Why  are  revivals  of  religion  so  unfre- 
quent?'  would  be  a  severe  censure  on  the  character  and  conduct  of  many  a  pro- 
fessed follower  of  Jesus."  They  defined  a  revival  to  be  "an  unusual  quickening 
and  conversion  of  many  sinners."  And  they  believed  that  "all  that  is  genuine  and 
durable  in  a  time  of  revival  is  effected  by  the  special  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit." 
But  they  as  strongly  insisted  on  "the  truths  of  the  Bible"  as  the  means  used  by 
the  Spirit,  and  "ministers  by  their  preaching;  Christians  by  their  devoted  lives, 
and  often  the  providence  of  God  are  the  agents  or  instruments  in  conveying  and 
applying  the  truth  to  the  minds  of  sinners."  During  the  Winter  of  1838  it  was 
recorded  that  "revivals  of  religion  are  prevailing  over  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
land,  with  greater  power  and  depth  and  permanency  than  have  ever  yet  been  wit- 
nessed." This  widespread  revival  followed  a  year  or  two  of  comparative  barren- 
ness, so  that  a  "dearth  of  revivals"  had  been  reported  in  1837.  "Meetings  were 
thin,  preaching  without  effect,  the  few  scattering  additions  which  are  made  to  the 
churfches  but  just  redeem  them  from  absolute  decline  in  members."  These  pro- 
tracted meetings  often  lasted  from  four  to  six  and  ten  weeks,  with  conversions 
nightly.  That  they  were  sometimes  abused  is  conceded;  but  incalculable  good  was 
accomplished  through  them.  Indeed,  these  meetings,  along  with  camp-meetings, 
were  the  essential  means  by  which  the  United  Brethren  Church,  the  Evangelical 
Association  and  the  Church  of  God  were  originated  and  built  up. 

Camp-meetings  were  unusually  numerous  in  these  early  years,  and  were  pro- 
ductive of  much  good.  As  the  results  decreased,  their  number  decreased.  In 
order  that  they  might  not  interfere  with  each  other  it  was  the  custom  for  the 
Eldership  to  appoint  a  camp-meeting  committee,  which  would  fix  the  dates  of  all 
the  camp-meetings,  and  sometimes  assign  the  ministers.  While  the  camp-meet- 
ing spirit  prevailed  almost  universally,  yet  the  ministers  strongly  urged  upon  the 
churches  the  importance  of  such  special  means  of  grace.  It  was  "the  service  of 
the  Lord,"  and  while  "it  costs  time  and  money,  trouble  and  labor,  has  any  man 
ever  lost  anything  by  putting  time,  money  and  labor  into  the  service  of  the  Lord?" 
"Many  a  Christian  father,  mother,  brother  and  sister  feels  himself  or  herself  amply 
rewarded  for  the  labors  of  camp-meetings  by  the  conversion  of  friends."  In  1835 
eight  camp-meetings  were  held  in  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  to  wit:  Near 
Linglestown,  Dauphin  county;  in  Perry  county;  in  Powl's  Valley,  Dauphin  county; 
at  Beelman's,  near  Mechanicsburg,  Cumberland  county;  near  Orwigsburg,  at  Kim- 
mel's,  Schuylkill  county;  in  Foutz's  Valley,  Perry  county;  near  Mt.  Joy,  Lancaster 


General    History  47 

county,  and  near  Uniontown,  Carroll  county,  Md.  One  was  held  near  Jefferson, 
Wayne  county,  Ohio.  This  was  the  first  camp-meeting  held  by  the  churches  of 
God  in  Ohio.  It  began  on  August  21st.  Jacob  Keller  and  Thomas  Hickeriiell 
were  in  charge  as  the  circuit  preachers.  Keller  preached  the  first  sermon,  in  Ger- 
man, from  Mark  xi.  24.  More  than  half  the  sermons  were  in  German,  as  several 
other  brethren  preached  also  in  German.  Other  ministers  present  were  John 
Funk,  John  Greeger,  John  River,  Samuel  Sherrick,  Peter  Hartman  and  William 
Adams.  The  preachers  in  charge  reported  about  forty-five  "real  conversions"  at 
this  camp-meeting.  P'ull  reports  are  wanting  from  all  but  three  of  the  eastern 
camp-meetings.  At  these  three  the  conversions  numbered  about  one  hundred. 
The  largest  of  these  camp-meetings  was  the  one  held  in  Beelman's  grove,  near 
Mechanicsburg,  with  between  ninety  and  one  hundred  tents. 

In  183  6  nine  caiup-meetings  were  held  in  the  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  viz.: 
near  Mechanicsburg,  Cumberland  county;  Fowl's  Valley,  Dauphin  county;  near 
Fredericksburg  (then  called  Stumpstown),  Lebanon  county;  near  Middletown, 
Dauphin  county;  near  Shippensburg,  Cumberland  county;  in  York  county;  near 
Landisburg,  Perry  county,  and  at  Kimmel's,  Schuylkill  county,  and  one  near  Union- 
town,  Carroll  county,  Md.  A  camp-meeting  was  also  held  this  year  on  "the 
Wooster  circuit,"  the  same  ground  on  which  the  one  of  1835  was  held.  The  re- 
ports of  these  meetings  are  very  incomplete,  but  exceeding  one  hundred  conver- 
sions are  reported  at  five  of  them,  and  at  one  other  it  is  specially  noted  that  there 
were  more  conversions  than  the  previous  year. 

In  1837  the  number  of  camp-meetings  held  was  thirteen,  three  of  them  in 
Ohio,  one  on  the  East  circuit,  in  Holmes  county;  one  on  the  West  circuit,  Wayne 
county,  and  one  north-west  of  Canton,  in  Stark  county.  These  three  camp-meet- 
ings reported  over  eighty  conversions.  At  the  camp-meeting  near  Shippensburg, 
Pa.,  fifty  conversions  were  reported.  Mackey  says  concerning  this  camp-meeting, 
that  "the  three  last  days  were  days  of  power  in  such  a  degree  as  I  have  never  wit- 
nessed." It  was  "held  on  the  premises  of  Bro.  Knisley,"  who  years  later  was 
treasurer  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Here  M.  F.  Snavely  was  converted, 
who  after  preaching  the  gospel  for  a  number  of  years  met  a  tragic  death  in  a  rail- 
way accident.      The  results  at  other  camp-meetings  are  not  on  record. 

In  183  8  eleven  camp-meetings  were  held  in  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland,  and 
four  in  Ohio,  one  each  in  Wayne,  Richland,  Holmes  and  Stark  counties.  Nearly 
two  hundred  converts  were  reported  at  these  meetings,  yet  there  was  complaint 
that  the  number  was  "small"  at  three  or  four  of  them. 

In  1839  the  Ohio  camp-meetings  were  held  in  Richland,  Wayne,  Tuscarawas 
and  Stark  counties.  In  the  East  there  were  seven,  one  of  which  was  held  in  Mary- 
land. In  western  Pennsylvania  the  first  camp-meeting  was  held  in  Venango  county, 
which  was  part  of  the  Pittsburg  mission  territory,  under  John  Hickemell.  The 
general  results  this  year  were  less  encouraging  than  during  former  years. 

Substantial  and  inspiring  progress  was  made  during  the  second  half  of  this 
decade.  Converts  multiplied;  churches  were  organized  in  many  new  localities, 
and  the  work  throughout  seemed  to  be  in  a  very  prosperous  condition.  The  cause 
these  devout  and  energetic  men  had  espoused  found  favor  with  God  and  man. 
Even  the  hardships  and  persecutions  they  had  to  endure  fanned  the  fire  of  their 
zeal.  In  a  number  of  places  houses  of  worship  were  built.  One  of  the  churches 
organized  in  1835  was  at  Good  Hope,  Cumberland  county.  Pa.,  where  H.  Murray, 
later  of  Iowa,  and  John  Briggle,  who  removed  to  Ohio,  became  members  of  the 
church.  The  work  in  Schuylkill  county,  Pa.,  was  widening  out  under  the  labors 
of  J.  Walborn  and  J.  Lenkert,  followed  in  1835  by  Jonathan  Hawk.  When  he 
went  there  "things  were  small,  but  promising."  But  they  "soon  had  several  power 
seasons,  where  the  Lord  broke  in  upon  sinners,  and  a  goodly  number  experienced 
a  change  of  heart."  Hawk  extended  his  labors  as  far  toward  the  south  as  Ham- 
burg, Berks  county,  and  westward  into  East  and  West  Hanover,  Dauphin  county, 
where  a  number  were  converted. 

Meanwhile  the  work  was  making  good  progress  in  Cumberland  county.  Oc- 
tober 11,  1835,  "the  new  house  of  worship  at  Markley's,  near  ShepheMstown,"  was 
dedicated.  In  1836  the  bethel  located  about  one-half  mile  from  Churchtown  was 
built.  This  house  was  torn  down  in  1849,  and  a  new,  two-story  bethel  built,  well 
located,  in  the  village.  This  was  remodeled  about  forty  years  later,  and  made  a 
one-story  house.  The  same  year  the  church  at  Andersontown  was  organized. 
The  work  in  Newville  antedates  the  year  1837,  when  the  Shullenberger  family 
moved  to  that  village.      D.  Kyle  and  L.  Records  were  the  first  ministers  of  tha 


48  History    oj^   the    Churches    oe    God 

<!hurch  to  preach  there.  They  held  services  in  the  "Old  School-house,"  near  the 
Presbyterian  church,  and  in  private  houses.  In  1837  the  church  was  organized 
by  Kyle.  They  secured  ground  in  the  West  end  of  the  town  and  built  what  was 
years  after  known  as  "The  Old  Bethel,"  and  was  used  later  by  the  colored  brethren, 
when  in  1860  the  new  bethel  was  erected.  The  first  bethel  at  Shiremanstown  was 
built  in  the  Summer  of  1838,  and  dedicated  November  23rd  of  that  year.  The 
work  also  extended  into  Franklin  county,  Fayetteville  being  the  place  of  quite  an 
extensive  revival  in  1839.  The  church,  however,  was  organized  prior  to  this  date, 
as  it  had  twenty-seven  members  before  this  revival  began.  This  year  also  a  house 
of  worship  was  built  by  the  church  at  Newburg,  Cumberland  county,  under  the 
labors  of  E.  AVest.  There  were  several  small  organizations  effected  in  1837  be- 
tween Carlisle  and  Newville  at  points  known  as  Smoketown  and  River's  Meeting 
House. 

The  work  in  Franklin  county,  Pa.,  was  closely  connected  with  that  in  Wash- 
ington county,  Md.  William  Smediner  was  a  pioneer  preacher  in  that  section,  in 
1837,  and  reported  overflowing  congregations,  in  a  place  called  Hancock,  and  many 
conversions.  He  went  across  into  Virginia  and  preached  some  in  that  State.  A 
church  was  organized  at  Broad  Fording  about  this  time.  Sinedmer  two  years  later 
held  a  very  successful  revival  meeting  at  Westminster,  Carroll  county,  Md. 

In  Lancaster  county  this  semi-decade  also  showed  good  results  of  faithful  work. 
Revivals  were  held  at  Hinkletown,  East  of  Lancaster  city,  as  early  as  1837.  Jolin 
Stamm,  later  a  member  of  the  Eldership,  father  of  J.  S.  Stainni,  sent  to  Centralia, 
Kas.,  as  Phincipal  of  Centralia  College,  in  1867,  was  one  of  the  first  members  of  the 
Hinkletown  church.  George  Sandoe,  first  missionary  to  Illinois,  was  born  and 
converted  there.  "The  new  meeting-house  in  Columbia"  was  dedicated  Novem- 
ber 8,  1835.  At  Elizabethtown  the  church  was  organized  a  little  over  a  mile  East 
of  the  town,  at  the  house  of  Michael  Cramer,  by  David  MaxwelL  There  were  but 
six  members — Abraham  Breneman,  Michael  Cramer  and  wife,  Martha  Kapp, 
Hannah  Kapp  and  Margaret  Cramer.  Others  were  in  co-operation  with  them,  but 
had  not  been  baptized,  and  as  Maxwell  taught  that  no  one  could  become  a  member 
until  immersed,  they  "stood  aloof."  The  work  at  Landisville  started  at  the  home 
of  John  C.  Laiidis,  where  there  was  a  revival  in  1839.  This  became  thereafter  a 
regular  appointment  on  the  Lancaster  circuit.  The  church  at  Mt.  Joy  was  also, 
from  1833,  a  part  of  the  Lancaster  circuit.  It  worshiped  in  a  school-house  known 
as  "Log  HaJJ"  during  the  first  seven  years  of  its  existence.  But  in  1838  a  bethel 
was  built,  which  was  dedicated  December  23rd  of  that  year.  The  church  at 
Washington  Borough,  which  was  organized  in  1837  or  1838,  did  not  build  a  house 
of  worship  until  1844. 

Adams  and  Lebanon  counties  also  were  included  in  the  active  missionary  en- 
deavors between  183.5  and  1840.  Special  meetings  were  held  at  points  from 
Gettysburg  northward,  and  revivals  followed.  At  Annville  (then  called  Millers- 
town),  Lebanon  county,  a  church  was  organized  in  1837.  One  of  the  original 
members  of  this  organization  was  Mrs.  Sarah  Hepler,  a  sister  of  James  Lick,  later 
a  California  millionaire. 

In  1838,  "in  a  school-house  on  the  river  bank  where  Goldsboro,  York  county, 
now  stands,"  the  first  members  of  the  Goldsboro  church  were  converted.  An  or- 
ganization was  effected,  but  no  bethel  built  at  that  time. 

Revivals  were  reported  during  this  period  at  Landisburg,  Shaffer's  Valley  and 
other  points  in  Perry  county.  A  regular  circuit  had  been  established  in  1832,  with 
E.  AVest  and  John  AA'alborn  as  pastors.  Juniata  county  was  added  in  1833,  with 
Jacob  Myers  as  pastor. 

Fulton,  Bedford,  Blair  and  Huntingdon  counties  were  added  to  the  previously 
occupied  territory  at  the  beginning  of  this  period.  About  183  6  the  first  mission- 
aries visited  the  Broad  Top  mountain  region,  having  come  from  the  neighborhood 
of  Ft.  Littleton,  Fulton  county.  These  were  Snavely  and  Hawk,  who  held  a  re- 
vival meeting  at  the  Mountain  House,  "in  the  kitchen,"  at  which  "many  were  con- 
verted:" This  whole  territory  from  Ft.  Littleton  to  Martinsburg,  Blair  county, 
was  included  in  one  field  of  labor.  Jacob  Keller  and  John  Hickemell  made  a  tour 
through  this  territory  as  far  as  Martinsburg,  Blair  county,  in  the  Winter  of  1838, 
and  thence  on  to  Westmoreland  county. 

In  the  evolution  of  religious  bodies  in  the  United  States,  especially  those  which 
originated  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  and  prior  thereto,  the  work 
has  followed  the  line  of  emigration  westward.  None  of  these  Churches  has  been 
able  to  make  much  progress  eastward  of  the  point  where  they  began.     And  the 


General    History 


49 


work  widened  as  the  stream  of  emigration  flowed  westward.  The  families  of  a 
Church  are  its  surest  seed.  They  commend,  or  they  discredit,  the  faith  which  they 
represent.  These  facts  are  exemplified  in  the  history  of  the  United  Brethren 
Church,  the  Evangelical  Association,  the  Free  Baptist  and  the  Methodist  Protestant 
Churches,  as  well  as  of  the  Church  of  God.  The  earlier  emigration  of  Church  of 
God  families  was  principally  to  Ohio.  It  consisted  largely  of  farmers  and  families 
seeking  homes  in  the  country.  This  determined  the  first  fields  of  extra-State  mis- 
sion work  westward,  as  well  as  the  localities  where  the  earlier  churches  were 
established.  Indeed  it  has  been  a  determining  factor  in  all  the  missionary  oper- 
ations of  the  Church  of  God. 

As  early  as  1816  "there  was  a  strong  emigration  from  eastern  Pennsylvania 
into  Ohio."  This  tendency  westward  continued  for  years,  as  glowing  reports 
reached  the  East  of  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  the  cheapness  of  farm  land  and  the 


Thomas  Hiokernell. 

prosperity  of  the  citizens  generally.  The  families  of  the  Church  became  early  in- 
tected  with  this  western  fever,  and  emigrated  in  considerable  numbers  to  the  new 

land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey."  a  land  even  "like  the  Garden  of  Eden  "  The 
earlier  emigrants  settled  in  Wayne  and  adjoining  counties,  and  by  1833  had  asso- 
ciated themselves  together  in  different  localities  for  public  religious  services. 
Joseph  Adams  was  their  first  minister.  In  1833  1).  Maxwell  was  appointed  by  the 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  to  the  "Ohio  Circuit."  but  did  not  go.  J.  Greeger  preached 
some   for  the   Ohio   brethren   during  this   year.      In    1834    the   Eldership   received 

several  letters  from  Ohio,  giving  a  favorable  account  of  the  state  of  religion-  re- 
questing laborers  to  be  sent  there;  recommending  several  persons  to  the  Eldership 
tor  license,  and  testifying  to  the  usefulness  and  faithfulness  of  Bro.  J.  Adams." 
m  response  to  this  request,  Thomas  Hickeniell  and  Jacob  Keller  were  appointed 
to  the  "Ohio  Circuit." 

C.   H.— 2* 


50  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

Hickernell  became  the  great  revivalist  of  the  West.  He  traveled  all  over 
Ohio,  Indiana  and  a  great  part  of  Illinois,  and  was  very  successful.  During  the 
first  year  of  the  joint  labors  of  Hickernell  and  Keller  they  reported  one  hundred 
and  forty  conversions,  and  the  second  year  one  hundred  and  fifty.  Jacob  Keller  at 
the  expiration  of  two  years  returned  to  Pennsylvania  and  spent  the  residue  of  his 
years  as  a  member  in  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. 


Jacob    Keller. 

His  letter  containing  the  report  of  his  labors  in  Ohio  during  1835  conveyed  the 
request  of  the  Ohio  brethren  for  "the  privilege  of  holding  a  yearly  Eldership  in 
Ohio." 

AVilliam  Adams,  a  native  of  Perry  county,  Pa.,  and  son  of  a  Presbyterian,  was 
converted  under  E.  West,  and  emigrated  to  Ohio  in  1835.  He  was  a  co-laborer 
with  Keller  the  second  year  of  the  latter's  labors  in  Ohio,  when  they  traveled  the 
Sugar  Creek  circuit.  When  Keller  and  Hickernell  went  to  Ohio  they  "took  up 
twelve  appointments  to  commence  with."  By  the  end  of  two  years  "our  appoint- 
ments had  swelled  to  the  number  of  forty."  Wayne  county  was  the  principal  part 
of  their  field  of  work.  In  183  6  this  territory  was  divided  int'o  two  circuits,  the 
Eastern  and  Western,  and  two  ministers  were  appointed  to  each.  In  1837  three 
circuits  were  formed.  In  1839  St.  Mary's  Mission  was  formed.  As  many  as  two 
hundred  converts  were  reported  some  of  these  years.  In  1837  there  was  a  revival 
in  Richland  county,  under  the  labors  of  Hickernell  and  Logue,  at  which  twenty- 
five  converts  were  reported.  A  similar  work  of  grace  had  been  reported  by  Hicker- 
nell at  "Crooked  Run  meeting-house,"  Tuscarawas  county,  in  the  Spring  of  1836; 
also  in  the  Fall  of  1836,  at  "Henry  Myers',  near  Strasburg,"  in  the  same  county. 
St.  Mary's  Mission  was  in  Allen  and  Mercer  counties,  in  the  extreme  western  part 
of  the  State,  and  Hickernell  was  the  missionary  in  1839.  He  had  ten  appoint- 
ments this  year,  and  "my  mission,"  he  says,  "is  about  fifty  miles  long."  In  1838 
there  was  a  circuit  in  Stark  county,  with  E.  Logue  as  pastor.  But  two  meeting- 
houses, or  bethels,  had  thus  far  been  reported,  viz.:  Funk's,  in  Chester  township, 
Wayne  county,  and  Crooked  Run. 

A  few  families  of  the  churches  East  emigrated  to  Westmoreland  county.  Pa., 
to  Pittsburg,  and  to  Venango  and  Butler  counties  between  1835  and  1840.  Among 
these  were  the  Gray  and  Yoiisling  families,  which  located  in  Pittsburg;  John  Ross 


Gknerai.    History 


51 


and  family,  the  Ayreses,  Becks,  Muinpheis,  Cockleys  and  others  who  went  to 
Venango  county.  These  brethren  as  usual  called  for  ministers  of  the  Church  of 
God  to  visit  them  and  preach  for  them.  To  these  calls  the  Ohio  Eldership  re- 
sponded in  1837  by  appointing  Thomas  Hickeniell  to  the  Pittsburg  Mission;  or,  as 
he  reports  it,  "to  open  a  mission  in  western  Pennsylvania."  To  what  extent  he 
labored  on  th*  Mission  is  not  clear;  but  he  reported  preaching  in  Westmoreland, 
Butler  and  Venango  counties,  and  in  his  general  review  of  the  year  he  states  that 
"in  this  year  the  work  of  the  Lord  continued  as  usual,  both  on  the  Pittsburg  Mis- 
sion and  in  the  State  of  Ohio."  In  Butler  county  a  successful  meeting  was  held, 
at  "Old  Harmony,"  while  a  number  of  conversions  were  reported  in  Venango 
county.  In  November,  183  8,  the  Pennsylvania  Eldership  appointed  John  Hicker- 
nell  and  E.  AVest  to  the  Pittsburg  Mission,  Hickeniell  having  received  license  at 
this  Eldership. 

While  this  field  was  called  the  "Pittsburg  Mission,"  it  included  five  counties — ■ 
Allegheny,  Westmoreland,  Beaver,  Butler  and  Venango.  Hickeniell  reported: 
"I  have    to  ride    two  hundred  and  sixty    or  seventy  miles  going  and  coming  my 


SlMMi^"'    ^  ^'"""^^ 


route."  It  was  not  until  1839  that  he  "preached  his  first  sermon  in  Pittsburg,  in 
the  Fire  Engine  House  on  Water  street."  He  preached  in  the  city  at  first  every 
two  weeks,  but  was  obliged  to  change  to  three  weeks  on  account  of  the  many  points 
on  his  field.  J.  Keller  was  his  co-laborer  part  of  the  time,  and  assisted  him  in  a 
meeting  in  Westmoreland  county.  They  began  the  work  at  Stonerville,  now  Alver- 
ton,  m  1839,  preaching  in  the  Mennonite  meeting-house.  An  important  feature 
of  the  early  history  of  church  work  in  this  neighborhood  is  the  influence  of  the 
Mennonite  Church,  which  was  strong  over  that  section  of  the  country.  It  later 
persecuted  the  leaders  and  members  of  the  chxirches  of  God,  but  thus  only  made 
the  Church  of  God  people  more  resolute  in  their  work.  Many  of  their  own  people 
were  converted  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  and  became  pillars  therein,  as  well 
as  transmitted  to  these  churches  of  God  the  same  type  of  vital  godliness  and 
spiritual  loyalty  and  conservatism.  A  series  of  meetings  was  also  held  in  the  C. 
Landes  school-house,  about  four  miles  south  of  Stonerville,  where  a  number  were 
converted  and  a  church  organized  "composed  of  ten  or  twelve  members."  Thomas 
Hickeniell,  missionary  from  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  in  1839  organized  a 
church  at  the  home  of  Henry  Rosenberser,  then  living  where  is  now  the  village  of 
Bethany.  This  church  in  the  year  1841  "built  a  small,  plain  house  of  worship." 
The  church  in  the  Landes  neighborhood  was  finally  broken  up  by  the  removal  of 


52 


History   of    the;    Churches    of    God 


most  of  the  families  to  Iowa,  where  they  constituted  the  church  at  Harmony. 
Through  some  defect  in  the  title  the  property  at  Bethany  was  lost  to  the  little 
church.  The  membership,  having  considerably  increased  at  the  different  points 
around  Stonerville,  selected  this  place  as  the  common  meeting  point,  and  worshiped 
for  some  years  in  the  "Stoner  Grove  Meeting  House,"  owned  by  a  number  of 
brethren  who  called  themselves  "Brethren  in  Christ,"  some  of  which  became  mem- 
bers of  the  church  of  God.  In  the  Spring  of  1863  they  "determined  to  erect  a  new 
and  more  commodious  house  of  worship  in  a  more  central  location."  This  house 
was  dedicated  on  Sabbath,  December  27,  1863.  E.  H,  Thomas  "did  the  preaching, 
and  A.  X.  Shoemaker  the  financeering."  J.  M.  Domer  and  Peter  Loucks  were  joint 
pastors  of  the  circuit  of  which  this  was  one  of  the  points.  It  was  called  "Center 
Bethel,"  being  located  in  the  center  of  the  communities  where  these  three  churches 
had  been  formed  in  earlier  years.  In  the  Mennonite  meeting-house  near  by  Wine- 
brenner,  about  1836,  sowed  the  first  seed  for  the  Church  of  God.      He  stopped  over 


Bethel  at  Alverton,  Pa. 

Sabbath  with  one  of  the  families  of  the  Church,  and  in  his  sermon  he  set  forth  his 
"views  of  the  church  of  God."  The  bethel  built  in  1863  was  enlarged,  remodeled 
and  modernized  in  later  years. 

A  church  was  also  organized  at  Slippery  Reck,  one  at  Old  Harmony,  and  one 
in  Irwin  township,  "Venango  county,  in  the  year  1839.  Much  of  the  preaching  was 
in  German. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  half  decade  the  religious  paper  called  "The  Gospel 
Publisher"  was  started  by  AVinebrenner,  the  first  number  being  dated  June  5,  1835. 
In  No.  27,  Vol.  I.,  he  published  the  outlines  of  a  sermon  on  Regeneration,  one  of 
the  earliest  published  utterances  on  a  doctrinal  subject  on  which  he  himself 
preached  with  so  much  power.  Whether  or  not  there  were  any  apprehensions  of 
schism  in  the  Church  of  God,  or  whether  it  was  intended  as  a  rebuke  of  existing 
schisms  in  the  general  church,  Winebrenner  published  a  number  of  selections 
against  "schism,"  and  strongly  urged  union  among  all  God's  people.  He  was  the 
harbinger  of  th^t  charming  symphony  of  union  of  the  twentieth  century.  But  his 
own  utterances  on  "Church  of  God"  as  the  only  proper  name  for  the  church,  being 
"more  ancient,"  "more  descriptive^"  "more  scriptural"  and  "more  appropriate," 
and  his  opposition  to  "baptism  the  door  into  the  church"  were  distinct  and  without 
a  shadow  of  compromise.  The  voice  of  the  Church  of  God  those  years  gave  no  un- 
certain sound  on  the  question,  "Who  should  be  members  of  the  church?"  Regene- 
ration the  door,  and  credible  profession  of  godliness  the  only  terms  of  admission 
into  the  fold.  Otherwise  there  is  no  salvation.  Universalism,  which  had  become 
quite  active,  was  repudiated  as  "unscriptural  and  absurd."  "Plainness  of  dress" 
was  taught  as  a  Christian  virtue,  and  the  Elderships  adopted  resolutions  enjoining 
it.  Infant  baptism  was  wholly  repudiated,  and  the  immersion  of  believers  as  the 
only  scriptural  baptism  was  strongly  emphasized.  Occasionally  baptism  as  a  con- 
dition of  fellowship  was  taught.  Feeling  as  a  guide  to  duty,  or  an  evidence  of 
conversion,  was  not  accepted,  though  it  strongly  characterized  revival  meetings. 


GeneraIv    History  5j 

and  its  evidential  value  was  much  abused.  The  duty  of  Restitution,  of  Fasting  and 
other  obsolete  virtues  was  not  overlooked.  As  the  practice  of  "ordination  by  the 
imposition  of  hands"  was  introduced  into  a  few  of  the  original  churches,  it  was 
natural  that  a  controversy  on  this  subject  should  manifest  itself  as  early  as  the 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  of  1839,  when  the  question  was  "laid  aside  till  the  next 
Annual  Eldership."  The  support  of  ministers,  which  was  exceedingly  meager,  re- 
ceived considerable  attention;  but  the  Eldership  in  1839  resolved  "that  it  be 
deemed  expedient  according  to  Scripture  to  discontinue  the  practice  of  preachers 
going  into  an  article  of  agreement  to  hire  themselves  to  preach  for  wages."  Yet 
the  paltry  support  during  and  following  the  great  financial  panic  of  1837-8  made 
it  all  the  more  difficult  for  ministers  to  continue  in  the  active  work.  Discussions 
on  baptism,  both  action  and  subjects,  occurred  on  several  occasions,  but  were  con- 
ducted by  correspondence,  or  through  the  columns  of  the  religious  press.  The 
question  of  women  preaching  had  not  yet  arisen  in  the  churches,  but  the  more  gen- 
eral topic  of  "women  speaking  in  public  "  received  more  or  less  attention.  Possi- 
bly because  of  too  inadequate  support,  Winebrenner  did  not  devote  nearly  all  his 
time  to  preaching.  He  served  churches  in  and  around  Harrisburg,  before  appoint- 
ments were  made  by  the  Eldership,  in  1830  and  1831.  In  1832  he  was  appointed 
to  Harrisburg  and  Middletown.  But  at  the  Elderships  between  1833  and  1840  he 
had  no  charge.  He  was  a  "general  missionary,"  but  without  any  provision  for  his 
support.  In  addition  to  editing  and  publishing  "The  Gospel  Publisher,"  he  prepared 
and  published  his  "Reference  and  Pronouncing  New  Testament,"  a  work  of  great 
value.  In  liquidation  of  a  debt  he  came  into  possession  of  a  drug  and  book-store, 
at  which  he  had  his  editorial  oflfice.  He  became  deeply  interested  in  "Morus  Multi- 
caulus,"  or  the  culture  of  the  silk  worm  and  of  silk  manufacture,  and  devoted,  ac- 
cording to  objections  urged,  a  disproportionate  space  of  the  paper  to  the  subject. 
To  aggravate  matters,  this  newly  discovered  industry,  heralded  so  enthusiastically 
as  promising  fabulous  returns  to  investors,  proved  an  utter  failure  to  the  loss  of 
those  who  heeded  the  fatal  syren's  song  and  embarked  in  the  enterprise.  By  yield- 
ing to  "the  necessity  of  seeking  secular  avocations,  the  Church  to  quite  an  extent 
lost  Winebrenner's  invaluable  services,  and  the  cause  suffered  serious  detriment. 

There  is  a  variety  of  synchronological  events  in  this  period,  social,  secular 
and  religious,  which  should  impress  every  thoughtful  mind.  Especially  the  phil- 
osophical student  of  history  will  not  be  satisfied  to  confine  himself  wholly  to  one 
particular  line  of  research.  He  desires  a  broader  outlook,  a  limited  degree  of 
familiarity  with  more  immediate  surroundings.  While  Winebrenner  was  out- 
spoken and  clear  "upon  the  unjustness  of  the  division  of  the  church  into  sects," 
and  emphatically  taught  that  "to  divide  the  church  of  God  into  various  denomina- 
tions is  wrong  because  it  begets  and  promotes  sectarianism";  others,  leaders  in 
their  Churches,  also  advocated  the  "Christian  union  of  all  the  Churches."  On  May 
9,  1839,  "a  meeting  was  called  at  New  York  of  several  gentlemen  of  various  de- 
nominations for  the  purpose  of  devising  and  adopting  a  plan  to  unite  Christians  of 
different  denominations  in  a  more  intimate  and  friendly  alliance."  A  Constitution 
was  adopted,  and  the  name  of  the  Society  which  was  organized  was  called  "The 
American  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Christian  Union  on  Apostolic  Principles." 
At  the  same  time  schisms  occurred  in  Churches  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  and 
also  in  eastern  Virginia.  Several  new  denominations  were  also  organized.  The 
Christian  Reformed  Church  was  formed  in  1835  by  a  separation  from  the  Dutch 
Reformed  Church.  The  same  year  the  Catholic  Apostolic  Church  was  organized, 
more  commonly  called  "Irwingites,"  after  Edward  Irwing,  an  eloquent  Scotch 
preacher,  and  one  of  the  original  and  most  influential  promoters  of  the  movement. 
Also  the  Adventist  Church.  The  Presbyterian  Church  in  1837  was  divided  into 
the  Old  and  New  School  branches. 

Mission  work  received  a  new  impulse.  The  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the 
German  Reformed  Church  was  organized  in  1838.  In  1837  the  Presbyterian  Board 
of  Missions  was  formed  which  took  up  the  work  of  the  Western  Foreign  Missionary 
Society.  The  same  year  the  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the  Lutheran  Church 
was  organized.  The  Free-Will  Baptists  had  preceded,  having  organized  their  Mis- 
sionary Society  in  1833.  April  4,  1838,  the  first  Missionary  Society  of  the  Evan- 
gelical Association  was  organized.  The  Conference  organized  itself  into  a  Mission- 
ary Society.  It  adopted  a  regular  Constitution,  calling  itself  "The  German  Evan- 
gelical Missionary  Society  of  North  America."  And  in  the  Autumn  of  1839,  the 
first  Woman's  Missionary  Society  of  the  Evangelical  Association  was  organized. 

There  was  increased  enterprise  in  the  newspaper  world.    The  "Public  Ledger," 


54  History    of    thk    Churches    of    God 

Philadelphia,  was  established  in  1836.  "The  Christliche  Botschafter,"  German 
organ  of  the  Evangelical  Association,  made  its  first  appearance  January,  1836. 
The  "Religious  Telescope,"  the  organ  of  the  United  Brethren  Church,  appears  as  a 
semi-monthly,  December  31,  1834.  The  unprecedented  financial  and  industrial 
panic  of  1837  unsettled  everything,  and  retarded  the  enterprises  of  the  Churches 
In  all  lines.  Specie  payment  was  suspended;  State  banks  failed  bj"^  the 
scores,  and  "Shin-plasters  and  speculation  are  now  the  order  of  the  day."  People 
everywhere  were  "in  the  highest  state  of  excitement  in  consequence  of  the  derange- 
ment of  money  matters."  These  conditions  embarrassed  seriously  the  Methodist 
Church  which  the  year  previous  suffered  the  total  loss  by  fire  of  "our  noble  Book 
Concern,"  and  of  the  Conference  Seminary  at  Norwalk,  Ohio.  Bishop  Emory,  of 
said  Church,  died  the  same  year. 

By  this  time,  too,  the  anti-Slavery  agitation  became  heated  and  acrimonious. 
Under  the  fiery  appeals  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Wendell  Phillips  and  other  elo- 
quent philanthropists  and  abolitionists  to  the  American  conscience,  the  cry  of  im- 
mediate abolition  was  taken  up  by  Churches  and  ecclesiastical  bodies  throughout 
the  country.  Winebrenner  took  an  active  part  in  this  agitation,  and  used  the  col- 
umns of  "The  Gospel  Publisher"  freely  to  advocate  the  cause  of  emancipation.  He 
was  a  member  of  an  anti-slavery  society  formed  in  Harrisburg  in  1836.  The 
assassination  of  Revs.  Lovejoy  and  Bewley,  in  1837,  who  "fell  martyrs  to  the  holy 
cause  of  Abolition  by  the  hands  of  cruel,  blood-thirsty  bands  of  ruffians  and  mur- 
derers," greatly  inflamed  the  passions  of  the  multitude.  The  public  "anti-slavery 
meetings  encountered  violent  opposition,  hissing,  mobs,  pelting  and  personal  abuse, 
and  was  followed  by  social  ostracism  of  the  reformers." 

The  deepening  interest  in  popular  education  resulted  in  1834  in  the  passage 
"by  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  of  a  law  establishing  a  system  of  free  and  public 
schools.  Two  years  later  a  "determined  effort  was  made  by  the  combined  forces 
of  ignorance,  prejudice  and  caste  to  repeal  this  Act.  The  hero  of  the  battle  for 
free  schools  was  Thaddeiis  Stevens,  of  Lancaster  City.  In  1909,  in  Lancaster 
county,  a  monument  in  his  honor  was  erected  "as  a  tribute  to  the  signal  services 
rendered  by  him  in  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  in  preventing  the  repeal  of  the 
public  school  law  enacted  in  1834." 

This  was  a  controversial  age.  Several  public  debates  were  held  which  at- 
tracted general  attention.  Already  in  1829,  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  one  between  the 
forces  of  skepticism  and  infidelity,  led  by  Robert  Dale  Owen,  an  astute  and  versatile 
disputant,  and  the  redoubtable  Alexander  Campbell,  the  peer  of  any  debater  of  the 
century.  Another  in  183  7  between  Campbell  as  the  champion  of  Protestantism 
against  Bishop  John  B.  Purcell,  in  defense  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Religion.  A  few 
years  later  Campbell  had  for  his  antagonist  N.  L.  Rice,  Presbyterian,  on  the  action, 
subjects,  design  and  administrator  of  baptism,  and  ecclesiastical  creeds  as  terms 
of  union  and  communion.  The  churches  of  God  were  made  familiar  with  these 
discussions  by  the  publication  of  extensive  excerpts  in  "The  Gospel  Publisher."  The 
spirit  of  controversy  had  also  gotten  into  the  minds  of  some  ministers  of  the 
Church  of  God.  At  Uniontown,  Md.,  in  June,  1838,  a  debate  on  "infant  sprinkling 
and  immersioij"  took  place  between  Joseph  Adams  of  the  Church  of  God,  and  Rev. 
R.  Weiser.  The  same  year,  in  April,  Elder  W.  Smedmer  held  a  debate  at  Akron, 
Ohio,  with  a  Universalist,  Freeman  Loring,  on  the  question,  "Do  the  Scriptures 
teach  that  all  mankind  will  be  ultimately  holy  and  happy?"  Later  in  the  same 
year  Smedmer  had  a  debate  with  Rev.  Dr.  Shaffer,  of  the  Methodist  Church,  on  in- 
fant baptism  and  immersion. 

In  1835  Texas  declared  itself  independent  of  Mexico  and  established  a  pro- 
visional government,  and  in  1837  it  became  an  independent  republic.  April  2, 
1836,  the  bill  to  admit  Michigan  into  the  Union  was  passed  by  both  Houses  of 
Congress.  April  4,  1836,  the  Act  for  the  admission  of  Arkansas  became  a  law. 
The  American  Temperance  Society  held  its  eighth  annual  meeting  in  1835,  and  re- 
ported 2,000,000  persons  in  the  United  States  who  had  ceased  to  use  intoxicants, 
with  more  than  8,000  local  societies.  In  1839  that  remarkable  temperance  worker 
and  organizer,  Frances  E.  AVillard,  was  born,  who  for  years  was  President  of  the 
Woman's  Temperance  Union.  Dwight  L.  Moody,  the  greatest  evangelist  of  the 
century,  was  born  February  5,  1837. 


General    History  55 


CHAPTER    VI. 


1840—1845. 


THE  period  beginning  with  1840  was  one  of  unprecedented  activity  and  auspi- 
cious success.  By  the  close  of  the  year  184  4  practically  the  territory  which 
now  comprises  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  was  quite  well  covered. 
There  are  more  churches  now  within  the  territory,  but  many  local  points  have  been 
abandoned,  and  several  counties  have  been  taken  off  the  ecclesiastical  map.  There 
were  then  churches,  or  preaching  points,  in  eighteen  counties  east  of  the  Allegheny 
Mountains.  Clearfield  county  has  since  been  added,  but  Berks,  Lehigh  and  Mont- 
gomery have  been  abandoned. 

One  of  the  stimulating  elements  of  this  period  was  the  Millerite  excitement. 
While  few,  if  any,  ministers  of  the  Eldership  accepted  Miller's  theory,  the  whole  of 
eastern  Pennsylvania  was  wrought  up  to  an  unusual  degree  over  his  predictions. 
The  ministers  were  probably  all  pre-millenarians,  and  so  could  earnestly  and  con- 
scientiously preach  the  doctrine  of  Christ's  second  coming  to  judgment;  yet  they 
refrained  from  fixing  dates.  But  not  so  a  percentage  of  the  lay  membership. 
AVilliam  Miller,  "the  prophet,"  earnest  and  confident,  predicted  "the  end  of  the 
world"  about  the  year  1843.  He  began  preaching  this  theory  prior  to  1840.  A 
native  of  Pittsfield,  Mass.,  when  four  years  old  he,  with  his  parents,  removed  to 
Hampton,  N.  Y.  Thence  at  the  age  of  twenty-two  he  removed  to  Poultney,  Vt. 
He  preached  that  Jesus  Christ  would  appear  a  second  time  in  1843,  in  the  clouds  of 
heaven;  that  he  would  then  raise  the  righteous  dead  and  judge  them,  together 
with  the  righteous  living,  who  would  be  caught  up  to  meet  him  in  the  air;  that  he 
would  purify  the  earth  with  fire,  causing  the  wicked  and  all  their  works  to  be  con- 
sumed in  the  general  conflagration,  and  would  shut  up  their  souls  in  the  place  pre- 
pared for  the  devil  and  his  angels;  that  the  saints  would  live  and  reign  with  Christ 
on  the  new  earth  a  thousand  years;  that  then  Satan  and  the  wicked  spirits  would 
be  let  loose,  and  the  wicked  dead  be  raised — this  being  the  second  resurrection — 
and,  being  judged,  should  make  war  upon  the  saints,  be  defeated  and  cast  down 
to  hell  forever."  The  first  General  Conference  of  his  followers  was  held  in  Chardon 
street,  Boston,  October,  1840.  They  first  claimed  the  whole  of  the  Jewish  year 
from  early  in  184  3  to  March,  1844,  the  earliest  date  fixed  by  any  of  the  Adventists 
being  Feb.  10,  1843,  the  forty-fifth  year  from  the  date  when  the  French  army  took 
Rome,  in  1798.  Then  Feb.  15th  was  fixed,  the  anniversary  of  the  abolition  of  the 
Papal  government  and  the  establishment  of  the  Roman  Republic.  Then  as  these 
dates  passed,  the  Passover  was  fixed,  being  April  14th.  Next  the  date  of  the 
Ascension.  Great  excitement  and  extravagances  everywhere  attended  the  move- 
ment. It  was  a  movement  widespread,  intense  and  enthusiastic.  Sermons  and 
lectures  on  the  subject  were  everywhere  delivered.  And  while  Winebi-enner  and 
"The  Gospel  Publisher"  did  not  endorse  ]VIiller's  views,  the  advocates  of  the  theory 
liad  access  to  many  pulpits  of  churches  of  God.  And  Weishanipel  in  his  editorials 
rather  apologized  for  those  who  "violently  opposed,  and  in  some  instances  were 
embittered  against,  these  men  for  preaching  the  near  approach  of  the  end,"  and 
urged  them  "not  to  condemn  them.  It  is  their  privilege  to  look  for  him."  Yet  he 
urged  the  churches  "to  get  these  lecturers  by  all  means.  Revivals  follow  their 
lectures  wherever  they  go."  There  were  not  wanting  "signs"  that  the  prediction 
would  be  fulfilled.  There  were  signs  in  the  sun,  a  well-proportioned  cross  on  the 
sun  "having  been  seen  by  many."  Signs  in  the  moon — "three  black  streaks  run- 
ning across  the  moon  on  a  horizontal  line."  "Strange  sounds"  were  heard  in 
various  places,  so  that  "those  who  were  in  the  fields  ran  home.  Some  thought  the 
earth  shook,  and  there  were  sounds  like  the  roaring  of  cannon."  Thomas  Hicker- 
nell  states  that  as  he  traveled  through  Delaware  and  Union  counties,  Ohio,  a  dis- 
tance of  thirty-three  miles,  "the  same  strange  sounds  were  heard  all  along  the 
road."  Then  came  the  strange  visitor,  to  many  so  portentous  of  evil,  the  comet  of 
1843,  with  a  tail  130,000,000  miles  in  length,  upon  which  many  gazed  night  after 
night  appalled  "at  the  wonder  of  the  heavens."  Multitudes  of  good  men  in  the 
^Christian  church,  down  to  a  recent  period,  saw  in  the  appearance  of  comets  not 


56  History   of   the   Churches   oe    God 

merely  an  exhibition  of  "signs  in  the  heavens,"  foretold  in  Scripture;  but  also 
divine  warnings  to  repentarrce  and  improvement  of  life  of  vast  value  to  humanity. 
As  forecasting  the  end  of  the  world,  to  say  nothing  of  the  many  examples  in  the 
earlier  mediaeval  period,  cometh  in  the  tenth  century  strengthened  the  belief  in  the 
approaching  end  of  the  world,  and  increased  the  distress  and  terror  of  all  Europe. 
Then,  too,  the  stars  began  to  fall  "like  streaks  of  light  in  the  sky,  trailing  the  path 
of  destruction."  In  other  parts  of  the  heavens  there  was  a  phenomenon  like  "a 
perpendicular  column  of  red  fire,  twenty-five  feet  in  length  and  one  foot  in  di- 
ameter." "The  moon  was  encircled  by  a  large  ring,  within  which  six  or  seven 
other  apparent  moons  appeared,  all  dotted  over  with  seeming  stars."  Newspapers 
were  full  of  these  descriptions,  which  inflamed  the  minds  of  the  credulous,  and 
incited  others  to  blasphemous  scofl[ing.  Papers  wholly  devoted  to  the  advocacy  of 
this  theory  scppeared  in  various  places.  Advent  camp-meetings  were  held  in  divers 
localities. 

Preceding  and  simultaneous  with  the  appearance  of  these  prophetic  signs  ex- 
tensive revivals  were  promoted,  and  the  converts  among  the  churches  of  God  were 
numbered  by  hundreds.  Men  and  women  were  "powerfully  convicted,"  and  often 
were  in  great  agony  of  soul.  The  preaching  was  terrific,  and  brought  correspond- 
ing fruit.  It  was  regarded  as  "not  the  work  of  man,  however  human  agencies  may 
be  employed."  That  there  were  "imperfections"  was  freely  granted;  but  "in  all 
that  man  touches  there  are  imperfections.  However,  the  phenomenon  itself  we 
regard  as  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  alike  beyond  human  power  to  produce  it  or 
to  control  it."  These  revivals  were  enjoyed  at  almost  every  preaching  point  over 
the  whole  East  Pennsylvania  territory,  while  the  Editor  of  "The  Gospel  Publisher" 
reported  "powerful  revivals  in  progress  in  Ohio."  From  various  points  it  was  re- 
ported that  "the  altar  is  nightly  thronged  with  penitents."  In  small  villages  like 
Milltown  as  high  as  twenty  were  at  the  altar  in  one  night.  At  Springville,  now 
Florin,  Lancaster  county,  Pa.,  seventeen.  At  this  place  forty-three  were  baptized. 
At  Linglestown  "from  ten  to  fourteen  are  forward  every  meeting  to  be  prayed 
for."  A  characteristic  report  came  from  Washington,  Lancaster  county.  Pa.  On 
Sunday  night  "one  came  forward  and  was  blessed.  On  Monday  night  seven  came 
forward.  On  Tuesday  night  fifteen.  On  Wednesday  night  thirty.  On  Thursday 
night  about  thirty.  On  Friday  night  about  thirty."  At  the  Eldership  in  1843 
nearly  every  minister  reported  that  he  "had  seen  the  Spirit  of  God  poured  out 
in  a  very  special  manner,  and  many  sinners  converted  "  Lancaster  and  Dauphin 
county  circuit,  with  Keller  and  Thomas  as  pastors,  reported  "that  between  five 
hundred  and  six  hundred  had  been  converted  from  New  Year,  1843,  to  April  1st, 
and  that  he  and  Haiii  had,  during  that  time,  baptized  about  two  hundred  and  fifty." 
At  the  Eldership  in  184  3  Winebrenner  said:  "The  Lord  truly  has  done  great 
things  for  us  and  the  people  during  the  past  Eldership  year.  The  numerous  ac- 
cessions to  the  Church  are  without  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  Church  of  God." 

Camp-meetings  under  the  direction  of  committees  appointed  by  the  Elder- 
ships, were  held  in  many  localities  over  the  territory  in  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio. 
Early  in  1841  counsels  and  directions  were  given  through  the  paper  concerning 
these  meetings.  Similar  admonitions  were  frequently  repeated.  Chief  among 
these  was  the  advice  "to  go  praying  that  God  might  bless  their  labors  and  convert 
sinners."  This  in  view  of  the  statement  that  "camp-meetings  got  a  little  out  of 
credit,  because  there  was  so  little  good  done  for  a  few  years  back."  There  should 
be  "not  so  much  feasting,  but  the  chief  concern  should  be  for  souls  to  be  brought 
into  the  ark  of  safety."  Hence  "more  good  was  done  last  year  at  camp-meetings 
than  was  done  for  several  years  before."  In  1840  camp-meetings  were  held  three 
miles  from  Taneytown,  Md.;  at  J.  Baker's,  near  Linglestown,  Dauphin  county,  Pa.; 
near  Lisburn,  in  York  county;  on  Kister's  farm,  near  Goldsboro,  York  county; 
near  Old  Harmony,  Butler  county;  at  Millerstown  (Annville),  Lebanon  county; 
near  Fayetteville,  Franklin  county;  at  Churchtown,  Cumberland  county;  near  Lan- 
disburg.  Perry  county;  in  Powl's  Valley,  Dauphin  county,  and  one  at  Andrew  Mil- 
ler's, four  miles  east  of  Harrisburg.  Six  were  held  in  Ohio,  to  wit:  at  Daniel 
Bauchman's,  13  miles  north  of  Canton,  Stark  county;  at  Crooked  Run,  Tuscara- 
was county;  at  Joseph'  Sherick's,  Wayne  county;  at  Canton,  Stark  county,  at  Fred- 
erick Clark's,  8  miles  north  of  Mansfield,  Richland  county;  on  St.  Mary's  Mission, 
Mercer  county.  The  reports  from  these  camp-meetings  are  meager,  but  there  were 
from  six  to  eighteen  and  more  conversions  at  each  one,  a  probable  total  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty. 

The  year  1841  surpassed  the  former  year  in  the  number  of  camp-meetings  and 


General    History  57 

in  results.  There  were  thirteen  held  in  East  Pennsylvania,  viz.:  near  Lancaster, 
Lancaster  county;  near  Fayetteville,  Franklin  county;  near  Kingston,  Cumberland 
county;  near  Pine  grove,  Schuylliill  county;  in  Shaffer's  Valley,  Perry  county;  near 
the  Poor  House,  3  miles  from  Harrisburg;  near  Newburg,  Cumberland  county; 
near  Entriken's  Bridge,  Awkwick  Valley,  Huntingdon  county;  in  Powl's  Valley, 
Dauphin  county;  Frankfort  tovi^nship,  Cumberland  county,  at  Harter's  Mill,  Fautz's 
Valley,  Perry  county;  and  one  in  Plain  Cabin  Valley,  Huntingdon  county.  Awkwick 
Valley  is  on  what  earlier  was  the  Fort  Littletown  circuit,  near  Walnut  Grove.  The 
name  is  derived  from  the  creek,  called  the  Big  Awkwick  (differently  spelled),  and 
the  Awkwick  school-house  was  one  mile  from  Maddensville.  Here  J.  Lininger, 
who  emigrated  to  North  Bend,  Iowa,  was  preacher  in  charge  when  the  camp-meet- 
ings of  1842  and  1843  were  held.  Three  were  held  in  West  Pennsylvania,  viz.:  one 
in  Venango  county,  near  Bro.  J.  Ayers';  near  Old  Harmony,  Butler  county,  and  one 
near  Mt.  Pleasant.  Three  were  held  in  Maryland,  one  near  Uniontown,  Carroll 
county;  one  near  Broad  Fording,  Washington  county,  "on  Bro.  Bean's  place,"  who 
became  a  minister  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  later  lived  at  Bain- 
bridge,  Lancaster  Co.,  Pa.,  and  one  near  Hawk's  Meeting-house,  in  Frederick 
county.  There  were  five  in  Ohio,  viz.:  at  Canton,  Stark  county;  eight  miles  west 
of  Wooster,  Wayne  county;  St.  Mary's  Mission,  Mercer  county;  near  Fracksville, 
Richland  county,  and  on  ground  belonging  to  David  R.  Shelly,  three  miles  east  of 
Smithville,  Wayne  county.  Very  imperfect  reports  of  these  twenty-four  camp- 
meetings  were  ever  published,  but  five  hundred  conversions  is  a  conservative  esti- 
mate. This  is  based  largely  on  statements  as  to  the  number  at  the  altar  at  dif- 
ferent meetings,  and  the  number  fellowshiped.  At  one  camp  as  many  as  twenty 
were  at  the  altar  in  one  night,  and  thirty-nine  converts  are  reported.  AV.  Barr,  of 
Harrisburg,  reports  that  at  the  Harrisburg,  or  Poor  House,  camp  "about  sixty 
mourners  were  down  at  one  time,  and  on  the  last  night  of  the  meeting  thirty  young 
men  went  forward  in  a  solid  column  and  knelt  down  at  the  mourners'  bench." 
This  was  in  part  the  result  of  the  spirit  which  animated  the  camp-meeting  people, 
aided  by  environment,  and  favored  by  the  remarkable  presence  and  power  of  the 
Spirit.  For  those  who  "concluded  to  tent  prepared  their  minds  and  their  spirits  with 
fasting  and  prayer.  You  would  hear  them  talking  much  about  the  meeting,  and 
but  little  was  said  about  the  preparation  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  Anything  would 
do  them  for  the  body.  Their  principal  concern  was  about  the  soul,  how  they  might 
be  built  up  and  sinners  converted  to  God." 

In  1842  there  were  eighteen  camp-meetings  held,  nearly  all  on  old  grounds. 
West  Pennsylvania  had  but  one,  while  Ohio  again  held  five,  one  possibly  at  a  new 
point  called  "Allaman's  farm,"  but  no  county  is  named.  It  was  at  this  camp-meet- 
ing that  Isaac  Whisler,  later  of  Fredonia,  Iowa,  was  converted.  He  says  "it  was 
an  old-fashioned.  Holy  Ghost  meeting."  In  East  Pennsylvania  the  Bedford  county 
camp-meeting  probably  took  the  place  of  the  Awkwick  Valley  camp  of  1841,  as  it 
was  on  the  same  circuit.  It  was  held  three  miles  east  of  Stonerstown.  One  of  the 
converts  of  the  Broadfording  camp,  Washington  county,  Md.,  was  Abraham  Resh, 
who  in  1847  emigrated  to  Venice  township,  Seneca  Co.,  Ohio,  and  ten  years  later 
was  ordained  by  the  Ohio  Eldership.  About  two  hundred  conversions  were  wit- 
nessed at  the  camp-meetings  which  were  reported.  At  all  these  meetings  there 
was  considerable  German  preaching.  Often  revival  meetings  followed  the  camp- 
meetings,  as  at  West  Newton,  Westmoreland  county.  Pa.,  formerly  called  Robbs- 
town,  where  Dobson  reported  that  "since  our  last  camp-meeting  the  Lord  has 
aboundantly  blessed  the  labors  of  our  hands." 

In  1843  the  brethren  in  Ohio  held  six  camp-meetings;  Maryland,  two;  East 
Pennsylvania,  ten;  and  West  Pennsylvania,  two.  One  of  these  was  held  "on 
Abraham  Sherick's  land,  formerly  J.  Myers,'  near  the  Mennonite  meeting-house, 
Westmoreland  county." 

The  Summer  of  1841  was  the  banner  year  for  camp-meetings.  By  1844  some 
opposition  against  them  developed  among  those  who  had  formerly  strongly  en- 
dorsed them.  This  was  the  result  in  large  part  of  the  lack  of  encouraging  results, 
as  the  number  of  converts  decreased  from  year  to  year.  The  reaction  from  the 
Millerite  excitement  also  manifested  itself.  Yet  the  number  of  such  meetings  held 
in  184  4  did  not  decrease. 

The  number  of  camp-meetings  held  in  1844  was  twenty-four.  East  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Maryland  had  twelve;  Ohio  had  the  same  number  as  the  previous  year, 
and  West  Pennsylvania  had  four  more.  These  were  partly  in  new  territory.  One 
was  in  Irwin  township,  Venango  county;    one  in  Rockland,  same  county;    one  in 


58  History   op    the    Churches    of   God 

Westmoreland  county;  one  in  Fayette  county;  one  in  Indiana  county,  Indiana  Mis- 
sion, and  one  at  Slippery  Rock,  Beaver  county.  One  of  the  East  Pennsylvania 
camp-meetings  was  held  at  Two  Taverns,  in  Adams  county,  a  county  which  has 
been  almost  wholly  abandoned  by  the  Church.  The  one  at  Rockland,  in  Venango 
county,  was  held  by  the  church  at  that  place,  where  Thomas  and  John  Hickemell 
had  organized  a  church  a  few  years  before.  J.  Myers  says  "the  people  in  general 
were  of  the  lower  grades,  just  beginning  to  be  properly  civilized  after  they  em- 
braced religion."  Reports  published  of  the  number  of  converts  at  these  camp- 
meetings  exceeds  one  hundred  and  fifty.  The  number  of  tents  ranged  from  eight 
to  thirty. 

As  the  fruits  of  the  combined  labors  of  the  bannered  hosts  of  the  Lord  dur- 
ing these  five  years  are  reviewed  the  thoughtful  reader  well-nigh  feels  as  if  he 
were  in  an  atmosphere  of  romance.  The  workers  were  coherent,  enthusiastic  and 
potential.  Revival  meetings,  protracted  meetings,  barn-meetings,  woods'  meetings, 
quarterly  meetings,  and  camp-meetings  were  the  incessant  order  of  the  day.  Op- 
position there  was,  but  it  was  overruled  for  good.  Within  the  ranks  of  ministers 
and  churches  "unity  of  sentiment  and  feeling  and  brotherly  love  prevailed."  The 
royalty  of  friendship  was  exemplified.  There  was  faithful,  plain  preaching  on 
church  government,  ordinances,  church  name  and  other  distinctive  tenets  held  by 
the  brotherhood.  The  ordinances  were  observed  at  each  camp-meeting,  and  it  was 
not  uncommon  for  Methodists  and  members  of  the  Evangelical  Association  to  par- 
ticipate in  the  ordinances,  and  occasionally  a  Methodist  minister.  Some  despised 
these  illiterate  men.  On  one  occasion  one  "handed  down  his  Greek  Testament  in 
contempt,  as  if  his  dabbling  in  Greek  would  authorize  him  to  abuse  us  either  in 
English  or  in  Dutch."  Indeed  often  in  reporting  work  the  statement  that  "there  is 
considerable  opposition"  was  followed  by  the  assurance,  "but  I  take  that  for  a 
good  sign."  But  persecution  was  no  new  and  no  strange  thing.  The  Jews  were 
the  first  willful  persecutors  of  Christianity.  Intolerance,  especially  in  religious 
matters,  seems  congenital.  The  habitual  impatience  of  new  truth,  or  of  new  doc- 
trine in  opposition  to  cherished  ideas,  which  have  long  had  a  quiet  lodgment  in 
the  mind  is  difficult  to  resist.  And  this  species  of  conservatism  is  eminently  de- 
veloped in  theologians  and  religious  classes.  Then  the  ecclesiastical  jealousies 
liable  to  be  awakened  do  not  tend  to  make  the  path  of  the  reformer  a  smooth  one. 
Fanaticism  is  also  engendered  in  behalf  of  any  creed  or  cause  with  which  personal 
feeling  has  become  associated.  It  must  also  be  remembered  that  ministers  those 
days  were  not  always  polished  and  honey-mouthed  in  dealing  with  the  "errors  of 
the  sects."  Illiberality  and  rusticity  are  closely  allied.  But  opposition  and  per- 
secution discouraged  but  few.  As  of  old  when  Pharisees  and  Sadducees,  long  at 
variance  in  religion  and  politics,  united  in  their  enmity  first  against  the  preachers 
and  then  against  the  people,  in  vain  did  they  attempt  to  suppress  the  miracles  and 
the  preaching  which  kept  the  name  of  Jesus  ringing  in  their  ears.  Prisons  were 
in  vain  when  a  divine  hand  opened  the  door.  The  church  soon  learned  to  under- 
stand the  philosophy  of  persecution.  So  in  these  more  modern  times.  They  saw 
that  experimentally  persecution  has  no  logic  to  convince  the  thinking  mind,  no 
pathos  to  warn  the  soul,  no  terrors  to  convert  men.  It  confirms  the  true  disciple 
in  his  faith.      The  results  justified  this  confidence. 

In  1841  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  Pennsylvania  Eldership  sent  Samuel 
Conrad  as  a  missionary  into  Virginia,  and  while  "a  number  had  been  converted" 
during  the  year,  no  permanent  work  was  established.  To  get  appointments  was 
easy,  for  McCaitney  had  six  the  year  before;  but  while  "prospects  appeared  good," 
he  left  no  permanent  fruit.  This  was  in  Berkeley  county,  to  which  Conrad  was 
sent  in  1841.  Somewhat  better  success  attended  the  efforts  in  what  is  now  West 
Virginia,  where  John  S.  Kerr  labored  in  1842.  He  gathered  a  small  band  in  Brooke 
county,  and  organized  the  first  church  at  the  Forks  of  Fish  Creek.  As  no  other 
minister  of  the  Church  had  been  in  that  country,  he  urged  brethren  to  come  to  his 
help,  "so  that  the  odious  name  of  Kerrites  may  be  avoided." 

An  incursion  was  made  into  Sussex  county,  Delaware,  in  1841,  the  most  south- 
ern county  in  the  State,  by  Levi  Record,  of  the  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  He  re- 
ported that  he  had  "baptized  several  persons.  The  people  seem  to  be  much  excited 
on  the  subject  of  baptism";  "requests  the  saints  in  Pennsylvania  and  elsewhere  to 
pray  for  the  success  of  the  work  of  God  in  Delaware,"  and  invited  "such  of  the 
preachers  as  preach  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth  to  come 
and  help  us."  But  about  this  time  he  "surrendered  his  license,"  and  so  ended  his 
work  in  the  Eldership. 


Geni-ral    History  59 

A  persistent  effort  was  made  during  this  period  to  establish  the  cause  in  Balti- 
more, Md.  Jesse  Appier  had  moved  to  that  city  in  1840,  and  urged  preachers  of 
the  Church  to  visit  the  city.  "If  they  could  come  they  could  preach  in  the  Court 
House  yard,  vi^here  thousands  of  people  could  hear  them."  Evidently  this  call  was 
responded  to,  for  in  1842,  through  the  earnest  labors  of  McFadden,  the  work  had 
so  far  progressed  that  when  Winebreiiner  visited  the  city  in  the  Spring  of  1842  he 
organized  a  church.  The  preaching  then  was  "in  the  open  air,  in  market  houses 
and  other  places."  In  the  Fall  "they  rented  the  Paca  Street  Institute,  in  which 
they  met  for  a  short  time.  This  becoming  too  small  to  contain  the  increasing  con- 
gregation, they  rented  a  larger  hall  at  the  corner  of  Lexington  and  Eutau  streets." 
Lack  of  preachers  prevented  the  appointment  of  a  regular  pastor  for  184  3.  Bam- 
berger and  McFadden  labored  there  from  the  Fall  of  1842  until  the  Spring  of  1843. 
Mackey  spent  some  time  there  a  little  later,  followed  by  Flake  and  Keller.  Wine- 
brenner  had  been  in  Baltimore  in  December,  1841.  He  went  by  way  of  Hanover, 
Walkersville  and  Uniontown,  and  preached  in  the  Reformed  church  at  Hanover,  at 
the  Glade  Reformed  meeting-house,  in  Uniontown  and  Baltimore.  Of  Baltimore 
he  said,  "I  think  on  the  whole  the  prospect  for  raising  a  church  of  God  in  Balti- 
more is  pretty  good."  He  speaks  of  "the  fertile  and  delightful  Glade  Valley,  the 
pleasant  and  delightful  home  of  my  childhood  and  youth."  He  returned  home 
over  the  same  route,  stopping  at  his  brother  Christian's  to  attend  the  funeral  of 
his  father,  Dec.  11,  1841.  In  Frederick  county,  Md.,  at  a  point  called  "Resolu- 
tion" a  church  was  organized  Feb.  14,  1841,  of  which  G.  U.  Ham,  then  "a  beard- 
less boy"  was  elected  elder,  and  Jesse  Leatherwood,  deacon.  The  work  had  its  be- 
ginning in  a  special  meeting,  at  which  five  were  baptized,  one  a  Methodist 
preacher's  son,  and  another  a  Methodist  for  thirty  years.  In  the  Fall  of  the  same 
year  a  church  was  organized  at  Pine  Grove  school-house,  of  which  most  of  the 
members  at  Resolution  became  members.  In  Washington  county  Smedniar  re- 
ported that  the  "cause  is  prospering  slowly,  but  surely."  Conrad,  in  1841,  or- 
ganized a  church  at  "Manor,"  possibly  Sample's  Manor,  and  "opened  up  a  number 
of  new  appointments."  Work  was  also  begun  at  Waterloo,  Carroll  county,  and  at 
Blairsville,  in  1842.  J.  H.  Hurley,  later  of  Illinois,  in  1843,  gives  an  account  of  a 
revival  at  Pleasant  Grove  school-house,  in  Cotoctin  Valley.  The  Hagerstown 
circuit  in  1844  was  served  by  G.  U.  Ham,  and  he  reported  "most  of  the  churches 
In  a  quite  prosperous  condition."  He  had  a  revival  5  miles  from  Emmittsburg, 
with  about  twenty  conversions,  "several  of  them  members  o'f  a  certain  church 
numbering  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  members,  and  only  three  persons  who  will 
pray  in  the  congregation."  Ham  sometimes  walked  nine  miles  to  an  appointment, 
preached,  and  then  walked  back.  Baptism  was  preached  everywhere,  and  the 
converts  were  forthwith  baptized.  At  Frizzlesburg,  in  Carroll  county,  a  "new 
meeting-house  was  built  and  dedicated  May  12,  1844." 

In  Pennsylvania  east  of  the  Allegheny  mountains  the  ministers  were  pushing 
out  everywhere  as  they  were  able,  extending  their  fields  and  promoting  church 
work.  Some  of  the  circuits  became  too  large  to  be  served  by  one  or  two  men  suc- 
cessfully, while  stronger  churches  were  demanding  more  preaching,  especially  on 
the  Sabbaths.  Snavely,  who  was  located  at  Bainbridge,  on  the  Susquehanna,  in 
Lancaster  county,  says:  "The  extent  of  my  circuit  now  is  about  forty  miles."  He 
not  only  preached  over  the  territory  in  the  county  westward  of  Lancaster  City,  but 
eastward  and  northeastward,  at  Ephrata,  Reamstown,  Adamstown,  Hinkletown  and 
other  points.  Other  points  called  for  j)reaching,  but  he  could  not  respond.  He 
had  fifteen  appointments,  and  he  says-  "there  are  now  many  other  places  where  the 
people  want  preaching."  This  demand  was  heard  from  nearly  every  section  of 
the  territory.  There  is  a  suppressed  complaint  on  account  of  "the  support  being 
cut  off  by  making  stations  of  those  places  able  to  support."  The  largest  circuit  in 
the  Eldership  was  in  Lebanon  and  Schuylkill  counties,  on  which  the  preacher  had 
to  travel  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  on  one  round  over  his  field.  This  was  all 
done  on  horse-back.  The  spirit  of  aggression  was  in  the  hearts  of  the  ministers. 
They  were  adding  new  preaching  points  to  their  fields  and  extending  the  borders 
in  all  directions.  They  felt  that  they  were  "well  able  to  go  up  and  possess  the 
land."  Many  churches  were  established  during  this  period.  At  Carlisle,  in  1840, 
there  was  a  company  of  believers  who  worked  diligently,  and  occasionally  others 
through  their  labors  and  at* protracted  meetings  "joined  themselves  to  the  Lord." 
But  the  formal  organization  was  effected  in  1843.  In  Landisville,  Lancaster 
county,  more  rapid  progress  was  made.  In  March,  1840,  Jolui  C.  Landis  wrote  "in 
behalf  of  the  scattered   brethren  of   East  Hempfield  township,  Lancaster  county," 


6o 


History    of   the    Churches    of    God 


saying,  "We  have  had  only  three  sermons  preached  here  this  whole  Winter.  We 
have  no  organized  church  yet."  But  the  main  reason  was  removals  of  Church 
families  to  the  West.  "  But  the  revival  wave  of  1842  swept  over  that  community; 
many  were  converted,  and  a  church  was  organized  in  1842.  Jacob  H.  Hei*shey, 
who  died  in  1898,  was  long  an  office  bearer  in  this  church.  In  October,  1843,  the 
church  "began  the  erection  of  a  meeting-house,"  and  on  Oct.  loth,  laid  the  corner- 
stone. The  house  was  dedicated  to  the  Lord  Jan.  7,  1843.  Harn,  in  1844,  in  an- 
nouncing a  camp-meeting  near  Mt.  Joy,  invited  the  churches  at  Maytown,  Landis- 
ville,  Marietta  and  Rohrerstown  "to  attend,  with  as  many  tents  as  they  possibly 
can."  Protracted  meetings  had  been  held  at  Maytown  in  1841.  At  Rohrerstown 
a  protracted  meeting  was  held  "in  H.  Bear's  ware-house,  beginning  Oct.  28,  1843," 
but  no  organization  reported.  But  at  Marietta,  May  2,  1841,  Snavely  reported 
that  "we  have  constituted  a  little  church,  ten  in  number,  and  soon,  from  present 
prospects,  expect  to  swell  the  number  to  twenty." 

Lancaster  church  had  many  vicissitudes  in  its  history.  Organized  in  1816, 
it  had  become  small  in  numbers,  under  the  long  pastorate  of  John  Elliott,  from  its 
organization  until  1838.      In  the  seven  succeeding  years  "it  had  the  labors  of  sev- 


Bethel  at  Lancaster  City,  Pa. 


eral  ministers,  until  1840,  when  it  had  no  regular  pastor."  It  "had  become  rather 
discouraged,  when  it  pleased  God  to  visit  them  again."  On  the  22nd  of  January, 
1841,  Winebrenner,  Flake  and  Ross  went  "to  Lancaster  to  hold  a  meeting  for  a  few 
days."  This  meeting'continued  until  in  March,  resulting  in  from  one  hundred  and 
fifty  to  two  hundred  conversions.  The  church  decided  to  build  a  new  bethel,  and 
purchased  a  lot  on  the  corner  of  Prince  and  Orange  streets  for  $1,500.  Here  the 
new  house  was  erected.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  Aug.  12,  1841.  So  Flake  re- 
ported in  August,  1841,  though  in  1861  he  gives  the  year  as  1842.  He  laid  the 
corner-stone  and  Winebi-enner  delivered  the  address.  Besides  these  two  ministers, 
Wm.  Miller,  Wm.  McFadden  and  J.  Keller  were  present  and  took  part  in  the  ser- 
vices. Winebi-enner  wrote  the  hymns  used  on  the  occasion,  as  also  one  of  the 
hymns  for  the  dedication,  which  took  place  on  Sunday,  March  20,  1842.  Wine- 
brenner preached  at  10  a.  m.,  from  II.  Kings  viii.  «3;  in  the  afternoon  Flake 
preached  from  Heb.  xii.  22-24,  and  in  the  evening  Ross  preached  from  Luke  xiv.  22. 
"The  new  meeting-house  of  the  church  of  God  at  Elizabethtown"  was  dedi- 
cated  Sunday,  Oct.   1,   1843.      For  nine  years  the  church  at  Washington  had  no 


General    History  6i 

house  of  worship.  But  in  the  Summer  of  1844,  a  bethel  was  built,  the  corner- 
stone of  which  was  laid  in  July,  and  the  house  was  dedicated  Dec.  22,  1844. 

In  Lebanon  county  a  bethel  was  built  at  Millerstown  in  1842,  and  dedicated 
Oct.  1  and  2,  of  that  year.  The  name  of  this  town  has  been  changed  to  Annville. 
At  Stumpstown,  now  Fredericksburg,  Lebanon  county,  the  work  was  making  good 
progress  during  1841-43.  Additions  to  the  church  were  frequently  reported. 
Finally  in  1844  the  church  decided  to  build  a  bethel,  of  which  the  corner-stone  was 
laid  Aug.  25th.  T.  Strohm  preached  on  the  occasion,  from  Ezra  iii.  9.  Wiiie- 
brenner  also  preached,  and  he  laid  the  corner-stone.  Monroe  Valley,  or  Kreizer's, 
is  a  point  four  miles  from  Fredericksburg,  where  successful  church  work  was  also 
done  at  this  time. 

The  work  at  Mahantango  Valley,  Schuylkill  county,  began  as  early  as  1834, 
but  not  under  the  preaching  of  Church  of  God  ministers.  The  converts  first  re- 
ceived light  on  baptism,  and  were  immersed  by  United  Brethren  ministers.  It 
was  then  that  Church  of  God  ministers  entered  the  Valley,  such  as  Snavely,  Keller 
and  Strawbiidge.  The  Heplers  and  Haases  and  Klingers  were  among  the  first  con- 
verts. At  Weishampel,  in  the  adjoining  valley  of  Deep  Creek,  the  first  church  of 
God  was  organized,  in  1842,  under  the  labors  of  Thomas  Sti-ohm.  At  Scotchman's 
Lock,  on  the  Schuylkill  river,  now  called  Auburn,  Samuel  K.  Meyer  and  Joseph  K., 
his  brother,  natives  of  West  Brunswick  township,  Schuylkill  county,  were  among 
the  earliest  converts,  and  members  of  the  first  organization  of  the  church  of  God, 
formed  in  184  3. 

In  Dauphin  county  the  small  band  of  Christians  at  Hummelstown  slowly  in- 
creased. Protracted  meetings  were  held  under  adverse  conditions,  and  souls  were 
converted.  At  Highspire,  in  1843,  the  church  built  a  house  of  worship,  which  was 
consecrated  "on  the  first  Sabbath  in  August."  J.  K.  Buser,  who  died  in  1887,  was 
the  leading  instigator  in  the  erection  of\he  first,  bethel,  and  was  a  member  of  the 
first  organization  of  the  church  of  God  in  Highspire.  At  Rockville,  five  miles 
above  Harrisburg,  a  bethel  was  built  in  the  Summer  of  1843,  and  was  dedicated 
July  4th.  Winebreimer  preached  in  the  morning  from  I.  Kings  viii.  63,  and  at 
night  he  preached  on  the  ordinances,  "which  were  then  administered  to  a  goodly 
number  of  disciples."  There  was  also  regular  preaching  at  McAllister's,  a  few 
miles  above  Rockville;  at  Dauphin,  still  further  up  the  river,  and  at  Clark's  Ferry 
and  Chubb's  school-house,  in  Fowl's  Valley. 

Cumberland  county  showed  good  results  of  the  labors  of  these  years.  In  War- 
rington township  "a  new  church  of  thirty-two  members  was  organized."  At  Cross 
Roads  a  new  house  of  worship  was  dedicated.  At  Cedar  Spring,  now  Milltown,  the 
beginnings  of  Sunday-school  celebrations  are  seen.  Three  schools,  Walnut  Grove, 
near  Camp  Hill;  Shiremanstown  and  Cedar  Springs,  in  1841,  united  in  a  grove 
under  "their  own  respective  marshals"  to  hold  a  union  Sunday-school  celebration 
"for  the  purpose  of  treating  the  children  to  a  procession,  address  and  repast,  to 
encourage  them  in  attending  Sabbath-school  and  learning."  This  was  on  Satur- 
day, July  24,  1841.  Sixteen  rules  were  laid  down.  It  was  on  Sabbath,  Septem- 
ber 12th,  following  this  celebration  that  "the  new  house  of  worship  at  Cedar 
Spring"  was  dedicated,  David  Maxwell,  William  Miller,  J.  Winebreimer,  and  Jacob 
Keller  officiating.  At  Good  Hope  a  bethel  was  built  in  1843.  It  is  the  old 
neighborhood  of  H.  Murray,  later  of  Iowa,  who  in  later  years  deprecated  the  low 
condition  of  that  church,  which  has  become  extinct.  In  the  Winter  of  1841  the 
Mechanicsburg  church  held  a  revival  meeting  at  which  there  were  over  one  hun- 
dred conversions.  In  1843  they  decided  to  build  a  new  meeting-house,  but  de- 
layed the  matter  for  various  reasons.  In  1841  the  brethren  in  Newville  had  "suc- 
ceeded in  getting  a  little  house  of  worship;"  "but  as  the  people  have  got  the  idea 
that  we  are  a  poor  set  of  deluded  'Mackeyites'  (as  we  are  termed),  they  do  not 
think  worth  while  to  come  and  hear  our  preaching  brethren."  A  work  of  grace 
was  enjoyed  in  1843  at  Marsh  school-house,  three  miles  below  New  Cumberland. 
"The  church  of  God  in  John  Basehore's  neighborhood,"  Cumberland  county,  in 
"the  Conodoguinnet  creek."  dedicated  "their  new  house  of  worship  on  Sabbath 
morning,  October  29,  1843." 

In  Franklin  county  a  church  was  formed  at  the  Wolverine  school-house,  now 
the  Lurgan  church,  by  E.  West,  in  about  1840.  In  1842  the  Orrstown  church  was 
organized  by  James  Mackey,  at  the  home  of  Joseph  Strawbridge. 

Sections  of  York  county  have  always  been  good  ground  to  sow  Church  of  God 
seed.  It  has  yielded  good  fruit.  At  Siddonstown,  in  1843,  it  was  noted  by  the 
Editor  of  "The  Gospel  Publisher"  that  "there  is  a  young  church  of  warm-hearted 


62 


History    of   the    Churches   of    God 


disciples  formed,  consisting  of  about  fortj^  members."  Shaw  and  Hinkle  were  the 
pastors.  There  was  regular  preaching  at  York  Haven.  At  River  School-house, 
now  Goldsboro,  a  church  was  organized  in  1842  by  J.  G.  Kister.  In  1843  there 
was  a  revival  here  and  at  Newberry  at  which  one  hundred  conversions  were  re- 
ported. Buttstown,  at  Bro.  Baker's,  and  Yocumtown  were  also  points  at  which, 
there  was  stated  preaching.  Adams  county,  with  a  number  of  preaching  places,, 
was  at  this  time  part  of  the  West  York  circuit.  Petersburg  and  Bender's  School- 
house  had  small  bands  of  disciples. 


Second  Bethel  at  Landisburg,  Pa. 

Perry  county  yielded  good  results  to  the  early  labors  of  the  ministry  of  the 
Church.  Good  work  was  done  by  emigrants  into  the  county  from  churches 
further  East.  In  184  0  quite  a  revival  was  experienced  at  Shaffer's  Valley,  where 
thirty-seven  were  converted.  This  is  near  Landisburg,  where  a  good  foundation 
was  laid  for  permanent  church  work.  In  1842  they  began  the  "building  of  a 
meeting-house,"  under  the  labors  of  C.  Price  and  S.  Conrad.  It  was  finished  and 
dedicated  October  1.5,  1843.  AVinebrenner  preached  the  dedicatory  sermon.  This 
was  a  brick  building,  considerably  larger  than  the  original  house  built  by  AV'ingert. 
It  was  replaced  in  1873  by  another  and  larger  brick  building,  53  by  35  feet,  which 
was  dedicated  November  2  3d  of  that  year.  G.  W.  Seilhamnier  was  pastor.'  Min- 
isters at  the  dedication  were  G.  Sigler,  A.  X.  Shoemaker,  Je.sse  Kennedy,  AV.  L. 
Jones  and  J.  B.  Soiile. 

About   six   miles   eastward    from   Landisburg  is  the   old   Soule  neighborhood. 


General    History  63 

John  Soule  and  family  moved  to  this  locality  about  1830,  bought  a  farm  and  began 
improving  it.  He  opened  his  house  for  religious  worship,  and  for  some  years  ser- 
vices w^ere  held  there.  Soiile,  his  wife  and  two  sons,  Henry  L.  and  Jacob  B.  were 
converted  in  1840.  The  sons  later  entered  the  ministry.  It  was  shortly  after 
their  conversion  that  a  church  was  organized  in  Soule's  house,  of  which  John 
Soule  and  George  Kintner  were  chosen  elders,  and  Peter  liJntner,  deacon.  M.  F. 
Snavely  was  pastor  at  this  time.  Snavely  also  preached  at  Pisgah,  Oak  Grove, 
Montabella  Furnace,  Deardorf's,  Newport,  Kumler's  School-house,  Wild  Cat  Valley, 
Turkey  Valley,  Kennedy's  Valley  and  Buffalo  Valley.  In  a  school-house  near  the 
present  Red  Hill  Bethel,  a  protracted  meeting  was  held  in  1843,  Jesse  Oren  and  his 
wife  being  among  the  converts,  and  a  church  was  organized. 

The  work  extended  from  Perry  into  the  adjoining  county  of  Juniata,  and  by 
1844  sufficient  points  for  preaching  were  opened  to  justify  the  making  of  a  field 
called  Juniata  circuit.  In  the  Winter  of  1840  Samuel  Angle,  of  Shippensburg,  as- 
sisted Snavely  and  J.  W.  Collins  at  a  protracted  meeting  at  Waterford,  Juniata 
county,  as  a  result  of  which  they  "were  called  upon  to  organize  a  church  which 
has  its  name  from  the  New  Testament."  The  elders  were  D.  A.  Clugston  and 
Joseph  Hazelet,  and  the  deacons,  George  Kline  and  John  Sei-ves.  There  were 
eighteen  members. 

Good  success  attended  the  labors  of  the  ministers  further  across  the  moun- 
tains, in  Huntingdon,  Fulton,  Bedford  and  Blair  counties.  In  1844  there  was  an 
Awkwick  circuit,  to  which  Lininger  was  assigned,  but  at  the  meeting  of  the  Elder- 
ship in  1845  it  was  vacant,  but  J.  Lininger  was  sent  to  Broad  Top  and  Awkwick. 
This  field  extended  from  Saxton  to  Ft.  Littleton.  Lininger  had  been  pastor  on  this 
field  from  1841.  It  was  at  a  meeting  held  in  Bedford  county  in  the  Winter  of 
1842-3,  that  the  Carpers  were  converted,  which  in  18  54  moved  to  Bureau  county, 
111.  Under  Lininger's  labors  a  revival  occurred  at  Awkwick  School-house,  in  1842, 
where  some  of  the  Gutshalls  and  Kaniseys  were  converted,  .who  became  members 
of  the  first  organization  of  the  church  at  Walnut  Grove.  The  Raniseys  later  emi- 
grated to  Iowa.  Lininger  also  organized  a  church  in  1842  at  Round  Knob  School- 
house,  with  eight  members,  of  which  William  Figard  was  elder,  and  John  Sear, 
deacon.  Plowman  pushed  further  south  in  Bedford  county,  and  held  protracted 
meetings  within  three  miles  of  Bedford.  Work  at  Stonerstown  and  Puttstown 
was  making  good  progress.  There  was  quite  a  revival  at  Puttstown  in  Septem- 
ber, 1841,  in  the  school-house,  where  Lininger  organized  a  church,  with  Jacob 
Reed  as  elder,  and  David  Berkstresser,  deacon.  The  organization  was  effected  on 
Sabbath  evening,  October  17th,  and  consisted  of  thirteen  members.  Puttstown  is 
a  short  distance  above  Saxton,  and  Stonerstown  below.  At  Entriken,  nine  miles 
toward  Huntingdon,  and  Coffee  Run,  revivals  were  also  enjoyed  in  1841-42.  In  Oc- 
tober, 184  0,  Lininger  and  Snavely  held  a  protracted  meeting  on  Broad  Top  moun- 
tain, at  Anderson's,  and  reported  a  few  conversions,  with  "many  more  in  search  of 
truth."  In  May,  1841,  Snavely  organized  a  church  there,  with  seven  members. 
Samuel  Anderson  was  elected  elder,  and  James  Edwards,  deacon.  "More  will  soon 
join  in  with  them."  In  1843  a  bethel  was  built  in  that  neighborhood.  At  Wood- 
bury, in  the  north-eastern  corner  of  Bedford  county,  a  church  was  organized  by 
Keller  in  1841.  In  1842  quite  a  revival  occurred  in  a  barn  near  the  village. 
There  was  German  and  English  preaching  by  Miillenix  and  Keller,  and  "some  of 
the  people  got  their  eyes  opened  respecting  sectarianism."  This  place  is  in  the 
Morrison's  Cove,  where  the  Church  was  firmly  planted  some  years  before.  In  1841 
quite  a  revival  was  held  at  Mary  Ann  Furnace,  not  far  from  Martinsburg,  where 
"many  were  powerfully  convicted."  Lininger,  writing  from  Martinsburg  in  June 
17,  1841,  says:  "I  have  now  ten  appointments,  which  I  fill  every  two  weeks,  and 
the  cry  of  the  people  still  is,  'Come  and  preach  for  us.'  "  He  had  organized  a 
church  at  Entriken's  Bridge,  with  twelve  members,  and  was  also  pushing  the  work 
in  the  Cove.  At  the  Eldership  he  reported  that  he  had  organized  three  churches 
on  the  Cove  Mission  during  1841.  In  1842  a  church  was  organized  at  Martinsburg, 
and  they  proceeded  at  once  to  build  a  bethel,  which  was  dedicated  August  11,  1843, 
when  the  dedicatory  sermon  was  preached  by  Winebrenner,  tht  other  ministers 
present'  being  Snavely,  McCartney  and  Lininger.  In  184  4,  C  Price  "paid  us  a 
visit,"  says  J.  Keiser,  of  Hollidaysburg,  Blair  county,  and  "preached  for  us  in.  the 
Baptist  meeting-house."  "We  have  good  prospects  of  getting  two  more  openings 
about  4  to  6  miles  towards  Pittsburg."      "Opposition  is  strong." 

And  toward  Pittsburg  the  church  extension  work  was  pushed  vigorously.  In 
1842    the    Pennsylvania    Eldership    appointed    J.    M.    Klein    across    the    Allegheny 


64  History    of  .the    Churches    of    God 

mountains  into  Indiana  county,  where  he  began  his  labors  in  the  Spring  of  1843. 
He  preached  at  Cherry  Tree  with  very  good  results.  He  reported  baptizing  "a 
number  of  believers."  At  his  camp-meeting  that  year  he  states  that  "we  shall  not 
overreach  by  saying  fifty  were  converted."  A  church  was  organized  with  thirty- 
five  members.  On  August  12,  1S43,  a  church  was  also  organized  at  Brush  Valley, 
with  Michael  Fett^rman,  elder,  and  David  Fetteniiaii,  deacon.  For  184  4  Klein 
and  Price  were  appointed  to  this  mission.  Price,  however,  was  changed  by  the 
Standing  Committee  to  Cove  Mission.  Klein  reports  laboring  in  Indiana  and 
Cambria  counties.  "The  churches  are  on  the  increase,  and  generally  speaking  in 
a  good  condition."  Already  in  1842  Lininger  had  extended  his  labors  into  Indiana 
and  Cambria  counties,  and  "had  seen  about  fifty  converted."  He  "formed  a 
church  in  Indiana  county."  Also  in  Susquehanna  township,  Cambria  county, 
where  he  organized  a  church  in  July,  1842,  of  twelve  members,  with  Isaac  Gifford 
for  elder,  and  William  Gift'ord,  deacon.  It  was  known  as  Grass  Hill  bethel.  In 
August,  1840,  John  Buhaup,  "one  of  the  building  committee  of  the  meeting-house 
just  built  by  the  church  of  God  at  Pittsburg,"  reported  "the  house  now  ready  for 
preaching."  It  was  located  "at  Byardstown,  Pittsburg."  Before  dedication  a  pro- 
tracted meeting  was  held,  and  Keller  preached  in  it  August  20th.  They  had  "been 
holding  worship  in  it  since  that  time,"  wrote  Buhaup  June  4,  1841.  The  church 
then  "numbered  about  twenty  members."  In  Westmoreland  county  the  church  or- 
ganized at  Rosenberger's,  or  Bethany,  prior  to  1844,  had  built  a  house  of  worship, 
in  which  the  Eldership  session  of  1844  was  held.  At  Funck's  successful  meetings 
were  enjoyed.  At  Mt.  Pleasant  E.  AVest  and  Bauermeister  held  a  successful  meet- 
ing in  1841.  At  West  Newton  a  church  of  twenty  members  in  1843,  "all  Ger- 
mans." They  at  once  formulated  plans  "to  build  a  house  of  worship  this  coming 
Spring" — 1843.  Work  in  Fayette  county  was  reported  by  Dobson  in  1843,  where 
they  enjoyed  "a  glorious  visitation  of  God's  reviving  Spirit."  This  was  "8  miles 
east  of  West  Newton.','  A  camp-meeting  had  been  held  at  same  point  in  Fayette 
county  in  1843.  The  first  converts  in  Fayette  county  were  under  the  preaching  of 
Thomas  Hickeraell  "when  on  his  mission  to  western  Pennsylvania."  D.  Wertz,  in 
1844,  held  a  protracted  meeting  in  Greene  county,  at  Windy  Gap  School-house. 
Following  this  meeting,  AV'ertz  went  home  with  Henry  Sherick  and  preached  near 
his  home  in  a  United  Brethren  meeting-house,  in  Washington  county.  Sherick 
was  one  of  the  converts  of  the  big  revival  at  Lisburn,  Cumberland  county,  in  1825, 
and  removed  to  Washington  county  some  years  later. 

In  Butler  county,  the  work  at  Harmony  following  the  camp-meeting  of  1841, 
and  at  Slippery  Rock,  made  steady  progress.  At  the  former  place  the  church  in- 
creased to  forty  members,  and  at  Slippery  Rock  to  thirty.  Yet  Hickeniell 
lamented  that  "not  so  much  good  is  being  done;  very  few  conversions.  And  it  is 
the  same  in  Venango  county."  Butler  and  Venango  counties  constituted  a  circuit 
in  1841,  with  Hickeniell  and  Ramsey  as  preachers.  A  church  was  organized  this 
year  eight  miles  from  Butler.  One  had  been  organized  "in  the  neighborhood  of 
Bros.  Camer  and  Snow,  of  twenty-three  members,"  in  the  Winter  of  1840-1.  In 
Venango  township,  Venango  county,  quite  a  revival  took  place  early  in  1842. 
Church  organizations  were  effected  wherever  there  were  revivals,  as  Hickernell 
wrote:  "We  in  Venango  county,  when  preaching  and  meeting  with  success,  form 
the  converts  into  a  church,  and  then  proceed  to  teach  them  further  their  duties." 
In  April,  1842,  one  new  meeting-house  was  dedicated  in  Venango  county.  Work 
was  also  begun  in  Mercer  county,  where  "at  the  Meshanick,"  Thomas  Hickernell 
held  a  successful  meeting  toward  Spring  of  1843. 

During  this  quinquennium  in  Ohio  Eldership,  the  work  was  carried  forward 
with  resolute  purpose  and  commendable  zeal.  The  churches  prospered,  the 
borders  were  enlarged,  new  fields  were  opened  and  additional  counties  were  added 
to  the  territory.  The  mission  work  was  pushed  with  characteristic  energy.  In 
Pennsylvania  there  were  three  circuits  besides  the  Pittsburg  mission.  In  Ohio  the 
new  counties  entered  were  Miami,  Summit,  Marion  and  Columbiana,  with  a  mission 
In  the  "Western  Reserve"  and  one  in  the  State  of  Indiana.  A  bethel  had  been 
built  at  Sugar  Creek,  where  the  Eldership  met  inl841.  Also  at  "Bro.  Funck's," 
where  an  adjourned  meeting  of  the  Standing  Committee  was  held  in  1840.  Hicker- 
nell organized  a  church  at  Hyattsville,  14  miles  north  of  Dayton,  in  1843,  consisting 
of  twenty  members.  John  Simons  removed  to  Wayne  county,  where  in  1841  there 
was  a  church  organized  "in  Bro.  AUman's  neighborhood."  From  Richland  and 
Mercer  counties  Hickernell  reports  twenty  conversions  at  Gallion,  and  smaller 
numbers  at  other  points,  with  eighty-five  baptisms  within  a  year.      The  work  in 


General    History  65 

Marion  and  Miami  counties  began  largely  through  the  labors  of  David  Shiiner. 
He  was  a  native  of  Frederick  county,  Md.,  and  his  parents  were  members  of  the 
German  Reformed  Church.  He  was  converted  at  a  camp-meeting  near  Hawk's 
meeting-house,  in  Maryland,  and  united  with  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church. 
When  he  moved  to  Ohio,  in  1833,  he  joined  the  same  Church.  Hickeriiell  led  him 
into  the  light  on  what  became  to  him  by  this  time  a  troublesome  question,  bap- 
tism and  human  creeds.  He  was  baptized  by  Win.  Adams,  and  his  house  became 
the  meeting-house  for  the  neighborhood.  In  1844,  at  a  special  meeting  in  his 
house  "some  sixty  persons  embraced  Christ,"  and  a  church  was  organized.  Shriner 
was  elected  elder,  and  Lemon  C  Haines,  deacon.  Hickeniell  and  Adams  also  did 
effectual  mission  work  in  these  counties.  Hickernell  in  1842  spent  some  time  in 
Su^mmit  county,  part  of  the  Stark  county  circuit,  where  they  "realized  an  unusual 
manifestation  of  God's  power."  During  that  Winter  "thirty  embraced  religion." 
In  Columbiana  county,  adjoining  Stark  county  on  the  east,  and  bordering  on 
Beaver  county.  Pa.,  a  mission  was  established  in  1842,  to  be  supplied  by  E.  Logue 
and  A.  Hollems.  In  1843,  J.  Hickernell  was  appointed  to  this  mission,  and  served 
it  during  184  4. 

In  1841  George  Baker,  of  Indiana,  attended  a  camp-meeting  in  Mercer  county, 
Ohio,  bordering  on  Indiana.  He  was  an  emigrant  to  Indiana,  and  was  a  lay 
preacher  in  the  Church.  At  the  Eldership,  October,  1841,  a  circuit  was  mapped 
out,  comprising  Mercer,  Van  Wert  and  Allen  counties,  Ohio,  contiguous  territory, 
and  Adams  county,  Indiana,  adjoining  Van  Wert  and  Mercer.  In  1842  Indiana 
Mission  was  created,  with  J.  Martin  as  preacher. 

As  yet  there  was  but  little  attention  given  to  the  question  of  Sabbath-schools. 
The  matter  received  but  limited  attention  by  pastors,  for  their  hands  were  full  and 
their  time  required  for  other  work.  One  of  the  first  schools  established  was  at 
Mt.  Joy,  Lancaster  county.  Pa.  The  lead  had  been  taken  in  that  county  by  Ludwig 
Hacker,  a  member  of  the  Seventh  Day  Baptist  Church,  in  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  But  the  vine  he  planted  was  of  slow  growth  among  the  Ger- 
man people  of  that  county.  The  Mt.  Joy  school  was  organized  in  1840,  and  D.  M. 
Mai-tin,  who  however  gives  1843  as  the  date,  says  this  step  "should  induce  the 
different  churches  of  God  in  Lancaster  county,  and  elsewhere,  to  organize  Sab- 
bath-schools." The  church  at  Shippensburg,  Cumberland  county,  organized  a 
Sabbath-school  on  New  Year's  day,  1841.  It  at  least  celebrated  its  first  anni- 
versary on  New  Year's  day,  1842.  At  Elizabethtown,  Lancaster  county,  a  Sabbath- 
school  was  organized  in  September,  1844.  These  schools  were  invariably  called 
"Sabbath-schools."  "Celebrations"  were  held  in  the  Summer,  when  the  schools 
would  go  to  the  woods  nearby  in  processions.  The  time  was  spent  in  singing, 
prayer,  addresses,  sermons  and  recitations  by  children  ranging  in  age  from  seven  to 
fifteen  years.  A  "repast"  was  served  at  noon,  which  meant  "a  plentiful  dinner.'* 
After  a  brief  intermission  the  order  of  services  of  the  forenoon  was  repeated,  with 
different  speakers.      There  were  no  amusements. 

As  yet  the  brotherhood  was  not  agitated  with  the  discussion  of  questions  on 
which  divergent  views  prevailed.  They  were  too  much  engrossed  with  church 
work.  Yet  some  questions  would  naturally  arise  as  the  consciousness  of  a  grow- 
ing brotherhood  was  awakened.  They  were  a  grave,  austere  body  of  people,  with 
sentiments  bordering  on  Puritanism.  Theaters  were  as  popular  then  as  now,  but 
the  ministry  of  the  Church  endorsed  the  "Gospel  Publisher's"  view  which  character- 
ized them  as  "cradles  of  vice,  schools  of  scandal;  yea,  trap-doors  of  hell."  To  be 
a  Christian  and  patronize  the  theater,  ball-room  and  like  places  was  considered 
totally  incompatible. 

The  Bible  Wine  controversy  had  hardly  become  a  living  issue  at  this  time,  and 
indeed  at  no  time  became  of  general  interest  among  the  churches  of  God.  It  re- 
ceived but  occasional  mention.  To  nearly  all  the  churches  of  God  and  their  min- 
istry "wine  is  grape  juice  fermented,"  and  they  left  it  at  that. 

Naturally  they  defended  the  "mourners'  bench,"  or  "anxious  seat,"  which  was 
so  unpopular  with  formal  Churches.  It  was  an  evolution,  and  not  a  studied  inno- 
vation. Winebi-enner  did  not  introduce  it,  but  it  grew  up  under  his  preaching. 
Sinners  were  so  deeply  convicted  that  they  fell  down  anywhere  in  the  congrega- 
tion and  cried  with  loud  voice  for  mercy.  It  was  found  more  practicable  to  bring 
these  struggling  souls  together  in  order  to  instruct  them  and  pray  with  them. 
They  did  not,  except  in  private  houses,  have  ante-rooms  into  which  to  take  them. 
They  were  very  boisterous,  and  cried  mightily  to  God  for  pardon.  And  while  at 
iirst  kneeling  was  considered  "a  most  proper  position  for  one  asking  forgiveness 

C.    H.— 3 


66  '  History   of   the   Churches   of    God 

of  God,"  they  needed  no  instructions  on  this  point.  And  so  the  custom  of  inviting 
penitents  to  "the  altar"  became  firmly  established.  There,  "in  the  agony  of  their 
souls,  they  made  often  a  great  bodily  struggle,  and  sometimes  fell  over  upon  the 
floor,  and  tossed  themselves  about,  until  by  faith  they  laid  hold  on  the  promises 
of  the  Savior,  and  he  blessed  them."  But  what  was  first  a  convenience  soon  be- 
came a  sine  qua  non,  a  necessary  condition  of  salvation,  so  that  it  was  thought  no 
one  could  be  saved  without  going  through  this  experience  at  the  mourners'  bench. 
It  was  therefore  quite  a  concession  when  as  early  as  1843  it  was  admitted 
editorially  that  "we  do  not  preach  up  a  mourners'  bench  as  a  divine  command. 
We  use  it  only  as  a  human  measure." 

Aside  from  baptism,  the  washing  of  the  saints'  feet  and  experimental  re- 
ligion, nothing  provoked  more  heated  discussions  than  the  Church  itself.  Is  it  a 
"sect,"  and  by  what  right  is  it  assuming  the  name  "church  of  God"?  The  de- 
parture from  the  teachings  of  VVinebrenner's  "Scriptural  View  of  the  Formation, 
Government  and  Discipline  of  the  Church  of  God,"  and  conformity  to  other 
ecclesiastical  organizations  opened  the  way  for  incessant  and  acrimonious  discus- 
sions of  this  question.  With  one  voice,  including  Winebrenner's,  and  with  some 
degree  of  ungentle  and  trenchant  diction,  they  resented  the  charge  that  they  were 
Winebrennerians.  "They  reject  the  name  AVinebi-ennerian  and  utterly  abhor  that  or 
any  other  human  appellation."  "It  is  entirely  discarded  by  all  the  members  of 
this  body  of  Chistians."  "The  Church  discards  every  human  invention."  "The 
name  AVinebi-enneiian  is  entirely  disowned  by  the  Church,  not  one  member  being 
willing  to  wear  it."  When  the  opposers  of  the  Church  denounced  the  arrogant  as- 
sumption of  calling  the  new  body  of  believers  the  Church  of  God,  saying,  "No  body 
of  Christians  has  a  right  to  call  itself  the  Church  of  God,"  they  replied  that  they 
Should  not  be  "censured  for  glorying  in  scriptural  names."  The  "Presbyterians 
have  no  right  to  call  themselves  the  Church  of  God.  Nor  any  others.  It  would 
be  inconsistent.  Nor  are  they  willing  that  any  body  else  should  call  them  so." 
"But  we  deem  it  the  filial  duty  of  the  child  to  own  the  father's  name.  So  we, 
if  we  are  the  children  of  God  by  conversion,  should  acknowledge  the  same  in 
our  individual  capacity,  and  in  a  collective  capacity  as  a  church."  With  equal 
and  vigorous  consistency  they  repudiated  the  charge  that  the  Church  of  God  is  a 
denomination  or  sect.  No  terms  were  too  expressive  with  which  to  denounce 
"sects"  and  "sectarianism,"  and  so  to  resent  such  a  charge  against  themselves. 
Editor  McCartney  in  caustic  terms  denies  those  charges  as  published  by  the  "Bap- 
tist Record,"  saying:  "He  errs  in  calling  the  Church  of  God  a  sect.  She  is  no  sect, 
much  less  a  modern  sect.  She  existed  before  sectarian  names  and  practices  in- 
troduced their  concomitant  evils  into  the  world,  paralyzed  in  a  great  degree  the 
efforts  of  Christ's  chosen  ministers,  enervated  the  motives  of  the  gospel,  hardened 
men's  hearts  against  the  sympathetic  and  melting  appeals  of  Calvary,  rendered 
them  deaf  to  the  claims  of  heaven,  taught  them  to  observe  the  traditions  of  the 
elders  rather  than  the  word  of  God,  and  gained  popularity  in  an  almost  entire 
departure  from  primitive  principles.  He  has  committed  an  egregious  error  in 
saying  that  J.  Winebreimer  is  her  'leader  and  founder.'  "  All  this  Winebreimer 
emphatically  taught.  In  answering  A  Converse,  of  the  "Christian  Observer,"  in 
1844,  he  said:  "I  wish  you  to  let  the  readers  of  the  'Observer'  know  that  the 
'Church  of  God'  is  no  sect,  of  which  Mr.  AV.  is  the  leader.  No,  sir;  her  name,  her 
leader,  her  laws  and  her  subjects  are  the  same  now  as  they  were  from  the  begin- 
ning." The  "Baptist  Record"  persisted,  and  Winebrenner  replied:  "We  said  the 
'Church  of  God'  is  no  sect,  and  we  say  so  still,  and  stand  prepared  to  prove  it 
whenever  the  editor  of  the  'Record'  will  cease  his  puerile  nick-naming,  and  take 
his  stand  like  a  Christian,  and  a  scholar,  to  defend  the  opposite." 

Baptism  was  a  constant  theme  of  pulpit  discussion.  It  proved  the  great  bat- 
tle ground  for  a  generation,  and  was  the  decisive  question  for  scores  and  scores  of 
converts  of  the  Methodist,  the  German  Reformed  and  Lutheran  Churches.  It  was 
prominent  in  sermons  everywhere.  The  washing  of  the  saints'  feet  was  fre- 
quently assailed,  and  was  vigorously  defended.  Its  observance  was  universal  in 
the  churches  of  God,  and  it  was  quite  generally  practiced  by  the  United  Brethren, 
the  Mennonites,  and  to  some  extent  by  the  Free-will  Baptists.  The  arguments  and 
objections  of  those  who  opposed  it  were  frankly  stated  and  forcibly  answered. 
They  generally  insisted  that  "if  feet-washing  be  no  commandment,  then  there  is 
no  commandment  to  be  found  in  the  gospel."  Some  strong  advocates,  like  Peter 
Nead,  members  of  Churches  which  rejected  the  ordinance,  were  freely  quoted. 
These  discussions  were  more  frequently  between  the  editors  of  "The  Gospel  Pub- 


GeneiuaIv    History  67 

lisher"  and  editors  of  other  religious  papers.      These    amenities    of    editorial    life 
were  a  characteristic  of  the  age. 

A  somewhat  protracted  discussion  was  conducted  in  1843  through  the  "Re- 
formed Church  Messenger"  and  "The  Gospel  Publisher"  between  Winebrenner  and 
J.  \V.  Neviii,  of  Mercersburg  Reformed  College,  and  later  President  of  Franklin 
and  Marshall  College,  Lancaster,  Pa.  It  was  on  Winebrenner's  part  a  most  lucid 
and  trenchant  "defense  of  the  views  and  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  God." 

Minor  questions  were  also  mooted.  Among  these  was  the  title  "bishop," 
which  for  a  while  seemed  to  be  popular,  instead  of  "elder,"  as  all  were  opposed  to 
"Rev."  Human  creeds  were  discussed,  only  to  be  reprobated  with  extreme  severity 
and  intemperance.  They  were  characterized  as  "calculated  to  deceive  and  be- 
wilder;" their  "requirements  are  unreasonable;"  they  "circumscribe  us  in  the 
pursuit  of  knowledge;"  they  "enslave  the  church  of  God  and  her  free-born  chil- 
dren;" "they  prevent  the  spread  of  the  gospel,"  and  "they  are  the  work  of  fallible 
men,  who  have  had  the  arrogance  to  assume  that  they  had  the  right  to  dictate  to 
their  fellow  men  how  they  should  interpret  God's  blessed  word." 

The  question  of  ordination  by  the  imposition  of  hands  began  to  be  discussed 
pro  and  con  in  1842,  and  continued  to  monopolize  considerable  time  and  space  in 
"The  Gospel  Publisher",  "The  Advocate"  and  Eldership  sessions  for  twenty-five 
years.  A  debate  on  baptism  was  held  at  Mechanicsburg  in  the  Winter  of  1841  be- 
tween E.  West  and  Rev.  Mr.  Weiser,  a  Lutheran  minister.  West  maintained  that 
"immersion  of  believers  is  the  only  Christian  baptism."  The  controversial  spirit  is 
likely  to  grow  on  a  man,  and  especially  when  as  successful  in  maintaining  one's 
position  as  West  was  at  Mechanicsburg.  And  so  W^est  was  soon  in  another  "pub- 
lic debate  on  baptism  at  Landisburg,  Perry  county.  Pa.,  with  Rev.  H.  Slicer,  a 
Methodist  minister."  The  proposition  was  "both  the  subjects  and  mode  of  bap- 
tism." This  was  in  the  Spring  of  1842.  Whatever  connection  the  question  of 
rebaptism  had  with  the  baptismal  controversy,  it  arose  at  this  time.  It  was 
charged  by  pedo-baptists  that  to  immerse  one  who  had  been  sprinkled  was  a 
second  baptism,  which  by  act  denied  the  first  baptism.  How,  then,  when  one  who 
had  been  immersed,  fell  away  and  was  reclaimed,  when  he  applied  for  baptism? 
Winebrenner,  W.  Miller  and  McCartney  discussed  this  question  in  the  Fall  of  1841, 
and  gave  it  as  their  clear  conviction  that  "baptism  before  conversion  is  unlawful, 
and  therefore  a  person  should  be  rebaptized  after  he  becomes  a  believer."  Or  as 
Editor  Weishampel  put  it:  "Christ's  order  requires  faith  and  repentance  first,  and 
then  enjoins  baptism  as  a  Christian  duty."  As  for  infant  baptism,  that  is 
"rantism,  and  should  not  be  considered  valid  because  done  unauthorizedly."  But 
rebaptism  of  a  baptized  believer,  after  having  fallen  away  and  being  reclaimed, 
was  not  approved. 

Care  was  taken  not  to  make  baptism  a  condition  of  church  fellowship.  At 
first  the  ordinance  was  too  often  neglected,  and  stronger  ground  had  to  be  taken, 
involving  the  danger  of  making  it  the  door  into  the  church,  or  a  prerequisite  to 
church  fellowship.  But  baptism  during  this  period  was  strongly  preached  every- 
where, and  but  few  ministers  failed  to  keep  the  matter  of  church  fellowship  a 
secondary  consideration. 

The  well-known  singer  and  evangelist,  Ira  D.  Sankey,  was  born  at  Edinburg, 
Pa.,  in  1840.  The  celebrated  moral  suasion  crusade,  known  as  the  Washingtonian 
movement,  had  its  origin  in  the  reformation  of  a  Baltimore  drinking  club  in  April, 
1840.  The  organization  of  Washingtonian  Temperance  Societies  became  endemic. 
The  churches  favoring  total  abstinence  took  a  very  active  part  in  the  movement. 
But  it  had  spent  its  force  by  the  end  of  1843;  yet  it  is  claimed  that  "a  quarter  of 
a  million  would  be  a  low  estimate  of  the  number  of  habitual  drinkers  of  intoxi- 
cants reclaimed  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  Washingtonian  agitation." 
The  order  of  Sons  of  Temperance  was  the  offspring  of  this  crusade,  instituted  in 
New  York  City,  September  29,  1842. 

The  Evangelical  Synod  of  North  America  was  organized  in  1840.  Also  the 
German  Evangelical  Lutheran  Protestant  Church.  It  was  opposed  to  Synodical 
organizations. 

Under  guise  of  a  divine  revelation  in  favor  of  polygamy,  Joseph  Smith  and 
Hyrum  Smith,  Mormons,  for  a  criminal  act  were  arrested  and  lodged  in  jail  at 
Carthage,  111.,  in  June,  1843.  On  the  evening  of  June  27th,  a  mob  attacked  the 
jail,  and  both  the  Smiths  were  killed.  Brigham  Young  was  appointed  head  of  the 
Mormon  Church. 

In  1844  the  Southern  Baptists  began  their  separate  organization.  In  1843 
the  Wesleyan  Methodists  withdrew  from  the  main  body  on  account  of  slavery. 


68  History    of   tihi    Ciiurcmes    of    God 


CHAPTER    VII. 


1845—1850. 


THAT  astute  political  philosopher  and  great  popular  leader,  .James  G.  Blaine, 
begins  his  "Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  from  Lincoln  to  Gai-field."  with  a 're- 
view of  the  events  which  led  to  the  political  revolution  of  1860.  In  doing 
so  he  goes  back  to  the  original  compromises  between  the  North  and  the  South  in 
the  Constitution;  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana  from  France,  in  1803;  the  agitation 
of  the  slavery  question  in  connection  with  the  application  of  Missouri  for  admis- 
sion into  the  Union  as  a  slave  State  in  1820,  and  the  Missouri  Compromise;  the 
annexation  of  Texas  in  1845,  and  other  great  historical  events  of  the  first  half  of 
the  century.  So  there  are  three  factors  which  in  a  measure  determined  the  re- 
ligious trend  of  the  period  upon  which  the  Churches  in  America  entered  in  1845. 
Of  these,  two  were  identical  with  the  political  events  of  the  country — Slavery  and 
the  war  with  Mexico.  The  war  with  Mexico  began  officially  May  13,  1846,  and 
the  treaty  of  peace  was  ratified  by  the  United  States  Congress  on  Friday,  March  10, 
184  8.  Not  only  had  this  war  a  demoralizing  effect,  but  it  intensified  the  popular 
disposition  for  territorial  acquisition.  The  impoverished  condition  of  Mexico  in- 
duced the  cession  to  the  United  States  of  California,  New  Mexico  and  Utah  the 
same  year.  All  claims  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain  to  Oregon,  Washington  and 
Idaho  had  already  been  extinguished  in  1846.  The  history,  political  and  religious, 
of  all  this  vast  territory  on  the  Pacific  coast  thus  hinged,  for  the  time  at  least,  on 
the  war  with  Mexico,  and  the  significant  events  following  the  discovery  of  gold  in 
California  in  1847. 

But  slavery  had  a  more  immediate  effect  on  the  condition  of  the  Churches. 
Beliefs  and  opinions  are  largely  determined  by  heredity  and  environment.  In  the 
slave  territory  of  the  United  States  ministers  and  Churches  advocated  and  de- 
fended the  system  of  involuntary  servitude  upon  scriptural  grounds.  In  other 
sections  they  were  at  first  divided,  but  gradually  became  strongly  in  favor  of  the 
abolition  of  the  entire  system.  In  border  territory  it  created  bitter  antagonisms 
and  heated  controversies,  and  greatly  interfered  with  the  peace  of  churches  and 
all  aggressive  church  work.  The  churches  of  God  in  Maryland  maintained  a 
neutral  attitude,  although  nearly  all  the  ministers'  were  opposed  to  slavery.  But 
in  West  Virginia  some  trouble  developed.  Even  in  Greene  county.  Pa.,  bordering  on 
West  Virginia,  there  was  serious  dissatisfaction.  The  Church  there  was  "greatly 
Injured  by  dissensions  on  the  slavery  questions."  They  had  "excluded  pro-slavery 
persons  from  Christian  and  church  fellowship."  This  AVinebrenner  seemed  to 
disapprove  and  "censure."  But  he  explained  by  saying:  "I  do  not  censure 
churches  fqr  excommunicating  slaveholders  when  the  action  of  the  church  is 
regularly  had,  but  I  condemn  all  irregular  and  proscriptive  proceedings."  "The 
church  alluded  to  did  not  exclude  slaveholders  from  their  communion,  but  those 
members  who  cast  their  votes  in  favor  of  slave-holding  candidates  for  civil  office. 
Now,  the  exercise  of  such  proscriptive  power  was  evidently  not  intended  to  be 
sanctioned  by  the  General  Eldership."  Religious  bodies  in  the  North  became 
strongly  anti-slavery,  and  adopted  resolutions  on  the  subject  at  all  their  meetings. 
Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton,  a  leader  among  women  in  the  anti-slavery  agitation,  as 
also  famous  in  the  woman-suffrage  movement,  was  at  the  zenith  of  her  power  at 
this  time. 

Nothing  had  a  more  quickening  influence  on  American  life  than  the  increasing 
facilities  for  transportation  and  intercommunication  consequent  on  the  building 
of  railroads,  the  growth  of  periodical  literature  and  the  invention  of  the  magnetic 
telegraph,  the  offspring  of  American  genius. 

The  tide  of  emmigration  continued  to  rise,  and  with  it  many  families  of 
churches  of  God  in  eastern  Pennsylvania  were  carried  westward  to  Ohio,  Indiana, 
Illinois  and  Iowa.  And  even  from  Western  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  further  West. 
This  depleted  many  of  the  churches,  while  many  of  these  families  were  scattered 
far  apart  in  their  western  homes.      The  great  work  of  the  period  was  to  rebuild 


General    History  6g 

the  decimated  churches  in  the  East,  and  to  follow  these  families  to  their  newly 
made  homes.  Ministers  in  proportion  also  went  with  the  tide,  but  only  too  often 
to  quit  the  active  work  and  homestead  on  the  rich  government  lands  under  the 
Homestead  Laws  which  had  been  enacted  by  the  State  and  Federal  Governments 
in  order  to  stimulate  emigration  and  to  remove  some  of  the  hardships  of  the  com- 
mon law.  In  some  instances  there  was  an  effort  to  colonize,  and  thus  nuclei,  or 
centers  of  development  of  church  life  were  formed,  resulting  in  the  permanent 
establishment  of  churches.  Men  and  means  were  the  great  need  of  the  Church, 
and  there  was  immense  consequent  loss.  Winebrennei-  was  the  undisputed  leader 
in  all  the  work  of  the  Church.  He  was  not  ■  only  primus  inter  pares;  he  was 
premier.  But  his  time  was  too  much  preoccupied  with  duties  in  the  East  to  be- 
come a  general  missionary  in  the  West.  The  Hickernells,  Ham,  Logue,  Hawk, 
and  others  worked  heroically,  "but  what  are  these  among  so  many?"  Winebrennei" 
not  only  visited  the  Ohio  and  West  Pennsylvania  Elderships,  but  also  some  of  the 
camp-meetings  in  their  territories.  In  184  7  Harn  made  a  tour  to  the  West  by  way 
of  the  Ohio  river  to  Cincinnati,  St.  Louis  and  then  up  the  Mississippi  to  the 
northern  counties  in  Illinois.  On  this  tour  he  preached.  He  preached  in  Athens 
county,  Ohio,  the  south-east  corner  of  which  borders  on  the  Ohio  river.  S.  S.  Rich- 
mond was  on  this  charge  as  the  appointee  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  He 
also  preached  for  the  brethren  in  Meigs  county,  on  the  Ohio  river,  adjoining 
Athens  county  on  the  south.  Thence  he  proceeded  on  his  journey  via.  St.  Louis  to 
Burlington,  Iowa,  within  30  miles  of  which  place,  at  Trenton,  la.,  Logue  was  en- 
gaged in  missionary  work.  Thence  to  Davenport,  Iowa,  and  Savanna,  111.,  from 
which  point  he  went  across  Carroll  county,  III.,  into  Ogle  county,  the  second  county 
eastward  from  the  Mississippi.  Here  he  found  some  brethren  from  Maryland,  his 
native  State.  He  preached  at  a  Methodist  camp-meeting  in  Ogle  county.  Also  at 
Mt.  Carroll,  Carroll  county.  This  country  he  characterized  as  a  "new  world." 
From  this  point  on  he  says  he  "preached  almost  continually."  He  visited  Boone 
and  McHenry  counties,  and  preached  at  various  points,  and  made  an  incursion  into 
Wisconsin.  Two  observations  made  in  his  letters  indicate  how  much  the  Church 
lost  by  not  having  men  and  means  to  make  the  best  use  of  its  advantages.  "My 
soul  has  been  grieved  and  deeply  distressed  that  so  much  ground  should  pass  un- 
cultivated."     "Circuits  are  unsupplied  that  used  to  support  two  preachers." 

The  prospects  in  184  5  were  not  so  encouraging.  From  different  points  in 
Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  the  reports  came  that  "there  is  nothing  very  encouraging 
to  communicate."  In  making  its  report  on  the  state  of  religion  the  committee 
of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1845  said:  "The  state  of  religion  at 
present,  and  for  the  last  year  or  two,  has  not  been  so  cheering  and  prosperous  as 
in  former  years."  At  this  time  "the  whole  number  of  ministers  in  the  three 
Elderships."  was  ninety-three;  "the  number  of  churches  and  preaching  places, 
about  five  hundred,  and  the  number  in  membership,  about  ten  thousand."  In 
Ohio  churches  were  being  edified  and  some  new  ones  organized.  In  Richland 
county,  E.  West  was  stationed  at  Vermillion  for  the  year  184  5,  and  the  church 
increased.  In  184  5  H.  Murray  traveled  the  circuit,  with  A.  Megi-ew,  which  in- 
cluded Wayne,  Holmes,  Tuscarawas,  Coshocton,  Stark,  Portage- and  Summit  coun- 
ties, on  which  they  "had  about  thirty  appointments,  giving  the  people  of  our 
charge  preaching  every  two  weeks."  Progress  was  made,  and  the  work  was  di- 
vided, leaving  Murray  twenty  appointments.  The  third  year  the  work  was  re- 
duced to  Stark,  Portage  and  Summit  counties.  He  opened  new  points  until  he 
had  eight  preaching  places.  He  organized  a  church  "in  the  Stump  neighborhood 
in  184  6,"  in  Stark  county,  which  grew  until  it  had  fifty  members  when  Murray 
left.  At  Dalton,  Wayne  county,  Megi-ew  organized  a  church  in  1845,  and  a 
bethel  was  built.  Calls  from  Darke  county,  Ohio,  along  the  Indiana  line,  were 
responded  to  by  T,  Hickernell,  the  indefatigable  missionary,  and  good  work  was 
done.  Also  in  Clark  county,  east  and  south  of  Darke.  The  first  preaching  in 
Hancock  county  was  about  six  miles  west  of  Findlay,  where  John  Bolton,  father 
of  the  three  Bolton  brothers  who  became  ministers,  located  in  the  year  1847. 
He  was  a  native  of  Lebanon  county.  Pa.,  of  German  descent,  a  "member  of  the 
old  school  Lutheran  Church."  He  was  converted  in  Stark  county,  Ohio.  Upon 
his  invitation  AVilliam  Adams,  of  Richland  county,  visited  the  Bolton  neighbor- 
hood and  preached  in  John  Bolton's  house.  The  "first  church  of  God  in  all  this 
country"  was  "organized  there  in  the  Summer  of  184  8,  in  a  meeting  held  by  W. 
Adams  aided  by  H.  Murray."  It  consisted  of  .lohn  Bolton,  Mary  Bolton,  John  F. 
Fox,  Susan  Fox,  Martha  Heck  and   Elizabeth   Geyer.      John    Bolton    was    elected 


JO  History   op   the   Churches   of    God 

elder,  and  John  F.  Fox,  deacon.  Hickemell  also  penetrated  into  Montgomery 
county,  where  he  had  preaching  at  Father  Shupp's,  one  mile  from  Dayton.  At 
Wooster,  Wayne  Co.,  Ohio,  A.  Megi-ew  organized  the  first  church  of  God  in  May, 
184  8,  consisting  of  sixteen  members.  Charles  Huflf  was  elected  elder,  and  J.  P. 
Wiiiebi-enner,  deacon.  John  J.  Bear,  assigned  to  Ashland  circuit,  moved  to 
Shenandoah,  Richland  Co.,  Ohio,  and  traveled  "a  circuit  which  is  nearly  200  miles 
around."  M-.  A.  Cook  was  sent  to  Athens  county,  Ohio,  by  the  West  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  in  1845,  where  S.  S.  Kiclunond  had  been  doing  good  work,  and  did  suc- 
cessful preaching.  He  held  a  camp-meeting  during  the  Summer.  He  extended 
his  labors  into  Meigs  county,  on  the  Ohio,  south  of  Athens,  and  even  penetrated 
into  Adams,  four  counties  further  west,  where  he  "found  matters  partly  encourag- 
ing, and  partly  to  the  contrary."  In  Canaan  township,  Athens  county,  a  church 
was  organized  at  the  time  of  the  camp-meeting.  Other  organizations  existed  at 
this  time  in  Athens  county,  and  were  visited  also  by  John  Hickemell,  in  1847. 
Hanj,  in  June,  1847,  had  visited  Athens  county  on  his  tour  to  the  West.  He  preached 
in  the  Court  House  in  Athens  county,  on  the  Commission,  and  at  sundry  other 
places.  Richmond  again  followed  Cook  in  1847,  and  did  good  work.  Columbiana 
county,  Ohio,  was  part  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  territory,  and  was  in 
good  condition.  T.  Hickemell  went  as  far  South  as  Preble  county,  Ohio,  the  third 
county  north  from  Cincinnati,  on  the  Indiana  line,  and  held  a  protracted  meeting 
of  two  weeks  near  Twigsborough,  and  organized  a  church  of  twelve  members,  with 
Alexander  Makee  and  Wni.  Hutton,  elders,  and  John  Mutton,  deacon.  Yet  the 
brotherhood  in  Ohio  was  not  satisfied  with  the  results  of  their  labors,  and  the  ques- 
tion found  public  expression,  and  attempted  solution:  "Why  is  it  that  the  Church 
of  God  does  not  have  more  success  in  Ohio?"  In  1848  "the  brethren  at  Madison- 
ville,  four  miles  north  of  Wooster,  on  the  turnpike,  erected  a  large  and  commodious 
house  for  the  worship  of  God.  It  was  dedicated  on  the  22nd  of  October,  1848."  E. 
Logue  preached  the  dedicatory  sermon. 

The  three  ministers  appointed  to  Indiana  by  the  Ohio  Eldership  in  1844  were 
local  missionaries,  and  did  not  accomplish  much.  They  are  classed  among  the 
"General  Missionaries"  at  the  Eldership  in  1845.  J.  Martin  became  an  active 
worker,  and  was  efficient  in  the  work  in  the  years  following.  T,  Hickemell  in 
184  6-7  preached  in  Adams  county,  at  the  home  of  "Bro.  Snayers,"  and  at  "Bro. 
Walter's,"  De  Kalb  county.  These  families  had  emigrated  from  Pennsylvania, 
with  a  number  of  others,  and  had  been  members  of  churches  of  God.  Hickemell 
was  assisted  in  1848  by  A.  B.  Slyter.  They  worked  westward  and  northward,  into 
Wells,  Huntingdon,  Allen,  Whitley,  Noble,  De  Kalb  and  La  Grange  counties.  In 
Noble  county  they  held  a  successful  camp-meeting  in  1848.  Work  progressed  so 
favorably  that  they  arranged  for  a  meeting  in  the  neighborhood  of  John  Martin's, 
Milford  township.  La  Grange  Co.,  Ind.,  in  November,  1846,  to  organize  an  Elder- 
ship. In  184  9  AV"m.  Booth  emigrated  to  Wayne  county,  Ind.,  on  the  Ohio  line,  east 
of  Indianapolis,  and  called  for  Hickemell  to  come  and  preach  for  them.  By  such 
means  the  work  was  extended  from  county  to  county,  until  in  1849  ministers  were 
regularly  appointed  to  five  counties,  while  there  was  considerable  preaching  in 
several  others.  "Winebrenner  and  Ham  preached  at  points  in  Allen  county,  at 
John  AVinebrenner's,  in  Noble  county,  where  a  cousin,  Andrew  Winebrenner,  de- 
sired a  regular  preaching  place  to  be  established.  Also  in  Elkhart  county.  Families 
of  churches  of  God  in  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania  had  emigrated  to  these  and  various 
other  counties;  and  while  some  stood  aloof,  waiting  for  ministers  of  the  Church 
of  God,  many  others  had  united  with  other  Churches. 

The  principal  Church  work  in  Illinois  during  the  years  184  5-50  was  done  in 
the  northern  section  of  the  State.  Emigration  to  that  section  was  then  much 
larger  from  Pennsylvania.  Already  in  1837,  John  A.  Shuler,  years  after  the  or- 
ganization of  the  General  Eldership  one  of  its  treasurers,  had  moved  from  Mid- 
dletown,  Pa.,  to  Ottawa,  La  Salle  county.  A  colony  of  Church  of  God  families 
emigrated  from  Lebanon  county,  Pa.,  to  La  Salle  county,  111.,  in  1849,  and  settled 
at  Troy  Grove.  Among  them  were  the  Klinefelters,  Fahlers,  Kreisers,  Gephards, 
Fii-estines,  Hawks  and  Waggoners.  The  population  of  Chicago  at  that  time  was 
19,725.  Others  settled  in  Bureau  and  Henry  counties,  west  of  La  Salle.  But 
more  located  in  Carroll,  Ogle,  Jo  Daviess  and  Stephenson  counties,  in  the  extreme 
northwestern  part  of  the  State.  Some  of  these  were  from  Washington  county, 
Md.,  and  constituted  the  "Maryland  Colony,"  such  as  the  Millers,  Keidenours,  Mc- 
Cormicks  and  Shaeffers.  Jacob  Miller  and  family  emigrated  to  Carroll  county  in 
184  6,  and  "were  five  weeks  on  the  road."      It  was  to  these  brethren  that  it  was 


General   History  "  71 

proposed  to  send  Hani  as  a  missionary  in  184  8,  and  to  raise  $200  by  subscription 
to  support  him.  On  his  tour  to  the  West  in  1846  he  had  visited  them  and  preached 
in  these  northwestern  counties  in  Illinois.  He  baptized  a  few  persons  in  Mt. 
Carroll.  John  Blickenstaff,  an  Indiana  minister,  also  preached  some  in  this  sec- 
tion in  1847.  This  year  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  established  an  Illinois 
mission,  but  left  it  unsupplied.  There  was  also  preaching  in  Whiteside  county, 
south  of  Carroll,  in  1847.  There  were  some  eighteen  Church  of  God  families  in 
Ogle  and  Carroll  counties  in  1847  which  had  emigrated  there  from  the  East,  and 
prospects  for  Church  work  were  most  encouraging.  In  Fulton  and  Adams  counties, 
some  distance  southward,  were  also  Church  of  God  families  which  were  calling 
for  preachers.  The  only  church  of  God  organization  mentioned  as  early  as  1848 
is  that  at  Mt.  Carroll,  Carroll  county,  which  was  formed  about  that  time  by  G.  U. 
Hani. 

Iowa,  "the  most  purely  agricultural  of  all  the  United  States,"  was  originally 
a  part  of  the  immense  territory  included  in  Louisiana,  and  ceded  to  the  United 
States  in  1803.  In  1838  the  Territory  of  Iowa  was  organized  in  due  form.  In 
1844  a  State  Constitution  was  framed,  and  after  some  delay,  on  Dec.  28,  1846,  the 
new  State  was  admitted  into  the  Union.  It  lies  in  the  Zone  of  the  greatest  move- 
ment of  migration;  is  "the  beautiful  country,"  and  after  its  organization  as  a  State 
attracted  emigration  from  all  the  States  eastward.  The  earliest  emigration  of 
Church  of  God  families  was  in  1837,  when  the  families  of  Jacob  Smith  and  Jolin  L. 
Waitnian  located  in  Henry  county.  Then  came  David  Neft",  John  McConnick,  John 
Zentmyer,  John  Neff  and  their  families,  with  a  few  others,  who  located  near 
Trenton,  same  county.  This  is  in  the  southeastern  corner  of  the  State.  They 
soon  began  to  hold  prayer-meetings  in  their  homes,  and  invited  ministers  of  the 
Church  to  come  and  preach  for  them.  "Father  Joseph  Barton  was  probably  the 
first  one  to  preach  for  these  people.  He  was  followed  in  184  5  by  Samuel  Scott 
and  E.  Logue."  Logiie  reported  his  labors  in  Iowa,  and  "prospects  in  that  coun- 
try," to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  November,  184-5.  On  March  4,  1847, 
he  wrote  that  he  had  held  a  protracted  meeting  near  Trenton,  where  he  lived;  that 
"twelve  or  thirteen  were  converted,  and  ten  united  in  church  fellowship."  In 
May,  1847,  Hawk,  who  lived  50  miles  North,  in  Johnson  county,  visited  Trenton, 
Henry  county,  and  preached  to  this  "small  church,"  and  he  states  that  "they  are 
all  Germans."  There  was  then  a  small  company  of  Church  of  God  people  at  North 
Bend,  Johnson  county.  Hawk's  home.  Henry  Bechtel,  of  Cumberland  county,  Pa., 
emigrated  to  Johnson  county,  Iowa,  in  the  Spring  of  1845,  and  in  the  Fall  of  the 
same  year  he  moved  to  North  Bend.  He  says  "there  was  no  church  of  God  in 
those  parts,  and  there  was  no  one  to  contend  for  the  New  Testament  doctrines  as 
held  by  the  Church  of  God  save  myself  and  companion  in  life."  "John  Kepfoi-d 
and  family  were  the  next  to  come  to  this  beautiful  prairie  country."  A  prayer- 
meeting  was  started  and  a  Sunday-school  organized.  "In  the  meantime  Logue 
came  into  the  southern  part  of  the  State,  and  hearing  of  this  little  band  started 
out  in  search  of  us"  Jan.  20,  1848.  Logue  visited  North  Bend  the  second  time 
and  organized  a  church  of  six  members,  with  J.  Hawk  as  elder,  and  H.  Bechtel, 
deacon.  The  other  members  were  Mrs.  Hawk,  Mrs.  Bechtel,  and  John  Kepford 
and  wife.  Logue  continued  to  preach  in  Henry  county  and  other  points  for  some 
three  years.  In  the  Spring  of  184  9,  M.  F.  Suavely  emigrated  to  Johnson  county, 
Iowa,  and  settled  at  North  Bend,  followed  in  the  Fall  by  J.  Lininger  and  others 
from  Huntingdon  and  Bedford  counties,  and  "six  or  eight  families  from  York 
county."  Others  during  the  early  part  of  the  Summer  of  1849  emigrated  from 
Pishing  Creek,  Dauphin  county.  Pa.,  to  near  Grandview,  Louisa  county.  Up  to 
Aug.  17,  1849,  there  was  no  post  office  nearer  North  Bend  than  Iowa  City,  and  no 
"blacksmith,  wagon  maker,  shoemaker  or  cabinet-maker  nearer  than  Iowa  City, 
from  seven  to  ten  miles  off."  Big  Creek,  12  miles  from  Mt.  Pleasant,  Henry 
county,  became  the  home  of  Joseph  Barton,  of  Stark  county,  Ohio,  in  1839.  In 
1845,  his  brother  Thomas  located  near  him,  and  in  1847  a  church  organization 
was  formed,  the  place  being  known  as  "the  Home  Bethel." 

At  the  Indiana  Eldership  in  November,  184  8,  A.  B.  Slyter  was  appointed  mis- 
sionary to  Southern  Michigan.  His  work  was  interrupted,  and  limited  results  fol- 
lowed. Already  in  1841  a  church  was  organized  in  Michigan  under  "the  labors  of 
a  good  brother"  which,  after  carefully  canvassing  the  question  of  a  title,  decided 

"to  call  it  the  church  of  God  in  .      This  is  the  Bible  name,"  writes  one  to 

the  "Union  Herald"  in  that  year.      "It  is  naming  the  body  after  its  Father."      "If 
Wesley,  or  Calvin,  or  any  other  man,  or  set  of  men,  is  the  author  of  the  church. 


y2  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

then  label  If  after  the  person  who  has  begotten  it;  but  if  God  is  the  father,  then 
let  it  bear  his  title."  This  movement  was  not  under  the  labors  of  a  minister  of 
t"he  Church  of  God. 

In  184  7,  when  on  a  tour  to  northern  Illinois,  Hai-n  "traveled  in  eight  counties 
and  a  part  of  Wisconsin  Territory,"  but  no  permanent  work  was  accomplished. 

In  the  Fall  of  184  7,  Elder  H.  Rupp,  of  Richland  county,  111.,  with  several 
other  families,  moved  to  Missouri,  where  he  did  the  first  preaching  by  a  minister 
of  the  Church  of  God.  But  as  he  remained  only  a  short  time  in  the  State,  nothing 
permanent  was  accomplished. 

Work  in  what  is  now  West  Virginia  was  pushed  forward  with  considerable 
success.  In  Brooke  county  John  S.  Kei-i*  organized  a  small  church  in  1847,  and 
the  people  generally  "assented  to  the  truth  we  preached."  A  mission  established 
in  Wood  county  in  1845  was  making  fair  progress.  D.  Wertz  reported  successful 
meetings  in  Marshall  county  in  1848,  with  "prospects  of  the  reformation  grow- 
ing more  flattering."  He  organized  a  church  with  Samuel  Smith  as  elder,  and 
Lazarus  Ryan,  deacon,  which  had  increased  to  seventy-five  members  by  May  23, 
184  8.  "The  new  meeting-house  at  Woodlands,  Marshall  county,  W.  Va.,"  was 
dedicated  in  1849.  The  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  continued  its  mission  in  Vir- 
ginia, in  Berkeley  county,  with  but  small  success. 

In  Maryland  considerable  progress  was  made  during  this  period.  At  Sandy 
Mount,  Carroll  county,  there  was  a  good  beginning  made  for  church  work  in  1849. 
At  Parksville,  in  Washington  county,  a  church  was  organized  in  1849.  The  church 
at  Sample's  Manor  the  same  year  secured  by  purchase  by  Thomas  Grim  the  union 
school-house  for  a  house  of  worship.  A  church  was  also  organized  in  184  8  in  a 
dwelling  house  near  Emmittsburg,  Frederick  county,  in  1848,  and  steps  were  taken 
to  build  a  bethel.  In  Baltimore  persistent  efforts  were  put  forth  to  establish  a 
church  on  a  lasting  foundation.  The  church  "had  become  somewhat  scattered  and 
discouraged,"  wrote  Winebrenner,  when  in  184  8  he  assisted  McFadden  in  a  special 
meeting.  But  he  thought  "the  church  in  Baltimore  is  likely  to  do  well."  The 
church  was  laboring  under  serious  disadvantages.  Not  able  to  build  a  bethel,  it 
worshiped  in  184  6  in  Howard  Street  Chapel,  a  Methodist  house  of  worship  which 
it  rented.  But  it  had  to  "give  it  up,  and  go  back  into  a  hall  it  had  used  for  sev- 
eral years."  An  effort  was  made  to  build  a  bethel,  or  to  buy  a  suitable  building. 
This  was  partly  successful,  for  in  1847  "the  Cove  Street  meeting-house"  was  pur- 
chased, a  small  building,  "forty  by  thirty  feet  in  dimensions,"  for  $800.  But  ac- 
cording to  Winebrenner's  statement  in  1849,  the  work  moved  along  very  slowly, 
and  with  not  very  inspiring  prospects.  The  debt  contracted  by  the  purchase  of 
the  Cove  Street  property  proved  a  menacing  hinderance. 

The  general  interests  and  the  work  in  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  were, 
with  slight  exceptions,  in  good  condition  and  were  making  steady  progress.  Vir- 
ginia was  still  a  part  of  the  territory  of  said  Eldership.  Greene  county.  Pa.,  in 
the  southwest  corner  of  the  State,  contiguous  to  Marshall  county,  Va.,  on  the  west, 
and  Wetzel  county  on  the  southwest,  was  the  scene  of  encouraging  revival  work 
in  1846  and  following  years.  A  church  of  "upwards  of  fifty  persons  [fifty-six] 
was  formed  upon  the  original  New  Testament  platform"  in  the  Winter  of  1846. 
At  Aleppo,  Greene  county,  a  house  of  worship  was  built  in  the  Summer  of  1847. 
The  work  in  Cambria  county,  under  the  labors  of  J.  M.  Klein,  made  encouraging 
progress.  Joseph  Glenn,  of  the  Rockland  circuit,  Venango  county,  in  1848  "ex- 
tended his  labors  into  the  adjoining  county  of  Clarion"  with  good  results.  At  Brush 
Valley,  Cambria  county,  in  184  8,  a  new  meeting-house  was  built.  The  work  under 
Hickernell  and  Ober,  of  the  Westmoreland  and  Cambria  circuit,  was  pushed  south- 
ward into  Fayette  county.  The  Perryopolis  Mission  in  said  county  was  established 
in  184  5,  under  Daniel  AVertz  as  missionary.  In  1849  Indiana  county  was  part  of 
the  Westmoreland  field,  and  a  good  degree  of  success  attended  the  labors  of  Ober 
and  Hickernell.  In  184  9  a  church  was  organized  at  Mill  Creek  Furnace,  near 
Johnstown,  Cambria  county,  by  Ober.  The  same  year  at  Fayetteville,  Mercer 
county,  the  church  continued  its  building  project,  and  dedicated  in  the  early  part 
of  the  Summer.  Special  efforts  were  made  from  1846  to  1849  to  save  the  church 
at  Pittsburg.  The  Eldership  was  not  able  to  supply  it  with  a  pastor.  Harn 
agreed  to  serve  the  church,  and  located  there  in  1846.  In  June,  1847,  he  reported 
that  "things  began  to  wear  a  promising  aspect."  Also  that  "the  church  has  taken 
a  new  place  of  worship,  over  which  they  hold  the  sole  control."  Harn  was  suc- 
ceeded by  J.  A.  Dobson,  and  the  prospects  apparently  grew  brighter.  In  January, 
1849,  J.  Myei-s  expressed  it  as  his  judgment  that  "the  church  in  Pittsburg  may  do 


General    History 


7Z 


better  in  future  than  it  ever  did  heretofore."  But  at  the  Eldership  in  October, 
1849,  no  pastor  was  assigned  to  Pittsburg,  and  Winebrenner  in  December,  1849, 
wrote:  "The  things  most  unaccountable  to  us  are  the  giving  up  of  the  Pittsburg 
station,"  etc. 

A  similar  course  of  events  attended  the  work  in  Philadelphia,  in  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership.  In  March,  184  5,  the  church  numbered  thirty  members, 
with  J.  Quigley,  pastor,  and  the  "prospects  are  flattering."  "A  conditional  con- 
tract" was  made  for  a  house  of  worship  prior  to  the  E]ldership  in  November,  184.5 
In  May,  1846,  there  were  two  separate  church  organizations  in  Philadelphia,  with 
Quigley  and  Deshiri  as  pastors.  Winebienner  visited  and  preached  for  the  breth- 
ren in  Philadelphia  in  January,  1847.  In  April,  1848,  Hani  was  appointed  as 
Quigley's  successor,  Quigley  serving  the  other  congregation.  Services  were  held 
in  Howard  Hall,  Shippen  street,  between  Third  and  Fourth,  and  in  Native  Hall, 
on  Third  street.  But  Philadelphia  as  a  station  does  not  appear  on  the  Journal  of 
the  Eldership  from  the  Fall  of  184  8  until  October,  1865,  when  D.  A,  L.  Laverty 
was  appointed  to  the  Philadelphia  Mission,  to  take  charge  April,  1866.  While  the 
work   in   Philadelphia   was  thus   suspended    for   eighteen   years,   elsewhere   it   was 


4 

< 

1 

« 

i 

Ruins  of  Fii'st  Bethel  at  Aiibuni,  Pa. 


carried  forward  with  unabated  energy.  A  number  of  houses  of  worship  were 
built,  and  thus  a  more  permanent  character  given  to  the  churches.  At  Woodbury, 
Bedford  county,  the  first  bethel  was  erected  in  1845.  John  Carper  and  George 
Diltz  were  the  Building  Committee.  The  house  was  dedicated  by  Samuel  Angle, 
of  Shippensburg,  who  presented  a  pulpit  Bible  to  the  church.  At  Siddonstown, 
York  county,  "the  new  meeting-house"  was  "dedicated  to  the  worship  of  God  on 
the  1st  day  of  January,  1845."  The  years  following  to  1849  "very  gracious  out- 
pourings of  the  Spirit  of  God"  were  enjoyed,  and  "many  obtained  the  pearl  of 
great  price."  At  Auburn,  Schuylkill  county,  steady  progress  was  made  by  the 
church.  It  was  one  of  the  twenty-eight  appointments  on  the  Dauphin,  Lebanon 
and  Schuylkill  circuit  served  by  T.  Strohni  and  A.  Snyder,  extending  from  Mato- 
moras  in  the  northwestern  part  of  Dauphin  county,  to  Orwigsburg,  Schuylkill 
county.  Winebrenner  preached  there  in  1848  for  several  days,  and  says  "the 
little  church  in  that  place  bids  fair  for  the  kingdom."  A  bethel  had  been  built 
there  in  1846.      Prior  to  that  they  held  their  meetings  in  private  houses,  and  then 


74 


History   of   the    Churches    of   God 


in  an  old  building  used  as  a  pottery.  "The  brethren  put  the  clay  apple-butter  aad 
milk  crocks  in  the  upper  loft,  and,  cleaning  the  rubbish  and  dirt  out,  put  benches 
In  it,  and  then  it  was  ready  for  the  preacher.  It  is  said  that  in  less  than  one  year 
over  fifty  persons  embraced  religion  in  the  old  pottery  shop." 

The  present  house  of  worship  was  erected  in  1868,  and  was  dedicated  Sept. 
27th.  The  services  continued  two  weeks.  Keller  preached  the  dedicatory  ser- 
mon, and  was  assisted  by  J.  Haifleigh  and  I.  Brady. 

The  church  at  Orrstown,  Franklin  county,  organized  in  the  house  of  Elder 
Joseph  Strawbridge,  built  a  bethel  in  1845.  The  trustees  were  Jacob  Knisley, 
Abraham  Hostetter  and  Emanuel  Kendig.     The  church  then  numbered  forty-two. 

"A  snug  little  bethel"  had  also  about  this  time  been  erected  at  Hollidaysburg, 
Blair  county.  There  were  about  "eighteen  or  twenty  members."  The  town  had 
five  hundred  of  a  population,  with  five  churches. 

At  Soule's,  Perry  county,  the  church  erected  a  log  bethel  in  1846,  which  was 


Present  Bethel  at  Auburn,  Pa. 


dedicated  by  Winebrenner.  The  ground  was  donated  by  John  Soule,  in  whose  home 
the  church  had  held  its  services  for  nearly  six  years.  He  and  his  two  sons,  Heniy 
L.  and  Jacob  B.,  both  later  ministers  in  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  "mainly 
built  the  house." 

A  church  was  organized  at  Hinkletown,  Lancaster  county,  Feb.   5,  1847,  with 

John  Stanim,  elder,  and Rodgers,  deacon.      In  January,  1848,  they  decided 

to  build  a  bethel;  laid  the  corner-stone  on  May  28th,  and  the  dedication  took  place 
Sept.   24th  of  the  same  year,  Winebrenner,  Swartz  and  Keller  officiating. 

On  July  27,  1847,  John  C.  Booth,  pastor,  states  that  the  "remnant  of  five 
members"  of  the  church  at  Newville,  Cumberland  county,  rebuilt  their  bethel, 
which  had  been  wrecked  by  "a  terrific  gale,"  and  dedicated  it,  and  organized  a 
church  of  twenty  members. 

At  Maytown,  Lancaster  county,  the  services  were  held  in  a  school-house  from 
1847  to  1849,  when  the  need  of  a  bethel  was  strongly  urged  by  the  pastor, 
endorsed  by  Winebrenner, 

In  Perry  county,  "the  new  bethel  near  Bro.  Kumbler's  (Red  Hill)  was  dedi- 
cated Dec.  18,  1849. 

At  Smoketown,  York  county.  May  13,  1849,  the  bethel  was  dedicated  by  the 
little  church  which  "had  come  to  the  conclusion  to  prove  the  Lord  in  the  matter  of 


Gkneral    History 


75 


tithes."     "The  new  bethel  at  Andersontown,  York  county,  was  dedicated  on  Dec. 
31,  1848. 

On  Dec.  25,  1849,  "the  bethel  at  Camp  Hill,  near  Bowman's,  Cumberland 
■county,"  was  dedicated.  A  collection  had  been  announced.  It  amounted  to 
$45.00.  Winebrenner,  Maxwell,  Howard,  Seabrooks,  Dresbach  and  J.  F.  Miller 
were  present.     This  bethel  is  still  used  by  the  Camp  Hill  church. 


Bethel  at  Camp  Hill,  Pa. 


The  Churchtown  bethel,  removed  into  the  village,  was  dedicated  Nov.  11, 
1849. 

Plans  were  matured  in  January,  1849,  to  build  a  "meeting-house  for  the  wor- 
ship of  God"  in  Newport,  Perry  county. 

Successful  work  was  done  during  this  period  on  the  Awkwick  circuit  in  Hunt- 
ingdon and  Bedford  counties;  at  Orwigsburg  and  vicinity,  in  Schuylkill  county;  in 
Blair  county  from  Hollidaysburg  to  Martinsburg;  at  Goldsboro,  York  Haven,  New- 
berry, Lisburn  and  other  points  in  York  county;  in  Dauphin  county,  and  in  the 
Mahantango  and  Deep  Creek  Valleys,  Schuylkill  county.  The  mission  interests  in 
Lehigh  and  Berks  counties  were  well  cared  for  by  J.  Keller,  with  favorable  indica- 
tions. One  new  point  was  opened  in  Berks  and  three  in  Lehigh,  and  "he  had  in- 
vitations from  four  or  Ave  different  places." 

At  the  Eldership  in  November,  184  8,  Benjamin  Howard,  "a  member  of  the 
Church  of  God  in  the  State  of  New  York,"  being  present  and  made  an  advisory 
member,  "gave  a  brief  sketch  of  the  origin  and  views  of  the  churches  of  God  in 
that  State  and  Nova  Scotia."  He  reported  a  church  in  Ogden,  Monroe  county,  N. 
Y.,  thirty  years  old,  "in  order  and  practice  the  same  with  yourselves,"  with  "a  fine 
meeting-house,  and  sixty  to  eighty  members,  wealthy  and  respectable."  Also  one 
in  Livingston  county.  "There  are  also  in  Nova  Scotia  a  number  of  churches  called 
the  churches  of  Christ,  or  churches  of  God.  They  refuse  all  human  titles." 
Howard  remained  the  greater  part  of  a  year  in  Pennsylvania,  preaching  among 
the  churches  in  Perry,  Franklin,  Cumberland,  Dauphin,  Lancaster  and  other  coun- 
ties in  the  State,  and  Carroll  county,  Md. 

Many  Sabbath-schools  were  organized  during  this  period,  the  Eldership  and 
ministry  generally  taking  a  positive  stand  in  their  favor.  Eight  camp-meetings 
were  held  in  Pennsylvania  in  the  Summer  of  1849;  three  in  Ohio;  one  in  Indiana, 
and  two  in  Maryland. 

In  1849  A.  D.  Williams,  Free  Baptist,  wrote  of  the  ministers  and  members  of 
the  churches  of  God,  "They  are  peculiarly  a  zealous  and  fervent-spirited  people." 


76  History    of    the    Churciiks  of    God 

The  ministers  were  self-sacrificing,  devoted  and  resolute.  The  fields  of  labor  were 
in  many  instances  very  large,  as  some  circuits  extended  through  two  and  three 
counties,  a  distance  of  from  sixty  to  one  hundred  miles  between  the  extreme  points, 
with  as  high  as  twenty-eight  preaching  places.  Four  weeks  were  required  to 
make  a  "round"  on  the  circuit,  during  which  the  minister  was  absent  from  home. 
Ministers  rode  horseback,  with  saddle-bags  for  an  outfit.  To  serve  such  fields  in 
heat  and  cold,  rain  or  sunshine,  with  a  very  limited  financial  remuneration,  re- 
quired contempt  of  dangers  and  hardships,  courage  to  meet  obstacles  and  diffi- 
culties almost  insurmountable,  tenacity  of  purpose  of  an  intrepid  character,  and 
heroism  of  the  highest  order.  There  was  nothing  empirical  in  their  make  up. 
Their  ambition  was  to  enlarge  their  fields  and  to  save  souls.  Underlying  all  re- 
form movements  with  them  was  the  universal  panacea  of  the  gbspel — a  regener- 
ated spirit.  They  had  no  utilitarian  theories,  no  eudemonism,  which  made  the 
permanent  elevation  of  the  race  possible  without  genuine,  radical  godliness.  And 
so  they  had  but  one  mission. 

The  membership  of  the  churches  in  these  early  years  was  of  high  repute  for 
piety  and  practical  godliness.  Discipline  was  rigidly  administered.  The  local 
eldership  was  watchful,  paternal  and  jealous  of  the  good  name  of  the  church. 
Delinquents  were  admonished,  and  from  the  incorrigible  fellowship  was  with- 
drawn. The  church  was  careful  to  have  no  communion  with  the  world.  They 
were  radical  in  their  views  concerning  worldly  associations.  This  developed  in 
the  position  taken  relative  to  Secret  Societies.  It  was  their  zeal  for  the  purity  of 
the  church  and  the  good  name  of  its  members  that  led  them  in  many  instances  to 
oppose  the  joining  of  Benevolent  Societies,  Odd  Fellows,  Masons,  and  even  Sons 
of  Temperance.  The  underlying  thought  of  this  opposition  was  primarily  that 
the  church  is  "based  upon  principles  of  most  unbounded  philanthropy  and  benev- 
olence," and  does  not  need  these  worldly  organizations.  Also  that  fellowship  in 
these  organizations  is  contrary  to  the  teachings  of  God's  word,  which  require  the 
believer  to  have  no  fraternity  with  the  world.  The  church  is  sufficient  for  all 
purposes.  In  this  view  they  were  sustained  by  the  Elderships,  which  were  explicit 
and  positive  in  their  deliverances  on  the  subject.  Winebrenner,  however,  did  not 
take  such  a  radical  position.  Answering  the  advocates  of  the  then  popular  view 
on  these  organizations  he  said:  "We  accord  to  men  the  right  of  private  opinion, 
and  will  not  proscribe  and  condemn  them  for  holding  different  views  and  opinions 
In  matters  of  indifference."  "We  are  neither  their  advocate,  nor  their  judge. 
We  are  willing  that  to  their  own  master  they  should  stand  or  fall."  "We  are 
opposed  to  Secret  Societies.  Masonry  and  Odd  Fellowship  we  hold  to  be  far  more 
anti-Christian  orders  than  the  Sons  of  Temperance.  Yet  there  are  doubtless  many 
good  men  connected  with  them."  The  Evangelical  Association  officially  took  the 
same  radical  position  against  Secret  Societies,  and  it  would  not  ordain  men  to  the 
gospel  ministry  who  were  members  of  these  Orders.  And  in  the  United  Brethren 
Church  membership  in  these  Secret  Orders  was  "totally  prohibited,"  and  "there 
shall  be  no  connection  with  secret  combinations." 

To  quite  an  extent  intermarriages  with  persons  in  other  religious  bodies,  and 
more  especially  with  non-Christians,  was  discouraged.  Family  worship  .was  in- 
sisted upon,  and  the  family  altar  was  erected  in  every  church  home.  The  subject 
was  frequently  the  theme  of  sermons  and  the  topic  of  discussion  in  "The  Church 
Advocate."  Specific  directions  were  often  given  as  to  time  and  order  of  conducting 
this  service.  Fasting  and  prayer  were  inculcated,  and  special  days  were  almost 
annually  named  to  be  thus  observed.  Prior  to  the  opening  of  the  camp-meeting 
season  of  184  7  Winebrenner  wrote  editorially:  "We  cordially  recommend  to  the 
churches  of  God  the  observance  of  days  of  solemn  fasting  and  praying  in  reference 
to  the  approaching  camp-meetings.  Such  days,  rightfully  observed,  are  among  the 
best  means  of  preparing  for  a  successful  effort  upon  those  occasions." 

The  matter  of  tithing  received  considerable  attention.  Winebrenner  advo- 
cated tithing  in  a  series  of  editorials  in  184  8.  But  while  individuals  in  the 
churches  adopted  it  for  their  own  rule,  it  failed  to  receive  general  endorsement. 

On  judicial  oaths  there  was  greater  unanimity,  and  the  practice  of  "affirm- 
ing" instead  of  "swearing,"  was  quite  general.  Mackey,  for  a  generation  a  Justice 
of  the  Peace,  insisted  that  judicial  oaths  before  magistrates  are  not  anti-scriptural. 
Miller  questioned  his  conclusions,  and  contended  that  an  "affirmation  alone  is 
scriptural."      He  had  the  churches  largely  with  him. 

While  the  question  of  the  relation  of  baptism  to  church  membership  came  up 
repeatedly,  it  was  only  in  comparatively  few  churches  that  baptism  was  held  to  be 


General    History  'jy 

a  pre-requisite  to  church  fellowship.  While  there  was  considerable  sentiment  in 
favor  of  unfermented  wine  and  unleavened  bread  in  the  administration  of  the 
Communion,  it  at  no  time  became  the  general  practice.  The  example  of  Christ 
was  urged  in  favor  of  the  practice,  but  it  did  not  convince  the  ministry  and 
churches  that  it  had  the  authoritative  sanction  of  command.  And  so  it  was  con- 
sidered a  matter  of  opinion,  and  a  non-essential.  But  this  did  not  enter  into  the 
question  of  temperance,  or  total  abstinence.  The  ministry  and  churches  always 
strenuously  insisted  on  abstaining  from  the  use  of  intoxicants. 

The  question  of  union  of  the  churches  of  God  and  the  Free  Baptist  Church 
was  considerably  discussed  during  1847  to  184  9.  A.  D.  Williams,  a  Free  Baptist 
minister,  in  a  communication  in  "The  Church  Advocate'  of  Feb.  15,  1847,  favor- 
ed such  a  union,  and  urged  that  to  this  end  the  two  bodies  should  seek  to  become 
better  acquainted.  Wiiiebi-enner  replied  to  Williams  by  private  letter,  concerning 
which  Williams,  in  another  communication  published  a  month  later,  said:  "I  can 
not  refrain  from  expressing  my  satisfaction  with  the  spirit  of  all  you  sent  me." 
He  continued  to  urge  union,  not  "like  the  mechanical  mixture  of  oil  and  water,  but 
that  union  of  aim  and  object,  actuated  by  the  same  hallowed  spirit,  that  like 
melted  wax  mingles  and  loses  all  traces  of  its  former  plurality,  or  separation." 
Ham  interpreted  this  correspondence  to  mean  that  Wiuebrenner  was  considering 
"the  propriety  and  expediency  of  a  union  between  the  Free  Baptists  and  the 
churches  of  God."  He  favored  further  efforts  in  that  direction,  and  expressed  his 
desire  "to  see  more  of  these  fraternal  epistles."  He  himself  manifested  this  spirit 
when  later  in  the  same  year  on  his  tour  to  Illinois  he  was  entertained  by,  and 
preached  some  days  for,  a  Free  Baptist  pastor  in  Athens  county,  Ohio,  and  later 
in  northern  Illinois  he  "preached  seven  times  to  a  little  church  of  Free-Will  Bap- 
tists," speaking  "near  three  hours  in  my  Sunday  discourse,  giving  an  outline  of  what 
were  our  views."  They  agreed  with  all  but  two  points,  one  of  which  was  "the 
title  we  give  to  a  church,"  on  which  point  "they  say  it  was  their  original  practice, 
and  they  were  certain  we  were  right."  But  evidently  Wiuebrenner  was  misunder- 
stood, as  later  expressions  of  his  views  indicated  that  he  could  favor  union  only 
on  the  New  Testament  basis  of  one  true  church,  the  church  of  God,  so  construed  as 
to  give  no  recognition  to  sectarian  denominations,  for  to  his  mind  the  church  of 
God  is  not  and  can  not  be  a  sect.  In  184  8  "Benjamin  Howard,  a  member  of  the 
Church  of  God  in  the  State  of  New  York  [Free  Baptist]  was  present  and  invited 
to  a  seat  as  an  advisory  member"  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  During  the 
Winter  and  the  following  Summer  he  preached  among  the  churches  of  God  in  the 
Eldership,  and  organized  a  church  of  G'od  in  Pfoutz's  Valley,  Perry  county.  Be- 
yond thus  creating  sentiment  in  favor  of  a  closer  union  between  the  two  bodies 
nothing  was  accomplished.  Such  were  the  clearly  defined  and  positive  views  of 
ministers  and  churches  against  sectarianizing  the  church  of  God  that  organic  union 
with  any  denomination  was  considered  impracticable.  In  August,  184  6,  the 
World's  Christian  Convention  for  promoting  Christian  union  was  held  in  London, 
England.  Brethren  suggested  that  the  Church  of  God  be  represented,  and  Wiue- 
brenner declared  that  his  "whole  heart  and  soul  would  be  favorable  to  the  proposi- 
tion, provided  some  of  our  rich  brethren  would  furnish  the  means."  The  "unity  of 
all  saints,"  he  declared,  is  "a  consummation  devoutly  to  be  wished  for."  Wiuebren- 
ner would  have  been  the  delegate  had  the  means  been  secured. 

The  work  of  Howard  revived  the  question  of  local  church  ordination.  Wiue- 
brenner had  taught  in  1829  that  "the  presbytery  of  the  church"  has  the  right  to 
ordain  to  the  ministry.  At  that  time  he  recognized  no  authority  higher  than  the 
local  church.  And  while  he  was  foremost  in  the  organization  of  annual  Elder- 
ships, and  of  the  General  Eldership,  the  former  of  which  assumed  certain  of  the 
powers  of  the  local  church,  he  did  not  convince  all  the  churches  that  his  later 
position  was  scriptural.  Howard  was  accordingly  "licensed  as  a  missionary  to 
travel  and  preach  among  us  and  elsewhere  wherever  his  labors  may  be  desired" 
by  the  church  in  Pfoutz's  Valley.  Thus  was  revived  the  controversy  over  local 
church  licenses  which,  as  AVinebreuner  stated  editorially  in  December,  1849,  was 
settled  by  Eldership  resolution  in  184  6. 

The  official  title  of  a  minister  received  considerable  attention  toward  the  close 
of  this  period.  Wiuebrenner  quite  early  affixed  "V^.  D.  M."  to  his  name,  and  con- 
tinued to  use  it  as  Editor  to  the  close  of  his  connection  with  "The  Advocate,"  and  in 
all  his  later  publications.  Other  ministers  followed  his  example.  To  distinguish 
teaching  elders  from  ruling  elders,  when  the  two  classes  became  clearly  recognized, 
the  use  of  "bishop"  became  somewhat  general.     "A  Letter  from  Bishop  " 


78  History    op   the    Churches   of    God 

was  a  common  heading  of  contributions  for  "The  Advocate"  in  1845-9.  But  as  this- 
savored  of  episcopacy  it  was  abandoned.  "Rev."  was  anathematized,  and  so  the 
scriptural  title  of  "Elder"  was  everywhere  accepted.  It  was  proposed  to  make 
Winebreimer  a  "Bishop,"  but  it  seemed  so  inconsistent  that  few  favored  it. 

This  period  is  notable  for  the  widespread  grief  awakened  among  the  churches 
by  the  death  of  some  very  excellent  young  ministers,  including  J.  H.  Bamberger 
and  Jolui  C.  Booth.  Bamberger's  relation  to  Winebreimer,  and  his  most  promis- 
ing future,  made  his  early  death  a  sorer  affliction.  VVinebrenner's  funeral  sermon, 
delivered  before  the  Eldership  in  184  6,  was  the  apotheosis  of  a  Christian  minister. 
Text — Acts  viii.  2. 

While  the  churches  of  God  were  earnestly  contending  for  the  unity  of  the 
body  of  Christ,  schisms  developed  in  some  organizations,  and  new  denominations- 
sprung  up.  The  Seventh-Day  Adventists  arose  in  184  5.  The  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  effected  a  separate  organization  the  same  year.  The  Southern 
Baptists  the  same  year  separated  from  the  general  body  because  of  slavery.  The 
Millerites  organized  themselves  into  a  Church  about  this  time.  In  1846  the  Evan- 
gelical Alliance  was  founded.  On  May  27,  1847,  an  Anti-Slavery  Presbyterian 
Church  was  formed,  and  adopted  the  name  "The  Presbyterian  Church  of  America." 
The  Spiritualists,  while  not  assuming  a  strict  denominational  organization,  trace 
their  origin  back  to  1848.  The  first  National  Assembly  of  Archbishops  of  the 
Catholic  Church  met  in  Baltimore,  Md.,  in  May,  1849.  The  Mormons  emigrated  to 
Utah  in  1848,  and  settled  in  the  valley  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake.  In  December, 
1845,  Texas  was  annexed  to  the  United  States,  but  was  invaded  by  Mexico,  which 
had  never  acknowledged  its  independence,  and  thus  originated  the  war  with  the 
United  States.  The  war  continued  until  March  10,  184  8,  when  the  treaty  of  peace 
was  ratified  by  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 


General    History  79 


CHAPTER    VIII. 
1850—1855. 


THIS  semi-decade  witnessed  certain  events  of  a  religious  and  political  character 
closely  connected  with  ecclesiastical  affairs  which  were  of  tremendous  im- 
port. The  Churches  became  more  apprehensive  of  the  political  power  of 
the  Catholic  Church  than  in  earlier  years.  The  foreign  immigration  had  been 
slowly  advancing,  and  said  Church  was  thus  receiving  large  accessions.  They  re- 
tained for  years  the  ideas,  prejudices  and  customs  of  the  Old  World.  This  grow- 
ing strength  of  the  Church,  so  un-American  in  its  genius,  emboldened  its  priest- 
hood and  led  to  certain  aggressive  movements  upon  some  American  institutions. 
The  leaders  ventured  upon  a  fuller  development  of  the  peculiarities  of  their  system 
than  had  ever  been  made  in  this  country.  In  its  "festivals,"  its  relics  of  apochry- 
phal  saints,  the  official  advertising  of  "indulgences,"  the  chastisement  of  offenders 
for  the  purpose  of  keeping  others  in  subjection,  and  its  resort  to  the  whip  and  to 
excommunication  with  their  terrific  accompaniments,  a  great  advance  was  made 
toward  that  type  of  Roman  Catholicism  then  prevalent  in  Europe.  The  Churches 
became  apprehensive  of  the  permanent  establishment  of  European  Romanism  in 
the  United  States.  And  it  was  equally  feared  that  with  it  would  come  funda- 
mental changes  in  our  political  institutions.  The  first  Plenary  or  National  Council 
convened  May  10,  1852.  Among  its  most  offensive  acts  was  the  condemnation  of 
the  system  of  public  schools  which  had  been  generally  established.  The  activity 
of  the  Jesuits  in  bringing  forth  their  peculiarities  more  conspicuously  intensified 
popular  apprehensions.  Hence  arose  the  Know-Nothing  party,  which  flourished 
from  1853  to  1855,  and  was  somewhat  of  a  politico-religious  character.  Its  pur- 
pose was  to  prevent  the  election  or  appointment  of  any  alien  to  office  under  Fed- 
eral, State  or  municipal  governments.  They  had  their  great  strength  in  the  anti- 
Catholic  portion  of  the  people,  and  were  largely  recruited  among  the  Protestant 
Churches.  Mackey  as  one  of  the  Editors  of  "The  Advocate,"  in  1854,  endorsed  the 
movement,  for  "there  is,  we  trust,  virtue  and  integrity  enough  among  us  to  pre- 
serve the  nation."  The  public  announcement  of  the  dogma  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception  on  Dec.  8,  185  4,  as  a  part  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Creed,  and  the 
Provincial  Council  at  Baltimore,  Md.,  adopting  the  "Blessed  Virgin,  conceived 
without  sin,  as  the  special  patroness  of  the  United  States"  came  as  great  surprises 
to  the  Christian  public  of  the  United  States.  The  Church  of  God  was  intensely 
anti-Catholic,  and  its  members  were  in  fullest  sympathy  with  the  movement  to 
restrict  the  power  of  the  Catholic  Church.  What  proportion  of  the  23,191,074 
population  at  the  census  of  18  50  was  Catholic  does  not  appear;  but  as  three-fifths 
of  the  foreign  immigration  during  the  decade  was  Catholic,  the  ratio  of  Catholics 
was  steadily  increasing. 

During  this  period  the  first  general  battle  for  Statutory  Prohibition  was 
fought.  Hitherto,  except  in  the  State  of  Maine  where  a  limited  Prohibitory  Law 
was  enacted  in  1846,  and  made  more  stringent  in  1848,  moral  suasion  was  em- 
ployed by  the  advocates  of  temperance.  License  laws  with  certain  prohibitory 
features  were  placed  on  the  statute  books  of  all  the  States,  but  the  temperance 
people  depended  on  moral  means  to  overcome  the  evils  of  the  excessive  use  of  in- 
toxicants. But  on  June  2,  1851,  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Maine  adopted  the 
Prohibitory  Law  which  was  the  type  and  example  of  all  such  laws  which  were 
passed  in  other  States,  and  were  "Maine  laws."  This  was  the  first  battle  and  the 
first  signal  victory  in  the  celebrated  campaign  of  1851-4  for  legal  Prohibition. 
The  ministers  and  churches  of  God  gave  no  double-tongued  utterances  and  assum- 
ed no  equivocal  attitude  on  this  great  issue.  Not  only  for  themselves  did  they 
boldly  enter  the  open  door  of  casuistry  and  perplexity  of  Paul's  fine  statement  of 
the  law  of  consideration  for  others  by  adopting  total  abstinence;  but  they  were 
ready  by  all  proper  means  to  help  to  crush  out  the  evil  which  was  ruining  so  many 
lives,  and  which  has  ever  been  the  most  fruitful  source  of  corruption,  poverty  and 
crime.  "The  Church  Advocate"  was  freely  used  by  Winebrenner,  Weishampel, 
Mackey,  Flake,  Ham,  Thomas  and  others  in  advocacy  of  a  Prohibition  bill  before 


8o 


History    of    the    Churchks    of    God 


the  Pennsylvania  Legislature  in  the  Winter  of  1851-2.  Some  misunderstood  the 
terms  of  the  bill,  as  it  was  "erroneously  stated  by  the  press  generally  over  the 
State  that  the  liquor  bill  was  the  same  as  the  Maine  Law."  Wiiiebreniier  correct- 
ed this,  by  stating  that  the  bill  which  originated  in  the  Senate  did  "prohibit  the 
liquor  traffic  altogether,  in  a  manner  similar  to  the  Maine  Law,"  but  that  "it  was 
so  entirely  changed  and  modified"  before  it  passed  the  Senate  "as  to  defeat  the 
object  of  the  numerous  petitions  sent  to  the  Legislature."  But  the  bill  was  de- 
feated in  the  House.  Christian  people  at  once  renewed  their  efforts,  beginning 
this  time  with  a  purpose  to  elect  a  majority  of  the  next  Legislature  "composed  of 
men  pledged  to  legislation  in  the  shape  of  a  Prohibitory  Law."  At  the  session  of 
the  Legislature  of  1853  a  resolution  was  introduced  "referring  to  a  vote  of  the 

people the  subject  of  a  Prohibitory  Liquor  Law."      Winebrenner  and  others 

freely  used  the  columns  of  "The  Advocate"  in  behalf  of  this  measure.  Voters  were 
urged  to  pledge  themselves  '.'to  make  the  question  of  Prohibition  the  main  issue 


Joseph  Ross. 

in  the  next  election  for  members  of  the  Legislature."  And  as  the  Legislature 
failed  to  pass  the  Prohibitory  resolution,  the  work  of  organizing  the  voters  was  at 
once  begun.  The  slogan  was,  "The  Maine  Law."  Winebrenner  published  on  the 
editorial  page  an  unsigned  "Temperance  Address.  To  the  Voters  of  Dauphin 
County,"  saying,  "The  sum  total  is  to  work  and  battle  for  the  Maine  Law."  Edi- 
torially he  stated  that  "the  ministers  of  Harrisburg,  and  throughout  the  Common- 
wealth, have  all  taken  their  stand  in  favor  of  the  Maine  Law."  He  answered  the 
question,  "Whom  shall  we  vote  for?"  by  saying,  "3rd,  Vote  for  such  only  as  are 
from  principle  avowed,  well-known  and  openly  pledged  Prohibitory  Law  men." 
Joseph  Ross,  Middletown,  Dauphin  county,  merchant,  lay  preacher  and  Treasurer 
of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  was  one  of  the  candidates  on  the  Prohibition 
ticket  in  October,  1853. 

Winebrenner  was  "on  the  stump"  during  the  campaign  at  many  of  the  "Maine 
Xiquor  Law  Township  Meetings."      But  the  Democratic  party  carried  the  election. 


General    History  8i 

Yet  on  Jan.  14,  1854,  Winebi-enner  wrote:  "The  prospects  for  the  enactment  of  a 
Prohibitory  Law  are  decidedly  encouraging."  A  bill  was  carefully  prepared  and 
introduced,  but  it  failed  of  passage.  The  work  of  reorganizing  the  temperance 
forces  began  at  once,  and  the  "marshalling  of  the  Temperance  Hosts  of  the  Old 
Keystone"  was  pushed  "with  promptness  and  vigor."  To  secure  a  majority  in  the 
Legislature  in  favor  of  Prohibition  at  the  session  of  1855  was  the  avowed  purpose. 

In  other  States  the  temperance  people  were  more  successful.  In  Michigan 
the  Maine  Law  was  "approved  by  the  people  by  a  majority  of  ten  thousand."  In 
New  York  the  Maine  Law  was  submitted  to  popular  vote  by  the  Legislature,"  and 
it  resulted  "in  a  glorious  triumph."  Vermont  in  1853  enacted  the  Maine  Law.  A 
popular  election  in  Wisconsin  resulted  in  favor  of  the  Maine  Law.  In  Connecticut 
"a  stringent  and  well-guarded  Act  of  Liquor  Prohibition  passed  both  Houses  in 
1854  by  a  very  decided  majority."  Retailing  of  liquor  to  be  drunk  on  the  premises 
was  prohibited  in  1851-3  in  Illinois.  Ohio  in  1851  adopted  Section  18  of  the 
schedule,  which  prohibited  the  granting  of  any  license  in  the  State  to  traffic  in 
intoxicating  liquors.  The  Maine  Law  was  enacted  in  1852  by  the  Legislature  of 
Rhode  Island. 

On  Sept.  6,  1853,  the  World's  Temperance  Convention  met  in  New  York.  It 
was  an  occasion  of  great  interest,  and  Winebrenner  urged  brethren  to  attend  it, 
as  it  was  held  immediately  preceding  the  World's  Fair  in  the  same  city.  There 
were  two  thousand  delegates  in  attendance,  among  whom  was  Winebrenner.  An 
incident  in  this  connection  reveals  the  spirit  of  the  times  on  the  slavery  question. 
Winebi-enner  had  permitted  "Jr."  to  publish  a  note  on  the  editorial  page  on  the 
Convention  in  which  he  stated  that  "admission  was  gained  by  Wendell  Phillips, 
the  noted  Abolition  and  Disunion  agitator.  .  .  .with  others  of  the  fanatic  species  so 
common  in  the  North,"  and  that  the  Convention  the  second  day  "rejected  these 
turbulent  spirits,  and  proceeded  to  business."  This  called  out  several  pungent 
replies  in  which  slave-holders  were  denounced  as  "ungodly,  heaven-daring,  God- 
provoking,  hypocritical."  Colored  people  had  also  been  "excluded  from  that 
august  combination  of  pro-slaveryism,  calling  itself  the  World's  Temperance  Con- 
vention." Winebreiuier  was  silent  during  this  controversy,  and  in  his  report  of 
the  Convention  made  no  reference  to  Wendell  Phillips'  presence. 

The  public  conscience  in  the  North  had  been  outraged  by  the  passage  of  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law  in  1850,  and  the  efforts  to  enforce  its  provisions  made  it  each 
year  increasingly  odious  to  the  people  of  the  Northern  States.  The  thought  that 
the  black  man  was  included  in  the  brotherhood  of  man  developed  slowly,  but  it 
gained  ground  rapidly  under  the  teachings  of  Phillips,  Garrison  and  men  of  that 
type.  In  these  great-hearted  men  one  gets  at  the  heart  of  the  abolition  crusade, 
the  undeflled  spring  of  brotherly  regard,  out  of  which  all  their  gracious  conduct 
flowed,  not  as  an  exaction,  but  as  free  token  of  fundamental  sympathy.  Men 
were  made  also  to  see  the  moral  principle  involved,  and  multitudes  seeing  it  did 
not  lack  courage  to  maintain  it.  Yet  the  friends  of  the  slave  were  greatly  in  the 
minority.  Winebrenner  was  conservative.  He  called  slavery  "a  great  moral 
wrong,  but  there  are  mitigating  circumstances  which  forbid  a  wholesale  unchris- 
tianizing  of  all  who  are  guilty  of  the  wrong."  Two  years  earlier,  in  1851,  he  pub- 
lished an  editorial,  "Our  Position  on  Slavery  Re-defined,"  in  which  similar  views 
are  expressed,  and  declares  that  the  resolutions  on  slavery  adopted  by  the  General 
Eldership  in  1845  "do  not  bear  the  construction  that  they  are  intended  to  disallow 
any  one,  under  any  circumstances,  who  bore  the  relation  of  master  to  slave  to  be 
received  or  retained  in  the  Church,  or  to  be  at  all  entitled  to  the  exercise  of  Chris- 
tian forbearance  and  toleration." 

Hence,  when  the  time  came  to  send  missionaries  of  the  Church  of  God  to 
Texas,  a  slave  State,  Winebrenner  was  foremost  to  favor  the  movement.  Oppo- 
sition early  developed  against  the  project,  but  AVinebrenner  persistently  favored  it. 
Wertz  wrote  to  Winebrenner  in  1854,  "I  think  your  proposal  for  two  missionaries 
for  Texas  is  extravagant,  and  out  of  place.  Why  go  to  that  slave  State,  while 
there  is  so  much  needed  in  our  free  and  prosperous  States?"  The  genesis  of  mis- 
sion work  in  Texas  was  similar  to  that  in  the  Western  States.  Cheap  land  and 
most  fertile  soil  invited  emigrants.  Among  the  first  from  Church  of  God  families 
was  Elias  W.  Hollar,  from  near  Shippensburg,  Pa.,  who  wrote  a  letter  for  publica- 
tion in  March,  1852,  urging  the  sending  of  missionaries  to  Texas.  The  suggestion 
was  at  once  approved  by  Winebrenner,  who  continued  to  urge  the  movement  until 
missionaries   were   appointed.      He  at   once   called   for   a   missionary,   when  A.  X. 

C.   H.— 3* 


82 


History    of   the    Churches    of    God 


Shoemaker  responded, offering  to  go  if  his  support  were  guaranteed.  Thomas^ 
Swartz  and  Hiniiey  were  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership, 
and  on  April  23,  1852,  they  proposed  to  "appoint  a  missionary  to  Texas,  provided 
we  can  get  a  suitable  person  to  go,  and  sufficient  means."  Meanwhile  additional 
Church  families  removed  to  Texas,  among  them  Joseph  and  Sarah  Cunningham, 
John  Cunningham  and  Eliza  Wagoner,  of  Broad  Top,  Pa.,  and  Conrad  Seabough. 
Hollar  located  in  Dallas  county,  the  third  county  south  of  Oklahoma,  and  the  fifth 
west  of  Louisiana.  The  others  located  9  miles  west  of  Paris,  Lamar  county,  bor- 
dering on  Oklahoma,  and  the  third  county  west  of  the  southwestern  county  in 
Arkansas.  J.  A.  Kupley  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Eberly,  of  the  Cumberland  Valley,  emi- 
grated to  Texas  in  the  Winter  of  1853.  By  this  time  the  colony  was  so  enthusias- 
tic over  the  missionary  question  that  on  Jan.  31,  18  53,  Cunningham  wrote,  "Send 
us  an  able  preacher.  We  will  support  him."  The  General  Eldership  in  1854 
adopted  a  resolution,  recommending  that  the  Board  of  Missions  appoint  two  mis- 
sionaries to  Texas  immediately.  Through  some  misunderstanding  the  brethren  in 
Texas  got  the  impression  as  early  as  the  Winter  of  1853  that  two  missionaries  had 
been  appointed  to  that  State,  for  on  April  24,  1854,  Joseph  Cunningham  wrote, 
''We  are  under  many  obligations  to  you  and  the  Church  for  the  preachers  you  sent 
us  out  here  in  Texas.      We  have  been  looking  daily  for  them  ever  since  the  first 


B.  Ober  at  the  Age  of  32. 


B.  Ober  at  the  Age  of  87. 


of  January."  The  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  did  not  carry  out  the  recommen- 
dation of  the  General  Eldership,  as  it  did  nothing  relating  to  the  Texas  Mission 
that  Fall.  But  at  the  session  in  18  5  5  it  had  before  it  the  names  of  B.  Ober  and  E. 
Marple,  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  as  candidates  for  the  Texas  Mission, 
and  it  referred  their  names  "to  the  Board  of  Missions,  to  meet  in  Middletown  on 
Tuesday,  Nov.  13th."  At  this  meeting  the  Board,  consisting  of  AVinebi-enner, 
Thomas  and  Colder,  appointed  "B.  Ober  as  a  missionary  to  Texas." 

He  was  then  in  his  thirty-second  year.  He  was  converted  on  Sunday  night, 
Jan.  2,  1844,  at  a  prayer-meeting  held  in  a  private  house  near  Woodbury,  Bedford 
Co.,  Pa.  Shortly  after  he  was  baptized  by  the  pastor,  J.  Lininger,  "in  the  old 
Woodbury  Furnace  Dam,  where  the  ice  was  eighteen  inches  thick."  He  united 
with  the  church  at  Martinsburg,  Blair  Co.,  Pa.  Thence  he  moved  to  Indiana 
county  and  united  with  the  church  at  Garman's  Mills,  where  he  preached  his  first 
sermon,  after  he  was  licensed  by  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  at  its  session  at 
what  is  now  Barkeyville,  Venango  Co.,  Pa.,  in  1847.  He  traveled  with  J.  Hicker- 
nell  on  the  Westmoreland  and  Cambria  circuit.  Pa.;  then  on  the  Marshall  county 
circuit,  W.  Va.,  and  the  Wheeling  Mission.  He  died  suddenly  at  Butler,  Okla., 
Sept.  26.  1911,  in  his  eighty-eighth  year. 


'3 


General    History 

At   a   later  meeting    (March    27,    1856)    the   Board   of  Missions  appointed  E. 
Marple  missionary  to  Texas  to  accompany  Ober. 

Marple  was  a  native  of 
West  Virigina,  and  was  of 
a  Protestant  Methodist 
family,  but  declined  to  be- 
come a  member,  as  "they 
don't  preach  and  practice 
all  the  gospel;  but  then 
there  will  be  a  Church 
somewhere  that  will  preach 
all  the  requirements  of  the 
gospel,  including  feet- 
washing,  and  when  that 
Church  comes  around  I 
will  certainly  join  it."  He 
heard  D.  Wertz  preach  a 
doctrinal  sermon  sometime 
later,  and  when  he  was 
through  Marple  said, 
"There  is  my  Church,  and 
I  will  join  it."  In  the 
Summer  of  1852,  under 
the  labors  of  B.  Ober,  he 
joined  the  Church  of  God 
and  was  baptized.  That 
Fall,  being  twenty  years 
old,  he  was  licensed  by  the 
West  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship. He  was  appointed 
pastor  with  A.  C.  Marple  in 
1853  on  the  Marshall 
county  circuit,  W.  Va.  In 
the  Fall  of  1854  he  "went 
to  Iowa,  looking  for  a 
home  and  a  new  field  of 
labor,"  returning  in  the 
Spring  of  185  5  with  the  in- 
tention of  going  back  to  Iowa.  "But  being  appointed  to  the  Texas  Mission,  all  my 
bright  prospects  in  Iowa  went  to  the  tomb." 

Following  up  Church  of  God  families  as  much  as  possible  was  the  rule,  and 
proved  the  right  method  of  Church  extension.  This  was  T.  Hickerneirs  method. 
Preparatory  to  undertaking  mission  work  in  Illinois  he  traveled  through  Whiteside, 
Adams,  Clark,  Morgan,  Sangamon,  Crawford,  Jasper  and  Cumberland  counties. 
This  was  characteristic  work  in  those  days,  though  it  involved  privations  and  hard- 
ships. Through  emigration  from  eastern  churches  nuclei  of  churches  were  formed, 
and  calls  for  preachers  came  from  many  distant  points.  "Come  in  God's  name. 
This  is  too  good  a  country  for  anybody  to  wait  for  food  or  raiment."  "We  desire 
to  have  one  or  more  of  the  preachers  to  come  and  labor  in  this  part  of  Illinois." 
"Send  us  a  preacher,  and  we  will  help  to  support  him.  It  is  a  pity  to  see  such  a 
field  open,  and  no  laborers  in  it."  Such  were  the  Macedonian  voices  from  Iowa 
and  Illinois  in  1850,  1851,  1852  and  1853.  Men  and  money  were  the  great  needs 
of  the  hour.  Churches  in  the  eastern  sections  were  being  decimated  by  emigration, 
and  the  law  of  self-preservation  demanded  heroic  efforts  to  gather  these  emigrants 
into  churches  in  their  new  homes.  Where  ministers  were  located  with  their  newly 
formed  churches  revivals  were  promoted,  as  at  North  Bend,  la.,  in  1851,  and  other 
points.  A  colony  from  Westmoreland  county,  Pa.,  in  the  Spring  of  1850  located 
13  miles  west  of  Burlington,  la.,  and  began  church  work.  Among  them  were  Elder 
William  Vance,  Christian  Landes,  C.  M.  Dillinger,  C.  E,  Stoner,  Henry  Rosenberger 
and  William  Spear  and  their  families.  In  1851  another  colony  from  Ohio  located 
near  Grandview,  Louisa  county,  among  them  Elder  A.  Megrew  and  the  Huff  fami- 
lies. A  party  of  eighty-three  left  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  in  the  Spring  of  1850  for  the 
vicinity  of  Muscatine,  Iowa.     From  Trenton,  Iowa,  Joseph  B.  Nickel  wrote  in  April, 


E.  Marple. 


84 


History    of   the    Churches   of    God 


1851,  "And  behold  the  tide  of  emigration!  Thousands  are  flocking  to  Iowa."  From 
Johnson  county,  Iowa,  Snavely  wrote  in  the  Pall  of  the  same  year,  "Emigrants  are 
flocking  into  the  State  in  great  numbers."  This  was  also  true  of  Illinois.  Had 
colonizing  been  the  rule,  and  not  the  exception,  mission  work  would  have  been 
much  simpler  and  less  expensive  and  laborious.  Another  serious  embarrassment 
to  mission  enterprises  was  the  tendency  on  the  part  of  ministers  going  West  and 
missionaries  sent  out  to  locate.  Lack  of  support  sometimes  made  this  necessary. 
With  conditions  more  favorable  hundreds  of  churches  could  have  been  built  up  in 
place  of  tens.  When  in  1850  the  establishment  of  a  mission  in  Iowa  was  being 
considered,  Winebrenner  wrote:  "We  now  have  the  offer  of  a  good  and  able  mis- 
sionary to  the  State  of  Iowa,  provided  he  can  be  sustained.  In  order  that  the 
Board  may  be  able  to  make  effective  and  timely  arrangements  for  the  support  of 
those  large  and  promising  missionary  fields  in  Iowa  and  Illinois  it  is  desirable  that 


George  Sandoe. 


our  general  missionary  agents  should  proceed  with  their  work  as  speedily  as  pos- 
sible." The  scheme  was  a  large  one  for  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  to  under- 
take alone.  Subscriptions  and  donations  were  solicited  to  sustain  five  missionaries 
in  the  West — two  in  Iowa  and  three  in  Illinois — during  the  next  Eldership  year, 
commencing  with  April,  1851,  and  ending  with  March,  1852."  Vance  had  gone  to 
Parish,  Des  Moines  Co.,  Iowa,  in  1850,  and  MegreAv  followed  in  1851.  They  were 
the  advance  guard  in  a  movement  which  "will  ever  be  memorable  in  the  history  of 
the  Church  of  God,  as  18  51  was  the  year  in  which  successful  missionary  work  was 
inaugurated  in  the  States  of  Illinois  and  Iowa.  It  is  true  that  some  work  had  been 
done  in  these  States  prior  to  the  above  date,  but  nothing  like  organized  effort  had 
been  attempted  in  Illinois,  and  but  little  in  Iowa"  (Sandoe).  It  was  at  the  Elder- 
ship held  at  Churchtown,  Cumberland  Co.,  Pa.,  October,  1850,  that  "arrangements 
were  set  on  foot"  to  begin  this  great  work.  It  was  committed  to  the  Board  of  Mis- 
sions— E.  H.  Thomas,  A.  Swartz  and  Wm.  Hinney.      At  their  meeting  held  at  Me- 


GSNERAi.    History 


85 


chanicsburg,  May  1,  1851,  they  officially  ratified  previous  arrangements,  and  ap- 
pointed "A  Megrew  to  Iowa;  Jacob  M.  Klein,  to  Central  Illinois;  Daniel  Wertz  to 

the  Rock  River  Country,  111. ;  George  Sandoe  to  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana,  and 
Thomas  Hickernell,  general  missionary  for  Indiana  and  Illinois." 

The  amount  of  $1,200.00  was  appropriated  toward  the  support  of  these  five 
men  for  one  year.     They  were  reappointed  the  following  year. 

Daniel  AVertz  was  a  native  of  York  county.  Pa.,  born  Oct.  21,  1816.  He  was 
raised  in  the  faith  of  the  German  Lutheran  Church,  and  to  carry  out  his  own  relig- 
ious convictions  as  he  approached  his  ma- 
jority he  was  compelled  to  forsake  houses 
and  lands,  father  and  mother  and  kinsfolks. 
For  he  was  converted  at  the  age  of  nineteen, 
and  at  once  identified  himself  with  the 
Church  of  God,  and  became  an  active  worker 
in  his  Master's  cause.  For  a  while  he 
preached  exclusively  in  the  German  lan- 
guage, but  gradually  acquired  the  English, 
and  therefore  did  not  much  preaching  in 
German.  When  in  his  twenty-third  year, 
having  removed  to  Ohio,  he  was  licensed  to 
preach  by  the  Ohio  Eldership  in  October, 
1839.  The  Ohio  Eldership  a  few  years  later 
sent  him  into  western  Pennsylvania,  where 
he  was  preaching  when  the  West  Pennsyl- 
vania Eldership  was  organized  in  1844.  He 
spent  the  closing  years  of  his  life  in  Iowa. 
He  had  the  true  missionary  spirit.  He  had 
the  reputation  of  being  "an  efficient  and  suc- 
cessful minister,  a  devoted  and  zealous 
Christian  and  an  excellent  man." 

Archibald  Megrew  was  a  native  of  Al- 
legheny county,  Pa.,  born  in  1810;  but  was 
converted  at  Churchtown,  Cumberland  Co.. 
Pa.,  in  the  Spring  of  1833,  and  united  with 
the  Churchtown  church  at  its  first  organiza- 
tion. He  emigrated  to  Ohio  when  a  young 
man,  where  he  received  his  first  license,  in 

1841.  His  principal  ministerial  work  was  done  in  Ohio  and  Iowa,  to  which  State 
he  emigrated  in  18  51.  As  a  member  of  the  Iowa  Eldership  he  was  held  in  high  es- 
teem, having  been  elected  Speaker  in  1852,  the  second  session  he  attended,  re- 
elected in  1853  and  1854,  and  at  later  sessions.  He  was  elected  by  the  Iowa  Elder- 
ship a  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership  of  1854,  1857,  1866,.1869,  1872  and  1875. 
He  was  regarded  as  a  man  of  strong  and  clear  convictions,  and  was  never  afraid 
to  express  them.  He  was  always  solicitous  for  the  purity  and  continued  prosperity 
of  the  Church.  His  was  a  spirit  of  contentment,  and  he  lacked  those  qualifictions 
which  the  insinuating  preacher  of  discontent  usually  has.  Oreater  usefulness  could 
have  attended  the  labors  of  his  life  if  he  had  been  kept  steadily  in  the  field,  in- 
stead of  devoting  so  large  a  portion  of  his  time  to  the  farm.  He  died  at  Letts, 
Iowa,  July  6,  1894,  aged  84  years,  7  months  and  10  days. 

Other  ministers  entered  the  active  work  in  both  Illinois  and  Iowa.  Jacob 
Lininger,  residing  at  North  Bend,  Johnson  Co.,  Iowa,  in  1853,  "extended  his 
labors  over  seven  counties — Johnson,  Washington,  Des  Moines,  Henry,  Louisa, 
Muscatine  and  Cedar.  M.  F.  Snavely  also  did  effective  work  in  Iowa,  as  did 
W.  Vance.  All  the  regular  missionaries  traveled  over  extensive  fields,  and  re- 
ported most  encouraging  results.  On  Feb.  9,  1851,  Vance  reported  the  organi- 
zation of  a  church  at  Danville,  la.,  which  worshiped  in  a  school-house.  At  North 
Bend,  Johnson  Co.,  Iowa,  they  worshiped  "in  a  humble  school-house"  until  the 
Summer  of  1853,  when  they  built  a  "meeting-house  30  by  35  feet,  frame,"  which 
was  dedicated  on  Dec.  11th.  David  Gill,  who  removed  to  Buchanan  county,  Iowa, 
from  Wayne  county,  Ohio,  labored  some  in  the  ministry,  seeking  to  "establish  the 
Church  of  God."  A.  Megrew  preached  in  said  county  in  1852.  Megrew  had 
reached  his  Iowa  field  in  June,  1851,  and  found  "the  Church  of  God  hardly  known 
here."     He  began  his  work  in  Louisa  county,  and  gradually  extefrded  the  field  into 


Daniel  AVertz. 


86 


History    of    tiik    Churches    of   God 


Des  Moines,  Buchanan,  Henry,  Johnson  and  Muscatine  counties  during  his  first 
year,  these  being  the  southeastern  group  of  counties,  except  Buchanan,  which  is  the 
third  county  south  of  the  Minnesota  State  line  and  the  third  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. 

Elder  Thomas,  Indiana,  was  the  first  minister  of  the  Church  to  preach  near 
Glendon,  Guthrie  Co.,  Iowa,  the  fourth  county  east  of  the  Nebraska  State  line.  The 
first  church  was  organized  in  the  county  in  1853,  with  eleven  members.  A  prosper- 
ous church  was  organized  at  Dodgeville,  Des  Moines  county,  which,  in  1854,  began 
to  arrange  to  build  a  house  of  worship,  having  been  "shut  out  of  the  school-house." 
In  1854  Megrevv  made  "a  preaching  tour  up  North  about  120  miles,"  into  Cedar, 
Linn  and  Buchanan  counties,  preaching  in  school-houses  and  holding  protracted 
meetings.  In  some  places  other  ministers  ignored  him  because  "they  could  not 
understand  what  kind  of  a  Church  the  Church  of  God  is."       At    North    Bend    the 


A.  Megrew. 


church  lost  some  converts  because  it  "has  taken  a  stand  not  to  receive  any  into  fel- 
lowship except  they  be  first  baptized."  But  the  church  prospered  and  grew  strong. 
In  1854  J.  Hawk  labored  in  Scott  county,  la.,  his  "field  of  labor,"  on  the  Mississippi. 
The  three  missionaries  in  Illinois  opened  a  large  territory.  VVertz  located  in 
Jo  Daviess  county,  the  extreme  northwestern  corner  of  the  State.  His  work  ex- 
tended over  Jo  Daviess,  Carroll,  Ogle,  Stephenson,  Winnebago  and  Boon  counties, 
a  circuit  of  200  miles,  with  twelve  regular  appointments  the  first  year,  and  about 
one  hundred  conversions.  He  found  twelve  Church  families  when  he  entered  on 
the  mission  In  a  distance  of  80  miles;  no  organized  church,  and  no  prayer-meeting. 
In  September,  1851,  he  baptized  fifty-eight  at  Pleasant  Valley,  and  had  baptized 
twenty-six  before.     A  church  was  organized  at  that  meeting,  and  measures  were 


General    History 


87 


J.  M.  Klein. 


started  to  build  a  bethel.  By  March,  1852,  this  church  numbered  eighty  members 
He  reports,  March  6,  1852,  having  "organized  a  church  of  about  fifteen  members 
in  Mt.  Carroll."  The  church  and  German  Baptists  "are  about  making  an  effort  to 
build  a  meeting-house  in  Mt.  Carroll." 

Klein  located  in  Homer,  La  Salle  Co.,  111.  He  left  Venango  county.  Pa.,  where 
he  was  pastor,  April  26,  1851,  by  private  conveyance,  and  reached  his  destination 

June   25th.      His  field,  while  called  the  Cen-      

tral  (111.)  Mission,  was  in  the  northern-cen- 
tral section,  south-west  from  Chicago,  with 
Homer  (Troy  Grove),  La  Salle  county,  as  the 
headquarters.  In  addition  to  his  home 
county  he  traveled  over  Livingston,  Wood- 
ford, Peoria,  Fulton,  Henry,  Putnam  and 
Bureau  counties,  lying  south  and  west  of 
La  Salle.  He  established  the  first  year 
twelve  regular  appointments,  giving  them 
preaching  every  three  weeks.  He  found 
Church  families  very  much  scattered.  Part 
of  the  time  he  had  the  assistance  of  D.  L. 
Byers.  A  church  was  organized  at  Troy 
Grove,  a  Pennsylvania  settlement,  of  twenty- 
six  members,  in  1851.  Also  one  at  Hollowa, 
one  at  West  Bureau  and  one  at  Moory's 
school-house.  Bureau  county,  and  one  at 
Eden's  Point,  LaSalle  county. 

Sandoe  was  a  native  of  Lancaster  county. 
Pa.,  and,  with  Klein,  had  been  licensed  by 
the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  His  field 
was    nearer    the    center    of    the    State    than 

Klein's,  as  he  located  at  Martinsville,  Clark  Co.,  on  the  boundary  line  between 
Illinois  and  Indiana,  as  he  was  to  travel  in  both  States.  He  left  Pennsylvania  for 
his  future  field  of  labor  May  11,  1851,  and  reached  Martinsville,  111.,  June  5th.  His 
territory  embraced  a  circuit  of  350  miles,  as  he  described  it — 75  miles  to  Decatur, 
Macon  county;  thence  southward  to  Jasper  county,  80  miles;  thence  eastward  to 
Greene  county,  Ind.,  85  miles;  thence  northward  to  Park  county,  Ind.,  55  miles, 
and  thence  back  to  Martinsville,  111.,  5  5  miles.  The  counties  included  are  Clark, 
Macon,  Moultrie,  Coles,  Scott,  Cumberland,  Jasper  and  Crawford,  111.,  and  Park, 
•Greene  and  Vigo,  Ind.  The  first  church  which  he  organized  was  in  Park  county, 
Ind.,  composed  of  twenty-three  members.  He  also  formed  churches  at  Rife's  and 
Shroll's,  Macon  county.  III.,  Jan.  17,  1852;  at  Martinsville,  in  the  Garver  settle- 
ment, and  at  other  points.  The  work  prospered,  so  that  he  insisted  on  more  min- 
isters being  put  on  the  territory.  He  had  the  assistance  of  T.  Hickeniell,  the  Gen- 
eral Missionary,  and  in  185  3  I.  E.  Beyer,  of  Pennsylvania,  reached  Decatur  and 
began  mission  work  by  taking  four  of  the  preaching  points  in  Macon  county.  In 
1854,  D.  Kyle,  of  Pennsylvania,  arrived  at  Decatur,  and  took  up  some  of  the  points 
in  Macon  county.  Sandoe  preached  in  Decatur  in  1852  and  18  53.  Around  Mart- 
insville he  had  the  assistance  of  Rupp. 

By  1854  work  was  started  in  Sangamon  county,  by  J,  H.  Hurley,  earlier  of 
the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  The  General  Missionary  sent  to  Indiana  and 
Illinois  in  1851  with  the  three  other  missionaries,  Thomas  Hickeniell,  proved  an 
indefatigable  worker.  He  reported  in  18  52  that  "my  mission  now  takes  in  terri- 
tory of  1,000  miles  and  upwards.  He  organized  churches  at  different  points,  to 
which  pastors  were  afterwards  appointed.  Among  the  first  was  one  in  Auglaize 
■county,  Ohio,  adjoining  Mercer  on  the  south.  A  German  minister  of  the  M.  E. 
Church,  living  at  Kossuth,  sent  for  him  to  baptize  him.  A  revival  followed  and  a 
■church  of  God  was  organized.  Hickernell  continued  his  work  southward  in  Ohio 
through  Miami,  Montgomery,  Preble  and  Adams  counties.  The  whole  southwestern 
group  of  counties  were  territory  of  much  promise.  In  his  work  in  Ohio  he  was 
assisted  by  C.  Sands,  who  preached  largely  in  German.  He  complained  that  many 
of  the  points  which  he  opened  were  neglected  by  the  ministers  sent  there  after  he 
left.  In  Indiana  he  preached  in  Miami  county,  five  counties  west  of  his  home. 
Here  he  attended  a  camp-meeting  in  1853,  and  thence  traveled  200  miles  in  his 
■carriage  to  attend   a  camp-meeting  in   Illinois,  west  of  Homer,  La  Salle  county. 


88  History    of   the    Churches    of    God 

Some  nights  during  this  tour  he  says,  "I  slept  quietly  in  my  carriage  till  morning." 
He  also  preached  in  Parke,  Vigo,  Greene,  Marion  and  Wabash  counties,  Ind.  In 
Illinois  he  got  as  far  north  as  Tazewell  county,  in  central  Illinois,  and  labored  in 
revival  meetings  in  Macon,  Moultrie,  Marion,  Jasper,  Clark  and  Crawford. 

In  1851  when  these  vast  enterprises  were  inaugurated  the  statistics  published 
showed  that  there  were  168  churches  of  God,  375  preaching  places,  130  ministers, 
and  17,550  members.  Of  the  number  of  churches  27  were  reported  in  Ohio  in 
1854,  by  which  time  the  total  number  had  considerably  increased.  For  while  the 
missionaries  sent  out  into  Indiana  and  Illinois  were  diligently  at  work  in  those 
States,  other  ministers  in  those  States  and  in  Ohio  were  making  full  proof  of  their 
ministry.  The  need  of  more  preachers  was  deeply  felt,  as  calls  came  from  many 
directions  which  could  not  be  answered.  The  Indiana  Eldership  had  a  mission  in 
Defiance  county,  Ohio,  with  several  churches,  where  J.  Martin  and  D.  Keplinger 
preached.  The  latter  also  traveled  through  Huntington,  Whitley,  LaGrange, 
DeKalb,  Allen  and  Wells  counties,  Indiana.  At  Georgetown,  Defiance  Co.,  Ohio, 
a  church  was  formed  in  1852.  The  church  at  Zanesville  then  numbered  twenty- 
six.  Keplinger,  who  labored  also  at  Zanesville,  Wells  Co.,  Ind.,  traveled  from  200 
to  230  miles  every  four  weeks,  and  preached  "from  fourteen  to  sixteen  times  every 
round."  In  1853  he  had  F.  Kemp  as  a  colleague,  and  his  field  included  also  Elk- 
hart, Kosciusko  and  Wabash  counties,  with  several  "missionaries"  to  help  him. 
His  field  was  "as  much  as  4  50  miles  round."  The  work  had  been  so  successfully 
extended  into  Miami  county  that  a  camp-meeting  was  held  there  in  1853.  J. 
Martin  had  organized  a  church  in  Jackson,  Steuben  Co.,  Ind.  They  had  introduced 
"quarterly  meetings,"  which  F.  Kemp  says  "are  of  great  utility  and  interest,  as 
people  are  more  likely  to  attend  on  such  occasions,  and  hence  we  can  have  access 
to  their  hearts." 

In  Ohio  "the  Church  of  God  is  still  engaged  in  pushing  onward  the  great  gos- 
pel car  of  salvation,"  wrote  David  Baker  in  1850,  when  reporting  from  various 
points  in  Wayne  county.  In  this  county,  at  Wooster,  in  1854,  the  church  decided 
to  build  a  house  of  worship.  They  were  not  able  to  do  this  alone,  and  so  they 
canvassed  twenty-seven  other  churches  for  funds.  A  serious  accident  occurred  in 
"putting  up  the  timbers,"  in  which  a  dozen  men  were  more  or  less  seriously  hurt. 
This  delayed  the  work,  so  that  the  dedication  did  not  take  place  until  Aug.  5,  1855. 
Winebrenner  preached  the  sermon.  The  work  was  also  extended  into  several  new 
counties  southward  and  westward  from  Wayne,  into  Wyandot,  Hancock,  Coshoc- 
ton and  Seneca.  In  Columbiana  county,  which  the  Ohio  ministers  again  took  up, 
M.  Coates  organized  a  church  Dec.  14,  1851.  Also  in  Tuscarawas  county,  and  at 
Paris,  Stark  county.  A  bethel  was  built  in  Stark  county  in  1852.  In  Canaan 
township,  Athens  county,  a  new  meeting-house  was  dedicated  in  1853.  The  work, 
however,  was  languishing  in  Athens  and  Meigs  counties  for  want  of  preaching.  A 
church  was  organized  near  Upper  Sandusky,  Wyandot  county,  in  1851,  and  one 
near  Columbus,  Franklin  county.  A  bethel  was  built  at  Father  Stump's,  Stark 
county  circuit,  and  dedicated  June  22,  1851.  In  1853  the  meeting-house  at  Dal- 
ton,  Wayne  county,  was  completed.  The  Tiffin  circuit,  in  which  Seneca  county  was 
included,  was  making  progress  under  the  labors  of  West  and  Wilson,  and  a  mission 
church  was  formed  in  Tiffin  City  in  1854.  Other  counties  in  the  northwestern  part 
of  the  State  in  which  good  work  was  done  were  Defiance,  Crawford,  Logan,  Henry 
and  Wood.  In  Wood  county  a  church  was  organized  by  J.  M.  West  in  June,  1852. 
It  consisted  of  fourteen  members.  In  Tuscarawas  county  the  church  at  Windfield, 
"being  shut  out  of  the  United  Brethren  church  put  up  a  very  neat  bethel,  34x40 
feet  in  size,"  which  was  dedicated  in  November,  1854.  In  1853  continued  work 
around  Findlay,  Hancock  county,  was  reported,  a  church  having  been  previously 
organized  in  Liberty  township,  about  six  miles  west  of  Findlay,  on  the  Blanchard 
river.  Also  at  another  point  four  miles  north  of  Findlay,  and  one  southward  about 
six  miles.  West  was  pastor.  J.  Myei"s,  on  his  way  to  Blanchard  Fork  to  a  special 
meeting,  preached  in  a  school-house  in  Findlay  in  November,  1853.  A.  L.  Nye  did 
efficient  work  in  Henry  and  Defiance  counties  in  1854.  But  complaint  was  early 
made  that  many  points  where  these  aggressive,  enthusiastic  missionaries  had 
gathered  small  churches  were  neglected,  or  abandoned.  School-houses,  too,  were 
often  closed  against  the  preachers,  and  the  few  members  not  being  able  to  build 
houses  of  worship  these  points  were  necessarily  discontinued.  This  was  true  in 
all  the  States. 

Closely  connected   with  the   contemplated   mission   work   on   the  part  of  the 


General    History  89 

East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  Indiana,  Illinois  and  Iowa  was  the  tour  made 
through  the  whole  territory  in  1850  by  Winebreniier  and  Ham.  Winebrenner  on 
May  1,  1850,  announced  that  he  and  Ham  would  "take  a  journey  to  the  West  dur- 
ing the  ensuing  Summer."  It  was  to  be  "a  preacBing  tour  for  the  good  of  souls 
and  the  promotion  of  the  cause  of  all  causes — the  church  of  the  living  XJod.  We 
design  to  make  it  an  exploring  missionary  tour.  Our  brethren  in  Ohio  and  the  far 
West  have  long  pleaded  for  a  visit."  Flake,  who  had  charge  of  "The  Advocate" 
during  Winebrenner's  absence,  also  states  that  "a  visit  of  this  kind  was  much  de- 
sired by  the  brethren  West  of  the  mountains."     He  informed  his  readers  that  the  two 

tourists  "went in  a  plain  and  strong  and  roomy  carriage,  with  two  horses, 

which  will  permit  them  to  seek  the  scattered  members  of  the  Church  in  their  jour- 
ney of  a  thousand  miles  or  more,  to  Iowa."  He  calls  it  "an  old-fashioned  visit  to 
the  churches,"  probably  recalling  similar  tours  by  Wesley,  Asbui*y,  Albright  and 
Whitefield.  They  started  May  20th,  on  which  evening  they  held  services  at  Me- 
chanicsburg.  Thence  to  Shippensburg,  on  the  21st;  McConnellsburg,  on  the  22nd; 
Bloody  Run,  on  the  23rd;  Woodbury,  on  the  24th;  Martinsburg,  on  the  25th  and 
26th;  Shellsburg,  on  the  27th;  Somerset,  on  the  28th;  Bethany,  on  the  29th;  Mc- 
Keesport,  on  the  30th;  Pittsburg,  on  the  31st;  Old  Harmony,  on  June  1st  and  2nd; 
Wooster,  Ohio,  on  June  8th  and  9th.  At  Wooster  they  had  preaching  simultane- 
ously in  the  bethel  and  in  the  court-house  at  10  a.  m.,  and  "in  the  afternoon  and 
evening  in  the  Baptist  meeting-house."  Ham's  controversial  spirit  developed  at 
Wooster.  Hearing  that  a  Methodist  minister  would  preach  on  Monday  evening  on 
baptism  at  Moreland,  he  went  there  to  hear  him,  and  then  arranged  to  reply  to  liim 
on  Thursday  evening.  Winebrenner  heard  Harn's  sermon,  and  regarded  it  as  "a 
more  triumphant  refutation  of  any  man's  argument  than  I  have  ever  heard."  Not 
so  Mr.  Parker,  the  Methodist  minister,  for  he  at  once  arose  "in  the  congregation 
and  challenged  Brother  Harn,  or  myself,  to  a  public  debate."  This  challenge  they 
declined  to  accept  as  they  "wer*;  on  a  journey  through  some  of  the  Western  States, 
and  had  a  chain  of  appointments  already  out."  From  Wooster  they  went  to  Men- 
don,  Mercer  county,  via  Jeromesville;  Ashland,  county  seat  of  Ashland  county, 
where  they  preached  in  the  Court-house;  Bucyrus,  county  seat  of  Crawford  county; 
Wyandot,  Brownsville;  Kenton,  county  seat  of  Hardin  county,  and  Lima,  in  Allen 
county,  reaching  Mendon,  Mercer  county,  June  21st.  At  Kenton  the  Methodists, 
Baptists  and  New  School  Presbyterians  had  a  revival  in  progress,  which  they  at- 
tended, with  one  hundred  and  fifty  conversions.  At  Mendon,  Thomas  Hickernell 
had  a  revival  in  progress.  From  Mendon,  O.,  they  passed  on  to  Fort  Wayne,  Allen 
county,  Ind.  Thence  through  Noble,  Elkhart,  St.  Joseph  and  La  Porte  counties  to 
New  Buffalo,  Mich.,  on  Lake  Michigan.  From  here  "we  entered,  horses  and  all, 
on  board  the  splendid  steamboat  'Julius  D.  Morton,'  and  crossed  the  lake  to  Chi- 
cago," where  they  arrived  at  2  o'clock  on  the  night  of  June  29th.  They  did  not 
preach  in  Chicago,  but  attended  services  in  the  Presbyterian,  Methodist  and  Bap- 
tist churches,  where  "the  preaching  was  plain  and  practical,  but  the  worship 
cold,  heartless  and  formal."  Leaving  Chicago  July  1st,  they  went  by  way 
of  Napiersville,  Dupage  county;  Aurora,  Kane  county;  Syracuse,  De  Kalb  county, 
and  Ogle  county,  near  Mt.  Morris,  where  they  found  settlers  from  Washington 
county,  Md.,  and  reached  Mt.  Carroll,  Carroll  county.  111.,  their  main  objective 
point  in  that  State,  July  5th.  On  the  evening  of  July  6th  they  "commenced  a 
series  of  meetings  in  the  court-house  in  Mt.  Carroll."  During  Lord's  day  "the 
court-house  was  thronged  all  day."  Four  sermons  were  preached  that  day. 
From  Mt.  Carroll,  on  the  9th,  they  came  down  to  Whiteside  county,  and  thence 
still  southward  into  Rock  Island  county,  visiting  Church  of  God  families,  until 
they  reached  Stevenson  (now  Rock  Island),  where  on  July  11th,  they  crossed  the 
Mississippi  to  Davenport,  Scott  county,  Iowa.  Thence  down  the  river  to  Musca- 
tine, county  seat  of  Muscatine  county,  where  they  "met  a  number  of  former  friends 
and  brethren  from  Pennsylvania."  Thence  westward  to  Iowa  City  and  North 
Bend,  Johnson  county,  reaching  North  Bend  near  midnight,  July  13th.  This  was 
a  Pennsylvania  settlement.  Here  they  preached  in  a  school-house,  July  14th.  The 
church  at  that  place  had  "some  twenty  members  or  upwards."  Returning  to  Iowa 
City,  they  had  "preaching  in  the  Baptist  meeting-house  in  the  evening"  of  July 
14th.  July  15th  they  left  for  Louisa  county,  stopping  at  Columbus  City.  Thence 
still  southward  into  Henry  county,  and  across  Des  Moines  county  to  Burlington, 
where  they  recrossed  the  Mississippi  into  Illinois  on  their  return  journey  July  18th. 
They  "took  the  direct  road  towards  Peoria,"  where  they  arrived  July  20th.      Here 


90  History    of   the    Churches    of    God 

they  "preached  three  sermons  in  the  Methodist  meeting-house  and  two  in  the  Bap- 
tist church."  From  Peoria  they  went  due  south  to  Springfield,  Sangamon  county. 
TEey  passed  eastward  south  of  Decatur,  Macon  county,  stopping  with  Church  fami- 
lies, to  Charleston,  county  seat  of  Coles  county,  and  on  to  Martinsville,  Clark 
county,  near  which  place  "on  Sabbath,  July  28th,  we  held  a  woods  meeting  at  Bro. 
Fasig's."  There  was  "a  small  church  of  God  in  that  neighborhood,  numbering 
some  twenty  odd  members."  From  Martinsville,  111.,  on  July  2  9th,  they  went  to 
Indianapolis,  Ind.,  passing  through  Vigo,  Clay,  Putnam  and  Hendricks  counties  "on 
the  National  Road,"  into  Marion,  where  the  capitol  of  the  State  is  located.  From 
here  eastward  they  again  had  "a  chain  of  appointments  ahead,"  reaching  to  Wayne 
county,  Ind.,  at  the  Ohio  line.  These  appointments  were  in  Lutheran,  Methodist 
and  Presbyterian  houses  of  worship,  ne.ar  which  families  of  the  Church  lived.  All 
along  their  route  these  families  were  found,  living  many  miles  apart.  They  passed 
through  Preble  county,  north-eastward  across  Montgomery,  Miami,  Champaign  into 
Union,  and  thence  south-eastward  to  Clintonville,  Franklin  county,  four  miles 
north  of  Columbus,  where  they  again  met  T.  Hickernell,  who  was  conducting  "a 
two-day's  meeting"  with  "a  church  of  God  of  about  twenty  members."  They 
reached  this  point  Aug.  10th.  They  visited  the  State  capitol  "in  course  of  erection, 
and  other  State  institutions."  There  were  several  Church  of  God  families  living 
in  Columbus.  August  13th  they  left  Clintonville,  and  went  north  into  Delaware 
county,  and  thence  through  Morrow  county  toward  Mansfield,  Richland  county. 
Thence  eastward  through  Ashland  county  back  to  Wooster,  Wayne  county.  When 
they  reached  WDoster  they  had  made  a  circuit  of  1,700  miles.  They  went  8  miles 
northwest  of  Wooster  and  "attended  the  Chester  camp-meeting,  held  on  the  lands 
of  Bro.  Pet«r  Sherick  and  Daniel  George."  Thence  on  the  22nd  they  went  "to  the 
Summit  county  camp-meeting,"  the  next  county  northeast  of  Wayne.  Returning 
to  Wooster,  they  tarried  there,  preaching  at  various  near-by  points,  until  Aug.  30th, 
when  they  went  to  the  Reedsburg  camp-meeting,  in  Wayne  county.  Sept.  2nd 
they  started  homeward  through  Stark  and  Columbiana  counties,  into  Pennsylvania, 
their  first  objective  point  being  Fayetteville,  Lawrence  county,  and  thence  to  the 
Venango  county  camp-meeting,  which  they  reached  Sept.  5th.  After  camp  on  Sept. 
12th,  they  left  for  Evensburg,  Butler  county,  and  on  to  Old  Harmony  again,  and 
down  to  Pittsburg.  They  went  as  far  south  as  Washington  county,  and  then  east- 
ward to  West  Newton  and  Bethany,  Westmoreland  county,  which  they  reached 
Sept.  20th.  Thence,  after  a  four  days'  journey  they  arrived  home  in  Harrisburg 
on  Sept.  2  8th,  after  "an  absence  of  four  months  and  eight  days,  during  which  we 
traveled  2,500  miles,  preached  124  sermons,  passed  through  six  States  and  217 
cities  and  towns.  Our  traveling  expenses  amounted  to  $92.65,  and  our  receipts  in 
the  shape  of  collections,  etc.,  to  $120.75."  In  September,  1853,  Winebrenner  visit- 
ed western  Pennsylvania  and  eastern  Ohio,  assisting  at  woods  meetings  and  camp- 
meetings  at  various  points. 

Overtures  toward  union  between  the  Free  Baptist  Church  and  the  Church  of 
God  were  more  of  a  local,  than  general  and  official,  character.  A.  D.  Williams, 
Free  Baptist  minister,  and  brother-in-law  to  G.  U.  Hani,  unofficially  labored  more 
or  less  for  union  of  the  two  bodies.  He  preached  at  many  points  for  churches  of 
God,  and  wrote  considerably  for  publication  in  "The  Advocate."  These  local  move- 
ments were  earnestly  fostered  by  Benjamin  Howard  and  his  son,  S.  B.  Howard, 
who  lived  in  Eastern  Pennsylvania  for  a  number  of  years  and  part  of  the  time, 
about  1850,  and  again  much  later,  was  a  member  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship. B.  Howard,  after  his  preaching  tour  ill  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in 
1848-9,  made  a  tour  westward  as  far  as  Illinois.  He  was  in  Illinois  when  in  1850 
Winebrenner  and  Ham  were  on  their  western  tour,  and  wrote,  desiring  to  meet 
them.  He  advocated  local  union  of  Free  Baptist  churches  and  the  Church  of  God. 
And  ministers  of  the  Free  Baptist  Church  in  some  localities  organized  churches 
of  God,  some  of  whidh  became  identified  with  Elderships.  Such  a  course  was  quite 
objectionable  to  the  leaders  of  the  Free  Baptist  Church.  Their  organ,  "The  Morn- 
ing Star,"  on  September  24,  1851,  answered  this  question:  "Is  it  right  for  a  F. 
W.  Baptist  minister  to  lay  aside  the  usages  of  the  F.  W.  Baptists,  and  organize  a 
church,  calling  it  the  church  of  God?"  The  answer  was:  "It  is  not.  Have  we 
not  suffered  enough  by  some  of  our  members  and  ministers  going  into  almost  any 
and  every  new  notion  that  is  got  up?  If  any  are  not  satisfied  with  our  name  and 
usages,  the  way  is  open  for  them  to  unite  with  those  whose  views  are  more  con- 
genial to  their  own."     It  is  clear  that  at  that  time  the  name,  "Church  of  God," 


,  General    History  91 

-was  a  vital  point,  and  on  this  "The  Morning  Star"  said,  "The  name  is  of  little  con- 
sequence compared  to  the  nature."  Not  so  did  those  P.  W.  Baptists  thinlt  in  cen- 
tral and  western  New  York,  which  called  themselves  churches  of  God,  and  from 
■which  the  Howards  came.  Nor  thoSe  in  Ohio  and  Illinois  which  held  like  views, 
and  some  of  which  united  with  those  Elderships.  But  while  B.  Howard  failed  to 
meet  Winebrenner  and  Harn  in  Illinois,  he  returned  to  eastern  Ohio  by  the  time 
the  camp-meetings  were  held  there  which  Winebrenner  and  Harn  attended.  At 
the  Summit  county  camp-meeting  the  three  met;  but  whatever  may  have  been  sub- 
jects of  discussion  or  conference  between  them  neither  gave  any  account  thereof. 
But  at  the  Ohio  Eldership,  held  in  October,  1850,  Howard  became  a  member  of  the 
Eldership,  and  was  appointed  a  "missionary  among  the  churches  in  Ohio."  AVithin 
the  territory  of  the  Ohio  Eldership  were  some  Free  Baptist  churches,  and  one  of 
Howard's  duties  was  to  work  for  union  between  them  and  the  Ohio  Eldership.  At 
the  same  Eldership  "Bro.  Ray,  Free  Will  Baptist,  applied  for  a  union  between  the 
Church  of  God  and  the  Society  [church]  with  which  he  labors."  In  1851  the 
Standing  Committee  of  the  Ohio  Eldership  appointed  Bro.  Dennis  "to  take  charge 
of  the  Washington  and  Middletown  churches  of  the  Free  Will  Baptist  Association." 
In  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  similar  efforts  of  a  local  character  were  made 
by  F.  W.  Baptist  churches  in  the  southern  counties  in  New  York,  and  a  missionary 
of  the  Church  of  God  was  sent  among  them.  Winebrenner's  and  Hani's  tour  ex- 
cited much  interest  among  Reformed,  Lutheran  and  Methodist  ministers  in  various 
localities.  They  preached  in  a  number  of  places  on  the  scriptural  view  of  the 
church  of  God,  and  on  baptism  and  other  Church  doctrines.  In  some  places,  as 
In  Miamisburg,  Montgomery  Co.,  Ohio,  each  of  the  pastors  of  these  three  churches 
"delivered  addresses  on  the  subject  of  baptism  and  the  original  organization  of  the 
church  of  God  exclusively." 

In  Michigan  not  much  was  accomplished  during  this  period.  Prospects  were 
reported  good,  but  the  supply  of  ministers  was  inadequate  to  meet  the  calls.  Wm. 
Adams  in  185  3  organized  a  church  in  Genesse  county,  the  fourth  county  north  of 
the  Ohio  line.  A.  B.  Slyter,  the  missionary  of  the  Indiana  Eldership,  lived  in 
Barry  county,  the  third  tier  of  counties  north  of  Indiana,  and  the  second  east  of 
Lake  Michigan.  He  preached  over  "nearly  one-half  of  the  southern  peninsula  of 
the  State,  making  some  four  hundred  miles  round." 

In  the  territory  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  there  was  progressive 
activity,  with  inspiring  success.  It  is  true  that  when  J.  Myers  was  in  Pittsburg  in 
May,  1854,  he  sadly  exclaimed,  "No  church  here,  and  the  few  remaining  of  the 
used-to-be  church"  are  still  attached  "to  the  principles  of  the  Church.  That,  how- 
ever, is  all."  Yet  not  so  elsewhere.  .  In  the  Virginia  part  of  the  territory  Davis, 
Ober,  M.  Coates  and  Wertz  labored  with  self-sacrificing  zeal,  which  was  amply  re- 
warded. They  labored  principally  in  Marshall,  Harrison  and  Wetzel  counties.  A 
number  of  churches  were  organized.  Houses  of  worship  were  built  at  Bowman's, 
Upper  Turkey  Foot,  Antioch  and  on  the  Wheeling  Mission.  In  Pennsylvania,  in 
1850,  a  church  was  organized  of  seven  members  near  Laurel  Hill  Furnace,  West- 
moreland county;  one  at  Red  Stone,  same  county;  one  at  Stevens'  Mills,  Indiana 
county,  and  two  in  Somerset  county.  In  this  county  William  Davis  enlarged  the 
mission  field  during  1853  by  adding  six  new  appointments,  with  the  prospect  of 
opening  more.  "Prospects  are  flattering  at  these  new  appointments."  Near  Jack- 
sonville, Greene  county,  Stephen  Barnhart,  a  local  minister,  did  good  work.  Re- 
vival meetings  were  held  in  many  places,  and  a  good  number  of  converts  was 
added  to  the  churches.  In  the  Summer  of  1852,  the  church  at  West  Newton,  West- 
moreland county,  built  a  meeting-house,  which  was  dedicated  Nov.  12th.  In  1853 
"the  brethren  and  friends  in  the  Slippery  Rock  Settlement,  near  Wurtemburg, 
Beaver  county,  12  miles  north  of  New  Brighton,  erected  a  new  meeting-house," 
which  was  dedicated  October  28th,  "the  day  previous  to  the  sitting  of  the  Elder- 
ship" at  said  place.  There  was  still  considerable  German  preaching  in  Venango 
and  several  other  counties. 

In  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  more  attention  was  now  given  to  confirming 
and  permanently  establishing  churches  than  to  aggressive  Church  extension  work. 
Indeed  with  its  five  missionaries  part  of  this  period  in  Illinois  and  Iowa,  and  the 
prospective  mission  to  Texas,  there  were  not  sufiicient  funds  for  mission  work  at 
home.  Conditions,  too,  were  changing.  The  United  Brethren  and  the  Evangelical 
Association,  and  to  a  less  extent  the  Methodist  Church  with  its  exclusively  English 
ministry,  were  quite  successful  in  their  work,  and  were  establishing  churches  not 


92 


History    of    the    Churches    of    God 


only  in  counties  around  those  in  wliich  the  Church  of  God  was  working,  but 
through  the  territory  in  which  the  Church  was  successfully  operating.  And  the- 
Reformed  and  Lutheran  Churches,  and  even  the  Presbyterian  Church,  were  becom- 
iiig  more  evangelistic,  and  were  beginning  t6  meet  the  spiritual  needs  of  their 
membership  more  satisfactorily.  School-houses  were  being  closed  especially  against 
night  preaching  and  revival  services,  thus  making  not  only  missionary  work  more 
difficult  and  expensive,  but  necessitating  the  abandonment  of  many  such  points 
where  churches  could  have  been  established.  But  the  ministry,  true  to  its  divine 
vocation,  devoted  itself  with  unabated  and  well-sustained  zeal  to  its  work,  and  the 
results  justified  the  self-sacrifice  with  which  the  cause  was  advanced. 

The  work  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  south  of  the  Potomac  was  limit- 
ed to  Berkeley  and  Jefferson  counties,  W.  Va.,  (at  that  time  a  part  of  Virginia), 
and  Frederick  and  Loudoun  counties,  Va.  William  Johnson  was  the  missionary  in 
this  territory  in  1853  and  1854,  except  Loudoun  county.  He  had  ten  appoint- 
ments, which  he  "intended  to  fill  every  two  weeks." 

In  Maryland  disaster  finally  overtook  the  work  in  Baltimore.  "Owing  to  the 
inability  of  the  few  brethren  at  Baltimore  to  sustain  their  preacher  and  keep  down 


Kimniers  Bethel. 


the  ground  rent  on  their  bethel,  the  committee  have  sold  it  for  $800."  This  was 
in  1852.  But  for  certain  reasons  the  purchaser  refused  to  take  the  property,  and 
a  second  sale  was  necessary.  The  Uniontown  church,  in  1850,  after  "rejecting 
from  her  communion  all  those  who  had  so  far  backslidden  as  to  give  no  evidence 
of  acceptance  with  God,"  but  receiving  "a  goodly  number  into  fellowship,"  "num- 
bered about  eighty."  There  was  a  church  at  Waterloo,  and  one  at  Sandy  Mount, 
Carroll  county,  organized  in  October,  18  50,  of  twelve  members,  but  which  in  a 
short  time  doubled  its  membership.  At  Sigler's  appointment,  Frederick  county,  a 
church  was  organized  Sept.  28,  1852.  One  at  Aushour's  school-house,  MiSdletown 
Valley,  same  county,  on  Sept.  28,  1852.  Henry  McBride  was  elected  elder,  and 
George  Sigler,  deacon.  Protracted  meetings  were  held  in  the  vicinity  of  Emmitts- 
burg,  Frederick  county,  Md.  In  Washington  county  the  cause  was  advancing 
under  the  energetic  labors  of  the  young  pastor,  A.  X.  Shoemaker.  He  had  nine 
appointments,  and  added  a  few  new  ones,  among  which  was  Williamsport,  on  the 
Potomac. 

In  Pennsylvania  this  period  was  one  of  church-building.      At  Plainfield,  Cum- 
berland  county,  the   brethren   worshiped   in   a   Union   meeting-house,   built   about 


General    History  93 

1850.  The  church  was  organized  by  Peter  Clippinger  in  1854.  At  Liberty  Hall, 
Wild  Cat  Valley,  Perry  county,  the  church  dedicated  a  new  bethel  on  Nov.  12, 
1854.  J.  Winebrenner  and  J.  F.  Weishanipel  officiated,  the  latter  preaching  in 
German  in  the  afternoon.  The  church  in  Martic  township,  Lancaster  county,  de- 
-cided  to  build  a  meeting-house  in  1850.  Martin  Huber  donated  one  acre  of  land 
for  the  purpose.  The  Building  Committee  were  Martin  Huber,  Stephen  Wiggins, 
Samuel  Martin,  Abraham  Mylin,  John  Albright,  Philip  Fraiikford,  Jonathan  Seth- 
ultz  and  John  Lighteiser.  It  was  a  stone  house,  and  was  dedicated  Feb.  15,  1851. 
The  membership  of  the  church  numbered  "seven  or  eight."  C.  Price  preached  his 
first  dedicatory  sermon  on  this  occasion.  In  the  "new  town  of  Goldsboro,"  York 
'County  the  church  began  the  building  of  a  bethel  in  1851.  Green  Spring  church, 
Cumberland  county,  dedicated  their  new  bethel  Nov.  6,  1852.  Winebrenner  preached 
the  sermon.  The  church  numbered  about  forty.  On  Nov.  28,  1852,  "the  bethel  at 
John  Soule's,  Perry  county,"  was  dedicated  by  J.  Winebrenner,  who  stated  that 
"the  cause  is  prospering  and  the  churches  appear  in  good  spirits."  "Having  en- 
larged and  refitted  the  bethel,"  the  church  at  Middletown,  Dauphin  county,  held  re- 
dedicatory  services  on  Feb.  6,  18  53.  Winebrenner  preached  in  the  morning;  E. 
H.  Thomas,  in  the  afternoon,  and  Wm.  Mooney,  in  the  evening.  At  Kinimers, 
Schuylkill  county,  they  "built  a  handsome  brick  meeting-house"  in  1852.  This 
house  of  worship  was  built  on  the  corner  of  George  Kimmel's  farm,  who  later  be- 
queathed his  estate  to  the  German  Eldership.  Special  interest  attaches  to  the 
building  of  the  bethel  at  Elizabethtown,  Lancaster  county,  Pa.  April  30,  1853,  it 
^as  announced  that  the  church  at  said  place  "having  lost  their  meeting-house,  have 
resolved  on  building  another."  The  house  was  not  destroyed,  nor  honestly  lost. 
But  with  indomitable  courage  the  church  went  to  work  to  build  a  new  house, 
which  Winebrenner  pronounced  an  ornament  to  the  town,  and  as  handsome  as  any 
meeting-house  in  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  by 
-J.  C  Owens,  July  3,  1853,  and  the  "large  and  handsome  new  bethel  was  dedicated 
■by  J.  Winebrenner  Dec.  18,  1853."  Other  ministers  who  participated  in  the  ser- 
vices on  Saturday  afternoon  and  evening  and  during  the  Sabbath  were  J.  Keller, 
E,  H.  Thomas,  J.  C.  Owens,  J.  Ross,  A.  H.  Long  and  Helfenstein,  a  Re- 
formed minister.  At  Weishampel,  in  Deep  Creek  Valley,  Schuylkill  county,  a 
church  was  organized  in  1853,  composed  of  twenty-one  "charter  members."  "Steps 
were  immediately  taken  to  build  a  house  of  worship."  A  stone  building  was  erect- 
ed "at  a  probable  cost  of  between  $800  and  $1,000."  The  Shippensburg  church, 
in  Cumberland  county,  re-fitted  and  modernized  its  bethel  in  the  Summer  of  1853, 
and  rededicated  it  Nov.  6th.  The  Newburg  bethel  was  built  during  the  same  Sum- 
mer, located  7  miles  from  Shippensburg,  and  was  dedicated  on  Oct.  30,  1853,  being 
the  Sunday  of  the  Eldership  held  at  that  place.  E.  H.  Thomas  preached  the  morn- 
ing sermon,  from  Zech.  vi.  12,  13.  Near  Marsh's  (or  Musk's)  school-house,  in 
York  county,  under  the  pastorate  of  J.  H.  Hurley,  the  brethren  built  a  comfortable 
meeting-house  in  the  Fall  of  1853.  They  had  been  worshiping  in  a  school-house 
"originally  designed  for  the  double  purpose  of  meeting-house  and  school-house, 
and  had  been  so  used  for  thirty  years.  But  by  some  art  and  craft  it  has  latterly 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  sectarian  directors,  and  they  have  unrighteously  taken  in 
hand  to  exclude  Bro.  Hurley  and  the  brethren  of  the  Church  of  God,"  "informing 
us  that  we  had  night-storming  enough,  that  we  could  no  longer  have  the  use  of  the 
louse."  The  new  house,  also  later  called  "Fairview  Bethel,"  was  dedicated  June 
4,  1854.  James  Colder  preached  the  sermon.  G.  W.  Coulter  preached  on  Satur- 
day evening.  D.  Maxwell,  as  Colder  said,  "the  Bishop  in  charge,"  "solemnly 
dedicated  the  house." 

The  most  costly  and  magnificent  church  enterprise  of  this  period  was  that  of 
the  Mulberry  Street  church,  Harrisburg,  Pa.  The  inception  of  this  project  dates 
from  about  the  1st  of  February,  1854,  as  AVinebrenner  announced  on  Feb.  11th, 
that  "the  church  of  God  in  this  place  has  concluded  to  remove  their  place  of  wor- 
ship from  Mulberry  street  to  the  corner  of  Fourth  and  Walnut  streets,  there  in- 
tending to  erect  a  large  and  commodious  house  of  God,  worthy  of  the  capital  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  worthy  of  the  Church  of  God.  They  bought  the  plot  of  ground 
extending  southward  from  the  corner  of  Fourth  and  Walnut  to  the  Alley  midway 
between  Walnut  and  Market  streets  for  $5,000.  The  elders,  John  Young,  Jacob 
Meily,  David  Lingle  and  Isaac  St«es  "were  authorized  and  empowered  to  sell  so 
much  of  said  lot  or  piece  of  ground  as  might  not  be  required  for  the  erection  of 
a  house  of  worship  and  a  parsonage."  This  they  did,  for  the  sum  of  $3,200.  re- 
serving ground  for  the  house  of  worship  on  the  corner  of  Fourth  street  and  the 


94  History    of   the    Churches   of    God 

Alley,  and  a  parsonage  lot  adjoining,  which  thus  cost  them  $1,800.  The  Union 
Bethel  on  Mulberry  street  was  "sold  to  the  School  Directors  of  the  borough  of  Har- 
risburg  at  and  for  the  sum  of  $1,800."  In  this  first  announcement  by  Winebren- 
ner  of  this  movement  to  secure  a  new  home  for  the  Harrisburg  church  he  called  it 
"the  Metropolitan  Bethel,"  and  adhered  to,  and  advocated,  this  name  until,  and 
after,  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone.  James  Mackey  was  the  pastor,  and  on  June 
10th  he  announced  that  "the  new  church  edifice,  which  our  brethren  intend  to  erect 
in  this  borough,  is  now  in  progress.  The  size  is  55  feet  by  70  feet,  and  it  will  be 
built  of  brick."  The  church  could  not  build  this  house  without  help  from  the  com- 
munity and  from  the  other  churches  of  the  Eldership.  They  had  the  ground,  but 
not  a  dollar  more.  McFadden  and  AVinebrenner  were  active  in  collecting  the 
funds,  a  total  of  about  $10,000  being  required.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  Sept.  10, 
1854,  Winebrenner  delivering  the  address.  Mackey,  then  one  of  the  Editors  of 
"The  Advocate,"  as  well  as  pastor  of  the  church,  "solicited  a  copy  of  his  address- 
from  Winebrenner  for  publication,  which  he  has  kindly  furnished."  A  part  of  this 
address  was  published  Sept.  21,  1854,  and  in  it  Winebrenner  said:  "The  house 
which  we  have  here  commenced.  .  .we  have  taken  the  liberty  of  calling  'The  Metro- 
politan Bethel.'  "  He  acknowledged  that  "this  is  a  name  not  exactly  approved  by 
all  our  friends;  nevertheless,  we  think  it  is  happily  chosen  and  quite  appropriate." 
To  this  Colder,  one  of  the  Editors,  appended  a  Note:  "In  justice  to  the  brethren 
in  Harrisburg,  we  must  say,  that  we  have  never  known  one  of  them  to  use  or  ap- 
prove of  this  name  for  the  new  bethel."  Winebrenner  did  not  furnish  the  balance 
of  his  address  for  publication.  The  bethel  was  not  completed  by  the  time  for  the 
meeting  of  the  Eldership,  Oct.  26,  1854,  as  was  anticipated,  and  so  the  place  was 
changed  to  Mechanicsburg.  At  said  Eldership  Colder  was  appointed  Mackey's  suc- 
cessor at  Harrisburg,  taking  charge  April  1,  1855.  The  work  on  the  bethel  was 
resumed  early  in  the  Spring  of  1855,  and  the  house  was  completed  and  dedicated 
Nov.  4,  18  55,  the  Eldership  having  convened  in  it  Nov.  3rd.  "AVm.  Mooney  offici- 
ated in  the  morning;  J.  C.  Owens,  in  the  afternoon,  and  E.  H.  Thomas  and  J.  Ross, 
in  the  evening.  As  late  as  March  29,  1855,  Winebi-enner  still  called  it  "Metro- 
politan Bethel;"  but  this  name  does  not  appear  in  connection  with  the  dedication 
and  Eldership  notice.  The  record  in  the  Journal  is:  "The  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  met  in  the  Lecture  Room  of  the  Fourth  Street 
Bethel."  This  has  been  its  name  ever  since.  The  controversy  over  the  name  was 
the  first  outward  sign  of  friction  between  Winebrenner  and  Colder,  which  consti- 
tuted such  an  unfortunate  episode  in  the  history  of  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership. 

Work  was  still  carried  on  at  Marietta,  Lancaster  county;  Hummelstown, 
Dauphin  county;  Pottsville,  Schuylkill  county;  Colebrook  Furnace,  Lebanon 
county;  New  Market,  York  county;  Bloomfield  Furnace,  Huntingdon  county;  Rox- 
bury,  Franklin  county,  near  York  Haven,  York  county  and  various  points  in  Adams 
county  where  no  churches  were  permanently  established.  In  Schuylkill  county, 
Mahantango  Valley,  Keller  in  the  Winter  of  1850  reported  about  fifty  conversions. 
In  the  Hepler  community  permanent  work  was  done.  Also  at  Kessler's,  Pine 
Grove,  Port  Carbon,  Shamokin  and  Tremont,  Ashland  and  Schuylkill  Haven  by 
1853.  In  1852  Keller  organized  a  church  at  Donaldson,  with  Abraham  Wenitz  as 
elder,  and  Jacob  Hostter,  deacon.  The  Juniata  and  Matamoras  circuit  was  stead- 
ily enlarged,  including  from  ten  to  fifteen  points,  among  them  Matamoras,  Millers- 
town,  Red  Hill  (Perry  county),  Thompsontown,  Lykens  Valley,  Clark's  Valley, 
Turkey  Valley  and  Wild  Cat  Valley.  In  the  Winter  of  1850-51,  A.  Snyder,  of  the 
Matamoras  and  Juniata  circuit,  organized  a  church  at  Millerstown,  Perry  county, 
consisting  of  nine  members;  and  one  at  Thompsontown,  Juniata  county,  consisting 
of  seven  members.  The  Perry  county  circuit  grew  by  1854  to  have  ten  appoint- 
ments. Work  was  begun  in  Reading,  by  Keller,  during  1850.  In  1850  J.  H. 
Hurley  succeeded  in  organizing  a  church  in  New  Bloomfield,  Perry  county,  the 
county  seat.  In  1852  A.  Snyder  reported  organizing  a  church  at  Rebecca  Furnace, 
Morrison  Cove  circuit.  Churches  were  also  organized  as  follows:  At  Red  Hill, 
Cumberland  county,  in  1851;  one  at  Corbin  school-house,  Huntingdon  county,  in 
1852;  one  at  Deer  Lick,  under  A.  J.  Fenton,  in  1852,  on  the  Fulton  county  circuit; 
one  at  Spruce  Hollow,  Bedford  county,  under  A.  Snyder,  pastor;  in  Dauphin  Wine- 
brenner preached  for  a  small  church  organized  in  1853  in  the  Hall  of  the  Sons  of 
Temperance,  J.  Haifleigh,  pastor;  one  at  Knobsville,  Fulton  county,  in  1853,  of 
fourteen  members.      In  Altoona,  Blair  county,  church  work  was  begun  in  the  Win- 


General    History  95 

ter  of  1852-3,  by  Wni.  Clay.  The  preaching  was  in  the  Baptist  meeting-house. 
In  November,  1854,  Winebrenner,  Hani  and  Weishampel  held  a  protracted  meet- 
ing there.  No  church  was  as  yet  organized,  though  there  were  about  a  dozen 
Church  families  in  the  town,  and  Wiiiebi-enner  urged  organization  and  the  building 
of  a  bethel.      A  lot  was  at  once  "selected  for  a  bethel." 

The  missionary  spirit  continued  to  prevail  among  the  ministers  and  churches. 
There  were  new  and  inviting  fields  East  of  the  Alleghenies,  as  well  as  West,  and  in 
the  far  southwestern  State  of  Texas.  Keller,  who  had  much  experience  in  mission 
work,  in  December,  1852,  suggested  the  creation  of  a  new  mission  in  Northumber- 
land, Montour  and  Columbia  counties,  lying  immediately  North  of  Schuylkill  and 
Dauphin  counties.  A  few  points  had  been  taken  up  in  the  southern  part  of  North- 
umberland county,  and  Weishampel  had  visited  Columbia  county  and  preached  in 
different  places.  It  was  to  be  known  as  the  "Susquehanna  Valley  Mission,"  and 
pledges  were  at  once  solicited  for  the  support  of  the  missionary.  In  1853  Stees 
was  appointed  "to  labor  as  he  can  on  the  Susquehanna  Mission."  Another  propo- 
sition for  a  new  mission  was  made  by  WilUain  Johnson,  in  January,  1853.  This 
was  to  be  in  Huntingdon  county,  embracing  the  territory  around  Mount  Union, 
"including  Mill  Creek,  Huntingdon  and  all  the  villages  east  of  Tusseys  Mountain, 
from  Shirleysburg  to  Warrior's  Mark."  The  same  year  Simon  Fleegal,  who  was 
on  the  Broad  Top  circuit,  opened  appointments  in  McConnell's  Cove,  and  reported 
good  results.  At  the  Eldership  in  185  4  A.  J.  Fenton  and  Philip  Shaw  were  ap- 
pointed to  the  "Iowa  Mission."  In  Lancaster  City  a  division  occurred  in  the 
Orange  Street  church,  about  1852,  and  a  second  church,  known  as  the  Chestnut 
Street  church,  was  organized,  with  W.  G.  Coulter,  pastor,  followed  by  A.  Snyder  in 

1853.  Both  "churches  seem  to  be  in  a  prosperous  state,"  said  Winebrenner  after 
a  visit  to  the  second  church  April  3,  1853.  But  "a  worm  smote  the  gourd  that  it 
withered,"  and  by  the  beginning  of  1854  the  Second  church  "dissolved  their  con- 
nection with  the  Eldership,  by  an  arbitrary  act  of  their  own."  Winebrenner  sel- 
dom was  so  severe  in  his  denunciations  as  in  this  case.  He  "did  not  believe  them 
capable  of  perpetrating  such  a  folly  and  shame."  The  following  week  he  publish- 
ed another  brief  editorial  "respecting  the  disorderly  and  sinful  movement  of  the 
Second  church  of  God  at  Lancaster."  "The  church  is  greatly  at  fault  for  rashly 
attempting  to  dissolve  their  connection  with  the  Eldership  and  Church  of  God,"  and 
"recreantly  transferring  themselves  to  a  sectarian  community;"  "a  criminal  move- 
ment." The  church  was  taken  into  fellowship  by  the  United  Brethren,  who  "erred 
in  manifesting  a  grasping  and  proselyting  spirit,  and  by  opening  their  arms  and 
showing  a  readiness  to  receive  into  their  communion  such  as  by  their  own  legisla- 
tion they  have  declared  unworthy  of  Christian  fellowship."  But  the  church  did 
not  long  survive. 

An  event  of  far-reaching  significance  was  the  return  to  the  United  States  of 
James  Colder,  AVinebrenner's  son-in-law.  He  located  in  Harrisburg,  his  native 
city,  where  he  was  born  Feb.  16,  1826.  He  was  educated  in  the  schools  of  Harris- 
burg, at  the  Harrisburg  Academy,  Partridge's  Military  Institute,  and  Wesleyan 
University,  Middletown,  Conn.,  where  he  graduated  in  1849. 

In  1850  he  was  married  to  Ellen  Winebrenner,  who  died  March  24,  1858.  In 
September,  1849,  he  joined  the  Philadelphia  M.  E.  Conference,  and  was  appointed 
to  a  circuit  in  Lancaster  county,  which  he  served  until  1851,  when  he  was  ap- 
pointed a  missionary  to  China.  He  reached  Fuh-Chau  in  July,  1851,  and  labored 
there  as  a  missionary  until  the  Spring  of  1854,  when  he  returned  home,  reaching 
New  York  on  April  7,  1854.  He  had  changed  his  views  on  the  ordinances  and 
Church  Polity  while  in  China,  and  was  immersed  at  Hong  Kong,  China,  November 
6,  1853,  and  severed  his  connections  with  the  M.  E.  Church  and  resigned  his  ap- 
pointment as  missionary.  He  had  been  a  frequent  contributor  to  "The  Church  Ad- 
vocate" while  in  China.  In  May,  1854,  he  was  licensed  by  the  Standing  Committee 
of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  At  the  Eldership  in  1854.  he  was  appointed 
to  Fourth  Street  church,  Harrisburg,  and  became  its  pastor  in  April,  1855.  Mean- 
while Winebi-enner  had  associated  him  with  himself  as  Assistant  Editor.  Colder 
brought  with  him  from  China  a  youth,  Ting  Ing-Kau,  and  a  married  woman, 
Cheung  Chio.  This  youth  he  proposed  to  educate  for  a  foreign  missionary.  For 
this  purpose  he  lectured  on  China  in  many  pulpits  of  the  Eldership,  and  as  far 
West  as  Wooster,  Ohio,  and  received  quite  an  amount  of  money.  The  movement 
was  endorsed  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  by  the  General  Eldership  in 

1854,  Winebrenner  personally  endorsed  it,  saying:  "Why  should  not  the  Church 
of  God  awake  to  the  subject  of  Foreign  Missions,  and  take  immediate  steps  to  as- 


96 


History    of    tiiiv   Churches   of    God 


sist  in  this  mighty  and  glorious  work  of  Christianizing  China?  She  can  at  any 
rate  easily  afford  to  educate  young  Ak-Kaii,  as  he  is  familiarly  called,  and  send  him 
to  his  country-men  as  a  messenger  from  the  Church  of  God." 

Interest  in  camp-meetings  did  not  seem  to  abate  during  this  period.  In  1850 
eamp-meetings  were  held  as  follows:  On  the  Dauphin  county  circuit,  Landisburg 
circuit,  York  county  circuit  near  Newberry;  Newburg,  Cumberland  county;  near 
Churchtown,  same  county;  Broad  Top;  at  Kimmel's,  Schuylkill  county,  and  in 
Mahantango  Valley,  same  county.  Also  one  near  Uniontown,  Md.  All  these  in 
the  territory  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  In  the  West  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  territory  camp-meetings  were  held  in  Brush  Valley,  Indiana  county;  in 
Irwin  township,  Venango  county,  and  one  in  Marshall  county,  W.  Va.  In  the  Ohio 
Eldership  territory  three  camp-meetings  were  held,  viz.:  Chester  township,  Wayne 
county;  Reedsburg,  same  county,  and  in  Summit  county.  One  was  held  in  De  Kalb 
county,  Indiana.  One  was  held  in  Barry  county,  Mich.  'I*he  number  of  conver- 
sions reported  was  one  hundred  and  fifty.  The  number  of  tents  aggregated  from 
five  to  twenty-four. 


James  Colder. 


In  1851  there  were  twelve  camp-meetings  held  within  the  territory  of  the 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  as  follows:  In  Carroll  county,  Md.,  and  in  Washing- 
ton county,  Md.;  on  the  Dauphin  county  circuit,  on  Broad  Top  circuit;  near  Ship- 
pensburg,  Cumberland  county,  and  at  Newburg,  same  county;  near  Churchtown, 
same  county;  near  Elizabethtown,  Lancaster  county;  near  Mt.  Joy,  same  county; 
near  Goldsboro,  York  county;  one  in  Fulton  county,  and  two  in  Schuylkill  county, 
one  of  them  at  Kimmel's,  and  one  in  the  Mahantango  Valley.  In  Ohio  Eldership 
territory  the  following  were  held:  In  Knox  county,  in  Summit  county,  in  Wayne 
county,  one  eight  miles  north-west  of  Wooster  and  one  near  Smithville;  one  in 
Ashland  county  and  one  in  Geauga  county.  The  Indiana  Eldership  held  three 
camp-meetings,  to  wit:  one  near  Laketon,  Wabash  county;  one  in  Whitley  county, 
and  one  in  Mercer  county,  Ohio.  One  was  held  in  Kent  county,  Mich.  The  West 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  reported  but  two  camp-meetings.  One  of  them  was  held 
in  Indiana  county.  Pa.,  and  one  in  Marshall  county,  W.  Va.  The  brethren  in 
Johnson  county,  Iowa,  held  one  near  North  Bend.  The  number  of  conversions  re- 
ported is  one  hundred  and  seventy-three. 

In  1852   eighteen  camp-meetings  were  held.      Iowa  held  two,  one  at  North 


General    History  97 

Bend,  and  one  in  Benton  county.  Illinois  held  one  in  Pleasant  Valley,  on  the  Rock 
River  mission.  Indiana  held  one.  Ohio  held  one  in  Wayne  and  one  in  Ashland 
county.  In  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  territory  one  was  held  in  Venango 
county,  Irwin  township;  one  on  the  Susquehanna  River,  in  Indiana  county;  one  at 
Turkey  Foot,  Somerset  county,  and  one  in  Marshall  county,  Va.  In  the  East  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership  territory  the  following  were  held:  Near  Newburg,  Cumberland 
county;  Broad  Top  circuit,  Huntingdon  county;  Orwigsburg  and  Mahantango  Val- 
ley, Schuylkill  county;  in  York  county;  and  one  in  Washington  county  and  one  in 
Carroll  county,  Md.,  and  "The  General  and  Model  Camp-meeting"  near  the  Camp 
Hill  Bethel,  Cumberland  county.  This  was  an  attempt  to  hold  a  large  camp-meet- 
ing, with  corresponding  results.  Camp-meetings  in  other  parts  of  the  Eldership 
were  discountenanced  by  the  leaders,  with  but  partial  success.  Winebrenner  an- 
nounced and  encouraged  it  editorially,  and  called  it  "the  great  gathering  of  the 
people."  A  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  was  officially  fixed  for  the  Tuesday  before 
the  camp  opened.  There  was  a  general  camp-meeting  committee,,  and  seven  sub- 
ordinate committees.  Ten  "Rules  and  Regulations"  were  published  in  advance. 
President  C.  G.  Finney,  Oberlin  College,  who  had  world-wide  fame  as  a  revivalist, 
was  invited,  but  could  not  come.  It  was  to  be  "a  camp-meeting  for  the  promotion 
of  piety  and  the  conversion  of  sinners."  It  began  Aug.  20th  and  closed  Aug. 
30th.  The  general  committee  had  secured  one  hundred  tents  from  the  State 
Arsenal.  Only  fifty  were  needed.  It  rained  the  greater  part  of  the  time,  yet  on 
the  second  Sunday,  with  a  clear  sky,  it  was  estimated  that  5,000  people  were  on  the 
ground.  Thirty-four  churches  were  represented.  There  were  forty  conversions. 
The  following  ministers  were  present:  Winebrenner,  Thomas,  Swartz,  Keller,  Mc- 
Fadden,  Hurley,  Owens,  Price,  Snyder,  Maxwell,  Kyle,  Hartman,  Laveily,  S. 
Fleegal,  Haifleigh,  J.  J.  Miller,  Bowser,  Stamni,  Johnson,  Hoover,  Rockafellow. 
Kister,  Mateer,  Shoemaker,  Ham,  Hinney,  Morenzo  and  Weishampel.  The  total 
number  of  conversions  at  all  the  camp-meetings  reported  was  only  one  hundred 
and  forty-six.  Immediately  after  the  camp-meeting  season  the  question  was 
mooted,  "why  so  little  good  is  done  at  camp-meetings  and  other  meetings."  There 
was  a  growing  tendency  to  omit  the  ordinances  of  Feet-washing  and  the  Com- 
munion, but  baptism  was  generally  administered  to  the  converts. 

In  the  Summer  of  18.53  the  following  camp-meetings  weje  held:  Near  Dodge- 
ville,  Des  Moines  county,  Iowa.  In  La  Salle  and  Macon  counties.  111.  Near  Peoria, 
Franklin  county,  and  in  Miami  county,  Ind.  In  Wayne  county,  Ohio.  One  each 
in  Lawrence  and  Somerset  counties,  Pennsylvania,  and  one  in  Marshall  county, 
Virginia.  In  East  Pennsylvania,  one  in  Deep  Creek  Valley  and  one  at  Kimmel's, 
Schuylkill  county;  one  in  Lancaster  county.  One  near  Dillsburg,  and  one  near 
Andersontown,  York  county.  One  in  Washington  county,  Md.  One  at  Stoners- 
ville,  Bedford  county,  and  one  at  Nobbsville,  8  miles  from  McConnellsburg,  Fulton 
county.  One  near  Landisburg,  Perry  county.  One  hundred  and  fifty-nine  conver- 
sions were  reported.  The  number  of  tents  ranged  from  nine  to  twenty-six.  At 
the  close  of  these  meetings  Winebrenner  expressed  it  as  his  opinion  that  "the  day 
is  probably  past  for  camp-meetings."  The  churches  were  losing  interest  in  them, 
so  that  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  Ohio  Eldership  "Resolved,  That  we  very 
much  urge  the  propriety  of  the  circuits  and  churches  in  waking  up  to  their  duty  in 
sending  in  their  requests  for  camp-meetings." 

There  were  twenty-five  camp-meetings  held  in  1854,  as  follows:  One  each  in 
Des  Moines  and  Louisa  counties,  Iowa.  In  Illinois  one  was  held  near  Mt.  Carroll, 
Jo  Daviess  county,  and  one  in  Macon  county.  One  was  held  in  Kosciusko  county, 
Ind.  Ohio  held  one  in  Stark  county,  and  one  in  Tuscarawas  county.  In  the  West 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  territory  one  was  held  in  Marshall  county,  Va. ;  one  in  Fay- 
ette county,  one  in  Venango  county,  one  in  Indiana  county  and  one  near  Black 
Lick  Furnace.  In  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  territory  camp-meetings  were 
held  as  follows:  One  in  Washington  county,  Md.,  and  one  in  Carroll  county,  Md.; 
while  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  the  following  were  held:  East  York  circuit, 
West  York  circuit,  Perry  county  circuit;  Franklin  county,  near  Orrstown;  on  the 
Lancaster  county  circuit,  Broad  Top  circuit,  Cumberland  county,  near  Mechanics- 
burg;  Dauphin  circuit,  near  Linglestown;  in  Deep  Creek  Valley  and  near  Orwigs- 
burg, Schuylkill  county,  and  one  near  Fredericksburg,  Lebanon  county.  Compara- 
tively few  conversions  were  reported.  The  camp-meeting  held  near  Mt.  Carroll, 
111.,  reported  forty  conversions,  while  less  than  that  number  were  reported  at  all 
the  others. 

The  Churches  at  this  period  were  permeated  with  a  spirit  of  controversy. 
C.  H.— 5 


98 


History    of    thk    Churches    of    God 


Theological  polemics  were  the  delight  of  some  of  the  strongest  men  in  different 
denominations.  The  slavery  question,  more  and  more  agitated  in  Church  and 
State,  contributed  to  this.  The  Christian  Church  was  very  aggressive  under  the 
erudite  and  forceful  leadership  of  Alexander  Campbell,  whose  spirit  was  largely 
Imbibed  by  the  ministry  of  his  Church.  They  kept  the  subject  of  baptism  promi- 
nent in  all  their  ministration;  attacked  other  Churches,  and  issued  repeated  chal- 
lenges to  debate  the  question.  The  ministers  of  the  Church  of  God  possessed  much 
of  the  same  belligerent  spirit;  but  they  confined  themselves  largely  to  their  own 
pulpits.  Winebrenner  was  not  by  nature  and  training  a  controversialist.  He  dis- 
cussed all  the  theological  questions  of  the  times,  as  his  favorite  phrase  was,  "pro 
and  con."  But  he  never  had  a  formal  debate  with  a  minister  of  any  denomination. 
He  generally  preserved  an  attitude  in  which  dignity  at  times  seemed  singularly 


George  U.  Harn. 


blended  with  disdain.      Not  so  with  Harn,  as  may  be  seen  in  his  keen,  penetrating 
eye  and  aggressive  countenance. 

He  was  a  man  richly  endowed  by  nature,  and  of  studious  habits.  He  was 
fortunately  placed  for  the  development  of  his  talents,  and  he  rose  steadily  to  larger 
and  larger  prominence  and  usefulness.  He  was  ambitious,  and  was  restless  as  a 
caged  lion.  Fearless,  resolute  and  resourceful  as  a  preacher  or  antagonist  in  the 
arena  of  debate,  he  made  a  splendid  record  in  the  theological  marathon.  Every- 
where he  went  he  kindled  the  beacon-fire  of  truth  touching  the  distinctive  doctrines 
of  the  Church  of  God.  As  Ii-ving  says,  he  was  none  of  those  "who  stand  shaking 
in  the  wind,  irresolute  which  way  to  steer."  There  was  a  bustling,  disputatious 
tone  in  his  preaching,  instead  of  the  drowsy  tranquility  of  pulpits  in  earlier  days. 
Harn  was  a  trained  controversialist.  He  had  his  first  public  debate  when  not  over 
seventeen  years  of  age,  on  the  evils  of  slavery,  in  his  native  State,  Maryland,  and 
in  the  midst  of  slavery  and  slave-holders.  He  was  prepared  to  talk  eight  hours. 
The  episode  at  Moreland,  Ohio,  on  the  tour  which  he  made  with  Winebrenner  in 
1850,  revealed  his  character.      Out  of  it  grew  a  challenge  from  the  minister  to 


i 


GiiNEKAL    History  99 

whom  he  there  replied  to  debate  the  subject  of  baptism.  Harn  accepted  the  chal- 
lenge. It  was  a  newspaper  debate,  Mr.  Parker,  Methodist  minister,  apparently 
preferring  this.  Winebrenner  had  charged  Parker  with  teaching  that  "immersion 
is  not  baptism."  Harn  made  a  specialty  of  this,  and  in  discussing  the  mode  or 
action  of  baptism  confronted  Parker  with  the  proof  of  Winebrenner's  charge  taken 
from  Parker's  published  sermons  and  books.  The  discussion  of  the  subjects  of 
baptism  followed.  The  debate  between  Ham  and  A.  Keller,  a  Methodist  minister, 
on  the  same  questions,  was  held  in  Irwin  township  (Barkeyville) ,  Venango  county. 
Pa.,  in  1853.  It  continued  five  days.  Harn  affirmed  that  "Immersion  in  water  of 
a  proper  subject,  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
is  the  only  apostolic  baptism."  Keller  affirmed  that  "Infants  are  scriptural  sub- 
jects of  baptism."      It  was  a  memorable  debate,  not  forgotten  for  a  generation. 

In  1850  J.  H.  Hurley  and  Rev.  McDougal  had  a  spirited  debate  on  the  subject 
of  washing  the  saints'  feet.  It  was  held  in  Perry  county,  Pa.  The  same  year 
Hurley  states  that  he  "had  a  spirited  controversy  with  J.  F.  Weishainpel  on  the 
validity  of  lay  baptism,  he  affirming,  and  I  taking  the  negative.  After  discussing 
it  in  a  friendly  manner  in  "The  Church  Advocate"  for  many  months,  J.  F.  Weis- 
hanipel  exhausted  his  store  of  arguments,  and  gave  the  subject  over  to  Elder  G.  U. 
Ham.      After  five  more  months  of  debate  I  gave  the  closing  address." 

B.  Ober,  from  a  natural  trend  of  mind,  was  disputatious,  and  this  spirit  was 
fostered  and  developed  by  environment.  It  might,  with  James  Feniniore  Cooper, 
be  said  of  him  what  Cooper  said  of  the  Indian  Chief  Mohegan,  "That  his  faults  were 
those  of  an  Indian,  and  his  virtues  those  of  a  man."  He  was  a  brave  and  self- 
reliant  disputant,  having  great  tenacity  of  purpose.  The  Disciples  were  the  domi- 
nant element  in  southwestern  Pennsylvania  and  northern  West  Virginia.  Ober 
often  came  in  contact  with  them  while  preaching  in  and  around  Wheeling.  On  the 
action  of  baptism  they  agreed  with  the  Church  of  God.  But  the  name  of  the 
Church  they  repudiated,  and  often  made  it  a  subject  of  discussion.  In  1851  Ober 
and  Dickey,  a  Disciple  minister,  held  a  public  debate  on  this  subject  at  Proctor, 
Wetzel  county,  W.  Va. 

In  1850,  at  Shiremanstown,  Cumberland  county,  Pa.,  Elder  J.  Keller  had  a 
five  days'  debate  with  A.  Owen,  of  the  United  Brethren  Church,  on  the  Action  and 
the  Subject  of  Baptism.  It  was  quite  fully  reported  in  "The  Church  Advocate"  and 
"The  Religious  Telescope."  Keller  was  a  strong  antagonist,  but  not  by  nature  nor 
training  a  controversialist.  He  was  modest  and  unassuming.  He  was  a  tall,  well- 
proportioned  man,  with  strong  features  and  rather  commanding  presence.  He 
had  the  reputed  intellectual  honesty  of  Montaigne,  and  made  a  most  successful  de- 
fense of  the  propositions  he  affirmed. 

Greater  divergence  of  views  on  theological  questions  now  began  to  be  mani- 
fested with  increased  intellectual  development  and  wider  reading  on  the  part  of 
the  ministry  of  the  Church.  Winebrenner  urged  unanimity,  but  there  were  fre- 
quent discussions  of  questions  on  which  they  did  not  agree.  On  the  "essentials  of 
baptism"  Winebrenner  taught  that  faith,  immersion  and  a  scriptural  administra- 
tor are  "essential  to  the  validity  of  Christian  baptism."  Hence,  he  further  de- 
fined a  scriptural  administrator  to  be  one  "to  whom  Christ  has  given  authority," 
a  minister  duly  ordained.  This  brought  up  the  question  of  lay  baptism,  which  was 
defended  by  several  ministers  as  justifiable  in  exceptional  cases.  They  thought 
Winebrenner's  view  came  dangerously  near  the  doctrine  of  Apostolic  Succession, 
though  they  accepted  it  as  the  rule. 

The  question  relative  to  the  admission  of  persons  into  local  church  fellow- 
ship before  baptism  was  of  a  more  serious  and  practical  character.  In  1851  AVine- 
bi-enner  in  a  lengthy  editorial  answered  a  series  of  questions,  leading  up  to  the 
final  one  as  to  whether  it  is  right  and  scriptural  to  receive  persons  into  church  fel- 
lowship before  they  have  been  baptized.  While  he  acknowledged  that  in  the  in- 
stances referred  to  in  the  New  Testament  the  converted  persons  were  first  bap- 
tized; yet  "not  before  they  were  in  the  general  church."  His  conclusion  was  that 
"baptism  may  be  administered  either  before  or  after  addition  to  the  local  church." 
To  this  view  exception  was  taken  by  several  writers,  so  that  Winebrenner  was  con- 
strained to  reply  in  another  long  editorial  on  "Terms  of  Church  Membership."  He 
laid  down  the  proposition  that  "Baptism  is  not  the  door  into  the  church,"  and  in- 
sisted that  it  "has  nothing  to  do  with  bringing  in  of  a  soul  or  body  into  the  gen- 
eral or  local  church."  But  this  did  not  settle  the  question.  The  opposition  in 
fact  gained  ground,  and  in  185  3  the  Ohio  Eldership  adopted  a  resolution  "instruct- 
ing the  ministers  to  teach  churches  not  to  admit    unbaptized    persons    into    the 


loo  History    of    thk    Churchks    of    God 

churches."  From  Ohio  ministers  and  lay  members  emigrating  to  Iowa  there  in- 
troduced the  same  practice.  In  18.54  questions  on  the  subject  were  again  ad- 
dressed to  Winebreniier  for  editorial  answer.  He  replied  by  reproducing  his  edi- 
torial of  1851,  with  some  additional  proofs  of  his  position.  In  the  same  issue 
"Sister  M.  A.  A."  taught  the  contrary,  but  Winebrenner  made  no  further  reply. 
In  subsequent  issues  of  "The  Church  Advocate"  Winebrenner's  position  was  contro- 
verted by  Henry  Fleagle,  K.  A.  Moore  and  J.  E.  Ciumliighani,  of  the  East  Pennsyl- 
vania Eldership,  and  M.  F.  Suavely,  of  the  Iowa  Eldership,  where  baptism  before 
church  membership  was  generally  insisted  upon.  A.  L.  Nye,  of  Michigan,  defended 
Winebrenner's  views,  and  Winebrenner  himself  made  brief  replies  to  several  of 
these  contributors. 

There  was  general  unanimity  on  the  question  of  rebaptizing  persons  who, 
having  been  converted  and  baptized,  fell  from  grace,  and  were  reclaimed.  It  was 
quite  generally  answered  negatively.  Not  so  in  the  case  of  a  person  to  whom 
baptism  had  been  administered  while  in  an  unregenerated  state.  Winebrenner 
taught  that  "the  baptism  of  unregenerated  persons  is  invalid,  from  the  fact  that  it 
is  nowhere  authorized  in  the  New  Testament." 

A  discussion  of  the  subject  of  ministerial  ordination  was  precipitated  in  1850 
through  the  mental  illusion  of  several  ministers  of  denominations  who  mistook  the 
shadow  for  the  substance,  the  form  for  the  real  thing.  One  of  these  ministers, 
says  J.  H.  Hurley,  "very  politely  informed  me  that  we,  as  a  ministry,  were  not  set 
apart  by  the  imposition  of  hands;  and  if  we  were  thus  consecrated  we  were  with- 
out the  regular  succession,  and  consequently  unordained."  Hurley  does  not  dis- 
cuss the  subject,  but  simply  states  that  this  polite  remark  caused  him  to  doubt  the 
validity  of  ordination  without  the  laying  on  of  hands  of  regularly  ordained  min- 
isters. D.  R.  Rockafellovv  had  a  similar  experience,  and  though  not  skeptical,  yet 
was  not  prepared  to  meet  the  objection.  Thus  the  matter  rested  from  April,  1850, 
to  May,  1852,  when  Winebrenner  wrote  an  editorial  in  answer  to  A.  Swartz,  who 
had  raised  several  inquiries  touching  "a  time-honored  custom  to  be  found  marking 
the  history  of  the  church  that  by  us  as  a  religious  body  has  been  practically  re- 
jected." Winebrenner  called  the  imposition  of  hands  "a  ceremony  of  supereroga- 
tion," said  that  he  "fully  agreed  with  the  denominations  around  us  in  the  whole 
form  of  ordination,  except  that  of  laying  on  of  hands,"  and  then  called  "on  the 
affirmants  of  this  question  to  show  their  authority,  and  they  shall  be  accommodated 
with  a  respondant,  and  perhaps  this  mooted  and  perplexing  question  may  be  satis- 
factorily settled."  He  was  sustained  in  very  brief  articles  by  several  corre- 
spondents, but  Swartz  demanded  that  Winebrenner  prove  his  position,  which  in  an 
editorial  in  July  he  declined  to  do,  on  the  ground  that  the  demand  would  require 
him  to  prove  a  negative.  But  he  again  flung  down  the  gauntlet,  and  said:  "Who, 
then,  among  the  masters  in  Israel  will  come  forward  as  the  champion  of  this 
time-honored  custom?  Whoever  will  undertake  the  task  shall  find  a  respondent." 
But  while  Swartz  and  a  writer  under  the  sobriquet  of  Apostolic  Truth  each  wrote  a 
long  article,  it  was  little  more  than  fencing  for  position.  Thus  the  matter  rested 
until  1854,  when  a  protracted  discussion  of  the  question  was  conducted  in  "The 
Church  Advocate."  It  began  by  the  simple  statement  by  J.  G.  Cunningham,  New 
Grenada,  Pa.,  that  "we  as  an  individual  church  have  come  to  the  conclusion  to 
select  an  elder  and  deacon,  and  have  them  ordained  after  the  Apostles'  manner, 
by  fasting  and  prayer,  then  by  the  laying  on  of  hands."  He  adds,  "We  think  we 
are  surely  taught  this  by  the  Scriptures."  Colder  demanded  proof  of  this  state- 
ment, in  a  foot-note  to  Cunningham's  article.  This  challenge  Harn  could  not  re- 
sist, and  he  replied  in  a  four-column  article,  taking  the  affirmative.  Meanwhile 
the  General  Eldership  Minutes  were  published,  in  which  there  was  found  the  fol- 
lowing: "Resolved,  That  in  the  opinion  of  this  Eldership  persons  entering  upon 
the  sacred  work  of  the  ministry  among  us  should  be  solemnly  set  apart  by  prayer 
and  the  imposition  of  hands  by  one  or  more  of  the  bishops  of  the  Church  of  God." 
This  resolution  was  not  voted  on,  but  it  was  referred  for  discussion  to  the 
columns  of  "The  Church  Advocate."  Swartz  began  the  discussion  in  a  six-column 
article,  reaching  the  conclusion  "that  there  is  not  a  precept  or  example  in  the 
New  Testament  for  us  to  do  that  which  the  resolution  contemplates  we  should  do." 
Hai-n  followed  with  arguments  in  favor  of  the  resolution  of  which  he  says:  "If 
these  arguments  are  capable  of  refutation,  I  confess  I  am  inadequate  to  the  task." 
E.  H.  Thomas  coincided  with  Harn,  and  in  consecutive  articles  submitted  "the 
testimony  upon  which  I  rely  to  prove  the  doctrine  of  the  resolution."  W^inebren- 
ner  followed  Ham,  taking,  as  he  did  before,  the  negative  side  of  the  resolution. 


General    History  lor 

He  continued  the  discussion  in  a  series  of  nine  editorials  published  at  intervals,  and 
closing  in  the  issue  of  "The  Church  Advocate"  of  January  24,  1856,  with  these 
words:  "In  no  one  signle  case  do  we  find  that  the  Apostles  ordained,  or  set  apart, 
men  to  the  ministry  by  the  imposition  of  hands."  But  Thomas  Jefferson's  words 
still  remained  true:  "I  never  saw  an  instance  of  one  of  two  disputants  convincing 
the  other  by  argument." 

In  October,  1851,  the  first,  but  limited,  discussion  on  the  "right  of  female 
preaching"  was  begun  by  Ellen  Stewart,  Copley,  Ohio.  There  was  neither  senti- 
ment enough  in  favor  of  women  preaching,  nor  interest  enough  in  a  discussion 
of  the  subject,  to  give  it  more  than  a  short  lease  of  life.  William  Byrd's  thought 
was  not  verified  in  this  case:  "So  very  pliable  a  thing  is  frail  man,  when  women 
have  the  bending  of  him." 

Sporadic  polemical  outbursts  can  also  be  found  on  the  questions  of  church 
music,  reading  sermons,  plagiarism,  the  mourners'  bench  and  church  government. 
Donations  as  evidences  of  good  will,  and  to  supplement  the  small  salaries  of  min- 
isters were  strongly  urged  during  this  period. 

Several  notable  events  outside  of  the  Church,  which  are  of  abiding  interest, 
occurred  during  this  period.  John  Newland  Moffit,  one  of  America's  greatest 
revivalists,  died  in  1850.  The  death  of  Adoniram  Jiidson,  the  senior  foreign  mis- 
sionary in  India  of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  died  the  same  year.  He  was 
a  native  of  Maiden,  Mass.  On  the  voyage  he  changed  his  views  regarding  bap- 
tism. On  reaching  Calcutta  he  and  his  wife  were  immersed.  This  led  to  his 
withdrawal  from  the  London  Missionary  Society,  and  his  subsequent  identification 
with  the  Baptist  mission  work.  June  29,  1852,  Henry  Clay,  who  "would  rather  be 
right  than  President,"  died  at  Washington.  His  remarkable  intellect,  power  of 
gesture  and  voice  placed  him  in  the  front  rank  of  America's  greatest  statesmen. 
October  24,  1852,  Daniel  Webster  ended  his  marvelous  career.  Son  of  a  farmer 
of  moderate  circumstances,  he  gradually  rose  to  such  distinction  in  the  councils  of 
the  Nation  that  his  public  life  became  so  intimately  interwoven  with  the  history 
of  his  country  that  both  have  come  down  to  posterity  together.  The  stupendous 
work  of  revising  and  retranslating  the  sacred  Scriptures  by  the  American  Bible 
Union  was  begun  in  1852.  The  ministers,  churches  and  Elderships  of  the  Church 
of  God  took  a  deep  interest  in  this  work.  AVinebrenner  in  1853  "strongly 
favored  the  new  version;"  but  he  recognized  the  fact  that  "it  will  take  a  long  time 
to  overcome  existing  prejudices  and  supplant  the  use  of  the  present  English  ver- 
sion, imperfect  and  antiquated  as  it  is." 


CHAPTER     IX. 


1855—1860. 

IN  studying  the  history  of  this  period  it  will  be  observed  that  there  was  one  issue 
which  was  soon  to  overshadow  every  other  question  in  Church  and  State. 
Metaphorically,  as  literally  in  the  days  of  Elijah,  who  appeared  on  the  stage 
of  sacred  history  with  startling  suddenness  as  the  Melchizedek  of  his  age,  might  the 
servant  of  some  great  political  prophet  have  announced  that  "There  ariseth  a  little 
cloud  out  of  the  sea,  like  a  man's  hand."  This  cloud  continued  to  enlarge  until 
it  overspread  the  whole  political  heavens,  and  then  burst  forth  with  incredible  fury 
in  the  great  war  of  the  Rebellion.  This  issue  was  the  old  one  of  human  slavery. 
It  was  thought  that  the  United  States  Constitution,  together  with  that  "wise  and 
patriotic  Compromise  of  1820,"  had  settled  the  question,  except  as  a  moral  issue. 
But  in  1854  the  Missouri  Compromise  was  declared  to  be  inoperative  and  void,  and 
the  advocates  and  the  opponents  of  slavery  were  invited  to  a  trial  of  strength  on 
the  public  domain  of  the  United  States.  Already  the  earlier  Compromise  of  1850 
contained  a  virtual  repeal  of  the  Missouri  restriction,  which  had  been  treated  by 
both  sections  of  the  country  as  a  finality.  This  act  was  considered  by  the  vast 
majority  of  the  people  of  the  free  States  to  be  most  perfidious,  and  intense  ex- 
citement ensued.  The  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  only  increased  the  "frenzy  and  wrath 
of  the  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  in  both  the  old  parties,  who  had  never  be- 
fore taken  any  part  whatever  in  anti-slavery  agitation."  The  great  struggle  for 
the  P/Ossession  of  Kansas  between  the  anti-slavery  and  pro-slavery  forces  continued 


102  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

until  1859.  The  pro-slavery  party  aimed  to  bring  both  Kansas  and  Nebraska  into 
the  Union  as  slave  States.  Here  was  the  unmistakable  beginning  of  that  later 
series  of  events  v^rhich  led  directly  to  the  great  Rebellion  and  the  most  sanguinary 
civil  w^ar.  No  previous  anti-slavery  excitement  bore  any  comparison  with  that 
which  now  spread  over  the  North.  It  was  felt  that  compromises  were  unavailing 
and  at  an  end;  "that  no  compromise  could  acquire  weight  or  sanction  or  sacred- 
ness,  if  one  which  had  stood  for  a  generation  could  be  brushed  aside  by  partisan 
caprice,  or  by  the  demands  of  sectional  necessity."  There  was  no  possible  con- 
cealment of  the  issue,  that  nothing  remained  "but  a  struggle  between  the  slave 
States  and  the  free  States,  growing  more  and  more  intense  and  more  and  more 
dangerous  day  by  day." 

It  may  be  considered  a  perplexing  problem  in  psychology  to  determine  under 
what  kind  of  a  moral  hallucination  or  mental  illusion,  with  such  social  and 
political  conditions,  an  anti-slavery  Church  could  decide  to  send  missionaries  into 
a  pro-slavery  section  of  the  country.  Churches  not  already  divided  were  rent 
asunder  by  this  question,  like  the  New  School  Presbyterian  Church  in  1857,  which 
declared  that  "American  Slavery  is  a  sin,  and  can  not  be  justified  under  the  gos- 
pel." The  Church  of  God  would  have  in  like  manner  experienced  a  schism  had 
churches  and  Elderships  existed  in  the  pro-slavery  States  prior  to  the  War.  Events 
in  Texas  are  the  proof  of  this.  The  two  missionaries  to  Texas,  B.  Ober  and  E. 
Marple,  by  the  Spring  of  1856  found  everything  in  readiness  for  them  to  emigrate 
to  Texas.  They  left  Wheeling,  W.  Va.,  by  steamer  on  May  5th,  and  reached  Paris, 
Lamar  county,  Texas,  June  1st.  Lamar  county  borders  on  the  Red  River,  the 
boundary  between  Oklahoma  and  Texas.  They  found  the  moral  and  religious  con- 
dition of  the  people  extremely  low.  Lynchings  and  murders  were  frequent.  Yet 
there  were  many  churches  and  church-going  people.  Politically  the  country  was 
a  unit.  American  slavery  was  one  of  the  paying  and  popular  institutions.  No 
anti-slavery  sentiments  were  tolerated.  "No  liberty  of  speech,  or  press,  or  out- 
spoken consciousness  antagonistic  to  that  principle"  was  recognized.  The  people 
were  suspicious  of  strangers.  Even  to  be  suspected  of  anti-slavery  sentiments 
rendered  one  insecure.  Excitement  on  the  slavery  question  ran  higher  than  ever 
before  because  of  Acts  passed  by  Congress  and  conditions  in  Kansas.  Even  before 
the  missionaries  reached  Cunningham's  home,  upon  inquiring  the  way  of  a  man 
at  work  in  his  lot  they  were  asked,  "Are  you  those  preachers  whom  the  Cunning- 
hams are  looking  for?"  Upon  receiving  an  affirmative  answer,  he  remarked  that 
he  "understood  that  the  Church  which  we  represented  is  an  abolition  Church,  and 
that  we  were  sent  to  stir  up  the  people  on  that  question,  and  establish  an  abolition 
sentiment  Church,  and  if  so  you  will  have  a  warm  time  of  it."  Immediately  upon 
beginning  their  work  reports  of  various  kinds  were  soon  in  circulation,  and  opposi- 
tion at  once  began.  The  principal  charge  against  them  was  that  they  are 
abolitionists,  and  members  of  an  abolition  Church.  To  sustain  this  charge  "a 
number  of  anti-slavery  resolutions  passed  by  the  General  and  annual  Elderships, 
with  extracts  of  letters  from  'The  Advocate'  were  published."  But  the  mission- 
aries answered  that  they  "are  not  abolitionists  in  the  sense  of  that  term  as  under- 
stood; nor  yet  members  of  an  abolition  Church."  Violence  was  threatened  them, 
and  it  became  necessary  to  use  the  press  as  well  as  the  pulpit  to  defend  them- 
selves and  explain  their  position.  But  in  doing  so  they  offended  Church  senti- 
ment in  the  North,  and  were  in  turn  assailed  by  the  Editor  of  "The  Advocate,"  who 
also  republished  the  anti-slavery  resolutions  of  the  General  Eldership  and  of  An- 
nual Elderships,  thus  "encouraging  our  enemies  and  confirming  their  charges." 
"Winebrenner  endorsed  our  course,"  says  Mai-ple  in  his  history  of  The  Texas  and 
Arkansas  Eldership  in  July,  1880,  "both  by  private  and  printed  publications,  as 
long  as  he  had  the  use  of  'The  Advocate,'  which,  however,  was  soon  closed  against 
him  also,"  as  it  had  been  against  Ober  and  Marple,  The  Church  and  its  mis- 
sionaries in  Texas  were  thus  largely  placed  in  at  least  a  neutral  position  on  the 
question  of  slavery.  They  held  their  first  protracted  meeting  eight  miles  west  of 
Paris,  Lamar  county,  in  August,  1856,  where  the  first  church  of  God  in  Texas  was 
organized.  Marple  states  that  "at  this  meeting  the  question  with  reference  to 
slave-holders  was  tested.  J.  M.  Brackeen,  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  a  slave-holder,  and 
a  man  of  noted  piety,  respectability  and  infiuence,  presented  himself  for  member- 
ship, and  was  received."  Several  others  were  also  received,  one  being  specially 
mentioned  as  a  slave-holder.  Soon  after  this  "the  church  was  organized  in  Hop- 
kins and  Fannin  counties,"  adjoining  Lamar  county  on  the  West  and  South;  "and 
within  twelve  months  a  considerable  Church  influence  was  gathered."      The  oppo- 


General,    History  103 

sition  in  the  North  became  more  general  and  vehement,  so  that  they  became  con- 
vinced that  "our  support  from  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  would  be  discon- 
tinued at  its  next  regular  meeting,  and  our  names  dropped  from  the  Journal  of  the 
West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  we  would  be  left  here  in  a  flood  of  persecution, 
without  either  support  or  license."  Then  they  conceived  the  "idea  of  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Texas  Eldership."  At  first  Marple  opposed  it,  and  Ober  advocated  it. 
But  Mai'ple  yielded,  the  announcement  was  published,  and  the  meeting  was  held 
with  the  church  at  Liberty,  Lamar  county,  July  31,  18.57.  One  resolution  adopted 
which  declared  that  slavery  is  a  religious  and  political  question,  and  greatly  agi- 
tated at  the  present  time  by  both  religious  and  political  men  North  and  South,  we 
think  it  not  expedient  for  the  Church  of  God  to  interfere  with  it."  And  so  they 
protested  "against  the  resolution  of  the  General  Eldership  on  the  subject  of  slavery 
as  a  test  of  church  fellowship."  Colder,  as  Editor  of  "The  Chnrch  Advocate,"  re- 
plied that  "we  believe  that  churches  can  be  established  in  Texas  without  receiving 
slaveholders.  If  it  can  not  be  done,  then  there  can  be  no  churches  of  God  there,  and 
the  sooner  our  brethren  come  out  from  among  such  people  the  better."  Yet,  good 
reports  of  the  work  and  prospects  continued  to  be  sent  North.  In  1857  A.  J. 
Cannedy  stated  that  the  "Church  of  God  is  prospering  in  Texas."  "We  have  two 
small  organizations  here,  one  in  Hopkins  county  and  one  in  Lamar,  and  a  fair  pros- 
pect for  several  more  in  adjoining  counties."  In  Titus  county  Ober  had  been  doing 
some  preaching,  and  results  were  encouraging.  The  first  meeting-house  "for  the 
use  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Texas"  was  built  by  "the  church  at  Liberty  and 
vicinity,"  in  1859. 

Different  Elderships  adopted  resolutions  condemning  the  course  of  the  breth- 
ren in  Texas,  both  as  to  the  slavery  question  and  the  organization  of  an  Eldership. 
The  General  Eldership  in  1857  took  no  action  on  the  work  in  Texas,  nor  on  the  for- 
mation of  an  Eldership,  as  the  session  was  held  prior  to  the  organization  of  the 
Texas  Eldership,  and  application  was  not  made  for  a  Charter.  In  1860,  however, 
the  brethren  in  Texas  expected  action  to  be  taken  on  their  Eldership.  As  late  as 
August  of  that  year  they  were  "anxiously  waiting  for  the  proceedings  of  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership";  but  they  frankly  stated  that  "we  look  for  nothing  else  than  to  be 
rejected,  judging  from  the  past  treatment  we  have  received  from  the  Church  of  the 
North."  But  Colder  replied  that  "no  application  was  made  by  the  Texas  brethren 
for  admission  into  this  body."  "The  Advocate"  having  been  closed  against  the  fur- 
ther discussion  of  the  Texas  Eldership,  Ober  and  Maiiile,  who  were  "publishing  a 
county  paper  at  Mount  Pleasant,"  called  "The  Union,"  began  the  publication  at 
the  same  place  of  a  religious  periodical  called  "Bible  Advocate."  Winebrenner 
was  the  chief  apologist  of  the  cause  pursued  by  the  missionaries  in  Texas,  though 
a  few  others  also  took  up  their  cause  and  wrote  in  their  defense.  The  main  points 
made  in  extenuation  of  the  course  pursued  in  Texas  were  the  political  practice  of 
the  slavery  question,  and  the  earlier  practice  on  the  part  of  some  churches  of  God 
in  "receiving  slave-holders  into  the  church,  under  certain  circumstances."  Colder 
had  questioned  the  authorship  of  Ober's  reply  to  one  of  his  editorials,  and  this 
brought  forth  a  stinging  answer  from  AVinebrenner  in  which  he  sought  to  "disabuse 
your  suspicious  mind  on  the  subject,  by  telling  you  plainly  that  said  reply  is  Bro. 
Ober's  own  defense  against  your  austere  onslaught  upon  him,  as  one  of  our  mis- 
sionaries in  Texas,  through  "The  Advocate."  The  personal  correspondence  between 
Colder  and  Winebrenner  was  conducted  with  considerable  asperity,  as  each  recog- 
nized. But  as  Winebrenner  insisted  that  "the  controversy  is  not  of  my  own  seek- 
ing," and  that  he  had  been  "assailed  and  insulted  by  slanderous  statements,  and 
held  up  to  the  world  in  a  false  and  odious  attitude";  he  avered  that  he  was  only 
acting  in  "self-defense  and  in  the  performance  of  a  duty  which  I  consider  I  owe  to 
myself,  to  the  brethren  in  the  Church,  and  to  the  public  at  large."  But  Colder  in 
his  capacity  as  Editor  refused  to  publish  any  more  of  AVinebrenner's  articles, 
though  he  informed  Colder  that  "the  Board  of  Publication  have  given  me  the  right 
to  reply."  Winebrenner,  therefore,  published  in  a  pamphlet  of  twenty-eight  pages 
a  "Letter  on  Slavery,  with  an  appendix  containing  various  rejected  articles  ad- 
dressed to  Elder  James  Colder,  Editor  of  'The  Church  Advocate.'  "  The  pamphlet 
was  published  in  1858,  when  already  the  troubles  had  begun  in  the  East  Pennsyl- 
vania Eldership  which  threatened  to  disrupt  the  body.  The  Letter  on  Slavery  was 
subsequently  published  in  full  in  "The  Advocate."  AVinebi-enner's  course  in  pub- 
lishing this  pamphlet  was  disapproved  in  resolutions  adopted  by  several  Elderships. 

At  the  Eldership  held  at  Mechanicsburg  in  October,  185  4,  James  Colder  re- 
ceived as  his  first  appointment  Harrisburg  station.      He  took  charge  April  1,  1855. 


I04  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

Already  the  speck  of  a  cloud,  a  portentous  sign  of  the  approaching  storm,  was  vis- 
ible to  the  discerning  eye.  Little  rivalries  and  jealousies,  half  unconscious  in  the 
minds  of  the  principal  actors,  were  revealed  in  connection  with  the  Swatara  Col- 
legiate Institute  project,  at  first  favored  by  Colder  under  the  leadership  of  Wine- 
brenner,  and  thence  abandoned  in  favor  of  the  Shippensburg  Institute;  and  also 
the  sharply  outlined  diversity  of  opinions  as  to  the  Metropolitan  Bethel  (Fourth 
Street),  Harrisburg.  Yet  for  two  years  the  agitation  in  connection  with  the  slavery 
question  was  the  only  issue  which  was  generally  recognized.  The  graver  aspects 
of  this  question  in  the  political  relations  of  the  country  began  to  overshadow  the 
more  local  and  ecclesiastical  contentions.  By  August,  1857,  the  property  of  the 
Shippensburg  Institute,  a  school  established  some  years  before  by  JX  A.  L.  Laverty 
and  S.  Knisley,  with  whom  G.  U.  Hani  had  become  associated,  came  under  the  con- 
trol of  a  Stock  Company,  made  up  of  members  of  the  Church,  so  that  on  Sept.  3, 
1857,  Colder  stated,  that  "the  transfer  of  this  Institute  into  the  hands  of  the 
Church  has  so  far  progressed  that  we  presume  it  may  now  be  said  that  we  have  a 
school  under  our  own  control."  Two-thirds  of  the  trustees  being  members  of  the 
Church  of  God,  Colder  was  elected  Principal,  to  enter  upon  his  duties  with  the 
opening  of  the  Fall  term,  Oct.  14,  1857.  Being  pastor  of  Fourth  Street  Church, 
Harrisburg,  and  Editor  of  "The  Church  Advocate,"  Colder  realized  that  he  would 
have  too  much  work  if  to  these  duties  were  added  those  of  Principal  of  Shippens- 
burg Institute,  which  he  also  felt  it  his  "duty  to  accept."  Sept.  17th  he  "laid  be- 
fore the  church  his  resignation  as  pastor,  to  take  effect  on  the  1st  of  October,"  and 
"requested  the  church  to  take  immediate  steps  to  secure  a  successor."  The  church 
accepted  his  resignation,  and  chose  AVni.  Mooney,  pastor  of  Shippensburg  church, 
as  his  successor.  Colder  removed  from  Harrisburg  to  Shippensburg  on  Oct.  4th, 
and  Mooney  came  to  Harrisburg  Oct.  11th.  Colder  also  became  pastor  of  the 
Shippensburg  church.  On  Sept.  23rd,  "on  application  of  the  church  at  Harris- 
burg," the  Standing  Committee  "ratified  their  acceptance  of  the  resignation  of 
Bro.  Colder  as  their  pastor,  and  also  their  call  of  Bro.  Mooney  as  his  successor." 
At  the  Eldership  in  November,  185  7,  Colder  was  appointed  to  Shippensburg,  and 
Mooney  to  Harrisburg.  On  March  24,  1858,  Mrs.  Colder  died.  On  May  26,  1858, 
Mooney  died.  These  two  distressing  events  determined  Colder's  resignation  of  the 
Principalship  of  Shippensburg  Institute,  though  for  the  time  he  continued  to  act 
as  pastor  of  the  church;  but  changed  his  residence  to  Harrisburg.  The  dissensions 
between  AVinebrenner  and  Colder  now  developed  into  a  veritable  feud,  a  state  of 
open  enmity,  in  which  the  local  church  and  the  Eldership  became  involved.  Colder 
on  May  13th  published  an  editorial,  "A  Word  of  Explanation,"  and  another,  "The 
New  Hymn  Book,"  which  reflected  somewhat  on  Winebi-enner.  To  these  AVine- 
brenner replied,  under  the  caption,  "Remarks  and  Queries  to  Faultfinders,"  with  a 
series  of  ten  incisive  questions.  Colder  published  these  under  the  head,  "A  Com- 
munication from  Elder  J.  AA'^inebi'enner,"  in  which,  after  some  caustic  introductory 
remarks,  he  took  up  and  answered  each  question  successively,  the  answers  abound- 
ing in  disagreeably  penetrating  personalities.  On  June  24,  1858,  upon  petition  of 
sixteen  ministers  and  delegates  of  the  Eldership  of  1857,  G.  U.  Harn,  Speaker, 
issued  a  call,  "that  said  Eldership  will  meet  and  hold  a  special  and  extra  session, 
at  Shiremanstown,  Cumberland  county.  Pa.,  commencing  on  Tuesday,  the  6th  day 
of  July  next,  at  10  o'clock  a.  m."  When  the  Eldership  met,  "certain  charges 
against  Colder.  AVinebrenner  and  McFadden,  and  against  three  ruling  elders  of  the 
church  at  Harrisburg,  were  preferred  and  read."  After  considering  the  first  charge 
against  Colder,  and  three  of  the  specifications,  the  whole  matter  was  disposed  of 
by  certain  findings,  and  a  reference  of  the  matter  "to  the  disposition  of  the  Stand- 
ing Committee  for  final  action,  by  which  they  are  to  abide."  It  was  further  re- 
solved, that  "if  the  above  parties  fail  to  meet  the  above  recommendation,  then  the 
Standing  Committee  is  authorized  to  proceed  and  deal  with  the  parties  according  to 
our  Constitution."  At  the  extra  session  Colder  was  enrolled  as  pastor  at  Shippens- 
burg, but  disclaimed  sustaining  that  relation,  as  he  was  acting  as  pastor  at  Harris- 
burg. As  per  action  of  the  Eldership,  the  Standing  Committee  held  three  meet- 
ings between  July  7th  and  Aug.  16th,  but  at  each  one  "Bro.  Colder  failed  to  sub- 
mit his  case  to  the  Standing  Committee  as  required  by  the  Eldership."  The  Com- 
mittee decided  that  it  had  "no  power  to  appoint  Bro.  Colder  to  Harrisburg,"  and 
it  "authorized  Bro.  Flake  to  preach  for  the  church  at  Harrisburg  until  the  Elder- 
ship." It  also  declared  that  it  "considered  the  church  at  Harrisburg  to  have  com- 
plied with  the  demand  of  the  Eldership  in  submitting  their  case  to  the  Standing 
Committee."      But  on  Aug.  16th  "the  church  of  God  at  Harrisburg  held  a  meeting 


General    History  ,  105 

in  the  bethel  for  the  purpose  of  considering  the  recent  action  of  two  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Standing  Committee."  In  the  resolutions  adopted  the  church  approved 
of  Colder's  declining  to  submit  his  case  to  the  Committee.  It  also  "declined  the 
offer  of  the  services  of  Elder  J.  Flake,  being  already  well  supplied  by  a  pastor."  A. 
controversial  letter,  "in  reply  to  certain  proceedings  in  the  church  at  Harrisburg," 
was  issued  on  Aug.  24,  1858,  signed  by  Winebrenner,  Chairman,  and  Thomas,  Sec- 
retary. To  this  the  elders  and  deacons  made  circumstantial  reply  on  Oct.  22nd. 
Officially  the  existing  relations  remained  in  statu  quo,  until  the  Eldership  con- 
vened on  Nov.  3,  1858.  Charges  were  preferred  "against  a  part  of  the  church  at 
Harrisburg,"  and  three  "charges  against  James  Colder,"  and  were  acted  upon. 
Everything  in  an  official  sense  seemed  to  have  been  adjusted.  The  great  battles 
had  been  fought,  and  the  forces,  which  were  somewhat  divided,  all  seemed  to  view 
the  final  result  with  satisfaction.  Colder  had  been  appointed  to  Harrisburg  until 
the  Spring  of  1859,  and  he  declared:  "We  have  no  inclination  to  quarrel  with 
the  Eldership,  and  are  willing  to  acquiesce  in  the  decision  of  that  body  wherein  it 
has  made  any.  The  brethren  had  a  difficult  and  unpleasant  task  to  perform,  and 
we  are  willing  to  suffer  some  things  rather  than  to  protract  strife."  And  the 
Standing  Committee  two  months  later,  in  partly  reviewing  the  actions  of  the  Elder- 
ship said:  "Harmony  and  concord  once  more  seemed  to  prevail,  and  all  parties  ex- 
pressed great  satisfaction  as  to  the  result.  But  not  everything  was  settled.  Two 
elements  of  future  trouble  remained.  A.  X.  Shoemaker  was  appointed  to  Har- 
risburg, and  J.  Colder  to  Camp  Hill;  and  "Bro.  Colder  and  Winebi-enner  were  auth- 
orized to  submit  their  personal  difficulties  for  adjustment  to  the  Standing  Commit- 
tee." This  Committee  consisted  of  James  Mackey,  Jacob  Keller  and  E.  H.  Thomas. 
Said  Committee  met,  transacted  its  business,  and  published  its  report  Jan.  6,  1859. 
The  serious  character  of  the  troubles  is  reflected  in  the  final  paragraph  of  its  report: 
"We  can  not  close  the  above  exposition  and  statement  we  have  been  compelled  to 
make  of  the  circumstances,  involving  as  it  does  more  or  less  the  whole-religious  con- 
nection of  the  Church  to  which  we  belong,  without  expressing  our  heartfelt  sorrow 
of  the  circumstances  which  have  led  to  this  most  unhappy  dilemma.  The  greater 
part  of  half  a  century  in  which  we  have  heretofore  toiled  together  successfully  for 
the  prosperity  of  our  Zion,  our  God  has  revealed  to  us  no  such  severe  trial  of  our 
faith,  nor  anything  even  approaching  the  deep  anguish  of  soul  which,  as  the  people 
of  God,  we  are  at  this  time  called  on  to  suffer.  Nor  can  any  one  tell  how  far  into  an 
unlimited  eternity  the  dreadful  results  may  stretch  themselves  which  have  thus  be- 
fallen us,  and  gathered  in  thick,  dark  clouds  around  us."  On  Jan.  3,  1859,  Colder 
wrote  to  the  Standing  Committee:  "I  feel  it  is  my  duty  to  dissolve  my  connection 
with  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  I  therefore  hereby  request  you  to  take 
such  action  as  may  be  necessary  to  consummate  the  above  purpose."  The  Com- 
mittee, however,  did  not  act  on  this  request.  Colder's  review  of  the  report  of  the 
Standing  Committee  clearly  indicated  his  indisposition  to  abide  by  the  conclusions 
reached.  The  church  had  also  "remonstrated  against  the  appointment  which  the 
Eldership  had  made  for  Harrisburg  from  the  first  of  April  next"  (1859).  It  asked 
that  a  change  be  made  by  the  Committee.  On  this  remonstrance  the  Committee 
did  not  act,  so  leaving  the  appointment  stand.  In  the  same  issue  with  the  Com- 
mittee's Report,  the  Secretary  of  the  Harrisburg  church  council  published  an 
action,  declaring  that  the  church  "will  not  receive  Bro.  Shoemaker,"  and  request- 
ing "the  Committee  to  make  no  appointment  for  next  year."  At  the  same  meet- 
ing the  Council  also  recommended  Colder  "to  withdraw  from  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership,  and  we,  as  officers  of  the  church  of  God  in  Harrisburg,  pledge  ourselves 
to  stand  by  and  sustain  him."  By  this  time  it  became  evident  that  the  spirit  of 
rebellion  had  possessed  the  authorities  of,  if  not  the  whole,  church  at  Harrisburg, 
and  that  extreme  measures  were  imperative.  Accordingly  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Standing  Committee  held  Jan.  18,  1859,  Colder  was  "suspended  from  the  Christian 
ministry  among  us;"  the  pulpit  of  the  Harrisburg  church  was  declared  vacant,  and 
"Elder  John  Winebrenner  was  appointed  to  the  pastorship  of  the  church  until  the 
first  of  April  next."  The  general  charge  upon  which  the  suspension  of  Colder  was 
based  by  the  Committee  was,  that  he  "was  repeatedly  guilty  of  insubordination  and 
contumacious  conduct,  which  can  no  longer  be  tolerated."  In  obedience  to  the 
action  of  the  Committee,  on  Sabbath  morning,  Jan.  23rd,  Winebrenner  proceeded 
to  the  bethel  "to  claim  my  rights,  and  to  enter  upon  the  duties  of  my  office."  He 
had  been  previously  notified  by  the  four  elders  that  "the  action  of  the  Committee 
will  not  be  acquiesced  in  by  the  church;  and  you  are  further  notified  that  any  effort 
on  your  part  to  exercise  the  duties  of  pastor  among  us  will  be  resisted."      When 


io6  HisTOKv    ov   ruK    Churches    of    God 

Winebrenner  reached  the  bethel  he,  to  his  "great  surprise,  found  my  entrance  into 
the  pulpit  intercepted  by  a  quaternion  of  men  on  each  side  thereof;  and  besides,  as 
a  further  preparatory  measure  to  prevent  my  getting  into  the  pulpit,  the  Sheriff 
and  high  constable  in  attendance,  to  afford  them  aid  and  comfort."  AVinebrenner 
protested;  offered  to  read  to  them  "the  power  and  authority  under  which"  he 
acted;  but  to  no  avail.  He  then  left  the  house,  and  "a  portion  of  the  congrega- 
tion followed"  him.  The.  sermon  which  he  had  intended  to  preach  was  based  on 
Rom.  xvi.  17,  18.  Theme:  "The  Power  and  Duty  of  the  Church  Against  Offend- 
ers." The  permeating  thought  of  the  sermon  is  "The  doctrine  of  loyalty  and  sub- 
ordination to  all  rightful  authority  in  the  Church."  Shoemaker,  having  removed 
to  Harrisburg,  on  April  1,  1859,  addressed  a  note  to  the  elders  of  the  church,  ap- 
prising them  that  he  intended  "to  enter  upon  my  duties  as  pastor  of  the  church, 
and  preach  in  the  Fourth  Street  Bethel  on  next  Sabbath  morning  and  evening." 
He  was  promptly  notified  that  "any  attempt  on  your  part  to  supply  the  pulpit  would 
certainly  be  resisted."  And  when  he  went  to  the  bethel  and  was  "about  to  pro- 
ceed into  the  pulpit;  he  was  met  at  the  steps"  and  prevented  from  going  further. 
Colder  and  his  followers  having  possession  of  the  bethel  and  all  church  property, 
the  law  was  the  only  recourse  where  redress  could  be  secured.  Accordingly,  on 
April  11,  1859,  a  Bill  in  Equity  was  filed  "in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  and 
for  the  County  of  Dauphin,  sitting  in  Equity  in  and  for  said  County,"  by  John 
Winebrenner,  Isaac  Stees,  Jacob  Updegrove,  Michael  Newman,  Heniy  Clay,  Henry 
P.  Rodearniel,  William  Brown,  George  Yonsling,  Michael  Forney,  John  Bi"Ooks,  A. 
X.  Shoemaker  and  William  McFadden,  vs.  James  Colder,  John  Young,  A.  W.  Barr, 
Jacob  Miley,  Theodore  F.  lioyer,  P.  S.  Atticks,  S.  W.  Myei-s,  G.  W.  Felix,  John 
Ferguson,  Jonas  Rudy  and  Joshua  Jones.  Charles  C  Rawn  and  B.  F.  Etter  were 
Solicitors  for  Complainants. 

While  there  was  considerable  disaffection  among  the  churches  on  three  or  four 
of  the  fields  in  the  Eldership  as  a  result  of  these  troubles  at  Harrisburg,  there  were 
no  other  schisms;  and  while  it  produced  a  degree  of  lukewarmness,  few  severed 
their  church  relations.  One  minister,  however,  was  disciplined  for  co-operating 
with  Colder  after  his  suspension,  but  he  remained  a  faithful  member  of  the  Elder- 
ship for  many  years,  and  died  loyal  to  the  cause.  Three  others  withdrew  from  the 
Eldership,  one  of  which  was  restored  later,  and  another  one  made  tentative  over- 
tures. 

When  people  were  more  superstitious  than  they  are  now,  and  had  still  rem- 
nants of  the  faith  of  the  ancient  Greeks  and  Romans  in  omens,  signs  and  portents 
of  calamitous  events,  what  has  already  passed  under  review,  and  controversies,  dif- 
ficulties and  variances  following,  might  seem  foreshadowed  in  the  distressing  an- 
nouncement at  the  close  of  the  preceding  period,  and  more  fully  at  the  opening  of 
the  present  period,  of  the  death  of  M.  F.  Suavely,  North  Bend,  la.,  as  the  result  of 
a  railroad  accident,  on  the  Chicago  and  Rock  Island  Railroad,  near  Joliet,  111., 
which  occurred  to  the  train  on  which  he  and  Mrs.  Snavely  were  returning  from  a 
visit  to  East  Pennsylvania.  Both  he  and  his  wife  were  "badly  scalded,"  and  he 
died  eleven  days  thereafter.  He  was  not  quite  forty-five  years  of  age,  and  was  "an 
amiable  and  affectionate  minister  of  the  Church  of  God,  greatly  esteemed  by  all 
that  became  acquainted  with  him."  The  only  other  catastrophe  recorded  was  the 
destruction  by  fire  of  the  meeting-house  in  Adams  county,  Ind.,  Dec.  2,  1859,  "be- 
lieved to  have  been  set  on  fire."  But  there  were  more  or  less  troubles  and  conten- 
tions, and  numerous  controversies  and  debates.  A  good  deal  of  the  acrimonious 
belligerency  incident  to  the  division  in  Harrisburg  and  the  Texas  Mission  disagree- 
ment was  carried  into  western  Elderships  through  the  dissemination  of  Winebren- 
ner's  Pamphlet  on  Slavery.  The  anti-slavery  feeling  was  more  acute  in  the  Church 
in  the  West  than  in  the  East.  The  Dred  Scott  decision  in  1857,  and  the  bitter 
contest  between  Free  Soil  and  Pro-Slavery  emigrants  which  at  the  same  time  were 
pouring  into  Kansas,  each  determined  its  adherents  should  decide  the  destiny 
of  that  grand  Commonwealth,  did  not  tend  to  put  the  western  religious  mind  in  a 
state  to  consider  even  the  question  of  the  possibility  of  a  slave-holder's  regenera- 
tion as  a  test  of  his  fellowship  in  an  anti-slavery  Church.  This  was  immediately 
followed  by  a  strong  and  protracted  discussion  by  Harn  and  others  of  "Politics,  Re- 
ligion and  Slavery."  Harn  was  as  much  in  his  native  element  in  a  debate  as  the 
bird  in  the  air.  It  was  his  daily  diversion.  And  it  was  immaterial  to  him  whether 
it  was  theology,  religion,  or  politics.  A  debate  reported  in  the  early  months  of 
185  5,  in  the  "neighborhood  of  Winfield,  Tuscarawas  county,  Ohio,  was  between 
Ham  and  J.  AVeaver,  who  ten  years  later  was  elected  a  Bishop  of  the  United  Breth- 


General    History  107 

ren  Church,  who  for  his  Church  "performed  service  with  a  degree  of  success  and 
acceptability  not  surpassed  in  its  history."  Harn  affirmed  that  "Immersion  is  the 
action  ordained  by  Jesus  Christ  as  the  one  only  baptism."  Weaver  denied.  Weaver 
affirmed  that  "Children  of  believing  parents  are  proper  subjects  of  baptism."  Ham 
denied.  J.  W.  West  wrote:  "The  whole  was  a  decided  victory  in  favor  of  gospel 
truth,  which  has  since  been  fully  attested." 

It  was  not  often  that  ministers  of  the  Church  of  God  came  in  contact  with 
ministers  of  the  Protestant  and  Methodist  Church,  as  their  territory  was  largely 
along  and  below  the  southern  borders  of  that  of  the  Church  of  God.  But  in  Mary- 
land and  the  soutern  part  of  the  territory  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  fields 
somewhat  overlapped.  It  was  in  this  territory  that  Joseph  Glenn,  of  the  West 
Pennsylvania  Eldership,  heard  Rev.  McCulIoiigh,  of  the  Protestant  Methodist 
Church,  on  a  sacramental  occasion,  preach  a  sermon  in  which  he  "alluded  to  the 
humiliation  of  the  Son  of  God,  who  condescended  to  wash  his  disciples'  feet  in  ac- 
cordance with  an  ancient  custom."  At  the  close  of  the  services,  as  was  then  not 
uncommon,  Glenn  "challenged  the  proof  of  this  statement."  McCulIough  in  re- 
turn "demanded  proof  that  washing  feet  is  an  ordinance  in  the  Christian  Church." 
Correspondence  followed,  and  a  debate  was  arranged.  Neither  was  considered  a 
debater,  but  Glenn  was  credited  with  having  "discomfited  his  opponent." 

The  first  public  debate  by  A.  Swartz  was  held  at  Mt.  Joy,  Pa.,  with  T.  Mont- 
gomery, of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  beginning  July  15,  1856.  There  were 
four  propositions  debated,  to  wit:  Swartz  affirmed  "that  the  immersion  in  water 
of  a  proper  subject,  in  the  name  of  the  Trinity,  is  the  only  action  of  Christian  Bap- 
tism ordained  by  Jesus  Christ."  He  also  affirmed  "that  believers  are  the  only  sub- 
jects of  Christian  baptism."  Montgomery  affirmed  "that  sprinkling  or  pouring 
water  on  a  suitable  subject,  in  the  name  of  the  Trinity,  is  Christian  or  scriptural 
baptism."  Also,  "that  the  Scriptures  teach  that  infants  should  be  baptized."  The 
brethren  had  complete  confidence  in  Swailz's  ability  to  defend  successfully  his 
propositions.  He  was  an  analytical  reasoner  of  exceptional  power.  He  could  fol- 
low a  line  of  deductive  reasoning  with  equal  facility.  His  arguments  were  cold 
logic,  as  he  was  apparently  a  man  of  largely  undeveloped  but  nascent  sensibilities. 
He  had,  too,  that  tremendous  firmness  of  purpose  never  to  be  trified  with  in  an 
opponent.  Winebrenner  and  other  ministers  of  the  Church  were  present  and  gave 
Swartz  their  moral  support,  and  perhaps  more,  as  Montgomery  "charged  his  op- 
ponent with  being  surrounded  with  a  conclave  of  his  brethren,  who  were  counsel- 
ing and  sustaining  him."  Winebrenner  said:  "The  debaters  in  this  contest  were 
pretty  well  matched,"  without  any  special  commendation  of  Swartz  beyond  stating 
that  "believer's  baptism  by  immersion  stands  sure  and  safe."  He  did  not  approve 
of,  and  delight  in,  such  "public  discussions;"  but  he  attended  this  one  "for  the  pur- 
pose of  reporting  the  outlines"  for  the  columns  of  "The  Church  Advocate."  Per- 
haps the  best  fruits  of  this  debate  was  that  it  led  Swartz  to  write  his  work,  "The 
Trial  of  Mr.  Pedo-baptist,"  of  which  Colder  said  that  it  "promises  to  be  not  only 
very  interesting  and  readable,  but  also  a  very  valuable  help  to  all  who  are  con- 
tending for  the  right  ways  of  the  Lord";  that  it  is  "a  storehouse  of  arguments  for 
all  our  preachers  and  people." 

Discussions  between  the  ministers,  with  an  occasional  layman  and  one  woman, 
also  marked  this  period.  It  was  in  some  things  a  transition  period.  The  science 
and  art  of  music  were  being  more  generally  taught.  This  was  somewhat  of  a 
specialty  with  H.  L.  and  J.  B.  Soule,  both  ministers  in  the  East  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship. They  not  only  taught  music,  but  gave  "concerts  of  sacred  music"  and  "musi- 
cal festivals,"  and  strongly  urged  more  scientific  singing  at  church  services;  but 
they  favored  the  introduction  of  choirs  and  instrumental  music.  Colder,  Wlne- 
bi*enner  and  other  ministers  were  in  sympathy  with  them,  although  Winebi*enner 
deprecated  "the  tendency  and  fashion  of  the  times  as  calculated  to  drive  congrega- 
tional singing  from  the  house  of  God.  Choirs  and  organs  are  becoming  the  order 
of  the  day,  and  people  who  attempt  to  comply  with  the  instructions  of  Paul  are  re- 
garded rude  and  unchaste.  In  fine,  the  tendency  of  the  day  is  to  elevate  the  choir 
to  do  all  the  singing."  Even  Bishop  Mcllvaine,  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  in  a 
pastoral  letter  spoke  in  similar  vein.  In  this  controversy,  which  continued  for 
several  years,  Ellen  Stewart,  of  Copley,  Ohio,  who  also  was  a  preacher,  though  un- 
ordained,  took  a  conspicious  part,  declaring  that  as  under  the  Levitical  dispensation 
"their  worship  was  necessarily  so  much  of  the  outward  sort,  they  could  employ 
musical  instruments;  but  as  our  worship  is  so  inward  and  spiritual,  we  have  serious 


io8  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

doubts  whether  we  can  worship  acceptably  in  the  use  of  them."  In  the  churches 
this  controversy  often  waxed  quite  warm  and  created  a  great  deal  of  friction  and 
bad  feeling.      The  change  which  was  impending  was  a  revolution. 

Ellen  Stewart  naturally  figured  in  the  revival  of  another  controversy,  which 
as  yet  had  few  to  take  the  aflBrmative — the  right  of  a  woman  to  preach  the  gospel. 
She  castigated  some  Methodist  ministers  through  "The  Church  Advocate,"  who  had 
treated  her  "with  great  respect  as  a  private  member,"  but  when  "under  a  strong 
impression  of  duty  she  asked  permission  to  deliver  an  exhortation  to  the  people, 
was  repulsed  with  silent  contempt."  She  argued  her  side  of  the  question  with  a 
good  measure  of  skill.  She  had  an  opponent  in  Maria  E.  Brown,  but  she  had  less 
of  the  argumentative  faculty.  As  yet  there  was  no  disposition  apparent  among 
women  to  enter  the  ministry,  and  no  one  had  been  licensed  by  any  .Eldership.  But 
women  in  the  churches  of  God  freely  exercised  the  right  to  pray  in  public. 

From  1856  to  1859,  under  initiative  by  Ham,  who  was  irrepressible,  the  ques- 
tion of  the  use  of  the  plural  of  "Church"  in  Eldership  titles  was  agitated  in  print 
and  on  the  floors  of  the  different  Elderships.  It  might  be-  inferred  that  the  Editor 
of  "The  Church  Advocate,"  Winebrenner,  was  disinclined  to  open  the  columns  of 
the  paper  for  a  discussion  of  the  subject,  as  the  Ohio  Standing  Committee  in  April, 
1857,  "urgently  requested"  him  "to  permit  Bro.  G.  U.  Hai*n  to  express  his  views  on 
the  Church  title  in  the  columns  of  the  paper."  His  resolution  to  use  the  plural  in 
the  Constitution  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  had  been  adopted  in  1853,  but 
rescinded  in  1854.  Whether  in  active  opposition  or  not,  Winebi-enner's  patient, 
silent  influence  was  the  one  great  obstacle  which  Ham  could  not  conquer.  Yet  in 
no  other  trial  of  strength  did  he  so  nearly  succeed  as  in  this.  It  must  always  be 
assumed,  however  strong  the  temptation  to  the  contrary,  that  the  actions  of  dis- 
putants proceed  from  pure  and  honest  and  upright  motives;  and  so,  though  ambi- 
tion and  rivalry  might  have  been  strong  elements  in  his  character,  it  is  but  just  to 
Harn  to  credit  him  rather  with  having  not  a  particle  of  respect  for  the  opinions  of 
any  man  or  body  of  men,  but  homage  solely  for  the  truth  itself  as  he  perceived  it. 
Strong  men  were  on  both  sides  in  all  the  Elderships.  But  in  this  trial  of  strength 
Ham  temporarily  gained  the  victory.  Colder,  in  the  first  volume  of  the  paper 
under  his  control,  spoke  in  the  Preface  of  the  "Mission  of  the  Churches  of  God." 
By  October,  1859,  the  West  Ohio  Eldership,  the  East  Ohio  Eldership,  the  Southern 
Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership,  the  Iowa  Eldership,  the  Indiana  Eldership,  the  Illi- 
nois Eldership  and  the  Michigan  Eldership  used  the  plural  title.  Yet  in  1860, 
when  the  Amended  Constitution  of  the  General  Eldership  was  under  consideration, 
and  Harn  offered  his  amendment  "to  use  the  plural  form  of  the  word  'Church,'  "■ 
the  "amendment  was  lost." 

From  1856  to  1859  the  subject  of  ordination  of  ministers,  and  sometimes  of 
lay-elders,  by  the  imposition  of  hands  was  continued  from  the  previous  period.  It 
was  practiced  in  the  local  churches  in  some  localities  as  early  as  1831  and  1832, 
when  they  exercised  the  power  to  license  men  to  preach  the  gospel.  Winebi-enner 
in  his  "Scriptural  View  of  the  Church  of  God,"  published  in  1829,  taught  that  after 
choosing  men  to  fill  the  office  of  elder,  including  the  two  classes  of  elders,  "there 

ought  to  be  a  public  declaration  and  recognition  of  it either  with  or  without 

the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  presbytery."  He  was  never  an  advocate  of  the 
laying  on  of  hands.  "Justice"  held  that  Heb.  vi.  12  taught  "that  baptism  and  the 
laying  on  of  hands  are  visible  ordinances,"  and  that  "each  of  these  is  declared  by 
the  authority  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  be  a  'principle,  or  first  principle  of  the  doctrine 
of  Christ.'  "  His  conclusion  was  that  we  "are  no  more  at  liberty  to  reject  the  lay- 
ing on  of  hands  than  we  are  to  refuse  repentance,  baptism,  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead,  or  the  final  judgment."  The  discussion  originated' in  a  resolution  of  the 
General  Eldership  in  1854,  which  "referred  the  discussion  of  the  subject  to  the 
columns  of  'The  Advocate.'  "  But  the  resolution  affirmed  that  "ministers  among  us 
should  be  solemnly  set  apart  by  prayer  and  the  imposition  of  hands  by  one  or  more 
of  the  bishops  of  the  Church  of  God."  In  opposition  to  the  doctrine  of  the  resolu- 
tion was  A.  Swai-tz,  who  unlike  Irenteus  as  being  all  for  peace,  was  generally  ready 
for  a  debate.  He  could  have  waited  for  the  advocates  of  the  resolution  to  main- 
tain its  teaching,  but  they  were  silent.  Ham,  with  a  genius  for  controversy  which 
was  both  good-natured  and  caustic,  marshalled  his  arguments  in  support  of  the 
resolution;  arguments  of  which  he  ingenuously  said,  "If  they  are  capable  of  re- 
futation, I  confess  I  am  inadequate  to  the  task."  E.  H.  Thomas,  a  calm,  clear- 
headed reasoner,  unpretentious,  but  convincing,  so  forcibly  set  forth  the  affirma- 


General    History  109 

tive  side  of  the  question  that  Swartz  concluded  "he  no  doubt  feels  great  security 
and  hope  of  success,"  as  "he  signifies  his  position  to  be  invulnerable."  Wine- 
breimer  also  entered  the  arena  of  debate,  and  declared  that  "Bro.  Thomas  is 
mistaken  in  his  corollaries  or  consequent  truths  drawn,  as  he  affirms,  from 
this  discussion."  And  he  affirmed,  "that  our  practice  is  apostolic,  and,  of  course, 
in  harmony  with  the  New  Testament."  James  Mackey,  James  Colder  and  a 
few  others  also  participated  in  this  protracted  discussion.  Only  on  the  ques- 
tion of  tithing  did  Winebrenner  write  at  such  length  as  he  did  on  the  laying  on 
of  hands,  and  he  felt  convinced  that  "by  the  strong  array  of  arguments  we 
have  succeeded  in  showing,  not  only  from  the  testimony  and  admissions  of  eminent 
writers  on  the  other  side  of  this  question;  but  by  strong  and  conclusive  arguments 
drawn  directly  from  Scripture  and  sound  reason,  that"  our  opponents  are  "evi- 
dently in  error  on  this  subject." 

Somewhat  edifying  and  instructive  discussions  of  three  or  four  other  topics 
mark  this  period.  Among  these  was  the  old  question  of  Christian  union,  on  which 
Mackey  wrote  a  series  of  discriminating  articles.  The  writers  of  the  Church  of 
God  were  always  indisposed  to  advocate  Church  union,  insisting  that  this  is  not  the 
union  taught  in  the  New  Testament. 

The  order  of  the  ordinances  provoked  controversy,  as  it  was  reversed  in  prac- 
tice in  the  German  Eldership,  and  to  some  extent  in  the  Indiana  Eldership. 

Harn,  a  persistent  advocate  of  the  Bible  Union  project  of  a  new  version  of  the 
Scriptures,  started  a  discussion,  in  which  he  had  Thomas  as  an  antagonist,  of  the 
translation  of  ekkleesia.  He  would  reject  the  word  "church,"  and  substitute  "con- 
gregation" or  "assembly." 

An  animated  discussion  of  "Creeds"  occurred,  as  a  few  believed  a  declaration 
of  what  the  Church  of  God  believed  would  be  proper  and  serviceable.  Mackey,  R. 
H.  Bolton,  H.  L.  Soule  and  S.  M.  Hoover  were  the  principals  in  this  discussion.  As 
to  Creeds,  in  the  more  common  sense  of  the  term,  the  avowed  advocates  were  in- 
disposed to  show  their  hands.  But  there  were  signs  of  a  tendency  to  be  as  our 
neighbors  in  that  the  phrase  "our  Church"  had  gained  some  currency,  as  also  the 
prefix  "Rev.,"  and  the  designation  of  the  Church  as  a  "denomination."  It  was  also 
charged  that  a  leaning  toward  "independency"  which  might  threaten  disintegration 
was  fostered  in  various  quarters.  Ohio  seemed  to  be  the  best  soil  at  this  time  for 
such  a  growth,  when  it  was  charged  by  the  leaders  that  there  is  "a  prevalent 
opinion  that  the  churches  have  a  right  to  reject  whom  they  please,  and  make  their 
selection  of  any  man  from  any  field  of  labor." 

Dependence  for  church  upbuilding  and  enlargement  up  to  this  time  was  almost 
exclusively  on  revivals  and  camp-meetings.  They  considered  these  two  methods 
of  soul-saving  closely  connected.  They  were  mutual  outgrowths  of  each  other,  and 
as  the  latter  became  less  fruitful  in  conversions,  they  were  discontinued.  It  was 
still  customary  in  many  churches  to  have  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  preceding  a 
"revival  meeting."  For  they  were  so  accustomed  to  see  sinners  converted  at  their 
protracted  meetings,  which  with  them  was  a  "revival,"  that  they  called  them  so  in 
anticipation.  But  during  18.55  and  1856  the  revivals  were  not  so  numerous,  and 
generally  also  fewer  conversions.  There  were  a  few  rather  extraordinary  excep- 
tions, like  that  at  Mt.  Joy,  Lancaster  county,  Pa.,  where  up  to  Feb.  21,  1856,  "over 
one  hundred  had  already  professed  conversion."  It  was  not  uncommon  for  reports 
to  end  much  in  the  way  Winebrenner  ended  his  brief  reference  to  the  revival  at 
Harrisburg:  "From  eight  to  twelve  are  nightly  out  at  the  altar;  but  not  half  as 
many  converts  as  we  should  like  to  see."  At  some  smaller  and  newer  points  pro- 
portionately better  results  were  witnessed.  In  1857  the  country  experienced  one 
of  the  most  general  and  disastrous  financial  panics  in  its  history.  It  was  recog- 
nized as  a  "crisis,"  and  in  many  pulpits  became  a  theme  for  sermons.  It  was  pre- 
sented as  "a  season  of  peculiar  distress,"  and  as  a  divine  visitation  as  "a  conse- 
quence of  the  sins  of  the  people."  Fasting  and  repentance  were  strongly  urged. 
Whatever  the  philosophic  relation  of  such  events  to  the  kingdom  of  grace,  they  are 
quite  frequently  followed,  or  accompanied  with  increased  religious  fervor.  And 
so  in  this  instance,  more  revivals  were  reported  in  the  latter  part  of  185  7  and  the 
beginning  of  1858  than  for  several  preceding  years.  From  all  over  the  territory  of 
the  different  Elderships  came  the  same  enthusiastic  reports  of  meetings  of  unusual 
interest  and  results.  Writing  on  the  prevalence  and  power  of  these  meetings  on 
March  18,  1858,  the  Editor  of  "The  Church  Advocate,"  James  Colder,  said:  "There 
is  at  present  in  progress  in  our  country  a  revival  of  religion  so  extensive  and  glori- 
ous that  it  well  deserves  the  name  Great.      Making  its  appearance  in  New  York 


no  History    of   the    Churches    of    Gou 

City,  it  has  spread  to  hundreds  of  churches  in  other  places,  until  now  it  is  accomp- 
lishing its  heavenly  mission  in  about  twenty-three  States  of  the  Union.  So  ex- 
tensive has  been  the  revival  that  it  has  been  estimated  that  in  one  of  the  weeks 
recently  passed  fifty  thousand  persons  professed  to  be  converted."  And  reviewing 
this  period  on  Jan.  26,  1860,  the  new  Editor,  E.  H.  Thomas,  said:  "The  years 
1857-58  will  long  be  remembered,  especially  in  the  large  cities  of  our  own  country, 
as  seasons  of  great  outpourings  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  under  the  influence  of  which 
tens  of  thousands  were  brought  under  the  converting  power  of  divine  grace."  But 
this  marvelous  "refreshing  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord"  was  followed  in  1859' 
by  "a  great  drought  in  revival  news." 

In  185  5  camp-meetings  seemed  to  languish;  interest  waned;  criticism  de- 
veloped; ministers  and  even  Standing  Committees  urged  churches  in  the  matter, 
and  the  indisposition  to  tent  reduced  the  number  of  tenters  to  a  minimum  in  some 
places.  Yet  there  were  eighteen  camp-meetings  held  this  year,  to  wit:  In  Iowa, 
two;  in  Illinois,  two;  in  Indiana,  two;  in  Ohio,  five;  in  East  Pennsylvania,  six,  and 
in  Maryland,  one.  The  results  were  discouraging,  as  less  than  one  hundred  con- 
versions were  witnessed. 

In  1856,  with  the  approach  of  the  camp-meeting  season,  J.  F.  Weishampel,  Jr., 
under  the  Department  Head  in  "The  Advocate"  of  "Baltimore  Editorial  Depart- 
ment," conducted  by  him,  published  a  two-column  article  "Against  Camp-meet- 
ings." His  objections,  however,  were  mainly  against  such  gatherings  near  large 
towns,  because  "the  evil  committed  overbalances  the  good  that  accrues."  But  the 
churches  were  not  ready  to  accept  this  view,  and  hence  vigorous  replies  to  Weis- 
hampel's  article  by  G.  W.  Wilson,  of  Ohio;  and  by  "Augustus,"  were  at  once  pub- 
lished. That  the  churches  endorsed  these  sentiments  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that 
twenty-four  camp-meetings  were  held  in  1856,  distributed  very  much  as  in  1855. 
The  results  in  the  way  of  conversions  were  much  more  meager  than  In  1855. 

Iowa  in  1856  had  increased  the  number  of  its  camp-meetings  to  three.  In 
1857  an  effort  was  made  by  the  Standing  Committee  to  increase  the  number;  but 
instead  only  two  were  asked  for,  and  so  the  Committee  "earnestly  urged  the  breth- 
ren and  sisters  of  the  churches  of  God  in  Iowa  to  take  an  interest  in  the  camp- 
meeting  enterprise."  When  the  Ohio  Standing  Committee  met  to  arrange  for  the 
camp-meetings  for  185  7  there  "had  been  no  applications."  Ministers,  however, 
took  the  matter  up,  and  as  a  result,  five  camp-meetings  were  arranged  for.  East 
Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  held  fifteen;  Iowa,  two;  Illinois,  two;  Indiana,  one, 
and  West  Pennsylvania,  one,  making  a  total  of  twenty-six  .  The  reported  number 
of  conversions  was  over  one  hundred,  though  not  quite  half  the  meetings  were  re- 
ported in  "The  Church  Advocate." 

In  1858  the  number  of  camp-meetings  was  reduced  to  fourteen,  of  which  four 
were  in  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  two  in  West  Pennsylvania,  four  in  Ohio, 
one  in  Indiana,  one  in  Illinois  and  two  in  Iowa.  At  some  of  these  meetings  there 
were  no  conversions.  At  others  "several"  were  reported.  "Not  much  in  the  way 
of  conversions,"  reported  another  pastor.      Eighty-five  is  the  total  reported. 

The  total  number  of  camp-meetings  in  1859  was  twenty,  the  increase  being  in 
East  and  West  Pennsylvania  Elderships.  But  fifty-six  conversions  were  definitely 
reported,  while  other  pastors  reported  "a  few,"  "some,"  "small  number,"  "not 
numerous,"  "fruits  not  so  much  as  we  could  have  wished." 

But  while  results  of  camp-meetings  were  far  below  expectations,  work  through 
other  means  made  gratifying  progress.  The  first  steps  were  taken  to  extend  the 
territory  West  of  the  Missouri  river.  As  early  as  1847  H.  Roop,  of  the  Ohio  Elder- 
ship, had  removed  to  Missouri;  but  he  remained  only  a  short  time.  The  section  of 
the  State  eastward  of  the  Missouri  river  and  bordering  on  Iowa  was  the  earliest  to 
attract  Church  of  God  emigrants.  In  Clark  county,  in  185  5,  Henry  Sherick  and 
family  located,  and  called  for  preaching.  In  1857  George  Thomas  and  family  and 
Samuel  Thomas  and  family,  of  Bedford  county.  Pa.,  removed  to  Greene  county, 
Mo.,  in  the  southwestern  part  of  the  State.  They  Invited  ministers  to  visit  them. 
In  1859  other  families  from  Blair  county.  Pa.,  emigrated  to  the  same  section  of  the 
State.      But  up  to  this  date  no  regular  Church  work  was  done  in  the  State. 

A  mission  was  started  in  Nebraska  in  1857.  On  Feb.  20th  Winebrenner  an- 
nounced that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  to  send  a  missionary  to  Nebraska  and  one  to  Kansas  in  the  Spring,  "if  we 
can  raise  the  funds."     The  inception  of  this  project  should  be  attributed  to  a  "B. 

B "   (Dr.  Becker),  who  on  Dec.  16,  1856,  reported  from  Wyoming  City,  "a 

new  town  situated  in  Nebraska  Territory,  at  the  mouth  of  Weeping-Water  river. 


Genejrai,   History 


III 


surveyed  and  platted  in  September,  1S56,"  that  "one  lot  will  be  given  to  the 
Church  of  God  for  a  meeting-house  and  parsonage,  and  a  piece  of  ground  for  a 
cemetery."  On  March  4,  1857,  the  Board  of  Missions  appointed  I.  E.  Beyer,  of 
Mt.  Joy,  and  "former  missionary  to  Illinois,"  to  Wyoming  City,  Neb.  Ter.,  "prom- 
ising to  sustain  him  to  the  extent  named  in  his  letter  to  the  Board."  He  spent 
nearly  tvv^o  months  canvassing  for  funds,  and  then,  on  April  24th,  he  left  for  his 
mission  via  the  P.  R.  R.  to  Pittsburg,  and  thence  by  boat  dov^^n  the  Ohio  river  to 
St.  Louis,  and  up  the  Missouri  to  his  destination,  which  he  reached  May  25th. 
Otoe  county.  Neb.,  in  which  Wyoming  City  was  located,  is  on  the  Missouri  river,  the 
third  county  North  of  Kansas.  June  8th  Beyer  reported  that  Dr.  Becker  "has  ar- 
rived, and  is  going  to  make  good  his  promise."  Accordingly,  Beyer  selected  "in 
block  33,  lots  5  and  6,  donated  by  the  town  company.  .  .  .secured  by  obligation,  and 
deeded  to  us  when  built  upon."  By  October  27th  there  was  quite  a  change  in  the 
outlook,  when  "times  are  dull,  banks  are  closed,  money  scarce,  and  not  much  to 
do  in  any  way."  The  projector  of  this  mission  enterprise.  Dr.  Becker,  had  "gone 
East,  and  it  is  not  likely  that  he  will  return  again.  He  did  not  give  me  any  lots  at 
all."  The  Board  failed  to  secure  funds  beyond  the  $160  in  hand  when  Beyer  left 
Pennsylvania,  and  so  he  concluded  to  leave  the  mission,  and  on  October  29th 
started  for  Illinois,  holding  protracted  meetings  during  the  Winter  in  Iowa.  In  a 
letter  dated  December  9,  185  8,  "To  whom  it  may  Concern,"  he  says:  "Nebraska 
Mission.  That  is  an  entire  failure."  His  advice  is:  "Abolish  the  Board  of  Mis- 
sions." Meanwhile  the  Illinois  Eldership  had  passed  "a  vote  of  censure"  on  Beyer, 
"for  leaving  the  Nebraska  Mission." 

I.  E.  Beyer,  a  native  of  Lancaster  county,  Pa.,  was  licensed  originally  by  the 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1852.  He  had  been  attending  the  Shippensburg 
Institute,  taking  a  short  course  preparatory  to 
entering  the  ministry.  While  there  he  contributed 
his  first  article  to  "The  Advocate"  on  "Christ  our 
Example."  In  the  Spring  of  1853  he  went  to  Illinois 
to  enter  the  field  as  a  missionary.  Of  too  limited 
means  to  pay  his  fare,  brethren  at  Mt.  Joy,  Eliza- 
bethtown  and  Orrstown  gave  him  some  assistance; 
but  this  he  had  to  supplement  on  the  way  by  stop- 
ping off  at  several  points  to  earn  money  to  reach  his 
destination.  By  the  last  of  May,  1853,  he  had 
reached  the  eastern  part  of  his  work,  and  met 
Sandee,  with  whom  he  held  his  first  meeting  in  the 
neighborhood  of  G.  Schrell's.  By  June  2  0th  he  was 
at  Decatur,  where  he  made  his  headquarters.  His 
mission  field  extended  to  Jacob  Bear's,  three  miles 
from  Decatur;  another  point  four  miles  north-west 
from  Decatur;  one  six  miles  north-east  and  the 
other  six  miles  due  South.  In  September,  1853,  he 
urged  young  men  from  the  East  to  come  to  Illinois 
and  enter  that  inviting  field  of  mission  labors.  Sup- 
port to  some  extent  was  guaranteed  by  brethren 
agreeing  to  pay  six  per  cent,  for  five  years  on 
amounts  varying  from  $25.00  upward.  He  engaged 
in  more  general  missionary  work  in  1854,  his  tours 
taking    him  through    Moultrie,    Coles,    Cumberland, 

Jasper,  Crawford  and  Cook  counties,  Illinois,  and  Vigo  and  Parks  counties,  In- 
diana. Later  in  the  year  he  also  extended  his  labors  into  Christian,  Sangamon, 
Morgan,  Scott  and  Pike  counties.  In  1857  he  was  back  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
agreed  to  go  as  the  first  missionary  to  Nebraska.  A  town  was  laid  out  in  the 
south-eastern  corner  of  the  State,  and  lots  offered  free  tor  a  church  and  parsonage. 
The  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  sent  him  there  to  open  a  mission.  This  proved 
a  failure,  and  Beyer  came  eastward  into  Iowa,  and  later  to  Illinois.  He  was  a 
good  preacher  of  the  gospel;  was  self-sacrificing  and  faithful,  and  was  honored 
by  the  Illinois  Eldership  by  elections  to  different  official  positions,  among  them 
Speaker  and  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership. 

Iowa  received  two  accessions  to  its  ministerial  ranks  in  1855.  At  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  the  previous  year  P.  Shaw  and  A.  J.  Fenten  were  ap- 
pointed to  the  "Iowa  Mission,"  and  on  January  11,  1855,  it  was  published  they  will 
leave  for  their  field  "next  Spring."      Already  on  January  1,  1855,  the  Iowa  Stand- 


I.   E.    Beyer. 


112  History    of    thk    Ciil'rches    of    God 

ing  Committee  had  appointed  Fenton  on  "the  Northern  circuit,"  North  of  North 
Bend,  and  Shaw  to  the  territory  "extending  South  of  North  Bend,"  Johnson  county. 
They  left  Harrisburg  March  25th,  and  reached  their  destination  April  15th,  so  that 
by  April  26th  Shaw  wrote  that  he  is  on  his  field,  and  "nearly  around  my  circuit." 
In  Cedar  county,  bordering  on  Johnson  county  on  the  East,  an  emigrant  from 
West  Newton,  Pa.,  called  for  preaching,  saying,  "our  house  is  open  for  ministers  to 
preach  in."  Later  a  "revival  of  religion  and  the  organization  of  a  church  of  thirty 
members"  was  reported  from  said  county.  At  Pleasant  Valley,  Johnson  county,  a 
revival  was  enjoyed  under  Lininger,  in  185  5,  and  a  church  formed.  Scott  county, 
second  county  east  of  Johnson,  on  the  Mississippi,  had  received  some  emigrants 
from  Cumberland  county.  Pa.,  as  early  as  1850,  and  these  were  visited  by  Hawk, 
and  Fenton  and  Gill  preached  there  in  1855,  doing  good  work.  Buchanan  county, 
north-west  of  Johnson,  also  enjoyed  a  revival,  and  a  church  was  organized  at  Pine 
Creek.  It  was  in  this  county,  at  Pleasant  Prairie,  two  and  one-half  miles  East  of 
Independence,  that  the  second  bethel  in  the  State  was  built,  and  was  dedicated 
December  9,  1855,  A.  3Iegrew,  J.  Lininger -and  D.  Gill  officiating.  In  Louisa,  Des 
Moines  and  other  counties  the  work  was  advancing,  the  churches  in  various  places 
being  strengthened  by  additions  of  families  from  the  East.  The  church  at  Har- 
mony, Des  Moines  county,  built  a  meeting-house  in  1859. 

In  October,  1855,  AVinebrenner  wrote  this  prophecy:  "In  less  than  one  gen- 
eration from  this  time  the  States  of  Illinois  and  Iowa  will  embody  the  great  central 
strength  of  the  Church  of  God."  The  progress  made  in  Illinois  from  1855  to  1859 
indicated  the  verification  of  this  prediction.  In  1855  what  was  called  the  Win- 
chester Mission,  Scott  county,  was  assigned  to  George  Sandoe;  but  because  of  ill- 
health  he  resigned,  and  I.  E.  Boyer  was  appointed.  Scott  county  is  the  second 
•county  East  of  the  Mississippi  river,  where  several  families  of  the  Church  had 
located.  At  Lamot  Creek,  Crawford  county,  on  the  Indiana  State  line,  Boyer  and 
Rupi>  organized  a  church  of  ten  members  February  11,  185  5.  April  22,  1855, 
Kyle  and  Sandoe  "succeeded  in  organizing  a  church  of  God  in  Brother  Ephraim 
Bear's  neighborhood,"  near  Decatur,  Macon  county.  This  is  probably  identical 
with  "Brother  Rife's  neighborhood,"  where  "the  brethren  built  a  very  fine  bethel" 
in  1857,  which  was  to  be  dedicated  "the  last  Sabbath  in  January,"  1858;  "but  for 
certain  reasons  the  dedicatory  sermon  was  not  preached  until  September  19,  1858." 
This  was  the  first  house  of  worship  built  in  Illinois  by  the  Church  of  God.  It  has 
since  been  known  as  the  Boiling  Spring  church.  From  the  date  of  the  building 
of  this  bethel  to  18  86,  one  bethel  a  year,  on  an  average,  was  built  in  Illinois.  Con- 
siderable success  attended  the  labors  of  D.  S.  Byers  and  D.  AVertz  in  Joe  Daviess, 
Carroll  and  Bureau  counties,  in  the  northern  part  of  the  State,  during  1855.  A 
church  was  organized  at  Rush  Creek,  Joe  Daviess  county.  "Mt.  Carroll  Mission  is 
enlarging  her  borders."  After  a  successful  revival  at  Troy  Grove,  La  Salle  county, 
increasing  the  church  to  thirty-six,  arrangements  were  made  in  1856  to  build  a 
parsonage.  Here,  in  185  8,  Kyle,  the  pastor,  J.  H.  Hurley,  Klein,  Cain  and  Reed 
held  a  meeting  in  "a  mammoth  tent  put  up  for  the  accommodation  of  the  people," 
which  "was  attended  with  a  mighty  outpouring  of  the  people  from  all  quarters," 
coming  "from  a  distance  of  from  thirty  to  forty  miles."  In  Livingston  county, 
adjoining  La  Salle  on  the  south-east,  Andrew  AVagoner  organized  "a  church  of  a 
few  members"  in  May,  1856,  nine  miles  north-east  of  Pontiac.  In  August,  1857, 
D.  S.  Byers  and  D.  Kyle  held  a  "protracted  meeting  in  Pontiac"  and  organized  a 
church  of  six  members.  A  church  of  six  members  was  also  laboring  with  some 
success  at  Ottawa,  La  Salle  county,  in  1857.  A  new  mission  field  was  formed 
in  1856,  to  which  Rudolph  White  was  appointed,  called  "Monmouth  Mission,"  con- 
sisting of  Warren,  McDonough  and  Fulton  counties,  near  the  Mississippi.  In  De- 
cember, 1857,  a  church  was  organized  at  Homer,  Champaign  county,  composed  of 
five  members.  A.  J.  Fenton,  in  April,  1857,  organized  the  church  of  "about  a 
dozen,"  in  Decatur,  Macon  county,  but  they  had  "no  house  of  worship;"  but  "the 
brethren  think  of  building  next  Summer."  And  this  dozen  consecrated  members 
had  tenacity  of  purpose,  and  on  September  9,  1858,  published  the  dedication  of 
"the  new  bethel  built  by  the  church  of  God  in  the  city  of  Decatur,"  which  then  had 
a  population  of  9,000.  The  dedication  services  were  held  October  17,  1858.  The 
preaching  services  up  to  this  time  had  been  mainly  held  in  the  Disciple  house  of 
worship.  A  church  of  twenty-two  members,  all  heads  of  families,  was  organized 
by  D.  S.  Byei-s  at  Eight  Mile  Grove,  Henry  county,  toward  Spring,  in  1859. 

The  Michigan  Eldership  seemed  to  be  in  a  hibernal  sleep  during  this  period, 
until  in  September,  1859,  when  it  held  its  sixth  annual  session,  having  adjourned 


General    History  113 

the  fifth  of  October,  1853.  Its  territory  was  partly  cultivated  by  ministers  of  the 
Indiana  Eldership,  as  A.  R.  Slyt<»r,  the  most  active  missionary  in  Michigan  had 
again  united  with  the  Indiana  Eldership,  and  was  appointed  to  the  Thornapple 
circuit.  J.  B.  White,  who  called  himself  "a  young  preacher,"  was  licensed  by  the 
Ohio  Eldership  in  1853,  and  lived  in  Genessee  county,  Mich.,  the  fourth  county 
north  of  the  Ohio  line.  In  1855  he  reported  the  church  at  Flushing,  his  home, 
"much  discouraged  because  they  have  not  more  preaching."  "Our  trials  and  per- 
secutions are  almost  more  than  we  can  endure."  But  the  light  soon  broke  through 
the  lowering  clouds,  for  in  185  6,  in  the  month  of  .June,  he  had  a  successful  meeting 
in  Montrose  township,  Genessee  county,  and  organized  a  church  of  twelve  mem- 
bers. Two  brothers,  Moses  and  Ezekiel  Kelly,  also  licensed  by  the  Ohio  Eldership, 
in  1855,  removed  to  Hillsdale  county,  Mich.,  bordering  on  Ohio.  This  was  a  new 
locality  for  Church  work,  but  this  same  year  they  had  a  revival,  and  organized  a 
church  of  twenty  members  in  Allen  Township.  Success  also  crowned  their  labors 
near  Jonesville,  same  county,  and  a  church  was  organized.  In  the  Indiana  Elder- 
ship, through  the  energetic  labors  of  T.  Hickernell,  D.  Keplinger,  David  Neidig,  F. 
Konip,  A.  Ij.  Nye  and  others  quite  cheering  progress  was  made.  At  least  twenty- 
four  new  churches  were  formed,  and  conversions  aggregating  not  less  than  from 
one  hundred  to  two  hundred  and  thirty  souls  were  reported  by  the  pastors.  A  few 
houses  of  worship  were  erected,  but  as  yet  a  majority  of  the  churches  held  their 
services  in  school-houses.  The  territory  traveled  over  by  the  ministers  and  mis- 
sionaries of  the  Eldership  extended  into  not  less  than  sixteen  counties  of  the  State, 
and  several  counties  in  Ohio.  They  reached  La  Porte  county,  in  the  north-western 
part  of  the  State;  a  group  of  ten  counties  in  the  north-eastern  part  of  the  State; 
established  a  few  churches  in  Wayne  and  Henry  counties,  in  the  south-east,  and 
reached  within  eight  miles  of  Terre  Haute,  Vigo  county,  and  organized  a  church 
there,  and  crossed  Clay,  south-eastward,  into  Greene  county,  both  counties  lying 
in  the  south-western  part  of  the  State.  This  territory  in  the  south-west  was  so  far 
removed  from  the  work  in  the  north-eastern  section  of  the  State  that  late  in  this 
period  a  new  Eldership  was  projected. 

In  Ohio  it  is  only  needful  to  go  over  the  list  of  counties,  of  not  less  than 
twenty-eight,  in  which  the  most  of  the  successful  Church  extension  work  was  done 
between  1855  and  1860,  to  be  impressed  with  the  fact  that  the  center  of  Church 
population  in  the  State  was  rapidly  moving  westward.  In  the  south-eastern  corner 
were  Athens  and  Meigs  counties,  and  adjoining  Beaver  county,  Pa.,  west  of  Pitts- 
burg, was  Columbiana  county,  measurably  neglected  between  the  two  Elderships, 
and  the  work  was  slowly  dying.  Around  Wayne  county,  the  original  Ohio  mission 
field,  were  the  older  circuits  in  Stark,  Tuscarawas,  Holmes,  Summit,  Coshockton 
and  Knox  counties.  From  here  the  work  spread  westward  and  northward  across 
the  center  line  North  and  South  of  the  State,  into  Richland,  Crawford,  Wyandot, 
Marion,  Logan,  Hancock,  Seneca,  Wood,  Auglaize  and  Shelby  counties,  until 
reaching  the  Indiana  State  line,  Williams  in  the  extreme  north-west  corner,  and 
Defiance,  Paulding,  Van  Wert,  Mercer,  Darke  and  Preble,  every  county  in  succes- 
sion on  the  Indiana  line  except  the  two  most  southern  counties,  had  more  or  less 
preaching  by  Church  of  God  ministers.  Belmont  county  in  the  south-east  was 
occupied  by  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  It  was  but  reasonable  under  these 
conditions  that  the  Ohio  Eldership  should  desire  a  division  of  its  rapidly  expanding 
territory,  and  have  two  Elderships  organized,  and  also  have  the  State  line  between 
Ohio  and  Indiana  made  the  boundary  on  the  West.  The  initial  steps  were  taken 
in  1855,  and  the  division  was  harmoniously  accomplished  in  1857,  after  favorable 
action  by  the  General  Eldership.  This  new  Eldership  led  the  way  in  requiring 
ministers  to  go  to  their  new  fields  in  the  Fall.  During  the  five  years  from  October, 
1854,  to  October,  1859,  there  were  notable  accessions  to  the  ministry  of  the  Church 
in  Ohio.  Ham  went  to  Wooster,  under  appointment  by  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  made  in  October,  1855,  under  whose  labors  the  church  realized  that  "a 
murky  atmosphere  does  not  quench  the  stars."  With  their  new  bethel,  which  had 
been  dedicated  August  5,  1855,  and  a  man  of  Ham's  personality,  they  received 
new  inspiration.  In  the  Spring  of  1859  Ham  was  elected  "Mayor  of  Wooster 
City."  Also  L.  B.  Hartinan,  a  young  man  of  some  culture,  who  became  a  leader 
among  them;  M.  Beck,  a  Boanerges,  and  his  brother,  B.  F.  Beck,  a  man  of  great 
natural  refinement  and  conscientiousness,  the  first  minister  of  the  Church  to  re- 
verse the  order  by  going  to  East  Pennsylvania,  in  1858.  to  make  it  his  permanent 
home;  W.  H.  Oliver,  a  hard-working  revivalist;  R.  H.  Bolton,  evangelist,  mission- 
ary and  collector  on  a  more  extensive  scale  than  any  other  minister  of  the  Church; 

C.  H.— 5* 


114  History    of   the:    Churches    of    God 

J.  W.  Aukemian,  a  man  who  always  spoke  with  the  conviction  of  one  who  has 
given  sufficient  thought  to  his  subject  to  know  that  he  is  speaking  the  truth;  W.  P. 
Small,  mild,  firm,  and  who  would  convince  men  by  the  simple  truth  rather  than 
discursive  reasoning,  and  James  George  and  James  Wilson,  each,  with  James,  the 
Lord's  brother,  "a  servant  of  God  and  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  Altogether  the 
ministry  in  Ohio  was  a  strong  force  at  this  time,  going  everywhere  preaching  the 
word  as  the  power  of  God  to  save,  redeem,  elevate  and  ennoble  men.  They  knew 
nothing  of  any  other  means  or  measures  to  reform  and  improve  society,  and 
would  scorn  the  more  recent  systems  of  eugenics  as  co-operative  agencies  with  the 
gospel  in  the  moral  and  religious  regeneration  of  the  race.  While  the  work  ac- 
complished is  but  partially  on  record,  it  is  known  that  churches  were  formed  at  a 
number  of  places,  several  in  Hancock  county,  and  others  in  Seneca,  Williams,  De- 
fiance, Paulding,  Stark,  Wyandot  and  Crawford  counties.  At  least  a  dozen  new 
houses  of  worship  were  dedicated,  besides  the  one  at  Wooster.  Among  these  was 
one  at  Blanchard  Road,  six  miles  below  Findlay;  one  in  Venice  township,  Seneca 
county;  one  five  miles  West  of  Shelby,  Crawford  county.  Some  of  the  circuits  had 
grown  very  large,  as  the  Attica  circuit,  which  in  185  8  had  fourteen  appointments. 
Two  regular  missions  were  established,  in  addition  to  the  extension  of  fields 
already  occupied.  In  answer  to  an  application  by  E.  Logue,  in  1855,  "a  mission 
was  given  him  in  Stark  and  Tuscarawas  counties,  to  be  called  the  Canton  Mission." 
Canton  is  one  of  the  four  points  named.  Another  one  was  known  as  the  Akron 
Mission,  in  Summit  county,  which  had  ten  appointments  in  1856,  and  "the  pros- 
pects as  far  as  I  can  judge  at  present  are  flattering,"  said  the  pastor,  M.  Beck. 

Progress  in  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  during  this  period  was  limited. 
While  there  were  revivals  and  accessions  on  nearly  all  the  old  fields,  only  a  few 
newly  organized  churches  are  reported.  The  work  in  Virginia  "had  gone  down," 
and  the  Marshall  county  circuit  "was  broken  down."  One  church  was  reduced  from 
seventy  to  six  members,  "after  we  had  used  the  old  Jerusalem  broom,"  as  the  pas- 
tor described  the  process.  But  revivals  were  enjoyed  at  nearly  all  points  in  that 
section,  and  in  Greene  county.  Pa.,  and  Belmont  county,  Ohio.  The  latter  be- 
longed to  the  Wheeling  Mission,  and  at  Harrisville  a  small  organization  was  pre- 
pared for  by  giving  the  hand  of  fellowship  to  some  converts.  At  Pleasant  Grove, 
three  miles  nearer  Wheeling,  a  church  of  seven  members  was  formed  in  1855. 
On  Wheeling  Creek,  Greene  county.  Pa.,  a  church  numbering  seven  was  formed 
the  same  year.  Another  at  Bowmian's,  in  1857,  composed  of  nineteen  members. 
One  in  Marshall  county,  W.  Va.,  with  a  small  membership.  In  Somerset  county 
fair  progress  was  made.  A  meeting-house  was  built  in  1855  in  Upper  Turkey 
Foot  Valley.  In  1858  J.  A.  Plowman  went  into  the  town  of  Somerset,  county  town 
of  Somerset  county,  and  held  a  meeting  in  the  Town  Hall,  and  succeeded  in  or- 
ganizing a  church  of  twelve  members.  Armstrong  county  called  for  preaching, 
but  West  Pennsylvania  lacked  men.  In  185  8  J.  M.  Domer  and  A.  C.  Raysor  were 
in  McKean  county,  on  the  New  York  State  line,  and  organized  a  church  at  Brad- 
ford. The  first  movement  for  the  opening  of  a  mission  in  Clearfield  county,  then 
part  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  territory,  was  in  185  6.  Clearfield  lies 
across  the  summit  of  the  Alleghenies,  adjoining  Cambria  county  on  the  North, 
and  Jefferson  and  Indiana  counties  on  the  East,  in  which  work  was  being  done  by 
ministers  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  But  the  way  was  opened  for  East 
Pennsylvania  to  take  the  initiative  by  the  removal  from  Lisburn  to  Clearfield  of 
the  family  of  J.  H.  Jones,  at  whose  father's  home  at  Lisburn  Winebrenner,  thirty 
years  before,  was  often  entertained.  The  Standing  Committee  in  185  6  appointed 
J.  F.  Wieshampel  to  visit  Clearfield.  He  did  so,  and  opened  the  work,  establish- 
ing twenty  preaching  places  in  school-houses  within  a  radius  of  ten  miles  of  the 
town  of  Clearfield.  It  is  but  about  twenty-five  miles  from  Clearfield,  the  county- 
town,  to  Cherry  Tree,  Cambria  county,  where  there  was  an  organized  church.  But 
West  Pennsylvania  had  "no  suitable  man  to  send  to  Clearfield,  and  so  the  work 
was  suspended  for  the  time." 

The  work  in  the  Virginia  section  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  territory  was 
greatly  neglected  at  this  time.  It  was  mainly  limited  to  Berkeley  county,  but  no 
permanent  results  followed.  Four  and  five  appointments  were  kept  up  part  of 
the  time  by  the  missionary,  when  one  was  on  the  field. 

Favorable  indications  attended  the  work  in  Maryland,  in  the  counties  of 
Washington,  Frederick  and  Carroll,  and  in  Baltimore  City.  Revivals  attended  the 
labors  of  George  Sigler,  H.  L.  Soule,  T.  Bean  and  other  faithful  ministers.  Near 
Brownsville,  Washington  county,  September  16,  1855,  a  church  was  organized  by 


General    History  115 

Sigler,  which  by  October  numbered  twenty.  At  Carrollton,  in  1857,  Jacob 
Wickert  donated  a  lot  to  the  church  on  which  to  build  a  bethel.  The  church,  in 
October,  resolved  to  erect  a  meeting-house  on  it.  Work  was  resumed  in  Baltimore, 
by  "our  German  brother,"  J.  M.  Busch,  in  1855.  They  had  no  regular  place  of 
worship,  the  most  serious  drawback,  he  says.  He  preached  at  the  Alms-house, 
and  observed  the  three  ordinances.  As  yet  he  had  no  license,  but  in  the  Fall  of 
this  year  he  received  license  from  the  German  Eldership.  In  1856  a  church  was 
organized,  and  they  were  encouraged  to  believe  they  "will  increase  very  rapidly." 
One  of  the  members  and  leaders,  Presley  T.  Davis,  applied  through  AVinebrenner 
for  membership  in  the  Bast  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Another  organization, 
known  as  the  "Union  Church  of  God,"  also  existed  in  the  City,  and  in  1859  ex- 
pressed a  desire  to  unite  with  the  church  Busch  had  organized.  Winebrenner 
visited  Baltimore  this  year,  in  May,  and  preached  in  German  in  the  morning  in  the 
Otterbein  United  Brethren  church,  and  "in  Old  Town  for  the  'Union  Church  of 
God'  in  the  evening." 

Within  the  State,  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  was  devoting  its  energies 
quite  largely  to  the  substantial,  permanent  work  of  the  churches.  The  building 
and  auspicious  dedication  of  Fourth  Street  Bethel,  Harrisburg,  gave  added  im- 
pulse to  better  the  material  environments  of  churches  and  pastors.  More  than  a 
score  of  good  meeting-houses  were  built  in  this  semi-decade,  and  the  wisdom, 
comfort  and  economy  of  having  parsonages  became  more  evident.  The  term 
"bethel"  to  designate  houses  of  worship  in  various  ways  commended  itself  to  the 
churches.  But  as  from  its  use  to  designate  the  building  it  was  transferred  to  the 
organization,  a  tendency  originated  to  reverse  this  order,  and  call  the  house  as 
well  as  the  church  "the  church  of  God."  In  commenting  on  a  notice  of  the 
dedication  of  the  Fourth  Street  Bethel  by  the  Harrisburg  "Patriot,"  Winebrenner 
strongly  disapproved  of  this  practice.  The  "Patriot"  said:  "Last  Sunday  a  week 
the  new  Church  of  God,  on  Fourth  street,  was  dedicated  with  imposing  cere- 
monies." Winebi-enner  said:  "The  notice  here  quoted  requires  a  slight  cor- 
rection to  make  it  right.  Instead  of  saying  'the  new  Church  of  God,'  they  should 
have  said  the  new  Bethel  (or  Metropolitan  Bethel)  of  the  Church  of  God  was 
dedicated."  In  some  sections,  as  in  Adams,  Juniata,  Lehigh  and  Berks  counties 
the  work  was  somewhat  neglected,  and  was  measurably  declining.  In  others  new 
churches  were  organized  and  general  and  healthy  growth  revealed.  While  the 
church  on  Broad  Top  mountain  become  extinct  by  removals,  and  their  bethel  fell 
into  ruins,  at  the  other  end  of  the  circuit  as  it  then  was,  Simon  Fleegal,  in  January 
1855,  reported  the  organization  of  a  church  at  Fort  Littleton,  numbering  twenty- 
six.  In  July,  1855,  "a  gracious  revival  broke  out  in  the  little  village  of  Worm- 
leysburg,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  from  Harrisburg."  Up  to  a  few  months 
prior  to  this  "no  organized  church"  was  there.  There  was  "an  old,  dilapidated 
building  there,  belonging  to  the  Methodists,  and  which  a  society  of  that  denomina- 
tion had  formerly  used."  In  this  building  McFadden  preached,  and  later  in  the 
school-house.  At  the  Eldership  in  the  Fall  McFadden  reported  "the  organization 
of  a  church"  at  Wormleysburg.  In  York  county  J.  Machlin  organized  a  church 
at  Cross  Roads  appointment,  in  185  6,  and  one  at  Maytown  school-house.  William 
Krieger  in  January,  1855,  organized  a  church  "about  four  miles  from  Shellsburg, 
in  a  school-house,  at  the  foot  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains.  J.  M.  Hebler  in  the 
Summer  of  this  year  began  regular  preaching  in  Pottsville,  county-town  of  Schuyl- 
kill county,  in  a  school-house  rented  for  the  purpose,  and  "there  are  prospects  of 
soon  raising  a  church  of  God  in  this  place."  There  was  regular  preaching  at 
many  points,  and  protracted  meetings  held,  at  which  no  organizations  of  churches 
were  reported.  This  was  the  case  at  Mt.  Pleasant  and  at  Mountville,  Lancaster 
county;  at  Cumberland  Furnaces  and  Milltown,  seven  miles  South  of  Newville, 
Cumberland  county;  Thompsontown,  Juniata  county;  Forney's  school-house, 
Dauphin  county;  Deer  Lick,  on  the  "Broad  Top  circuit,"  and  very  many  other 
points.  Some  of  these  points  had  a  sufficient  membership  to  have  ordinance  meet- 
ings. At  Mt.  Nebo,  Lebanon  county.  Dr.  George  Ross  bought  the  right  to  preach 
in  a  union  meeting-house.  The  "Matamoras  and  Juniata  circuit"  in  1858  had  ten 
appointments.  As  on  many  other  circuits,  a  majority  of  these  were  in  school- 
houses,  and  had  not  the  local  strength  to  become  permanent. 

One  of  these  school-house  appointments  in  1855,  which  grew  into  a  strong, 
permanent  church,  was  located  at  the  "Forks  of  the  Creek,"  or  confluence  of  the 
Sidling  Hill  and  Little  Aukwick,  Huntingdon  county,  later  called  Walnut  Grove. 


ii6  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

Here  a  bethel  was  built  in  185  5,  dedicated  by  A.  X.  Shoemaker.      Simon  Fleegal 

was  the  pastor,  who  "with  his  own  hands  laid  part  of  the  foundation."  At  New 
Kingston,  Cumberland  county,  the  church  in  April,  185  5,  decided  to  build  a  meet- 
ing-house; completed  it  during  the  Summer,  and  held  the  dedicatory  services  No- 
vember 30th.  J.  C.  Oivens  was  pastor,  and  W'inebrenner  preached  the  Sabbath 
morning  sermon.  The  Adventists  had  an  interest  in  this  house,  and  J.  Litch,  one 
of  their  prominent  ministers,  officiated  on  Saturday  and  Sunday  evenings.  At 
Doubling  Gap,  same  county,  the  brethren,  under  the  supervision  of  a  Building 
Committee  composed  of  Peter  Baker,  Leonard  Weast  and  Heni-j'  Snyder,  began  in 
May,  1855,  to  collect  "funds  for  the  building  of  a  meeting-house  for  the  use  of  the 
church  of  God"  at  that  place.  As  appointee  by  the  German  Eldership,  J.  F. 
Weishanipel,  in  April,  18  55,  went  to  Reading,  Berks  county,  as  a  missionary.  He 
"rented  a  large  store-room  on  the  corner  of  Eighth  and  Walnut  streets  which  he 
fitted  up  so  as  to  accommodate  over  a  hundred  people."  This  was  "dedicated  to 
the  worship  of  God  on  Sabbath,  May  13th.  Winebrenner  preached  the  dedicatory 
sermon  in  German,  from  Ezekiel  xliii.  10,  11.  In  the  afternoon  Weishampel 
preached  a  German  sermon,  and  in  the  evening  AVinebrenner  preached  an  English 
sermon.  In  Schuylkill  county,  during  the  Summer  of  1855,  two  houses  of  wor- 
ship were  built,  one  in  Mahantango  Valley  and  one  in  Deep  Creek  Valley,  about 
three  miles  apart.  These  were  dedicated  late  in  the  year,  on  successive  Sundays, 
by  AVinebrenner  and  Keller,  The  latter  is  located  in  Weishampeltown,  and  the 
former  on  the  land  of  Brother  George  Hepler."  Two  houses  of  worship  were  built 
In  this  county  in  1856.  One  about  a  mile  East  of  Valley  View,  in  Lykens  Valley, 
removed  into  the  village  in  1871.  The  other  at  Osmanstown,  Lower  Mahantango 
Valley,  dedicated  August  10th.  On  June  1,  1856,  the  corner-stone  of  "the  new 
bethel  in  the  neighborhood  of  John  Miller  and  John  Felty,  Susquehanna  township, 
Dauphin  county,"  was  laid.  The  dedication  took  place  November  30th.  Colder 
preached  Saturday  evening  and  Sabbath  morning,  and  Keller,  Sabbath  evening. 
At  Hummelstown,  same  county,  the  church  worshiped  in  the  Methodist  house;  but 
in  December,  when  Winebrenner,  J.  Ross  and  Keller  went  there  to  hold  a  pro- 
tracted meeting  they  were  "shut  out  of  their  meeting-house."  They  held  the  ser- 
vices in  the  "Union  Meeting-house."  This  prepared  the  way  for  "agitating  the 
question  of  erecting  a  bethel  for  their  own  use."  The  church  in  Maytown  wor- 
shiped in  Mailin  Beck's  meeting-house,  a  mile  from  town,  before  it  was  organized 
in  the  town  by  G.  Sigler,  May  24,  1858.  The  Beck  house  was  built  on  Martin 
Beck's  land,  and  principally  by  himself.  It  was  dedicated  by  J.  Litch,  of  Phila- 
delphia, December  25,  185  6.  Under  Sigler  and  A.  H.  Long  the  work  in  town  was 
started,  and  in  18  59  the  building  of  a  bethel  was  undertaken.  The  corner-stone 
was  laid  August  7th,  and  the  house  dedicated  November  13th.  S.  Fleegal  was 
then  the  pastor,  and  Winebi-enner,  Thomas  and  Long  conducted  the  dedicatory 
services.  In  York  county  the  church  at  Newberry  built  a  bethel  during  the  Sum- 
mer of  18  56,  which  was  dedicated  by  Winebrenner  February  1,  1857.  C.  Price 
was  the  pastor.  Under  Price's  labors  in  the  same  county,  during  1857,  the  church 
at  Ball  Hills  built  a  bethel,  which  was  dedicated  August  2nd,  Swartz  and  Ross 
officiating.  August  9,  1857,  under  Price  as  pastor,  the  church  at  Goldsboro,  York 
county,  laid  the  corner-stone  of  their  new  bethel,  with  AVinebrenner  as  minister. 
The  house  was  dedicated  on  Whit  Sunday,  May  23,  1858.  "The  corner-stone  of  a 
new  bethel  now  building  in  Fairview,  York  county,"  was  laid  by  James  Colder, 
August  23,  1857,  J.  Keller,  pastor.  The  church  at  Oak  Grove,  Perry  county,  built 
a  "new  bethel"  in  1858,  which  was  dedicated  by  Colder,  October  24th.  The  church 
at  Newville,  Cumberland  county,  began  the  building  of  its  new  house  on  the  main 
street  in  the  after  part  of  the  Summer  of  18  59,  and  laid  the  corner-stone  on  Sat- 
urday forenoon,  September  20th,  Thomas  officiating.  In  Bedford  county  th6 
church  at  Lafayetteville  was  reorganized  at  Bakersville  in  1856.  In  1858  they 
built  a  meeting-house,  which  was  dedicated  by  A.  H.  Long,  December  5th.  Spruce 
Hollow,  Blair  county,  were  "making  ready  to  build"  in  1856,  to  dedicate  in  the 
Fall.  They  wfire  delayed,  and  in  January,  1858,  formed  a  new  resolution  to  build 
during  the  Summer,  and  actually  began  work  in  185  9.  AA^ishampel  regarded  this 
place  as  "headquarters  for  the  Allegheny  circuit,"  lying  between  the  "Cove"  and 
the  Allegheny  Mountains. 

At  the  Eldership  held  at  Middletown,  beginning  November  4,  1857,  the  Bap- 
tist church  at  Chambersburg,  county-seat  of  Franklin  county,  proposed  to  trans- 
fer their  unfinished  house  of  worship  to  the  Eldership  in  consideration  of   "the 


*  General    History  117 

payment  of  certain  claims  now  held  against  the  building."  The  Standing  Commit- 
tee and  Board  of  Missions  were  "authorized  forthwith  to  attend  to  the  matter,  and 
take  such  steps  as  will  secure  the  property  to  this  body."  The  house  in  its  un- 
finished condition  had  cost  the  Baptist  church  $2,700.  The  committee  appointed 
tor  the  purpose  bought  it  for  $1,245.  But  the  "Baptists  released  to  us  the  sur- 
plus above  the  judgments,  which  was  $425,  thus  making  the  actual  cost  of  the 
property  about  $800."  The  house  was  finished,  and  the  dedication  services  were 
held  September  26,  1858.  Wiiiebreiiner  preached  the  sermon.  Other  ministers 
present  and  assisting  were  Mackey,  Thomas,  Owens  and  Laveity.  The  church  was 
organized  by  Laverty  December  19,  1858. 

Work  on  the  Montgomery  county  mission  continued,  with  favorable  results. 
Soule,  Long,  Keller  and  others  labored  there,  and  a  number  received  Christ.  A 
Sabbath-school  of  forty  was  organized  at  Kulpsville,  with  the  intention  of  organ- 
izing a  church.      Preaching  places  had  increased  to  ten. 

Divisions  in  Churches  occurred  occasionally  during  this  period.  The  Advent 
Christian  Church,  in  1855,  grew  out  of  a  division  "over  immortality."  They  be- 
lieve "the  dead  sleep  in  unconscious  repose  until  Christ  comes;  that  immortality 
is  conditioned  upon  receiving  Christ,  and  that  the  wicked  will  utterly  perish." 
The  efforts  at  union  sometimes  brought  results.  The  United  Presbyterian  Church 
of  North  America  was  organized  in  1858  by  a  union  of  the  Associate  and  Associate 
Reformed  Churches.  But  not  all  the  local  churches  went  into  the  union,  and 
these  formed  the  Associate  Church  of  North  America.  The  Free  Methodists  about 
this  time  effected  a  general  organization.  The  ministers  and  churches  of  God  re- 
ceived encouragement  in  their  contention  in  favor  of  the  washing  of  the  saints' 
feet  as  a  symbolical  ordinance  by  learning  the  fact  that  in  North  Carolina  and  a 
few  other  States  were  churches  which  held  this  faith. 

Credit  is  due  J.  F.  Weishampel,  whose  prolific  brain  evolved  various  projects, 
for  the  suggestion  made  in  1853,  that  the  General  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God 
be  represented  in  the  Washington  Monument,  at  Washington,  D.  C,  by  a  block  of 
marble  with  suitable  inscription.  The  suggestion  was  intended  for  the  General 
Eldership  in  1854;  but  no  action  was  taken.  He  had  visited  Washington  in  1853, 
and  saw  the  Monument,  in  course  of  erection,  and  noticed  the  marble  blocks  of 
various  sizes  and  colors  contributed  by  the  different  States,  Societies,  Churches 
and  foreign  Governments.  The  General  Eldership  having  overlooked  the  matter, 
Weishampel  renewed  his  suggestion  to  Mackey,  Haifleigh  and  Myei-s,  Speaker  and 
Clerks.  He  urged  them  to  endorse  his  plan  and  urge  contributions.  He  estimated 
the  cost  of  a  block  of  Pennsylvania  marble,  four  feet  long,  two  feet  wide  and  one 
foot  thick,  at  $100.00  delivered  and  ready  to  be  placed  in  position.  He  also 
worded  the  Inscription,  to  wit: 

"To  God  be  all  the  Glory!  Who  raised  up  AVashington,  the  American  Moses, 
to  lead  this  Nation  out  of  British  Bondage.  Contributed  by  the  General  Eldership 
of  the  Church  of  God  in  the  United  States." 

As  his  first  appeal  elicited  no  responses,  Weishampel  repeated  it  in  February, 
1855.  He  also  published  a  "Circular  Letter"  to  the  churches,  soliciting  funds. 
Mackey  on  several  occasions  endorsed  the  enterprise.  Ham  strongly  commended 
it;  but  with  his  congratulations  he  insisted  that  the  word  "Church"  in  the  Inscrip- 
tion be  changed  to  "Churches,"  which  Weishampel  refused.  Hani  threatened  to 
oppose  the  project  if  the  change  were  not  made.  The  stone  was  to  be  delivered 
February  22,  1855,  but  there  were  then  but  $25.00  promised.  By  the  latter  part 
of  1856  work  on  the  Monument  was  suspended.  Interest  in  the  matter  of  fur- 
nishing a  block  of  marble  by  the  Church  had  vanished.  On  February  22,  1859, 
Weishampel  was  again  in  Washington,  and  saw  the  unfinished  shaft.  Two  hun- 
dred blocks  were  in  position,  with  one  hundred  in  the  shed  awaiting  the  progress 
of  the  work  to  be  put  in  their  respective  places.  Weishampel  renewed  his  appeal, 
insisting  that  "the  General  Eldership  must  be  represented,"  and  declaring  that  he 
"would  raise  the  money  by  the  meeting  of  the  body  in  1860,"  and  would  have  the 
"block  ready  to  present  to  the  General  Eldership."  For  the  time  all  was  a 
kaleidoscopic  vision.  The  Monument  was  completed  December  6,  1844,  a  year  and 
sixteen  days  after  Weishampel  had  been  gathered  to  the  fathers. 

Early  in  this  period  general  activity  in  behalf  of  Prohibition  continued  in  the 
Elderships,  the  churches  of  God,  The  Church  Advocate,  and  by  temperance  people 
in  the  Northern  States.  Prohibitory  laws  were  enacted,  or  Constitutions  amended, 
so  that  the  universal  triumph  of  Prohibition  appeared  at  hand.     But  the  tide  begau 


ii8  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

to  recede,  and  toward  the  end  of  this  period  Mackey  editorially  lamented  that  "not 
a  word  is  heard  on  Prohibition,"  while  most  of  the  ground  which  had  been  gained 
was  again  lost,  and  Prohibition  was  pronounced  dead. 

The  question  of  "healing  the  sick,"  according  to  James  v.  14,  15,  was  some- 
what agitated  in  185  6-7.  Winebrenner  regarded  the  texts  as  "a  recognition  of 
that  power  given  to,  and  exercised  by,  the  Apostles."  And  "if  it  was  not  the  design 
of  God  to  continue  this  power  in  the  church,  why  did  Jarhes,  a  servant  of  God  and 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  thus  write  to  the  twelve  tribes  scattered  abroad?" 

The  sentiment  against  Christians  frequenting  balls,  theaters  and  like  places 
of  amusements  was  emphatic  and  general  in  the  Church.  The  theatrical  season 
was  called  "Satan's  annual  festival."  No  "heart  renewed  by  grace  can  desire  such 
carnality."  The  theater  "is  inconsistent  with  every  Christian  principle."  To  be 
there  was  "to  be  on  the  devil's  ground."  These  sentiments  are  expressed  on  the 
editorial  page,  but  it  is  not  indicated  whether  Winebrenner,  Mackey  or  Colder  was 
their  author.  But  Winebrenner  did  teach  that  only  "mere  professors,  and  not 
such  as  possess  what  they  profess,  visit  these  demoralizing  places."  And,  "We 
hope  that  God's  ministers  and  people  will  unite  to  pray  and  preach  down  all  these 
abominations."  To  call  theaters  "Synagogues  of  Satan"  was  regarded  as  a  happy 
appropriation  of  an  expressive  patronymic. 


CHAPTER    X. 


1860—1865. 


THE  period  from  1860  to  1865  is  the  most  momentous  in  the  history  of  the 
United  States,  and  at  the  same  time  it  was  a  period  of  tribulation  and  trials 
and  dissensions,  in  the  Churches  in  the  Northern  States.  The  Church  of 
God  did  not  escape  the  vexations  incident  to  the  slavery  controversy  and  the  war 
for  the  preservation  of  the  Union.  For  notwithstanding  the  radical  deliverances 
of  the  General  Eldership  and  the  Annual  Elderships,  as  well  as  of  religious  bodies 
of  other  Churches,  there  was  a  strong,  if  subdued,  feeling  in  the  North  in  favor  of 
compromising  with  this  relic  of  barbarism.  For  the  nation,  like  another  Laocoon, 
was  entering  upon  the  final  struggle  with  the  folds  of  the  serpent  of  slavery,  and 
stood  face  to  face  with  disunion  and  death.  In  many  places  sentiment  was  divided, 
and  there  was  a  strong  minority  which  had  no  sympathy  with  the  anti-slavery  prop- 
aganda, nor  with  any  effort  of  a  militant  character  to  preserve  the  integrity  of 
the  Union  and  to  eradicate  slavery.  Mr.  Blaine  says:  "The  Winter  following  the 
election  of  Lincoln  was  filled  with  deplorable  events.  In  the  whole  history  of  the 
American  people  there  is  no  epoch  which  recalls  so  much  that  is  worthy  of  regret, 
and  so  little  that  gratifies  pride."  While  Lincoln  had  an  aggregate  of  180  elec- 
toral votes,  as  against  123  of  his  opponents  united,  yet  on  the  popular  vote  he  re- 
ceived but  1,866,452,  wholly  from  the  free  States;  while,  of  his  opponents,  Douglas 
received  1,295,574;  Breckenridge,  850,082,  and  Bell,  646,124,  or  a  total  of  2,787,- 
7  80.  Douglas's  vote  was  mainly  from  the  North.  The  questions  at  issue  could 
not  be  kept  out  of  the  Churches.  Especially  in  the  border  States,  southern  Penn- 
sylvania, West  Virginia,  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois,  there  was  much  friction  and 
heated  passions.  A  correspondent  at  Glen  Easton,  West  Virginia  (then  Virginia), 
states  that  "in  this  part  of  the  Lord's  vineyard  the  Church  has  had  almost  insur- 
mountable trials  from  two  sources,  viz.:  Sectarianism  and  slavery.  As  to  the 
latter,  a  minister  has  not  the  liberty  of  speaking  his  mind  on  it;  and  as  the  Church 
of  God  is  strictly  anti-slavery,  and  known  to  be  such,  she  meets  with  many  sore 
trials  from  without,  and  I  fear  from  within  also."  Conditions  were  not  amelior- 
ated to  any  appreciable  extent  when  the  secession  of  the  Southern  States  became 
a  fact,  and  the  war  was  actually  begun.  Pulpits  and  religious  newspapers  general- 
ly alligned  themselves  very  positively  with  the  Government,  and  in  favor  of  a 
relentless  prosecution  of  the  war  for  the  suppression  of  the  Rebellion.  Spiritual 
declension  followed  almost  everywhere,  and  the  minds  of  the  people  became  su- 
premely engrossed  with  scular  and  military  affairs.  The  lamentation  over  the 
condition  of  the  Churches  was  quite  general.  "We  have  to  bewail  our  leanness 
and  want  of  spiritual  life  and  vigor.  Throughout  most  portion^  of  the  East  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership,"  wrote  the  Editor,  Thomas,  "this  is  most  lamentably  the  case. 


General    History  119 

and  the  consequence  is,  if  we  are  not  going  backward,  we  are  really  making  but 
slow  progress."  As  tbe  bloody  years  of  the  war  dragged  along,  a  large  proportion 
of  the  men,  and  many  ministers,  enlisted  in  the  army,  or  later  were  drafted.  Of 
those  on  record  in  The  Advocate  were  C.  S.  Bolton,  A.  Hollenis,  G.  U.  Ham,  David 
Neidig,  A.  G.  McConiiick,  J.  R.  Suavely,  J.  W.  Hawkins,  J  Ij.  Cramer,  A.  Wilson, 
U.  Dochtei-man,  E.  R.  Linsley,  F.  F.  Kiner,  J.  W.  Neeley,  D.  Keplinger,  W.  L.  Jones, 
E.  I).  Aller,  J.  S.  Miller,  J.  AV.  Bloyd,  J.  C.  Foi-ncrook,  J.  M.  Mullen,  W.  Seifriet, 
1>.  H.  Mununa,  S.  S.  Richmond,  G.  Sandoe,  H.  AVhitaker,  C.  S.  Wilson,  O.  J.  Farling. 
There  was  a  consequent  insufficiency  of  preachers,  and  in  some  Elderships  fields  of 
labor  were  unsupplied  and  much  of  the  ground  was  lying  fallow.  Church  work  was 
greatly  hindered  and  finances  were  inadequate  to  do  aggressive  work.  While  the 
ministry  was  with  few  exceptions  loyal  to  the  Government,  and  the  Elderships  ex- 
perienced little  trouble  from  this  source,  there  were  occasional  exceptions.  Thus  in 
the  West  Ohio  Eldership  Elders  Dobson  and  Now  came  under  suspicion  of  disloyalty 
during  the  notorious  Vallandio'liam  campaign,  and  were  cited  to  appear  in  person 
and  answer  to  the  charges;  and  "Elder  William  Hammon,  Indiana  Eldership,  was 
expelled  because,  after  having  enlisted  to  escape  conviction  of  "flagrant  crimes," 
he  "deserted  from  the  army."  In  some  of  the  Elderships  ministers  were  "examined 
as  to  their  loyalty  to  the  Government  of  our  country."  The  brilliant  and  talented 
Harn  laid  down  his  life  on  the  altar  of  his  country.  The  house  of  worship  at 
Chambersburg  was  laid  in  ashes  with  the  burning  of  a  great  part  of  the  town  by 
General  McCausland,  .July  30,  1864.  The  human  mind  is  susceptible  of  most 
peculiar  religious  hallucinations.  So  sacred  to  many  appeared  the  Union  cause, 
and  so  of  the  nature  of  a  religious  sacrifice  the  heroism  unto  death  of  the  soldiers 
who  fought  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  that  the  question  was  mooted  in  many 
places,  whether  a  loyal  soldier  killed  in  the  army  could  be  lost,  or  damned.  Was 
it  a  case  of  human  sympathy  and  reason  against  "the  incontrovertible  stand-point 
of  the  Bible?"  The  South  held  its  cause  to  be  equally  sacred,  and  was  confident 
that  God  would  "remove  far  off  from  you  the  Northern  army"  because  of  the 
wickedness  of  its  purposes.  Religious  fervor  was  intense,  and  fellowship  with 
Churches  in  the  North  was  repudiated.  In  1861  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
Confederate  States  of  America  was  organized  to  emphasize  its  abhorrent  discent 
from  the  Presbyterian  Church,  North.  The  only  assigned  reason  for  this  course 
was  the  adoption  by  the  Old  School  Assembly  of  a  resolution  which  declared  that 
it  is  "the  duty  of  Presbyterians  to  support  the  Government  and  preserve  the 
Union."  For  other  reasons  about  this  time  there  was  a  small  secession  from  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  from  which  the  Free  Methodist  Church  was  organized, 
between  some  of  the  leaders  of  which  and  ministers  of  the  Church  of  God  there 
was  a  bond  of  sympathy.  In  1863  the  General  Synod  of  the  Lutheran  Church, 
South,  was  formed.  And  in  18  64  the  Christian  Union  Churches  organized  them- 
selves into  a  body. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  period,  and  following  "the  seasons  of  great  out- 
pourings of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  1857-8,"  "there  seemed  to  be  a  great  drought  in 
revivals."  Then  came  the  great  revival  in  Ireland,  where  about  one  hundred 
thousand  souls  were  converted.  Gradually  the  churches  in  America  became  in- 
fused with  more  of  a  revival  spirit,  and  during  the  Winter  of  18  60-1  there  were 
some  local  revivals  of  much  power.  The  Winters  of  1862-3,  and  1863-4  were  the 
most  fruitful  of  this  period.  The  depressing  effect  of  the  war  proved  auxiliiary 
to  spiritual  meditation.  With  Lincoln,  people  turned  their  thoughts  toward  God 
as  the  God  of  victory,  and  vowed  to  do  righteousness,  that  the  judgment  of  truth 
and  peace  might  be  realized.  Lincoln,  on  Sept.  22,  1862,  issued  his  preliminary 
Emancipation  Proclamation,  followed  on  Jan.  1,  1863,  with  the  decree  in  which  he 
'•ordered  and  declared  that  all  persons  held  as  slaves  within  said  designated  States 
are  and  henceforth  shall  be  free,"  and  further  "declaring  and  making  known,  that 
such  persons  of  suitable  condition  will  be  received  into  the  service  of  the  United 
States."  Later  the  same  Winter  the  President  issued  a  Proclamation,  setting 
apart  "a  day  of  national  humiliation  and  prayer,"  "to  confess  our  national  sins, 
and  to  pray  for  clemency  and  forgiveness."  Appeals  went  out  from  many  burden- 
ed hearts  to  ministers  and  churches,  urging  fasting,  prayer,  confession  of  sins  and 
agonizing  with  God  for  the  revival  of  genuine  religion  in  the  hearts  of  his  people 
and  the  salvation  of  the  lost.  On  a  limited  scale  revivals  among  the  churches 
of  God  were  witnessed  over  all  the  territory  of  the  General  Eldership,  and  the 
waste  places  were  refreshed  and  began  to  take  on  new  life.  Nearly  every  circuit 
and  station  in  all  the  Elderships  reported  conversions  and  ingatherings. 


I20  History    of   the    Churches    of    God 

At  the  time  for  announcing  camp-meetings,  in  1860,  Thomas  lamented  the 
absence  of  the  camp-meeting  spirit.  But  while  the  churches  were  slow  to  move 
in  the  matter,  fifteen  were  finally  held.  Of  these  eight  were  in  the  territory  of 
the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership;  five  in  Ohio,  one  in  Illinois  and  one  in  Iowa. 
Only  about  fifty  conversions  were  reported. 

In  1861  Thomas  again  strongly  urged  the  churches  to  hold  camp-meetings. 
L.  B.  Hartman,  Ohio,  echoed  the  same  sentiments.  But  the  brotherhood  was 
largely  indifferent,  and  as  a  result  but  three  such  meetings  were  held  in  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  one  in  Ohio.  The  results  were  disappointing,  and 
but  one  report  was  published,  stating  that  "some  were  converted." 

When  camp-meetings  are  held  with  a  view  of  saving  the  unconverted  and  edi- 
fying the  churches,  no  amount  of  persuasion  can  induce  the  churches  to  expend 
time,  labor  and  means  where  these  results  do  not  follow.  The  camp-meeting  spirit 
still  survived  in  the  hearts  of  the  pioneer  preachers,  and  these,  like  Thomas, 
would  exhort,  and  sometimes  seek  to  chide,  the  churches  into  this  form  of  Chris- 
tian endeavor,  with  indifferent  success.  In  July,  1862,  Thomas  regreted  "exceed- 
ingly that  th.e  camp-meeting  fires  are  so  nearly  extinguished  among  us  as  a  peo- 
ple." The  reasons  given  for  this  tendency  to  abandon  camp-meetings  he  called 
"vain  excuses  and  silly  subterfuges,"  and  "vain  babbling."  "If  camp-meetings 
are  out  of  date  and  are  useless,"  his  reason  is,  "that  vital  religion  is  out  of  date 
and  has  become  useless  with  such  objectors."  But  such  reasoning  did  not  prove 
persuasive,  for  this  year  there  was  only  one  camp-meeting  held  in  East  Pennsyl- 
vania, two  in  West  Pennsylvania,  one  in  Iowa,  and  the  Standing  Committee  ap- 
pointed three  in  Ohio,  but  there  was  but  one  reported.  The  results  were  so  dis- 
couraging that  but  two  were  written  up  by  the  pastors  in  charge.  In  1863  but 
one  camp-meeting  was  announced,  held  "on  the  old  camp-ground  near  Garman- 
town,  Cambria  county.  Pa."  Three  ministers  were  in  attendance,  and  seventeen 
souls  were  saved.  Woods  meetings  were  to  some  extent  taking  the  place  of  camp- 
meetings.  The  Standing  Committee  of  the  East  Ohio  Eldership  in  1864  appointed 
a  Union  Camp-meeting,  "to  continue  ten  days,  the  place  to  be  located  by  J.  S.  Mc- 
Kee  and  L.  B.  Hartman,"  Chairman  and  Clerk  of  the  Committee;  but  it  does  not 
appear  that  it  was  held.  Plowman  held  one  in  Indiana  county.  Pa.,  at  which  there 
were  seven  conversions. 

But  if  camp-meetings  were  gradually  dying  out  as  expensive  and  fruitless 
means  of  grace;  and  while  this  period  was  somewhat  barren,  some  permanent 
results  crowned  the  labors  of  the  ministry  and  churches.  Wertz,  as  General  Mis- 
sionary in  Iowa,  organized  a  church  16  miles  north  of  Davenport,  Scott  county, 
with  twenty-two  members.  Kiner  organized  one  at  Park  school-h-ouse.  H.  Borg- 
ner,  Feb.  26,  1860,  gathered  a  church  of  fifteen  members  in  Fishing  Creek  Valley, 
Dauphin  county.  Pa.  J.  Haifleigh  succeeded  in  forming  a  church  in  Albany  town- 
ship, Berks  Co.,  Pa.,  in  1863.  A  church  was  constituted  in  Ft.  Wayne,  Ind.,  June 
2  8,  1861,  with  S.  V.  Sterner  as  pastor.  Gillespie  succeeded  in  effecting  an  organi- 
zation of  nine  members  on  the  St.  Joseph  circuit,  Mich.,  in  January,  1861. 
Small  and  Bolton  about  the  same  time  held  a  successful  revival  in  Union  town- 
ship, Mercer  Co.,  Ohio,  and  organized  a  church  of  twenty-four  members.  Plow- 
man, a  man  of  good  talents,  as  a  missionary  and  organizer,  did  some  good  work 
in  McKean  county.  Pa.,  called  the  "Northern  Mission,"  in  the  early  part  of  the 
Summer  of  1861,  and  then  came  South  into  Somerset  county,  where,  at  Buckstown, 
"on  the  Allegheny  Mountains,"  he  effected  a  church  organization.  On  March  20, 
1862,  the  elders  of  the  church  at  Pleasant  Valley,  Johnson  Co.,  Iowa,  exchanged 
fraternal  letters  with  the  churches  at  Palestine,  Lone  Tree  and  Harrisburg,  Iowa, 
which  "have  now  been  fully  organized  as  local  churches." 

Four  important  new  enterprises  were  inaugurated  in  1863.  At  Altoona,  Blair 
county,  Pa.,  S.  K.  Boyer,  of  the  Martinsburg  charge,  began  preaching  in  private 
houses,  principally  in  the  home  of  Sister  Alloway,  In  January,  1863,  the  Armory 
on  Ninth  street  was  rented,  in  which  to  hold  a  protracted  meeting.  This  resulted 
in  the  organization  of  a  church  of  twenty-five  members.  S.  S.  Richmond  became 
the  first  pastor. 

Work  was  also  resumed  at  Carlisle,  Cumberland  county,  Pa.,  and  a  church 
organized  in  June,  1864,  with  B.  F.  Beck  as  pastor.  Dr.  George  Ross,  on  Sept. 
15,  1863,  bought  what  was  known  as  the  "Old  Seceder  Church,"  originally  built 
by  the  "Associated  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church,"  or  the  "United  Presbyterian 
Church,"  for  $1,325.00.      He  expended  $600.00  more  in  necessary  repairs.      Part 


General    History  121 

of  this  money  was  collected,  but  Dr.  Ross  paid  the  most  of  it  himself.  On  June 
5,  1864,  the  remodeled  house  was  dedicated.  A.  Swartz  officiated  in  the  morn- 
ing, using  I.  Tim.  iii.  15  for  his  text;  J.  Mackey,  in  the  afternoon,  and  G.  Sigler,  in 
the  evening.  The  ground  on  which  this  church  was  built  was  donated  in  17  99  by 
William  Penn  to  the  Associated  Presbyterian  Church,  and  they  built  the  substantial 
stone  house  of  worship,  36x46  feet,  in  the  year  1802. 

The  proposition  to  start  a  mission  in  Philadelphia  was  canvassed  at  the  Elder- 
ship in  18  63.  Thomas  called  attention  to  it  in  May,  1864,  and  urged  it  strongly, 
stating  that  "overtures  have  also  been  made  to  one  of  our  most  active  and  efficient 
preachers  to  take  charge  of  the  mission."  At  the  Eldership  in  1864,  however, 
nothing  was  done;  but  the  enterprise  was  not  abandoned,  and  plans  were  being 
matured  so  that  when  the  auspicious  day  should  dawn  everything  would  be  in 
readiness. 

The  most  stupendous  mission  enterprise  hitherto  conceived  and  inaugurated 
was  that  which  A.  X,  Shoemaker,  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  suggested  when  on 
a  preaching  tour  to  Illinois,  in  the  months  of  September  and  October,  1863.  He 
visited  Chicago,  and  from  there,  on  October  8th,  he  wrote:  "In  this  great,  central 
city  we  have  no  church  organization.  The  enlarged  and  almost  unparalleled 
facilities  of  Chicago  struck  our  mind  most  forcibly  as  being  the  place  we  should 
most  certainly  commence  immediate  missionary  operations."  He  at  once  out- 
lined a  plan  to  secure  funds,  and  stated  that  "if  the  Church  at  large,  or  the  Board 
of  Missions,  furnished  the  money,  we  will  find  the  man."  Upon  his  return  East, 
at  the  Eldership  held  at  Middletown,  Dauphin  county.  Pa.,  he  brought  the  matter 
before  that  body  on  Saturday  afternoon,  October  31st,  and  before  a  missionary 
meeting  on  the  evening  of  November  2nd.  There  were  objections  to  the  project 
based  on  the  probable  cost  and  the  "deficiency  now  in  efficient  laborers  for  the 
work  already  opened."  But  Shoemaker  had  already  succeeded  in  securing  the 
endorsement  of  the  Chicago  Mission  plan  by  the  West  Ohio  Eldership,  which  he 
attended,  and  which  resolved  that  "as  an  Eldership,  as  churches  and  as  individuals; 
we  give  our  influence  in  favor  of  opening  and  sustaining  said  missionary  enter- 
prise by  contributing  our  pro  rata  share  to  this  laudable  undertaking."  He  was 
also  present  at  the  session  of  the  Illinois  Eldership,  and  chairman  of  "the  Special 
Committee  on  the  Chicago  Mission  Project,"  which  declared  in  favor  of  "taking^ 
steps  immediately  to  establish  a  mission  in  Chicago."  The  East  Ohio  Eldership 
had  also  resolved  to  "encourage  the  enterprise  with  our  means,  our  influence  and 
our  prayers."  Accordingly  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  also  approved  the 
project,  and  directed  the  Board  of  Missions  to  "appropriate  $300  annually  for 
three  years,  provided  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  conclude  to 
establish  said  mission,"  and  gave  Shoemaker  permission  "to  take  personal  sub- 
scriptions for  the  Chicago  Mission  project."  Shoemaker  was  released  from  serving 
a  charge  in  the  Eldership.  He  at  once  began  an  active  canvass  for  funds.  Gen- 
eral and  deep  interest  was  developed,  which  seemed  prophetic  of  the  financial 
success  of  the  work.  The  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  approved 
the  project  by  correspondence  and  appointed  Shoemaker  to  the  Mission,  with  "an 
appropriation  of  $1,000  annually  for  three  years."  He  reached  Chicago  with  his 
family  on  June  20,  1864.  Without  delay  he  bought  a  plot  of  ground  on  the 
corner  of  Warren  and  Roby  streets,  51x125  feet,  for  $1,600,  and  commenced  the 
erection  thereon  of  a  bethel  and  parsonage.  The  building  was  completed  soon 
after  the  holidays,  and  dedicated  March  12,  1865.  Shoemaker  preached  in  the 
morning,  and  was  assisted  during  the  day  by  R.  White,  H.  AV.  Conley  and  J.  M. 
Klein,  of  Illinois,  and  D.  Gill,  of  Iowa.  The  cost  of  the  mission  to  this  date  was 
$8,000,  of  which  $6,000  had  been  secured. 

The  ashes  of  the  Chambersburg  bethel  were  scarcely  cold,  after  the  destruc- 
tive conflagration  of  July  30,  1864,  until  plans  were  being  perfected  by  the  Board 
of  Incorporation,  which  owned  the  property,  on  Thursday,  August  11th,  "to  rebuild 
as  soon  as  there  is  a  guarantee  that  rebel  raids  are  over  in  that  section  of  the 
country."  The  loss  was  estimated  to  be  "fully  $3,000.  The  lots,  foundation 
and  bricks  are  all  that  is  left  of  a  house  which  would  cost  $5,000  to  build."  As 
a  result  of  these  deliberations  "the  Board  has  appointed  C,  H.  Forney,  the  pastor, 
to  go  abroad  among  the  churches  and  communities  to  solicit  aid  for  this  purpose." 
In  the  work  thus  indicated  the  pastor  visited  every  church  in  the  East  Pennsyl- 
vania Eldership,  including  Maryland  and  the  German  Eldership,  and  also  by  special 
invitation  the  churches  in  Westmoreland,  Fayette,  Allegheny,  Beaver  and  Venango 


T22  History    of    the   Ciiurciif.s    or    God 

counties,  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  some  of  the  churches  m  Wayne,  Stark, 
Wyandot,  Richland  and  Seneca  counties,  Ohio.  On  May  11,  1865,  a  building 
committee  was  appointed,  consisting  of  E,  H.  Thomas,  J.  Rife  and  C.  H.  Forney, 
"to  receive  proposals  for  the  rebuilding  of  said  church,  and  to  take  the  work  gen- 
erally in  hand." 

In  no  period  of  the  history  of  the  Church  was  there  such  a  large  amount  of 
money  raised  and  expended  for  missions  and  church  buildings  and  parsonages  as 
from  1860  to  1865.  In  addition  to  the  work  at  Chicago,  at  Carlisle,  Chambers- 
burg  and  Philadelphia,  more  than  thirty  church  buildings  were  erected.  It  was 
an  era  of  inflation.  Prices  were  unusually  high,  but  money  was  more  than  abun- 
dant. Early  in  January,  1861,  John  Snyder,  ruling  elder  in  the  church  known  as 
the  "Union  Bethel,"  Indiana,  started  out  through  Ohio  and  into  western  Pennsyl- 
vania to  collect  funds  to  rebuild  said  bethel,  destroyed  by  fire  December  2,  1859. 
S.  V.  Sterner,  pastor,  made  appeals  for  help  for  the  church,  "poor  in  this  world's 
goods."  A  good,  brick  house  was  erected,  30x36  feet.  A  short  time  before  this 
enterprise  was  started  Mt.  "Vernon  bethel,  Indiana,  was  completed  and  dedicated. 
The  house  of  worship  built  by  the  church  at  Milford,  La  Grange  county,  Ind.,  was 
dedicated  January  1,  1865. 

The  church  at  Mt.  Carroll,  Carroll  county.  111.,  dedicated  their  "new  bethel 
on  Sunday,  April  26,  1863.  D.  AVertz  preached  the  sermon;  David  Kyle  was  pas- 
tor. Two  miles  south  of  Buda,  Bureau  county,  111.,  on  land  owned  by  John  Berk- 
«tresser,  father  of  W.  Irving  and  Mary,  ministers  in  later  years  in  the  Illinois  Eld- 
ership, the  church  erected  a  bethel  in  the  Summer  of  1863,  which  was  dedicated 
October  11th.  A.  X.  Shoemaker  preached  in  the  morning,  and  J.  H.  Hurley,  in  the 
evening.  The  brethren  at  Troy  Grove,  La  Salle  county,  111.,  "principally  Germans, 
full  of  hospitality  and  in  a  good  degree  liberal,"  built  "a  beautiful  house  of  wor- 
ship" in  the  Summer  of  1864,  which  was  dedicated  November  27th.  The  work 
was  done  under  the  leadership  of  J.  M.  Klein,  pastor,  who  secured  A.  X.  Shoe- 
maker to  officiate  at  the  dedication. 

Incidentally  F.  F.  Kiner,  of  the  Des  Moines  circuit,  Iowa,  reported  on  Feb- 
ruary 22,  1860,  a  "third  protracted  meeting  at  Bro.  C.  Landes's,  at  which  time 
their  meeting-house  was  dedicated.      E.  Logue  preached  the  dedication  sermon." 

In  Jefferson  township,  Williams  county,  Ohio,  "the  meeting-house  built  by 
the  church  of  God"  was  ready  for  dedication  in  February,  1860,  but  was  not  dedi- 
cated until  June  16,  18  61.  G.  W.  Wilson  officiated.  If  not  a  dedication,  it  was 
as  good  an  event  for  the  future  of  the  Wooster,  Ohio,  church,  when  in  the  early 
part  of  December,  1860,  E.  H.  Thomas  and  Dr.  George  Ross,  of  the  East  Pennsyl- 
vania Eldership,  went  to  that  city  and  saved  the  property,  "their  valued  and  beau- 
tiful church  edifice,"  from  "the  Sheriff's  hammer."  Dr.  Ross  "stepped  forward 
and  at  considerable  trouble  and  pecuniary  sacrifice  rescued  the  property  from  the 
hahds  of  the  officers  of  the  law."  For  some  years  Wooster  church  was  under 
the  care  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  which  supplied  it  with  pastors.  On 
June  9,  1861,  G.  W.  Wilson  reported  the  dedication  of  the  bethel  east  of  Upper 
Sandusky,  Wyandot  county,  Ohio,  as  having  taken  place.  The  observance  of  the 
ordinances  "with  the  rest  of  the  exercises  gave  the  occasion  a  peculiar  pleasant- 
ness." Midway  between  Dalton  and  West  Lebanon,  Wayne  county,  Ohio,  W.  H. 
Oliver  and  S.  Lilley,  pastors,  a  new  house  of  worship  was  dedicated  May  23,  1863. 

The  church  at  New  Brighton,  Beaver  county,  Pa.,  "worshiped  in  a  room  in 
the  private  dwelling  house  of  Elder  John  Tintsman"  until  in  the  Winter  of  1860, 
when  the  trustees,  John  F.  Tintsman,  Gottlieb  Greib  and  George  M.  Nippert,  M.  D., 
purchased  a  house  of  worship  for  $850.00."  Some  .$300  additional  was  spent  in 
making  repairs  and  improvements,  aggregating  a  total  cost  of  $1,100.  After  the 
dedication  a  debt  of  $750  had  to  be  provided  for,  and  in  January,  1862,  the  pastor,- 
J.  A.  Plowman,  was  "appointed  our  agent  to  travel  through  the  different  Elder- 
ship territories  to  collect  moneys  to  pay  off  the  debt."  The  dedication  is  some- 
what memorable  because  of  the  inability  of  Winebrenner  to  preach  the  sermon, 
June  3,  1860,  on  his  return  trip  from  the  General  Eldership  at  Upper  Sandusky, 
Ohio.  E.  H.  Thomas  took  his  place  in  the  pulpit,  assisted  by  J.  Ross  and  Jesse 
Kennedy.  J.  M.  Domer  was  the  pastor  in  1860.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Standing 
Committee  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  held  at  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  December 
9,  1861,  the  report  of  the  committee  appointed  by  the  Eldership  "to  solicit  sub- 
scriptions and  purchase  the  house  known  as  the  'Old  Asbury  Chapel'  in  the  city 
of  Pittsburg,  if  they  found  it  practicable"  was  taken  up.  This  committee,  con- 
sisting of  Hickemell,  Domer  and  Squire  Cook,  was  enlarged  by  adding  Loucks  and 


Gknkrai,    History  .  123 

"Wm.  Ober.  The  Standing  Committee  decided  to  buy  Old  Asbury  Chapel,  for 
$2,500,  paying  down  $150  in  confirmation  of  sale.  The  church  in  Pittsburg  then 
numbered  "some  seventy  members."  Old  Asbury  Chapel  was  located  on  Towns- 
«nd  street,  between  Colwell  and  Clark  streets.  Immediate  possession  was  taken, 
and  under  the  labors  of  Hickernell  and  Mrs.  M.  J.  Beecher  a  revival  followed  and 
a  church  of  seventy  members  was  organized.  The  meeting-house  known  as  Center 
Bethel,  in  East  Huntingdon  township,  Westmoreland  county.  Pa.,  was  built  under 
the  labors  of  P.  Loucks  and  J.  M.  Domer,  pastors,  and  was  dedicated  December 
27,  1863.  K.  H.  Thomas,  of  Lancaster,  Pa.,  and  A.  X.  Shoemaker,  of  Harrisburg, 
Pa.,  did  the  preaching.  June  26,  1864,  "the  new  bethel  at  Carrolltown,  Cambria 
county,  Pa.,  was  dedicated  and  a  church  was  organized,  under  the  labors  of  J.  A. 
Plowman.  J.  Hickernell  and  Martha  J.  Beecher  officiated  at  the  dedication. 
The  three  ordinances  were  observed  during  the  day  and  evening. 

Coming  East  of  the  Alleghenies  where,  as  reported  November  15,  1860,  by  J. 
C  Owens,  Uniontown,  Md.,  "our  dedication  meeting  at  Pleasant  Ridge  continued 
about  ten  days,  during  which  time  we  had    some    precious    seasons    of    reviving 
^race."      "The  bethel  is  located  in  a  thickly  settled  country."      December  25,  1859, 
"the  new  bethel  at  Siddonstown   (Mt.  Pleasant),  York  county,  Pa.,  was  dedicated 
to  the  worship   of  God."      J.  Mackey  and  J.  Keller  did  the   preaching.      At  New 
Grenada,  Fulton  county.  Pa.,  the  Building  Committee,  J.  G.  Cunningham  and  K.  A. 
Moore,  requested,  on  February  16,  1860,  "the  teaching  elders,  and  all  others  in- 
terested,   who   have    not    forwarded    their   autographs    for   deposit   in    the    corner- 
stone of  the  bethel  under  course  of  construction,  to  do  so  as  soon  as  practicable. 
Remittances  thankfully  received."      The  house  was  dedicated  November  25,  1860. 
The  services  were  conducted  by  Simon  Fleegal,  "assisted  by  the  Indian  Preacher" 
(P.  D.  Collins).      At  Newville,  Cumberland  county.  Pa.,  after  "preaching  in  the  old 
hethel  on  Saturday  evening,"  the  dedicatory  services  were  held  in  the  new  bethel 
on  Sunday,   August   12,    1860.      The  house  cost   $1,800.      W.   G.  Coulter  was  the 
pastor,  and  for  the  dedication  he  secured  the  services  of  Thomas,  Mackey,  Laverty 
and  Snyder.      The  dedication  of  the  bethel  at  Wormleysburg,  Cumberland  county, 
Pa.,  took  place  on  November  11,  1860,  with  preaching  by    James    Mackey,    J.    C. 
Owens  and  H.  L.  Soule.      A.  X.  Shoemaker  served  the  church  as  pastor  in  con- 
nection    with     Harrisburg.      In     Shaeffer's     Valley,      Perry     county,     Pa.,      "the 
brethren  of  the  churches  of  God  completed  their  new  house  of  worship  and  had  it 
ready    for    dedication    December    30,    1860."       Saturday    evening    Wm.    Johnson 
"preached  an  appropriate  discourse."      Sabbath  morning  and  evening  E.  H.  Thomas 
preached.      J.   C.   Seabrooks  was  the  pastor,  and   he  had   secured  the  services  of 
J.  B.  Soule  to  lead  the  singing.      Thomas  mentioned  him  as  "worthy  of  all  com- 
mendation, both  for  the  cultivation  of  his  own  musical  gifts,  and  for  the  deep  in- 
terest he  has  always  manifested  in   its  cultivation   in  the  churches."      A  "Union 
house,"   in   which   the   church   had   an   interest,   was   dedicated   at   Union   Deposit, 
Dauphin  county.  Pa.,  July  27,  1862,  by  J.  Keller  and  Miles,  of  ttie  denomination 
which  owned  the  other  share  in  the  property.      P.  D.  Collins  was  the  pastor.      For 
sundry  reasons  the  mission  work  at  Altoona,  Blair  county.  Pa.,  was  hindered  and 
crippled  from   1860   to   1863;    but  early  in  the  latter  year  some  of  the  brethren 
began  collecting  funds,  bought  a  lot  and  paid  for  it,  and  began  in  July  to  build 
the  foundation.      By  the  latter  part  of  December  the  building  was  completed,  and 
on  January  17,  1864,  it  was  "dedicated  to  the  worship  of  God."     E.  H.  Thomas, 
with  the  pastor,  S.  S.  Richmond,   conducted  the  services.      Thomas  regarded  Al- 
toona "to  us  as  a  Church  a  point  of  considerable  importance,  as  it  is  the  connecting 
link  between  the  East  and  West  Pennsylvania  Elderships."      Partly  for  this  reason 
Hickernell  and  Domer,  of  the  latter  Eldership,  were  expected  at  the  dedication. 
At  Palmyra,  Lebanon  county.  Pa.,  15  miles  east  of  Harrisburg,  a  "two  days'  meet- 
ing" was  held  by  I.  Brady  and  S.  CraAvford,  August  29,  1863,  at  which  arrange- 
ments were  to  be  made  to  build  a  bethel.      On  October  22nd  they  bought  a  lot, 
and  on  Saturday,  October  24th,  the  corner-stone  was  laid  by  Thomas.     By  Feb- 
ruary 18,   1864,  the  house  was  finished,  and  on  March  13th,  the  dedicatory  ser- 
vices were  held.      Thomas  and  George  S.  Petry  did  the  preaching,  with  the  pastor, 
I.  Brady,  also  present.     The  house  was  built  of  brick,  34x46  feet,  and  lot  and  build- 
ing cost  $1,800,  of  which  Dr.  Ross  paid  about  one-third.      He  was  the  most  liberal 
and  efficient  layman  of  those  years. 

The  Bill  in  equity  which  was  filed  in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  Dauphin 
county.  Pa.,  the  Hon.  John  J.  Pearson,  President  Judge,  against  James  Colder 
^t  al.,  April  11,  1859,  praying  for  "a  writ  of  injunction.  .  .  .commanding  the  said 


124  History    of   the    Churches    of    God 

James  Colder  that  he  absolutely  desist  and  refrain  from  preaching,  teaching,  or  in 
any  manner  officiating  as  pastor  or  minister  in  the  said  church  edifice  or  bethel  on 
Fourth  street,"  was  made  "returnable  the  2nd  day  of  May  next,  and  the  Court  fixes 
the  10th  day  of  May  next  as  the  time  for  the  appearance  of  the  defendants  to  show 
cause  why  the  preliminary  injunction  should  not  be  granted  as  prayed  in  the  Bill." 
On  August  3,  1861,  the  Opinion  of  the  Court  was  delivered,  in  which  the  conten- 
tion of  Colder  et  al.,  was  overruled,  to  wit:   that  said  Fourth  Street  Church  hav- 
ing "been  incorporated  by  Act  of  the  Legislature  was  thereby  granted  the  specific 
powers  to  sever  its  connection  with,  and  make  it  independent  of,  the  General  or 
the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  in  the  United  States."     The 
Court   therefore   made   "a   decree   dispossessing   and    removing   these   trustees,    or 
elders,  as  prayed  for  in  the  Bill,  and  ordering  and  directing  the  election  of  new 
elders  by  the  qualified  members  of  the  congregation."      The  Court  also  decreed 
"the  restraining  and  perpetually  enjoining  James  Colder  from  preaching,  teaching, 
or  in  any  wise  officiating  as  pastor  or  minister  in  the  church  edifice  of  the  church 
of  God  at  Harrisburg."      The  Court  said  further:      "We  must  also  enjoin  the  de- 
fendants and  this  congregation  from  appointing  any    pastor    to    officiate    in    said 
church  building  who  is  not  in  regular  standing  and  in  full  communion  with  the 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  and  Church  of  God  in  North  America,  regularly  li- 
censed thereby,  and  appointed  as  a  pastor  within  the  church  of  God  at  Harrisburg, 
according  to  the  rules,  principles,  practices  and  usages  of  the  General  and  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership."      The  Court  declined  to  order  "the  defendants  to  render 
an  account  of  any  funds  received  by  them."     Also,  the  Court  refused  "to  enjoin" 
the  church  "to  receive  the  pastor  attempted  to  be  placed  over  them  by  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership."      This  was  a  fatal  weakness  in  the  decree  of  the  Court, 
and  was  so  recognized  in  these  words:      "We  are  well  aware  that  the  effect  of  this 
decision  is  to  close  the  church  building  against  the  whole  congregation,  as  well  the 
friends  as  the  enemies  of  the  present  incumbent  and  the  appointee  of  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  thus  render  it  a  useless  structure  as  to  all."     The 
decision  was  unsatisfactory  to  either  party,  and  accordingly  each  appealed  to  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  State.      At  the  June  term  of  said  Court  Chief  Justice  W.  B. 
Lowrie  handed  down  an  Opinion  and  Decree,  in  which,  as  Thomas  said,  "The  errors 
of  the  lower  Court  have  been  corrected,   and   the  great  principles   for   which  we 
contended    are   fully   confirmed   and   established."      But   neither   Opinion   required 
Colder  and  his  adherents  to  "account  for  the  large  accumulation  of  debt  upon  the 
property,  and  show  how  certain  lots  and  pieces  of  ground  have  been  disposed  of 
by  them   during  the  period   of  their   illegal   administration   of  the  affairs  of  the 
church."      The  ownership  of  the  church  property  having  thus  been  determined  "in 
favor  of  those  members  of  the  church  adhering  to  the  Eldership,  and  all  the  pre- 
liminary steps  ordered  by  the  Court  having  been  taken,"  arrangements  were  made 
to  rededicate  the  house  to  the  worship   of  God  on  Sabbath,  September   7,   1862. 
This  reopening  was  rather  more  of  a  jubilation  than  a   dedication.      For  nearly 
four  years  the  Eldership  and  church  were  kept  out  of  their  own.      After  four  years 
of  contention,  of  deprivations,  of  trials,   of  patient  waiting,   as  the  doors  of  the 
bethel  on  Fourth  street  again  swung  open  to  admit  the  loyal  pastor  and  his  little 
flock,  they  gathered  to  have  a  devout  celebration  of  the  victory  secured.      For  three 
years  and  six  months  Shoemaker  had  been  excluded  from  the  pulpit  he  was  to  oc- 
cupy that  delightful  September  morning.      He  "delivered  a  very  interesting  sermon 
on  the  character,  obligations  and  responsibilities  of  the  Christian  ministry."      The 
churches  at  Mechanicsburg,  Middletown,  Shiremanstown,  Camp  Hill  and  Lancaster 
were  represented,  with  the  choirs  of  the  first  two  churches.      Ministers  present  be- 
sides the  pastor  were  W.  McFadden,  A.  Swartz,  D.  A.  L.  Laveity,  S.  Crawford,  J. 
T.  Bender,  C.  H.  Foi-ney,  J.  S.  Stamm,  B.  Mateer,  D.  R,  Kockafellow  and  E.  H. 
Thomas.      The  latter  preached  the  evening  sermon. 

On  this  day  of  triumph  and  congratulations  no  one  could  forget  that  "the 
venerable  Winebreiiner  was  not  there  as  at  the  first  dedication."  And  Isaac  Steese, 
whose  name  was  joined  with  that  of  Winebrenner  in  the  Bill  in  Equity,  and  as  one 
of  the  Appellants  and  Appellees  in  the  Supreme  Court.  Indeed  this  was  a  period 
rich  in  death's  harvest.  In  the  middle  of  March,  1860,  Wm.  Clay,  licensed  by  the 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1849,  died  at  Homer,  La  Salle  county,  111.  He 
"was  a  young  man  of  genius."  On  March  26,  1860,  Christian  T.  Forney,  Dauphin 
county,  Pa.,  "through  the  inscrutable  providence  of  God"  ended  his  useful  career, 
at  the  age  of  53  years,  6  months  and  14  days;  "a  man  of  sterling  worth,  unflinch- 
ing integrity  and  unmistakable  piety,  whose  preaching,  both  in  English  and  Ger- 


General    History  125 

man,  was  very  acceptable."  On  September  17,  1861,  James  F.  Machlin  ended  his 
labors  in  the  militant  church.  "He  was  a  very  useful  man  in  his  Master's  cause, 
and  had  a  great  influence  in  his  own  neighborhood."  John  S.  Hostetter,  Mechan- 
Icsburg,  Pa.,  died  on  May  6,  1862.  He  had  for  some  time  been  a  licensed  minister, 
but  was  an  eflicient,  well  qualified  school  teacher,  and  for  several  years  publisher 
and  editor  of  a  monthly  paper  for  boys  and  girls  called,  "I  Will  Try,"  which  he 
"conducted  with  marked  ability."  The  "painful  and  melancholy  duty  to  record 
the  sudden  and  unexpected  death  of  our  venerable  and  beloved  brother  in  Christ, 
Elder  Jacob  Flake"  rested  on  Thomas,  February  12,  1863,  he  having  died  on  the 
7th.  He  was  licensed  in  1834,  and  was  a  man  universally  beloved.  His  "style  of 
preaching  was  easy,  pleasant  and  affectionate;  very  plain  and  simple."  March  26, 
1863,  Elder  Joseph  Ross,  Middletown,  Pa.,  in  the  fullest  confidence  "of  getting  to 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  ended  a  very  useful  life,  with  the  words  on  his  lips: 
'Jesus  is  my  friend,  and  1  would  rather  be  absent  from  the  body,  and  present  with 
the  Lord."  Ross  was  a  merchant,  but  did  a  great  deal  of  preaching,  and  was  a  man 
who  enjoyed  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  all  who  knew  him.  On  February  22, 
1863,  Elder  Joseph  Brenneman,  one  of  Winebreiiner's  early  converts,  departed  to  a 
better  country,  at  Springville,  Lancaster  county.  Pa.  He  was  a  man  "whose  Chris- 
tian virtues  illumined  the  entire  circle  in  which  he  moved."  At  Lancaster,  Pa., 
September  2,  1863,  Elder  Samuel  Crawford  ended  his  eminently  useful  career,  aged 
68  years.  "His  preaching  was  plain,  pointed,  practical  and  pre-eminently  evan- 
gelical." In  addition  to  Harn,  David  Xeidig  sacrificed  his  life  on  the  altar  of  his 
country,  as  did  Joseph  Ross  Suavely.  The  former  died  at  Memphis,  Tenn.,  July  3. 
1863;  the  latter,  with  shattered  health,  returned  to  die  at  his  mother's  home,  John- 
son county,  Iowa.  Neidig  was  licensed  by  the  Ohio  Eldership  in  1844,  and  preached 
principally  in  western  Ohio  and  Indiana.  Snavely  was  a  member  of  the  Iowa 
Eldership,  licensed  in  1859.  At  Mechanicsburg,  Cumberland  county.  Pa.,  March 
20,  1864,  Elder  William  Hiimey  closed  "a  long  and  useful  life."  He  was  mainly 
a  local  minister,  one  of  the  oldest  members  of  the  Eldership.  January  30,  1864, 
the  life-long,  personal  friend  and  associate  of  Winebrenner,  and  also  one  of  the 
Plaintiffs  in  the  suit  against  James  Colder  et  al.,  William  McFadden,  "fell  asleep  in 
Jesus."  He  was  aged  57  years,  8  months  and  27  days.  A  man  of  rare  physical 
■courage,  a  warm  and  affectionate  temperament,  a  well-balanced  but  untrained  in- 
tellect, gifted  in  song  and  speech,  he  braved  dangers,  wrought  mightily  for  God, 
conquered  obstacles  and  always  cultivated  a  spirit  "of  industry  and  earnestness 
which  evinced  the  sincerity  of  his  heart."  In  the  outside  world  brilliant  stars  were 
•eclipsed  by  death.  On  June  3,  1861,  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  member  of  Congress, 
United  States  Senator,  three  times  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  in  1860  against 
Lincoln,  ended  his  illustrious  career.  The  English  poetess,  Elizabeth  Barrett 
Browning,  died  in  1861.  December  24,  1863,  died  the  lecturer,  poet  and  novelist, 
William  M.  Thackeray.  His  was  a  successful  literary  career.  The  author  of  "The 
House  of  the  Seven  Gables,"  Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  died  May  19,  1864. 

If  all  internecine  strifes  and  contentions  are  supposed  to  be  at  least  adjourned 
when  the  gates  of  the  Temple  of  Janus  are  open,  this  was  not  verified  among  the 
ministers  and  churches  of  God  during  the  Civil  War.  While  there  was  war  with- 
out, there  were  not  only  fears,  but  contentions  almost  incessantly,  within.  Whence 
come  these  "wars  and  fightings  among  you?"  asks  James.  Origins  are  some-' 
times  difficult  to  trace.  Perhaps  the  departure  of  the  great  leader  and  arbiter  of 
doctrine  gave  new  license  to  the  spirit  of  contention.  Possibly  the  slumbering 
jealousies  and  schemes  of  ambitious  aspirants  to  leadership  had  been  restrained, 
as  the  second-rate  heroes  of  ancient  days  postponed  their  contest  for  the  armor  of 
Achilles  until  the  last  honors  had  been  paid  to  the  memory  of  the  illustrious  de- 
parted. A  score  or  more  trials  of  strength  in  debate,  written  or  oral,  engrossed 
attention  between  18  60  and  1865.  One  of  these  was  transmitted  from  the  former 
period.  This  was  the  question,  of  an  almost  purely  academic  character,  of  the 
best  translation  in  the  Scriptures  of  ekkleesia,  which  the  General  Eldership  de- 
clined to  discuss,  but  relegated  it  to  The  Advocate.  Harn  contended  that  the  word 
"church"  as  a  translation  should  be  exchanged  for  "congregation."  But  he  was 
not  in  haste  to  open  the  debate,  and  so  Thomas,  after  "a  little  fireside  controversy 
with  Bro.  Ham"  at  Wooster,  virtually  challenged  Harn  to  submit  his  arguments, 
facetiously  remarking  that  "we  think  our  arguments  are  unanswered,  and  we 
refer  to  this  little  incident  merely  to  call  out  our  brother,  if  he  sees  proper,  in  the 
columns  of  The  Advocate,  in  defense,  not  of  a  new  translation,  but  of  that  par- 
ticular word — 'congregation.'  "      Harn  was,   however,   in   no  mood  for  precipitate 


126  History   of   the    Churches   of   God 

action.  He  waited  from  July,  1859,  to  January,  1860,  before  he  took  up  the- 
gauntlet.  In  six  consecutive  issues  of  the  paper  he  set  forth  his  views  with  un- 
usual clearness  and  force,  maintaining  that  "  'church'  is  a  very  dark,  unfair  and 
equivocal  translation  of  ekkleesia."  He  would  prefer  transliteration  of  the  word 
rather  than  the  authorized  translation.  He  insisted  that  this  "equivocal  char- 
acter of  the  word  'church'  was  the  potent  motive  for  James  I.  to  demand  its  re- 
tention by  his  translators,  and  to  forbid  them  rendering  ekkleesia  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment by  'congregation,'  as  they  had  done  in  the  Old."  Indeed  the  use  and  trans- 
lation of  ekkleesia  in  the  Old  Testament  was  the  keystone  of  his  argument. 
Thomas  made  an  elaborate  reply  to  Harn's  arguments,  and  with  that  perspicuity  of 
statement  peculiar  to  his  style  vigorously  defended  the  retention  of  "the  word 
'church'  in  our  common  version  as  the  better  translation  of  ekkleesia,  according  to 
our  usages  of  these  words." 

Infant  Depravity  and  Infant  Regeneration,  not  wholly  speculative  doctrines, 
were  brought  under  argumentative  review  by  A.  Swartz,  as  against  Dr.  C.  P.  Wing,. 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  Carlisle,  Pa.  The  latter  had  published  a  pamphlet 
on  "The  Relation  of  Baptized  Children  to  the  Church."  In  analysis  Swartz  had 
no  superiors  in  his  day,  and  in  a  most  trenchant  series  of  articles  he  maintained 
the  position  that  infants  are  depraved,  and  that  they  must  be  regenerated,  which 
does  not  take  place  at  their  so-called  baptism,  which  Wing  taught  is  "the  only 
door  of  admission  into  the  visible  church  which  the  New  Testament,  or  our  Di- 
rectory for  Worship  recognizes." 

Of  more  direct  and  vital  interest  to  the  Church  of  God  was  the  kindred  sub- 
ject of  "total  depravity."  Eldei*  C.  Now  brought  this  subject  forward  by  a  ques- 
tion addressed  to  the  Editor:  "Does  the  Bible  teach  the  commonly  taught  doc- 
trine of  total  depravity?"  Thomas  answered  briefly,  that  "If  the  brother  means 
by  the  commonly  taught  doctrine  of  depravity  the  doctrine  taught  by  the  Church 
in  all  ages  on  that  subject,  my  conviction  is  that  it  does.  That  is,  that  depravity 
is  both  universal  and  total."  Winebreiiiiei-  gave  "the  faith  of  the  Church  of  God" 
on  this  subject  in  these  words:  "She  believes  in  the  fall  and  depravity  of  man." 
Long,  Soiile,  Bolton  and  others  were  drawn  into  this  discussion,  some  contending 
that  depravity  is  natural,  universal  and  total;  others  in  more  or  less  modified 
forms  denying  each  of  these  three  predicates. 

About  the  first  open  tendency  to  discontinue  the  Itenerancy  was  revealed  in. 
the  action  of  the  Iowa  Eldership  in  1859,  "establishing  the  congregational  sys- 
tem." And  while  this  action  was  rescinded  in  1860,  and  the  Eldership  resolved  ta 
"resume  our  former  and  established  plan;"  yet  in  the  minds  of  men  like  Thomas- 
even  this  movement  created  anxiety.  He  was  the  persistent,  inveterate  and  un- 
yielding opponent  of  the  congregational  system.  He  accordingly  took  up  and  dis- 
cussed "The  Itinerancy"  in  The  Advocate,  August  30,  1860.  H.  L.  Soule  replied 
to  Thomas,  and  the  discussion  continued  for  nearly  six  months.  Personalities- 
marked  this  discussion;  but  this  was  habitual.  Thomas  had  the  Elderships  and. 
the  brotherhood  with  him. 

The  first  oral  debate  transpired  in  "the  beautiful  grove  of  S.  K.  Moyer,"  at 
Auburn,  Schuylkill  county,  Pa.,  June  28,  1860,  on  "The  Ordinance  of  Feet-wash- 
ing," between  Rev.  M.  Stetzel,  of  the  Evangelical  Association,  and  Elder  J.  K. 
Moyer,  of  the  Church  of  God.  Stetzel  was  one  of  those  disputants  which  are  dis- 
posed to  vaunt  and  overvalue  what  they  are,  and  so  he  entered  the  arena  of  de- 
bate "boasting  that  he  had  vanquished  an  advocate  of  Feet-washing  in  Lebanon 
county."  Moyer  was  a  man  of  limited  acquirements;  but  he  was  of  that  strong 
stalwart,  positive,  self-reliant  type  of  character  then  so  often  seen  among  the  Penn- 
sylvania Germans.  He  was  a  "farmer  divine,"  while  Stetzel  made  a  profession  of 
scholarship.  "Each  disputant  spoke  three  times,  three-quarters  of  an  hour  at 
a  time."      Both  sides  claimed  the  victory. 

June  5,  1861,  at  10  a.  m.,  began  a  debate  which  was  long  remembered,  at  Old 
Harmony,  Butler  county.  Pa.,  between  G.  U.  Harn,  of  the  Church  of  God,  and  Rev^ 
D.  P.  Mitchell,  of  Johnstown,  Pa.  Hani  affirmed  that  "Immersion  is  the  only  ac- 
tion called  baptism  in  the  Bible."  Mitchell  affirmed  that  "Infant  children  are- 
Scriptural  subjects  of  baptism." 

A  practical  question  arose  at  this  time,  and  was  discussed  for  more  than  a 
year,  touching  the  publication  of  the  Journals  of  the  Elderships  in  The  Advocate. 
It  was  proposed  either  to  exclude  them  altogether,  or  to  publish  abridgements.  As 
always,  there  were  many  readers  of  the  paper  sufficiently  interested  in  the  Journals 


General    History  127 

to  desire  them  published  in  full.  The  bond  of  personal  union  was  then  much 
stronger  by  reason  of  personal  acquaintance  of  ministers  and  lay  members  over 
the  whole  territory.  In  place  of  the  uniform  practice  up  to  this  time  it  was  pro- 
posed to  publish  all  the  Journals  separately  at  The  Advocate  office,  or  to  publish 
them  annually  all  together  in  uniform  volumes.      The  old  style  prevailed. 

By  this  time,  too,  opposition  to  the  mourners'  bench  began  to  manifest  itself. 
Apparently  ministers  were  in  the  lead  in  this  opposition,  and  were  warned  by 
others  to  "take  heed  how  they  interfere  with  such  things."  "Let  the  sinner  be- 
lieve while  we  preach,"  was  their  plea.  Conviction,  penitence  and  prayer  for  par- 
don were  to  be  ignored.  Opposers  were  characterized  as  lacking  religion  them- 
selves. "Moderation"  was  severe  on  advocates  of  the  easier  way.  J.  Myers  de- 
clared that  "the  mourners'  bench  system  is  unscriptural."  This  was  the  main 
argument.  J.  F.  Weishainpel  discussed  the  question  quite  fully,  defending  the 
mourners'  bench  as  essentially  scriptural.  Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  feature 
of  this  discussion  was  the  reproduction  in  The  Advocate  of  a  brief  article  addressed 
to  the  editor  of  the  "Lutheran  Observer,"  and  the  editor's  reply.  The  article 
quoted  from  another  one  in  the  same  paper  a  paragraph  on  "inquiry  meetings,"  in 
which  it  is  suggested  that  these  meetings  be  "held  either  in  the  lecture  room,  the 
pastor's  study  or  at  the  residence  of  the  convicted  ones,"  and  that  "without  any 
theatrical  or  startling  expedient,  without  recourse  to  'mourners'  seats'  or  'anxious 
benches,'  or  any  such  human  devices."  The  editor  approves  giving  advice  and 
"instruction  to  awakened  sinners;"  but  he  does  not  see  "why  the  pastor's  study, 
or  a  private  house  should  be  deemed  a  more  appropriate  place  for  the  performance 
of  such  a  duty  than  the  house  of  God;  or  why  the  one  should  be  approved  as  right, 
and  the  other  proscribed  as  a  'human  device.'  "  And  he  thought  "it  as  scriptural 
to  do  so  in  the  house  of  God  at  the  front  seats  as  in  the  pastor's  study,  or  at  private 
houses."  Evidently  a  modification  of  the  highly  exciting  services  at  revivals  was 
felt  to  be  desirable,  and  hence  Geo.  Sigler  later  followed  the  more  clearly  antagon- 
istic views  before  expressed  with  an  article  on  "Abuses  of  the  Mourners'  Bench 
System." 

In  the  Spring  of  1861,  G.  \V.  Wilson,  of  the  Ohio  Eldership,  had  a  debate  with 
Rev.  Butler,  Adventist,  Gilboa,  Ohio,  on  the  Seventh-day  Sabbath.  It  became 
largely  a  wrangle  about  the  word  "Sabbatoon,"  and  Wilson's  opponent  lost  his 
temper,  and  converted  an  honorable  debate  into  sheer  logomachy. 

The  soul-sleeping  heresy  in  1861  began  to  secure  converts  in  some  of  the 
western  churches,  and  found  several  ministers  of  the  Church  in  quiet  sympathy 
with  it.  It  was  not  openly  defended  or  advocated  by  them,  but  to  reclaim  them 
and  to  fortify  the  churches  against  its  inroads,  the  doctrine  was  vigorously  attack- 
ed by  R.  H.  Bolton,  Thomas  and  others.  Bolton  reproduced  Alexander  Campbell's 
exhaustive  arguments  on  the  subject.  It  was  a  doctrine  which  had  survived  as  a 
residuum  after  the  second  Advent  excitement. 

The  ministry  of  the  Church  was  always  Arminian  in  theology.  While  very 
few  had  studied  systematic  theology,  they  read  Arminianism  in  their  Bibles.  Cal- 
vinism they  abhorred.  Hence,  when  in  1861-2,  "judging  from  sermons  lately 
preached,  some  of  our  brethren  have  been  unsuspectedly  inveigled  into  the  turbu- 
lent meshes  of  the  long-exploded  dogma  of  Calvinism,"  it  created  more  than  inter- 
est. It  surprised,  pained,  irritated,  almost  horrified  many  of  the  ministry  and 
churches.  The  applause  Calvinistic  Presbyterians  gave  such  ministers  as  ventured 
to  teach  Calvinistic  dogmas  vexed  and  mortified.  These  preachers,  very  few  in 
number,  labeled  the  doctrine  "Bibleism;"  but  that  did  not  make  it  more  palatable. 
They  were  challenged  to  "come  out  in  The  Advocate  with  this  new-fangled  ism, 
and  let  us  look  at  it."  "Bobeshala,"  who  thus  threw  down  the  gauntlet,  aimed  his 
weapon  at  "East  Ohio  Preachers,"  and  was  answered  by  "Montgomery,"  who  de- 
fended what  he  "preached  on  Monday  night  at  the  Eldership."  He  preached, 
"first,  that  man  must  be  born  again."  "Second,  that  man  is  born  but  twice,  once 
into  the  natural  world,  and  but  once  spiritually."  As  many  another  shallow  rea- 
soner,  there  is  where  he  tripped  on  an  analogy,  and  there  is  where  he  was  "en- 
snared by  the  bewitching  enchantment  of  the  goddess"  of  error.  The  discussion 
hinged  principally  on  "the  can't  fall  doctrine."  It  was  participated  in  by  Thomas, 
the  Editor,  who  uncovered  and  revealed  this  'Bibleism"  as  "the  Calvinistic  doctrine 
of  the  Perseverance  of  the  Saints,"  with  all  its  logical  implications.  These  five 
editorials  for  the  time  silenced  the  advocates  of  "unconditional  perseverance."  An 
unusual  addendum  to  this  discussion  followed  in  October,  1864,  when  B.  F.  Beck 


128  History    of    thk    Churches    of    God 

preached  the  Opening  Sermon  at  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  on  the  theme, 
"The  Saints'  Perseverance,"  which  was  soundly  Calvinistic.  Thomas  as  a  watchful 
guardian  of  the  theology  of  the  Church  at  once  denounced  the  doctrine  thus 
preached  by  a  representative  of  the  Eldership,  and  in  caustic  terms  upbraided  the 
course  of  the  preacher. 

On  November  8  and  9,  1860,  L.  IJ.  Hartnian,  of  the  East  Ohio  Eldership,  and 
A.  B.  Way,  of  the  "Disciple"  Church,  debated  the  proposition  affirmed  by  Hartman, 
that  "the  washing  of  the  saints'  feet,  as  practiced  and  enjoined  by  Christ,  is  a  posi- 
tive ordinance  in  the  church  of  God,  and  devolving  upon  all  Christians."  "The 
debate  passed  off  very  pleasantly  between  all  parties,"  says  J.  S.  McKee;  although 
Hartnian  called  some  of  Way's  arguments  "trash  and  diction  concerning  our  Sav- 
ior," and  "is  profanation  and  open  blasphemy,  and  needed  no  reply."  After  a 
lapse  of  two  years,  on  August  .5,  1862,  Hartnian  had  another  debate,  with  J.  J, 
Excell,  of  the  Reformed  Church,  when  the  proposition  affirmed  by  him  was  thus 
stated:  "Is  feet-washing  an  ordinance  of  the  church  of  Christ,  instituted  by  him, 
observed  by  the  Apostles  as  such,  and  as  equally  binding  upon  us  as  an  ordinance 
as  the  Lord's  Supper  and  Baptism  are?" 

For  some  inscrutable  reason  almost  simultaneously  with  these  debates  on 
feet-washing  the  question  of  the  private  observance  of  the  ordinance  became 
mooted  among  ministers  and  churches.  The  open  discussion  of  this  question  was 
started  by  J.  H.  Hurtey,  Illinois  Eldership,  who  asked,  and  answered  in  the 
negative,  the  question,  "Did  Christ  ever  intend  it  as  an  ordinance  to  be  observed  in 
the  presence  of  the  world?"  He  conceded  that  "here  I  probably  differ  from  nearly 
all  my  brethren."  Long,  Hartnian,  Bolton  and  Mackey  wrote  strongly,  the  latter 
rather  sadly,  against  Hurley's  position;  "Alpha"  alone  came  to  Hurley's  defense, 
while  Thomas  took  for  him  the  very  unusual  course  of  indifference,  believing  that 
the  place,  time  and  circumstances  were  not  essential.  He  rather  seemed  to  think 
with  Ficlite,  that  "there  is  always  harm  in  placing  accidentals  on  a  level  with 
essentials." 

For  many  years  churches  and  ministers  were  super-sensitive  on  the  question 
of  a  Creed.  Ministers  of  other  bodies  were  accustomed  to  listen  with  incredulity 
to  their  vehement  onslaughts  on  these  symbols,  and  then  would  refer  them  to 
Winebrenner's  "View  of  the  Formation,  Government  and  Discipline  of  the  Church 
of  God,"  and  his  statement  of  "The  Faith  and  Practice  of  the  Church  of  God," 
in  which  there  are  twenty-seven  Articles  of  Faith.  For  this  reason  it  was  impossi- 
ble to  induce  the  General  Eldership  to  republish  the  "View  of  the  Church,"  or  to 
reproduce  in  separate  form  "The  Faith  and  Practice  of  the  Church  of  God."  It 
would  be  a  grave  inconsistency,  and  so  these  publications  were  condemned  rather 
than  commended.  To  send  forth  authorized  editions  would  look  like  organized 
hypocrisy,  and  so  also  their  original  publication  was  deplored.  But  by  1860  to 
186  6  broader  views  began  to  prevail,  and  many  read  with  some  satisfaction  H.  L. 
Soule's  plea  for  some  formal  statement  of  what  the  Church  believes.  Thomas, 
while  antagonizing  Soule,  declared,  "Give  us  Winebrenner  by  authority."  Not  so 
a  majority  up  to  this  time.  Yet  at  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1862  a 
resolution  was  adopted  instructing  the  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  in  1863 
to  urge  upon  said  body  the  propriety  of  writing  out  and  publishing  in  some  form 
a  statement  of  the  things  more  commonly  believed  by  the  Church  of  God.  This 
resolution  was  discussed  in  a  series  of  four  articles  in  The  Advocate,  by  C.  H. 
Forney,  in  the  Spring  of  1863,  in  which  he  strongly  pressed  the  propriety  of  pub- 
lishing what  he  called  a  "Doctrinal  Compendium."  Levi  Kauft'man  and  others 
endorsed  and  approved  the  views  set  forth,  while  no  opposition  was  manifested. 

The  right  of  women  to  be  ordained  to  the  ministry  received  some  attention 
at  this  time,  as  it  had  earlier,  but  was  not  regularly  discussed  in  The  Advocate. 
The  occasion  was  the  reception  of  Mi-s.  M.  J.  Beecher  into  the  West  Pennsylva- 
nit  Eldership  as  "a  coworker  in  the  gospel"  and  "recommending  her  to  all  with 
whom  she  may  labor  in  word  and  doctrine,"  and  the  reputation  she  gained  by 
her  preaching  in  Pittsburg  and  other  large  towns.  She,  however,  took  the  of- 
fensive on  the  subject  more  to  meet  private  criticism  than  open  antagonism. 
About  the  same  time  a  Miss  Johnson  was  licensed  by  the  Michigan  Eldership,  and 
the  Indiana  Eldership  licensed  Mi's.  Elizabeth  McColley.  Mrs.  Beecher  while  co- 
pastor  in  Pittsburg  in  1864  made  a  tour  among  the  churches  in  her  Eldership  and 
delivered  a  "Lecture  on  Female  Preaching."  "Tickets  of  admission  2.5  cents,  and 
all  moneys  collected  will  be  applied  to  paying  the  debt  yet  remaining  on  the  Pitts- 


GEXERAf.    History  129 

burg  bethel."  Thomas  seemed  disposed  to  discountenance  any  thing  that  "may 
be  said  against  Sister  Beecher's  preaching,  or  of  females  as  a  class  preaching.  As 
long  as  God  makes  her  useful  in  the  good  work,  we  feel  with  our  whole  heart  to 
say  amen." 

In  stating  the  Faith  of  the  Church  Winebrenner  said:  "She  believes  in  the 
immortality  of  the  soul."  In  1864  there  was  a  more  active  effort  to  inculcate 
contrary  views  on  this  subject.  "Men  of  talent  and  learning,"  said  Thomas;  "men 
of  great  research,"  were  connected  with  this  propagandism.  Hence,  "some  of  our 
own  brethren  are  in  danger  of  yielding  to,  if  not  embracing,  the  error  above  al- 
luded to."  In  a  series  of  five  editorials  he  submitted  proofs  and  arguments  that 
"man  is  immortal  as  to  his  spiritual  nature."  What  did  he  mean  by  this?  "We 
use  the  term  'immortal'  in  its  usual  acceptation;  that  is,  perpetuity  of  existence; 
indestructible."  On  this  he  did  find  that  "some  of  our  brethren  had  already  em- 
braced the  error  he  combatted."  That  the  soul  is  conditionally  immortal;  that 
there  is  good  ground  for  accepting  annihilation  as  to  the  finally  impenitent — - 
these  were  tenets  a  few  ministers  had  accepted,  and  were  now  defending  as  against 
Thomas. 

Nothing  seemed  capable  of  suppressing  or  dissuading  the  advocates  of  a 
change  in  Eldership  titles.  If  beaten  to-day,  they  were  ready  to  resume  the  bat- 
tle to-morrow.  Apparently  victorious  one  year,  they  lost  their  vantage  ground 
the  next.  At  annual  Elderships  and  in  The  Advocate  the  discussion  was  resumed 
at  different  times  between  1861  and  1863,  and  later.  The  most  exhaustive  and 
prolonged  discussion  of  this  subject  was  conducted  by  Ham,  Swartz,  Thomas  and 
Forney,  the  last  two  on  one  side  and  the  first  two  on  the  other  side.  In  1862 
seven  of  the  ten  Annual  Elderships  changed  their  titles,  and  adopted  "churches  of 
God,"  leaving  but  three  which  adherred  to  this  "old  landmark."  In  1864  the  dis- 
cussion was  again  resumed,  participated  in  by  Weishampel,  Hartman,  Thomas, 
Forney,  Swartz  and  Bolton.  Possibly  as  a  result  of  this  review  of  the  whole  ques- 
tion there  was  a  remarkable  change  in  the  Annual  Elderships,  and  so  a  reversal  of 
majorities.  They  now  stood  eight  for  the  singular,  Eldership  of  the  Church  of 
God,  and  three  for  the  plural. 

April  21,  1864,  "the  elders  and  brethren  of  the  church  of  God  at  Lancaster, 
Pa.,"  announced  "a  general  convocation  of  the  saints  on  Witsuntide,"  to  which 
they  invited  the  "ministerial  brethren  and  the  brethren  and  sisters  in  general" 
throughout  the  Eldership.  They  expressed  the  hope  that  "the  ministers  will  close 
their  houses  and  come,  bringing  with  them  as  many  of  their  flocks  as  they  can." 
The  Church  had  in  its  earlier  years  paid  little  heed  to  holidays,  remembering  their 
origin.  It  was  hence  rather  an  innovation  to  seek  to  have  "a  general  convocation 
on  this  Church  festival  day,  commemorating  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The 
idea  wholly  originated  with  the  Lancaster  church,  but  it  was  endorsed  by  Thomas, 
who  said:  "The  idea  to  inaugurate  such  a  meeting  to  be  perpetuated  from  year 
to  year,  changing  the  place  of  holding  it,  is  certainly  a  good  one."  One  object 
of  the  proposed  meeting  was  to  cultivate  the  spirit  of  fellowship  and  brotherhood. 
The  meeting  was  to  begin  on  Saturday  and  close  on  Monday  evening.  It  had  no 
specific  name,  but  was  announced  as  "An  Old-fashioned  Meeting."  Thomas  com- 
pared the  meeting  to  annual  gatherings  of  "the  Dunkards,  the  Quakers  and  some 
other  religious  bodies,"  and  represented  "the  annual  convocation  of  the  brother- 
hood of  the  Church  of  God  throughout  the  United  States  as  certainly  a  grand  and 
glorious  one  in  conception."  In  reporting  the  meeting  he  for  the  first  time  called 
it  "the  Pentecost  Meeting,"-  and  by  this  name  these  gatherings  were  thereafter 
known.  In  attendance  from  outside  of  Lancaster  there  was  disappointment;  yet 
so  much  was  the  church  encouraged  that  the  belief  was  expressed  that  "thus  was 
inaugurated  what  we  have  no  doubt  will  become  a  permanent  institution  in  the 
Church  of  God,  an  annual  Pentecostal  Festival."  It  was  suggested  that  "all  the 
Elderships  of  the  Church  of  God  in  North  America"  will  adopt  "the  great  yearly 
feast  begun  at  Lancaster.'.'  And  Thomas  was  so  exultant  over  it  that  he  wrote: 
"We  prophesy  that  in  after  years  the  record  of  the  introduction  of  the  Pentecostal 
Festival  will  be  viewed  as  one  of  the  brightest  pages  of  the  Church's  history!" 
In  the  Fall  of  1864  the  Eldership  took  charge  of  the  Pentecostal  Meeting,  fixing 
the  time  and  place.  Other  Elderships  soon  followed,  until  nearly  all  had  their 
annual  gatherings  of  this  character. 


C.  H.— 6 


I30 


History    of    the    Churches    of    God 


CHAPTER    XL 


JOHN   WINEBRENNER— HIS  CHARACTER   AND   WORKS. 


OHN  WINEBRENNER  was  born  March   25,   1797;    died   September   12,   1860. 

I        He  was  ordained  September  24,  1820,  and  preached  his  first  sermon  as  pas- 

V       tor  of  Salem  Reformed  church,  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  October  22,   1820.     From 

this  date  to  the  date  of  his  death  he  was  a  citizen  of  Harrisburg.      From  the  date 


of  the  organization  of  the  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God,  by  which  act  a  new  body 
of  people  was  formed,  for  thirty  years  he  stood  in  the  calcium  light  before  the 
world  as  did  no  other  minister  of  the  Church  of  God.  Thus  the  psychological  ob- 
server of  human  character  has  been  able  to  see  the  man  as  he  really  was  in  the 
varied  relations  of  minister  of  the  gospel,  preacher,  evangelist,  author,  leader  in  a 
great  reformation,  citizen  and  business  man,  and  to  discern  the  real  type  and 
quality  of  the  man  in  more  legible  lines  as  he  has  followed  the  relation  of  the 
conspicuous  acts  of  his  life  than  he  could  in  any  biography  which  might  be  writ- 
ten. Yet  biography  has  its  eminent  mission;  and  this  work  were  incomplete 
without  a  monograph  of  this  character.  Biography  itself  is  a  species  of  history 
peculiarly  interteresting  and  useful.      Few  pages  of  the  Volume  of  Inspiration  are 


General    History  131 

better  calculated  for  our  learning  than  those  which  delineate  character  to  the  very 
life,  the  writers  fearing  no  displeasure,  concealing  no  imperfections,  sparing  no 
censures.  None  the  less  do  they  prove  their  wisdom  and  prudence  than  they  thus 
give  evidence  of  their  impartiality.  They  knew  not  the  art  of  flattery.  Against 
the  flatterer  there  is  always  the  general  outcry  voiced  by  Sir  Richard  Steele,  but 
perhaps  not  with  his  reason,  that  is,  "that  there  are  so  very  few  good  ones."  In 
writing  the  Character  and  Works  of  AVinebi-enner  no  fair-spoken  words  of  the 
charmer,  no  over-wrought  eulogium  of  the  servile  courtier,  are  needed  in  order 
to  paint  a  portrait  that  will  challenge  admiration.  When  the  time  came  in  the 
dispensation  of  a  wise  providence  to  speak  the  man's  real  worth  many  were  ready 
to  elevate  him  to  the  position  and  relation  he  had  richly  earned. 

His  life  was  short.  Thirty  years  had  run  their  course  from  the  formation  of 
an  independent  religious  body  of  which  he  was  the  authoritative  head  to  the  day 
when  he  was  called  to  a  higher  sphere  of  divine  ministry.  Most  men  restrain 
their  thoughts  as  they  contemplate  the  brief  span  of  human  life.  Inspiration  has 
so  chastened  our  spirits  that  the  believer  needs  no  erudite  theodicy  to  inspire  him 
to  sing  with  Lowell: 

"All  is  of  Godr 
Angels  of  life  and  death  alike  are  His; 

Without  His  leave  they  pass  no  threshold  o'er; 
Who  then  would  wish  or  dare,  believing  this, 

Against  His  messengers  to  shut  the  door?" 

Theophrastus,  naturalist  and  philosopher,  may  "think  it  extremely  hard  to 
die  at  ninety,  and  to  go  out  of  the  world  when  he  had  just  learned  to  live  in  it." 
Or  Aristotle,  his  predecessor  as  teacher  in  the  Lyceum,  may  find  "fault  with  nature 
for  treating  man  in  this  respect  worse  than  several  other  animals."  But  not  so 
thought  the  greater  philosopher,  Paul.  Nor  the  sainted  and  immortal  Winebrenner. 
They  would  have  answered,  that  to  think  such  thoughts  is  to  presume  that  the  sys- 
tem of  the  universe  would  have  been  more  wisely  contrived  if  creatures  of  our  low 
rank  among  intellectual  natures  had  been  called  to  the  councils  of  the  Most  High; 
or,  that  the  Creator  ought  to  mend  his  work  by  the  advice  of  his  creatures. 

Winebrenner  did  not  come  to  his  early  end  without  premonitions.  Those 
who  heard  him  preach  in  the  Winter  of  1858-9  knew  that  the  foun,dations  of  the 
house  made  with  hands  were  undermined.  He  was  passing  through  an  ordeal 
from  1858  to  1860  which  many  knew  he  was  not  likely  to  survive,  so  that  his  death 
on  September  12,  1860,  was  not  the  unexpected  lowering  to  half-mast  at  midnight 
of  "the  flag  which  had  floated  so  proudly  at  the  mast  head"  in  the  morning,  as  in 
the  case  of  Lincoln,  the  martyr.  In  the  Autumn  of  1859,  at  the  session  of  the 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  he  was  attacked  "with  a  new  and  alarming  disease, 
which  resulted  in  a  protracted  illness,  from  which  he  only  measurably  recovered, 
in  answer  to  the  united  prayers  of  God's  people."  Remarks  he  addressed  to 
Thomas,  Richmond,  Snyder  and  Shoemaker  as  they  were  leaving  him  during  this 
illness  reveal  much  of  the  spiritual  character  of  the  man:  "Brethren,  don't  for- 
get to  remember  me  in  your  prayers.  I  don't  know  what  the  Lord  is  going  to  do 
with  me.  If  he  raises  me  up,  I  intend  to  spend  the  residue  of  my  days  in  the  min- 
istry. I  have  nothing  in  view  but  the  interest  of  the  cause,  and  it  is  the  one  thing 
for  which  I  live.  I  have  had  great  pleasure  in  preaching  the  gospel.  Brethren, 
'preach  the  word;'  make  full  proof  of  your  ministry.  I  have  committed  my  little 
all  into  the  hands  of  the  Lord;  he  will  make  the  necessary  provision  and  arrange 
all  things  according  to  his  pleasure."  But  while  his  life  was  spared,  he  never 
fully  recovered.  Though  somewhat  weak  and  emaciated,  he  attended  the  General 
Eldership  at  Upper  Sandusky,  Ohio,  May  28,  1860,  where,  on  Sabbath  morning  he 
preached  his  last  sermon.  Of  this  sermon  and  the  preacher,  R.  H.  Bolton  wrote, 
June  31,  1860,  as  follows:  He  "favored  us  with  a  solemn,  plain,  systematic,  sym- 
pathetic, soul-melting  and  most  evangelical  sermon.  His  text  was  Jer.  xxxi.  18-20. 
Theme — 'God's  Compassion  to  the  True  Penitent.'  He  possesses  in  a  high  degree 
natural  and  easy  eloquence,  and  for  plainness  and  comprehensiveness  of  speech  I 
never  heard  him  surpassed.  For  fervor  and  pathos  when  reading  the  hymn,  prayer 
and  sermon,  I  never  heard  him  equalled.  The  sermon  was  full  of  life  and  power, 
and  moved  the  audience  as  if  electrified  by  a  discharge  from  heaven's  battery,  and 
loud  'Amens,'  'Glory  to  God,'  etc.,  went  up  from  many  present.  I  acknowledge 
that  the  character  and  conduct  of  true  penitents,  and  God's  great  compassion  and 
mercy  for  them,  were  clearer  and  plainer  revealed  to  me  than  I  ever  heard."      On 


132  History    oi-    tiii':    Ciu'rciiks    of    God 

his  way  home  from  the  General  Eldership,  in  company  with  Thomas,  Dr.  Ross  and 
Kennedy,  he  stopped  off  at  New  Brighton,  Beaver  county,  Pa.,  to  fulfill  a  previous 
engagement  to  preach  the  dedicatory  sermon  of  the  new  house  of  worship,  on  June 
3rd.  But  he  was  suddenly  taken  sick  on  Saturday,  and  "was  not  able  to  be  out  of 
bed  from  Saturday  afternoon  until  Monday  forenoon."  "He  returned  home  in  a 
very  enfeebled  state  of  health."  "On  the  morning  of  July  3rd,  on  retiring  from 
the  breakfast  table,  without  eating  a  bite,  he  fainted,  and  was  quickly  borne  by  his 
wife  and  son,  John  A.,  to  the  sofa  in  the  parlor,  fearing  he  was  in  the  agonies  of 
death.  But  in  a  few  minutes  he  sufficiently  revived  to  retire  to  his  room,  only  to 
be  borne  back  to  the  same  place  on  the  morning  of  September  12th,  by  the  hands 
of  Elder  Wm.  McFadden  and  myself  [A.  X.  Shoemaker],  after  the  spirit  of  the  re- 
former, the  evangelist,  the  husband,  the  father,  the  brother  had  fled."  He  died  at 
No.  262  North  street,  Harrisburg,  Pa.  A  few  weeks  before  his  death  he  answered 
a  question  touching  his  past  life  and  ministry  in  these  words:  "There  are  things 
in  my  life  which  I  have  to  regret;  but,  upon  the  whole,  I  have  lived  with  a  con- 
science void  of  offense  toward  God  and  man.  And  if  I  had  my  life  to  live  over 
again,  I  do  not  know  that  I  would  change  it  in  any  particular,  except  some  little 
things  in  which  I  may  have  erred  in  judgment.  I  have  never  felt  free  to  waste  my 
time  and  talents,  and  sometimes  I  have  thought  I  taxed  my  mind  more  than  my 
body  was  able  to  bear.  None  of  my  troubles  through  life  at  any  time  disturbed 
my  sleep,  or  destroyed  my  appetite.  I  have  not  been  without  my  temptations  to 
ease  and  comfort;  but  I  have  withstood  them  all,  and  find  it  is  the  best  to  go  with- 
out the  gates  and  wage  war  against  the  devil.  And  the  great  comfort  of  my  life 
is  to  know,  feeble  as  the  effort  has  been,  God  has  blest  it."  Within  half  an  hour 
before  the  spirit  took  its  departure  he  spoke  touchingly  of  his  family  and  children, 
and  then  of  "friendship,"  exclaiming:  "Oh,  how  much  I  appreciate  friendship!" 
Being  assured  that  he  had  very  many  friends,  he  replied:  "Yes,  and  I  have  many, 
many  enemies,  and  false  brethren;"  and  then  added  his  final  message:  "In  the 
event  I  depart,  preach  Jesus.  O,  the  glory  of  preaching  Jesus!  I  have  never  seen 
the  necessity  of  preaching  Jesus  in  the  days  of  health  as  I  have  seen  it  since  I  have 
been  sick.  Preach  Jesus  in  the  days  of  your  health.  Tell  the  brethren  to  stick 
together!"  Release  had  come!  The  final  battle  had  been  fought!  He  had  paid 
the  debt  of  nature!  On  Friday,  September  14th,  the  funeral  services  were  held 
in  the  Methodist  church,  on  Locust  street,  the  bethel  for  whose  erection  he  had 
spent  many  anxious  days  being  in  possession  of  the  opposition.  E.  H.  Thomas 
preached  a  very  appropriate  sermon,  from  Heb.  xi.  4.  Addresses  were  also  de- 
livered by  James  Mackey,  Joseph  Ross  and  A.  X.  Shoemaker.  The  choirs  of  the 
churches  at  Mechanicsburg  and  Middletown  did  the  singing.  "It  was  a  most  sol- 
emn, feeling  and  weeping  time." 

The  last  resting  place  of  the  remains  of  this  truly  great  man  is  near  the  inter- 
section of  Poplar  and  East  avenues,  in  the  beautiful  necropolis  north  of  the  corner 
of  State  and  Thirteenth  streets,  Harrisburg,  Pa.  A  monument  was  erected  over  his 
grave  on  September  23,  1868,  with  the  contributions  of  churches  and  friends.  It 
is  of  hexagonal  form,  thirteen  feet  high,  and  surmounted  with  an  urn  entwined 
with  a  wreath  of  oak  leaves.      On  one  of  the  tablets  is  this  inscription: 

"Erected  by  the  Church  of  God  to  the  memory  of  John  AVinebrenner,  born  in 
Frederick  county,  Md.,  March  25,  1797,  Died  in  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  September  12, 
1860."     On  another  tablet  is  the  following: 

"An  able  minister  of  the  New  Testament — earnest  and  signally  blest,  in  his 
efforts  to  save  his  fellow  men.  He  has  perpetuated  his  own  memory,  not  on  tables 
of  stone,  but  on  fleshy  tables  of  the  heart:  'They  that  turn  many  to  righteousness 
shall  shine  as  the  stars  forever  and  ever.'  A  successful  reformer,  he  labored  to 
build  up  the  Church  of  God,  she  having  one  name,  one  faith,  one  baptism  and  one 
mission.  This:  To  gather  together  in  one  all  the  children  of  God  that  are  scat- 
tered abroad." 

AVinebrenner  had  his  critics;  he  also  had  his  cynical  detractors.  He  had  his 
faults,  as  he  was  human.  But  it  clearly  is  less  than  charitable  to  accept  his  own 
view  of  these  as  "errors  in  judgment."  For  criticism  there  is  always  room;  for 
detraction  and  defamation  there  is  no  apology.  Some  scars  he  bore  were  those  of 
wounds  received  in  the  house  of  his  friends.  He  had  a  constitutional  weakness 
which  led  him  to  see  future  things  in  too  large  proportions.  He  was  often  too 
sanguine  as  to  the  efficiency  of  means  to  reach  results.  He  was  not  so  much  a 
chimerical  theorist,  or  lacked  in  practicalness  and  want  of  prevision;  but  his  ex- 
ecutive powers  were  disproportioned  to  his  faith  in  results.      Hence,  some  of  his 


General    History 


133 


enterprises  may  seem  Utopian.  In  the  light  of  experience  this  seems  true  of  the 
constant  hope  he  held  out  of  the  money-making  power  of  The  Gospel  Publisher, 
through  which  relatively  so  much  was  lost.  Also  in  the  Texas  Mission  project  he 
so  earnestly  advocated,  and  which  in  the  end  created  such  bitter  antagonism.      Or 


Winebi-enner    Moniiinent. 


the  incipient  Nebraska  Mission.  Or  even  the  more  unfortunate  morus  multicaulis 
dream.  But  who  that  has  had  his  heart  aflame  in  behalf  of  the  Church  and  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  as  Winebrenner  had  is  in  a  position  to  cast  the  first  stone?  He 
who  does  things  makes  mistakes.  Yet  through  these  errors  of  judgment,  and  the 
busy  tongue  of  "Sir  Benjamin  Backbite,"  his  fame  on  several  occasions  suffered  a 
partial  eclipse.      Was   he  more   maligned   than   was  Daniel  Webstor,   Henry  Clay, 


134  History   of   the   Churches   oe   God 

Abraham  Lincoln,  George  Washington?  But  as  is  so  often  the  common  lot  of 
great  men,  it  was  rather  after  his  death  that  the  public  estimate  of  Winebi-enner 
did  him  justice.  In  reasonable  time  that  estimate  became  measurably  correct  and 
moderately  appreciative. 

Winebrenner  was  the  incarnation  of  integrity  and  honor.  He  was  accustomed 
to  perform,  and  to  insist  on  others  performing,  every  part  of  social  justice.  Fidel- 
ity to  every  trust  and  contract;  tenacious  of  every  promise;  disdaining  to  dis- 
semble or  prevaricate,  and  regarding  every  act  of  injustice  as  a  meanness  to  which 
he  would  scorn  to  stoop — these  were  ingredients  in  his  character.  Integrity  was 
to  him  only  entireness  of  one's  moral  being  in  unison  with  moral  law.  When  he 
stood  up  to  address  the  people,  or  the  Eldership,  in  his  closing  years  he  could  have 
been  introduced  as  Laniartine  did  De  la  Eure  to  the  riotous  populace,  saying: 
"Listen,  citizens!  It  is  sixty  years  of  a  pure  life  that  is  about  to  address  you." 
He  was  ever  faithful  to  his  word.  He  would  have  thought  himself  as  much  un- 
done by  breaking  his  word  as  if  it  were  to  be  followed  by  bankruptcy.  Hence, 
against  an  almost  solid  opposition  he  insisted  on  paying  the  Texas  missionaries 
what  was  promised  them  after  they  had  opened  the  door  of  the  Church  to  slave- 
holders. Nor  did  he  pride  himself  in  this  or  any  other  virtue.  He  knew  not  what 
pride  is.  Yet  there  is  no  affection  of  the  human  nature  so  much  blended  with 
better  traits,  or  so  wrought  into  our  very  being,  as  this  vice  through  which  the 
evil  angels  lost  their  first  estate.  Had  it  been  otherwise  he  might  have  yielded  to 
the  tempter  when  the  thought  was  more  or  less  seriously  entertained  to  make  him 
Bishop  of  the  Church.  There  could  not  be  in  such  a  nature  the  least  tendency  to 
affectation,  nor  to  dissimulation.  These  are  only  manifestations  of  lack  of  truth, 
which  had  no  place  in  Winebi*enner's  moral  make-up.  Even  in  business  relations 
he  was  too  sincere  and  honest  to  accept  Chestei-field's  dictum,  that  "dissimulation, 
to  a  certain  degree,  is  as  necessary  in  business  as  clothes  are  in  the  common  inter- 
course of  life."  He  was  never  known  to  be  resentful.  If  he  found  no  other  and 
nobler  way  to  deal  with  injuries  received  willfully  from  others,  he  dismissed  them, 
like  Samuel  Johnson,  "with  frigid  tranquillity,  having  little  to  fear  or  hope  from 
censure  or  from  praise."  His  friendships  were  not  tainted  with  partiality,  and 
rarely  were  the  shafts  of  criticism  met  with  sallies  of  anger.  And  yet  there  was 
enough  of  the  combative  element  in  him,  though  graciously  restrained  not  quiet- 
ly to  put  up  with  what  he  might  deem  unprovoked  insult.  He  was  free  from  self- 
interest,  or  what  is  properly  regarded  as  the  expectation  of  particular  rewards, 
distinct  from  the  general  good  which  would  result  from  one's  labors  and  pains. 
Taking  out  this  alloy  from  the  gold  in  his  character,  it  might  be  said  that  if  the 
blaze  of  some  other  reformers  is  brighter,  of  Winebrenner's  the  heat  is  more  regu- 
lar and  constant.  If  others  as  their  characters  and  works  are  studied  surpass 
expectation,  Winebrenner  never  falls  below  it. 

Winebrenner  was  superior  to  prejudice.  There  were  no  barriers  between  him 
and  the  poor  or  the  rich,  the  cultured  or  the  illiterate,  the  white  or  the  black,  the 
children  of  toil  or  the  elite.  He  was  in  all  these  relations  like  Barnabas  and  the 
Gentile  converts.  When  the  first  purely  heathen  converts  were  brought  in  to  the 
church  by  the  nameless  men  of  Cyprus  and  Cyrene,  they  leaped  the  barrier  which 
seemed  impassable  to  the  church  at  Jerusalem,  and  solved  the  problem  over  which 
Apostles  were  hesitating.  But  Barnabas  crucified  his  prejudices,  and,  like  a  true 
man,  he  yielded  to  facts  and  widened  his  theory  to  suit  them.  All  such  problems 
raised  by  artificial  and  natural  distinctions  were  to  Winebrenner  solved  in  Christ. 
For  ye  are  all  brethren.  In  Christ  is  neither  Jew  nor  Gentile,  rich  or  poor,  white 
or  black.  Necessarily,  if  unusual,  he  was  a  man  of  great  catholicity  of  spirit. 
Perhaps  circumstances,  as  well  as  divine  grace,  helped  to  develop  this  trait.  In  an 
age  of  limited  mental  attainments,  he  was  a  man  of  culture,  and  had  the  advantage 
of  good  training.  Raised  in  a  rural  home,  he  yet  walked  and  communed  with  the 
refined  and  educated.  A  native  of  a  slave  State,  his  life  was  spent  among  anti- 
slavery  people.  The  qualities  he  loved  and  cultivated,  he  admired  and  intuitively 
recognized  in  others.  He  was  modest,  and  without  any  jealousy  in  his  nature. 
He  was  not  disposed  to  assert  any  superiority,  but  was  content  to  yield  the  prec- 
edence to  another,  and  to  walk  loyally  and  lovingly  by  his  side.  Thus  he  was  un- 
observant of  the  immatureness,  the  weaknesses,  the  foibles  and  failures  of  the 
young  men  who  without  preparation  entered  the  ministry.  If  he  erred  in  these 
things  it  was  on  the  generous  side.  He  was  clothed  with,  and  delivered  his  mes- 
sage in,  genuine  humility.  "Boast!  but  how  can  I  boast?  I  am  an  empty  vessel 
in  myself;  whatever  good  there  is  in  me  was  put  in  me  by  God;  I  merely  received 


General    History  135 

it,  and  not  by  any  right,  or  purchase,  or  power  of  mine,  but  as  a  gift,"  one  can 
easily  imagine  he  hears  him  say.  He  learned  from  Paul  the  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion, "Who  malteth  thee  to  differ?  And  what  hast  thou  that  thou  didst  not  re- 
ceive?" 

Leaders  often  lack  tenderness.  Even  in  the  apostolic  leaders  in  the  church 
this  characteristic  does  not  appear  in  all.  There  was  one,  however,  who  was  called 
the  "son  of  consolation."  Perhaps  on  this  account  he  enjoyed  almost  beyond  any 
others  the  confidence  of  the  early  church.  We  find  him  sent  on  almost  every  dif- 
ficult and  delicate  mission.  Nor  was  Winebreniier  opinionated.  That  he  held 
tenaciously  to  the  views  and  doctrines  he  conscientiously  received  is  only  to  say 
they  were  honest  convictions.  But  he  did  not  unduly  adhere  to  his  opinions,  nor 
was  he  indisposed  to  listen  to,  and  weigh,  the  opinions  of  others.  And  thus  in 
controversy  he  was  considerate  of  the  views  and  convictions  of  opponents.  Broad 
of  intellect,  he  was  patient  and  courteous  in  debate,  rarely  losing  his  dignity  or 
his  temper.  He  was  self-sacrificing  and  indefatigable  in  his  labors.  He  subordi- 
nated his  own  and  material  good  to  the  demands  of  the  Church.  He  sought  to 
render  the  highest  and  best  service  to  the-  Church,  and  the  law  of  perfect  service  is 
always  the  law  of  self-sacrifice.  It  makes,  as  it  did  in  his  case,  the  whole  life  of 
a  Christian  minister  and  Church  leader  a  life  of  ministration  to  the  Church.  Spirit- 
uality and  moral  goodness  were  harmoniously  wedded  in  his  life.  He  was  full  of 
faith,  and  was  not  a  lover  of  this  world;  but  he  found  in  religion  and  the  Church 
the  absorbing  business  and  the  delight  of  his  life.  He  zealously  endeavored  to 
make  other  men  religious  and  to  minister  to  their  spiritual  necessities.  As  Mac- 
kenzie says  of  Barnabas:  "He  was  a  good  man,  good  in  all  the  relationships  of 
social  and  domestic  life;  good  in  his  influence  and  fulfillment  of  public  duties; 
good  in  the  diffusive  benevolence  of  his  spirit  and  his  social  bearing — he  was  'a 
good  man.'  "  In  nothing  was  his  spirituality  more  clearly  evident  than  in  his 
tests  of  regeneration.  He  always  insisted  on  "the  evidence  within."  Evidence 
there  must  be,  but  it  is  not  in  the  dialects  and  metaphysics  of  Paul;  but  in  the 
simple  love  of  John.  The  evidences,  the  proof,  the  satisfaction  must  be  within  the 
human  breast. 

Winebrenner  was  remarkable  as  a  man  of  prayer.  Often  on  special  occasions, 
revivals,  dedications,  or  critical  times  at  Elderships,  while  others  slept  he  prayed. 
Like  Cornelius,  "his  were  no  morning  and  evening  orisons  hurried  over  in  a  few 
minutes,  as  though  the  least  important  part  of  the  work  of  the  whole  day,  and 
accompanied  by  no  desire  for  heartfelt  communion  with  God."  Like  another 
Jacob  when  "there  wrestled  a  man  with  him  until  the  breaking  of  day."  "And 
the  man  said.  Let  me  go,  for  the  day  breaketh.  And  he  said,  I  will  not  let  thee 
go,  except  thou  bless  me."  Here  was  the  hiding  of  his  power  as  a  preacher  and  a 
leader.  True,  naturally  speaking  his  singular  talent  for  government  and  leader- 
ship was  founded  also  and  equally  on  his  temper  and  capacity.  God  filled  the 
vessel  he  had  made.  Endowed  with  a  great  command  over  himself,  he  obtained 
in  the  earlier  years  an  almost  uncontrolled  ascendency  over  the  people  identified 
with  him.  He  was  sufficiently  tolerant  of  dissent  not  to  seek  to  force  his  opinions 
on  administrative  matters  on  others,  wherein  lies  the  true  secret  of  managing  re- 
ligious factions.  And  so  his  qualities  as  a  religious  leader,  with  no  considerable 
exceptions,  were  the  object  of  undisputed  applause  and  approbation.  And  so  to 
the  very  end  of  his  illustrious  career  nothing  seriously  diminished  for  any  length 
of  time  the  luster  of  his  character.  His  life  was  altogether  a  serious  one.  With 
sincerity,  candor  and  fairness  he  faced  and  dealt  with  every  problem  and  every 
man.  Firm,  and  yet  gentle  in  a  singular  degree,  he  impressed  every  one  with  the 
thought  that  the  business  of  his  life  was  sacred  and  serious.  There  never  was  any 
Indication  that  he  lacked  moral  courage.  That  he  was  non-combative,  indisposed 
to  disputation,  was  not  because  of  any  element  of  cowardice  in  his  nature.  "The 
best  hearts  are  ever  the  bravest,"  says  Lawrence  Steme.  He  was  undaunted  in 
face  of  failure,  of  disappointment  and  of  difficulties. 

Winebrenner's  life  ^9as  a  very  busy  one.  The  record  of  his  work  is  mainly 
written  in  tangible  deeds  and  on  human  hearts.  Little  note  was  made  of  this  by 
the  world.  His  friends  did  not  sing  and  shout  his  praises,  as  falls  to  the  lot  of 
some.      But  when  he  was  laid  to  rest 

"Beneath  the  lone  green  tent 
Whose  curtains  never  outward  swing," 

many  pens  recorded  and  many  voices  spoke  his  praise,  and  never  with  a  shadow  of 


136  History    ok    the    Chukches    of    God 

variance  in  tlieir  appreciation  of  his  character  and  work.  He  was  most  of  his 
years  from  1825  a  "preacher  at  large."  In  1830  and  1831  no  appointments  were 
made.  But  from  a  statement  made  in  a  report  to  the  Eldership  about  1845,  he 
evidently  preached  in  Harrisburg,  and  occasionally  for  the  churches  around  the 
town.  In  1832  he  was  stationed  at  Harrisburg  and  Middletown.  From  1833  to 
1840  he  had  no  charge.  It  was  during  these  years  that  he  started  and  edited  and 
published  The  Gospel  Publisher.  In  1840  he  was  pastor  at  Harrisburg,  Middle- 
town  and  Lisburn.  In  1841  he  was  stationed  at  Lancaster.  In  1842  to  184  5  he 
acted,  under  appointment,  as  General  Missionary,  Agent  for  The  Gospel  Publisher, 
and  Agent  for  the  Missionary  Cause.  His  last  charge  was  Lisburn,  in  1846.  From 
1847  to  1851  he  was  "preaching  at  large,"  or  as  General  Missionary,  as  he  was  in 
1859.  But  no  regular  provision  was  made  for  his  support,  so  that  he  was  often 
thrown  largely  on  his  own  resources.  He  devoted  part  of  his  time  to  various  busi- 
ness enterprises,  and  also  to  his  own  publications,  from  which  he  probably  derived 
considerable  of  an  income.  On  May  1,  1846,  he  revived  The  Gospel  Publisher 
under  the  name  of  The  Church  Advocate,  of  which  the  editorial  and  business  man- 
agement remained  in  his  hands  until  May  1,  1857. 

As  a  preacher  AVinebrenner  was  systematic,  methodical,  perspicuous  and 
forceful.  His  theological  views  were  definite  and  comprehensive,  and  were  ex- 
pressed in  a  didactic  style.  While  logical  in  conception  and  outline,  they  were 
not  argumentative.  The  faculty  of  stating  truth  in  such  a  manner  as  to  carry  on 
the  face  of  it  its  own  proof  was  characteristic.  Many  of  his  written  sermons  were 
fine  specimens  of  homiletical  literature.  He  was  at  home  in  different  kinds  of 
sermons,  though  nearly  all  his  published  sermons  are  textual-topical,  with  a  strong 
practical  and  experimental  trend.  As  a  Reformed  minister  he  wrote  his  sermons 
often  at  full  length;  but  later  he  seldom  depended  on  manuscript.  He  was  a  fine 
extemporizer.  Self-possessed,  with  a  ready  and  expressive  vocabulary,  he  could 
preach  with  Bible  in  hand  with  boldness,  accuracy,  fervency  and  precision.  There 
was  unction  and  fervor  and  pathos  in  his  preaching  which  were  at  times  irresist- 
able.  The  fervor  and  severity  tempered  with  sweetness  were  of  such  an  order  as 
to  excite  the  emotions  of  piety  and  devotion.  He  was  never  accused  with  being 
brilliant,  or  oratorical.  He  had  a  great  message  of  truth  to  bring  to  the  people, 
and  he  was  more  absorbed  in  this  than  in  the  vehicle  which  conveyed  it.  Indeed 
few  men  have  stood  before  dying  men  with  a  message  from  heaven  that  seemed  so 
utterly  unconscious  of  self  as  did  John  AVinebrenner.  Henry  once  said  of  himself 
and  brother  preachers:  "We  should  be  in  gospel  worship  as  the  angels,  who  are 
seraphim — burners."  So  AA^inebrenner  was  in  the  pulpit.  No  trifling  word,  or 
sinister  thought,  or  puerile  act  marked  his  ministrations  in  the  pulpit.  His  style 
in  prayer  and  sermon  was  reverent,  humble,  serious,  simple  and  devout.  He  wrote 
and  spoke  in  English  and  in  German  with  equal  precision  and  fluency.  He  had 
cultivated  the  art  of  writing  to  such  a  degree  of  accuracy  and  legibility  that  his 
manuscript  was  as  if  it  were  script.  "A  long  poem,"  says  Edgar  Allen  Poe,  "is  a 
paradox."  In  no  sense  can  this  be  true  of  a  sermon.  AA'^inebrenner  is  remembered 
by  those  yet  living  as  a  preacher  of  interminable  sermons — "long-winded."  Not 
so.  The  length  of  sermons  is  determined  by  conditions.  His  regular  sermons 
were  of  the  usual  length.  But  no  man  preaches  short  sermons  on  special  occa- 
sions, or  special  subjects.  In  his  prime,  sermons  of  two  hours  were  no  rare  excep- 
tions on  such  occasions.      The  length  of  a  sermon  is  not  determined  by  the  clock. 

AAlnebrenner's  private  character  and  domestic  relations  are  of  interest  to  the 
Church.  The  cardinal  virtues,  the  temper  and  behavior  of  this  good  man  in  pri- 
vate life  were  such  as  to  adorn  his  memory  with  an  added  halo.  It  were  easy 
to  enlarge  on  the  devotion,  the  affection  and  the  tenderness  with  which  he  filled 
up  the  relations  of  husband  and  father  if  the  subject  were  not  of  too  delicate  a 
nature  to  admit  of  a  particular  detail.  It  is  sufficient  to  submit  a  few  facts,  and  to 
say,  that  his  behavior  in  them  was  founded  on  the  same  excellent  principles  which 
influenced  the  rest  of  his  conduct,  and  discovered  in  a  high  degree  that  sweetness 
and  benevolence  of  temper  for  which  he  was  remarkably.  He  kindly  interested 
himself  in  the  concerns  of  his  wife  and  their  home.  And  in  the  education  and 
training  of  his  children  he  endeavored  to  act  upon  the  advices  which  he  recom- 
mended to  others  in  his  sermons  on  that  subject.  AAlnebrenner  was  married  Oc- 
tober 10,  1822,  by  Rev.  James  R.  Reiley,  to  Charlotte  M.  Reutter,  of  Harrisburg, 
Pa.  To  them  were  born  six  children,  of  which  four  died  in  infancy.  Two  daugh- 
ters grew  to  womanhood  and  were  married  respectively  to  James  Colder  and  J.  C. 
Cassel.     Mrs.  AA'inebrenner  died  May  20,  1834.      He  was  married  the  second  time 


General    History  137 

by  Elder  James  Mackey,   on  Thursday,  November    2,     1837,    to    Mary    Hamilton 

Mitchell,  of  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  but  a  native  of  Norristown,  Montgomery  county,  Pa., 
who  survived  him,  dying  at  Mt.  Joy,  Lancaster  county,  Pa.,  May  22,  1888.  To 
them  were  born  Emma  C,  married  to  E.  L.  Christman,  of  Washington,  Washington 
county.  Pa.,  and  John  A.,  Albert  M.,  and  Marshall  H.  The  mantle  of  the  fatheV 
as  a  preacher  has  not  fallen  on  either  of  the  sons. 

Winebrenner's  labors  were  not  limited  to  preaching  and  editing  The  Gospel 
Publisher  and  Church  Advocate,  during  the  sixteen  years  he  was  connected  with 
these  periodicals.  He  was  foremost  in  every  project  and  enterprise  of  the  Church, 
abounding  in  every  good  word  and  work.  His  own  publications,  beginning  in 
1822,  and  continuing  at  intervals  to  the  close  of  his  life,  required  much  time  and 
often  quite  an  amount  of  research  and  labor.  But  in  the  Church  he  was  active  in 
every  movement.  He  early  advocated  the  need  of  an  institution  of  learning,  and 
took  a  leading  part  in  the  earliest  project  of  that  character — the  building  of 
"Bethel  College,"  or  the  "Swatara  Collegiate  Institute,"  to  be  located  at  Middle- 
town,  Pa.  He  matured  the  idea  of  a  co-operative  body  called  "the  General  Elder- 
ship," afterwards  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  The  present  General  Elder- 
ship was  the  creature  of  his  brain,  and  he  personally  managed  the  preliminary 
campaign  which  resulted  in  its  organization  in  184  5.  If  a  more  opinionated  man 
had  been  the  leader  indications  point  to  the  probable  wreck  of  this  institution  be- 
fore it  was  four  years  old.  He  was  active  in  the  anti-slavery  movement,  and  in 
several  temperance  campaigns  delivered  political  speeches.  The  industrial  im- 
provements interested  him  to  such  an  extent  that  for  several  years  he  was  much 
devoted  to  silk  culture  and  the  introduction  of  machinery  of  a  labor-saving  char- 
acter. Being  so  much  of  his  time  in  the  saddle,  and  other  means  of  conveyance, 
he  knew  the  hardships  of  those  methods  of  transportation,  and  hence  delighted  in 
the  prospect  of  railroad  lines  being  built  over  all  the  country,  and  editorially  en- 
listed the  good  will  and  sympathies  of  those  whom  he  could  reach  with  his  pen. 
Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  in  his  somewhat  amusing  contrast  of  the  lawyer,  the 
doctor  and  the  minister,  insists  that  the  duties  of  the  latter  "do  not  tend  to  make 
them  sympathetic,"  even  if  he  comes  "next  to  the  lawyer  in  point  of  talent."  But 
Winebrenner,  living  apparently  a  somewhat  sub-conscious  life,  was  intensely  and 
broadly  sympathetic. 

Descriptions  of  Winebrenner's  physique  are  naturally  limited.  Why,  up  to 
the  time  of  his  death,  describe  his  physical  appearance  when  nearly  every  reader 
of  the  Church's  publication  knew  him  personally?  So  the  earliest  attempt  on 
record  to  draw  a  pen  portrait  of  his  physical  person  was  in  1860,  a  short  time  be- 
fore his  death.  R.  H.  Bolton,  with  the  other  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership 
of  1860,  saw  him  on  the  floor  and  heard  him  deliver  his  last  sermon.  In  "Notes 
By  the  Way,"  published  July  12,  1860,  reporting  the  General  Eldership  as  Cor- 
respondent, he  says:  "He  is  sixty-odd  years  old.  And  the  silver  threads  appear 
amid  his  hair,  and  especially  in  his  beard  [worn  only  the  last  few  years  of  his  life]. 
He  is  tall  and  rather  sparely  built.  His  personal  appearance  is  commanding,  his 
address  graceful  and  winning,  his  gestures  accomplished;  his  voice  is  full,  soft, 
flowing;  his  delivery  free,  unaffected,  energetic,  animated." 

Samuel  Hinney,  who  knew  Winebrenner  and  attended  his  preaching  in  "Peace 
Church,"  also  known  as  "Salem  Church,"  or  the  "Stone  Church,"  near  Shiremans- 
town,  between  1820  and  1825,  in  1864  gave  this  description  of  him  as  he  then 
saw  him:  "I  well  recollect  seeing  him,  coming  up  the  road  on  horseback,  a  tall, 
lean,  young  man,  with  a  modest,  unassuming,  humble  and  meek  appearance." 

George  Gamer,  who  heard  him  in  Maryland  when  he  was  yet  a  Reformed  min- 
ister gave  his  recollection  of  Winebi-enner  about  the  same  time.  Gamer  lived 
only  a  few  miles  from  the  old  Winebrenner  home.  He  says:  "When  Winebren- 
ner was  a  Reformed  minister  he  would  come  over  to  visit  his  friends,  and  would 
preach  for  the  minister  in  the  big  house  in  town.  He  was  tall  and  portly,  well 
dressed  and  of  a  commanding  appearance,  but  not  proud.  He  was  the  most  priest- 
ly looking  man  I  ever  saw,  very  pious." 

Samuel  Boyer  remembered  Winebrenner  in  1824,  and  heard  him  preach  in 
Maryland.  In  18  80  he  wrote  about  him  as  follows:  "Well  do  I  remember  Wine- 
bi"enner.  When  he  would  shake  his  finger  at  the  congregation  sinners  would 
tremble,  as  his  whole  slender  frame  would  do." 

In  1861  Elder  Jacob  Flake,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  wrote  some  "Recollections  of 
Rev.  Brother  Winebrenner,"  beginning  with  their  first  meeting  of  each  other.  He 
says:      "The  first  time  I  met  with  Bro.  Winebrenner  was  in  the  Summer  of  1834 


138  History    of    tiif;    Churches    of    God 

or  '35.  I  had  heard  of  him,  but  had  not  seen  him.  He  called  to  see  me  in  Phila- 
delphia, where  I  was  sojourning  at  the  time,  having  returned  from  a  five  years' 
service  in  the  West.  He  was  tall  and  slim,  wearing  a  straw  hat;  plain  in  person, 
and  manners,  and  dress.  His  conversation  and  deportment  were  serious  and 
gentlemanly,  very  much  like  a  Christian  of  the  olden  times." 

In  his  "Biography  of  Elder  John  Winebi-enner,"  published  in  1880,  Dr.  George 
Ross  thus  describes  his  personal  appearance:  "He  was  tall  and  slender,  about  six 
feet  high,  and  very  erect,  whether  walking  or  standing,  or  in  the  pulpit;  with  high 
forehead,  and  rather  long,  thin  face,  bluish  eyes  inclining  to  gray.  His  hair  was 
smooth  and  of  light  chestnut  color  when  younger,  but  later  in  life  it  was  slightly 
mixed  with  gray,  and  which  he  wore  rather  long.  Dignity  and  solemnity  were 
prominent  features  in  his  countenance;  and  it  was  impossible  to  be  in  his  com- 
pahy  without  feeling  that  you  were  in  the  presence  of  a  great  and  good  man.  Yet 
there  was  little  stiffness  in  his  manner,  so  that  a  little  child  could  readily  approach 
him  with  confidence." 

While  there  are  men  of  decidedly  good  judgment  who  believe  in  "undersized 
geniuses,"  who  have  gone  so  far  as  "to  declare  that  great  height  and  genius  are 
incompatible."  They  can  cite  in  confirmation  of  their  views  such  celebrities  as 
Napoleon  the  First,  Alexander  the  Great,  Edgar  Allen  Poe,  Alexander  Pope.  And 
it  may  be  admitted  that  the  list  of  men  of  undoubted  genius  who  have  been  short 
of  stature,  some  indeed  almost  dwarfs,  is  long.  But  it  is  not  so  difficult  a  task  to 
overthrow  the  theory  that  great  minds  and  short  statures  are  closely  allied.  Cran- 
ium and  brains  after  all  count  more  than  bones  and  muscles.  Among  the  long 
list  of  very  distinguished  men  in  America  are  some  of  large  stature,  such  as 
Charles  Sumner,  Jefferson,  Jackson,  Samuel  Adams,  George  Washington,  Lincoln, 
Beecher,  Choate,  O'Connell,  some  of  which  were  considerably  over  six  feet.  The 
testimonials  to  Winebrenner's  greatness  are  numerous,  and  from  men  who  had  a 
long  and  intimate  association  with  him.  These  men  pronounced  most  enthusiastic 
eulogies  upon  the  character,  abilities  and  gifts  of  the  immortal  dead  both  as  they 
were  assembled  in  annual  convocations,  and  in  published  memorials.  They  found 
in  him  treasures  of  heart  and  of  intellect  which  in  their  deliberate  judgment  en- 
titled him,  now  sleeping  in  the  "dwellings  of  the  dead,"  to  a  real  superiority  among 
his  cotemporaries  in  the  American  pulpit,  and  which  made  an  enduring  place  for 
him  in  the  gratitude  and  remembrance  of  posterity.  They  had  seen  him  and  heard 
him  and  associated  with  him  during  the  weary  years  of  his  arduous  labors,  and 
many  of  his  marvelous,  pungent  and  spirit-stirring  sermons  and  speeches  they 
could  never  forget.  To  few  of  them  was  he  known  except  as  the  great  preacher; 
a  preacher  whose  sermons,  "like  pollen-dust,  usually  penetrated  to  the  conscious- 
ness it  was  to  fertilize  and  bring  to  flower  and  fruit."  They  found  it  hard  to  speak 
of  his  sermons  so  as  not  to  do  them  injustice,  and  still  more  to  do  them  justice. 
In  the  sermon  Thomas  preached  at  his  funeral  he  characterized  him  as  a  preacher, 
a  theologian  and  a  writer.  In  general,  looking  back  to  the  time  when  the  inex- 
perienced theologue  entered  the  Reformed  pulpit  in  Harrisburg,  he  said:  "We 
hesitate  not  to  say,  without  being  convicted  of  boasting  above  our  measure,  that 
Winebreimer,  under  the  blessing  of  God,  did  more  during  the  first  ten  years  of  his 
ministry  to  dispel  the  moral  darkness  and  to  infuse  a  new  life  into  organized  and 
unorganized  Christianity  in  and  around  Harrisburg  than  any  living  man  of  to-day." 
He  spoke  of  his  ability  "to  pour  forth  those  higher  strains  of  pulpit  oratory  which 
bring  all  hearts  under  their  control  and  power,  yet  many  years  ago  he  discarded 
for  conscience's  sake,  as  he  told  me,  all  that  was  mere  display,  tinsel  and  show  in 
his  pulpit  efforts,  and  confined  himself  to  preaching  the  word  with  all  plainness, 
simplicity  and  point.  And  that  in  which  he  most  excelled  was  the  clear,  lucid 
manner  in  which  he  expounded  the  word  of  God,'  and  the  point  and  power  with 
which  he  applied  the  truth  to  the  hearts  and  consciences  of  his  hearers."  "As  a- 
writer  he  was  strong,  vigorous,  clear  and  methodical."  "His  works  prove  that  as 
a  theologian  he  was  no  mere  novice,  either  in  the  doctrinal  or  practical."  Thomas 
enumerates  "the  qualities  for  which  AVinebreiiner  was  most  distinguished  as:  1. 
Great  zeal  and  perseverance  in  his  Master's  cause.  2.  Great  decision  of  character. 
3.  Great  Christian  charity.  4.  Unbounded  benevolence.  .5.  A  self-sacrificing 
spirit." 

Dr.  Ross  in  his  memoir  says  of  Wiiiebremier :  "His  preaching  was  generally 
methodical,  and  so  logical  that  his  positions  were  almost  irresistible.  His  delivery 
was  easy  and  deliberate.  And  while  he  was  mild  and  affectionate  to  inquiring 
penitents,  his  reproofs  to  rebellious  sinners  were  often  terrible  in  their  character. 


General    History  139 

He  used  his  index  finger  with  telling  effect  in  his  gestures."  "His  sermons  had 
great  power  in  convincing  men  of  sin,  and  through  his  splendid  reasoning  his 
hearers  yielded  willingly  to  the  power  of  the  gospel.  His  language  was  so  plain 
that  every  one  understood  him,  and  his  reasoning  so  strong  that  people  listened 
with  attention,  and  before  they  were  aware  of  it  were  convinced."  "Seldom  using 
notes  in  his  labors,  he  would  preach,  exhort  and  sing  for  hours  at  a  time  in  ap- 
parent forgetfulness  of  everything  else." 

In  1880  G.  W.  Wilson,  of  Ohio,  wrote  of  Winebrenner,  that  he  "was  a  ripe 
scholar,  a  fine  Christian  gentleman,  a  sound  theologian  and  an  eloquent  and  enter- 
taining preacher,  and  a  humble,  zealous  and  devoted  servant  of  the  Church." 

R.  H.  Bolton  wrote  in  December,  1860,  that  "Winebrenner  as  a  gospel 
preacher  had  few  equals.  His  personal  appearance  was  commanding,  his  address 
graceful  and  winning,  his  gestures  accomplished,  his  ideas  clear  and  well  arranged. 
All  these,  with  other  good  qualities,  combined  with  deep,  fervent  piety  and  the 
high  sense  of  the  imperishable  majesty  and  glory  of  his  calling,  and  the  glorious 
results  of  his  labors,  place  him  among  the  best  speakers  of  his  age."  Bolton 
named  twelve  of  AVinebrenner's  traits:  1.  Strong  faith.  2.  Strong  hope.  3. 
Very  sanguine.  4.  Courageous.  5.  Plain  and  pointed.  6.  Bold  and  un- 
compromising. 7.  Never  entered  into  sectarianism.  8.  Great  zeal.  9.  Un- 
tiring perseverance.  10.  A  good  man.  11.  An  earnest  man.  12.  Relied  on 
the  truth  of  the  gospel. 

J.  Hinkle,  of  Mechanicsburg,  Pa.,  thus  bore  testimony  to  Winebrenner's  noble 
qualities:  "We  wonder  at  various  matters  respecting  the  departure  of  our  brother, 
which  will  doubtless  not  cease  while  we  have  our  dwelling  among  men.  We  con- 
template his  instrumentality  in  the  hands  of  the  Supreme  Ruler  of  the  universe 
and  mighty  Arbiter  of  nations  in  bringing  sinners  to  Christ,  and  wonder  why  he  is 
no  more.  We  view  his  high  intellectual  endowments,  and  the  respectable  literary 
acquirements  with  which  these  natural  talents  were  adorned,  and  our  amazement 
is  only  increased  why  his  life  is  over.  We  look  at  the  special  and  superior  meek- 
ness which  qualified  him  for  the  exalted  office  of  the  ministry,  and  we  gaze  with 
remembered  delight  upon  the  halo  of  glory  which  often  encircled  the  congrega- 
tions of  the  Lord  whilst  he  preached  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ,  and  we  in- 
quire. Why  has  the  mighty  fallen?  We  wonder  why  so  eminent  a  man  reached  no 
higher  number  of  days  on  earth,  while  thousands  of  his  inferiors  had,  and  many 
now  have,  reached  quite  beyond  the  length  of  his  sojourn.  In  his  fall  a  bright 
star  has  been  thrust  from  its  orbit  in  the  moral  heavens." 

J.  C.  Owens,  then  at  Uniontown,  Md.,  March  13,  1861,  spoke  thus  of  his  first 
acquaintance  with  Winebrenner  and  the  impressions  received  in  social  conversa- 
tion: "I  soon  found  that  I  had  met  with  a  gentleman,  and  as  such  few  could  excel 
him.  In  company  he  was  polite,  and  remarkably  agreeable.  No  one  could  remain 
long  with  him,  or  be  in  his  company,  without  learning  something  profitable.  He 
was  free  from  trifiing  in  conversation,  or  with  the  feelings  of  those  with  whom  he 
associated.  His  tone  of  voice,  his  pleasant  countenance  and  his  dignified  physical 
structure  gave  weight  and  infiuence  to  his  character  upon  the  minds  of  those  who 
heard  him.  I  also  learned  that  he  was  not  only  a  workman  of  no  ordinary  skill, 
and  as  well  a  gentleman;  but  a  clear  and  well  qualified  debater.  In  these  respects 
he  had  but  few  equals  in  the  Church  or  in  the  nation." 

One  of  his  erstwhile  friends,  and  alleged  detractors,  suggested  at  the  time  of 
his  death  that  a  common  funeral  dirge  be  chanted  at  all  the  Elderships,  whose  ses- 
sions were  approaching.  There  would  have  been  an  impressiveness  about  such  an 
epicedium  which  would  have  appealed  strongly  to  the  imagination;  but  it  could 
not  be  arranged  for.  But  what  approached  it  at  least  in  spirit  was  the  spon- 
taneous symposium  of  sentiment  developed  and  revealed  at  the  sessions  of  quite 
nearly  all  the  Elderships.  Yet  there  was  no  concert  of  action,  as  the  first  Elder- 
ship met  eighteen  days  after  Winebrenner  fell  asleep.  It  was  the  East  Ohio.  On 
the  second  day,  in  the  afternoon,  a  motion  prevailed,  that  "Elder  G.  U.  Hani  be 
requested  to  deliver  before  this  body  this  evening  a  discourse  on  the  life,  labors 
and  death  of  our  esteemed  and  venerable  Bro.  AVinebrenner."  This  he  did,  using 
Acts  viii.  2  as  his  text,  to  a  "congregation  large,  attentive,  solemn  and  weeping." 
In  the  resolutions  the  Eldership  spoke  of  "the  vast  circle  of  devoted  friends"  from 
the  midst  of  v/hich  Winebrenner  was  called;  of  "his  ministerial  career  as  a  re- 
former, evangelist  and  Christian,"  in  which  capacities  he  "has  ever  shone  as  a  star 
In  the  clerical  constellation  of  his  age  with  unsurpassed  brilliancy  and  luster."      It 


140  History    or    the    Churches    of    God 

was  recommended  that  a  funeral  sermon  be  preached  in  every  church  of  the  Elder- 
ship. 

The  West  Ohio  Eldership  met  on  Wednesday,  October  15th,  and  on  Tuesday 
afternoon  appointed  Thomas  Hickemell  "to  preach  to-night  on  the  death  of  EUler 
Winebreimer."  He  "preached  a  solemn  and  impressive  sermon  from  II.  Tim.  iv.  7. 
The  Eldership  spoke  sadly  of  "the  mysterious  providence  which  removed  our  ven- 
erable and  beloved  Bro.  Winebreimer;"  that  "a  great  man  has  fallen;  one  who 
possessed  a  strong,  deep,  clear,  original  and  well-cultivated  mind,  and  a  graceful, 
gen.erous  and  noble  spirit.  In  preaching,  his  style,  arrangement  and  manner  of 
delivery  were  peculiarly  his  own.  His  easy,  unaffected  manner,  always  accom- 
panied with  great  simplicity,  and  his  warm,  gushing  heart,  overflowing  with  kind 
feeling,  did  not  fail  to  secure  the  love  of  those  by  whom  he  was  surrounded." 

The  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership  met  October  22nd.  It  expressed 
the  deep  sense  of  the  loss  sustained  by  "the  death  of  our  beloved  and  much 
esteemed  Bro.  John  Winebrenner,"  and  "deeply  sympathize  with  the  brotherhood 
in  our  common  bereavement." 

On  the  29th  of  October  the  Indiana  Eldership  convened.  John  Martin  was 
"appointed  to  preach  a  sermon  on  the  death  of  Elder  J.  Winebrenner,  and  delivered 
an  impressive  discourse  from  Gen.  xlix.  .53."  In  resolutions  the  Eldership  com- 
mended Winebi-enner's  "labors,  so  untiring  and  successful,"  which  "will  ever  be 
cherished  in  the  memory  of  multitudes." 

By  a  regretable  oversight,  the  Illinois  Eldership,  which  convened  October  3rd, 
had  "not  a  line,  or  a  sentence,  or  a  syllable;  no,  not  so  much  as  even  an  allusion 
in  the  remotest  degree,"  in  its  Journal,  of  the  venerable  and  lamented  Elder  John 
Winebrenner.  But  the  omission  was  explained  as  entirely  undesigned;  that  the 
Eldership  was  in  no  sense  "insensible  to  the  great  and  irreparable  loss  the  Church 
has  sustained,"  and  that  it  was  the  intention  to  take  "suitable  action  with  regard 
to  a  subject  of  so  much  moment  to  the  Church  as  that  of  the  death  of  our  much 
lamented  Father  W'inebrenner."  "It  was  certainly  the  intention,  as  well  as  the 
expectation,  of  the  Eldership  to  have  added  their  testimony  to  the  well-known 
virtues  and  high  moral  and  religious  worth  to  which  our  lamented  brother  at- 
tained in  this  life." 

In  the  morning  session  of  the  first  day,  October  23rd,  the  West  Pennsylvania. 
Eldership  appointed  S.  S.  Richmond  "to  deliver  a  funeral  discourse  on  the  life  and 
death  of  Elder  Winebrenner."  This  was  done  on  Friday  evening,  from  Rev.  xiv. 
13.  In  resolutions  adopted  after  the  sermon,  Winebrenner  is  characterized  as 
"our  venerable  and  much  beloved  brother  and  father  in  Israel,"  in  whose  death 
"the  Church  has  lost  an  able  counsellor,  the  Bible  a  faithful  advocate,  the  world  a 
great  reformer  and  the  community  a  worthy  man." 

The  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  held  its  session  at  Bainbridge,  beginning  on 
Wednesday  a.  m.,  November  8th.  The  preaching  of  the  opening  sermon  fell  to  the 
lot  of  the  life  long  friend  and  associate  of  Winebrenner,  William  McFadden,  in 
place  of  Winebrenner,  appointed  to  that  office  by  resolution  in  1859.  The  Elder- 
ship was  orphaned,  and  sat  in  mourning.  A  special  committee  on  obituaries  was 
appointed,  consisting  of  Swartz,  Thomas  and  Mackey,  than  whom  none  knew  AV^ine- 
brenner  better,  nor  appreciated  him  more  highly.  The  Committee  feelingly  spoke 
of  "our  much  honored  and  venerated  brother.  Elder  John  Winebrenner;  that  in 
this  afflicted  bereavement  the  Church  of  God  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership 
has  lost  the  most  honored  and  useful  instrument  in  the  hands  of  God  in  the  or- 
ganization and  establishment  of  said  Church;  that  by  the  sterling  character  and 
success  of  his  ministry  he  has  associated  his  name  with  the  most  noted  and  ac- 
knowledged reformers  of  modern  times."  Mackey  preached  an  extempore  sermon, 
from  Luke  ii.  29,  30,  on  Winebrenner,  which,  by  request  of  the  Eldership,  was 
written  out  and  published  in  The  Advocate.  He  testified  that  "few  knew  Wine- 
brenner better  in  life  than  myself,  and  then  added:  "And  throughout  this  long 
acquaintance  of  over  thirty  years,  I  may  truly  say,  I  know  not  one  solitary  act  of 
his  which  in  my  estimation  deprived  me  of  confidence  in  his  Christian  character. 
He  was  a  close,  impressive,  sound  reasoner.  generally  methodical  yet  spiritual  in 
his  ministrations;  great  solemnity  pervaded  his  efforts,  and  as  a  consequence  deep 
and  lasting  impressions  were  made  upon  the  audiences  he  addressed." 

The  Iowa  Eldership,  immediately  after  organization  on  the  third  Monday 
morning  of  October,  "appointed  A.  Megrew.  A.  McCormick  and  J.  Huff  a  committee 
to  draft  resolutions  expressive  of  the  sympathy  of  this  body  relative  to  the  death 
of  Elder  John  Winebrenner."      The   Committee   thereupon   reported,   speaking   of 


General    History  141 

the  deceased  as  "one  who  has  long  adorned  the  doctrine  of  his  profession  as  a 
faithful  minister,  a  reformer  and  as  a  devoted  Christian,  ever  laboring  vi^ith  an 
untiring  zeal  to  vindicate  and  spread  the  principles  of  the  Bible,  and  was  the  hum- 
ble and  highly  honored  instrument  under  God  in  the  conversion  of  many;  believ- 
ing him  to  have  been  one  among  the  brightest  stars  that  has  ever  adorned  the  min- 
isterial constellation  of  his  day." 

The  grave  holds  his  mortal  tenement  of  clay  .till  the  resurrection  of  the  just. 
But  he  being  dead  yet  speaketh.  There  is  a  glorification  through  death  I  Le  Sage 
was  right  when  he  said:  "Their  deeds  alone  can  praise  them."  And  no  other 
praise  is  of  good  effect  where  great  names  are  concerned.  And  it  needs  but  the 
simple  story  of  his  deeds,  faithfully  recorded,  to  sustain  the  glory  of  John  Wine- 
brenner. 


CHAPTER     XII. 


1865—1870. 


THE  first  year  of  this  period  has  ever  been  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  memor- 
able years  of  American  history.  The  events  which  give  it  this  distinction 
were  of  a  character  deeply  to  concern  the  Churches  and  Christian  people, 
and  can  not  be  separated  from  their  corporate  life.  "General  Sherman's  march 
of  three  hundred  miles  directly  through  an  insurgent  country,"  "the  most  remark- 
able feature  in  the  military  operations  of  the  year,"  says  Lincoln,  had  culminated 
at  Savannah,  Georgia,  with  entire  success,  and  "with  an  eclat  indeed  which  startled 
Europe  as  well  as  America."  He  was  marching  northward,  driving  the  Confeder- 
ate army  before  him.  Grant  was  meanwhile  tightening  his  hold  on  Richmond  and 
on  the  army  of  General  Itee.  In  the  southwest  the  military  power  of  the  Confed- 
eracy had  been  effectually  destroyed  by  General  Thomas.  The  country  was  excited 
to  breathless  expectation,  and  the  Christian  people  who  for  four  years  had  not 
ceased  to  pray  for  the  triumph  of  right  and  justice  began  at  last  to  see  the  fore- 
gleams  of  a  complete  answer  to  their  prayers.  On  April  9,  1865,  E.  M.  Stanton, 
Secretary  of  War,  announced  the  surrender  of  Lee,  and  ordered  a  "salute  of  two 
hundred  guns  in  commemoration"  thereof.  The  surrender  of  Johnston  speedily 
followed.  In  large  head-lines  even  The  Church  Advocate  proclaimed,  "The  War 
Over!"  "Thanks  be  to  God!"  In  many  and  various  ways  the  end  of  the  war  af- 
fected the  Churches. 

While  events  of  the  most  momentous  character  were  thus  transpiring  on  the 
bloody  fields  of  war,  other  scenes  of  equal  significance  were  enacting  in  the  halls 
of  legislation.  Maryland  had  taken  the  matter  of  the  solution  of  the  slavery  ques- 
tion, which  had  agitated  and  rent  Churches  for  years,  under  her  own  control,  and 
deliberately  abolished  the  institution.  President  Lincoln  knew  that  in  the  Con- 
federate States  and  some  other  Border  States  its  abolition  depended  upon  the 
validity  of  his  Proclamation  of  Emancipation.  He  would  never  retract  or  modify 
said  document;  but  what  the  Supreme  Court  might  do  was  an  unsolved  problem. 
In  his  Message  to  Congress  he  made  an  effective  plea  for  the  adoption  of  the 
Thirteenth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution.  January  6,  186.5,  this  Amendment 
was  brought  before  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  on  January  31st  it  was 
adopted  by  a  vote  of  119  yeas  and  .56  nays.  Having  been  adopted  by  the  Senate, 
it  was  at  once  submitted  to  the  States,  and  in  less  than  eleven  months  after  Con- 
gress had  spoken  the  Secretary  of  State  announced  that  the  Amendment  had  been 
ratified  by  the  Legislatures  of  twenty-seven  States,  and  was  a  part  of  the  Constitu- 
tion.     Slavery  in  the  United  States  was  dead! 

April  15,  1865,  "a  crime  without  a  name"  was  perpetrated  in  Washington, 
D.  C.  Lincoln  was  a  martyr!  The  idol  of  the  Christian  people  and  Churches  of 
the  loyal  States  was  shattered  by  the  assassin's  bullet.  It  was  startling  and  terri- 
ble news  to  the  country,  as  it  was  to  the  world.  If  hero-worship  is  not  approved 
by  the  enlightened  Christian  conscience,  the  apotheosis  of  Lincoln  is  an  exception. 
President  Johnson  directed  that  Thursday,  June  1st,  "be  observed  as  a  day  of 
humiliation  and  mourning."  ^t  the  Eldership  in  the  Fall  of  1865,  instead  of 
resolutions  on  the  war  and  slavery,  eloquent  tributes  of  praise  were  recorded  with 
earnest  unanimity,  recognizing  in  the  martyred  President  "the  worthy  type  of  the 
characteristic  virtues  that  should  distinguish  the  Ruler  of  a  free  people,  and  that 


T42  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

we  shall  ever  cherish  his  memory  and  embalm  his  name  in  the  warmest  affections 
of  our  hearts  as  a  special  gift  of  Providence  to  the  Nation  in  the  darkest  period  of 
its  eventful  history."  Looking  back  over  the  year  1865,  on  December  28th, 
Thomas  said  editorially:  "O,  what  a  year  was  1865!  How  big  with  interest! 
How  momentous  in  fixing  the  destiny  of  our  own,  and  perhaps  all  the  nations  of 
the  earth!  The  year  1865  has  been  a  glorious,  as  well  as  a  sad,  year."  And  the 
"New  York  Observer":  "While  the  present  generation  lives,  and  in  the  traditions 
of  generations  yet  to  come,  the  year  now  closing  will  be  Annus  Memorabilis,  the 
memorable  year  of  our  country's  history." 

But  while  the  material  of  war,  the  swords  and  the  spears,  were  being  con- 
verted into  the  implements  of  husbandry,  and  "wars  without"  ceased,  and 

"The  bright  day  long  seen  afar,  sublime, 
Bent  now  from  heaven  in  final,  full-orbed  peace," 

in  the  Church  and  Elderships  there  was  much  controversy.  Psychological  reasons 
there  doubtless  are  why  contentions  and  disputations  in  Churches  are  both  cause 
and  effect;  but  in  this  case  it  is  a  question  the  answer  to  which  may  be  held  in 
suspense.  But  to  contend  earnestly  for  the  faith  delivered  to  a  Church,  even  in 
public  debate,  while  perhaps  not  profitable,  may  indicate  a  condition  of  vigorous 
health  and  delicious  harmony  in  the  body.  This  is  illustrated  in  the  champion 
disputant  of  the  'Disciples  of  Christ,"  A.  Campbell,  who  died  on  March  4,  1866. 
He  held  five  public  debates  from  1820  to  1843,  in  which  he  defended  the  faith  of 
the  "Christian  Church."  He  was  Winebi-enner's  senior  by  eleven  years,  and  out- 
lived him  six  years.  B.  Ober,  however,  had  a  number  more  public  debates  than 
Campbell.  One  at  Proctor,  in  West  Virginia,  in  1851,  has  already  been  noticed. 
In  Texas  he  had  several  of  a  semi-political  character,  but  somewhat  informal.  His 
second  debate  of  a  religious  nature  was  in  1865,  with  a  Mr.  Polly,  of  the  Disciple 
Church,  on  Feet-washing;  Title  of  the  Church,  and  Design  of  Baptism,  all  three 
specialties  with  the  ministers  of  the  Disciple  Church.  This  was  held  in  Fannin 
county,  Texas.  Sometime  later  he  discussed  the  same  subjects  with  Clark  Braden, 
a  trained  disputant,  in  Hunt  county,  Texas.  In  1884,  after  his  removal  to  Arkan- 
sas he  encountered  a  Mr.  Randolph,  also  of  the  Disciple  Church,  and  debated  the 
same  questions,  at  Uniontown,  Ark.  Returning  to  Hunt  county,  Texas,  in  1884, 
he  joined  issue  the  same  year  with  a  Methodist  minister  by  the  name  of  Landreth. 
on  the  same  subjects.  In  McKinney  county,  Texas,  in  1884,  he  tried  conclusions 
with  another  minister  of  the  Disciple  Church  on  the  old  issues.  But  at  Paris, 
Texas,  in  a  debate  with  Mi-.  Porter,  Methodist,  infant  baptism  and  immersion  were 
the  propositions. 

Had  a  discussion  of  Feet-washing  as  a  divine  ordinance,  in  The  Advocate,  by 
J.  S.  Stamm,  in  1866,  and  between  Stamm  and  C.  H.  Forney  the  same  year,  been 
taken  at  its  full  value  as  proof  that  Stamm  had  renounced  the  ordinance,  possibly 
the  history  of  Centralia  College  could  be  differently  written.  When  Principal  of 
said  institution  he  came  out  more  positively  against  the  ordinance,  and  finally  re- 
signed his  position  and  membership  in  the  Church. 

A  pleasant  and  interesting  debate  was  held  in  Franklin  Hall,  Mechanicsburg, 
Pa.,  between  A.  Swartz,  of  the  Church  of  God,  and  Rev.  Dudley  Downs,  of  the 
Christian  Church.  The  proposition,  which  Downs  affirmed  and  Swaitz  denied, 
was:  "Baptism  is  essential  to  the  remission  of  sins."  Each  disputant  made  four 
speeches.  "A  pretty  full  report  of  the  speeches  was  furnished  for  the  columns  of 
The  Advocate  by  the  Junior  Editor."  The  two  evenings  of  May  7  and  8,  1867, 
were  devoted  to  the  discussion.  In  strong,  deliberate,  logical  arguments  Swartz 
dissected  the  positions  attempted  to  be  maintained  by  his  opponent.  The  burden 
of  proof  rested  not  with  him,  and  so  Swartz  had  less  opportunity  to  exercise  his 
special  talent  for  analytical  discussion.  Yet  he  realized  that  before  a  popular  as- 
sembly he  could  not,  for  the  sake  of  his  cause,  limit  himself  to  the  negative;  and 
so  he  also  advanced  eight  arguments  in  proof  of  the  correlative  to  the  proposition 
under  discussion,  which  Downs  did  not  undertake  to  meet.  Of  the  published  re- 
port of  the  debate  Mr.  Downs  said:  "The  report  I  take  to  be  a  fair  and  honest 
one." 

August  18  and  19,  1869.  a  public  debate  was  held  at  Wesley,  Venango  county. 
Pa.,  between  Elder  J.  M.  Domer,  of  the  Church  of  God,  and  Rev.  Thomas  Graham, 
of  the  M.  E.  Church.  The  proposition  submitted  by  Graham  and  accepted  by 
Domer  was  in  the  form  of  a  question:  "Did  Christ  institute  feet-washing  as  a 
permanent  ordinance  of  the  New  Testament  Church?"      Domer  was  comparatively 


General    History 


143 


a  young  man,  aged  about  thirty-eight  years.  His  opponent  was  his  senior  by  not 
less  than  twenty  years.  Domer  had  been  in  the  ministry  some  twelve  years;  Gra- 
ham probably  forty.  Domer  in  his  manner  was.  very  deliberate,  calm  and  grave; 
Graham  was  of  an  excitable  temperament.  Domer's  language  was  eminently 
chaste,  smooth  and  aptly  expressive,  delivered  with  a  well-modulated  voice;  Gra- 
ham, as  a  result  of  over-taxing  his  voice  in  preaching,  spoke  in  more  rasping  tones, 
and  in  a  rather  high  key.  Domer  was  a  good,  logical  reasoner;  Graham,  though 
.reasonably  well  versed  in  logical  forms  and  terminology,  was  often  seriously  at 
fault  in  his  reasoning  processes.  This  was  the  first  debate  in  which  "humility" 
as  an  element  in  the  ordinance  of  feet-washing  was  discarded,  and  "humiliation" 
substituted.  Domer  gave  these  elements:  1.  Divine  origin.  2.  Recognized 
subjects.  3.  Object  or  design.  4.  Must  relate  to  the  worship  of  God.  Gra- 
ham gave  the  elements  somewhat  differently,  specifically  insisting  that  every  or- 
dinance must  be  "commemorative,"  in  proof  of  which  he  cited  Winebrenner.  And 
that  the  thing  commemorated  must  be  a  historical  fact,  like  the  death  of  Christ. 


A.  Swartz. 


It  was  a  critical  point  in  the  debate;  but  when  Domer  caught  the  full  significance 
of  the  flank  movement  he  turned  his  guns  with  tremendous  force  against  Graham. 
Accepting  Graham's  elements,  he  portrayed  in  eloquent  terms  the  historic  fact  of 
the  "humiliation"  of  Christ,  as  significant  and  essential  as  his  death,  and  declared 
that  to  be  the  monumental  fact  which  we  insist  ii  commemorated  in  the  washing 
of  the  saints'  feet.  Graham  failed  to  reform  his  lines  after  this  masterly  stroke  of 
dialectic  strategy.  Besides  "the  Junior  Editor,"  who  published  a  full  report  of 
the  debate,  there  were  present  of  the  ministers  of  the  Church  of  God,  P.  Loucks, 
A.  C.  Raysor  and  Heni-y  Rarkey.  The  conduct  of  some  of  Graham's  friends  in  re- 
peatedly leaving  the  house  during  Domer's  speeches  indicated  lack  of  refinement 
in  manners  and  charity  of  spirit.  But  their  deportment  was  better  than  when 
years  before,  in  the  same  locality,  a  debate  was  conducted  between  G.  U,  Harn  and 
Rev.  Keller,  also  of  the  M.  E.  Church. 

In  view  of  the  radical  antagonism  between  the  Christian  Church  and  the 
Church  of  God  on  the  design  of  baptism,  as  developed  in  the  Ober,  Swailz  and 
other  debates,  and  in  many  published  articles,  the  futility  of  efforts  at  union  be- 


144 


History    of    the    Churches   of    God 


tween  the  two  bodies  is  self-evident.  Yet  "A  Disciple"  in  December,  1865,  ad- 
dressed a  letter  through  The  Advocate  to  the  Church  of  God,  in  which  he  "asked 
and  desired  to  have  answered  the  following  important  question:  "What  is  to 
hinder  the  union  of  the  people  known  as  the  Church  of  God  and  those  known  as 
Disciples  of  Christ?"  He  gave  five  points  of  agreement.  But  the  proposition 
seemed  so  clearly  inadmissible  as  a  practical  question,  that  though  "A  Disciple" 
suggested  that  delegates  attend  the  next  General  Eldership  to  discuss  it,  it  had  not 
vitality  enough  to  survive  the  Winter. 

A  spirit  of  disputation  was  rather  widespread  at  this  time.  A  large  number 
and  variety  of  theological  and  practical  questions  were  discussed  on  both  sides  in 
The  Advocate.  Objection  manifested  itself  at  times  in  strong  terms,  perhaps  not 
so  much  to  the  proper  elaboration  by  arguments  of  the  subjects  treated  of,  as  to 
the  discursive,  diffuse,  non-consequential  character  of  many  of  the  articles.  And 
yet  more,  to  the  absence  of  that  restraint  which  holds  disputants  in  check  in  a 
public  discussion.      Personalities  revealing  an  ungracious  and  virulent  spirit  were 


J.  M.  Doiner, 


not  uncommon.  As  has  been  frankly  said:  "We  have  seen  many  on  their  getting 
warm  becoming  rude  and  shooting  one  another,"  instead  of  contending  for  or 
against  propositions.  Good  humor  is  the  best  lubricator  in  a  debate,  as  it  is  a 
strong  preservative  of  peace  and  tranquillity.  Not  only  was  the  spirit  of  the  con- 
troversial articles  distasteful,  but  the  effect  was  feared.  "What  is  the  use  of 
preaching  union  when  we  are  not  united  ourselves?"  "Can  not  brethren  hold  in 
with  their  peculiar  notions?"  "Must  everything  be  given  to  the  public  in  which 
we  are  divided?"  "I  am  actually  ashamed  sometimes  to  let  our  sectarian  neigh- 
bors see  and  read  The  Advocate."  Such  were  the  sentiments  expressed  relative  to 
these  controversies. 

But  some  of  these  contentions  scarcely  concealed  impending  schisms,  and  also 
helped  to  widen  them.  This  is  true  relative  to  questions  of  co-operation  which 
were  matters  both  of  discussion  and  of  official  action.  Will  Winebrenner's  dying 
message  lose  its  charm — "Tell  the  brethren  to  stick  together"?  Radical  differ- 
ences of  opinion  developed  from  1865  to  1870  on  matters  of  Church  Polity.  They 
centered  on  two  points — -The  Itinerancy;  and,  the  Authority  of  Elderships.  A  few 
ministers  serving  stations,  both  East  and  West,  contended  not  only  on  abandoning 
the  itinerancy,  but  replacing  it  with  the  call  system.  Several  churches  carried 
this  theory  to  the  extent  of  refusing  to  receive  ministers  not  previously  called  by 
them.      The  act  of  appointing  them  by  the  Eldership  was  only  a  ratification,  not 


i 


General    History  145 

only  in  form  but  in  fact,  of  the  previous  choice  by  the  church.  The  discussion  at 
several  points  threatened  to  end  in  insubordination  and  church  independency.  The 
claim  to  the  right  to  discipline  a  church  on  account  of  any  want  of  co-operation 
vi^as  treated  with  disrespect.  "To  your  tents,  O  Israel!"  was  heard  from  a  few 
places,  the  significance  of  which  could  not  be  misunderstood.  Men  held  their 
breath,  wondering  how  soon  the  rumblings  of  the  earthquake  would  be  heard! 
The  discussion  widened,  taking  in  the  relations  of  churches  to  the  Eldership, 
church  autonomy,  and  all  the  kindred  issues.  Official  censure  was  resorted  to  by 
Standing  Committees  and  Elderships,  which  in  the  severity  of  their  terms  and  the 
extreme  authority  assumed  served  rather  still  further  to  inflame  the  already  over- 
wrought passions  than  to  restore  quietude  and  foster  a  spirit  of  submission.  But 
the  equivocal  action  of  the  General  Eldership  in  1869  gave  evidence  that  so  far  as 
the  Itinerancy  being  fundamental  to  our  plan  of  co-operation,  it  was  not  generally 
so  accepted  when  it  included  the  time-limit.  Strong  men  like  Thomas,  Swartz  and 
scores  of  others  with  pen  and  voice  defended  the  Polity  of  the  Church,  the  author- 
ity of  Elderships,  the  right  of  government  and  the  principle  of  subordination  of 
the  less  to  the  greater,  until  we  reach  the  corporate  unity  of  the  Church  in  the 
General  Eldership.  Yet  in  some  respects  the  discussion  resulted  in  changing  the 
tendencies  toward  irresponsible  power  and  undue  centralization.  It  also  cleared 
the  atmosphere  in  that  the  principles  of  co-operative  action  were  set  forth  in 
clearer  light.  But  it  was  characterized  with  considerable  rancor  and  virulence, 
which  are  seeds  never  yielding  good  fruit.  If,  like  the  Methodist  Church,  the 
Church  of  God  did  not  have  lay  representation  this  agitation  could  have  been 
turned  to  good  account  to  secure  it.  But  where  laymen,  representatives  of  the 
churches,  have  equal  rights  in  the  deliberative  assemblies,  all  questions  of  admin- 
istration should  be  more  easy  of  satisfactory  settlement.  The  danger  to  a  small 
body  of  people  in  such  a  spirit  of  revolt  and  reform  is  seen  in  the  schisms,  or 
secessions,  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  during  its  history.  It  was  after 
long  and  at  times  acrimonious  discussion  and  agitation  that  in  1869  the  victory 
for  lay  representation  was  won.  But  the  power  of  the  episcopacy  was  not  dimin- 
ished, so  far  at  least  as  the  form  is  concerjied.  Meanwhile  five  protesting  parties 
withdrew  from  the  Church  and  organized  independent  denominations.  The  "Re- 
publican Methodists,"  because  of  the  power  of  the  Bishops  in  appointing  preachers. 
The  "Methodist  Protestant  Church,"  because  of  "the  unlimited  legislative,  execu- 
tive and  judicial  power  vested  in  the  episcopacy  and  the  ministry,  to  the  exclusion 
of  the  lay  members."  The  "Wesleyan  Methodist  Connection,"  to  form  "a  republi- 
can form  of  government,  in  which  a  majority  should  rule  and  the  laity  have  equal 
rights."  The  "Free  Methodist  Church,"  whose  fundamental  principle  was  that 
"laymen  on  credentials  of  proper  election,  including  women,  shall  be  admitted  to 
the  District,  Annual  and  General  Conferences."  And  the  "Congregational  Metho- 
dist Church,"  which  insisted  on  a  more  democratic  government,  to  the  elimination 
of  the  episcopacy  and  the  itinerancy.  And  as  a  sixth  and  later  movement  of  like 
character,  the  "New  Congregational  Methodist  Church,"  whose  main  object  was  to 
secure  the  entire  parity  of  the  ministry  and  the  exclusion  of  the  episcopacy.  In 
the  Church  of  God  the  form  of  the  protest  differed;  the  principle  was  similar;  and, 
if  not  wisely  controlled,  could  have  been  disastrous. 

Discussions  were  often  started  by  the  asking  of  questions.  In  this  wise  the 
question  of  the  observance  of  the  Jewish  Sabbath  was  introduced  in  February, 
1865,  and  was  continued  until  December,  1866,  participated  in  by  A.  W.  Reeder, 
who  inquired  by  what  authority  and  by  whom  the  day  was  changed.  Oliver 
Hoflfer  answered  by  denying  that  there  was  any  scriptural  authority  for  the  change, 
and  hence  Christians  should  observe  the  seventh-day  Sabbath.  A.  Swartz  replied, 
and  was  in  turn  antagonized  by  R.  H.  Bolton  and  Oliver.  Swartz  contended  that 
the  Jewish  Sabbath  was  local;  that  it  passed  away  with  the  coming  in  of  the  gospel 
dispensation,  which  is  general,  and  that  object  and  design  of  the  two  institutions 
were  different.  The  discussion  was  in  good  spirit,  but  Thomas  nevertheless  put 
up  the  bars  in  order  to  end  the  controversy.  The  Church  being  so  generally  com- 
mitted to  the  Lord's  day,  there  was  some  impatience  over  a  long  drawn  out  dis- 
cussion which  was  not  likely  to  change  a  single  mind,  and  so  the  Editor  thought 
it  was  doing  "injustice  to  our  readers"  to  permit  its  continuance. 

Beginning  in  April,  1865,  and  ending  in  December,  1866,  the  question  of  the 
relation  of  baptism  to  salvation  was  almost  continuously  debated.  After  it  had 
been  in  progress  for  three  months,  and  himself  being  one  of  the  leading  disputants, 
Thomas  somewhat  apologetically  stated  that  "it  has  not  been  introduced  into  our 

C.   H.  6* 


146  History    of    the   Churches    of    God 

columns  by  our  own  choice  or  election,  and  both  have  assumed  proportions,  in 
words  at  least  and  repetitions,  that  make  us  rather  regret  that  we  have  suffered 
them  in  at  all,"  including  "the  discussion  on  the  Sabbath  question."  Like  the 
latter,  the  debate  on  baptism  in  its  relation  to  salvation  was  begun  by  a  question 

submitted  by  AV.  P to  the  Editor:      "Does  the  Church  teach  that  baptism 

is  essential  to  salvation?"  Thomas  answered  in  a  guarded,  qualified  manner,  after 
a  careful  definition  of  "essential,"  that  the  Church  did  not  teach  thus.  "Veritas" 
affirmed  in  opposition  that  "baptism  is  for  the  remission  of  the  sins  of  a  penitent 
believer."  A  bad  name  fastened  upon  a  doctrine  is  with  many  a  strong  argument 
against  it.  Thomas  was  not  a  stranger  to  the  arts  of  a  controversialist,  and  he  at 
once  headed  his  reply  to  "Veritas,"  "Baptismal  Regeneration,"  and  adhered  to  it 
to  the  end.  For  some  four  months  these  two  disputants  entertained  the  readers 
with  long  articles  antagonistic  to  each  other.  In  December,  1866,  R.  H.  Bolton 
struck  at  the  heart  of  the  question  as  argued  from  the  Disciple  view-point,  and 
inquired  through  The  Advocate  of  C.  H.  Forney,  the  Assistant  Editor,  whether 
"the  preposition  'for'  in  Matt.  xxvi.  28  and  Acts  ii.  38,  means  the  same  in  both 
cases."  The  answer  was  wholly  philological,  and  the  conclusion  drawn  was 
against  the  position  that  baptism  in  any  sense  is  the  cause  or  condition  of  the  re- 
mission of  sins,  or  that  remission  of  sins  is  the  effect  or  result  of  baptism.  In  1868 
the  subject  was  again  brought  forward  by  a  question  to  the  Editor  by  P.  Curtis,  in 
which  his  position  as  against  admitting  persons  to  church  fellowship  before  bap- 
tism was  revealed.  Thomas  at  once  turned  this  question  so  as  to  give  it  a  clear 
allusion  to  the  former  question,  and  so  answered  at  length,  that  "baptism  is 
neither  a  condition  of  salvation,  nor  of  church  membership."  To  this  answer  J. 
L.  Cramer  objected  by  quoting  the  old  texts  which  he  claimed  teach  that  "baptism 
in  every  case  is  connected  with  remission  of  sins."  This  reiteration  of  what  to 
Thomas  was  an  exploded  theory  made  him  impatient,  and  he  replied  somewhat 
hotly,  that  "no  one  but  a  perverted  disciple  of  A.  Campbell  would  assume  that  the 
texts  quoted  mean  baptismal  remission  of  sins,  or  baptismal  regeneration."  These 
earlier  controversies  were  frequently  besprinkled  with  lancinating  terms;  but 
would  it  not  be  an  indignity  to  such  noble  souls  to  assume  that  these  things,  pro- 
ceeded from  other  than  pure  and  upright  motives  and  a  holy  jealousy  for  the 
truth? 

Though  Thomas  disclaimed  all  intentions  of  "invoking  or  provoking  a  contro- 
versy on  the  subject  of  Calvinism,"  an  editorial  on  "Calvinism"  in  June,  1865,  did 
that  very  thing.  There  was  a  revelation  of  some  contention  on  the  subject,  "es- 
pecially in  the  bounds  of  the  East  Ohio  Eldership;"  a  statement  that  letters  on 
the  subject  had  been  received,  and  a  hint  touching  the  zeal  of  new  converts  to  a 
faith.  Indeed  already  in  May  the  spark  which  can  start  a  conflagration  was 
dropped  by  "Quilibet,"  in  referring  to  the  reasons  why  there  "was  no  revival  at 
Sugar  Creek,  Ohio,  during  the  last  meeting,"  and  wondered  whether  it  was  not 
"too  much  Calvinism  in  the  pulpit."  At  once  J.  F.  Shock,  Illinois,  took  up  the 
Calvinistic  point  of  final  perseverance.  H.  L.  Soule  entered  the  arena  of  debate 
in  a  series  of  controversial  questions  addressed  to  A.  H.  Long,  intended  to  affirm 
the  doctrine  Shock  had  advanced.  But  this  socratic  method  seldom  misleads  the 
experienced  theologian,  and  Long  calmly  replied  in  denial  of  the  conclusions  Soule 
meant  to  force  on  him.  But  the  most  elaborate  defense  of  this  doctrine  was  un- 
dertaken by  B.  F.  Beck  in  his  opening  sermon  at  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership 
in  October,  1864,  but  withheld  from  publication  until  September  28,  1865.  Thomas 
stated  that  "for  prudential  reasons  this  sermon  was  not  published  at  the  usual 
time,  and  we  had  hoped  the  good  brother  would  have  reserved  it  for  his  own 
private  benefit,  and  not  urge  its  publication  in  The  Advocate."  He  further 
declares  that  "there  were  but  few  who  heard  the  sermon  but  deeply  deplored  his 
[Beck's]  imprudent  and  unwise  course  in  stepping  aside  from  the  usual  courtesies 
of  the  ministry,  and  preach  a  doctrine  that  he  knew  was  repugnant  to  the  feelings, 
and  in  opposition  to  the  views,  of  nine-tenths,  if  not  ninety-nine  hundredths  of  his 
hearers,  and  this,  too,  as  a  representative  sermon."  He  then  in  characteristic 
manner  repudiated  the  doctrine  of  the  sermon.  He  felt  so  chagrined  that  he 
declared  he  "shall  propose  and  advocate  hereafter  a  scrutiny  of  every  Eldership 
sermon  authorized  to  be  delivered  before  the  body  prior  to  its  publication."  The 
East  Ohio  Eldership  by  resolutions  condemned  the  preaching  in  its  pulpits  of  "doc- 
trines strongly  tinctured  with  Calvinism,"  and  by  name  referred  to  Beck's  sermon 
as  "containing  doctrine  antagonistic  to  the  teachings  of  the  Bible  and  contrary  to 
the  principles  of  the  Church  of  God." 


Geneeal    History  147 

Less  prolix  discussions  were  occupied  with  such  doctrines  as  the  divine  call 
to  the  ministry,  rebaptism,  promiscuous  sitting  in  the  house  of  God,  lay  preaching 
and  revival  methods;  but  along  with  the  support  of  the  ministry,  dancing  and 
other  amusements,  pastoral  visitation,  reading  sermons,  the  door  into  the  church, 
close  Communion,  the  second  advent,  non-resistance  and  other  minor  questions 
they  took  up  in  the  aggregate  considerable  time  and  space.  The  doctrine  of 
human  depravity  was  more  elaborately  debated.  R.  H.  Bolton  began  it  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1866,  defining  it  as  "corruption  of  nature,"  or  a  "vitiated  state  of  the  mind 
and  heart,"  and  as  being  "wholly  corrupt  in  all  the  faculties  of  soul  and  body.'*^ 
It  is  "total  and  hereditary,"  involving  the  idea  of  original  sin.  This  he  contro- 
verted in  several  strong  articles.  With  the  issue  containing  the  first  one  the 
Editor  apologized,  under  the  head  "Apologetic,"  for  publishing  it  "without  con- 
siderably modifying  it  before  it  went  out  to  the  public,"  and  characterized  it  thus: 
"Just  before  going  to  press  we  got  hold  of  the  proof,  and  detected  our  very  ortho- 
dox brother  riding  over  the  gospel  turf  on  an  old  heterodox  horse,  beautifully 
caparisoned  with  conjugated  verbs,  comparative  and  qualifying  adjectives  with 
hyperbole  mountings  shining  in  great  splendor,  but  still  discover  the  same  old 
gray  rode  by  Arians,  Socinians,  Unitarians,  Fniversalists  and  errorists  of  almost 
every  hue  for  many  years  and  even  centuries."  Besides  ordering,  as  did  the 
colored  preacher  another  errorist,  to  "get  off  that  horse,"  there  was  but  little  in 
the  way  of  argument  in  "Apologetic."  After  a  delay  of  two  months  Bolton  turned 
on  Thomas,  and  renewed  the  discussion.  He  insisted  that  so  far  as  the  ministers 
of  the  Church  were  then  concerned  "a  majority,  together  with  nearly  the  entire 
brotherhood  in  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois  dissent  from  your  views."  The  dis- 
cussion was  thus  begun  afresh  between  these  two  disputants,  and  continued  from 
April  to  October.  Mackey  agreed  with  Thomas,  and  contributed  several  clear  and 
convincing  articles,  in  which  he  "defended  the  scriptural  view  of  the  subject.'" 
G.  W.  Wilson  came  to  the  help  of  Bolton,  while  Swai-tz  contributed  a  remarkable 
analysis  of  "Man's  Natural  Condition"  which  strongly  favored  the  view  taken  by 
Thomas.  It  seemed  to  have  been  Thomas's  prerogative  to  act,  like  Oliver  Crom- 
well as  "Lord  Protector"  of  the  faith,  so  that  quite  generally  when  a  contributor 
advanced,  or  defended,  views  which  he  did  not  regard  as  in  harmony  with  the 
orthodox  sentiments  of  the  Church  the  same  issue,  or  the  following  one,  would  con- 
tain an  editorial  on  the  subject.  In  this  way  a  discussion  of  the  relation  of  meta- 
physics and  theology  began  between  the  Editor  (Thomas)  and  the  Assistant 
Editor  (Forney)  in  1868.  And  yet  in  answer  to  a  question  by  Soule,  as  to 
whether  the  Church  teaches  "that  in  the  resurrection  the  material  body  shall  be 
raised  up,"  he  said:  "As  long  as  Brother  Soule  and  others  are  resolved  that  no 
published  declaration  by  authority  shall  be  made  as  to  the  faith  of  the  Church,  it 
is  in  vain  to  ask  us,  or  any  one  else,  what  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  on  the 
resurrection,  or  on  any  other  subject."  Thus  originated  the  discussion  of  the 
question  of  Creeds,  which  for  several  years  occasionally  occupied  considerable 
space.  Thomas  always  insisted  that  "the  Holy  Scriptures  are  our  guide,"  and  so- 
no  one  can  "harmonize  these  two  principles — the  Bible  is  all-sufficient;  humaa 
Creeds  are  essential."  But  it  was  not  so  much  what  is  commonly  called  a  CreecS 
that  was  advocated,  as  a  compilation  of  doctrines  the  Church  taught.  To  ascer- 
tain on  what  points  of  doctrine  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  had  declared' 
itself,  a  committee,  consisting  of  Thomas,  Swartz  and  Forney,  was  appointed  in 
October,  1867,  "to  examine  all  the  records  of  this  body,  and  report"  the  same. 
This  report  was  published  in  May,  1868,  but  most  of  the  "points"  reported  are 
not  strictly  doctrinal. 

In  July,  1865,  C.  C  Marston,  Iowa,  started  a  discussion  of  Sanctification  by- 
asking  publicly  A,  Swartz:  "1.  Can  man  have  the  privilege  of  being  wholly  sancti- 
fied from  sin?  2.  When  a  man  is  sanctified  is  there  any  possibility  of  that  man  be- 
coming a  castaway?"  Swartz  was  diplomatic,  and  confined  Himself  to  the 
etymological  meaning  of  "sanctify,"  as  a  setting  apart,  which  "does  not  imply 
moral  quality,"  and  that  all  moral  states  must  be  voluntary.  But  this  was  only 
the  forerunner  of  a  controversy  which  raged  in  revival  Churches  for  several  years. 
It  had  its  origin  in  the  Methodistic  bodies,  where  by  1868  it  had  developed  such' 
proportions  that  "Holiness  Camp-meetings"  were  held  and  periodicals  sprung  into 
existence.  Church  members,  like  penitents,  came  to  the  altar,  seeking  "entire 
sanctification,"  and  "the  fulness  of  salvation,"  or  "entire  cleansing  from  sin." 
While  the  churches  of  God  were  less  agitated  with  this  doctrine,  here  and  there 
a  minister   and   some  laymen   accepted   the  theory  and   professed   the   experience. 


148  History    of   the    Chukcmks    of    God 

It  became  a  subject  for  discussion  to  a  considerable  extent  in  1868-9.  The  "Holi- 
ness Camp-meeting"  of  the  Methodist  Church,  held  at  Manheim,  Lancaster  county, 
Pa.,  furnished  the  text  for  an  editorial  by  the  Assistant  Editor  on  "Methodist 
Sanctification,"  in  which  not  the  doctrine  of  sanctiflcation,  but  the  Methodist 
theory  was  entirely  repudiated.  It  was  followed  by  an  editorial  by  the  Editor  a 
week  later,  in  which  the  Methodist  theory  was  declared  not  to  be  in  accord  with 
Scripture.  These  editorials  reflected  the  prevailing  faith  of  the  Church.  A.  H. 
Long,  P.  LoTicks,  A.  Swai-tz,  and  others  wrote  on  the  subject,  expressing  the  same 
views.  But  while  Swaitz  held  views  in  opposition  to  the  Methodistic  sanctification, 
Thomas  objected  to  his  "fundamental  principles,"  and  so  a  discussion  between 
these  two  strong  men  on  a  side  issue  continued  two  months.  After  the  death  of 
Kditor  Thomas,  in  December,  Editor  Forney  resumed  the  discussion,  in  which  he 
took  the  position  that  "essentially  the  work  of  sanctification  takes  place  in  con- 
version, or  when  a  man  is  born  again;"  that  "it  is  extended  and  intensified  as  life 
progresses,"  and  that  it  is  "perfected  in  the  ratio  of  man's  natural  perfection  of 
mind  and  spirit."  Mackey  was  interrogated  by  Bolton,  and  asked  what  the  Bible 
doctrine  of  Sanctification  is.  In  his  answer  he  endorsed  Swartz  and  Foniey,  and 
further  defined  sanctification  as  "a  dedication  to  God,  and  refers  to  a  state,  condi- 
tion or  employed  vocation,  and  seldom,  if  ever,  in  the  Old  Testament  to  a  special 
or  particular  moral  quality." 

The  question  of  Eldership  titles,  or  the  singular  or  plural  form  of  the  word 
"Church,"  was  more  one  of  action  during  this  period  than  of  public  discussion. 
There  was  a  gradual  falling  back  on  the  original  title — "Eldership  of  the  Church 
of  God."  Thus  in  1865  four  Elderships  held  to  the  new  form — "Eldership  of  the 
Churches  of  God."      But  in  1867-1869,  there  was  only  one. 

The  introduction  of  choirs  and  instrumental  music  created  considerable  fric- 
tion in  churches,  and  brought  this  question  to  the  front  for  more  or  less  con- 
troversy. "\Veishanii>el,  in  February,  1868,  defended  both,  insisting  that  there  is 
nothing  "linscriptural  in  church  choirs  in  themselves;"  but  he  would  have  "the 
main  part  of  the  choir,  including  the  leader,  to  be  true  worshipers  of  God."  And 
he  could  "find  just  as  little  Scripture  argument  against  instrumental  music.  That 
there  was  both  choir  singing  and  instrumental  music  in  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem, 
by  divine  appointment,  is  evident."  Swartz  argued  against  instrumental  music 
on  the  ground  that  it  is  not  an  ordinance  under  the  New  Testament  dispensation, 
and  that  it  is  a  dangerous  principle  to  assume  that  it  is  right  to  do  a  thing  because 
it  is  not  forbidden;  and  that  "instrumental  music  is  not  mentioned  as  being  used 
in  the  primitive  churches."  He  was  followed  by  "Kay,"  who  favored  instrumental 
music  on  authority  of  the  Old  Testament.  Foniey  recast  Swartz's  article,  and 
made  it  an  argument  against  building  "houses  of  worship"  by  simply  substituting 
**hoiises  of  worship"  for  "instrumental  music,"  and  thus  republished  the  whole 
article.  W.  O.  Owen  made  a  direct  attack  on  Swartz's  position,  that  instrumental 
music  should  not  be  used  on  the  ground  that  the  New  Testament  is  silent  on  the 
subject.  Swartz  replied  to  his  two  antagonists  in  vigorous  terms.  Mackey  took 
the  same  position  that  Swartz  had  so  ably  defended.  Thus  the  discussion  con- 
tinued for  three  months,  when  the  Editor  announced  that  "No  reply.  .  .  .from  any 
quarter  will  receive  attention." 

Among  the  last  controversial  editorials  Thomas  published  was  a  defense  of 
feet-washing  as  an  ordinance  against  an  attack  upon  it  by  the  editor  of  the  "Evan- 
gelical Messenger."  But  while  thus  defending  the  institution,  the  brethren  were 
disputing  between  themselves  on  the  matter  of  its  private  observance,  separate 
from  the  Communion.  A  few  advocated  this  practice,  and  the  charge  was  made 
that  "'some  of  our  infiuential  brethren  are  advocating  a  separation  of  feet-wash- 
ing from  the  Lord's  Supper."  But  they  did  not  do  so  publicly.  The  suggestion 
brought  out  strong  opposition  against  such  a  practice,  as  it  would  put  asunder 
that  which  Christ  joined  together,  and  that  it  would  be  only  the  first  step  toward 
the  non-practice  of  the  former  ordinance. 

"Do  Souls  Sleep?"  was  discussed  by  M.  S.  Newcomer  in  1868,  as  against  sundry 
persons  who  advocated  this  error  in  Illinois  and  one  or  two  other  Elderships.  He 
attacked  it  as  "a  growing  phase  of  popular  error."  Thomas  ably  defended  the 
"conscious  existence  of  the  soul  after  death"  as  a  dogma  conclusively  settled  by  the 
Savior.  He  also  answered  a  question  by  "Methetes,"  as  to  whether  belief  in  the 
unconscious  state  of  the  dead  should  not  be  made  a  bar  to  church  member- 
ship, as  well  as  ground  for  exclusion  from  the  ministry.  The  answer  was  some- 
what equivocal,  as  "a  man's  heart  may  be  better  than  his  head."      Editor  Forney, 


General    History  149 

in  December,  1869,  was  asked  to  decide  whether  the  doctrine  of  soul-sleeping  is 
not  "a  heresy,"  and  its  advocates  "heretics  according  to  the  Bible  meaning  of 
the  word."  C.  C.  Marston  attacked  the  soul-sleeping  theory  as  "materialism," 
and  charged  that  it  militates  seriously  against  true  piety. 

Minor  sporadic  discussions  characterized  this  entire  period.  These  were' 
often  a  defense  of  old  views  and  practices  as  against  agitators  who  were  vastly 
in  the  minority.  It  was  thus  insisted  upon  that  the  term  "church  of  God"  should' 
not  be  applied  to  the  house  of  worship,  nor  "bethel"  to  the  church.  The  con- 
version of  children  became  a  live  issue  by  reason  of  the  work  of  E.  M.  Long  among 
children,  and  the  holding  in  a  few  instances  of  "Sunday-school  protracted  meet- 
ings." It  developed  that  these  dissenters  were  in  many  instances  of  the  class 
which  is  composed  of  persons  with  an  "ingrowing  conscience,"  or  who  were 
righteous  overmuch.  It  was  with  impatience  that  their  views  were  discussed, 
sometimes  the  disputants  developing  intemperate  heats  of  passion.  The  ministers 
who  defended  the  "old  landmarks"  showed  no  lack  of  mental  grasp,  nor  of  cour- 
age in  all  their  encounters  with  keen-witted  and  aggressive  enemies  in  or  out  of 
the  Church.  Any  thing  new  was  viewed  with  suspicion,  and  a  reluctant  and 
partial  hospitality  of  thought  was  granted  its  advocates. 

It  can  not  truthfully  be  inferred,  however,  that  the  period  was  throughout 
predominantly  controversial,  and  without  spiritual  activity.  It  is  true  that  after 
the  war  came  the  demoralizing  influences  incident  to  a  post  bellum  period.  "Gross 
immorality,  crime,  luxury,  extravagance,  reckless  pecuniary  ventures,  intemper- 
ance, etc.,  characterized  the  period."  Yet  the  war  had  taught  some  wholesome 
religious  lessons.  The  conditions  prevailing  also  forced  on  the  attention  of 
Churches  the  need  of  greater  activity,  which  soon  resulted  in  a  new  impulse  of 
spiritual  life  and  power  in  large  areas.  Revivals  of  religion  became  more  com- 
mon, and  at  times  were  conducted  on  larger  scales  than  for  a  decade.  Spirituality 
became  better  sustained  and  piety  less  spasmodic.  The  lay  activity  of  the 
churches  again  began  to  grow,  fostered  and  sustained  by  the  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association  introduced  before  the  war.  Reviewing  the  year  preceding  May 
1,  1866,  Editor  Thomas  says:  "The  aggressive  movements  of  the  Church  have  been 
more  successful  than  perhaps  in  any  former  year.  The  revival  news  from  all 
parts  of  our  work  published  in  this  volume  makes  it  a  most  invaluable  record." 
And  Mackey,  in  February,  1866,  says,  "the  cheering  news  of  the  many  revivals 
from  various  localities  of  the  Church  are  truly  encouraging."  These  revival  meet- 
ings continued  late  into  the  Spring  and  began  again  early  in  the  Fall  of  1866. 
Reports  of  conversions  and  ingatherings  came  from  every  Eldership,  and  from  a 
majority  of  the  churches.  Humiliation,  fasting  and  special  prayer,  with  supreme 
reliance  on  divine  power,  were  urged  as  necessary  to  a  true  revival.  Similar  re- 
ports came  in  during  the  Winter  of  1866-7,  so  that  late  in  December,  1866,  Thomas 
said:  "The  news  from  many  fields  of  labor  of  our  brethren  is  quite  cheering. 
The  Lord  in  great  mercy  still  inclines  his  ear  and  accepts  the  feeble  petitions  of 
his  children,  and  in  answer  thereto  is  pouring  out  the  spirit  of  grace  and  supplica- 
tion upon  sinners  and  wanderers  from  home."  And  on  January  10,  1867:  "The 
news  from  various  parts  of  our  work  at  present  is  most  gratifying  and  cheering. 
The  revival  influence  in  many  of  the  churches  of  God  is  more  than  ordinarily 
prevalent."  In  various  places  these  meetings  were  still  in  progress  at  the  end 
of  May.  With  some  decrease  in  power  the  work  continued  during  the  Winters  of 
1867.  1868  and  1869. 

With  the  approach  of  the  camp-meeting  season  in  1865  Thoma.s  said  that  "it 
would  appear  from  the  profound  silence  observed  upon  the  subject  that  the  old 
camp-meeting  fervor  and  spirit  have  almost  entirely  died  out  among  our  breth- 
ren." Ross  apprehended  the  same,  and  criticised  camp-meetings  as  more  recently 
conducted,  attributing  the  want  of  results  to  the  manner  and  spirit  in  which 
these  meetings  are  being  held.  B.  F.  Beck,  who  had  charge  of  one,  sought  in  ad- 
vance to  meet  the  objections  which  were  urged  against  them.  But  five  camp- 
meetings  were  announced,  one  in  Ohio,  one  in  Maryland  and  three  in  East  Penn- 
sylvania and  German  Elderships.  The  results  so  far  as  conversions  were  con- 
cerned were  quite  disappointing. 

In  1866  there  were  two  camp-meetings  held  in  Ohio,  one  in  West  Pennsyl- 
vania, one  in  Maryland,  five  in  East  Pennsylvania  and  one  in  the  German  Elder- 
ship. Few  conversions  were  reported.  In  1867  one  camp-meeting  was  held  in 
Iowa,  one  in  Ohio,  one  in  West  Pennsylvania,  one  in  Maryland,  one  in  the  German 
Eldership  and  six  in  East  Pennsylvania.      In   1867  Children's  meetings  were  fre- 


"ISO  History   of   thi:   Churches    of    God 

quently  held  at  a  number  of  the  camp-meetings,  at  which  addresses  were  made 
and  songs  sung  by  the  children. 

The  importance  of  holding  camp-meetings  was  again  strongly  urged  in  1868 
by  Thomas,  both  as  a  sign  of  spiritual  vitality  and  as  a  means  of  growth  and 
progress  in  the  divine  life.  In  Ohio  Oliver  made  a  strenuous  effort  to  awaken  in- 
terest in  these  meetings.  An  "Eldership  camp-meeting"  was  projected  in  East 
Pennsylvania,  but  was  only  partly  successful.  Iowa  held  one;  Ohio,  one;  Mary- 
land, one;  German  Eldership,  one,  and  East  Pennsylvania,  four.  But  four  of 
these  were  reported,  at  which  there  were  twenty-seven  conversions.  Camp-meet- 
ings had  undergone  a  radical  change.  Originally  the  sole  design  was  spiritual. 
As  a  rule  they  began  on  Monday  and  ended  on  Saturday.  Conversions  were- num- 
erous, and  quite  often  the  revival  influence  spread  as  the  people  returned  to  their 
different  circuits,  and  the  results  were  seen  in  the  enlargement  of  the  churches. 
Five  camp-meetings  were  held  in  1869.  One  of  these  was  held  in  Louisa  county, 
Iowa.  It  had  been  appointed  by  the  Eldership  in  1868  to  be  held  in  Benton  county, 
and  reappointed  at  the  Extra  Session,  but  was  changed.  It  was  earnestly  com- 
mended to  the  ministers  and  churches  by  C.  W.  Evans,  pastor.  The  Ohio  Stand- 
ing Committee  recommended  that  "one  or  two  camp-meetings  be  held,"  but  none 
was  announced.  One  was  held  in  West  Pennsylvania;  one  in  Maryland;  one  in 
East  Pennsylvania.  The  disinclination  to  hold  camp-meetings  manifested  itself 
among  the  Methodists,  the  United  Brethren  and  the  Evangelicals. 

At  their  inception  Pentecostal  meetings  were  considered  of  such  merit  as  to 
"become  a  permanent  institution.  They  were  of  such  an  excellent  spirit  that  not 
only  the  local  churches,  but  the  Eldership,  manifested  eager  interest  in  them. 
TBey  encountered  difficulties  and  obstacles.  Could  they  survive  them?  In  1865 
the  Ohio  Standing  Committee  appointed  three;  but  only  one  was  later  announced 
and  reported.  One  was  held  in  East  Pennsylvania.  But  in  1866  six  were  held, 
-one  each  in  Maryland,  East  Pennsylvania,  Iowa  and  Ohio,  and  two  in  Indiana.  But 
an  1867  only  one  was  held,  in  East  Pennsylvania.  In  1868  East  Pennsylvania 
lield  one;  Ohio,  three,  and  Illinois,  one.  Strong  appeals  were  addressed  by  min- 
"Isters  in  the  East  to  Elderships  and  churches  West  to  hold  these  meetings.  In 
1869,  two  were  held  in  Ohio;  two,  in  Illinois;  one,  in  Iowa,  and  one,  in  East  Penn- 
■sylvania. 

The  present  period  was  not  only  somewhat  noted  for  academic  and  practical 
'ra&scussions,  but  as  well  for  constructive  Church  Extension  work.  The  first  sug- 
jgeslion  to  organize  a  Church  Extension  Society  was  made  near  the  close  of  this 
g»Kriod,  by  A.  G.  McCoiTiiick,  then  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.  He  advocated  the  starting  of 
unissions  in  that  city,  in  New  Orleans,  San  Francisco,  as  well  as  in  Chicago  and 
■piiiladelphia.  The  object  of  such  a  Society  in  the  General  Eldership  he  outlined 
"to  5be  to  set  out  the  land  and  pre-occupy  the  ground  in  all  our  important  towns 
<on  all  our  railroads,  and  there  establish  churches  that  may  be  radiating  points  into 
fthe  interior."  These  extravagant  dreams  were  inspired  by  the  glamour  of  the 
ICliTcago  Mission.  No  one  could  then  realize  the  difficulties  it  was  to  encounter, 
©r  the  slow  and  costly  progress,  much  less  its  final  failure.  All  the  energies  and 
avaJlable  resources  of  the  Church  were  at  its  service.  A  year  after  the  dedica- 
tion of  the  bethel,  at  the  Decatur  General  Eldership,  1866,  Shoemaker  was  reap- 
•poiTited  to  Chicago.  As  expenses  were  increasing  and  a  Sunday-school  organized. 
-(Continued  and  earnest  appeals  were  made  for  funds.  It  was  also  proposed  to  build 
■^tenement-houses"  on  the  vacant  lots  as  an  investment.  The  mission  was  pro- 
moiinced  by  some  who  went  to  Chicago  after  the  General  Eldership  as  "certainly  a 
success."  Families  from  other  points  in  Illinois,  and  from  Ohio  and  East  Penn- 
sylvania removed  to  Chicago,  and  thus  formed  the  nucleus  of  a  good  church.  Yet 
toy  December,  1866,  some  opposition  developed,  and  some  doubts  and  fears  found 
expression,  which,  however,  were  rebuked  in  resolutions  adopted  by  several  Elder- 
ships. By  the  middle  of  July,  1867,  Shoemaker  conceded  how  difficult  his  work 
will  prove,  as  "to  build  a  church  [in  a  city  like  Chicago]  is  not  the  work  of  a  day; 
l)ut,  on  the  contrary,  that  of  years,  requiring  patience,  faithfulness,  toil,  time, 
■money  and  prayer."  This  had  a  dampening  effect  on  the  zeal  of  the  brotherhood. 
And  withal  it  would  prove  a  blow  to  the  itinerant  system,  as  no  one  could  step  into 
■Shoemaker's  place  and  carry  on  the  work.  Yet  by  January,  1868,  a  church  of 
about  thirty  members  had  been  gathered,  with  good  congregations  and  a  good 
Sabbath-school,  and  the  third  anniversary  was  successfully  observed  on  March  11, 
1868.  In  1869,  at  the  General  Eldership,  the  Board  of  Missions  reappointed  Shoe- 
4naker  to  Chicago,  under  instructions  from  the  Eldership,  after  an  effort  to  trans- 


General    History  151 

fer  it  to  the  Illinois  Eldership  had  failed.  His  report  showed  "whole  amount  re- 
ceived, $15,074.85.  Expended,  $15,305.86."  But  as  the  salary  was  not  paid  in 
full,  there  was  due  him  $1,052.51.  Mutterings  of  discontent  began  to  be  heard 
in  the  Summer  of  1869  because  of  apparent  disparagement  of  work  elsewhere  in 
the  West.  To  secure  the  property  at  Chicago  to  the  Church,  it  was  ordered  that 
it  be  deeded  to  the  General  Elldership.  That  there  was  a  feeling  of  discoui'age- 
ment  arising  is  evident  from  an  editorial  by  Thomas,  the  subject  of  which  was 
stated  to  be  an  inquiry  "whether  there  is  any  real  cause  for  discouragement,  or 
real  cause  for  the  Church  to  slacken  its  hand  in  the  support  of  the  Mission."  But 
the  sentiment  this  editorial  was  intended  to  mitigate  was  somewhat  persistent, 
as  the  editorial  seemed  to  foreshadow  what  it  denied.  However,  the  Annual  Eld- 
erships in  October  repeated  their  endorsements  of  the  Mission.  Removals  late  in 
this  year  weakened  the  Mission,  and  Shoemaker  realized  that  "there  is  a  weariness 
in  this  good  work  on  the  part  of  the  contributors,  and  who  think  the  mission  ought 
now  to  be  self-sustaining." 

The  mission  enterprise  in  Philadelphia,  under  contemplation  for  several 
years,  took  definite  shape  when  at  the  Eldership  in  1865,  D,  A.  L.  Laverty  was  ap- 
pointed missionary  there,  to  take  charge  in  April,  18  66.  He  was  also  appointed 
General  Collector  to  canvass  the  churches  for  funds  to  pay  for  the  mission  prop- 
erty bought  by  the  Board  of  Incorporation  of  the  Eldership.  A.  H.  Shott,  for- 
merly of  the  church  at  Middletown,  Pa.,  but  who  had  united  with  a  Baptist  church 
in  Philadelphia,  several  years  before  had  started  a  mission  Sunday-school  and 
erected  a  mission  building  on  Diamond  street,  near  Sixth,  about  3  miles  North  of 
Market  street.  This  the  Board  of  Incorporation  bought  for  $1,900.00,  of  which 
$400.00  was  on  ground  rent.  With  the  property  the  Sunday-school,  of  two  hun- 
dred and  forty  members,  was  turned  over  to  the  little  church  of  twenty  members 
when,  on  April  1,  1866,  possession  was  given.  Most  of  these  members  had  re- 
moved to  the  city  from  churches  in  Lancaster,  Dauphin  and  Schuylkill  counties. 
Success  attended  this  enterprise,  and  larger  quarters  were  needed.  On  November 
14,  1866,  the  Board  of  Incorporation  decided  to  sell  this  property  and  buy  the 
Cohocksink  Presbyterian  church  on  Germantown  avenue  and  Berks  street.  The 
former  was  sold  to  the  Mennonite  people  for  $1,950,  and  the  latter  was  bought  for 
$10,000,  to  get  possession  April  1,  1867.  This  house  was  re-dedicated  March  24, 
1867,  the  services  being  in  charge  of  Laverty,  assisted  by  Owens,  Hartman  and  J. 
S.  Stamm.  This  mission  was  dear  to  the  heart  of  Thomas,  and  he  lamented  his 
physical  inability  to  be  present  at  the  re-dedication.  He  wrote  an  editorial  on  the 
Philadelphia  Mission  shortly  before  his  death,  in  August,  1869,  in  which  he  re- 
joiced over  the  success  of  the  project.  On  February  18,  1868,  the  German  Elder- 
ship Standing  Committee  appointed  A.  W.  Stouffer  missionary  to  labor  among  the 
German  people  in  Philadelphia.  The  German  Eldership  also  opened  the  West 
Penn  and  New  Albany  Mission  in  1867,  in  Berks  and  Schuylkill  counties.  At  New 
Albany  a  church  was  organized  in  the  Winter  of  1867-8.  It  appointed  two  Ger- 
man ministers  as  missionaries  in  Baltimore,  Md. 

The  Board  of  Incorporation,  through  its  Committee  and  Agent,  completed  the 
rebuilding  of  the  bethel  in  Chambersburg,  Franklin  county.  Pa.,  prior  to  March 
1,  1867,  and  the  dedication  took  place  on  March  10th.  The  Agent  had  collected 
$4,394.21,  outside  of  Chambersburg,  of  which  sum  $370.00  were  contributed  by 
members  of  the  Legislature  of  the  State.  The  dedicatory  sermon  was  preached  by 
C.  H.  Forney,  from  Luke  vii.  5. 

At  the  Pentecostal  meeting  held  at  Lancaster,  Pa.,  June,  1865,  resolutions 
offered  by  C.  H.  Forney,  proposing  that  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the 
General  Eldership  be  called  at  Pittsbu«rg,  Pa.,  to  perfect  plans  to  open  a  mission 
among  the  Freedmen  of  the  South,  were  unanimously  adopted.  In  October  fol- 
lowing the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  approved  the  suggestion.  The  matter 
was  further  urged  upon  the  General  Eldership,  to  meet  in  May,  1869,  by  J.  F, 
Weishampel,  who  enlarged  the  project  so  as  "to  send  the  gospel  South  by  mission- 
aries;" "the  next  project  should  be  a  Southern  Extension  Mission."  At  the  Lan- 
caster General  Eldership  in  1869,  the  matter  was  referred  to  the  Board  of  Mis- 
sions, which  appointed  "E.  H.  Thomas  and  Dr.  George  Ross  to  inquire  into  the 

practicability  of  the  same,  after  it  had   "created  four  missions one  among 

the  Freedmen."  It  also  urged  the  "church  at  Harrisburg  to  open  a  mission  in 
West  Harrisburg,  which  was  done,  and  the  establishment  of  All-workers,  or  Green 
Street  church  followed.  It  also  recommended  that  "the  East  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship open  a  mission  in  Reading,  Berks  county.  Pa.      The  Board  of  Missions  of  said 


152  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

Eldership  on  July  21,  1869,  began  this  work  by  appointing  D.  A.  L.  Laverty  to 
canvass  Reading  for  funds  to  erect  a  mission  chapel.  By  September  10th,  $1,800 
had  been  secured.  A  lot  was  bought  in  December.  By  March,  1870,  $954.00  had 
been  secured.  May  18th  the  corner-stone  was  laid,  A.  H.  Ltong,  missionary,  in 
charge.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  and  address  delivered  by  C.  H.  Forney.  On 
November  24,  1870,  the  Mission  Chapel  was  dedicated.  Keller  preached  in  the 
morning;  Laverty  in  the  afternoon  and  evening.  Another  mission,  known  as  the 
Berks  County  Mission,  was  also  kept  up  during  this  period,  I.  Hay  having  charge 
of  it  in  1869,  Amos  Bowen  having  located  with  his  family  in  Renovo,  Clinton 
county.  Pa.,  in  1869,  and  suggested  mission  work  in  that  place  and  surrounding 
territory,  with  Lock  Haven  as  a  center.  He  at  once  began  holding  prayer-meet- 
ing, so  often  the  beginning  of  permanent  church  work.  In  October  the  large- 
hearted,  liberal  Dr.  Ross  went  to  Renovo,  "purchased  three  lots  of  ground  which 
were  paid  for  and  deeded  to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership"  for  the  proposed 
mission. 

A  few  new  churches  were  organized  in  East  Pennsylvania  during  this  period 
and  a  number  of  church  houses  built.  In  October,  1866,  at  a  revival  at  Fox's 
school-house,  Dauphin  county,  about  forty  persons  were  converted,  under  the 
labors  of  W.  L.  Jones,  and  a  church  was  organized  of  thirty-two  members.  At 
Mercersburg,  Franklin  county,  E.  D.  Aller  conducted  a  successful  revival  in  a 
building,  owned  by  the  Lutheran  church,  and  on  March  11,  1867,  "organized  a 
church  of  seven  devoted  members."  May  5,  1869,  George  Sigler  organized  a 
church  at  Red  Hill,  near  Boiling  Spring,  Cumberland  county,  composed  of  fourteen 
members.  The  dedication  of  the  Pine  Grove  house  of  worship,  in  Perry  county, 
took  place  on  June  17,  18  66,  T,  Still,  pastor,  assisted  by  J.  M.  Carvell.  John 
Hunter  did  the  preaching.  On  February  17,  1867,  the  Altoona  church  rededicated 
its  "renewed  house"  with  appropriate  services,  under  the  pastorate  of  P.  D.  Col- 
lins, E.  H.  Thomas  officiating.  December  20,  1868,  Thomas  and  Laverty  held  the 
re-dedicatory  services  of  "the  thoroughly  repaired  and  renewed  bethel"  at  Eliza- 
bethtown,  Lancaster  county.  Pa.  On  the  same  day  "the  newly  refitted  bethel  at 
Washington,  Lancaster  county.  Pa.,"  was  rededicated.  I.  B.  Hartman  and  J. 
Hunter  did  the  preaching.  The  church  at  Mechanicsburg,  Cumberland  county, 
having  built  a  new  bethel,  it  was  dedicated  on  September  20,  1868.  C.  Price 
preached  on  the  previous  evening,  from  Ps.  Ixxxiv.  1;  C.  H.  Forney,  on  Sabbath 
morning,  from  Jer.  xvii.  12;  W.  O.  Owen,  in  the  afternoon,  from  Rev.  xxii.  18,  19, 
and  in  the  evening,  D.  A.  L.  Laverty,  from  Gen.  xxviii.  17.  George  Sigler  was 
the  pastor.  Under  the  labors  of  J.  W.  Deshong  a  house  of  worship  was  built  in 
Progress,  Dauphin  county,  during  the  Summer  and  Fall  of  1868.  It  was  dedicated 
December  6th.  C.  H.  Forney  preached  the  sermon  from  John  ii.  19-21,  assisted 
during  the  day  by  the  pastor  and  J.  C.  Owens,  J.  Haifleigh,  and  W.  L.  Jones.  The 
rededication  of  the  Milltown  bethel,  Cumberland  county,  occurred  March  28,  1869, 
C.  L.  Amy  being  the  pastor.  Under  his  labors  a  house  of  worship  was  built  in 
Marysville,  Perry  county,  the  corner-stone  of  which  was  laid  September  19,  1869. 
The  house  was  dedicated  January  16,  1870,  by  C.  H.  Forney  by  a  sermon  based  on 
II.  Chron.  vii.  5.  George  Sigler  preached  the  evening  sermon.  The  church  had 
helped  to  build  a  "union  house"  some  years  before,  but  it  became  a  house  of  strife, 
and  they  lost  their  interest  in  it.  The  church  in  Todd  township,  Huntingdon 
county,  at  a  small  village  called  Beavertown,  built  a  bethel  in  the  Summer  of  1869, 
under  the  labors  of  Simon  Fleegal,  which  was  dedicated  October  17th.  Preaching 
Saturday  evening.  Sabbath  morning  and  evening  by  C.  H.  Forney.  Having  re- 
modeled and  repaired  their  bethel  at  Landisville,  Lancaster  county,  under  the  pas- 
toral care  of  J.  W.  Miller,  it  was  rededicated  November  21,18  69.  In  the  Summer 
of  1868,  a  lot  of  ground  was  donated  by  the  gentleman  who  laid  out  the  town  of 
Donaldson,  Schuylkill  county,  on  which  the  church  was  to  build  a  house  of  wor- 
ship. 

Considerable  activity  was  manifested  in  Maryland  between  1865  and  1870, 
and  substantial  work  was  done.  On  March  1,  1865,  the  movement  which  took 
shape  at  the  Eldership  in  1864,  was  definitely  inaugurated  to  join  the  divided 
territory  by  establishing  the  Frederick  County  Mission,  and  S.  Spurrier,  mission- 
ary, moved  on  the  field,  locating  at  Creagerstown.  He  secured  the  school-house 
for  preaching  services,  and  also  opened  appointments  at  Oakdale  and  German- 
town.  J.  Ross  and  W.  P.  Winbigler  also  served  the  mission  during  parts  of  this 
period,  and  added  other  points.      At  Creagerstown  a  bethel  was  erected  in   1866, 


General    History  153 

and  dedicated  December  25th,  George  Sigler  and  C.  H.  P'oriiey  conducting  the  ser- 
vices. At  Carrollton,  Carroll  county,  Md.,  a  substantial  stone  bethel  was  built  in 
the  early  Summer  of  1866,  C.  L.  Amy,  pastor,  and  was  dedicated  July  8th.  J.  C. 
Owens  officiated  at  the  dedication.  The  cost  of  the  property  and  building  was 
$1,700. 

In  the  German  Eldership  there  was  an  effort  made  to  do  mission  work  in  Bal- 
timore, and  a  new  mission  was  established  in  Dauphin  and  Northumberland  coun- 
ties, known  as  the  Susquehanna  Mission,  to  which  J.  M.  Hepler  was  appointed,  and 
a  salary  of  $400  guaranteed.  The  bethel  at  Summit  Station,  Wayne  township, 
Schuylkill  county,  was  dedicated  May  20,  1866,  A.  Snyder  doing  the  preaching, 
from  Ps.  xxvi.  8.  The  internal  troubles  greatly  interfered  with  successful  work 
being  done.  On  the  Lebanon  circuit  the  churches  desired  an  East  Pennsylvania 
preacher.  Also  in  the  Mahantango  Valley  some  were  dissatisfied.  The  Kimmel 
Will  and  other  causes  made  trouble  in  that  section.  The  Will  was  contested  in 
court  by  the  relatives;  but  it  was  upheld.  Part  of  the  Kimmel  church  withdrew. 
They  were  disciplined  and  declared  no  longer  members.  Being  restored  by  the 
action  of  the  General  Eldership,  the  Kimmel  church  became  an  East  Pennsylvania 
church,  and  an  appointee  from  said  Eldership  served  them.  These  troubles  pre- 
cipitated "a  crisis  in  the  history"  of  the  German  Eldership,  and  to  aggravate  mat- 
ters drastic  actions  were  taken  by  the  Standing  Committee,  which  resulted  mainly 
in  further  alienating  members  and  churches,  and  weakening  the  body. 

Limited  aggressive  work  was  done  in  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  dur- 
ing this  period.  Abraham  Lasher,  Jr.,  and  J.  A.  Plowman,  in  186.5,  "purchased 
a  meeting-house  six  miles  north  of  Kittanning,  Armstrong  county,  which  was  later 
rededicated.  A  "Johnstown  Mission"  was  recommended  by  Plowman  in  1866. 
The  meeting-house  at  Carrolltown,  Cambria  county,  and  at  Fayetteville,  Lawrence 
county,  were  sold,  and  some  of  the  proceeds  were  used  to  build  one  at  Paddytown, 
Somerset  county.  Pittsburg  was  always  more  or  less  unfortunate.  In  the  Spring 
of  1867  "their  bethel  caught  fire  and  was  partly  burned."  Repairs  having  been 
made  and  the  house  reopened,  it  was  encumbered  with  a  debt  of  about  $2,500.  A 
new  house  of  worship  was  erected  in  Irwin  township,  or  Wesley,  Venango  county, 
and  was  dedicated  on  October  20,  1867.  The  dedicatory  sermon  was  delivered  by 
J.  M.  Domer.  On  the  Perryopolis  and  Fayette  City  Mission,  where  Plowman  began 
to  labor  April  1,  1867,  good  results  were  realized.  The  church  at  Fayette  City  in- 
creased to  ninety-two.  At  Stickle  Hollow  on  said  Mission  a  church  of  fifteen  mem- 
bers was  organized.  The  Perryopolis  church  increased  by  the  accession  of  seventy- 
three  new  members,  and  arrangements  were  completed  to  build  a  bethel.  In  the 
Winter  of  1869  Plowman  labored  along  the  Allegheny  River,  north  of  Pittsburg. 
At  Brackenridge  twenty-three  miles  above  the  city  he  organized  a  chufch,  having 
had  a  revival  at  which  "many  precious  souls  were  converted."  Antioch  Bethel, 
Marshall  county,  W.  Va.,  was  dedicated  by  P.  Loucks,  December  6,  1868.  \V.  J. 
Davis  was  the  pastor. 

Though  conditions  in  the  East  Ohio  Eldership  were  not  so  auspicious,  an 
aggressive  spirit  prevailed  in  the  body.  In  186  6  action  was  taken  to  "establish  a 
mission  in  Canada  West."  J.  L.  Jenner  was  appointed  the  missionary,  with  $2  00 
for  an  appropriation  for  the  first  year.  Jenner  had  been  a  member  of  the  Evan- 
gelical Lutheran  Church.  Thence  he  went  to  the  United  Brethren  Church,  under 
whose  direction  he  had  labored,  prior  to  1866,  for  three  years  "as  a  missionary  in 
Canada."  To  this  territory  he  was  appointed  by  the  East  Ohio  Eldership  said 
year,  he  having  united  with  the  Church  of  God  and  the  Eldership  the  same  year. 
He  died  March  7,  1874.  He  started  for  his  Mission  "in  the  northern  land"  Novem- 
ber 25,  1866.  A  revival  at  Maryboro,  Wellington  county,  C.  W.,  in  March,  1867, 
resulted  in  gathering  a  small  church.  A  bethel  was  built  and  dedicated  in  1866, 
at  Milton,  Wayne  county,  Ohio.  Also  one  at  West  Lebanon,  Wayne  county,  under 
the  labors  of  M,  Beck,  which  was  dedicated  October  27,  1867.  In  May,  1867,  the 
church  at  Smithville,  Wayne  county,  under  the  pastoral  care  of  J.  H.  Besore,  "de- 
cided to  build  a  new  bethel,  and  pushed  the  work  with  characteristic  energy,  so 
that  by  December  15th  they  were  ready  to  dedicate.  A.  X.  Shoemaker  preached 
the  dedicatory  sermon,  and  was  assisted  in  the  services  by  M.  Beck  and  D.  Blakely. 
A  new  house  of  worship  was  dedicated  at  Vermillion,  Ashland  county,  August  23, 
1868.  L.  B.  Hartman  preached  the  dedicatory  sermon.  McKee,  Beck,  Selby, 
Devless,  Oliver  and  Blakely  took  part  in  the  services.  "The  corner-stone  of  a  new 
church  edifice  in  the  village  of  Kirby,  Wyandot  county,  was  laid  by  J.  AV'.  Seiiseney 


154  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

August  22,  1868.  On  November  28,  1869,  the  dedication  of  Sugar  Creek  Bethel, 
Holmes  county,  took  place.  The  sermon  was  preached  by  G.  W.  Wilson.  The 
Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  on  June  2,  1869  "recommended  the 
Ohio  brethren  to  open  a  mission  in  Mansfield.  But  already  in  February,  1869, 
the  "Mansfield  and  Shelby  Mission"  had  been  created,  and  in  March,  1869,  J.  Myers 
had  "urged  the  importance  of  sending  a  good  missionary  to  that  point."  In 
December,  1869,  in  accordance  with  the  instructions  of  the  East  Ohio  Eldership, 
the  Board  of  Missions  of  said  Eldership  paid  a  visit  to  Mansfield  to  establish  a 
mission  there."  The  bethel  at  Blooming  Grove,  Richland  county,  was  dedicated 
January  9,  1870.  B.  F.  Beck,  of  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  delivered  the  dedi- 
catory sermon  from  II.  Sam.  vii.  13.  L.  H.  Selby,  pastor;  J.  W.  Senseney  and  J. 
Landis  assisted  in  the  services.  W.  P.  Small  organized  a  church  at  Fairview,  and 
the  other  "in  the  settlement  of  Bro.  C.  Long,"  during  the  Winter  of  1867-8,  both 
in  Mercer  county.  At  the  former  place  "they  built  a  new  house  of  worship," 
which  was  dedicated  October  18,  1868.  G.  W.  AVilson,  T.  Hickeniell  and  W.  P. 
Small  were  the  ministers  present,  the  former  two  doing  the  preaching.  By  action 
of  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  West  Ohio  Eldership,  September  2,  1865,  the 
church  at  Findlay,  Hancock  county,  was  "urged  to  persevere  until  the  work  is 
completed,"  and  "brethren  and  churches  were  urged  to  contribute  toward  the  ac- 
complishment of  this  important  work  in  Findlay."  G.  AV.  Wilson,  pastor,  made  a 
public  appeal  for  help,  stating  that  "we  must  have  help  from  abroad."  In  May, 
1866,  they  commenced  building  a  brick  house,  40  by  50,  and  17  feet  high.  It 
was  completed  during  the  Summer,  and  dedicated  December  30,  1866. 

The  Indiana  Eldership  felt  the  inspiration  of  zeal  and  success  which  was  re- 
ported from  other  Elderships.  Churches  enjoyed  revivals,  received  accessions 
and  planned  new  enterprises.  Regular  preaching,  with  special  meetings,  was  ar- 
ranged for  in  1865  in  Terre  Haute  City,  Vigo  county.  Also  at  Indianapolis,  the 
State  capital,  Marion  county,  both  under  the  labors  of  the  General  Evangelists, 
R.  H.  and  C.  S.  Bolton.  One  mile  north  of  Roann,  Pleasant  township,  Wabash 
county,  a  bethel  was  built  in  the  Summer  of  1865,  and  dedicated  December  3rd, 
by  A.  X.  Shoemaker,  J.  E.  McColley  being  the  pastor.  C.  Sands  organized  a  new 
church  at  Ream's  school-house.  La  Grange  county,  of  twenty-six  members,  in  the 
Spring  of  1866,  where  he  had  "a  glorious  meeting  in  the  midst  of  a  Disciple  com- 
munity" against  whose  "theory  of  baptismal  remission  of  sins"  he  had  to  contend. 
Up  to  April  10,  1866,  he  witnessed  one  hundred  and  one  conversions  on  his  field. 
There  were  still  enough  "German  brethren  within  the  bounds  of  the  Indiana  Eld- 
ership" to  induce  the  Standing  Committee  to  grant  them  the  privilege  of  securing 
the  services  of  a  "minister  from  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership"  to  preach  for 
them.  During  the  session  of  the  Indiana  Eldership  at  Syracuse,  Kosciusko 
county,  November,  1867,  the  new  bethel,  costing  $3,000,  was  dedicated.  The 
bethel  built  by  the  church  at  Zanesville,  Wells  county,  was  consecrated  on  October 
18,  1868,  during  the  session  of  the  Indiana  Eldership,  R.  H.  Bolton  officiating,  E. 
Bi-yan  being  the  pastor.  In  the  same  county,  "the  newly  erected  bethel  near 
Beaver  Dam  Lake  was  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  God  November  29,  1868,  R.  H. 
Bolton  preaching  the  dedicatory  sermon.  The  Eldership  appointed  Bryan  General 
Evangelist  in  1868,  and  authorized  special  collections  where  he  would  preach,  but 
amounts  thus  "paid  to  him  should  not  lessen  the  support  of  the  circuit  preachers." 
November  29,  1868,  "the  newly  erected  bethel  at  Yellow  Lake,  Kosciusko  county," 
was  dedicated.  J.  Martin  preached  the  morning  sermon  in  German,  from  I.  Kings 
vi.  12,  and  R.  H.  Bolton  "spoke  from  the  same  chapter  in  English  in  the  afternoon." 
Eight  miles  southeast  of  Columbia  City,  Whitley  county,  "in  the  Brandenburg 
community,"  a  bethel  was  built  in  the  Summer  of  1869,  and  dedicated  on  Septem- 
ber 12th.  "It  was  christened  Evergreen  Bethel."  Bolton  preached  the  morning 
sermon  from  Dan.  ii.  44,  45.  E.  B.  Bell  was  pastor,  who  with  Hahn,  Smith  and 
Callison,  participated  in  the  services  during  the  day.  Prior  to  the  Spring  of  1869 
the  Indiana  Eldership  had  been  "agitating  the  propriety  of  inaugurating  a  mission 
in  Ft.  Wayne,"  and  was  strongly  urged  by  outside  influence  to  undertake  the  work. 
The  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  in  June,  1869,  recommended  "that 
the  Indiana  Eldership  open  a  mission,  and  that  Ft.  Wayne  be  the  center."  The 
General  Evangelist  began  preaching  in  said  place  during  the  Summer  of  1869. 

Internal  troubles  in  the  Illinois  Eldership  during  part,  at  least,  of  this  period 
militated  against  the  interests  of  the  churches.  At  Decatur,  the  pastor,  D.  Kyle, 
"withdrew  church  privileges  from  J.  H.  Hurley,"  and  an  appeal  was  taken  to  the 


General    History  155 

Eldership,  and  charges  and  counter  charges  were  preferred,  until  the  greater  part 
of  the  Eldership  became  involved.  A  temporary  settlement  was  effected  by  the 
Standing  Committee  in  November,  1868,  but  the  virus  to  some  extent  continued 
to  work,  finally  resulting  in  more  severe  acts  of  discipline.  One  dedication  was 
announced  in  the  State,  being  that  of  a  new  bethel  in  Clark  county,  called  the 
"Wabash  Bethel,"  within  the  territory  of  the  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Elder- 
ship. The  dedicatory  services  were  held  March  24,  1867,  R.  H.  Bolton  officiating. 
German  preaching  was  still  in  demand  at  several  points,  principally  at  Troy  Grove, 
La  Salle  county.  The  Board  of  Missions,  April  29,  1867,  stated  that  "we  pro- 
pose making  special  efforts  to  open  a  mission  in  Springfield,"  capital  of  the  State; 
but  the  enterprise  was  deferred.  H.  L.  Soiile,  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship, having  become  pastor  of  the  church  at  Mt.  Carroll,  April  1,  1866,  he  was  dis- 
satisfied with  the  location  of  the  bethel,  and  succeeded  in  inducing  the  church  to 
remove  it  to  a  more  eligible  location.  After  extensive  repairs,  it  was  rededicated 
October  21,  1866.  "The  outsiders"  offered  to  buy  and  pay  for  the  lot.  A.  X. 
Shoemaker  preached  at  the  dedication. 

Iowa  churches  and  ministers  were  quite  active  during  these  five  years,  and 
success  crowned  their  labors.  In  the  Spring  of  1866  the  church  at  Cairo,  Louisa 
county,  completed  their  "fine  bethel,"  and  dedicated  it  on  May  2  7th.  F,  F,  Kiner 
was  minister  in  charge.  The  Standing  Committee  planned  large  things,  and  set 
about  "raising  a  large  missionary  fund  for  the  purpose  of  sending  out  mission- 
aries on  new  territory  and  opening  missions  in  some  of  the  principal  towns  in 
Iowa."  The  "sum  of  not  less  than  |5,000  for  the  present  year  [1866-7]  is  ex- 
pected to  be  raised."  A.  Wilson  was  appointed  General  Missionary  to  raise  the 
money.  He  had  been  licensed  in  18  61,  but  labored  largely  in  a  local  capacity  for 
several  years.  He  was  a  missionary  a  good  part  of  his  time.  In  1867  he  was  on 
the  Eddyville  Mission,  Klein  on  the  Marshall  Mission,  and  D.  Gillion  on  the  London 
Mission.      At  Grundy  Center,  J.  M.  Klein,  after  a  successful  revival  in  February, 

1868,  organized  a  church  of  twenty-three  members.  At  North  Bend,  .Johnson 
county,  in  the  Summer  of  1868,  "they  built  a  large  'house  of  worship,'  but  it  is 
not  called  a  bethel."  It  replaced  the  bethel  built  in  18.53.  The  old  house  was 
30x3.5  feet;  the  new  one  was  38x56  feet,  and  60  to  70  feet  to  the  top  of  the  belfry. 
D.  Wertz  and  Mrs.  Wertz  were  the  pastors.  The  house  was  dedicated  October 
18th,  during  the  session  of  the  Eldership.  H.  L.  Soule  preached  the  morning  ser- 
mon, from  II.  Chron.  vi.  18;  A.  X.  Shoemaker,  at  night.  At  this  dedication  "be- 
tween seven  and  eight  hundred  dollars  were  pledged  for  the  Marshall  Mission." 
On  October  2  5th,  the  bethel  in  "the  Garner  neighborhood"  was  dedicated  by  H.  L. 
Soule,  who  preached  from  Isa.  v.  1-7,  Shoemaker  assisting.  Nine  miles  northeast 
of  Tipton,  Cedar  county,  a  house  of  worship  was  built  called  "Pairview  Union 
Bethel,"  which  was  dedicated  October  25,  186  8.  At  Washington,  Washington 
county,  a  new   bethel  was  dedicated,  under  the  labors  of  F.  F.  Kiner,   June   27, 

1869.  H.  L.  Soule  officiated  at  the  dedication.  On  Sunday  evening  the  ordin- 
ances were  administered.  September  12,  1869,  the  dedication  of  "the  newly 
erected  bethel  at  Victor,  Iowa,"  was  held,  C.  L.  Wilson,  pastor.  The  Southwestern 
Iowa  Mission  was  established  by  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership 
in  1869,  with  George  Thomas  as  missionary.  The  mission  was  located  in  Page 
county,  Iowa,  and  the  adjoining  county  of  Nodaway  in  Missouri.  Work  was  also 
being  done  in  that  section  of  Missouri  by  the  Konkle  brothers.  Two  organizations 
had  been  formed  on  the  mission  by  the  last  of  December,  1869.  In  January,  1870, 
another  church  of  sixteen  members  was  organized,  at  the  Montgomery  school- 
house.  Mo.  The  first  suggestion  of  a  mission  on  the  Pacific  was  made  at  a  mis- 
sionary meeting  held  at  the  Iowa  Eldership  in  1868.  J.  A.  Sallinger,  in  July, 
1868,  writing  from  Woodbridge,  Cal.,  had  expressed  the  hope  that  "emigration  of 
Church  of  God  men  and  women  would  come  right  along  here,  and  settle  down  and 
build  up  the  Church." 

Considerable  work  was  done  in  Missouri  from  1866  to  1870.  The  General 
Eldership's  Board  of  Mission  in  1866  advised  opening  a  mission  in  St.  Louis.  Elder 
A.  G.  McCormick  had  moved  to  the  city  from  Iowa,  and  was  working  for  the  United 
States  Christian  Commission,  but  in  August,  1866,  contemplated  going  to  work 
for  the  St.  Louis  City  Missionary  Society.  But  in  January,  1867,  he  had  begun 
work  to  open  a  mission  for  the  Church.  But,  except  in  Nodaway  county,  the  first 
systematic  effort  to  begin  mission  work  was  by  the  Indiana  Eldership,  when  D. 
Keplinger  decided  to  remove  to  Cass  county.  Mo.,  and  the  Eldership  commended 


156  History    op   the    Churches    of    God 

him  to  the  people  of  Missouri.  He  reached  Pleasant  Hill,  Cass  county,  October 
25th.  He  was  duly  appointed  later  as  missionary  by  the  Indiana  Board  of  Mis- 
sions, and  reported  as  such  in  March,  18G7.  He  preached  in  Cass  and  Jackson 
counties,  from  Kansas  City  southward.  Eld.  J.  E.  Cunningham  had  emigrated 
from  Texas  to  Cass  county.  Mo.  Keplinger  also  visited  brethren  in  Bates  county. 
These  three  counties  border  on  Kansas.  He  organized  the  first  church  in  Jackson 
county  prior  to  March,  1867,  composed  of  thirteen  members.  Another  one  was 
organized  later  the  same  year  at  Smith's  school-house,  Cass  county,  of  eleven 
members.  On  July  2  8th  one  was  organized  at  Harrisonville,  Cass  county.  In 
November,  1867,  Keplinger  extended  his  labors  two  counties  northward,  into  Cald- 
well county,  where  he  succeeded  in  organizing  a  church  of  six  members.  The 
Texas  Eldership  in  1867  recommended  Cunningham,  in  Cass  county,  to  organize 
an  Eldership,  and  in  June,  1868,  Keplinger  expressed  the  opinion  that  "no  doubt 
an  Eldership  can  and  will  be  organized."  Keplinger  also  visited  Morgan  county, 
to  which  place  AVni.  Berkstresser  and  others  had  emigrated  in  1868.  This  county 
is  the  fourth  east  of  Cass  county.  On  October  20,  1868,  D,  Blakely,  of  West 
Pennsylvania,  reached  Benton  county,  second  county  east  and  south  of  Kep- 
linger's  home,  and  began  mission  work  under  the  direction  and  support  of  his 
Eldership.  He  visited  Morgan  county,  and  also  preached  in  Hickory  county  ad- 
joining Benton  on  the  south.  Daniel  Gross,  of  Decatur,  111.,  removed  to  Lawrence 
county,  near  the  southwestern  corner  of  the  State,  April,  1869,  and  called  for  the 
missionaries  to  visit  that  section.  In  the  Winter  of  1869-70,  S.  V.  Sterner  emi- 
grated to  the  same  section  and  began  mission. work.  Blakely  organized  a  church 
about  this  time  at  Shiloh  school-house,  Alexandria  township,  Benton  county. 
Clarke  county  is  in  the  northeastern  corner  of  the  State,  a  short  distance  from  the 
Iowa  work.  At  Peakesville  in  this  county  R,  H.  Bolton  "held  a  series  of  meetings, 
resulting  in  conversions  and  the  organization  of  a  church  of  about  thirty  members." 

George  Thomas,  missionary  in  Page  county,  Iowa,  and  G.  E.  Ewing  were  the 
first  ministers  to  emigrate  to  Kansas,  in  1865,  locating  at  Centralia,  Nemaha 
county,  the  two  counties  being  less  than  thirty  miles  apart.  The  provisions  of  the 
Homestead  Act  drew  hundreds  of  families.  C.  S.  Bolton  followed  in  September, 
1866.  He  later  went  to  Marshall  county,  adjoining  Nemaha  on  the  West.  Other 
Church  families  which  located  in  those  counties  were  H.  Gary  and  son,  Eli  Hawk 
and  Daniel  Utsey.  These  two  counties  are  on  the  line  between  Kansas  and  Ne- 
braska. When  in  1866  the  General  Eldership  secured  Centralia  College,  J.  S. 
Stamm,  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  was  sent  there  as  Principal  and  preacher. 
P.  K.  Shoemaker,  also  of  said  Eldership,  accompanied  him,  in  the  Spring  of  1867. 
Elders  P.  Clippinger  and  P.  Shaw  also  located  at  Centralia.  Under  Stamm's 
labors  a  Sunday-school  was  organized  at  Centralia,  April  28,  3  867.  The  same 
year  a  church  was  organized  of  forty  members.  Shoemaker  opened  appointments 
at  various  places  in  Nemaha  and  Marshall  counties.  One  of  these  was  at  Seneca, 
the  county  seat  of  Nemaha  county.  One  at  Barrett,  Marshall  county,  where  in  the 
Winter  of  1867-8  he  had  a  successful  meeting  and  organized  a  church  of  eighteen 
members.  He  also  visited  Clay  Center,  Clay  county,  where  A.  W.  Ree<ler  and  fam- 
ily lived. 

In  1869  Shoemaker  was  appointed  to  the  Kansas  and  Nebraska  Mission,  as 
Church  families  were  moving  into  the  lower  tier  of  counties  bordering  on  Kansas. 
Among  these  were  the  Moore  brothers  from  near  New  Grenada,  Fulton  county, 
Pa.  K.  A.  Moore  reached  the  Moore  Settlement  in  September,  1868,  in  Lancaster 
county.  These  lower  counties  in  the  State  were  part  of  Shoemaker's  mission  field. 
Already  in  1867,  William  Ensminger,  who  emigrated  to  Lancaster  county.  Neb.,  in 
1865,  secured  three  lots  as  a  gift  in  Lincoln  City  after  it  was  made  the  State 
capital,  upon  which  to  erect  a  house  of  worship  for  the  Church  of  God. 

Ober,  Texas  missionary,  considering  conditions  much  more  favorable  in  that 
State  in  1866,  and  "prospects  flattering,  came  North  to  secure  aid  for  the  work," 
and  if  possible  induce  some  ministers  to  go  there  and  take  his  place,  and  that  of 
E.  Marple.  The  latter  also  strongly  urged  a  change  of  missionaries.  T.  A.  Per- 
kins, Chairman  of  the  Standing  Committee  made  an  offer  of  $55  0  a  year,  and 
twenty  acres  of  good  land.  But  there  was  opposition.  The  Texas  Eldership  had 
never  been  recognized  by  the  General  Eldership,  and  bitter  feeling  still  prevailed 
North  and  South  during  the  Reconstruction  period,  so  that  nothing  was  done. 

In  1866  some  families  from  Southern  Indiana  emigrated  to  Anoka  county, 
Minn.,  about  130  miles  north  of  the  Iowa  line,  on  the  Mississippi  River,  with 
Anoka  as  their  post-office.      They  at  once  called  for  a  missionary.      Sandoe,  Bolton, 


Gexeral    History  .  157 

Ross  and  Wilson  urged  the  matter,  and  a  subscription  was  opened  in  The  Advo- 
cate to  raise  the  funds.  It  was  considered  a  good  field,  and  Sandoe  strongly  em- 
phasized the  importance  of  following  such  families  of  the  Church  in  every  direc- 
tion: "We  must  follow  them  with  missionaries."  On  April  29,  1867,  the  Stand- 
ing Committee  of  the  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership  licensed  J.  L.  Fasig, 
one  of  the  emigrants  to  Anoka;  constituted  the  Anoka  Mission,  and  appointed 
Fasig  the  missionary.  Fasig  proved  recreant  to  the  trust,  and  in  August  of  the 
same  year  left  the  work  and  united  with  the  M.  E.  Church.  G.  W.  Wilson  had 
offered  to  go  to  Minnesota  as  missionary,  and  so  the  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana 
Standing  Committee  dismissed  Fasig  and  recommended  that  Wilson  be  appointed 
by  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership. 

It  was  also  proposed  to  start  a  mission  in  Richland  county,  Wis.,  the  third 
county  north  of  Jo  Daviess  county,  111.,  whither  some  families  had  removed  from 
Southern  Indiana  in  1867. 

At  the  Michigan  Eldership  in  1869  three  hundred  and  eighteen  members  were 
reported,  but  "many  of  the  churches  have  not  been  heard  from."  In  1867  R.  H. 
Bolton  removed  to  Berrien  county,  Mich.,  and  entered  upon  the  work  in  said 
county.  A  bethel  was  built  near  St.  Joseph,  and  was  dedicated  December  6,  1868, 
by  A,  X.  Shoemaker.  Seifried  was  doing  good  work  in  Barry  county.  Work  was 
done  on  four  missions,  besides  the  four  circuits.  Ten  ministers  were  serving  these 
fields. 

Inspired  by  the  excellent  Sunday-school  institute  held  in  Grace  M.  E.  church, 
Harrisburg,  Pa.,  in  the  early  Spring  of  1868,  D.  Shelley,  C.  H.  Foniey,  L.  Kauff- 
nian,  J.  A.  Winebrenner  and  others  planned  to  organize  a  "Sabbath-School  Con- 
vention of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership."  The  preliminary  meeting  was  held 
at  Harrisburg,  May  15th;  a  call  issued,  and  June  16-18,  fixed  as  the  date,  and 
Mechanicsburg  as  the  place.  This  was  "the  first  Sabbath-school  convention  of 
the  Church  of  God  in  East  Pennsylvania — the  first  also  in  the  history  of  the 
Church."  Delegates  were  appointed  by  the  different  Sunday-schools  in  the  Elder- 
ship. The  attendance  was  large,  interest  deep  and  well-sustained,  and  the  con- 
vention was  pronounced  "most  successful  and  profitable."  The  temporary  organ- 
ization consisted  of  AV.  L.  Jones,  Chairman;  J.  Haifleigh,  Secretary;  A.  H.  Long, 
Recording  Secretary.  C  H.  Forney  was  elected  Conductor,  and  the  following 
were  chosen  permanent  oflRcers:  Chairman,  Daniel  Shelley;  Secretary,  J.  H.  Red- 
seeker;  Recording  Secretary,  A.  H.  Long.  On  Tuesday  evening,  16th,  C.  H. 
Forney  spoke  on  "Sabbath-Schools  and  Sabbath-School  Conventions,"  followed  by 
Laverty  and  Jones.  Wednesday  morning  Forney  spoke  on,  "The  Wants  of  the 
Convention,"  followed  by  German,  Kolp,  Jones,  Kauffman  and  Alleman.  G.  Sigler 
discussed  "Topical  Lessons."  He  was  followed  by  a  general  discussion  of  "The 
Importance  of  Sunday-School  Music,"  in  which  fourteen  brethren  participated. 
This  was  followed  by  an  address  by  D.  Shelle.v  on  "Sunday-school  Organization 
and  Order."  Next  topic  discussed  by  Forney,  was:  "The  Blackboard  in  the  Sun- 
day-school." At  2.20  p.  m.,  the  Conductor  opened  the  Question  Drawer,  read  the 
questions  submitted,  which  were  answered  by  Laverty.  The  two  questions: 
"What  constitutes  a  good  Teacher?  How  may  good  Teachers  be  secured?"  were 
discussed  by  Forney,  Sigler,  Beck,  Hannnm,  Keller,  Shoemaker,  Jones,  Owens, 
Kauffman  and  Gemian.  Then  followed  Reports  of  Superintendents.  Wednesday 
evening  "The  Antiquities  of  the  Bible"  was  the  subject  of  an  address  by  Forney, 
followed  by  a  discussion  of  "The  use  of  the  Blackboard,"  by  Shelley.  Thursday 
morning,  after  further  reports  from  Superintendents,  E.  M.  Long,  a  Children 
Evangelist  of  Philadelphia,  spoke  on  "The  Importance  of  the  Conversion  of  Sab- 
bath-school Scholars."  A.  H.  Long  spoke  on  "The  Relation  of  the  Pastor  to  the 
Sabbath-school."  "Mission  Work"  was  discussed  by  Shoemaker.  In  the  after- 
noon J.  H.  Redsecker  spoke  on  "Libraries  and  Sabbath-school  Rooms;"  E.  D. 
Aller  on  "A  Deeper  Interest  in  our  Work,"  and  W.  O.  Owen  on  "The  best  means 
of  awakening  an  interest  in  our  Work."  On  Thursday  evening  John  A.  Wine- 
brenner delivered  an  address  on  "The  Geography  of  the  Bible."  The  Secretary 
said:  "The  Convention  was  of  unusual  interest."  The  second  Convention  was 
held  at  Middletown,  Dauphin  county,  May  18-20,  1869.  A  Constitution  was 
adopted.  C  H.  Foniey  was  the  Conductor;  D.  Shelley,  President;  A.  Hostetter, 
Vice  President;  J.  H.  Redsecker,  Secretary;  A.  H.  Long,  Recording  Secretary, 
Isaac  Frazer,  Treasurer.  R.  White,  of  the  Illinois  Eldership,  and  P.  Loucks,  West 
Pennsylvania  Eldership,  were  present.  A  resolution  was  adopted  for  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  committee  "to  devise  some  plan  by  which  at  least  three  hundred  dollars 


158  History    of    the    Churches   of    God 

may  be   raised   for   missionary   purposes."      The   Editor   of  The   Advocate  was   re- 
quested "to  set  apart  a  portion  of  that  paper  for  Sabbath-school  matters." 

The  deaths  of  at  least  six  prominent  ministers  occurred  during  this  period. 
February  13,  1865,  "Bishop"  David  Maxwell  died,  aged  74  years.  He  was  one 
of  the  six  ministers  who  organized  the  first  Eldership.  Elder  James  Charlton  died 
July  5,  1865,  "esteemed  and  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him."  Andi-ew  Miller, 
member  of  the  first  Eldership,  died  March  22,  1865,  aged  nearly  80  years.  He 
was  a  co-laborer  in  every  interest  with  Winebrenner.  On  January  15,  186  6, 
James  George  died  seven  miles  west  of  Findlay,  Ohio,  aged  28  years.  November 
12,  1866,  Elder  George  Kimmel  died  near  Orwigsburg,  Schuylkill  county,  Pa. 
Death  in  this  instance  "has  pointed  his  javelin  at  a  shining  mark."  He  be- 
queathed most  of  his  estate  to  the  German  Eldership.  On  Saturday,  September 
11,  1869,  the  Editor  of  The  Church  Advocate  for  seventeen  years,  ended  his 
illustrious  and  successful  career.  To  Winebrenner,  Mooney  and  Crawford,  of  the 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  to  several  members  of  western  Elderships,  the 
churches,  like  the  ancient  Angives,  "looking  upon  them  as  among  the  best  of  men, 
caused  statues  of  them  to  be  made,"  or  monuments  to  be  erected.  But  to  Thomas, 
the  Elderships  like  the  Athenians,  directed  public  funeral  service  to  be  held  and 
the  highest  honors  to  be  paid.  Among  other  great  and  renowned  men  who  died 
during  the  period  were  Thaddeus  SteA-ens,  the  Great  Commoner;  Fitzgreen  Hal- 
leck,  American  poet;  Henry  Harbangh.  eminent  Reformed  divine  and  poet;  and 
James  Buchanan,  ex-President  of  the  United  States,  and  Francis  Wayland,  cele- 
brated Baptist  minister,  educator  and  philosophic  Avriter.  The  silent  language 
of  these  dead  incited  others  to  nobler  deeds  of  Christian  fidelity  and  heroism. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 


1870—1875. 


^4'Tr^  HE  Outlook"  in  1870  was  portrayed  in  quite  encouraging  terms  at  the  open- 
f  ing  of  this  period  by  the  Editor  of  The  Advocate.  The  indications  upon 
which  the  forecast  was  based  are  given  as  being  the  marked  revival  in 
Sabbath-school  and  missionary  interests,  fields  considered  both  large  and  promising 
to  "yield  an  ample  harvest  if  properly  cultivated."  The  introduction  of  better  sys- 
tems in  selection  of  fields  and  the  securing  of  funds  is  favorably  mentioned.  Then 
the  movement  to  establish  churches  in  the  larger  cities  was  taken  as  a  good  omen. 
The  deeper  and  more  general  interest  in  the  gathering  of  funds,  and  the  zeal  of  lay 
members,  and  especially  of  the  sisterhood,  were  emphasized  as  features  in  the  for- 
ward movement  of  special  significance.  And  the  conditions  of  realizing  these  ex- 
pectations were  sought  to  be  impressed  on  the  churches  and  brotherhood,  to  wit: 
Faithfulness  to  our  trust;  preserving  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bonds  of  peace; 
a  persevering  and  aggressive  spirit;  boldness  in  entering  every  open  door  which 
Providence  presents  to  the  Church. 

The  dark  shadows  of  death  again  fell  upon  the  Church  early  in  this  period,  as 
they  had  done  in  the  two  preceding  periods,  when  two  of  its  great  leaders  were 
stricken  down.  But  by  this  time  the  Church  had  learned  that  the  work  can  go  on 
even  if  great  leaders  fall  at  their  posts.  The  Eye  which  watches  with  deepest 
solicitude  over  the  body  of  Christ,  which  is  his  church,  slumbers  not,  and  provision 
will  be  made  to  replenish  the  ranks  and  furnish  the  leaders.  If  some  great  light 
goes  out  in  the  greater  light  of  the  perfect  day,  another  one  will  arise  to  the  faith- 
ful Church.  Five  ministers  laid  down  their  armor  during  this  period  of  whom 
special  mention  may  be  made.  The  first  to  do  so  was  W.  H.  Mullenix,  in  Linn 
county,  Iowa.  He  was  licensed  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1840.  He 
labored  with  commendable  zeal  in  several  Elderships,  and  finally  located  in  Iowa, 
where  he  was  .esteemed  a  "good  man"  and  an  able  preacher  of  the  word.  He  died 
March  15,  1872,  not  quite  fifty-two  years  old. 

Already  the  shadows  were  gathering  which  portended  the  death  of  J.  M.  Domer 
when  at  the  General  Eldership  at  Mt.  Carroll,  111.,  May  29,  1872,  he  was  chosen  to 
preside  over  that  body,  which  he  did  with  dignity  and  efficient  impartiality.  To  re- 
flect light  on  the  gathering  shadows  the  Eldership  chose  him  to  preach  the  opening 
sermon  in   187  5,  and  elected  him  Assistant  Editor  of  The  Church  Advocate.      He 


General    History  159 

died  at  Barkeyville,  Venango  county,  Pa.,  his  natal  county,  November  15,  1872,  at 
the  early  age  of  41  years,  11  months  and  1  day.  He  was  converted  under  the 
labors  of  S.  S.  Richmond,  and  united  with  the  Church  of  God,  in  which  he  was  a 
shining  light.  He  held  a  sanctuary  in  the  hearts  of  the  brotherhood  wherever  he 
was  known.  He  was  a  strong  defender  of  the  faith  of  the  Church  of  God,  though 
brought  up  under  the  influence  of  the  Evangelical  Association,  of  which  his  parents 
and  nearly  all  his  relatives  were  members,  two  of  his  brothers  being  ministers  in 
said  body,  and  one  in  the  M.  E.  Church.  His  long  and  intimate  friend,  P.  Loucks, 
preached  his  funeral  sermon,  in  which  he  spoke  in  most  commendable  terms  of  this 
great  and  good  man.  Others  both  East  and  West  spoke  in  such  endearing  and 
eulogistic  terms  as  gave  unmistakable  evidence  of  the  high  esteem  in  which  he  was 
held. 

A  still  younger  minister  was  called  down  from  the  walls  of  Zion  March  2, 
187  3,  in  the  person  of  Pet«r  H.  Clippiiiger,  a  member  of  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership.  He  was  a  descendant  of  the  Clippingers  near  Newburg,  Cumberland 
county.  Pa.,  staunch  members  of  the  Church;  but  he  was  converted  among  the  Uni- 
ted Brethren,  and  received  his  first  license  to  preach  from  a  Quarterly  meeting  of 
said  Church.  But  being  in  full  accord  in  faith  and  practice  with  the  Church  of 
God,  he  became  a  member  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1870.  He  was  a 
young  man  of  good  promise.      His  age  was  27  years,  6  months  and  6  days. 

But  a  short  time  after,  Iowa  was  called  to  mourn  the  death  of  W.  D.  Bowker, 
a  young  minister  of  special  promise,  a  faithful  and  zealous  worker.  He  had  been 
licensed  in  1870,  and  so  the  dispensation  of  providence  which  recalled  him  so  early 
seemed  the  more  mysterious  and  the  greater  loss  to  the  Eldership  and  the  Church. 

One  of  Winebrenner's  early  converts  who  entered  the  ministry  was  Jacob  J. 
Miller,  of  Conewago  township,  York  county,  Pa.  He  was  converted  January  27, 
1827,  at  Middletown,  Dauphin  county.  Pa.  Though  there  were  no  churches  of 
God  then  in  York  county,  he  learned  the  faith  of  the  Church,  and  was  early  moved 
to  enter  the  ministry.  Failing  to  do  so  then,  he  became  negligent,  and  lost  his 
spirituality.  Removing  to  Cumberland  county,  and  seeing  his  danger,  he  was  re- 
vived and  began  to  preach.  In  1843  he  was  licensed  by  the  Eldership.  Nine 
years  later  he  removed  to  West  Pennsylvania,  preaching  in  Indiana,  Cambria, 
Somerset  and  other  counties.  Thence,  in  1857,  he  emigrated  to  Iowa,  where  he 
ended  his  militant  career  at  Epworth,  Dubuque  county,  Iowa,  July  5,  1874. 

Other  religious  bodies,  and  the  world  of  poetry,  politics  and  science  lost  heav- 
ily during  this  period.  Albert  Barnes,  born  a  little  more  than  a  year  after  Wine- 
brenner,  died  December  24,  1870,  a  preacher  and  expounder  of  the  word  who  se- 
cured a  world-wide  reputation.  On  December  7,  1873,  Right  Rev.  W.  E.  Arniitage 
died  at  New  York.  He  was  the  Episcopal  Bishop  of  Wisconsin.  The  great  Baptist 
revivalist  of  America,  Jacob  Knapp,  born  in  17  99,  died  December  7,  1874.  Though 
reared  in  the  Episcopal  Church,  he  joined  the  Baptist  Church  when  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  and  was  ordained  in  1822.  The  number  of  his  converts  is  given  at 
100,000.  February  12,  1871,  died  Alice  Carey,  author  of  "Lyra  and  Other  Poems," 
"Snow  Berries,"  "Lyrics  and  Hymns."  The  great  American  musical  composer, 
Lowell  Mason,  born  1792,  died  in  1872.  Several  of  America's  greatest  statesmen 
also  joined  the  invisible  host.  Foremost  stands  Lincoln's  Secretary  of  State,  W.  H. 
Seward,  marked  for  death  the  same  night  his  chief  fell  a  martyr  to  the  assassin's 
bullet.  He  died  at  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  October  10,  1872.  Horace  Greeley,  broken- 
hearted aspirant  to  the  Presidency,  yielded  up  his  life  shortly  after  his  memorable 
defeat,  November  29,  1872.  Chief  Justice  Salmon  P.  Chase,  the  wizard  of  finance 
in  the  Lincoln  Cabinet,  died  May  7,  1873,  aged  66  years.  The  peerless  orator  and 
abolitionist  and  statesman,  Charles  Sumner,  died  at  Washington,  D.  C,  March  11, 
1874.  The  conqueror  of  Lee  at  Gettysburg,  Pa.,  Gen.  George  G.  Meade,  ended  his 
illustrious  career  at  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  in  187  2,  but  a  few  months  before  the  nephew 
of  the  great  military  genius.  Napoleon  I.,  and  ex-emperor  of  France,  Louis  Napoleon, 
terminated  his  unfortunate  career.  The  thirteenth  President  of  the  United  States, 
Millard  Filmore,  died  March  8,  187  4.  The  pioneer  abolitionist,  Joshua  Leavitt, 
died  January  16,  1873.  On  August  11,  1873,  Richard  S.  Ston-s,  who  had  officiated 
for  sixty-two  years  in  the  same  pulpit,  ended  his  earthly  ministrations.  Thus  one 
by  one  Winebrenner's  cotemporaries  joined  the  great  majority. 

It  has  been  inferred  that  when  James  says:  "Behold,  how  great  a  matter  a 
little  fire  kindleth,"  that  he  referred  to  the  "flame  of  discord  and  insubordination 
one  man,  by  his  persuasive  tongue,  may  kindle  among  the  common  people";  but 
may  it  not  be  an  aphorism  of  wider  application?      The  suggestion  by  the  newly 


i6o  History    of   the    Churches   of    Gon 

elected  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  in  1869,  that  unless  the  Board 
were  given  authority  to  do  something  it  would  better  be  discontinued  proved  the 
"little  fire"  which  kindled  the  great  missionary  enterprises  which  were  so  ener- 
getically pushed  forward  during  1870-'75.  Sometimes  zeal  was  not  guided  by  ade- 
quate knowledge,  and  promising  enterprises  proved  abortive;  but  on  the  whole 
vast  good  relatively  was  done.  Not  only  did  the  Board  itself  energetically  devise 
and  put  into  effect  plans  for  enlarged  frontier  work;  but  it  fostered  mission  enter- 
prises by  different  Elderships,  and  inspired  the  organization  of  movements  to  bring 
the  sisters  of  the  Church  into  more  immediate  connection  with  mission  projects, 
thus  realizing  more  nearly  than  had  yet  been  done  the  conception  of  the  first  Gen- 
eral Eldership,  in  1845,  to  make  of  the  whole  Church  a  missionary  society. 

Excellent  and  permanent  work  was  accomplished  in  the  territory  of  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  between  1870  and  1875.  Some  projects,  however,  finally 
failed.  This  is  true  of  the  Renova  mission,  in  Clinton  county,  where  the  Phila- 
delphia and  Erie  Railroad  Company  had  donated  a  lot  and  Dr.  Ross  had  bought 
two  additional  lots  for  church  purposes.  Some  Church  families  had  removed  to 
Renova  from  other  sections.  A  committee,  consisting  of  Laverty  and  Ross,  visited 
the  place  in  187  0,  and  reported  quite  favorably.  Forney  was  directed  to  accom- 
pany the  missionary,  A.  V.  B.  Orr,  when  he  went  there  to  take  charge  of  the  work, 
in  1871.  But  on  Eebruary  12,  1873,  the  Standing  Committee  released  Orr,  and 
sent  him  to  Christiana,  Lancaster  county.  Pa.,  after  a  committee  had  visited  the 
place  and  made  a  favorable  report.  A  Hall  was  rented,  and  Orr  was  authorized  to 
collect  funds  to  built  a  house  of  worship.      No  success  attended  this  project. 

There  had  been  preaching  at  Mt.  Carmel,  Northumberland  county.  Pa.,  some 
years  before,  but  in  the  Spring  of  1870  work  began  there  in  a  school-house,' under 
the  preaching  of  A,  Snyder.      In  the  month  of  June  a  small  church  was  organized. 

The  Eldership  in  the  Fall  of  1869  decided  to  establish  a  mission  in  Columbia, 
Lancaster  county,  where  a  church  had  existed  many  years  before.  W.  Li.  Jones, 
pastor  at  Washington  Borough,  was  placed  in  charge.  He  with  the  brethren  at 
Columbia  were  urged  to  buy  a  lot  and  prepare  to  build,  but  the  matter  was  delayed. 

Harrisburg  church  in  1869  was  named  as  one  of  the  churches  by  the  Board  of 
Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  which  should  undertake  mission  work.  This 
was  done  in  May,  1870,  when  two  mission  Sunday-schools  were  organized,  one 
called  the  Broad  Street  Sunday-school,  and  the  other  the  Vernon  Street  school. 
In  February,  1872,  another  one  was  organized  in  South  Harrisburg.  The  Broad 
Street  school  developed  into  the  All-Workers'  church,  corner  of  Green  and  Calder 
streets,  where  a  bethel  was  built,  which  was  dedicated  May  21,  1871.  The  cost  of 
this  property  was  $3,200.  Shoemaker  preached  the  dedicatory  sermon,  and  was 
assisted  during  the  day  by  Owens  and  Laverty.  The  Vernon  Street  school  was 
abandoned  after  being  carried  on  successfully  for  several  years.  The  South  Har- 
risburg school  grew  into  a  church,  and  at  the  Eldership  in  1873  Laverty  was  ap- 
pointed missionary  to  build  a  church-house.  He  took  charge  April  1,  1874,  and  on 
November  5,  1874,  the  corner-stone  of  the  new  bethel  was  laid.  C.  H.  Forney  de- 
livered the  address,  assisted  in  the  services  by  Seabrooks,  Sigler  and  the  pastor. 
The  corner-stone  had  been  the  corner-stone  of  the  Mulberry  Street  bethel.  The 
dedication  took  place  on  February  7,  1875.  A.  Swartz  preached  the  morning  ser- 
mon from  Mark  vi.  56;  J.  Cooper  in  the  evening.  The  total  cost  of  ground  and 
house  was  $4,471.00. 

York  county  was  always  territory  for  successful  work  when  proper  efforts, 
with  the  right  kind  of  men,  were  made.  In  1869  the  Eldership  decided  to  enlarge 
the  work  in  said  county,  and  during  the  Winter  of  1869  and  1870,  the  Standing 
Committee  mapped  out  the  Lower  York  Mission,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  county  seat, 
and  appointed  S.  C.  Stonesifer,  a  young  man  from  Maryland  "of  excellent  talents 
and  commendable  zeal  and  energy."  He  took  charge  April  1,  1870.  He  opened 
eight  appointments,  and  in  June  he  organized  the  first  church,  consisting  of  twenty 
mei:i^bers. 

That  the  various  mission  enterprises  might  be  supported,  a  Sunday-School  Mis- 
sionary Society  was  organized,  which  at  first  supported  the  Nagle  Street  mission, 
and  planned  to  raise  $1,000.00  a  year  through  life  memberships  and  the  Sunday- 
schools.  The  Board  of  Missions  also  laid  an  assessment  in  1870  on  the  churches 
aggregating  a  little  over  $3,000.00. 

Clearfield  county,  on  the  northern  slope  of  the  Allegheny  mountains,  was  in 
the  territory  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  the  first  missionary  work 
done  there,  after  Weishampel  had   broken  the  ground,  was  by  Plowman.     Then 


General    History  i6i 

H.  M.  Lynn  was  appointed.  Under  his  labors,  a  bethel  was  built  at  Paradise,  one 
mile  from  the  county  town,  Clearfield,  and  dedicated  on  November  7,  1870.  Loucks, 
of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  did  the  preaching.  March  23,  1872,  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  Standing  Committee  directed  its  Secretary  to  write  to  the 
West  Pennsylvania  authorities,  requesting  the  transfer  of  Clearfield  county  to  the 
former  Eldership.  This  was  done  about  May  29,  1872.  Work  at  Wallaceton, 
Clearfield  mission,  was  in  good  condition  in  1871.  A  union  house  had  been  built, 
but  the  majority  party  soon  demanded  rent  from  the  church  of  God.  T.  M.  Still 
was  sent  to  the  mission  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  He  had  a  successful 
revival  in  the  United  Brethren  house  of  worship  in  the  Spring  of  1873.  The  need 
of  a  bethel  was  keenly  felt,  and  the  project  was  strongly  urged  by  H.  A.  Shimniel, 
who  secured  the  gift  of  a  lot  for  that  purpose  from  the  "land  owners."  At  a  meet- 
ing held  in  Laurel  Run  school-house  it  was  finally  decided  to  build.  The  house 
was  finished  and  dedicated  December  7,  1873.  Sigler  was  the  preacher,  assisted 
by  the  pastor,  T.  M.  Still. 

The  church  at  Shippensburg,  with  its  energetic  pastor,  G.  Sigler,  decided  in 
1870  that  they  needed  a  new  house  of  worship.  They  entered  into  a  contract  with 
a  builder  to  erect  a  new  bethel  at  a  cost  of  $11,090.00  and  the  old  building.  It 
was  ready  for  dedication  by  the  time  of  the  convening  there  of  the  Eldership, 
on  November  13,  1870,  when  W.  O.  Owens  preached  an  admirable  dedicatory  ser- 
mon from  Hag.  ii.  9.     The  building  was  of  brick,  two  stories. 

In  Germany  Valley,  Perry  county,  under  the  labors  of  S.  S.  Richmond,  a  bethel 
was  built  in  the  Summer  of  1870.  It  was  dedicated  November  27,  1870,  by  W.  L. 
Jones,  assisted  by  the  pastor. 

The  church  at  Plainfield,  Cumberland  county,  dedicated  their  new  bethel 
October  16,  1870.      Sigler  ofl[iciated  at  the  dedication. 

At  Churchville  (now  Oberlin),  Dauphin  county,  the  church  joined  the  Hoff- 
manites,  a  small  body  which  had  seceded  from  the  United  Brethren  Church,  and 
erected  a  house  of  worship  in  the  Summer  of  1870.  J.  M.  Carvell  was  pastor. 
Joint  dedicatory  services  were  held  September  12,  1870.  A  minister  of  the  Hoff- 
manite  Church  preached  in  German  on  Saturday  evening.  On  Sabbath  morning 
two  sermons  were  preached,  one  in  German  by  a  Hoffmanite  minister,  and  one  in 
English  by  C.  H.  Forney.      A  German  sermon  was  delivered  in  the  evening. 

Mechanicsburg  rededicated  its  renovated  and  improved  church  building  De- 
cember 4,  1870,  Sigler  occupying  the  pulpit. 

At  Rohrerstown,  where  years  before  work  had  been  done,  the  interest  was  re- 
vived under  the  diligent  labors  of  J.  A.  MacDannakl,  On  March  22,  1871,  the 
matter  of  building  a  bethel  was  seriously  discussed.  The  church  was  organized 
with  twenty  members  on  April  23,  1871.  Considerable  outside  pressure  was 
brought  to  bear  on  the  little  company  and  its  earnest  pastor  not  to  defer  the  matter. 
But  two  years  were  permitted  to  elapse  before  the  project  took  tangible  form; 
meanwhile  the  church  worshiped  in  the  school-house  and  in  private  houses.  S.  C. 
Stonesifer  succeeded  MacDannald,  and  under  his  labors  the  building  project  was 
revived  and  work  begun,  so  that  on  July  20,  1873,  the  corner-stone  was  laid, 
Forney,  Brady  and  Weishanipel,  with  the  pastor,  conducting  the  services.  The 
house  was  finished  and  dedicated  November  23,  1873,  B.  F,  Beck  preaching  the 
dedicatory  sermon,  assisted  during  the  day  by  A.  Wiley. 

At  Ellwood,  Schuylkill  county.  Pa.,  also  called  Port  MiflBin,  and  Suedberg,  I. 
Hay  held  an  unusually  successful  revival  in  April,  1871.  He  reported  eighty-five 
conversions,  and  the  organization  of  a  church  of  thirty-eight  members,  explaining 
that  very  many  of  the  converts  were  members  of  the  New  Lutheran  Church.  Dur- 
ing the  year  they  matured  plans  to  build  a  bethel,  and  began  the  work  in  the 
Spring  of  1872,  laying  the  corner-stone  May  19,  1872.  I.  Brady  and  J.  M.  Carvell 
assisted  Hay,  the  pastor.  During  the  Summer  the  house  was  completed,  and  on 
November  17th  it  was  solemnly  set  apart  for  divine  worship.  The  ministers  offici- 
ating were  Cai-vell,  Sigler  and  Hay. 

Under  the  labors  of  D.  Tovvnsend  the  church  at  Newville,  Cumberland  county. 
Pa.,  repaired  its  house  of  worship,  which  was  rededicated  July  23,  1871,  by  Foraey, 
Laverty,  Sigler  and  J.  Kennedy. 

The  church  at  Andersontown,  York  county,  Pa.,  with  W.  L.  Jones  as  pastor, 
rededicated  its  improved  church  building  December  10,  1871.  J.  B.  Soule 
officiated,  assisted  by  R.  White. 

The  rededication  of  the  bethel  at  Fredericksburg,  Lebanon  county.  Pa.,  under 

C.  H.— 7 


i62  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

the  labors  of  I.  Hajt%  took  place  January  21,  1872.  Brady,  Laveity  and  S.  Smith 
did  the  preaching,  Laverty  preaching  in  English  and  the  others  in  German. 

W.  Ij.  Jones  having  been  transferred  to  Morrison's  Cove,  he  succeeded  in  build- 
ing a  bethel  at  Fairplay,  Bedford  county,  which  was  consecrated  June  9,  1872,  by 
R.  White.  Also  at  Waterside,  Bedford  county,  he  succeeded  in  the  erection  of  a 
bethel.  Here  the  church  had  been  holding  services  in  an  old  shop.  J.  Shoenfelt 
donated  ground  in  187  3,  on  which  a  bethel  was  built,  which  was  dedicated  June 
16,  1873.      R.  White  and  P.  D.  Collins  preached  the  sermons. 

An  old  landmark  disappeared  in  Linglestown,  when  in  the  Winter  and  Spring 
of  1870  the  original  bethel  built  in  1827  gave  place  to  a  new,  two-story  building, 
projected  under  the  labors  of  T.  M.  Still,  who  in  April  was  succeeded  by  Simon 
Fleegal.  The  corner-stone  had  been  laid  on  October  17,  1869.  It  was  dedicated 
June  12,  1870,  W.  O.  Owen  preaching  in  the  morning,  and  C.  H.  Forney  in  the 
evening,  when  the  ordinances  were  observed. 

At  Donaldson,  Schuylkill  county,  S.  Smith,  pastor,  a  church  was  organized, 
which  built  a  substantial  bethel  in  the  village,  which  was  dedicated  on  September 
22,  1872.  Lavei-ty  preached  morning  and  evening  in  English,  and  I.  Hay  in  the 
afternoon  in  German.  They  were  assisted  by  W.  G.  Miirdock,  C.  Noll,  D.  Shope  and 
H.  Borgner. 

The  rededication  at  Newburg,  Cumberland  county,  took  place  October  27, 
1872,  under  the  pastorate  of  H.  E.  Reever.     Laverty  officiated. 

Under  J.  Cooper  as  pastor  in  the  lower  end  of  Perry  county,  the  church  at 
Duncannon  worshiped  in  a  school-house  until  the  Summer  of  1873,  when  they 
began  to  put  into  effect  a  resolve  formed  in  November,  1872,  to  build  a  bethel. 
The  house  was  finished  and  ready  for  dedication  by  January  25,  1874,  when  it  was 
solemnly  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  Almighty  God.  Shoemaker,  J.  Hunter  and 
G.  W.  Seilhanimer  did  the  preaching. 

Roaring  Spring,  part  of  the  Morrison's  Cove  circuit,  at  the  time  served  by 
W.  L.  Jones,  built  a  house  of  worship  in  the  Summer  of  1872,  which  was  conse- 
crated on  December  29,  1872.      J.  R.  Soiile  and  R.  White  preached  the  sermons. 

P.  H.  Clippinger,  who  soon  thereafter  ended  his  brief  career,  succeeded  in  re- 
pairing the  old  bethel  at  Rockville,  Dauphin  county,  which  was  re-dedicated  Jan- 
uary 19,  1873. 

The  Woodbury,  Bedford  county,  church  built  and  dedicated  its  second  bethel 
in  1873.  The  dedication  took  place  January  11,  1874.  Preaching  by  Laverty,  as- 
sisted during  the  day  by  Simon  Fleegal  and  the  pastor,  G.  W.  Seilhammer. 

After  J.  A.  MacDannald  was  transferred  to  the  Port  Littleton  circuit,  Fulton 
county,  seconded  by  the  counsel  and  co-operation  of  J.  G.  Cunningham  and  the 
New  Grenada  church,  he  began  mission  work  in  Huntingdon,  county-shire  of  Hunt- 
ingdon county,  and  soon  had  plans  in  shape  to  build  a  bethel  in  the  western  part 
of  the  town.  Dr.  R.  A.  Miller  agreed  to  donate  a  lot  worth  $200.00.  A  church  of 
ten  members  was  organized,  and  at  least  $400.00  secured  in  subscriptions.  But 
they  were  not  sufficiently  encouraged  to  carry  through  a  project  so  well  begun  and 
promising  so  much. 

Up  on  the  mountain  the  work  succeeded  better  under  MacDannald's  labors. 
The  mission,  extending  from  Clearfield  to  Phillipsburg,  Center  county,  prospered. 
And  at  the  latter  point  he  organized  a  church,  June  28,  1874,  of  eight  members. 

At  a  point  known  as  Mt.  Zion,  Lebanon  county,  there  was  an  abandoned  house 
of  worship  owned  by  the  Methodist  Church.  It  was  on  the  Lebanon  circuit,  four 
miles  north  of  Annville,  within  the  circuit  served  by  C,  Noll.  He  had  been  preach- 
ing in  the  house,  and  a  revival  followed.  Dr.  Ross  went  out  and  bought  the  house, 
and  had  it  repaired.  It  was  dedicated  May  3,  1874.  The  preaching  on  the  occa- 
sion was  by  S.  Smith  and  I.  Hay  in  German,  and  John  Price  in  English. 

Work  was  begun  in  Stony  Creek  Valley,  above  Dauphin,  in  Dauphin  county, 
the  latter  part  of  the  Summer  of  1874,  in  two  school-houses,  by  B.  Dochterman  and 
O.  J.  Farling. 

The  church  at  Middletown,  Dauphin  county,  under  Sigler's  pastorate,  built  a 
new,  two-story,  brick  bethel  in  1874,  laying  the  corner-stone  on  July  8th.  Sigler 
having  been  sent  to  Philadelphia,  April,  1875,  the  house  was  finished  under  the 
labors  of  W.  L.  Jones,  his  successor.  Slow  progress  was  made,  and  the  house 
was  not  ready  for  dedication  until  October  22,  1876.  Price  preached  on  Saturday 
evening,  Sigler,  on  Sabbath  morning,  and  Swartz,  in  the  evening. 

At  Doubling  Gap,  Cumberland  county,  under  the  labors  of  J.  M.  Stouflfer,  a 


General   History  163: 

bethel  was  built  during  the  Summer  of  1874,  and  dedicated  by  D.  A.  L.  Laverty,  ort' 
September  27th. 

W.  P.  Winbigler,  on  the  West  York  circuit,  succeeded  in  having  the  Fairview 
bethel  removed  to  a  new  location,  and  rebuilt.  The  house  was  dedicated  by  G. 
Sigler  on  November  15th,  assisted  by  the  pastor. 

At  Mt.  Joy,  Lancaster  county,  with  A.  Wiley,  pastor,  the  church,  under  the- 
energetic  efforts  of  J.  Kennedy,  in  charge  of  the  Soldiers'  Orphan  School,  and  a-- 
local  preacher,  built  a  fine  new  bethel  in  the  center  of  the  town,  which  was  dedi- 
cated January  17,  187  5.  C.  H.  Forney  preached  in  the  morning,  and  G.  Sigler,  la' 
the  evening,  assisted  in  the  services  by  A.  H.  Long. 

An  awakened  interest  in  church  extension  and  mission  work  was  also  mani- 
fested in  the  Maryland  part  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Washington 
county  afforded  a  good  field  for  aggressive  work.  Fairplay  was  the  first  point  at 
which  substantial  work  was  done.  Spurrier,  a  hard-working,  self-sacrificing  min- 
ister, was  the  pastor.  He  enlisted  the  few  families  at  Fairplay  in  the  work  of 
building  a  bethel,  the  corner-stone  of  which  was  laid  by  W.  O.  Owen,  on  September 
3,  1870,  assisted  by  D.  Townsend.  The  house  was  finished  and  ready  for  dedica- 
tion January  2  9,  1871,  when  Laverty  officiated.  The  bethel  in  Zittlestown  was 
built  and  dedicated  in  1870. 

At  Brownsville,  same  county,  J,  E.  Araold  began  preaching  in  a  school-house 
in  August,  1870.  Within  a  year  a  house  of  worship  was  built  under  his  superin- 
tendence, which  was  dedicated  May  28,  1871,  under  W.  Palmer,  preacher  on  the 
circuit,  but  J.  E.  Arnold  preached  the  dedicatory  sermon.  Arnold  had  the  mission- 
ary spirit,  and  as  Fairplay  and  Brownsville  are  located  within  a  comparatively- 
short  distance  of  Hagerstown,  county  seat,  and  Sharpsburg,  he  urged  the  extension 
of  the  work  to  these  larger  towns,  where  already  a  number  of  Church  families  re- 
sided. Accordingly  it  was  ordered  that  work  shoiild  be  started  there.  The  next 
pastor  on  this  field,  C.  L.  Amy,  began  to  preach  at  both  places.  But  the  work  was 
soon  discontinued  because  Amy  was  found  "guilty  of  misdemeanor  unbecoming  a 
minister  of  the  gospel,"  and  was  suspended  from  the  ministry,  and  finally  expelled. 
In  Carroll  county  a  mission  was  opened,  called  the  Carroll  County  Mission, 
with  P.  D.  Collins,  missionary.  He  soon  opened  three  additional  points,  with  others 
calling  for  preaching.  The  prospects  were  most  encouraging.  He  began  his  work 
in  April,  1873,  and  by  July  the  project  of  building  a  bethel  at  Warfieldsburg  was 
practically  decided.  Soon  after  the  work  was  begun,  and  on  Lord's  day,  August 
16,  1873,  the  corner-stone  was  laid  by  W.  Palmer,  assisted  by  Collins  and  D. 
Fuss.  The  new  bethel  was  dedicated  December  28,  1873,  Palmer  officiating,  as- 
sisted by  Fuss,  SpuiTier  and  the  pastor.      A  great  revival  followed  the  dedication. 

On  December  21,  1873,  the  bethel  at  Samples  Manor,  Washington  county,  Md.,. 
was  set  apart  for  divine  worship.  P.  Lookingbill  was  the  pastor,  and  he  secured 
P.  D.  Collins  to  preach  the  dedicatory  sermon. 

The  South  Mountain  Mission,  P.  Lookingbill,  missionary,  promised  encourag- 
ing results.  It  was  in  Frederick  county,  with  Germantown  as  one  of  the  principal 
points.  At  this  point  the  school-house  was  used,  but  soon  "the  Lord  put  it  into 
the  hearts  of  the  people  to  build  a  house  of  worship,"  and  they  pushed  the  work 
with  such  energy  that  on  January  14,  1872,  the  house  was  ready  for  dedication. 
P.  D.  Collins  preached  the  sermon. 

This  period  promised  much  for  the  work  in  Virginia  and  that  part  of  West 
Virginia  belonging  to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Though  an  old  slave  State, 
the  ministers  of  the  Church  found  ready  access  to  the  people,  but  the  Eldership  did 
but  little  directly  for  the  field.  W.  McElroy  was  the  missionary,  and  he  was  un- 
vearied  in  his  efforts  to  advance  the  cause.  He  labored  in  Berkeley  and  Jefferson 
counties,  W.  Va.,  and  in  Loudoun  county,  Va.  These  counties  border  on  Maryland, 
south  of  Hagerstown.  February  8,  187  0,  he  reported  the  organization  of  a  church 
between  Mt.  Hope  and  Gum  Springs,  in  Loudoun  county.  "This  is  something  new 
in  these  parts,"  said  the  "Washingtonian,"  published  at  Leesburg,  Va.  At  "Bro.. 
Davis's,  four  miles  west  of  Hedgeville,  Berkeley  county,  McElroy  held  a  successful 
meeting  in  a  school-house  and  organized  a  church,  which  "intends  to  build  a 
bethel."  In  February,  1872,  Spurrier  went  over  to  help  to  erect  this  house,  he 
being  a  mason  as  well  as  a  preacher,  which  was  finally  completed  and  dedicated 
September  13,  1874.  Lookingbill  officiated  at  the  dedication.  At  Pipertown,  Jef- 
ferson county,  a  church  of  sixteen  members  was  organized  in  1874.  In  1874  C.  L. 
Amy  was  sent  to  serve  the  Virginia  Mission.  He  removed  to  Martinsburg,  Berkeley 
county,  W.  Va.,  and  began  preaching  there  in  April,  in  King  Street  Hall,  where  on, 


-164  History    of   the    Churches    of    God 

December  6,  1874,  he  organized  a  church  of  "good  substantial  members,  being  the 
third  organization  in  the  State."      He  had  six  appointments. 

Some  progress  was  made  in  the  work  among  the  German  churches  in  East 
Pennsylvania,  although  there  was  a  growing  tendency  to  return  to  the  English 
Eldership.  In  1870  there  were  two  active  ministers  in  the  field,  but  in  1874  there 
were  four.  Snyder  worked  northward  from  the  Mahantango  Valley,  Schuylkill 
county,  and  organized  a  church  in  Mt.  Carmel,  Northumberland  county,  the  first 
church  of  God  in  said  county.  It  was  small,  consisting  of  seven  members.  He 
opened  four  additional  points  during  the  year;  Grim  added  three  points  to  his  field, 
and  Eli  Sowers,  one.  The  total  number  of  organized  churches  adhering  to  the 
German  Eldership  in  1870  was  nine.  In  1871  Snyder  organized  a  new  church  at 
White  Horse  Station,  on  the  Schuylkill  and  Susquehanna  Railroad,  near  Pine  Grove, 
Schuylkill  county.  The  Kimmel  Will  was  upheld  by  the  Schuylkill  county  Court; 
appealed  to  the  Supreme  Court,  and  the  decision  of  the  lower  court  affirmed  in 
1874.      This  gave  the  German  Eldership  an  estate  estimated  to  be  worth  $16,000. 

Apparently  no  more  clearly  providential  and  propitious  opening  for  mission- 
ary work  had  yet  presented  itself  to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  than  that  in 
Maine  and  New  Brunswick  in  1871.  There  were  three  or  four  small  Baptist  bodies 
in  Maine,  which  held  doctrinal  views  almost  identical  with  the  faith  of  the  Church 
of  God.  One  of  these,  numbering  from  one  to  two  thousand  souls,  had  separated 
from  the  Free  Will  Baptist  Church,  which  locally  was  known  as  the  Star  Baptists, 
patronizing  the  "Morning  Star,"  and  another  the  seceders,  which  were  called  Re- 
pository Baptists,  as  they  patronized  the  "Repository"  newspaper.  Also  the  Primitive 
Free  Will  Baptists,  as  they  held  more  closely  to  the  "old  landmarks."  In  1871 
H.  Mills  had  organized  a  church  which  was  called  the  "church  of  God."  It  was 
about  1847-8  when  this  division  occurred,  and  separate  organizations  were  main- 
tained thereafter.  In  1872  John  Dennis,  of  Skowhegan,  Somerset  county,  in  the 
southwestern  section  of  the  State,  learned  of  the  Church  of  God  and  of  its  publica- 
tions. He  sent  for  The  Advocate,  and  made  himself  better  acquainted  with  the 
<Jhurch.  He  felt  convinced  that  the  "Repository  Baptists,"  and  possibly  one  or 
two  other  bodies,  could  be  brought  together  under  the  more  scriptural  name  of 
the  Church  of  God.  He  called  for  a  missionary  to  be  sent  by  the  East  Pennsyl- 
vania Eldership.  No  man  was  more  imbued  with  the  missionary  spirit  and  more 
alert  for  new  openings  for  Church  extension  than  Dr.  George  Ross.  He  at  once 
planned  a  visit  to  Maine,  and  got  the  consent  of  G.  Sigler  to  accompany  him.  It 
"was  a  brief  tour  of  inspection,  made  in  an  unproptious  season  of  the  year.  The 
Standing  Committee,  learning  of  Ross's  purpose,  appointed  him  and  Sigler  a  Visit- 
ing Committee.  They  left  Lebanon,  Pa.,  on  their  tour  of  some  650  miles,  to 
Skowhegan,  Maine,  on  March  4,  1873,  and  were  gone  ten  days.  Sigler  preached  a 
number  of  sermons,  setting  forth  the  doctrine  and  practice  of  the  Church,  which 
seemed  to  be  most  cordially  approved.  Through  the  influence  of  Dr.  Ross  and  J. 
H.  Redsecker,  P.  L/oucks  was  induced  to  visit  Maine  in  June,  1873.  He  spent 
most  of  his  five  or  six  weeks  in  Kennebec  county,  immediately  south  of  Somerset, 
though  he  made  excursions  into  Somerset  county.  More  at  large  he  preached  the 
faith  of  the  Church  and  its  views  on  Christian  union,  which  called  out  hearty  re- 
sponses of  "Amen"  and  "truth."  He  preached  these  views  at  two  of  their  Quar- 
terly Meetings.  On  September  24th  he  made  a  second  trip  to  Maine  at  the  earnest 
solicitation  of  Dr.  Ross,  and  attended  a  Yearly  Meeting.  Meanwhile  the  senti- 
ments of  the  Church  were  being  more  and  more  widely  disseminated,  and  a  demand 
made  for  a  missionary  familiar  with  the  views  and  principles  of  the  Church  to  be 
sent  among  them.  Accordingly  the  Standing  Committee  appointed  J.  \V.  Feli.v, 
who  started  April  1,  1874,  for  his  4istant  mission  field.  He  located  in  Kennebec 
county.  But  his  stay  was  short,  as  he  was  released  from  the  appointment  by  the 
Standing  Committee  August  26,  1874.  But  by  this  time  sentiment  had  sufficiently 
crystallized  to  warrant  bringing  the  brotherhood  in  Kennebec  and  Somerset  coun- 
ties into  an  organic  form,  and  accordingly  under  the  leadership  of  Mills,  on  Septem- 
ber 19,  1874,  the  first  Annual  Eldership  was  held  at  Palmyra,  in  the  south-eastern 
corner  of  Somerset  county.  A  loud  call  for  help  issued  from  the  meeting,  as  "doors 
are  opening  in  every  direction  for  labor,  and  Church  of  God  principles  are  gaining 
ground." 

The  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  including  West  Virginia  and  several  coun- 
ties in  South-eastern  Ohio,  was  not  favorably  located  as  to  territory  for  Church  ex- 
tension work.  The  territory  was  not  contiguous,  but  widely  scattered,  with  long 
distances  between  fields  of  labor.      It  also  invited  limited  emigration.      But  it  al- 


General    History  165 

ways  had  a  few  earnest,  persevering  missionaries,  although  its  ranks  were  often  de- 
pleted by  their  emigration  to  western  States,  and  two  to  Texas.  West  Virginia 
was  good  territory  to  work  in  after  the  Disciple  influence  began  to  decline.  On 
the  Irish  Creek  circuit  a  remarkable  j-evival  occurred  at  Windy  Gap,  Greene  county. 
Pa.,  but  under  a  West  Virginia  pastor,  at  which  one  hundred  and  seventy-four  con- 
versions were  reported.  The  building  of  a  bethel  followed  under  the  labors  of 
James  S.  Marple,  and  was  dedicated  November  5,  1871,  W.  J.  Davis,  Joseph  Grimm 
and  P.  Loiicks  officiating.  There  were  estimated  to  be  at  this  time  six  hundred 
members  in  West  Virginia,  and  tw^elve  organized  churches.  Being  far  distant  from 
the  Pennsylvania  territory  of  the  Eldership,  except  the  counties  in  the  extreme 
southwest,  it  w^as  thought  a  wise  thing  to  organize  an  Eldership  in  West  Virginia. 
The  work  was  also  being  extended  southward,  and  the  prospects  were  reported 
very  encouraging.  At  Sugar  Grove  a  bethel  was  built  "by  the  citizens,"  under  the 
pastoral  labors  of  G.  J.  Bartlebaugh,  in  1872.  Another  one  was  erected  at  Stull's 
Run,  under  the  labors  of  L.  F.  Wilson.  Also  one  at  Mt.  Union,  where  J.  W.  Davis 
was  pastor,  which  was  dedicated  by  P.  Loucks  on  December  14,  187  3.  At  Lower 
Proctor,  Wetzel  county,  on  September  13,  1874,  a  small  church  was  formed. 

In  Pennsylvania,  beside  the  territory  served  by  West  Virginia  preachers,  there 
was  commendable  progress  made.  A  number  of  relatively  large  revivals  were 
held  and  some  new  points  established.  At  Ursina,  Somerset  county,  under  the 
labors  of  W.  J.  Davis,  a  new  bethel  was  dedicated  June  4,  1871.  M.  S.  Pritts  occu- 
pied the  pulpit  on  Saturday  evening;  P.  Loucks,  on  Sabbath  morning,  and  J.  S. 
McKee.  in  the  evening.  At  Bully  Hill,  Venango  county,  also  called  Congress  Hill, 
two  miles  from  Franklin,  county  town,  W.  B.  Long  pastor,  a  new  house  of  worship 
was  built,  M'hich  was  consecrated  on  December  24,  1871.  P.  Loucks  preached  the 
morning  sermon,  and  J.  M.  Domer  in  the  evening.  One  of  the  most  auspicious 
enterprises  brought  to  completion  was  the  mission  house  at  Mt.  Pleasant,  West- 
moreland county,  where  there  had  been  preaching  for  some  time  by  Loucks,  whose 
home  was  "a  few  miles  off."  The  "Mission  Chapel"  was  finished  and  ready  for 
dedication  March  17,  1872,  when  J.  M.  Domer  preached  the  dedicatory  sermon. 
Under  the  labors  of  D.  T.  Leach  a  bethel  was  built  at  Rich  Hill,  Fayette  county, 
which  P.  Loucks  dedicated  August  18,  1872,  assisted  by  the  pastor  and  J.  Gallatin. 
At  Harmony,  Butler  county,  with  J.  Hovis  as  pastor,  the  bethel  was  dedicated  by 
A.  X.  Shoemaker  October  6,  1872.  G.  J.  Bartlebaugh  and  J.  W.  Bloyd,  joint  pas- 
tors, built  a  bethel  at  Fall  Run,  which  was  dedicated  the  latter  part  of  January, 
1873,  followed  by  a  revival.  J.  Hickernell  officiated  at  the  dedication,  and  preach- 
ed about  two  weeks  thereafter  with  great  power.  Templeton,  in  Armstrong  county, 
where  in  1873  Bartlebaugh  was  pastor,  repaired  its  house  of  worship  in  the  Sum- 
mer of  1873,  and  rededicated  it  on  November  2,  1873.  John  Hickernell  did  the 
preaching,  assisted  by  R.  Vanaman,  J.  Grimm  and  the  pastor.  M.  S.  Pritts  organ- 
ized a  church  of  eight  members  at  Lyons  school-house,  January  18,  1874. 

More  work  was  done  in  the  West  Ohio  than  in  the  East  Ohio  Eldership  terri- 
tory. Serious  trouble  and  much  friction  existed  in  the  latter  which  hindered 
Church  work.  Yet  there  were  redeeming  features.  For  a  time  the  Mansfield  Mis- 
sion was  a  hopeful  enterprise.  At  first,  in  1870,  it  was  the  Mansfield  and  Shelby 
Mission,  with  J.  W.  Senseney  as  pastor.  On  February  2.5th  he  had  organized  a 
church,  with  J.  Myers,  a  minister  who  had  located  there,  as  elder,  and  J.  Foreman,. 
formerly  of  the  church  at  Fayetteville,  Pa.,  as  deacon.  In  October,  1870,  a  con- 
tract was  entered  into  to  build  a  bethel,  and  the  corner-stone  was  laid  on  November 
6th.  M.  Coates  was  appointed  by  the  Eldership  to  canvass  for  funds,  and  $3,000.00' 
was  apportioned  to  twenty-one  churches.  On  April  9,  1871,  the  lecture  room  was 
dedicated.  This  was  used  for  preaching  services  until  the  house  was  finished.  It 
was  called  "Trinity  Bethel,"  and  was  dedicated  September  3,  1871,  with  quite  a 
debt  resting  upon  it.  O.  H.  Betts  was  appointed  to  succeed  Senseney,  and  Coates 
to  succeed  Belts.  Under  Coates  there  was  a  somewhat  extensive  revival  in  Febru- 
ary, 1874.  And  while  the  debt  militated  somewhat  against  the  progress  of  the 
work,  congregations  were  good.  The  debt  did  much  to  interfere  with  the  final  suc- 
cess of  the  mission  by  discouraging  the  brotherhood,  which  was  constantly  appealed 
to  for  funds  to  support  it.  Near  Greensburg,  Summit  county,  under  the  labors  of 
S.  Lilley,  a  house  of  worship  was  built  in  the  Summer  of  1871,  and  was  set  apart  to 
the  worship  of  God  December  3,  1871.  The  preaching  was  done  by  T.  Deshiri,  J. 
A.  Plowman  and  O.  H.  Betts.  The  bethel  at  New  Washington  was  dedicated  under 
the  pastorate  of  D.  S.  Wanier  and  Thomas  James.  J.  S.  McKee  preached  the  dedi- 
catory sermon  October   6,   187  2.      Though  their  experience    with    a    union    house 


i66  History    of    the  Churches    of    God 

Jointly  owned  by  two  churches  had  demonstrated  its  unwisdom,  the  brethren  of 
the  church  of  God  at  Lattasburg  and  the  United  Brethren  proceeded  to  repair  their 
Siouse  in  the  Summer  of  1872,  and  by  November  17th  it  was  ready  for  rededica- 
tion.  G.  W.  AVilson  was  the  pastor,  and  it  was  arranged  that  he  preach  the  even- 
ing sermon  and  Bishop  Glossbrenner,  of  the  U.  B.  Church,  the  morning  sermon. 
The  preaching  points  in  Stark  county  had  approached  Canton  on  the  north  within 
such  a  distance  that  by  1867  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  consider  the  wisdom  of 
seeking  an  entrance  into  the  county-seat.  Oliver  was  appointed  that  year  to  the 
■circuit  which  included  Stark  county,  taking  charge  April  1,  1868.  But  he  got  no 
nearer  than  the  holding  of  a  woods-meeting  in  the  vicinity,  which  he  had  to  turn 
over  to  M.  Beck  on  account  of  illness.  Beck  was  appointed  to  Stark  circuit  in 
1868,  and  he  began  preaching  in  Canton.  In  1870  he  was  appointed  to  Canton 
Mission,  with  Moreland  and  Stump's  Bethel.  The  work  made  steady  progress,  with 
|)reaching  at  first  every  four  weeks,  and  later  every  two  weeks,  up  to  1873.  The 
services  were  held  in  a  log  meeting-house  under  control  of  the  Mennonite  Church, 
and  then  in  the  Disciple  house  of  worship.  Plowman  fallowed  Beck  in  November, 
1874.  The  mission  was  reported  "in  a  prosperous  condition,  and  is  a  success  in 
<8very  point  of  view,"  the  church  numbering  "fifty  efficient  members."  As  late  as 
April,  1875,  Plowiiian  held  a  special  meeting  in  the  Disciple  house.  At  Cedar  Val- 
ley, 7  miles  northwest  of  Wooster,  the  second  bethel  was  built  in  the  Summer  of 
1874,  and  dedicated  October  4th  by  A.  X.  Shoemaker.  G.  W.  VVilson,  M.  Coates, 
Ij.  Selby  and  M.  Beck  participated  in  the  services. 

m  the  territory  of  the  West  Ohio  Eldership  durable  progress  was  made  in 
-every  department  of  Church  work.  At  Basswood,  Williams  county,  probably  the 
same  as  Madison,  with  James  Neil  and  J.  V.  Updike  as  pastors,  a  bethel  was  built 
an  the  Summer  of  187  0,  which  A.  X.  Shoemaker  dedicated  on  September  2.5th. 
Snyder,  J.  Bumpus,  Joseph  Neil,  brother  of  the  pastor,  and  H.  Pressler  as- 
sisted in  the  services.  In  the  country,  3  miles  West  of  Upper  Sandusky,  Wyandot 
fcounty,  September  18,  1870,  a  new  bethel  was  dedicated  by  T.  Deshiri,  D.  Shriner 
and  W.  P.  Small.  With  some  Church  families  living  in  Tiffin,  county  town  of 
Seneca  county,  and  a  church  not  far  from  the  town,  the  Eldership  was  desirous  to 
get  a  foot-hold  in  the  town.  It  realized  that  first  of  all  in  such  a  place  a  house  of 
worship  of  some  kind  was  needed.  Hence  in  October,  1870,  a  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  "see  if  a  house  of  worship  can  be  bought  in  Tiffin."  At  South  Bridge- 
water,  Williams  county,  James  Neil  pastor,  the  church  succeeded  in  erecting  a 
bethel  in  1871,  which  was  dedicated  December  31st,  by  O.  H.  Betts,  who  had  J.  V. 
Updike  to  assist  him  in  the  services.  The  Union  Chapel,  4  miles  northeast  of 
Mendon,  Mercer  county,  was  solemnly  set  apart  for  religious  worship  on  June  8, 
1873.  In  West  Unity,  Williams  county,  where  James  Neil  labored  so  efficiently,  a 
house  of  worship  was  completed  in  the  Fall  of  1873,  which  was  devoted  to  religious 
ruses  on  January  4,  1874.  T.  Hickernell  preached  the  morning  sermon.  31.  Beck 
rand  A.  Kline  were  also  present.  On  December  28,  1873,  a  bethel  was  dedicated  in 
Hardin  county,  by  J.  C.  Seabrooks,  A.  Kline,  J.  Bvimpus  and  \V.  P.  Small,  James 
Neil,  pastor,  with  the  church  at  Georgetown,  Defiance  county,  completed  a  bethel 
■jat  that  point,  which  A.  X.  Shoemaker  dedicated  June  7,  1874. 

Possibly  with  the  ultimate  object  of  beginning  work  in  Toledo,  county  seat  of 
"Liucas  county,  the  Toledo  Mission  was  placed  on  the  list  of  appointments  of  the 
West  Ohio  Eldership  in  1873,  with  East  Toledo  as  one  of  the  points  named.  H.  S. 
McNutt  was  assigned  to  this  mission.  He  reported  six  appointments,  and  the  or- 
ganization of  a  church  at  Snyder's  school-house,  one  at  Crane  Creek,  Ottawa 
county,  adjoining  Lucas  on  the  southeast,  and  one  in  the  village  of  Martin,  in  the 
same  county.  On  November  8,  1874,  W.  P.  Small  went  into  Toledo  to  "hunt  a 
place  to  preach."  He  preached  in  a  private  house,  and  reported  that  the  work 
there  needs  "a  house,  a  man  and  means." 

It  took  considerable  time  and  the  loss  of  quite  a  sum  of  money  to  divest  the 
brethren  of  the  idea  of  having  Eldership  tents.  G.  S.  Petry,  a  fine  German 
preacher  originally  from  East  Pennsylvania,  in  1870  started  a  project  to  get  a  tent. 
It  was  to  be  called  "The  Union  Tabernacle,"  and  was  to  be  owned  by  a  stock  mem- 
aaership,  at  $25.00  a  share.  In  October,  1870,  he  had  secured  five  subscriptions. 
Ross  wrote  against  such  a  project,  unless  authorized  and  controlled  by  an  Elder- 
ship, and  warned  subscribers  that  they  are  likely  to  lose  their  investments. 

In  the  Indiana  Eldership  the  event  of  special  significance  which  occupied  the 
attention  of  the  brotherhood  from  1870  to  1874  was  the  mission  work  at  Ft. 
Wayne,  county  town  of  Allen  county,  third  county  south  from  the  Michigan  line, 


General    History  167 

bordering  on  Ohio.  The  formal  inception  of  the  work  may  be  dated  April  1,  1871, 
when  the  Standing  Committee  appointed  W.  VV.  Lovett,  "our  young,  energetic  and 
worthy  brother,"  to  go  abroad  among  the  churches  to  collect  funds  to  buy  a  lot  and 
build  a  bethel.  This  action  was  based  upon  a  resolution  adopted  by  the  Eldership 
in  1869,  proposing  "to  open  a  mission  in  the  city  of  Ft.  Wayne,  to  be  under  the 
control  of  the  Eldership,  and  the  property  to  be  deeded  to  this  Eldership."  It  was 
"to  be  a  center  and  rallying  point  for  our  Eldership."  They  were  encouraged  and 
commended  by  prominent  members  of  other  Elderships.  November  4,  1871,  the 
Board  of  Missions  of  the  Eldership  appointed  a  Building  Committee.  November 
13th  a  lot  was  bought,  and  in  November,  187  3,  a  contract  was  made  with  Daniel 
Kemp  to  erect  the  building,  finishing  it  by  June  1.5,  1874,  if  means  are  in  hand. 
The  building  was  beautifully  located,  and  was  32  by  50  feet,  with  a  tower  over 
eighty  feet  high.  Under  Lovett  as  pastor,  the  house  was  dedicated  June  28,  1874, 
by  A,  X.  Shoemaker,  leaving  a  debt  of  $300.00.  John  Martin  and  John  McColley 
assisted  at  the  dedication. 

At  Center  Jackson,  De  Kalb  county,  4  %  miles  south-east  from  Auburn,  under 
J.  Bumpus,  pastor,  a  bethel  was  built,  and  w^as  dedicated  May  28,  1871.  Mrs.  E. 
McColley  preached  the  sermon,  and  Smurrh  and  Bumpus  assisted  in  the  services. 
At  Union,  Adams  county,  under  Lovett  as  pastor,  A.  X.  Shoemaker,  on  August  20, 
1871,  dedicated  a  new  house  of  worship.  Mrs.  McColley  held  another  dedicatory 
service  on  October  1,  1871,  at  Monroeville,  Allen  county.  In  Kosciusko  county, 
the  church  at  Beaver  Dam,  built  a  bethel  in  the  Summer  of  1872.  Their  pastors 
were  B.  F.  Bear  and  I.  W.  Lowman.  The  house  was  dedicated  by  Lovett  on 
December  8,  1872.  Under  E.  B.  Bell's  labors  a  bethel  was  built  in  the  Bgolf 
neighborhood,  4  miles  north-east  of  Columbia  City,  Whitley  county,  which  was 
dedicated  on  Whit-Sunday,  June  1,  1873.  The  bethel  at  Flat  Creek,  Wells  county, 
3  miles  south  of  Zanesville,  was  dedicated  November  15,  1874.  A  church  was  or- 
ganized by  I.  W.  Lowman  at  South  Wabash  in  the  Winter  of  1872-3. 

"Michigan  is  favored  with  revivals,"  wrote  B.  D.  Bright  in  the  middle  of  this 
period.  But,  as  he  also  stated  earlier,  it  was  "quite  a  disadvantage  that  the  Church 
of  God  had  so  few  houses  of  worship,  as  the  ministers  can  not  hold  revivals"  as 
others  do.  Shoemaker,  in  September,  1874,  said:  "As  a  people  we  have  effected 
but  little  as  yet  in  the  State  of  Michigan;  nevertheless,  we  have  now  some  open- 
ings of  promise."  The  work  was  also  considerably  scattered,  yet  fair  progress  was 
made  from  1870  to  1875,  in  Allegan,  Barry  and  Eaton  counties,  adjoining  each 
other  from  Lake  Michigan  eastward,  and  in  Isabella,  Saginaw  and  Gratiot  counties 
near  the  center  of  the  State.  A't  Calimo,  Eaton  county,  Linsley,  on  April  14,  1871, 
reported  the  organization  of  a  church,  of  which  a  Methodist  minister  became  a 
member,  and  then  the  minister.  At  Maple  Grove,  Saginaw  county,  a  bethel  was 
dedicated  by  A.  X.  Shoemaker,  on  August  23,  1874.  He  was  assisted  by  Gillaspie, 
Edwards  and  White.  At  Burnips  Corners,  Salem  township,  Allegan  county,  under 
the  labors  of  S.  D.  C.  Jackson,  a  bethel  was  erected  in  the  Summer  of  1873.  The 
Ministerial  Association  of  the  Eldership  was  appointed  to  be  held  there  October 
27  and  28,  and  for  convenience  the  dedication  services  were  held  on  the  26th.  A. 
X.  Shoemaker  officiated.  B.  D.  Bright  succeeded  in  building  a  house  of  worship  in 
Casco  township,  Allegan  county,  which  was  dedicated  by  A.  X.  Shoemaker  on  Sab- 
bath, November  29,  1874.  Bright  had  also  organized  a  new  church  at  Casco  on 
March  15,  1873.  And  in  Isabella  county  I.  W.  Lowman  organized  a  church  of 
twelve  members  on  January  15,  1874. 

In  Illinois  interest  so  generally  centered  in  the  Chicago  Mission,  and  its  de- 
mands for  money  were  so  large  relatively  and  incessant,  that  few  new  undertakings 
could  be  started.  Mainly  an  individual  enterprise,  it  had  the  hearty  endorsement 
of  all  the  Elderships  and  of  the  General  Eldership,  and  from  1866  Shoemaker  was 
appointed  to  the  mission  by  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership.  But 
he  was  responsible  for  the  means  for  the  work  and  for  his  own  support.  The 
territory  of  all  the  Elderships  was  open  for  him  to  canvass,  and  he  visited  almost 
every  church  in  the  whole  body,  and  many  of  them  repeatedly,  from  1864  to  1874. 
As  an  indication  of  what  some  of  the  stronger  churches  paid  toward  the  mission 
an  item  in  one  of  Shoemaker's  reports  is  worthy  of  note.  He  stated  that  up  to 
June,  1870,  the  church  at  North  Bend,  Iowa,  had  paid  toward  the  mission  $1,000.00. 
But  by  this  time  the  churches  realized  that  the  burden  was  becoming  very  heavy. 
Also  a  spirit  of  skepticism  as  to  the  final  success  of  the  mission  was  beginning  to 
find  occasional  expression.  At  this  time — 1871 — came  a  call  for  an  extra  $1,000.00 
for  sewers  and  paving,  and  from  January  to  June,  1871,  there  were  repeated  ap- 


i68  History    of    thr    Churches    of    God 

peals  published  for  means  to  meet  these  assessments.  Friends  rallied  to  Shoe- 
maker's support,  some  of  them  seeking  to  revive  the  old  spirit  by  representing  that 
the  great  fire  would  benefit  the  mission,  as  many  of  the  homeless  families  would 
locate  in  that  section  of  the  city.  The  membership,  it  developed  about  this  time, 
was  not  increasing,  and  at  the  seventh  anniversary  of  the  formation  of  the  church 
there  were  few  persons  in  fellowship  which  had  not  moved  into  Chicago  from 
churches  in  other  parts  of  Illinois  and  other  States.  Shoemaker  himself  betrayed 
some  faintness  of  heart,  notwithstanding  his  indomitable  spirit,  at  the  now  real  fu- 
ture of  his  work  which  began  to  replace  the  imaginary.  Reporting  the  seventh  an- 
niversary in  1872,  he  said:  "I  have  always  believed  that  God  in  his  own  time,  and 
in  his  own  way,  will  vindicate  this  work."  In  1872  he  was  again  reappointed  by  the 
Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  for  a  period  of  three  years,  with  a 
proviso,  that  "a  change  in  pastors  may  be  made,  if  necessary,  at  the  end  of  one 
year,  or  in  two  years."  But  the  impression  steadily  grew  that  the  work  could  be 
carried  onward  no  further  under  Shoemaker,  and  in  December,  1872,  public  de- 
mand was  made  that  a  new  pastor  be  secured  by  the  end  of  the  first  year  of  this 
three-year  term.  It  was  felt  that  to  spend  more  money  at  Chicago  under  existing 
conditions  would  be  wastful.  A  new  pastor,  however,  would  have  to  be  largely 
supported  by  the  churches,  and  hence  the  suggestion  that  Shoemaker  be  released 
and  put  in  the  field  as  general  collector.  "Investigator,"  "A  Friend  of  Missions," 
and  others  now  published  articles  which  foreshadowed  final  defeat.  The  plea  was 
that  with  the  limited  success  and  the  enormous  cost  it  would  be  better  to  stop. 
The  crisis  had  come.  Yet  the  Board  of  Missions  was  not  ready  to  quit,  and  so  on 
May  31,  187  3,  it  appointed  W.  P.  Small  pastor.  He  resigned  October  15,  1873, 
At  an  extra  session  of  the  Board  held  at  Chicago  on  this  date  it  declared  that  it 
had  no  man  for  the  mission,  and  it  recommended  that  the  Executive  Board  take 
the  property,  improve  it  and  make  such  disposition  of  it  as  would  bring  in  some 
revenue.  A.  J.  Hull,  of  Michigan,  was  sent  there  as  a  supply,  but  remained  only 
a  short  time.  By  request  of  the  Board,  the  East  Pennsylvania  Standing  Committee 
appointed  A.  H.  Long,  to  take  charge  after  J.  Kennedy  had  held  a  special  meeting; 
but  he  declined.  And  while  several  other  Elderships,  Iowa  and  Ohio,  urged  that 
the  work  should  be  continued,  in  April,  1874,  the  bethel,  for  the  time,  was  closed. 
And  at  the  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  on  May  23, 
1874,  a  resolution  was  passed  "urging  the  sale  of  the  mission  property,"  and  that 
"provision  be  made  for  the  resumption  of  worship  in  some  other  locality  in  the 
City  of  Chicago."  There  was  due  Shoemaker  $1,500,  and  other  bills  were  unpaid. 
It  was  estimated  that  by  the  time  all  bills  and  dues  were  provided  for  the  total 
amount  the  mission  would  have  cost  would  be  between  $20,000.00  and  $25,000.00. 
But  though  this  period  closed  with  the  dark  shadows  of  disaster  evidently 
hanging  over  Chicago  mission,  it  was  a  period  not  void  of  encouraging  and  sub- 
stantial progress.  A  new  circuit  was  started  in  the  Spring  of  1871,  called  Maroa 
circuit,  with  R.  J.  Funk,  of  Iowa,  as  pastor.  It  consisted  of  Fairview,  Belle 
Prairie  and  Friends  Creek.  At  Spring  Grove,  Warren  county,  near  Alexandria,  a 
new  house  of  worship  was  built  and  ready  for  dedication  January  16,  1870.  I.  E. 
Beyer  was  the  pastor,  and  he  secured  R.  H.  Bolton  to  preach  the  dedicatory  ser- 
mon. Joseph  Moreland  was  instrumental  in  the  erection  of  a  bethel,  called  "Macon 
Bethel,"  which  A.  X.  Shoemaker  dedicated  on  November  12,  1871.  Moi-eland, 
"with  a  few  of  the  leading  men  in  the  neighborhood,"  also  built  a  house  of  wor- 
ship about  10  miles  south  of  Decatur,  which  was  dedicated  by  Shoemaker  October 
8,  1871.  "Zion  Chapel"  was  built  by  a  church  composed  almost  wholly  of  Scotch 
people,  converted  during  a  revival  held  on  Cedar  Creek,  under  the  joint  labors  of 
1.  E.  Boyer  and  J,  M.  Cassel.  They  at  once  began  the  erection  of  this  house  of 
worship,  which  was  dedicated  a  little  over  a  year  later,  March  17,  1872,  by  these 
two  ministers.  At  Fairview,  Macon  county,  7  miles  east  of  Decatur,  a  church  was 
organized  by  M.  S.  Newcomer  in  February,  1871,  of  seventy-five  members,  which, 
under  the  pastoral  labors  of  G.  W.  Thompson,  built  a  bethel  the  following  Sum- 
mer. It  was  dedicated  by  Newcomer,  November  5,  1871.  The  Mt.  Carroll  bethel, 
H.  L.  Soule,  pastor,  was  remodeled  and  ready  for  rededication  on  the  Sabbath  of 
the  General  Eldership,  June  2,  1872.  G.  Sigler  preached  the  morning  sermon. 
At  Coalville,  111.,  a  meeting-house  begun  by  the  United  Brethren,  but  which  they 
failed  to  complete,  was  bought  by  a  Board  of  Trustees,  finished  and  dedicated  as  a 
Union  house,  under  the  labors  of  E.  Fulton,  by  A.  X.  Shoemaker,  June  23,  1872. 
In  Ford  county,  under  J.  M.  Cassel,  pastor,  a  "Union  Bethel"  was  dedicated  July 
13,  1873.      H.  L.  Soule  having  gone  to  Decatur,  in  the  Summer  of  1873,  the  church 


General    History  169 

at  thai  place  repaired  its  bethel,  which  Shoemaker  dedicated  December  21,  1873. 
He  was  assisted  by  I.  E.  Boyer,  James  AVarner,  O.  V.  Kenniston,  A.  J.  Fenton  and 
Jacob  Bear. 

In  Iowa  the  work  made  regular,  but  not  rapid  progress.  Several  new  mis- 
sions were  undertaken,  and  edifying  work  was  done  on  all  the  old  fields  of  labor. 
The  first  new  house  of  worship  begun  during  this  period  was  in  April,  1870,  at 
Colo,  Story  county,  in  what  the  energetic  pastor,  A.  Wilson,  called  "the  geograph- 
ical center  of  the  State."  As  he  did  not  find  the  church  and  people  as  ready  to 
give  as  he  had  hoped,  he  borrowed  the  money  out  of  bank  on  his  own  account,  and 
went  ahead.  His  faith  was  rewarded,  and  on  September  17,  1871,  the  new  bethel 
was  dedicated  by  F.  F.  Iviner.  Cedar  Bethel,  Louisa  county,  on  W.  Vance's  circuit, 
was  built  more  expeditiously.  It  was  dedicated  by  R.  H.  Bolton  on  June  26,  1870. 
Within  3  miles  of  Fredonia,  Louisa  county,  also  on  the  circuit  which  Vance  travel- 
ed, "Pleasant  Grove  Bethel"  was  built  in  the  Summer  of  1870,  and  was  dedicated 
by  Shoemaker  on  November  27,  1870.  Six  or  eight  other  ministers  were  present, 
among  them  Megrevv,  Hollenis,  R.  H.  and  B.  F.  Bolton  and  L.  F.  Chamberlin.  This 
bethel  some  years  later  was  destroyed  by  fire,  and  rebuilt.  At  Sand  Prairie,  Ben- 
ton county,  under  W.  D.  Bowker,  a  new  meeting-house  was  dedicated  December  17, 
1871.  A.  Hollems  preached  the  dedicatory  sermon.  D.  Gill  and  J.  Kepford  were 
present  and  preached  during  the  day.  The  Stone  Bethel,  Lee  county,  had  been  the 
property  of  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Church.  It  was  leased  for  ninety-nine  years 
by  the  Harmony  church,  repaired  and  rededicated  June  16,  1872.  P.  Loucks,  of 
the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  officiated,  aided  by  the  pastor,  R.  H.  Bolton,  and 
B.  F.  Bolton.  D.  Wertz,  in  1873,  was  pastor  at  Allen's  Grove,  Scott  county,  where 
a  bethel  was  erected  during  the  Summer.  It  was  consecrated  by  A.  X.  Shoemaker 
on  September  28,  1873,  O.  V.  Kenniston  assisting.  The  "Union  Bethel,"  Cedar 
county,  was  built  under  the  pastoral  labors  of  J.  D.  Meads,  and  was  dedicated  Jan- 
uary 4.  1874.      D.  Wertz  and  Mrs.  M.  J.  Beecher-Wertz  officiated. 

There  was  during  this   period   of   1870-187.5,   most   commendable   missionary 
activity  in  Missouri,  Nebraska  and  Kansas,  attended  with  encouraging  success.      In 
Missouri,  Clark  county,  in  the  north-eastern  corner  of  the  State,  was  part  of  the 
Harmony  circuit,   Iowa.      In    1870   R.  H.  Bolton   was  the  pastor.      The  church  at 
Peakesville  was  organized  by  him  on  March  31,  1870,  and  on  April  4th  it  decided 
to  build  a  house  of  worship.      It  was  completed  under  the  labors  of  B.  F.  Bolton, 
and  was  dedicated  by  I.  E.  Boyer  on  December  25,  1870.      Arthur  Shuler  donated 
two   lots  on   which  the   bethel  was   built.      The   privilege   was   reserved   for   other 
Churches  to  use  the  house  when  not  occupied  by  the  church.      Nodaway  county,  in 
the  extreme  north-west  corner  of  the  State,  was  part  of  the  Page  county,  Iowa, 
circuit.      At  Union  Grove,  in  this  county,  a  church  of  twenty-two  members  was  or- 
ganized in  February,  187  0.      G.  W.  Thomas  and  C.  B.  Konkel  preached  here,  fol- 
lowed by  N.  J.  Howard.      R.  M.  Pine  entered  Putnam  county,  on  the  Iowa  line,  in 
April,   1871,  and   established   a   regular    appointment    at    Unionville.       Keplinger 
preached  at  a  number  of  points  in  Caldwell,  Ray  and  Jackson  counties,  along  the 
Missouri  River,  east  of  Kansas  City,  in  the  Summer  of  187  0.      Clinton  county,  sec- 
ond county  east  of  St.  Joseph,  on  the  Kansas  line,  became  one  of  the  most  promis- 
ing points  in  the  State.      A  colony  from  East  Pennsylvania  settled  near  Cameron 
in  said  county,  in  April,  187  0.      Among  these  were  P.  D.  Heffleflnger,  S.  Kendig, 
W.  Row,  D.  Wolf,  G.  Sudsbeny,  John  Miller,  Jacob  Long,  W.  Keesaman  and  their 
families,  all  Church  of  God  people.      It  was  known  as  "The  Keystone  Union  Settle- 
ment."     R.  H.  Bolton  was  the  first  minister  of  the  Church  to  preach  for  them,  and 
he  organized  them  into  a  church  of  fifteen  members  in  May,  1870.      Services  were 
held  in  a  dwelling  house  just  built,  and  used   for  day-school,  Sunday-school  and 
preaching.      S.  V.  Sterner  followed  Bolton;  and  then  came  Konkel,  and  C.  S.  Bol- 
ton later.      They  put  up  with  the  inconvenience  of  worshiping  in   private  houses 
and  school-houses  for  some  eight  years.      Near  Osborn,  De  Kalb  county,  the  next 
county  north  of  Clinton,  Joseph  3Ioreland  organized  a  church  in  June,  187  2.      At 
Polo,  Caldwell  county,  adjoining  Clinton  on  the  east,  J.  Slaybaugh,  a  layman,  con- 
stituted a  church  in  the  Winter  of   1870-1.      These  three  counties  in   1874   were 
made  a  circuit,  with  good  prospects  of  giving  a  pastor  a  living.      In  Ray  county, 
adjoining  Caldwell  on  the  south,  at  a    new    village    called    Allenville,    a    "Union 
Bethel"  was  built  by  the  church  of  God  at  said  place,  the  Southern  Methodists  and 
the  Baptists,  which  was  dedicated  December  3,  1871,  R.  H.  Bolton  and  L.  L.  Moyer, 
Methodist  Church,  South,  officiating.      A  church  was  organized  in  "McNeal's  neigh- 
borhood," Nodaway  county,  in  1873. 


170  History    of    the    Churches   of    Gon 

South  of  the  Missouri  River  the  work  was  spread  more  or  less  over  the  seven 
■counties  below  Kansas  City,  along  the  Kansas  State  line,  and  the  next  tier  east, 
with  Morgan  near  the  center  of  the  State.  In  the  latter  county  W.  Berkstresser 
was  located,  a  Pennsylvanian,  near  Versailles,  where  Blakely  preached  occasion- 
ally in  1870,  and  where  later  a  church  was  formed.  In  1870  a  church  was  or- 
ganized at  Camp  Branch,  Cass  county.  The  churches  at  Pleasant  Hill  and  Harri- 
sonville,  Cass  county;  Knobnoster,  Johnson  county;  Versailles,  Morgan  county,  and 
Sedalia,  Pettis  county,  were  formed  into  a  circuit  in  1871,  and  were  to  support 
Blakely,  their  pastor.  There  was  also  a  church  at  Lisbonville,  Ray  county,  and 
in  April,  1874,  Keplinger  organized  one  at  Round  Grove,  Lawrence  county. 

When  in  1869  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  became  alive 
and  active,  it  prosecuted  its  work  with  meritorious  zeal  and  energy.  This  fact 
appears  in  the  number  of  missionaries  in  its  employ  and  the  means  it  secured  for 
their  support  during  the  present  period.  From  1845  to  1869  it  had  not  one  mis- 
sionary in  the  field.  But  for  the  years  ending  from  1870  to  1875,  it  employed  at 
different  times  and  for  varying  periods  eleven  missionaries,  and  spent  in  their  sup- 
port not  less  than  $7,000,  besides  funds  raised  for  the  Chicago  mission,  and 
nearly  $1,000  contributed  for  several  successive  years  by  a  comparatively  small 
band  of  sisters  in  East  Pennsylvania  under  the  leadership  of  Mrs.  J.  S.  Gable,  Mrs. 
Dr.  Geo.  Ross,  and  Mrs.  J.  Kennedy.  Except  Chicago,  these  missionaries  were  all 
employed  in  Missouri,  Kansas  and  Nebraska.  P.  K.  Shoemaker  was  for  several 
years  the  missionary  on  the  Kansas  and  Nebraska  Mission,  as  he  was  located  near 
the  State  line.  He  called  himself  "the  Missionary  of  the  West."  He  was  an  East 
Pennsylvania  minister,  brother  of  A.  X.  Shoemaker.  He  went  as  far  north  as  Lin- 
'coln  City,  Lancaster  county,  Neb.,  Capital  of  the  State,  then  but  two  and  one-half 
years  old,  with  two  hundred  houses.  Here  the  General  Eldership  had  a  conditional 
grant  of  lots  for  a  bethel.  He  was  succeeded  by  D.  S.  Warner,  of  Ohio,  who  was 
appointed  to  the  contiguous  counties  of  York,  Fillmore,  Polk,  Hamilton  and  Sew- 
ard, on  the  west  of  Lancaster.  He  organized  a  church  in  February,  1874,  at  Fair- 
mount,  Fillmore  county,  of  twenty-four  members.  Also  one  at  Cropsey  and  one  at 
Evergreen;  one  in  the  Anderson  community.  Steward  county,  of  sixteen  members, 
and  one  other.  The  Andersons  were  from  Broad  Top,  Bedford  county.  Pa.,  Church 
of  God  families.  He  had  fourteen  preaching  places.  The  church  in  York  county 
fellowshiped  a  Baptist  minister,  who  became  its  pastor.  When  the  family  of  Wm. 
Mooney,  a  deceased  East  Pennsylvania  minister,  emigrated  to  Crete,  Saline  county, 
Neb.,  adjoining  Lancaster  on  the  south-west,  they  called  for  a  minister.  Under  in- 
structions of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership,  Dr.  George  Ross  and 
J.  Kennedy  visited  Crete  in  1872.  They  reported  favorably,  and  on  January  1, 
1873,  E.  D.  Aller,  of  East  Pennsylvania,  was  appointed  missionary  at  Crete.  Ac- 
cording to  Aller's  report,  Crete  was  truly  a  godless  town.  When  he  reached  there 
the  number  of  Christians  in  the  place  was  sixty,  which  was  six  per  cent,  of  the 
population.  But  he  soon  gathered  a  small  church.  Bolton  had  preached  in  Crete 
in  July,  1872,  and  immediate  steps  were  taken  to  build  a  bethel.  Backed  up  in 
the  enterprise  by  Ross  and  Kennedy,  the  work  was  pushed  to  early  completion, 
and  the  dedication  services  were  held  October  20,  1872,  by  Bolton.  He  was  assist- 
ed by  Rev.  Alley,  a  Congregational  pastor  at  Crete.  Bolton,  on  August  18,  1873, 
preached  in  Richardson  county,  the  south-east  corner  of  the  State,  where  he  or- 
ganized a  church  which  was  known  as  the  church  in  "Barada  Precinct."  The  pur- 
pose to  build  a  house  of  worship  was  at  once  agitated.  At  Barkey  school-house,  on 
February  6,  1874,  Aller  organized  a  church  of  fifteen  members.  The  Iowa  Elder- 
ship in  November,  1871,  established  a  mission  in  Elk  Horn  Valley,  Neb.,  and  ap- 
pointed A.  li.  Nye  as  missionary.  He  located  at  Clinton,  Stanton  county,  third 
county  south  from  the  South  Dakota  line,  in  the  north-eastern  part  of  the  State. 

The  work  in  Kansas  was  in  the  north-eastern  and  south-eastern  parts  of  the 
State,  with  one-third  of  the  territory  between  the  two  districts  unoccupied.  In 
Washington  county,  on  the  Nebraska  State  line,  Henry  Ankerman,  a  layman,  began 
holding  prayer-meeting,  which  in  1871  resulted  in  constituting  a  church.  C.  S. 
Bolton  preached  at  this  point  in  1873.  He  also  labored  in  the  adjoining  county  of 
Marshall.  He  organized  churches  at  White  Hall,  French  Creek  and  Barrett.  In 
Nemaha  county  a  church  was  formed  at  Kilmer's  school-house.  In  Marshall  county 
P.  K.  Shoemaker  organized  a  church  at  Vermillion,  April  12,  1874,  and  one  at 
Wohlford  school-house,  April  26,  1874.  At  Vermillion  they  decided  to  build  a 
house  of  worship.  In  the  Spring  of  1870  Keplinger  moved  from  Missouri  into  Kan- 
sas, locating  6  miles  south-east  of  Cato,  Crawford    county,    on    the    Missouri    line, 


Gkn];Ral    History  171 

second  county  north  of  the  Oklahoma  State  line.  In  the  C  B.  Konkel  neighbor- 
hood, 6  miles  south  of  Cato,  a  church  of  fifteen  members  was  formed  in  the  Winter 
of  1870-1.  The  Iowa  Standing  Committee  recommended  Konkel,  a  member  of  the 
Iowa  Eldership,  to  labor  in  that  section  as  a  missionary.  Near  Girard,  Crawford 
county,  February  19,  1871,  Keplinsei-  organized  a  church  of  fifteen  members.  He 
visited  Bourbon  county,  of  which  Ft.  Scott  is  the  shiretown,  and  held  a  woods 
meeting  not  far  from  Ft.  Scott.  W.  Shipinan,  of  Southern  Indiana,  resided  there, 
supposed  to  have  been  the  first  Church  of  God  minister  to  locate  in  Kansas.  In 
Crawford  county  Keplinger  organized  a  church  at  the  Barber  school-house  of 
twenty  members,  and  one  of  six  members  in  Ozark  school-house.  Contiguous  to 
Bourbon  county  on  the  west  is  Allen  county,  where  near  Humboldt  a  small  church 
was  organized  in  April,  1872.  Keplinger  also  went  into  the  county  next  south  of 
Allen,  Neosho,  and  held  meetings.  He  established  an  appointment  at  Mulberry 
Grove,  Crawford  county,  in  1870.  In  1874  he  also  organized  a  church  near 
Cherokee  Station,  Kansas.  C,  S.  Kilmer,  who  removed  from  north-western  Mis- 
souri, licensed  by  the  Iowa  Eldership,  preached  at  R.  A.  Slyter's,  in  Pottawatomie 
county,  adjoining  Nemaha  and  Marshall  on  the  south,  and  formed  a  church  of  eight 
members. 

As  J.  W.  Keplinger  in  1870  moved  across  the  Ohio  River  into  Lyon  county, 
Ky.,  some  50  miles  east  of  the  Mississippi  River,  he  began  to  do  lay  missionary 
work,  mainly  in  the  way  of  organizing  Sunday-schools.  He  introduced  several 
hundred  copies  of  The  Gem,  and  secured  some  subscribers  for  The  Advocate.  He 
reported  enthusiastically  "the  good  prospects,"  and  all  that  he  asked  was  "a  good, 
active  minister  to  visit  them  and  see  for  himself."  To  this  call  Sandoe,  of  the 
Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership,  responded  in  October  of  the  same  year. 

The  work  in  Arkansas  began  when  in  1870  some  members  of  the  Church  in 
Texas  emigrated  to  Franklin  county,  in  the  north-west  corner  of  the  State,  the  sec- 
ond county  east  of  Oklahoma,  and  the  third  south  of  Missouri.  In  1872  Ober  fol- 
lowed, and  began  missionary  work,  preaching  two  years  in  that  section,  leaving 
with  one  church  of  fifty  members.  At  the  Texas  Eldership  in  1873  he  was  regu- 
larly appointed  to  the  Franklin  county  mission,  with  an  appropriation  of  $125.00 
raised  on  the  floor  of  the  Eldership.  In  1871  the  Eldership  had  licensed  G.  T. 
Bell,  of  Arkansas,  "a  young  man  of  good  natural  ability,  and  full  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,"  whom  in  1874  the  Eldership  appointed  to  serve  the  Arkansas  mission. 
Being  so  near  the  Missouri  State  line,  Enos  Hilton,  licensed  by  the  Kansas  and 
Missouri  Eldership,  and  living  in  Barry  county.  Mo.,  on  the  Arkansas  line,  he  found 
"quite  an  opening  for  Church  of  God  preaching  in  northern  Arkansas. 

Texas  was  neglected,  and  was  calling  for  a  preacher  from  the  North.  It 
needed  "help,  sympathy  and  prayers."  There  "are  great  openings  for  the  Church 
in  the  State."  For  sixteen  years  Marple  had  been  preaching  there,  and  he  felt  that 
his  work  was  done,  so  that  both  he  and  Ober  issued  strong  appeals  for  ministerial 
help. 

By  1873  a  few  Church  families  had  emigrated  to  South  Dakota,  Clay  county, 
bordering  on  Nebraska,  in  the  south-east  corner  of  the  State.  These  called  for 
preaching.  So  there  were  calls  from  Colorado,  California  and  Oregon.  D.  Lewis 
and  A.  Longenecker  removed  to  Oregon  from  Illinois  in  1873,  followed  by  G.  M. 
Stroup,  of  Iowa.  They  urged  the  sending  of  a  missionary  to  the  Pacific.  Thus 
the  horizon  widened,  but  the  constant  apology  for  not  responding  to  these  urgent 
calls  was  a  want  of  men  and  means. 

The  history  of  the  Freedmen's  Mission,  apart  from  what  preaching  among  the 
colored  people  was  done  by  Stanton  and  others,  was  short  lived.  In  1871  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  licensed  J.  H.  Gaines,  and  appointed  him  to  the  "Freed- 
men's Mission."  He  left  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  for  Martinsburg,  W.  Va.,  and  began  a 
meeting  on  December  14,  1871,  continuing  it  to  the  26th  "with  some  converts." 
Then  he  received  a  call  "from  the  Freedmen  at  Marysville,  Pa.,"  to  which  he  re- 
sponded, holding  a  special  meeting  there  from  December  31,  1871,  to  January  23, 
1872.  The  project  of  building  a  meeting-house  was  at  once  proposed.  Paul  Miller 
offered  the  donation  of  a  lot,  and  $184.00  were  at  once  subscribed.  A  Building 
Committee  was  appointed,  and  the  money  was  to  be  paid  and  the  building  begun 
when  Gaines  returned.  In  1872  his  license  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Stand- 
ing Committee,  and  his  name  disappeared  from  the  Roll  of  the  Eldership. 

Contending  for  the  faith  in  public  debate  was  still  somewhat  prevalent  be- 
tween 1870  and  1875.  One  of  the  first  was  held  at  Burnt  Cabins,  Fulton  county, 
Fa.,  in  the  Summer  of  1871,  between  R.  White  and  Cyrus  Jeffries,  a  Swedenborgian 


1/2  History    of    the    Churches    oe    God 

minister,  on  the  peculiar  vieAvs  of  that  Church  on  the  Resurrection — that  it  is  past, 
and  the  judgment  is  now  in  progress.  The  same  year,  at  Colo,  Iowa,  A.  Wilson 
had  a  debate  with  a  Rev.  Mr.  Meyer,  "leader  of  the  sect  called  Soul-Sleepers,"  on 
the  kingdom  of  Christ  as  already  established,  and  baptism  for  the  remission  of 
sins.  In  August,  1871,  D.  S.  Warner  and  Rev.  Baker,  of  the  Disciple  Church,  de- 
bated the  proposition:  "The  Church  of  God,  of  which  I  am  a  member,  is  the  only 
Church  of  divine  origin."  In  March,  1872,  a  discussion  began  in  The  Advocate 
between  Newcomer  and  G.  W.  Wilson  on  the  "Secresy"  question.  Newcomer  was 
an  unyielding,  almost  fanatical,  opponent  of  all  secret  orders,  while  AVilson  was 
less  opinionated  and  dogmatic,  but  a  good  apologist.  The  discussion  continued  for 
a  good  part  of  a  year.  D.  S.  AVarner  and  Leonard  Parker,  M.  E.  Church,  in  June, 
1872,  debated  the  old  subject  of  baptism.  In  the  Spring  of  the  same  year  the 
forum  of  debate  on  the  ordinance  of  feet-washing  was,  by  request  of  the  Editor  of 
"The  Central  Baptist,"  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  transferred  to  his  paper,  and  A.  G.  McCor- 
mick  requested  R.  H.  Bolton  to  defend  the  institution.  This  he  did  against  B.  F. 
Taylor  and  J.  D.  Mui-phy,  of  the  Baptist  Church.  In  the  Fall  of  1872  A.  Wilson 
discussed  baptism,  washing  the  saints'  feet  and  the  name  of  the  Church  of  God  with 
P.  J.  Russell,  Christian  Church.  The  same  year  he  tried  conclusions  with  a  Mor- 
mon, I.  N.  White,  on  the  question,  "Is  the  Church  of  God  of  which  I  am  a  member 
the  true  Church?"  May,  1873,  a  discussion  of  man's  spiritual  entity;  the  image  of 
God,  and  the  conscious  state  of  the  dead  was  held  between  D.  Blakely  and  Mr. 
Stoneway,  in  Moniteau  county.  Mo.  A  new  disputant  entered  the  arena  of  debate 
September  23,  1873,  when,  at  Lorain,  Stephenson  county.  111.,  J.  H.  Besore  and 
Rev.  Davis,  of  the  Evangelical  Association,  were  the  belligerents  on  the  simple  ques- 
tion of  immersion  as  the  only  baptism  taught  in  the  Scriptures.  Waraer,  May  15, 
1874,  near  Orton,  Neb.,  defended  the  perpetuity  and  public  observance  of  feet- 
washing  as  an  ordinance  against  E.  Evans,  of  the  Disciple  Church.  The  questions 
of  the  scriptural  name  of  the  Church;  feet-washing  as  an  ordinance,  and  literal 
water-baptism  as  essential  to  the  remission  of  sins  were  the  subjects  of  discussion 
between  A.  Wilson,  and  M.  Nichols,  of  the  Disciple  Church. 

Almost  incessantly  some  controversy  was  in  progress  between  ministers  of  the 
Church  in  The  Advocate.  The  subjects  took  a  wide  range,  and  the  discussions 
were  participated  in  by  scores  of  brethren.  Nor  were  the  amenities  of  fraternal 
debate  always  observed.  The  recrudescence  of  no  subjects  was  so  common  as  those 
of  the  titles  of  Elderships  and  the  imposition  of  hands.  The  former  was  more  or 
less  discussed  each  year  until  the  Fall  of  1872,  following  the  action  of  the  General 
Eldership  of  that  year.  The  relation  divinely  established  between  baptism  and  the 
remission  of  sins  and  church  fellowship  could  for  years  not  be  so  conclusively  estab- 
lished as  to  put  a  cessation  to  controversy.  And  then  for  some  years  the  second- 
work  sanctification  theory  not  only  provoked  controversy,  but  became  a  source  of 
trouble  in  some  local  churches.  There  were  too  few  real  advocates  of  creeds  to  make 
the  question  of  wide  interest  when  an  effort  on  diiTerent  occasions  was  made  to 
revive  it.  The  question  of  the  resurrection  scientifically  considered,  and  in  rela- 
tion to  the  Advent  and  the  Millennium,  awakened  more  than  common  interest  as  it 
was  discussed  at  Ministerial  Associations  and  editorially.  The  sin  against  the  Holy 
Ghost  on  several  occasions  was  carefully  discussed,  showing  quite  a  divergence  of 
views.  Before  the  prevalence  of  "the  faith  healing"  epidemic  a  protracted  discus- 
sion of  the  "gift  of  miracles,"  gradually  drifting  into  the  "gift  of  healing,"  was 
carried  on  in  The  Advocate  on  the  affirmative  by  J.  Richards,  J.  C.  Clippinger,  C. 
C.  Moi-ston,  Jesse  Little  and  R.  H.  Bolton,  and  on  the  negative  by  Sandoe,  Swartz, 
Newcomer  and  B.  F.  Beck,  with  Mackey,  who  had  reached  "no  definite  opinion." 
It  began  in  April,  1870,  and  continued  with  some  interruptions  until  March,  1872. 
Bolton  had  been  under  treatment  by  Paul  Carter,  at  his  "Healing  Infirmary,"  and 
while  in  no  sense  infatuated,  he  declared  that  "Dr.  Carter  professed  to  possess  the 
gift  of  healing,  and  has  treated  me  most  successfully."  He  cited  AVinebi-enner  as 
teaching  that  "James  v.  14,  1.5,  is  a  recognition  of  the  power  of  healing  given  to, 
and  exercised  b/,  the  Apostles,  according  to  Mark  vi.  13,  and  that  it  was  the  design 
to  continue  this  power  in  the  church." 

Pentecostal  meetings  were  now  being  held  quite  nearly  in  all  the  Elderships 
on  Whitsuntide,  the  German  Eldership  having  held  its  first  one  May  27,  1871;  but 
there  were  signs  of  decadence  which  forecasted  their  early  discontinuance.  Camp- 
meetings  gradually  fell  into  such  disfavor  that  the  number  decreased  annually. 
Sunday-school  conventions  were  becoming  the  popular  gatherings,  and  were  begin- 


General    History  173 

ning  to  be  held  in  nearly  all  the  Elderships.  Even  the  holding  of  "a  General  Sun- 
day-School Convention"  for  the  whole  Church  was  discussed  at  the  Iowa  Eldership 
Convention  in  1872,  and  but  for  "the  great  expense"  would  have  been  approved. 
It  had  the  sanction  of  individual  workers  in  other  Elderships.  Following  the  lead 
of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  by  187  5  these  organizations  existed  in  all  but 
two  of  the  annual  Elderships.  They  proved  of  such  interest  and  edifying  value  as 
to  give  them  elements  of  permanency. 

Three  events  in  the  Temperance  world  greatly  interested  Christian  people. 
The  first  was  the  revival  of  the  prohibition  sentiment.  Prohibition  was  not  only 
again  made  a  live  issue;  but  a  party  was  formed  of  which  this  was  the  vital  plank. 
It  was  organized  in  1869,  but  held  its  first  national  convention  and  nominated 
James  Black,  of  Pennsylvania,  as  candidate  for  President  February  22,  1872,  at 
Columbus,  Ohio.  The  second,  was  the  Local  Option  movement.  Under  a  Local  Op- 
tion law  passed  in  the  Winter  of  1871-2,  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  voted  on  this 
question  at  a  State  election  held  March  26,  1873.  About  15,000  of  a  majority 
were  cast  against  it.  These  two  movements  were  somewhat  antagonistic.  The 
former  also  made  it  a  political  question,  and  thus  lost  to  some  extent  the  church 
support.  Its  candidate  for  President  in  1872  received  but  5,607  votes.  The  third 
was  the  "Woman's  Crusade,"  first  inaugurated  in  Ohio  in  1873.  The  women  in 
bands  visited  saloons,  sang,  prayed  and  expostulated  with  proprietors  to  close  their 
houses.  Like  a  prairie  fire  it  swept  through  nearly  all  the  Northern  States  to  the 
Mississippi  River,  and  also  into  some  Southern  States. 

Of  less  interest  to  the  churches  of  God  were  some  more  purely  religious  events. 
Of  these  was  the  great  reunion  of  the  Old  and  New  School  Presbyterian  Churches, 
which  occurred  at  Philadelphia  May  19,  1870.  Then  also,  the  same  year,  the  loss 
to  the  Pope  of  Rome  of  his  temporal  domain,  and  the  declaration  of  the  Pope's 
Infallibility  by  the  Vatican  Council.  The  Colored  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was 
organized  in  1870  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  The  same  year  the 
Old  Catholic  Church  seceded  from  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  on  account  of  the 
dogma  of  Infallibility.  The  final  adoption  of  lay  delegation  by  the  M.  E.  Church, 
North,  occurred  in  1870.  The  Reformed  Episcopal  Church  was  organized  in  1873, 
as  a  result  of  disaffection  of  certain  prominent  men  by  reason  of  the  restrictions 
placed  upon  them  by  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  of  which  they  were  mem- 
bers. Doubtless  the  best  fruits  of  the  "Woman's  Crusade"  was  the  organization  on 
November  17,  1874,  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  of  the  W.  C.  T.  U.,  whose  work  has  been 
strongly  endorsed  by  all  the  Elderships  year  after  year. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 


1875—1880. 


WHATEVER  connection  there  may  be  between  the  adversities  and  failures  of 
a  body  of  people  and  internal  diflaculties  and  troubles  is  a  problem  for  the 
psychologist,  and  not  for  the  historian,  unless  he  chooses  to  enter  the 
domain  of  the  philosophy  of  history.  But  as  the  historian  deals  with  facts,  he  can 
not  overlook  the  frequent  coincidence  of  the  two  classes  of  facts  here  noted.  It  is 
evidently  true,  as  Rollin  observed,  and  Plutarch  before  him,  that  "adversity  alone 
can  place  greatness  of  soul  in  its  full  light,  and  render  the  real  merits  of  men  con- 
spicuous." He  also  quotes  Cato  as  saying  that  "Adversity,  in  humbling  the  spirit, 
restores  us  to  our  reason,  and  teaches  us  what  is  necessary  to  be  done."  But  ex- 
perience also  teaches  that  adversity  often  weakens  the  ties  of  friendship  and  fra- 
ternity. Sparks  of  dissension  more  readily  kindle  a  fire.  The  serpent-seed  of  dis- 
cord finds  too  often  good  soil  on  which  to  bear  unhappy  fruit  when  hearts  are  wear- 
ied with  disappointing  toil.  Shipwrecked  hopes  often  fill  men's  hearts  with  sup- 
pressed bitterness  and,  hatred;  and  then,  if  controversies  arise,  they  are  conducted 
with  indecent  acrimony.  Criminations  arise,  misunderstandings  develop,  result- 
ing in  wretched  quarrels  and  irreconcilable  disputes  among  those  who  call  them- 
selves Christians  and  brethren.  These  violent  contentions  often  make  a  Church, 
which  should  be  the  Zion  of  peace,  in  consequence  of  the  selfishness  of  the  natural 
man,  to  become  the  Babel  of  confusion.  James  speaks  of  envying  one  another  as 
the  great  spring  of  strifes  and  contentions,  in  the  third  chapter  of  his  Epistle;  but 
in  the  fourth,  of  a  lust  after  worldly  things,  and  setting  too  great  a  value  on  world- 


174  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

ly  pleasures  and  friendships.  This,  he  seems  to  say,  "carried  the  divisions  of  the 
Jewish  Christians  of  his  time  to  a  shameful  height,"  says  Henry.  Whether  or  not 
a  solution  is  here  suggested  of  the  coincidence  of  adverse  conditions  in  the  work 
of  Church  extension  of  the  churches  and  Elderships  in  1875-1880,  and  the  internal 
troubles  which  prevailed,  the  facts  are  conspicuous  and  must  attract  attention. 

Notice  the  blight  which  befell  the  work  in  Nebraska  so  auspiciously  begun  dur- 
ing the  previous  semi-decade,  and  awakening  so  much  missionary  enthusiasm.  The 
bethel  at  Crete,  the  first  one  built  in  the  State,  was  destroyed,  in  July,  1875,  at  least 
to  such  an  extent  as  to  be  "unfit  for  use."  About  the  same  time  began  the  grass- 
hopper plague,  which  devastated  almost  the  entire  State  for  successive  years,  and 
parts  of  Missouri  and  Kansas,  making  those  who  remained  dependant  on  public 
charity.  Not  only  did  it  practically  put  an  end  to  aggressive  work  in  that  section, 
but  the  existence  of  some  churches  already  organized  could  not  be  maintained. 
Some  of  the  missionaries  and  scores  of  Church  families  removed  to  other  States, 
and  the  devastation  of  the  country  seemed  inevitable. 

The  utter  failure  of  the  Chicago  Mission,  toward  which  more  than  a  score  of 
thousands  of  dollars  had  been  enthusiastically  contributed,  was  not  fully  realized 
until  the  General  Eldership  in  1875.  It  threatened  to  prove  disastrous  to  all  plans 
to  establish  churches  in  the  large  cities. 

Toward  the  close  of  this  period  the  almost  despairing  cry  was  heard  concern- 
ing the  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.,  Mission,  "Do  not  let  it  fail!"  "Save  the  Port  Wayne 
Mission!"     But  it  also  failed. 

Mansfield  Mission,  after  an  auspicious  beginning,  and  the  expenditure  of  quite 
an  amount  of  funds  contributed  by  the  churches  in  Ohio,  finally  had  to  be  aban- 
doned and  the  property  sold. 

In  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  the  work  at  Carlisle  was  suspended  and 
the  property  sold.  And  the  mission  in  the  city  of  Reading  was  in  such  a  hopeless 
state  in  187  8  that  "the  church  was  actually  in  a  disorganized  condition"  when 
vSnytler  was  sent  there  to  revive  it,  and  "the  bethel  had  been  closed."  It  was  too 
late,  and  the  work  was  finally  abandoned. 

During  and  following  these  disastrous  events  most  of  the  Elderships  had  their 
internal  troubles.  Even  in  the  Nebraska  Eldership,  which  began  its  existence 
almost  simultaneously  with  the  advent  of  the  grasshoppers,  had  some  more  or  less 
serious  dissensions.  Charges  were  preferred  against  one  of  the  missionaries,  which 
produced  bitter  feeling  and  considerable  alienation.  The  Standing  Committee 
stepped  in  to  save  a  church  which  was  being  rent  in  twain  by  acts  of  discipline,  at 
which  "witnesses  were  sworn,"  who  testified  at  the  hearing.  It  also  expelled  a 
local  elder  and  one  teaching  elder  from  the  Church  of  God  for  "continual  railing 
against  the  Church  of  God,"  and  for  "abusive  language."  This  trouble  threatened 
to  spread  by  being  brought  into  The  Advocate. 

In  Iowa  one  of  the  missionary  collectors  was  made  the  subject  of  somewhat 
serious  charges,  which  naturally  became  a  widening  circle,  and  until  cleared  up  in- 
terfered with  the  raising  of  missionary  money,  and  cast  discredit  upon  missionary 
agents  and  upon  the  system.  Another  minister  was  disfellowshiped  for  acts  of 
insubordination.  The  spirit  of  unruliness  was  indeed  somewhat  epidemic,  and  de- 
veloped instances  in  other  Elderships.  Thus  in  Illinois  the  Standing  Committee 
had  to  deal  with  three  cases  of  ministers  who  defiantly  disregarded  the  provisions 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  General  Eldership  in  the  matter  of  co-operation,  and  of 
the  Illinois  Constitution.  One  pastor  from  another  Eldership  persisted  in  his  re- 
fusal to  become  a  member  of  the  Illinois  Eldership.  He  "took  an  independent 
stand,"  declared  the  Standing  Committee,  so  that  it  felt  it  to  be  necessary  "to  with- 
hold official  connection  with  him."  This  resulted  in  further  troubles  in  the  church 
which  he  served,  which  seemed  in  danger  of  d'isruption  and  death.  Another  pastor 
disregarded  the  provision  of  the  Constitution  by  leaving  his  circuit  without  the  ap- 
proval of  the  Standing  Committee,  and  was  strongly  censured.  And  a  third  was 
charged  with  violating  the  General  Eldership  Constitution  by  removing,  without  a 
transfer,  into  the  territory  of  another  Eldership  and  not  handing  in  his  transfer. 
Yet  another  member  of  the  Eldership  was  denied  an  "open  transfer." 

Indiana  Eldership  was  obliged  to  discipline  one  minister  for  "his  schismatical 
course,"  and  pronounced  him  "unworthy  of  confidence  and  fellowship."  Another 
minister  was  expelled  under  such  circumstances  as  threatened  to  involve  the  Stand- 
ing Committee  in  a  civil  suit,  as  well  as  to  create  friction  between  that  Eldership 
and  the  East  Ohio  Eldership.      It  sharply  censured  the  last  named  body  for  grant- 


General    History  175 

ing  said  minister  a  transfer,  with  a  clear  recommendation,  while  it  laid  itself  open 
to  an  action  at  law  for  publishing  not  alone  the  facts,  but  declaring  it  to  be  their 
opinion  that  he  was  "unworthy  of  the  confidence  of  any  person,  and  unworthy  the 
name  of  citizen." 

In  Ohio  several  ministers  were  expelled,  and  for  heretical  teaching;  one  for 
insubordination,  and  one  for  "bringing  reproach  upon  the  Church."  Extreme 
measures  were  also  found  necessary  in  dealing  with  what  the  Standing  Committee 
declared  to  be  "disloyal  members"  in  one  church,  and  "persistently  insubordinate" 
members  in  another  church,  both  classes  being  expelled  from  their  churches  by  the 
Standing  Committee. 

The  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership  found  it  necessary  to  discipline  one  min- 
ister for  "violating  the  Rules  of  the  Church  of  God  and  the  usages  of  the  Elder- 
ship." 

The  contentions  between  the  churches  in  Schuylkill  and  Lebanon  counties.  Pa., 
and  the  German  Eldership  were  chronic,  as  were  also  the  troubles  between  said 
Eldership  and  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  But  in  the  latter  body  there  were 
acute  troubles.  Personal  alienations  entered  more  or  less  into  these,  some  from 
local  causes,  and  some  growing  out  of  the  Chicago  Mission  failure.  A  division  oc- 
curred in  the  church  at  Lancaster,  which  resulted  in  the  organization  of  Salem 
church  of  God.  The  rejection  of  an  article  by  the  Editor  of  "The  Gem"  was  made 
the  occasion  of  charges  before  the  Board  of  Publication.  There  was  unusual  fric- 
tion in  the  Eldership,  evidencing  an  unhealthy  moral  and  fraternal  condition,  no 
doubt  partly  explained  by  the  words  of  James. 

Whether  cause  or  effect,  it  was  conceded  that  at  this  time  there  was  an  evi- 
dent "decline  in  religion"  in  the  different  Elderships,  with  redeeming  features  as 
the  revival  movement  under  Moody  began  to  make  itself  felt  in  ever  widening 
circles.  And  then  credit  must  be  given  to  the  influence  of  the  great  revival  of  mis- 
sionary interest  in  1869,  yet  unspent,  in  carrying  the  Church  safely  through  the 
storms  and  the  calm  incident  to  these  failures  and  contentions.  For  the  work  did 
not  stand  still.  The  spirit  of  aggression  survived,  and  the  churches  and  the  Elder- 
ships turned  their  attention  to  other  fields. 

Not  for  twenty  years,  or  since  "the  great  awakening"  of  1857-8,  with  which  it 
was  compared,  had  there  been  such  remarkable  and  general  revivals  as  during  the 
early  part  of  this  period.  The  same  conditions  existed  in  the  religious  world  from 
1843  to  1857,  that  were  witnessed  between  1858  and  1876.  Spiritual  movements 
were  slow,  heavy  and  sluggish.  Revival  work  languished.  But  as  in  1857-8  the 
tide  turned,  and  a  glorious  inflow  was  realized,  and  Christianity  achieved  splendid 
results,  so  in  the  Winters  of  1876,  1877  and  1878  there  were  revivals  of  wonder- 
ful power.  The  most  remarkable  was  in  the  Winter  of  1875-6,  but  the  whole 
period  from  1874  to  1880  was  one  of  the  spiritual  eras  in  the  history  of  American 
Christianity.  The  work  began  under  the  leadership  of  Dwight  L.  Moody,  the  most 
conspicuous  example  of  lay  preaching  in  modern  times.  Assisted  by  the  incom- 
parable singer,  Ira  D.  Saiikey,  vast  concourses  of  people  in  New  York,  Philadelphia 
and  Chicago  were  powerfully  swayed,  and  thousands  were  added  to  the  churches. 
Moody  came  to  Philadelphia  upon  invitation  of  a  large  committee  of  ministers  rep- 
resenting every  Protestant  denomination.  The  old  freight  depot  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad,  Thirteenth  and  Market  streets,  was  secured  and  fitted  up  in  which 
to  hold  the  meetings.  Ten  thousand,  nine  hundred  and  sixty  chairs  were  placed  in 
the  building,  all  of  which  at  many  services  were  occupied.  The  meetings  began 
November  21,  1875,  and  continued  uninterruptedly  until  January  16,  1876,  during 
which  time  it  was  estimated  that  Moody  addressed  869,000  people.  The  numbers 
converted  are  not  definitely  known.  The  total  cost  of  preparing  the  building  and 
carrying  on  the  meeting  for  two  months  was  in  round  figures  $30,000.  People 
came  to  the  meetings  from  a  radius  of  over  100  miles,  as  many  as  five  hundred  com- 
ing in  on  trains  in  one  evening.  These  carried  the  revival  spirit  into  their  home 
churches,  until  the  whole  of  eastern  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  New  Jersey  and  Dela- 
ware was  ablaze  with  revival  fires.  In  these  revivals  the  churches  of  God  largely 
shared.  From  different  points  reports  came  of  unprecedented  works  of  grace. 
The  pastor  of  the  church  of  God  at  Middletown  wrote:  "Such  a  movement  as  this 
has  never  taken  place  in  this  town."  Similar  reports  came  from  many  other  points 
east  of  the  Susquehanna  river.  From  Elizabethtown  it  was  reported  that  "the 
house  is  filled  to  overflowing  every  night."  Many  of  the  meetings  in  the  larger 
towns  were  union  meetings.      One  of  these    was    held    at    Newville,    Cumberland 


176  History    of    thk    Chukchhs    of    God 

county,  Pa.,  which  was  never  equalled.  The  number  of  converts  in  the  town  and 
country  for  10  miles  around  was  estimated  at  five  hundred.  The  whole  Cumber- 
land Valley  was  aflame  with  revival  enthusiasm.  On  a  smaller  scale  the  work 
extended  across  the  mountains  and  westward  as  far  as  Kansas.  At  Center  Bethel, 
Westmoreland  county.  Pa.,  as  many  as  twenty  to  twenty-five  penitents  were  at  the 
altar  on  some  nights.  At  Puttstown,  Bedford  county,  there  were  one  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  reported  conversions;  at  Auburn,  Schuylkill  county,  seventy  converts 
were  reported.  In  the  Winter  of  187  6-7,  Moody  held  a  meeting  in  Chicago  similar 
to  the  Philadelphia  meeting,  but  not  equal  to  it  in  power  and  influence  either  in  the 
city  or  the  surrounding  country.  The  meeting  continued  eleven  weeks,  during 
which  time  three  thousand  conversions  were  reported  and  one  thousand  drunkards 
reformed.  It  was  estimated  that  six  hundred  and  forty-five  thousand  people  at- 
tended these  meetings.  Special  attention  was  given  to  the  reclaiming  of  drunkards, 
as  the  meeting  was  coincident  with  the  revival  of  the  temperance  work  under  what 
was  known  as  the  Murphy  Movement.  This  movement  began  in  Pittsburg,  Pa., 
In  January,  1877,  under  the  labors  of  Francis  Murphy,  of  Maine,  himself  a  reform- 
ed saloon-keeper  and  an  inveterate  drinker.  From  Pittsburg  the  work  spread  east- 
ward and  westward,  the  churches  and  religious  bodies  earnestly  co-operating  with 
the  movement.  By  1879  more  attention  was  given  to  local  option.  It  was  con- 
sidered by  many  to  be  peculiarily  a  moral  issue,  and  churches  and  Elderships 
espoused  it  with  general  unanimity.  Others  regarded  it  as  a  political  movement, 
disassociated  from  legitimate  church  work.  Prohibitionists  generally  opposed  it, 
thus  creating  division  in  the  ranks  of  Christian  workers. 

With  unquenched  zeal  the  churches  of  God  continued  diligent  in  the  work  of 
the  Master  in  every  department  of  Christian  endeavor.  The  revivals  of  the  period 
added  hundreds  of  new  and  enthusiastic  members  to  the  churches,  men  and  women 
not  wedded  to  old  traditions,  but  ready  for  new  methods  and  new  enterprises.  Yet 
the  disposition  and  tendency  to  preserve  what  is  established  was  strong  enough  to 
prevent  either  the  introduction  or  radical  innovations,  or  the  abandonment  of  ex- 
isting institutions.  To  some  of  these  many  of  the  older  members  were  almost  con- 
scientiously attached.  This  was  true  of  camp-meetings,  for  the  continuance  of 
which  strenuous  efforts  were  made,  despite  the  burdens  they  imposed,  the  absence 
of  any  real  need  and  the  discouraging  results.  As  a  partial  substitute  grove  meet- 
ings were  held  by  many  churches  in  all  the  Elderships.  But  in  1875  four  camp- 
meetings  were  held,  two  in  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  one  in  Venango  county, 
West  Pennsylvania,  and  one  on  the  Toledo  Mission,  western  Ohio.  In  1876  only 
three  camp-meetings  were  held.  The  idea  of  holding  Eldership  camp-meetings  was 
first  suggested  in  Iowa,  in  1876.  The  Standing  Committee  on  June  5,  1876,  ap- 
pointed Besore,  Bolton  and  Murray  "a  committee  to  mature  a  plan  for  the  organi- 
zation of  a  Camp-meeting  Association."  But  this  committee  reported  at  the  Elder- 
ship that  "the  action  was  not  complied  with."  By  persistent  urging,  eight  camp- 
meetings  were  held  in  1877,  one  in  Maryland,  four  in  East  Pennsylvania  and  three 
in  Ohio.  In  187  8  Ohio  held  but  one  camp-meeting,  Maryland  two  and  East  Penn- 
sylvania four.  An  effort  was  made  to  unite  all  the  churches  in  East  Pennsylvania 
in  the  holding  of  one  general  camp-meeting,  under  the  management  of  a  committee 
named  by  the  Eldership.  It  was  held  on  the  grounds  of  the  M.  E.  Camp-meeting 
Association,  near  Oakville,  Cumberland  county,  and  was  considered  a  success.  It 
was  repeated  in  1879,  during  which  year  eight  camp-meetings  were  held,  one  of 
them  in  Maine.  The  Ohio  Eldership  followed  the  lead  of  the  Bast  Pennsylvania 
Eldership,  and  held  an  Eldership  camp-meeting  near  Smithville,  Wayne  county. 
The  effort  to  hold  an  Eldership  camp-meeting  in  West  Pennsylvania  the  same  year 
failed.  Results  during  these  five  years  were  exceedingly  meager.  A  Pittsburg 
paper  reviewed  the  camp-meetings  held  by  the  Methodist  Church  in  1877,  and 
stated  that  the  "general  verdict  is  that  they  have  not  proved  a  success."  And  this 
view  was  endorsed  by  The  Advocate  by  the  careful  citation  of  facts. 

Pentecostal  meetings  of  a  general  character  were  destined  not  to  be  as  long- 
lived  as  camp-meetings.  Much  as  they  were  acclaimed  for  a  few  years,  they  had  in 
them  elements  of  weakness  which  served  to  forecast  their  early  discontinuance. 
Decadence  was  noticeable  already  in  187  6,  when  they  began  to  become  more  local 
in  character,  and  in  1878  when  the  Indiana  Standing  Committee  voted  against  hav- 
ing one,  and  the  Ohio  Standing  Committee  voted  two  to  three  in  favor  of  suspend- 
ing them,  though  the  Rules  required  two  to  be  held  annually,  and  two  were  held, 
but  were  local.      East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  where  they  originated;    Maryland, 


General    History  177 

Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Iowa  and  Nebraska  held  Pentecostal  meetings  in  two  or 
more  of  the  five  years  of  this  period.  The  meetings  were  of  a  highly  spiritual  char- 
acter, tending  to  deepen  the  piety  and  quicken  the  spiritual  vitality  of  the  churches 
where  they  were  held.  The  effect  of  the  revivals  and  of  the  zealous  work  of  the 
ministers  and  churches  during  and  following  them  is  given  in  the  statistics  com- 
piled by  A.  Snyder,  and  published  on  December  26,  1877,  as  follows:  Number  of 
annual  Elderships,  13;  number  of  licensed  preachers,  384;  number  of  preachers  in 
active  service,  193;  number  of  preachers  licensed  during  the  year,  39;  number  of 
circuits,  117;  number  of  stations,  30;  number  of  missions,  35;  amount  of  mission- 
ary money  collected  during  the  year,  $2,906.81;  probable  number  of  members,  per- 
haps not  far  short  of  50,000.  Snyder  also  kept  an  account  of  the  conversions  and 
accessions  to  the  churches  of  God  as  reported  during  the  year  of  1878,  and  in  July, 
1879  published  them  as  follows:  Conversions,  4,237;  accessions,  2,958;  baptized, 
1.428. 

Ministerial  Associations  were  held  once  or  twice  a  year  in  all  the  annual  Eld- 
erships except  the  Texas,  the  Maine  and  German  Elderships.  To  reduce  the  expense 
to  the  ministers  they  were  often  held  in  connection  with  some  other  meetings,  such 
as  the  Pentecostal  meetings,  or  the  Eldership  sessions,  or  Conventions.  Their  main 
object  was  the  edification  of  the  ministers.  In  some  of  the  details  they  differed. 
Most  of  them  began  with  a  sermon  the  first  evening,  and  the  discussion  of  specially 
assigned  topics  during  the  other  sittings.  But  in  some  Elderships  more  sermons 
were  delivered,  on  subjects  or  texts  designated  by  the  committees  on  programs.  In 
some  Elderships  exegeses  of  special  texts  were  a  regular  part  of  the  program.  It  was 
quite  customary  to  have  a  critic,  whose  duty  it  was  to  pass  rigorous  judgment  on 
addresses;  to  point  out  faults  in  syntax,  diction,  manner,  gestures,  and  in  general 
to  submit  critical  observations  and  detailed  examinations  and  reviews  of  the  work 
of  the  members  of  the  Association.  It  was  thought  by  many  to  be  an  ofiice  ex- 
posed to  faults  and  dangers,  which  in  itself  might  seem  to  invite  severe  criticism 
And  Brewer  could  be  quoted:  "Nay,  if  you  begin  to  critic  once,  we  shall  never 
have  done."  The  office  did  not  long  survive.  The  topics  took  a  wide  range, 
although  a  little  close  observation  shows  that  many  of  the  same  topics,  a  little 
varied  in  phraseology,  were  on  the  programs  of  different  Associations  in  the  course 
of  a  year  or  two.  Current  questions  outside  of  a  doctrinal  and  practical  and  re- 
ligious character  were  generally  ignored.  Looking  over  the  topics  of  this  period 
one  will  find  such  as  these:  Church  fellowship,  what  is  it,  and  what  are  the  terms 
and  conditions?  How  can  we  best  promote  a  revival  of  religion?  The  qualifica- 
tions needful  for  an  efficient  ministry.  Should  manuscript  be  used  in  the  pulpit? 
Do  the  soul  and  spirit  have  conscious  existence  after  death?  The  order  of  the 
ordinances.  The  change  of  the  Sabbath  from  the  seventh  to  the  first  day  of  the 
week.  Regeneration,  in  a  variety  of  forms.  Conscience  as  a  guide.  Forms  of 
modern  infidelity.  In  what  does  the  happiness  of  heaven  consist?  Conditions  and 
proper  subjects  of  prayer.  How  to  bring  the  elements,  lay  and  ministerial,  in  the 
Eldership  into  the  most  effective  service  for  the  Church.  Best  methods  of  prep- 
aration for  the  ministry.  How  to  best  care  for  converts.  Family  religion.  What 
is  the  best  way  to  deal  with  local  church  difficulties?  Prayer  for  the  influence  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  Increased  efllciency  in  the  work.  Hindrances  to  the  promotion 
of  Church  work.  True  evidences  of  a  state  of  grace.  Instrumental  music. 
Ground  of  justification.  Christian  perfection.  Call  to,  and  qualifications  for,  the 
ministry.  Prayer-meetings.  What  is  sanctification?  Christian  union.  The 
Bible  and  its  origin.  How  to  secure  and  promote  a  healthy  church  state.  Fasting. 
Christmas  as  a  holiday.  Are  we  observing  the  proper  day  as  a  day  of  rest?  Jesus 
and  his  office  work.  In  some  Associations  there  was  a  question  box,  but  it  was  not 
much  more  popular  than  the  critic. 

As  many  of  the  topics  submitted  for  discussions  at  Ministerial  Associations 
were  questions  on  which  there  was  a  division  of  views,  debates  not  unfrequently 
characterized  the  sessions,  which  needed  guidance  and  restraint,  just  as  those  in 
The  Advocate.  For  as  there  were  those  "whose  words  are  not  framed  to  tickle 
delicate  ears,"  especially  of  opponents,  so  there  always  were  writers  who  wielded 
somewhat  venomous  and  virulent  pens.  Some  of  the  questions  discussed  at  these 
Associations  had  been  canvassed  in  the  columns  of  The  Advocate,  or  vice  versa. 
This  was  often  for  a  purpose,  as,  for  instance,  the  order  in  the  observance  of  the 
ordinances,  which  was  reversed  in  some  churches  in  Indiana,  and  the  churches  in 
the  German  Eldership.      There  were  two  public  debates  between   1875  and   1880. 

C.  H.— 7* 


178  History    of    tiir    Churches    of    God 

One  was  held  at  Osborn  school-house,  near  Seward,  county  seat  of  Seward  county. 
Neb.,  between  D.  S.  Waraer,  of  the  Church  of  God,  and  C.  L.  Boyd,  Adventlst. 
The  proposition  discussed  was:  "The  first  day  of  the  week  has  been  set  apart  by 
divine  authority  as  Sabbath  or  Lord's  day."  The  discussion  was  the  outcome  of  a 
series  of  addresses  by  Boyd  on  the  Seventh-day  Sabbath.  So  well  did  AVarner  de- 
fend the  proposition,  that  at  the  close  of  the  debate  the  congregation  present  voted 
thirty-six  to  sixteen  that  he  had  established  it.  The  debate  continued  three 
evenings,  November  23,  24,  25,  187  5. 

At  Cedarville,  Ark.,  in  May,  1877,  G.  T.  Bell  had  a  debate  with  a  Mr.  Hyde,  of 
the  M.  E.  Church,  on  The  New  Birth.  Bell  had  the  negative  of  the  proposition, 
"that  natural  water  produces  the  new  birth."  He  "claimed  it  to  be  spiritual  water, 
or  the  gospel,  which  flows  from  the  fountain,  Jesus  Christ." 

A  quasi  public  discussion  took  place  in  Harrisburg,  I'a.,  on  the  subject  of  "The 
Washing  of  the  Saints'  Feet,"  between  Dr.  J.  Swartz,  pastor  of  Zion  Lutheran 
church,  and  G.  Sigler,  pastor  of  Fourth  Street  Church  of  God.  Dr.  Swartz  preached 
a  sermon  in  his  church  against  the  ordinance,  to  which  Sigler  replied  January  5, 
1879.  These  sermons  were  followed  by  a  brief  newspaper  discussion  between  the 
two  pastors.  Sigler's  sermon  and  the  newspaper  articles  were  subsequently  pub- 
lished in  pamphlet  form.  The  Eldership  in  October  following  specially  commended 
Sigler  "for  his  able  and  faithful  defense  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Church."  At  dif- 
ferent times  and  in  various  forms  this  subject  was  under  discussion.  In  187  5  a 
writer  in  the  "Findlay  (Ohio)  Jeffersonian,"  under  the  pen  name  of  "Philip,"  at- 
tacked the  rite  as  an  ordinance,  to  which  "Sincerity"  replied  in  several  articles  in 
The  Advocate.  Editor  Forney  defended  the  ordinance  in  187  6  against  a  writer  in 
the  "American  Christian  Review,"  a  Disciple  periodical.  Said  writer  based  his 
argument  on  I.  Tim.  v.  10,  where  he  affirmed  that  it  is  classed  with  good  works; 
on  any  reference  elsewhere  by  Paul  to  the  rite,  and  on  the  want  of  evidence  that  it 
was  observed  in  the  primitive  church.  Editor  Forney  also  reviewed,  the  same  year, 
a  sermon  by  Rev.  AVeible,  preached  in  Lebanon,  Pa.,  and  published  in  a  Lebanon 
paper.  Weible  laid  special  stress  on  the  fact  that  feet-washing  is  mentioned  only  in 
one  of  the  Gospels.  Forney,  in  1877,  also  reviewed  "Homo's"  contention  that  there 
is  "no  command  or  precept"  for  the  observance  of  this  rite.  In  1877  Foi-ney  took 
issue  with  "The  Christian  at  Work,"  which  endeavored  to  prove  that  "Feet-washing 
was  not  instituted  by  Christ  as  an  ordinance."  He  also  published  two  articles  in 
the  columns  of  The  Advocate  presumably  from  members,  if  not  ministers,  of  the 
Church,  the  influence  of  which  he  endeavored  to  counteract,  one  of  which  suggested 
a  change  of  the  time  of  day  when  to  observe  the  ordinances,  from  the  evening  to 
the  forenoon.  The  main  reason  given  being  "the  accommodation  of  old  members 
of  the  churches."  The  other  one,  while  in  form  an  argument  against  abandoning 
Feet-washing  as  a  religious  ordinance,  yet  the  intimation  that  "a  great  deal  is  being 
said  about  the  Church  of  God  dropping  Feet-washing,"  seemed  to  call  for  vigorous 
criticism.  In  connection  with  these  discussions  a  hymn  composed  by  Mi-s.  L.  B. 
Hartnian  years  before  was  republished.  The  impression  often  sought  to  be  made 
that  this  ordinance  has  in  modern  times  been  accepted  by  few  religious  bodies 
was  from  time  to  time  corrected.  It  appears  that  then  and  since  the  following  re- 
ligious organizations  besides  the  Church  of  God  either  have  at  one  time  observed, 
or  still  continue  to  observe,  the  ordinance,  viz.:  Scotch  Baptist  Church  in  Nova 
Scotia,  Seventh-day  Adventists,  Free-will  Baptists;  General,  or  Arminian,  Baptists, 
Separate  Baptists,  United  Baptists,  Duck  River  and  kindred  Associations  of  Bap- 
tists, Primitive  Baptists,  Colored  Primitive  Baptists,  Christian  Connection,  Two 
Seed  Baptists,  Brethren  in  Christ,  United  Zion's  Children,  Christian  Union,  Church 
of  God  and  Saints  of  Christ  (colored).  Church  of  the  Living  God,  Amana  Society, 
German  Baptists,  Mennonites,  New  Congregational  Methodists,  United  Brethren, 
United  American  Free-will  Baptists. 

As  the  observance  of  the  Communion  before  Feet-washing  was  mainly  based 
upon  the  words  in  John  xiii.  2,  "Supper  being  ended,"  Editor  Forney  in  1875  in  a 
critical  editorial  showed  that  this  was  not  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  also  that  it  was 
not  then  "ended."  But  as  arguments  seemed  ineffective  in  convincing  brethren  of 
their  error  in  this  matter,  the  subject  was  repeatedly  revived  and  rediscussed.  In 
187  8  "The  Order  of  the  Ordinances"  was  the  title  of  three  elaborate  editorials,  in 
which  the  whole  question  was  reviewed  and  ample  authorities  cited  in  confirmation 
of  the  general  practice  of  the  Church. 

For  some  years  with  great  persistency  the  question  of  Faith  Healing  in  var- 


General    History  179 

ious  forms  would  come  up.  As  "modern  miracles"  it  was  claimed  that  Mark  xvi. 
9-2  0  assured  the  church  of  the  perpetual  presence  of  such  a  power.  Others  ad- 
vocated it  under  the  title  of  "divine  healing,"  or  "faith  healing."  But  mind  heal- 
ing, or  mind  cure  was  regarded  as  a  better  diagnosis  of  the  various  cures  reported. 
That  this  was  nothing  new,  and  that  it  was  not  essentially  religious,  was  made  evi- 
dent in  discussions  during  1875-1879,  in  which  different  brethren  participated. 
The  excessive  enthusiasm  and  unreasoning  zeal  of  some  advocates  of  faith  healing 
made  it  necessary  at  times  to  use  discipline;  but  by  finding  the  true  philosophy  of 
the  undeniable  phenomena  the  harm  which  fanatics  had  the  power  to  do  was  re- 
duced to  a  minimum.  The  Church  of  God  was  not  the  only  religious  body  which 
had  to  contend  against  the  perversion  of  such  truths  as  must  be  admitted  in  con- 
nection with  this  subject,  or  the  facts  which  were  credibly  established.  For  nearly 
half  a  century,  says  A.  T.  Pierson,  in  a  work  published  in  1905,  the  inquiry  has 
excited  increasing  interest:  "How  far  may  we  carry  to  the  Lord  bodily  ailments  in 
prayer  and  faith  for  healing?"  This  question  could  not  be  ignored,  as  bodies  of 
believers,  both  numerous  and  respectable,  affirmed  belief  in  divine  healing  as  a 
truth  taught  in  the  word,  and  as  a  fact  of  their  own  experience.  Two  duties 
seemed  clear  then:  To  restrain  men  and  women  from  creating  dissensions  and 
schisms;  and,  to  arrive  at  the  real  truth  on  the  subject.  This  seems  to  have  been 
the  aim  of  discussions  on  what  had  the  appearance  of  antagonism  to  the  advocates 
of  faith  healing. 

During  this  period  there  was  a  revival  of  controversies  on  Infant  Depravity 
and  Infant  Salvation,  by  C.  Price,  in  review  of  a  sermon  on  the  last  subject  by  the 
Rev.  \V.  B.  Bromie,  Presbyterian  Church,  and  by  Editor  Forney  on  "How  are  In- 
fants Saved?"  in  answer  to  a  question  on  the  subject,  in  two  editorials.  The 
former  topic  was  also  discussed  editorially  in  answer  to  "Truth,"  who  reported  a 
minister  of  the  Church  of  God  as  teaching  that  "an  infant  is  perfect  depravity." 
The  inadvertent  insertion  in  the  columns  of  The  Advocate  of  a  short  paragraph 
which  referred  to  "original  sin,"  brought  on  a  discussion  between  Editor  Foraey 
and  James  Mackey  on  this  abstruse  question.  The  book  entitled,  "The  Christian 
Ordinances"  is  in  the  main  a  reproduction  of  a  series  of  eight  editorials,  in  which 
thfe  pamphlet  by  James  Quiiiter,  German  Baptist,  on  the  Origin  of  Single  Immer- 
sion, is  exhaustively  reviewed  and  answered.  They  were  called  out,  as  many  other 
controversial  editorials  were,  by  the  request  of  a  subscriber  "to  answer  the  posi- 
tions taken  by  Elder  Quinter,  and  to  defend  the  practice  of  the  Church  on  the  sub- 
ject of  baptism." 

So  little  is  said  these  days  on  the  Premillennial  Advent  that  it  is  not  so  easy 
to  realize  the  controversies  which  were  formerly  conducted  on  this  subject  with 
considerable  warmth.  October  30,  1878,  began  a  Pre-millennial  Convention  in 
New  York,  which  created  more  than  ordinary  interest  in  this  subject.  B.  F.  Beck 
and  C.  C.  Bai-tels,  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  were  present  and  were  in 
hearty  sympathy  with  the  views  advocated.  Bolton  reports  that  they  returned 
brimful  of  the  premillennial  doctrine,"  which  he  characterized  "a  precious  doc- 
trine." Dr.  Tyng's  address  on  the  subject  was  reproduced  in  The  Advocate,  while 
the  Editor  published  strictures  of  the  resolutions  embodying  the  sentiments  of  the 
Convention.  Other  and  minor  questions  were  discussed  briefly,  and  without  cre- 
ating general  interest. 

The  Second  International  Convention  of  Sunday-school  workers  was  held  at 
Atlanta,  Ga.,  April  17-19,  187  8,  and  gave  some  additional  impulse  to  Sunday-school 
work  in  the  United  States.  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  had  taken  the  lead,  ten 
years  earlier,  among  the  churches  of  God  in  convention  work;  but  nearly  all  the 
Elderships  followed  during  the  present  period,  Indiana  holding  its  first  convention 
in  1875,  and  Nebraska  in  1879.  There  was  much  uniformity  in  the  manner  of 
conducting  these  conventions,  and  a  similar  line  of  topics  was  discussed.  The  first 
evening  there  was  an  address  of  welcome,  a  response,  enrollment  of  delegates,  re- 
port of  treasurer,  followed  by  voluntary  remarks.  The  next  morning  the  officers 
were  elected,  and  then  two  or  three  subjects  were  discussed  during  each  sitting  by 
one  or  two  whose  names  were  on  the  program,  "and  others." 

The  earnestness  and  zeal  with  which  frontier  mission  work  was  carried  on  is 
indicated  by  the  men  which  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  kept  in 
the  field.  Its  territory  then  embraced  Michigan,  Nebraska,  Missouri,  Arkansas, 
Texas,  Indian  Territory,  and  all  the  country  westward.  The  following  missionaries 
were  in  its  employ  in  1875,  either  during  the  whole  year,  or  for  different  periods: 
G.  E.  Ewing,  P.  K.  Shoemaker,  I.  S.  Richmond,  James  Neil,  G.  F.  McElwee,  E.  D. 


i8o  History    oi'    the    Churches    of    God 

Aller,  1).   Keplinger,  I).   Blakely,   C.   li.   Konkel,   C.   S.   Bolton,   D.   S.   Wai-ner.      Of 

these,  six  wei'e  in  Nebraska,  four  in  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  two  in  Missouri  and  one 
in  Michigan.  In  1876  it  had  W.  H.  Oliver  in  its  employ  as  General  Evangelist  in 
Michigan,  and  in  1879  li.  D.  Bright  held  the  same  position.  Four  missionaries  in 
1876  were  stationed  in  Nebraska,  two  in  Kansas  and  one  in  Missouri.  Most  of 
these,  with  several  additions,  were  continued  during  187  7.  In  187  8  the  force  was 
increased.  In  Nebraska  were  the  following:  E.  D.  Aller,  AV.  R.  Coveit,  J.  Kjiger, 
C  S.  Ivihiier  and  A.  L.  Nye.  J.  A.  Smith  was  employed  in  Texas;  E.  AVilsou  in  Mis- 
souri and  P.  Shaw  in  Kansas.  Changes  during  the  year  were  sometimes  made,  and 
additional  men  employed.  In  1879  the  Board  had  calls  for  missionaries  from 
Colorado  and  California,  but  could  not  answer  them.  It  appointed  G.  T.  Bell  to 
Arkansas  and  Indian  Territory;  in  Kansas  it  had  M.  C.  Ogden  and  J.  C.  Fonicrook; 
in  Nebraska  it  had  in  addition  to  E.  D.  Aller,  General  Evangelist,  W.  T.  Harris  and 
A.  Li.  Nye.  E.  Wilson  was  appointed  to  north-western  Missouri,  while  E.  Marple 
was  General  Evangelist  in  Texas.  Of  all  those  employed  during  this  period  none 
bas  labored  with  greater  success  in  different  departments  of  Church  work  and  in 


Jay  C.  Fonicrook.  » 

different  Elderships  than  Jay  C.  Forncrook.  He  was  born  in  Wayne  county,  N.  Y., 
December  23,  1845.  In  1868  he  removed  to  Battle  Creek,  Mich.,  and  thence  in 
1874  to  near  Crete,  Neb.  Here  he  heard  for  the  first  time  a  sermon  by  E.  D.  Aller 
"on  the  distinctive  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  God."  He  was  "thoroughly  con- 
vinced that  it  was  the  truth."  He  was  converted  at  a  meeting  at  the  Salt  Creek 
school-house,  nine  miles  east  of  Crete,  conducted  by  John  Barkey,  on  March  24, 
1877,  and  united  with  the  church  of  God  newly  organized  at  Salt  Creek.  In  the 
Fall  of  that  year  he  was  sent  as  a  delegate  to  the  Nebraska  Eldership,  and  while 
there  he  "was  convinced"  that  he  ought  to  enter  the  ministry.  Without  being  an 
applicant,  the  Eldership  voted  him  a  license.  On  his  return  home  he  preached 
his  first  sermon  at  Salt  Creek  school-house.  In  the  Spring  of  187  8  he  visited  north- 
western Kansas,  and  located  land  in  Norton  county,  and  in  the  Fall  he  started  for 
his  new  home,  but  stopped  during  the  Winter  at  Phillipsburg,  Phillips  county, 
where  he  taught  school  and  also  conducted  some  revival  meetings,  and  organized 
one  church.  Resigning  his  school,  he  entered  the  mission  field,  at  the  solicitation 
of  the  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Missions.  He  succeeded  in  organizing  two  addi- 
tional churches  that  Winter.      In  the  Spring  the  Board  appointed  him  missionary 


General    History  i8i 

in  Norton  and  adjoining  counties,  and  he  removed  to  the  place  he  had  located  a 
year  before.  Here  in  the  following  Winter  he  organized  the  church  at  Clayton, 
Norton  county,  and  during  the  same  year  the  church  at  Brenneman's,  in  the  same 
county,  and  one  at  Wallace  Mills  school-house.  He  also  organized  the  church  at 
Ellis  school-house,  8  miles  below  Clayton,  one  of  the  strongest  churches  in  that 
section;  but  which  was  unfortunately  converted  into  a  Disciple  church  under  the 
influence  of  the  missionary  who  followed  Forncrook,  and  deserted  the  Church.. 
This  field  he  served  for  five  years,  except  the  year  he  was  General  Missionary  iii 
Nebraska.  In  1883  he  was  called  to  Lanark,  111.,  where  he  remained  as  pastor 
four  years.  Thence  to  Decatur;  but  at  the  end  of  one  year  he  was  prevailed  upon 
to  re-enter  the  mission  field  as  General  Missionary  in  Kansas.  But  soon  after 
entering  on  his  labors  he  was  called  to  Ft.  Scott,  Kans.,  where  he  succeeded  la 
establishing  the  church,  and  building  a  house  of  worship.  After  a  successful  pas- 
torate of  four  years  he  resigned  and  accepted  the  Crawford  county  work.  After 
two  years  on  this  field  and  one  year  as  General  Missionary  in  Missouri  and  anoCher 
year  in  the  same  capacity  in  Kansas,  he  removed  to  Iowa,  thus  ending  his  success- 
ful career  as  a  missionary. 

A  commendable  record  of  results  accomplished  on  the  territory  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  was  made  during  these  five 
years.  And  yet  much  of  it  was  temporary,  and  necessarily  neglected  opportunities 
for  doing  greater  good  were  often  lamented.  Missionaries  had  too  large  fields  in 
many  instances,  and  were  employed  for  too  brief  periods.  A.  L.  Nye,  first  sent  to 
the  Elk  Horn  Valley,  Stanton  county,  Neb.,  100  miles  north-west  of  Omaha,  was 
later  appointed  by  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership.  He  states  that 
for  three  years  he  labored  "with  little  or  no  success";  but  in  January,  1875,  he 
organized  a  church.  In  July,  1878,  he  extended  his  labors  into  Knox  county,  on 
the  Dakota  line,  and  did  the  first  preaching  by  a  Church  of  God  minister.  He 
succeeded  in  organizing  a  church.  May,  1878,  near  Oakdale,  Stanton  county.  A 
little  later  he  organized  one  at  Millersborough,  Knox  county.  In  October,  1878, 
the  Iowa  Eldership  appointed  D.  S.  Guinter  missionary  to  South  Dakota.  E.  D. 
Aller  was  for  a  number  of  years  the  missionary  at  Crete  and  in  Saline  and  Fillmore 
counties.  For  two  or  three  years  the  work  was  greatly  hindered  by  the  swarms 
of  grasshoppers  which  destroyed  vegetation  of  every  character.  There  were  re- 
vivals, but  the  people  who  remained  were  too  much  perturbed  and  too  poor  to 
engaged  heartily  in  church  work.  Times  were  hard,  crops  destroyed,  and  in- 
dustries stagnant.  This  plague  extended  into  Kansas  and  Missouri.  In  June, 
1875,  one  of  the  missionaries  said  it  was  the  darkest  cloud  that  we  have  ever  be- 
held. Another  one  wrote:  "Grasshoppers  have  swept  over  our  fair  country  and 
have  laid  bare  nearly  the  whole  country,  east  and  west  for  perhaps  100  to  130 
miles,  and  north  and  south  about  300  miles.  Nearly  all  the  wheat,  hay,  tame  grass 
and  the  growing  corn,  with  nearly  all  the  growing  garden  vegetables  are  eaten  up." 
Even  the  foliage  on  the  trees  was  stripped  off.  And  in  187  7  one  of  the  Nebraska 
missionaries  wrote:  "A  rain  of  grasshoppers  fell  on  our  fields,  and  in  a  few  short 
hours  every  green  thing  in  fields  and  gardens  was  destroyed."  Yet  there  were 
calls  for  preaching,  and  revivals,  as  Howard,  on  the  south-east  Nebraska  mission 
wrote.  In  York  county,  D.  S.  Warner,  in  June,  1875,  organized  a  church  of  thirty- 
one  members.  And  to  such  an  extent  were  the  ministers  and  churches  encouraged 
that  they  conferred  together  on  the  advisability  of  organizing  an  Eldership  in 
Nebraska.  In  January,  187  7,  the  rebuilt  bethel  at  Crete  was  dedicated.  A  church, 
was  organized  by  Barkey,  in  Saline  county,  of  fifty  members,  and  another  one  a 
year  later  in  Gage  county.  A  new  mission  was  formed  November,  1878,  embrac- 
ing parts  of  three  or  four  counties  in  Nebraska  and  Kansas,  and  A.  B.  Slyter,  for- 
merly of  Michigan,  appointed  to  it.  J.  Li.  Jackson  organized  a  church  in  Fillmore 
county,  in  April,  1879,  and  one  at  Oliver's  school-house.-  The  work  extended,  by 
June,  1879,  over  a  large  part  of  eight  or  ten  counties  in  the  south-eastern  corner 
of  the  State,  besides  the  missions  in  north-eastern  Kansas,  in  Norton  county, 
Kansas,  and  in  Stanton  and  Knox  coynties,  Nebraska,  making  nine  or  ten  fields  of 
labor. 

Among  the  missionaries  in  north-eastern  Kansas  was  P.  K.  Shoemaker.  His 
chief  complaint  was  that  fields  were  too  large,  as  he  said  in  1875,  and  consequently 
points  are  often  neglected  and  die.  He  was  instrumental  in  building  the  first 
bethel  in  Kansas,  located  at  Vermillion,  Marshall  county.  It  was  dedicated  by  his 
brother,  A.  X.  Shoemaker,  November  19,  1876.  It  cost  $3,100.00,  of  which  $900.00 
remained  unprovided  for.      C  S.  Bolton  also  labored  in  the  north-eastern  section  of 


l82  HlS'l'ORV     OF     THK     ChIRCIIKS     OF     GoD 

Kansas.  He  traveled  as  far  westward  as  Washington  county,  where  there  was  a 
small  church.  Some  work  was  done  by  him  in  Ottawa  and  Cloud  counties,  south 
of  Washington,  in  the  Summer  of  187  5.  He  organized  a  church  in  Pottowatomie 
county,  in  1877,  of  seven  members.  A  church  was  organized  in  Brown  county, 
April,  1878,  of  ten  members,  by  P.  Shaw.  More  substantial  work  was  done  in 
south-eastern  Kansas.  It  extended  as  far  toward  the  north  as  Osage  county, 
where,  in  1878,  Peters  had  quite  a  revival  and  organized  a  church  at  Rock  Creek 
of  twenty-two  members.  And  in  1879  he  organized  another  one  at  the  Booth 
school-house,  of  ten  members.  M.  C.  Ogden  succeeded  in  getting  a  foothold  in 
Reno  county,  over  a  hundred  miles  west  of  Ft  Scott,  where  he  organized  a  church 
in  1878.  There  was  a  bethel  in  this  county  in  1879,  where  N.  Hill  preached.  In 
the  Spring  of  1879  a  church  was  formed  in  Ness  county,  seventy-five  miles  further 
west,  to  which  county  five  families  emigrated  from  Indiana.  This  region  was 
known  as  south-western  Kansas.  It  included  Kingman  county,  where  in  Febru- 
ary, 1879,  Ogden  organized  a  church  in  Smutch  Creek  Valley,  of  nineteen  members. 
In  this  county  a  bethel  was  built  and  dedicated  October  29,  1879,  under  Ogden's 
labors,  known  as  Keystone  Bethel.  K.  H.  Bolton  preached  on  the  occasion.  He 
organized  another  church  in  Kingman  county,  of  twenty-six  converts  at  one  of  his 
revivals.  J.  H.  Woodheiry  was  traveling  a  circuit  in  1879,  composed  of  Wilson, 
Allen  and  Neosho  counties,  which  he  said  was  160  miles  in  extent,  and  in  May  or- 
ganized a  church  of  eleven  members  in  Wilson  county.  These  counties  are  in  the 
south-eastern  corner  of  the  State.  AVoodberry,  J.  M.  West  and  J.  E.  Cunningham 
about  this  time  began  their  machinations  to  organize  a  new  and  independent  Elder- 
ship, which  gave  considerable  trouble  and  did  harm  to  the  cause.  His  reasons 
were  deviations  "from  the  landmarks  of  AVinebrenner" ;  "troubles  in  the  Elder- 
ship," and  "troubles  in  the  churches."  AVoodberry  had  talents  to  do  good  work 
Jiad  he  proved  faithful. 

Missouri  interests  were  not  so  well  looked  after.  Blakely  had  done  some 
'work  in  Saline  county  in  187  5.  Keplinger  was  missionary  in  Cass  county,  with 
eight  preaching  places.  S.  D.  C,  Jackson  labored  in  Morgan  county.  Neither  had 
special  success.  AVoodberry  was  on  the  Nodaway  county  work,  in  the  extreme 
north-western  part  of  the  State.  He  reported  in  1876  that  the  work  was  "on  the 
increase."  He  organized  a  church  at  Marysville,  while  R.  H.  Bolton  formed  one 
at  Coatsville  the  same  year.  In  1877  AVoodberry  did  good  work  in  Atchison 
county,  in  the  north-west  corner  of  the  State,  where  he  had  organized  a  church  in 
1876.  J.  M.  AVest  was  his  co-laborer  in  1877,  and  he  organized  a  church  at  Union 
Grove  with  seven  members.  In  De  Kalb  and  Harrison  counties  Blakely  and  E. 
AAllson  conducted  successful  meetings. 

AA'oodberry,  in  187  8,  worked  a  little  south-eastward  into  Caldwell  and  Ray 
counties,  where  he  regarded  prospects  good  "to  work  up  a  Church  of  God  element." 
He  had  seven  appointments.  Blakely,  in  1878,  succeeded,  "after  ten  years,"  in 
"building  a  house  of  worship  at  Keystone,  Clinton  county,  which  was  dedicated  in 
November,  1879,  M.  S.  Xewcomer,  of  Illinois,  officiating.  There  was  at  this  time 
another  body  of  people  called  the  Church  of  God,  in  Mercer  and  Harrison  counties, 
on  the  Iowa  line,  which  held  views  in  all  respects  identical  with  those  of  the 
brotherhood.  They  originated  in  1872,  and  at  this  time  numbered  one  hundred 
and  fifty. 

The  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership  realized  the  distinction  it  acquired  when 
at  its  session  on  October  4,  1877,  it  appointed  John  P.  Coulam  to  be  a  missionary 
In  Alvingham,  South  Lincolnshire,  England,  his  native  place.  He  had  returned 
fliither  on  account  of  his  health.  The  Eldership  regretted  its  "inability  to  come 
to  his  aid  in  remuneration  for  his  labors;  but  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General 
Eldership  in  the  same  month  made  an  appropriation  to  him  of  $50.00.  He  re- 
ported four  conversions  later  in  the  year,  and  on  February  13,  1878,  stated  that  he 
had  "fairly  introduced  the  Church  of  God  teaching,"  and  that  he  expected  "before 
long  to  see  a  church  of  God  organized." 

G.  T.  Bell  was  the  great  missionary  and  revivalist  in  Arkansas  and  the  Indian 
Territory.  He  labored  principally  in  Franklin  and  Washington  counties,  in  the 
north-western  part  of  the  State,  during  this  period.  In  November,  1876,  he  or- 
ganized a  church  at  Boston,  Madison  county,  adjoining  Franklin  on  the  north. 
Also  one  at  Natural  Dam,  Crawford  county,  contiguous  to  Franklin  on  the  west. 
His  work  was  enlarging,  so  that  he  earnestly  called  for  a  missionary  to  be  sent  to 
his  assistance.  In  November,  1876,  he  organized  his  third  church.  During  the 
year  prior  to  this  date  he  had  received  one  hundred  and  fifty  members  into  fellow- 


GENliKAl,      HlSTOK^'  1 83 

ship.  June,  187  7,  he  organized  a  church  at  Cedarville,  Crawford  county.  This 
year  he  extended  his  mission  into  Sebastian  county,  south  of  Crawford.  At  the 
Eldership  in  1878  he  reported  having  received  three  hundred  and  forty  members 
and  organized  ten  churches;  but  this  may  mean  the  total  during  the  time  he  had 
been  on  the  mission;  but  he  was  a  remarkable  revivalist,  often  reporting  "revivals" 
at  his  regular  preaching  services.  He  is  the  only  minister  known  to  be  on  record 
as  having  a  "revival"  at  a  funeral  service.  In  1878  Bell  started  a  mission  among 
the  colored  people.  He  organized  a  church,  into  which  he  received  two  Methodist 
ministers,  whom  he  "licensed  to  preach."  He  also  held  a  camp-meeting  this  year 
in  Franklin  county,  near  Grand  Prairie.  In  the  same  year  he  crossed  the  line  into 
the  Indiana  Territory,  where  he  reports  organizing  "the  first  church  among  the 
Indians,"  at  Honey  Hill,  Cherokee  Nation,  composed  of  fifteen  members.  Riddle 
followed  Bell  in  187  9,  and  organized  a  church  at  Mt.  Vernon,  Crawford  county. 
Ark.,  of  fifteen  members.  Among  the  members  at  Honey  Hill  was  James  Beniiet, 
a  carpenter  and  painter,  through  whose  efforts  "the  Church  of  God  was  introduced 
to  the  Cherokee  Nation."  He  began  work  among  the  Indians  in  1877,  and  in  1879 
he  was  appointed  missionary  to  the  Cherokee  and  Choctaw  Nations.  He  organized 
a  church  at  Caney,  Flint  District,  Cherokee  Nation.  He  had  formerly  been  a 
preacher  in  the  Baptist  Church. 

There  was  some  improvement  in  conditions  in  Texas,  where  they  were  badly 
in  need  of  a  new  man.  Marple  was  still  there,  and  during  the  year  1879  was  Gen- 
eral Missionary;  but  he  urgently  called  for  help.  "Texas  wants  a  preacher."  He 
also  made  strong  appeals  for  emigrants  from  churches  North.  The  Board  of  Mis- 
sions finally  sent  J.  A.  Smith,  of  Ohio,  to  succeed  Marple.  In  1879  he  reported 
prospects  good  for  the  organization  of  three  churches.  There  was  at  this  time 
quite  a  religious  awakening  in  Texas,  and  in  proper  hands  the  interests  of  the 
Church  of  God  might  have  been  revived.     ' 

It  was  hoped  that  a  beginning  of  church  work  would  be  made  in  Colorado  in 
the  Fall  of  187  9,  when  D.  B.  Rendell,  of  the  Maine  Eldership,  removed  to  that 
State.  He  reached  Livermore  on  November  6th,  and  wrote  that  he  would  "try  to 
preach  the  word  of  God." 

In  Michigan  but  little  was  accomplished.  On  March  1,  1877,  James  Haskins 
organized  a  church  at  Eavenson  school-house,  Gratiot  county,  all  heads  of  families, 
consisting  of  fifteen  members.  He  was  followed  by  W.  Seifried,  who  did  success- 
ful work  during  the  Winter  of  1878-9  and  later.  He  organized  the  church  at  New 
Haven  Center  in  January,  1879.  In  Lenawee  county  James  Neil  and  Lavina  Alle- 
man,  pastors,  succeeded  in  building  a  house  of  worship,  which  was  dedicated  De- 
cember 16,  1879. 

When  in  187  5  J.  Garrigus  and  Snodderly  and  their  families  removed  from 
Page  county,  Iowa,  to  Washington  county,  Ore.,  and  three  other  families  from 
other  counties  in  Iowa,  Ganigus  urged  the  sending  of  a  missionary  to  that  country. 
He  was  seconded  by  the  Editor  and  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Missions.  S. 
V.  Sterner,  then  of  Missouri,  offered  to  go;  but  there  were  no  means  to  support 
him.  In  December,  1875,  J.  A.  Smith  submitted  his  name  to  the  Board  for  mis- 
sionary to  Oregon;  but  the  same  answer  had  to  be  made.  Meanwhile  Garrigus 
began  work  by  organizing  a  Sabbath-school  and  holding  prayer-meetings.  Calls 
for  a  missionary  to  be  sent  to  Minnesota  in  187  7  had  to  be  disregarded  for  the 
same  reason.  The  want  of  men  and  means,  two  topics  so  often  discussed,  greatly 
retarded  Church  extension  work. 

In  Iowa  a  good  deal  of  aggressive  and  substantial  work  was  done  from  1875 
to  1879.  A.  Wilson  reported  the  dedication  of  a  new  house  of  worship  at  Alice, 
Grundy  county,  in  1875.  At  the  historic  spot  where  sleep  the  remains  of  E.  Logue, 
near  Trenton,  Henry  county,  at  Moorhead's  Grave-yard,  stands  Green  Mount  Tem- 
ple, which  was  dedicated  January  31,  1875,  by  A.  X.  Shoemaker.  J.  S.  Miller  and 
W.  R.  Covert  were  also  present.  Another  new  house  of  worship,  dedicated  by 
Shoemaker,  June  20,  1875,  was  built  at  Moneka,  Cedar  county.  C.  L.  Wilson  was 
pastor.  A.  C.  Gamer  assisted  in  the  services.  There  were  now  four  bethels  in 
Cedar  county.  Shoemaker  also  dedicated  a  new  bethel  near  Grundy  Center, 
Grundy  county,  on  January  30,  1876.  J.  M.  Klein  was  pastor.  In  the  Spring  of 
187  6  A.  C.  Garner  removed  to  Sac  county,  Iowa,  adjoining  Ida  on  the  east,  the 
latter  being  the  second  county  east  of  Missouri  River.  His  post  office  was  Sac  City. 
He  proposed  to  preach  quite  a  good  deal,  supplying  points  which  had  no  pastors. 
Such  calls  came  from  Sac,  Ida  and  Buena  Vista  counties.  Thus  the  standard  of 
the  Church  was  planted  in  the  north-western  section  of  the  State.      It  was  also 


i84  History    of    the   Churches    of    God 

about  this  time  that  A.  X.  Shoemaker  first  visited  Ida  and  Sac  counties  on  an  In- 
spection tour.  He  became  a  real  estate  agent,  and  sold  lands  to  many  brethren  of 
the  Church  in  Eastern  Pennsylvania,  who  located  largely  in  the  country  around 
Ida  Grove.  He  preached  at  a  number  of  points  for  nearly  three  years.  When  the 
propitious  time  had  arrived,  on  April  27,  1879,  church  work  was  begun  in  Ida 
Grove,  M.  S.  Newcomer  on  that  day  preaching  the  first  sermon.  At  the  Eldership 
in  187  8,  D.  S.  Guiiiter  was  appointed  to  the  Sioux  Mission,  Iowa.  This  was  in 
Sioux  county,  on  the  South  Dakota  line,  and  the  second  county  south  of  the  Minne- 
sota line.  Thus  the  Eldership  territory  now  extended  entirely  across  the  State, 
from  Des  Moines  county  in  the  south-east  corner,  to  Sioux  county  in  the  north-west 
corner.  Guinter  had  moved  to  Canton,  Dakota,  in  March,  1876,  but  did  little,  if 
any,  work  prior  to  the  Winter  of  187  8-9,  when  he  began  his  labors  on  the  Sioux 
Mission  and  in  Canton,  South  Dakota. 

The  history  of  Church  work  in  Illinois  during  this  period  is  somewhat  brief, 
but  indicates  substantial  advances.  It  begins  with  the  dedication  of  the  bethel  at 
Buda,  Bureau  county,  December  19,  187  5,  by  A.  X.  Shoemaker.  The  house  cost 
over  $3,000.00,  and  was  built  during  the  pastorate  of  M.  S.  Newcomer.  On  October 
3,  1875,  under  the  labors  of  G.  Sandoe,  a  new  bethel  was  dedicated  at  Oak  Point, 
Clark  county.  And  one  3  miles  East  of  Charleston,  Coles  county,  June  11,  1876. 
Coming  across  from  Danville,  Iowa,  on  May  12,  1877,  R.  H.  Bolton  organized  a 
church  near  Disco,  Hancock  county.  111.,  on  the  Mississippi  River,  below  Burlington, 
la.  Another  new  organization  was  effected  by  Newcomer,  pastor,  near  Tampico, 
Bureau  county,  in  1878.  On  November  23,  1879,  the  new  house  of  worship  4  miles 
south  of  Mazon,  Grundy  county,  was  dedicated,  M.  S.  Newcomer  preaching  the  dedi- 
catory sermon.  W.  B.  Allen  assisted  during  the  day,  as  did  the  pastor,  J.  Bernard. 
Mission  work  at  Mendota,  111.,  was  determined  upon  by  the  Eldership  in  October, 
1879,  when  the  matter  was  referred  to  the  Board  of  Missions.  Said  Board  entered 
into  an  agreement  with  the  trustees  of  the  Congregational  Church  for  the  lease  of 
its  house  of  worship  for  two  years  from  January  1,  1880,  for  $120.00  a  year.  M. 
S.  Newcomer  was  put  in  charge  of  the  work  by  action  of  the  Standing  Committee, 
December  3,  1879.  In  the  regular  Church  work  quite  a  good  deal  was  accomp- 
lished, and  through  revival  efforts  many  were  brought  into  fellowship,  thus  greatly 
edifying  the  churches. 

The  Indiana  Eldership  during  this  whole  period  was  working  in  the  shadows 
of  impending  failure  of  the  Ft.  Wayne  Mission.  When  in  187  6  it  was  left  without 
a  pastor,  the  supplies  of  the  pulpit  regarded  the  prospects  still  quite  good.  In 
March  of  said  year  the  Board  of  Missions  borrowed  money  to  meet  immediate 
claims.  And  as  "necessity  demanded  immediate  action,"  by  request  the  Board  of 
Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  released  Indiana  Eldership  from  its  assessment, 
and  W.  P.  Small  was  secured  to  canvass  the  Eldership  for  funds.  Lovett  was  re- 
appointed pastor.  When  Small  had  completed  his  work  he  was  put  in  charge  of 
the  mission,  in  June,  1878,  when  a  visitor  said  "the  church  is  alive,  but  breathing 
faintly."  In  July,  1878,  an  assessment  was  laid  on  all  the  churches  in  the  Elder- 
ship to  raise  the  amount  needed  to  support  Small.  He  did  not  remain  long  in 
charge  of  the  work,  and  Lovett  was  again  appointed.  Strong  appeals  were  made 
not  to  "let  the  bethel  pass  into  other  hands;"  "save  the  Ft.  Wayne  Mission!"  No 
appointment  was  made  in  November,  1879,  and  so  regular  preaching  was  suspend- 
ed, while  B.  Ober  was  appointed  to  canvass  Ft.  Wayne  City  for  funds,  and  I.  W. 
iVIarkley  the  whole  territory  of  the  Eldership.  At  Nettle  Lake  a  new  house  of 
worship  was  built  in  1875,  which  was  dedicated  August  22nd,  by  A.  X.  Shoemaker. 
James  Neil,  Joseph  Neil  and  H.  S.  McNutt  were  present.  Another  bethel  was  built 
at  Potter's  Station,  Ind.,  and  dedicated  May  21,  1876,  by  Elizabeth  McColley.  It 
cost  $1,260.00.  J.  Parker  was  the  pastor.  W.  AV.  Lovett  officiated  at  the  dedica- 
tion of  a  new  house  of  worship  near  Columbia  City,  Ind.,  July  13,  1879,  which  cost 
$2,000.00.  D.  Keplinger  was  the  pastor.  The  Standing  Committee  arranged  for 
a  new  circuit  in  November,  1879,  after  the  Eldership,  called  Eel  River  circuit,  with 
eleven  preaching  places.  A  new  church  was  organized  at  Churubusco,  Whitley 
county,  April  25,  1875,  by  I.  W.  Lowman. 

At  Mansfield,  Ohio,  there  was  substantially  a  duplication  of  the  history  of  the 
Ft.  Wayne,  Ind.,  Mission.  By  October,  1875,  the  work  had  so  declined  that  the 
church  was  "torn  and  scattered."  A  reason  for  such  failures  was  in  part  found  in 
the  want  of  sympathy,  or  "the  disparagement  of  city  missions"  by  the  country 
membership.  This  was  intensified  by  the  outcome  at  Chicago.  Conditions  were 
so   unfavorable,   with   a   debt  of   $2,700.00,   "besides   missionary   funds   invested," 


General    History  185 

that  at  a  meeting  of  the  Missionary  Society  on  October  5,  1875,  it  was  decided  to 
sell  the  property.  About  $1,500.00  missionary  money  was  invested  in  it,  and 
there  was  grave  danger  of  sacrificing  the  whole  of  it.  Hence,  collectors  were  kept 
in  the  field  during  1876,  1877  and  1878.  And  as  late  as  November,  1879,  payment 
of  subscriptions  was  urged.  Naturally  such  work  alienated  the  minds  of  the 
brotherhood  from  such  enterprises  in  general.  Almost  simultaneously  there  were 
sales  of  other  church  properties,  as  at  Pleasant  Valley,  Seneca  county,  which  was 
ordered  in  January,  1875,  by  the  Standing  Committee.      So  also  on  February   16, 

1875,  the  Standing  Committee  directed  the  sale  of  the  church  property  at  Clinton- 
ville,  Franklin  county.  The  parsonage  at  New  Washington,  Crawford  county,  was 
sold  in  187  7,  to  pay  the  debt  resting  on  it.  But  to  relieve  the  situation  in  a  degree, 
successful  work  was  reported  on  the  Toledo  Mission  by  J.  A.  Smith.  Several  new 
churches  were  organized,  one  at  the  Stuller  appointment,  with  twelve  members,  in 
February,  1875,  making  the  fifth  church  on  the  mission.  On  the  Paulding  Mission 
there  were  eleven  preaching  points  served  by  D.  Sands,  and  on  January  13,  187  5, 
he  organized  one  new  church.  In  Hardin  and  Marion  counties  S.  Kline,  despite 
his  conflicts  with  the  Disciples,  was  rewarded  with  good  results.  Plowman,  at  Can- 
ton, Stark  county,  gathered  the  wrecks  of  the  original  church  which  were  loyal  to 
the  Eldership  notwithstanding  the  seeds  of  error  and  disloyalty  sown  by  M,  Beck, 
and  organized  them  into  a  loyal  church  on  August  4,  187  5,  Daniel  Bayler  being 
elected  elder,  and  S.  H.  Addams,  deacon.  They  at  once  appointed  a  Building  Com- 
mittee "to  take  the  necessary  measures  to  erect  a  house  of  worship,"  as  up  to  this 
time  the  services  had  been  held  in  church  houses  owned  by  other  bodies  and  in 
dwelling  houses.  Plowman  also  preached  in  Medina  county,  where  he  was  success- 
ful in  organizing  a  new  church.  At  Primrose,  Williams  county,  near  the  Michigan 
State  line,  McNutt  succeeded  in  building  a  new  bethel,  which  was  dedicated  by  A. 
X.  Shoemaker  on  January  23,  1876.  He  had  the  assistance  of  \V,  P.  Burchard,  S. 
Chamberlain,  James  Neil,  and  his  brother  Joseph.  A  bethel  built  at  Freedom, 
Henry  county,  E.  Poling,  pastor,  was  set  apart  for  divine  worship  on  May  7,  1876, 
by  J.  W.  Aukennan,  assisted  by  J.  V.  Updike.    At  Neptune,  Mercer  county,  in  April, 

1876,  the  church  resolved  to  build  a  new  bethel,  which  was  completed  and  dedi- 
cated January  13,  1878.  J.  W.  Aukerman  preached  the  dedicatory  sermon.  The 
work  was  in  charge  of  J.  H.  McNutt.  Another  bethel  under  the  same  pastor  was 
built  in  the  Now  settlement,  which  Aukerman  dedicated  May  26,  187  8.  The  mis- 
take had  been  made  here  years  before  of  building  on  land  for  which  they  had  only 
the  promise  of  a  deed.  The  man  died,  and  later  the  house  was  sold  to  the  Evan- 
gelical Church,  involving  quite  a  loss  to  the  local  church  and  making  the  task  more 
difficult  to  build  a  new  house.  Gari-ison  succeeded  in  forming  a  new  church  in  187  6 
at  White  House,  Lucas  county.  The  bethel  at  Pleasant  Ridge,  near  Webster,  Han- 
cock county,  was  dedicated  by  G.  AV.  AVilson,  October  14,  1877.  The  pastor  was 
Isaac  Steiner.  A  house  of  worship  being  for  sale  at  Belmore,  Putnam  county,  the 
Standing  Committee,  in  response  to  the  general  desire  of  brethren  residing  there, 
directed  its  purchase.  While  the  General  Eldership  held  its  triennial  session  at 
West  Salem,  Wayne  county,  in  May,  187  5,  the  church  did  not  own  a  house  of  wor- 

•ship.  But  through  the  indefatigable  labors  of  J.  M.  Cassel  the  work  of  raising 
funds  to  build  a  house  for  themselves  was  begun  in  April,  1878.  Cassel  also  had 
the  bethel  at  Wooster  repaired,  which  W.  P.  Small  dedicated  December  15,  1878. 
He  also  succeeded  in  repairing  the  house  at  Cedar  Valley,  which  was  reopened  May 
18,  1879,  J.  V.  Updike  officiating.  On  June  1,  1871,  under  S.  Dickerhoof,  the  new 
house  of  worship  at  Middle  Branch,  Stark  county,  was  dedicated  by  J.  S.  McKee. 
During  several  of  these  years  the  Eldership  was  contending  against  the  inroads  of 
heresies  advocated  by  D.  S.  Warner.  It  had  finally  to  resort  to  the  old  remedy  of 
excission  in  order  to  prevent  the  spread  of  the  disease  and  restore  the  body  to  good 
health. 

In  proportion  to  its  numerical  strength  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  leads 
during  this  period  in  the  number  of  houses  of  worship  built  and  dedicated.  Eleven 
are  reported  over  the  whole  territory.  Of  these  the  first  was  in  Butler  county,  on 
the  field  of  which  Bartlebaugh  was  pastor.  It  was  dedicated  December  20,  1874, 
J.  W.  Davis  preaching  on  Saturday  evening  and  P.  Loucks  on  Sabbath.  At  Eden- 
burg,  Clarion  county,  under  the  labors  of  R.  Vanaman,  a  bethel  was  erected  during 
the  Summer  of  1876,  and  dedicated  by  Shoemaker  on  January  11,  1876.  The  cost 
was  $2,000.00  or  over.  A  church  of  fourteen  members  was  organized  at  said  place 
about  the  same  time.  In  Venango  county,  in  the  McQuiston  neighborhood,  near 
Scrub  Grass,  Loucks  dedicated  a  new  house  of  worship,  December  26,  1875.      M. 


i86  History    of    thi-:    Churches    ok    God 

Davis  was  the  pastor  of  this  charge.  The  work  in  Cambria  county  was  in  good  con- 
dition, and  a  new  house  of  worship  was  built  at  Garman's  Mills,  and  dedicated  by 
Loiicks  January  2,  1876.  As  pastor  at  Benwood,  Marshall  county,  W.  Va.,  J.  S. 
Marple  was  successful  in  having  a  bethel  built  in  the  Summer  of  187  5,  at  the  dedi- 
cation of  which  Loiicks  officiated  on  December  1,  187  5.  There  were  some  rather 
large  revivals  in  Greene  county,  Pa.,  in  January,  187  5,  under  the  labors  of  \V.  B, 
Long,  at  one  of  which  there  were  over  forty  accessions.  Also  in  the  county  of 
Fayette,  under  the  labors  of  AV.  J.  Davis,  a  very  successful  revivalist.  Davis,  in 
the  Spring,  went  to  Greene  county,  where,  at  Windy  Gap,  he  succeeded  in  build- 
ing a  house  of  worship.  This  was  dedicated  by  D.  Wertz,  August  27,  1876.  S. 
Woods  was  in  charge  of  the  work  in  Somerset  county,  and  in  the  Summer  of  187  6 
built  a  bethel  at  Kingwood,  which  was  dedicated  by  Loucks  on  October  8,  1876. 
After  the  holidays,  in  1878,  the  revival  at  Templeton,  where  about  fifty  were  con- 
verted, prepared  the  way  for  the  building  of  a  bethel,  which  was  begun  in  April, 
187  8,  under  the  labors  of  J.  W.  Adams.  Butler  county  had  another  dedication  on 
January  26,  1879,  at  Glade  Mills,  at  which  Loucks  officiated.  M.  S.  Pritts  was  the 
successful  pastor.  The  church  at  West  Newton  was  organized  in  1843.  In  1852 
it  built  a  small  bethel,  which  it  used  until  the  Spring  of  1879,  when  a  better  and 
more  commodious  house  was  built,  which  was  dedicated  on  October  12,  1879,  by 
G.  Sigler.  It  cost  $2,454.00  and  was  erected  under  the  labors  of  J.  W.  Bloyd,  pas- 
tor. The  bethel  at  Avenue,  1  mile  from  Tarentum,  Allegheny  county,  was  built 
in  1879,  under  the  labors  of  R.  Vanaman.  It  was  dedicated  November  30,  1879. 
This  church  is  also  known  as  the  Brackenridge  Avenue  church.  The  church  was 
organized  by  Plowman  in  1869;  the  bethel  was  built  during  the  Summer  of  1879. 
The  dedicatory  services  were  conducted  by  B.  F.  Bolton.  The  Eldership  had  a 
mission  in  Jefferson  county,  in  1875,  with  J.  W.  Adams  as  missionary,  who  or- 
ganized a  church  at  Cool  Spring  of  twenty-three  members,  "the  greater  part  of 
them  heads  of  families."  He  was  succeeded  by  M.  McV'ay  in  1877-8,  who  had  re- 
vivals at  Center  Point  and  at  Emericksville.  He  extended  his  labors  into  Elk 
county,  preaching  at  Crossburg  in  an  Adventist  house  of  worship,  the  church  being 
without  a  pastor.  The  church  at  Cool  Spring  was  in  danger  of  losing  its  house  of 
worship,  owing  to  a  small  debt  which  it  claimed  to  be  unable  to  pay.  Another  mis- 
sion, in  which  W.  J.  Davis  was  pastor,  was  in  Kanawha  county,  W.  Va.  There  was 
a  small  church  at  Grandview,  and  in  January,  1879,  he  organized  one  in  Jackson 
county.  This  was  the  beginning  of  work  in  this  county.  T.  Woods  opened  the 
Proctor  mission,  Wetzel  county,  where  he  had  good  success,  as  the  Disciple  influ- 
ence was  waning.  He  opened  nine  appointments.  In  1879  W.  B.  Smith  was  sent 
to  open  a  mission  known  as  the  Bradford  Mission,  on  which  he  was  quite  successful. 
Good  success  attended  the  work  on  the  Morrison's  Cove  circuit,  including 
Stonerstown  and  other  points  on  the  east  of  the  mountain.  East  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship, in  1875,  under  G.  W.  Seilhanuner,  so  that  the  Standing  Committee  divided  the 
field  January  19,  1875,  and  gave  Stonerstown  to  J.  M.  Speese.  Roaring  Spring 
was  assuming  some  importance,  as  a  revival  toward  Spring  resulted  in  ninety-eight 
conversions,  a  majority  of  which  united  with  the  church.  In  1877,  with  H.  E. 
Reever  as  pastor,  the  work  was  still  further  enlarged  by  the  organization  of  a 
church  at  Snively's,  which  elected  James  Miller  and  George  Snively,  elders,  and 
Jacob  and  Samuel  Snively,  deacons.  It  has  rarely  been  the  case  that  a  board  or 
committee  of  the  Eldership  has  been  so  radically  divided,  or  two  boards  or  com- 
mittees so  sharply  antagonistic,  as  was  the  case  from  March,  187  5,  until  the  session 
of  the  Eldership.  The  division  was  in  the  Standing  Committee,  of  which  a  ma- 
jority was  in  conflict  with  the  Board  of  Missions.  The  matter  at  issue  was  the 
authority  of  the  Standing  Committee  to  appropriate  missionary  money.  It  had  ap- 
propriated $300.00  to  certain  missionaries.  This  the  Board  declared  to  be  an  in- 
valid act,  and  refused  to  recognize  it,  or  to  pay  the  appropriations.  The  Elder- 
ship sustained  the  Board.  In  June,  1875,  a  bethel  was  projected  at  Idaville,  Adams 
county,  and  work  begun,  but  no  statement  of  its  completion  is  on  record.  D.  H. 
Mumma,  the  pastor,  was  an  energetic  missionary,  and  he  lamented  that  the  work 
in  this  county  had  been  so  much  neglected.  But  prospects  were  still  good.  He 
was  successful  in  building  a  house  of  worship  at  Harmony,  York  county,  near  the 
Adams  county  line,  in  the  Summer  of  1877,  which  was  dedicated  on  the  unusual 
day,  December  9,  1877,  being  Saturday,  at  10  a.  m.,  by  C.  H.  Forney,  who  also 
preached  on  Sabbath  morning  and  evening.  At  Zimmermantown,  Schuylkill 
county,  a  bethel  was  built  in  the  Summer  of  1875,  under  the  labors  of  S.  Smith, 
which  was  dedicated  October  10th,  by  A.  Snyder,  assisted  by  I.  Hay  and  D.  Shope. 


General    History  187 

In  Windsor  township,  York  county,  a  bethel  was  built  on  Daniel  Holtziiiger's  farm, 
and  known  as  the  Holtzinger  Bethel,  which  J.  Keller  dedicated  November  12,  1876. 
C.  Knoll  was  the  pastor.      T.  Still  and  S.  E.  Hei-nian  assisted  at  the  dedicatory  ser- 
vices.     At  Hummelstown,  Dauphin  county,  the  building  of  a  bethel  was  begun  in 
the  Spring  of  1876.      The  corner-stone  was  laid  by  B.  F.  Reck  on  July  2nd,  and  on 
December  10th  the  house  was  solemnly  set  apart  for  divine  worship,  the  morning 
sermon  being  preached  by  G.  Sigler  and  the  evening  sermon  by  W.  L.  Jones.     S.  C. 
Stonesifer  was  pastor.      Under  the  labors  of  F.  L.  Nicodemus  the  church  at  Shire- 
raanstown,  Cumberland  county,  made  extensive  repairs  on  its  house  of  worship  in 
the  Summer  of  1876.    The  original  house  was  built  in  1841,  but  was  remodeled  and 
enlarged,  and  on  October  8th  was  rededicated  by  C.  H.  Forney.       The    bethel    at 
Maytown,  Lancaster  county,  built  in  185  8,  was  also  repaired  and  much  improved 
the  same  Summer,  under  the  pastorate  of  I.  S.  Richmond.      It  was  reopened  No- 
vember 12,  187  6,  C.  H.  Forney  preaching  the  sermons,  with  the  presence  of  J.  W. 
Deshong,  I.  Brady  and  J.  C.  Owens.      The  original  bethel  at  Altoona  was  "a  shell 
of  a  house,"  2  6x40  feet,  and  was  also  becoming  too  small  to  accommodate  the  peo- 
ple who  desired  to  listen  to  "the  eloquent  Irish  preacher,"  J.  Hunter.      Accordingly 
the  church  went  energetically  to  work  in  187  6  to  build  a  house  which  would  seat 
from  four  hundred  and  fifty  to  five  hundred  people,    which    was    dedicated    the 
nearest  Sunday  to  St.  Patrick's  day,  1877,  C.  H.  Forney  officiating.      The  Annville, 
Lebanon  county,  church,  originally  organized  in  1844,  and  once  a  strong  church, 
had  become  extinct.      But  a  few  families  of  the  church  removing  to  the  place,  with 
Dr.  Ross  and  family,  of  Lebanon,  reorganized  it  April  2,  1877,  with  sixteen  mem- 
bers.     J.  A.  MacDannald  was  then  pastor,  who  secured  for  the  occasion  the  services 
of  G.  Sigler  and  A.  Snyder,  the  former  preaching  an  English  sermon  and  the  latter 
a  German  sermon.      The  most  phenomenal  enterprise  developed  in  Lancaster  City, 
Lancaster  county,  where  a  division  occurred  in  the  church,  and  nearly  one  hundred 
members  withdrew  and  began  to  hold  regular  services  in    a    large    hall.       They 
called  J.  B.  Soule  to  be  their  pastor.      They  manifested  a  remarkable  spirit  of  ag- 
gressive missionary  zeal.     With  no  house  of  worship,  they  established  two  missions, 
one  on  Dorwart  street,  and  the  other  in  the  northern  part  of  the  city.     The  former 
was  started  July  18,  1876,  the  latter  December  24,  1866,  known  as  the  Antioch  mis- 
sion.     The  church  was  organized  June  8,  1877,  and  on  July  15,  1877,  the  corner- 
stone of  their  house  of  worship  was  laid  by  C.  H.  Forney.      November  18,  1877,  the 
house,  known  as  "Salem  Church,"  was  dedicated.      C.  H.  Forney  preached  in  the 
morning,  and  W.  L.  Jones,  in  the  evening.      The  church  at  once  went  to  work  to 
build  the  Antioch  mission  bethel,  which  was  dedicated   May   19,    1878,   by  C.  H. 
Forney.      At  the  session  of  the  Eldership  in  1878,  J.  W.  Miller  was  appointed  to 
Salem  church  and  its  missions,  and  J.  B.  Soiile  was  sent  to  Altoona,  to  take  effect 
April,  1879.      The  church  resented  this  action,  and  declared  itself  independent  of 
the  Eldership.      It  did  not  long  survive,  and  the  enterprise  with  such  an  auspicious 
beginning  utterly  failed.      Bainbridge,  Lancaster  county,  with  D.  S.  Shoop  as  pas- 
tor, began  the  erection  of  a  new  bethel  in  the  Spring  of    1877.       C.    H.    Forney 
preached  and  laid  the  corner-stone  July  29,  1877,  and  also  dedicated  the  new  house 
May  5,  1878.      A.  H.  Long  assisted  at  both  services,  and  at  the  dedication  W.  L. 
Jones   preached   in   the  evening.      The   colored   brethren   at    Brownsville,   Franklin 
county,  began  the  work  of  building  a  bethel  in  June,  1878;   but  owing  to  lack  of 
means  made  slow  progress.      The  mission  at  Columbia,  Lancaster  county,  was  mak- 
ing steady  progress  under  the  energetic  labors  of  J.  \V.  Deshong,  and  on  July  29, 
1878,  with  preaching  in  three  or  four  churches  in  the  town  by  Forney,  Shoop  and 
Beck,  the  former,  in  the  afternoon,  laid  the  corner-stone.      The  dedication  occurred 
March  23,  1879,  when  Sigler,  Jones  and  Laverty  officiated.      The  church  at  Reading, 
having  become  disorganized  and  scattered,  was  reorganized  August  18,  1878,  with 
"twenty-five  or  thirty  members."      On  September  1,  1878,  under  the  pastoral  labors 
of  W.  P.  Winbigler,  the  corner-stone  of  a  new  bethel  was  laid  at  Lisburn,  Cumber- 
land county,  and  the  house  was  dedicated  December  22,  1878,  C.  H.  Forney  officiat- 
ing at  both  services.      A  new  point  of  promising  church  work  was  opened  at  North 
Middleton,  Cumberland  county,  near  Carlisle,  I.  S.  Richmond  being  pastor.      The 
corner-stone  was  laid  by  C.  H.  Forney  October  20,  1878,  C.  C.  Bartels  being  also 
present.      The  preaching  was  in  the  barn  of  John  Lightner  near  by.      The  house 
was  completed  and  dedicated  May  4,  1879,  under  the  pastorate  of  O.  H.  Betts.      C. 
H.  Forney  preached  in  the  morning,  and  F.  L.  Nicodemus,  in  the  evening.      Other 
ministers  present  were  R.  M.  Pine,  H.  Hackenberger  and    J.    F.    MeixeL       After 
needed  repairs,  the  bethel  at  Marysville,  Perry  county,  was  reopened  September  28, 


i88  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

1878,  under  the  labors  of  J.  W.  Felix,  C.  H.  Forney  preaching  the  sermons.  The 
Fairview  bethel,  Lancaster  county,  was  built  under  the  labors  of  D.  H.  Mumina, 
and  was  to  have  been  dedicated  December  25,  1878;  but  the  services  were  deferred 
until  June  1,  1879,  when  C  H.  Foraey  preached  both  morning  and  evening.  At  4 
o'clock  p.  m.,  the  church  was  organized.  Near  the  home  of  John  Soule,  father  of 
the  Soule  brothers,  the  Sandy  Hollow  bethel  stands,  built  in  the  Summer  of  187  8, 
and  dedicated  by  W.  L.  Jones  and  J.  IJ.  Soule  December  22,  187  8,  F.  L.  Nicodemus 
being  the  pastor. 

In  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership  the  work  of  confirming  the  churches 
was  earnestly  pushed  forward,  and  there  were  many  successful  revivals.  The  pros- 
pects in  the  Virginia  part  of '  the  Eldership  apparently  brightened  under  the  labors 
of  C.  L.  Amy.  It  was  regarded  as  excellent  missionary  territory,  but  was  generally 
much  neglected.  Amy  in  187  5  had  eight  appointments  around  Martinsburg,  and 
in  187  6  began  the  building  of  a  bethel  in  Berkeley  county.  But  at  the  Eldership  in 
18  7  6  the  only  other  bethel  in  that  territory  was  ordered  to  be  sold  to  pay  a  debt 
resting  on  it,  and  the  field  was  left  without  a  preacher,  to  be  supplied  by  the  Stand- 
ing Committee.  At  Oak  Hill,  Creagerstown  circuit,  J.  W.  Kipe,  pastor,  a  new 
house  of  worship  was  dedicated  December  24,  1876.  In  1877,  a  bethel  was  built 
at  Piney  Creek,  1%  miles  from  Taneytown,  Carroll  county,  under  the  pastoral 
labors  of  S.  W.  Naill,  and  was  dedicated  by  C.  H.  Forney,  December  16th.  Under 
the  labors  of  J.  A.  Staub  a  new  bethel  known  as  Mt.  Briar  meeting-house  was  dedi- 
cated May  11,  1879,  by  S.  W,  Naill.  The  new  bethel  at  Appier's  Mills,  with  J.  A. 
Sa.vton,  pastor,  was  dedicated  by  Wm.  Palmer  on  June  1,  1879.      On  December  21, 

1879,  the  bethel  at  Sigler's,  Frederick  county,  was  dedicated,  C.  H.  Forney  and 
G.  Sigler  officiating.      A.  Philhour  was  the  pastor. 

Conditions  in  Maine  were  peculiar.  The  cause  had  elements  of  strength  and 
prosperity.  Naturally  a  stable  people,  conservative  and  truth-loving,  only  the  best 
and  most  permanent  results  could  have  been  anticipated.  The  faith  and  practice 
of  the  Church  of  God  appealed  to  them;  they  were  in  a  measure  prepared  for  them. 
They  earnestly  called  for  missionaries,  and  seemed  anxious  that  representatives 
from  East  Pennsylvania  should  come  among  them  and  devote  their  years  to  the 
cause  in  that  State.  In  April,  1875,  \V.  H.  Engler  left  Maytown,  Pa.,  and  went  to 
Maine,  reaching  Enfield  on  the  10th.  He  organized  a  church  of  God  at  Dixmont 
on  April  15th,  with  twelve  members;  one  at  Orono  on  the  22nd,  with  fourteen 
members,  and  one  at  Bradford,  April  28th,  with  twenty-five  members.  He  re- 
mained only  a  short  time,  but  returned  again  in  November,  1877.  These  brief  trips 
by  different  ministers  were  not  satisfactory,  and  John  Dennis  said  they  were  usually 
at  the  wrong  season  of  the  year  for  that  climate.  But  still  the  work  grew  and 
enlarged.  Mills  dedicated  a  church  building  at  Fort  Fairfield  in  February,  1876. 
At  Windsor  he  organized  a  church  March  11,  1876,  and  in  1878  the  Quarterly 
Meeting  convened  with  the  church  recently  organized  at  Lincoln  Center,  in  their 
new  house  of  worship.  Of  this  church  Dr.  J.  I.  Brown  was  a  member,  the  only 
Maine  minister  who  ever  attended  a  General  Eldership.  In  May,  1876,  Mills  or- 
ganized one  church  at  Monroe,  and  one  at  Swanville.  In  June,  187  6,  A.  F.  Bi-own 
formed  two  organizations,  one  at  Glenburn,  and  one  at  South  China.  Quite  a  large 
revival  was  carried  on  at  Islesboro  by  Mills  and  others,  and  with  the  sixty-five 
converts  a  church  was  organized  in  187  8  by  E.  F.  Hanson.  Also  one  at  Searsport, 
June  16,  187  8.  These  churches  were  located  in  the  counties  of  Somerset,  Waldo, 
Kennebec,  Aroostook  and  Penobscot,  and  numbered  twelve  or  more.  But  the  ele- 
ments of  disintegration  manifested  themselves  as  early  as  December  19,  1878,  when 
three  preachers  withdrew,  "not  being  satisfied  with  the  proceedings  of  the  body 
here  in  Maine."  And  in  July,  1879,  the  churches  in  Waldo  county,  at  a  Quarterly 
Meeting,  voted  "to  withd-raw  from  the  body  in  Maine  and  form  an  Eldership  under 
the  Rules  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership."  Six  churches  in  Waldo  county 
joined  this  movement.  As  early  as  183  8  B.  Howard  found  churches  of  God  in 
New  Brunswick,  where  probably  this  movement  in  Maine  originated.  He  went 
from  Eastport,  Me.,  to  Halifax,  N.  S.,  where  he  found  a  church  of  God.  Also  at 
Picton.  He  established  churches  with  this  name  and  faith  at  Cornwallis,  Falmouth.. 
Liverpool  and  Port  Midway  and  other  places.  At  St.  John's,  N.  B.,  he  found  a 
similar  church,  and  himself  organized  one  at  Orimocto,  and  at  two  other  points. 
Some  of  these  churches  existed  during  the  time  that  this  movement  was  in  progress 
in  Maine. 

While  the  number  of  deaths  of  ministers  of  the  Church  of  God  during  this 
period  was  small,  outside  of  the  Church  quite  a  number  of  distinguished  men  ended 


General    History  189 

their  illustrious  careers.  Those  in  the  Church  who  fell  in  the  battle  of  life  were 
P.  D.  Collins,  of  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership,  but  first  licensed  by  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1858.  He  died  May  13,  1875.  He  was  followed  October 
1,  187  6,  by  William  McElroy.  He  was  licensed  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship in  1840.  He  received  his  early  religious  training  in  the  Episcopal  Church;  but 
after  his  conversion  he  united  with  the  Methodist  Church,  and  later  with  the 
<Jhurch  of  God.  He  reached  the  age  of  7  8  yeai's.  For  a  short  time  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership,  as  he  generally  labored  within  its 
territory,  much  of  his  time  in  Virginia.  On  June  1,  1878,  D.  Keplinger  wrote: 
"Our  much  beloved  fellow-laborer,  George  H.  Thomas,  has  fallen."  He  died  in  San 
Antonio,  Texas,  whither  he  had  gone  for  his  health.  He  reached  the  age  of  sixty. 
He  was  ordained  to  the  ministry  by  the  Ohio  Eldership  in  1843.  Thence  he  went 
to  the  Indiana  Eldership,  where  most  of  his  active  ministerial  life  was  spent.  But 
for  short  periods  he  was  also  a  member  of  the  Illinois,  the  Iowa  and  the  Kansas 
Elderships.  "He  was  one  of  the  ablest  ministers  of  the  Church  of  God  for  many 
years,"  is  the  testimony  of  one  who  was  well  acquainted  with  him.  In  other  re- 
ligious bodies  the  most  prominent  men  who  passed  away  during  this  period  were 
Charles  G.  Finney,  the  eminent  theologian  and  educator.  President  of  Oberlin  Col- 
lege, who  died  August  16,  1875;  Richard  Fuller,  the  celebrated  Baptist  minister 
of  Baltimore,  Md.,  pre-eminently  a  Bible  student  and  a  Bible  preacher,  died  in 
October,  1876;  W.  G.  Brownlow,  Methodist  minister,  journalist  and  political  leader, 
who  died  April  28,  1877;  Dr.  Muhlenberg,  Protestant  Episcopal  minister  and  poet, 
died  in  1877;  Charles  Hodge,  of  the  Theological  Seminary,  Princeton,  N.  J.,  a  theo- 
logian of  world-wide  reputation;  Pope  Pius  TX.,  who  died  at  Rome,  Italy,  Febru- 
ary 7,  1878,  whose  death  was  considered  "one  of  the  great  events  of  the  decade." 
He  was  born  May  13,  1792,  and  was  named  Giovanni  Maria  Mastai  Ferretti.  His 
successor,  Gioacchino  Pecci,  was  elected  in  March,  1878,  and  assumed  the  name  of 
Pope  Leo.  XIII.  Howard  Malcom,  a  noted  Baptist  divine,  born  in  1799,  died  in 
1879.  He  is  the  author  of  the  edition  of  Butler's  Analogy  of  Religion,  with  Intro- 
duction, Notes  and  Conspectus,  which  is  still  a  text-book  in  the  Course  of  Studies  of 
the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. 


CHAPTER    XV. 


1880—1885. 


THERE  is  something  fascinating  about  memorial  days!  We  all  keep  them, 
whether  they  be  observed  by  public  celebrations,  or  in  the  quiet  of  our  own 
hearts!  In  silence,  secretly  and  alone,  we  often  wander  back  along-  the 
traveled  road  of  life  which  lies  behind  us,  and  gratefully  raise  our  Ebenezer.  But 
more  inspiration  is  realized,  and  a  deeper  enthusiasm  created  when  the  people  of  a 
town  or  city,  a  State  or  a  Republic  join  in  a  common  commemoration  of  some  his- 
toric event,  like  that  of  the  nation's  birth,  or  the  beautiful  services  of  Memorial 
Day,  when  a  nation  repeats  year  after  year  that  magnificent  poem: 

"Cover  them  over  with  beautiful  flowers. 

Deck  them  with  garlands,  those  brothers  of  ours, 

Lying  so  silent  by  night  and  by  day, 

Sleeping  the  years  of  their  manhood  away." 
Thus  the  nation  in  187  6  celebrated  the  centennial  of  its  existence,  and  in  melodious 
symphony  chanted  Whittier's  majestic  "Centennial  Hymn:" 
"Our  Fathers'  God!  from  out  whose  hand 

The  centuries  fall  like  grains°of  sand." 
Perhaps  this  "Centennial,"  pre-eminently  so-called,  with  a  few  others,  awakened 
the  suggestion,  which  took  form  in  1878,  to  observe  the  semi-centennial  of  the 
formal  organization  of  the  Church  of  God  during  1880,  the  first  year  of  this  semi- 
decade.  A  recommendation  was  made  to  the  General  Eldership  in  187  8  to  arrange 
for  a  suitable  commemoration  of  this  event,  and  said  body  appointed  C.  H.  Forney 
and  M.  S.  Newcomer  to  prepare  a  plan  for  such  a  service.  This  work  was  done  in 
good  time,  and  on  September  1,  1879,  a  repoi't  was  made  to  the  Executive  Board 
of  the  General  Eldership  convened  at  North  Liberty,  .lohnson  county,  Iowa,  Lin- 
inger,  Bailey  and  Besore,  of  the  Board  being  present.      This  Program  was  approved 


190  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

by  the  Board,  with  the  exception  of  "Item  II.,"  which  provided  for  "a  semi-centen- 
nial camp-meeting,  under  the  direction  of  a  semi-centennial  camp-meeting  com- 
mittee." All  the  Boards  of  the  General  Eldership  were  to  meet  on  the  camp 
ground.  One  sermon  was  to  be  preached  by  a  minister  of  each  Eldership  which  had 
been  organized.  The  other  items  in  the  Report  provided  for  were:  "A  semi- 
centennial Anniversary  or  Memorial  Day  on  the  Sabbath  preceding  the  date  on 
which  the  first  Eldership  was  organized,"  with  a  complete  "order  of  services." 
Each  annual  Eldership  was  requested  to  set  apart  a  day  during  its  session  in  1880 
to  hold  special  Semi-centennial  services.  The  first  Sabbath  in  January,  1880,  was 
named  on  which  the  Semi-centennial  year  was  to  be  opened  by  the  preaching  of  a 
sermon  by  each  minister  in  charge  of  an  appointment  in  every  Eldership,  touching, 
the  missionary,  educational  and  publishing  interests  of  the  Church,  and  to  urge 
special  contributions  during  the  year  to  these  interests.  A  certain  number  of 
brethren  were  to  be  appointed  by  the  Board  of  Publication  and  the  Editor  and 
Assistant  Editor  of  The  Advocate  to  prepare  fifty-two  special  articles  on  assigned 
subjects,  to  be  published  in  the  fifty-two  issues  of  the  paper  during  the  year.  On 
December  11,  1879,  the  Board  of  Publication  and  the  Editor  met  in  Harrisburg, 
Pa.,  to  agree  upon  the  topics  for  the  suggested  articles  and  the  writers.  They 
arranged  for  three  series,  one  on  Church  Doctrine  and  Church  Polity,  one  on  the 
History  of  the  Church,  and  one  on  Biographies  of  Fathers  of  the  Church.  These 
with  their  authors  were  as  follows:  Church  Doctrine: — Fall  and  Depravity,  G. 
Sigler.  Doctrine  of  Sin,  J.  S.  McKee.  Atonement  and  Redemption,  P.  Loucks. 
Ability  and  Free-Will,  M.  S.  Newcomer.  Conversion  and  Regeneration,  A.  X. 
Shoemaker.  Providence,  D.  Wertz.  Ordinances  and  Rites,  A.  Swailz.  Riile  of 
Faith,  G.  AV.  Wilson.  State  of  the  Dead,  George  Sandoe.  Local  Church  Polity, 
A.  HoUems.  Annual  Eldership  Polity,  D.  A.  L.  Laverty.  General  Eldership  Polity, 
R.  H.  Bolton.  The  History  of  the  Church  was  to  be  written  in  periods  of  ten  years, 
which  were  as  follows:  Up  to  1840,  T.  Hickemell.  From  1840  to  1850,  W.  Vance; 
1850  to  1860,  A.  Megrew;  1860  to  1870,  C.  Price;  1870  to  1880,  I.  E.  Beyer. 
Annual  Eldership  Histories.  The  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  A.  Swartz.  East 
Ohio  Eldership,  J.  A.  Plowman.  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  A.  C.  Raysor.  In- 
diana Eldership,  J.  E.  McColley.  Iowa  Eldership,  J.  Lininger.  Illinois  Eldership, 
W.  B.  Allen.  Michigan  Eldership,  C.  C.  Linsey.  German  Eldership,  A.  Snyder. 
Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership,  W.  Booth.  West  Ohio  Eldership,  W.  P. 
Small.  Texas  Eldership,  E.  Marple.  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership,  D.  Blakely. 
Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership,  J.  H.  Chew.  Nebraska  Eldership,  E.  D.  Aller. 
Maine  Eldership,  H.  Mills.  The  Biographies  were  arranged  as  follows:  J.  Wine- 
brenner,  by  Dr.  George  Ross.  G.  U.  Ham,  by  J.  W.  Ankerman.  AV.  Mooney,  by  A. 
Swartz.  E.  H.  Thomas,  by  J.  H.  Redsecker.  AV.  McFadden,  by  Mrs.  J.  AVine- 
brenner.  E.  Logue,  by  F.  F.  Kiner.  D.  Maxwell,  by  D.  Shelley.  J.  Keller, 
by  Mrs.  M.  J.  Ross.  A.  Miller,  by  J.  Haifleigh.  James  Mackey,  by  Mi"s.  E.  R. 
Gable.  John  AValbum,  by  George  Smuller.  J.  H.  Bamberger,  by  W.  L.  Jones. 
J.  M.  Domer,  by  J.  Hickernell.  George  Thomas,  by  D.  Keplinger.  AV.  Adams, 
by  S.  Lilley.  J.  Flake,  by  J.  M.  Carvell.  Early  local  workers,  by  George 
Sigler,  Jos.  Neil  and  B.  Ober.  The  Editor  of  The  Advocate  had  assigned  to 
him  his  predecessors  as  editors,  and  the  history  and  finances  of  the  paper.  The 
Board  of  Incorporation  of  the  General  Eldership  also  arranged  to  have  a  semi- 
centennial Sunday-school  service  in  every  school  throughout  the  whole  territory. 
In  the  Order  of  Services  for  Memorial  Day  the  following  were  the  items:  1.  Dox- 
ology.  2.  Hymn  (original,  and  the  Executive  Board  appointed  M.  S.  Newcomer 
to  write  it).  3.  Scripture  Lesson — Matt.  xvi.  13-2  0;  Col.  i.  12-28;  I.  Peter  ii. 
1-10.  4.  Prayer.  5.  Hymn  No.  414,  Church  Hymn  Book.  6.  Historical  Ser- 
mon. 7.  A  thank-offering  for  General  Eldership  mission  work.  8.  Hymn  No. 
420,  Church  Hymn  Book.  9.  Prater.  10.  Hymn  No.  79  8,  Church  Hymn  Book. 
11.  Benediction.  One  object  of  this  Semi-centennial  w^as  indicated  as  "a  special- 
ly appropriate  one";  that  is,  "to  labor  for  a  deeper  and  more  pervasive  piety  among 
the  members  of  the  Church  of  God."  What  the  results  were  of  this  anniversary  no 
one  can  venture  to  estimate.  Records  do  not  show.  On  June  16,  1880,  a  reader 
of  The  Advocate  made  a  report  on  three  items  as  he  gathered  them  from  the  paper, 
and  which  were  evidently  incomplete.  His  report  takes  in  every  State  in  which 
ministers  of  the  Church  labored,  and  shows  for  the  months  of  January,  February 
and  March  a  total  of  conversions,  1,53  8;  baptisms,  5  35,  and  accessions,  1,110. 
February  24,  1881,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  R.  Gable  made  an  appeal  for  $1.00  from  every 
member  of  the  Church,  to  raise  $50,000  "for  the  Lord's  treasury  over  and  above 
that  raised  other  years,  for  the  beginning  of  a  Permanent  Fund."      It,  however, 


General    History  191  • 

elicited  no  response.  The  Alverton,  Pa.,  church  and  Sunday-school  enjoy  the  dis- 
tinction of  making  "a  semi-centennial  donation  to  the  Permanent  Fund  of  the 
Board  of  Missions  in  June,  1880." 

A  subject  of  world-wide  interest  in  1880  was  "The  Robert  Raikes  Centennial," 
or  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  introduction  of  Sunday-schools  by  Robert 
Baikes,  of  Gloucester,  England.  There  was  very  much  to  rejoice  over  during  this 
anniversary,  and  the  Church  of  God  and  its  Sunday-schools  all  over  the  territory 
of  the  General  Eldership  heartily  participated  in  it.  On  June  2,  1880,  when  the 
Board  of  Incorporation  was  in  session  at  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.,  J.  H.  Redsecker  pre- 
sented the  matter  in  a  letter  addressed  to  the  Board,  in  which  he  urged  that  ap- 
propriate action  be  taken  "touching  the  celebrRticn  cf  the  establishment  of  Sunday- 
schools  one  hundred  years  ago  by  Robert  Raikes."  The  Board  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  report  a  suitable  plan.  This  committee  met  on  June  17th,  and  drew  up 
an  order  of  service,  and  named  September  5th  as  the  day,  recommending  that  this 
day  be  observed  by  all  the  schools,  with  the  use  of  the  Order  of  Services  agreed 
upon.  There  was  to  be  an  appropriate  sermon  in  the  morning,  and  a  sermon  and 
addresses  in  the  evening;  selections  of  Scripture,  responsive  readings,  hymns  of 
praise,  selections  of  music  and  addresses  to  the  schools  in  the  afternoon.  Essays 
and  addresses  were  also  provided  for  at  the  Sunday-school  conventions.  These 
services  everywhere  created  general  interest  and  awakened  new  enthusiasm  in  Sun- 
day-school work.  To  Robert  Raikes  Providence  had  in  no  adequate  measure  re- 
vealed the  future  grandeur  of  his  work,  and  eloquent  speeches  and  sermons  scarcely 
did  justice  to  the  splendid  achievements  of  the  army  of  workers  in  this  divine 
cause. 

The  Semi-centennial  also  naturally  revived  interest  in  the  "Life  and  Times  of 
Elder  John  AVinebrenner,"  and  so  the  Board  of  Incorporation  called  upon  the  Ex- 
ecutive Board,  "urging  said  Board  to  take  immediate  action  on  this  matter."  Said 
Board  had  been  "instructed  to  appoint  Sister  Elizabeth  R.  Gable  to  write"  this 
work;  but  nothing  had  been  done.  While  not  connected  with  the  movement,  nor 
directly  concerned  in  its  results,  the  Church  of  God  felt  an  interest  in  the  Pan 
Presbyterian  Council  which  met  in  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  on  September  23,  1880.  It 
was  composed  of  "all  the  religious  bodies  in  the  world  whose  government  is  presby- 
terial  and  whose  creed  is  in  harmony  with  the  concensus  of  the  Reformed  Confes- 
sions." Many  topics  were  on  the  program  for  discussion  which  had  been  receiving 
a  good  deal  of  attention  from  the  churches  and  ministers  of  the  General  Eldership. 
This  was  especially  true  of  Bible  Revision,  or  a  new  translation  of  the  Scriptures, 
which  in  different  forms  had  been  exhaustively  discussed  in  The  Advocate.  The 
preparation  and  publication  of  the  new  version  was  unquestionably  the  most  im- 
portant literary  enterprise  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  its  completion  was 
waited  for  with  curiosity  and  anxiety  by  hundreds  of  thousands.  It  was  the  re- 
vision of  the  Bible  published  in  1611,  known  as  the  Authorized  Version.  The  pur- 
pose was  to  complete  the  work  in  1880,  the  fifth  semi-centenary  of  Wickliflfe's 
Bible,  the  first  complete  translation  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  into  the  Eng- 
lish language.  But  these  calculations  were  not  realized.  It  was  not  until  May 
17,  1881,  that  the  work  was  in  the  market  in  England,  and  May  20th  in  the  United 
States.  So  great  was  the  demand  for  copies  of  the  new  version  that  several  enter- 
prising daily  newspapers  published  the  entire  Revision  within  a  few  days  after 
the  appearance  of  the  first  copies.  To  many,  however,  the  Revision  was  a  disap- 
pointment, though  the  recognized  scholarship  of  the  world  generally  approved  it. 
But  the  public  expressions  of  judgment  by  ministers  of  the  Church  were  unfavor- 
able, except  that  the  Editor  of  The  Advocate  defended  it.  Far  less  interest  was 
manifested  in  the  publication  of  the  revised  Old  Testament.  The  first  edition  was 
published  in  England  on  Saturday,  May  16,  188.5,  and  in  the  United  States  the  first 
copies  were  placed  on  sale  May  21st.  Fifteen  years  had  been  occupied  in  com- 
pleting the  entire  work. 

The  Church  of  God  was  more  or  less  interested  in  the  discovery  and  publica- 
tion of  "Teachings  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,"  which  appeared  in  1884.  The  work 
adds  its  testimony  to  that  of  the  Scriptures  and  other  early  writers  against  sun- 
dry denominational  theories,  chief  among  them  being  that  of  the  doctrine  of 
Apostolic  succession  and  the  various  theories  of  the  episcopacy.  Also  there  is  in 
it  not  a  word  in  favor  of  infant  baptism. 

The  uniformly  close  connection  of  the  Church  of  God  and  the  Free  Baptist 
Church  added  interest  to  the  celebration  of  the  latter's  centenary,  or  the  holding 
of  its  "Centennial  General  Conference"  in  July,  1880.      Not  only  is  there  an  essen- 


192  History    of    the    Churches    of    (tod 

tial  similarity  between  the  two  bodies;  but  not  unfrequently  in  those  earlier  years 
did  ministers  of  the  Church  of  God  serve  as  pastors  of  Free  Baptist  churches  in 
north-western  Pennsylvania  and  south-western  New  York,  and  in  Ohio,  Illinois 
and  Kansas.  Some  Free  Baptist  churches  also  assumed  the  name  of  "Free  Bap- 
tist Church  of  God."  These  were  received  through  their  delegates  at  the  Yearly 
Meetings,  and  the  question  was  raised  in  1880  whether  they  might  not  send  dele- 
gates to  the  Elderships  of  the  Church  of  God. 

As  this  period  was  noted  for  semi-centennial  and  centennial  anniversaries,  so 
the  entire  nineteenth  century  was  characterized  by  the  production  and  develop- 
ment of  some  of  the  greatest  agencies  which  have  given  such  vast  impulse  to  the 
advance  of  Christianity.  But  it  was  reserved  for  the  latter  part  of  the  century  to 
give  birth  and  permanent  evolution  to  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of  all  Christian 
agencies,  and  in  which  the  churches  of  God  and  the  Elderships  have  manifested 
a  well  sustained  interest.  It  is  known  by  the  comprehensive  name  of  "The  Young 
People's  Movement."  Sporadic  organizations  here  and  there,  and  without  any 
connection,  were  formed  as  early  as  1867.  But  the  seed  from  which  sprang  the 
"Young  People's  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor"  was  planted  by  Dr.  Francis  E. 
Clark,  Congregational  minister  in  Portland,  Maine,  February  2,  1881.  The  object 
as  then  conceived  was  "to  hold  and  to  train  in  Christian  work  the  young  converts 
who  had  been  brought  into  the  church  during  a  recent  revival."  It  is  an  organi- 
zation which  seemed  to  be  the  outcome  of  a  real,  felt  necessity  of  training  and 
guiding  aright  the  young  Christians  who  might  otherwise  stray  away.  Of  slow 
growth  at  first,  it  has  developed  to  enormous  proportions.  It  was  at  first  opposed 
by  the  older  members  and  ministers  of  the  Church  of  God;  but  its  gradual  intro- 
duction conquered  opposition,  until  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  churches  have 
organized  societies. 

Notwithstanding  this  unusual  activity  so  far  as  the  formal  elements  of  Chris- 
tianity are  concerned  there  was  an  ever-deepening  conviction  that  the  Churches  in 
America  and  Europe  were  in  a  state  of  spiritual  declension.  In  this  lack  of  vital- 
ity, spirituality  and  power  the  Church  of  God  was  not  exempt.  It  was  a  question 
of  anxious  concern  for  two  or  three  years  to  determine  the  causes  and  the  remedy. 
In  an  article  published  in  The  Advocate  in  April,  1882,  Mi's.  M.  E.  Megrew,  of 
Iowa,  dwelt  strongly  on  the  "loss  of  spiritual  power"  in  the  churches:  "It  is  a 
subject  of  thought,  conversation  and  prayer,  why  it  is  that  spiritually  we  as  a 
Christian  nation  are  losing,  instead  of  gaining,  in  influence  over  the  unconverted 
and  skeptics  of  every  order."  January  3,  1880,  was  designated  by  the  East  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership  as  "a  day  of  special  prayer  for  a  revival  of  religion  throughout 
the  bounds  of  this  Eldership."  In  discussing  this  action  it  was  stated  editorially 
that  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  churches  loudly  called  for  such  special  prayer. 
Goldwin  Smith  was  quoted  in  these  words:  "A  collapse  of  religious  belief  of  the 
most  tremendous  kind  is  apparently  now  at  hand."  It  was  said  to  manifest  itself 
"in  practical  atheism,  and  hence  a  total  disregard  of  all  those  higher  sanctions 
which  come  with  a  reverence  for  God  and  the  thought  of  immortality."  The  same 
testimony  came  from  the  old  world:  "A  wave  of  infidelity  was  steadily  advancing 
over  Protestant  Europe."  Not  only  was  this  declension  noticeable  in  the  grow- 
ing infidelity,  but  in  formality  in  the  evangelical  Churches  and  in  loss  of  power. 
The  low  religious  temperature  was  lamented,  and  at  various  Elderships  committees 
on  the  state  of  religion  made  special  reference  to  the  lack  of  spiritual  vitality  in 
the  churches.  The  "dearth  of  revivals"  deplored  by  the  "Lutheran  Observer"  was 
one  of  the  evidences  of  the  prevalent  spiritual  declension:  "There  has  not  been  a 
time  for  many  years  in  which  so  few  revivals  have  been  reported  in  the  various 
Churches  of  our  country  as  at  present"  (April,  1881).  There  was  a  falling  off  in 
attendance  of  Christians  and  others  at  public  worship  which,  as  a  rule,  has  never 
been  regained.  The  reasons  assigned  were  numerous.  Ministers  of  the  Church 
of  God  usually  put  emphasis  on  the  absence  of  personal  piety  in  the  members;  a 
"drifting  toward  sectarianism";  worldliness;  use  of  carnal  means  and  methods  in 
religious  work  and  especially  in  the  raising  of  funds  for  religious  purposes,  such 
as  fairs,  sociables  and  festivals,  and  worldly  amusements.  Until  late  in  the  year 
1883  these  matters  were  earnestly  discussed,  especially  the  "drifting  toward  sec- 
tarianism" and  amusements.  The  craving  for  public  amusements  has  in  all  ages 
of  the  church  been  taken  as  a  sign  of  low  spiritual  vitality.  While  religion  is  any- 
thing but  sanctimonious  gloominess  and  bodily  austerity;  yet  its  source  of  joy  is  in 
the  well-spring  of  a  consciousness  of  pardon  and  of  fellowship  with  God.      It  has 


General    History  193 

no  need  of  recourse  to  worldly  frivolity  and  sensual  amusement  to  keep  up  the 
steady  flow  of  that  peace  which  "passeth  all  understanding." 

The  churches  were  aggressively  active  in  the  various  forms  of  Christian  labor, 
even  if  there  was  a  weakening  of  their  spiritual  forces,  and  watchmen  on  the  walls 
of  Zion  were  falling  at  their  posts.  A  rather  disproportionate  number  of  min- 
isters were  summoned  to  their  great  reward  during  this  period.  Death  respected 
neither  age  nor  stalwart  manhood.  The  veteran  James  Kirliards,  the  last  one  of 
the  six  who  constituted  the  first  Eldership,  was  the  first  to  hear  the  whispered 
words  of  the  Angel  of  Death,  "O  child  of  earth,  I  call  thee  home!"  He  died  March 
6,  1880,  aged  nearly  80  years.  Israel  Brady,  first  elder  of  the  church  at  Mt. 
Joy,  Pa.,  and  Jacob  Strawbridge,  Orrstown,  Pa.,  also  ended  their  labors  in  1880. 
Others  who  during  the  semi-centennial  went  to  the  chamber  of  death,  the  death- 
bed of  the  just  where  angels  minister  as  "on  a  post  of  honor  and  of  joy,"  were 
Moses  Gault,  aged  73  years,  and  Abraham  Resh,  nearly  72  years,  both  of  the  Ohio 
Eldership.  In  1881  the  most  prominent  minister  to  answer  the  final  summons 
was  P.  Loucks,  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  A  fellow-minister  of  said 
body,  but  who  had  for  a  number  of  years  been  in  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership, 
S.  S.  Richmond,  preceded  him  by  four  months.  J.  M.  West  departed  this  life  in 
August,  near  Quitman  Station,  Mo.  He  was  one  of  the  early  ministers  who  so 
faithfully  and  successfully  preached  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Ohio, 
he  having  been  licensed  in  1847.  In  1882  J.  C.  Owens  ended  his  career  at  the 
advanced  age  of  nearly  78  years.  Of  the  younger  men  whose  premature  deaths 
cast  a  deep  shadow  especially  over  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  were  Alex- 
ander Wiley,  in  1880,  but  a  few  months  over  35  years  old,  a  man  of  fine  character 
and  good  talents;  J.  E.  Arnold,  than  whom  few  stood  higher  in  the  scale  of  moral 
excellence,  and  S.  W.  Naill,  "a  good  man,  and  full  of  faith  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 
A.  C.  Raysor,  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  T.  H.  Deshiii,  of  the  Illi- 
nois Eldership,  both  full  of  years  and  of  good  works,  followed  these  younger  men 
in  1884  to  the  realm  of  "kinder  skies,  and  milder  suns,  and  seas  pacific  as  the  soul 
that  seeks  them."  Two  laymen,  whose  names  and  faces  were  for  years  as  familiar 
as  those  of  any  ministers,  ended  their  useful  lives  during  this  period.  From  1859 
to  the  day  of  their  departure  they  were  on  the  Board  of  Publication.  George  Ross 
was  the  first  of  the  twain  to  be  "called  home  to  a  glorious  rest."  He  died  Novem- 
ber 30,  1880,  at  his  home  in  Lebanon,  Pa.  He  was  followed  on  August  11,  1881, 
by  J.  S.  Gable,  almost  a  life-long  elder  of  the  church  at  Lancaster,  Pa.  Illustrious 
men  in  other  walks  in  life  and  in  other  Churches,  cotemporaries  of  these  servants 
of  God,  who  joined  them  in  the  other  world,  were  Dr.  Buit  Baldwin,  founder  of 
the  American  Sunday-school  system,  who  died  January  23,  1880;  Luci-etia  Mott, 
eminent  and  widely-known  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  social  reformer  and 
a  delegate  to  the  World's  Anti-Slavery  Convention  in  London,  England,  who  de- 
parted November  11,  1880;  the  scholar,  author,  theologian  and  Royal  Chaplain  to 
the  Queen  of  England,  A.  P.  Stanley,  July  18,  1881;  Bishop  Matthew  Simpson, 
June  18,  1884,  the  most  eloquent  Methodist  prelate  of  the  century. 

It  was  during  the  Semi-centennial  that  the  Salvation  Army,  which  by  1878 
had  developed  into  a  regular  organization,  invaded  America.  It  has  had  a  vary- 
ing career,  and  has  been  highly  lauded  and  sharply  criticised.  During  these  five 
years  the  work  of  the  Church  of  God  was  carried  forward  by  the  use  of  the  estab- 
lished means  of  grace,  uninfluenced  by  the  wild  vagaries  of  the  Salvation  Army,  or 
the  formalism  of  less  evangelical  Churches.  Camp-meetings  continued  to  be  held, 
with  a  gradual  tendency  toward  permanent  places  and  the  organization  of  Asso- 
ciations. Maine  also  was  holding  one  each  of  these  five  years.  All  together  there 
were  seven  in  1880,  nine  in  1881,  five  in  1882,  six  in  1883  and  five  in  1884.  Texas, 
under  the  leadership  of  J.  A.  Smith,  of  Ohio,  came  into  the  list  in  1880,  and 
Missouri  held  one  in  1880.  The  Venango  county  camp  was  under  the  control  of 
a  regular  organized  Camp-Meeting  Association,  and  in  1880  held  a  "Semi-centen- 
nial Camp-meeting."  It  had  leased  a  grove  for  a  period  of  ten  years.  No  xamp- 
meetings  were  held  during  this  period  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois  or  Iowa.  In  1879 
the  Iowa  Eldership  directed  the  Standing  Committee  to  arrange  for  a  camp-meet- 
ing in  1880;  but  there  was  so  little  to  encourage  the  committee  that  when  the  sub- 
ject came  up  it  was  "indefinitely  postponed."  A  series  of  sermons  on  previously 
announced  subjects,  by  different  ministers,  was  an  innovation  at  the  "Venango 
county  camp-meeting  in  1882.  The  same  year  the  method  in  vogue  among  the 
Methodists  of  raising  funds  by  charging  an  admission  fee  to  the  grounds  was  in- 
troduced at  the  Landisville  camp-meeting,  and  provoked  much  adverse  criticism. 

C.  H.— 8 


194  History    of   the    Churches   of    God 

The  results  reported  from  the  thirty-two  camp-meetings  held  during  the  period 
were  exceedingly  meager. 

Pentecostal  meetings  continued  to  be  held  nearly  each  year  in  the  following 
Elderships:  German,  East  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois  and  Iowa,  so  that 
they  numbered  from  three  in  1881  to  seven  in  1880.  But  they  were  losing  in 
power,  and  were  becoming  more  local,  individual  churches  holding  them  for  their 
own  edification.     No  special  results  were  effected. 

Ministerial  Associations  were  held  in  nearly  all  the  annual  Elderships.  Grad- 
ually a  change  of  time  was  made  from  Ohio  westward,  and  a  day  or  two  were  de- 
voted to  these  meetings  immediately  preceding  the  convening  of  Elderships.  They 
proved  instructive  to  ministers  and  profitable  to  the  churches  where  they  were 
held.  The  topics  covered  a  very  wide  range  in  personal  and  church  life,  and  in 
dogmatic  theology.  As  examples  the  programs  of  the  Associations  of  the  dif- 
ferent Elderships  during  this  period  can  be  cited  as  good  specimens.  A  few  may 
be  quoted:  East  Pennsylvania — "Sermons,  and  how  to  prepare  them."  "Does 
the  Holy  Spirit  act  on  the  human  heart  independent  of  the  word  of  God?"  "What 
are  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit?"  "Does  the  devil  command  an  influence  independent 
of  human  agency?"  "Should  young  ministers  take  a  skeleton  into  the  pulpit?" 
West  Pennsylvania — "Have  preachers  a  scriptural  right  to  receive  members  by 
the  right  hand  of  fellowship?"  "Ministerial  character."  "Evidences  of  a  Chris- 
tian life."  "Necessity  of  religion  to  society."  "Revivals,  best  method  of  conduct- 
ing them."  Maryland  and  Virginia — "Is  anointing  of  the  sick  with  oil  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord  an  ordinance  of  the  Church  of  God?"  "Is  baptism  a  condition  of  sal- 
vation?" "How  should  the  church  proceed  with  a  faultfinder?"  Ohio — "The 
Bible — why  do  we  believe  it  to  be  inspired?"  "Should  there  be  unity  of  work 
among  all  the  churches  of  God?  If  so,  how  can  it  best  be  promoted?"  "What 
are  the  conditions  of  effectual  prayer?"  "Is  instrumental  music  profitable  in  the 
churches?"  "Is  man  a  dual,  or  a  triune,  being?"  Indiana — "Define  the  God- 
head." "What  is  foreordination?"  "Best  manner  of  sermonizing."  "Has  the 
day  of  miracles  passed?"  "What  is  the  resurrection,  and  what  are  its  bene- 
fits?" Illinois — "How  to  conduct  a  prayer-meeting."  "What  is  the  Christian 
duty  in  regard  to  the  present  temperance  reform  movement?"  "What  is 
scriptural  sanctification?"  "Is  the  office  of  ruling  elder  as  held  by  the  Church 
of  God  scriptural?"  Iowa — "The  nature  and  extent  of  the  atonement."  "How 
are  we  brought  under  the  benefits  of  the  atonement?"  "What  are  our  pres- 
ent needs  as  an  Eldership?"  Nebraska — "What  position  shall  we  take  on 
the  Prohibition  agitation?"  "Relation  of  ministers  to  the  children."  Kansas — 
"Is  the  soul  of  man  immortal?"  "What  is  the  scriptural  way  of  conduct- 
ing ordinance  meetings?"  "What  is  the  scriptural  plan  of  supporting  the 
gospel?"  Southern  Indiana — Subjects  for  discussion:  Repentance,  Faith,  Re- 
generation, Hope.  West  Virginia — "What  is  the  Church  of  God,  and  its  foun- 
dation?" "What  is  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  when  established?"  "How  are  rul- 
ing elders  constituted?"  "How  are  deacons  constituted?"  "When,  where  and  in 
what  Church  did  divisions  originate?"  Quite  a  number  of  the  essays  on  these 
topics  were  published  in  The  Advocate.  Some  of  the  Associations  had  regularly 
framed  Constitutions  and  By-Laws,  and  were  conducted  under  parliamentary  rules. 
Actions  taken  in  the  form  of  resolutions  were,  as  a  rule,  confined  to  the  work  of 
the  Associations.  Quite  frequently  the  topics  discussed  at  Ministerial  Associa- 
tions were  echoes  of  current  questions.  This  was  true  of  Instrumental  Music. 
At  the  time  this  subject  was  on  the  Ohio  program  the  controversy  over  it  was  in 
progress  in  the  United  Presbyterian  Church,  resulting  in  the  sending  down  to  the 
Presbyteries  of  an  overture  rescinding  the  law  against  the  use  of  instrumental 
music  in  their  churches.  Or  the  doctrine  of  the  Resurrection,  in  the  Indiana  Asso- 
ciation, which  had  been  pretty  thoroughly  discussed  in  The  Advocate  by  a  minister 
of  the  adjoining  Eldership,  in  Illinois.  Or  High  License  and  the  Prohibition  ques- 
tion, in  which  the  Church  and  Elderships  always  manifested  a  deep  interest. 
High  License  dates  from  the  passage  of  such  a  law  in  Nebraska,  in  1881,  and  it 
spread  eastward  as  far  as  Pennsylvania  within  a  few  years.  It  was  antagonized 
quite  generally  by  Prohibitionists  in  and  out  of  the  Church.  Hence,  this  question 
of  the  Christian's  duty  with  reference  to  the  temperance  reform  movement,  as  in 
the  Illinois  Association;  or  the  position  we  should  take  in  the  Prohibition  agita- 
tion, as  in  the  Nebraska  Association.  From  Iowa  to  Pennsylvania  Prohibition 
was  advocated  as  against  all  license  measures.  Prohibition  had  made  its  greatest 
conquests  between  1850  and  1860,  after  which  for  over  two  decades  it  lost  nearly 


General    History  195 

all  the  ground  previously  gained.  High  License  and  Constitutional  Prohibition 
came  into  prominence  together,  and  temperance  people  had  to  choose  between 
them.  Especially  in  Iowa,  Illinois,  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania  did  this  become  a  live 
issue  for  Christian  people  of  all  denominations.  And  as  the  ministry  quite  gen- 
erally favored  prohibition  it  was  not  only  a  safe  question  to  discuss  at  these  Asso- 
ciations; but  it  afforded  an  excellent  opportunity  to  reach  the  public  where  these 
gatherings  were  held.  Hence,  in  a  few  instances  mass  meetings  were  held  in  the 
evening,  and  these  topics  earnestly  discussed  in  favor  of  Prohibition. 

Few  of  the  remarkable  developments  of  this  century  were  more  rapid  and 
substantial  than  that  of  the  Sunday-school.  The  convention  idea  met  an  inborn 
desire  for,  and  need  of,  mutual  helpfulness.  It  rests  on  a  broader  basis  than  that 
of  the  C.  E.  Society.  Its  platform  is  the  only  one  upon  which  all  evangelical 
bodies,  both  sexes  and  the  representatives  of  all  ages,  meet  to  discuss  and  plan 
the  evangelization  of  the  world.  Hence,  its  growth  into  a  great  system,  from  the 
district  convention  to  the  international  convention.  Thousands  of  such  conven- 
tions are  held  every  year.  They  are  a  great  evangelical  force.  The  third  and 
fourth  International  Conventions  were  held  during  this  semi-decade.  As  the 
Church  of  God  was  always  earnestly  aggressive  in  Sunday-school  work,  it  was  but 
natural  that  it  should  be  deeply  imbued  with  the  convention  idea.  Distance  in 
most  of  the  Elderships  was  a  great  barrier;  yet  in  1880  conventions  were  held  in 
five  Elderships — East  Pennsylvania,  West  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Ne- 
braska. West  Virginia  followed  in  1881,  and  other  Elderships  later.  The  pastors 
with  rare  exceptions  were  leaders  in  these  assemblies,  and  they  devoted  their 
energies  and  talents  zealously  to  the  work.  The  themes  discussed  were  generally 
of  a  practical  character.  As  a  sample  of  programs,  that  of  West  Pennsylvania  in 
1883  may  be  taken.  There  were  twelve  topics  for  the  seven  sittings,  as  follows: 
"Have  our  conventions  been  a  benefit  to  our  Sunday-schools?"  "Is  the  Inter- 
national plan  a  success  in  our  Sunday-school  work?"  "Is  the  industry  of  teachers 
increased  by  means  of  Lesson  Helps?"  "Is  it  prudent  to  introduce  Helps  other 
than  the  Workman  and  Lesson  Leaves  in  our  Sunday-schools?"  "Is  it  best  to  use 
the  blackboard  in  the  Sunday-school?"  "Should  the  conversion  of  children  under 
twelve  years  be  encouraged?"  "The  order  of  exercises  in  the  Sunday-school." 
"Teachers'  Meetings — should  they  be  encouraged?"  "What  constitutes  a  Sunday- 
school  teacher?"  "The  teacher's  implements."  "What  is  ocular  teaching?" 
"Sunday-school  prayer-meetings."  "The  relation  of  the  Sunday-school  to  the 
family." 

The  ministers  and  churches  of  the  German  Eldership  carried  on  their  regular 
church  work  in  the  common  way,  with  none  of  the  special  services  except  occasion- 
ally a  Pentecostal  meeting.  They  had  no  Ministerial  Association,  no  Sunday- 
school  conventions,  and  even  camp-meetings  were  less  frequently  held.  Their 
territory  became  gradually  more  and  more  contracted,  by  reason  of  the  dissatisfac- 
tion which  induced  the  churches  to  apply  to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  for 
pastors.  There  was  but  one  circuit  at  this  time,  supplied  by  a  minister  not  a 
regular  member  of  the  Church.  No  aggressive  work  was  done.  The  Independent 
church  at  Auburn  united  with  the  Eldership,  thus  giving  it  some  additional 
strength. 

In  the  State  of  Maine  there  was  considerable  activity,  and  reports  indicate 
successful  work  in  revival  meetings,  camp-meetings,  now  held  annually,  and  at  the 
Quarterly  Meetings.  H.  Mills  was  a  traveling  evangelist,  who  carried  the  work 
forward  in  three  or  four  counties  in  the  State,  and  preached  part  of  the  time  in 
several  towns  in  New  Brunswick.  Churches  were  organized  at  Tracy  Mills, 
Andover,  Lakeville  and  Upper  Wicklow,  N.  B.  They  were,  ho"wever,  as  yet  not 
fully  indoctrinated,  as  in  February,  1880,  in  answer  to  a  direct  question,  whether 
the  churches  in  Maine  observed  Feet-washing,  Mills  replied  that  they  did  not;  but 
that  they  were  preparing  the  way  to  follow  this  command.  Unfortunately  the  ele- 
ments of  disaffection  and  division  existed  in  the  churches  of  Maine.  In  June,  1880. 
after  debating  the  question  for  several  years,  the  "Waldo  Quarterly  Meeting  with- 
drew from  the  general  body  in  Maine,  and  organized  an  Eldership,  assuming  the 
name  of  the  Waldo  Eldership."  It  adopted  the  Rules  of  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership,  of  which  Mills  was  at  this  time  a  member.  Its  territory  embraced  the 
counties  of  Waldo,  Penobscot,  Kennebec  and  Lincoln.  There  were  twelve 
churches  and  eight  preachers  in  this  Eldership.  Three  of  these  counties  are 
comparatively  small,  and  lie  contiguous,  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State;  while 
Penobscot  extends  from  the  northern  border  of  Waldo  to  Aroostook  county,  the 


196  History    of    the    Churches   of    God 

northern-most  county  in  the  State,  adjoining  New  Brunswick  on  the  west. 
In  this  county  Mills  was  successful  in  organizing  some  churches.  In  February, 
1882,  an  Eldership  was  organized  in  this  section  of  the  State,  called  the  East 
Maine  Eldership.  This  included  New  Brunswick.  The  action  in  organizing  this 
Eldership  in  Maine,  in  addition  to  the  one  authorized  by  the  General  Eldership, 
and  which  had  the  State  lines  for  its  boundaries,  was  criticized,  and  was  defended 
by  Mills  on  the  ground  that  the  distance  from  the  Aroostook  and  New  Bruns- 
wick part  of  the  territory  to  the  territory  of  the  Waldo  Eldership  was  too 
great  to  be  conveniently  traveled  by  ministers  and  delegates,  being  from  150  to 
200  miles.  And  also  on  the  ground  of  natural  right  for  ministers  and  churches 
to  organize  Elderships  when  they  think  advisable  to  do  so:  "I  supposed,"  said 
Mills,  "that  ministers  had  a  perfect  right  to  form  themselves  into  an  Eldership  in 
any  State,  or  Province,  at  a  proper  distance  from  the  Maine  Eldership."  If  the 
brethren  who  organized  the  Eldership  in  the  southern  counties  of  the  State  before 
the  General  Eldership  in  1881  approved  such  a  step,  "have  the  brethren  not  the 
same  right  in  New  Brunswick  and  Aroostook  county,  Maine?"  However,  the 
Editor  who  had  criticised  this  action  was  not  convinced  of  this  reasoning,  and  so 
in  the  issue  of  The  Advocate  of  April  .5,  1882,  he  fully  explained  the  polity  of  the 
Church  as  embodied  in  the  Constitution  of  the  General  Eldership.  These  same 
elements  of  a  centrifugal  character  were  at  work  more  or  less  in  all  parts  of  the 
Maine  territory,  and  it  was  feared  would  ultimately  prove  disastrous. 

This  was  a  period  of  reconstruction,  rather  than  extension  of  the  work,  in 
East  Pennsylvania.  Some  mission  enterprises  were  begun  within  the  old  terri- 
tory, as  at  Mt.  Carmel,  Northumberland  county,  in  Perry  county,  Fishing  Creek 
Valley,  at  several  points  in  Dauphin  county,  and  one  in  Lancaster  county.  But 
the  repairing,  enlarging  and  rebuilding  of  houses  of  worship  was  the  special  work 
of  these  five  years.  At  several  points  the  interest  decreased  to  such  an  extent 
that  houses  were  closed,  and  finally  sold.  This  was  the  case  at  Carlisle,  Cumber- 
land county.  In  January,  1880,  a  committee  was  authorized  by  the  Board  of  In- 
corporation "to  rent  the  bethel  to  the  Dunkard  Brethren."  And  not  long  after 
the  property  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Standing  Committee  to  sell.  The 
bethel  at  Strinestown,  York  county,  was  sold  in  the  Summer  of  1880.  The  re- 
dedication  of  the  bethel  at  Green  Spring,  Cumberland  county,  after  extensive  re- 
pairs, was  reported  in  February,  1880.  The  preaching  on  the  occasion  was  by 
O.  H.  Betts,  who  was  assisted  by  R.  M.  Pine  and  H.  Mills.  In  Lancaster  City  the 
church  at  Prince  and  Orange  streets  undertook  the  work  of  establishing  a  mission 
at  the  intersection  of  Green  and  Christian  streets.  A  Sunday-school  was  organized 
June  1,  1879,  and  a  mission  chapel  built  during  the  Fall  and  Winter  following. 
This  was  dedicated  by  the  pastor,  D.  A.  L.  Laverty,  assisted  by  A.  H.  Long  and  J. 
W.  Deshong  on  March  1,  1880.  Mission  work  in  Northumberland  county  was 
carried  on  energetically  by  J.  C.  Hoover  and  D.  H.  Miunma.  Hoover  organized  a 
church  of  twenty  members  at  Mt.  Carmel,  and  one  of  ten  members  at  Rocktown, 
both  in  the  Spring  of  1880.  A  house  of  worship  was  erected  at  Mt.  Carmel,  and 
dedicated  October  4,  1883,  under  the  pastorate  of  S.  Smith.  At  what  was  known 
as  the  Shoemaker  appointment,  Lurgan  township,  Franklin  county,  under  the 
labors  of  F.  L.  Nicodemus,  a  bethel  was  built  in  the  Spring  of  1880,  and  was  dedi- 
cated July  4th,  G.  Sigler  officiating.  This  is  a  historic  spot,  as  it  was  the  home 
of  the  parents  of  A.  X.  and  P.  K.  Shoemaker.  As  early  as  1850  or  1851  A.  X. 
Shoemaker  preached  there,  and  held  a  very  successful  revival  meeting.  Only  a 
few  of  the  converts  were  brought  into  the  church,  and  with  the  disadvantages 
under  which  the  church  labored,  worshiping  in  a  private  house,  or  the  school- 
house,  no  progress  was  made.  Nicodemus  became  pastor  in  the  Fall  of  1879,  and 
had  a  large  revival.  The  work  of  building  a  church-house  was  at  once  begun, 
and  the  corner-stone  was  laid  by  C.  Price  on  April  30th,  assisted  by  G.  L.  Cowan. 
At  Rockville,  Dauphin  county,  the  church,  though  almost  extinct,  had  the  unique 
experience  of  two  dedications  within  one  year.  Under  the  labors  of  C.  I.  Behney 
the  bethel  was  repaired,  and  was  rededicated  December  19,  1880.  W.  L.  Jones 
had  been  secured  for  the  dedicatory  services,  but  was  prevented  from  attending, 
and  the  pastor  preached  the  sermons.  O.  J.  Farling  was  present  and  assisted  in 
the  services.  In  the  Spring  of  1881  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company  made 
a  proposition  to  the  Chairman  of  the  Standing  Committee  and  Agent  of  the  Board 
of  Incorporation,  C.  H.  Forney,  to  purchase  the  lot  on  which  the  bethel  stood  for 
the  laying  of  an  additional  track.  The  sale  to  the  Company  was  effected,  and  the 
building  was  removed  to  the  new  location,  and  was  dedicated  November  20,  1881. 
A.  H.  Long  did  the  preaching  on  the  occasion,  assited  by  the  pastor,  J.  A.  Mac- 


Genijkal    History  197 

Dannald.      On  what  was  then  known  as  the  Stonerstown  circuit    (Saxton),  S.  B. 
Howard  had  an  extensive  revival  in  the  mining  town  of  Robertsdale,  Huntingdon 
county,  in  the  Winter  of  1881,  and  a  church  was  organized,  which  under  the  labors 
of  W.  J.  D.  Edwards  became  quite  strong.      But  while  it  felt  that  it  "ought  to  have 
a  meeting-house,"  the  work  was  deferred,  and  the  church,  by  removals  and  deaths, 
was  reduced  to  a  few  families.      At  Martinsburg,  Blair  county,  under  the  pastoral 
labors  of  G.  Sigler,  the  bethel  was  dedicated  May  22,  1881.      Through  the  zealous 
efforts   of  P.   Stanton,   a   colored   minister,   the   church   at   Brownsville,   Franklin 
county,  succeeded  in  building  a  house  of  worship,  which  was  dedicated  August  7, 
1881.      While  J.  A.  MacDannald  was  pastor  at  Marysville,  Pei'ry  county,  two  dedi- 
cations took  place  on  that  circuit.      Extensive  repairs  were  made  to  the  meeting- 
house at  Marysville,  and  it  was  reopened  with  appropriate  services  on  September 
25,  1881,  D.  A.  L.  Laverty  doing  the  preaching.      The  year  following  the  church 
at  Hartman's,  Fishing  Creek  Valley,  erected  a  substantial  frame  bethel,  which  was 
dedicated  on  August  27,  1882,  by  A.  Swai*tz.      The  bethel  at  McClure's  Gap,  Cum- 
berland county,  was  built  in  the  Summer  of  1881,  and  dedicated  December  18th. 
G.  W.   Seilhamnier  preached  the  sermons,  assisted  in  the  services  by  the  pastor, 
W.  S.  Smith.      With  J.  M.   Carvell  as  pastor,  the   bethel  in  Shippensburg  under- 
went "a  complete  transformation,"  and  was  dedicated  by  S.  D.  C.  Jackson  on  De- 
cember 13,  1881.      The  church  at  Auburn,  Schuylkill  county,  with  I.  Hay  as  pas- 
tor, built  a  new  bethel,  nearer  the  center  of  the  town,  which  was  dedicated  May 
21,  1882.      The  house  of  worship  at  Palmyra,  Lebanon  county,  was  rededicated  on 
September  17,  1882.      The  pastor,  F.  L.  Nicodemus,  secured  the  services  of  I.  Hay 
for  German  preaching  on  Friday  and    Saturday    evenings;     A.    Swai-tz,    Sabbath 
morning,   and   J.   C.   Seabrooks,   Sabbath   evening,   both   in    English.      S.   Spun-ier, 
architect,  builder  and  pastor,  during  the  Summer  of  1882,  built  a  bethel  at  New 
Baltimore,  Franklin  county,  which  was  dedicated  by  W.  J.  D.  Edwards,  November 
5,  1882.      Spurrier,  after  the  dedication,  went  to  a  point  called  Hughes  Old  Forge, 
5  miles  East  of  Waynesboro,  Franklin  county,  and  held  a  brief  revival  meeting, 
which  resulted  in  the  organization  of  a  church.     The  Camp  Hill  church,  under  the 
labors  of  C.  C.  Bartels,  remodeled  and  repaired  its  house  of  worship,  which  was 
dedicated   by  S.  D.  C.  Jackson,   February   11,    1883.      The   Mt.    Pleasant  house  of 
worship,  York  county,  was  rededicated  on  February  18,  1883,  by  G.  W.  Sellhammer, 
assisted  by  A.  H.  Liong.     H.  E.  Reever  was  the  pastor.      Another  point  on  his  field 
was  Wellsville,   York   county.     Two   miles   from  this  village  a  bethel  was   built, 
which  was  dedicated  May  27,  1883.      G.  W.  Seilhammer  preached  on  the  occasion. 
This  house  of  worship  was  christened  "Mt.   Olivet  Bethel."     The  church  of  God 
and  the  River  Brethren  joined  in  building  a  meeting-house  at  the  Clover  Creek 
appointment,  Blair  county,  which  G.  Sigler  dedicated  June  10,  1883.     D.  S.  Shoop 
was  pastor.     The  River  Brethren  were  represented  on  the  occasion  by  John  Bowei-s 
and  Peter  Keagy;   and  the  Progressive  Dunkards  by  "Elder  Spanogle."     With   \V. 
Sanborn  as  pastor,  the  church   on  Nagle  street,   Harrisburg,  was  renovated   and 
repaired  in  the  Spring  of  1883,  and  rededicated  July  1st,  by  Thomas  Neal,  G.  W. 
Getz  preaching  in  the  evening.      C.  C.  Bartels  officiated  at  the  rededication  of  the 
bethel  at  Wormleysburg,   Cumberland   county,  July   29,    1883.      J.   Haifleigh   par- 
ticipated in  the  services.      The  church  at  Puttstown  in  the  Spring  of  1883  decided 
to  build  a  new  bethel  at  Saxton,  midway  between  Stonerville  and  Puttstown,  the 
corner-stone  of  which   was  laid   September   16th,   with   appropriate   services   con- 
ducted by  D.  S.  Shoop.    The  house  was  completed  by  the  following  Spring,  and  was 
dedicated  May  25,   1884.     J.  Haifleigh  did  the  preaching.      F.  L.  Nicodemus  was 
the  pastor,  and  besides  him  H.  W.  Long,  Simon  Fleegal  and  H.  Whitaker  were 
present  at  the  dedication.      In  Altoona,  Blair  county,  the  original  bethel  was  re- 
placed by  a  new  and  much  larger  house,  under  the  labors  of  J.  W.  Deshong,  and 
was  dedicated  by  D.  S.  Shoop  on  November  4,  1883.      S.  D.  C.  Jackson  officiated  at 
the   rededication   of   All-Workers   Bethel    (Green    Street),    Harrisburg,    March    16, 
1884.      The  pastor  was  Thomas  Neal.     O.  J.  Farling,  an  active,  aggressive  mission- 
ary, began  holding  meetings  "of  his  own  accord,"  in  the  new  village  of  Baldwin 
(Steelton),  three  miles  below  Harrisburg,  in  1882.      He  rented  and  fixed  up  a  Hall 
for  a  Sunday-school,  in  which  he  held  a  successful  revival  in  the  Winter  of  1882-3, 
which   resulted   in   the   organization    of   a   church.      In   the   Winter    following  the 
Standing  Committee  appointed  T.  Still  to  this  mission,  and  authorized  him  to  pur- 
chase ground,  collect  funds  and  proceed  with  the  building  of  a  bethel.      This  was 
done  in  the  Spring  and  Summer  of  1884,  so  that  on  September  21,  1884,  the  corner- 
stone was  laid.      G.  W.  Getz  preached  on  the  occasion.      The  house  was  finished 


198  History    of    the    Churches   of    God 

during  the  Winter,  and  the  dedicatory  services  were  held  February  22,  1885.  G. 
W.  Seilhammer  preached  the  sermons,  and  was  assisted  in  the  services  by  S.  C. 
Stonesifer.  The  bethel  at  Andersontown,  Yorlc  county,  after  undergoing  thor- 
ough repairs,  was  rededicated  on  December  7,  1884.  O.  H.  Betts  was  the  pastor. 
S.  D.  C  Jackson  officiated  at  the  rededication  of  the  Churchtown  bethel,  Cumber- 
land county,  on  December  28,  1884.  The  preacher  in  charge  was  J.  C.  Seabrooks. 
During  the  pastorate  of  J.  M.  Speese,  the  church  at  Washington  Borough,  Lancaster 
county,  thoroughly  repaired  and  greatly  improved  the  house  of  worship,  which 
was  reopened  with  sermons  by  G.  W.  Seilhammer  and  B.  F.  Beck  on  November  9, 
1884. 

It  might  be  said  of  the  ministers  and  churches  of  the  Maryland  and  Virginia 
Eldership,  in  the  words  of  Gray,  that  during  this  period  they  "kept  the  noiseless 
tenor  of  their  way."  But  little  out  of  the  routine  of  church  work  is  noticeable. 
Four  new  houses  of  worship  were  built  and  dedicated.  Of  these,  one  was  located 
in  the  beautiful  Middletown  Valley,  Frederick  county,  Md.  The  church  there  was 
organized  by  Winebi-enner  and  Bean  in  1852,  and  during  nearly  thirty  years  had 
worshiped  in  a  school-house.  While  several  times  they  planned  to  build  a  bethel, 
the  purpose  failed  of  execution  until  late  in  the  year  1879.  By  December  20, 
1879,  the  new  bethel  was  completed,  and  on  that  evening  the  last  services  were 
held  in  the  school-house.  On  the  morning  of  the  21st  they  met  in  the  bethel, 
which  was  solemnly  consecrated  to  the  divine  worship,  G.  Sigler  preaching  the 
sermons,  and  Sa.\ton,  Staub  and  Philhower  taking  active  part  in  the  services.  The 
second  one  was  built  at  Mayberry,  Carroll  county,  Md.  The  corner-stone  was  laid 
May  29,  1880,  four  ministers  participating  in  the  services — Lookingbill,  Naill, 
Selby  and  Palmer.  The  dedication  occurred  October  31,  1880,  when  W.  L.  Jones 
did  the  preaching.  Naill,  Palmer  and  Selby  took  part  in  the  services  during  the 
day.  The  historic  church  at  Uniontown,  Carroll  county,  Md.,  early  in  the  year 
1882  resolved  to  build  a  new  meeting-house  to  take  the  place  of  the  old  Reformed 
church  in  which  they  had  worshiped  from  the  time  of  their  organization  in  1833. 
The  church  was  composed  principally  of  the  Reformed  members  which  had  been 
converted  under  the  preaching  of  Winebrenner  and  his  colaborers.  They  retained 
for  their  use  the  Reformed  house  of  worship,  built  in  1817.  But  when  they  de- 
cided to  build  a  new  house,  they  bought  out  the  right  of  the  Reformed  Church 
Synod,  and  used  the  materials  in  the  new  house.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  June 
3,  1882.  A.  H.  Long  preached  morning  and  evening  in  the  Methodist  Protestant 
house  of  worship.  Lookingbill  and  Fleegal  assisted  in  the  services.  The  house 
was  finished,  and  was  dedicated  October  29,  1882,  G.  Sigler  preaching  the  ser- 
mons. Long,  Fuss  and  Lookingbill  participated  in  the  services.  After  hard 
struggling  and  great  sacrifices,  the  church  at  Sharpsburg,  Washington  county,  Md., 
succeeded  in  completing  their  house  of  worship,  and  dedicated  it  December  17, 
1882.  W.  Palmer  preached  on  the  occasion,  and  the  church  also  enjoyed  the 
presence  of  J.  A.  Saxton,  J.  W.  Kipe  and  J.  A.  Staub. 

It  was  quite  natural,  and  of  great  importance  to  the  West  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship, that  persistent  efforts  should  be  made  to  build  up  a  strong  church  in  Pitts- 
burg. Conditions,  however,  were  so  adverse  that  repeated  failures  were  experi- 
enced. In  the  Spring  of  1880,  with  G.  A.  Bartlebaugh  as  pastor,  a  new  preaching 
point  was  opened  in  Allegheny  City.  A  church  was  formed  of  eight  members,  and 
a  Sunday-school  organized.  Bartlebaugh  preached  alternately  at  this  point  and 
at  the  Pittsburg  bethel.  The  debt  on  the  latter  property  weighed  heavily  against 
tho  work.  An  effort  was  made  to  provide  the  means  to  liquidate  the  debt  by  sell- 
ing the  vacant  lot  in  the  rear  of  the  building,  with  a  frontage  of  63  feet  and  a 
depth  of  32  feet.  The  entire  property  was  placed  for  sale  in  the  hands  of  the 
Treasurer  of  the  Eldership  in  1882.  At  a  point  about  5  miles  from  Stonei'sville, 
Westmoreland  county,  lived  Solomon  Fulmer.  He  invited  B.  F.  Bolton  to  visit 
him  and  preach  for  the  people  in  his  community.  This  he  did  in  September,  1878. 
In  1879  he  held  a  grove  meeting  there,  and  on  February  18,  1880,  he  began  a 
revival  meeting  in  a  school-house,  which  resulted,  on  the  last  Sabbath  in  the 
month,  in  the  formal  determination  to  build  a  bethel.  In  March  a  church  of 
twenty  members  was  organized,  and  the  work  of  erecting  a  house  of  worship 
entered  upon.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  on  August  8,  1880,  by  P.  Loucks,  who 
was  assisted  by  D.  A.  Stevens  and  J.  Gallentin.  It  was  decided  to  call  the  new 
house  of  worship  "Grandview  Bethel,"  and  it  was  so  dedicated  November  14,  1880. 
The  dedicatory  sermon  was  preached  by  G.  Sigler.  The  cost  of  the  house  was 
$1,500.      At  Draketown,  Somerset  county,  under  the  labors  of  G.  J.  Bartlebaugh, 


General    History  199 

a  "Union  Bethel"  was  built  in  the  Summer  of  1880,  and  was  dedicated  by  J.  Hick- 
emell  on  December  19th.  In  Fayette  county  the  work  was  in  good  condition,  and 
one  church  was  organized  in  1881.  J.  W.  Davis  was  doing  mission  work  in  Frank- 
lin, Venango  county,  during  the  Winter  of  1880-1.  He  organized  "a  mission 
church  in  the  city."  When  A.  R.  McCahan  was  appointed  to  New  Brighton, 
Beaver  county,  in  the  Fall  of  1880,  the  church  at  that  place  decided  to  erect  a  new 
bethel.  This  they  did  the  following  Summer,  at  a  cost  of  $1,700.  The  house  was 
dedicated  October  2,  1881,  the  sermon  on  the  occasion  having  been  preached  by 
J.  S.  Marple.  Other  ministers  present  and  participating  in  the  services  were  B. 
F.  Bolton,  R.  Vanaman,  D.  T.  Leach,  N.  M.  Anderson,  W.  H.  H,  Criswell  and  W. 
B.  Elliott.  The  Center  Bethel,  now  Alverton,  Westmoreland  county,  which  was 
built  in  1863,  had  become  too  small,  and  needed  repairs.  In  the  Spring  of  1881 
the  church  decided  to  modernize  the  building  and  to  enlarge  it  by  the  addition  of 
a  cross  section  of  a  building  in  the  rear,  44  by  24  feet,  at  a  total  cost  of  $2,319.00. 
The  dedicatory  services  were  held  October  30,  1881,  with  preaching  by  M.  S.  New- 
comer. The  efficient  pastor  of  the  church  was  R.  L.  Byrnes.  The  bethel  at  Indian 
Creek,  Fayette  county,  erected  under  the  labors  of  J.  W.  Gallatin,  was  dedicated 
September  3,  1882.  The  sermon  was  preached  by  R.  L.  Byrnes,  who  was  assisted 
during  the  day  by  J.  Hickemell.  The  house  cost  $974.75.  The  West  Pennsyl- 
vania Eldership  included  Garrett  county,  Md.,  adjoining  Somerset  on  the  south. 
In  the  Summer  of  1882,  with  Joseph  Grimm  as  pastor,  the  little  church  at  Sand 
Spring,  Garrett  county,  Md.,  built  a  bethel,  which  was  dedicated  by  J.  S.  Marple 
on  September  2nd.  It  was  christened  "Grimm's  Chapel."  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw  came 
to  Venango  county  from  Iowa  in  the  Fall  of  1881,  and  took  charge  of  the  work  in 
and  around  Barkeyville.  Under  his  labors  a  bethel  was  built  at  Hickory  Grove, 
Victory  township,  Venango  county,  which  was  dedicated  May  14,  1882.  J.  W. 
Bloyd,  D.  T.  Leach  and  W.  R.  Covert  were  the  ministers  present.  October  17, 
1882,  with  D.  A.  Stevens  as  pastor,  R.  L.  Byrnes  dedicated  the  new  bethel  at 
Laurel  Run,  Westmoreland  county.  H.  D.  Grimm  formed  a  new  church  of  forty- 
seven  members  at  a  point  in  Greene  county.  Pa.,  in  January,  1883.  The  church  at 
West  Newton,  Westmoreland  county,  "enlarged  and  greatly  improved  its  house  of 
worship,"  virtually  rebuilding  it  after  its  partial  destruction  by  fire.  The  corner- 
stone was  laid  May  11,  1884,  and  the  finished  bethel  was  dedicated  August  31, 
1884,  by  G.  W.  Seilhammer.  J.  W.  Davis  was  the  pastor.  The  work  in  West 
Virginia  was  making  steady,  if  not  rapid,  progress,  and  the  territory  was  being 
enlarged.  There  were  indications  of  growing  permanence  in  the  building  of 
houses  of  worship  and  in  the  missionary  spirit  which  seemed  to  prevail  among 
ministers  and  churches.  At  Cameron,  in  Marshall  county,  a  bethel  was  built  in 
1881,  and  dedicated  by  J.  S.  Marple  on  July  3rd.  At  Pipe  Creek,  Ohio,  on  the 
Woodland  circuit,  W.  G.  Steele  began  preaching  in  1882,  and  succeeded  in 
organizing  a  church  of  twenty-seven  members.  They  bought  a  Presbyterian  house 
of  worship;  remodeled  it,  and  dedicated  it  November  16,  1884.  W.  R.  Craig 
preached  on  Saturday  and  Sabbath  evenings,  and  J.  C.  Cunningham,  on  Sabbath 
morning.  In  1883  work  was  begun  in  the  extreme  southern  part  of  the  State  by 
W.  H.  Bailey.  He  had  a  revival  in  Raleigh  county,  and  found  calls  coming  in 
which  he  could  not  answer.  He  strongly  urged  ministers  from  the  North  to  come 
and  occupy  the  ground.  He  also  preached  in  Greenbrier  county,  where  In  1884 
conditions  were  so  favorable  that  "a  church  of  from  twenty-five  to  one  hundred 
might  be  organized  if  we  had  a  man  to  preach  for  them."  Belmont  county,  Ohio, 
belonged  to  West  Pennsylvania.  In  1881  D.  T.  Leach  was  pastor  of  the  Riverview 
Mission,  in  this  county,  and  he  had  successful  revivals  at  Riverview  and  Franklin 
Station.  At  the  latter  place  the  church  had  increased  to  fifty-two,  and  they  had 
"bought  a  house  to  worship  God  in,"  and  were  raising  "funds  toward  building  a 
new  house."  At  Bellaire,  same  county,  the  church,  under  the  pastoral  labors  of 
W.  B.  Long,  built  a  new  house  of  worship,  which  was  consecrated  to  the  worship 
of  God  February  24,  1884.  J.  S.  Marple  officiated,  assisted  by  J.  C.  Cunningham. 
In  July,  1883,  J.  W.  Bloyd,  pastor  of  the  Uniontown  Mission,  Fayette  county.  Pa., 
"erected  a  large. tabernacle-tent  on  the  old  show  ground  in  the  southern  part  of 
the  town,"  where  he  carried  on  a  series  of  meetings  in  an  "endeavor  to  effect  the 
organization  of  a  church  of  God." 

Ohio  had  at  this  time  an  energetic,  aggressive  ministry.  And  though  naturally 
somewhat  discouraged  by  the  failure  of  the  work  at  Mansfield,  they  went  to  work 
with  unabated  zeal  to  "strengthen  the  things  which  remained."  More  formal  or- 
ganization of  local  church  work  was  effected  and  a  number  of  new  church  houses 


200  History    ok    the    Chukchhs    of    God 

were  built  and  old  ones  repaired.  Ministers,  too,  manifested  a  deeper  interest  in 
their  intellectual  culture.  A  "Literary  Class  was  organized  for  mutual  benefit,"  of 
which  many  of  the  pastors  became  voluntary  members.  More  attention  was  given 
to  the  proper  deeding  of  church  property,  so  that  all  possible  losses  might  be  pre- 
vented. As  an  instance  of  circuit  organizations  for  the  purpose  of  looking  after 
the  financial  interests,  the  McComb  circuit  may  be  cited.  On  December  16,  1882, 
the  officials  of  the  different  churches  on  the  field  met  with  the  pastor,  A.  P. 
McNutt,  and  adopted  a  Constitution,  By-Laws  and  Rules  of  Order.  This  circuit 
council  consisted  of  the  elders  and  deacons  of  each  church,  and  the  pastor.  It 
fixed  the  salary  of  the  pastor,  and  apportioned  it  to  the  churches.  Prior  to  this 
date  individual  churches  in  Elderships  in  Pennsylvania  had  been  framing  Con- 
stitutions for  their  more  orderly  government.  The  first  dedication  in  this  period 
was  that  of  the  bethel  at  Liberty,  which  occurred  August  22,  1880.  The  preach- 
ing was  done  by  J.  W.  Aukennan.  On  November  21,  1880,  the  Evergreen  Bethel, 
two  miles  north  of  Fostoria,  was  dedicated.  T.  Koogle  preached  on  the  occasion. 
He  also  was  the  preacher  at  the  dedication  of  the  bethel  at  Kirby,  which  took 
place  on  January  1,  1882.  J.  M.  Cassel  preached  the  Sabbath  evening  sermon. 
The  bethel  at  Beery's,  after  being  extensively  repaired  under  the  labors  of  E. 
Poling,  pastor,  was  re-opened  January  22,  1882.  Small  and  Koogle  did  the 
preaching.  At  Rising  Sun,  Wood  county,  J.  M.  Cassel  officiated  on  January  1, 
1882.  T.  J.  Lewis  and  M.  C.  Mowen,  with  the  pastor,  J.  H.  McNutt,  also  par- 
ticipated in  the  services.  A  feature  of  many  of  the  Ohio  dedications  was  the 
presence  of  so  many  ministers.  At  the  dedication  of  the  Colton  Bethel,  June  18, 
1882,  six  ministers  were  in  attendance,  including  the  pastor,  C.  N.  Belman.  J.  M. 
Cassel  officiated,  with  the  assistance  in  the  services  of  Koogle,  Vaas,  Poling  and. 
Lewis.  Center  Bethel  was  rededicated  on  the  same  day.  It  is  located  in  Seneca 
county,  and  had  for  its  pastor  W.  P.  Burchard.  J.  W.  Aukerman  was  the 
preacher,  who  had  as  assistants  G.  W.  Wilson  and  W.  H.  Oliver.  The  church  at 
Moreland  built  a  new  house  of  worship  in  the  Summer  of  1882,  which  was  dedi- 
cated by  Aukennan  on  November  2  6,  1882.  There  were  also  present  besides  the 
pastor,  W.  P.  Burchard,  these  ministers:  Thomas  Metzler,  C.  Winbigler,  W.  P. 
Small,  E.  Poling  and  G.  L.  Cowan.  A  new  house  of  worship  was  finished  at  a 
point  seven  miles  west  of  Belmore,  Hancock  county,  under  the  labors  of  A.  P. 
McNutt,  which  was  dedicated  on  January  14,  1883.  J.  M.  Cassel  preached  the 
dedicatory  sermon.  Other  ministers  present  and  assisting  were  Buchard,  Belman, 
WaiTen  and  J.  H.  McNutt.  One  mile  and  a  half  south-east  of  Mercertown,  Mercer 
county,  a  new  bethel  was  built  under  the  supervision  of  the  pastor,  E.  Poling, 
which  was  dedicated  by  T.  Koogle,  September  9,  1883.  The  enterprise  of  the 
people  and  church  at  Enterprise,  Van  Wert  county,  where  T.  Koogle  was  pastor, 
was  lauded  by  J.  M.  Cassel,  who  preached  the  dedicatory  sermon  of  their  new 
bethel  on  December  2,  1883.  On  Thursday  evening  previous  W.  P.  Small 
preached,  and  on  Friday  and  Saturday  evenings,  B.  F.  Bolton. 

Ft.  Wayne  Mission  is  not  the  only  Church  enterprise  which  was  crippled  or 
killed  by  a  heavy  debt  incurred  at  its  incipiency.  The  present  period  opened  with 
a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  Indiana  Eldership  in  January,  1880, 
when  a  resolution  was  adopted  "to  make  one  more  effort  toward  liquidating  the 
debt  on  tlie  Ft.  Wayne  Mission  property."  Ober  was  appointed  to  canvass  the 
city,  and  Markley  the  Eldership  territory.  They  were  instructed  to  take  sub- 
scriptions exclusively,  to  be  called  in  when  the  entire  amount  of  the  debt  had 
been  secured.  At  this  time  the  Board's  assets  were  $166.00;  its  liabilities, 
$739.30.  To  give  moral  support  to  the  mission,  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the 
General  Eldership  held  its  annual  meeting  at  Ft.  Wayne;  but  it  could  otherwise 
do  nothing  for  the  work  there.  The  Eldership  was  not  able  to  supply  the  pulpit 
with  a  pastor  in  October,  1880,  as  it  was  making  "every  effort  to  pay  off  the  debt." 
In  December,  B.  D.  Bright,  of  Michigan,  was  requested  to  come  to  Ft.  Wayne  and 
"hold  a  meeting  of  days  as  soon  as  possible."  The  Board  also  "requested 
the  Sisters'  Missionary  Board  to  raise  $200.00  to  support  a  minister  at  the  Mis- 
sion." After  the  holidays,  in  1881,  Bright  held  a  meeting  as  requested,  and  re- 
ported "little  accomplished;  none  came  into  fellowship."  In  September,  1882,  he 
was  impressed  that  "this  mission  work  does  not  meet  the  hearty  approval  of  the 
brotherhood  and  sisterhood  of  the  Indiana  Eldership.  And  so  they  withhold  their 
means."  The  debt  on  the  mission  property  in  October,  1883,  was  "$467.28,  over 
and  above  the  Eldership  loan  and  stock  certificates."      The  Board  of  Missions  was 


Gknekal    History  201 

directed  to  repair  the  house  and  send  a  minister  there.  As  this  could  not  be  done, 
the  mission  was  made  part  of  the  Roanoke  circuit.  In  October,  1884,  the  property 
was  placed  in  charge  of  D.  Kemp,  and  the  mission  was  left  off  the  list  of  appoint- 
ments. Little  progress  was  made  in  other  parts  of  the  Eldership.  At  Sugar 
Grove,  Green  township,  Noble  county,  a  new  house  of  worship  was  dedicated  by 
S.  D.  C.  Jackson,  May  29,  1881.  Under  the  labors  of  I.  W.  Markley,  the  church 
at  Sheldon,  Allen  county,  built  a  new  bethel,  which  was  dedicated  December  2  5, 
1881.  Lovett  preached  the  dedicatory  sermon  in  the  morning,  and  in  the  evening 
an  ordinance  meeting  was  held.  Three  and  one-half  miles  south-east  of  Columbia 
City,  Whitley  county,  a  house  of  worship  was  erected  during  the  Summer  of  1883, 
which  was  dedicated  by  R.  H.  Bolton  on  December  16th.  It  was  in  the  Summer 
and  Fall  of  1884  that  the  name  of  Mrs.  Maria  B.  Woodworth  first  appeared  as  a 
preacher  in  the  Indiana  Eldership.  In  the  latter  part  of  July  and  the  first  week 
in  August  she,  with  her  husband,  held  a  large  revival  meeting  at  Buzzard's  school- 
house,  Indiana,  and  organized  a  church  of  ninety  members.  Before  she  left  they 
had  raised  $400.00  toward  building  a  bethel.  At  the  Eldership  in  1884  she  was 
licensed  to  preach  and  was  appointed  "Eldership  General  Evangelist." 

One  of  the  most  serious  disadvantages  under  which  the  ministry  in  Michigan 
was  laboring  from  the  beginning  of  its  history  was  not  only  the  inadequate,  but 
almost  the  total  want  of  support  of  the  active  preachers.  After  the  dedication  at 
Bangor  the  pastor,  Charles  Moulton,  wrote:  "The  greatest  and  most  distressing 
evil  that  we  have  to  overcome  in  the  Michigan  Eldership  is  to  get  our  people  to 
see  the  necessity  of  supporting  the  minister  in  charge  of  a  work.  They  think  that 
he  should  work  in  the  field,  or  woods,  or  some  other  place  during  six  days  of  the 
week  and  provide  for  his  family,  and  preach  on  Sundays  for  nothing.  We  must 
seek  to  effect  a  change  in  this  respect,  and  redeem  our  cause  in  Michigan." 
Almost  no  progress  is  indicated  in  the  Eldership  during  these  five  years.  A 
colored  church  was  organized  in  Cheshire,  Allegan  county,  of  which  R.  Smith  was 
made  pastor  by  the  Standing  Committee  in  January,  1881.  In  Branch  county,  on 
the  Indiana  State  line,  some  progress  was  made  in  several  new  localities.  At 
Bangor,  Van  Buren  county,  the  church  had  for  some  years  been  worshiping  in  a 
meeting-house  built  by  some  other  religious  body,  which  had  spent  $3,800.00  on 
the  property,  mortgaged  it  to  pay  bills,  and  was  not  able  to  redeem  it.  It  became 
the  property  of  the  mortgagee,  who  lost  about  $3,000.00.  He  had  permitted  the 
church  of  God  to  worship  in  it  rent  free,  and  in  the  Spring  of  1882,  sold  it  to 
the  church  for  $600.00.  It  was  "a  good,  spacious  and  substantial"  building,  ac- 
cording to  S.  D,  C.  Jackson,  who  officiated  at  the  dedication  on  June  4,  1882. 
S.  Spencer  and  "Wm.  Redding  were  present  and  gave  assistance  in  the  services. 

The  final  events  in  the  history  of  the  Chicago  Mission  transpired  in  1881-2. 
At  the  General  Eldership  in  187  8  final  settlement  was  made  with  Shoemaker, 
when  there  was  due  the  Eldership  $1,329.10.  By  the  meeting  of  said  body  in 
1881  this  had  been  paid,  except  the  small  balance  of  $13.70.  On  June  22,  1881, 
the  General  Eldership  authorized  the  Board  of  Incorporation  to  sell  the  property. 
Said  Board  on  June  22,  1882,  directed  its  committee  to  proceed  with  the  sale, 
which  was  done,  and  the  property  was  sold  for  $8,000.00.  Total  cost  of  sale 
was  $435.10,  leaving  a  net  balance  of  $7,564.90,  which  was  set  apart  as  a  Per- 
manent Missionary  Fund  of  the  General  Eldership.  A  new  church  organization 
was  effected  at  Todd's  Point,  February,  1880,  by  E.  C.  Tui-ner.  The  failure  of 
the  Chicago  mission  enterprise  did  not  subdue,  nor  seriously  repress,  the  courage 
of  the  Illinois  brethren.  In  1879  they  planned  to  start  a  mission  at  Mendota, 
La  Salle  county,  with  M.  S.  Newcomer  in  charge  of  the  work.  Part  of  his  duty 
was  to  collect  money  to  pay  the  rent  of  the  house  of  worship  secured  for  religious 
services  and  to  support  himself.  After  laboring  in  this  double  capacity  for  a 
year  and  a  half,  he  wrote,  "We  at  last  see  a  gleam  of  light."  This  was  on 
August  8,  1881,  when  a  church  of  nine  members  was  organized.  He  was  fol- 
lowed by  I.  S.  Richmond,  who  "took  hold  of  the  matter  energetically,  assisted 
by  the  sacrificing  help  of  W.  B.  Lewellin.  Ground  was  bought,  and  the  work  of 
erecting  a  small  mission  chapel  was  begun.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  June  29, 
1884,  and  the  building  was  completed  and  ready  for  dedication  October  12,  1884. 
It  cost  $500.00.  The  dedicatory  services  were  conducted  by  M.  S.  Newcomer.  He 
had  also  officiated  at  the  dedication  of  "a  house  of  worship  completed  on  the 
Shelby  county  mission,"  on  February  6,  1881.  Many  years  previous,  Sandoe  had 
preached,  in  the  Enfield  school-house,  near  "Father  Bear's."      In  the  Winter  of 


202  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

1880-1,  E.  C.  Turner  had  "a  gracious  revival"  there,  when  they  concluded  to  build 
a  house  of  worship.  Sandoe  preached  the  first  sermon  in  the  new  house,  Saturday 
evening,  February  5th.  In  January,  1883,  Sandoe  did  good  evangelistic  work  in 
Coles  county.  Thence  he  went  to  Piatt  county  and  assisted  Gregory  in  a  meeting 
at  Milmine,  where  on  January  31st  they  "organized  a  church  of  twenty-two  mem- 
bers, all  heads  of  families."  An  "imposing  house  of  worship"  was  built  at  War- 
rensburg,  Macon  county,  in  the  Summer  of  1883,  Newcomer  being  the  pastor, 
with  Mrs.  A.  C.  Newcomer  as  his  assistant.  It  cost  $3,500.  It  was  dedicated 
December  23,  1883,  the  preaching  on  the  occasion  being  done  by  W.  W.  Lovett, 
with  W.  I.  Berkstresser  and  D.  Weigel  present  and  participating  in  the  services. 
Unable  to  complete  their  house  of  worship  without  foreign  help,  the  Board  of 
Missions  of  the  Illinois  Eldership  appropriated  $100.00  for  that  purpose,  on 
condition  that  the  deed  be  so  written  as  to  secure  the  property  to  the  Eldership 
in  case  the  church  should  become  extinct.  The  bethel  built  at  Melrose,  Clark 
county,  under  the  labors  of  D.  H.  Rupp,  was  dedicated  November  9,  1884.  Also 
one  at  a  point  three  miles  north  of  Martinsburg,  on  Rupp's  charge,  which  was 
dedicated  November  16,  1884.  Sandoe  and  Bernard  preached  the  sermons.  A 
spirit  of  non-co-operation  developed  in  certain  churches  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
State,  which  was  severely  rebuked  by  the  Board  of  Missions  as  "revolutionary." 
Newcomer,  as  Assistant  Editor  of  The  Advocate,  regarded  this  as  one  of  "the 
dangers  which  confront  the  Church."  That  the  Church  is  in  danger  of  "losing 
vital  force;  subside  to  a  dead,  lifeless  formality,"  and  that  one  cause  which  "con- 
tributes to  this  result  is  lack  of  co-operation." 

After  the  failure  of  the  Chicago  Mission  enterprise,  A.  X.  Shoemaker  decided 
to  seek  a  home,  and  possibly  a  field  of  ministerial  labor  in  north-western  Iowa. 
He  finally  selected  the  beautiful  Maple  Valley,  in  Ida  county;  and  while  he  did 
quite  a  good  deal  of  preaching,  he  gradually  became  interested  in  an  extensive  land 
agency.  Through  his  influence  quite  a  number  of  Church  families  bought  farms 
and  located  in  Ida  county,  in  the  vicinity  of  Ida  Grove.  Among  the  families  which 
invested  extensively  in  land  was  that  of  Jesse  Kennedy,  of  Mt.  Joy,  Pa.  In  1879 
he  located  there,  and  began  agitating  the  question  of  Church  work  in  the  county 
by  the  appointment  of  a  regular  missionary.  There  were  families  of  the  Church 
scattered  through  the  county  of  sufficient  number  to  form  several  churches,  all 
good,  true  and  energetic  members  of  churches  in  the  East.  As  I.  E.  Beyer  had  ar- 
ranged to  move  on  "one  of  the  Foniey  farms  in  March,  1880,  to  farm  and  preach," 
the  Standing  Committee  was  asked  to  appoint  him  missionary  to  Ida  county,  which 
was  done  February  18,  1880.  D.  Wertz  had  also  located  there,  and  did  a  good 
deal  of  preaching.  November  15,  1880,  Boyer  was  reappointed,  with  an  appropria- 
tion of  $175.00,  he  to  devote  all  his  time  to  mission  work.  But  he  reported 
"meeting  interests  have  not  been  very  prosperous."  He  had  three  regular  preach- 
ing points — one  near  Ida  Grove;  one  six  miles  south-east,  and  one  six  miles  north, 
of  Ida  Grove.  He  also  preached  in  the  court-house,  but  this  was  soon  closed 
against  religious  services.  Arrangements  were  then  made  with  the  Baptist 
church  to  hold  services  in  their  house  of  worship.  Realizing  the  need  of  a  bethel, 
they  decided  to  build  in  the  Fall  of  1881;  but  a  partial  failure  of  crops  prevented 
the  work  from  being  begun.  January,  1882,  G.  T.  Kimmel,  the  new  missionary, 
entered  on  the  work.  His  field  also  included  Woodbury  county.  He  had  a  re- 
vival in  a  school-house  near  Ida  Grove,  which  further  stimulated  the  brethren  to 
plan  for  a  house  in  "the  little  city"  of  Ida  Grove,  which  had  a  population  of  from 
1,200  to  1,500.  On  May  21,  1883,  "the  Church  of  God  people  in  the  vicinity  of 
Ida  Grove  held  a  meeting  and  decided  to  build  a  bethel  at  a  cost  of  from  $3,000  to 
$3,500.  They  at  once  subscribed  $2,000,  and  in  a  short  time  began  the  work.  In 
August,  1883,  Mrs.  McFadden,  widow  of  \Vm.  McFadden,  of  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership,  reported  the  work  so  far  advanced  that  "we  expect  soon  to  have  a  bethel 
to  worship  in."  But  this  anticipation  was  not  realized  for  some  years.  Before 
work  was  begun  at  Ida  Grove  successful  mission  work  was  done  in  Guthrie  county, 
by  A.  Wilson.  A  bethel  was  built  in  the  Beaver  District  of  said  county,  known  as 
the  "Beaver  Bethel,"  which  was  dedicated  by  S.  D.  C.  Jackson  on  July  4,  1880.  In 
Mahaska  county,  toward  the  south-eastern  part  of  the  State,  J.  M.  Mullen  suc- 
ceeded in  organizing  a  church  of  twelve  members  on  July  28,  1880.  A  mission 
was  also  created  in  Union  county,  in  the  south-west,  and  L.  F.  Chamberlin  was  ap- 
pointed as  missionary,  to  begin  his  work  in  April,  1882.  F.  C.  Melson  had  been 
preaching  more  or  less  in  the  county. 


Generai,   History  203 

In  Nebraska  the  work  was  making  slow  progress.  Some  of  the  original 
ground  was  lost,  and  the  new  fields  were  not  making  much  progress.  The  Crete 
parsonage  was  rented,  and  the  committee  to  which  the  question  of  the  disposition 
of  the  entire  property  was  referred  reported  in  favor  of  its  sale  in  1880.  It  had 
an  offer  of  $700.00  for  the  bethel  and  two  lots.  As  the  title  to  the  property  was 
vested  in  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  the  Board  of  Incorporation  of  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership  could  not  sell  it.  Said  Eldership  was  therefore  requested  in  1883  to 
transfer  its  title  to  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership.  The  de- 
pressing effect  of  this  failure  on  the  work  in  Nebraska  could  not  be  concealed.  In 
Fillmore  county  better  success  attended  the  labors  of  Aller  and  others,  and  addi- 
tions to  the  churches  were  reported.  W.  T.  Harris  was  the  missionary  in  south- 
eastern Nebraska.  A.  G.  Bogart  in  Seward  and  Polk  counties.  J.  Etherton  in 
1882  was  general  missionary  in  the  State.  He  was  succeeded  in  the  Fall  by  J.  C. 
Pomcrook  as  General  Evangelist.  He  had  a  number  of  successful  revivals,  and 
during  the  year  organized  two  churches.  Work  was  done  to  an  encouraging  ex- 
tent by  Shaw  on  the  Otoe  Indian  Reservation  in  the  south-eastern  corner  of  the 
State.  In  the  Winter  of  1883,  Mary  Berkstresser,  licensed  by  the  Illinois  Elder- 
ship in  1881,  visited  Clay  county.  Neb.,  and  at  the  solicitation  of  friends  held  a 
series  of  meetings  in  the  Liberty  school-house,  during  which  "between  fifty  and 
sixty  manifested  a  desire  to  accept  Christ."  "Elder  Evans  assisted  in  the  ser- 
vices." J.  C.  Fomci-ook  visited  the  place  on  March  18th,  and  organized  a  church 
of  nineteen  members,  which  shortly  after  was  considerably  Increased. 

In  Missouri,  as  elsewhere  in  these  western  States,  the  ministers  were  some- 
what unsettled,  and  for  want  of  a  full  support  in  many  instances  left  their  fields  of 
labor,  and  the  cause  suffered.  This  was  true  in  the  north-western  section  of  the 
State.  Yet  the  people  were  receptive  to  the  truth,  and  when  they  received  faith- 
ful preaching  responded,  and  the  work  prospered.  In  1881  D.  Blakely  was  pas- 
tor in  the  north-western  counties  of  Missouri.  At  Alanthus  Grove,  in  Gentry 
county,  a  meeting-house  was  erected  under  his  labors,  which  was  dedicated  Au- 
gust 28,  1881.  The  failure  of  C.  S.  Bolton  to  reach  the  place  gave  to  C.  Gaston  the 
honor  of  preaching  the  dedicatory  sermon.  Blakely  lamented  that  notwithstand- 
ing the  liberal  manner  in  which  the  Board  of  Missions  had  treated  the  field  "there 
is  no  move  elsewhere  on  the  territory  to  build  houses  of  worship."  Good  work 
was  also  done  in  Harrison  county,  adjoining  Gentry  on  the  East.  J.  N.  Smith  re- 
signed the  charge  in  1881,  and  C.  S.  Bolton  succeeded  him.  Revivals  were  en- 
joyed, and  there  was  a  demand  for  more  laborers.  What  was  known  as  the  Cen- 
tral Missouri  Mission,  Morgan  county,  also  experienced  a  number  of  revivals  under 
the  labors  of  M.  C.  Ogden  in  the  Winter  of  1882-3.  At  Elmo,  Nodaway  county, 
Blakely  began  to  preach  in  the  Town  Hall  in  1881,  and  after  a  revival  steps  were 
taken  to  build  a  bethel.  But  the  work  was  deferred  for  a  year,  when  under  the 
pastoral  care  of  C.  S.  Bolton  the  house  was  built,  and  was  dedicated  on  October  15, 
1882.  F.  F.  Kiner  did  the  preaching.  G.  T.  Bell  came  up  from  Arkansas  and 
held  revival  meetings  in  Barry  county,  organizing  two  churches  in  the  Winter  of 
1882-3. 

Kansas  continued  as  part  of  the  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership  until  1881, 
"When  the  Kansas  Eldership  was  organized.  At  the  Eldership  session  in  1882  there 
were  fifteen  churches  and  fifteen  additional  preaching  points,  with  ten  or  twelve 
ministers  within  its  territory.  Some  churches  had  gone  down  because  of  neglect 
by  the  ministers,  or  removal  of  their  members.  The  ministers  were  men  of  zeal 
and  a  self-sacrificing  spirit;  but  only  a  few  were  supported  fully,  so  that  they  could 
devote  all  their  time  to  the  work.  M.  C.  Ogden  was  an  active  missionary.  In 
1880  he  was  on  the  South-western  Kansas  Mission,  preaching  in  Reno,  Kingman 
and  Rice  counties.  In  January  of  that  year  he  organized  a  church  at  Sego,  Reno 
county.  He  was  followed  by  Newton  Hill,  who  met  with  encouraging  success. 
In  March,  1883,  assisted  by  C.  B.  Konkel,  a  good  revival  meeting  was  held  in  the 
Mendon  school-house.  Rice  county,  resulting  in  the  organization  of  a  church  of 
seven  members.  J.  C.  Fomcrook  was  missionary  on  the  North-west  Kansas  Mis- 
sion, embracing  Norton  and  Phillips  counties,  and  one  or  two  counties  in  Nebraska. 
The  work  was  prospering.  In  the  Spring  of  1880  he  organized  a  church  at  Hugh 
Prairie,  Phillips  county.  Later,  one  at  Long  Island,  with  eleven  members.  In 
August,  one  at  Chessman's,  with  four  members,  and  one  at  Clayton,  with  ten 
members.  In  1881,  he  organized  a  church  at  Hall's,  or  Hale's,  in  Phillips  county. 
J.  W.  Felix  went  to  Ellsworth  county  from  East  Pennsylvania,  and  preached  the 


204  History    of    th?:    Churches    of    God 

word  faithfully.  In  April,  1881,  he  organized  a  church  six  miles  north-east  of 
Wilson,  near  the  center  of  the  State.  Clara  Yutzy,  who  was  licensed  in  1877,  was 
appointed  by  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  to  the  South-eastern 
Kansas  Mission.  She  had  been  preaching  some  at  New  Pittsburg,  Crawford 
county,  Kas.,  and  at  Pleasant  Hill,  Mo.  Under  her  labors  a  church  was  organized 
at  Ozark  in  the  Summer  of  1883.  A  bethel  was  built  on  her  field,  six  miles  north- 
west of  Oswego,  county  seat  of  Labette  county,  which  was  dedicated  September  12- 
14,  1884.  It  was  called  Center  Bethel.  P.  K.  Shoemaker  preached  on  Friday 
evening  and  Sabbath  evening,  and  C.  S.  Bolton  on  Saturday  evening  and  Sabbath 
morning.  A  new  house  of  worship,  the  first  in  southern  Kansas,  was  built  six  miles 
north-west  of  Center  Bethel,  at  Parsons,  Labette  county,  under  the  labors  of  R.  T. 
Sargent,  which  was  dedicated  January  14,  1884.  The  preaching  on  the  occasion 
was  done  by  Mary  Newcomer,  of  Illinois.  The  licensing  of  Clara  Yutzy  induced  the 
Standing  Committee  to  appoint  a  committee  to  draft  "a  form  of  female  and  ex- 
horters'  licenses."  The  Standing  Committee  also  found  a  serious  trouble  in  the 
church  at  Keystone,  Kingman  county,  owing  to  the  expulsion  of  a  prominent  mem- 
ber by  action  of  the  church.  It  declared  the  action  illegal,  and  decided  that  the 
ruling  power  is  in  the  elders  duly  elected  by  the  church.  Some  friction  developed 
between  the  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership  and  the  Nebraska  Eldership  because  a 
member  of  the  latter  was  laboring  in  the  territory  of  the  former  without  becoming 
a  member.  The  trouble  was  aggravated  by  the  passage  of  resolutions  by  the  Elder- 
ships, instead  of  taking  the  constitutional  course  in  such  cases.  W.  H.  Cross 
labored  successfully  in  Wilson  and  Allen  counties,  and  then  in  Labette  county.  J. 
A.  Miller,  missionary  in  Taylor  county.  Neb.,  crossed  over  into  Republic  county, 
Kas.,  where  he  organized  a  church,  in  1882,  at  the  Cuba  school-house.  The  min- 
isters in  the  southern  part  of  the  State,  led  by  C.  B.  Konkel,  began  in  1880  to  agi- 
tate the  question  of  a  Kansas  Eldership.  The  principal  plea  was  the  great  distance 
ministers  and  delegates  had  to  travel  in  going  to  the  Eldership  meetings.  Min- 
isters in  the  northern  counties  opposed  it.  But  a  meeting  was  called  at  Keplinger's 
school-house,  Crawford  county,  "to  meet  September  18,  1880,  to  discuss  the  pro- 
priety or  impropriety  of  organizing  a  new  Eldership  in  Kansas."  A  majority  of 
those  present  voted  in  favor  of  a  Kansas  Eldership. 

The  work  in  Arkansas  was  of  an  unstable,  fluctuating  character,  possibly 
owing  to  the  character  of  the  people;  yet  evidently  also  as  a  result  of  instability 
on  the  part  of  ministers  and  the  emotional  element  in  their  preaching.  Some- 
times half  the  preachers  would  quit  their  fields,  leaving  the  entire  work  in  a  few 
hands.  Extensive  revivals  were  followed  by  reactions  which  proved  well  nigh 
fatal  to  newly  organized  churches.  In  the  Winter  of  1 879-' 80,  D.  S.  Summit  was 
the  missionary  in  Montgomery  county.  He  organized  a  church  in  January,  1880, 
called  the  Rocky  Creek  church.  G.  T.  Bell  preached  in  Benton  county,  where  at 
the  Redick  school-house  he  organized  a  church  of  twenty-six  members.  J.  W. 
Riddle  was  the  missionary  in  Franklin  county,  and  witnessed  forty-one  conver- 
sions in  the  Winter  of  1880,  and  baptized  fifty-six  converts.  In  1881  Bell  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  a  number  of  families  together  for  a  church  organization  at  Wild 
Cat,  Benton  county.  He  notes  the  fact  that  a  number  of  "preachers  have  quit 
their  fields,"  and  that  he  and  a  few  others  "are  left  to  care  for  twenty-five 
churches."  The  work  was  making  fair  progress  among  the  colored  people,  and 
several  colored  ministers  were  diligently  preaching  the  word.  They  had  their 
own  Standing  Committee,  duly  appointed  by  the  Eldership.  In  September,  1883, 
Bell  organized  a  church  of  sixteen  members  at  Pleasant  Ridge,  Sebastian  county. 
At  the  close  of  a  "protracted  meeting  at  the  Highland  meeting-house,"  Washington 
county,  in  August,  1884,  Bell  organized  a  church  of  over  thirty  members. 

Reports  indicated  that  prospects  were  good  for  the  establishment  of  churches 
among  the  Indians  of  the  Cherokee  Nation,  Indian  Territory.  The  Board  of  Mis- 
sions of  the  General  Eldership  in  1880  appointed  G.  T.  Bell  as  missionary  to  the 
Cherokee  Nation;  but  he  declined  to  accept  the  work.  Later  B.  F.  Reese  was  ap- 
pointed. He  entered  upon  the  work  with  commendable  zeal.  He  had  seven 
regular  congregations  to  preach  to,  and  his  field  extended  120  miles.  He  re- 
mained there  only  a  short  time.  In  February,  1882,  James  McCaithey,  a  full- 
blooded  Indian,  preached  for  the  Indians.  In  1883  J.  W-  Riddle  spent  part  of  his 
time  in  the  Indian  Territory,  and  with  G.  T.  Bell  conducted  a  successful  meeting, 
followed  by  an  organization  of  a  church  of  Cherokee  Indians.  He  also  had  good 
success  at  Camp  Creek,  where  in  September,  1884,  the  work  of  erecting  a  bethel 


General   History  205 

was  well  under  way,  and  was  finished  in  October,  and  dedicated.  Camp  Creek  is 
in  the  Sequaway  District,  in  which  there  was  another  organization  at  Redland. 
There  was  also  one  in  the  Flint  District. 

A  persistent  effort  was  made  to  redeem  the  worlc  in  Texas.  The  northern 
missionary,  J.  A.  Smith,  appointed  by  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship in  1880,  labored  on  the  North-west  Texas  Mission,  and  E.  Marple  was  as- 
signed to  the  "East  North  Texas  Mission."  Smith  reported  the  organization  of 
a  church  at  Duckworth  school-house.  He  preached  in  Denton,  Fannin  and  Collin 
counties.  In  the  latter  county  measures  were  taken  to  build  a  meeting-house.  A 
church  was  also  organized  at  McKinney,  in  Collin  county.  Smith  held  a  camp- 
meeting  in  Collin  county,  beginning  July  5,  1880,  at  which  there  were  fourteen 
conversions,  eleven  baptized  and  a  church  organized  of  twenty-four  members. 
Three  or  four  of  the  old  churches  were  reorganized,  while  one  church,  with  six 
members,  was  organized  in  Denton  county;  one,  with  thirty-two  members,  in 
Hunt  county,  and  one,  with  fifteen  members  in  Lamar  county.  The  total  number 
of  members  in  the  State  was  given  as  being  two  hundred  and  thirty-five.  These 
encouraging  reports  were  partly  discredited  by  J.  M.  Brackeen,  a  member  of  the 
first  organization  in  the  State,  as  also  by  B.  Ober,  who,  under  appointment  as 
missionary  by  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership,  returned  to  Texas 
in  the  Spring  of  1882.  He  "did  not  find  things  in  good  condition,"  and  reflected 
severely  on  Smith.  In  September,  1884,  he  reported  the  organization  of  one  new 
church  of  ten  members  at  Whitsborough.  The  new  missionary  to  Texas,  G.  T. 
Kimmel,  of  the  West  Ohio  Eldership,  entered  upon  his  work  in  July,  1884,  under 
appointment  by  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership. 

With  the  beginnings  of  Church  emigration  to  Colorado,  California  and  Wash- 
ington, the  brethren,  especially  in  the  West,  began  to  think  of  mission  work  in 
those  newer  sections  of  the  country.  From  the  neighborhood  of  Polo,  Mo.,  "quite 
a  number  of  our  families  are  about  to  emigrate  to  Washington  Territory,"  wrote 
the  minister  in  that  county.  They  expected  to  locate  "near  where  Brother 
Snodderly  and  other  families  of  the  Church  are  living,"  and  it  was  suggested 
that  they  thus  colonize  and  begin  church  work.  J.  E.  McColley,  of  Roann, 
Wabash  county,  Ind.,  in  June,  1880,  made  it  known  that  he  "contemplated  going 
to  Colorado,  with  the  intention  of  laboring  for  the  salvation  of  sinners  and  estab- 
lishment of  churches  of  God."  The  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership 
thereupon  "heartily  approved  of  this  noble  work,  and  wished  him  Godspeed." 
D.  B.  Randell  had  removed  previously  to  Livermore,  Larimer  county,  Colo.,  and 
was  preaching  at  several  points.  P.  Clippinger,  of  the  Kansas  Eldership,  in  1883, 
stated  his  intention  to  visit  the  brethren  in  Colorado  and  California.  The  Elder- 
ship thereupon  requested  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  "to 
recommend  him  as  a  minister  to  the  confidence  of  the  brethren  in  Colorado  and 
California."  Thus  to  follow  Church  families  of  good  repute  was  the  economical, 
good  old  way  of  doing  effective  Church  extension  work.  It  was  only  the  lack  of 
means  which  hindered  the  establishment  of  permanent  churches  in  any  number  of 
localities  to  which  Church  families  emigrated  from  points  further  East.  Oregon 
called  for  a  minister  in  January,  1880.  J.  Gariigus  had  removed  to  Greenville, 
Ore.,  and  expressed  his  desire  that  "some  good  preacher  might  come  this  way  and 
preach  for  us,"  and  hoped  "the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  we  can  get  a  preacher 
to  come  here  and  preach  for  us." 

Of  all  the  oral  discussions  thus  far  conducted  between  ministers  of  the 
Church  of  God  and  ministers  of  other  bodies,  in  several  respects  the  most  unique 
was  one  between  AV.  Pahner,  of  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership,  and  Elder 
C.  C.  Wells,  of  the  Church  of  God  of  Jesus  Christ."  The  challenge  came  from 
Wells.  It  was  reported  to  the  Eldership  at  its  session  in  October,  1880.  Formal 
action  was  taken,  resolving,  "That  this  Eldership  gives  its  approval  of  said  dis- 
cussion." Four  propositions  were  debated.  'Wells  affirmed  one  negative:  "That 
Feet-washing  should  not  be  practiced  in  the  Church  of  God,  because  as  taught  and 
practiced  by  Christ  and  his  Apostles  it  was  a  Jewish  custom."  Palmer  affirmed 
three  propositions:  "That  the  spirit  of  man  has  a  living,  conscious  existence 
after  the  death  of  the  body;"  "To  baptize  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy 
Ghost  is  the  only  authorized  formula  of  Christian  baptism,"  and  "The  punishment 
of  the  wicked  is  eternal,  conscious  suffering."  The  debate  was  held  in  the  bethel 
at  Germantown,  Frederick  county,  Md.,  and  began  January  7,  18  81.  A  debate 
between  W.  R.  Covei-t,  of  the  Church  of  God,  and  Rev.  Williams,   of  the  M.   E. 


2o6  History    of    the    Churches    oe    God 

Church,  was  held  at  Harmony,  Butler  county,  Pa.,  on  August  9  and  10,  1881. 
Williams  had  the  affirmative  of  the  negative  proposition  under  discussion:  "The 
washing  of  the  saints'  feet  is  not  an  ordinance  of  the  New  Testament."  It  was 
pre-arranged  "that  no  decision  was  to  be  given;"  but  J.  \V.  Davis,  who  reported 
the  debate,  stated  that  the  opinion  prevailed  that  "so  far  as  argument  was  con- 
cerned Covert  gained  the  victory."  Covert  had  fine  natural  talents  for  polemical 
discussions,  to  which  was  added  a  deep-seated  self-confidence.  Then  he  had  been 
practicing  a  little  in  a  one-sided  debate  with  Clark  Braden,  to  whose  arguments 
he  had  carefully  listened  in  a  sermon  on  "A  Campbellite  Conversion;  or.  What  I 
Must  Do  to  be  Saved,"  delivered  July  10,  1881.  He  dissected  Braden's  arguments 
with  a  keen-edged  scalpel,  and  then  showed  the  fallacies  which  were  hidden  in 
a  wealth  of  words.  Eager  for  other  triumphs.  Covert  challenged  through  "The 
Dispatch,"  of  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  C.  T.  Kussell  "to  discuss  in  a  public  debate  the  Creed 
of  the  Church  of  God,  which  is  the  inspired  revelation  known  as  the  word  of  God." 
But  "Mr.  R.  failed  to  come  to  time,"  and  so  Covert  published  him  in  the  Pittsburg 
"Times"  as  having  virtually  "conceded  that  my  position  is  true."  B.  Ober  in  a 
debate  with  Clark  Braden  in  October,  1882,  was  "almost  unanimously  admitted,, 
except  their  own  members,  to  have  fully  sustained  every  point  in  debate."  There 
were  four  propositions,  of  which  Ober  affirmed  these  two:  "Church  of  God  is  the 
only  proper,  scriptural  church  title;"  and,  "The  washing  of  the  saints'  feet  is  an 
ordinance  commanded  by  Christ  to  be  perpetuated  in  the  church."  Braden  af- 
firmed these  two:  "The  kingdom  or  church  was  organized  on  the  day  of  Pente- 
cost;" and,  "Water  baptism  is  one  of  the  conditions  of  remission  of  sins  of  the 
penitent  believer,  or  sinner."  In  1883  Covert  had  a  public  discussion  with 
Robert  Singer,  of  the  Christian  Church,  during  the  session  of  the  West  Pennsyl- 
vania Eldership,  at  Ursina,  Somerset  county,  Pa.  There  were  two  propositions,  of 
which  Covert  affirmed  that  "Washing  of  the  saints'  feet  is  an  ordinance  in  the 
church  of  God  instituted  by  Christ."  Singer  affirmed  that  "Immersion  in  water 
of  a  believer  in  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  is  essential  in  order  to  the  remission  of 
sins."  Some  one  telegraphed  the  Editor  of  The  Advocate  this  laconic  dispatch 
after  the  debate  had  closed:  "Covert  vs.  Singer.  Debate  ended.  Church 
property  saved.  Brethren  jubilant.  Enemy  vanquished.  Covert  retires  with 
fresh  laurels  from  the  theological  contest."  December,  1883,  finds  Covert  in  a 
very  different  role,  the  actor  in  a  drama  of  another  character.  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  was 
"in  great  excitement  over  the  recent  debate  between  Prof.  Granger,  of  New  York, 
and  Prof.  Seymore,  who  affirmed,  and  Elder  W.  R.  Covert  who  denied,  the  proposi- 
tion: Resolved,  That  animal  magnetism  exists  and  is  the  principal  element  in 
mesmerism."  Again  "Covert  gained  a  decided  victory,"  wrote  W.  B.  Elliott.  In 
May,  1884,  Covert  had  a  debate  with  a  Morman  Apostle,  involving  these  three 
propositions,  or  questions:  "Is  the  Book  of  Mormon  of  divine  origin,  and  are  its 
teachings  entitled  to  the  respect  and  belief  of  mankind?"  "Is  the  Church  known 
as  the  Church  of  God  in  harmony  with  the  church  established  by  Jesus  Christ  and 
his  Apostles  as  found  recorded  in  the  New  Testament?"  "Is  the  Church  known 
as  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints  in  harmony  with  the  church 
established  by  Jesus  Christ  and  his  Apostles  as  found  revealed  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment?" The  debate  took  place  in  the  bethel  at  Pittsburg,  and  began  May  5th. 
Only  the  first  proposition  was  discussed,  for  eight  consecutive  evenings,  when 
Covert  "refused  to  debate  the  other  two  with  the  present  opponent"  because  of 
the  failure  of  W.  H.  Kelley  "to  produce  any  tangible  arguments  upon  the  ques- 
tion under  discussion,"  and  because  of  "W.  H.  Kelley  and  his  brother  E.  F.  Kelley, 
acting  as  moderator,  failing  to  conform  to  parliamentary  rules  and  usages  of  pub- 
lic debate." 

The  decrease  of  the  disputatious  spirit  was  indicated  in  the  falling  off  in  the 
number  of  controversies  in  The  Advocate  as  well  as  in  oral  debates.  And  yet 
during  this  period  there  was  a  total  of  over  thirty  controversial  articles  and 
editorials  published.  Among  the  more  prominent  were  these:  "The  Unpardon- 
able Sin,"  discussed  by  John  M.  Han-el,  of  Iowa,  and  by  the  Editor.  Various  ques- 
tions relating  to  the  ordinance  of  washing  the  saints'  feet,  beginning  May  24, 
1881,  with  an  article  in  favor  of  the  ordinance,  by  Noah  A.  Cofmann.  This  was 
followed  by  two  articles  from  the  pen  of  Geo.  W.  Ashton,  Iowa,  in  defense  of  the 
ordinance  against  the  Editor  of  "The  Standard,"  a  Baptist  paper  of  Chicago.  The 
Editor  of  The  Advocate  on  May  10,  1883,  replied  to  the  Editor  of  the  "Reformed 
Church  Messenger;"  on  May  17  and  31,  and  June  7  and  14,  on  "The  Time  of  the 


General   History  207 

Washing  of  Feet  by  Christ,"  and  on  June  21  on  "The  Apostolic  Practice  of  Feet- 
washing."  On  November  28,  1883,  Newcomer  began  a  series  of  ten  articles  on 
"Is  Feet-washing  an  Ordinance?"  "Critic,"  of  "Smoky  City"  (W.  R.  Covert),  crit- 
icised Newcomer's  articles  sharply  in  two  issues  of  the  paper.  "Philo"  followed 
in  "A  Critic  of  the  Critic  on  Feet-washing."  "V.  D."  came  to  the  aid  of  New- 
comer in  March,  1884,  and  Newcomer  in  two  replies  closed  the  discussion  Sep- 
tember 27,  1884.  The  discussion  of  the  Communion  question  was  broadened  by 
adding  to  the  mooted  subject  of  the  order  of  the  ordinances,  those  of  the  inter- 
pretation of  "supper  being  ended,"  "breaking  bread"  and  "the  love  feast."  Eight 
editorials  were  devoted  to  "TheLove  Feast  and  the  Communion,"  in  reply  to  ques- 
tions and  strictures  on  the  subject  by  "An  Inquiring  Friend."  The  prevalence  of 
faith-cures,  and  the  doctrine  of  faith-healing,  were  warmly  debated  under  these 
headings,  and  under  the  subject  of  "miracles,"  as  many  of  the  alleged  cures  seemed 
miraculous.  Largely  in  the  same  connection  the  divisive  doctrine  of  second- 
work  sanctification  was  strongly  antagonized  as  heretical  in  theory  and  mis- 
chievous in  practice.  The  apparent  tendency  to  the  dual  life  of  believers  led  to  a 
careful  discussion  of  "the  unity  of  moral  character"  by  the  Editor  as  against 
C.  W.  Evans,  of  the  Iowa  Eldership.  The  Editor  declared  in  an  editorial  on 
"Hungering  After  Righteousness"  that  "It  is  a  stupendous  delusion  to  think  that 
we  can  be  right  in  part.  Righteousness  is  a  unit.  It  is  in  the  singular."  This  posi- 
tion was  antagonized  by  Evans,  and  at  once  the  form  of  the  question  was  changed 
to  that  of  unity  of  moral  character,  showing  that  supreme  ultimate  intention  or 
purpose  determines  character,  and  not  desultory  executive  acts  of  the  will.  The 
discussion  continued  eleven  weeks.  A  similar  discussion  was  precipitated  be- 
tween A.  Wilson,  of  Iowa,  and  the  Editor,  on  the  old  subject  of  receiving  unbap- 
tized  persons  into  church  fellowship.  "The  Divine  Sonship  of  Christ"  was 
thoroughly  discussed  editorially  in  reply  to  skeptical  questions  on  the  subject. 

A  few  notable  events  characterized  this  period:  Of  these,  two  were  of  special 
interests  to  the  churches  in  their  temperance  work  and  social  purity.  The  White 
Cross  Army  was  commenced  by  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Lightfoot,  Bishop  of  Durham,  early 
in  1883.  It  was  a  popular  movement  among  Christian  workers  generally.  Brave, 
pure-hearted  men  and  women  enlisted  in  the  cause  and  labored  with  great  zeal. 
It  was  said  that  in  many  places  "the  order  of  the  meetings  is  a  very  solemn  one." 
It  was  introduced  into  many  Sunday-schools.  Then  came  the  White  Ribbon 
Army,  a  new  phase  of  the  temperance  movement,  which  grew  out  of  the  Interna- 
tional Sunday-school  Lesson  for  December  7,  1884,  Prov.  xxiii.  29-35.  It  had 
its  origin  in  the  Bethany  Sunday-school  Hall,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

On  December  6,  1884,  an  enterprise  was  completed  which  had  been  before  the 
public  at  different  periods  from  the  early  Summer  of  184  8,  and  in  which  all  re- 
ligious bodies  in  the  United  States  were  interested,  as  well  as  other  organizations 
and  the  States  as  political  units.  This  was  the  Washington  National  Monument, 
at  Washington,  D.  C.  Weishampel,  in  1869,  agitated  the  matter  of  having  a 
marble  block  placed  in  the  Monument  by  the  Church  of  God,  with  a  suitable  in- 
scription. This  was  to  cost  about  $200,00,  and  the  money  was  secured  by 
voluntary   contributions. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 


1885—1890. 


THE  decade  from  1880  to  1890  in  the  development  of  the  churches  of  God 
bears  in  a  minor  degree  a  resemblance  in  certain  particulars  to  the 
Renaissance  of  the  fifteenth  century.  The  latter  was  a  gradual  evolution 
of  the  European  races,  a  sort  of  rebirth,  which  denotes  the  transition  from  the 
period  of  history  which  has  been  called  the  Middle  Ages  to  that  which  we  call 
Modern.  It  was  marked  by  a  fresh  stage  of  vital  energy  in  general,  which  mani- 
fested itself  in  a  freer  exercise  of  the  intellectual  faculties  stimulated  by  the  re- 
vival of  learning  and  its  application  to  the  arts  and  literature  of  modern  peoples. 
Symonds  regards  this  revival  as  a  function  of  that  vital  energy,  an  organ  of  that 
mental  evolution,  which  brought  this  modern  world,  with  its  new  conceptions  of 
philosophy  and  religion,  its  reawakened  arts  and  sciences,  its  firmer  grasp  of  the 


2o8  History    of   the    Churches    of    God 

realities  of  human  nature  and  the  world,  its  manifold  inventions  and  discoveries, 
its  altered  political  systems,  its  expansive  and  progressive  forces,  into  being.  This 
forward  movement  on  the  part  of  the  churches  of  God  centers  around  two  main 
institutions  organized  during  this  period,  viz.:  the  principal  institution  of  learning 
under  their  control,  Findlay  College,  and  the  gradual  development  of  the  mis- 
sionary spirit  in  organic  form,  as  later  seen  in  the  Woman's  General  Missionary 
Society,  both  of  which  are  reserved  for  separate  consideration  in  following  di- 
visions of  this  work.  Almost  every  department  of  Church  enterprise  felt  the 
stimulus  of  these  two  factors.  There  was  an  augmentation  of  energy,  an  inflow 
of  new  blood  into  the  leadership  of  the  churches.  The  few  remaining  veterans  in 
the  ministry,  a  small  remnant  of  the  heroic  men  of  the  early  decades  of  the 
Church's  history,  passed  away  during  this  period.  The  second  generation  of  min- 
isters was  fast  disappearing  and  new  men  gradually  came  to  the  front  as  leaders 
in  the  various  Elderships  and  in  the  churches.  Old  activities  were  intensified  in 
some  instances;  worn-out  methods  were  exchanged  for  newer  ones,  and  more 
recently  tested  forms  of  organized  work  were  put  into  effect. 

One  of  these  new  forms  of  activity  was  the  Young  People's  Society  of  Chris- 
tian Endeavor.  While  the  first  organization  of  such  a  society  was  effected  in 
1881,  and  a  constitution  adopted  which  has  stood  the  test  of  more  than  a  quarter 
of  a  century;  and  while  an  annual  convention  was  held  as  early  as  1882,  and  the 
first  national  convention  prior  to  1885,  in  1883  there  were  but  a  few  societies 
outside  of  New  England.  The  new  movement  received  attention  in  The  Advocate 
prior  to  1885,  and  was  under  discussion  and  favorably  acted  upon  by  the  Bast 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1884.  Only  a  few  local  societies  were  organized  at 
that  time  in  the  territory  of  the  Eldership;  but  they  increased  each  year,  until 
by  1890  a  majority  of  the  churches  had  effected  organizations.  In  West  Pennsyl- 
vania one  of  the  first  societies  organized  was  at  Stoner's,  now  Alverton,  which  was 
formed  in  the  Summer  of  1887.  In  Illinois  Eldership  the  first  society  was  organ- 
ized at  Decatur,  July  5,  1887.  Martinsville  followed  in  1888.  The  movement 
spread  rather  rapidly  throughout  the  territory  of  the  General  Eldership,  as  it  did 
in  all  Churches,  until  by  1890  societies  had  been  organized  in  a  majority  of  the 
Elderships  represented  at  the  session  of  the  General  Eldership  in  that  year.  A 
Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.  Union  was  also  formed  in  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  one  in 
Illinois,  in  1890.  The  interdenominational  character  of  the  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.  seemed 
one  of  its  most  objectionable  features.  Another  weak  point  discussed  in  those 
years  was  the  age-limit.  It  was  felt  that  to  confine  it  to  young  people  would 
prove  detrimental  to  spirituality,  and  would  divide  churches  into  classes  having 
but  little  practical  sympathy.  The  churches  of  God  were  disinclined  to  follow 
the  example  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal,  the  Baptist  and  a  few  other  Churches, 
which  organized  their  young  people  into  societies  of  their  own.  In  Canada  the 
Methodist  Church  prefixed  "Epworth  League"  to  the  general  term  of  Young  Peo- 
ple's Society  of  Christian  Endeavor.  The  churches  of  God  did  not  consider  them- 
selves as  of  sufficient  numerical  strength  to  adopt  such  a  safe-guard  against  the 
influence  of  interdenominational  associations. 

Another  important  movement  which  began  about  1883  in  the  East  Pennsyl- 
vania Eldership,  and  which  gave  added  impetus  to  the  Sabbath-school  cause,  was 
Children's  Day.  The  main  original  purpose  of  this  day  was  to  give  special  recog- 
nition to  the  children  in  the  public  service  of  the  sanctuary.  The  date  of  the  first 
recorded  service  of  this  character  is  not  now  known.  It  was  held  in  Pilgrim  church, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  of  which  Rev.  Dr.  Storrs  was  pastor.  The  day  was  observed  by 
Isolated  churches  in  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  several  years  prior  to  1885, 
but  there  was  no  concerted  action.  Even  after  the  Sunday-School  Convention, 
which  met  at  Camp  Hill,  Cumberland  county.  Pa.,  in  1883,  adopted  a  resolution  in 
favor  of  the  observance  of  the  day,  it  received  only  a  partial  recognition.  In  the 
Fall  of  1884  several  annual  Elderships  endorsed  the  action  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship of  that  year,  and  thus  prepared  the  way  for  the  formal  introduction  of  the 
new  movement  in  1885.  The  second  Lord's  day  in  June,  1885,  was  the  day  fixed 
for  the  service.  The  Executive  Committee  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Findlay 
College  prepared  a  program  for  all  the  schools  to  use.  It  consisted,  besides  the 
usual  devotional  services,  of  two  addresses;  one  exercise  by  children,  and  two 
essays.  It  was  originally  not  a  day  to  raise  money;  but  other  Churches  had 
turned  it  to  this  use.  When  the  General  Eldership  made  it  synchronous  with 
College  Day  the  paramount  object  was  to  secure  funds  for  Findlay  College.      In 


General   History  209 

this  it  has  been  eminently  successful,  as  was  anticipated  by  the  fact  that  in  1884 
Children's  Day  brought  $7,000.00  into  the  treasury  of  the  Evangelical  Associa- 
tion; $10,000.00  into  that  of  the  Baptist  Church;  $196,000.00  into  the  Mission 
Fund  of  the  Presbyterian  Church;  $225,000.00  into  the  treasury  of  the  Methodist 
Church,  and  comparatively  large  amounts  into  the  treasuries  of  other  Churches. 
Very  beneficial  effects  of  the  faithful  observance  of  the  day  have  been  generally 
realized. 

The  churches,  and  especially  the  Elderships,  continued  to  take  an  active  in- 
terest in  the  temperance  question.  Elderships  favored  State  and  National  pro- 
hibition, which  was  a  live  issue  in  Iowa,  Pennsylvania,  Kansas  and  West  Virginia 
during  several  years  of  this  period.  The  interest  was  intensified  by  three  facts, 
to  wit:  First.  The  organized  opposition  of  the  liquor  interests,  through  which  it 
became  increasingly  a  political  question,  and  was  generally  encouraged  by  the 
two  great  political  parties.  The  churches  of  God  in  the  main  gave  their  official 
endorsement  to  the  Prohibition  party.  A  few  of  the  ministers  were  candidates 
for  Legislatures  on  the  ticket  of  this  party.  Second.  The  cold-blooded  assassina- 
tion of  Rev.  George  C.  Haddock,  Sioux  City,  Iowa,  August  3,  1886,  by  a  crowd  of 
brewers,  saloon-keepers  and  roughs,  against  whom  he  was  collecting  evidence  in 
liquor  cases  then  pending.  Third.  The  decision,  in  1887,  by  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States,  declaring  that  prohibition  without  compensation  is  valid,  in 
two  cases  in  which  the  State  of  Kansas  was  a  party.  National  prohibition  thus 
became  more  clearly  the  question  for  the  churches  to  agitate,  as  it  was  realized 
that  local  and  State  prohibitory  legislation  and  amendments  can  be  only  partially 
successful  without  National  prohibition.  Then,  even  prior  to  the  formation  of  the 
Anti-Saloon  League,  there  was  as  early  as  1885  an  organized  Anti-Saloon  move- 
ment which  enlisted  many  of  the  churches,  as  more  speedy  results  of  a  local  char- 
acter were  expected. 

Pentecostal  meetings  continued  to  be  held  to  the  close  of  this  period,  in  from 
one  to  six  different  Elderships.  This  tenacious  interest  in  the  person,  functions 
and  offices,  the  inworking  and  outworking  of  the  Holy  Spirit  indicated  the  Im- 
portance of  this  spiritual  movement.  Not  to  know  the  presiding  and  controlling 
power,  and  the  corresponding  need,  of  the  divine  Spirit,  of  all  deficiencies  in  Chris- 
tian experience  is  the  most  lamentable  and  deplorable.  To  effect  such  an  experi- 
ence was  ever  the  purpose  of  these  meetings.  Yet  the  obstacles  they  encountered 
increased  the  tendency  to  localize  and  finally  abandon  them.  In  East  Pennsyl- 
vania Eldership  two  were  held,  wholly  of  a  local  character,  in  1885;  and  none  was 
announced  after  that  date  up  to  1889.  Illinois  Eldership  appointed  two,  one  in 
the  northern  and  one  in  the  southern  part  of  the  territory,  for  each  of  the  five 
years  of  this  period.  Indiana  Eldership  had  one  in  1885,  1886  and  1889.  Iowa 
Eldership  had  two  in  1885  and  one  in  1886,  all  of  a  local  character.  Ohio  Elder- 
ship appointed  but  one  in  the  five  years,  in  1886.  Michigan,  one  in  1886.  Kansas, 
one  in  1886  and  one  in  1888.  Southern  Indiana,  one  in  1889.  Missouri,  one  in 
1888. 

Most  persistent  efforts  were  made  during  this  period  to  keep  burning  the 
camp-meeting  fires.  The  lack  of  spiritual  results,  the  growing  indifference  of  the 
churches,  the  increasing  expenses  made  it  very  difficult  to  hold  local  camp-meet- 
ings. In  1885  one  was  held  in  East  Pennsylvania,  one  in  Maryland,  one  in  Ohio 
and  two  in  West  Pennsylvania.  In  1886  West  Pennsylvania  again  held  two, 
Maryland  one,  Indiana  one,  and  Maine  one.  In  1887  and  in  1888  one  was  held 
each  year  in  Maryland  and  one  in  West  Pennsylvania.  In  1889  seven  were  held, 
one  each  in  East  Pennsylvania,  West  Pennsylvania,  Maine,  Maryland,  Indiana, 
Illinois  and  Indian  Territory.  A  Camp-meeting  Association  was  formed  in  West 
Pennsylvania,  to  hold  an  annual  camp-meeting  not  far  from  Sewickley,  on  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  camp-ground.  W.  R.  Covert,  a  man  of  indefatigable  energy, 
but  of  a  volatile  and  flighty  fancy,  with  S.  Arnold,  "secured  perpetual  right  in  be- 
half of  the  churches  of  God  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  to  hold  an  annual 
camp-meeting."  A  similar  Association  was  formed  in  Venango  county.  West 
Pennsylvania  Eldership,  which  conducted  a  camp-meeting  in  said  county  in  1887. 
In  1886,  in  addition  to  the  camp-meetings  already  noted,  one  was  held  at  Ander- 
son, Ind.,  by  the  evangelist,  Mrs.  M.  B.  Woodworth.  It  was  held  on  the  fair 
grounds,  and  continued  ten  days.  It  was  one  of  the  first  camp-meetings  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Church  of  God  at  which  a  "gate  fee"  was  charged.  The  meet- 
ing was  reported  quite  a  success  in  the  number  of  converts,  as  shortly  after  its 
close  a  few  over  one  hundred  were  baptized;  but  in  some  other  respects  the  repu- 

C.  H.— 8* 


2IO  History    of    thk    Churches    of    God 

tation  of  the  meeting  was  not  good.  While  less  time  was  given  to  the  cultivation 
of  social  and  recreative  interests  which  were  becoming  so  prominent,  bearing  no 
conceivable  relation  to  the  original  purpose  of  camp-meetings,  some  characterized 
the  meeting  as  "not  any  better  than  a  fair;"  or,  "little  religion  about  this." 

Mrs.  Woodworth  was  a  revivalist  of  remarkable  power;  but  after  a  brief 
period  of  constant  activity  she  relapsed  into  obscurity.  She  was  licensed  to  preach 
by  the  Indiana  Eldership  in  1884.  She  was  at  once  appointed  Eldership  Evange- 
list, and  reappointed  in  1885.  She  was  so  successful  in  her  work  that  she  soon 
became  noted  as  an  evangelist  of  more  than  ordinary  power,  and  was  invited  to 
hold  revival  services  in  churches  of  other  religious  bodies,  in  halls  and  in  one 
instance  in  the  court-house.  In  1886,  in  the  territory  of  the  Southern  Indiana 
Eldership,  of  which  she  became  a  member,  she  began  her  special  career  as  an 
evangelist.  She  began  her  first  meeting,  with  four  helpers,  in  the  Royal  Skating 
Rink,  at  Muncie,  Ind.,  in  November,  resulting  in  the  organization  of  a  church  of 
150  members.  Thence  she  went  to  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  and  early  in  December  began 
her  meeting  in  the  Meridan  Skating  Rink.  It  continued  over  the  holidays,  and 
resulted  in  about  175  conversions.  Her  husband  also  reported  "over  twenty 
healed  In  soul  and  body."  From  the  Rink  they  went  to  a  large  Hall,  with  a  seat- 
ing capacity  of  5,000,  where  on  March  19,  1887,  a  church  of  168  members  was 
organized.  Trances  became  now  a  feature  of  her  meetings,  the  subjects  claiming 
to  be  "overpowered  by  the  Holy  Spirit."  Faith  cures  in  large  numbers  began  to 
be  reported.  "The  lame  were  made  to  walk,  the  blind  to  see,  the  deaf  to  hear." 
While  she  had  been  at  Anderson,  Ind.,  in  1886,  her  most  successful  meeting  held 
there  was  in  the  latter  part  of  June,  1887.  A  large  church  was  organized.  As 
elsewhere  by  this  time,  "many  were  the  wonderful  cures"  reported.  After  a  brief 
stay  at  Greensburg,  Ind.,  Mrs.  Woodworth  and  her  party  crossed  the  State  line 
into  Illinois,  and  held  a  four  weeks'  meeting  at  Urbana,  in  September,  1887,  re- 
sulting in  one  hundred  converts.  In  August,  1887,  she  held  a  camp-meeting  at 
Boiling  Springs,  111.,  concerning  which  it  was  reported  that  "the  faith-cure  busi- 
ness is  overshadowing  all  other  things  in  the  meeting."  From  here  she  went  to 
Oakland  Park,  Decatur,  where  she  remained  until  October  2nd,  closing  her  meet- 
ing with  "one  hundred  conversions."  About  the  middle  of  November,  1887,  she 
began  her  work  in  the  W.  C.  T.  U.  Tabernacle,  Hannibal,  Mo.  The  number  of 
converts  was  given  at  150,  and  "twenty  were  healed."  A  church  was  later  or- 
ganized with  100  members.  In  the  Winter  of  1885-6  she  made  an  attempt  to 
carry  on  her  work  in  the  territory  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  but  she 
was  officially  notified  to  desist,  and  so  was  recalled  by  her  Eldership.  In  July, 
1888,  she  held  a  successful  meeting  in  Springfield,  111.  Thence  she  went  to 
Louisville,  Ky.,  in  August,  using  "our  own  tabernacle"  in  which  to  hold  the  ser- 
vices. "Hundreds  of  souls"  were  converted,  a  Hall  was  rented  and  a  church  of 
God  was  organized  of  "over  100  converts."  By  the  close  of  the  year  1889  the 
results  of  her  four  years  of  revival  work  were  reported  as  follows:  "We  have  a 
membership  of  nearly  1,000  as  a  result  of  her  work,  representing  about  a  dozen 
churches.  Half  a  dozen  church  houses  have  been  erected,  a  dozen  or  more 
preachers  licensed,  quite  a  number  of  Sunday-schools  carried  forward,  and  pros- 
pects for  rapid  church  upbuilding."  Mrs.  Woodworth  encountered  strenuous  op- 
position everywhere  after  she  began  to  defend  and  advocate  faith-healing,  visions, 
trances  and  other  vagaries.  She  conceded  that  she  was  confronted  with  "opposi- 
tion on  every  side;"  that  in  some  cities  where  she  held  meetings  "the  ministers  in 
council  agreed  not  to  co-operate  with  her,  nor  to  give  any  countenance  to  her 
work."  Even  the  large  majority  of  the  ministers  of  the  churches  of  God,  and 
most  of  the  Elderships,  had  no  sympathy  with  her  views  on  faith-healing  and 
modern  miracles.  Her  work  was  ephemeral.  Disintegration  of  churches  she  or- 
ganized followed  at  early  dates,  and  the  proofs  abounded  that  she  built  with 
wood,  hay  and  other  infiammable  materials. 

An  encouraging  effect  of  Mrs.  Woodworth's  wonderful  revivals  was  the  in- 
spiration to  energetic  endeavors  felt  by  ministers  and  churches  in  the  work  of 
evangelism  and  Church  extension.  Her  work,  with  all  its  defects,  was  of  a  very 
serious  character,  and  it  suggested  the  propriety  of  "days  of  fasting  and  solemn 
prayer  for  revivals"  in  many  localities.      Gratifying  results  followed. 

The  material  interests  of  the  churches  were  faithfully  attended  to  during  this 
period.  There  was  a  tireless  struggle  after  progress,  a  cheerful  optimism  and  a 
power  and  activity  in  the  pursuit  of  better  things  which  were  rewarded  by  a  good 
measure  of  success   in   competing  with   other  religious  bodies.     As  in   the  early 


General  History  211 

days,  there  still  survived  the  belief  that  the  Church  had  a  special  mission  to  carry 
the  torch  of  "the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints"  throughout  the  land  and  to 
be  the  bearer  of  truths  which  otherwise  would  be  neglected.  To  make  permanent 
the  fruits  of  their  labors  ministers  realized  that  houses  of  worship  owned  by  the 
churches,  and  parsonages,  needed  to  be  built,  and  they  urged  this  strongly  on  the 
membership.  Responses  were  generously  made,  and  a  comparatively  large  num- 
ber of  houses  of  worship  was  erected  and  others  repaired  and  improved.  The  first 
to  be  dedicated  was  the  new  bethel  at  Taylortown,  Ohio,  where  the  church  had 
been  worshiping  in  the  Town  Hall.  The  house  cost  $900.00,  and  was  built 
under  the  labors  of  S.  Kline,  pastor,  and  dedicated  December  21,  1884,  C. 
Winbigler  officiating.  J.  W.  Riddle  was  quite  successful  as  missionary  among 
the  Cherokee  Indians,  Indian  Territory,  and  in  the  Winter  of  1884-5  built 
the  bethel  at  Camp  Creek,  which  was  dedicated  in  the  Spring  of  1885.  Through 
the  labors  of  J.  F.  Meixel,  pastor  of  the  Upper  Perry  circuit,  Pa.,  the  project 
of  building  a  bethel  at  Center  Square  was  started  in  1882  or  '3,  but  the  work 
was  delayed,  and  not  until  1885  was  the  new  bethel  finished,  under  the  pas- 
torate of  W.  J.  Grissinger.  It  was  dedicated  June  7th,  when  S.  D.  C.  Jackson 
preached  the  dedicatory  sermon.  The  cost  of  the  building  was  $715.00.  In  Riley 
county,  Kans.,  J.  A.  Miller  and  E.  L.  Latchaw  as  pastors,  a  bethel  was  built  at 
Riley  Center  in  1885.  The  church  had  existed  for  three  years  without  a  church 
home.  The  dedication  took  place  August  30th,  the  services  having  been  in  charge 
of  J.  R.  H,  Latchaw.  In  1885  J.  C.  Fomcrook  was  the  efficient  pastor  at  Lanark, 
111.,  and  under  his  labors  "Summit  Bethel"  was  erected  at  a  cost  of  $4,000.00.  It 
was  dedicated  October  10,  1885,  Latchaw  preaching  on  the  occasion.  Trinity, 
Wells  county,  Ind.,  was  pastorless  in  1885;  but  the  church  heroically  went  to 
work  and  built  a  bethel,  which  E.  Miller  dedicated  November  15th.  This  exhibi- 
tion of  church  efficiency  and  of  appreciation  of-  moral  responsibility  received  just 
commendation.  J.  M.  Cassel,  who  on  September  27,  1885,  preached  the  dedi- 
catory sermon  of  the  Pleasant  Grove  Bethel,  St.  Mary's  circuit,  Ohio,  pronounced 
it  "a  monument  to  the  zeal  and  energy  of  the  pastor,  T.  Koogle."  It  was  a  sign  of 
"the  prosperity  and  progress  of  the  church."  The  presence  at  the  dedication  of 
T.  Hickemell  and  J.  A.  Dobson  was  noted  as  "connecting  links  binding  us  to  the 
early  history  of  the  Church."  At  Shambaugh,  la.,  under  the  labors  of  A.  Wilson, 
pastor,  a  new  bethel  was  built  in  the  Summer  of  1885,  at  a  cost  of  $2,500.00.  It 
was  dedicated  by  M.  S.  Newcomer  on  November  22nd.  At  Copley,  Summit  county, 
Ohio,  a  bethel  was  finished  and  dedicated  December  20,  1885.  W.  P.  Small  was 
pastor,  and  J.  M.  Cassel  officiated  at  the  dedication. 

At  Cool  Spring,  or  Sprankle's  Mills,  Jefferson  county,  Pa.,  a  house  of  worship 
was  built  under  the  labors  of  L.  B.  Appleton,  which  was  dedicated  by  him  on 
January  24,  1886,  in  the  absence  of  the  minister  who  had  been  engaged  for  the 
occasion.  The  new  bethel  erected  at  White  Oak,  Clark  county.  111.,  was  conse- 
crated on  May  30,  1886.  Wm.  Johnson  was  the  devoted  pastor.  George  Sandoe 
officiated,  assisted  by  J.  Bernard.  A  bethel  which  had  stood  for  nearly  forty 
years,  at  Slippery  Rock,  Beaver  county.  Pa.,  gave  way  to  a  new  edifice  erected  dur- 
ihg  the  Summer  of  1886,  under  the  labors  of  J.  W.  Davis.  The  new  house  was 
more  commodious.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  on  May  30th,  and  the  dedication 
took  place  October  10th.  The  name  was  changed  to  Connoquenessing  Chapel. 
The  second  bethel  at  Highspire,  Dauphin  county.  Pa.,  was  dedicated  July  25,  1886, 
when  J,  T.  Fleegal  was  the  pastor.  G.  W.  Seilhammer  preached  in  the  morning, 
and  J.  W.  Miller  in  the  evening.  The  house  cost  $2,407.00.  In  Kennedy's  Valley, 
Perry  county.  Pa.,  the  corner-stone  of  a  new  bethel  was  laid  June  27,  1886,  when 
on  account  of  the  failure  of  the  preacher  for  the  occasion  to  be  present,  W.  J. 
Grissinger,  pastor,  officiated.  The  building  was  completed  and  dedicated  on 
March  6,  1887,  when  G.  W.  Seilhammer  did  the  preaching.  Under  the  pastorate 
of  W.  P.  Winbigler,  the  church  at  Frizzlesburg,  Carroll  county,  Md.,  built  a  house 
of  worship,  which  was  dedicated  by  G.  W.  Seilhammer  on  November  21,  1886. 
The  rededication  of  the  Syracuse  Bethel,  Ind.,  under  the  labors  of  I.  W.  Markley, 
took  place  on  July  11,  1886.  The  dedicatory  sermon  was  preached  by  E.  Miller. 
The  house  had  been  "repaired,  remodeled  and  refitted,  and  was  commodious,  at- 
tractive and  superior  to  the  former  house."  On  Herr  street,  Harrisburg,  Pa., 
under  the  pastoral  care  of  J.  W.  Jones,  the  little  church  of  colored  folks  began  to 
build  a  bethel  in  the  Summer  of  1886.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  by  C.  H.  Forney 
and  J.  M.  Carvell  August  15th,  but  they  were  not  able  to  complete  the  building. 
Better  success  attended  the  church  at  Highland,  Dauphin  county.  Pa.,  which, 
under  the  pastoral  care  of  H.  E.  Reever,  began  the  erection  of  a  bethel  in  the  Sum- 


212  History   of   the    Churches   of    God 

mer  of  1886,  laying  the  corner-stone  September  19th.  C.  H.  Forney  and  J.  M. 
Canrell  officiated.  The  building  was  completed  at  a  cost  of  $2,300.00,  and  was 
dedicated  by  J.  W.  Deshong,  January  23,  1887.  The  ordinances  were  observed  in 
the  evening.  T.  Still  had  meanwhile  become  the  pastor.  The  church  at  Mt. 
Olivet,  York  county,  Pa.,  having  built  a  spire  and  put  a  bell  into  it,  rededicated 
the  house  September  12,  1886.  H.  E.  Reever  and  T.  Still  preached  on  the  occa- 
sion, and  with  the  pastor,  J.  F.  Meixel,  conducted  an  ordinance  meeting  in  the 
evening.  A  new  house  of  worship  was  built  by  the  church  at  Sugar  Creek,  Wayne 
county,  Ohio,  and  dedicated  September  26,  1886,  W.  P.  Small  preaching  on  the 
occasion,  assisted  by  G.  H.  Ritchie.  Under  the  labors  of  W.  J.  McNutt,  a  bethel 
was  built  at  Sugar  Ridge,  Van  Wert  county,  Ohio,  which  J.  M.  Cassel  dedicated  in 
October,  1886,  assisted  by  D.  Sands.  I.  W.  Markley  as  pastor  succeeded  in  build- 
ing several  bethels  on  his  field  in  Indiana.  One  of  these  was  in  Columbia  City, 
Whitley  county,  at  a  cost  of  $3,200.00.  It  was  dedicated  by  M.  S.  Newcomer 
November  14,  1886.  The  church  was  the  outgrowth  of  Mrs.  Woodworth's  labors 
in  1885.  Another  was  built  at  Butler,  at  a  cost  of  $3,800.00.  It  was  dedicated 
November  21,  1886,  M.  S.  Newcomer  officiating.  At  Round  Grove,  111.,  with  O.  B. 
Huston  pastor,  a  new  bethel  was  built  at  a  cost  of  $1,300.00.  It  was  dedicated  by 
Geo.  Sandoe  October  10,  1886.  The  bethel  at  Wallaceton,  Clearfield  county.  Pa., 
after  undergoing  extensive  repairs,  was  rededicated  November  21,  1886.  J.  W. 
Deshong  did  the  preaching.  Thos.  Young  was  pastor.  Such  extensive  alterations 
were  made  to  the  Lancaster,  Pa.,  bethel  in  the  Summer  of  1886,  that  it  "was  not 
recognizable  as  the  old  bethel,"  at  a  cost  of  $3,682.00.  The  consecrated  C.  Price 
was  t)astor.  The  rededication  took  place  November  14th,  G.  W.  Seilhammer  and 
G.  W.  Getz  officiating. 

In  1887  E.  L.  Latchaw  succeeded  in  gathering  a  small  church  in  a  new  settle- 
ment of  sod-house  dwellers,  near  Utica,  or  Kansada,  Ness  county,  Kans.  They 
worshiped  in  a  sod  school-house,  12x15  feet.  They  decided  to  build  a  frame 
bethel,  2  0x30  feet,  which  was  dedicated  on  May  28th.  The  sermons  on  the  occa- 
sion were  preached  by  W.  H.  Cross.  On  May  8,  1887,  the  bethel  at  South  Fair- 
view,  Cumberland  county,  Pa.,  was  to  be  dedicated,  when  G.  W.  Seilhammer  offi- 
ciated. But  the  act  of  consecration  was  deferred  in  order  to  cancel  the  entire  in- 
debtedness. This  was  done,  and  on  the  22nd  J.  B.  Lockwood  preached  and  dedi- 
cated the  house.  O.  J.  Farling,  a  minister  actuated  by  the  old  missionary  spirit, 
succeeded  in  organizing  a  church  in  Stoney  Creek  Valley,  Dauphin  county.  They 
began  the  erection  of  a  bethel  soon  after;  the  corner-stone  was  laid  June  18,  1887, 
by  C.  H.  Forney,  assisted  by  M.  M.  Foose  and  J.  Berkstresser.  The  house  was 
completed  and  dedicated  September  18th,  when  G.  W.  Seilhammer,  M.  M.  Foose 
and  I.  A.  MacDannald  officiated.  The  cost  was  $940.00.  Mission  work  in  Mt. 
Pleasant,  Westmoreland  county.  Pa.,  was  begun  in  an  old  school  building,  bought 
by  D.  S.  Fox  for  $500.00.  An  additional  $500.00  was  spent  in  alterations  and 
Improvements,  when  the  new  church  building  was  dedicated,  July  17,  1887,  with 
G.  W.  Seilhammer,  W.  R.  Covert  and  J.  S.  Mai-ple  as  the  preachers  of  the  three 
sermons  of  the  day.  The  bethel  at  New  Kingston,  Cumberland  county.  Pa.,  built 
thirty  years  before,  was  repaired  under  the  labors  of  D.  W.  Keefer,  and  rededi- 
cated July  24,  1887.  G.  Sigler  and  A.  H.  Long  did  the  preaching.  At  Olive 
Branch,  Miami  county,  Ind.,  R.  H.  Dempsey,  pastor,  a  bethel  was  built  in  the 
Spring  of  1887.  A.  F.  Dempsey  officiated  at  the  dedication  on  July  24th.  The 
Fairview  Bethel,  York  county.  Pa.,  was  rededicated  July  24,  1887.  J.  C.  Seabrooks 
preached  on  the  occasion.  At  Tobias,  Putnam  county,  Ohio,  a  new  church  edifice 
was  ready  for  dedication  on  September  4,  1887,  under  E.  Poling,  pastor.  J.  R,  H. 
Lat<'haw  was  present  and  preached,  but  the  act  of  dedication  was  deferred  on  ac- 
count of  failure  to  cancel  the  indebtedness.  Under  the  new  pastor,  J.  W.  Auker- 
man,  the  money  was  secured,  and  in  the  latter  part  of  October,  1887,  R.  H.  Bolton 
dedicated  the  house.  It  was  christened  "Pleasant  Valley  Bethel."  The  bethel  in 
Mendon,  Mercer  county,  Ohio,  built  under  the  labors  of  J.  W.  Bloyd,  at  a  cost  of 
$1,600.00,  was  dedicated  on  September  25,  1887.  M.  S.  Newcomer  did  the  preach- 
ing ;W.  B.  Allen  and  W.  P.  Small  assisted  in  the  services.  "The  Mission  Bethel 
of  the  Ohio  Eldership,"  which  J.  W.  Aukerman,  General  Missionary,  succeeded  in 
building  in  Putnam  county,  was  dedicated  by  T.  Koogle  on  September  25,  1887. 
The  village  of  Centennial,  in  which  it  was  built,  was  located  "in  the  woods,"  and 
services  had  been  held  in  the  school-house  and  in  a  blacksmith  shop.  On  the 
same  day  the  church  at  Steelton,  Dauphin  county,  Pa.,  H.  E.  Reever  pastor,  re- 
dedicated its  house  of  worship.      J.  Berkstresser  and  M.  M.  Foose  preached  the 


General  History  213 

sermons.  November  6,  1887,  the  church  at  Anderson,  Madison  county,  Ind.,  or- 
ganized by  Mrs.  Woodwoi-th,  dedicated  its  new  bethel.  H.  H.  Spiher  was  the 
successful  pastor.  President  Latehaw  officiated.  R.  H,  Bolton  and  the  Wood- 
worths  assisted  in  the  services.  The  rededication  of  the  bethel  at  Marysville, 
Perry  county.  Pa.,  occurred  October  23,  1887.  The  pastor,  H.  W.  Long,  secured 
the  services  of  M.  M.  Foose  for  the  occasion.  At  Camp  Hill,  Franklin  county.  Pa., 
a  new  bethel  was  built  in  the  Summer  of  1887,  J.  W.  Kipe  being  the  pastor.  It 
was  dedicated  by  Wm.  Palmer,  November  27th.  The  bethel  at  Boiling  Spring, 
Mac6n  county.  111.,  which  had  been  occupied  for  thirty  years,  was  destroyed  by 
fire  in  October,  1887.  A  new  one  was  erected  under  the  pastorate  of  W.  I.  Berk- 
sti-esser,  which  was  set  apart  for  divine  worship  on  December  2  5,  1888.  Geo. 
Sandoe  and  J.  Bernard  preached  on  the  occasion.  Hayes  Chapel,  Ida  county,  la., 
was  built  in  1888.  J.  W.  Kiddle,  missionary  among  the  Cherokee  Indians,  Indian 
Territory,  built  a  bethel  at  Sallisaw,  costing  $670.00.  It  was  dedicated  May  27, 
1888,  by  C  Manchester.  Remodeled  so  as  to  "look  like  an  entirely  new  house," 
the  Landisville  Bethel,  Lancaster  county.  Pa.,  built  in  1843,  was  rededicated  under 
F.  L.  Nicodemus,  pastor,  April  29,  1888.  The  preaching  on  the  occasion  was  by 
C.  Price  and  J.  B.  Lockwood.  Under  the  supervision  of  S.  Smith,  a  German  and 
English  preacher,  a  bethel  was  built  at  Cove  Station,  Huntingdon  county.  Pa.  It 
was  dedicated  May  6,  1888,  by  F.  L.  Nicodemus.  The  bethel  at  Orrstown,  Frank- 
lin county.  Pa.,  having  been  "renovated,  thoroughly  renewed,  embellished  and 
beautified  within  and  without,"  was  rededicated  by  G.  W.  Getz  June  10,  1888. 
The  ordinances  were  observed  in  the  evening,  the  pastor  J.  T.  Fleegal,  being  in 
charge  of  the  services.  The  rededication  of  the  bethel  at  Reedsville,  Wayne 
county,  Ohio,  occurred  July  22,  1888.  S.  Kline  was  the  pastor;  President 
Latchaw  filled  the  pulpit.  W.  G.  Steele  succeeded  in  building  a  bethel  at  Peter's 
Run,  Ohio  county.  West  Virginia,  which  was  consecrated  July  29,  1888.  X.  M. 
Andei*son  did  the  preaching.  On  the  Hillsdale  Mission,  at  Bright's  appointment, 
Mich.,  a  new  bethel  was  dedicated  under  the  labors  of  J.  F.  Slough,  pastor, 
August  26,  1888.  J.  M.  Cassel  did  the  preaching.  The  dedicatory  services  of 
the  new  bethel  built  at  Woodland,  Marshall  county,  W.  Va.,  were  held  Septem- 
ber 23,  1888.  I.  D.  Cousins  was  the  pastor.  The  Eldership  held  its  session 
in  the  new  building,  and  N.  M.  Anderson  preached  the  dedicatory  sermon.  L. 
F.  Chamberlin  officiated  at  the  dedication  of  the  bethel  at  Showman,  Iowa, 
August  26,  1888.  At  a  meeting  in  the  Methodist  house  of  worship  at  Markle- 
ville,  Madison  county,  Ind.,  a  number  were  converted  and  desired  to  be  or- 
ganized into  a  church  of  God  by  the  pastor,  H.  H.  Spiher.  This  they  were  not 
permitted  to  do  in  the  M.  E.  house.  They  withdrew  and  organized  in  a  private 
house.  They  resolved  to  build  a  bethel,  which  cost  $1,800.00,  and  was  dedicated 
by  President  Latchaw  August  26,  1888.  The  corner-stone  of  the  Vander  Avenue 
bethel,  York,  Pa.,  was  laid  by  W.  Rice  on  September  2,  188  8.  The  self-denying 
pastor,  O.  J.  Farling,  pushed  the  work  to  completion,  and  the  house  was  dedicated 
November  25,  1888,  by  G.  W.  Seilhammer.  Cost,  $1,500.00.  The  town  site  of 
Riley,  Riley  county,  Kans.,  having  been  changed  so  as  to  be  on  the  Rock  Island 
Railroad,  the  bethel  built  some  years  before  was  removed  to  the  new  location.  It 
was  dedicated  September  23,  1888,  by  C.  S.  Bolton,  assisted  by  the  pastor,  J.  M. 
Klein.  At  Henrietta,  Blair  county.  Pa.,  J.  M.  Waggoner,  pastor,  a  new  bethel 
was  built,  which  was  dedicated  by  G.  Sigler  on  December  16,  1888.  The  Mt. 
Carmel  Bethel,  Northumberland  county.  Pa.,  was  dedicated  by  W.  Rice  on 
December  23,  1888.  The  house  had  become  too  small  under  the  pastoral  labors  of 
F.  Y.  Weidenhammer.  At  Milmine,  Piatt  county.  111.,  T.  J.  Crowder,  pastor,  suc- 
ceeded in  building  a  bethel  at  a  cost  of  $1,500.00.  President  Latchaw  officiated  at 
the  dedication  on  January  6,  1889.  The  church  at  Ft.  Scott,  Kans.,  was  organized 
late  in  1888,  after  a  revival  meeting  conducted  by  J.  C.  Fomcrook.  A  lot  was 
bought  and  work  begun  on  a  house  of  worship.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  by 
Fomcrook,  General  Missionary,  on  April  27,  1889.  The  rededication  of  the  bethel 
at  Linglestown,  Dauphin  county.  Pa.,  under  C.  Y.  Weidenhammer,  took  place  Feb- 
ruary 3,  1889.  The  preaching  on  the  occasion  was  by  Wm.  Rice.  Under  W.  J» 
Grissinger's  pastorate  at  Elizabethtown,  Lancaster  county,  Pa.,  the  remodeled 
bethel  was  dedicated  January  27,  1889.  G.  W.  Seilhammer  preached  the  sermons.. 
Though  not  a  "union  house,"  the  Union  Chapel,  Williams  county,  Ohio,  built  under 
the  pastoral  labors  of  J.  W.  Bloyd,  was  dedicated  by  Latchaw  on  January  27,  1889. 
A  bethel  was  built  at  Pleasant  View,  Mercer  county,  Ohio,  under  the  labors  of 
L.  T.  Lemunyon.      It  was  dedicated  by  Latchaw  June  2,  1889.      Latchaw  also  dedi- 


214  History   of   the   Churches   of    God 

cated  the  new  bethel  at  Muncie,  Ind.,  February  17,  1889.      H.  H.  Spiher  was  the 
pastor.     The  property  cost  $7,000.00.     The  church  was  organized  two  years  be- 
fore, with  two  hundred  members,  the    fruits    of  Mrs.    Woodworth's    labors.      At 
Amboy,  Mich.,  a  new  bethel  was  to  be  dedicated  by  Latchaw  July  1,   1888;   but 
failing  to  secure  the  cash  or  its  equivalent,  he  refused  to  dedicate  the  house.     W. 
H.  Oliver  followed  J.  F.  Slough  as  pastor.      He  raised    the    needed    funds,    and 
Latchaw  returned  and  dedicated  the  house  in  February,  1889.      At  Metz,  or  Welty, 
Marion  county,  W.   Va.,  under  the  labors  of  Geo.  E.  Kemp,  a   bethel  was  built, 
which  N.  M.  Andei"son  and  S.  B.  Craft  consecrated  May  19,  1889.      Roaring  Spring, 
Blair  county.  Pa.,  lost  its  bethel  by  fire,  February  24,  1889.      Under  M.  M.  Foose 
as  pastor,  the  work  of  rebuilding  began  at  once,  and  on  December  1,  1889,  Geo. 
Sigler  officiated  at  the  dedication  of  the  new  bethel.      The  Blooming  Grove  Bethel, 
Ohio,  Jos.  Neil  pastor,  was  dedicated  by  Latchaw  May  12,  1889.      After  extensive 
repairs  under  F.  W.  McGuire  as  pastor,  the  house    of    worship    at    Matamoras, 
Dauphin  county,  Pa.,  was  rededicated  May   19,   1889.     J.  H.  Esterline  officiated. 
The  church  of  God  and  the  M.   E.   church  built  a  union    house    on    the    Raleigh 
circuit,  W.  Va.,  known  as  Dick's  Chapel,  under  the  labors  of  S.  E.  Stewart,  which 
was  dedicated   in  September,   1889.     At  the  Clay  appointment,   Defiance  county, 
Ohio,  J.  W.  Bloyd  pastor,  a  bethel  was  built,  which  Latchaw  dedicated  September 
18,  1889.     The  West  Auburn  bethel  was  moved  3  miles  and  extensively  repaired 
under  S.  Rothrock's  labors.      G.  H.  Ritchie  officiated  at  the  dedication  on  Septem- 
ber  8,   1889.      Latchaw  preached  the  dedicatory  sermon  of    the    new    bethel    at 
Dewey ville,    Ohio,    September    22,    1889.      W.   T.    Cross   was   the   pastor.      On   the 
same  day  the  new  bethel  at  Southwright,  Hillsdale  county,  Mich.,  was  dedicated 
by  Jas.   Neil,  W.  H.  Oliver  being  pastor.      In  August,     1889,*    the    Front    Street 
church,  Findlay,  tore  down  their  house.     The  corner-stone  of  the  new  bethel  was 
laid  November  3rd,  Prof.  W.  H.  Wagner  and  G.  W.  Wilson  delivering  addresses. 
The  house  was  finished  under  the  pastoral  labors  of  W.  N.  Yates,  and  dedicated 
April  27,  1890,  by  M.  S.  Newcomer.      Under  J.  W.  Bloyd  as  pastor,  the  Belief on- 
taine  Chapel,  Ohio,  was  built.        It  was  dedicated  by  R.  H.  Bolton    September  8, 
1889.     The  ordinances  were  observed  at  night.     At  Williamstown,    Ind.,    H.    H. 
Spiher  pastor,  a  bethel  was  built,  which  was  dedicated  September  23,   1889,  by 
John  Vincent.      The  Pleasant  Prairie  Bethel,  3  miles  from  Independence,  la.,  built 
in  1854,  was  replaced  by  a  new  edifice  in  the  Summer  of  1889.      It  was  set  apart 
for  religious  services  November  17,  1889,  when  M.  S.  Newcomer  and  C.  L.  AVilson 
officiated.      The  bethel  at  Zanesville,   Ind.,  J.  A.  Wood  pastor,  was  repaired,  and 
dedicated  December  1,  1889.     A  new  bethel  was  built  at  Collamer,  Ind.,  under  the 
labors  of  I.  W.  Markley,  costing  $1,519.00.      It  was  dedicated  by  Latchaw  Novem- 
ber 24,  1889.      The  Blue  Grass  Bethel,  Illinois,  built  under  D.  H.  Rupp's  labors, 
was  dedicated  October   13,   1889,  when  Geo.  Sandoe  preached.      Failure  to  raise 
sufficient  money  to  pay  all  bills  occasioned  the  postponement  of  the  final  act  of 
dedication   at  an   earlier   date.      The   Progress   Bethel,   Dauphin   county.   Pa.,   was 
rededicated  under  the  labors  of  C.  C.  Bartels  on  December  1,  1889.      The  pastor, 
W.  J.  Grissinger,   preached  on  the  occasion  of  the  rededication   of  the  bethel  at 
Mt  Joy,  Pa.,  December  8,  1889.     The  East  Steelton  Mission,  Dauphin  county.  Pa., 
under  the  labors  of  D.  W.  Keefer,  pastor  at  Highland,  laid  the  corner-stone  of  its 
house  of  worship  December  22,  1889.      The  building  was  finished,  and  was  dedi- 
cated February  23,  1890.      Geo.  Sigler  preached  the  sermon.      At  Breakneck,  Fay- 
ette county.  Pa.,  the  Union  Bethel  was  dedicated  on  December  1,   1889.      W.  R. 
Covert  preached  in  the  morning  and  Dr.  Morgan,  Baptist,    in    the    evening.       A 
house  of  worship  known  as  Silver  Creek  Bethel,  in  Fulton  county,  Indiana,  on  the 
field  served  as  pastor  by  J.  W.  Stringfellow,  was  dedicated  January  5,   1890,  by 
J.  Biimpus  and  I.  W.  Markley. 

While  the  churches  gave  these  unmistakable  indications  of  material  progress, 
the  spiritual  work  was  not  neglected.  A  large  percentage  of  the  new  houses  of 
worship  built  during  this  period  was  in  new  localities,  where  churches  had  been 
organized.  But  Church  extension  work  was  diligently  carried  forward  in  other 
localities.  In  New  England  but  little  progress  was  made.  One  church  was  or- 
ganized in  New  .Brunswick.  Several  new  names  were  added  to  the  ministerial 
Roll  of  the  Eldership,  and  the  original  mover  in  the  work  in  Maine,  Jolin  Dennis, 
was  called  to  his  final  reward.  H.  Mills,  the  most  active  worker,  was  becoming 
discouraged.  The  ministry  and  churches  of  the  Eldership  lacked  the  interest  in, 
and  loyalty  to,  the  Church  of  God  of  the  General  Eldership  which  he  realized  and 
manifested.      Most  of  them  had  been  Free   Baptists,    who    were    dissatisfied    for 


General   History  215 

sundry  reasons,  and  withdrew.  The  broad  platform  of  the  Bible  as  the  creed,  and 
the  name  "church  of  God,"  appealed  to  them.  The  influence  of  this  teaching  spread 
into  Massachusetts,  and  the  churches  of  Pittsfield  constituted  themselves  into  "the 
church  of  God  of  Pittsfield."  The  New  York  "Independent"  declared  that  "the 
people  of  Pittsfield  have  got  hold  of  a  most  important  idea."  There  were  numer- 
ous revivals  in  Maine  and  New  Brunswick,  and  the  local  churches  were  in  a  fairly- 
prosperous  condition. 

In  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  the  principal  church  extension  work  was  at 
Altoona,  where  a  mission  was  established  in  December,  1886,  to  be  in  co-operation 
with  the  first  church.  The  Henrietta  church  was  added  to  the  Morrison  Cove  cir- 
cuit. At  Shamokin,  Northumberland  county,  work  was  begun  in  1883,  and  a 
church  was  organized  which  was  making  fair  progress  during  this  period  under 
the  labors  of  S.  Smith  and  C.  Kahler,  successive  pastors.  In  Clearfield  county  the 
field  was  enlarging,  and  new  points  were  being  added  to  the  two  circuits.  The 
Lower  York  Mission,  near  York,  Pa.,  added  several  new  points  under  the  labors 
of  O.  J.  Farling.  But  the  principal  work  in  the  Eldership  consisted  in  the 
strengthening  of  the  churches  through  revivals  and  improving  their  material  con- 
ditions. 

West  Virginia  was  fruitful  territory.  The  older  organizations  were  aggres- 
sive, and  were  measurably  strengthened.  The  work  in  Ohio  and  Brooke  counties 
was  carried  forward  with  energy  and  good  success.  Raleigh  and  Kanawha  coun- 
ties, in  the  south-western  part  of  the  State,  were  being  occupied  and  churches  or- 
ganized. A  small  church  organization  existed  in  the  city  of  Wheeling.  The  whole 
territory  of  the  Eldership  in  West  Virginia  appeared  to  be  ripe  for  an  abundant 
harvest. 

The  most  promising  fields  for  Church  extension  work  were  in  Nebraska, 
Missouri,  Kansas  and  the  Indian  Territory.  In  Nebraska  the  work  was  carried 
forward  in  the  counties  of  Howard  and  Greeley,  by  Eli  Stark,  who  located  in 
Howard  county  in  1885,  and  in  the  Fall  of  said  year  organized  a  church  of  thirty- 
one  members.  Another  church  was  organized  by  him  in  Greeley  county,  in  Octo- 
ber, 1885.  George  W.  Misener  preached  in  Serman  and  Custer  counties,  and  or- 
ganized several  churches.  In  Kansas,  E.  L.  Latchaw  removed  to  Ness  county  and 
began  work,  with  a  good  measure  of  success.  Stafford  county  was  also  the  scene 
of  active  mission  work  by  J.  N.  Smith  and  C  S.  Bolton,  as  was  also  Pratt  county 
immediately  to  the  south.  Thus  the  area  of  cultivated  ground  in  Kansas  was  con- 
siderably enlarged,  and  the  work  pushed  into  the  south-western  part  of  the  State. 
Ft.  Scott,  in  Bourbon  county,  on  the  Missouri  boundary  line,  became  a  center  of 
interest  in  1887.  J.  W.  Keplinger  had  been  preaching  in  the  town,  and  had  the 
assistance  of  D,  Blakely  and  G.  J.  Bartlebaugh.  The  securing  of  a  lot  on  which 
to  build  a  bethel  was  undertaken  in  the  Fall  of  1887,  and  brought  to  a  successful 
issue  in  1889,  the  church  having  been  organized  under  the  preaching  of  C.  Man- 
chester and  J.  C.  Fomcrook  in  December,  1888.  In  1889  there  were  twenty-six 
Church  of  God  organization  in  the  State,  scattered  through  fifteen  counties,  with 
an  aggregate  membership  of  610  and  five  houses  of  worship. 

The  work  in  the  Indian  Territory  during  these  five  years  was  in  the  care  of 
J.  W.  Riddle,  E.  M.  Kirkpatrick,  C.  H.  Ballinger  and  J.  C,  Caswell.  They  labored 
mainly  among  the  Indians  of  the  Cherokee  Nation;  but  in  1889  Caswell  preached 
in  the  territory  of  the  Creek  Nation.  The  work  was  also  strengthened  by  the 
removal  into  the  Territory  of  some  Church  of  God  families  from  Texas.  By  No- 
vember, 1885,  four  churches  had  been  organized.  In  September,  1886,  Riddle 
reported  that  "three  hundred  and  fifty  souls  belong  to  the  Church  of  God  in  the 
Cherokee  Nation."  Kirkpatrick  became  pastor  of  three  of  the  churches  in  the 
Cherokee  Nation.  He  organized  an  additional  church  of  thirteen  members.  In 
August,  1887,  Ballinger  succeeded  in  organizing  a  church  of  twenty-six  members, 
and  Caswell  one  of  fourteen  members.  Caswell,  in  1889  began  work  in  the  Creek 
Nation.  By  this  time  the  membership  in  the  Territory  had  increased  to  637,  or- 
ganized into  thirteen  churches. 

There  were  inviting  fields  for  mission  work  in  half  a  dozen  States  where  the 
Church  had  not  yet  begun  operations.  The  most  inviting  of  these  were  on  the 
Pacific  Coast.  In  1886  J.  Garrigus,  Oregon,  published  earnest  calls  for  a  mis- 
sionary. Others  who  had  removed  to  that  State  also  made  appeals  for  a  minister 
to  be  sent  them.  In  July,  1886,  J.  T.  Force  began  work  there,  and  soon  had  a 
small  band  ready  to  organize  a  church.  In  July,  1887,  he  declared  "the  field  is 
ripe  in  Oregon.      Send  us  one,  two,  or  three  preachers."      In   1888  the  Nebraska 


2i6  History    of   the    Churches    of    God 

Eldership  asked  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  to  appoint  J.  \V. 
Adams,  one  of  their  ministers,  missionary  to  Oregon.  In  April,  1889,  Garrigus 
appealed  again  to  the  Board  for  a  missionary,  urging  that  "now  or  never"  was  the 
time  to  begin  work  in  that  State.  In  June,  1889,  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the 
General  Eldership  considered  the  appointment  of  I.  S.  Richmond,  of  Illinois;  but 
did  not  feel  justified  to  make  an  appropriation. 

In  the  Winter  of  1885-6  D.  Keplinger,  Kansas,  removed  to  Los  Angeles 
county,  California,  and  at  once  planned  to  begin  missionary  work.  He  opened  an 
appointment  in  Antelope  Valley,  to  which  he  soon  added  several  others. 

The  first  call  for  a  minister  to  come  to  Colorado  was  published  by  Grant  L. 
Woods  in  1889.  He  had  removed  from  Shambaugh,  la.,  to  Kit  Carson  county, 
Colo.,  and  desired  the  Church  to  open  a  mission  in  said  county. 

Dakota  seemed  a  promising  field  for  mission  work,  as  Church  families  from 
Iowa  were  moving  into  the  Territory.  Among  these  was  A.  C.  Bixler,  who  in  1885 
started  a  Sunday-school  in  his  neighborhood.  Religious  interest  was  awakened, 
and  he  began  to  hold  "prayer-meetings  from  shanty  to  shanty."  Twenty-five  were 
converted  at  these  meetings,  when  he  sent  for  C.  C.  Marston,  who  preached  on 
baptism  and  Church  doctrines,  and  baptized  nineteen  of  the  converts.  H.  L.  Soule 
and  D.  S.  Guinter,  in  the  Winter  of  1885-6,  conducted  revival  services  in  a  school- 
house  in  Lincoln  county,  now  South  Dakota,  resulting  in  the  organization  of  a 
church. 

P.  Clippinger  removed  from  Kansas  to  Florida  in  the  Winter  of  1886,  and 
began  preaching.  His  field  extended  along  the  S.  F.  R.  R.  from  Sanford  to  Tampa. 
He  organized  two  Sunday-schools  in  1887;  baptized  ten  believers,  and  organized 
a  church  of  eighteen  members. 

While  the  era  of  controversies  was  apparently  passing,  and  a  spirit  of  greater 
tolerance  was  developing  in  ministers  and  churches,  there  yet  was  a  good  deal 
of  discussion  during  this  period.  Public  debates,  however,  were  more  infrequent. 
Only  five  are  reported  during  this  period.  The  first  was  conducted  in  Wetzel 
county,  W.  Va.,  between  S.  B.  Craft,  of  the  Church  of  God,  and  Rev.  Speers,  of  the 
M.  E.  Church,  South.  It  was  held  in  June,  1885.  The  subject  was  Christian 
Baptism,  Craft  affirming  that  "immersion  is  the  Bible  act  of  baptism,"  and  Speei-s 
denying.  The  result  was  claimed  as  "a  perfect  victory  for  the  Church  of  God  and 
immersion."  In  April,  1886,  A.  Wilson  had  a  debate  in  Page  county,  Iowa,  with 
Rev.  A.  L.  Cooper,  on  the  following  Proposition:  "The  Church  with  which  I,  A. 
Wilson,  stand  identified,  known  by  my  brethren  as  the  Church  of  God,  possesses 
all  the  Bible  characteristics  which  entitle  it  to  be  regarded  as  the  visible  church 
or  kingdom  of  God."  A.  L.  Cooper  denied.  H.  MuiTay,  who  was  Wilson's  mod- 
erator, reported,  that  "the  decision  of  the  Chairman,  who  was  not  a  member  of 
either  Church,  was,  with  myself,  that  Elder  A.  Wilson  sustained  his  affirmative  of 
the  entire  Proposition  well,  and  did  honor  to  himself  and  the  Church  he  repre- 
sents." A  "discussion  with  an  Adventist"  transpired  between  W.  B.  Elliott, 
Church  of  God,  and  W.  H.  Cain,  "advocate  of  Adventism,"  at  Cookport,  Indiana 
county,  Pa.,  June  14,  1886.  The  resolution  debated  read:  "Resolved,  That  the 
doctrine  of  the  innate  immortality  of  the  soul,  as  understood  by  the  denomina- 
tions, is  untrue,  and  that  conscious,  active  life  in  the  soul  begins  at  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  body,  and  not  at  physical  death."  This  Cain  affirmed,  and  Elliott  de- 
nied. The  reporter  states  that  "by  previous  arrangement,  the  question  was  to 
be  submitted  to  the  audience  for  decision  at  the  close  of  the  debate."  But  Cain 
"objected  vehemently,"  and  so  no  vote  was  taken;  but  "from  the  demonstration 
of  the  audience  it  was  evident  that  Elliott  had  won  the  victory."  At  Creagers- 
town,  Md.,  May  17,  1887,  W.  Palmer,  of  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership,  de- 
bated the  following  Proposition  with  V.  Thompson:  "1.  Do  the  Scriptures 
teach  that  the  Sabbath  of  the  fourth  commandment  is  the  Christian  Sabbath,  hav- 
ing its  origin  in  Eden?  Thompson  affirmed;  Palmer  denied.  2.  Do  the  Scrip- 
tures teach  that  the  first  day  of  the  week  is  obligatory  upon  us  as  the  Christian 
Sabbath?  Palmer  affirmed;  Thompson  denied.  3.  Do  the  Scriptures  teach  the 
eternal,  conscious  punishment  of  the  wicked?  Palmer  affirmed;  Thompson  de- 
nied" Palmer  proved  himself  an  effective  debater,  handling  his  part  of  the  debate 
with  incisive  deliberateness  and  convincing  reasoning.  Beginning  on  September  6, 
1887,  N,  M.  Anderson,  West  Virginia  Eldership,  had  a  public  debate  with  R.  H. 
Singer,  of  the  Disciple,  or  Christian,  Church.  Six  Propositions  were  debated,  to 
wit:  "1.  That  in  connection  with  faith,  repentance  and  confession,  water  bap- 
tism is  a  command  of  the  gospel  in  order  to  the  remission  of  sins  of  an  alien  sin- 


J 


Generai.  History  217 

ner.  Singer,  affirmative;  Anderson,  negative.  2.  That  hearing,  repenting,  praying 
and  believing  are  necessary  to  the  remission  of  sins,  which  takes  place  prior  to 
water  baptism.  Anderson,  affirmative;  Singer,  negative.  3.  That  the  washing 
of  the  saints'  feet  is  an  ordinance  of  the  New  Testament,  instituted  by  Christ  the 
same  night  he  instituted  the  Communion,  and  is  binding  on  all  God's  people  till 
Jesus  comes  to  judge  the  world.  Anderson,  affirmative;  Singer,  negative.  4. 
That  the  Communion  of  bread  and  wine  was  instituted  the  night  of  Christ's  be- 
trayal, to  be  observed  by  the  disciples  every  Lord's  day,  or  every  first  day  of  the 
week.  Singer,  affirmative;  Anderson,  negative.  5.  That  the  Church  to  which  1, 
R.  H.  Singer,  belong  is  the  church  of  Christ,  built  by  Christ  and  the  Apostles,  and 
is  identical  in  teaching  and  practice  with  the  Apostles.  6.  That  the  Church  of 
God,  which  I,  N,  M.  Anderson,  represent,  is  in  faith  and  practice  in  harmony  with 
the  original."  "Observer"  stated  that  "an  overwhelming  niajority  of  people  who 
attended  the  debate  (outside  of  the  Disciples)  claim  that  Anderson  gained  every 
Proposition."  In  Arkansas,  at  Mt.  Olive,  in  December,  1889,  J.  M.  Howard,  of  the 
Church  of  God,  and  W.  P.  Spain,  of  the  Disciple  Church,  held  a  public  debate  on 
the  design  of  Christian  baptism.  Spain  affirmed  that  "water  baptism  to  a  penitent 
sinner  is  for  the  remission  of  sins."  Howard  denied.  The  debate  continued  two 
days,  and  "in  the  evening  of  the  second  day  Spain  begged  Howard  to  let  him  off, 
and  not  say  anything,  he  giving  up  the  debate." 

Discussions  between  ministers  of  the  Church,  or  of  mooted  questions,  in  the 
columns  of  The  Advocate  during  this  period,  though  less  frequent  and  numerous, 
still  numbered  nearly  half  a  hundred.  They  decreased  from  thirteen  in  1885,  to 
five  in  1889.  Some  were  called  out  by  the  public  debates.  Others  were  for  the 
correction  of  errors  into  which  inexperienced  ministers  fell.  While  still  others 
were  on  doctrinal  questions  on  which  Churches  differed  on  the  received  views  of 
the  Church  of  God.  The  latter  was  notably  true  of  the  Sabbath  question,  agitated 
by  the  Seventh-Day  Adventists  which  came  in  contact  with  ministers  of  the_ Church 
of  God.  Also  the  design  of  baptism,  ever  kept  prominent  by  the  ministers  of  the 
Christian  Church.  Thus  the  "Sabbath  Question,"  whether  the  first  or  the  seventh 
day  should  be  observed  by  Christians,  was  discussed  by  L.  B.  Appleton,  of  the  West 
Pennsylvania  Eldership;  W.  D.  Faulkender,  a  layman  of  Blair  county.  Pa.,  and 
S.  P.  Rogers,  of  Arkansas,  in  the  Winter  of  1885-6.  They  resumed  the  discus- 
sion in  the  Fall  of  1886,  joined  by  N.  O.  Cofman,  a  layman  of  Mendon,  O.,  and  J. 
G.  Cunningham,  a  layman  of  Fulton  county,  Pa.,  and  continued  it  into  April, 
1887.  In  April,  1888,  John  Wilder,  Ottawa  Lake,  Mich.,  wrote  on  the  subject, 
defending  the  first-day  Sabbath.  He  was  followed  by  an  anonymous  writer  by 
whom  the  discussion  was  prolonged  into  June.  The  length  of  these  discussions, 
the  poverty  of  ideas  hidden  in  the  multitudes  of  words,  and  the  long  periods  over 
which  they  were  continued  seriously  detracted  from  their  value,  and  gave  occa- 
sion to  much  complaint.  The  two  conspicuous  theories  of  the  Millennium  were 
discussed  in  1885,  and  again  in  1886,  when  Winebrenner's  views  on  the  subject 
were  called  in  question  as  being  no  longer  the  views  of  the  Church.  Winebrenner 
taught  the  essential  points  of  the  pre-millenarian  theory;  but  "there  has  been 
quite  a  change  on  this  subject  since  his  time,  and  it  is  a  doubtful  question  to-day 
whether  pre-millenarian  or  post-millenarian  theories  have  the  majority  of  ad- 
herents in  the  Church  of  God."  The  subject  of  faith  cures,  divine  healing  and 
miracles  was  given  great  prominence  as  a  result  of  the  teachings  of  Mrs.  Wood- 
worth  and  many  of  her  converts.  They  claimed  that  all  kinds  of  diseases  can  be 
cured  by  faith,  or  by  the  direct  intervention  of  divine  power.  This  view  was  an- 
tagonized by  a  large  majority  of  the  ministers.  Such  alleged  cures  were  repre- 
sented as  miraculous;  but  it  was  insisted  that  "the  day  of  miracles  is  past."  The 
discussion  continued  at  intervals  during  this  period.  At  no  time  was  the  doctrine 
of  Sanctification  so  thoroughly  discussed  by  ministers  of  the  Church  as  in  1885-7. 
Mainly  it  was  a  defense  of  the  old  doctrine  on  the  subject,  which  was  a  pillar  of 
the  undoubting  faith  of  earlier  and  simpler  days,  as  against  the  newer  theory  of 
an  instantaneous  second  work  of  grace.  The  schismatic  tendency  of  the  second- 
work  theory  created  trouble  in  certain  churches,  and  the  discussion  was  designed 
to  eradicate  this  heretical  theory  and  preserve  the  peace  and  unity  of  the  churches. 
This  was  the  trend  of  a  series  of  articles  by  W.  R.  Covert  in  1885.  He  was  fol- 
lowed by  D.  Blakely,  who  insisted  on  "the  doctrine  of  the  simplicity  of  moral 
action,"  and  concluded  that  "conversion  is  entire  consecration,"  and  that  "sancti- 
fication" is  but  another  term  for  consecration.      Edification  and  growth  in  grace 


2i8  History    of   the    Churches    of    God 

follow,  and  continue  through  life.  L.  B.  Appleton  discussed  the  subject  from  the 
viewpoint  of  mental  philosophy.  Thus  the  discussion  ran  its  course  during  the 
Winter  of  lSS.5-6.  It  was  resumed  in  March.  1887,  when  some  of  the  advocates 
of  the  second-work  discussed  it  experientially.  This  called  out  forceful  replies 
from  A.  Wilson.  D.  S.  Guinter  and  L.  B.  Appleton.  R.  H.  Bolton  voiced  the  senti- 
ments of  many  who  objected  to  the  discussion  partly  on  the  ground  that  "much 
of  the  writings  are  unintelligible  and  with  no  good  effect."  He  also  assured  the 
Editor  of  The  Advocate  that  he,  with  many  readers  of  the  paper,  "desire  you  to 
write  articles  upon  this  theological  question."  In  compliance  with  this  request, 
the  Editor  began  a  series  of  ten  editorials,  running  from  August  24th  to  October 
26th,  in  which  the  underlying  thought  was  the^  duality  of  man's  being — the  "per- 
son" and  the  "nature."  The  conclusion  reached  was  that  the  sanctification  of  the 
"person"  takes  place  necessarily  at  regeneration;  that  of  the  "nature  is  progres- 
sive," and  may  not  be  perfected  until  mortality  is  swallowed  up  of  life.  S.  X. 
Sorenson,  Beloit,  la.,  took  exception  to  this  conclusion  in  two  long  articles,  in 
which  he  sought  to  defend  the  second-work  theory.  W.  W.  Roberts,  while  en- 
dorsing the  Editor's  views,  yet  had  some  adverse  strictures  to  offer.  Owing  to 
certain  erroneous  views  on  the  phrase  "born  of  water,"  preached  in  Arkansas  by 
members  of  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership,  the  proper  interpretation  of  the 
text  was  discussed  by  the  Editor  and  others  in  the  Spring  of  1887. 

Quite  a  controversy  was  revived  touching  the  private  observance  of  the  or- 
dinances, introduced  in  February,  1888,  by  F.  W.  McGuire.  and  participated  in 
by  W.  H.  Oliver.  Mrs.  M.  Woods,  S.  P.  Campbell  and  E.  M.  Kirkpatrick.  The  min- 
ority, represented  by  McGuire  and  Mrs.  Woods,  advocated  private  observance.  The 
discussion  continued  for  nearly  a  year,  and  was  made  the  subject  of  action  by 
some  of  the  Elderships,  all  of  which  insisted  "that  the  ordinances  should  be  ob- 
served publicly." 

The  Itinerancy,  Amusements,  the  Perseverance  of  the  Saints,  Church  Union, 
Deaconesses,  Church  Fairs,  the  Doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  Tithing,  Christ's 
Resurrection  Body,  the  Moral  Character  of  Adam  and  Eve,  were  among  the  other 
more  important  subjects  more  or  less  elaborately  discussed. 

An  important  step  was  taken  in  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  18  87  in 
the  organization  of  the  "Mutual  Beneficial  Society."  The  object  of  the  Society  was 
to  secure  "mutual  benefit  in  case  of  death"  to  the  members.  There  is  a  small 
annual  payment  required,  and  at  the  death  of  a  member  each  member  of  the 
Society  is  required  to  pay  51-00  into  the  treasury,  the  total  to  be  paid  to  the  widow 
or  family  of  the  deceased. 

An  equally  beneficent,  but  more  general,  project  for  the  aged  minister  of 
the  Church  was  suggested  in  July,  1889.  Many  had  felt  the  need  of  some  pro- 
vision of  this  character,  but  how  to  secure  it  without  an  extra  tax  on  the  member- 
ship was  the  unsolved  problem.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the 
General  Eldership,  held  at  Findlay,  Ohio,  in  1889,  Warren  Mosher,  of  near  Pierce- 
ton,  Indiana,  submitted  a  proposition  which  seemed  to  meet  the  case.  He  pro- 
posed "to  build  a  home  for  indigent  ministers."  The  proposition  was  approved  by 
the  Board,  which  appointed  "I.  W.  Markley  and  I.  Schrader  a  committee  to  confer 
with  Mosher  with  regard  to  said  institution."  Unfortunately  the  project  was  not 
consummated,  though  the  need  of  such  a  home  has  never  ceased  to  be  felt. 

The  churches  of  God  have  only  to  a  very  limited  extent  been  interested  in 
such  Orders  as  "The  Brotherhood  of  St.  Andrew;"  yet  in  the  "Order  of  the  King's 
Daughters,"  or  "Daughters  of  the  King,"  appealed  sufficiently  to  some  of  the 
sisters  of  a  few  churches  to  induce  them  to  form  societies  of  the  latter  Order. 
The  Order  was  founded  in  January,  1886,  and  has  for  its  main  object  the  develop- 
ment of  spiritual  life  and  the  stimulation  of  Christian  activity. 

The  ministers  which  held  pre-millenarian  views  were  quite  interested  in  the 
"Prophetic  Conference"  held  at  Chicago  in  November,  1886.  Fewer,  however,  at- 
tended the  Conference  than  were  present  at  the  one  held  in  New  York  in  1878. 
The  Church  has  always  placed  more  stress  on  other  and  more  vital  doctrines, 
though  it  has  ever  strongly  held,  in  some  form,  to  the  second  advent  of  its  ador- 
able Founder  and  Head. 

Because  of  the  proximity  of  the  United  Brethren  Church  to  the  Church  of 
God  in  many  of  the  Annual  Elderships  and  the  generally  friendly  relations  and 
similarity  in  doctrine  and  ordinances  in  earlier  years,  the  brotherhood  was  much 
interested  in  the  schism  which  occurred  in  said  Church  in  1889.  Its  twentieth 
General  Conference  held  its  session  at  York,  Pa.,  in  that    year.       Four    "recom- 


General  History  219 

mendations"  had  been  submitted  by  the  previous  General  Conference  to  a  vote  of 
the  churches.  The  first  related  to  a  revised  Confession  of  Faith;  the  second,  to 
the  amended  Constitution;  the  third  to  lay  representation,  and  the  fourth  to  the 
section  of  the  Constitution  on  Secret  Societies.  All  were  adopted  by  majorities 
ranging  from  39,696  for  the  fourth  item,  to  47,760  for  the  first  item.  Immedi- 
ately upon  the  reading  of  "the  Proclamation  of  the  Bishops,"  the  final  "step  to  be 
taken  to  complete  all  that  was  requisite  to  put  the  amended  forms  of  the  Con- 
fession and  Constitution  in  full  effect,"  Bishop  Wright,  with  fourteen  others,  dele- 
gates from  different  annual  Conferences,  withdrew  from  the  General  Conference 
and  organized  the  Radical  United  Brethren  Church.  The  Church  of  God  has 
happily  been  spared  such  an  experience,  owing  possibly  to  the  absence  of  a  human 
Creed  or  Confession  of  Faith  and  greater  elasticity  in  its  polity. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 


1890—1895. 


THE  semi-decade  of  1890-189  5  was  marked  by  certain  great  religious  events  in 
which  the  churches  of  God  were  deeply  interested,  though  not  formally  con- 
nected therewith.  The  most  pregnant  one  was  "The  World's  First  Parlia- 
ment of  Religions,"  held  at  the  World's  Fair  in  Chicago  in  September,  1893.  It 
embraced,  not  the  Christian  denominations  of  the  world,  but  representatives  of 
the  religions  of  the  world.  It  was  a  congress  which  awakened  universal  interest, 
and  the  topics  discussed  by  theological  scholars  and  eminent  laymen  were  of  a 
character  which  appealed  to  very  many  of  the  ministers  of  the  churches  of  God 
which  had  kept  in  touch  with  the  progressive  thought  of  the  day.  They  raised 
the  question:  "Is  it  a  milestone  in  the  path  of  Christianity?"  Or:  "Is  it  an 
indication  that  the  reputed  followers  of  the  Anointed  One  are  seeking  a  religion  to 
suit  all  mankind,  and  in  which  should  be  amalgamated  the  faiths  of  the  religious 
world?"  Or:  "Is  it  a  sign  of  the  decadence  of  what  has  been  for  centuries  be- 
lieved to  be  the  only  true  religion?"  Almost  in  fear  and  awe  the  churches  of 
God  viewed  the  marvelous  phenomenon  of  Protestant  Christianity  in  its  strongest 
and  most  pronounced  type  inviting  Roman  Catholics  and  Orthodox  Greeks,  Pagan 
and  Mohammedan,  the  worshipers  of  Buddha  and  of  Confucius,  the  followers  of 
Zoroaster  and  the  descendants  of  Abraham,  and  representatives  of  all  faiths  and  of 
no  faith,  to  meet  together  and  discuss  the  deep  problems  of  their  respective  re- 
ligions, or  want  of  religion,  in  a  friendly  and  even  a  fraternal  way.  Besides,  topics 
were  discussed  which  on  various  occasions  had  been  debated  by  ministers  of  the 
churches  of  God,  such  as  The  Religious  Reunion  of  Christendom,  God  and  Modern 
Science,  Man's  Spirituality  and  Immortality,  Religion  as  Distinguished  from  a 
Moral  Life,  Religion  and  Music,  Religion  and  Temperance,  Arbitration  Instead  of 
War.  The  Advocate  by  its  presentations  of  the  events  of  the  Parliament  kept  the 
churches  informed  and  interested.  Quite  a  number  of  the  ministers  were  present 
during  part  of  the  seventeen  days  the  Parliament  continued  in  session. 

The  movement  toward  the  federation  of  Protestant  Churches,  which  assumed 
prominence  in  1890,  naturally  excited  the  attention  of  ministers  of  the  churches 
of  God.  It  did  not  appeal  to  them  as  a  plan  or  method  of  abolishing  sectarianism, 
against  which  they  always  contended;  but  as  an  evidence  that  the  Christian 
Church  was  becoming  more  deeply  conscious  of  the  great  evils  of  the  divisions  into 
which  the  body  of  Christ  had  been  rent.  But  with  the  idea  of  effecting  a  union  of 
all  denominations  into  one  great,  universal  organization  they  could  have  but 
little  sympathy,  as  it  is  not  in  harmony  with  the  scriptural  polity  of  the  church. 
Neither  the  union,  nor  the  federation,  of  Churches  or  denominations,  they  held, 
is  Christian  oneness.  Besides,  the  platform  on  which  they  stood  precluded  any 
active  participation  in  such  a  movement. 

Nevertheless,  the  further  division  of  Churches  into  rival  or  antagonistic  or- 
ganizations the  churches  of  God  deplored.  They  had  always  been  on  friendly 
terms  with  local  churches  of  the  Evangelical  Association,  and  so  when  that  body 
was  "split  in  two"  in  October,  1891,  as  a  result  of  "the  rebellion  of  twenty-five 
years'  growth,"  they  viewed  the  result  with  unconcealed  concern.  The  Associa- 
tion had  thus  been  sundered  into  two  distinct  and  violently  antagonistic  parties. 


220  History    of   the    Churches    of    God 

And  while  they  regarded  the  division  as  in  the  main  the  legitimate  fruit  of  sec- 
tarianism; yet  they  could  not  remain  oblivious  to  the  existence  of  like  dangers 
among  themselves,  as  disclosed  in  the  secession  movements  in  Kansas  and  Mis- 
souri, and  earlier  in  Michigan,  as  also  in  such  conflicts  of  authority  as  existed  in 
1891  between  the  Elderships  in  Illinois  and  Indiana.  Not  doctrines,  nor  polity, 
but  personal  contentions  and  unholy  ambitions,  could  prove  the  puissant  cause  of 
schism  in  a  body.  It  suggested  the  thought,  strongly  emphasized  editorially, 
that  for  Christian  men  there  should  be  found  a  remedy  for  such  evils  in  a  well- 
developed  scheme  of  arbitration. 

While  as  a  body  the  Church  did  not  interest  itself  in  the  anniversary  of  the 
"Haystack  Movement,"  which  contemplated  the  carrying  of  the  gospel  to  the 
heathen  of  all  lands;  nor  yet  in  the  Volunteer  Movement"  among  college  students, 
with  the  motto: — "The  evangelization  of  the  world  in  this  generation" — which 
held  its  second  quadrennial  convention  in  Detroit,  Mich.,  in  1894,  with  1,325  dele- 
gates; yet  individual  workers  and  some  local  churches  joined  with  other  churches 
in  meetings  with  appropriate  services.  The  principal  benefit  the  churches  of  God 
derived  therefrom  was  the  resultant  inspiration  and  enthusiasm  in  their  own  mis-* 
sionary  work.  They  realized  the  ever-present  danger,  that  the  banner  which  the 
Church  had  lifted  up  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  would  be  lowered  by  too  active 
fellowship  with  denominations  prominent  in  these  movements. 

In  1890  the  Presbyterian  Church  began  the  revision  of  its  Creed,  or  Confes- 
sion of  Faith,  nearly  two-thirds  of  the  213  Presbyteries  having  voted  in  favor  of 
revision.  A  committee  was  appointed  for  that  purpose,  which  did  its  work  during 
the  year,  and  reported  to  the  General  Assembly  in  1891.  The  work  to  be  done 
was  to  harmonize  the  Confession  with  the  altered  views  and  the  spirit  of  the 
Church  as  they  were  then  apprehended  to  be;  but  "no  alterations  or  amendments 
are  to  be  proposed  which  would  in  any  way  impair  the  integrity  of  the  Reformed 
or  Calvinistic  system  of  doctrine  taught  in  the  Confession."  The  antagonism  to 
all  creeds  by  the  Church  of  God  gave  it  a  negative  interest  in  this  work.  It  was 
pointed  out  that  these  creeds  are  not  generally  believed  by  the  Churches  which 
adopt  them;  but  are  accepted  largely  because  of  their  historical  value.  They  set 
up  a  standard  of  orthodoxy  outside  of  the  Scriptures,  and  become  occasions  of  dis- 
sensions and  schisms.  Hence,  the  Church  in  all  its  past  history  bore  testimony 
against  them.  It  rarely  experienced  any  trouble  by  reasons  of  heresies  taught  by 
its  ministers.  Only  one  such  instance  occurred  during  this  period,  when  the 
Standing  Committee  of  the  Kansas  Eldership  suspended  a  minister  "accused  of 
preaching  doctrines  contrary  to  the  Scriptures."  The  membership  of  the  Church, 
however,  could  not  be  insensible  to  the  allegation  that  it  has  some  standard  of 
orthodoxy,  as  well  as  that  a  general  similarity  had  developed  between  it  and  the 
surrounding  denominations.  Hence,  the  question  began  to  be  propounded:  "Is 
there  no  difference  between  the  Church  of  God  and  others,  such  as  the  Methodist, 
or  United  Brethren,  or  Reformed  Churches?"  As  Winebi-enner  much  earlier  had 
clearly  indicated  what  these  differences  are,  so  again  was  the  duty  an  urgent  one 
to  teach  the  churches  the  essential  characteristics  of  the  Church  of  God,  and  to 
differentiate  it  from  the  denominations.  The  subject  in  different  forms  was  dis- 
cussed at  Ministerial  Associations.  On  the  question  of  the  union  of  the  Church  of 
God  and  any  denomination,  discussed  in  The  Advocate  in  1893,  and  prior  at -the 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  the  general  conclusion  reached  was,  that  "we  are  not 
in  a  position  to  second  any  effort  looking  toward  union  with  any  denomination." 
Yet  this  position  so  consistently  held  for  sixty  years  did  not  develop  a  spirit  of 
bigotry  or  exclusiveness.  That  there  is  one  common  brotherhood  of  believers  was 
cordially  accepted,  and  hence  churches  of  God  in  many  places  joined  in  good  faith 
in  holding  union  evangelistic  meetings. 

In  its  specific  work  among  the  young  people  the  Church  of  God  manifested 
this  same  catholic  spirit.  While  the  Methodist  Church  in  the  United  States  or- 
ganized the  Epworth  League  in  1890,  instead  of  affiliating  with  the  general  Young 
People's  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor,  and  the  Baptist  Church  organized  its  own 
Young  People's  Union  in  1891,  the  churches  of  God  regarded  this  as  "a  step  back- 
ward from  Christian  unity."  Local  societies  were  formed  during  this  period  in 
the  East  Pennsylvania,  West  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Illinois,  Iowa  and  Kansas  Elder- 
ships, nearly  all  in  co-operation  with  the  interdenominational  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.  In 
East  Pennsylvania  a  "Union"  was  formed  of  a  number  of  societies,  at  a  meeting 
held  September  15,  1892,  in  the  Nagle  Street  Bethel,  Harrisburg,  of  which  the 
officers  were  J.  W.  Mackey,  President;   O.  P.  Partliemore,  Secretary,  and  S.  Sey- 


General  History  221 

more,  Treasurer.  Two  societies  had  been  organized  in  the  Ohio  Eldership  in 
1892.  In  Illinois  the  first  society  was  organized  at  Decatur,  in  1887.  A  Y.  P. 
S.  C.  E.  Union  was  organized  in  1900.  In  Kansas  societies  existed  in  a  few 
churches  in  the  Winter  of  1891-2,  one  having  been  organized  at  Naron,  Pratt 
county,  in  January,  1892.  There  was  considerable  opposition  to  these  organiza- 
tions of  young  people  in  the  churches;  but  the  enthusiasm  of  a  few  earnest  min- 
isters and  laymen  soon  made  them  popular. 

Among  the  special  services  inaugurated  in  earlier  years  which  had  about  run 
their  course  by  this  time  were  the  Pentecostal  meetings.  Except  in  Illinois,  where 
the  Eldership  continued  to  control  them,  they  had  become  entirely  local  in  1890. 
In  this  year  one  was  held  in  Illinois,  one  in  West  Virginia,  one  in  East  Pennsyl- 
vania and  one  in  Maryland.  In  1891  and  in  1892  two  were  held;  but  in  1893  and 
1894  none  was  published.  The  passing  of  this  special  form  of  service  at  about  the 
same  date  with  the  beginning  of  what  is  called  "The  Pentecostal  Movement"  is 
evidential  of  the  fact  that  it  lacked  the  elements  which  made  the  latter  quite 
celebrated  for  a  brief  period.  Both  were  wanting  in  the  factors  which  tend  to 
permanent  stability.  It  was  different  with  the  Sunday-school  Conventions,  and 
also  the  Ministerial  Associations.  These  continued  through  this  period  in  most  of 
the  annual  Elderships.  In  Elderships  from  West  Pennsylvania  westward  the 
latter  were  being  held  in  connection  with,  and  immediately  preceding,  the  sessions 
of  the  Elderships.  Topics  for  discussion  were  doctrinal  and  practical,  and  in  some 
Elderships  exegetical.  A  peculiarity  of  some  which  were  held  in  West  Virginia 
was  the  adoption  of  resolutions  after  topics  were  discussed,  expressing  "the  sense 
of  this  body  that  there  is  taught  in  this  topic"  such  and  such  a  doctrine  or  senti- 
ment. In  nearly  all  the  Elderships  these  Associations  discussed  questions  which 
at  the  time  were  in  controversy  in  The  Advocate.  Among  these  could  be  found 
"The  Laying  on  of  Hands  in  Ordination,"  "Worldly  Amusements,"  "Gospel  Tem- 
perance," "Prohibition  and  Local  Option,"  "The  Design  of  Baptism,"  "Support  of 
the  Ministry,"  "The  Ordination  of  Women  to  the  Gospel  Ministry,"  "Educated 
Ministers,"  "Reasons  for  the  Existence  of  the  Church  of  God,"  "Social  Parties 
Aniong  the  Young  People,"  "Is  the  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.  Beneficial  to  the  Church?"  "Min- 
isters in  Politics,"  "A  Doctrinal  Test  for  Membership  in  the  Church,"  "The  Itiner- 
ant System,"  "Tithing,"  and  scores  more.  In  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in-, 
terest  declined  to  such  an  extent  that  the  Association  was  discontinued,  none 
having  been  held  in  1894. 

Camp-meetings  in  western  Elderships  ceased  to  be  held  after  1890,  with  rare 
exceptions.  But  in  Maine  they  survived,  one  having  been  held  at  Maple  Grove, 
with  fifteen  ministers  present,  in  August,  1894,  which  continued  ten  days.  The 
camp-meeting  held  by  the  church  at  Washington  Borough  in  1893  and  1894  be- 
came a  general  camp-meeting  under  a  regularly  organized  Association.  The  min- 
isters and  churches  in  East  Pennsylvania  held  quite  tenaciously  to  these  meetings 
in  God's  first  temples,  four  having  been  held  in  the  territory  in  1892  and  in  1893. 
In  1894,  however,  there  were  but  two,  Washington  Borough's  Central  Manor  camp, 
Lancaster  county,  and  Walnut  Grove,  Huntingdon  county. 

The  ministry  and  churches  assidiously  devoted  their  energies  to  the  advance- 
ment of  their  spiritual  and  material  interests  in  the  employment  of  the  regular 
methods  and  agencies  of  church  work.  In  Maine  conditions  were  peculiar,  and 
there  were  indications  of  an  impending  crisis.  They  needed  a  few  strong  men 
from  older  Elderships,  and  made  repeated  and  urgent  calls.  They  had  strength 
both  as  to  numbers  and  talents;  but  lacked  cohesion  and  unity  of  purpose,  as  well 
as  loyalty  to  the  General  Eldership.  In  1890  the  churches  in  Maine  were  credited 
with  "twenty  ministers  and  1,900  church  members;"  yet  H.  Mills,  one  of  the  most 
active  workers,  reported  "the  outlook  in  Maine  not  as  hopeful  as  it  was  some  time 
ago."  The  work  had  been  extended  southward  into  Massachusetts,  where  Dr.  J. 
I.  Brown  labored.  A  church  was  organized  in  Pittsfield,  and  one  in  Lowell.  The 
Lowell  church  was  a  missionary  church,  for  "under  its  direction,"  J.  H.  Wilson,  in 
1890,  "commenced  mission  work  in  Providence,  R.  I.  He  preached  at  Johnson; 
Lester  Hall,  Providence;  Central  Falls,  Haverhill  and  Bethany,  and  reported 
prospects  "good  for  establishing  a  church  of  God  at  Providence."  In  December, 
1890,  the  Maine  Eldership  "appointed  J.  I.  Brown  missionary  to  the  State  of 
Massachusetts."  A  "quarterly  meeting"  was  held  in  the  State  in  the  latter  part 
of  December,  1890,  at  which  four  ministers  were  present.  In  April,  1891,  "Dr. 
J.  1.  BrowTi  was  appointed  President  of  the  Eldership  in  Massachusetts,  with  power 
to  grant  licenses  under  the  protection  of  the  Eldership  of  Maine."       In  1891  the 


222  History    of   the    Church rs    of    God 

Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  authorized  G.  Sigler,  of  the  East  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership,  to  visit  the  churches  in  Maine  and  Massachusetts,  in  answer  to 
the  earnest  call  of  Mills  and  Brown.  Brown  was  heartily  in  accord  with  the  polity 
of  the  Church,  and  urged  the  election  of  a  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership  in 
1893.  In  the  Summer  of  1893,  R.  H.  Bolton,  of  Ohio,  removed  to  Maine,  followed 
by  his  son,  John  W.  They  became  the  general  missionaries.  But  as  the  former 
had  been  subject  to  discipline  by  the  Ohio  Eldership,  his  reception  into  the  Maine 
Eldership  was  a  violation  of  the  General  Eldership  Constitution.  The  Ohio  Stand- 
ing Committee,  April  10,  1894,  called  the  attention  of  the  Maine  Eldership  to  this 
"irregular  and  non-co-operative  action,"  and  insisted  that  it  be  reconsidered. 
Bolton  appealed  to  the  next  General  Eldership.  He  had  to  be  debarred  from  the 
columns  of  The  Advocate,  and  began  the  publication  of  a  paper  for  the  Maine 
Eldership.  These  complications  apparently  hastened  the  impending  disintegra- 
tion of  the  Maine  Eldership. 

In  East  Pennsylvania  there  was  evident  a  spirit  of  improvement  and  progress 
in  material  things.  Churches  were  strengthened  in  numbers,  and  inspired  with 
broader  and  higher  aims,  and  this  led  to  material  improvements  and  efforts  at 
enlargement.  And  while  the  territory  was  not  appreciably  extended,  new  points 
were  added  to  the  fields  of  labor.  Work  was  begun,  however,  in  Lycoming  county, 
at  Williamsport,  where  some  colored  families  had  located.  The  Eldership  ap- 
pointed John  Brown  to  open  a  mission.  He  rented  the  A.  M.  E.  Zion  church  build- 
ing, and  on  December  29,  1889,  organized  a  church.  At  Shiremanstown,  Cumber- 
land county,  under  the  labors  of  C.  I.  Behney,  the  bethel  was  remodeled  and  re- 
paired, and  was  rededicated  March  9,  1890.  At  Mt.  Laurel,  on  the  old  Dauphin 
circuit,  the  building  of  a  bethel  was  begun  and  the  corner-stone  laid  on  April  13,^ 
1890.  The  dedication  took  place  August  24,  1890.  C.  Y.  Weidenhammer,  under 
whose  labors  the  church  was  constituted,  preached  the  first  sermon,  on  Saturday 
evening.  C.  C  Bai-tels  was  the  pastor  in  1890,  and  he  secured  the  services  of 
C.  H.  Forney  for  Sabbath  morning  and  evening.  Prior  to  this  the  membership 
at  this  point  belonged  to  the  Linglestown  church,  but  had  regular  prayer-meetings 
and  stated  preaching  at  Forney's  school-house.  At  Donaldson,  Schuylkill  county, 
the  bethel  was  extensively  remodeled  and  repaired  in  the  Fall  of  1890.  On  No- 
vember 16th  it  was  reopened  for  divine  service,  F.  L.  Nicodemus  preaching  the 
sermons,  assisted  in  the  services  by  the  pastor,  S.  E.  Herman. 

Under  the  labors  of  J.  T.  Fleegal  on  the  Lower  Perry  circuit  a  new  bethel  was 
built,  which  was  dedicated  April  6,  1890.  The  church  on  the  Allegheny  Moun- 
tains, Clearfield  county,  town  of  Brisbin,  began  to  solicit  funds  to  build  a  meet- 
ing-house in  1887;  but  it  was  not  until  1893  that  they  were  able  to  carry  the  work 
to  completion.  Then,  during  the  pastorate  of  C.  Kahler,  the  bethel  was  finished, 
and  was  dedicated  by  M.  M.  Foose  on  July  30th.  The  bethel  at  Newberry,  York 
county,  with  O.  E.  Houston  as  pastor,  was  extensively  repaired,  and  rededicated 
July  6,  1890,  Wm.  Rice  ofliciating  on  the  occasion.  The  church  at  Steelton  built 
an  addition  to  their  bethel  and  repaired  the  main  building  at  a  cost  of  $850.00, 
F.  Y.  Weidenhammer  being  the  pastor.  C.  D.  Rishel  preached  the  rededicatory 
sermon  on  July  20,  1890.  The  large  Skating  Rink  at  Hollidaysburg,  Blair  county, 
which  the  church  had  bought  and  converted  into  an  audience  room  and  parsonage, 
was  rededicated  August  3,  1890,  by  J.  W.  Deshong  and  J.  H.  Esterline.  Suedberg, 
Schuylkill  county,  was  a  new  point  on  the  Lebanon  circuit.  A  good  church-house 
was  built  there  in  the  Summer  of  1890,  and  was  dedicated  on  September  29th,  J, 
W.  Winters  being  the  pastor.  After  the  bethel  at  Oak  Grove,  Perry  county,  was 
"neatly  repaired  and  beautified,"  it  was  rededicated  January  18,  1891.  D.  W. 
Keefer  officiated.  Wm.  Palmer  was  the  faithful  pastor.  At  Bowmansdale,  Cum- 
berland county,  the  pastor,  C.  D.  Rishel,  preached  in  a  warehouse,  where  on  De- 
cember 7,  1890,  he  organized  a  church  of  thirteen  members.  They  at  once  bought 
a  lot  in  the  new  village,  and  in  the  Spring  of  1891  began  to  build  a  bethel.  The 
corner-stone  was  laid  on  May  2nd.  The  building  was  completed  at  a  cost  of 
$2,235.00,  including  ground,  and  was  dedicated  August  30,  1891.  G.  Sigler 
preached  in  the  morning  and  C.  I.  Brown  in  the  evening.  In  the  Summer  of  1891 
the  church  at  Cherry  Grove,  Fulton  county,  began  the  work  of  building  a  bethel 
to  take  the  place  of  the  school-house  formerly  used  as  the  place  of  worship.  The 
house  was,  however,  not  finished  until  in  March,  1893,  when  on  the  5th  it  was 
dedicated  by  E.  Myers,  assisted  by  C.  F.  Reitzel.  At  Brownsville,  on  the  present 
Walnut  Grove  circuit,  S.  Smith  pastor,  a  layman,  Levi  Anderson,  undertook  to 
build  a  bethel  in  1891.     He  traveled  extensively  to  collect  funds,  and  succeeded 


General   History  223 

in  finishing  the  building  ready  for  dedication  on  April  24,  1892.  G.  Sigler  preached 
the  dedicatory  sermon.  All-workers  church,  Green  street,  Harrisburg,  had  the 
unusual  experience  of  having  two  rededications  of  its  house  of  worship  in  a  little 
more  than  two  years,  both  under  the  same  pastor,  J.  W.  Deshong.  After  extensive 
repairs  the  first  rededication  services  were  held  July  5,  1891,  when  D.  S.  Shoop 
officiated,  assisted  by  C.  H.  Forney.  In  1893  new  pews  were  put  in  the  main 
audience  room,  and  rededicatory  services  were  conducted  by  B.  F.  Beck,  on  Sep- 
tember 3rd.  The  bethel  of  the  church  at  Columbia,  Lancaster  county,  was  re- 
paired in  the  Spring  of  1892,  S.  C.  Stonesifer  being  pastor.  It  was  reopened  on 
May  15th. 

The  bethel  at  Smoketown,  York  county,  built  in  184  8,  was  repaired  under  the 
labors  of  H.  E.  Reever,  and  was  reopened  September  14,  1892.  Preaching  by 
O.  E.  Houston  and  W.  J.  Grissinger.  Aggressive  mission  work  was  begun  at 
Eighteenth  and  Walnut  streets,  Harrisburg,  by  F.  L.  Nicodemus,  in  February, 
1892.  A  very  successful  revival  was  held  in  Springdale  school-house.  The  work 
was  of  such  an  extent  that  in  June,  1892,  a  site  was  selected  on  the  corner  of 
North  and  Linn  streets,  which  was  bought  by  H.  J.  Forney  and  Mrs.  Margaret 
Calder  and  donated  to  the  church.  Here  the  Pleasant  View  Bethel  was  erected, 
the  entire  cost  of  ground  and  building  amounting  to  $3,000.00.  The  dedication 
took  place  August  6,  1893,  when  C.  Price  officiated,  assisted  by  C.  H.  Forney,  J.  W. 
Deshong  and  J,  Haifleigh.  June  12,  1892,  the  Good  Hope  Bethel,  Cumberland 
county,  built  in  1843,  after  needed  repairs,  was  rededicated  by  B.  F.  Beck.  Under 
the  labors  of  their  young  pastor,  C  F.  Reitzel,  the  church  at  Beavertown,  Hunt- 
ingdon county,  repaired  their  house  of  worship,  which  was  rededicated  June   19, 

1892,  by  Wm.  Rice.  Walnut  Grove  Bethel,  same  county,  with  S.  Smith  as  pastor, 
was  remodeled  and  repaired  in  the  Spring  of  1892.  It  was  reopened  July  24th, 
when  J,  T.  Fleegal  did  the  preaching.  Fleegal  was  pastor  of  the  Lower  Perry 
circuit  in  1892,  which  included  the  town  of  Duncannon.  After  repairing  the 
bethel,  dedicatory  services  were  conducted  August  28th,  with  G.  W.  Getz  as  the 
preacher.  At  Hepler's,  Schuylkill  county,  where  a  church  was  organized  in  1847, 
services  were  held  in  private  houses  until  1854,  when  a  bethel  was  built.  This 
was  replaced  by  a  new  building  begun  in  1892,  under  the  labors  of  J.  F.  Meixel 
and  his  successor,  S.  Smith,  at  a  cost  of  $2,000.00.  It  was  dedicated  October  28, 
1894,  when  D.  S.  Shoop  preached  the  sermons.  A  mission  was  started  in  Altoona 
in  1892,  called  the  Union  Avenue  Mission,  by  certain  active  laymen  of  the  first 
church.  They  succeeded  in  building  a  bethel,  which  on  June  4,  1893,  was 
solemnly  consecrated  to  divine  worship.  Preaching  by  Wm.  Rice  and  M.  M.  Foose. 
With  Wm.  Pahner  as  pastor,  the  church  at  Landisburg,  Perry  county,  greatly  im- 
proved their  house  of  worship,  which  was  rededicated  by  George  Sigler  on  June  11, 

1893.  After  completely  remodeling  the  bethel  at  Andersontown,  York  county,  at 
a  cost  of  $450.00,  under  their  energetic  pastor,  O.  E.  Houston,  the  church  held 
reopening  serices  on  August  6,  1893,  the  pulpit  being  filled  by  C.  I.  Brown. 
Brown  was  pastor  at  Camp  Hill  and  Milltown,  and  had  the  bethel  at  the  latter 
point  remodeled  and  repaired  in  the  Summer  of  1893.  The  rededication  took 
place  October  22nd,  D.  S.  Shoop  preaching  in  the  morning  and  O.  E.  Houston  in 
the  evening.  The  colored  brethren  at  Newville  began  the  work  of  building  a 
church-house  for  their  use  in  1893,  laying  the  corner-stone  on  October  22nd,  when 
J.  T.  Fleegal  and  F.  W.  McGuire  officiated.  The  building  was  finished  in  the 
Summer  of  1894,  at  a  cost  of  $900.00,  and  was  dedicated  August  19th.  Besides 
the  pastor,  J.  W.  Jones,  these  brethren  were  present  and  did  the  preaching: 
J.  T.  Fleegal,  F.  W.  McGuire,  J.  W.  Deshong  and  C.  Price.  A  new  bethel  was 
built  at  Smithville,  Lancaster  county,  under  the  labors  of  A.  P.  Stover,  in  the 
Summer  of  1893,  at  a  cost  of  $1,419.00.  B.  F.  Beck  preached  the  dedicatory 
sermon  on  November  12th,  assisted  by  F.  W.  McGuire,  ex-pastor.  For  the  third 
time  church  work  was  begun  in  Carlisle,  county  seat  of  Cumberland  county,  in 
1893,  by  the  wide-awake  pastor,  C.  D.  Rishel.  He  rented  Sipe's  Hall,  where  he 
preached  his  first  sermon  on  January  21,  1894.  After  an  address  on  church  or- 
ganization by  C.  H.  Forney,  on  January  25th,  an  organization  of  a  church  of 
thirty-six  members  was  effected.  On  account  of  the  division  in  the  Evangelical 
Association,  their  local  church  at  Carlisle  lost  its  house  of  worship.  It  was  bought 
by  the  church  of  God,  and  possession  taken  in  December,  1894.  The  house  of 
worship  at  New  Grenada,  Fulton  county,  after  being  repaired  at  a  cost  of  $514.00, 
W.  S.  Smith,  pastor,  was  rededicated  by  M.  M.  Foose  on  December  16,  1894. 
In  proportion  to  its    territory    and    numerical    strength,    the  Maryland  and  Vir- 


224  History   of    the    Churches    of    God 

ginia  Eldership  failed  to  do  as  much  progressive  work  during  this  period  as 
had  been  done  in  East  Pennsylvania,  or  even  in  earlier  periods  in  its  own  history. 
The  bethel  at  Carrollton,  Carroll  county,  the  theater  of  the  first  active  operations 
of  the  Church  of  God  in  Maryland,  was  repaired  and  modernized  early  in  1892. 
It  was  rededicated  by  G.  AV.  Seilhammer  on  May  15th.  J.  A.  Staub  was  the 
esteemed  pastor.  At  Mt.  Briar,  Washington  county,  G.  W.  Seilhammer,  on  June 
19,  1892,  officiated  at  the  rededication  of  the  renovated  and  repaired  bethel.  S.  J. 
Montgomery  was  the  pastor.  The  Washington  county  circuit  extended  across  the 
State  line  into  Franklin  county.  Pa.,  and  the  Frederick  county  field  extended  into 
Adams  county.  Pa.,  both  by  mutual  understanding  between  the  two  Elderships, 
though  the  State  line  was  the  boundary.  Mt.  Hope,  Adams  county.  Pa.,  was  one 
of  the  Frederick  county  appointments.  Here  a  bethel  was  built  under  the  earnest 
missionary  labors  of  S.  Spurrier,  which  was  dedicated  by  O.  J.  Farling  October  16, 
1892.  Montgomei-y's  circuit  in  1892  included  a  point  called  "Manor,"  where  on 
the  4th  of  December  the  bethel  was  dedicated  by  J.  W.  Kipe  and  W.  H.  Engler. 
Hagerstown,  county-town  of  Washington  county,  lies  almost  in  the  center  of 
Church  of  God  territory.  The  Eldership  was  favorably  disposed  toward  mission- 
ary work  in  the  place,  and  steps  to  that  end  were  taken  in  1893.  The  Standing 
Committee  on  December  7,  1893,  "suggested  that  the  brethren  at  Hagerstown 
secure  a  lot,  raise  the  money  and  pay  for  it,  and  deed  it  to  the  Maryland  and  Vir- 
ginia Eldership,  and  the  Eldership  will  assume  the  responsibility  of  erecting  a 
house  of  worship."  While  there  were  no  churches  of  God  near  Baltimore,  Balti- 
more county,  yet  members  and  families  from  Carroll  county,  adjoining  Baltimore 
county  on  the  west,  occassionally  removed  to,  the  city.  Hence,  for  fifty  years  the 
churches  in  Maryland  were  desirous  to  establish  a  church  in  Maryland's  largest 
city.  The  attempt  was  again  made  in  1894.  J.  M.  Johnson,  a  member  at  Union- 
town,  with  his  family,  located  in  Baltimore.  On  March  4,  1894,  he  reported  to 
the  Standing  Committee  that  he  was  actively  engaged  in  missionary  work,  and  re- 
quested a  license  to  preach.  This  was  granted,  and  he  was  "appointed  missionary 
to  work  up  the  interests  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Baltimore  until  the  Eldership." 
On  April  4th  he  reported  that  they  had  secured  a  house  of  worship  at  the  corner 
of  Cross  and  Cleveland  streets.  On  April  18th  he  organized  a  church  in  "the 
bethel  of  the  Church  of  God,"  consisting  of  twelve  members. 

In  West  Virginia  the  work  was  making  progress,  more,  however,  in  the  way 
of  revivals,  the  organization  of  churches  southward,  and  in  the  gathering  of  Sun- 
day-schools. In  Marion  county  G.  E.  Stewart  had  successful  meetings,  at  one  of 
which  there  were  seventy-six  converts,  fifty  fellowshiped.  They  had  organ- 
ized six  Sabbath-schools.  Geo.  E.  Komp  did  efficient  work  in  Kanawha  county. 
A  new  bethel  was  built  in  1891  at  Mt.  Tabor,  3  miles  south  of  St.  Albans,  at  a 
cost  of  $1,000.00,  reputed  to  be  "the  finest  country  church-house  in  the  county." 
It  was  dedicated  September  20th,  S.  B.  Craft  preaching  on  the  occasion.  The 
West  Virginia  Eldership  is  dissimilar  from  all  other  Elderships,  in  that  its  terri- 
tory lies  in  three  States.  On  October  1,  189i,  one  of  its  bethels,  called  "Cen- 
tennial," in  Greene  county.  Pa.,  was  dedicated,  during  the  pastorate  of  G.  E. 
Stewart.  August  6,  1893,  the  bethel  at  Bellaire,  Ohio,  was  reopened  for  divine 
worship.  I.  D.  Cousins  was  the  pastor,  and  N.  M.  Anderson,  J.  S.  Marple  and  J. 
R.  Campbell  preached  the  sermons. 

The  ministers  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  generally  labored  in  a  very 
unobtrusive  manner.  They  had  much  to  contend  with,  but  they  were  reserved, 
and  with  occasional  exceptions,  made  no  attempt  to  secure  applause  or  notoriety. 
Two  of  the  most  serious  hindrances  to  their  work  about  this  time  were  the  lax 
morals  on  the  part  of  some  few  otherwise  efficient  workers  and  the  schismatic  doc- 
trine of  a  second-work  sanctification.  The  latter  was  zealously  preached  by  sev- 
eral of  the  ministers,  resulting  generally  "in  a  division  among  the  brethren"  where 
they  were  permitted  to  preach.  Thus  in  Breakneck  Valley,  Fayette  county,  where 
a  new  house  of  worship  had  been  dedicated  and  a  special  meeting  was  in  progress, 
one  of  the  advocates  of  this  erroneous  doctrine  began  to  preach  "a  few  doors  from 
the  church-house."  As  the  Eldership  stood  firmly  in  opposition  to  the  doctrine, 
these  men  had  to  be  made  subjects  of  discipline  when  other  measures  failed  to 
silence  them.  This  discipline  was  administered  not  because  of  any  opposition  to 
the  doctrine  of  sanctification,  nor  to  deprive  ministers  of  the  right  to  preach  their 
conscientious  convictions;  but  because  their  teaching  promoted  contention  and 
schism  in  the  churches,  which  are  worse  than  theoretical  heresy.  But  the  work 
of  the  Eldership   made  steady  progress.      It   was  always   deeply  concerned  about 


1 


General  History  225 

church  interests  in  the  city  of  Pittsburg.  It  is  the  geographical  center  of  its  terri- 
tory, whither  church  families  frequently  removed  from  other  parts  of  the  country 
around.  Yet  church  work  was  most  difficult,  and  the  cause  suffered  many  reverses. 
There  were  periods  when  it  seemed  hopelessly  lost,  and  the  Eldership  was  disposed 
to  cease  further  efforts.  Thus  in  1891  "the  church  at  Pittsburg  was  not  supplied 
with  a  preacher."  "The  outlook  seemed  very  dark  for  the  little  vine."  But  the 
services  of  W.  T.  Cross,  of  Ohio,  were  secured,  and  the  work  was  resumed.  "The 
church  at  Pittsburg  ought  to  be  encouraged  by  the  Eldership,"  was  the  sentiment 
which  largely  prevailed  among  the  brotherhood.  Cross  was  quite  successful,  for 
during  the  year  he  was  pastor  "there  were  twenty-one  accessions."  But  in  April 
of  that  year  the  church  property  was  sold,  and  the  struggling  little  band  of  self- 
sacrificing  members  was  left  without  a  church  home.  In  October,  1893,  W.  H. 
McKlveen  became  the  pastor.  He  found  "the  membership  very  much  scattered, 
not  having  a  regular  pastor  much  of  the  time."  But  work  was  again  begun  with 
commendable  zeal;  "special  services  resulted  in  the  conversion  of  seventeen  per- 
sons"; "a  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.  was  organized,"  and  "congregations  increased,  and  the 
Sunday-school  more  than  doubled."  Without  a  house  of  worship,  "yet  we  are 
encouraged  to  believe  that  at  no  distant  day  the  church  at  Pittsburg  will  find  her- 
self in  a  new  bethel  erected  for  the  worship  of  God."  The  Board  of  Trustees  of 
the  Eldership  was  ready  to  co-operate  to  this  end.  Work  was  to  be  "continued 
both  on  Fulton  street  and  in  the  East  End,"  and  "the  brethren  in  the  East  End" 
were  authorized  to  lease  or  purchase  ground  on  which  to  build  a  bethel,  the  Board 
agreeing  to  give  $2,000.00  toward  the  building."  Meanwhile  "a  mission  of  the 
church  on  Butler  street"  was  started. 

Elsewhere  the  interests  of  the  Church  were  being  well  looked  after.  At  East 
Liberty,  Fayette  county,  under  the  labors  of  Geo.  D.  Statler,  a  bethel  was  built, 
which  was  dedicated  on  July  30,  1893.  R.  L.  Byrnes  preached  on  Sabbath  morn- 
ing. The  services  continued  for  a  week,  special  subjects  being  discussed  each 
evening  by  as  many  different  ministers.  In  1891  Statler  was  pastor  in  Jefferson 
county.  A  bethel  was  built  at  Rathmel,  which  was  dedicated  June  21,  1891.  S. 
Woods  preached  the  dedicatory  sermon,  W.  R.  Craig  and  J.  A.  Hetrick  assisting 
during  the  day.  The  Milford  Bethel,  Somerset  county,  was  built  during  the  pas- 
torate of  T.  Woods.  It  was  dedicated  on  June  14,  1891,  G.  Sigler  officiating.  On 
March  27,  1891,  the  house  of  worship  at  Mt.  Pleasant,  Westmoreland  county,  was 
destroyed  by  fire.  The  church  at  once  proceeded  with  the  work  of  rebuilding. 
The  cost  of  the  new  bethel,  with  an  additional  lot,  was  $10,000.00.  R.  L.  Byrnes 
was  "the  faithful  pastor,"  and  he  secured  the  services  of  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw  for  the 
dedication,  which  was  held  on  May  1,  1892.  At  Emericksville,  Jefferson  county, 
the  dedication  of  "the  bethel  of  the  church  of  God"  occurred  on  July  27,  1892. 
Geo.  D,  Statler,  pastor;  dedicatory  sermon  by  R.  L.  Byrnes,  and  evening  sermon 
by  C.  Manchester.  At  a  distance  of  7  miles  from  Barkeyville,  Venango  county,  a 
bethel  known  as  "Olivet"  was  built  in  1893,  under  the  labors  of  Herbert  Dyke, 
It  was  to  be  dedicated  by  Chas.  Manchester  on  May  14,  1893,  but  "owing  to  the  in- 
clemency of  the  weather,"  though  "the  larger  part  of  the  indebtedness  had  been 
raised,"  the  formal  dedication  was  postponed  to  June  4th,  when  S.  G.  Yahn  offici- 
ated. This  was  a  new  point,  where  Manchester,  in  the  Winter  of  1891-2,  had  held 
a  series  of  meetings  and  organized  a  church  of  forty  members.  The  new  bethel 
at  Butler,  county  seat  of  Butler  county,  was  dedicated  September  17,  1893,  with 
"three  sermons  during  the  day."  A  new  house  of  worship  was  built  at  Maple 
Summit,  Fayette  county,  on  J.  H.  Means*  circuit,  which  was  dedicated  September 
17,  1893.  The  preaching  was  by  S.  G.  Yahn,  Sabbath  morning;  R.  Vanaman, 
afternoon,  and  S.  Woods,  evening.  Pine  Grove  Bethel,  Indiana  county,  was  com- 
pleted in  January,  1894,  though  the  beginning  was  made  in  1888.  It  was  dedi- 
cated February  18th,  R.  L.  Byrnes  preaching  Sunday  morning,  and  W.  B.  Elliott 
on  Saturday  and  Sunday  evenings.     J.  F.  Smith  was  the  pastor. 

In  Ohio,  with  the  overshadowing  Importance  of  Findlay  College  and  its  in- 
sistent demands  for  funds,  less  attention  seemed  to  have  been  given  to  local 
church  interests.  Consequently  the  work  was  not  making  the  progress  which  had 
been  anticipated.  Fewer  houses  of  worship  were  built,  or  old  ones  remodeled  and 
repaired.  Yet  there  were  devoted  and  earnest  pastors,  who  labored  with  gratify- 
ing success.  Among  these  was  8.  Dickorhoof,  who  In  1890  was  pastor  of  a  field 
In  Wood  county.  At  Bloom  Center  the  church  erected  a  new  bethel,  at  a  cost  of 
11,400.00,  "a  credit  to  the  cause  of  God,  to  the  good  people  of  the  neighborhood 
and  the  church  and  pastor."     It  was  dedicated  by  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw  August  24, 

C.  H.— 9 


226  History    of   the    Churches   of    God 

1890.  Rededication  services  were  conducted  by  J.  M.  Cassel,  of  the  Walnut  Creek 
Bethel,  on  W.  C.  Fuller's  circuit,  August  10,  1890.  A  new  house  of  worship  was 
built  at  Hopewell,  Seneca  county,  with  G.  A.  Bartlebaugh  as  pastor,  which  was 
dedicated  August  17,  1890,  J.  M.  Cassel  oflBciating.  Under  the  labors  of  W.  T. 
Cross  a  meeting-house  was  purchased  at  Carey,  Wyandot  county,  "formerly  occu- 
pied by  the  English  Lutherans,"  a  church  was  organized,  and  after  needed  repairs 
the  house  was  dedicated  on  December  14,  1890.  Preaching  by  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw. 
The  total  cost  of  the  property,  including  repairs,  was  $1,400.00.  A  Methodist 
house  of  worship,  located  2  i/^  miles  west  of  Findlay,  Hancock  county,  was  bought 
in  May,  1891,  and  was  christened  "Bethel  of  the  church  of  God  at  the  Infirmary." 
It  was  repaired  and  rededicated  June  7th,  when  W.  N.  Yates  delivered  the  dedi- 
catory sermon.  The  bethel  at  the  Union  appointment,  Mercer  county,  was  rededi- 
cated August  23,  1891,  when  W.  N.  Yates  preached  the  sermon,  J.  F.  Slough  being 
pastor.  The  church  at  Folmer,  Paulding  county,  had  a  peculiar  experience  in 
building  its  house  of  worship.  The  work  was  begun  in  1887,  and  was  so  far  ad- 
vanced that  the  same  year  the  house  was  "occupied  for  religious  services;  yet  in 
October,  1891,  it  was  "not  fully  completed."  In  September,  1891,  W.  R.  Covert 
was  there  to  dedicate  it;  but  the  heavy  rains  prevented.  October  4,  1891,  R.  H. 
Bolton  was  secured  by  S.  S.  Hunter,  the  pastor.  The  church  was  poor,  and  it 
resorted  to  "a  roast  ox  dinner  on  Saturday,  the  proceeds  of  which  were  to  go 
towards  the  indebtedness  of  the  bethel."  "The  ox  roast  dinner  affair  was  to  be 
continued  on  Lord's  day,"  but  the  rain  interfered.  Bolton  "recognized  the  hand 
of  providence  in  this  matter."  A  new  church  organization  was  effected  at  Center, 
Putnam  county,  February  1,  1892,  by  R.  H.  Bolton.  The  Eldership  having  as- 
sumed a  debt  of  over  $500.00  resting  on  the  Wooster  bethel,  Wayne  county,  the 
house  was  repaired  under  the  labors  of  J.  W.  Bolton,  and  rededicated  May  15, 

1892,  by  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw.  He  also  officiated  at  the  dedication  of  "a.  neat  and 
substantial  house  of  worship"  at  North  Bridgewater,  Williams  county,  December 
11,  1892.  It  was  built  under  the  labors  of  J.  W.  Clark,  at  a  cost  of  $1,800.00. 
The   Center   Bethel,   near   Belmore,   Putman   county,   was   dedicated   January   15, 

1893,  Latchaw  "conducting  the  dedicatorial  exercises."  The  new  house  of  wor- 
ship, known  as  the  Jackson  Bethel,  near  Hoytsville,  was  dedicated  by  W.  N.  Yates 
September  23,  1894.  J.  W.  Kingston  was  the  pastor.  E.  Poling  was  instrumental 
in  building  a  bethel  on  his  field  of  labor  in  Henry  county,  3  miles  west  of  Holgate, 
which  was  dedicated  by  W.  N.  Yates  on  December  2,  1894.  Yates  had  become  the 
successor  of  Latchaw  as  President  of  Findlay  College,  who  had  "renounced  the 
authority  of  the  General  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God,  and  left  the  Church." 

Progress  in  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership  was  hindered  on  account  of  the 
spirit  of  insubordination  which  developed  in  several  of  the  churches  where  the 
Woodworth  element  predominated.  Several  ministers  were  involved,  and  their 
licenses  were  "revoked."  The  falling  away  of  many  of  the  Woodworth  converts 
also  had  a  very  depressing  effect.  However,  those  who  were  true  and  loyal  mem- 
bers of  the  churches  labored  faithfully  under  these  adverse  conditions.  At  Ander- 
son a  church  was  organized  February  28,  1891,  of  twenty-seven  members.  They 
bought  a  lot,  and  also  a  large  school-house  which  they  removed  on  to  the  lot,  re- 
paired it  and  seated  it  with  pews,  and  held  the  dedicatory  services  in  February, 
1892.  At  Shiloh,  Daviess  county,  a  new  bethel  was  built  under  the  labors  of  J. 
Vinson,  which  was  dedicated  by  J.  W.  Neely  on  June  19,  1892.  At  Mt.  Zion  a 
small,  frame  house  of  worship  was  erected  in  the  Summer  of  1892,  which  was 
dedicated  on  October  2nd.  In  1893  a  lot  was  secured  in  Indianapolis  by  the  pas- 
tor, J.  Vinson,  and  his  mother,  on  the  corner  of  Le  Grande  avenue  and  Leonard 
street.  A  bethel  was  built  thereon,  which  on  October  7,  1894,  was  dedicated  by 
W.  B.  Covert. 

On  W.  W.  Lovett's  field  of  labor,  in  the  Indiana  Eldership,  the  bethel  at  Au- 
burn was  dedicated  April  27,  1890.  The  dedicatory  services  were  conducted  by 
J.  A.  Wood.  The.  Mt.  Tabor  bethel,  on  J.  W.  Stringfellow's  charge  was  rededi- 
cated September  21,  1890.  J.  Bumpus  preached  on  the  occasion.  The  church  at 
Ft.  Wayne  was  reorganized  by  Ernest  H.  Shanks  In  January,  1891,  with  twenty 
members.  A  Sabbath-school  was  also  started.  A  few  more  members  were  added 
in  February,  1891.  Shanks  strongly  urged  the  Eldership  to  sustain  the  mission, 
giving  a  number  of  reasons  why  the  work  in  this  central  city  of  the  Eldership 
should  be  made  permanent.  On  November  1,  1891,  W.  N,  Yates  and  the  Re- 
formed church  pastor  dedicated  the  new  Union  Chapel,  near  Turkey  Creek,  Steu- 
ben county,  built  at  a  cost  of  $1,500.00.      It  was  built  jointly  by  the  church  of 


GEJSfE^RAi,  History  227 

God  and  the  Reformed  church  at  that  place.  The  Thorn  Creek  Bethel,  on  the 
circuit  served  by  G.  T.  Kimmel,  was  dedicated  November  29,  1891.  In  1893  a  new- 
house  of  worship  was  built  at  Blue  River  appointment,  on  the  circuit  of  which  Geo. 
E.  Kemp  was  pastor.  It  was  dedicated  June  21,  1894,  by  I.  W.  Markley.  With 
M.  S.  Hemminger  as  pastor,  a  bethel  was  built  at  Paddytown,  Wabash  county- 
Disappointed  by  the  minister  who  was  to  officiate  at  the  dedication,  Hemminger 
preached  the  sermon  on  January  6,  1895. 

In  Michigan  the  work  was  in  a  rather  stagnant  condition,  if  it  was  not  act- 
ually retrograding.  A  few  self-denying  ministers  had  the  consciousness  of  duty 
well  performed,  while  others  were  quite  inactive.  Their  justification  was  want  of 
adequate  support.  In  Calhoun  county  there  was  even  opposition  to  organizations, 
as  well  as  to  a  paid  ministry.  The  south-eastern  counties  of  the  State  were  in- 
cluded in  the  Ohio  Eldership  territory.  Here,  in  1890,  C.  N.  Belman  was  the  pas- 
tor. Under  his  labors  the  bethel  at  Ottawa  Lake  was  built  and  dedicated  October 
26th,  for  which  he  secured  the  services  of  T.  Koogle.  The  bethel  at  Sodus,  where 
Isaac  Crago,  of  Indiana,  labored,  was  repaired,  and  on  July  6,  1890,  was  rededi- 
cated  by  W.  W.  Liovett. 

The  Illinois  Eldership  was  especially  interested  in  the  work  of  the  church 
in  Springfield,  where  at  the  opening  of  this  period  E.  H.  Baker  was  the  zealous 
pastor.  He  labored  against  serious  obstacles.  As  elsewhere,  the  elements  brought 
together  during  the  Woodworth  meetings  were  not  homogeneous,  and  contentions 
were  not  uncommon.  There  was  also  great  lack  of  stability,  as  well  as  defects  in 
moral  character.  In  Springfield  they  were  divided,  one  church  having  a  "meeting- 
house" on  the  corner  of  Seventh  and  Mason  streets,  where  Baker  was  pastor,  and 
another  one  worshiping  on  Third  street.  The  former  enjoyed  a  revival  after  New 
Year's,  1890,  with  over  twenty  converts,  and  was  reported  "doing  well."  At  an 
ordinance  meeting  in  March  fifty  participated  in  the  first  ordinance  and  seventy  in 
the  second.  But  Baker  left  Springfield  in  the  Fall,  and  the  work  was  much 
neglected.  At  Lodge,  Piatt  county,  a  new  bethel  was  built  under  the  labors  of 
C.  Manchester.  He  had  organized  the  church  the  previous  year.  The  dedication 
services  were  conducted  by  Mary  Berkstresser,  on  September  14,  1890.  In  Shelley 
county,  under  the  labors  of  O.  B.  Huston,  the  Pleasant  Grove  Bethel  was  built  in 
the  Summer  of  1890.  It  was  dedicated  August  10th,  W.  B.  Allen  preaching  on 
the  occasion.  At  Hazel  Dell,  Cumberland  county,  where  Mary  Berkstresser  was 
pastor,  a  house  of  worship  was  built,  which  was  dedicated  December  7,  1890.  W. 
I.  Berkstresser  was  the  preacher.  W.  B.  Allen  officiated  at  two  dedications  in  the 
month  of  February,  1891.  A  new  bethel  was  built  in  a  community  in  Schuyler 
county  called  "Richland,"  which  was  set  apart  for  divine  worship  February  8th. 
Allen  was  assisted  by  W.  A.  Smith.  The  other  one  was  located  in  the  adjoining 
county  of  Brown,  and  was  named  "Mt.  Zion  Bethel."  It  was  dedicated  Febriiary 
15th.  E.  Parks  was  the  efficient  pastor.  In  March,  1891,  the  building  of  a  new 
house  of  worship  was  begun  in  the  village  of  Buffalo,  where  B.  F.  Tilley  was 
pastor.  He  was  succeeded  by  John  Ritchie,  during  whose  pastorate  the  build- 
ing was  finished.  Mary  Berkstresser  and  her  brother  W.  I.,  officiated  at  the 
dedication.  At  Wabash,  Clark  county,  a  new  bethel  replaced  a  "delapidated 
one"  in  the  Summer  of  1892,  with  D.  H.  Rupp  as  pastor.  It  was  dedicated  No- 
vember 20th,  with  an  ordinance  meeting  in  the  evening.  W.  B.  Allen  preached  on 
the  occasion.  I.  S.  Richmond,  who  was  "deservedly  popular  on  his  field,"  the 
Plum  River  circuit,  Jo  Daviess  county,  succeeded  in  having  a  house  of  worship 
built  at  Morseville,  and  also  a  parsonage.  The  bethel  was  dedicated  May  28,  1893. 
It  replaced  a  union  house,  which  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  the  preceding  Winter. 
M.  S.  Newcomer  preached  the  dedicatory  sermon.  The  bethel  in  Decatur  was  re- 
paired at  a  cost  of  $300.00,  during  the  pastorate  of  C.  F.  Rogers.  It  was  rededl- 
cated  by  E.  H.  Baker  on  July  30,  1893. 

The  progress  of  the  cause  in  Iowa  seems  to  have  been  impeded  during  this; 
period  by  causes  which  are  not  now  readily  discernible.  The  spirit  of  emulation,, 
which  often  becomes  an  added  force  in  the  attainment  of  ends  sought  even  in 
sacred  things,  was  largely  lacking.  The  approaching  General  Eldership  of  1890, 
which  was  to  meet  at  North  Bend,  Johnson  county,  in  May,  stimulated  the  "Tab- 
ernacle Committee"  to  greater  diligence  in  its  work.  This  tent  was  to  be  used' 
for  the  entertainment  of  this  body.  In  February,  1890,  the  Committee  met  at 
North  Bend,  presided  over  by  John  Huff,  when  final  arrangements  were  made  for 
the  purchase  of  the  tent.  The  new  bethel  at  Millersburg,  where  D.  Long  was  pas- 
tor, located  "in  a  very  good  belt  of  country  of  well-to-do  farmers,"  was  built  iia 


228  History    of    the    Churches   of    God 

the  early  Summer  of  1890.  It  was  dedicated  by  Wm.  Vance  July  6th,  who  spoke 
principally  on  the  subject  of  Christian  Union.  Harmony  Bethel,  "an  old  camping 
ground  for  the  Church  of  God,"  was  originally  built  in  1859.  A  new  bethel  was 
built  in  the  Summer  of  1890,  during  the  pastorate  of  D.  Long,  which  was  dedicated 
by  J.  R.  H.  Latch»w  November  16,  1890.  It  cost  $1,500.00,  including  work  "done 
gratuitously"  by  the  brethren.  In  the  extreme  north-western  county  of  Lyon,  and 
in  O'Brien  and  Woodbury  counties,  considerable  work  was  done  in  the  Winter  of 
1890-1891.  D.  S.  Guint«r  was  the  pastor.  "After  years  of  continuous  working 
and  waiting  and  hoping  and  praying  the  crowning  day  came  at  last,"  wrote  J.  R. 
H.  Latchaw  after  the  dedication,  "when  the  church  of  God  at  Ida  GroTe  had  a 
house  of  worship."  Ida  Grove  is  the  county-seat  of  Ida  county,  the  center  of  a 
settlement  made  up  largely  of  Pennsylvanians,  who  were  induced  to  buy  farms 
and  locate  there  by  A.  X.  Shoemaker.  They  began  the  enterprise  of  building  a 
bethel  in  1883;  but  the  leaders  "demanded  a  $12,000.00  or  $15,000.00  house." 
For  this  reason  "the  project  fell  through,  and  was  not  seriously  revived  until  1891, 
when  the  corner-stone  was  laid.  The  house  was  finished  and  the  day  of  dedica- 
tion set  for  June  26,  1892.  Latchaw  preached  in  the  morning  and  H.  L.  Soule  in 
the  evening.  Total  cost,  $4,800.00.  At  Carroll,  the  shire  town  of  Carroll  county, 
the  need  of  a  house  of  worship  was  felt  in  1891,  when  one  brother  offered  to  give 
$500.00  for  that  purpose.  But  the  church  decided  first  to  buy  the  Evangelical 
property,  church  building  and  parsonage.  "They  proposed  to  repair  and  refit  the 
house,"  but  after  careful  investigation  they  concluded  to  build  a  new  house.  This 
"Was  finished  and  ready  for  dedication,  at  a  cost  of  $2,700.00.  M.  S.  Newcomer 
officiated  at  the  dedication,  in  August,  1894. 

The  work  in  Nebraska  during  the  present  period  suffered  considerably  on 
account  of  drouths.  Ministers  could  not  be  adequately  supported,  and  many  of 
the  churches  were  discouraged.  "More  aggressive  work  must  be  done"  was  the 
prevailing  sentiment  in  the  Eldership;  but  the  means  were  lacking  to  enable  pas- 
tors to  devote  all  their  time  to  preaching.  Fields  were  consolidated,  so  that  there 
were  but  seven  circuits  in  1894,  instead  of  the  twelve  in  1891.  The  territory  was 
too  extensive  to  enable  the  ministers  to  do  most  effective  work.  There  were 
churches  and  preaching  points  in  the  following  counties:  Hitchcock,  Sheridan, 
Gage,  Saline,  Polk,  Custer,  Frontier,  Lincoln,  York,  Sherman,  Dawson,  Clay  and 
Logan.  Notwithstanding  the  poverty  and  weakness  of  the  churches,  they  were 
actuated  with  a  true  missionary  spirit.  If  the  rule  is  to  be  applied,  that  "organi- 
zations are  to  be  judged  by  their  products,  and  not  by  what  they  claim  for  them- 
selves," then  these  churches  must  be  accorded  sincere  commendations  for  their 
persevering  endeavors  to  sustain  and  advance  the  cause.  They  had  a  State  Wo- 
man's Missionary  Society,  and  local  societies  in  a  majority  of  the  churches.  A. 
Wilson  was  the  General  Missionary  in  the  employ  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the 
General  Eldership.  In  1891,  and  again  in  1892,  he  reported  two  new  church  or- 
ganizations. He  succeeded  in  the  erection  of  a  house  of  worship,  "built  of  sod," 
24x34  feet,  at  Huxley,  Custer  county,  in  1892.  It  was  known  as  the  "Cedar  Bluff 
Bethel."  That  Church  work  could  be  maintained  at  all  in  many  sections  of  the 
State  speaks  strongly  of  the  zeal  and  devotion  of  the  brotherhood.  Wilson  labored 
principally  in  the  southern  and  western  parts  of  the  State.  "Crops,"  he  wrote 
in  the  Fall  of  1894,  "are  cut  short  all  over  the  State  more  or. less."  "In  large  por- 
tions of  the  western  part  of  the  State  there  are  no  crops  whatever."  "It  is  hard 
on  Church  work."  Many  families  left  the  State,  and  in  some  instances  churches 
were  disorganized. 

In  Kansas,  except  in  a  few  counties  bordering  on  Nebraska,  conditions  were 
more  favorable  than  in  the  latter  State.  The  regular  Church  work  was  vigorously 
carried  on,  and  additions  to  the  membership  of  the  local  churches  numbered  up- 
ward of  two  hundred  each  year.  The  employment  of  a  general  missionary  was  a 
popular  idea,  and  part  of  the  time  J.  C.  Fomcrook  labored  in  this  capacity.  A 
"tabernacle"  was  proposed,  so  that  evangelistic  meetings  could  be  conducted  in 
towns  where  no  suitable  buildings  could  be  rented.  In  1890  there  were  twelve 
charges,  two  of  them  stations — Ft.  Scott  and  Topeka.  These  were  in  the  follow- 
ing counties:  Crawford,  Labette,  Virdigris,  Rice,  Riley,  Pratt,  Republic,  Norton, 
Fulton,  Shawnee  and  Ness.  In  1892  Dickinson  and  Geary  counties  were  on  the 
list,  and  in  1893,  Phillips.  The  circuits  had  to  be  rearranged,  and  sometimes  two 
thrown  together  for  want  of  a  sufficient  number  of  ministers  to  supply  all  the 
fields.  In  1892  there  were  sixteen  appointments;  in  1893,  thirteen,  and  in  1894, 
fourteen.      The  missionary  spirit  possessed  ministers  and  churches.      A  State  Wo- 


General   History  229 

man's  Missionary  Society  was  formed  In  1890,  and  the  sisters  engaged  zealously 
in  the  work.  Only  a  few  houses  of  worship,  however,  were  built.  The  one  at 
Englevale  was  dedicated  August  9,  1891.  W.  T.  Turpin  was  the  pastor,  and  J.  C. 
Forncrook  preached  the  dedicatory  sermon.  There  was  general  interest  in  the 
work  at  Ft.  Scott,  the  county-seat  of  Bourbon  county.  In  1890  the  Board  of  Mis- 
sions of  the  General  Eldership  appointed  Forncrook  missionary  at  Ft.  Scott.  He 
held  a  successful  revival  meeting  in  a  Hall,  at  which  there  were  fifty  reported  con- 
version. He  had  the  assistance  of  E.  H.  Baker,  an  evangelist  of  Illinois.  While 
the  new  bethel  was  not  yet  finished,  services  were  transferred  to  it  in  November, 
1890.  The  original  estimate  of  the  cost  of  the  bethel  was  |1,800.00;  but  owing 
to  "a  blow  down,"^and  installing  of  a  bell  and  a  heating  furnace,  and  other  extras, 
the  total  cost  was  ?2,350.00.  It  was  dedicated  November  23,  1890,  E.  H.  Baker 
doing  the  preaching.  Another  point  of  absorbing  interest  as  a  center  of  Church 
work  was  Topeka,  Shawnee  county,  capital  of  the  State  and  county  town.  Mrs. 
Woodworth  held  a  revival  meeting  there  in  September,  1891.  By  her  Invitation 
C.  S.  Bolton  went  there  in  November  to  take  charge  of  the  work.  He  baptized 
124,  and  organized  a  church  of  over  100  members,  which  increased  to  222  within 
the  year.  Also  a  flourishing  Sunday-school,  and  a  Young  People's  Society  of 
Christian  Endeavor.  At  their  first  ordinance  meeting  over  100  participated.  While 
the  church  at  once  resolved  to  build  a  bethel,  the  work  was  delayed,  so  that  when 
in  1894  W.  T.  Turpin  took  charge  they  worshiped  In  a  leased  two-story  brick 
building.  The  "church  was  passing  through  the  fire,"  and  much  of  the  heterogen- 
eous material  was  consumed. 

An  effort  was  made  in  Missouri  In  January,  1890,  to  divide  the  Eldership,  and 
organize  two  Elderships  in  the  State.  The  fields  of  labor  were  so  located  as  to  be 
widely  scattered,  some  being  in  the  northern  counties;  some  along  the  Mississippi 
river  on  the  east,  and  some  in  the  south-western  counties.  The  work,  too,  was  in 
a  prosperous  condition,  with  early  promise  of  sufficient  strength  to  sustain  two 
Elderships.  A  Petition  was  accordingly  circulated  for  signatures,  to  be  presented 
to  the  General  Eldership  in  May,  1890.  The  church  at  Hannibal,  Marion  county, 
organized  in  1888,  was  "enduring  severe  persecutions,"  and  "wading  through  deep 
waters"  in  1890.  Earnest  calls  for  help  were  published.  There  were  schismatics 
in  the  fold,  and  a  spirit  of  insubordination  to  the  Eldership  which  threatened  the 
life  of  the  church.  It  was  going  through  an  experience  similar  to  that  of  other 
Woodworth  churches.  Mrs.  Woodworth  began  her  evangelistic  work  in  St.  Louis 
In  July,  1890.  Meetings  were  held  in  her  Tabernacle  until  the  weather  became 
too  cold,  when  a  Hall  was  secured.  The  reports  stated  that  "from  75  to  100  were 
at  the  altar  at  one  time,"  and  "4,000  to  5,000  people  attending  the  meetings 
nightly."  On  August  31,  1890,  C.  S.  Bolton  "baptized  54  believers."  A  church 
was  organized,  composed  "largely  of  persons  of  German  extraction."  H.  H.  Spiher 
became  the  pastor  In  the  Fall  of  1891.  During  his  pastorate  a  bethel  was  built  at 
a  cost  exceeding  |7,000.00.  It  was  dedicated  by  J.  R.  H,  Latchaw  August  14, 
1892.  C.  S.  Bolton  was  General  Missionary  In  the  State  by  appointment  of  the 
Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership.  He  was  present,  with  the  pastor, 
J.  M.  Klein,  when  "Center  Bethel,"  at  Osborne,  was  dedicated,  November  9,  1890, 
by  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw.  Good  work  was  done  by  Bolton  in  Pettis  county  In  the 
Winter  of  1890.  Other  ministers  labored  faithfully  in  Hickory  and  Perry  counties. 
In  Sullivan  county,  where  A.  J.  Hill  was  pastor,  the  Ivy  Hill  Bethel  was  built  in 
the  Fall  of  1892.  He  officiated  at  the  dedication  January  22,  1893.  He  also  suc- 
ceeded in  building  the  White  Water  Bethel,  where  a  church  was  organized  in  1891. 
C.  P.  French  and  J,  N.  Smith  were  to  dedicate  It  December  24,  1893;  but  failing 
to  get  there,  Hill  officiated.  The  Doe  Run  Bethel  was  dedicated  by  Hill  and  Smith 
on  May  13,  1894.  The  Hawkeye  Bethel,  Sullivan  county,  was  built  and  dedicated 
under  the  labors  of  G.  L.  Bowman,  September  2,  1894.  H.  W.  Allen  preached  on 
the  occasion.  A  State  Woman's  Missionary  Society  was  organized.  One  of  the 
effects  of  the  Woodworth  meetings  was  the  call  of  women  to  the  ministry.  Two 
were  licensed  by  the  Standing  Committee  in  March,  1891,  one  of  them  living  at 
Hannibal.  In  1893  thirty  organized  churches  belonged  to  the  Missouri  Eldership, 
ten  of  which  had  their  own  houses  of  worship.  It  was  believed  that  the  Church 
in  the  State  had  fine  prospects  for  continued  and  permanent  growth,  and  had 
"nothing  to  fear  except  the  outcroppings  of  the  spirit  of  disloyalty." 

The  planting  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Arkansas,  Indian  Territory  and  Okla- 
homa, except  In  the  northern  parts,  is  properly  to  be  credited  to  the  brethren  of 
the  Texas  Eldership.     And  while  the  work  languished  in  Texas,  some  Church  of 


230 


History    of    the    Churches   of    God 


God  families  and  ministers  removed  into  Arkansas,  Indian  Territory  and  Okla- 
homa, and  began  work  there.  During  part  of  the  present  period  B.  Ober  was  the 
General  Missionary  in  Texas,  appointed  by  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership.  He  preached  in  Collin,  Cook,  Lamar  and  Sebastian  counties. 
In  1891-2  E.  B.  Nelson  was  laboring  in  these  counties  as  General  Evangelist  of 
the  Texas  Eldership.  Ober  removed  to  Oklahoma,  locating  at  Arapahoe,  Custer 
county,  in  September,  1893.  He  began  preaching  there  in  1894,  when  the 
citizens  united  in  the  building  of  a  school-house  "on  the  corner  of  my  place," 
says  Ober,  to  be  used  "for  public  school  and  preaching."  C.  Brundage,  August, 
1893,  located  at  Arlington,  Lincoln  county,  Okla.  At  that  time  he  stated  "the 
Church  of  God  is  not  yet  in  an  organized  form  in  Oklahoma;  but  he  knew  of 
half  a  dozen  Church  of  God  families  which  had  secured  homesteads  in  the  Terri- 
tory. He  began  to  preach  at  different  points,  and  urged  the  Board  of  Missions 
of  the  General  Eldership  to  send  a  missionary  there.  B.  R.  Parks  began  preach- 
ing in  north-western  Oklahoma  in  the  Winter  of  1893-4.  In  April,  1894,  he  or- 
ganized the  first  church  of  God  in  a  log  school-house  in  Woods  county,  on  the 
Kansas  State  line.  It  consisted  of  twelve  members,  with  Henry  and  J.  M.  Bosley 
elders.  They  at  once  also  organized  a  Sunday-school.  H.  W.  Allen  organized  the 
first  churches  of  God  in  Dewey  county,  at  Leedey  and  Burmah,  about  the  same 


"Ober  Bethel,"  Indianapolis,  Okla.,  Fii-st  Bethel  Built  in  Oklahoma. 

time.  In  1890  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  sent  D.  Blakely, 
of  Missouri,  to  the  Indian  Territory  as  General  Missionary.  In  1891  J.  C.  Caswell 
was  appointed  by  the  same  Board  missionary  to  the  Creek  and  Choctaw  Nations, 
and  E.  M.  Kirkpatrick  to  the  Cherokee  Nation.  In  April,  1893,  a  church  was  or- 
ganized by  Caswell  at  Davis  Chapel,  Creek  Nation,  of  thirteen  members.  Kirk- 
patrick effected  an  organization  at  Hanson  in  189  4.  In  Arkansas  J.  W.  Riddle 
was  the  General  Missionary  in  1890,  and  in  1891  he  was  restricted  to  northern 
Arkansas,  and  D.  S.  Summitt  was  appointed  to  southern  Arkansas.  A  bethel  was 
built  near  the  Texas  line,  and  dedicated  in  December,  1891.  In  February,  1890, 
J.  W.  Riddle  "enjoyed  a  precious  revival  meeting  at  Ft.  Smith,  Ark.,"  after  which 
he  organized  a  church  of  twenty-one  members.  Work  was  also  carried  on  among 
the  colored  people.  In  1892  a  colored  church  was  organized  at  Webb  City,  Ark. 
There  were  also  churches  at  McLain's  and  at  Montreal.  The  total  membership  in 
1893  was  105,  with  8  preachers.  A  body  of  colored  people,  known  as  the  "Chris- 
tian Friendship  Church,"  had  been  formed  in  1892.  They  had  32  ministers,  20 
churches,  all  in  Arkansas  except  one,  which  was  at  Sulphur,  Texas,  and  a  member- 
ship of  600.  They  opened  negotiations  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Mis- 
sions of  the  General  Eldership  to  become  identified  with  the  Church  of  God.  A. 
C.  Cromly,  leader  among  the  colored  ministers  of  the  Church,  antagonized  this 
movement,  insisting  that  the  Christian  Friendship  Church  must  join  the  colored 
churches  of  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. 


General  History  231 

In  the  Fall  of  1889  A.  W.  Reeder,  of  Ness  county,  Kas.,  removed  to  Moscow, 
Idaho,  in  Latah  county,  adjoining  Washington,  and  the  third  county  south  from 
British  Columbia.  He  strongly  urged  Church  of  God  families  to  locate  there  and 
build  up  an  organization.  In  1892  W.  F.  Howard  also  located  in  Idaho.  He 
joined  Reeder  in  calls  for  a  minister,  as  "openings  are  good  to  begin  Church 
work."  But  most  of  the  emigration  was  to  Oregon,  and  a  little  later  to  Washing- 
ton. J.  F.  Schoch,  a  minister  of  the  Illinois  Eldership,  removed  to  Oregon  in  the 
Fall  of  1889.  He  found  a  few  other  families  within  a  radius  of  30  miles.  He 
began  preaching  in  a  school-house  near  his  home.  J.  Ganigus  had  also  located 
near  Greenville,  Oregon,  and  made  strong  appeals  for  a  missionary.  J.  W.  Force 
preached  at  North  Yam  Hill  and  other  points.  The  Board  of  Missions  of  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership  in  1890  appointed  M.  S.  Newcomer  missionary  to  Oregon.  He 
reached  the  home  of  J.  Garrigus  and  preached  his  first  sermon  July  20th.  The 
meeting  was  continued  several  weeks,  resulting  in  a  number  of  conversions,  and 
on  August  3rd  the  first  church  of  God  was  organized  by  him  in  Oregon,  consisting 
of  thirteen  members,  with  J.  Garrigus  as  elder,  and  R.  S.  Bullock,  deacon.  New- 
comer, however,  resigned;  but  by  that  time  there  were  at  least  eight  preachers  in 
Oregon  and  Washington,  so  that  it  was  thought  an  Eldership  could  be  organized. 
In  1891  J.  F.  Schoch  was  appointed  General  Missionary  by  the  Board  of  Missions 
of  the  General  Eldership,  and  continued  for  several  years.  He  organized  the 
church  at  Buckley,  Ore.,  in  the  Winter  of  1892-3.  The  ministers  which  met  at  Fir 
Grove,  Ore.,  in  October,  1891,  in  the  capacity  of  an  Eldership,  appointed  four  of 
their  number  to  circuits.  They  held  Ministerial  Associations  each  year  in  con- 
nection with  the  Eldership,  and  in  1893  one  extra  session.  A  church  was  organ- 
ized in  Salem  in  1893,  and  on  February  6,  1894,  one  was  organized  at  Aumsville. 
The  church  in  Salem  had  members  of  German  and  French  descent,  as  well  as 
Americans,  and  one  of  their  number  who  was  licensed  by  the  Eldership  could 
preach  in  English  and  French.  At  Oak  Grove  a  church  of  seven  members  was 
organized  in  1894.  Less  work  was  done  in  Washington  during  this  period.  R,  A. 
Slyter  preached  in  Clark  county  in  1892,  in  the  Methodist  house  of  worship,  with 
good  prospects  of  organizing  a  church.  At  Nooksachk  a  church  was  organized  in 
1894.  J.  F.  Schoch's  labors  as  missionary  extended  into  Washington.  The  Minister- 
ial Association  held  its  session  at  La  Center  in  1894.  The  Board  of  Missions  of  the 
General  Eldership  in  1890  appointed  D.  Keplinger  General  Missionary  in  Cali- 
fornia. He  began  work  in  the  latter  part  of  the  Summer  of  1890,  and  by  1893  he 
had  three  regular  preaching  places,  and  had  arrangements  made  to  open  a  fourth. 
His  territory  was  mainly  in  Los  Angeles  county,  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State. 
The  Church  families  lived  so  far  apart,  and  the  work  made  such  slow  progress, 
that  it  was  difficult  to  effect  organizations.  More  Church  families  had  emigrated 
into  several  of  the  counties  in  the  central  and  northern  parts  of  the  State,  but  were 
also  too  much  scattered  for  economical  and  efficient  Church  work. 

The  church  at  Louisville,  Ky.,  was  maintaining  its  existence,  but  in  March, 
1890,  it  was  rather  a  "scattered  flock,"  when  H.  H.  Spiher,  Indiana,  held  a  three 
weeks'  meeting,  when  "a  number  were  converted,"  and  the  membership  increased 
again  to  fifty.     He  reported  that  "the  church's  prosperity  is  assured." 

In  the  Winter  of  1890-1891,  E.  M.  Kirkpatrick,  missionary  in  the  Indian 
Territory,  came  eastward  into  Tennessee,  and  began  Church  work  in  the  western 
part  of  the  State.      He  did  not  remain  long  enough  to  do  permanent  work. 

A  good  beginning  in  Church  work  was  made  in  Colorado  in  September,  1894, 
by  I.  H.  Greene.  He  began  a  meeting  on  September  20th  at  Rand,  Larimer  county. 
He  and  his  wife  "stood  alone"  when  the  meeting  began;  there  "was  not  one  that 
would  even  kneel."  At  the  close  of  the  meeting  he  "organized  a  church  with 
twenty-four  members."  They  at  once  began  the  work  of  "building  a  church,  20x36 
feet."  It  was  dedicated  January  20,  1895.  January  13,  1895,  Greene  organized  a 
church  of  ten  members  at  Walden,  Larimer  county. 

The  era  of  public  debates  was  about  ended  in  the  middle  and  eastern  sections 
of  Church  of  God  territory;  but  in  the  south-western  section,  where  the  Disciples 
and  Missionary  Baptists  were  relatively  strong,  their  disputatious  spirit  made  it 
sometimes  necessary  to  defend  the  doctrines  and  practices  of  the  Church  in  oraJ 
discussions.  For  sharp,  irritating,  acrimonious  debates  even  among  themselves, 
the  Baptists  in  the  south-west  were  somewhat  notorious.  W.  T.  Turpin,  on  the 
evening  of  June  16,  17  and  18,  1890,  debated  the  ordinance  of  Feet-washing  with 
a  Mr.  Bramblet,  of  the  Missionary  Baptist  Church.  It  was  held  in  Crawford 
county,  Kansas.      The  congregation  was  to  vote  on  the  merits  of  the  arguments 


232  History   of   the   Churches   of   God 

presented  by  the  disputants.  But  at  the  close  of  the  debate  "the  opposition  ob- 
jected to  this."  A  compromise  was  agreed  upon.  All  members  of  the  Church  of 
God  and  of  the  Baptist  Church  were  excluded.  Then  "the  vote  stood  twenty  for 
the  Baptist  side  and  sixty  for  the  Church  of  God."  In  Nebraska  C.  S.  Kilmer  held 
a  public  debate  at  Arnold,  Custer  county,  with  a  Disciple  minister,  "on  washing 
the  saints'  feet."  This  was  in  March,  1891.  Kilmer  was  "a  clear  and  able  de- 
fender of  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  God."  August  6  and  7,  1891,  "a  discus- 
sion was  held  by  J.  M.  Howard,  of  the  Church  of  God,  and  J.  T.  Evans,  of  the  Mis- 
sionary Baptist  Church,  at  Oak  Grove,  Franklin  county.  Ark."  The  following 
were  the  propositions  debated:  First  day — "Resolved,  That  the  Missionary  Bap- 
tist Church,  of  which  I  am  a  member,  was  set  up  by  Christ,  and  will  be  perpetuated 
till  his  second  coming."  Evans  affirmed.  Second  day — "Resolved,  That  the  Church 
of  God,  of  which  I  am  a  member,  is  the  church  of  God  according  to  [its  original] 
organization."  Howard  affirmed.  There  were  three  judges,  "one  a  member  of 
the  Church  of  God,  one  a  member  of  the  Missionary  Baptist  Church,  and  a  gentle- 
man who  was  no  professor  of  religion,  and  acted  as  umpire.  The  first  allegation 
he  gave  to  Howard,  and  the  second  to  Evans."  But  on  the  Sunday  morning  fol- 
lowing the  debate  he  stated  that  "Evans  did  not  make  one  point  in  his  defense." 
"This  gave  us  one  of  the  grandest  victories  we  have  had  in  the  State  of  Arkansas." 
B  Ober  had  a  good  reputation  as  a  debater  and  he  was  regarded  "a  power  in  de- 
fense of  the  truth."  In  January,  1892,  at  Uniontown,  Ark.,  he  held  a  public  de- 
bate with  E.  Randolph,  of  the  Disciple  Church.  "It  ended  in  a  complete  triumph 
for  Ober."  J.  C.  Caswell  in  debate  was  alert,  resourceful  and  aggressive.  He 
held  a  debate  with  a  Missionary  Baptist  on  October  6-8,  1892,  the  proposition  being 
the  rather  common  one  at  that  time,  which  was  thus  worded:  "The  Church  of 
God,  or  which  I  am  a  member,  possesses  the  characteristics  which  entitle  it  to  be 
the  true  Apostolic  church,  and  its  name  was  the  church  of  God."  His  opponent 
affirmed  the  same  of  the  Missionary  Baptist  Church.  Caswell  claimed  that  his 
opponent  "was  so  completely  whipped  that  he  could  not  stay  to  preach  for  his  con- 
gregation." A  debate  continuing  six  consecutive  nights  was  held  in  Clare  county, 
Mich.,  beginning  August  7,  1893,  between  M.  D.  Rogers,  of  the  Church  of  God,  and 
J.  A.  Carpenter,  of  "the  Josephite  Branch  of  the  Mormon  Church."  Three  prop- 
ositions were  debated,  viz.:  "1.  That  Joe  Smith  was  a  prophet  of  God."  "2. 
That  the  Church  of  God,  of  which  I,  M.  D.  Rogers,  am  a  member,  is  in  harmony 
with  the  church  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles  of  1800  years  ago."  "3.  That  the 
Church  of  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints  is  in  harmony  with  the  church  of  Christ  and 
his  Apostles  of  1800  years  ago."  The  decision  on  each  proposition  was  submitted 
to  the  audience,  and  on  each  one  was  unanimously  in  favor  of  Rogers.  At  the 
Star  school-house.  Bates  county,  Mo.,  a  debate  was  conducted  "night  and  day  be- 
ginning Tuesday  evening,  February  20,  1894,  till  Thursday  night,  March  1st,  ex- 
cept Sunday."  The  disputants  were  J.  H.  Ohlhousen,  of  the  Church  of  God,  and 
J.  T.  Young,  of  the  Mormon  Church.  These  were  the  propositions:  "That  Joe 
Smith  was  a  prophet  called  of  God."  "That  the  Book  of  Mormon  is  an  inspired 
book,  and  entitled  to  belief  as  much  as  any  book  of  the  New  Testament."  "That 
the  reorganized  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints  is  identical  in  faith, 
church  organization  and  practice  with  the  Old  and  New  Testaments."  "That  the 
Church  of  God  is  identical  in  faith,  church  organization  and  practice  with  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments."  During  the  third  week  in  October,  1894,  J.  C.  Caswell  de- 
bated during  four  consecutive  nights  with  Collier,  of  the  Disciple  Church, 

at  Enterprise,  Indian  Territory.  The  propositions  debated  were:  "1.  Do  the 
Holy  Scriptures  teach  that  the  Apostolic  Church  is  God's?"  "2.  Do  the  Holy 
Scriptures  teach  that  the  Apostolic  Church  is  Christ's?"  The  first  was  affirmed  by 
Caswell;  the  second,  by  Collier.  "A  unanimous  vote  of  the  congregation  decided 
a  victory  in  favor  of  Caswell. 

The  period  from  1890  to  1895  was  somewhat  fruitful  in  discussions,  rather 
than  debates,  in  the  columns  of  The  Church  Advocate.  Often  called  out  by  ques- 
tions submitted  for  editorial  answers,  they  also  were  made  topics  for  Ministerial 
Associations,  at  which  there  was  frequently  debating  which  was  exceedingly  il- 
luminating. As  these  questions  presented  issues  which  were  canvassed  by  min- 
isters and  churches  in  different  localities  their  discussion  was  regarded  as  a  valu- 
able contribution  to  the  Church's  current  literature.  This  was  especially  the  case 
with  questions  handed  down  by  the  General  Eldership  on  which  the  annual  Elder- 
ships were  requested  to  act.  This  was  the  case  in  the  Fall  of  1893,  when  the 
question  of  a  Life  Certificate  of  Ordination  in  place  of  the  Annual  License  was  to 


General  History  233 

be  considered  and  recommendations  adopted  to  the  General  Eldership  in  1896. 
Three  questions  of  general  interest  were  revived  in  connection  with  the  Wood- 
worth  revival  meetings.  These  were  Faith,  or  Divine  Healing;  Trances,  and  Sec- 
ond-work Sanctification.  The  prevailing  sentiment  of  the  Church  was  antagonistic 
to  the  views  and  practices  of  Mrs.  Woodworth  and  her  followers.  While  certain 
phenomena  reported  at  her  meetings  were  difficult  to  explain  to  the  common 
reader,  the  fact  that  they  are  not  peculiar  to  religious  experiences,  and  that  they 
lack  essential  evidences  of  their  supernatural  character  discredited  them  with 
thinking  people  generally.  Trances  were  discarded  as  phenomena  of  no  value, 
and  as  lacking  New  Testament  recognition.  The  second-work  theory  was  readily 
disproved  by  a  more  scientific  exegesis  of  New  Testament  proof-tests.  And  thus 
gradually  these  unsound  views  gave  way  to  a  more  rational  and  Scriptural  ex- 
planation of  experiences  which  could  readily  delude  certain  classes  of  believers. 
The  value  of  a  Church  periodical  as  a  defender  of  the  things  commonly  believed  by 
a  body  of  people  was  seldom  more  forcibly  exemplified.  This  is  true  also  of 
another  theoretical  innovation  which  was  advanced  and  mooted  during  1890  and 
1891,  and  which  disturbed  the  peace  of  some  of  the  churches.  It  was  the  novel 
question  among  the  churches  of  God  of  the  duty  and  privilege  of  prayer  by  peni- 
tent sinners.  The  suppliant  cry  of  the  penitent  for  pardon  had  been  heard  with 
approval  and  delight  by  ministers  and  churches  of  God  for  over  sixty  years.  So 
that  this  antagonism  to  a  sentiment  that  was  claimed  to  be  age-old  and  apostolic 
proved  quite  repugnant  to  the  churches  everywhere  .  On  account  of  a  reversal  of 
the  order  of  the  ordinances  of  some  churches  in  Arkansas,  this  subject  was  revived, 
and  was  discussed  at  Ministerial  Associations.  It  was  also  critically  examined, 
and  the  arguments  refuted,  in  two  editorials  in  November,  1890,  and  again  in  July 
and  in  December,  1891.  The  organic  union  of  Protestant  denominations  found 
tew  advocates,  and  was  vigorously  disputed  as  "a  pleasant  dream,"  but  as  in  no 
wise  being  the  oneness  of  Christ's  followers  for  which  he  prayed.  It  was  not  the 
union  the  ministers  and  churches  of  God  stood  for  in  the  early  years  of  the  Church. 
Laymen  and  the  administration  of  the  ordinances  was  discussed  at  several  periods. 
It  was  conceded  that  ruling  elders  have  the  right  to  assist  in  administering  the 
Communion.  And  even  the  administration  of  baptism  was  considered  defensible, 
but  not  advisable,  as  against  the  Baptist  position.  The  innovation  of  sitting 
during  prayer  in  public  service  was  generally  resisted  by  the  ministry.  At  no  time 
was  the  itinerancy  so  generally  discussed  as  in  the  Fall  of  1892  and  the  Winter 
following.  The  Ohio  Eldership  had  decided  to  try  the  call  system.  In  East  Penn- 
sylvania a  strong  sentiment  developed  in  its  favor,  and  a  discussion  followed  in 
February,  1893,  under  the  head  of  "The  Stationing  Committee,"  in  which  F.  W. 
McGuire  took  the  lead.  He  claimed  that  an  Eldership  should  not  do  that  which 
the  churches  themselves  can  do.  And  as  they  can  select  their  own  pastors,  the 
Stationing  Committee  should  be  abolished.  He  had  several  opponents  who  vigor- 
ously disputed  his  premises  and  conclusion.  The  most  notable  debates  during  this 
period  were  the  one  on  the  "First  Resurrection,"  in  the  Winter  of  1890-1891,  and 
that  Involving  a  change  in  Eldership  titles  in.  1892-1896.  The  former  was  mainly 
between  F.  W.  McGuire  and  the  Editor.  It  had  its  origin  at  a  Ministerial  Associa- 
tion, where,  by  request,  the  Editor  gave  his  views  on  Rev.  xx.  1-6.  These  were 
reproduced  in  an  editorial,  which  was  answered  by  McGuire.  The  discussion  in- 
volved the  correctness  of  the  pre-millennial  theory  of  the  Second  Advent,  but  cen- 
tered on  the  question  of  a  first  resurrection.  Hence  the  first  two  editorials  dis- 
cussed the  question,  "Is  there  a  first  resurrection?"  These  were  answered  by  Mc- 
Guire In  the  affirmative.  Then  followed  four  editorials  on  a  "Simultaneous  Res- 
urrection," and  one  on  "Revelation"  as  "A  Symbolical  Book."  McGuire  replied  in 
five  articles  on  "The  Resurrection  of  the  Just."  The  Editor  then  discussed  in 
order  In  two  editorials  "A  Little  Chiliastic  History;"  "No  Two  Resurrections  in 
Dan.  ii.  2;"  "Simultaneous  Judgment,"  and  five  editorials  on  "The  Angel  in  Reve- 
lation XX.  1,"  and  one  on  "The  Advent  and  the  Resurrection."  Four  other  writers 
participated  in  the  discussion.  D.  Blakely  wrote  against  the  Editor's  views  in 
answer  to  the  question,  "Is  there  a  First  Resurrection?"  S.  Morrett  followed  in 
the  same  line  of  thought.  C.  Price  wrote  two  articles  on  "Rev.  xx.  1-6."  And 
Michael  Newman,  one  of  Winebrenner's  first  converts,  wrote  two  articles  in  de- 
fense of  the  pre-millennial  theory.  It  was  an  exceptional  discussion  in  that  it  was 
entirely  devoid  of  personalities.  The  debate  on  Eldership  titles  was  protracted 
and  thorough-going.  The  question  slumbered  from  1872  to  1893,  and  was  revived 
unintentionally  and  unexpectedly.     At  the  session  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eld- 


234  History    of   the    Churches    of    God 

ership  held  at  Lancaster  in  189  2,  a  committee  consisting  of  C.  H.  Forney,  G.  Sigler, 
B.  F.  Beck,  J.  M.  Carrell  and  D.  S,  Shoop  was  appointed  "to  revise  the  Constitu- 
tion." This  committee  agreed  to  change  the  title  so  as  to  read,  "The  East  Penn- 
sylvania Association  of  the  Churches  of  God."  It  also  authorized  Forney  to  pre- 
sent the  matter  before  the  General  Eldership  in  1893,  and  request  that  body  to 
grant  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  permission  thus  to  change  its  title.  This 
was  done;  but  the  General  Eldership  directed  that  prior  to  the  meeting  of  said 
body  in  1896  the  Editor  should  take  the  initiative  in  the  discussion  of  the  ques- 
tion, which  should  then  be  voted  upon  in  189  6.  Accordingly  the  Editor  opened 
the  discussion  on  April  11,  1894,  and  closed  it  May  20,  1896.  He  laid  down  the 
rule,  that  he  would  discuss  the  question  affirmatively,  and  publish  no  contributed 
articles  until  he  had  finished.  Then  every  one  in  order  should  be  permitted  to 
write  one  or  two  articles  giving  his  views  for  or  against  the  proposed  change. 
After  all  shall  have  written  who  desired  to  do  so,  the  Editor  would  review  articles 
dissenting  from  his  views.  The  Editor  published  six  editorials,  closing  his  discus- 
sion on  May  20th.  Thirteen  contributors  furnished  articles,  which  were  published 
In  consecutive  issues  of  The  Advocate.  F.  W.  McGuire  agreed  with  the  Editor 
in  the  change  from  "church"  to  "churches,"  but  was  not  in  favor  of  "Association." 
N.  M.  Anderson  endorsed  the  Editor's  position.  W.  C.  Leonard  preferred  "As- 
sembly." W.  H.  Cross  was  "bitterly  opposed"  to  the  change  of  title.  C.  H.  Grove 
stood  squarely  with  the  affirmative.  So  also  did  J.  G.  Cunningham,  a  layman. 
M.  S.  Newcomer  was  opposed  to  any  change,  but  simply  demanded  that  the  Editor 
answer  his  own  arguments  submitted,  as  he  claimed,  to  the  General  Eldership  in 
1872.  D.  B.  Zook*s  views  coincided  entirely  with  the  Editor's.  S.  V.  Sterner 
favored  "churches"  and  "Assembly."  H.  C.  Copeland  wrote  against  "Associa- 
tion." So  did  G.  W.  Wilson,  and  "Advocate."  J.  C.  Caswell  wanted  no  change 
made.  The  articles  in  opposition  were  then  reviewed  at  length  by  the  Editor. 
He  relented  on  the  rule  made  at  the  opening  of  the  discussion  to  allow  G.  Sigler,  S. 
Morrett,  C.  F.  Reitzel  and  F.  W.  McGuire  to  publish  articles  in  opposition,  and  C. 
H.  Grove  to  reply  to  Sigler.  Thus  ended  a  discussion  more  widely  representative 
than  any  preceding  one.  It  was  not  "a  storm  of  human  passions"  after  which 
"always  comes  a  purer  atmosphere,  making  a  wider  horizon  possible,  and  giving  a 
new  impulse  for  advance;"  but  a  calm,  dispassionate  and  logical  exchange  of  rea- 
sons on  a  fundamental  question  in  church  polity. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 


1895—1900. 


THE  last  five  years  of  the  century  furnished  convincing  proof  of  great  changes 
silently  effected  in  the  religious  life  of  the  American  Churches.  Causes 
which,  in  the  main  were  occult  and  elusive  had  been  at  work  for  two  de- 
cades, and  were  now  recognized  chiefly  in  the  results  they  were  producing.  They 
gave  decisive  evidence  of  the  power  of  action  as  contrasted  with  that  of  mere  de- 
clamation and  discussion.  The  forms  of  activity  were  multiplied  and  intensified. 
The  spirit  of  fraternity  was  deepened.  Liberality  in  doctrine  as  well  as  in  practice 
became  more  universal.  But  revivals  of  earlier  days  grew  more  infrequent  as  a 
rule.  Nor  was  the  spiritual  good  of  all  these  diversified  forms  of  activity  and  of 
organization  perceptibly  increased.  Rather  the  reverse.  Conversions  during  at 
least  a  part  of  this  period  were  comparatively  fewer  than  during  many  former  per- 
iods. Decrease  in  church  attendance  was  lamented.  The  Methodist  press  of  the 
country  deplored  the  fact,  that  during  the  ecclesiastical  year  1897-8  the  increase 
of  membership  of  said  Church  was  "alarmingly  small  as  compared  with  other 
years."  The  new  forms  of  activity,  with  the  fever  for  big  evangelistic  revivals, 
produced  unfavorable  results,  in  that  more  than  sixty  per  centum  of  the  reported 
converts  never  became  members  of  Churches,  and  the  Churches  were  being  built 
up  more  of  a  disproportionate  number  of  unsaved  members.  For  the  Church  of 
God  the  question  was  frequently  raised,  "Are  we  not  as  a  Church  retrograding?" 
It  was  evident  that  adverse  influences  were  operating,  not  evil  in  themselves,  which 
made  progress  and  success  more  difficult.      In  view  of  these  facts,  and  the  general 


General  History  235 

stagnation  and  spiritual  deadness  of  Churches  "prodigious  efforts"  were  made  in 
the  Winter  of  1896-7  "to  secure  a  general  and  powerful  revival  in  this  country." 
The  "consummate  generalship  of  Mr.  Moody  was  employed  in  making  every  pro- 
vision for  a  successful  campaign.  The  ablest  lieutenants  the  country  afforded  were 
at  his  command,  and  the  pastors  put  themselves  and  their  customary  church  ser- 
vices largely  at  his  disposal.  But  the  revival  did  not  come!"  Among  the  churches 
of  God  there  were  some  local  revivals  of  considerable  power.  But  apparently  the 
hidden  forces  at  work  had  ended  the  period  of  the  great  religious  awakenings  of 
earlier  years 

In  the  territory  west  of  the  Missouri  River,  the  work  of  the  churches  was 
seriously  hindered  in  1894-6  by  the  failure  of  crops,  especially  in  Nebraska.  A. 
Wilson,  who  traveled  in  the  counties  of  Frontier,  Hitchcock,  Lincoln  and  Custer, 
Nebraska,  reported  the  brotherhood  as  suffering  for  the  necessaries  of  life,  and 
being  in  great  destitution.  This  was  general  in  those  sections.  Geo.  W.  Mlnzer 
represented  conditions  in  Sherman  and  Blaine  counties  as  equally  serious.  As 
other  Churches  represented  in  those  sections  sent  relief,  as  well  as  various  Orders, 
so  the  churches  of  God  east  were  appealed  to  for  help.  During  the  Winter  season 
food,  clothing  as  well  as  money  were  needed.  Under  such  conditions  no  church 
work  could  be  done,  and  many  families  which  could  get  away  returned  to  their 
former  homes  in  States  further  east.  The  "unreasoned  and  unscientific  banking 
and  currency  system,  as  it  has  since  been  called,  is  held  responsible  to  a  large  ex- 
tent for  developing  and  promoting  panics.  It  is  held  to  be  "responsible  for  the 
■commercial,  industrial  and  social  disasters  which  flow  from  panics,  which  attack 
directly  or  indirectly  every  home  in  the  nation."  One  of  these  financial  panics 
occurred  in  1897,  and  as  usual  interfered  with  religious  work.  Even  if  "it  was 
entirely  unnecessary  and  unwarranted  by  natural  conditions,"  as  affirmed  by  Uni- 
ted States  Senator  N.  W.  Aldrich,  it  could  not  preclude  the  natural  effects.  Even 
the  revivals  which  followed  previous  panics  were  not  realized.  Churches  in  larger 
towns  and  cities  suffered  most,  but  the  sympathetic  effect  was  felt  everywhere. 

It  is  doubtless  true,  if  not  everywhere  conceded,  that  the  growing  liberality 
and  spirit  of  fraternity  among  the  Churches,  largely  the  outgrowth  of  the  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  movement,  did  not  conduce  to  the  growth  of  the  weaker  bodies  of 
Christians.  As  with  individuals,  so  it  has  been  thought  of  Churches,  as  Browning 
says:  "Make  life  a  ministry  of  love  and  it  will  always  be  worth  living."  Chris- 
tian love  and  fraternity  made  almost  any  denomination  a  congenial  Church  home. 
The  Church  of  God  has  always  been  non-sectarian,  non-exclusive  and  catholic  in 
sentiment;  but  its  fundamental  principles  have  prevented  it  from  taking  an  active 
part  in  projects  of  organic  union  and  consolidation.  Even  the  confederation 
movement  has  not  appealed  so  strongly  to  its  leaders.  But  it  could  not  stand 
aloof  from  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement.  This  had  enlisted  nearly  all  the 
Churches,  and  at  the  close  of  the  century  there  were  59,712  local  societies  in  the 
United  Societies,  with  a  membership  of  3,582,720.  The  Methodist  Church  had  its 
Epworth  League,  the  Baptist  and  United  Brethren  Churches  had  their  Young  Peo- 
ple's Christian  Unions,  the  Lutheran  Church  had  its  Luther  League,  and  so  had 
other  Churches  their  own  general  organizations.  Not  so  with  the  churches  of  God. 
Yet  many  pastors  entered  heartily  into  this  movement,  and  local  societies  were 
■organized  in  a  majority  of  the  Elderships  before  1900.  In  1897  the  number  was 
about  ninety.  In  several  of  the  annual  Elderships,  as  East  Pennsylvania,  Ohio 
and  Illinois,  State  Unions  were  organized.  In  March,  1893,  a  Christian  Endeavor 
Department  was  started  in  The  Church  Advocate,  with  M.  M.  Foose  as  Conductor. 
He  proved  quite  efficient,  but  his  incumbency,  as  indeed  his  ministerial  career,  was 
short.  He  died  June  16,  1896,  in  the  prime  of  life  and  at  the  height  of  his  use- 
fulness as  a  minister  and  pastor.  He  had  been  ordained  in  1884,  when  thirty-five 
years  old.  Beloved  by  his  Eldership,  sitting  in  the  darkness  of  a  deep  sorrow,  it 
resolved  to  perpetuate  his  memory  by  erecting  a  monument  over  his  grave.  He 
was  President  of  the  Church  of  God  State  Union  of  Christian  Endeavor  Unions. 
C  I.  Brown  was  his  successor  to  conduct  the  Christian  Endeavor  Department  in 
The  Advocate.  Not  only  did  the  Christian  Endeavor  societies  of  the  churches  of 
God  affiliate  with  societies  of  other  Churches  in  general  county  and  State  conven- 
tions; but  they  were  represented  at  the  National  Convention  at  New  York,  Detroit 
and  Nashville,  and  a  few  were  in  attendance  at  the  sixteenth  International  Con- 
vention, at  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  July,  1897. 

It  is  philosophical  to  think  that  there  is  more  than  a  revulsion  from  sectar- 
ianism in  the  efforts  at  union  or  consolidation  of  Churches,  or  Church  Federation. 


236  History   of   the    Churches   of   God 

Sectarianism  is  more  directly  antagonistic  to  a  spirit  of  liberalism  and  of  Chris- 
tian brotherhood.  As  this  spirit  began  to  predominate  it  was  an  easier  task  to 
formulate  bases  of  union,  or  for  one  Church  to  become  consolidated  with  another 
and  larger  Church.  In  some  such  way  twelve  denominations  disappeared  from 
the  United  States  Statistical  Report  of  1896,  and  four  denominational  families  also 
disappeared.  Hence,  the  discussion  of  the  unity  of  Christian  denominations,  ac- 
cording to  Dr.  Charles  H.  Small  in  1898,  "is  not  only  in  the  air,  but  it  is  in  con- 
ventions, assemblies,  conferences  and  in  newspaper  and  magazine  articles."  And 
these  discussions  bore  fruit  because  the  spirit  of  fraternity  already  existed.  Al- 
ready in  a  prior  General  Convention  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church'  presented 
"a  basis  of  union"  for  all  the  denominations.  For  several  years  a  committee  of 
the  Presbyterian  General  Assembly  carried  on  a  conference  with  the  Episcopal 
Commission  on  this  basis.  The  Disciples  of  Christ  later  issued  a  declaration  of 
essentials  in  four  articles  as  a  basis  of  union,  and  made  in  a  spirit  of  brotherly 
love  and  harmony.  In  1895  the  National  Council  of  Congregational  churches  pre- 
sented proposals  in  four  articles  "as  a  basis  of  unity."  In  April,  1896,  a  confer- 
ence of  Congregational  and  Christian  churches  in  Ohio  was  held  to  further  union 
on  this  basis.  In  1897  a  strong  movement  was  organized  to  reunite  the  Northern 
and  Southern  Presbyterian  General  Assemblies.  In  1898  the  commissioners  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Churches,  North  and  South  held  sessions  to  carry  into 
effect  the  "plan  of  federation"  of  the  two  bodies.  Indeed  the  organic  unity  of 
Protestant  Christianity  was  so  evidently  not  "Christian  unity  as  proved  by  the 
Scriptures,"  that  the  logical  judgment  of  Dr.  Theodore  L.  Cuyler  was  very  gen- 
erally accepted,  that  "Christian  unity  I  go  for;  Church  union,  on  any  basis,  looks 
like  an  'iridescent  dream'  at  present."  The  Church  of  God  could  not  be  uncon- 
cerned about  these  movements.  But  no  official  action  of  a  specific  character  was 
taken  during  this  period.  But  the  question  was  quite  frequently  and  extensively 
discussed  in  print.  More  particularly  the  federation  of  Churches,  was  the  subject 
of  editorials  and  contributed  articles  in  The  Advocate.  But  even  this  "uniting^ 
in  a  league"  with  the  denominations  was  not  approved  to  any  extent,  as  it  con- 
travened the  most  fundamental  principles  of  what  was  conceived  to  be  the  church, 
of  God  of  the  Scriptures.  The  few  who  seriously  contended  that  "the  Church  of 
God  is  a  denomination,"  and  some  who  were  disheartened,  were  favorable  to 
either  federation,  consolidation  or  merging  with  some  larger  body.  The  voice  of 
the  Church  has  been  consistently  against  the  thought  that  the  Church  of  God  is  a 
denomination,  and  this  was  emphasized  in  1897  in  protests  against  the  habit  of 
so  stigmatizing  it.  A  partially  successful  effort  was  made  in  1897,  at  union  be- 
tween the  Church  of  God  in  the  Indiana  Eldership  and  the  "White  County,  Indiana 
Conference  of  the  Church  of  God."  But  while  this  spirit  of  union  and  federation 
was  thus  potently  at  work,  divisions  and  schisms  also  occurred,  so  that  in  1896 
seventeen  denominations  were  reported  in  the  official  statistics  of  the  Government 
which  were  not  known  in  1890.  With  only  two  of  these  was  there  much  affinity 
on  the  part  of  members  of,  or  churches  of  God.  These  were  the  Evangelical 
Association  and  the  Salvation  Army.  The  division  of  the  former  body  occurred 
in  the  previous  period,  but  the  litigations  continued  into  the  present  period,  and 
were  subjects  of  interest  to  the  Church  of  God.  They  were  among  the  discordant 
notes  In  the  harmony  of  sound  produced  by  the  advocates  of  union  and  federation. 
The  division  in  the  American  branch  of  the  Salvation  Army  occurred  in  1896,  when 
the  American  Volunteers  formed  a  distinct  and  separate  organization,  with  Com- 
missioner Ballington  Booth  as  Commander-in-chief.  It  has  Articles  of  Faith,  ad- 
ministers the  Lord's  Supper  and  baptism  by  ordained  officers,  and  permits  mem- 
bership in  churches.  The  equality  of  men  and  women  in  service  and  in  office  is 
fully  recognized.  This  Article  became  of  interest  to  the  churches  of  God  in  the 
controversy  over  the  ordination  of  women  to  the  ministry  and  as  delegates  to  the 
Annual  and  General  Elderships.  While  the  General  Eldership  never  expressed  it- 
self explicitly  on  either  question,  leaving  it  wholly  with  the  Annual  Elderships,  it 
did  so  implicitly,  by  receiving  licensed  women  as  delegates.  The  question  of 
women  as  representatives  in  the  Methodist  General  Conference  was  also  agitated 
at  this  time.  With  the  churches  of  God  this  was  not  the  direct  issue;  but,  should 
women  be  ordained  to  the  ministry?  Or,  as  it  was  also  stated,  is  it  in  harmony 
with  the  Scriptures  to  elect  women  as  elders?  This  was  discussed  in  1896,  as 
against  those  who  contended  that  "in  the  church  there  can  be  no  male  and  no 
feihale."  In  1897  the  question  was  in  controversy  in  this  form,  suggested  by  a 
nflnlster  in  an  Eldership  which  licensed  women  to  preach:      "Upon  what  texts  of 


General  History  237 

Scripture  does  the  Church  of  God  base  its  practice  of  ordaining  women  to  preach?" 
Interest  was  added  to  this  discussion  by  the  formal  ordination  to  the  ministry  of 
Mrs.  Ballington  Booth  in  January,  1898.  She  was  ordained  a  minister  of  "the 
General  Church  of  God  by  the  laying  on  of  hands  on  the  part  of  her  husband, 
assisted  by  three  other  officers  of  the  Volunteers  of  America."  Mrs.  Woodworth, 
licensed  minister  of  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership,  was  still  actively  engaged  in 
rerival  work,  though  less  constantly,  and  apparently  with  waning  power.  At 
Fostoria,  Ohio,  in  the  Winter  of  1896-7,  she  held  a  very  successful  meeting,  when 
"the  number  of  conversions  was  400;  number  of  persons  healed  of  various  dis- 
eases, 200;  received  into  church  fellowship,  26."  Sentiment  against  her  views  on 
"divine  healing,"  however,  seemed  to  have  been  steadily  growing,  and  in  June, 
1897,  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  notified  the  Southern  Indiana 
Eldership  to  "withdraw  all  official  relations  from  Sister  Maria  B.  Woodworth,  or  it 
will  refuse  to  make  any  further  appropriations"  to  fields  in  said  Eldership.  This 
action  was  resented  by  the  Standing  Committee  of  said  Eldership.  The  Eldership 
itself,  however,  took  a  more  conservative  course,  and  required  Mrs.  Woodworth  to 
labor  more  within  the  bounds  of  the  Eldership.  The  Board  of  Missions  in  Novem- 
ber, 1897,  rescinded  its  action  of  June,  1897,  after  receiving  a  "protest"  against 
it  from  the  Indiana  Eldership. 

The  interest  in  mission  work,  and  especially  foreign  mission  work,  was  greatly 
stimulated  by  the  departure,  in  the  Fall  of  1896,  of  Miss  Clara  Landes,  a  minister 
of  the  Iowa  Eldership,  for  the  mission  field  in  India.  A  Department  in  The  Ad- 
vocate had  been  started,  devoted  to  the  work  of  the  Woman's  General  Missionary 
Society,  which  was  in  charge  of  Mary  Berkstresser.  It  was  also  the  purpose  of 
another  movement  to  inspire  new  zeal  in  the  churches,  viz.:  To  begin  "the  Cen- 
tenary Memorial  Mission,"  in  1897.  Its  character  was  not  clearly  defined.  In 
general  terms  it  was  "to  raise  an  Ebenezer  of  praise  to  the  Giver  of  All  Good  for 
his  gracious  leading  of  the  Church  thus  far."  And  specifically,  "to  place  a  memor- 
ial for  Winebrenner  in  this  his  centennial  year."  It  was  proposed  that  contribu- 
tions be  made  by  all  the  churches  during  "the  Harvest  Home  month,"  Thanks- 
giving, and  during  December,  1897.  Elizabeth  R.  Gable,  Ida  Grove,  la.,  formerly 
of  Lancaster,  Pa.,  was  author  of  the  project.  It  was  during  this  period  that  the 
United  Brethren  Church  perfected  arrangements  to  celebrate  its  centennial,  from 
September  25,  1899,  to  September  25,  1900.  Because  of  the  deep  and  abiding 
interest  the  churches  of  God  always  manifested  in  the  temperance  question,  it 
could  not  but  join  in  the  world's  sorrow  over  the  death  of  Neal  Dow,  October  2, 
1897.  Dow  and  John  B.  Gough  were  the  two  most  widely  known  men  in  this 
country  whose  fame  rested  mainly  on  their  labors  in  behalf  of  the  temperance 
cause,  and  the  world's  debt  of  gratitude  was  devoutly  acknowledged.  Then  the 
brilliant  evangelistic  star  of  Dwight  L.  Moody  was  eclipsed  by  death  on  December 
22,  1899.  From  him  hosts  of  ministers  had  received  inspiration  in  their  labors  as 
revivalists,  and  learned  valuable  lessons.  He  was  one  of  God's  chosen  vessels  of 
honor  and  power. 

The  interest  in  their  own  intellectual  improvement  and  better  equipment  for 
their  work  was  seen  in  the  number  of  Ministerial  Associations  held  each  year.  In 
1895  seven  were  reported,  with  their  programs.  In  1896,  fifteen.  In  1897, 
eleven.  In  189  8,  twelve.  In  1899,  sixteen.  They  served  another  great  purpose 
— promoting  a  more  general  uniformity  of  views.  This  made  them  a  bond  of 
unity  for  the  whole  body,  for  not  only  were  the  same  mooted  questions  under  dis- 
cussion at  nearly  all  these  gatherings,  but  conclusions  reached  did  not  differ  ma- 
terially. Then  the  community  of  thought  fostered  through  the  press  was  another 
great  factor  in  preserving  the  unity  of  the  churches.  Thoughts  are  the  parents  of 
deeds,  of  character  and  of  life.  The  Association  was  a  better  place  than  the  Eld- 
ership to  discuss  those  questions  which  the  General  Eldership  handed  down,  or 
questions  on  which  the  annual  Elderships  and  the  churches  were  to  act.  The 
range  of  subjects  was  quite  extensive.  But  no  special  propaganda  seems  to  have 
been  admissible.  Any  attempt  to  use  an  Association  to  exploit  peculiar  ideas  was 
not  tolerated.  When  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  became  most  aggressive, 
early  in  1895,  different  Associations  discussed  the  Church's  attitude  toward  it, 
and  its  inter-denominational  character.  The  new  ideas  concerning  feet-washing, 
such  as  its  private  observance,  the  separation  of  this  rite  from  the  Communion, 
refusing  Communion  to  those  who  did  not  observe  feet-washing,  were  sure  to  be 
on  Ministerial  Association  programs.  In  connection  with  the  so-called  "divine 
healing"  was  also  discussed  the  purpose,  or  design,  of  Christ's  miracles.     As  the 


238  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

Church  had  no  published  standards  of  doctrine,  it  was  becoming  more  important 
year  after  year  to  know  "how  to  promote  unity  in  preaching  among  the  ministry." 
This  suggested  the  placing  of  many  doctrinal  subjects  on  the  programs.  In  all 
these  fhe  Bible  was  made  the  ultimate  touchstone  of  orthodoxy,  and  all  human 
authority  was  negligible.  Elderships  which  held  their  Ministerial  Associations 
Immediately  preceding  their  annual  sessions  not  infrequently  discussed  questions 
in  the  Associations  which  were  to  be  voted  on  in  the  Eldership.  This  was  the  case 
in  1895  with  the  subjects  of  Eldership  titles,  imposition  of  hands  in  ordination  and 
life  certificates.  In  only  a  few  of  the  Associations  was  there  a  vote  taken  on  any 
question  under  discussion,  and  no  reports  published  of  positions  taken  by  the  dis- 
putants, except  in  few  instances.  There  is  a  seriousness  in  the  subjects  of  the 
sixty-one  Associations  of  these  five  years  which  impresses  every  reader  of  the  pro- 
grams. No  capricious,  fanciful,  freak  topics,  such  as  too  often  appeared  in 
pulpit  announcements,  can  be  found  on  these  programs.  During  1899  there  were 
subjects  discussed  which  evince  a  consciousness  of  the  close  of  the  century. 
Among  these  were:  "When  will  the  Millennium  begin?"  "How  to  attain  a  higher 
plane  of  spiritual  life,"  "The  Second  coming  of  Christ,"  "Is  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
now  here?"  While  the  current  discussion  of  Church  union  and  federation  is  re- 
flected in  the  question,  "What  defense  have  we  for  our  distinct  and  separate  or- 
ganization as  a  Church?" 

The  camp-meeting  fires  were  burning  low  at  this  time.  Twenty-three  camp- 
meetings  in  the  territory  of  the  General  Eldership  were  held  in  these  five  years. 
One  was  held  in  Iowa,  in  1896,  3%  miles  south-east  of  Grandview;  one  in  West 
Pennsylvania,  near  Butler,  in  1896.  Each  year  one  was  held  at  Linwood,  Md. 
The  balance  were  held  at  Conewago,  Walnut  Grove,  Stoverdale,  Central  Manor  and 
Mahantango  Valley.  At  all  these  meetings  only  eighteen  conversions  were  report- 
ed. They  were  considered  "not  successful"  from  that  point  of  view.  In  too  many 
Instances  they  were  regarded  as  Summer  resorts,  so  that  one,  in  189  5,  was  adver- 
tised as  "by  no  means  a  pleasure  resort."  To  others  Christian  people  were  invited 
for  recreation,  as  preferable  places  for  such  a  purpose  than  Summer  resorts.  The 
religious  services  and  the  preaching  were,  however,  spoken  of  as  spiritual  and  in- 
structive, and  the  labors  of  the  ministers  were  much  appreciated  and  highly  com- 
mended. 

For  Church  ingatherings  this  was  not  a  notable  period.  However,  commend- 
able and  encouraging  progress  was  made  in  different  Elderships.  On  the  Pacific 
Coast  the  borders  were  extended.  J.  F.  Schoch  was  General  Missionary,  under 
appointment  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership,  during  the  greater 
part  of  this  period.  Organized  work  was  carried  on  in  California,  where  in  1895 
R.  P.  Bushy,  after  receiving  license  from  the  Standing  Committee,  was  laboring  at 
Los  Angeles.  This  part  of  the  State  was  declared  to  be  a  part  of  the  Oregon  and 
Washington  Eldership,  and  later  the  whole  State.  D.  Keplinger  and  E.  E.  Cory 
also  preached  in  southern  California.  In  Oregon  and  Washington  the  work  was 
pushed  with  energy,  and  was  "in  a  fairly  prosperous  condition."  Without  giving 
the  names,  it  was  reported  in  the  Fall  of  1895  that  "a  number  of  churches  were 
organized."  Several  additional  counties  were  entered  by  missionaries.  At  Salem, 
Ore.,  there  were  two  church  orga]aizations  effected,  one  English  and  one  French, 
with  also  some  Germans.  The  building  of  a  bethel  under  the  labors  of  G.  W. 
Kemp  was  determined  upon  in  September,  189  6.  A  lot  was  secured,  and  appeals 
made  for  funds.  Two  ministers  were  laboring  in  Salem  in  1897,  and  seven  in 
other  sections  of  the  territory.  "Everything  was  encouraging  all  over  the  field 
spiritually."  There  was  a  great  deal  of  "financial  embarrassment"  experienced. 
Most  of  the  ministers  were  obliged  to  do  manual  work  to  support  their  families; 
but  the  Church  was  "gaining  ground,"  so  much  so  that  in  1899  there  were  eleven 
fields  of  labor,  two  in  California.  J.  W.  Force  had  "prospects  of  organizing  seven 
churches,  and  building  at  least  one  bethel."  Mary  E.  Madill  labored  in  Washing- 
ton county.  Ore.,  in  1897-8,  and  organized  a  church  at  Ray  school-house.  The 
great  need  was  houses  of  worship,  which  the  small  churches  organized  did  not 
have  the  means  to  build.  In  1899  a  mission  was  established  in  Tillamook  county, 
Oregon,  on  the  coast.  Spokane  Mission,  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  State  of  Wash- 
ington, was  added  to  the  fields  of  labor.  The  century  closed  with  a  hopeful  out- 
look. 

Despite  the  destitution  resulting  from  the  drouth,  the  work  in  Nebraska  was 
pushed  forward  with  commendable  spirit.  For  four  years  A.  Wilson  was  General 
Missionary,  employed  by  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership,  and  C.  S. 


GenivRal   History  239 

Kilmer  the  fifth  year.  Wilson  was  an  experienced  missionary,  and  he  spared  not 
himself  in  his  energetic  efforts  to  advance  the  cause.  He  also  interested  himself 
in  the  amelioration  of  the  temporal  condition  of  the  suffering  people.  As  condi- 
tions improved  the  prospects  for  successful  Church  work  brightened.  But  1895 
was  a  discouraging  year.  A  number  of  "organizations  were  scattered,  and  some 
became  extinct."  The  Barada  bethel  was  sold.  No  new  territory  was  occupied. 
Work,  however,  was  continued  in  the  following  counties:  Gage,  Saline,  Clay, 
Polk,  Sherman,  Sheridan,  Custer,  Logan,  Lincoln,  Frontier,  Furnas  and  Hitchcock. 
Holt  county,  in  the  northern  part  of  the  State  was  added  in  1897-8.  But  several 
counties  in  which  work  had  been  done  in  earlier  years  do  not  appear  on  the 
Journals.  On  the  territory  still  occupied  conditions  improved  after  the  drouth. 
In  1896  there  were  numerous  revivals,  with  many  conversions.  New  churches 
were  organized,  and  a  few  extinct  ones  were  resurrected.  Missionary  societies 
were  organized,  and  the  sisters  were  actively  engaged  in  this  line  of  church  work. 
In  some  of  the  churches  Societies  of  Christian  Endeavor  were  also  formed.  In 
1897  there  were  fewer  revivals,  as  also  in  1898  and  1899.  The  money  panic  did 
not  have  much  effect  in  Nebraska,  outside  of  a  few  of  the  largest  towns,  and  the 
revivals  which  so  often  accompany  or  follow  financial  and  industrial  depressions 
were  not  realized  throughout  the  Eldership.  There  were,  however,  some  churches 
organized  in  1897,  but  no  new  territory  added.  The  years  189  8  and  1899  proved 
even  "less  prosperous,  and  not  so  much  good  was  done."  Custer  county,  in  the 
center  of  the  State,  was  at  this  time  the  "stronghold  of  the  Church  of  God  in 
Nebraska,"  the  sections  originally  occupied  in  the  south-eastern  part  of  the  State 
having  lost  ground.  The  building  of  houses  of  worship  during  this  period  was  a 
difBcult  undertaking,  and  no  reports  of  new  bethels  are  on  record.  Services  were 
held  in  school-houses  and  private  dwellings.  Some  of  these  were  sod  houses.  The 
Eldership  on  two  occasions  held  its  annual  sessions  in  a  sod  school-house. 

The  Kansas  Eldership  in  1894  became  enthusiastic  over  the  proposition  to 
carry  on  evangelistic  work  by  means  of  tabernacle  services  in  places  where  no 
churches  of  God  had  been  organized.  The  tabernacle  was  bought  before  Spring 
of  1895,  and  had  a  seating  capacity  of  500  persons.  J.  C.  Fomcrook,  General 
Worker  for  the  State,  was  given  the  charge  of  the  work.  He  had  agreed  to  remain 
in  Kansas  one  more  year,  and  with  his  daughter  Florence,  and  the  assistance  of 
other  ministers,  he  entered  upon  the  work.  The  success  was  less  than  was  ex- 
pected, the  great  and  constant  problem  being  the  finances.  Fomcrook  found  that 
"the  denominations  in  the  towns  visited  would  not  contribute  of  their  means  to 
build  up  churches  of  God."  The  Board  of  Missions  did  not  understand,  or  did  not 
keep,  its  contract  as  understood  by  the  Kansas  authorities,  and  so  there  was  in- 
sufficient support  for  tabernacle  work.  The  Standing  Committee  in  February, 
1897,  offered  to  sell  the  tabernacle  to  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship; but  the  offer  could  not  be  accepted.  This  foreshadowed  other  failures,  so 
that  at  the  General  Eldership  in  1899,  the  Standing  Committee  petitioned  that 
body  to  release  the  Eldership  from  paying  its  delinquent  assessments.  The  reason 
assigned  was  general:  "In  consequence  of  disaster  to  the  Church  work  in  Kansas, 
due  to  causes,  largely,  over  which  we  had  no  control,  thereby  discouraging  the 
workers."  The  work  in  Topeka  also  proved  a  depressing  failure.  The  member- 
ship, by  June,  189 5,. when  F.  F.  Manchester  took  charge,  had  fallen  below  sixty. 
Meeting  with  some  success  at  first,  he  soon  found  that  existing  conditions  were  too 
antagonistic  to  inspire  confidence.  Discouraged,  he  resigned  the  charge,  and  the 
Standing  Committee  in  May,  1897,  petitioned  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General 
Eldership  to  take  the  work  in  hand.  The  Board's  negative  answer,  with  a  state- 
ment of  money  it  had  paid  to  keep  up  the  work,  showed  that  it  had  dwindled  to 
almost  nothing.  It  had  paid  $100.00  in  1894;  $300.00  in  1895;  $400.00  in  1896, 
and  $600.00  was  asked  in  1897.  In  September,  1896,  the  Eldership  licensed 
Lizzie  Dupree,  a  colored  sister,  who  began  mission  work  in  Topeka.  In  October, 
1897,  she  was  appointed  a  general  mission  worker  among  the  colored  people  in 
Topeka  and  elsewhere.  She  succeeded  in  organizing  a  small  church  in  the  city, 
and  asked  for  the  furniture  of  the  house  of  worship  of  the  white  brethren  for  use 
in  her  mission  house.  But  at  some  points  success  attended  the  labors  of  ministers, 
so  that  in  1898  there  were  ten  fields  of  labor,  31  preaching  places,  21  churches, 
277  conversions,  194  accessions,  and  the  pastors  received  $1,523.00  support.  The 
missionary  spirit  was  buoyant,  and  a  State  W.  M.  S.  was  kept  actively  at  work; 
some  local  societies  were  organized,  and  the  Eldership  appointed  two  of  its  min- 
isters, who  had  removed  to  Colorado,  missionaries  in  that  State.      But  the  fields 


240  History    of   the    Churches    of    God 

of  labor  were  reduced  from  twelve  circuits  and  two  missions  in  1895,  to  nine  cir- 
cuits and  the  two  missionaries  In  Colorado  in  1899.  But  some  of  the  churches 
prospered,  and  some  new  ones  were  organized.  A  house  of  worship  was  built  at 
Ozark,  or  Union  Center,  Crawford  county,  which  was  dedicated  May  26,  1895, 
under  the  pastoral  labors  of  W.  H.  Kepford.  It  cost  $1,700.00,  and  was  dedicated 
by  J.  C.  Fomcrook,  assisted  by  W.  T.  Turpin.  A  bethel  was  built  at  New  York 
Valley,  Woodson  county,  where  T.  B,  More  was  pastor.  It  was  dedicated  Decem- 
ber 1,  1895,  W.  T.  Turpin  officiating.  In  Barber  county,  under  the  labors  of  W. 
H.  Cross,  a  church-house  was  built  during  the  Winter  of  1896-7,  and  was  dedi- 
cated February  7th.  Cross  had  W.  T.  Turpin  as  assistant  pastor.  A  parsonage 
in  Rice  county  was  sold  "because  there  was  no  longer  any  use  for  it."  It  was 
located  on  Little  River.  The  Harrison  Chapel,  after  extensive  repairs,  was  re- 
dedicated  July  10,  1898.  This  was  on  W.  H.  Cross'  field,  and  W.  T.  Turpin  offi- 
ciated at  the  dedication.  J.  W.  Kingston,  pastor  at  Fort  Scott,  officiated  at  a  dedi- 
cation at  Geuda,  5  miles  north  of  Ashton,  in  Sumner  county,  on  June  26,  1898. 
T.  B.  More  was  the  pastor.  At  Arma,  Crawford  county,  on  W.  T.  Turpin's  field  of 
labor,  the  corner-stone  of  a  new  bethel  was  laid  November  19,  1898.  The  work 
was  carried  to  completion  during  the  Winter,  and  on  April  30,  1899,  the  dedi- 
cation took  place,  W.  H.  Cross  preaching  the  sermon.  In  the  evening  the  ordi- 
nances were  observed. 

After  the  Indian  Territory  was  separated  from  the  Texas  and  Arkansas 
Eldership,  in  1892,  it  was  always  associated  ecclesiastically  with  Oklahoma  Terri- 
tory, until  it  lost  its  identity  in  the  State  of  Oklahoma.  The  latter  was  opened 
to  settlement  in  1889.  It  is  "the  beautiful  land,"  with  a  climate  said  to  be  de- 
lightful most  of  the  year.  And  while  both  the  beauty  and  fertility  of  the  Terri- 
tory were  exaggerated,  yet  it  has  always  been  regarded  as  a  very  desirable  place 
for  settlement.  And  when  it  was  thrown  open  for  settlement  Church  of  God 
families  and  a  few  ministers  from  Texas,  Arkansas,  Kansas  and  States  eastward 
as  far  as  Pennsylrania  emigrated  thither  and  secured  Government  land.  It  thus 
became  good  missionary  territory,  and  along  with  the  Indian  Territory  became  a 
promising  mission  field.  In  1895  E.  M.  Kirkpatrick  was  appointed  by  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership  Board  of  Missions  to  the  Indian  territory,  and  enjoyed  some  suc- 
cessful revival  meetings.  At  the  same  time  B.  Ober  was  preaching  at  two  regular 
appointments  in  Custer  county,  Oklahoma.  In  September,  1895,  he  "completed  a 
good  sod  house,  18x30  feet,  covered  with  shingles,  for  use  as  a  church  and  school- 
house."  There  were  other  ministers  who  did  efficient  work,  so  that  in  the  Fall  of 
1895  eleven  organized  churches,  with  eight  fields  of  labor,  were  reported  in  the 
two  Territories.  In  189  6  Kirkpatrick  labored  among  the  Cherokee  Indians;  in 
189  7  he  was  again  General  Missionary  in  the  Indian  Territory,  J.  W.  Riddle  and 
B.  Ober,  in  Oklahoma.  In  1898  Ober  was  missionary  in  southern  Oklahoma; 
J.  C.  Caswell,  in  northern  Oklahoma,  and  Kirkpatrick,  in  the  Indian  Territory. 
The  year  1896,  with  one  exception,  showed  good  results.  Churches  were  organ- 
ized at  Shady  Grove,  Nelson  school-house;  Dripping  Spring  and  Timbered  Ridge, 
Creek  Nation;  at  Illinois  Station;  near  City  of  David  and  Five  Points,  Cherokee 
Nation,  and  Mud  Springs,  Choctaw  Nation.  The  church  at  Sallisaw  Bethel, 
Indian  Territory,  became  extinct,  and  the  house  of  worship  was  sold.  In  1897 
churches  were  organized  at  Salt  Creek  and  Adel,  Lincoln  county,  Oklahoma; 
Wanetta  and  Pleasant  Valley,  Oklahoma,  and  at  South  Bethel,  Cherokee  Nation, 
Indian  Territory.  The  work  was  less  successful  in  1899,  so  that  reports  were 
meager.  In  1898  the  cause  suffered  a  serious  check  in  the  death  of  J.  W.  Riddle, 
at  Wanetta,  Oklahoma.  He  was  one  of  the  most  earnest  and  active  missionaries 
in  the  employ  of  the  General  Eldership  Board  of  Missions.  He  was  converted  in 
1867,  and  united  with  the  Missionary  Baptist  Church,  by  which  he  was  ordained  in 
1874.  In  1877,  while  laboring  as  a  missionary  for  the  Missionary  Baptist  Church 
he  heard  G.  T.  Bell  expound  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  God,  and  was  con- 
verted to  the  faith,  and  at  once  became  an  aggressive  missionary  of  the  Church. 
Dissensions  arose  among  the  churches  in  Oklahoma  over  ordinances,  church  or- 
ganization and  doctrine.  "Non-ordinance,  non-organization  and  second  work  of 
grace  heresies  are  held  among  them,"  was  the  charge.  And  some  of  the  churches 
suffered  loss,  and  were  weakened,  before  these  teachers  of  error  could  be 
separated  from  them.  In  Texas  the  prospects  were  not  encouraging.  In  Arkan- 
sas, In  1895,  "the  religious  Interest  In  the  northern  and  southern  parts  of  the 
territory  was  not  good."  But  In  the  central  part  prospects  were  brighter.  One 
church  was  organized  In   Montgomery  county,  and  one  at  Mt.   OUre,  In  Logan 


General  History     '  241 

county.  Thirteen  ministers  preached  regularly  for  the  churches  of  the  Elder- 
ship. In  189  6  a  church  was  organized  at  Friendship,  Scott  county;  one  at  Moun- 
tain Home,  Garland  county;  one  at  Rose  Creek,  Perry  county,  and  one  at  Shady 
Grove,  Washington  county.  There  was  less  work  done  during  1897-9,  when  it 
was  conceded  that  "religion  is  at  a  very  low  ebb  throughout  our  bounds,"  and, 
"The  cause  of  Christ  seems  to  be  languishing."  Only  a  few  churches  were  organ- 
ized during  these  years,  and  some  were  unsupplied;  yet  there  were  thirteen  fields 
of  labor  in  1898.  The  colored  churches  and  ministers  in  Arkansas  were  active, 
an(J  the  "outlook  was  good  in  every  respect."  There  were  too  many  preachers 
for  the  number  of  churches  and  members,  and  it  did  not  promote  active  co- 
operation, nor  efficiency  of  service. 

In  Missouri  conditions  during  this  period  were  somewhat  cloudy  and  un- 
settled. The  assistance  extended  to  the  work  was  confined  to  the  years  1897-9, 
during  which  several  general  missionaries  were  in  the  employ  of  the  Board  of 
Missions  of  the  General  Eldership.  In  189  6  H.  AV.  Allen  was  the  appointee  for 
southern,  and  W.  H.  Hickman  for  northern,  Missouri.  This  arrangement  was  con- 
tinued in  1898.  In  1899  G.  L.  Bo^nnan  was  the  missionary  of  the  Board  in 
Gentry  and  Sullivan  counties.  The  success  of  Mrs.  Woodworth  in  St.  Louis  gave 
quite  a  degree  of  inspiration  to  the  brotherhood  in  the  State.  She  had  organ- 
ized a  church  which  by  January,  1895,  numbered  five  hundred,  with  a  fine  house 
of  worship.  H.  H.  Spiher  had  become  pastor,  and  there  was  a  closer  bond  of 
fellowship  with  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership  than  with  the  Missouri  Eldership. 
On  January  1,  1895,  joined  by  Spiher  and  a  few  officials  of  the  church,  offered  to 
the  Standing  Committee  of  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership  a  transfer  of  the 
church  (but  not  the  bethel)  to  said  Eldership.  This  offer  the  Committee  ac- 
cepted, and  so  St.  Louis  became  identified  with  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership. 
In  1897  F.  T.  Shore  applied  for,  and  received,  license  from  the  Standing  Commit- 
tee of  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership,  and  at  the  same  meeting  of  the  Committee, 
with  forty-two  others,  requested  to  be  organized  as  the  Second  Church  of  God 
in  St.  Louis,  or  the  "Park  Avenue  Church  of  God."  It  was  so  organized  on  Jan- 
uary 6,  1897,  and  also  became  a  church  of  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership.  The 
work  in  the  State  was  greatly  impeded,  and  became  burdensome  to  the  ministry, 
by  inadequate  financial  resources.  There  were  fourteen  charges  in  1895,  but  three 
of  them  were  unsupplied.  And  of  the  same  number  in  1896,  five  were  unsup- 
plied. By  1899  fields  of  labor  had  to  be  reduced  by  consolidation  to  ten,  and  then 
not  all  the  churches  had  pastors.  The  churches,  too,  under  this  arrangement 
could  not  be  served  to  good  advantage,  as  they  were  so  widely  scattered  as  to 
make  the  work  arduous  and  less  fruitful.  In  a  measure  to  overcome  these  un- 
favorable conditions  general  workers  were  appointed.  In  1896  P.  L.  French  was 
Eldership  General  Evangelist.  In  1897,  with  "religious  conditions  fairly  pros- 
perous," J.  B.  Murphy  was  the  General  Evangelist,  and  H.  W.  Allen  and  W.  H. 
Hickman,  State  Missionaries.  In  189  8  it  was  alleged  that  "there  is  an  indis- 
position on  the  part  of  ministers  to  be  active,  and  to  put  forth  efforts  to  revive  the 
work."  But  eight  ministers  were  ready  to  engage  in  the  active  work  as  pastors 
of  fields  of  labor,  leaving  some  of  the  churches  unsupplied.  These  conditions 
account  for  the  fact  that  Church  extension  work  languished;  few,  if  any,  new  or- 
ganizations were  effected,  and  there  were  no  new  enterprises  inaugurated.  How- 
ever, the  sisters  were  active.  In  1896  they  organized  an  Eldership  Woman's  Mis- 
sionary Society,  and  were  quite  active  during  the  following  three  years,  en- 
couraged in  1899  by  the  State  Missionary,  H.  W.  Allen,  and  the  General  Evan- 
gelist, Thomas  Scott. 

While  there  was  a  church  of  God  at  Canton,  South  Dakota,  of  which  H.  L. 
Soule  was  pastor,  neither  he  nor  his  church  would  unite  with  the  Iowa  Eldership. 
Their  partly-finished  brick  bethel  was  used  for  services  in  1898,  and  A.  E.  Kep- 
ford  and  D.  S.  Guinter  conducted  a  successful  meeting  toward  Spring.  Soule  had 
become  "independent,"  following  tendencies  manifested  while  in  the  East  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership,  and  objected  to  all  forms  of  ecclesiastical  organizations  above 
the  local  church.  Guinter  lived  in  Canton,  but  as  a  member  of  the  Iowa  Eldership 
he  served  the  Spirit  Lake  charge,  Iowa,  in   1898. 

Conditions  in  some  sections  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  were  favorable  for 
Church  work.  Through  the  efforts  of  G.  L.  Chapman,  of  Missouri,  and  ruling 
elders  T.  G.  Ferguson  and  R.  M.  Chapman,  of  Kentucky,  a  church  numbering 
seventy-five  members  was  organized  at  Ivy  Hill,  Ky.  It  had  built  a  good  country 
bethel,  but  had  no  pastor.      It  conducted   prayer-meetings  and  a  Sabbath-school, 

C.  H.— 9* 


242  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

and  held  ordinances  services.  At  Nashville,  Tennessee,  L.  B.  Shannon  and  his 
church  organized  themselves  into  a  church  of  God.  They,  however,  did  not  hold 
fast  to  the  faith,  and  "some  of  them  went  off  to  the  Pentecostal  People;  part  of 
them  went  into  other  Churches,  while  several  remained  faithful,  and  stood  alone 
for  the  Church  of  God." 

A  hopeful  and  somewhat  aggressive  spirit  prevailed  in  Iowa  during  this 
period.  The  evangelistic  services  in  1895  and  1896  seem  to  have  had  an  inspiring 
effect.  A  tent  was  used  during  the  Summer  and  early  Fall.  Some  of  these  meet- 
ings were  sensational.  Francis  A.  Sharp  and  George  Stone  pitched  the  tent  two 
miles  north  of  Columbus  Junction  the  first  week  in  September,  1895,  and  "had  a 
grand  meeting  from  the  beginning,"  with  "powerful  results."  "A  number  at  dif- 
ferent services  fell  under  the  power."  The  result  was  the  organization  of  a 
church  of  thirty-five  members.  Shai-p  organized  a  church  at  River  Junction. 
The  tent  used  had  a  seating  capacity  of  three  hundred.  In  1896  similar  tent  ser- 
vices were  held  by  Mrs.  M.  Sutliflf,  State  Evangelist.  Her  methods  and  preaching 
were  similar  to  those  of  Mrs.  Woodvvorth.  At  a  point  known  as  "The  Valley,"  as- 
sisted by  Clara  Landes,  she  held  protracted  services  in  189  6  with  good  success. 
With  the  use  of  the  "Tabernacle"  she  also  held  what  was  known  as  "the  Donavan 
camp,"  at  which  eighty-two  converts  were  reported.  The  Eldership,  and  especially 
the  faithful  church  at  North  Bend,  Johnson  county,  were  always  cherishing  an 
ardent  expectation  of  seeing  the  Church  of  God  firmly  established  in  Iowa  City. 
To  this  end  the  North  Bend  church  was  ready  to  make  sacrifices.  In  the  Summer 
of  1895,  N.  Zeller,  S.  Green,  M.  Snavely  and  J.  Snavely,  of  North  Bend  church, 
bought  a  brick  house  of  worship,  60x35  feet,  in  Iowa  City,  for  the  use  of  the 
church.  Under  William  Burch,  pastor,  the  house  was  prepared  for  dedication, 
and  appropriate  services  were  held  August  4th,  when  L.  F.  Chamberlin  preached. 
Then  in  Muscatine,  under  the  labors  of  Chamberlin,  they  enjoyed  a  rich  harvest 
of  souls  in  1896,  when  there  were  seventy-two  conversions.  It  was  quite  a  suc- 
cessful year.  Churches  were  organized  at  Spirit  Lake,  Glidden  and  Mikesville, 
and  were  rec^ved  into  the  Eldership  in  September,  189  6.  Especially  in  Carroll 
county  was  the  work  prospering.  Mi*s.  Woodworth  and  Emma  Isenberg  had  con- 
ducted revival  services  in  Carroll  county  a  few  years  earlier.  Their  efforts  were 
followed  by  the  labors  of  J.  K.  Nelson,  W.  H.  Kepford  and  E.  W.  Moyer,  who 
cared  for  the  converts  and  presided  over  the  churches  organized.  At  Glidden, 
with  a  church  numbering  115,  a  bethel  was  built,  costing  $2,500.00,  which  was 
dedicated  June  28,  189  6,  J.  C.  Kepford  officiating,  assisted  by  G.  W.  Elliott  and  J. 
K.  Nelson.  The  church  at  Carroll  now  numbered  150,  and  the  one  at  Dedham 
40.  The  latter  erected  a  new  house  of  worship  in  1898,  costing  $1,500,00,  under 
the  labors  of  W.  H.  Kepford.  It  was  dedicated  August  14th  by  E.  W.  Moyer.  In 
Cedar  county,  at  a  point  known  as  Green  Grove,  a  bethel  built  "over  thirty  years 
ago"  was  replaced  by  a  new  house  in  the  Summer  of  1896,  which  was  dedicated 
November  29th  by  G.  W.  Elliott.  The  devoted  pastor  was  E.  E.  Heltibridle.  The 
church  located  three  and  one-half  miles  south-east  of  Grandview,  Louisa  county, 
which  had  worshiped  in  a  school-house,  in  the  Summer  of  1897  built  "Lone  Tree 
Chapel,"  which  C.  Manchester  dedicated  August  27th.  I.  Ossman,  pastor;  George 
Stone  and  D.  Long  assisted  in  the  services.  The  latter  was  pastor  of  the  Newburg 
charge,  where  rededicatory  services  were  held  September  4,  1898.  In  Calhoun 
county  the  work  was  in  charge  of  J.  W.  Ault.  A  new  house  of  worship  was  built 
in  189  8,  at  Twin  Lake,  which  was  set  apart  for  divine  worship  on  September  15th. 
The  morning  sermon  was  preached  by  J.  C  Forncrook;  the  evening  sermon  by 
D.  S.  Guinter.  The  Eldership  year  1897-8  was  characterized  by  "good  progress," 
and  "four  new  churches  were  organized,  and  the  membership  has  been  materia,lly 
increased."  The  first  church  organized  in  Des  Moines  had  been  received  into  the 
Eldership  by  the  Standing  Committee  on  November  13,  1895;  but  it  did  not  se- 
cure title  to  the  church  property  until  December,  1898.  At  the  Eldership  in 
1898,  L.  H.  Belles  reported  the  organization  of  the  second  church  in  Des  Moines, 
located  in  South  Des  Moines.  G.  W.  Elliott  organized  a  church  at  Omega  Center. 
In  1899  a  bethel  was  built  in  Wright  county,  and  one  or  two  in  other  localities. 
New  church  organizations  were  also  reported.  The  bethel  in  Wright  county,  near 
Gait,  was  built  by  "the  few  brethren  and  sisters  living  there,"  some  of  them  of  the 
Wilson  family,  as  "a  son  of  A.  Wilson,  and  his  brother-in-law.  Jay  Bowington,  and 
their  wives,  who  were  the  prime  movers.  In  the  latter  part  of  December,  1899, 
A.  Wilson  officiated  at  the  dedication.      At  the  close  of  the  year   1899  the  total 


Genivral  History  243 

number  of  churches  in  the  Eldership  was  44;  houses  of  worship,  32;  membership, 
1,610;   fellowshiped  during  the  year,  131. 

While  in  Illinois  "the  outlook  was  encouraging,"  and  "the  churches  generally 
in  good  spiritual  condition,"  yet  the  rate  of  progress  was  very  slow  during  the 
present  period.  At  a  few  points  the  work  retrograded.  At  Streator,  in  Septem- 
ber, 1895,  the  church  property  was  on  the  market,  as  the  church  had  been  dis- 
banded. The  mission  work  at  Mendota  had  to  be  abandoned,  and  the  property 
sold.  Still  "the  interest  in  Church  work  was  good,"  and  at  the  close  of  the  year 
1896  not  only  did  "general  harmony  prevail,"  but  among  the  churches  there  was 
"reasonable  advancement."  This  year  the  church  lot  of  the  old  Union  Bethel,  in 
Clarke  county,  was  sold,  and  the  proceeds  were  applied  toward  the  erection  of  a 
new  bethel,  which  was  dedicated  on  November  15,  1896,  under  the  labors  of  F.  K. 
Mansfield.  The  preaching  on  the  occasion  was  by  D.  H.  Rupp  and  C.  F.  Rogers. 
In  1897  a  new  bethel  was  built  at  Frederick,  Schuyler  county,  which  was  dedi- 
cated on  June  6th.  It  was  a  newly  organized  church,  the  fruits  of  a  revival  held 
during  the  Winter  by  C.  A.  Schaaf.  C.  F.  Rogers  preached  the  sermons  on  the 
day  of  the  dedication,  the  evening  sermon  being  followed  by  an  ordinance  meet- 
ing. Rogers  also  officiated  at  the  dedication,  on  Sabbath  morning,  at  Hildreth, 
in  Edgar  county,  August  8,  1897.  The  pastor,  F.  K.  Mansfield,  preached  on  Sat- 
urday evening,  and  W.  R.  Johnson  on  Sabbath  afternoon  and  evening.  There  was 
quite  a  missionary  spirit  in  the  Eldership,  which  deepened  following  the  de- 
parture of  Clara  Landes  to  India.  But  it  did  not  manifest  itself  in  Church  ex- 
tension work  in  the  State.  Between  $400.00  and  $500.00  was  raised  annually, 
divided  equally  between  frontier  and  Illinois  Mission  Funds.  The  Illinois  Fund 
was  used  to  assist  in  suppporting  pastors  on  weak  charges,  there  being  no  mission 
fields  so  designated  by  the  Stationing  Committees  of  the  different  sessions  of  the 
Eldership.  The  number  of  fields  of  labor  varied,  there  being  twenty  in  1895; 
twenty-three  in  1896;  twenty-one  in  1897;  twenty  in  1898,  and  nineteen  in  1899. 
Part  of  this  period  the  Eldership  kept  a  general  missionary  iu  the  field.  It  was 
maintained  there  were  four  prevailing  causes  of  weakness  in  the  churches,  to  wit: 
1.  Admitting  unconverted  persons  into  fellowship.  2.  Lack  of  discipline.  3. 
Worldliness.      4.      Insufficient  support  of  pastors. 

In  the  Michigan  Eldership  both  the  temporal  and  spiritual  interests  seemed  in 
a  state  of  declension  in  1895-1900.  While  at  times  the  "outlook  was  hopeful," 
yet  most  of  the  period  seemed  unfruitful.  Ministers  spoke  of  "the  isolated  and 
discouraged  condition  of  many  of  our  brethren  in  the  Eldership,"  and  of  the 
"need  of  earnest  and  faithful  and  honest  laborers,"  as  also  of  "the  conditions  in 
our  Eldership"  as  not  being  good.  The  number  of  charges  varied  from  thirteen 
in  1895  to  nine  in  1899.  In  1895  one  new  church  was  organized,  with  nine  mem- 
bers, and.  the  total  number  of  accessions  to  the  churches  during  the  year  was  re- 
ported to  have  been  138.  In  1898  another  new  church  was  organized;  fifty-one 
were  baptized  during  the  Eldership  year  1897-8,  and  forty-four  received  into  fel- 
lowship. In  other  years  the  reports  indicated  that  "some  advancement  in  the  work 
was  made  during  the  year."  Quite  an  interest  developed  in  1895,  and  was  main- 
tained during  the  following  years,  in  the  work  of  the  Woman's  Missionary  Society 
of  the  Eldership.  At  Benton  Harbor  a  new  bethel  was  built  by  the  church,  as 
before  that  they  worshiped  in  rented  rooms,  and  "labored  under  great  disadvan- 
tage." "A  neat  and  respectable  building  was  erected"  during  the  Winter  of  1897- 
8,  and  was  dedicated  March  27,  1898.  J.  Bunipus,  of  Indiana  Eldership,  preached 
on  the  occasion,  assisted  during  the  day  by  J.  E.  Mofflt  and  the  pastor,  J.  R. 
Oniweg.  At  Seville  Center,  Gratiot  county,  work  was  started  on  a  new  house  of 
worship,  and  the  corner-stone  was  laid  on  July  8,  1899.  S.  S.  Teed  was  the  pas- 
tor, and  he  arranged  for  preaching  on  the  occasion  for  Saturday  evening.  Sabbath 
morning  and  evening,  followed  by  an  ordinance  meeting  on  Sabbath  evening. 
The  new  bethel  at  the  Spencer  appointment,  in  charge  of  D.  L.  Wiles,  Mt.  Calm 
county,  was  dedicated  late  in  November,  1899.  W.  J.  McNutt  was  the  preacher 
on  the  occasion. 

The  Indiana  Eldership  regarded  the  "prospects  for  the  Church  within  its 
borders  brightening,  and  the  churches  growing  in  strength  numerically  and 
spiritually."  There  were  nine  fields  of  labor  in  1895,  and  the  same  number  in 
1899.  During  the  ecclesiastical  year  ending  October,  1899,  there  were  156  con- 
versions reported,  70  baptized  and  149  received  into  fellowship.  One  church 
property  was  sold  in  1896,  located  at  River  Dam.  Sunday-school  work  was 
zealously  carried  on,  and  a  healthy  interest  developed  in  the  work  of  the  Woman's 


244  History    of   the    Churches    of    God 

Missionary  Society.  At  Lockwoods,  DeKalb  county,  four  miles  south  of  Auburn,, 
a  new  bethel  was  erected,  under  the  pastoral  labors  of  George  E.  Komp,  which 
was  dedicated  August  11,  1895,  by  W.  W.  Ijovett.  Under  Komp's  labors  another 
bethel  was  projected  and  work  begun,  at  Helmer,  Steuben  county.  The  house  was 
finished  under  M.  S.  Hemininger's  pastorate,  and  was  dedicated  on  December  22, 
1895,  by  M.  S.  Newcomer.  The  Mt.  Tabor  bethel  was  built  during  the  Summer 
of  1898,  under  the  labors  of  E.  Tatman.  The  dedicatory  services  began  on  Satur- 
day evening,  August  13th,  with  a  sermon  by  George  E.  Komp.  On  Sunday  morn- 
ing J.  E.  McColley,  Jr.,  preached,  and  in  the  evening  J.  W.  Bloyd.  The  bethel 
at  Collamer,  Whitley  county,  after  extensive  alterations  and  repairs,  was  rededi- 
cated  January  1,  1891.      The  pastor  was  J.  W.  Bloyd. 

In  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership  there  was  a  decidedly  deteriorating  ten- 
dency manifested  during  this  period.  Under  the  stimulating  influence  of  several 
strong  personalities  there  were  surface  indications  of  revived  vitality;  but  the 
blighting  effect  of  the  reaction  which  followed  the  Woodworth  revival  wave  could 
be  discerned  everywhere.  In  1895  there  were  eleven  fields  of  labor;  in  1899  there 
were  seven.  Reports  from  some  of  the  fields  in  1896  showed  "a  gain  in  member- 
ship," and  in  1897  and  1898  "the  state  of  religion  was  in  a  reasonably  fair  condi- 
tion, and  a  few  were  saved."  In  1896  the  church  property  at  Curtisville  was  sold. 
The  church  at  Anderson  in  1898  had  become  so  weakened  that  an  appeal  was 
made  to  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  to  appoint  a  missionary  to 
Anderson,  Greensburg  and  Williamstown.  The  mortgage  on  the  Anderson  prop- 
erty was  foreclosed  and  its  sale  finally  effected.  The  Board  of  Incorporation  of 
the  General  Eldership  in  1897,  in  order  to  save  the  property  at  Muncie,  proposed 
to  assume  the  debt  of  $1,500.00,  on  certain  conditions.  As  these  were  not  com- 
plied with,  the  church  building,  costing  about  $10,000.00,  fell  into  the  hands  of 
creditors,  and  was  ultimately  sold  to  the  United  Brethren  Church. 

A  hopeful  spirit,  based  on  reliant  faith,  pervaded  the  atmosphere  in  the  Ohio 
Eldership  during  this  period.  Results  of  persistent  endeavors  to  advance  the 
various  interests  of  the  Church  may  not  always  have  vindicated  this  faith;  but  it 
gave  courage  and  fortitude  for  the  labors  and  sacrifices  demanded.  The  greatest 
miracles  are  wrought  by  faith.  Decisive  victories  on  the  battlefields  of  the  world 
were  won  by  the  faith  of  generals  in  themselves  and  their  soldiers.  Geniuses  have 
penned  their  most  wondrous  poetry  or  worked  marvels  with  the  brush  or  chisel 
by  faith  in  their  ability  to  create  masterpieces.  Yet  the  net  outcome  viewed  at 
this  distance  is  not  so  inspiring.  Several  new  houses  of  worship  were  built,  but 
fewer  were  reported  in  1899  than  in  1895.  The  south-east  corner  of  the  State  of 
Michigan  was  included  within  the  boundaries  of  the  Ohio  Eldership.  Here  C.  N. 
Belman  opened  an  appointment  in  1893,  and  organized  a  church  at  Ottawa  Lake, 
or  Pleasant  Hill.  During  the  Pall  and  Winter  of  1894  the  young  church,  under 
Belman's  labors,  erected  a  bethel,  "on  the  county  line  north  of  Ottawa  Lake  and 
south  of  Deerfleld,  Mich."  It  was  dedicated  January  20,  1895,  by  W.  N.  Yates. 
The  work  at  Fostoria,  Seneca  county,  Ohio,  where  Mrs.  Woodworth  had  quite  a 
revival,  was  making  irregular  progress.  In  1895  it  was  in  charge  of  G.  A. 
Bartlebaugh,  when  the  work  of  building  a  bethel  was  started.  The  church  was 
financially  weak,  and  in  April,  1895,  it  received  permission  to  canvass  the  Elder- 
ship territory  for  funds  to  build,  on  thfe  condition  that  the  property  be  deeded  to 
that  body.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  September  7,  1895,  when  M.  S.  Newcomer 
preached.  But  becoming  financially  embarrassed,  the  work  was  hindered,  so  that 
in  November,  1897,  T,  Koogle  was  appointed  to  look  after  the  financial  interests. 
The  creditors  threatening  to  foreclose,  a  committee  of  the  Eldership  was  named 
to  visit  them,  which  succeeded  in  having  the  claims  quieted,  and  the  work  was  re- 
sumed under  the  labors  of  E.  Poling  as  pastor.  He  was  succeeded  by  W.  P.  Small, 
under  whose  supervision  the  work  was  completed,  and  the  house  was  dedicated 
on  June  23,  1901,  G.  Sigler  ofiiciating.  The  church,  however,  had  worshiped  in 
the  building  during  several  years  previous  to  the  dedication.  A  bethel  was  built 
at  Durbin,  Mercer  county,  during  the  Summer  of  1895,  under  the  labors  of  L. 
Rothrock.  It  was  dedicated  by  W.  N.  Yates  on  September  15,  1895.  Th^  bethel 
at  Madison,  or  Basswood  appointment,  was  old  and  dilapidated,  and  the  church, 
having  no  pastor  during  the  year  1896,  decided  to  build  a  new  one.  The  Elder- 
ship donated  "the  old  house  which  was  at  West  Liberty,"  and  the  new  bethel  was 
finished  when  in  the  Fall  of  1896  J.  F.  Slough  became  pastor.  It  was  dedicated 
by  Charles  Manchester  on  January  9,  1897.  He  also  dedicated  the  new  bethel  at 
Olive   Branch,   on  the   Belden  appointment,   where  J.  A.  Witham   }vas   pastor,  on 


General  History 


245 


August  29,  1897.  The  building,  besides  gratuitous  labor,  cost  $1,300.00.  A 
house  of  worship,  afterward  known  as  "Scott  Bethel,"  was  bought  in  1899,  which 
was  repaired  and  remodeled,  and  dedicated  August  27,  1899.  The  services  of 
J.  A,  Witham  were  secured  for  the  dedication,  by  the  pastor,  S.  S.  Hunter.  Mrs, 
Anna  G.  Withani  also  "preached  during  this  meeting."  An  effort  was  made  in 
1898-9  to  renew  Church  work  at  Mansfield,  Richland  county.  On  February  24, 
1898,  T.  W.  Bellingham  was  sent  there  by  the  Standing  Committee  "to  work  up 
the  interest  in  Mansfield."  During  his  pastorate  he  secured  the  services  of  C.  B, 
Fockler,  with  his  tent;  The  effort  was  successful,  as  thirty-seven  converts  were 
reported,  and  twenty-seven  believers  were  baptized.  These  desired  to  be  organ- 
ized into  a  church.  Two  church  properties  were  ordered  to  be  sold,  and  two 
church  lots:  The  Evergreen  Bethel,  January  15,  1896;  the  Ferguson  Bethel, 
December  7,  1898;  the  "ground  at  the  Blanchard  Bethel,"  and  the  lot  at  West 
Auburn.  The  membership  varied,  according  to  the  Eldership  statistics.  In  1895 
the  number  reported  is  2,781;  in  1896,  2,528;  in  1897,  2,758;  in  1899,  2,598.  In 
1895  there  were  75  churches,  86  houses  of  worship,  838  conversions,  640  acces- 
sions, 398  baptized,  and  aggregate  salaries,  $8,149.00.  In  1896  there  were  re- 
ported 58  churches,  730  conversions,  572  accessions,  320  baptized,  and  aggregate 
salaries,  $8,583.00.  The  statistics  for  1897  give  71  churches,  758  conversions, 
612  accessions,  191  baptized,  and  aggregate  salaries,  $6,497.  In  1899  there  were 
75  "churches  and  preaching  points,"  76  bethels,  507  conversions,  360  accessions, 
183  baptized,  total  salaries,  $6,847.00.  During  1899  mission  work  was  carried  on 
at  Scott,  Lima  and  Delphos.      The  two  churches  at  Canton  were  consolidated. 

In  the  West  Pehnsylvania  Eldership  much  effective  work  was  done  between 

1895  and  1900  to  give  greater  stability  and  permanence  to  the  churches,  and  to 
develop  a  steady  interest  in  all  forms  of  Church  activity.  The  organization  of 
Woman's  Missiorikry  Societies  and  Christian  Endeavor  Societies  in  the  local 
churches  received  special  attention.  Systematic  plans  for  raising  funds  for  local 
and  general  use  were  matured  and  put  into  effect.  The  numerical  increase  of 
membership  was,  however,  slow,  although  the  churches  enjoyed  revivals,  and  addi- 
tions were  relatively  numerous.  But  the  net  growth  was  very  small.  Some  years 
the  aggregate  membership  even  decreased,  so  far  as  reports  indicate.      Thus   in 

1896  there  were  2,482  members;  in  1897,  2,389.  The  number  of  churches  was  the 
same  in  both  years:  The  number  of  converts  reported  in  1896  was  563;  in  1897, 
643.  Baptized  in  1896,  281;  in  1897,  349.  The  number  of  accessions  in  each  of 
these  two  years  Was  463.  Salaries  paid  in  1896,  $7,454.00;  in  1897,  $8,044.00. 
The  number  of  charges  varied  from  26  in  1895,  to  29  in  1899.  There  were  eight 
new  houses  of  worship  built  and  dedicated,  increasing  the  number  from  42  to  50. 
At  Markleysburg,  Fayette  county,  where  T.  Woods  was  pastor  in  1895,  a  new 
house  of  worship  was  built  jointly  by  the  church  of  God  and  the  Baptist  church. 
It  cost  $1,640.00,  and  was  dedicated  on  August  18,  1895.  J.  C.  Cunningham 
preached  on  Saturday  evening;  Rev.  Wood,  Baptist,  on  Sabbath  morning,  and 
J.  Smith  Marple,  on  Sabbath  evening.  The  church  at  Bagdad,  Westmoreland 
county,  had  been  organized  in  a  school-house,  January  4,  189  5,  by  George  D.  Stat- 
ler.  He  began  preaching  there  about  a  year  previous.  The  newly  organized 
church  at  once  decided  to  build  a  small  bethel,  with  a  seating  capacity  of  150.  It 
was  finished,  and  ready  for  dedication  on  August  25,  1895.  The  pastor  delivered 
the  first  sermon,  on  the  evening  of  the  24th;  D.  A.  Stevens  preached  on  Sabbath 
mo'rning,  and  H.  H.  Spiher,  on  Sabbath  evening.  The  house  of  worship,  known 
as  "Mt.  Nebo  Bethel,"  Fayette  county,  was  dedicated  August  16,  1896,  by  S.  G. 
Yahn.  The  donation  of  two  acres  of  ground  for  the  building  and  cemetery  was 
made  by  George  Craig.  The  pastor  to  whose  arduous  labors  the  success  of  this 
work  was  largely  due  was  S.  P.  P.  Young.  At  Hill  View,  Fayette  county,  where 
S.  P.  P.  Young  was  pastor,  Lovina  Geseky  donated  two  acres  of  land  on  which  to 
build  a  hou^e  of  worship.  It  was  rea!dy  for  dedication  on  December  27,  1896, 
when  Young  preached  on  Saturday  evening  and  Sabbath  morning,  and  W.  B. 
Elliott  on  Sabbath  evening.  At  Claridge,  Westmoreland  county,  under  the 
labors  of  W.  B.  Elliott,  a  bethel  was  built  in  the  Summer  and  Fall  of  1896,  with 
a  seating  capacity  of  250.  It  was  dedicated  on  January  1,  1897,  when  W.  H. 
McKlveen  preached  on  Saturday  evening  from  Matt.  ii.  2,  and  on  Sabbath  morn- 
ing from  Ps.  Ixxxiv.  11.  Elliott  preached  in  the  afternoon,  and  McKlveen  again 
in  the  evening,  after  which  the  ordinances  were  observed.  The  church  in  Pitts- 
burg always  had  a  precarious  existence,  and  was  finally  disbanded  where  it  had 
maintained  a  struggling  existence  for  many  years.      W.  H.  McKlveen  began  work 


246  History    of    tiik    Churches   op    God 

in  the  city  in  1893,  and  in  1894  a  location  was  secured  in  the  East  End,  where  ser- 
vices were  conducted  in  a  Hall.  In  1895  steps  were  taken  to  build,  ground  having 
been  bought  on  the  corner  of  Spahr  and  College  avenues.  The  bethel  was  com- 
pleted, with  a  parsonage  attached,  at  a  cost  of  $14,000.  It  was  dedicated  on 
October  4,  1896.  At  Jacob's  Creek  a  new  bethel  was  built  during  the  Winter  of 
1897-8,  under  the  pastoral  labors  of  AV.  B.  Elliott.  It  was  dedicated  on  May  22, 
189  8,  S.  G.  Yahn  officiating  in  the  morning,  and  R.  L.  Byrnes,  in  the  evening. 
The  Mt.  Tabor  Bethel,  Payette  county,  was  built  in  the  Summer  of  1898,  under 
the  labors  of  S.  P.  Fulton.  S.  G.  Yahn  preached  the  dedicatory  sermon  on  Sep- 
tember 25,  1898,  and  was  assisted  in  the  services  during  the  day  by  the  pastor, 
and  by  James  Means,  J.  C.  Boyd  and  W.  S.  Sannei-s. 

The  value  of  hope  has  been  stated  forcibly  in  these  words:  "The  greatest 
thing  which  any  one  of  us  can  give  to  any  other  of  us  is  hope;  the  next  greatest 
thing  is  that  courage  which  enables  us  to  labor  toward  the  realization  of  that 
hope;  the  next  greatest  thing  is  formulated  knowledge  which  will  help  us  to  thus 
labor  with  intelligence."  Through  some  agency  the  ministers  and  churches  were 
inspired  to  work  hopefully  in  building  up  and  extending  the  cause  in  the  West 
Virginia  Elderships.  And  yet  at  this  distance  the  results  of  their  labors  year 
after  year  were  not  the  most  encouraging.  In  the  building  of  houses  of  worship 
the  public  record  is  almost  barren.  A  union  house,  costing  $600.00,  was  built 
by  the  church  of  God  and  the  Methodist  church  at  Liberty,  Putnam  county,  and 
dedicated  August  29,  1897.  The  morning  sermon  was  preached  by  Rev.  Alley,  of 
the  M.  E.  Church;  the  afternoon  and  evening  sermons,  by  T.  Woods,  of  the 
Church  of  God.  During  the  day,  owing  to  the  large  crowds,  the  services  were 
held  in  the  grove  adjoining  the  bethel.  At  Blairsville,  Ohio,  West  Virginia  Elder- 
ship, North,  under  the  labors  of  S.  M.  Parry,  a  new  bethel  was  built  in  the  Sum- 
mer of  189  8.  It  was  dedicated  by  B.  D.  Eden  on  December  11th.  This  Eldership 
at  different  times  found  an  independent,  or  insubordinate,  spirit  developing  among 
churches.  The  Constitution  empowered  the  Standing  Committee  to  suspend  a 
church  for  this  offense.  Accordingly  on  January  1,  1898,  said  Committee  "sus- 
pended the  church  at  Martin's  Ferry,  Ohio,  from  the  Eldership  until  May  8,  1898, 
or  until  the  church  agrees  to  be  governed  by  the  Eldership  or  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee." The  church  availed  itself  of  its  rights,  and  appealed  to  the  General 
Eldership.  Fortunately  the  matter  was  amicably  adjusted  at  the  Eldership  in 
the  Fall  of  189  8.  Two  church  properties  in  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North, 
were  sold.  One  at  Metz's  Crossing,  in  1897,  and  one  at  Green  Valley,  in  1898. 
The  boundaries  of  circuits  were  so  frequently  changed  that  it  was  difficult  to  in- 
duce churches  to  build  parsonages.  The  matter  received  special  attention  in 
1895,  and  the  Eldership  was  petitioned  to  make  boundaries  more  permanent. 
The  territory  of  this  Eldership  was  "large,  and  much  of  it  unoccupied,  so  that  it 
was  customary  to  appoint  general  missionaries,  or  general  evangelists,  to  labor  on 
unoccupied  territory."  The  fields  of  labor  were,  however,  not  increased  in  num- 
ber, though  some  of  them  were  enlarged.  Thus  there  were  twelve  circuits,  with 
thirty  preaching  points,  in  1895;  while  in  1898  there  were  only  nine.  The  num- 
ber of  conversions  in  both  Elderships  was  quite  large  in  proportion  to  the  mem- 
ship.  In  1897  a  total  membership  in  the  Southern  Eldership  was  reported  of 
368;  fellowshiped,  201;  salaries,  $432.59  on  the  eleven  fields  of  labor.  In  1898 
the  number  of  conversions  in  the  Northern  Eldership  was  228;  fellowshiped,  214; 
total  salaries,  $1,124.83.  The  "price  of  each  sermon,"  the  Clerk  naively  re- 
corded, "was  91  cents."  The  usual  disparity  in  the  number  of  conversions,  or 
fellowshiped,  and  the  number  baptized  is  seen  in  this  Eldership.  In  1898,  when 
214  were  fellowship  only  93  were  baptized.  The  West  Virginia  Eldership,  South, 
had  eleven  fields  of  labor  in  1895,  which  were  reduced  to  eight  in  1898,  and  in- 
creased by  one  in  1899.  There  was  aggressive  missionary  work  done,  as  a  gen- 
eral evangelist  or  missionary  was  kept  in  the  field,  who  organized  local  mission- 
ary societies  and  preached  on  the  mission  circuits.  There  were  four  missions  in 
1897.  The  total  number  of  preaching  places  in  the  Eldership  was  as  high  as 
forty. 

During  this  period  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership  sustained  some 
irreparable  losses  in  the  deaths  of  several  ministers  and  the  removal  of  a  few  to 
other  Elderships.  Some  of  the  fields  of  labor  could  not  be  supplied  satisfactorily, 
and  the  progress  of  the  cause  was  retarded.  In  1895  there  were  ten  fields  of 
labor,  with  at  least  thirty-four  preaching  places.  In  1899  there  were  eleven  ap- 
pointments, but  no  increase  in  the  number  of  preaching  points.     The  largest  num- 


I 


General  History  247 

ber  of  places  designated  for  pastors  to  preach  at  was  in  189  6,  when  there  were 
thirty-six.  Under  the  labors  of  A.  W.  Philhower  a  church  of  thirty  members  was 
organized  at  Roclcy  Springs,  and  a  bethel  was  built  in  1896,  at  a  cost  of  $600.00. 
It  was  dedicated  November  22,  1896,  when  S.  J.  Montgomei'y  preached  one  ser- 
mon from  Eph.  ii.  19-22,  and  one  from  II.  Chron.  xxix.  31.  An  ordinance  meeting 
was  held  in  the  evening.  This  church  was  received  into  the  Eldership,  upon  re- 
port of  a  committee,  in  the  Fall  of  189  6.  T.  B.  Tyler  was  doing  substantial  work 
in  Washington  county,  Maryland,  and  Franklin  county.  Pa.,  part  of  which  was 
included  in  his  circuit.  Under  his  labors  a  bethel  was  built  at  "The  Corners," 
Franklin  county,  Pa.,  which  was  dedicated  January  1,  1899,  by  S.  J.  Montgomeiy 
and  A.  W.  Philhower.  Also  at  Blair's  Valley,  under  Tyler's  supervision,  a  house 
of  worship  was  erected  in  the  Summer  of  189  9,  which  was  dedicated  by  G.  H. 
Bowersox  and  J.  W.  Kipe  on  October  22,  1899.  In  1897  a  church  was  organized 
at  Cotoctin,  which  was  formally  recognized  by  the  Eldership  of  1897.  The 
Eldership  had  for  years  been  desirous  to  have  work  inaugurated  in  Williamsport, 
on  the  Potomac  river.  There  was  regular  preaching  at  Harper's  Ferry,  which, 
like  Williamsport,  had  acquired  notoriety  during  the  Civil  War;  but  the  project 
of  establishing  a  church  in  the  latter  town  had  hitherto  met  with  little  success. 
However,  on  September  3,  1899,  the  hopes  of  the  Eldership  were  realized,  when 
T.  B.  Tyler  organized  a  church  of  God  in  the  Town  Hall,  which  was  rented  for  a 
term  of  years.  He  set  forth  in  plain,  clear  terms  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of 
God  before  organization  was  effected.  At  the  Eldership  in  1899  this  church  was 
received.  The  Eldership  gave  much  attention  to  mission  work  and  the  organiza- 
tion of  a  Woman's  Missionary  Society,  and  a  number  of  local  societies  were  organ- 
ized. Nearly  every  year  a  general  missionary  was  appointed,  J.  A.  Saxton  serving 
in  that  capacity  several  years. 

Whether  there  was  a  general  receding  wave  of  prosperity  in  the  Christian 
Church  could  not  be  conceded,  judged  by  a  purely  mathematical  standard.  But 
there  were  not  wanting  evidences  at  the  close  of  the  century  that  the  era  of  the 
most  marked  advancement  in  Church  growth  in  America,  as  in  Europe,  was  past. 
The  proportion  of  Church  members  to  the  total  population  was  so  large  that 
slower  progress  was  inevitable.  Perhaps,  too,  the  old  proverb  was  being  realized, 
that  "the  sun  will  put  out  the  fire."  Worldly  prosperity  added  fuel  to  the  fire  of 
love  of  the  world,  and  the  love  of  God  and  worldly  love  can  not  stand  together  in 
intense  degree.  In  East  Pennsylvania  during  the  last  semi-decade  of  the  century, 
like  in  the  other  Elderships,  there  was  less  accomplished  than  during  some  earlier 
periods.  No  new  territory  was  occupied.  Progress  consisted  in  the  growth  of 
local  organizations,  the  increased  activity  of  societies,  the  intellectual  advance- 
ments made  by  the  ministry,  the  formation  of  several  new  churches,  the  build- 
ing of  nine  new  bethels  and  the  repairing,  enlarging  and  remodeling  of  at  least 
twelve  church  houses.  A  new  and  prosperous  church  was  organized  at  New 
Cumberland,  Cumberland  county,  and  a  mission  church  was  organized  in  Dover 
Hall,  Philadelphia,  but  it  was  short-lived.  At  Central  Manor,  Lancaster  county, 
a  thriving  church  was  formed  in  1895,  largely  the  fruit  of  the  Central  Manor 
Camp-meetings.  The  church  at  Washington  Borough  deservedly  received  the 
credit  for  building  a  house  of  worship  for  this  new  church,  which  was  considered 
its  ward.  It  was  built  in  the  Summer  of  1895,  Ira  A.  MacDannald  being  the 
energetic  pastor,  at  a  cost  of  $1,500.00,  and  was  dedicated  August  4th.  The 
morning  sermon  was  delivered  by  C.  H.  Foraey;  the  afternoon,  by  H.  Whitaker, 
and  the  evening  by  C.  I.  Brown.  The  rededication  of  the  bethel  at  Lisburn,  Cum- 
berland county,  took  place  September  8,  1895,  when  J.  W.  Deshong  oflSciated. 
Wm.  Palmer  was  pastor.  In  1895  F.  L.  Nicodemus  secured  Dover  Hall,  Marshall 
street,  Philadelphia,  for  religious  worship.  He  "organized  a  mission  on  the  first 
Lord's  day  in  November,"  and  at  once  began  Sunday-school  work.  The  pastor 
regarded  the  enterprise  a  "success,  and  its  future  bright."  A  church  was  organ- 
ized before  New  Year,  and  all  the  arrangements  made  for  permanent  church 
growth.  But  it  was  decreed  otherwise,  Niccodemus,  as  another  "warrior  knight 
of  Christian  fame,"  prior  to  the  ides  of  March,  1896,  fell  mortally  wounded.  The 
church  at  Washington  Borough,  Lancaster  county,  dedicated  its  fine  new  house  of 
worship  on  December  29,  1895,  I.  A.  MacDannald  being  the  worthy  pastor. 
Preaching  on  the  occasion  by  C.  H.  Forney,  from  Acts  iv.  12.  After  "expending 
$495.00  on  inside  repairs,"  led  by  the  faithful  pastor,  A.  P.  Stover,  the  church  at 
Bainbridge  reopened  its  bethel  for  divine  services  on  September  27,  1896.  C.  I. 
Bro^vn    preached    morning    and    evening,    respectively    from    Luke   xxiv.    32,    and 


248  History   of   the   Churches   of    God 

Matt.  xxii.  42.  A  new  house  of  worship  was  built  at  Weishampel,  Schuylkill 
county,  in  the  Summer  of  1896,  under  the  pastoral  labors  of  I.  Hay.  It  was  dedi- 
cated November  15th.  In  1897  A.  P.  Stover  was  pastor  at  Mt.  Carmel, 
Northumberland  county.  He  at  once  agitated  the  project  of  building  a  new 
bethel,  and  on  June  27th  the  corner-stone  was  laid  by  J.  W.  Deshong.  The  house 
was  dedicated  November  21,  1897,  with  D.  S.  Shoop,  F.  Y.  Weidenhammer  and  the 
pastor  occupying  the  pulpit,  Shoop  preaching  the  sermons,  while  Weidenhammer 
and  E.  Myers  preached  during  the  week  following.  Building  and  ground,  in- 
cluding ground  for  parsonage,  cost  $3,300,  toward  which  there  was  realized  from 
sale  of  the  old  church  property  the  sum  of  $1,500.00.  After  undergoing  exten- 
sive repairs,  the  bethel  at  Wormleysburg,  Cumberland  county,  was  reopened 
on  July  18th  with  appropriate  services.  C.  H.  Forney  officiated  at  10.30  a.  m.> 
and  C.  H.  Grove,  at  7.30  p.  m.  With  J.  M.  Waggoner  as  pastor,  the  church  at 
Progress,  Dauphin  county,  repaired  its  bethel,  which  was  rededicated  September 
5,  1897,  C.  H.  Forney  delivering  an  address  on  "Aggressive  Christian  Work." 
Having  "undergone  considerable  repairing,  both  inside  and  outside,"  with  C.  C. 
Bartels  as  pastor,  the  church  at  Rohrerstown,  Lancaster  county,  reopened  its 
bethel  September  12,  1897.  The  bethel  at  Auburn,  Schuylkill  county,  after  "con- 
siderable repairing,  beautifying  and  cleansing,"  was  rededicated  September  5, 
1897.  E.  Myers  was  the  pastor.  The  Newburg,  Cumberland  county,  bethel, 
where  J.  A.  Staub  was  in  charge,  was  rededicated  September  26,  1897,  by  C.  I. 
Behney.  At  Fairview,  Lancaster  county,  a  new  house  of  worship  was  erected  in 
the  Fall  of  1897,  at  a  cost,  including  one  and  one-half  acres  of  ground,  of 
$1,217.36.  The  dedication  services  were  held  on  December  19,  1897,  when  the 
sermons  were  delivered  by  Ira  A.  MacDannald.  J.  Berkstresser  was  the  pastor. 
In  Carlisle,  Cumberland  county,  the  resolute  pastor  of  a  small  church  of  colored 
people,  Alfred  Young,  determined  to  build  a  bethel  for  his  people.  The  corner- 
stone was  laid  September  12,  1897,  by  C.  H.  Forney,  who  preached  from  Mark 
i.  38.  "The  neat  brick  structure"  was  completed  at  a  cost  of  $850.00,  and  was 
dedicated  December  12,  1897.  The  morning  sermon  was  delivered  by  C.  H,  For- 
ney, from  Acts  iv.  12.  J.  H.  Esterline,  of  the  First  church;  Rev.  Hollard,  of  the 
A.  M.  E.  Church;  Rev.  McCord,  of  the  Baptist  Church,  and  Marshall  Walker  and 
J.  W.  Jones  assisted  the  pastor  during  the  day.  Mission  work  at  New  Cumber- 
land, Cumberland  county,  was  placed  in  the  care  of  the  Board  of  Church  Ex- 
tension by  the  Eldership  in  1897  and  the  pastor  of  the  East  York  circuit,  H. 
Whitaker.  The  Board,  with  its  proficient  President,  F.  W.  McGuire,  at  once  went. 
to  work,  and  on  November  26,  1897,  began  to  lay  plans  for  the  building  of  a 
church  house.  It  enlisted  the  aid  and  co-operation  of  the  Eldership  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E. 
Union,  and  in  the  Spring  of  1898  began  the  erection  of  the  bethel,  the  corner- 
stone of  which  was  laid  July  24th,  J.  W.  Deshong  delivering  an  address  based  on  Ps. 
Ixxxvil.  C.  H.  Grove  and  H.  F.  Hoover  assisted  in  the  services.  The  house  was: 
finished  and  ready  for  the  dedicatory  services  November  13th.  On  the  evening  of 
the  12th  the  church  was  organized,  when  C.  C.  Bartels  delivered  an  address.  On 
the  13th  C.  I.  Brown  preached  at  10.30  a.  m. ;  J.  T.  Fleegal,  at  2.00  p.  m.,  and 
T.  H.  McAfee,  at  7.00  p.  m.  The  most  celebrated  event  in  the  building  of  church, 
houses  during  this  period  was  the  erection  of  a  commodious  and  costly  bethel  on 
Germantown  avenue,  Philadelphia,  under  the  successful  labors  of  W.  N.  Yates,. 
pastor.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  May  22,  1898,  the  address  on  the  occasion 
being  delivered  by  G.  Sigler,  who  spoke  on  "Our  Responsibilities  Commensurate 
with  our  Opportunities."  The  dedicatory  services  were  held  December  4th,  and 
"continued  throughout  the  following  week."  The  preaching  was  by  former  pas- 
tors, viz.:  G.  Sigler,  10.30  a.  m.,  and  B.  F.  Beck,  7.30  p.  m.,  Sabbath;  J.  W.  Miller,^ 
Monday  evening;  J.  H.  Esterline,  Tuesday  evening;  "Temperance  Rally,"  Wed- 
nesday evening;  "Neighbors'  Night,"  Thursday  evening;  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.  meeting  on 
Friday  night.  The  total  cost  of  "building,  furnishings  and  yard  improvements'' 
was  $15,200.00,  of  which  $7,200.00  was  paid  and  subscribed  by  the  end  of  dedi- 
cation week,  leaving  a  three-year  mortgage  of  $8,000.00  on  the  property.  O.  J. 
Farling,  a  missionary  of  persistent  energy,  succeeded,  with  the  co-operation  of 
the  small  band  of  brethren,  in  repairing  the  house  of  worship  at  Mt.  Olivet,  York 
county,  in  the  Spring  of  189  8.  The  dedication  took  place  May  22nd,  when  J.  AV. 
Deshong  preached  the  sermons.  During  the  pastorate  of  J.  A.  Staub  the  house 
of  worship  at  Sandy  Hollow,  Perry  county,  after  extensive  repairs,  was  "reopened 
for  the  service  of  God"  on  June  5,  1898.  J.  H.  Esterline  preached  on  the  occa- 
sion.    After   "repairing   and   beautifying"     the    bethel    at     Columbia,     Lancaster 


General    History  249 

county,  at  a  cost  of  $450.00,  under  the  charge  of  T.  H.  McAfee,  the  reopening 
services  were  held  on  April  9,  189  9.  C.  I.  Brown  preached  at  both  services,  using 
as  texts  1  Sam.  vii.  12,  and  1  Chron.  xxix.  3.  On  July  8,  1899,  the  church  at 
Plainfield,  Cumberland  county,  after  expending  $300.00  in  improvements  and  re- 
pairs, rededicated  its  house  of  worship.  The  pastor,  Wm.  Palmer,  was  assisted 
in  the  services  by  J.  H.  Esterline  and  A.  H.  Long.  The  preaching  at  the  reopen- 
ing services  at  Landisville,  Lancaster  county,  was  by  F.  W.  McGuii-e,  pastor,  in  the 
morning,  and  I.  A.  MacDannald,  in  the  evening. 

The  age  of  disputations  and  debates  was  about  ended.  Public  debates  were 
growing  less  in  number  year  after  year,  and  pulpits  and  press  devoted  less  time 
and  space  to  polemics,  and  more  to  the  questions  of  practical  piety.  The  first 
public  debate  of  this  period  had  this  peculiarity,  that  the  disputants  were  both 
members  of  the  Church  of  God,  and  ministers  in  the  same  Eldership,  viz.:  G.  M. 
Virgin  and  L.  F.  Murray.  The  debate  was  held  at  Red  House,  W.  Va.  Three 
resolutions  were  debated:  "1.  That  in  the  resurrection  there  will  be  two  classes, 
the  sanctified  and  the  justified."  Virgin  affirmed;  Murray  denied.  "2.  That 
the  sanctified  will  be  resurrected  to  immortality,  eternal  life,  and  the  justified  will 
be  resurrected  to  life  and  placed  on  trial  for  eternal  life."  Virgin  affirmed;  Mur- 
ray denied.  "3.  That  infants,  and  all  not  included  in  the  household  of  faith,, 
will  also  be  resurrected  and  placed  on  trial  for  eternal  life."  Virgin  affirmed; 
Murray  denied.  A.  Wilson  accepted  a  challenge  made  by  a  "Seventh  Day  Ad- 
ventist  to  debate  the  following  proposition:  'Do  the  Scriptures  teach  that  the 
first  day  of  the  week  is  the  Lord's  day,  or  Christian  Sabbath?"  "  The  Adventist 
was  willing  "to  meet  any  man  in  Nebi'aska"  on  this  question.  The  debate  was 
held  at  Independence  school-house.  Frontier  county.  Neb.,  and  began  January  11, 
1897,  and  continued  five  evenings.  "Before  the  discussion  was  over  AVilson  had 
his  opponent  lying  helpless  at  his  feet."  During  the  months  of  January  and  Feb- 
ruary, 1897,  C.  H.  Forney  and  Rev.  F.  L.  Kerr  had  a  discussion  in  the  "Penbrook 
Times,"  Penbrook,  Dauphin  county.  Pa.,  on  Infant  Baptism.  W.  R.  Covert,  of  the 
West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  had  a  protracted  debate  with  Moses  Hull  on  Spirit- 
ualism, which  he  reported  quite  fully  for  The  Advocate  through  the  Winter  of 
1897-8.  He  denied  the  following:  "That  the  phenomena  and  philosophy  of 
modern  spiritualism  are  in  harmony  with  history,  reason  and  the  Bible."  Covert 
possessed  nearly  every  element  of  a  successful  debater,  some  of  them  not  general- 
ly approved;  but  he  was  a  disputant  of  strong  powers,  and  delighted  to  be  in  the 
arena  of  controversy.  On  Monday  evening,  April  14,  1899,  he  began  a  debate 
with  Rev.  Wilfred  M.  Kellogg,  of  the  Protestant  Methodist  Church,  to  "continue 
six  evenings  of  two  hours  each."  Covert  affirmed  that  "John  the  Baptist  immersed 
Jesus  in  the  river  Jordan."  He  denied  that  "Holy  Ghost  baptism  is  the  only 
Christian  Baptism."  And  he  affirmed  that  "only  those  who  have  been  born  again, 
or  received  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  have  been  properly  taught,  are  the  true  scriptural 
subjects  of  baptism."  Covert  was  admirably  equipped  for  such  a  debate,  and  won 
a  signal  triumph.  In  August,  1899,  G.  L.  Chapman,  of  the  Missouri  Eldership, 
had  a  public  debate  with  J.  H.  White,  of  the  Primitive  Baptist  Church.  The  fol- 
lowing resolution  was  debated:  "Resolved,  That  salvation  from  sin,  or  eternal 
life,  is'  unconditional  on  the  part  Of  man,  and  independent  of  the  written  or 
preached  word  of  God."  This  Chapnlan  denied,  and  upheld  his  denial  with  logical 
reasoning,  reinforced  with  abundant  quotations  from  Scripture. 

Discussions  in  the  columns  of  The  Advocate  were  becoming  increasingly  un- 
popular. And  that  not  because  they  occurred  more  frequently,  were  more  pro- 
longed, or  more  acrimonious;  but  because  of  a  change  in  public  sentiment.  As  a 
result,  controversies  were  forbidden  by  the  General  Eldership  in  1899.  Prior  to 
that  the  most  prominent  during  this  period  were  on  Divine  Healing,  Ordination, 
Church  Polity,  Observance  of  Ordinances,  Sanctification,  the  Mourners'  Bench,  the 
Christian  Sabbath,  the  Millennium  and  Divorce.  The  advocates  of  Divine  Healing, 
or  Faith  Healing,  were  not  inclined  to  enter  the  arena  of  controversy;  but  testi- 
mony was  given,  with  an  occasional  controversial  article.  It  was  one  of  those 
exceptional  subjects  which  required  little  direct  defense.  The  phenomena  so  often 
observed  at  religious  services  held  by  those  who  believed  in  divine  healing  weighed 
more  than  any  labored  argument.  And  it  was  a  long-pending  discussion,  revived 
again  and  again  during  1896,  1897  and  1898,  but  gradually  subsided,  and  faith 
cures  became  largely  discredited.  The  discussion  of  ordination  with  the  laying  on 
of  hands  was  revived  in  1896.  In  argument  those  in  opposition  usually  had  the 
advantage;   but  the  natural  human  tendency  to  forms,  liturgies  and  ceremonials 


250  History   of   thh;   Churches   of    God 

can  not  be  reached  by  argument.  An  ordination  service  is  impressive,  and  argu- 
ment was  finally  hushed  by  a  practical  compromise  in  the  adoption  by  nearly  all 
the  annual  Elderships  of  an  ordination  service  minus  the  imposition  of  hands. 
For  some  possibly  latent  and  unaffirmed  reasons,  questions  pertaining  to  the  or- 
dinance of  feet-washing  were  occasionally  revived.  Some  always  contended  that 
it  was  a  fact  prophetic  of  an  ultimate  abandonment  of  the  ordinance.  Especially 
when  one  of  three  phases  of  the  controversy  were  under  discussion — the  private 
observance  of  the  ordinance,  the  spiritual  nature  of  the  service,  or  its  parity  with 
baptism  as  a  rite  to  be  observed  but  once  by  each  believer.  The  advocates  of  these 
phases  of  the  subject  were  generally  held  under  suspicion.  The  discussion  of 
sanctification  was  revived  in  1897  and  again  in  1898.  In  the  latter  year  the  Chris- 
tian Sabbath  was  discussed  at  considerable  length  owing  to  the  persistent  and 
aggressive  activity  of  Seventh  Day  Adventists.  The  divorce  question  in  1899  was 
discussed  with  great  interest  by  nearly  all  Churches,  and  was  a  prominent  subject 
at  Eldership  sessions  as  well  as  in  The  Advocate.  The  State  and  National  Govern- 
ments were  devising  new  legislation,  and  had  appointed  Commissioners  on  uniform 
divorce  laws  and  reduction  of  the  number  of  causes  for  which  divorces  were  to  be 
granted.  The  Canteen  problem  became  a  live  issue  in  religious  circles  when 
Congress  passed  the  Anti-Canteen  Act.  Army  oflicers  in  many  instances  were 
strongly  opposed  to  the  measure,  insisting  that  such  legislation  would  not  decrease 
drinking  by  soldiers,  but  would  lead  to  conditions  far  worse  than  had  previously 
existed.  As  a  rule  temperance  advocates,  and  prohibitionists  especially,  could  not 
dispassionately  read,  or  listen  to,  arguments  in  favor  of,  or  apologies  for,  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  Canteen,  and  resented  the  thought  of  a  religious  journal  having 
the  temerity  to  do  so.  Hence  the  discussions  in  these  papers  were  often  character- 
ized with  crimination  and  bitterness,  which  The  Advocate  did  not  wholly  escape. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 


1900—1905. 


THE  year  1900  was  one  of  the  world's  great  review  periods.  It  was  a  year  of 
retrospect.  When  it  was  finally  decided  that  it  closed  the  nineteenth,  and 
did  not  begin  the  twentieth,  century,  historical  data  of  every  description 
were  explored  and  compared  to  determine  the  degree  of  progress  which  had  been 
made.  True,  it  was  an  artificial  line  of  demarkation,  for  whether  time  be  counted 
by  seconds  or  by  centuries,  it  is  not  done  by  the  clock  of  our  solar  system.  Time 
IS  a  measured  portion  of  infinite  duration;  measured  by  God's  handiwork.  It  is 
poetic  to  say: 

"Our  Fathers'  God!    from  out  whose  hand 
The  centuries  fall  like  grains  of  sand." 

The  earth  and  sun  measure  the  ceaseless  flux  of  time,  giving  the  rotations  of 
day  and  night,  the  revolving  seasons  and  the  rounded  year.  But  there  is  room 
for  moons  and  decades,  for  semi-centennials  and  centennials.  And  much  time  was 
given  by  writers  and  public  speakers  during  1900  to  measure  the  progress  of  the 
Church,  the  Nation,  the  world,  the  race.  In  some  lines  of  inquiry  the  discovery 
was  made  that  as  population  increases  and  becomes  more  dense,  man  is  less  gov- 
erned by  reason,  and  more  by  sense  and  suggestion.  The  psychology  of  the 
crowd  reveals  a  tendency  toward  extravagant,  irrational  and  nonsensical  things; 
a  disregard  for  established  order,  and  a  craving  for  novelties.  It  was  observed 
that  in  this  respect  religion  had  lost  much  of  its  sacredness  and  solemnity.  There 
was  a  large  increase  in  Church  membership,  the  total  as  reported  in  the  Statistics 
of  Religious  Denominations  in  the  United  States  being  26,971,933,  or  a  little  more 
than  one  in  three  of  the  whole  population.  There  were  165,000  Christian  min- 
isters, who  received  about  $100,000,000  in  salaries.  But  Church  growth  was  slow, 
and  Church  attendance  disproportionate  to  the  population.  Compared  with  former 
years  the  spirituality  of  Churches  was  at  a  lower  degree,  and  there  was  much 
barrenness.  Organizations  of  a  religious  character,  however,  were  constantly  in- 
creasing, and  there  was  a  degree  of  activity  never  before  witnessed.  With  it, 
unfortunately,  came  a  tendency  to  lay  less  stress  on  Church  doctrines,  and  to  con- 


General  History  251 

done  that  skepticism  touching  fundamental  doctrines  which  earlier  would  have 
been  denounced  as  heresy. 

Outside  the  Christian  Church  the  progress  of  the  century  was  marvelous. 
The  testimony  of  publicists  was  to  the  effect,  that  the  political  changes  wrought 
during  the  nineteenth  century  surpassed  those  of  any  other  since  the  fall  of  Rome. 
In  the  field  of  invention  and  engineering  achievements  it  could  be  seen  at  a  glance 
that  the  century  was  pre-eminent  over  all  others.  Nearly  all  the  developments 
in  the  science  of  chemistry,  including  analytical  and  synthetical  chemistry  and  the 
chemical  laws  of  definite  proportions,  are  limited  to  the  nineteenth  century.  In 
the  line  of  adventure  and  exploration  the  history  of  the  century  reads  like  a  ro- 
mance. In  literature,  art,  music  and  the  fine  arts  generally  the  hundred  yfears 
now  ending  witnessed  a  progress  which  is  simply  not  to  be  measured.  The  ma- 
terial changes  of  the  world  in  a  hundred  years  are  great  beyond  appreciation.  The 
increase  in  population  of  the  globe  may  be  a  matter  of  inference  or  deduction 
from  the  increase  of  the  United  States  from  less  than  6,000,000  to  more  than 
76,000,000;  the  United  Kingdom  from  16,000,000  to  39,000,000,  and  correspond- 
ing if  not  equal  increases  in  other  civilized  lands.  The  moral  advancement  of 
the  world  as  distinct  from  the  religious  and  spiritual  is  a  subject  grateful  to  re- 
view. There  are  those  who  question  it;  but  this  is  not  reasonable  when  facts  are 
marshalled  in  the  presence  of  a  true  standard.  Slavery  has  been  abolished,  prison 
reform  has  been  effected,  education  has  made  immeasurable  strides,  law  and  jus- 
tice have  been  more  surely  established  upon  their  thrones,  social  relations  have 
been  imbued  with  light  and  charity  and  love.  In  fact  there  has  been  on  every 
hand  such  a  forward  movement  toward  the  realization  of  the  universal  brother- 
hood of  man  as  a  dozen  centuries  before  had  scarcely  dreamed  of  or  hoped  to  see. 
These  are  steps  which  unmistakably  indicate  "the  sure  progress  of  the  world  to- 
ward that  day  when  'comes  the  nobler  Eden  back  to  man,'  and  when  'springs  the 
crowning  race  of  humankind.'  " 

These  were,  however,  not  conditions  which  served  to  make  the  work  of  the 
churches  of  God  and  their  ministry  less  difficult  and  more  successful.  While  not 
reactionary  in  any  sense,  but  partaking  of  the  progressive  spirit  of  the  age,  they 
were  but  little  troubled  with  the  liberal  and  rationalistic  tendencies  of  the  age. 
Here  and  there  a  church  abandoned  to  some  extent  old  methods  and  practices,  or 
a  minister  now  and  then  affected  some  leaning  toward  tenets  of  the  New  Theo- 
logy; yet  officially  the  body  contended  earnestly  for  the  faith  of  the  fathers. 
Rarely  were  there  departures  from  the  faith  originally  at  the  root  of  defections 
from  the  Church.  Walls  of  partition  are  so  low  now  they  are  virtually  obliterated 
b^  the  trailing  vines  and  sweet-scented  flowers  of  charity  and  brotherly  love.  With 
the  hunger  for  large  things,  smaller  bodies  of  Christians  are  under  constant  strain 
to  maintain  their  separate  entity.  But  a  review  of  the  work  of  the  first  semi- 
decade  of  the  new  century  shows  with  what  Christian  patriotism  and  heroism  they 
wrought  for  the  cause  to  which  they  were  consecrated.  The  increased  interest  in 
the  reading  of  the  Bible  and  Bible  schools  was  first  signalized  by  the  introduction 
of  Bible  Readings.  They  became  a  regular  thing  at  camp-meetings.  Some  of  the 
Elderships  abandoned  their  Ministerial  Associations,  notably  East  Pennsylvania. 
In  a  majority  of  the  Elderships  they  were  held  the  day  before  the  annual  session, 
with  an  occasional  mid-year  meeting.  At  least  fourteen  Elderships  had  Associa- 
tions in  1900.  Nearly  all  these  continued  during  this  whole  period.  Between  the 
General  Eldership  of  1902  and  1905,  more  doctrinal  questions  were  discussed,  but 
always  intermingled  with  questions  of  a  practical  nature.  The  old  questions  as  to 
the  subjects  and  design  of  baptism,  the  order  of  the  ordinances,  and  their  private 
observance;  ordination,  including  that  of  ruling  elders;  the  distinctive  doctrines 
of  the  Church,  and  Rules  of  Co-operation  were  frequently  on  the  programs.  A 
number  of  topics  were  discussed  in  all  the  Associations.  As  occasionally  a  min- 
ister was  ready  to  admit  that  "the  Church  of  God  has  sister  Churches,"  the  ques- 
tion, "Is  the  Church  of  God  a  sect?"  reappeared  at  different  Associations.  And  so 
the  allied  question:  "Are  the  churches  of  God  apostolic  organizations?"  The 
contentions  and  troubles  following  the  action  of  the  General  Eldership  in  1902 
with  reference  to  the  Woman's  General  Missionary  Society  gave  occasion  for  the 
discussion  of  different  phases  of  the  subject  at  Association  meetings.  These  even 
included  the  Legislative  Powers  of  the  Annual  and  General  Elderships,  the  bind- 
ing character  of  our  Rules  of  Co-operation,  as  well  as  our  missionary  interests  in 
general.  In  this  line,  too,  was  the  question  discussed  by  one  Association  in  1904: 
"Is  the  moral  issue  involved  in  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  controversy  of  sufficient  importance 


252  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

to  justify  the  [former]  W.  G.  M.  S.  in  an  effort  it  is  making  to  maintain  its  posi- 
tion?" There  were  serious  danger  of  so  inflaming  passions  by  these  discussions  as 
that  the  unity  of  the  body  .became  endangered.  It  however  soon  became  evident, 
that  subjects  of  this  character  should  be  left  for  discussion  by  the  Annual  Elder- 
sliips,  if  not  largely  by  the  General  Eldership  which  had  power  to  act  in  the 
premises.  With  the  multiplication  of  church  organizations  the  question  of  De- 
partments of  Church  Work  became  an  interesting  topic.  In  the  south-west  the 
question  of  second-work  sanctification,  formal  reception  of  persons  into  church 
fellowship  and  kindred  questions  were  in  order.  Amusements  were  frequently  in 
controversy  as  Christian  people  more  and  more  engaged  in,  and  frequented  places, 
of,  worldly  entertainments.  It  was  a  serious,  practical  question.  Not  remote 
from  this  was  a  revival  of  the  old  question  of  the  adornment  of  the  body.  Vanity, 
pride  and  extravagance  in  dress  in  early  years  had  been  unreservedly  denounced. 
But  for  years  the  pulpit  and  press  were  generally  silent.  Extremes  to  which  the 
world  went  in  bodily  adornment,  followed  by  the  nominal  church,  created  some 
alarm,  and  an  effort  was  made  to  lead  the  more  spiritual  part  of  the  churches  to 
follow  the  inspired  teachings  on  this  subject.  With  the  decrease  in  old-time  re- 
vival work,  the  Associations  not  infrequently  discussed  "Evangelistic  Work — Its 
Uses  and  Abuses."     Also,  "The  Personality  and  Office  Work  of  the  Holy  Spirit." 

Sunday-school  and  Christian  Endeavor  Conventions  received  much  attention. 
The  interest  in  Sunday-school  work  was  steadily  maintained  in  all  the  Elderships, 
and  a  majority  held  annual  Conventions.  In  connection  with  these,  one  day  was 
usually  devoted  to  Christian  Endeavor  work.  Illinois,  Iowa,  Kansas,  Ohio  and 
East  Pennsylvania  were  most  active  in  Christian  Endeavor  interests.  In  East 
Pennsylvania  the  Christian  Endeavor  Union,  which  had  started  a  Christian  En- 
deavor Church  Extension  Fund  in  1898,  continued  its  active  work  in  this  line,  con- 
tributing annually  toward  new  Church  enterprises.  As  to  camp-meetings,  the 
exceptional  ones  require  some  notice.  The  Central  Manor  and  Walnut  Grove 
Camp-meetings  had  become  permanent  institutions.  Results  in  the  way  of  con- 
versions were  very  limited.  The  Maryland  camp-meeting,  under  the  management 
of  the  Linwood  Camp-meeting  Association,  was  still  held  in  1900.  In  July,  1900, 
J,  v.  Smith,  pastor,  announced  the  beginning  of  "a  camp-meeting  at  the  Mooi'e 
school-housfe,  in  a  tent;  by  Mrs.  M.  B.  Woodwoi'th,  in  Naron  township,  Pratt  county, 
Kans."  The  project  of  holding  a  camp-meeting  near  Elm  Hall,  Mich.,  in  1901, 
was  changed  into  a  grove  meeting  for  want  of  sufficient  encouragement.  A  camp- 
meeting  under  the  supervision  of  J.  H.  Cuminings,  pastor,  was  held  in  September, 
19  02,  at  Blue  Lick,  Saline  county.  Mo.  Tents  were  furnished  by  the  management 
at  $2.00  during  the  meeting.  C.  H.  Ballinger,  in  July,  1904,  held  a  camp-meetiiig 
at  Stone  Bluff,  Creek  Nation,  I.  T.  "There  were  a  number  of  conversions  and 
five  accessions  to  the  church."  One  was  baptized  by  Ballinger,  "and  others  will 
be."  The  project  of  a  General  Eldership,  or  National  camp-meeting,  which  had 
slumbered  for  many  years,  was  revived  by  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership  at  its 
session  held  at  Cross  Roads  Bethel,  Greene  county,  Ind.,  October,  1902,  when  a 
resolution  was  adopted  "favoring  the  organizing  of  a  National  Camp-meeting  and 
'Chautauqua,'  or  'Forum,'  "  and  inviting  "sister  Elderships  to  join  in  with  us." 

Pentecostal  meetings,  long  waning,  were  the  exception,  and  gradually  ceased 
during  this  period.  One  was  held  at  Pleasant  Valley,  111.,  in  1900,  and  one  under 
direction  of  the  Standing  Committee  in  Southern  Indiana.  In  1901  the  Mt.  Carroll 
church  held  one,  and  in  1902,  the  church  at  Lanark.  In  1903  the  small  church  in 
Stony  Creek  Valley,  Dauphin  county.  Pa.,  was  the  only  church  which  held  this 
special  service. 

The  period  was  not  fruitful  in  conversions,  except  in  isolated  cases.  This 
fact  was  general.  It  was  lamented  especially  by  the  revival  Churches.  It  is  indi- 
cated by  the  statistics.  No  accurate  statistics  for  all  the  Elderships  are  available, 
but  those  of  Elderships  which  are  measurably  accurate  show  a  small  per  cent,  of 
increase  in  the  membership.  The  total  increase  of  membership  of  all  the  Churches 
in  the  United  States  in  1901  was  reported  at  929,675;  but  relatively  small  as  this 
increase  was,  much  of  it  was  attributed  to  a  large  abnormal  growth  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  This  seems  to  be  confirmed  by  the  total  gain  in  1902,  which  was  hut 
403,743.  Seven  denominations  reported  an  aggregate  loss  of  44,326.  Dr.  H.  K. 
Carroll,  who  prepared  "The  Statistics  of  the  Churches  of  the  United  States"  an- 
nually for  "The  Christian  Advocate,"  New  York,  gives  the  following  figures  for 
the  churches  of  God:  1901 — ministers,  460;  churches,  580;  communicants,  38,000. 
He  gives  the  same  figures  for  1904,   making  the  gains  and  losses  balance  each 


General   History  253 

•other.  There  are  three  special  reasons  for  these  facts,  along  with  the  general 
reasons  for  a  small  percentage  of  net  increase  in  all  Churches.  In  1903  and  1904 
the  total  net  gain  was  about  1,500,000  for  all  Churches.  The  question  was  every^ 
where  discussed:  Why  this  small  increase  in  Church  communicants?  It  was  a 
subject  debated  at  Ministerial  Associations  and  in  The  Advocate.  And  with 
greater  concern  because  of  its  possible  bearing  on  the  future.  It  became  obvious 
that  Church  growth  numerically  could  not  keep  pace  with  that  of  earlier  decades. 
In  1904  the  population  of  the  United  States  was  given  at  82,000,000;  communicant 
Church  members,  30,000,000.  More  than  one-third  of  the  population  was  in  the 
Churches.  Among  other  reasons  assumed  to  account  for  the  undesirable  facts 
were  these:  Too  much  superficial  revival  work,  and  consequent  reactions,  had 
set  the  people  against  the  old  methods  of  making  converts.  That  the  Churches 
lost  courage,  patience  and  faith.  That  the  Church  membership  had  more  largely 
become  property-holders — become  rich — and  so  had  naturally  become  more  con- 
servative, less  aggressive.  That  sin  had  assumed  so  many  attractive  and  ap- 
parently innocent  forms  as  to  beguile  and  ensnare  many  Church  members.  Carnal 
amusements  weakened  the  power  of  the  gospel.  The  spirituality  of  the  Churches 
had  declined  to  an  alarming  extent.  That  the  preaching  had  become  too  intel- 
lectual, and  that  the  emotional  element  in  human  nature,  so  powerful  a  factor  in 
earlier  years,  had  become  neglected  and  eliminated.  That  the  spirit  of  the  age 
and  the  general  atmosphere  which  prevailed  in  society  was  antagonistic  to  vital 
piety.  The  manner  and  methods  of  modern  preaching;  the  disposition  to  interest 
and  amuse,  were  much  discussed,  and  along  with  the  admittedly  large  and  increas- 
ing proportion  of  unconverted  and  carnal  Church  members  were  held  responsible 
for  lack  of  power  to  reach  and  save  the  unconverted.  Notwithstanding,  quite  ag- 
gressive and  successful  work  was  done  in  some  of  the  Elderships.  In  East  Penn- 
sylvania much  of  this  work  was  under  the  direction  of  the  Board  of  Church  Ex- 
tension, which  aided  in  gathering  funds  and  in  supervising  the  work.  This  was 
the  case  at  West  Poplar  Street,  York;  at  Rowenna,  Lancaster  county,  and  at  New 
Cumberland,  Cumberland  county.  At  York,  the  self-denying  pastor,  J.  H.  Martin, 
began  work  on  West  Poplar  Street  in  1899,  and  in  1900  organized  a  church  of  ten 
members.  They  at  once  bought  ground  for  a  church  and  parsonage,  with  special 
terms  if  the  bethel  were  built  within  a  year.  The  work  was  at  once  begun,  and 
on  July  8,  1900,  the  corner-stone  was  laid,  I,  A.  MacDannald  preaching  on  the  occa- 
sion. The  building  was  completed  and  ready  for  dedication  December  2,  1900. 
C.  I.  Brovm  delivered  the  morning  sermon,  and  T.  H.  McAfee  preached  in  the 
evening.  F.  W.  McGuire  was  on  hand  as  President  of  the  Board  of  Church  Ex- 
tension to  help  along  with  the  work  the  week  following.  The  church  at  Kimmel's, 
Schuylkill  county,  after  extensive  repairs,  rededicated  their  house  on  May  13, 
1900.  J.  F.  Meixel  was  their  faithful  pastor,  and  he  had  secured  the  services  of 
J.  M.  Waggoner,  a  former  pastor,  and  J.  M.  Fahl,  of  the  German  Eldership,  for  the 
occasion.  Mission  work  in  Philadelphia  was  always  considered  of  the  first  im- 
portance in  the  interest  of  the  First  Church.  Hitherto  it  lacked  both  means  and 
a  good  opportunity.  The  first  enterprise  had  failed  after  the  death  of  L.  F.  Nico- 
demus,  pastor.  With  the  zealous  assistance  of  C.  D.  Rishel  and  G.  H.  Knox,  two 
local  ministers  in  the  city,  a  new  mission  was  started  prior  to  1900.  It  had  no 
permanent  location,  but  when  it  secured  a  Hall  at  Twenty-six  and  Cumberland 
streets,  it  had  considerable  success,  having  a  Sunday-school  of  over  one  hundred 
and  a  church  nucleus  of  nearly  twenty.  Proper  encouragement  and  financial  assist- 
ance, which  failed,  might  have  made  this  work  a  success.  The  rededication  of 
the  bethel  at  Mt.  Joy,  under  C.  I.  Behney,  pastor,  took  place  November  4,  1900, 
after  undergoing  considerable  repairs.  C.  I.  Brown  preached  from  John  i.  29. 
A.  H.  Long  assisted  in  the  services.  A  new  bethel  was  built  at  a  small  mining 
village  called  Ashland,  in  Clearfield  county,  under  the  labors  of  the  faithful  pastor, 
H.  D.  Boughter,  which  was  dedicated  November  25,  1900.  C.  H.  Forney  preached 
morning  and  evening,  and  C.  H.  Grove  in  the  afternoon.  On  the  Saxton  charge, 
Bedford  county,  J.  A.  Staub,  pastor,  the  bethel  at  Fairplay  was  repaired  and  re- 
dedicated  December  9,  1900,  by  O.  E.  Houston.  At  Bethlehem,  Clearfield  county,  the 
work  of  building  a  bethel  was  begun  under  the  labors  of  the  pastor,  W.  H.  Snyder. 
The  corner-stone  was  laid  by  H.  D.  Boughter  on  May  12,  1901.  After  commenc- 
ing the  renovation  of  the  Green  Spring  Bethel,  Cumberland  county,  the  storm 
nearly  wrecked  the  building.  Through  the  persistent  efforts  of  the  pastor,  E. 
Myers,  means  were  gathered  and  repairs  completed  at  a  cost  of  nearly  $500.00.  On 
August  4,  1901,  the  house  was  rededicated,  C.  I.  Brown  and  J.  H.  Dohner  preach- 


254  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

ing  the  sermons.  The  church  at  Martinsburg,  Blair  county,  with  its  beloved  pas- 
tor, O.  E.  Houston,  early  in  1901,  secured  a  new  lot  for  a  bethel  and  bought  the 
adjoining  property  for  a  parsonage,  thus  securing  a  location  for  the  new  bethel  to 
be  built  on  the  corner  of  two  prominent  intersecting  streets.  There  they  built  a 
beautiful,  attractive  and  convenient  house  of  worship,  which  was  dedicated  July 
20,  1902,  C.  H.  Forney  preaching  morning  and  evening.  Besides  the  pastor,  J.  M. 
Waggoner,  J.  A.  Staub,  C.  H.  Grove,  Rev.  Wharton  and  Dr.  Gvvynn  participated  in 
the  services  throughout  the  day.  After  spending  $1,000.00  in  repairing,  remodel- 
ing and  refurnishing  their  bethel,  the  church  at  Highspire,  Dauphin  county,  held 
rededicatory  services  February  15,  1913.  J.  W.  Ault,  pastor,  secured  the  presence 
of  C.  I.  Brown  to  preach  the  morning  sermon,  and  C.  F.  Reitzel,  the  evening  ser- 
mon. C.  H.  Forney  delivered  a  dedicatory  address,  concluding  with  the  prayer  of 
dedication.  After  suffering  serious  loss  "when  the  waters  had  overwhelmed  us," 
and  months  of  anxious  waiting,  praying  and  laboring,  the  church  on  Main  Street, 
Steelton,  succeeded  in  erecting  a  new  and  attractive  house  of  worship,  which,  in- 
cluding bell  and  furniture,  cost  $9,500.00.  J.  R.  Stonesifer,  pastor,  had  labored 
diligently  to  carry  this  work  to  completion,  collecting  quite  an  amount  of  the  funds 
from  thirty-four  churches  of  the  Eldership.  On  Sunday  morning.  May  3,  1903, 
C.  H.  Forney  delivered  the  dedicatory  sermon,  from  Acts  viii.  37.  C.  I.  Browa 
preached  at  night,  from  Deut.  viii.  2.  An  extensive  revival,  under  the  labors  of 
W.  H.  Shade,  was  enjoyed  at  Fairplay,  Bedford  county,  and  a  church  of  forty-four 
members  organized  in  November,  1903.  The  bethel  at  Auburn,  Schuylkill  county, 
was  repaired  under  the  pastorate  of  S.  N.  Good,  and  had  a  rededication  on  May  1, 
1904,  when  C.  H.  Forney  preached  at  both  services.  The  mission  enterprises  of 
the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  were  energetically  pushed  during  these  years,  co- 
operated with  by  the  Board  of  Church  Extension.  There  were  fourteen  charges, 
receiving  help  from  the  Board  of  Missions,  while  the  Board  of  Church  Extension 
assisted  in  building  new  bethels  and  freeing  others  from  burdensome  debts.  The 
work  at  Rowenna,  Lancaster  county,  was  mainly  in  charge  of  the  latter  Board. 
It  was  a  new  point,  connected  with  the  Bainbridge  and  Maytown  field.  A  lot  was 
bought  and  a  bethel  built  at  a  total  cost  of  about  $1,800.00.  The  corner-stone  was 
laid  on  May  15,  1904,  when  addresses  were  delivered  by  T.  H.  McAfee,  A.  H.  Long 
and  H.  S.  Hershey.  The  house  was  dedicated  August  21,  1904,  C.  H.  Forney 
preaching  in  the  morning,  and  C.  I.  Brown  in  the  evening.  I.  A.  MacDannald,  T. 
H.  McAfee  and  C.  F.  Reitzel  assisted  in  the  services  during  the  day.  The  Board 
of  Church  Extension  was  still  interested  in  the  work  at  New  Cumberland,  Cumber- 
land county.  J,  A.  Better,  pastor,  with  the  united  co-operation  of  the  church,  re- 
paired the  bethel,  and  rededicated  it  June  19,  1904,  when  J.  C.  Fonicrook  offici- 
ated. The  devoted  pastor,  C.  I.  Behney,  and  the  church  at  Elizabethtown,  Lan- 
caster county,  made  repairs  to  their  bethel  at  a  cost  of  $500.00.  The  pastor  had 
accorded  to  him  the  honor  of  preaching  the  sermons  on  the  day  of  rededication, 
June  5,  1904.  The  most  modern,  attractive  and  elaborate  house  of  worship  and 
parsonage  combined  within  the  territory  of  the  Eldership  was  built  by  the  church 
at  Shippensburg,  Cumberland  county,  being  finished  in  the  Summer  of  1904,  at  a 
cost  of  $35,000.00.  The  credit  of  this  fine  enterprise  is  due  to  the  zealous  pastor, 
C.  I.  Brown,  and  the  co-operation  of  the  self-sacrificing  council  and  church.  The 
splendid  edifice  was  dedicated  on  September  25th,  when  C.  H.  Forney  delivered  the 
dedicatory  sermon,  and  W.  N.  Yates  preached  the  evening  sermon.  With  H.  S. 
Bickel  as  pastor,  the  church  at  Milltown,  Cumberland  county,  completely  remodel- 
ed its  house  of  worship,  and  it  was  rededicated  by  I.  A.  MacDannald  on  December 
11,  1904.  A  unique  service  under  the  auspices  of  a  committee  appointed  by  the 
Eldership,  known  as  a  "Reunion,"  was  held  by  the  churches  at  Williams  Grove, 
Cum,berland  county.  A  large  representation  of  the  various  fields  of  labor  was 
in  attendance.  Four  addresses  were  delivered,  two  in  the  forenoon  and  two  in 
the  afternoon.  The  themes  and  speakers  were:  Philosophic  Basis  of  Ordinances, 
C.  H.  Forney,  Our  Plea  and  Mission,  George  Sigler.  Churches  of  God  in  North 
America,  J.  C.  Forncrook.  The  Truth  Treasured  and  Transmitted,  S.  G.  Yahn. 
The  meeting  was  also  partly  of  a  social  and  recreative  character. 

Very  little  material  progress  is  recorded  in  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Elder- 
ship for  1900-1905.  One  house  of  worship  was  extensively  repaired,  at  Broad 
Fording,  Washington  county.  It  was  rededicated  by  J.  D.  Clark  and  W.  H.  Engler 
on  November  16,  1902.  At  Wakefield,  Carroll  county,  where  the  meritorious  T. 
B.  Tyler  was  pastor,  a  handsome  new  brick  bethel  was  built.  It  was  dedicated 
July   10,   1904,  J.  D.  Clark  officiating  in  the  morning,   and  L.  F.  Murray  in  the 


General   History  255 

evening.  A  unique  dedicatory  service  followed  the  evening  sermon.  The  pulpit 
was  set  back  a  few  feet;  the  open  Bible  was  laid  on  the  place  where  the  pulpit 
had  stood;  the  pastor,  Murray,  and  the  members  of  the  church  kneeled  around 
the  open  Bible,  and  Murray  made  the  dedicatory  prayer. 

In  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North,  the  church  at  Martin's  Ferry,  Belmont 
county,  Ohio,  built  a  new,  handsome,  frame  bethel,  under  the  leadership  of  A.  J. 
Stanley,  pastor,  which  cost  $2,100.00.  It  was  dedicated  December  17,  1901, 
Thomas  Woods  preaching  on  the  occasion.  Other  ministers  present  were  Lucas, 
Shimp  and  Rader.  The  Centennial  Bethel,  built  in  1876,  Greene  county.  Pa.,  was 
replaced  with  a  new  building  in  the  Spring  of  1904,  at  a  cost  of  $2,200.00.  In 
June  C.  Manchester  was  there  to  dedicate  it;  but  rains  interfered,  and  failing  to 
raise  sufficient  money  to  pay  the  debt,  the  dedication  was  deferred  until  October 
30th,  when  W.  R.  Covert  preached,  collected  the  needed  funds  and  dedicated  the 
house  of  God.  N.  M.  Anderson  was  the  devoted  pastor.  In  the  territory  of  the 
West  Virginia  Eldership,  South,  the  material  part  of  the  work  seemed  stationary. 
One  house  of  worship,  at  Mt.  Tabor,  was  repaired,  and  rededicated  September  25, 
1904,  under  the  pastor  labors  of  R.  L.  Workman. 

The  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  had  extended  its  work  into  Garrett  county, 
Md.,  the  extreme  western  section  of  the  State.  Here  A.  W.  Snyder  was  laboring 
with  considerable  success.  On  two  successive  Sabbaths  S.  G.  Yahn  dedicated  two 
houses  of  worship.  The  first  was  at  Liberty,  where  the  pastor,  J.  S.  Boyd,  had 
done  excellent  work  during  the  year,  greatly  improving  the  bethel.  The  dedi- 
catory services  were  held  August  17,  1902.  G.  W.  Byrnes,  J.  O.  Martin  and  W.  B. 
Elliott  assisted  in  the  services.  The  second  was  at  Latrobe,  where  the  church  had 
erected  a  new  house  of  worship,  which  was  dedicated  August  24th.  The  church 
had  been  organized  in  1901,  under  the  efficient  labors  of  the  pastor,  R.  B.  Bowser. 
R.  L.  Byrnes,  the  diligent  and  faithful  pastor  of  the  church  at  Brackenridge,  suc- 
ceeded in  enlarging  and  greatly  improving  the  house  of  worship  at  that  place,  at 
a  cost  of  $1,450.00.  On  February  15,  1903,  the  dedicatory  services  were  held, 
S.  G.  Yahn  preaching  in  the  morning,  and  J.  L.  Updegraph  in  the  evening.  A 
very  successful  revival  meeting  was  held  at  Grange,  Jefferson  county,  by  J.  W. 
Huffman  in  the  Winter  of  1902-3.  There  were  sixty-five  converts,  of  which  num- 
ber, on  March  4,  1903,  thirty-five  entered  into  an  organization  of  a  church  of  God. 
They  rented  a  Hall,  but  also  at  once  began  the  work  of  building  a  bethel.  This 
was  completed,  and  was  dedicated  May  8,  1904,  by  S.  G.  Yahn,  Forney  O.  Eakin 
meanwhile  having  become  the  pastor  of  the  new  church.  The  Fairview  church, 
Westmoreland  county,  having  decided  to  build  a  bethel  in  the  village  of  Kecks- 
burg,  began  work  in  the  Summer  of  1904.  Led  by  their  enthusiastic  pastor,  the 
work  made  good  progress,  and  on  August  7th  the  corner-stone  of  a  $4,000.00 
building  was  laid  by  S.  G.  Yahn,  assisted  by  W.  J.  Umstead  and  W.  B.  Elliott. 
The  dedication  took  place  on  New  Year's  day,  1905,  when  Wm.  Harris  Guyer 
officiated.     W.  B.  Elliott  assisted,  while  J.  L.  Updegraph  preached  in  the  evening. 

Successful  work  in  certain  lines  was  accomplished  in  Ohio  during  this  period; 
but  it  was  disappointing  in  its  character  and  extent.  In  1903  the  official  Minutes 
showed  a  decrease  in  membership  in  the  State  of  539,  and  there  was  a  sense  of  de- 
pression among  the  aggressive  ministers  and  churches.  These  were  struggling 
heroically  in  a  number  of  localities,  and  were  rewarded  with  a  fair  measure  of 
success.  A  bethel  built  at  Haysville,  where  A.  C.  Osborn  was  the  pastor,  was  dedi- 
cated June  17,  1900.  J,  A.  Witham  preached  on  the  occasion.  The  two  churches 
at  Canton  having  united,  they  at  once  entered  upon  the  work  of  repairing  and 
beautifying  their  house  of  worship,  led  by  their  assiduous  pastor,  W.  E.  Turner. 
The  rededicatory  services  were  conducted  by  C.  Manchester,  May  27,  1900.  At 
Flat  Rock,  Paulding  county,  a  new  bethel  was  built  under  the  labors  of  S.  S. 
Hunter,  pastor.  It  was  dedicated  by  T.  Koogle,  June  17,  1900.  At  Killbuck,  near 
West  Salem,  under  the  faithful  leadership  of  its  pastor,  A.  C.  Osbom,  the  •church 
repaired  its  house  of  worship,  which  was  dedicated  by  S.  Kline  and  T.  W.  Belling- 
ham  on  September  1  and  2,  1900.  On  June  18,  1901,  the  Standing  Committee 
authorized  T.  Koogle  to  sell  the  church  property  at  New  Washington,  and  the 
Trustees  to  execute  a  deed.  A  church  building  owned  by  the  United  Presbyterians 
at  Belmore,  Putnam  county,  was  bought  by  the  church  at  that  point  in  the  Summer 
of  1902.  W.  P.  Small  was  the  loyal  pastor  and  leader  in  this  enterprise.  T.  Koogle 
officiated  at  the  dedication,  September  14,  1902.  With  W.  P.  Bui-chard  as  pastor, 
the  church  at  Ohio  City  made  needed  repairs  on  its  house  of  worship,  which  was 
reopened  on  May  10,  1913,  J.  F.  Slough  officiating.      The  house  of  worship  at  the 


256  History   of   the   Churches    of   God 

Union  appointment,  Mercer  county,  was  removed  to  a  more  eligible  site,  and  ex- 
tensively repaired,  under  the  labors  of  the  consecrated  pastor,  S.  D.  Harlan.  The 
rededication  took  place  on  July  31,1904,  when  Chas.  H.  Gatchell  preached  the  ser- 
mons. On  the  St.  Joe  Mission,  with  A.  C.  Osborn  as  pastor,  the  house  of  worship 
at  Nettle  Lake  was  dedicated  October  23,  1904.  The  ministers  preaching  on  the 
occasion  were  J.  F.  Slough  and  J.  A.  Witham. 

Two  houses  of  worship  were  dedicated  in  Michigan  during  this  period.  Under 
the  pastoral  labors  of  D.  L.  Wiles  the  bethel  at  New  Haven  Center,  Gratiot  county, 
a  new  stone  edifice  was  built  during  the  Summer  of  1901.  It  was  dedicated  by 
■C,  Manchester  on  December  22,  1901.  The  church  at  Saville  Center,  where  W.  J. 
McNutt  was  the  efficient  pastor,  followed  by  M.  S.  Heinminger,  built  a  bethel  in 
1904,  which  was  dedicated  September  18th,  J.  E.  Moffltt  officiating.  The  work  was 
apparently  contracting,  or  fields  were  consolidated,  as  in  1901  there  were  fourteen 
charges,  which  were  reduced  to  nine  in  1904.  Efforts  to  quicken  the  energies  and 
increase  the  activities  of  churches  and  ministers  were  made;  but  conditions  were 
adverse,  and  small  results  followed.  Funds  were  scarce;  ministers  inadequately 
supported,  and  only  a  small  amount  of  missionary  money  was  received. 

In  the  Indiana  Eldership  there  was  revived  activity  in  certain  forms  of  re- 
ligious endeavor.  There  were,  however,  reports  of  only  two  church  dedications. 
E.  Tatman,  pastor  at  Disko,  reported  a  dedication  at  said  place,  which  took  place 
September  22,  1901.  J.  E.  McColley  preached  the  sermons.  In  1902  Tatman 
was  pastor  at  Akron,  where  a  new  brick  bethel  was  erected.  This  was  dedicated 
by  J.  E.  McColley  on  November  2,  1902.  Annually  the  Eldership  was  assured, 
however,  that  "quite  a  number  were  converted  and  added  to  the  churches  on  the 
different  fields  of  labor;  that  the  churches  are  in  a  fair  condition  spiritually,  and 
that  there  had  been  quite  an  advancement  in  all  lines  of  Church  work."  An  un- 
usual temporary  impetus  was  given  to  the  work  by  two  simultaneous  propositions 
favorably  acted  upon  in  1903,  and  consummated  in  1904.  The  first  was  the  con- 
solidation of  the  Indiana  and  Southern  Indiana  Elderships  into  one  body.  The 
second  was  the  organization  of  "the  Indiana  Eldership  Assembly,"  on  the  general 
principle  of  a  Chautauqua.  It  was  endorsed  by  several  other  Annual  Elderships, 
and  in  its  incipiency  seemed  pregnant  with  good  results.  Its  first  meeting  was 
held  at  Syracuse,  Kosciusko  county,  just  prior  to  the  "first  annual  meeting  of  the 
Indiana  Eldership  of  the  churches  of  God,  united."  It  continued  from  Wednesday, 
September  21,  1904,  to  Sunday,  the  25th.  I.  W.  Markley  was  the  chief  promoter 
of  the  enterprise,  and  arranged  the  program  for  the  first  Assembly,  and  "conduct- 
ed the  meeting  with  signal  success."  "Lectures,  music  and  recitations  constituted 
the  principal  attractions." 

There  was  much  to  interest  and  excite  that  transpired  in  the  Southern  In- 
diana Eldership  in  its  final  semi-decade.  W.  R.  Covert  could  complacently  regard 
himself  as  hero  in  these  events,  including  the  final  consolidation  of  the  Indiana 
and  Southern  Indiana  Elderships  in  19  03-4.  Other  prominent  events,  in  which  he 
was  earnestly  seconded  by  H.  H.  Spiher  and  others,  were  the  receiving  into  the  Eld- 
ership through  action  of  the  Standing  Committee,  February  12,  1900,  of  F.  O. 
Biunpus,  "who  presented  a  regular  license  of  the  Missionary  Baptist  Church,  Junc- 
tion City,  Ky.";  and  also  J.  A.  Manes,  minister  of  "the  General  Baptist  Presby- 
tery of  the  Flat  Creek  Association  of  Indiana."  The  former  was  made  General 
Evangelist  of  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership,  and  the  latter  was  appointed  pastor 
of  the  church  at  Matamoras.  The  most  memorable  event  was  the  final  consumma- 
tion of  a  proposed  union  of  the  Church  of  God,  White  River  Conference,  sometimes 
called  New  Dunkard  Church,  at  Idaville,  White  county,  with  the  Southern  Indiana 
Eldership,  and  the  appointment  of  Covei-t  as  its  pastor.  It  was  comparatively  a 
strong  church,  of  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  members.  On  February  12,  1901, 
it  voted  to  join  the  Eldership.  It  was  an  old  church,  first  organized  in  1844,  and 
was  one  of  a  dozen  similar  organizations  united  in  an  Association  which  as  early 
as  1897  was  almost  unanimous  in  its  action  to  become  a  part  of  the  Southern  In- 
diana Eldership.  But  sentiment  changed,  and  only  the  Idaville  church  came  into 
the  Eldership.  A  lawsuit  followed  to  get  possession  of  the  property,  which  in 
September,  1902,  was  decided  in  favor  of  the  Idaville  church.  A  dedication,  re- 
ported by  R.  M.  Pine,  in  January,  1900,  who  preached  on  the  occasion,  took  place 
at  Fairland,  December  17,  1899.  This  new  bethel  was  built  under  the  labors  of 
Jacob  Jonas,  pastor.  A  new  bethel  was  built  on  Eel  River,  Clay  county,  under  the 
pastoral  labors  of  G.  W,  Miller,  costing  $1,000.00.  It  was  dedicated  in  June,  1903, 
when  H.  H.  Spiher  preached  in  the  morning;   E.  M,  Love,  in  the  afternoon,  and 


General   History 


257 


W.  R.  Covert  in  the  evening.  At  one  time  Mrs.  M.  B.  Woodworth's  influence  domi- 
nated this  Eldership,  and  her  methods,  views  and  practices  largely  prevailed. 
Covert  vigorously  antagonized  her  vagaries;  churches  gathered  under  her  preach- 
ing disintegrated  and  died,  and  her  position  became  untenable.  In  May,  1900,  she 
returned  her  license  to  the  Standing  Committee,  and  resigned  her  membership  in 
the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership. 

Conditions  among  the  churches  in  the  Illinois  Eldership  were  regarded  as  "in 
a  good,  healthy  state."  There  was  "a  spirit  of  progress  and  advancement  through- 
out the  Eldership."  Some  new  church  organizations  were  reported  at  several 
annual  sessions  of  the  Eldership;  but  the  fields  of  labor  do  not  indicate  an  en- 
largement of  the  territory,  as  in  1900  there  were  twenty-one,  and  in  1904,  nine- 
teen. Material  progress  was  indicated  in  the  payment  of  debts  on  houses  or  wor- 
ship, and  also  in  the  new  bethels  which  were  erected.  The  Eldership  had  a 
Church  Extension  Fund,  and  through  this  assisted  some  of  the  general  enterprises. 
Among  these  was  the  project  started  in  1901  to  secure  "a  tent  to  be  used  for  mis- 
sionary campaigning  in  Eldership  territory."  In  1902  an  appropriation  of  $100.00 
was  m^de  out  of  the  Church  Extension  Fund  toward  paying  for  the  tent.  I.  S. 
Richmond  was  given  charge  of  the  matter,  who  was  "to  raise  $200.00  additional 
by  canvassing  the  churches."  He  so  far  succeeded  that  he  announced  his  purpose 
"to  begin  tent  meetings  at  Lodge"  in  the  Spring  of  1903.  The  Y.  P.  S.  C.  B.  had 
"become  a  potent  factor  in  the  upbuilding  of  the  churches  of  God  in  this  Elder- 
ship." It  held  its  fifth  annual  Convention  of  two  days  in  June,  1904,  at  Martins- 
ville. In  the  Winter  of  1903-4  the  great  catastrophe  whereby  "from  five  to  six 
hundred  men,  women  and  children  were  burned,  crushed,  suffocated  and  trampled 
to  death"  in  the  destruction  of  the  Iroquois  Theater,  Chicago,  intensely  excited  re- 
ligious circles  all  through  the  State,  as  it  shocked  the  whole  country.  The  pulpits, 
as  well  as  the  press,  discussed  the  awful  calamity.  It  was  given  a  religious  turn, 
as  some  ministers  insisted,  in  a  somewhat  ambiguous  manner,  that  "the  fire  that 
burned  these  six  hundred  people  was  God's  fire."  As  such  catastrophes  so  often 
called  out  skeptical  sentiments,  the  pulpit  combatted  these,  answering  the  ques- 
tion, "Is  there  a  God?"  This  perhaps  especially  in  view  of  the  fact  stated,  that 
"nine-tenths  of  the  victims  of  this  horror  were  women  and  children."  Can  Provi- 
dence be  justified?  Is  there  a  reasonable  explanation  of  such  catastrophes?  These 
and  kindred  questions  the  pulpit  had  to  answer  to  protect  the  interests  of  the 
church  and  to  fortify  believers  against  infidelity.  They  resolved  themselves  into 
the  age-old  problem  in  theology:  "Is  it  possible  for  finite  man  to  construct  a 
theodicy  which  will  justify  the  divine  providence  by  reconciling  the  existence  of 
evil  with  the  goodness  and  severity  of  God?"  Kant  said  it  is  impossible.  The 
mission  at  Mendota  having  failed,  the  property  was  sold  and  the  proceeds  covered 
into  the  Eldership  treasury  by  the  agent.  The  church  at  Martinsville,  under  the 
pastorate  of  J.  W,  Kingston,  built  a  new  bethel,  costing  $4,000.00.  It  was  dedi- 
cated November  11,  1900,  W.  N.  Yates  preaching  morning  and  evening.  The 
church  at  Mt.  Pleasant,  two  miles  from  Charleston,  organized  about  1875,  con- 
cluded to  abandon  the  house  built  in  1876,  and  erect  a  new  bethel  a  mile  nearer 
town.  With  O.  B.  Huston  as  pastor,  they  succeeded  in  building  a  house  at  a  cost 
of  $3,000.00,  which  J.  Bernard  dedicated  November  4,  1902.  The  new  bethel  at 
Melrose,  Clark  county,  where  W.  H.  Cross  was  pastor,  was  set  apart  to  the  worship 
of  God  on  September  20,  1903. 

The  spirit  of  the  Iowa  ministry  was  aggressive,  but  not  so  hopeful,  during 
this  period.  With  the  churches  they  labored  diligently,  but  under  rather  dis- 
heartening conditions,  to  hold  fast  what  they  had,  and  if  possible  extend  the 
borders.  But  while  their  zeal  was  rewarded  in  a  few  instances,  in  other  places 
the  work  languished.  There  was  considerable  decrease,  according  to  statistics,  in 
the  total  membership  of  the  churches.  Some  four  or  more  churches  became  ex- 
tinct, while  others  were  classed  as  "non-supporting."  Yet  earnest  efforts,  were 
made  to  secure  funds  to  support  the  work,  and  some  missionary  labors  in  Minne- 
sota resulted  in  the  organization  of  at  least  one  church.  There  were  elements  of 
discord  which  hindered  the  progress  of  the  work.  The  most  serious  of  these  was 
the  missionary  controversy,  which  became  somewhat  acute  as  the  time  approached 
for  the  holding  of  the  General  Eldership  in  1902.  The  embers  of  some  of  the  old 
controversies  were  also  still  alive.  Among  these  was  the  question  of  unferment- 
ed  wine'  for  Communion  purposes,  to  which  the  Eldership  was  committed.  The 
churches  were  not  all  in  sympathy  with  this  view,  and  insisted  on  using  fermented 

C.   H.— 10 


'258  History    of   the    Churches   of    God 

wine.  Several  pastors  resigned  their  appointments,  and  were  sustained  by  the 
Standing  Committee,  which  declared  the  churches  to  be  in  error.  To  secure 
better  co-operation  and  inspire  greater  activity,  every  field  of  labor  in  the  Elder- 
ship was  to  be  visited  at  least  once  during  each  year  by  some  member  of  the 
Standing  Committee.  Much  interest  was  awakened  in  Des  Moines  county  because 
of  the  semi-centennial  services  of  the  beginning  of  Church  work  in  said  county. 
In  1850  William  Vance  removed  into  said  county  from  West  Pennsylvania. 
Among  other  places  where  he  began  preaching  was  Harmony,  largely  a  settlement 
of  families  from  Westmoreland  county.  Pa.  There  he  succeeded  in  organizing  a 
church  on  April  14,  1851.  On  April  14,  1901,  he  preached  the  memorial  sermon, 
from  John  xii.  26.     A  new  town  called  Royal,  in  Clay  county,  was  laid  out  about 

1900.  It  was  within  the  territory  in  which  Conrad  Fatland  was  laboring.  With 
the  faithful  co-operation  of  the  brethren  and  friends  he  succeeded  in  building  a 
house  of  worship  in  Royal,  costing  $810.00.  It  was  dedicated  on  June  2,  1901, 
by  G.  W.  Elliott.  The  church  at  Mt.  Ayer,  served  as  pastor  by  D.  Long,  some 
years  before  had  suffered  the  loss  by  fire  of  their  house  of  worship.      In  February, 

1901,  they  resolved  to  begin  gathering  funds  to  rebuild,  as  the  rented  house  of 
worship  could  no  longer  be  had.  They  received  permission  to  canvass  othei 
churches  for  assistance.  The  house  of  worship  at  Greenmound,  where  D.  Long 
was  pastor,  was  dedicated  December  8,  1901.  J.  C.  Kepford  preached  on  the 
occasion.  In  their  misfortune,  the  church  at  Pleasant  Grove,  Louisa  county,  with 
their  pastor,  A.  B.  Chaniberlin,  manifested  the  sum  of  heroic  qualities,  when  the 
day  after  their  bethel  was  destroyed  by  fire  they  resolved  to  begin  at  once  the 
work  of  rebuilding.  The  calamity  befell  them  November  13,  1904,  and  on  August 
13,  1905,  their  new  bethel,  costing  $2,000.00,  was  solemnly  dedicated  to  the  wor- 
ship of  Almighty  God.      L.  F.  Chaniberlin  preached  from  1  Kings  ix.  3-5. 

In  Nebraska  there  was  but  slow  growth  during  this  period.  In  some  sections 
of  the  territory  no  progress  was  made.  The  spiritual  condition  of  most  of  the 
churches  was  good.  There  was  an' evident  feeling  of  spiritual  heaviness,  of  heart- 
sinking,  at  the  deferred  realization  of  hopes  cherished.  Means  were  limited,  so 
that  missionary  enterprises  either  suffered,  or  could  not  be  entered  upon.  The 
indomitable  missionary,  A.  Wilson,  went  to  the  Pacific  Coast.  The  Board  of  Mis- 
sions of  the  General  Eldership  failed  to  keep  any  missionaries  in  the  territory  of 
the  Eldership.  The  fields  of  labor  varied  from  eleven  in  1901,  to  seven  in  1904. 
Thi«  in  itself  does  not  mean  a  contracting  of  the  territory,  but  a  rearrangement 
of  charges  so  as  to  supply  all  the  churches.  Often  single  churches  were  supplied 
in  this  way  by  ministers  who  largely  supported  themselves.  Opportunities  for 
successful  work  abounded.  The  fields  were  inviting  the  reapers.  Great  things 
were  possible.  But  the  men,  and  more  especially  the  means  to  support  the  men, 
were  wanting.  The  machinery  of  the  Eldership  was  adequate,  and  was  well 
worked.  Funds  were  instituted;  but  the  receipts  did  not  flow  in.  There  were 
seven  different  funds  in  19  01,  but  the  total  amount  of  money  in  them  was  $239. 
An  assessment  was  regularly  niade,  one-fourth  for  the  Contingent  Fund  and 
three-fourths  for  the  Missionary  Fund.  The  aggregate  was  as  low  as  $66.00. 
There  was  all  possible  activity  in  every  department  of  healthy  church  work. 
There  was  an  Eldership  Woman's  Missionary  Society,  whose  ambition  was  to  or- 
ganize a  society  in  every  church.  The  standing  and  influence  of  the  Churclj  in 
the  State  were  excellent.  Perhaps  an  indication  of  this  may  be  .seen  in  the 
unusual  fact  that  in  January,  1903,  a  former  Catholic  priest,  Leo  B.  Vander 
Haden,  and  a  member  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  W.  R.  Hodges,  applied  to  the  Standing 
Committee  for  Certificates  of  Ordination,  which  were  granted.  The  forme'r  was 
at  once  "appointed  to  do  evangelistic  work  in  the  territory  of  the  Nebraska  Eldet- 
ship,"  and  the  latter  "to  do  evangelistic  work  wherever  he  finds  an  opportunity 
to  do  good  within  the  bounds  of  this  Eldership.'*  Earlier,  in  July,  1902,  tWo 
churches  which  "were  formerly  allied  with  the  Free  Baptist  Church,"  reorganized 
"under  the  name,  polity  and  doctrines  of  the  churches  of  God,"  and  "asked  to  be- 
come part  of  the  Nebraska  Eldership."  These  were  the  church  at  Mills,  Key- 
apaha  county;^  with  a  membership  of  twenty-nine,  and  the  church  at  New  HoptK. 
same  county^  with  a  membership  of  twenty-two.  .  With  these  churches  came!  three 
applicants  recommended  for  license — G.  W.  Snodgi-ass,  George  Grahatn  and  Sist^f 
ly.  S,  Trout.,  These  applications  were  favorably  considered,  and  the  cliurtheS  w§l*e 
to  i)e  under  the  pastoral  care  of  these  licentiates.  During' these  five  years  th^ 
work  w,a§  carried  forward,  ip  the  following*  coiinties:  Polk,  Richardson,  ^^C-^ 
Phersbn,  Gage,  Cu'stef;  Lincoln-,  Logaiiirii^yapi^ha,  Holt,  Clay  and  Saline.  n.^' 


Ge^neral  History  259 

The  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  employed  missionaries  in 
Kansas  each  year  during  1900-1905.  Especially  was  Ft.  Scott  well  provided  for, 
as  O.  A.  Newlin  was  the  alert  and  earnest  missionary  at  that  point  from  1900  to 
1903.  Several  other  missionaries  labored  on  other  fields.  A  hopeful  spirit  per- 
vaded the  Eldership  and  churches;  but  funds  were  inadequate  to  do  the  best 
permanent  work.  In  1902  the  eleven  pastors  received  only  $882.00  from  their 
fields.  But  in  1904  the  amount  had  increased  to  $1,420.00.  While  the  number 
of  church  organizations  increased  from  thirteen  in  1902,  to  fifteen  in  1904,  the 
number  of  "preaching  points"  fell  from  nineteen  to  fifteen.  There  was  a  remark- 
able falling  off  in  these  two  years  on  three  other  items  in  the  statistics.  Conver- 
sions in  1902,  233;  in  1904,  71.  Fellowshiped  in  1902,  425;  in  1904,  85.  Total 
membership  in  1902,  675;  in  1904,  575.  Though  results  do  not  indicate  it,  there 
was  commendable  activity  among  the  sisters,  as  they  maintained  a  State  W.  M.  S.. 
and  sought  to  have  an  organization  in  every  church.  Still  one  of  the  enthusiastic 
pastors,  at  the  close  of  the  year  1904,  exclaimed:  "Praise  God  for  the  growth 
of  the  Kansas  Eldership!"  This  more  in  view  of  the  additions  to  the  Roll  of 
Ministers,  which  was  full  of  promise  had  there  been  means  available  to  keep 
them  at  work.  Material  evidences  of  prosperity  were  not  wanting.  The  bethel 
built  at  Englevale  in  1891  had  not  been  dedicated  because  of  a  debt  resting  upon 
it.  This  was  provided  for,  and  on  February  17,  1901,  the  house  was  dedicated 
by  O.  A.  Newlin.  This  good  work  was  accomplished  under  the  labors  of  the 
spirited  pastor,  W.  E.  Tuttle.  The  church  at  Riley  having  "disbanded,"  the 
Standing  Committee  on  September  14,  1901,  ordered  the  property  to  be  sold. 
This  was  also  the  case  with  a  church  in  Ness  county,  and  on  December  19,  1902. 
the  Standing  Committee  ordered  the  bethel  to  be  sold,  and  the  proceeds  to  be 
used  toward  building  a  house  of  worship  in  Pratt  county.  At  Maple  Grove,  under 
the  pastorate  of  A.  J.  Leonard,  a  new  house  of  worship  replaced  one  destroyed 
by  fire  in  1901.  It  was  dedicated  by  O.  A.  Newlin  on  February  23,  1902,  with 
"all  bills  paid  and  receipted."  W.  E.  Tuttle  and  A.  Miller  conducted  an  eight- 
week  revival  at  Mulberry  after  New  Year's,  1902,  and  organized  a  church  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty  members.  The  building  of  a  bethel  was  at  once  determined 
upon,  and  the  corner-stone  was  laid  March  8,  1902,  by  O.  A.  Newlin.  The  house 
was  completed,  at  a  cost  of  $1,300.00,  and  was  dedicated  by  Newlin  and  J.  F. 
Thomas  on  August  17,  1902.  While  the  white  church  at  Topeka  had  become  ex- 
tinct, and  the  mission  among  the  colored  people  of  the  city,  conducted  by 
Elizabeth  Dupree,  did  not  prove  a  success,  in  the  Summer  of  1902  Missionary 
Dupree  collected  money,  bought  and  set  up  a  tent,  and  began  work  anew.  She 
succeeded  in  organizing  a  small  church  of  white  people,  who  were  "willing  to  have 
a  colored  woman  for  a  preacher."  Here,  as  in  some  other  sections,  the  "second- 
work  agitators  made  considerable  trouble." 

The  Kansas  Eldership  assumed  urisdiction  over  Colorado,  but  it  was  not  able 
to  do  much  work  there,  not  being  financially  strong  enough  to  care  for  the  fields 
in  Kansas.  The  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  came  to  its  assistance. 
and  in  1900  appointed  P.  L.  French  missionary  to  Colorado.  In  1901  it  appointed 
French  to  the  territory  around  Parachute,  and  G.  E.  Konip  to  eastern  Colorado  and 
western  Kansas,  Komp  also  being  the  appointee  of  the  Kansas  Eldership.  In 
1904  W.  T.  Tui-pin  was  appointed  "Missionary  in  Colorado"  by  the  Illinois  Elder- 
ship, and  also  by  the  General  Board  of  Missions.  H.  S.  AVayne,  Parachute,  Colo., 
secured  the  presence  and  labors  of  A.  Wilson,  of  Nebraska,  in  the  Spring  of  1900. 
He  had  a  revival  two  and  one-half  miles  south  of  Parachute,  and  organized  a  small 
church.  French  reached  there  in  October,  1900,  and  had  successful  meetings  at 
the  same  point  and  at  Rifle.  When  Komp  arrived  at  Clover  Meadow  in  1901,  he 
found  a  church  there  of  forty  members,  worshiping  in  a  school-house.  In  Feb- 
ruary, 1901,  he  labored  at  Lamar,  where  a  small  church  was  formed.  An  ap- 
pointment was  opened  at  May  Valley,  three  miles  from  Clover  Meadow,  so  that 
when  in  1902  W.  T.  Turpin  took  charge  he  had  "four  regular  appointments." 
The  Kansas  Eldership  in  1902  appointed  W.  T.  Broad  to  Parachute.  The  small 
churches  in  Colorado  were  quite  active,  and  organized  Sunday-schools  and  C.  E. 
Societies.  There  was  a  surplus  of  ministers  and  hopeful  openings,  but  the  funds 
were  not  available  to  properly  sustain  the  work. 

Missouri  was  still  in  the  main  a  mission  field  during  this  period.  This  the 
General  Board  of  Missions  fully  realized,  and  it  did  all  it  reasonably  could  to  help 
the  Eldership  to  care  for  the  work.  It  had  from  one  to  three  ministers  in  its  em- 
ploy in  the  State  during  these  five  years.     J.  F.  Thomas  was  the  missionary  in 


26o  History   of    the    Churches    oe    God 

south-western  Missouri  in  1900  to  1903.  G.  L.  Bowman  was  in  northern  Missouri 
In  1900-1.  In  1902,  W.  W.  Richmond  was  appointed  to  Sullivan  county,  and  in 
1903  to  north-eastern  Missouri,  with  J.  W.  Primrose  to  Clinton  and  DeKalb 
counties.  In  1903  G.  L.  Chapman  began  mission  work  under  the  General  Board 
and  continued  during  1904  and  beyond.  He  had  the  true  missionary  spirit  from 
the  beginning;  is  earnest,  active  and  aggressive,  and  intensely  devoted  to  the  pro- 
gress of  the  cause  in  Missou-ri.  In  1904  the  General  Board  sent  him  to  the 
southern  part  of  the  State.  Of  a  sanguine  disposition,  there  were  times  when  he 
anticipated  the  future  with  some  apprehensions,  as  when  in  an  article  in  1902  he 
viewed  largely  the  dark  side  of  the  question  of  "What  shall  be  the  Progress  and 
U^estiny  of  the  Missouri  Eldership"?  The  work  did  not  seem  so  prosperous  then; 
yet  the  missionaries  were  accomplishing  some  good.  A  few  new  churches  had 
been  organized  by  Thomas  in  1900,  and  up  to  the  Eldership  in  1901  he  reported 
three  new  organizations.  A  spirit  of  aggressive  work  pervaded  the  active  min- 
istry, and  at  times  it  was  inspired  with  new  hope,  and  made  earnest  resolves  to  do 
greater  things.  In  1903  a  new  church  was  received  at  the  Dover  appointment. 
Many  conversions  were  reported  in  1904,  and  there  was  commendable  activity  in 
the  missionary  cause.  Satan  vexed  the  churches  to  some  extent  during  1903-4, 
when  even  one  of  the  ministers  "pulled  off  from  the  Church,"  and  sowed  the  seeds 
of  discord  and  division.  While  they  suffered  some  loss,  peace,  harmony  and  co- 
operation were  restored. 

The  concensus  of  opinion  of  ministers  in  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territory,  and 
of  visiting  brethren,  was  that  there  was  a  splendid  opportunity  for  Church  work, 
and  that  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  were  readily  received.  There  were  com- 
plaints, voiced  by  B.  Ober,  Oklahoma,  that  the  territory  was  too  much  neglected, 
especially  by  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership;  while  others  prayed 
and  pleaded  for  ministers  to  come  to  Oklahoma  and  build  up  the  Church.  But 
the  Board  could  not  answer  all  calls.  In  1901  it  appointed  J.  D.  Shoemaker  mis- 
sionary in  the  Indian  Territory,  and  J.  C.  Caswell  in  Oklahoma.  In  1902,  C.  H. 
Ballinger  was  assigned  to  the  Indian  Territory  not  included  in  the  Kansas  Elder- 
ship, and  P.  L.  French  to  the  Kansas  part.  In  1903  H.  W.  Allen  was  the  Board's 
appointee  to  western  Oklahoma,  and  Ballinger  to  eastern  Oklahoma.  Allen  was 
also  appointed  by  the  Missouri  Eldership.  The  work  at  Bartlesville,  I.  T.,  had 
assumed  such  proportions  by  1904  that  French  was  appointed  by  the  General 
Board  to  that  point;  Allen  to  western  Oklahoma,  and  Ballinger  and  J.  W.  Bums 
to  the  Indian  Territory.  The  Board  authorized  its  Secretary,  S.  G.  Yahn,  in  1904, 
to  visit  this  part  of  its  vast  territory,  and  in  June  4,  1904,  he  held  a  conference 
with  missionaries  French,  Allen,  Bums,  Richmond  and  others  at  Bartlesville,  to 
discuss  missionary  problems  and  plans.  By  this  time  the  church  at  Bartles- 
ville had  completed  its  new  bethel,  at  a  cost  of  $3,200.00,  under  French's  labors, 
which  was  dedicated  June  5th,  S.  G.  Yahn  officiating.  Bartlesville  was  a  thriving 
town  of  2,500  population.  Allen,  Ober  and  others  were  enthusiastic  in  their 
praise  of  Oklahoma,  and  strongly  urged  colonization  of  Church  families,  as  "now 
is  the  time  to  settle  in  Oklahoma;  now  is  the  Church's  opportunity  to  possess  the 
country."  W.  R.  Covert  had  been  called  to  Bartlesville,  a  few  years  prior  to  the 
building  of  the  bethel  there,  and  had  a  successful  debate  with  a  Baptist  minister, 
which  gave  the  cause  in  general  quite  an  impetus.  But  in  western  Oklahoma 
Warner  and  his  "Come-outers"  were  making  the  churches  of  God  considerable 
trouble  during  this  period.  "They  work  under  the  false  guise  of  Church  of  God 
ministers,"  says  Ober,  and  bring  the  doctrines  of  the  Church,  and  its  name,  into 
disrepute.  To  get  into  the  towns  where  the  Church  had  no  houses  of  worship,  the 
Standing  Committee  in  October,  1902,  decided  to  "secure  a  tabernacle"  for  use 
"in  the  Indian  Territory."  E.  M.  Kirkpatrick  and  George  Kirk  were  appointed  to 
"receive  money  and  purchase  the  tabernacle,"  which  was  to  be  "in  charge  of  the 
Standing  Committee  for  the  Indian  Territory."  In  view  of  the  apparently  en- 
forced policy  of  expansion  versus  concentration  in  frontier  Church  work,  the 
question  of  J.  F.  Thomas,  in  July,  1904,  is  significant:  "What  is  the  use  for  us 
to  want  more  territory  when  we  do  not  take  care  of  the  territory  we  already 
have?" 

Limited  results  followed  the  labors  of  ministers  and  churches  in  Arkansas 
and  Texas  from  1900  to  1905.  Two  missionaries  were  kept  in  the  field  by  the 
General  Board  each  year,  one  among  the  white  people  and  one  among  the  colored 
people.  These  were  J.  H.  Whittington,  white,  in  1901  and  1903;  J.  M.  Howard, 
white,  in  1902,  and  D.  S.  Summit,  white,  in  1904.     The  missionaries  among  the 


J 


General   History  261 

black  people  were  J.  D.  DeGraftenreed  in  1901,  and  in  19  04;  M.  Bonds  in  1902, 
and  W.  A.  Daniels  in  1903.  Howard  reported  the  organization  of  a  new  church 
in  1903.  There  were  revivals  at  various  points,  with  accessions  to  the  churches. 
The  Arkansas  Eldership  (colored)  and  its  churches  were  not  favorable  to  women 
as  pastors.  In  1902,  when  Elizabeth  Dupree,  of  Topeka,  Kans.,  went  to  Arkansas 
to  labor  among  her  race,  the  church  in  Logan  county  rejected  her  "on  the  ground 
of  being  a  woman."  The  Standing  Committee  not  only  sustained  the  church  in 
this  action;  but  it  went  further,  and  declared,  "that  Sister  Dupi-ee  shall  not  be 
pastor  of  any  of  the  churches  on  the  same  ground."  Women,  however,  were 
licensed,  and  were  also  appointed  missionaries.  The  Texas  and  Arkansas  Elder- 
ship had  some  where  about  twenty  or  upward  church  organizations.  It  was  still 
doing  work  in  Texas,  where  J.  D.  Henson  was  missionary  part  of  the  time.  The 
condition  of  the  Eldership  was  regarded  in  1903  as  "at  least  hopeful."  The 
number  of  appointments  varied,  being  frequently  rearranged,  and  ranging  from 
nine  to  fourteen.  In  the  colored  Eldership  exigencies  required  frequent  changes 
of  fields  of  labor,  so  that  churches  might  be  supplied  with  preaching  by  ministers 
largely  dependent  upon  themselves  for  their  livelihood.  They  varied  from  four  to 
six.  Considerable  work  was  done  in  the  Indian  Territory,  where  one,  two  and 
three  ministers  labored  at  different  periods.     . 

In  the  Eldership  on  the  Pacific  coast  slow  progress  was  made.  The  churches 
did  little  more  than  hold  their  own.  There  was  considerable  activity  in  mission- 
ary work,  as  some  societies  were  organized,  and  an  Eldership  W.  M.  S.  was  pro- 
vided for.  The  territory  was  exceedingly  large,  and  churches  were  scattered,  so 
that  fields  of  labor  were  often  rearranged,  and  numbered  as  high  as  twelve,  with 
two  in  California.  Troubles  originated  in  the  latter  part  of  this  period,  and  one 
church  seceded,  and  several  ministers  were  involved  in  serious  dissensions.  A. 
Wilson  was  the  missionary  of  the  General  Board  of  Missions  from  1900  to  1904, 
devoting  much  of  his  time  to  the  work  at  and  near  Salem,  Oregon.  He  was  strong 
in  his  convictions  of  truth,  and  an  uncompromising  advocate  and  defender  of  the 
churches  of  God  and  their  polity  and  doctrines. 

Some  mission  work  was  done  in  isolated  localities  in  three  different  States 
in  the  northwest.  Families  of  the  Church  emigrated  to  points  in  Idaho,  where 
A.  W.  Reeder  made  his  home  as  early  as  19  01.  The  Advocate  was  "the  only 
Church  of  God  preacher"  he  had  seen  in  the  State.  He  strongly  urged  the 
colonization  of  Church  families  in  the  section  where  he  lived.  Later  J.  C.  Caswell 
located  at  Priest  River,  Idaho,  and  began  preaching.  He  also  began  work  at 
Newport,  where  he  held  a  special  meeting.  He  found  it  "hard  work  to  build  up 
the  Church  of  God  in  Idaho."  "We  are  progressing  slowly."  "People  do  not 
receive  the  word  as  readily  here  as  in  the  South  and  East."  J.  L.  IVJcClanahan 
located  at  Juliaetta,  Idaho,  and  did  some  preaching.  He  was  more  sanguine,  even 
expressing  his  "hope  for  an  Eldership  in  Idaho."  Families  of  the  Church  in 
Iowa  and  Colorado  located  at  Payette,  Idaho,  about  this  time,  and  began  church 
work.  In  1902  W.  E.  Wolfe,  of  the  Michigan  Eldership,  made  Monitowac,  Wis., 
his  headquarters,  and  began  preaching,  having  secured  at  different  times  rhe 
Presbyterian  and  the  Disciple  houses  of  worship.  His  Eldership  authorized  him 
"to  work  up  a  work  in  Wisconsin."  When  he  advocated  feet-washing  the  doors  of 
these  houses  of  worship  were  closed  against  him.  He  regarded  Monitowac  "a 
good  place  for  missionary  work."  In  Minnesota  mission  work  was  begun  by  G.  W. 
Elliott,  of  the  Iowa  Eldership,  which  appointed  him  State  Missionary.  Families  of 
Iowa,  which  were  members  of  the  church  of  God  at  Alice  in  1903,  located  at  May- 
nard,  Minn.  There  Elliott  had  a  regular  appointment  in  the  Presbyterian  house 
of  worship.  When  he  proposed  to  organize  a  church,  after  a  revival  service  at 
which  "twenty-two  professed  saving  faith  in  Christ,"  "the  Presbyterian  minister 
in  charge  refused  us  his  church  to  organize  in,  or  to  preach  any  longer  in  it." 
They  retired  to  "Brother  Real's  house  and  completed  our  organization."  This  on 
the  evening  of  January  24,  1904.  They  at  once  made  arrangements  to  begin  the 
work  of  building  a  bethel,  and  by  March  1st  had  about  $500.00  pledged  for  that 
purpose.  In  the  Fall  of  1904  this  church  was,  upon  petition,  received  into  the 
Iowa  Eldership. 

The  famine  in  India,  in  view  of  the  missionaries  and  mission  interests  of  the 
General  Eldership,  deeply  affected  the  churches.  The  missionaries  were  in  no 
immediate  danger;  but  the  natives  in  their  district  suffered  to  quite  an  extent. 
What  would   our  small  gifts  be   among  these  thousands?      Nevertheless,   during 


262  History    of   tiik    Churches    of    God 

the  Summer  and  Fair  of  1900,  through  The  Advocate,  nearly  $1,000.00  were  se- 
cured for  this  purpose. 

Public  debates  had  become  almost  a  discarded  mode  of  defending  truth.  But 
two  are  on  record  during  this  period  in  which  ministers  of  the  Church  of  God 
participated.  Both  were  naturally  disputatious,  and  rather  invited  controversy. 
The  first  was  held  at  North  Middleton,  Cumberland  county.  Pa.,  and  began  at  10 
a.  m.,  October  18,  1900,  between  W.  Palmer,  pastor  of  the  Plainfield  circuit,  and 
VV.  Kiilght,  pastor  of  the  Church  of  the  Free  People,  Strattenville,  Clarion  county. 
Pa.  Two  propositions  were  debated,  the  first  affirmed  by  Palmer,  and  the  second, 
by  Knight.  These  were:  "The  church  of  God  authorized  by  Jesus  Christ,  and  taught 
by  his  Apostles,  was  a  man-made,  organized  church."  "The  Christian  ordinances, 
water  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  so-called,  are  Jewish  ordinances,  and  are 
abolished."  The  second,  was  held  at  Bartlesville,  Ind.  Ter.,  between  W.  R. 
Coveit,  of  the  Church  of  God,  and  C.  B.  Grady,  Missionary  Baptist  Church.  The 
debate  began  on  December  11,  1902,  and  was  to  continue  not  less  than  nine 
evenings.  Four  propositions  were  agreed  upon,  the  first  and  third  affirmed  by 
Covert;  the  second  and  fourth,  by  Grady.  These  were:  1.  "That  the  churches 
of  God,  with  which  I  am  in  fellowship,  are  most  essentially  identical  with  the 
churches  of  God  founded  by  Christ  and  the  Apostles,  in  name,  ordinances,  teach- 
ings and  government,  according  to  the  teachings  of  the  New  Testament,  or  word 
of  God,  than  the  Missionary  Baptist  churches  are."  2.  "That  the  Church  I  am 
identified  with,  known  in  history  as  the  Missionary  Baptist  Church,  is  scriptural 
in  faith  and  practice,  and  is  the  church  founded  by  Jesus  Christ  and  his  Apostles." 
3.  "The  washing  of  the  saints'  feet  is  a  church  ordinance,  instituted  by  Christ  as 
such,  and  ought  to  be  observed  by  all  the  saints,  or  churches  of  God."  4.  "That 
a  man  who  has  been  regenerated,  or  born  again,  will  not,  and  can  not,  be  finally 
and  everlastingly  lost."  The  debate  was  called  "The  Missionary  Baptists' 
Waterloo." 

While  "controversies"  were  forbidden  in  the  columns  of  The  Advocate,  there 
was  quite  a  good  deal  of  argumentative  or  dialectic  discussion.  It  kept  the 
atmosphere  pure,  and  served  to  confirm  the  faith  of  believer's  in  the  distinctive 
doctrines  of  the  churches  of  God.  Some  questions  were  resuscitated  periodically, 
and  discussed  by  new  men,  and  sometimes  from  new  view-points  and  fuller  knowl- 
edge of  facts.  This  was  true  with  the  various  phases  of  the  temperance  question, 
local  option  and  prohibition,  as  these  problems  in  social  and  civic  relations  came 
before  the  people,  as  in  1901,  when  local  option  was  agitated;  in  1903  when  the 
anti-saloon  question  received  a  fresh  impulse  because  of  the  National  Anti-Saloon 
Convention,  and  prohibition  in  1904,  when  it  was  a  live  issue  in  Congress  and  be- 
fore the  American  people  as  to  the  extent  prohibitory  legislation  should  be  applied 
to  Government  buildings,  the  Capitol,  immigrant  stations,  forts.  Soldiers'  Homes, 
Hawaii,  interstate  traffic,  the  Indians,  Alaska,  and  the  Pacific  and  Philippine 
Islands.  Likewise  the  subjects  of  the  Federation  of  Churches,  the  Church  of 
God  not  a  sect,  baptism  and  the  remission  of  sins,  born  of  water,  order  of  the 
ordinances,  and  their  private  observance;  the  mourners'  bench,  sanctification,  the 
millennium,  imposition  of  hands,  the  scriptural  authority  for  Elderships,  General 
Eldership  Church  polity,  and  authority  of  said  body;  church  discipline,  faith-heal- 
ing, the  so-called  second-work,  old  landmarks,  and  a  number  of  others  were  dis- 
cussed often  by  new  men,  or  as  live  issues  in  certain  sections  of  the  territory  of 
the  General  Eldership.  From  1902  to  1905  some  of  these  questions  became  more 
practical  and  vital  by  reason  of  the  relation  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  organized  in  1890 
toward  the  General  Eldership  and  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  organized  in  19  03  to  take  its 
place. 

Wider  differences  on  doctrinal  questions  began  to  develop  with  this  genera- 
tion of  ministers;  yet  not  on  such  points,  nor  of  such  a  character,  as  to  disturb 
the  harmony  of  the  churches.  The  reasons  were  evident.  Mainly  they  were 
environment,  intellectual  training  and  wider  acquaintance  with  scientific,  literary 
and  theological  literature.  Having  no  published  system  of  theology,  ministers 
made  selections  of  standard  works  according  to  their  tastes,  or  under  divergent 
influences.  Many  also  acquired  their  theological  knowledge  from  other  and  un- 
reliable sources.  But  standard  works  on  theology  differ  radically  on  some  doc- 
trines, and  so  disagreements  were  to  be  expected  among  ministers  who  had  been 
careful  in  their  selection  of  text-books.  Neither  reason,  nor  the  Scriptures  inter- 
preted by  human  minds,  proves  an  infallible  and  uniform  guide.  It  was  but 
reasonable,  therefore,  that  on  such  a  subject  as  the  vicarious  atonement  of  Christ, 


'  General  History  263 

so  recondite,  so  hidden  from  ordinary  and  easy  perception  and  intelligence,  dis- 
putations should  arise. '  The  theory  of  the  atonement  prevalent  among  the  min- 
isters of  the  (ihiirches  of  God  had  always  been  that  advocated  by  C  Price  in  a 
lengthy  discussion  of  the  subject  in  1900.  He  defined  the  "vicarious  atonement" 
to  mean,  that  "Christ  suffered  the  penalty  of  the  broken  law,  and  made  a 
vicarious  atonement  for  sin  by  suffering  in  our  place  and  stead."  He  gave  fifteen 
reasons  in  proof  of  this  doctrine.  Prom  this  view,  traditional  in  the  Church, 
others  began  to  dissent.  This  is  true  in  all  Churches.  No  doctrine  of  the 
reconciling  work  of  Christ  has  ever  yet  been  developed  that  can  be  said  to  have  re- 
ceived the  consent  of  the  Christian  world.  Those  opposed  to  Price's  position  con- 
ceded that  the  idea  of  expiation,  and  of  penal  substitution,  lies  on  the  face  of 
Scripture;  but  that  this  was  not  the  true  meaning  and  method  of  reconciliation. 
The  "vicarious"  nature  of  salvation  through  Christ  they  did  not  deny;  but  only 
that  to  interpret  it  to  mean  that  Christ  stood  in  the  sinner's  place,  had  his  sins 
imputed  to  him,  and  became  legally  guilty,  and  was  punished  accordingly,  thSy 
repudiated.  This  was  the  vital  point  in  the  discussion,  and  it  did  not  aim  at  any 
further  attempt  at  the  solution  of  a  problem  which  has  bafiied  the  wisest 
theologians  in  all  the  ages. 

In  1900,  and  again  in  1903,  the  mooted  question  of  an  "invisible"  church 
was  taken  up  by  different  writers.  The  discussion  grew  out  of  a  question 
answered  editorially,  in  which  it  was  requested  that  an  explanation  be  given  of  the 
meaning  and  object  of  "the  right  hand  of  fellowship."  The  answer  made  a  clear 
and  absolute  distinction  between  the  "visible"  and  the  "invisible"  church,  and 
maintained  that  of  the  latter  a  person  becomes  a  constituent  part  by  reason  of  the 
new  birth,  and  that  in  it  are  included  all  true  believers.  That  the  former  is  an 
external  organization,  of  which  one  becomes  a  member  by  official  action  of  a  local 
eldership.  And  that  this  distinction  is  recognized  in  the  Scriptures,  though  the 
terms  do  not  occur.  Winebrenner  was  quoted  against  this  view,  though  it  was 
really  an  argument  of  silence,  deduced  from  his  characterization  of  the  church  as 
possessing  "visibility."  A  singular  and  pathetic  coincidence  marked  the  ending  of 
this  discussion,  in  that  on  May  13,  1903,  an  article  from  the  pen'of  W.  P.  Small, 
Ohio  Eldership,  appeared  in  opposition,  and  on  May  20,  1903,  his  death  was  an- 
nounced. 

Whether  the  sin  of  "plagiarism"  was  more  common  in  those  days,  or  the 
church's  conscience  more  sensitive,  there  were  repeated  discussions  of  it.  In 
1900  and  in  1902  the  evil  was  severely  animadverted  upon,  and  the  moral  de- 
generacy of  guilty  ministers  held  up  to  reprobation.  That  even  "the  world  has 
indulged  a  universal  sneer  at  the  church  for  tolerating  such  immoralities  in  its 
ministry  and  members"  was  affirmed.  The  church  was  called  upon  "for  its  own 
vindication,  and  the  highest  interests  of  its  adherents,"  "to  make  the  basis  of  this 
sneer  absolutely  false,"  by  repudiating  the  offenders.  ^ 

The  question  of  worldly  amusements  was  becoming  very  prominent.  Ap- 
parently a  process  of  readjustment  was  in  progress  in  the  Christian  church.  The 
practical  ethical  standards  of  the  church  were  receiving  modifications  and  elimina- 
tions with  a  freedom  which  was  alarming  to  conservative  minds.  The  churches  of 
God  had  always  denounced  worldly  amusements,  such  as  dancing,  card  playing, 
gambling  of  every  variety,  theater-going,  etc.  It  stood  with  the  Methodist  and 
like  Churches  in  opposition  to  all  these  forms  of  diversion.  In  the  discussions  of 
1900-1903,  carried  on  by  different  writers,  recreation  and  amusements  were  not 
indiscriminately  anathematized.  They  were  classified  as  needful,  innocent,  doubt- 
ful and  sinful.     The  latter  two  were  put  under  ban. 

Electioneering  in  churches  and  Elderships  was  by  most  of  the  writers  totally 
condemned,  both  from  the  West  and  the  East.  More  discriminating  thinkers 
realized  that  not  every  form  of  electioneering,  or  activity  in  canvassing  for  votes, 
is  pernicious  activity.  This  was  the  dividing  line  along  which  the  discussion  was 
conducted. 

The  question  of  the  mourners'  bench  began  to  broaden  out  into  that  of  evan- 
gelistic methods.  In  1902-1904,  as  to  some  extent  in  the  preceding  period,  the 
mourners'  bench  was  beginning  to  lose  its  place  even  in  churches  of  God.  It  had 
a  formal  place  in  most  revivals  conducted  by  the  pastors;  but  less  stress  was 
laid  upon  it,  and  other  methods  were  becoming  popular.  The  discussion  was  in 
the  main  negative.  "Evangelistic"  instead  of  "revival"  services  was  the  order. 
Editorially  the  use  of  the  new  term  was  approved,  being  a  revival  of  a  scriptural 
word,  but  used  in  too  limited  a  sense.     The  evangelist  is  the  preacher  of  the  gospel. 


264  History    of    thk    Churches    of    God 

Evangelistic  services,  however,  meant  "religious  services  conducted  especially  with 
a  view  to  a  revival,  or  the  bringing  the  unsaved  into  the  church."  The  discussion 
did  not  antagonize  changes;  but  it  did  severely  criticise  methods  employed.  The 
fundamental  thought  in  the  criticisms  was  the  increased  liability  under  the  new 
methods  of  superficial  work,  resulting  in  bringing  multitudes  into  the  churches 
without  a  real  change  of  heart.  A  majority  of  professional  evangelists  were  dis- 
credited   by   Churches   and   communities   on    this   account. 

A  limited  space  only  was  given  to  the  discussion  of  individual  Communion 
cups.  They  were  generally  opposed.  Those  ministers  and  churches  which  ap- 
proved of  their  use  were  indisposed  to  invite  censure  or  criticism  by  publicly  ad- 
vocating them.  Elderships  were  silent.  Here  and  there  a  church  adopted  them, 
and  was  confirmed  in  its  faith. 

"Higher  Criticism,"  for  obvious  reasons,  received  little  attention  from  min- 
isters of  the  churches  of  God.  When  the  subject  was  discussed  during  this  period 
it«was  almost  invariably  with  marked  disapprobation  of  the  new  science  in  every 
respect,  and  with  unfeigned  alarm  at  the  consequences.  But  occasionally  some 
one  had  the  temerity  to  venture  an  indirect  endorsement  of  some  of  the  results 
reached  by  the  more  conservative  of  the  higher  critics.  Positively  to  endorse 
Higher  Criticism  would  not  have  been  tolerated.  The  discussion,  as  elsewhere, 
showed  great  bias  and  limited  information  when  viewed  in  the  light  of  such 
illuminating  articles  as  those  reproduced  in  The  Advocate  from  conservative 
scholars  like  Dr,  W.  H.  Green,  of  Princeton  Theological  Seminary. 

The  sinlessness  of  believers  was  a  deduction  from  the  second-work  theory  of 
sanctification.  It  was  discussed,  and  repudiated  at  various  times  between  1900 
and  1905.  The  sense  of  sin,  it  was  admitted,  was  declining,  and  the  liability  to 
deception  increasing;  but  no  one  is  perfect,  no,  not  one,  was  the  general  belief. 
The  explanation  of  John's  teaching,  that  he  in  whom  the  divine  seed  remains  can 
not  sin,  was  not  easy;  but  it  was  thought  to  have  been  found  in  the  metaphysical 
distinction  between  the  moral  and  physical  natures  of  man,  as  also  in  the  duality 
insisted  upon  by  Paul. 

In  no  practical  question  was  there  more  general  interest  than  in  that  of  the 
country  church.  In  190  3  and  1904,  the  Editor,  F.  W.  McGuii-e  and  a  few  others 
devoted  some  space  to  the  discussion  of  this  question.  The  importance  of  the 
country  church;  the  difllculties  under  which  it  labors,  growing  more  formidable; 
the  dying  condition  of  many  country  churches;  the  absence  of  enthusiasm  and 
progressive  energy  and  activity;  the  constant  losses  of  its  most  talented  and  useful 
younger  members,  and  the  best  methods  of  work  in  country  districts  were  themes 
of  earnest  and  thoughtful  discussion. 


CHAPTER    XX. 


1905—1910. 


IN  her  review  of  the  decade  preceding  A.  D.  1912,  Ella  Wheeler  Wilcox 
characterizes  it  as  "one  of  wasteful  extravagance,  unhealthful  excitement, 
unnatural  appetites  and  an  utter  disregard  of  the  rights  of  others."  She 
speaks  specifically  of  the  financial  and  social  world.  But  closely  connected  with 
that  sphere  of  human  activity  is  the  religious  world,  only  presumably  in  more 
vital  relation  to  him  in  whom  all  things  consist.  The  same  human  basis  under- 
lies both,  and  so  this  analysis  in  a  measure  applies  to  the  feverish  condition  of  the 
religious  life.  The  earth  itself  seemed  in  active  sympathy  with  the  spirit  of  un- 
rest in  the  religious  and  social  world.  Its  blind  natural  forces  were  in  great  ac- 
tivity regardless  of  ultimate  results.  Uncontrolled  and  unguided,  they  spent 
their  energies  to  no  beneficent  end.  During  the  present  period  these  seismic  dis- 
turbances were  numerous,  widespread  and  violent;  destroying  life  and  property  in 
almost  unprecedented  measure.  The  victims  during  these  five  years  numbered 
over  200,000,  and  the  property  destroyed  aggregated  hundreds  of  millions.  From 
1905  to  1909  the  surface  of  the  social  waters  in  the  United  States  were  agitated  by 
the  divorce  question.  It  was  debated  in  the  halls  of  legislation,  in  congresses  and 
conventions,  in  ecclesiastical  gatherings  and  the  pages  of  religious  and  secular 
periodicals.      On    two    or   three   occasions   the    Editor   of   The   Advocate   and    con- 


General  History  265 

tributors  discussed  the  various  phases  of  the  subject,  and  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership,  and  other  Elderships,  devoted  parts  of  their  sessions  to  this  absorbing 
problem.  Uniform  divorce  laws,  with  a  largely  reduced  number  of  grounds  for 
granting  divorce,  were  the  main  issues.  Opinions  varied  from  that  held  by  the 
Catholic  Church,  which  makes  the  marriage  relation  absolutely  indissoluble,  to  the 
flexible  laws  of  the  State  of  Nevada,  the  most  liberal  in  their  provisions  of  all  the 
States.  The  churches  of  God  quite  generally  approved  the  conclusions  reached 
by  the  Divorce  Congress  which  met  at  Washington,  D.  C,  February  19,  1906.  It 
greatly  reduced  the  grounds  for  divorce,  and  prepared  a  uniform  divorce  bill  for 
the  different  State  Legislatures  to  enact  into  law.  The  views  embodied  in  this 
bill  were  far  in  advance  of  the  laws  of  a  majority  of  the  States. 

Potentially  the  most  important  of  the  movements  of  the  early  years  of  the 
twentieth  century  was  that  which  enlisted  the  more  general,  and  hearty  support 
and  co-operation  of  the  laymen  of  the  churches  in  the  various  forms  of  aggressive 
church  work.  Among  the  most  conspicuous  of  these  was  the  one  to  organize  the 
men  of  the  churches  for  direct  Christian  labor,  for  more  systematic  giving  and  in 
gesneral  for  more  efficient  service  in  the  kingdom  of  our  common  Lord.  Under 
various  names  these  organizations  became  widespread  among  the  men  of  all 
Churches.  Laymen's  Conferences,  Missionary  Societies,  Bible  Classes  increased 
with  remarkable  rapidity.  Their  purpose  was  to  promote  Bible  study,  increase 
attendance  at  church  services,  maintain  altars  of  prayer  in  every  home,  enlarge 
contributions  for  missions,  especially  foreign  missions.  Under  the  auspices  of  the 
Laymen's  Movement  so-called  "missionary  campaigns"  were  held  in  many  towns 
and  cities  throughout  the  country  between  1906  and  1909.  The  churches  of  God 
were  not  indilferent  to  these  Movements,  and  they  were  earnestly  admonished  to 
become  more  active  in  all  these  lines  of  Christian  endeavor.  And  while  very  little 
was  done  by  way  of  organized  effort,  the  churches  felt  the  stimulating  influence 
of  these  Movements.  In  eastern  Pennsylvania  conventions  were  attended  by  a  num- 
ber of  representatives  of  churches  of  God  in  1908  and  1909.  And  in  November, 
1909,  the  churches  of  God  in  and  around  Harrisburg,  and  as  far  distant  as  Altoona, 
following  a  Laymen's  Missionary  Convention  held  in  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  held  a 
Conference  in  the  Fourth  Street  Bethel.  No  formal  organizations  were  effected, 
but  in  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North,  an  "Elders'  Association"  was  formed 
in  1904,  and  the  laymen  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  organized  a  "Lay- 
men's Association"  in  1909.  The  purpose  of  this  organization  was  to  form  "a 
closer  bond  of  Christian  fellowship  and  to  secure  greater  usefulness  in  furthering 
the  cause  of  our  Lord."  More  than  any  other  of  these  popular  Movements,  that 
of  the  Adult  Bible  Class  appealed  most  generally  to  the  churches  of  God,  and  scores 
of  them  were  organized  in  the  different  Elderships.  The  Ohio  Eldership  in  1908 
"spent  some  time  in  discussing  its  use  in  the  church,  and  passed  a  resolution  re- 
questing the  ministers  to  organize  adult  Bible  classes  in  all  their  Sunday-schools 
where  possible."  The  organization  of  the  churches  of  God  in  Indiana  of  the 
character  of  a  Chautauqua,  in  1905  became  the  "Inter-State  Assembly,"  to  be 
participated  in  by  active  workers  in  missionary,  Sunday-school  and  other  organi- 
zations. It  was  contemplated  to  make  it  in  a  general  sense  "a  real  help  to  the 
churches  of  God."  Strong  endorsements  of  this  project  were  received  not  only 
from  the  Indiana  Eldership,  but  also  the  West  Virginia,  the  Ohio,  the  Illinois  and 
the  East  Pennsylvania  Elderships. 

With  the  rapid  increase  in  wealth  came  enlarged  benefactions.  In  proportion 
to  their  material  substance  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  the  churches  of  God  donate 
as  largely  to  religious,  educational  and  benevolent  institutions  as  does  the  mem- 
bership of  other  Churches.  They  can  not  compete  with  the  larger  and  richer 
Churches,  nor  with  the  individual  millionaires  of  foreign  faiths.  Yet  between 
1905  and  1910  they  challenge  admiration  for  their  liberality.  It  was  a  period  of 
munificent  giving.  Carnegie  gave  $10,000,000  "to  hasten  the  abolition  of  war  and 
establish  a  lasting  world-peace;"  $10,000,000  additional  to  the  endowment  of  Car- 
negie Institution  at  Washington;  $1,250,000  "in  furtherance  of  philanthropies  at 
his  Scottish  birthplace;"  $1,250,000  for  a  "Hero  Fund  Foundation  for  Life-savers 
in  Germany."  John  Stuart  Kennedy  made  a  bequest  of  $5,000,000  to  the  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Mrs.  Russell  Sage  in  1907  "set 
aside  $10,000,000  for  the  Endowment  of  the  Sage  Foundation."  In  February, 
1907,  John  D.  Rockefeller  "announced  a  gift  of  $32,000,000  to  the  General  Edu- 
cation Board."  Along  side  of  these  princely  gifts  others  seem  insignificant,  such 
as  Carnegie's  of  $12,500  to  Findlay  College's  new  endowment  of  $50,000,  com- 


266  History    of    the    Churches   ov   God 

pleted  in  1910.  John  Miller,  of  Linglestown,  Dauphin  comity,  Pa.,  a  retired 
farmer;  son  of  Andi-ew  Miller,  who  died  April  29,  1909,  created  a  fund  of  $25,000 
for  the  benefit  of  six  churches  on  the  old  Dauphin  circuit.  Mai-y  E.  Heckendora, 
Landisburg,  Perry  county.  Pa.,  in  1905,  bequeathed  to  the  General  Eldership 
$200.00  for  foreign  missions.  On  June  12,  1905,  Pindlay  College  was  guaranteed 
$20,000  by  a  member  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  to  endow  the  President's 
Chair.  This  must  not  be  accepted  as  an  exhaustive  list  of  bequests  and  gifts  by 
members  of  the  churches  of  God  during  this  period. 

A  number  of  the  "movements"  of  this  period,  as  some  of  earlier  periods,  were 
of  a  non-denominational,  or  inter-denominational,  character,  and  thus  served  to 
promote  a  spirit  of  concord  and  conciliation  between  Churches.  This  was  especi- 
ally true  of  the  Young  People's  Missionary  Movement  in  connection  with 
the  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.  Unofficially  the  churches  of  God  were  interested  in  this 
movement.  When  the  First  International  Convention,  under  the  direction  of 
the  Y.  P.  M.  M.  of  the  United  States  and  Canada,  was  held  at  Pittsburg,  Pa., 
March  10-12,  1908,  representatives  of  churches  of  God  were  in  attendance. 
The  Convention  was  discussed  and  reported  in  The  Advocate,  and  it  was  claimed 
that  its  "effects  will  be  felt  in  many  different  ways;  but  the  way  it  cemented 
the  different  Churches  in  one  bond  of  brotherly  love  is  probably  the  best  and 
greatest  result."  The  Movement  had  been  organized  July  18,  1902,  and  six 
years  later  was  fully  equipped  for  world-wide  mission  work,  being  "a  Movement 
of  the  Mission  Boards  of  a  number  of  Churches."  The  effect  predicted  in  a  meas- 
ure followed,  in  the  intenser  feeling  of  amity  and  unity  between  these  Churches. 
The  inter-denominational  Sunday-School  Conventions  had  the  same  tendency. 
The  World's  Sixth  Sunday-School  Convention  was  held  at  Washington,  D.  C,  May 
19-24,  inclusive,  in  1910.  Unofficially  churches  of  God  manifested  their  interest, 
and  sent  representatives  there.  Denominations  between  which  there  was  a  degree 
of  doctrinal  unity  and  similarity  of  polity  naturally  began  to  discuss  the  problem 
of  organic  unity.  This  was  true  of  the  Congregational,  the  Methodist  Protestant 
and  the  United  Brethren  Churches  in  January,  19  05.  The  COngregationalists, 
however,  through  their  National  Council,  adopted  principles,  or  a  "platform," 
which  "only  means  co-operation,  or  federation,  within  prescribed  limits.  It  doe^ 
not  contemplate  organic  union  of  the  Churches."  In  the  Fall  of  1905  the  move- 
ment to  secure  "federal  union  between  the  different  bodies  of  the  Reformed  family 
of  Churches"  was  well  under  way.  A  convention  was  held  in  New  York  at  this 
time  for  the  purpose  of  "securing  official  Church  Federation  among  all  Protestant 
denominations."  It  contemplated  a  "General  Council"  in  which  the  denominations 
"approving  of  the  purpose  and  plan  of  the  organization"  were  to  be  represented. 
It  was  specifically  provided  "that  no  phraseology  contained  in  the  plan  of  union 
shall  be  construed  to  imply  any  doctrinal  basis  whatever."  In  1909  the  initial 
steps  were  taken  to  reunite  the  Evangelical  Association  and  the  United  Evangelical 
Church,  and  Peace  Commissioners  were  named  by  both  Churches.  These  Commis- 
sioners met  at  Chicago  the  last  of  January,  1909,  and  their  "deliberations  were 
eminently  satisfactory,"  and  prospects  for  final  union  very  hopeful.  These  various 
movements  were  generally  discussed  in  religious  periodicals,  including  The  Church 
Advocate,  thus  keeping  the  churches  of  God  fully  informed  of  their  nature  and 
progress.  No  official  action  on  the  question  of  the  union  or  the  federation  of  the 
churches  of  God  with  other  religious  bodies  was  at  any  time  seriously  proposed. 
The  Advocate  favored  neither,  and  its  position  was  approved  by  the  non-action  of 
the  Annual  Elderships  and  the  General  Eldership.  It  was  held  that  such  a  posi- 
tion was  in  no  wise  in  conflict  with  the  earlier  teachings  on  "union,"  which  was  a 
prominent  item  in  the  platform  of  Winebi-enner  and  his  co-laborers.  The  union 
or  federation  of  Churches  is  consistent  with  sectarianism,  against  which  earnest 
protest  was  always  made.  It  is  not  the  Christian  union  of  the  word  of  God,  and 
so  is  not  in  harmony  with  the  platform  of  the  churches  of  God. 

With  all  this  activity  and  earnest  spirit  of  co-operation  the  fruits  of  Christian 
labor  were  somewhat  disappointing.  Forecasts  based  on  current  conclusions  were 
pessimistic.  The  editor  of  "The  Missionary  Review  of  the  World"  in  June,  1908, 
wrote  on  "The  Forecast  of  a  Spiritual  Panic,"  and  gave  "four  signs  of  a  coming 
crisis."  They  were  grave  signals,  but  were  declared  "certainly  to  exist."  Re- 
vivals were  not  numerous,  and  generally  limited  in  results.  Already  at  an  earlier 
date,  though  speaking  for  England,  yet  true  of  the  United  States,  Dr.  Joseph 
Parker  said:  "It  is  well  known  that  many  Christians  have  come  to  have  a  dis- 
taste for  the  word  'revival'  when  used  with  reference  to  religious  work."       And 


GENERAL   History  267 

while  it  was  conceded  by  the  ministers  of  the  churches  of  God,  as  expressed  in 
1907,  "that  there  is  a  great  need  for  the  old-time  revivals,"  it  was  also  the  belief 
tliat  "the  day  for  old-time  revivals  is  nearly  past."  The  Torrey-Alexander  evan- 
gelistic meeting  in  Philadelphia,  which  began  iFebruary  4,  1906,  was  generally 
known  as  a  "revival."  This  influence  was  felt  throughout  a  radius  of  a  hundred 
miles,  and  a  number  of  revivals  in  churches  of  God  were  attributed  to  it.  That 
there  was  but  a  small  per  centum  of  increase  in  the  membership  of  the  churches 
of  God  during  1906  is  shown  by  the  absence  of  reports  of  extensive  revivals.  The 
same  is  true  for  1908  and  1909.  It  can  also  be  inferred  from  the  general  statistics 
for  the  United  States.  In  1906  "the  increase  of  the  whole  communicant  body  was 
2.72  per  cent.  In  1908  the  total  increase  in  church  membership  was  1.5  per  cent. 
The  method  of  conducting  services  for  the  conversion  of  the  unsaved  had  material- 
ly changed  with  the  ministers  and  churches  of  God.  The  mourners'  bench  in  many 
•churches  was  practically  abandoned.  In  others  it  was  optional.  "The  easier 
method"  of  rising  in  the  congregation,  lifting  up  the  hand,  or  kneeling  at  the  pew 
was  substituted.  Nowhere  was  the  same  stress  laid  upon  this  form  of  making 
the  great  decision  that  was  almost  universal  half  a  century  and  more  ago.  It  was 
sometimes  defended  in  The  Advocate,  and  insisted  upon,  as  the  preferable  way 
for  a  sinner  to  make  the  most  important  decision  in  the  history  of  a  human  soul. 
Yet  editorially  the  question,  "Is  it  necessary  to  use  the  mourners'  bench  in  revival 
meetings?"  was  thus  answered  April  3,  1907:  "No  forms  are  necessary.  We 
have  always  emphatically  taught  that  the  vital  point  is  conversion,  regeneration. 
To  this  end  repentance  and  faith  are  necessary;  but  no  posture,  measure,  form  or 
physical  demonstration." 

That  results  were  somewhat  meager  does  not  justify  the  conclusion  that  the 
•churches  of  God  were  not  making  progress.  They  were  being  confirmed  and 
strengthened,  conditions  were  improved  and  their  various  interests  placed  on  a 
better  basis.  Church  extension  work  was  also  being  done  with  commendable  zeal 
and  liberality.  Only  the  lack  of  means  prevented  the  planting  of  many  churches 
in  new  localities,  and  in  new  States.  In  Idaho  a  few  families  located  in  and  near 
Fayette,  Canyon  county,  in  1905,  which  had  been  members  of  churches  in  Carroll 
•county,  Iowa,  and  at  Grand  Valley,  Colorado.  In  March,  1905  A  Wilson  paid  them 
a  visit,  and  preached  for  them.  He  found  ten  former  members  of  churches  of 
God.  He  returned  and  preached  for  two  weeks  in  the  dwelling  house  of  S.  B. 
Alspach  and  in  a  Hall,  until  June  23,  1907,  when  he  organized  a  church  of  eleven 
members,  of  which  S,  B.  Alspach  and  H.  S.  Wayne  were  the  elders,  and  G.  P. 
Abei-nathey,  deacon.  By  December,  1907,  the  membership  had  increased  to 
twenty,  but  the  church  had  no  pastor.  In  February,  1908,  L.  T.  Fredericks,  of 
Nebraska,  conducted  a  successful  revival  meeting,  at  which  twenty-nine  converts 
were  fellowshiped.  On  February  12th,  S.  B,  Alspach  bought  "a  church  building 
formerly  occupied  by  the  M.  E.  Church,"  which  the  church  later  secured,  and  after 
needed  repairs  dedicated  as  the  first  bethel  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Idaho.  De- 
cember 12,  1908,  W\  T.  Tui'pin  reached  Payette  to  become  pastor  of  the  church. 
A  gracious  revival  followed  in  January,  1909,  during  which  twenty-five  more  were 
fellowshiped,  bringing  the  total  membership  up  to  seventy-four.  An  unfortunate 
schism  occurred  in  the  church  during  this  year,  growing  out  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S. 
troubles,  and  resulting  in  a  lawsuit  which  threatened  for  awhile  to  destroy  the 
church;  but  which  was  finally  adjusted,  and  unity  and  peace  restored.  At  Moscow, 
Latah  county,  Idaho,  and  several  other  points,  A.  Wilson  preached  at  different 
times,  and  regarded  prospects  good  for  establishing  churches. 

The  work  in  Colorado  was  not  neglected.  In  May,  19  05,  W.  H.  Cross  went  to 
the  assistance  of  W.  T.  Turpin  in  a  meeting  at  Buffalo,  where  Church  of  God  fami- 
lies from  Kansas  had  located.  Other  points  afforded  good  openings  for  mission  work, 
at  one  of  which  G.  Swan  preached  in  January,  1907.  D.  Long  was  doing  mission 
work  at  several  points  in  Prowers  county  in  the  latter  part  of  the  Winter  of  1906-7. 
There  were  two  organized  churches  in  the  county.  I.  H.  Greene  did  considerable 
preaching  in  Wyoming  during  the  early  part  of  this  period.  Jesse  Huddle,  of 
Iowa,  preached  some  at  Canton,  S.  Dak.,  in  1906.  H.  L.  Soule's  church  was  mainly 
a  church  of  God  in  doctrine;  but  it  was  not  in  fellowship  with  an  Eldership. 
Better  success  attended  efforts  to  establish  the  Church  in  North  Dakota.  J.  W. 
Cabbage  located  near  Hazelton,  Emmons  county,  in  April,  1906,  and  began  mis- 
sion work.  Also  in  a  school-house  7  miles  distant,  in  September,  1907.  Here  he 
had  a  revival  in  December,  1907,  with  about  thirty  converts,  and  on  December 
22nd  he  gave  the  hand  of  fellowship  to  thirty-four,  completing  the  organization 


268  History    op   the    Churches   of    God 

January  1,  1908,  with  a  membership  of  thirty-seven.  It  was  the  first  church  of 
God  in  North  Dakota,  called  the  church  of  God  at  Pleasant  Valley,  Emmons  county, 
N.  Dak.  A  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.  of  fifty  members  was  organized,  with  Mi's.  J.  \V.  Cabbage 
as  President.  C.  D.  Bradley  having  temporarily  located  in  Montana  in  1909  re- 
ported great  destitution  prevalent  everywhere  as  to  preaching,  with  the  most  en- 
couraging prospects  for  church  work,  if  he  could  be  supported.  The  fields  every- 
where seemed  ready  for  the  reapers  of  the  Church  of  God;  but  they  could  not  be 
kept  in  the  field  to  gather  in  the  ripe  grain.  This  applied  to  Kentucky.  In  the  Fall 
of  1906,  after  the  Missouri  Eldership,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  G.  L.  Chapman 
revisited  southern  Kentucky,  where  he  had  organized  two  churches  in  1904.  He 
found  them  "all  at  work  like  busy  bees,"  with  "a  flourishing  prayer-meeting,  and 
a  house  of  worship  built,"  which  he  dedicated  October  14,  1906.  It  was  the  "first 
house  of  worship  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Kentucky,"  and  was  deeded  to  the 
General  Eldership.  In  July,  1907,  Chapman  was  called  to  Nashville,  Tenn.,  to 
preach,  as  he  understood,  at  a  revival  service;  but  on  his  arrival  there,  July  20th, 
he  found  a  church  inquiring  "about  the  Church  of  God  and  its  doctrines."  After 
preaching  ten  days,  on  Saturday  evening,  August  3rd,  he  organized  the  church  of 
God  in  Nashville,  Tenn.,  with  a  "pastor,  two  elders,  three  deacons,  two  deacon- 
esses, a  clerk  and  treasurer,  and  seventy-six  members."  It  was  the  result  of  a 
division  in  the  Free  Baptist  Church  growing  out  of  the  preaching  of  the  pastor, 
L.  B.  Shannon.  The  church  and  the  pastor  were  received  into  the  Missouri  Eld- 
ership, August  15,  1907,  and  Shannon  was  reappointed  pastor  in  October,  1907, 
and  granted  a  Certificate  of  Ordination.  J.  A.  Swanson  preached  at  Tennessee 
Ridge,  Tenn.,  in  November,  1909,  where  a  revival  followed,  with  thirty  converts. 

It  is  the  general  belief,  that  no  thing  so  effectually  weakens  and  destroys  the 
power  for  usefulness  in  a  religious  body  as  contentions,  divisions  and  schisms. 
Not  only  is  fellowship  broken,  but  confidence  is  destroyed,  and  that  good  repute 
with  the  world  is  lost  which  is  a  condition  of  success.  Unfortunately  this  was  the 
case  to  a  deplorable  extent  in  the  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership  during  this 
period.  The  division  became  an  open  rupture  in  1907-9.  In  the  former  year  a 
rupture  took  place  in  the  Eldership,  and  in  1908  two  Elderships  were  called,  and 
intense  feeling  prevailed.  In  1909,  an  independent  Eldership  was  organized  by 
those  who  withdrew  from  the  session  appointed  to  be  held  by  the  General  Elder- 
ship in  1909.  Some  work  was  done  at  Portland,  Oregon;  but  the  expected  organi- 
zation of  a  church  was  not  effected.  In  other  localities  the  churches  languished, 
so  that  at  the  close  of  this  period  the  cause  had  suffered  serious  loss.  In  Douglas 
county,  Washington,  where  no  work  had  previously  been  done,  E.  M.  Kirkpatrick, 
of  Indian  Territory,  began  preaching  in  1907.  He  located  in  this  central  county 
in  1905,  and  after  becoming  somewhat  acquainted  began  preaching,  and  had  fair 
success,  having  had  fourteen  conversions  at  a  revival  he  held.  This  was  east  of 
the  ground  occupied  by  the  ministers  of  the  Eldership.  The  fields  of  labor  had 
increased  to  eleven  in  1907,  two  of  them  missions,  which  were  supplied  by  the  one 
party  to  the  schism,  while  the  other  party  made  eight  appointments,  but  on  the 
same  territory  in  the  main.  There  were  eight  fields  in  1905,  when  the  Eldership 
was  united;  but  in  1909  the  remnant  which  was  left  after  the  schism  made  but  four 
assignments.  In  consequence  of  these  conditions  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the 
General  Eldership  made  no  appointments  to  the  Oregon  and  Washington  territory. 

The  Nebraska  work  was  largely  sterilized,  according  to  reports  submitted. 
Each  year  the  note  was  "spirituality  of  churches  not  what  we  could  wish  it  to  be;" 
"the  churches  in  some  parts  are  in  a  lethargic  condition;"  "spirituality  had  been 
at  a  low  ebb."  This  was  relieved  in  1909  by  the  assurance  that  many  of  "the 
churches  which  had  been  at  a  low  ebb  were  increasing  in  spirituality."  There 
was  also  quite  a  healthy  zeal  in  the  Eldership  for  the  various  interests  it  repre- 
sented. It  was  steadily  urged  that  a  higher  standard  of  religion  should  be 
preached,  and  then  lived  up  to.  "A  deeper  sense  of  the  great  responsibility  rest- 
ing upon  ministers"  was  insisted  upon.  The  burden  of  missions  was  felt,  and 
what  the  Eldership  could  do  with  its  limited  means  it  was  desirous  to  do.  The 
help  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  was  strongly  solicited. 
Ministers  were  incited  to  greater  zeal  in  revival  efforts  and  in  teaching  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Church.  The  number  of  active  ministers  was  inadequate,  and  so  the 
fields  had  to  be  rearranged,  and  varied  from  six  to  fourteen.  But  nine  of  the 
fourteen  in  1907  were  unsupplied.  The  women  were  active  in  organizing  Woman's 
Missionary  Societies,  and  also  a  State  W.  M.  S.     Work  was  being  carried  on  in  the 


General  History  269 

following  counties:  Logan,  Lincoln,  McPherson,  Custer,  Saline,  Polk,  Keyapaha, 
Gage,  Lyon,  Clay,  Richardson  and  Thurston. 

Under  somewhat  depressing  conditions  the  devoted  ministers  and  the  true 
and  loyal  churches  in  Kansas  continued  the  work  of  church  upbuilding  and  church 
extension.  Efforts  were  made  to  do  mission  work  in  Oklahoma  and  Colorado,  but 
without  the  funds  to  support  the  missionaries.  Even  the  fields  in  Kansas  could 
not  always  be  supplied.  The  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  kept 
several  men  constantly  in  its  employ  in  the  territory  of  the  Kansas  Eldership, 
which  included  Colorado  and  a  strip  .50  miles  wide  in  northern  Oklahoma.  Bartles- 
ville,  Oklahoma,  was  thus  supplied  by  J.  W.  Bloyd  during  this  period.  O.  A. 
Newlin  was  the  General  Missionary  on  that  part  of  the  frontier  field.  The  Ft. 
Scott  church  was  favored  with  the  services  successively  of  J.  W.  Piimrose,  W.  W. 
Richmond  and  T.  M.  Funk,  under  whose  labors  the  interests  of  the  church  were 
zealously  cared  for.  In  Ft.  Scott  mission  work  was  successful  in  the  northern 
suburb,  where  in  February,  1905,  J.  W.  Primrose  began  his  labors  in  a  school- 
house.  In  April  he  began  a  seven  weeks'  revival  in  a  tent,  at  which  twenty-eight 
persons  were  converted.  He  secured  "an  old  stone  building,"  in  which  he  or- 
ganized "the  second  church  of  God  in  Ft.  Scott  (Belltown),"  with  twelve  members. 
The  number  of  fields  of  labor  varied  from  nine  to  fifteen,  as  some  of  them  often 
consisted  of  single  churches  which  were  supplied  from  Ft.  Scott,  or  ministers  who 
could  largely  support  themselves.  Possibly  the  attempt  to  take  care  of  too  much 
territory  operated  against  successful  work,  for  in  1909  the  Eldership  realized  that 
"the  work  is  not  up  to  the  standard  we  would  like  to  see."  In  the  northern  parts 
of  the  State  there  was  almost  nothing  done  during  this  period;  but  in  the  Indian 
Territory  and  Oklahoma  the  work  was  in  a  promising  condition.  In  District  No. 
3,  Indian  Territory,  and  Woods  and  Woodward  counties,  Oklahoma,  churches  were 
being  established.  In  Kansas  the  fields  of  labor  were  in  Bourbon,  Barber,  Craw- 
ford, Cherokee,  Chautauqua,  Elk,  Edwards,  Labette,  Pratt,  Stafford  and  Sumner 
counties,  being  in  the  southern  three  tiers  of  counties.  The  interest  in  current 
practical  questions  on  the  part  of  ministers  and  churches  is  revealed  in  the  topics 
discussed  at  the  meetings  of  the  Ministerial  Association.  Among  these  were  "The 
Duty  of  a  Pastor  to  the  Church."  "How  Do  We  Know  That  We  Are  Saved?" 
"Duty  of  Preaching  the  Doctrines  of  the  Church."  "Best  Methods  of  Promoting 
a  Revival."  "Preaching  to  the  Young."  "Care  of  the  Young  Converts."  The 
missionary  spirit  was  prominent,  and  the  sisters  interested  themselves  in  a  State 
W.  M.  organization,  as  well  as  in  forming  local  societies. 

An  open  field  for  work  was  found  in  Oklahoma  and  the  Indian  Territory,  and 
the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  manifested  a  disposition  to  assist 
liberally  in  occupying  it.  E.  M.  Hickman  was  the  missionary  in  eastern  Oklahoma 
in  1905-6-7,  and  in  central  Oklahoma^  in  1908.  H.  W.  Allen  labored  in 
western  Oklahoma  in  1906,  1907,  1908,  1909.  And  in  1909  J.  D.  Sutton 
was  the  missionary  in  south  central  Oklahoma,  and  C.  H.  Ballinger  in  north 
central  Oklahoma,  with  J.  W.  Bums  in  eastern  Oklahoma  in  19  0  8.  Bums 
had  been  the  missionary  to  the  Indian  Territory  in  1907.  The  experiment  of 
holding  a  camp-meeting  was  tried  by  Allen  on  his  mission  field  in  western  Okla- 
homa, near  Burmah,  in  August,  1905.  There  were  at  this  time  in  the  Oklahoma 
and  Indian  Territory  Eldership  fourteen  organized  churches.  In  1907  it  reported 
fifteen,  one  having  been  organized  at  Francis,  Indian  Territory,  by  J.  D.  Henson 
in  the  Winter  of  1906-7.  Revival  work  was  carried  on  by  E.  K.  Howe  in  Woods 
county,  western  Oklahoma  in  the  Winter  of  1905,  and  a  number  were  converted. 
At  Indianapolis,  Custer  county,  under  the  care  of  B.  Ober,  a  house  of  worship  was 
erected,  and  it  was  dedicated  on  the  third  Sunday  in  December,  1907.  Through 
the  energetic  labors  of  P.  L.  French  a  house  of  worship  was  built  near  Cleo,  Woods 
county,  which  was  dedicated  by  J.  W.  Bloyd  July  19,  1908.  B.  Ober  assisted  in 
the  services. 

The  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership  was  stimulated  in  its  endeavors  to 
strengthen  the  things  that  remained  and  to  extend  its  borders  by  the  generous  help 
of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership.  It  had  in  its  employ  in  Arkan- 
sas D.  S.  Summit  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State  in  1906,  and  J.  H.  AVhittinj^ton 
in  the  northern  part.  It  retained  Whittington  during  the  three  succeeding  years. 
He  conducted  a  camp-meeting,  which  began  July  20,  1908,  at  Grand  Prairie, 
Arkansas.  At  Charleston,  county  seat  of  Franklin  county,  Ark.,  he  succeeded  in 
organizing  a  church  of  eleven  members  in  1907.  He  labored  here  under  serious 
competition,  as  the  meetings  were  held  in  a  union  house,  also  occupied  by  the 


270  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

Presbyterians  and  the  Christians.  Whittington  was  misnamed  by  the  Presbyterian 
minister  as  "a  Godite  preacher."  In  the  same  county  J.  T.  Shelby  opened  several 
new  points.  But  as  he  came  under  the  influence  of  the  "Holiness  Doctrine," 
charges  were  preferred  against  him  for  "preaching  and  practicing  the  so-called 
holiness  doctrine."  These  were  sustained,  and  his  Certificate  of  Ordination  was 
withdrawn.  This  schismatical  doctrine  was  unflinchingly  opposed.  There  was 
a  division  of  views  on  the  order  of  observing  the  ordinances,  and  this  led  to  occa- 
sional controversies.  The  teachings  of  the  Church  of  Christ  on  baptism  made  the 
question  of  the  subjects  and  design  of  baptism  a  timely  one  for  discussion  before 
the  churches.  The  support  of  ministers  was  very  limited,  and  this  was  a  frequent 
topic  at  meetings  of  the  Ministerial  Association.  While  in  common  with  all  the 
Elderships  much  active  interest  was  evinced  in  the  question  of  ordaining  men  to 
the  ministry.  Occasionally  such  abstruse  questions  as  election  and  predestina- 
tion, or  the  office  of  the  Holy  Spirit  were  debated. 

In  quietness  and  dispassionate  earnestness  the  ministers  of  the  colored  Arkan- 
sas Eldership  pursued  their  labors.  The  General  Board  of  Missions  gave  them 
some  encouragement,  as  S.  P.  Petei*s,  colored,  was  in  its  employ  in  1906.  The 
practice  of  fasting  for  religious  purposes  was  still  retained  and  the  zeal  so  char- 
acteristic of  the  race  was  not  wholly  quenched  by  the  serious  obstacles  encounter- 
ed, nor  by  limited  success.  The  fields  of  labor  were  small  and  weak,  but  the 
desire  to  enlarge  the  occupied  territory  induced  the  churches  to  make  sacrifices. 
Some  funds  were  raised  in  1905-6  to  help  to  support  a  missionary.  In  1906  the 
missionary  was  reappointed,  and  the  two  circuits  were  supplied  with  pastors.  A 
better  financial  system  was  put  into  effect  in  1907,  and  a  missionary  was  elected 
in  1908,  to  be  supported  by  the  churches.  In  1909  two  mission  points  were  to  be 
supplied  by  the  Standing  Committee.  There  were  promising  openings  in  the  In- 
dian Territory,  which  the  ministers  were  desirous  to  enter,  so  as  to  enlarge  the 
territory  of  the  Eldership.  Considerable  interest  was  manifested  in  the  Ministerial 
Association,  maintained  under  disadvantageous  conditions. 

A  strong  and  persistent  effort  was  made  to  advance  the  work  in  Missouri. 
Generally  two  men  were  employed  by  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship each  year.  In  1905  D,  L.  Cox  was  appointed  to  Sullivan  county,  in  the  north- 
ern part  of  the  State,  and  W.  E.  Kelly  in  the  central  part  of  the  State.  G.  L. 
Chapman  in  1906-1908  was  assigned  to  the  south-eastern  Missouri  mission.  He 
was  general  missionary  of  the  Missouri  Eldership  during  several  years,  as  the 
Eldership  manifested  deep  interest  in  Church  extension  work.  In  1907-9  J.  F. 
Allman  was  the  appointee  of  the  General  Board  in  south-western  Missouri.  James 
F.  Sutton  was  laboring  at  Keystone  and  other  points  in  1908,  whilie  in  1909  he 
was  the  missionary  in  northern  Missouri,  as  was  D.  L.  Cox.  The  reported  results, 
were  not  commensurate  with  the  labors  and  the  means  devoted  to  the  work,  as 
judged  by  the  published  reports.  Chapman  had  successful  revivals  in  Saline  and 
other  counties  in  1905.  In  St.  Louis  the  church  was  in  a  critical  condition,  partly 
as  the  effect  of  an  effort  on  the  part  of  Mrs.  M.  B.  Woodworth  to  get  possession  of 
the  property.  When  the  bethel  was  deeded  by  her  to  the  Eldership  she  reserved 
the  right  of  "spiritual  direction  during  her  lifetime."  This  the  courts  decided  to 
b6  "synonymous  with  physical  possession."  And  as  this  was  refused  her,  she 
made  an  effort  in  1905  to  gain  physical  possession  by  legal  process.  At  Johnson 
City,  under  the  missionary  labors  of  O.  A.  Newlin,  a  successful  woods  meeting  was 
conducted,  beginning  July  4,  1907,  which  resulted  in  the  organization  of  a  church 
of  eleven  members,  increased  to  twenty  a  fortnight  later.  G.  W.  Wyatt  had  begun 
work  there  in  1906.  At  Crane  the  church  began  building  operations  in  August, 
1907,  when  $1,000.00  were  secured  for  that  purpose.  On  the  south-west  Missiouri 
mission  a  new  bethel  was  built  at  McCullah,  near  Baxter,  which  was  dedicated  by 
J.  F.  Allman  in  1907.  A  church  of  fourteen  members  was  organized  August  11,. 
1907.  In  the  Fall  of  1906  a  church  was  formed  at  Leadwood,  and  the  building  of 
a  bethel  decided  upon.  S.  A.  Rambo  conducted  a  revival  meeting  at  Lakeview, 
beginning  February  15,  1908,  at  which  there  were  nineteen  conversions,  and  on 
February  26th  a  church  of  twenty-two  members  was  organized.  The  number  of 
fields  of  labor  varied  from  ten  to  twelve,  according  to  the  supply  of  active  min- 
isters. Even  when  there  were  twelve  appointees,  some  churches  remained  un- 
supplied.  In  1909  J.  B.  Shannon,  Nashville,  Tenn.,  withdrew  from  the  Eldership, 
an^  the  work  in  that  city  went  down.  Mission  interests  were  diligently  looked 
after  by  the  State  W.M.  S.,  with  which  the  Eldership  was  in  cordial  sympathy. 
An  effort  was  made  in  19'0 8  td  stimulate  interest  by  the  liolding  of  a  camp-meeting 


{-,  '^    ■:•')      General   History  271 

near  Versailles,  Morgan  county,  near  the  center  of  the  State.  J.  W.  Primrose 
was  in  charge,  and  continued  the  meeting  for  three  weeks.  Later  the  same  year 
he  used  a  tent  for  revival  services,  during  which  he  witnessed  thirty-five  con- 
versions. A  camp-meetijig  was  also  held  at  Linn  Grove,  from  September  2  5  to 
October  10,  19  09,  conducted  by  Lum  Neal  and  Samuel  Van  Meter.  The  results 
in  the  way  of  conversions  were  disappointing,  but  God's  children  were  edified  and 
confirmed,  and  the  observance  of  the  three  ordinances  was  a  feast.  The  general 
conditions  throughout  the  Eldership  were  reported  in  1907  as  "in  better  condition 
than  they  had  been  for  several  years,"  although  the  net  increase  of  the  churches 
up  to  1910  was  quite  small. 

The  missionary  spirit  in  Iowa  was  strong  and  healthy.  The  W.  M.  S.  met 
regularly  at  the  same  time  and  place  with  the  Eldership.  The  circuits  usually 
included  several  mission  fields,  toward  the  support  of  which  missionary  funds  were 
appropriated.  Work  of  this  character  was  done  in  Missouri,  Minnesota,  North  and 
South  Dakota.  The  number  of  fields  of  labor  varied  from  fifteen  to  twenty-four, 
some  of  them  being  unsupplied  each  year.  Local  Pentecostal  meetings  were  held 
in  a  few  instances,  but  were  no  longer  under  Eldership  auspices.  L.  F.  Cham- 
berlin  held  one  at  Harmony  in  1908.  Ministerial  Associations  were  regularly 
held  prior  to  the  Annual  Eldership  sessions.  Many  of  the  subjects  discussed 
originated  in  the  local  or  general  conditions  which  prevailed  in  the  churches  of 
God  during  this  period.  No  Eldership  was  more  vitally  interested  in  such  ques^ 
tions  than  was  the  Iowa  Eldership.  Hence,  such  topics  as  the  following  were  dis- 
cussed: "The  unity  or  oneness  of  the  Church;"  "Are  the  demands  of  Elderships 
arbitrary,  or  simply  co-operative?"  "What  do  we  as  a  Church  need  most  in  the 
line  of  co-operative  law?"  Local  conditions  would  suggest  the  discussion  of  the 
question  of  "Demitting  the  piinistry;"  or,  "The  relation  of  baptism  to  regenera- 
tion;" or,  "The  voter's  relation  to  political  parties;"  or,  "The  time  limit  of  the 
pastorate."  The  five-year  term  was  thought  to  be  ^.dvisable  for  the  older  ministers; 
a  shorter  term  for  the  younger  men.  Other  topics  related  to  the  "dangers  of  the 
ministry  of  the  churches  of  God;"  revivals,  and  "how  best  to  promote  them;" 
"care  of  converts,"  and  the  "financial  side  of  religious  work."  But  the  fruits  of 
the  devoted  labors  and  self-sacrifice  of  the  ministry  were  somewhat  disappointing. 
While  the  churches  were  taking  commendable  interest  in  their  spiritual  and  ma- 
terial advancement,  there  is  little  evidence  of  successful  aggressive  work.  Under 
the  pastoral  labors  of  E.  E.  HeUebridle  extensive  repairs,  at  a  cost  of  $l,QO0.0O, 
were  made  to  the  house  of  worship  at  Alice,  and  rededicatory  services  were  held 
December  2,  1906.  The  bethel  at  North  Bend  was  destroyed  by  fire  about  midf- 
night  of  November  15,  1906,  involving  a  loss  of  $5,000.00.  But  with- that  un- 
faltering spirit  and  intrepid  courage  before  ^hich  timidity  and  wavering  disap- 
pear, the  church  at  once  prepared  plans  to  rebuild.  And  before  the  twelve  njonths 
were  past,  on  October  14,.  1907,  E.  E.  Heltebridle  dedicated  the  new  house  of  wor- 
ship. The  pastor,  J.  C.  Kepford,  labored  with  meritoripus  zeal  in  this  work.  In 
Sunday-school  work  the  ministers  and  churches  in  Iowa  were  generally  quite 
active.  Societies  of  youriig,  people  received  mpre  or  less  attention;  but  as  the 
interest  in  foreign  missions  was  supreme,  the  work  of  the  W.  M.  S.  largely  eclipsed 
all  other  forms  of  church  activity. 

The  Illinois  Eldership  during  this  period  devoted  its  energies  assiduously  to 
the  upbuilding  and  strengthening  of  the  different  churches  and  fields  ojf  labor; 
the  perfecting  of  its  financial  system,  and  the  advancement  of  its  various  auxiliary 
organizations.  It  continued  its  two  Pentecostal  meetings,  one  in  the  northern 
and  one  in  the  southern  part  of  the  territory.  The  tent  for  evangelistic  services 
during  the  Summer  was  generally  in  use,  and  was  at  the  service  of  any  pastor  and 
church  which  desired  it  and  made  itself  responsible  for  expenses.  Deep  interest 
was  manifested  in  the  Y.  ,P.  S.  C.  E.  organization  and  work.  C.  T.  Ishler,  Fred. 
M.  Newlin  and  other  leaders  in  this  form  of  activity  were  enthusiastically  at  worlc 
Annual  conventions  were  held.  A  few  new  societies  were  formed,  and  the  Elder>- 
ship  Union  was  a  live  organization.  The  Society  was  regarded  as  "a  powerful 
force  for  establishing  our  young  people  in  the  faith  of  the,  Church  of  God."  There 
were  fifteen  local  societies  in  19;09.  Iinportant  questions  bearing  on  the  interests 
of  the  churches  wei?^  Gq,refully;cai?.v^s^e(i  at  the  meetings  of  the  Ministerial  Asso- 
ciation, which  were  regularly  held,  Some  of  these  were:  "Is  the  Church  of  God 
a  Divine  Institution?"  "Should  the  Church  of  God  Defend  its  Reputation?"  ''The 
•ModCii  Paatorjj"  "The  Model  Church;',':  "What  is  a  Revival?"  '.'How  to  Promote  0 
Reviv:aJ;"-"'Why  Dq  ^SVeJFail  in  Promoting  Revivals?"  ,    For  several  y^ars  au  Eldr 


272  History    of   the    Churches   of    God 

ership  camp-meeting  was  held  4  miles  north  of  Decatur.  I.  S.  Richmond  had  the 
supervision  of  the  one  held  in  1908.  The  one  held  at  Sangamon  in  1907,  con- 
ducted by  J.  W.  Bobb,  was  to  be  "an  old-fashioned  one."  It  was  to  be  a  "State 
camp."  The  more  frequent  observance  of  the  ordinances  was  deemed  important 
to  the  spiritual  progress  of  the  churches.  Besides,  the  condition  of  the  country 
churches  was  giving  the  ministry  much  concern.  It  was  an  increasingly  interest- 
ing and  difticult  problem.  So  little  aggressive  missionary  work  had  been  under- 
taken that  in  1908  the  question  was  agitated,  "Shall  we  open  a  Home  Mission  this 
year?"  One  general  worker  was  kept  in  the  field,  those  named  being  W.  R.  John- 
son, in  1905;  L,  T.  Frederick,  in  1906;  C.  A.  Schaaf,  in  1908.  The  largest  num- 
ber of  fields  of  labor  was  in  1906,  when  there  were  twenty-one.  The  church  at 
Martinsville  made  improvements  to  its  house  of  worship  which  cost  $1,500.00.  An 
addition  was  built  to  the  bethel  to  accommodate  the  flourishing  Sunday-school. 
A  baptistery  was  installed,  and  a  new  piano.  The  pastor,  C.  T.  Lshler,  secured 
the  services  of  Geo.  M.  Hubne  for  the  rededication  on  August  1,  1909.  The  total 
church  membership  increased  from  1,196  in  1907,  to  1,500  in  1909. 

An  orderly  and  constructive  purpose  is  evident  in  the  work  of  the  ministers 
and  churches  of  the  Indiana  Eldership  during  the  period  of  1905  to  1910.  There 
were  clear-thinking  and  well-poised  men  at  the  helm.  Interesting  parallels  are 
noticeable  between  old  days  and  new.  There  was  a  lack  of  ministers  to  cover  the 
territory  with  efficient  laborers,  and  so  not  only  had  fields  to  be  merged,  but  some 
remained  unsupplied.  The  number  varied  from  nineteen  in  1905  to  fourteen  in 
1909.  The  highest  number  of  organized  churches  reported  was  forty-one,  in  1907. 
There  was  fluctuation  in  their  spiritual  condition,  as  judged  by  the  Committees 
on  State  of  Religion.  "In  some  places  bad;  in  some  places  pretty  good,"  was  the 
report  in  1906.  "Spiritual  condition  poor,  and  on  the  decline,"  was  the  conclu- 
sion in  1908.  But  improvement  was  noticed  in  1909.  There  was  an  expressed 
"desire  to  become  more  firmly  rooted  and  grounded  in  the  truth."  They  were  not 
inhospitable  to  new  ideas,  and  accepted  innovations  which  their  judgment  ap- 
proved with  cordiality.  There  was  occasional  friction  in  the  churches,  adding 
proof  to  the  old  truth  that  next  to  the  quarrel  in  a  family  there  is  nothing  quite 
so  sharp  and  earnest  as  a  contest  in  a  small  church.  Several  of  these  controversies 
were  appealed  to  the  Eldership.  With  little  evidence  of  Church  extension  work, 
there  was  praiseworthy  activity.  This  is  clear  from  the  work  done  by  the  W.  M. 
S.,  and  the  interest  taken  in  the  organization  of  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.  in  a  number  of  local 
churches.  In  1908  a  convention  of  these  societies  was  held,  and  a  State  organiza- 
tion effected.  The  Eldership  Assembly  awaked  a  degree  of  enthusiasm  which  was 
full  of  promise;  but  it  was  destitute  of  the  elements  which  are  necessary  to  insure 
permanence.  Pentecostal  services  were  held  under  Eldership  direction  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Assembly  in  1908.  There  was  a  well-conducted  camp-meeting  held 
in  1908,  near  Sugar  Grove  Bethel,  under  the  direction  of  M.  W.  Johnson,  pastor. 
Efforts  were  made  to  revive  the  work  at  Anderson,  and  I.  W.  Markley  and  H.  H. 
Spiher  were  authorized  in  1905  to  investigate  conditions  with  that  end  in  view; 
but  Andei-son  does  not  appear  on  the  list  of  churches  in  1909.  The  Eel  River 
Bethel,  near  Roann,  Wabash  county,  was  sold  in  1905.  At  Auburn,  DeKalb  county, 
a  new  house  of  worship  was  built  at  a  cost  of  $4,200.00,  under  the  labors  of  H.  G. 
Herendeen,  the  young  and  energetic  pastor.  It  was  dedicated  February  26,  1905, 
by  M.  S.  Newcomer.  Probably  one  of  the  finest  new  houses  of  worship  in  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership  was  built  at  Idaville,  White  county,  in  1908,  when  E.  M.  Love  was 
pastor  of  the  church.  It  cost  $9,187.00,  and  was  dedicated  December  27,  1908, 
by  C.  I.  Brown,  assisted  by  O.  A.  Newlin.  The  Idaville  church  confirmed  the  gen- 
eral truth  that  a  local  fight  almost  always  ends  in  benefit  when  all  the  member- 
ship in  unison  take  part  in  it.  The  attempt  to  revive  church  work  at  Ft.  Wayne, 
Allen  county,  had  an  auspicious  beginning.  H.  H.  Spiher  was  the  missionary,  and 
began  work  in  a  Hall  in  November,  1907.  He  found  seventy-five  persons  in  the 
city  who  had  been  members  of  the  Church.  On  Sunday  morning,  August  25,  1908, 
"the  new  church  was  organized  with  thirty-three  charter  members."  Immediate 
steps  were  taken  to  raise  funds  to  build  a  house  of  worship. 

The  evidences  of  healthy  life  and  activity  in  the  Michigan  Eldership  from 
1905  to  1910  are  mainly  found  in  the  work  done  in  the  use  of  a  tent,  and  in  the 
Ministerial  Association.  But  in  the  latter  much  of  the  time  was  devoted  to  ex- 
egesis. The  practical  questions  of  practical  ministers  were  not  much  in  evidence. 
Thus  at  the  meeting  in  September,  1906,  the  only  question  discussed  was  whether 
it  is  necessary  to  the  progress  of  the  churches  of  God  to  use  Church  of  God  litera- 


General   History  ^73 

ture  in  our  Sunday-schools.  It  does  not  presume  that  the  literature  published  by 
the  General  Eldership  was  not  patronized,  nor  that  the  ministry  of  the  Eldership 
was  opposed  to  it.  The  journals  of  the  Eldership  are  witness  to  the  contrary. 
The  texts  of  Scripture  on  which  exegeses  were  delivered  were  not  of  a  practical 
character,  but  may  have  had  some  relation  to  erroneous  views  which  were  being 
propagated,  such  as  sanctification,  heavenly  citizenship,  the  baptism  of  the  eunuch, 
and  bodily  mutilations  for  spiritual  ends.  There  was  usually  a  General  Mission- 
ary, though  with  inadequate  support  to  enable  him  to  do  real  mission  work.  In- 
deed heavy  sacrifices  were  demanded  of  the  ministers  who  were  pastors  of  the  five 
to  seven  fields  of  labor  which  were  maintained.  The  churches  and  ministers  were 
headed  right,  but  the  tides  of  influence  were  not  propitious.  Evangelistic  work 
with  the  use  of  a  tent,  in  1907,  gave  promise  of  good  results.  In  June,  1907,  J.  E. 
Palmer  and  G.  Andrey  began  their  work  at  Beaver  Creek.  They  remained  there 
several  weeks,  and  witnessed  a  number  of  conversions,  and  organized  a  church. 
In  July  they  were  at  Rock  Lake,  and  "had  victory  all  through  the  meeting."  Aug- 
-ust  2nd  they  began  a  tent-meeting  at  Berten  Lake,  and  "the  Lord  blessed  their 
labors  with  a  number  of  souls,  and  a  church  was  organized,  and  F.  Spaler  appoint- 
ed to  look  after  the  work."  A  two  weeks'  meeting  was  held,  beginning  August 
17th,  at  Stanwood.      This  campaign  exerted  a  good  influence. 

The  influence  of  Findlay  College  was  felt  to  a  clearly  recognizable  extent  in 
the  Ohio  Eldership.  Quite  a  proportion  of  the  pastors  were  connected  with  the 
College  as  professors  and  students,  or  had  taken  a  course  at  that  institution.  This 
promoted  unity  of  sentiment,  and  fostered  a  spirit  of  loyalty  under  the  leadership 
of  the  President  of  the  College.  The  pulpit  maintained  its  hold  upon  the  churches 
quite  well,  if  not  as  well  as  before  the  present  deluge  of  newspapers,  magazines 
and  public  libraries.  The  fields  of  labor  varied  very  little  from  1905  to  1910, 
being  thirty-one  in  1906,  and  twenty-nine  in  1909  for  1910.  Several  of  these 
were  missions,  two  in  Findlay  in  addition  to  the  two  churches.  At  Fostoria  a  mis- 
sion was  partly  sustained  by  the  Eldership.  While  the  number  of  fields  of  labor 
did  not  increase  during  this  period,  the  total  church  membership  did,  reaching  a 
total  of  2,231  in  1909.  In  1905  there  were  73  preaching  places,  72  organized 
churches,  77  houses  of  worship,  and  434  accessions.  The  interest  in  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E. 
work  was  general,  and  an  effort  was  made  to  have  a  society  organized  in  each 
church.  This,  however,  seemed  impossible,  as  there  were  only  fourteen  societies 
in  1905.  The  movement  was  regarded  as  "educational  and  practical  in  awaken- 
ing our  young  people  to  their  responsibility  in  home  and  foreign  missions."  The 
Ministerial  Association  was  maintained,  and  contributed  materially  to  the  awaken- 
ing of  interest  in  practical  questions  bearing  on  Church  growth.  Church  extension. 
Church  federation,  evangelization,  men's  Bible  classes,  the  Sunday-school 
as  an  evangelizing  agency,  the  evangelistic  methods  and  other  practical  ques- 
tions of  interest  to  the  churches  were  topics  for  discussion.  Material  in- 
terests received  some  attention.  The  Pleasant  Grove  church  spent  $539.00 
in  repairs  on  its  church  house,  under  the  pastoral  oversight  of  W.  E.  Turner. 
The  rededication  took  place  November  12,  1905,  the  pastor  officiating,  with 
preaching  three  preceding  evenings  by  O.  O.  Tracy  and  J.  W.  Johnson.  What 
had  long  been  known  as  "The  Synagogue,"  now  Vermillion  Bethel,  Ashland  county, 
after  extensive  remodeling  and  repairing,  under  Leroy  De  Hays,  was  rededicated 
on  October  14,  1906,  when  T.  H.  McAfee  preached  the  sermons.  Near  Hamler, 
Henry  county,  Zion's  Bethel  was  repaired  during  the  Summer  of  1906.  It  was  re- 
dedicated  September  30th,  when  C.  I.  BrowTi  officiated.  The  church  at  Rising 
Sun,  in  the  Spring  of  1906,  realized  the  need  of  enlarging  its  church  building  to 
accommodate  the  Sunday-school,  especially  for  the  primary  work.  Under  the 
leadership  of  its  faithful  pastor,  C.  H.  Gatchell,  this  was  accomplished  by  building 
and  addition,  or  "wing,"  26x26  feet.  The  dedication  took  place  December  30, 
1906.  The  services  being  in  charge  of  J.  P.  Slough,  who  had  been  pastor  there 
for  six  years.  During  the  Spring  of  19  08  the  church  at  Wooster,  under  the  pas- 
torate of  S.  D.  Harlan,  who  had  the  reputation  of  being  "a  good  general  and  a  care- 
ful financier,"  spent  $3,000.00  on  the  extensive  repairs  made  to  their  house  of 
worship.  The  dedicatory  services  were  held  May  3,  1908,  in  charge  of  C.  I.  Brown, 
assisted  by  C.  F.  Raach.  A  new  bethel  was  built  at  Ohio  City  in  the  Summer  of 
1909,  at  a  cost  of  $3,600.00.  The  faithful  pastor  was  C.  H.  Gatchell.  Prior  to 
the  dedication,  November  18,  1909,  S.  F.  Banders  and  J.  F.  Slough  preached  three 
nights,  and  O.  A.  Newlin  officiated  on  Sabbath.  The  ministers  and  church  actively 
engaged  in  the  local  option  campaign  in  1907-8,  resulting  in  the  passage  by  the 

C.  H.— 10* 


274  History    of   the    Churches    of    God 

Legislature  of  a  local  option  law.  Among  its  provisions  was  one  requiring  the 
State  official  to  order  an  election  whenever  thirty-five  per  centum  of  the  voters 
petitioned  for  it.  Under  this  provision  thirty-eight  counties  voted  out  the  saloons, 
with  an  aggregate  majority  of  44,247. 

"The  statistical  foot-rule  applied  to  the  walls  of  Zion"  is  repudiated  by  the 
"Homiletic  Review."  There  is  a  "deeper  valuation  that  is  gaining  ground,"  it  is 
claimed.  "In  the  kingdom  of  God  results  are  weighed,  not  counted."  This  in  the 
main  depends  on  what  the  statistician  is  after,  and  his  honesty  in  handling  results. 
The  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  made  no  mistake  when  in  1907  it  gave  these 
statistics:  Appointments,  56;  church  houses,  48;  organized  churches,  52;  con- 
versions during  the  year  1906-7,  633;  accessions,  463;  total  membership,  2,387. 
The  conclusion  was  that  "the  Church  is  making  progress."  In  1909  it  was  claimed 
that  "the  churches  are  still  making  material  progress.  Old  churches  are  being 
strengthened,  and  new  ones  are  being  organized."  There  were  25  fields  of  labor, 
52  churches,  54  church  houses,  2,209  members.  There  was  considerable  mission 
work  done  among  the  foreign  population  by  Jacob  Luchansky,  and  several  churches 
organized.  An  earnest  missionary  spirit  prevailed,  manifested  in  the  activity  of 
the  W.  M.  S.  and  its  conventions  in  connection  with  the  Ministerial  Association, 
and  in  topics  discussed,  such  as  "Apostolic  Revivals,"  "Revival  Methods,"  "How 
to  Interest  Children  in  Missions,  "Mission  Work  in  the  Coke  Regions."  The  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  interests  also  received  systematic  attention,  and  gave  rise  to  ques- 
tions for  discussion,  such  as:  "How  to  Care  for  the  Converts,"  "Preaching  Our 
Distinctive  Doctrines,"  "Our  Young  Men."  In  May,  1907,  the  Standing  Committee 
requested  George  M,  Hulnie  and  John  H.  Gross  to  open  mission  work  in  Franklin, 
Venango  county.  These  were  two  "capable,  earnest  and  energetic  young  men." 
As  Church  of  God  families  from  churches  in  the  county  were  locating  in  Franklin, 
it  seemed  an  auspicious  time  to  begin  mission  work.  Their  efforts  were  success- 
ful, and  a  fine  house  of  worship  was  built  in  the  Summer  of  1908.  Connected 
with  it  is  a  good  parsonage,  which  was  bought  with  the  lot.  The  corner-stone 
was  laid  May  24,  1908,  by  S.  G.  Yahn.  The  building  was  dedicated  October  18, 
190  8,  when  C.  H.  Forney  preached  the  morning  sermon,  and  S.  G.  Yahn  the  even- 
ing sermon.  T.  S.  Woods,  J.  W.  Whisler  and  J.  S.  Boyd  were  also  present  and 
participated  in  the  services.  An  extensive  revival  followed,  during  which  many 
souls  were  saved.  At  Pine  Hill,  Vanango  county,  a  new  bethel  was  built  under  the 
labors  of  George  M.  Hulme.  It  was  dedicated  on  December  22,  1907,  John  H. 
Whisler  preaching  in  the  morning  from  John  iv.  24,  and  J.  L.  Updegraph  in  the 
afternoon  and  evening.  The  cost  of  the  house  was  $3,000.00.  In  1908  the  Min- 
isterial Association  and  Missionary  Convention  had  these  questions  on  its  program: 
"Essentials  of  Biblical  Revivals,"  "The  Spirit  of  Missions,"  "Joys  of  Mission 
Work."  This  year  successful  work  was  done  at  several  points.  The  house  of 
worship  at  Hill  View,  under  the  pastoral  oversight  of  F.  O.  Eakin,  was  extensively 
repaired,  and  on  July  26,  1908,  was  rededicated  by  W.  Harris  Guyer.  Pastor  J.  C. 
Cunningham  succeeded  in  having  the  Maple  Summit  house  of  worship  repaired 
during  the  Summer  of  1908,  which  was  rededicated  August  2,  1908,  by  W.  Harris 
Guyer  and  J.  G.  Wise.  At  Ellwood  City  the  church  bought  the  house  of  worship 
owned  by  the  Union  Welsh  church  for  $600.00.  It  received  title  on  December  31, 
1908,  when  the  pastor,  J.  W.  Whisler,  on  January  10,  1909,  began  a  revival  ser- 
vice, which  continued  to  February  11th,  with  fifty-seven  converts.  On  February 
7th  a  church  was  organized  of  forty-one  members.  Repairs  were  made  to  the 
house,  bringing  its  value  up  to  $2,000.00.  Whisler  also  in  the  early  Fall  of  1909 
secured  the  use  of  a  small  church  building  at  New  Castle,  where  he  organized  a 
church  soon  after. 

The  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North,  made  progress  in  temporal  and  spiritual 
interests.  The  pastors  in  their  Ministerial  Association  discussed  the  greatest  needs 
of  the  territory  of  the  Eldership,  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  a  good  pastor, 
the  secret  of  soul-winning  and  kindred  topics.  The  bethel  at  Mt.  Carmel,  Greene 
county.  Pa.,  was  rededicated  in  December,  1906.  Z.  H.  Yoder  preached  on  the 
occasion.  The  church  at  McMechen,  long  known  as  the  Gravel  Street  church,  or- 
ganized in  1871  by  John  Hickernell,  built  a  fine,  new  brick  house  of  worship,  at 
a  cost,  lot  and  building,  of  $15,000.00,  with  a  splendid  organ  costing  $1,200.00, 
half  of  it  paid  by  Andrew  Carnegie.  It  was  dedicated  on  April  26,  1908,  C.  H. 
Forney  preaching  morning  and  evening,  and  J.  L.  Updegraph  in  the  afternoon. 
Under  the  pastoral  labors  of  A.  J.  Stanley,  the  Pipe  Creek  church,  Ohio,  dedicated 
their  new  church  building  August  27,  1905.      W.  R.  Covert  delivered  the  morning 


General   History  275 

sermon,,  and  J.  L.  Lucas  preached  at  4  o'clock  p.  m.  In  Wetzel  county,  5  miles 
from  Proctor,  on  the  farm  of  Meshack  Yoho,  called  Highland,  the  highest  point 
in  the  county,  a  house  of  worship  was  built  and  paid  for  by  Bro.  Yoho.  It  was 
dedicated  on  June  7,  1908,  under  the  pastorate  of  J.  L.  Lucas.  C.  H.  Forney 
preached  on  Saturday  evening,  Sunday  morning  and  evening,  and  N.  M.  Anderson 
on  Sunday  afternoon.  The  church  at  Elm  Grove,  with  W.  W.  Anderson  as  pas- 
tor, in  the  Summer  of  1908  erected  a  new  house  of  worship  at  a  cost  of  $2,812.50. 
which  was  dedicated  by  C.  I.  Brown  December  20th.  Other  ministers  present 
and  assisting  in  the  services  were  N.  M.  Anderson,  J.  C.  Beam,  Z.  H.  Yoder  and 
B.  D.  Eden. 

There  was  far  less  doing  in  the  territory  of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership. 
South.  Serious  obstacles  were  encountered  which  hindered  the  progress  of  the 
work.  Churches  and  ministers  manifested  an  abiding  interest  in  the  progress  of 
the  Church;  but  their  endeavors  were  less  fruitful  than  in  earlier  years.  Discus- 
sions of  doctrine  were  in  a  measure  superseding  questions  of  practical  theology. 
Yet  such  questions  received  prominence  as:  "How  should  a  minister  of  the  gospel 
carry  himself  to  have  the  best  Christian  influence?"  "What  is  the  best  method  of 
conducting  a  revival,  or  an  evangelistic,  meeting?" 

Intelligent  interest  was  manifested  in  Christian  Endeavor  and  Sunday-school 
work  by  the  churches  and  ministers  of  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership.  Con- 
ventions were  annually  held,  and  the  International  Convention  of  the  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E., 
held  at  Baltimore,  Md.,  in  1905,  was  attended  by  a  number  of  active  workers. 
The  sisters  were  also  active  in  missionary  matters,  having  a  Woman's  Foreign 
Missionary  Society  which  held  annual  conventions.  The  temporal  interests  of  the 
churches  were  well  cared  for  by  faithful  pastors.  Under  the  labors  of  S.  J.  Mont- 
gomery the  work  of  building  a  bethel  at  Sample's  Manor,  Washington  county,  was 
begun.  It  was  brought  to  completion  under  the  labors  of  S.  A.  Kipe,  and  was 
dedicated  September  20,  1908,  by  L.  F.  Murray.  At  Woodsborough,  Frederick 
county,  the  church  bought  a  hoGse  of  worship,  put  it  in  fine  condition,  and  dedi- 
cated it  August  8,  1909,  during  the  pastorate  of  J.  M.  Cai*ter.  The  preaching  on 
the  occasion  was  by  C.  H.  Forney.  A  platform  meeting  in  the  afternoon  was  ad- 
dressed by  F.  Y.  Weldenhammer,  J.  A.  Saxton  and  L.  F.  Murray.  While  W.  S. 
Shimp  was  pastor  at  Germantown  an  addition  was  built  to  the  bethel,  and  the 
house  repaired,  and  rededicated  October  17,  1909.  V.  K.  Betts  preached  in  the 
morning,  and  O.  A.  Newlin,  Field  Secretary  of  Findlay  College,  in  the  evening. 

A  live  and  earnest  ministry  is  indicated  by  the  work  done  during  this  period 
in  the  territory  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  The  membership  does  not 
show  a  large  net  increase,  as  7,223  were  reported  in  1905,  and  7,655,  in  1909.  But 
accessions  ranged  from  a  little  over  1,000  in  1908,  to  582  in  1909.  Losses  were 
relatively  large,  occasioned  by  deaths,  removals,  dismissal  for  various  reasons  and 
purging  of  church  records.  Fields  of  labor  increased  from  58  in  1905,  to  62  in 
1909.  Parsonages  numbered  28  in  1905,  and  32  in  1909.  The  interest  in  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  work  was  well  maintained,  and  the  local  societies  increased  from 
65  in  1905,  to  70  in  1909.  The  women  were  quite  active  in  missionary  work,  and 
new  societies  were  organized  each  year  and  large  amounts  were  collected.  The 
total  contributions  by  the  churches  for  all  purposes  for  the  year  ending  October 
1,  1910,  were  $88,149.17;  for  the  year  ending  October  1,  1905,  $64,314.49.  The 
churches  and  ministers  manifested  a  permanent  interest  in  the  temperance  ques- 
tion as  it  was  agitated  by  the  Anti-Saloon  League.  Agents  of  this  organization 
had  access  to  many  of  the  pulpits,  and  petitions  to  the  Legislature  were  circulated 
at  church  services,  praying  for  the  passage  of  a  local  option  law.  The  Church  Ad- 
vocate discussed  the  bills  before  the  Legislature,  and  published  the  text.  As  the 
effort  failed  in  1905,  1907  and  1909,  the  friends  of  the  measure,  after  each  defeat, 
with  renewed  zeal  resumed  the  fight  for  the  next  session.  The  Eldership  each 
year  elected  two  of  the  ministers  to  represent  it  on  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the 
Anti-Saloon  League,  except  in  1912,.  Sunday-school  and  C.  E.  Conventions  were 
held  annually,  and  were  largely  attended  and  enthusiastic.  Two  camp-meetings 
were  held  each  year,  both  now  under  the  control  of  Camp-meeting  Associations, 
and  having  permanent  grounds.  The  one  at  Center  Manor,  the  other  at  Walnut 
Grove.  The  spiritual  results  were  unimportant.  Conversions  were  rather  the  ex- 
ception. Extremists  termed  them  "religious  picnics."  The  opinion  was  wide- 
spread "that  the  camp-meeting  has  had  its  day;  that  it  has  outlived  its  usefulness. 
and  that  as  a  religious  agency  in  our  modern  life  there  is  no  longer  any  place  for 
it."     Even  the  money  panic  of  1907  failed  to  check  the  spirit  of  improvement  in 


2/6  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

the  temporal  interests  of  the  churches,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  building  of  new 
church  houses  and  the  repairing  of  old  ones  often  at  a  cost  exceeding  that  of  new 
buildings  years  before.  At  Coalmont,  Huntingdon  county,  where  F.  W.  McGuire 
was  the  devoted  pastor,  the  corner-stone  of  a  new  bethel  was  laid  June  18,  1905, 
at  which  T.  H.  McAfee  officiated.  The  building  was  completed  at  a  cost  of 
.'^1,100.00,  and  was  dedicated  December  3,  1905.  C.  H.  Grove  preached  in  the 
morning;  J,  T.  Fle^gal,  in  the  afternoon,  and  J.  A.  Detter  in  the  evening.  With 
J.  A.  Staub  as  the  faithful  shepherd,  the  flock  at  Pairview,  York  county,  was  led  to 
repair  the  bethel,  which  was  rededicated  June  4,  1905,  by  G.  Sigler.  The  church 
at  Walnut  Grove,  Huntingdon  county,  under  the  pastorate  of  E.  Myers,  built  a  new 
bethel  in  the  Summer  of  1905.  It  was  dedicated  August  6,  1905,  C.  H.  Forney 
preaching  both  sermons.  J.  T.  Fleegal  had  charge  of  the  finances.  The  house  of 
worship  at  Suedberg,  Schuylkill  county,  with  W.  H.  Snyder  as  the  energetic  pastor, 
was  repaired  in  the  Summer  of  1905.      At  the  dedication  in  September,   1905,  C. 

F.  Reitzel  preached  the  morning  sermon,  and  T.  H.  McAfee,  the  evening  sermon. 
Under  the  labors  of  the  veteran  missionary,  O.  J.  Farling,  the  East  Steelton  house 
of  worship,  Dauphin  county,  was  remodeled,  and  was  rededicated  August  20,  1905. 
C.  H.  Forney  preached  the  morning  sermon,  and  H.  F.  Hoover,  the  evening  ser- 
mon. C.  C.  Bai-tels  assisted  in  the  services.  At  Pitman,  Schuylkill  county,  the 
affectionate  pastor  was  moved  to  repair  the  bethel  which  had  not  been  used  for 
several  years,  and  had  it  ready  for  rededication  September  10,  1905,  when  C.  H. 
Forney  preached  morning  and  evening,  W.  S.  Sturgen  having  occupied  the  pulpit 
on  Saturday  evening.  The  church  at  Lancaster,  Lancaster  county,  made  extensive 
improvements  to  its  house  of  worship,  which  was  quietly  rededicated  August  27, 
1905,  by  the  beloved  pastor,  J.  W.  Deshong.  After  much-needed  improvements, 
the  bethel  at  Orrstown,  Franklin  county,  was  rededicated  November  19,  1905,  by 
1.  A.  MacDannald.  The  zealous  pastor  was  C.  H.  Heiges.  Through  the  persistent 
labors  of  J.  D.  Clark,  pastor  of  the  Dauphin  circuit,  Dauphin  county,  the  church 
at  Linglestown  bought  a  lot  near  the  center  of  the  village  on  which  the  third  bethel 
was  built  in  the  Summer  of  1905.  It  was  consecrated  November  26,  1905,  when 
C.  H.  Forney  preached  the  dedicatory  sermon  in  the  morning;  O.  J.  Farling,  O.  E. 
Houston  and  J.  C.  Forncrook  conducted  a  platform  service  in  the  afternoon.  I.  A. 
MacDannald  preached  in  the  evening.  At  Wormleysburg,  Cumberland  county,  a 
"neat  and  beautiful  new  bethel"  was  built  under  the  labors  of  the  efficient  pastor, 

G.  Sigler,  which  was  dedicated  April  1,  1906.  The  morning  sermon  was  delivered 
by  D.  S.  Shoop;  the  evening  sermon  by  H.  F.  Hoover,  and  the  afternoon  platform 
service  was  in  charge  of  J.  C.  Forncrook,  H.  S.  Bickel  and  J.  R.  Stonesifer.  The 
Maclay  Street  church,  Harrisburg,  was  first  known  as  the  Kelker  Street  Mission, 
holding  its  services  in  the  Hall  of  the  Kelker  Street  Market  House.  In  the  Spring 
of  1906  the  Board  of  Incorporation  of  the  Eldership  bought  a  lot  on  the  corner  of 
New  Fourth  and  Maclay  streets,  for  $2,975.00.  The  work  was  then  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  Board  of  Church  Extension.  But  in  the  Spring  of  1908  it  was  turned 
over  to  the  church,  which  proceeded  to  erect  a  commodious  brick  bethel,  at  a  cost 
of  $13,790.00.  It  was  set  apart  for  divine  worship  September  27,  1908,  when  the 
dedicatory  sermon  was  preached  by  C.  H.  Forney.  The  afternoon  meeting  was  ad- 
dressed by  C.  I.  Behney,  S.  N.  Good  and  C.  C.  Bartels.  The  evening  sermon  was 
preached  by  J.  C.  Forncrook.  In  Altoona  the  Fairview  mission  was  begun  by  the 
indomitable  pastor  of  the  First  church,  J.  M.  Waggoner,  in  19  06.  His  efforts  were 
reinforced  by  the  Board  of  Church  Extension,  and  were  so  successful  that  on  June 
14,  1908,  the  new  house  of  worship  was  dedicated  by  F.  W.  McGuire,  assisted  by 
the  pastor  and  by  J.  A.  Snyder.  The  bethel  at  Newville,  Cumberland  county,  was 
extensively  repaired  in  1906,  A.  P.  Stover  being  the  aggressive  pastor.  It  was  re- 
opened September  2,  1906,  when  F.  W.  McGuire  and  C.  H.  Forney  preached  the 
sermons.  At  Six  Mile  Run  (or  Fairplay),  Bedford  county,  the  corner-stone  of  a 
new  bethel  was  laid  September  30,  1906,  by  J.  M.  Waggoner.  The  first  bethel  had 
been  built  in  1870.  The  second  house  was  dedicated  March  17,  1907,  when  J.  A. 
Detter  preached  in  the  morning  and  C.  H.  Grove  in  the  evening.  F.  W.  McGuire 
was  the  indefatigable  pastor.  Under  the  labors  of  W.  H.  Snyder  the  bethel  at 
Shiremanstown,  Cumberland  county,  was  repaired  in  the  Summer  of  1906,  and 
dedicated  August  12,  190  6,  by  I.  A.  MacDannald.  As  a  large  proportion  of  the 
membership  of  the  Progress  church,  Dauphin  county,  lived  at  Penbrook,  less  than 
a  mile  from  Progress,  it  was  decided  to  begin  church  work  in  Penbrook,  during  the 
pastorate  of  the  wide-awake  O.  E.  Houston.  A  house  of  worship  was  the  first  re- 
quisite.     This  was  erected  during  the  Summer  of  1906,   and  on  November   18th 


Gene-^rl  History  277 

the  fine  bethel,  costing  $12,000.00,  was  set  apart  for  religious  worship.  C.  H, 
Forney  preached  the  dedicatory  sermon.  Platform  addresses  were  made  in  the 
afternoon  by  J.  C.  Foi-ncrook,  G.  Sigler  and  C.  H.  Fon-est.  The  evening  sermon 
was  preached  by  C.  H.  Grove.  After  spending  $1,400.00  in  remodeling  their  house 
of  worship,  under  the  labors  of  the  efficient  pastor,  G.  W.  Getz,  the  church  at  Car- 
lisle, Cumberland  county,  reopened  their  bethel  January  23,  1907,  the  sermon  on 
the  occasion  being  delivered  by  I.  A.  MacDannald.  The  sum  of  $1,200.00  was 
spent  by  the  church  at  Camp  Hill,  Cumberland  county,  in  renovating  and  improv- 
ing their  church  building,  under  the  labors  of  their  resolute  pastor,  H.  S.  Bickel. 
It  was  rededicated  December  30,  1906,  by  D.  S.  Shoop.  Another  house  of  worship 
on  F.  VV.  McGuire's  charge,  at  Round  Knob,  Bedford  county,  was  built  in  1907. 
The  corner-stone  was  laid  June  23rd,  by  W.  H.  Shade,  and  the  house  was  dedicated 
November  3rd,  G,  W.  Getz  and  J.  T.  Fleegal  officiating.  A  part  of  the  bethel  at 
Washington  Borough,  Lancaster  county,  was  badly  damaged  on  March  9,  1907,  by 
the  explosion  of  the  acetylene  lighting  plant.  The  necessary  repairs  were  made, 
and  the  house  was  rededicated  by  C.  H.  Forney  June  23rd.  J.  H.  Gervin  was  the 
pastor.  The  church  at  Sanborn,  Clearfield  county,  had  been  worshiping  in  a  Hall 
until  the  Spring  of  1907,  when  under  the  labors  of  their  zealous  pastor,  W.  H. 
Shade,  they  bought  a  church  building  in  Brisbin,  and  removed  it  to  Sanborn.  When 
completed  the  total  cost  was  $1,500.00.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  August  18, 
1907,  by  J.  T.  Fleegal,  and  the  house  was  dedicated  November  10,  1907,  by  F.  W. 
McGuire.  The  house  of  worship  at  Landisburg,  Perry  county,  after  undergoing 
needed  repairs  was  rededicated  August  18,  1907,  by  G.  Sigler,  assisted  by  the  dili- 
gent pastor,  VV.  S.  Sturgen,  and  W.  H.  Dressier.  Enola,  Cumberland  county,  a 
new  town,  seemed  a  promising  place  to  begin  church  work.  It  was  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  Board  of  Church  Extension,  which  secured  the  services  of  G.  Sigler, 
pastor  at  Wormleysburg,  who  with  commendable  zeal  pushed  the  work  of  building 
a  bethel.  It  was  completed  and  ready  for  dedication  October  20,  1907,  when  J.  C. 
Fomcrook  preached  in  the  morning,  and  C.  I.  Behney,  in  the  evening.  The  entire 
cost  was  $5,000.00.  With  characteristic  energy,  G.  H.  Bovversox,  pastor  of  Lower 
Perry  circuit.  Perry  county,  began  the  erection  of  a  bethel  in  Newport.  It  was 
completed  at  a  cost  of  $2,500.00,  and  was  dedicated  January  12,  1908.  C.  H. 
Forney  was  announced  to  preach  the  dedicatory  sermon  on  Sunday  evening;  but 
in  his  absence  I.  A.  MacDannald  preached  morning  and  evening,  and  W.  S.  Sturgen 
at  2.30  p.  m.  The  rededication  of  the  bethel  at  Plainfield,  Cumberland  county, 
under  the  labors  of  J.  A.  Staub,  took  place  December  1,  1907.  J.  W.  Deshong  did 
the  preaching.  Repairs  costing  over  $700.00  were  made  to  the  Kimmel's  church, 
Schuylkill  county,  under  C.  F.  Reitzel,  pastor,  and  the  sermons  on  Saturday  even- 
ing and  Sunday  morning  and  evening  of  the  rededication  were  preached  by  C.  H. 
Forney.  At  Smith's  Corner,  Blair  county,  a  union  house  was  built  in  the  Summer 
of  190  8,  which  was  dedicated  on  September  27th  by  G.  Sigler.  The  church  at 
Columbia,  Lancaster  county,  repaired  its  house  of  worship,  and  held  dedicatory 
services  February  9,  1908,  at  which  C.  H.  Foraey  and  C.  H.  Grove  officiated.  J. 
A.  Detter  was  the  capable  pastor.  The  church  at  Vander  Avenue,  York,  York 
county,  under  the  leadership  of  their  experienced  pastor,  made  needed  repairs  at 
their  house  of  worship,  and  rededicated  it  May  17,  1908,  the  pastor  preaching  in 
the  morning,  and  J,  T.  Fleegal,  in  the  evening.  At  Valley  View,  Schuylkill  county, 
a  new  bethel  was  built,  the  corner-stone  of  which  was  laid  by  C.  F,  Reitzel  on  July 
12,  1908.  The  proficient  pastor,  B.  B.  Wenger,  pushed  the  work  to  completion, 
and  the  dedicatory  services  were  held  December  4,  1908.  C.  H.  Foraey  preached 
on  Saturday  evening,  Sunday  at  10.30  a.  m.,  and  2  p.  m.,  and  I.  A.  MacDannald 
at  7  p.  m.  The  new  house  of  worship  built  by  the  church  at  Doubling  Gap,  Cum- 
berland county,  under  the  pastoral  labors  of  the  esteemed  pastor,  J.  A.  Staub,  was 
dedicated  July  4,  1909.  C.  H.  Forney  preached  at  10  o'clock  a.  m.;  AV.  R.  Ward  at. 
2  p.  m.,  and  G.  H.  Bowei-sox  at  7  p.  m.  The  rededicatory  sermon  of  the  church 
at  South  Fairview,  Cumberland  county,  under  the  labors  of  S.  T.  StoufYer,  were 
held  July  25,  1909.  Preaching  on  the  occasion  by  J.  A.  Staub.  The  Fourth 
Street  Bethel,  Harrisburg,  was  remodeled  and  repaired  in  1909,  at  an  expense  of 
$4,000.00,  under  the  efficient  pastorate  of  J.  C.  Foraci-ook.  It  was  rededicated 
October  17,  1909,  C.  H.  Foraey  preaching  at  10.30  a.  m.,  and  S.  G.  Yahn,  at  7.30 
p.  m.  The  Nagle  Street  church  repaired  its  house  of  worship,  and  held  reopening 
services  September  26,  1909.  The  diligent  pastor,  H.  S.  Bickel  secured  the  ser- 
vices of  J.  C.  Fomcrook  to  preach  on  the  occasion.  On  November  21,  1909,  Forn- 
crook  preached  the  morning  sermon  and  O.  E.  Houston  the  evening  sermon  at  the 


-/' 


History    of   thk    Churches    of    God 


rededication  of  the  Pleasant  View  bethel,  Harrisburg.  A.  G.  Herr  was  the  un- 
tiring pastor,  who  also  arranged  for  an  afternoon  platform  service  at  which  ad- 
dresses were  delivered  by  J.  C.  Forncrook,  W.  S.  Sturgen  and  B.  L.  C.  Baer. 

During  this  period  death  took  a  terribly  high  toll  among  prominent  ministers 
in  other  Churches,  in  all  of  which  Christians  of  all  religious  bodies  were  sympa- 
thetically interested.  They  deepened  a  larger  tolerance  for,  and  a  greater  faith 
on  the  part  of  other  faiths  in,  the  divine  stewardship  of  dissenting  ministers. 
The  first  leader  to  fall  was  Bishop  E.  B.  Kephail,  of  the  U.  B.  Church,  beloved  and 
admired  by  his  people.  He  died  June  24,  1906.  Bishop  C.  C.  McCabe,  of  the 
M.  E.  Church,  the  most  beloved  of  the  then  Board  of  Bishops,  ended  his  illustrious 
life  on  December  19,  1906.  It  could  never  be  said  that  his  eulogists  evidently 
wished  to  gild  refined  gold  or  paint  the  violet.  Sam.  P,  Jones,  the  greatest  evan- 
gelist of  the  Southland,  preceded  McCabe,  having  died  in  October,  190  6.  Bishop 
('.  H.  Fowler,  who  rendered  unusual  services  to  the  M.  E.  Church,  and  to  the  cause 
of  Christian  culture,  passed  away  March  20,  1908.  His  devotion  to  duty  and  his 
splendid  ideals,  illustrated  by  extraordinary  performances,  were  proof  against  de- 
traction, and  allayed  all  doubts  and  misgivings  touching  his  high  character.      Ira. 

D.  Sankey,  whose  marvelous  gift  of  poetry  and  song  gave  him  a  place  in  the  hearts 
of  Christian  people  in  aJl  lands,  joined  the  angelic  choir  August  13,  1908.  Bishop 
J)aniel  Ayres  Gootlsell,  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  reached  the  final  goal  December  5, 
19  09.  He  was  of  the  best  type  of  Methodist  Bishops,  participating  in  all  the  in- 
tricate problems  of  Church  government  with  wisdom  and  singleness  of  purpose. 

Two  public  debates  were  held  between  1905  and  1910.  This  first  was  at 
■Joplan,  Montgomery  county.  Ark.,  July  26,  1907,  between  J.  H.  Summit,  of  the 
Church  of  God,  and  A.  Cai-ter,  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  Summit  affirmed  that  the 
church  is  the  body  of  Christ,  and  that  the  scriptural  name  is  church  of  God. 
Cai'ter  agreed  with  the  first  part  of  this  proposition,  but  affirmed  that  the  proper 
name  is  church  of  Christ.  Summit  affirmed  that  the  new  birth  is  the  door  into 
the  church.  Carter  insisted  that  it  is  water-baptism,  which  is  for  the  remission 
of  sin.     Summit  was  successful  In  defending  his  propositions.     A  debate  between 

E.  M.  Kirkpatrick,  of  the  Church  of  God,  and  S.  O.  Pool,  of  the  Christian  Church, 
was  held  at  Riverside  school-house,  near  Pearl,  Douglas  county,  Wash.,  June 
26-30,  1909.  The  propositions  debated  were  the  Church  and  the  washing  of  the 
saints'  feet.      Kirkpatrick  made  a  very  successful  defense  of  his  propositions. 

A  question  of  world-wide  interest  occurred  in  1909,  when  Pope  Pius  X. 
promulgated  a  Syllabus  in  which  he  authorized  the  revision  of  the  text  of  the  Bible 
known  as  the  Vulgate  Version,  and  named  the  Monks  of  the  Benedictine  Order  to 
do  it.  Coming  at  the  time  when  the  Protestant  world  was  preparing  to  celebrate 
the  Tercentenary  of  the  Authorized  Version,  it  intensified  interest  in  the  Pope's 
Syllabus.  Reverence  for  the  sacred  text  had  decreased  in  a  remarkable  degree. 
Much  had  been  learned  of  Hebrew  and  Greek  to  discredit  the  translations  of  cer- 
tain words,  and  there  was  general  acquiescence  in  the  demand  for  a  verbally 
correct  translation.  There  was  no  such  sentiment  in  Protestant  Churches  as  that 
which  prevailed  in  Athens  in  1901,  when  there  was  rioting  in  the  city  because  the 
Queen  suggested  the  translation  of  the  Gospels  into  modern  Greek. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 


1910—1913. 


THE  Right  Honorable  James  Bryce,  British  Ambassador  to  the  United  States,  in 
an  address  before  the  Clerical  Conference  in  New  York  City,  February  17, 
1913,  said,  that  "in  looking  back  over  the  last  fifty  years  he  observed  two 
very  great  advances  that  had  been  made  in  the  work  of  the  various  religious 
bodies,  and  in  their  attitude  towards  the  problems  of  the  day."  The  one  was  "that 
different  religious  bodies  were  now  far  more  willing  to  co-operate  with  one  another 
than  they  had  ever  been  before  in  every  kind  of  work  that  made  for  the  material 
and  moral  improvement  of  the  people."  The  other  was  "the  stronger  feeling  that 
the  sense  of  duty  to  God  and  the  love  of  God  should  be  shown  in  endeavoring  to 
help  his  creatures."  These  are  great  truths,  but  their  danger  lies  in  the  fact  that 
the  original  conception  as  found  in  the  divine  Scriptures  is  that  in  applying  such 


General   History  279 

truths  the  thought  of  the  masses,  which  is  the  thought  of  the  average  man,  should 
be  guided  and  tempered  by  the  colder  logic  of  the  elders  of  the  church,  and  by  the 
judgment  of  a  higher  criticism.  The  churches  of  God  realized  these  changes  to 
some  extent  within  the  past  ten  years;  but  not  to  the  fullest  measure.  Always 
somewhat  more  liberal  as  to  standards  of  doctrine  than  Churches  which  had  Creeds 
and  Confessions  of  Faith,  they,  too,  developed  a  tendency  to  lay  still  less  stress 
upon  theological  differences,  and  more  upon  all  that  Churches  had  in  common. 
While  theological  differences  were  held  as  existing  as  much  as  ever,  the  churches 
of  God  were  still  largely  untaught  in  dogmas  and  doctrines  of  systematic  theology. 
It  was  easy  for  them  to  recognize  and  emphasize  that  which  they  had  in  common 
in  worshiping  one  Almighty  Ruler  of  the  Universe,  and  in  recognizing  him  as  the 
author  of  all  good,  and  in  feeling  that  as  his  children  they  were  bound  to  one 
another  by  ties  which  rose  above  their  differences.  But  as  with  all  the  smaller  re- 
ligious bodies  this  operated  against  the  growth  and  progress  of  the  churches  of 
God. 

Moreover,  the  commendable  facts  to  which  Mr.  Bryce  refers  had  lurking  in 
them  dangers  which  developed  in  various  localities,  though  not  necessarily  in- 
herent in  "the  great  advances"  he  had  observed.  They  are  found  in  the  terms  he 
employs:  "problems  of  the  day,"  "material  and  moral  improvement  of  the  people," 
"a  great  part  of  the  service  of  God  lay  in  the  service  of  man."  Only  a  small  per- 
centage of  ministers  and  churches  fell  into  these  dangers  to  the  fullest  extent;  but 
a  large  majority  did  so  in  part.  Those  which  did  presented  a  picture  of  moral 
deterioration  which  is  almost  inconceivable.  Secular  subjects  were  the  topics  for 
sermons  in  many  pulpits,  and  were  discussed  as  if  the  church  were  a  town  meet- 
ing, or  a  board  of  trade.  On  the  pretext  that  the  church  was  getting  away  from 
the  masses;  that  it  is  becoming  alienated  from  the  masses;  is  not  progressive 
enough,  and  because  the  church  fails  to  appreciate  the  very  human  prpblems  of  the 
masses,  in  not  a  few  instances  in  the  large  centers  of  population  the  pulpit  often 
rather  furnished  cheap,  care-killing  amusements  than  a  divine  and  soul-saving 
gospel.  These  pulpits  and  the  congregations  to  which  they  ministered  with  a  pro- 
fusion of  anecdotes,  legendary  tales,  fairy  tales  and  fables,  which  provoked  laugh- 
ter and  applause,  were  often  compared  to  places  of  worldly  amusement.  The 
"parish  calendar"  of  many  churches  not  only  provided  for  banquets  and  social 
parties;  but  for  eucher  parties  and  dancing  classes.  By  such  means  and  others 
churches  were  increased  in  membership,  while  a  better  class  of  men  and  women, 
whose  moral  lives  were  faultless,  would  not  desire  fellowship.  That  few  of  the 
churches  of  God  yielded  to  such  tendencies,  except  in  the  introduction  of  secular 
topics  into  the  pulpits,  enabled  them  to  maintain  an  enviable  moral  and  spiritual 
standing  before  the  world.  Then  the  fact  that  so  large  a  proportion  of  the 
churches  of  God  is  in  rural  districts  saved  them  from  these  demoralizing  tenden- 
cies. Securing  signatures  to  political  petitions  was,  however,  not  exceptional, 
though  none  went  so  far,  as  it  is  believed,  as  "to  have  registration  oflBcers  present 
at  the  prayer-meetings  at  various  churches,"  as  was  the  case  at  Los  Angeles  and 
other  Pacific  Coast  towns.  There  were  defenders  of  the  "amuzement  craze"  in 
the  pulpit.  To  what  extent  this  spirit  contributed  to  the  emptying  of  churches  is 
matter  for  conjecture;  but  it  was  stated  as  a  fact  that  at  the  end  of  this  period 
"there  were  10,000  unused  churches  in  America,"  while  thousands  were  slimly 
attended.  What  follows,  but  that  "when  religion  shuts  up  shop  the  devil  works 
overtime;"  that  when  such  conditions  prevail  spirituality  is  a  vanishing  quantity? 
Religious  indifferentism  was  the  universal  complaint.  The  ministers  of  the 
churches  of  God  were  not  passive  observers  of  these  deteriorating  influences  and, 
demoralizing  institutions  and  practices.  When  some  other  Churches  tolera,ted 
the  introduction  of  "moving  pictures  the  organ  of  the  General  Eldership  spoke  in 
emphatic  terms  against  the  institution  as  of  a  demoralizing  tendjeiicy.  The  slogan 
of  the  churches  of  God  still  was,  "Preach  thie  word,  whether  men  will  hear  or  for- 
bear." 

The  age,  however,  was  pre-eminently  pragmatic.  Doing,  not  thinking  or 
teaching,  was  the  universal  demand.  Hence  the  prominence  of  "social  ChristiauT 
ity."  The  church  was  called  by  the  American  Federation  of  Churches  to  stu(Jy 
the  church  and  social  purity,  safeguarding  children  and  youth,  amusements,  the 
social  evil,  immigration,  the  church  and  the  workingman,  hours  of  labor,  degree 
of  leisure,  organized  labor,  wages  and  cost  of  living,  organized  labor  and  wage?, 
unsanitary  occupations,  housing  and  sanitation,  tuberculosis,  and  what  the  church^ 
c^n  do,  and  hundreds  of  other  topics.      Even  in  some  churches  of  God  these  were 


28o  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

topics  for  the  prayer-meeting,  or  the  C.  E.  meeting.  In  material  interests  this  was 
a  period  of  ever-increasing  progress  and  prosperity.  It  was  also  a  year  of  large 
things  in  philanthropic  lines.  In  1909  the  churches  of  God  entered  with  deter- 
mined energy  upon  the  task  of  raising  $37,500  to  meet  the  Carnegie  proposition 
of  new  endowment  of  $50,000  for  Findlay  College,  led  by  the  efficient  and  zealous 
Field  Agent,  O.  E.  Newlin,  and  the  undaunted  President,  C.  I.  Brown.  The  work 
was  accomplished  by  April,  1911.  And  the  project  was  started  in  May,  1911,  to 
secure  $24,000  additional  endowment  by  1916,  one  brother  pledging  $1,000. 

Always  active  in  every  phase  of  Christian  Endeavor  work,  the  churches  of  God 
in  the  East  took  an  active  interest  in  the  International  Convention  held  at  Atlantic 
City,  July  12,  1910.  Representatives  were  in  attendance  who  voted  to  make  the 
slogan  for  the  following  year,  "A  Saloonless  Nation  by  1920."  With  twenty-two 
States  having  constitutional  or  statutory  prohibition  in  1910,  this  did  not  seem 
visionary.  That  Christian  citizenship  has  a  claim  on  the  church  was  recognized  at 
least  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  by  the  appointment  of  C.  H.  Forney,  S.  G. 
Yahn,  J.  A.  Detter,  Geo.  Sigler  and  I.  A.  MacDannald  as  delegates  to  the  Christian 
Citizenship  Convention,  which  held  its  session  in  Philadelphia,  November  16-20, 
1910. 

In  the  main  the  work  of  the  churches  was  along  quiet  and  smooth  paths. 
There  were  no  disturbing  questions  to  cause  friction  or  provoke  acrimonious  dis- 
cussions. The  final  action  on  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  problem  was  taken  at  the  General 
Eldership  In  1909,  and  it  was  no  longer  open  for  discussion.  The  questions,  eccle- 
siastical and  legal,  were  also  disposed  of  which  were  raised  by  W.  R.  Covert  in  the 
West  Virginia  Eldership  case,  the  West  Virginia  Eldership  being  sustained  on  all 
points.  Two  Pentecostal  meetings  were  held  in  Indiana.  The  one  in  1910  was 
held  at  Blue  River,  in  connection  with  the  Sunday-School  Convention,  and  the  one 
in  1911  at  Syracuse,  in  connection  with  "the  Young  People's  Meeting  of  the  In- 
diana Eldership."  The  two  camp-meetings  in  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership, 
conducted  by  Associations,  were  held  each  year,  with  but  a  few  conversions.  The 
formation  of  the  Walnut  Grove  Association  had  led  to  several  law  suits,  detri- 
mental to  the  church  at  Walnut  Grove  and  a  hindrance  to  the  work  of  the  camp- 
meeting.  The  courts  upheld  the  Association,  and  the  law  prevailed.  F.  W.  Mc- 
Guire  endured  hardships  like  a  veteran  soldier,  and  managed  affairs  and  conducted 
the  camp-meetings  with  admirable  tact  and  discerning  judgment.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  these  two,  the  only  camp-meeting  held  was  the  one  in  1910,  authorized  by 
the  Illinois  Eldership.  The  committee  appointed  by  the  Eldership  selected  Sanga- 
mon as  the  most  suitable  location,  five  miles  east  of  Decatur,  and  August  11th  as 
the  time  for  it  to  begin.  It  continued  ten  days,  "with  good  interest."  There  was 
a  more  general  interest  in  revival  work.  In  all  the  Elderships  more  or  less  ex- 
tensive revivals  were  enjoyed,  and  the  aggregate  number  of  conversions  was  large 
and  the  churches  were  in  a  healthy,  growing  condition.  Less  work  was  done  in 
Oregon  and  Washington  because  of  a  division  in  the  Eldership  and  discouragement 
of  many  of  the  best  workers. 

In  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  a  Ministerial  Association  was  organized 
January  10,  1910,  to  meet  statedly  in  or  near  Harrisburg.  This  proved  successful, 
and  was  well  attended  and  interesting  and  instructive.  Theological  and  practical 
questions  were  discussed,  not  in  a  controversial  sense,  but  as  a  medium  for  the 
friendly  exchange  of  views.  Christian  Endeavor  work  was  carried  on  in  most 
of  the  churches,  so  that  in  1911  there  were  47  societies,  with  a  total  membership 
of  2,042,  and  the  contributions  for  the  year  to  the  Church  Extension  Fund  were 
$190.76,  and  to  the  Foreign  Mission  Fund,  $256.05.  Annual  Conventions  of  the 
Society  were  held  in  connection  with  the  Sunday-school  Convention.  There  were 
in  1911  78  Sunday-schools,  12,722  officers,  teachers  and  scholars,  569  conversions 
and  489  accessions.  On  May  15,  1910,  the  beautiful  new  bethel  at  Chambersburg, 
Franklin  county,  built  under  the  labors  of  M.  T.  Lovejoy,  was  dedicated.  C.  I. 
Brown  preached  at  both  services.  The  bethel  at  Mt.  Laurel,  Dauphin  county, 
which  was  struck  by  lightning  and  destroyed  on  September  27,  1910,  was  rebuilt 
the  following  Spring,  under  the  new  pastor,  Jonas  Martin,  and  was  dedicated  June 
4,  1911.  The  dedicatory  sermon  was  preached  by  C.  H.  Forney;  the  evening  ser- 
mon by  S.  G.  Yahn,  J.  T.  Fleegal,  a  former  pastor,  assisting  in  the  services.  In 
addition  to  the  Fairview  Mission,  Altoona,  there  was  a  flourishing  mission  at  Lake- 
mont,  near  Altoona,  and  at  Hollidaysburg,  county  seat  of  Blair  county.  The  re- 
dedication  of  the  Newburytown  Bethel,  York  county,  where  H.  P.  Aston  was  pastor, 
took  place  March  12,  1911,  the  sermons  being  preached  by  W.  S.  Sturgen.     A  new 


General   History  281 

church  was  organized  at  Central  Manor,  Lancaster  county,  where  W.  Seibeil.  Houck 
was  pastor  in  connection  with  Washington  Borough,  on  February  5,  1911.  C.  H. 
Forney  preached  the  sermon  and  presided  at  the  organization  of  the  church.  The 
Mt.  Joy  church  held  its  eighteenth  anniversary  by  special  services,  beginning  on 
March  15,  1911.  With  the  exception  of  one  sermon  by  S.  G.  Yahn,  the  preaching 
was  by  ex-pastors,  in  the  following  order:  March  16th,  C.  I.  Behney;  March  17th, 
C.  F.  Reitzel;  March  18th,  C.  H.  Grove;  March  19th,  C.  H.  Forney  in  the  morning, 
and  G.  W.  Getz,  pastor  and  ex-pastor,  in  the  evening.  April  2,  1911,  Maytown, 
Pa.,  had  a  special  service  at  which  a  mortgage  representing  the  last  installment 
of  its  debt,  was  publicly  burned.  The  preaching  on  the  occasion  was  by  C.  H. 
Forney  morning  and  evening,  assisted  by  the  diligent  pastor,  E.  E.  Kauffman.  The 
wide-awake  pastor  of  the  church  at  Wormleysburg,  Cumberland  county,  A.  P, 
Stover,  succeeded  in  making  needed  repairs  to  the  bethel,  after  which,  on  May  28, 
1911,  the  house  was  rededicated,  S.  G.  Yahn  and  I.  A.  MacDannald  preaching  the 
sermons.  A  splendid  and  elaborate  anniversary  service  was  held  by  the  Fourth 
Street  Church,  Harrisburg,  under  the  enthusiastic  pastor,  W.  N.  Yates,  September 
27-31.  It  was  the  eighty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  organization  of  the  first  church 
of  God  in  the  United  States.  On  the  evening  of  the  28th  a  "Historical  Address" 
was  delivered  by  C.  H.  Foi-ney.  He  also  preached  the  anniversary  sermon  on  Sun- 
day morning,  and  G.  Sigler  in  the  evening,  the  oldest  ex-pastors  living.  The 
church  at  Landisville,  Lancaster  county,  laid  the  corner-stone  of  its  new  bethel  on 
August  11,  1912,  under  the  labors  of  its  worthy  pastor,  H.  S.  Hei*shey.  The  ad- 
dress on  the  occasion  was  delivered  by  W.  N.  Yates,  who  was  assisted  in  the  ser- 
vices by  G.  W.  Getz  and  J.  W.  Deshong,  The  church  at  Waterside,  Bedford  county, 
spent  $1,551.94  on  the  extensive  repairs  made  on  the  bethel.  It  was  then  rededi- 
cated on  September  29,  1912,  when  D.  S.  Shoop  officiated.  B.  B.  Wenger  was  the 
energetic  pastor.  The  church  at  Enhaut,  Dauphin  county,  burnt  the  last  evidence 
of  indebtedness  against  it  on  August  11,  1912,  on  which  occasion  the  diligent  pas- 
tor, C.  I.  Behney,  was  assisted  by  his  predecessor,  R.  L.  Crawford.  To  lay  a 
corner-stone  twenty-six  years  after  the  building  of  a  church  was  the  exceptional 
experience  of  the  church  at  South  Fairview,  Cumberland  county,  the  result  of  the 
enterprising  spirit  of  S.  T.  Stouffer,  the  pastor.  The  address  was  delivered  Sep- 
tember 22,  1912,  by  W.  N.  Yates.  The  Laymen's  Association  of  the  East  Pennsyl- 
vania Eldership  kept  up  its  organization  formed  in  October,  1909,  and  did  some 
active  work.  A  local  organization  was  formed  November  6,  1911,  a,t  Fourth  Street 
church,  which  was  imbued  with  a  true  missionary  spirit. 

In  Maryland  in  1911  thirty  churches  were  enrolled  under  the  annual  assess- 
ment for  different  funds.  There  were  at  times  unsupplied  fields,  either  because  of 
scarcity  of  active  ministers,  or  of  insufficient  support.  The  question  of  the  scarcity 
of  ministers  was  discussed,  and  it  was  insisted  upon  that  the  radical  reason  is  the 
small  salaries  paid  ministers  in  contrast  with  salaries  in  other  callings.  Whatever 
the  cause,  one  effect  is  that  men  of  more  limited  talents  and  qualifications  hear, 
or  at  least  heed,  the  "divine  call"  to  the  ministry.  The  churches  and  the  cause 
suffer.  Not  much  progress  was  made  in  Maryland  from  1910  to  1913.  There  was 
praiseworthy  activity  among  the  sisters,  which  kept  up  their  State  W.  M.  S.  organi- 
zation and  held  semi-annual  meetings.  The  C.  E.  Society  was  doing  good  work, 
and  made  efforts  to  organize  local  societies  in  all  the  churches.  It  is  a  serious  dis- 
appointment when  the  day  and  hour  for  a  dedication  are  fixed  and  the  preacher  is 
not  there.  The  church  at  Blair's  Valley,  where  W.  G.  Stine  took  charge  as  pastor 
in  the  Fall  of  1909,  decided  to  make  needed  repairs.  The  day  of  dedi- 
cation was  August  7,  1910,  and  when  Stine  returned  to  the  bethel  from  the  rail- 
road station  he  did  not  bring  with  him  the  preacher  of  the  hour.  He  preached  the 
sermon,  as  also  in  the  evening,  and  the  people  responded  with  the  cash  to  pay  for 
the  repairs.  The  church  house  at  Bark  Hill  was  repaired  at  a  cost  of  $247.87, 
under  the  labors  of  W.  G.  Stine.  July  16,  1911,  W.  S.  Shimp  preached  in  the 
morning,  and  S.  B.  Craft  at  night.  A  reunion  of  a  number  of  the  ministers  and 
representative  Church  members  was  held  on  August  7,  1911.  It  proved  so  agree- 
able a  service  that  resolutions  were  adopted  to  make  it  permanent.  Accordingly 
on  September  5,  1912,  a  general  reunion  was  held,  largely  attended  and  enthu- 
siastic in  spirit. 

The  ministers  and  churches  of  the  Virginia  Elderships  were  zealous  in  their 
work;  but  it  was  mainly  along  old  lines,  and  with  less  encouragement  than  during 
some  former  periods.      There  were  revivals,  some  of  considerable  magnitude,  and 


282  History    of   the    Churches   of    God 

a  number  of  churches  were  strengthened.  Pastor  E.  W.  Meyer,  Greene  county, 
Pa.,  took  a  very  active  interest  in  repairing  the  bethel  at  Windy  Gap,  where  is 
found  the  oldest  church  of  God  in  the  county,  organized  by  I).  Wertz  about  1846. 
At  an  expenditure  of  $600.00  the  house  was  put  in  excellent  condition,  and  was 
rededicated  in  August,  1911.  A  new  bethel  was  built  at  Lincoln,  where  R.  L. 
Workman  was  the  faithful  pastor.  It  was  dedicated  September  29,  1912.  Inter- 
est was  manifested  in  C.  E.  work.  The  West  Virginia  ministers  at  one  of  their 
Associations  discussed  the  importance  of  each  church  having  a  C.  E.  Society.  The 
importance  of  the  prayer-meeting  to  the  spiritual  life  of  the  local  church  was  a 
topic  for  earnest  discussion.  They  felt  the  need,  and  appreciated  the  importance, 
of  a  missionary  for  the  Eldership  territory.  In  the  midst  of  the  laxness  in  Church 
relations  they  sought  to  present  to  the  people  the  New  Testament  church.  At  the 
session  of  the  Eldership  in  1910,  there  were  reported  4.59  conversions,  181  acces- 
sions and  149  baptisms.  In  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  South,  there  were  seven 
circuits  in  1912,  including  nineteen  points.  As  to  the  ministry,  they  expressed  a 
felt  need  of  better  educated  men,  and  of  "Spirit-filled"  men,  and  earnestly  dis- 
cussed these  topics  at  Ministerial  Associations.  But  there  were  other  "evils" 
which  prevented  progress,  and  they  made  prayerful  inquiry,  and  sought  to  answer 
the  question,  "What  are  the  greatest  hindrances  to  the  progress  of  the  Church?" 

The  historian  notes  the  exceptional  events.  Where  these  are  absent,  and 
there  is  no  progress,  the  current  is  at  a  standstill.  Thus  judged,  the  West  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership  made  less  history  from  1910  to  1913  than  during  some  other 
years.  There  was  the  same  patient,  persistent,  loyal  effort  to  make  progress  in  all 
departments  of  Christian  labor.  The  sisters  were  zealous  in  their  efforts  to  ad- 
vance missionary  interests,  and  held  their  conventions  at  stated  times  and  employed 
systematic  methods  to  raise  funds.  The  C.  E.  department  of  Church  work  was 
pushed  forward  with  intelligent,  co-operative  effort.  The  Ministerial  Association 
was  helpful  and  inspiring,  and  many  of  the  questions  discussed  were  of  practical 
value,  and  gave  indications  of  the  trend  of  thought  and  aspirations.  While  the 
problem  of  Church  union  did  not  appeal  to  the  ministers  and  churches  of  the  Eld- 
ership, true  "Christian  unity"  did,  and  it  was  earnestly  discussed.  "The  scandal 
of  Christendom"  was  detested.  There  was  more  than  grief,  there  was  frank  in- 
dignation, that  efforts  at  Christian  unity  should  be  rendered  futile  by  time-worn 
propositions  at  sectarian  union.  "The  value  of  the  Church  school"  as  a  source  of 
pulpit  supply  was  growing  in  importance,  and  received  due  attention.  The  Elder- 
ship was  not  strongly  impressed  with  the  thought  of  modernizing  the  church  and 
adapting  it  to  the  times.  Nor  did  it  look  with  too  much  favor  on  modern  evan- 
gelism. The  agitation  of  the  second-work  holiness  theory  had  not  wholly  sub- 
sided. It  was  antagonized  with  the  faithful  teaching  of  Bible  sanctification.  A 
very  conspicuous  phase  of  religious  work  peculiar  to  West  Pennsylvania  was  mis- 
sion work  among  foreigners.  It  was  a  practical  question  in  that  some  churches 
were  located  in  the  midst  of  populations  representing  foreign  nationalities.  It 
was  therefore  a  question  for  practical  discussion.  In  most  instances  the  language 
was  an  insuperable  obstacle.  But  in  the  divine  providence  the  men  were  called 
who:  could  minister  tb  those  foreigners  in  their  own  tongue.  The  Luschansky 
bi^'Others  did  good  work  at  several  points  in  the  coke  regions.  Joseph  Seckley,  a 
man  who  could  make  himself  understood  and  could  instruct  in  ten  languages,  was 
employed  in  1911  as  a  missionary  among  the  Bohemians,  Slavs  and  other  foreign- 
efs*y  the  Eldership.  In  1910  the  church  at  West  Newton,  Westmoreland  county, 
under  their  esteemed  pastor,  G.  W.  Byrnes,  spent  $2,000.00  in  renovating  and  im- 
proving their  house  of  worship.  It  was  rededicated  by  C.  I.  BrowTi,  assisted  by  Wj 
H;  Guyer,  September  18,  1910.  During  the  pastorate  of  J.  W.  Whisler  at  Butler, 
B'utler  county,  the  bethel  was  "repaired  and  beautified"  at  an  expense  of  $567.72. 
The  rededication  took  place  October  2,  1910.  A  new  house  of  worship,  at  a  cost  of 
$2,495.00,  was  built  at  Kennerdell,  Venango  county,  under  tlie  labors  of  L.  E. 
Ytthn.  It  was  dedicated  May  21,  1911,  when  J.  L.  Updegraph  preached  the  morn- 
ing sermon;  Geo.  M.  Hulme  spoke  in  the  afternoon,  and  J.  W.  Whisler  preached  in 
the  evening.  The  sum  of  $9  42.2  6  was  spent  in  "completely  remodeling"  the  Indian 
Head  Bethel,  Fayette  county,  F.  O.  Eakin  being  the  diligent  pastor.  It  was  dedi- 
cated by  J.  L.  Updegraph  on  July  30,  1911.  The  Limestone  Bethel  was  jointly 
owned  by  the  church  of  God  and  the  Brethren  in  Christ.  H.  Armstrong  was  the 
pastor  of  the  church  of  God,  and  through  his  persistent  labors  the  house  was  ex- 
tensively repaired,  at  a  cost  of  $1,100.00.      It  was  rededicated  May  5,  1912,  Geo. 


General   History  283 

M.  Hulme  preaching  morning  and  evening;  J.  A.  Slagel  and  Nicholas  Lasher  repre- 
senting the  Brethren  in  Christ. 

The  state  of  the  churches  in  Ohio  was  gratifying  and  hopeful.  There  were 
reported  fifty-nine  appointments,  fifty-six  organized  churches,  fifty-nine  houses  of 
worship  and  six  parsonages.  The  number  of  conversions  during  the  year  pre- 
ceding the  Eldership  in  1912  was  928;  baptized,  354;  accessions,  331;  total  mem- 
bership, 4,680.  The  ministerial  ranks  were  being  replenished  with  young  men 
from  the  College,  so  that  among  the  active  workers  were  men  with  a  genius  for 
hard  work,  and  with  a  courage  which  does  not  fear,  if  it  does  not  invite,  opposition 
when  questions  of  principle  are  at  issue.  They  held  fast  with  the  ardor  of  intense 
natures  to  the  faith  of  the  fathers,  yet  they  perceived  that  new  conditions  were 
arising  which  imposed  new  duties  and  responsibilities.  But  as  change  of  methods 
does  not  necessarily  involve  change  of  principles,  they  ceased  not  to  contend  tor  all 
that  the  churches  of  God  stood  for.  They  calmly  discussed  at  Ministerial  Associa- 
tions, which  were  regularly  held,  "How  best  to  meet  the  dangers  besetting  the 
churches  of  God."  Or,  "The  undeveloped  resources  of  power  in  the  Christian  En- 
deavor Society  for  the  churches  of  God."  To  reach  the  churches  with  the  illumi- 
nating and  matured  thoughts  thus  called  out  many  of  the  principal  addresses  were 
published.  They  felt  that  the  "crying  need  of  the  churches  of  God  in  Ohio  was 
more  conversions  and  larger  accessions."  C.  E.  interests  were  carefully  looked 
after,  and  conventions  were  largely  attended.  The  material  interests  showed  less 
progress.  At  Wharton,  Wyandot  county,  on  O.  O.  Tracy's  field  of  labor,  "a  mag- 
nificent new  house  of  worship"  was  built  in  the  Summer  of  1911.  The  corner- 
stone was  laid  June  11th,  when  T.  Koogle  and  W.  E.  Turner  made  addresses,  and 
G.  A.  Bartlebaugh  assisted  in  the  services.  The  house  was  dedicated  October  22, 
1911.  T.  Koogle  preached  on  Friday  evening;  S.  D.  Harlan,  Saturday  evening; 
C  I.  Brown,  Sunday  morning,  and  W.  E.  Turner,  Sunday  evening.  The  bethel  at 
South  Bridgewater  was  struck  by  lightning  on  June  25,  1911,  and  burned.  The 
new  bethel  at  Mendon,  Mercer  county,  was  built  under  the  labors  of  C.  F.  Raach. 
It  cost  $6,000.00.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  July  2,  1911,  when  addresses  were 
delivered  by  T.  Koogle  and  C.  H.  Gatchell.  Before  the  house  was  finished  the  new 
I)astor  took  charge,  S.  F.  Baudei-s.  The  dedicatory  services  were  held  December  3, 
1911,  when  C.  I.  Brown  officiated  morning  and  evening.  Rededicatory  services 
were  held  with  preaching  by  T.  Koogle  on  Friday  evening,  and  C.  H.  Gatchell  on 
Saturday  evening.  At  Canton,  Stark  county,  a  new  house  of  worship  was  built, 
costing  $14,500.00,  under  the  supervision  of  the  energetic  pastor,  Leroy  DeHayes. 
It  was  solemnly  set  apart  to  the  worship  of  Almighty  God  on  February  18,  1912, 
when  C.  I.  Brown  delivered  the  sermons.  The  text  for  the  morning  sermon  was 
Luke  xxiv.  32,  and  for  the  evening,  John  xiii.  23. 

While  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  churches  in  Indiana  had  improved,  a  seri- 
ous defect  was  noticed  in  the  decline  of  family  religion.  The  ministry  made  this 
a  matter  for  special  teaching,  so  as  to  raise  the  standard  higher.  There  was  also 
slackness  in  the  observance  of  the  ordinances,  a  natural  sequence  of  low  states  of 
spiritual  life.  There  was  more  life  and  activity  in  missionary  interests,  and  con- 
ventions were  held  and  agents  were  in  active  service.  The  young  people  were 
looked  after,  and  more  complete  organizations  were  effected.  The  church  at  Ft. 
Wayne  enjoyed  revivals  each  Winter,  so  that  the  membership  increased  from  forty 
when  the  church  was  organized  in  1909,  to  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  in  1912. 
At  Ari,  in  1911,  a  revival  resulted  in  the  addition  of  forty-three  to  the  member- 
ship. Other  points  realized  in  a  measure  an  answer  to  the  Eldership's  prayer,  that 
"a  great  wave  of  spiritual  power  may  sweep  over  the  land,  until  many  precious 
souls  shall  be  brought  from  the  wickedness  of  this  world  into  the  glorious  king- 
dom of  Jesus  Christ."  There  were  sixteen  fields  of  labor,  with  forty  churches. 
Under  the  labors  of  Emma  L.  Isenberg  the  house  of  worship  at  Fairview  was  so 
extensively  repaired  as  to  make  it  a  "beautiful  and  up-to-date  bethel."  On  Sep- 
tember 18,  1910,  H.  H.  Spiher  officiated  at  the  rededication.  He  gave  the  cost  of 
repairs  to  have  been  $1,200.00.  The  sum  of  $1,500.00  was  expended  in  remodel- 
ing the  bethel  at  Little  River,  where  H.  G.  Herendeen  was  pastor.  It  was  rededi- 
cated  by  C.  I.  Brown  on  September  11,  1911,  assisted  by  C.  L.  Hidy. 

While  there  were  revivals  in  Illinois  during  this  period,  the  aggregate  results 
were  limited,  though  the  total  net  increase  in  membership  fails  to  indicate  growth. 
Comparing  1911  and  1912,  the  tables  show  the  following:  1911 — converts,  53; 
baptized,  33;   accessions,  54;   membership,   1,140.      1912 — converts,   84;   baptized, 


284  History    of    tiik    Churches    of    God 

40;  accessions,  80;  membership,  1,140.  The  year  1907-8  was  the  most  successful 
in  five  years,  the  number  of  converts  having  been  260;  baptized,  150;  accessions, 
213;  membership,  1,273.  This  net  loss  was  not  wholly  exceptional,  as  other  whole 
Churches  suffered  decreases.  The  Census  of  1909  shows  that  the  Free-will  Bap- 
tists lost  3,532;  the  Christian  Church,  10,224;  the  Disciples  of  Christ,  10,398;  the 
German  Evangelical  Protestant  Church,  15,000;  the, Northern  Presbyterian  Church, 
33,816,  and  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  4,071.  These  facts  prompted  serious  in- 
quiries into  the  causes.  In  Illinois  questions  like  these  were  considered:  "If  no 
visible  results  follow  a  minister's  labors  in  one  year  should  he  be  removed  at  the 
end  of  the  year?"  "The  dark  side  of  our  work  as  an  Eldership."  "How  can  we 
best  promote  revivals  of  religion?"  "Are  special  seasons  of  religious  services 
worth  while?"  There  were  twenty-three  fields  of  labor  in  1912,  served  by  diligent, 
faithful  pastors.  Most  of  them  interested  themselves  in  Christian  Endeavor  work, 
with  a  State  Union  managed  by  enthusiastic  ministers  of  the  younger  class.  In 
1911  it  decided  on  an  effort  to  raise  $500.00.  The  women  were  active  in  mission- 
ary work  and  the  organization  of  societies.  The  most  notable  event  of  the  three 
years  was  the  building  of  a  new  bethel  at  Decatur,  one  of  the  finest  religious  edi- 
fices in  the  body,  as  it  cost,  with  the  ground,  $18,000.00.  The  honored  pastor  was 
O.  B.  Huston.  Under  his  direction  the  corner-stone  was  laid  May  5,  1910,  when 
addresses  were  delivered  by  city  pastors,  and  by  J.  AV.  Primi'ose,  I.  S.  Richmond 
and  C,  F,  Rogei-s.  C.  I.  Brown  dedicated  the  house  October  23,  1910,  preaching 
in  the  morning  from  Luke  xxvi.  32,  and  in  the  evening  from  John  xi.  2  8.  An 
Illinois  Eldership  tent-meeting  was  held  in  1911,  near  Warrensburg,  under  the 
supervision  of  I.  S.  Richmond. 

In  Michigan  conditions  were  reasonably  satisfactory,  and  the  churches  were 
"fairly  prosperous."  When  possible  the  Eldership  kept  a  general  evangelist  in 
the  field.  No  aggressive  work  was  done,  and  there  was  no  general  concert  of 
action  in  Endeavor  or  missionary  work.  The  principal  sign  of  healthy  vitality 
was  in  "the  opening  of  two  new  works"  in  1912,  and  the  resolution  "to  push  for- 
ward the  great  work  of  saving  precious  souls."  Several  revivals  were  enjoyed  in 
1911.      In  1910  there  were  seven  fields  of  labor;  in  1912  there  were  five. 

While  there  were  some  revivals  in  Iowa  during  this  period,  the  progress  of 
the  churches  was  less  marked  than  during  some  other  periods.  A  comparison  be- 
tween the  statistics  of  1909  and  1912  shows  twenty  fields  of  labor  in  1909  and 
fifteen  in  1912,  a  result  of  consolidations,  as  the  number  of  church  organizations 
was  the  same.  There  were  twenty-three  organized  churches  in  the  Eldership  in 
1911.  Christian  Endeavor  work  received  considerable  attention,  and  several  Wo- 
man's Missionary  Societies  were  organized  in  co-operation  with  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  of 
the  General  Eldership.  The  territory  of  the  Eldership  was  large,  and  the  churches 
widely  scattered.  They  were  located  in  the  following  counties:  Grundy,  Wright, 
Bremer,  Buchanan,  Cedar,  Johnson,  Jasper,  Louisa,  Des  Moines,  Henry,  Page, 
Guthrie,  Ida,  Sioux,  O'Brien,  Carroll  and  Washington.  The  bethel  at  Shambaugh, 
Page  county,  was  struck  by  lightning  on  August  20,  1912,  and  totally  destroyed, 
involving  a  loss  of  $4,000.00,  as  the  insurance  had  expired  a  short  time  before. 
A  State  evangelist  was  generally  kept  in  the  field,  and  the  ministry  was  alive  to 
the  interests  of  the  cause.  The  discussion  of  sundry  questions  gave  evidence  of 
the  fact,  and  also  afforded  some  intimations  of  difficulties  with  which  the  churches 
had  to  contend.  Among  them  were  these:  "Difficulties  of  present-day  ministers 
on  our  mission  field."  "The  church — her  source  of  strength."  "The  unity  of  the 
Church."  "What  is  loyalty  to  the  Church?"  In  no  Eldership  was  the  work  more 
difficult  and  beset  with  more  serious  complications  during  the  period  of  1903  and 
1913  than  in  the  Iowa  Eldership.  And  these  internal  troubles  were  constantly 
interfering  with  the  spirituality  and  progress  of  the  churches.  There  was  some 
mission  work  done  in  the  State,  3,nd  there  was  a  field  maintained  in  North  Dakota, 
where  in  1910  J.  W.  Cabbage  was  the  missionary.  Local  missionary  work  was 
done  by  some  families  living  at  Sansarc,  South  Dakota,  where  in  1911  they  had  a 
good  country  Sunday-school. 

Nebraska  had  several  things  in  its  history  of  this  period  which  might  seem 
encouraging.  During  the  last  part  of  it  Richard  Jackson  was  the  missionary  of 
the  General  Board  in  the  State.  In  1909  and  1910  C.  S.  Kilmer,  Sr.,  was  the  Eld- 
ership's general  worker.  Lack  of  means  prevented  the  opening  of  a  mission  in 
Houston  county,  Tenn.,  where  in  1911  J.  Swanson  was  located.  One  of  the  min- 
isters, D.  B.  Zook,  had  removed  to  Sunny  Side,  Wash.,  but  did  only  local  work.     J. 


General   History 


285 


L.  Williams  resided  in  Minnette,  Ala.,  and  preached  in  a  local  capacity.  J.  H. 
IJarkey  had  located  in  1909  in  South  Dakota,  but,  while  doing  some  preaching,  he 
•could  not  open  a  regular  mission.  The  state  of  religion  is  from  year  to  year  re- 
ported as  manifesting  "some  increase  in  spirituality,"  with  "some  in  a  lethargic 
state;"  or,  in  "a  fair  condition;"  or,  "some  points  lower  than  usual;"  or,  "state 
of  religion  is  at  a  very  low  standard  and  in  a  critical  condition."  This  was  in 
1912,  when  four  of  the  eight  fields  were  unsupplied  with  pastors.  The  ministers 
were  strongly  admonished  "to  do  all  in  their  power  to  uplift  the  cause  of  Christ." 
In  1909  there  were  ten  fields;  in  1910  and  1911,  eight;  but  three  were  unsupplied 
in  1911.  The  common  routine  of  church  work  was  followed,  except  that  the  W. 
M,  S.  was  active  to  the  extent  conditions  would  permit. 

As  the  church  at 
Payette,  Idaho,  was 
rent  in  twain,  but  lit- 
tle could  be  accom- 
plished. Efforts  at 
reconciliation  were 
but  in  part  successful. 
In  June,  1911,  the 
Board  of  Missions 
recognized  one  of  the 
'  organizations  as  the 
•church  at  Payette, 
Idaho,  after  several 
members  of  the  Board 
— A.  C.  Gamer  and  C. 
T.  Fox  —  had  used 
their  good  offices  to 
effect  harmony.  In 
June,  1912,  Charles 
Sprout  was  appointed 
missionary;  but  he 
did  not  remain  long. 
The  church  enjoyed 
several  revivals,  and 
these,  far  more  than 
the  law,  brought  about 
a  union  of  the  two 
parties,  and  in  Oc- 
tober, 1912,  they  were 
in  harmony  and  peace, 
and  prayed  for  a  mis- 
sionary. 

The  division  of  the 
Eldership  in  Oregon 
and  Washington  con- 
tinued, as  there  seem- 
ed insuperable  bar- 
riers to  union  to  ex- 
ist.    There    was    good 

ground  for  successful  church  work,  and  calls  came  from  different  unoccupied 
counties  for  preachers;  but  there  were  none  who  could  respond,  and  no  means  to 
support  them.  There  were  five  fields  kept  up  by  the  Eldership  whose  reports  were 
published,  and  work  done  by  the  other  body,  which  seemed  indisposed  to  accept 
terms  of  union  upon  conditions  which  did  not  to  them  promise  permanent  peace 
and  harmonious  co-operation. 

The  work  in  Colorado  centered  in  Lamar,  Prowers  county,  where  in  1910  D. 
Long  was  the  missionary  of  the  General  Board  of  Missions.  Under  his  ministry  a 
bethel  of  reinforced  concrete  was  built  at  Lamar,  which  was  dedicated  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1910.  The  Board  made  an  effort  to  care  for  this  church,  but  was  only 
partly  successful. 

There  was  no  noticeable  deficiency  of  interest  and  zeal  on  the  part  of  the 
active  ministers  in  Kansas;  but  the  record  they  have  made  indicates  a  declension 
in  the  work  in  the  State.     They  received  full  recognition  by  the  Board  of  Missions 


Lamar  Bethel,   Colorado. 


286  History    of    the  ChurchEvS    of    God 

of  the  General  Eldership.  In  1910  the  Board  supplied  Ft.  Scott  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  T.  M.  Funk.  Others  followed  him  in  1911  and  1912.  G.  W.  Wyatt  was 
appointed  to  part  of  Crawford  county  in  1911,  and  in  1912  E.  A.  Bradley  served, 
part  of  the  same  county.  A  house  of  worship  was  built  at  Mingona,  by  the  church 
of  God  and  the  M.  E.  church,  and  dedicated  in  April,  1911.  The  ministry  by  dis- 
cussions and  sermons  aimed  to  awaken  a  healthier  interest  among  the  churches, 
so  that  the  cause  might  prosper  more.  Among  questions  in  this  line  which  were 
canvassed  were  these:  "What  new  methods  should  we  adopt  in  our  church  work?" 
"What  are  the  hopes  of  a  coming  revival?"  "What  faith  could  do  for  Christ  in 
Kansas."  The  W.  M.  S.  was  active,  and  efforts  were  not  wanting  to  keep  the  C.  E. 
fires  burning.  The  number  of  fields  of  labor  varied  some,  as  the  Lamar,  Colo., 
mission  was  sometimes  on  the  list,  and  in  1910  a  mission  in  southern  Texas.  There 
were  nine  fields  in  1909,  and  ten  in  1910.  The  accessions  ranged  from  82  in  1909, 
to  10  in  1910;  conversions  from  126  in  1910,  to  99  in  1912.  Two  new  churches 
were  added  in  1911,  bringing  the  number  up  to  ten;  but  in  1912  there  were  only 
nine,  though  one  new  church  was  organized,  with  thirteen  appointments  and 
twelve  bethels.  The  total  membership  in  1911  was  268.  In  1912  the  Committee 
on  the  State  of  Religion  made  the  statement,  that  "we  have  fewer  appointments 
than  last  vear,  and  fewer  sermons  preached,  less  members  and  fewer  converted 
and  baptized  than  in  the  year  1911." 

Apparently  the  winds  were  less  contrary  in  Missouri  than  westward  of  that 
State.  The  ministers  maintained  the  Ministerial  Association,  and  discussed  sun- 
dry important  questions  before  the  churches  where  the  meetings  were  held.  The 
churches  realized,  as  did  the  ministers,  that  the  missionary  spirit  is  the  spiritual 
barometer  of  a  body,  and  they  encouraged  the  W.  M.  S.  and  the  missionaries  in 
their  work.  The  religious  state  of  the  churches  was  reported  favorable.  The 
"need  of  more  competent  ministers"  was  emphasized,  and  it  was  felt  as  a  matter 
of  high  importance  that  pfforts  should  be  directed  toward  building  up  churches  in 
towns.  In  1912  ther%  '^V^  fifteen  fields  of  labor,  and  in  addition  to  the  mission- 
aries under  the  BoaT*fii/>bf  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  there  were  two  Gen- 
eral Evangelists.  Tlie  support  was  limited,  as  salaries  were  from  $150.00  to 
$300.00  a  year.  The.* missionary  in  northern  Missouri  in  1910  was  Ii.  E.  Mitchell, 
and  in  south-western  Klissouri,  J.  Allman.  The  latter  was  continued  in  that  sec- 
tion during  1911  and  1912.  In  1911  and  1912  G.  L.  Chapman  was  the  missionary 
in  south-eastern  Missouri.  J.  A.  Miller  and  D.  L.  Cox  were  missionaries  in  north- 
western Missouri  respectively  in  1911  and  1912.  There  were  at  this  time  twenty- 
five  churches  in  the  State.  Gratifying  success  attended  the  labors  of  these  devoted 
men.  At  Leadwood,  under  the  pastorate  of  Charles  Hale,  a  house  of  worship  was 
built,  which  P.  L.  French  dedicated  on  October  2,  1910,  preaching  from  Josh.  i.  7, 
8.  He  was  assisted  by  J.  F.  Schoch.  At  Belgrade,  G.  L.  Chapman,  after  being 
locked  out  of  the  M.  E.  house  of  worship,  preached  in  the  Odd  Fellows  Hall.  He 
organized  a  church  there  early  in  1911.  "Other  new  churches  had  been  organized 
around  Belgrade." 

George  L.  Chapman  was  born  in  1870,  near  Rockbridge,  Monroe  county,  Ky. 
His  parents  were  members  of  the  Missionary  Baptist  Church.  He  was  converted 
when  about  eleven  years  old,  and  united  with  the  Church  of  his  parents,  and  was 
baptized  January  24,  1881.  He  at  once  became  quite  active  in  all  forms  of  church 
work.  After  his  marriage,  December  2,  1887,  he  emigrated  to  Missouri,  locating 
in  Sullivan  county  on  October  16,  1890.  He  first  heard  the  doctrine  of  the  Church 
of  God  preached  by  A.  J.  Hill.  He  accepted  the  truth  and  united  with  the  church 
at  Ivy  Hill,  Sullivan  county,  in  1893  He  began  to  preach  in  1895,  and  was  or- 
dained to  the  ministry  by  tne  Missouri  Eldership  at  Versailles,  September  9,  1897. 
The  greater  part  of  his  ministerial  life  was  spent  on  mission  territory.  In  1911 
Chapman  built  a  bethel  at  Cherryville,  which  was  dedicated  in  May,  1911.  A 
church  was  organized  at  Ester,  in  January,  1911,  by  M.  S.  Sikes  and  Charles  Hale, 
with  twelve  members.  Also,  one  was  organized  at  Elsey^  in  May,  1911.  In  May, 
1911,  Chapman  formed  a  new  church  at  Furnace  Creek.  Under  Samuel  Van  Meter 
a  church  of  twentv-one  members  was  organized  in  December,  1911.  at  Richmond. 
After  a  revival  at  Cape  Fair,  conducted  by  J.  F.  Allman,  a  council  was  called  "to 
discuss  the  matter  of  building  a  house  of  worship."  After  a  discourse  on  "Let  us 
rise  and  build,"  it  was  decided  "to  build  next  Fall"  (1912),  and  committees  were 
at  once  appointed.  These  churches  and  ministers  gave  practical  illustrations  of 
lessons  taught  in  the  discussion  of  such  questions  as;     "How  shall  we  educate  th,e 


GENERAL   History  287 

churches  in  auxiliary  church  work?        Or,  "System  in  Eldership  and  church  work.'" 

As   also   an   answer   to   the   question:      "To   what   extent 

should  we  emphasize  the  ordinances  of  the  Church?"  >^ 

South  of  Kansas  the  principal  work  done  during  this  '^ 

period  was  in  Oklahoma.  Active  missionary  labors,  sus- 
tained by  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship, resulted  in  the  organization  of  a  number  of 
churches.  J.  W.  Bloyd  was  retained  at  Bartlesville  dur- 
ing the  entire  period.  H.  W.  Allen  was  kept  in  western 
Oklahoma.  J.  W.  Bums  was  in  eastern  Oklahoma  in 
1910  and  1911,  and  north  of  the  Canadian  River  in  1912. 
C.  H.  Ballinger  in  central  Oklahoma  during  the  three 
years.  De  Loss  Crawford  was  the  missionary  at  Leedy 
in  1911,  and  J.  H.  Whittington  in  eastern  Oklahoma,  in 
1912,  south  of  the  Canadian  River.  In  1910  and  1911 
J.  H.  Whittington  was  the  Board's  missionary  in  Ar- 
kansas, and  J.  H.  Summit  in  northern  Arkansas.  The 
Kansas  mission  in  southern  Texas  bore  fruit.  A  church 
was  organized  by  W.  E.  Tuttle  at  Big  Wells,  Texas,  in  (Jeorge  L.  Chapman. 
April,  1912,  and  the  new  bethel  was  about  ready  for 
dedication    in    December,    1912.      It    was    deeded    to    the    General  Eldership. 

At  Oak  Valley,  Okla.,  a  church  was  organized  by  J.  D.  Henson  in  1909,  with 
six  members,  which  in  December,  1912,  had  increased  to  twenty-two.  At  Russell- 
ville,  under  the  labors  of  J.  W.  Bums,  a  bethel  was  built,  which  was  dedicated  May 
15,  1910,  by  E.  M.  Kirkpatiick,  assisted  by  B.  L.  Knight.  At  a  point  about  six 
miles  north-west  of  Stroud,  Okla..  a  church  was  formed  by  J.  D.  Henson  early  in 

1910.  On  his  mission  field  in  eastern  Oklahoma  J.  W.  Bums  succeeded  in  effect- 
ing a  church  organization  at  Artisee,  in  September,  1910.  J.  W.  Bums  had  a 
unique  experience  at  Raiford  early  in  July,  1911.  He  went  there  to  hold  a  meet- 
ing, and  found  a  number  of  Free-will  Baptists,  with  a  Free-will  Baptist  preacher. 
The  latter  organized  a  Free-will  Baptist  church,  after  which  Bums  continued  the 
revival,  meanwhile  preaching  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  God.  The  result  was 
that  he  organized  a  church  of  God,  taking  into  fellowship  all  the  members  of  the 
Free-will   Baptist   church.     Near   Mounds,   at   Duck   Creek   school-house,   in   July, 

1911.  S.  O.  Cox  organized  a  small  church.  In  various  places  in  Oklahoma  families 
of  the  same  nationalities  located  in  colonies.  Such  a  colony  of  Germans  consti- 
tuted the  bulk  of  the  population  at  Bessie.  A.  J.  Hill  went  there  to  hold  revival 
services  in  December,  1911,  and  began  "preaching  the  doctrines  of  the  churches  of 
God."  He  found  them  receptive  to  the  truth,  and  "could  have  organized  a  good 
church  if  a  German  minister  could  have  been  had."  In  April,  1911,  a  church  was 
organized  at  Mounds,  Okla.  When  the  town  of  Leedy  was  laid  out,  not  far  from 
a  school-house  in  which  A.  J.  Hill  preached,  the  Town  Site  Company  donated  a  lot 
for  a  bethel,  with  the  condition  that  "this  Winter  it  was  to  be  used  for  school  pur- 
poses." The  house  was  built  at  a  cost  of  $1,500.00,  and  was  nearly  finished  and 
ready  for  dedication  the  last  of  September,  1911.  Hill  proposed  to  erect  the  Tab- 
ernacle which  he  had  bought  for  the  use  of  the  Eldership  on  ground  adjoining 
the  bethel.  As  there  were  few  church  houses  in  the  Eldership,  it  was  thought  a 
"Tabernacle  would  be  the  most  efficient  and  the  quickest  way  to  evangelize  and 
reach  the  people."  After  the  Eldership  in  1911  F.  C.  Melson  succeeded  in  organ- 
izing a  church  at  Ringwood.  He  and  H.  W.  Allen  also  organized  a  church  of 
twenty  members  at  Green  Bay  school-house  in  February,  1912.  In  October,  1912, 
C.  H.  Ballinger  and  L.  H.  Sullins  were  instrumental  in  holding  "the  greatest  re- 
vival known  in  that  section  [Owala]  for  a  long  time."  They  organized  a  church 
of  twenty  members.  In  Arkansas  there  were  few  signs  of  spiritual  life.  A  Min- 
isterial Association  was  in  existence,  which  discussed  a  number  of  practical  ques- 
tions. A  new  church  located  at  Story  was  received  by  the  Standing  Committee 
into  the  Eldership  on  November  5,  1910. 

An  event  of  much  interest  to  the  churches  of  God  occurred  October  1,  1911. 
It  was  thus  announced  in  "The  Literary  Digest"  of  October  2  8th:  "We  now  see 
the  Free  Baptists  sacrificing  their  identity  to  the  main  Baptist  Church."  One  hun- 
dred years  ago  those  bodies  were  formed  by  a  separation  on  the  theological  doc- 
trines of  Calvinism  and  Arminianism.  During  recent  years  these  doctrines  have 
no  longer  been  a  test  of  membership  in  either  body,  and  the  union  was  simply  a 


288  .History    of   the    Churches    of    God 

recognition  of  the  fact  that  the  differences  which  caused  the  separation  have  dis- 
appeared. 

No  less  were  the  churches  interested  in  the  publication  in  December,  1912,  of 
"a  new  version  of  the  Scriptures  by  the  American  Baptist  Publication  Society,"  of 
Philadelphia,  Pa.,  which  was  called  by  others  "The  Baptist  Bible."  It  is  called 
"An  Improved  Edition  (based  in  part  on  the  Bible  Union  Version)."  The  latter 
version  was  published  in  1866,  and  was  strongly  endorsed  by  different  Elderships. 
It  translated  "baptize"  uniformly  by  "immerse."  The  new  version  does  not  go 
that  far.  It  translates  thus:  "To  be  baptized  (immersed)  by  him."  It  has  been 
severely  criticised  by  those  who  dissent  from  Baptist  views.  "The  Baptists  have 
gotten  out  a  Bible  of  their  own.  It  immerses  people  instead  of  baptizing  them, 
substitutes  the  less  terrifying  word  'underworld'  for  'hell,'  and  makes  a  few  other 
changes  which  do  not  look  toward  very  close  fellowship  with  other  Christian  de- 
nominations, much  less  a  reuniting  of  Christendom."  Some  called  it  "sacre- 
ligious"  and  "blasphemous."  This  is  not  intelligent  criticism.  It  contains  a  very 
large  number  of  deviations  from  the  Authorized  and  from  the  Revised  Versions. 
A  critical  examination  may  reveal  the  fact  that  nine-tenths  of  these  are  more  accu- 
rate translations  than  those  in  the  other  versions.  That  is  the  only  reasonable 
test  of  the  merits  of  a  translation.  For  many  reasons  believers  in  immersion  will 
find  the  study  of  this  version  profitable.  The  persistent  interest  in  Bible  revision 
is  indicated  in  Ja«ob  H.  Schiflf's  offer,  a  banker  and  philanthropist,  to  donate 
$50,000.00  to  aid  in  completing  and  publishing  the  new  Bible  revision  under  way 
by  the  Jewish  Publication  Society  of  America. 

The  prevailing  absence  of  controversial  discussion  of  subjects  is  very  notice- 
able during  this  period.  The  General  Eldership  by  its  final  action  at  Fort  Scott 
in  1909  eliminated  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  question.  The  firm  hand  with  which  the 
second-work  sanctification  theory  was  dealt  with  relegated  that  subject  to  the  past, 
although  the  scriptural  doctrine  of  sanctification  was  not  made  obsolete.  Min- 
isters in  politics  and  the  degradation  of  the  pulpit  by  the  discussion  of  question- 
able topics  was  the  subject  of  animadversion.  But  it  was  not  of  the  churches  of 
God  that  a  popular  evangelist  said:  "Our  churches  have  deteriorated  into  third- 
rate  amusement  bureaus,  with  religion  left  out.  That  is  why  7,500  churches  in 
this  country  did  not  report  a  single  conversion  in  1912."  Miracles  and  faith-heal- 
ing called  out  considerable  discussion,  though  the  churches  did  not  have  their 
peace  disturbed  by  agitators.  The  question  of  the  eligibility  of  deacons  as  mem- 
bers of  Elderships  was  discussed  pro  and  con  by  the  Editor  of  The  Advocate  and 
three  or  four  ministers.  The  discussion  arose  out  of  an  attempt  to  amend  the 
Constitution  of  the  Oklahoma  Eldership  so  as  "to  provide  that  the  deacons  be 
members  of  this  Eldership  by  virtue  of  this  office."  The  Editor  was  requested  to 
discuss  the  question,  as  it  was  postponed  until  the  meeting  of  the  next  Eldership. 
Others  followed.  It  was  not  a  new  thing  in  the  south-west,  as  deacons  had  been 
members  much  earlier  in  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. 

The  establishment  of  a  Republic  in  China  in  1912  was  a  matter  of  interest  to 
all  Christian  people.  It  seemed  to  point  to  an  early  era  of  universal  tolerance  in 
the  ancient  empire.  The  principal  misgiving  was  as  to  the  capacity  of  the  people 
of  China  to  maintain  self-government.  The  Christian  civilization  taught  and  lived 
by  foreign  missionaries  had  been  an  influential  factor  in  bringing  about  the  new 
order.  The  open  questions  were:  "Will  Christianity  be  benefitted  by  the 
change?  "And,  in  turn,  will  Christianity  embrace  the  new  opportunities  for 
service?" 


General  History  289 


CHAPTER    XXII. 


LIFE  AND  WORK  OF  REV.  C.  H.  FORNEY,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 


By     REV.     S.     G.     YAHN,     D.     D. 

Editor  of  The  Church  Advocate. 


ONE  of  the  most  important  actions  of  the  General  Eldership  of  1909  was  that 
which  has  resulted  in  the  preparation  and  publication  of  this  volume.  We 
had  been  making  history  for  more  than  eighty  years.  Our  part  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  religious  life  of  the  country  during  that  period  is  of  much  interest 
to  us  and  of  some  value  to  others.  But  no  systematic  effort  had  been  made  to 
put  the  record  of  these  events  into  permanent  form.  It  was  in  recognition  of  this 
fact,  and  to  supply  this  need,  that  the  General  Eldership  took  action  earnestly  re- 
questing Dr.  C.  H.  Forney  to  prepare  such  a  work. 

No  better  selection  could  have  been  made.  The  author  of  this  book  is  a  man 
whose  memory  goes  back  to  the  early  days  of  our  work,  and  who  enjoyed  a  per- 
sonal acquaintance  with  John  Winebrenner  and  most  of  his  co-laborers.  At  the 
same  time  he  has  kept  in  close  and  sympathetic  touch  with  the  men  and  events  of 
the  passing  years  up  to  the  present  time.  His  pre-eminent  ability  as  a  writer  is 
unquestioned.  His  long  period  of  service  as  a  member  of  the  General  Eldership 
for  half  a  century,  and  as  Editor  of  The  Church  Advocate  for  forty  years,  afforded 
him  facilities  which  were  not  possessed  by  any  other  man  among  us.  And,  if  any 
further  evidence  of  the  wisdom  of  this  selection  is  needed,  it  is  furnished  by  the 
eloquent  testimony  of  the  book  itself. 

The  Board  of  Directors,  however,  to  which  the  publication  of  this  book  was 
intrusted,  encountered  one  difficulty.  During  the  past  forty  years  the  author  of 
this  volume  has  been  more  influential  than  any  other  man  in  shaping  the  course 
of  events  concerning  which  he  was  selected  to  write.  And,  with  becoming  mod- 
esty, lie  declined  to  write  anything  about  his  own  work  through  these  years  of 
activity,  except  to  merely  mention  his  official  connection  with  boards,  committees, 
and  local  and  general  enterprises.  But  the  Board  of  Directors,  feeling  that  he 
was  entitled  to  a  more  prominent  place  in  the  history  of  our  work  than  he  would 
assign  to  himself,  and  that  a  fuller  recognition  of  his  long  and  faithful  services 
was  demanded  in  the  interest  of  historical  completeness,  selected  the  author  of 
this  article  "to  write  the  biography  of  Dr.  C.  H.  Forney." 

His  Early  Years. 

The  beginning  of  this  narrative  takes  us  back  about  three  quarters  of  a  cen- 
tury, to  a  farming  community  in  Dauphin  county,  Pennsylvania,  of  which  the 
village  of  Linglestown,  about  eight  miles  from  Harrisburg,  is  the  center.  Most 
of  the  farmers  of  this  locality,  like  those  of  many  other  communities  in  Eastern 
Pennsylvania,  were  of  German  descent.  Being  industrious,  honest  and  frugal, 
they  were  naturally  prosperous,  as  prosperity  was  measured  at  that  time.  Harris- 
burg was  then  only  a  town  of  about  5,000  inhabitants,  and  many  things  in  the  sur- 
rounding communities  were  of  a  primitive  character;  but  the  advantages  of  the 
people  were  equal  to  the  average  of  that  day,  and  they  were  contented.  Their 
material  comfort  was  not  hampered  by  poverty,  and  their  spiritual  stature  was  not 
dwarfed  by  great  riches.  They  belonged  to  the  large  middle  class  of  common  peo- 
ple, who  in  the  long  ago  heard  the  Master  gladly,  as  soon  as  they  had  a  favorablei 
opportunity. 

Such  an  opportunity  to  hear  the  truth  came  to  the  people  of  this  community 
through  the  ministry  of  Rev.  John  Winebrenner,  about  the  year  182.5.  It  was  the 
preaching  of  the  word  "in  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  of  power,"  or  what 
was  then  commonly  called  "experimental  religion,"  and  which  resulted  in  Wine- 

C.   H.— 11 


290  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

breimer's  separation  from  the  German  Reformed  Church.  The  readers  of  this 
volume  have  learned  that  Winebrenner,  while  a  German  Reformed  pastor,  had 
three  churches  in  the  country  in  addition  to  the  one  in  Harrisburg.  One  of  these, 
known  as  Wenrich's  church,  was  located  less  than  a  mile  from  Linglestown.  When 
the  doors  of  this  house  of  worship  were  closed  against  him,  Winebrenner  went  to 
Linglestown  and  preached  in  the  school-house  and  in  private  houses.  The  Lord 
graciously  blest  these  efforts  of  his  servant  in  the  salvation  of  precious  souls,  and 
in  June,  1829,  one  of  the  first  churches  of  God  in  the  United  States  was  organized 
at  Linglestown. 

Two  of  the  charter  members  of  this  church  were  Christian  T.  Fomey  and  his 
wife,  Barbara  S.  Forney.  In  the  Spring  of  1839  they  moved  about  four  miles  east 
of  Linglestown.  Here  they  owned  and  cultivated  a  farm  of  one  hundred  and  forty- 
five  acres.  The  family  occupied  a  log  house,  such  as  was  common  in  that  neigh- 
borhood. And  it  was  here,  on  the  seventeenth  of  October,  1839,  that  Christian 
Heni'y  Forney,  their  fourth  child  and  eldest  son,  was  born.  An  excellent  religious 
spirit  pervaded  the  community  at  that  time,  a  full  share  of  which  was  found  in 
the  Fomey  home.  The  father  and  mother,  like  most  of  those  who  were  converted 
under  Elder  Winebrenner's  labors,  were  deeply  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the 
kingdom,  and  this  influence  was  felt  in  both  the  home  and  the  church.  The  min- 
istry was  considered  a  high  and  holy  calling  and  was  regarded  with  profound  ven- 
eration. As  a  result  the  churches  of  God  have  been  blest  with  at  least  eleven 
preachers  from  this  neighborhood,  ten  in  addition  to  the  one  to  whose  life  and 
work  this  article  is  devoted,  five  of  them  belonging  to  his  family  relationship.  His 
father,  Christian  T.  Fomey,  was  a  lay  preacher,  and  frequently  conducted  religious 
services  at  the  home  church  in  Linglestown,  and  filled  pulpits  for  other  ministers 
as  opportunities  arose.  He  also  officiated  at  funerals  whenever  he  was  requested 
to  do  so.  He  could  preach  in  English  or  German,  as  the  occasion  required,  and 
was  an  able  expounder  of  the  Scriptures.  He  might  have  been  an  ordained  min- 
ister had  he  not  believed  that  he  could  serve  the  Master  best  in  a  lay  capacity  as 
an  elder  in  the  church  at  Linglestown,  which  position  he  filled  acceptably  for  many 
years,  and  until  his  death.  He  was  also  deeply  interested  in  educational  matters, 
and  was  a  member  of  the  first  school  board  under  the  common  school  law  of  Penn- 
sylvania, which  was  enacted  in  1834.  He  took  a  leading  part  with  those  who  were 
supporting  the  public  school  system,  which,  being  in  its  infancy  at  that  time, 
needed  all  the  moral  and  financial  encouragement  that  public  spirited  citizens 
could  give.  His  genuine  interest  was  shown  by  a  gift  of  four  acres  of  his  farm, 
containing  a  beautiful  grove,  for  school  purposes.  The  building  erected  on  this 
ground  was  called  the  Forney  school-house.  The  right  to  use  it  for  religious  pur- 
poses was  reserved  when  the  gift  of  ground  was  made  to  the  school  board,  and 
here  Mr.  Fomey  conducted  Sunday-school  and  prayer-meetings,  and  held  several 
successful  revival  meetings.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship in  1833  (the  first  year  that  the  names  of  delegates  were  recorded),  as  well 
as  in  later  years,  and  was  also  a  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership.  That  his  life 
was  such  as  to  command  the  continued  confidence  and  esteem  of  his  brethren  is 
evident  from  the  following  action  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  taken  at  its 
first  meeting  after  his  death:  "Resolved,  That  in  the  death  of  our  venerable 
brother,  Christian  T.  Forney,  the  Church  is  bereft  of  one  of  its  most  distinguished, 
faithful  and  veteran  office-bearers,  a  man  of  great  natural  goodness  of  heart,  a 
counsellor  of  uncommon  prudence,  wisdom  and  skill,  and  a  lay  preacher  of  extra- 
ordinary talents  and  gifts  for  usefulness  in  the  Church  and  in  the  world." 

The  early  and  genuine  conversion  of  children  who  live  in  a  true  Christian 
home  is  in  harmony  with  a  reasonable  expectation,  and  so  it  proved  in  this  case. 
A  bethel  had  been  built  at  Linglestown  in  the  Summer  of  1827,  two  years  before 
the  church  was  organized.  Here  the  converts  of  Elder  Winebrenner's  meetings 
enjoyed  many  precious  seasons  of  grace,  and  their  efforts  in  winning  souls  were 
crowned  with  success.  It  was  in  this  bethel,  in  December,  185  3,  at  a  service  con- 
ducted by  his  father,  that  C.  H.  Fomey,  then  fourteen  years  of  age,  went  forward 
to  the  altar  of  prayer  and  was  converted  to  Christ. 

This  brief  glance  at  the  early  history  of  this  community  !s  sufficient  to  show 
that  the  conditions  could  scarcely  have  been  more  favorable  for  the  early  training 
of  one  who  was  to  become  pre-eminently  a  leader  in  the  work  of  the  churches 
of  God. 


Genkkal    History 


291 


292  History   of   the    Churches    of    God 

As  Student  and  Teacher. 

It  was  in  the  building  before  referred  to,  on  his  father's  farm,  that  C.  H. 
Fomey  attended  public  school  until  185  4.  He  then  went  to  the  Miller  public 
school  one  Winter,  about  nine  miles  from  home,  and  to  the  Churchville  (now 
Oberlin)  public  school,  thirteen  miles  distant,  the  following  Winter,  for  more  ad- 
vanced instruction,  especially  in  mathematics.  About  this  time  Professor  John 
Focht  started  an  academy  at  Linglestown,  which,  in  keeping  with  the  original 
name  of  that  village  (St.  Thomas),  he  called  The  St.  Thomas  Institute.  Here 
Mr.  Forney  attended  school  for  three  years,  each  academic  year  running  from  April 
to  October.  He  pursued  the  i'egular  course  of  studies,  giving  special  attention  to 
mathematics  and  surveyirtg".  His  school  work  and  standing  during  these  early 
years  was  a  clear  indication  of  the  exceptional  talents  which  were  to  be  still 
further  developed  and  devoted  to  useful  service  as  time  advanced. 

Mr.  Forney's  experience  as  a  public  school  teacher  dates  from  the  Autumn  of 
1856,  when  he  was  seventeen  years  of  age.  That  Winter  he  taught  the  Progress 
school,  nine  miles  from  home,  and  the  next  two  Winters  he  taught  the  Forney 
school,  on  his  father's  farm.  His  selection  as  teacher  for  the  home  school  is  a 
creditable  indication  of  his  standing  in  his  own  community,  just  as  the  early  age 
at  which  he  began  teaching  shows  his  unusual  intellectual  attainments  as  he  ap- 
proached young  manhood. 

In  the  Spring  of  1858  Mr.  Forney  went  to  the  State  Normal  School  at  Millers- 
ville,  Pa.,  where  he  remained  for  one  school  year  of  three  terms.  This,  his  first 
year  in  school  away  from  his  home  community,  was  one  of  much  value  to  him. 
Professor  James  P.  Wickersham,  author  of  several  well-known  books  on  teaching 
and  one  of  the  most  prominent  educators  of  Pennsylvania,  was  the  Principal  of 
the  Millers-^ille  Normal  School  at  that  time,  and  its  moving  spirit.  And  the 
teacher  of  mathematics  was  Professor  Edward  Brooks,  author  of  Brooks'  Mental 
Arithmetic,  a  work  which  was  then  in  press.  That  Mr.  Forney  made  good  use  of 
his  opportunities  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  he  was  selected  to  make  the  class 
address  at  the  end  of  each  term,  both  because  of  his  record  in  the  work  of  the 
school  and  his  proficiency  in  public  speaking.  In  the  Pall  of  this  year,  September 
21,  1858,  he  received  a  Teacher's  Permanent  Certificate,  which  at  that  time  took 
the  place  of  the  present-day  Normal  School  diploma. 

It  was  in  the  Winter  of  1858-59  that  Mr.  Forney  first  received  impressions 
which  turned  his  mind  in  the  direction  of  the  gospel  ministry.  When  he  ex- 
pressed these  feelings  to  his  father  the  latter  was  very  much  gratified,  and  they 
at  once  took  up  for  consideration  the  subject  of  a  suitable  college  at  which 
he  might  receive  the  necessary  training  for  his  future  work.  The  churches 
of  God  not  having  an  educational  institution  at  that  time,  the  question  was  not 
an  easy  one  to  decide.  Naturally  they  sought  the  counsel  of  Elder  AVinebrenner, 
who  was  at  that  time  conducting  a  meeting  at  Linglestown,  and  on  the  latter's 
advice  it  was  decided  that  Mr.  Foi*ney  should  go  to  college  at  Oberlin,  Ohio, 
which   he   did    in    March,    1859. 

Oberlin  College,  in  its  origin,  was  closely  identified  with  the  anti-slavery 
movement.  Tappan  Hall  was  erected  by  Mr.  Arthur  Tappan,  one  of  the  leading 
opponents  of  slavery.  Students  were  admitted  without  respect  to  color.  The 
President  and  Faculty  of  the  College  were  pronounced  abolitionists,  and  anti- 
slavery  sentiment  was  voiced  with  no  uncertain  sound.  That  this  attitude  was 
maintained  regardless  of  opposition  and  danger  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that 
when  Mr.  Forney  reached  Oberlin  two  of  the  professors  were  serving  jail  sen- 
tences in  Cleveland  for  having  assisted  a  fugitive  slave  to  escape  through  Ohio 
to  Canada.  The  President  of  Oberlin  College  at  that  time  was  Rev.  Charles  G. 
Finney,  the  ablest  and  most  successful  evangelist  of  his  day.  Through  his 
spoken  and  published  sermons  and  lectures  hundreds  of  formal  churches  were 
being  quickened  with  new  life,  while  thousands  of  lukewarm  church  members 
were  being  revived  and  multitudes  of  sinners  saved.  If  in  connection  with 
these  two  facts  it  is  recalled  that  the  churches  of  God  from  the  very  beginning 
were  committed  to  the  anti-slavery  cause,  and  that  they  were  distinctively 
evangelistic,  it  will  explain  why  Mr.  Winebrenner  advised  Mr.  Forney  to  go  to 
Oberlin   College,   and   why  the   advice   was   accepted. 

Mr.  Forney  decided  to  take  what  was  known  at  Oberlin  as  the  Elective, 
or  Ministerial  Course,  preparatory  to  taking  a  theological  course.  He  had  made 
a  diligent  study  of  Greek  at  home  during  the  preceding  Winter,  which  he  con- 


General  History  293 

tinued  at  Oberlin  in  connection  with  his  other  studies,  advancing  in  philosophy, 
astronomy,  and  higher  mathematics  as  far  as  the  senior  class  in  the  regular 
course.  After  spending  one  school  year  of  eight  months  at  Oberlin,  he  taught 
the  Hopewell  public  school,  in  Hopewell  township,  Seneca  county,  Ohio,  during 
the  Winter  of  1859-60,  pursuing  his  college  studies  at  the  same  time.  His 
Teacher's  Certificate,  received  at  Tiffin,  Ohio,  in  October,  1859,  was  of  the  highest 
grade.  In  the  Spring  of  1860  he  returned  to  Oberlin  to  continue  his  course, 
little  thinking  that  in  a  few  short  weeks  there  would  come  to  pass  an  event 
which  would  not  only  bring  deep  sorrow  to  the  heart,  but  also  change  his  plan 
of  preparation  for  the  work  of  his  calling.  This  was  the  unexpected  death  of 
his  father,  which  occurred  March  26,  1860,  at  the  age  of  fifty-three.  Mr.  Forney 
reached  home  the  day  before  the  funeral,  and  did  not  return  to  college.  This 
was  due  in  part  to  changes  incident  to  his  father's  death,  and  in  part  to  the 
urgent  need  for  ministers.  It  should  be  remembered  that  in  those  early  years 
very  few  of  our  people  recognized  the  advantages  of  a  college  education  as  a 
preparation  for  the  ministry.  On  the  contrary  it  was  the  general  belief  that 
men  who  were  called  of  God  to  this  sacred  office  should  enter  it  without  waiting 
for  such  training.  And  not  a  few  of  our  people  were  openly  opposed  to  college- 
trained  preachers.  In  view  of  these  facts  it  is  not  strange  that  Mr.  Forney  did  not 
finish  his  college  course,  but  rather  that  he  went  to  cpllege  at  all.  At  that 
time  it  was  a  rare  exception  for  a  young  man  to  go  to  college,  and  that  he 
followed  the  exception  rather  than  the  rule,  shows  that  he  was  prompted  by 
the  spirit  of  the  true  student.  And  the  termination  of  his  school  days  did  not 
seriously  interrupt  his  course  of  studies.  He  continued  to  apply  himself  with 
the  same  thoroughness  and  patient  perseverance  that  had  characterized  his 
work  as  a  student  and  teacher.  Nor  did  he  limit  his  application  to  a  popular 
course  of  reading  and  a  general  line  of  theological  studies,  as  many  ministers 
do.  He  did  not  shun  the  more  difficult  branches,  which  are  seldom  pursued 
outside  of  college  or  seminary.  For  example,  he  took  up  the  study  of  Hebrew 
unaided,  and  mastered  it  to  the  extent  of  being  able  to  read  the  Old  Testament 
in  the  original,  as  his  knowledge  of  the  Greek  enabled  him  to  do  with  the  New 
Testament.  He  has  been  a  life-long  student  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word. 
He  feels  most  at  home  in  the  midst  of  his  books,  which  have  been  wisely 
selected,  and  which  have  grown  into  a  library  of  over  seventeen  hundred  volumes. 

As  Preacher  and  Pastor. 

Though  almost  his  entire  lifetime  has  been  spent  in  his  native  State,  within 
a  radius  of  fifty  miles  in  and  around  Harrisburg,  it  was  in  Ohio  that  Mr.  Forney 
began  the  sacred  work  of  the  gospel  ministry.  He  preached  his  first  sermon 
In  the  Hopewell  bethel,  about  a  mile  from  the  public  school  of  which  he  was 
the  teacher,  on  Sunday  morning,  November  20,  1859,  from  Isaiah  iii.  10,  11. 
During  the  Winter  he  preached  nine  times  at  Hopewell,  once  at  Tiffin,  twice 
at  Attica,  once  at  John  Kline's  and  once  at  Pleasant  Grove.  His  first  sermon 
in  his  native  State,  preached  May  6,  1860,  a  few  weeks  after  his  father's  death, 
was  a  funeral  sermon.  During  the  Summer  of  this  year  he  preached  forty-five 
times  at  various  places  in  East  Pennsylvania,  including  seven  sermons  at  Lan- 
caster, where  he  came  into  personal  touch  with  Elder  E.  H.  Thomas,  Editor  of 
The  Church  Advocate.  The  Standing  Committee  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship, of  which  Elder  Thomas  was  Chairman,  granted  Mr.  Forney  a  "Preacher's 
License,"  September  2  5,  1860,  without  an  application  having  been  made  and 
without  any  examination.  This  unusual  course  was  no  doubt  prompted  by 
the  recognized  ability  and  promise  of  the  one  upon  whom  this  distinction  was 
conferred,  as  well  as  by  the  urgent  need  for  ministers.  In  the  Autumn  of 
1860  he  attended  the  meeting  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  at  Bain- 
bridge,    and   was   elected   Second    Clerk. 

Elder  Forney's  first  regular  charge  was  the  church  at  Mount  Joy,  which 
he  served  from  the  Fall  of  1860  to  the  Spring  of  1863.  The  church  had  been 
without  a  pastor  during  the  preceding  Summer,  and  his  appointment  from 
November  9,  1860,  until  the  Spring  of  1861,  was  by  the  Standing  Committee, 
from  which  time  his  Eldership  appointment  continued  for  two  years,  which 
was  then  the  time  limit  fixed  by  the  Eldership.  During  the  last  year  of  this 
period,  from  April,  1862,  to  April,  1863,  Mount  Joy  and  Washington  Borough 
were    united,    and    were    served    jointly    by    Elders    Forney    and    Thomas.      Elder 


294  History    of   the    Churches    of    God 

Forney  conducted  the  revival  meetings,  and  in  the  very  beginning  of  his  work 
as  a  pastor  received  .the  most  gracious  evidences  of  divine  approval.  His  first 
protracted  meeting  at  Mount  Joy  continued  from  December  22,  1860,  to  February 
27,  1861,  and  resulted  in  eighty-four  conversions  and  sixty-five  accessions  to 
the  church.  The  revival  services  of  the  following  Winters  were  not  so  pro- 
tracted, but  resulted  in  a  number  of  conversions  and  additions,  both  at  Mount 
Joy  and  Washington  Borough.  An  encouraging  growth  was  also  seen  in  other 
respects,  especially  in  a  broader  vision  of  Christian  responsibility.  The  pastor, 
both  in  his  pulpit  and  pastoral  work,  laid  special  emphasis  on  the  subject  of 
missions,  and  directed  the  people  in  formulating  and  putting  into  operation  a 
proper  financial  system,  with  the  result  that  the  church  at  Mount  Joy  was  soon  in 
the  front  rank  both  in  missionary  activity  and  the  amount  of  money  contributed 
for  that  purpose. 

Elder  Forney  went  from  Mount  Joy  to  Chambersburg  in  the  Spring  of 
1863,  where  his  pastorate  was  attended  with  some  of  the  most  trying  exper- 
iences of  his  life.  It  was^a  critical  period  in  the  progress  of  the  Civil  War, 
and  his  field  was  only  about  fifteen  miles  from  Mason  and  Dixon's  Line.  The 
great  conflict  between  the  North  and  the  South  was  rapidly  approaching  a 
crisis,  as  was  shown  a  few  months  later  in  the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  July  1st 
to  3rd.  The  passionate  feelings  of  that  time  can  be  understood  only  by  those 
who  were  in  touch  with  the  awful  experiences  of  the  War.  So  intense  was  the 
interest  that  Elder  Fomey,  with  others,  walked  from  Chambersburg  to  Gettys- 
burg, a  distance  of  twenty-five  miles,  on  Monday  after  the  battle.  There  was 
no  means  of  conveyance,  railroad  transportation  having  been  interrupted  by 
the  destruction  of  tracks,  and  even  the  farmers  and  others  who  had  teams  had 
gone  farther  north  to  escape  the  Confederates.  Shortly  after  his  return  from 
Gettysburg,  Elder  Forney  suffered  a  severe  attack  of  typhoid  fever.  During 
this  affliction  he  was  comforted  and  encouraged  by  Elder  Thomas  and  others 
to  hope  for  recovery,  and,  while  the  outcome  was  for  a  time  in  doubt,  his  life 
was  spared  for  the  greater  service  to  which  the  Master  had  called  him.  July 
29,  1864,  General  McCausland,  with  a  Confederate  cavalry  force  of  about  five 
hundred  men,  crossed  the  Potomac  and  made  a  raid  as  far  north  as  Chambers- 
burg, where  he  demanded  $500,000  in  greenbacks  or  $100,000  in  gold  under  pen- 
alty of  burning  the  town.  Because  the  citizens  failed  to  comply  with  this 
demand,  the  heart  of  the  town,  including  the  bethel  of  the  church  of  God, 
was  reduced  to  ashes,  on  Saturday,  July  30th.  The  Board  of  Incorporation 
of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  decided  to  rebuild,  and  Elder  Forney  was 
appointed  to  collect  money  for  this  purpose.  He  traveled  over  all  the  territory 
of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  through  Westmoreland,  Fayette ,  and 
Venango  counties  in  West  Pennsylvania,  and  Wayne,  Richland,  Wyandot  and 
Seneca  counties  in  Ohio.  Our  people  were  liberal  in  supporting  the  faith  for 
which  the  common  brotherhood  was  contending,  and  in  this  particular  case 
there  was  the  added  element  of  patriotic  devotion  because  of  the  circumstances 
under  which  the  people  in  Chambersburg  lost  their  house  of  worship.  As  a 
result,  the  necessary  amount  of  money  was  secured,  about  $.5,000,  which  in- 
cluded $300  contributed  by  members  of  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature. 

While  on  this  collecting  tour  Elder  Forney  made  his  first  and  only  political 
speech..  It  was  in  Wooster,  Ohio,  on  the  evening  of  October  6,  1864.  A  mass 
meeting  had  been  arranged  for  that  date  by  the  Republican  County  Committee, 
which  was,  largely  attended  and  marked  by  the  intense  interest  and  enthusiasm 
known  only  in  the  exciting  days  of  the  Civil  War.  In  the  forenoon  eloquent 
addresses  were  made  by  Senator  John  Shennan,  General  James  A.  Gaiiield  and 
two  local  ministers.  In  the  evening  Elder  Forney  made  an  address  in  advocacy  of 
the  re-election  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  his  subject  being,  "The  Principles  That 
Should  Triumph — Where  Are  They  Found?"  The  Wooster  "Republican"  had 
the    following   to   say    concerning   the    address: 

"The  meeting  in  Arcadome  hall  to  listen  to  the  address  of  Rev.  C.  H.  Fomey, 
of  Chambersburg,  Pa.,  was  a  most  complete  success.  The  address  of  the  reverend 
gentleman  was  learned  and  eloquent,  and  gave  the  best  satisfaction  to  the  large 
and  intelligent  audience  present.  We  have  seldom  listened  to  a  more  effective, 
convincing  and  learned  argument  in  favor  of  the  Union  cause,  than  that  of  Mr. 
Fomey." 

As   a   life-long  Republican,   Elder  Fomey  has   always  taken   a   deep   interest 


General.  History  295 

in  civil  affairs,  as  a  private  citizen.  And,  had  he  felt  free  to  take  a  public  part 
in  governmental  matters,  he  would  no  doubt  have  exerted  a  very  effective 
influence  in  favor  of  that  which  is  highest  and  best  in  political  life.  But  he 
has  always  contended  that  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  for  the  best  interests  of 
his  calling,  should  take  no  active  part  in  politics.  And  to  this  rule  he  has 
invariably  adhered,  with  the  single  exception  before  mentioned  when  the  extra- 
ordinary circumstances  of  the  time  demanded  the  help  of  every  loyal  tongue 
and  pen  in  behalf  of  the  preservation  of  the  Union. 

Elder  Foi-ney  continued  as  pastor  of  the  church  in  Chambersburg  for  three 
years.  While  the  time  limit  was  only  two  years,  an  exception  was  made  in  this 
case  on  account  of  the  erection  of  the  new  house  of  worship.  The  only  time 
during  this  pastorate  when  the  church  had  a  bethel  in  which  to  hold  revival 
services  was  the  Winter  of  1863-4.  And  when  this  is  remembered,  in  connec- 
tion with  other  trying  experiences  through  which  the  people  were  passing  in 
consequence  of  the  War,  the  reader  will  not  expect  to  learn  of  very  much 
having  been  accomplished  in  the  way  of  spiritual  development  and  church 
upbuilding.  But  by  faithful  pastoral  work  the  flock  was  kept  together,  and 
a  number  of  persons  were  fellowshiped  and  baptized. 

The  Fourth  Street  Church  of  God,  Harrisburg,  was  Elder  Forney's  third 
appointment,  which  he  served  from  April,  1866,  to  April,  1868.  The  severe 
trials  through  which  this  church  had  passed,  as  recorded  elsewhere  in  this 
volume,  were  still  matters  of  recent  history,  and  the  flock  that  remained  required 
more  than  ordinary  care  and  devotion  on  the  part  of  the  pastor.  In  this  the 
people  were  not  disappointed,  as  the  record  shows  206  sermons  preached  and 
about  600  pastoral  visits  made  during  the  two  years.  Not  only  was  the  flock 
properly  cared  for,  but  the  efforts  of  pastor  and  church  were  rewarded  with  a 
gratifying  increase  in  membership.  Forty-four  persons  were  received  into  fellow- 
ship the  first  year  and  forty-nine  the  second. 

It  was  during  his  pastorate  in  Harrisburg  that  Elder  Forney  served  as  Chaplain 
of  the  Pennsylvania  House  of  Representatives.  The  ministers  of  Harrisburg, 
who  had  been  rendering  this  service  alternately,  took  action  requesting  that 
a  Chaplain  be  selected  to  serve  statedly.  Elder  Forney  was  appointed  to  carry 
this  request  to  the  Capitol,  where  it  was  favorably  received,  and  he  was  elected 
the  first  regular  Chaplain  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  in    January,  1868. 

The  "Harrisburg  Telegraph,"  speaking  of  the  close  of  this  pastorate  in  the 
Spring  of  1868,  says:  "Long  before  the  ringing  of  the  bell  last  evening  the 
large  audience  room  of  the  Fourth  Street  Bethel  was  filled  to  overflowing,  and 
ere  the  time  for  opening  the  services  the  galleries,  aisles  and  stairways  were 
also  crowded  with  persons  who  assembled  to  hear  the  farewell  sermon  of  Rev. 
C.  H.  Forney,  who  was  to  close  his  second  and  last  year's  labors  as  pastor  of 

the   church    During   the   two   years   just   closed   Rev.   C.    H.   Foraey   has 

labored  most  efficiently  in  our  midst,  and  he  bears  with  him  to  his  new  charge, 
in  Lancaster,  the  prayers  of  all  good  people  for  future  success." 

Elder  Forney's  last  pastorate  was  in  Lancaster,  where  he  served  the  church 
from  April,  1868,  to  April,  1870,  the  last  seven  months  in  connection  with  his 
duties  as  Editor  of  The  Church  Advocate,  to  which  position  he  succeeded 
on  the  death  of  Elder  Thomas.  Here  his  work  was  characterized  by  the  same 
careful  attention  to  the  duties  that  pertain  to  the  office  of  preacher  and  pastor. 
He  instructed  the  people  more  thoroughly  in  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Testament, 
and  was  diligent  in  seeking  the  salvation  of  souls.  Twenty-nine  persons  were 
received  into  fellowship,  and  the  church  was  built  up  and  strengthened  in  the 
faith. 

Had  Elder  Forney  continued  in  the  work  of  the  active  ministry  his  career 
would  no  doubt  have  been  one  of  increasing  usefulness  among  the  churches  of 
God.  He  had  the  talent  necessary  to  render  acceptable  service  in  any  pulpit. 
He  had  the  personal  interest  in  the  members  of  his  congregations  which  insures 
faithful  pastoral  work.  He  was  equally  strong  in  executive  ability  and  wise 
administration.  And  back  of  these  qualifications  was  an  unselfish  devotion  to 
the  cause  he  loved.  This  fact  stands  out  prominently  in  his  report  to  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  at  Middletown,  in  October,  1863,  while  pastor  at  Cham- 
bersburg.    The  report  closes  with  this  paragraph: 

"I  give  myself  into  the  hands  of  the  Eldership  to  send  me  wherever  in  her 
judgment  she  deems  best.  I  have  no  personal  wishes  and  desires  to  be  gratified. 
At  home  or  abroad,  on  the  missionary  field,  circuit,  or  station,  wherever,  brethren. 


296  History    of   the    Churches    of    God 

you  think  my  services  most  needful  and  promotive  of  God's  glory  and  the 
interests  of  perishing  souls,  as  well  as  of  the  Church,  thither  send  me.  With 
and  for  the  Church  I  mean  to  labor  and  in  her  commission  I  expect  to  die." 

But  it  was  only  a  few  years  until  this  consecrated  young  man,  as  before 
mentioned,  was  called  to  the  editorial  chair  to  begin  a  period  of  service  to 
all  the  churches,  which,  in  the  goodness  of  God,  he  was  able  to  continue  for 
forty  years.  During  that  time,  in  order  to  husband  his  strength  for  the  onerous 
duties  of  the  editorial  office,  he  preached  only  on  special  occasions.  These 
included  dedicatory  and  reopening  services,  and  sermons  on  doctrinal  and  other 
important  subjects.  He  preached  the  opening  sermon  of  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  on  several  occasions,  and  also  preached  the  opening  sermon  of  the 
General  Eledrship  in  187.5,  and  again  in  1909.  Beginning  with  the  dedicatory 
sermon  at  Chambersburg,  Pa.,  March  10,  18  67,  while  he  was  pastor  of  the  Fourth 
Street  Church,  Harrisburg,  he  has  officiated  at  fifty-five  dedications  and  re- 
openings.  The  church  that  is  fortunate  enough  to  secure  his  services  on  any 
special  occasion  considers  itself  highly  favored,  because  of  the  instructive  and 
inspiring  character  of  his  work  in  the  pulpit.  He  is  pre-eminently  a  teacher 
of  divine  truth.  For  this  reason  he  was  most  worthily  honored  when  Hillsdale 
College,  Hillsdale,  Michigan,  a  Free  Baptist  institution,  conferred  upon  him  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity,  in  18  81.  He  was  the  first  minister  in  the  churches 
of  God  to  receive  this  degree. 

It  is  in  order,  in  this  connection,  to  make  a  few  comments  concerning  Dr. 
Forney's  ability  as  a  preacher.  Two  things,  on  the  human  side,  determine  the 
strength  of  a  sermon.  These  are  its  preparation  and  its  delivery.  And  this 
twofold  consideration  of  the  subject  of  preaching,  which  discloses  the  ability 
of  the  preacher,  calls  attention  to  the  study  and  to  the  pulpit.  The  work  of  the 
latter  is  more  familiar  to  the  people,  but  that  of  the  former  is  of  no  less  im- 
portance; for  a  lack  of  preparation  in  the  study  is  certain  to  result  in  a  lack 
of  power  in  the  pulpit.  With  Dr.  Fomey  the  preparation  of  a  sermon  is  not  an 
irksome  task.  He  enjoys  the  companionship  of  his  books,  especially  the  Book 
that  records  the  word  and  will  of  God.  Many  of  his  most  delightful  hours  are 
spent  in  his  library,  and  he  finds  as  much  pleasure  in  the  preparation  of  a  sermon 
as  in  its  delivery.  Having  selected  a  theme  and  text  appropriate  to  the  occasion 
for  which  a  sermon  is  to  be  prepared,  he  seeks,  first  of  all,  to  discover  what  the 
Spirit  of  inspiration  desires  to  express  through  the  text,  in  order  that  he  may 
thus  hear  the  voice  of  God  and  repeat  it  to  the  people.  Then  follows  the  logical 
development  of  the  theme  thus  presented,  with  such  practical  applications  as 
the  needs  of  the  people  to  whom  he  is  to  preach  may  require.  In  this  work  of 
preparation  he  goes  to  the  word  of  God  as  found  in  the  original  languages,  and 
studies  the  text,  context  and  parallel  passages,  with  the  help  of  concordances, 
lexicons  and  commentaries.  In  addition  to  his  hermeneutical  and  homiletical 
helps,  the  subject  under  preparation  is  further  enriched  by  the  results  of  his  more 
general  study  of  theological  works.  He  has  a  passion  for  the  truth.  His  sole  am- 
bition is  to  "preach  the  word,"  believing  that  it  is  the  only  means  whereby  the 
unsaved  can  be  brought  to  Christ  and  built  up  in  him.  He  delights  to  preach  "the 
unsearchable  riches  of  Christ,"  and  his  sermons  are  prepared  with  the  cross  in 
view.  While  his  preaching  for  many  years  has  been  limited  to  special  occasions, 
which  suggested  the  propriety  of  using  special  subjects,  the  supreme  theme  of 
the  gospel  has  never  been  forgotten.  When  he  preaches  on  the  subject  of  the 
church,  as  he  frequently  and  appropriately  does  on  dedicatory  occasions,  he 
exalts  Christ  by  exalting  his  body — the  church.  And  his  sermons  on  the  ordi- 
nances accomplish  the  same  purpose  by  making  more  significant  the  three  great 
facts  in  the  Master's  life — his  humiliation,  his  death  and  his  resurrection.  He 
keeps  in  touch  with  the  best  books  that  come  from  the  press,  and  avails  himself 
of  the  volumes  of  earlier  years  that  are  found  in  his  well-selected  library,  both 
poetry  and  prose.  The  Bible  is  his  treasure-house  of  truth,  and  other  books  are 
used  only  as  they  may  throw  light  upon  its  interpretation  and  application  to 
human  life.  These  facilities,  each  of  which  contributes  in  one  way  or  another  \ 
to  the  preparation  of  the  sermon,  have  no  place  in  the  finished  product.  They 
are  all  left  in  the  study.  Even  the  written  outline  is  committed  so  that  it  need 
not  be  carried  into  the  pulpit.  Thus  the  discourse,  while  a  scholarly  production, 
is    entirely    free    from    the    pedantic    element.      Nothing    is    brought    before    the 


General   History  297 

congregation  but  an  exposition  and  application  of  gospel  truth  that  has  previously 
been  made  a  part  of  the  mind  and   heart  of  the   speaker. 

The  delivery  of  the  message  is  in  keeping  w^ith  the  high  character  of  the 
sermon.  Phillips  Brooks,  himself  a  prince  of  power  in  the  pulpit,  said:  "Every 
sermon  must  have  a  solid  rest  in  Scripture,  and  the  pointedness  which  comes 
of  a  clear  subject,  and  the  conviction  which  belongs  to  well-thought  argument, 
and  the  warmth  that  proceeds  from  earnest  appeal."  These  elements  are  clearly 
manifest  in  the  sermons  of  Dr.  Foniey  and  in  their  delivery.  He  deals  with  the 
fundamental  doctrines  of  the  word  of  God.  He  has  always  been  unalterably 
opposed  to  the  introduction  of  secular  and  sensational  themes  into  the  pulpit, 
believing  that  they  are  not  entitled  to  a  place  in  the  sacred  desk,  and  this  position 
is  emphasized  by  his  own  course  as  a  minister.  The  spectacular  is  as  foreign 
to  his  sermons  and  their  delivery  as  it  is  distasteful  to  his  judgment.  He  not 
only  excludes  extraneous  subjects  from  the  pulpit;  but,  so  far  as  possible,  con- 
ceals himself  in  the  shadow  of  the  cross.  He  humbles  himself  that  Christ  may 
be  exalted.  His  sermons  disclose  no  effort  at  rhetorical  display,  or  desire  for 
personal  prominence.  His  pulpit  oratory  is  unstudied  and  unaffected.  He  is 
sparing  in  gestures.  He  is  in  no  sense  open  to  the  common  criticism  that  min- 
isters assume  an  unnatural  manner  and  voice  in  the  pulpit  for  effect.  He  is  as 
natural  before  a  congregation  as  he  is  in  the  quiet  of  his  home.  With  an  im- 
plicit trust  in  the  One  for  whose  cause  he  is  to  speak,  and  the  confidence  which 
a  well-preared  message  affords,  Dr.  Foniey  comes  before  his  congregation  with 
perfect  self-control.  With  his  sermon-outline  clearly  in  mind,  he  trusts  to  the 
inspiration  of  the  moment  to  furnish  words  for  the  expression  of  his  thoughts. 
In  this  he  is  never  disappointed,  for  philology  has  been  one  of  the  delightful 
studies  of  his  life,  and  has  resulted  in  a  rich  vocabulary  that  never  fails  to 
furnish  the  most  precise  and  expressive  word  at  the  proper  time.  There  is  a 
dignified  sincerity  in  his  sermon  delivery  which  manifests  itself  in  the  blending 
of  a  choice  phraseology  with  a  tenderness  of  feeling.  He  speaks  with  a  freedom 
born  of  a  knowledge  of  the  truth,  and  a  liberty  produced  only  by  the  presence 
of  the  Spirit.  His  impressive  manner  brings  the  conviction  that  the  truth  which 
he  preaches  is  a  personal  treasure,  and  that  it  is  transmitted  out  of  the  abundance 
of  the  heart.  His  preaching  contains  the  essential  elements  of  true  eloquence, 
which  we  are  told  is  the  power  to  convince  the  Judgment,  kindle  the  imagination, 
move  the  feelings  and  give  impulse  to  the  will. 

It  is  more  than  an  ordinary  privilege  to  sit  under  the  preaching  of  Dr. 
Forney.  It  is  both  pleasant  and  profitable.  It  is  the  privilege  of  listening  to 
one  who,  while  his  voice  is  not  so  strong  as  that  of  many  public  speakers,  has 
an  enunciation  so  clear  as  to  be  heard  by  the  average  congregation  with  ease. 
And  there  is  a  melodiousness  in  his  voice  which  adds  to  the  impressiveness  of 
his  utterances,  as  well  as  to  the  pleasure  of  listening.  It  is  the  privilege  of  hear- 
ing one  who  has  a  clear  apprehension  of  the  truth,  whose  loyalty  to  the  truth 
is  unquestioned,  and  who  is  in  every  way  worthy  to  speak  in  the  name  of  the 
Master.  His  logical  analysis,  his  clear  exposition,  and  his  simplicity  of  speech 
combine  to  make  the  truth  stand  forth  with  a  prominence  too  plain  to  be  mis- 
understood. And  while  his  sermons  are  of  greater  length  than  those  to  which 
the  people  of  to-day  are  accustomed,  the  amount  of  truth  presented  is  fully  equal 
to  the  time  used  in  expressing  it,  and  this  is  the  true  standard  by  which  to 
determine  the  proper  length  of  a  sermon. 

Back  of  the  message  is  the  man,  who,  so  far  as  human  agencies  are  con- 
cerned, gives  to  the  sermon  its  vital  power.  The  words  of  a  speaker  are  effective 
only  so  far  as  they  are  backed  by  a  corresponding  example.  And  those  who 
receive  instruction  from  Dr.  Forney's  preaching,  and  have  the  needs  of  their 
hearts  carried  to  a  throne  of  grace  by  his  comprehensive  and  fervent  pulpit 
prayers,  realize  that  they  are  being  helped  by  one  who  speaks,  not  alone  from 
the  printed  page  of  the  Scriptures,  but  also  from  the  epistle  of  Christ  written 
on  his  own  heart  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  And  they  go  out  from  the  service  with 
feelings  which  can  be  appropriately  expressed  by  a  quotation  from  Hawthorne: 
"His  words  had  power  because  they  accorded  with  his  thoughts;  and  his  thoughts 
had  reality  and  depth  because  they  harmonized  with  the  life  he  had  always  lived. 
It  was  not  mere  breath  that  this  preacher  uttered;  they  were  the  words  of  life, 
because  a  life  of  good  deeds  and  holy  love  was  melted  into  them.  Pearls,  pure 
and  rich,   had   been   dissolved   into  the  precious   draught." 


298  History   of   the   Churches   of   God 

As  a  Leader. 

While  there  is  no  superior  order  in  the  ministry  of  the  churches  of  God, 
there  are  leaders  to  whom  special  duties  are  committed,  either  by  official  action 
or  common  consent.  These  men  become  leaders  by  virtue  of  their  efficiency  and 
fidelity.  Their  ability  is  recognized  by  their  brethren,  who  concede  to  them 
positions  of  trust  and  responsibility.  And  their  fidelity  is  a  stepping-stone  from 
the  lower  to  the  higher  positions.  True  and  permanent  leadership,  therefore, 
is  inseparably  connected  with  faithful  service.  One  may  attain  a  leading  position 
in  some  other  way,  but  it  will  not  be  long  continued.  The  only  one  who  can 
exert  a  controlling  influence  through  the  years  uninterruptedly  is  the  one  who 
is  constantly  devoted  to  the  cause  with  which  he  is  connected.  He  must  serve 
before  he  can  rule,  and  the  extent  of  his  leadership  will  be  determined  by  the 
measure  of  his  devotion  to  the  duties  that  devolve  upon  him. 

Among  the  names  of  men  who  by  intelligent  and  faithful  service  have 
attained  positions  of  leadership  in  the  work  of  the  churches  of  God  none  stands 
out  with  more  prominence  than  that  of  Dr.  Foi-ney.  What  Elder  Winebrenner 
was  to  the  churches,  to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  and  the  General  Elder 
ship  during  the  first  part  of  the  history  recorded  in  this  volume  (a  period  of 
some  thirty  years),  Dr.  Fomey  has  been  during  the  past  forty  years  or  more. 
And  the  record  of  these  years  furnishes  a  clear  illustration  of  the  frequently- 
expressed  belief  that  when  one  leader  in  the  cause  of  righteousness  falls  the 
Lord  raises  up  another  to  take  his  place.  For  it  is  interesting  to  note,  in  think- 
ing of  these  two  faithful  servants,  the  close  connection  between  the  end  of  the 
labors  of  the  one  and  the  beginning  of  the  work  of  the  other.  It  was  only 
thirteen  days  after  the  death  of  Elder  Winebrenner  that  Mr.  Fomey  was  granted 
a  "Preacher's  License"  by  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership.  Elder  Winebi-enner  attended  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  for 
the  last  time  in  185  9,  and  the  following  year  Elder  Fomey  was  in  attendance 
for  the  first  time.  The  last  General  Eldership  that  Elder  Winebrenner  attended 
was  that  of  1860,  while  the  next  meeting  of  that  body,  in  1863,  was  the  first 
one  attended  by  Elder  Fomey.  It  should  not  be  inferred  that  Elder  Fomey 
was  the  immediate  successor  of  Elder  Winebrenner.  That  distinction  naturally 
and  properly  fell  to  Elder  E.  H.  Thomas,  Editor  of  The  Church  Advocate.  But 
it  was  only  nine  years  after  the  death  of  Elder  Winebrenner  that  Elder  Thomas 
was  called  to  his  reward,  and  was  succeeded  by  Elder  Fomey. 

The  leader  of  a  religious  body  is  the  one  who  does  most  to  shape  its  policies 
and  stimulate  and  direct  the  thought  of  the  people.  And  it  was  as  Editor 
of  The  Church  Advocate  that  Dr.  Fomey,  for  forty  years,  exerted  an  infiuence 
of  this  kind  that  no  one  else  was  in  a  position  to  wield.  It  was  to  him  that 
the  brethren  were  wont  to  turn  for  counsel  and  guidance,  and  they  never  looked 
in  vain.  It  was  in  the  editorial  clumns  of  The  Church  Advocate  that  their 
perplexing  problems  were  solved,  their  discouraged  hearts  inspired,  and  their 
hesitating  footsteps  directed.  In  this  position  of  leadership  Dr.  Fomey  was 
thoroughly  loyal  to  the  old  landmarks.  He  was  true  to  the  spirit  of  Winebrenner, 
Thomas  and  other  leaders  who  had  preceded  him.  At  the  same  time  he  was 
aggressive.  He  developed  the  plans  of  Winebrenner  into  wider  spheres,  and,  when 
wise  and  necessary,  carried  them  out  with  new  methods,  but  always  with  an 
eye  single  to  the  honor  of  the  truth  and  the  prosperity  of  the  churches.  Most 
of  the  enterprises  of  the  General  Eldership  for  the  past  forty  years  had  their 
inception  in  his  editorial  suggestions  and  discussions,  and  to  a  great  extent  the 
same  is  true  of  the  annual  Elderships.  In  these  matters  his  conservatism  and 
aggressiveness  were  always  blended  in  proper  proportion.  His  attitude  as  a 
leader  has  been  eminently  fair.  He  has  kept  in  close  and  sympathetic  touch  with 
both  the  old  and  the  young.  He  has  used  his  infiuence  for  what  he  believed 
to  be  the  highest  good  of  every  institution  and  individual.  Instead  of  cultivating 
an  ambition  to  surpass  his  brethren,  he  has  devoted  himself  to  the  development 
of  his  own  talents  and  the  improvement  of  his  opportunities  for  usefulness. 

In  discussing  the  leadership  of  Dr.  Fomey  attention  must  be  given  to  both 
the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  and  the  General  Eldership.  Present  space 
will  not  permit  even  the  enumeration  of  the  many  official  positions  which  he 
has  held  in  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  for  it  would  require  quotations 
from  the  journals  of  more  than  fifty  years.  A  few  examples  must  serve  as  an 
imperfect    index    of    a    half    century    of    official    service.      In    1869    Elder   Fomey 


General  History  299 

was  elected  as  a  member  of  the  Standing  Committee,  a  Committee  of  which  he 
is  now,  and  has  been  for  many  years,  the  Chairman.  He  is  President  of  the 
Board  of  Education,  and  his  service  in  this  connection  dates  back  to  1875.  He 
offered  the  resolution  which  created  the  Board  of  Church  Extension,  in  1880, 
and  has  been  a  member  of  it  ever  since.  On  the  Board  of  Missions,  of  which 
he  is  the  President,  he  has  rendered  faithful  service  for  many  years.  He  was 
the  Secretary  of  this  Board  in  1863,  and  its  President  as  early  as  1865.  He 
was  also  instrumental  in  the  formation  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Sunday-School 
Missionary  Society,  an  effective  organization  of  earlier  years.  He  was  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  first  two  Sunday-school  conventions  in  East  Pennsylvania.  He  served 
as  Speaker  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1874,  1877,  1883  and  1889. 
Besides  these  elective  positions,  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  most  important 
appointive   committees    from   year   to   year. 

The  simple  statement  of  these  facts  may  mean  but  little  to  the  uninformed, 
but  to  those  who  have  served  in  similar  positions  it  stands  for  an  immense 
amount  of  work,  especially  for  one  who,  like  Dr.  Forney,  is  always  an  active  and 
never  a  nominal  member  of  a  board  or  committee.  His  burden  of  work  is  heavier 
than  that  of  any  other  member  of  a  board  or  committee  to  which  he  belongs. 
As  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Ordination  he  leads  in  the  examination  of 
all  applicants  for  ordination  to  the  ministry.  As  President  of  the  Board  of 
Education  he  arranges  for  and  conducts  the  examination  of  students  in  the 
Eldership  Course  of  Studies,  a  Course  which  he,  for  the  most  part,  prepared  and 
Tevised.  As  Chairman  of  the  Stationing  Committee  his  judgment  is  the  principal 
factor  in  solving  the  problems  connected  with  the  perplexing  work  of  appointing 
pastors.  As  Chairman  of  the  Standing  Committee  he  has  "the  care  of  all  the 
■churches"  during  the  year,  which  includes  the  visiting  of  appointments  to  adjust 
difficulties,  to  arrange  for  the  filling  of  vacancies,  and  all  that  belongs  to  a 
general  oversight  of  both  churches  and  preachers.  As  President  of  the  Board 
of  Missions  he  directs  in  the  work  of  providing  for  the  weaker  churches,  as  well 
as  in  visiting  the  mission  fields.  And  to  be  a  member  of  any  committee  usually 
means  that  the  preparation  of  its  report  is  left  to  him.  His  work,  moreover, 
lias  not  been  confined  to  the  positions  to  which  he  has  been  elected  or  appointed. 
In  not  a  few  cases  he  has  originated  the  board,  the  committee,  or  the  enterprise 
which  has  contributed  to  the  prosperity  of  the  churches.  He  has  also  had  much 
to  do  in  shaping  our  form  of  ecclesiastical  government,  having  rewritten  and 
revised  the  greater  part  of  the  Constitution  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership, 
as  well  as  that  of  the  General  Eldership. 

As  an  earnest  and  devoted  student  who  recognized  the  value  of  education 
in  the  ministry,  it  was  altogether  natural  for  Elder  Forney  to  agitate  this  sub- 
ject, which  he  did  from  the  very  beginning  of  his  membership  in  the  East  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership.  While  pastor  of  the  church  of  God  at  Mount  Joy,  Pa.,  he 
was  engaged  for  a  year  or  more  as  a  teacher  in  the  Mount  Joy  Academy,  of 
which  Professor  E.  L.  Moore  was  the  Principal.  Learning  that  Professor  Moore 
was  willing  to  sell  the  Academy,  Elder  Forney  brought  the  matter  to  the  atten- 
tion of  the  Eldership  which  met  at  Mechanicsburg,  in  October,  1861,  and  was 
appointed  on  a  committee  "to  confer  with  Mr.  Moore."  The  other  members  of 
the  committee  were  Elders  E.  H.  Thomas  and  A.  Swartz.  The  committee,  in 
•connection  with  the  Committee  on  Education,  reported,  among  other  things, 
"that  special  efforts  be  made  for  purchasing  or  establishing  an  institution  of 
learning  under  the  control  of  the  Church,  for  educating  our  youth  and  preparing 
young  men  for  the  sacred  ministry."  The  subject  was  thoroughly  discussed,  in 
connection  with  the  proposal  of  Mr.  Moore  to  sell  the  Mount  Joy  Academy  to 
the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  The  opportunity  to  secure  a  school  of  this 
Icind,  to  be  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Eldership,  was  looked  upon  with  favor, 
and  Elder  Fomey  and  Professor  Moore  were  granted  permission  to  canvass  the 
•churches  "to  obtain  subscriptions  of  stock  for  the  contemplated  purchase  of  said 
Academy."  They  sent  out  a  circular  letter,  and  also  canvassed  some  personally, 
l)ut  without  receiving  much  encouragement,  and  at  the  next  meeting  of  the 
Eldership  the  project  was  dropped,  as  being  "beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Eldership."  The  meaning  of  this  action,  presumably,  was  that  the  establishing 
•of  schools  is  the  work  of  the  General  Eldership.  In  1876  the  Board  of  Education, 
with  Elder  Foraey  as  President,  took  under  consideration  a  proposition  from 
Professor  Ege,  of  the  Cumberland  Valley  Institute,  at  Mechanicsburg,  Pa.,  to  sell 


300  History    of   the    Churches    of    God 

that  institution  to  the  Eldership.  Perhaps  it  was  thought  that  if  an  Eldership" 
desired  to  establish  an  academy  the  General  Eldership  would  cheerfully  consent, 
as  in  fact  it  did  in  later  years  when  such  an  occasion  arose.  'But  after  carefully 
considering  this  proposition  the  Board  decided  that  it  would  be  inexpedient  to 
purchase  a  school  property  without  further  agitation  of  the  subject  among  the 
brethren.  At  the  General  Eldership  of  187  2  the  Committee  on  Education,  of 
which  Elder  Foniey  was  the  Chairman,  submitted  a  report  recommending  the 
acceptance  of  an  offer  from  Hillsdale  College,  Hillsdale,  Michigan,  to  establish 
a  professorship  in  that  institution  by  appointing  a  professor  and  providing  for 
his  salary.  The  report  was  adopted,  and  the  first  Board  of  Education  of  the 
General  Eldership,  with  Elder  Foniey  as  its  President,  was  elected  to  take  charge 
of  the  matter,  but  the  project  was  never  carried  out. 

Not  discouraged  by  these  temporary  failures,  Elder  Forney  continued  his 
agitation  along  educational  lines,  principally  through  the  editorial  columns  of 
The  Church  Advocate.  He  believed  that  our  people  were  able  to  establish  and 
maintain  an  institution  of  learning,  and  that  all  that  was  necessary  was  to  give 
them  a  wider  vision  and  cultivate  their  spirit  of  liberality.  This  he  endeavored 
to  do,  and  was  rewarded  at  the  General  Eldership  of  1881  by  the  adoption  of  a 
report  which  he  presented  as  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Education,  May 
30th,  recommending  that  a  Church  school  be  established  at  once.  This  action 
of  the  General  Eldership,  which  resulted  in  the  establishing  of  Findlay  College,, 
had  its  inception  in  the  action  of  an  educational  convention  which  met  in  Har- 
risburg,  Pa.,  October  19,  1880,  at  the  call  of  Elder  Forney,  President  of  the 
Board  of  Education  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. 

The  General  Eldership  of  18  81  placed  the  matter  of  locating  and  establishing 
a  college  in  the  hands  of  its  Board  of  Education.  And  when  it  was  decided  to^ 
locate  the  college  at  Findlay,  Ohio,  it  was  found  necessary  to  have  a  Board 
of  Trustees  legally  incorporated  under  the  laws  of  that  State.  This  provision 
was  made  when  the  Executive  Board  of  the  General  Eldership  met  at  Findlay, 
January  25,  1882,  and  appointed  the  first  Board  of  Trustees.  Dr.  Forney,  as- 
a  member  of  the  Executive  Board,  was  the  author  of  the  action  which  created 
Findlay  College,  gave  the  institution  its  name,  and  defined  the  powers  of  the 
corporation.  He  also  prepared  the  Articles  of  Incorporation.  The  following  year 
the  Board  of  Trustees,  at  a  meeting  held  June  20,  18  83,  elected  Dr.  Forney  Presi- 
dent of  the  College.  This  was  a  natural  selection,  considering  the  leading  part 
which  he  had  taken  in  the  work  of  establishing  the  institution,  and  it  indicated 
the  strong  confidence  which  the  brethren  had  in  his  ability  and  fidelity.  While- 
he  had  neither  sought  nor  expected  this  position,  he  appreciated  the  honor  which 
the  Board's  action  conferred  upon  him.  And  it  was  not  until  after  he  had  given 
several  months  to  the  careful  and  prayerful  consideration  of  this  opportunity 
for  service  that  he  sent  his  letter  of  declination  to  the  Board,  which  was  reluct- 
antly accepted  at  a  special  meeting  held  December  5,  1883.  In  this  letter  he 
said:  "I  have  an  abiding  and  predominant  desire  to  serve  the  Church  in  that 
capacity  for  which  I  am  best  adapted,  and  in  which  I  can  be  of  greatest  service 
to  its  interests.  But  I  am  not  able  to  concur  with  the  Board  in  the  view  that, 
considering  all  things,  my  proper  position  is  at  the  head  of  Findlay  College."  He- 
also  expressed  the  hope  of  being  "able  to  do  something  toward  making  Findlay 
College  a  success  and  a  great  blessing  to  the  Church"  in  whatever  capacity  he- 
might  labor.  This  he  continued  to  do  by  leading  the  thought  of  the  brotherhood 
as  he  wrote  on  the  college  and  its  work  from  time  to  time,  educating  our  people 
to  the  necessity  and  advantages  of  education,  and  encouraging  them  to  greater 
liberality.  When  the  time  came  to  dedicate  the  college,  June  20,  1888,  Dr.  Forneys 
was  selected  to  deliver  the  dedicatory  address.  He  spoke  on  "Christianity  and  the 
College,"  and  in  an  exhaustive  and  scholarly  manner  defined  the  relation  between- 
Christianity  and  education,  and  discussed  the  principles  which  are  essential  to  a 
Christian   institution   of  learning. 

The  evidences  of  Dr.  Foraey's  interest  in  educational  matters  has  not  been 
confined  to  his  words  of  tongue  and  pen.  He  has  been  a  contributor  from  time- 
to  time  to  the  financial  support  of  Findlay  College,  his  gifts  aggregating  more 
than  a  thousand  dollars,  and  on  June  12,  1905,  he  made  himself  personally 
responsible  for  the  endowment  of  the  President's  Chair.  Though  he  had  declined 
to  accept  the  office  of  President  of  the  College,  he  thus  provided  for  the  support 
of  the  men  who  may  be  called  to  that  position  from  time  to  time  through  all  the 


General   History  301 

years.  la  doing  this  he  gives  back  to  the  General  Eldership  more  than  half  of 
the  salary  which  he  received  for  his  forty  year's  of  service  in  the  editorial  chair, 
thus  making  his  w^ork  for  more  than  a  score  of  years  purely  a  labor  of  love. 
He  occupies  the  unique  position  of  being  a  leader  in  both  the  intellectual  and 
the  financial  affairs  of  our  educational  work.  His  counsel  has  been  a  guiding 
factor  in  the  management  of  the  College,  and  his  gifts  amount  to  more  than 
those   of   any   other   donor. 

The  influence  of  Dr.  Foniey  has  also  been  a  leading  factor  in  the  missionary 
work  of  the  General  Eldership,  both  home  and  foreign.  This  influence  has  been 
exerted  by  wise  editorial  counsel,  and  by  resolutions,  reports  and  discussions 
in  the  General  Eldership,  rather  than  by  active  official  service.  And  yet  he  has 
not  infrequently  acted  in  an  official  capacity  in  connection  with  our  general 
missionary  enterprises.  He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  first  "Board  of  Foreign 
Missions"  created  by  the  General  Eldership,  in  187  8,  for  the  purpose  of  establish- 
ing "a  mission  in  India  at  as  early  a  day  as  practicable."  In  those  earlier  years, 
when  efforts  were  being  made  to  unite  with  the  Free  Baptist  Church  in  foreign 
missionary  work,  Dr.  Forney  was  more  than  once  selected  as  a  representative  of 
ouf  highest  governing  body.  And  more  recently,  from  1906  to  1909,  he  served 
as  President  and  Secretary  of  the  Commission  on  unification  of  our  missionary 
societies,  a  position  which  required  clear  judgment  and  much  patience,  and  in- 
volved a  voluminous  correspondence.  While  most  of  his  years  have  been  spent 
in  the  quiet  work  of  the  editorial  office,  the  missionary  spirit  has  nevertheless 
been  a  predominating  one  in  his  life.  And  the  results  are  to  be  seen  in  the 
steady  and  substantial  growth  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  in  what 
this  Eldership  has  done  for  the  work  on  the  frontier,  as  well  as  in  all  of  the 
missionary  enterprises  of  the  General  Eldership. 

But  it  is  in  connection  with  our  publishing  interests  that  the  monumental 
character  of  Dr.  Forney's  work  as  a  safe  leader  and  successful  manager  appears 
to  the  best  advantage.  He  had  charge  of  The  Church  Advocate  for  forty 
years,  and  not  only  brought  it  up  to  a  high  standard  of  literary  excellence,  but 
also  placed  it  on  a  self-sustaining  financial  basis.  During  nearly  all  of  these 
years  he  was  the  Business  Manager  as  well  as  the  Editor,  and  by  his  good  judg- 
ment and  careful  economy  rendered  invaluable  service  to  the  General  Eldership. 
When  he  took  charge  of  the  paper,  in  1869,  it  was  still  struggling  to  free  itself 
from  a  burdensome  debt.  In  a  few  years  this  was  accomplished,  and  then 
there  began  to  accumulate  a  small  surplus  from  year  to  year,  which  has  con- 
tinued to  the  present  time.  But  this  upward  course  was  not  entirely  without 
interruption.  There  were  occasional  disappointments,  as  for  example  during 
the  triennium  of  1878-1881,  when  the  Editor  had  to  contribute  $200  in  order  to 
continue  the  publication  of  the  paper.  He  also  refused  an  increase  of  salary  by 
the  General  Eldership  on  two  occasions — in  1875  and  1887.  To  this  personal 
devotion  to  a  cause,  and  to  the  most  faithful  and  persevering  efforts,  must  be 
attributed  the  success  of  our  official  organ. 

In  addition  to  placing  The  Advocate  on  a  safe  financial  basis.  Dr.  Fomey 
had  another  ideal — the  establishing  of  a  publishing  house  of  our  own.  As  early 
as  1880  he  urged  this  matter  editorially,  insisting  that  the  churches  were  able 
to  inaugurate  and  maintain  such  an  enterprise.  This  view  was  somewhat  in 
advance  of  the  sentiment  of  the  brotherhood,  as  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  it 
was  not  until  twenty-one  years  later,  in  19  01,  that  our  Printing  and  Publishing 
House  became  a  reality.  But  these  years  were  marked  by  steps  leading  up  to 
the  final  accomplishment.  In  18  85  a  Book  Store  was  started  in  Harrisburg, 
in  a  rented  building  on  Market  street.  The  business  prospered.  The  Advocate 
continued  to  earn  a  small  annual  surplus,  which  was  carefully  invested.  Our 
other  periodicals  contributed  their  share  towards  the  common  end.  This  con- 
tinued until  1899,  when  a  fine  property  was  purchased  in  Harrisburg,  consisting 
of  a  lot  fronting  twenty-six  and  a  half  feet  on  Market  street  and  extending  back 
two  hundred  feet,  with  a  four-story  brick  building  on  Market  street,  26^4x150, 
and  a  double  three-story  dwelling-house  on  the  rear  of  the  lot.  Possession 
was  secured  in  1900,  and  the  necessary  machinery  and  outfit  were  purchased 
and  the  printing  plant  installed  in  July,  1901.  The  business  prospered  in  every 
respect,  and  the  last  of  the  debt  incurred  in  purchasing  the  property  and  starting 
the  enterprise  was  cancelled  January  1,  1909.  The  property,  including  the  stock 
in   the   Book   Store   and   the   printing   establishment,   is   valued   at   not  less   than 


302  History  of  the  Churches  of  God 

$100,000.  This  is  the  home  of  our  publishing  interests.  Here  our  periodicals 
are  all  printed,  and  from  here  they  go  out  to  the  various  parts  of  our  general 
territory. 

This  statement  concerning  our  Publishing  House  and  Book  Store  is  made 
because  of  its  essential  connection  with  the  life-work  of  Dr.  Forney.  As  Editor 
of  The  Church  Advocate  he  cultivated  the  sentiment  that  led  to  its  establish- 
ment. As  Business  Manager  of  The  Advocate  he  was  able  to  pay  towards  the 
Publishing  House  the  sum  of  $14,880.00.  And  as  President  and  Treasurer  of 
the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Publishing  House  and  Book  Rooms  his  has  been 
the  guiding  hand  in  this  enterprise  since  its  inception.  It  will  stand  as  a  monu- 
ment to  his  wise  foresight  and  patient  perseverance. 

Notwithstanding  a  general  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  brethren  to  yield 
to  the  judgment  of  Dr.  Forney,  it  should  not  be  inferred  that  his  various  projects 
were  carried  out  without  opposition.  He  has  had  the  experience,  common  to 
all  leaders,  of  meeting  opposition  that  is  dispelled  only  by  the  light  of  fuller 
information.  To  this  end  he  has  frequently  found  it  necessary  to  discuss  his 
plans  at  considerable  length  and  to  advocate  the  cause  for  which  he  was  con- 
tending with  more  than  ordinary  patience  and  perseverance,  at  the  same  time 
answering  the  objections  and  arguments  offered  in  opposition.  It  is  in  this  con- 
nection, both  on  the  Eldership  floor  and  in  the  editorial  columns,  that  his  excep- 
tional ability  as  a  disputant  appears  to  the  best  advantage.  In  fact,  the  com- 
prehensive and  conclusive  character  of  his  arguments  has  become  so  well  known 
that  in  later  years  he  seldom  finds  one  who  feels  disposed  to  meet  him  in  the 
arena  of  debate.  The  common  custom  is  for  other  brethren  to  discuss  ques- 
tions that  arise,  and,  after  they  have  presented  their  views  pro  ^and  con,  all 
eyes  are  turned  to  Dr.  Forney,  who  is  expected  to  clear  the  polemic  atmosphere 
of  clouds,  untangle  the  logical  and  illogical  arguments,  and,  giving  each  factor 
its  proper  place  and  force,  speak  the  final  word.  And  his  views  generally  prevail 
when  they  are  brought  to  the  test  of  ofllicial  action. 

Those  who  may  read  the  above  paragraph  fifty  or  a  hundred  years  hence 
should  not  associate  it  with  the  typical  debater  of  early  years,  and  imagine  a 
man  of  unusual  size,  of  boisterous  voice,  and  of  vigorous  gestures,  for  such  an 
impression  would  be  farthest  from  the  truth.  Instead,  let  them  draw  a  mental 
picture  of  a  man  of  medium  height;  of  erect  and  dignified  bearing;  modestly  but 
faultlessly  attired;  unassuming  in  manner  and  gestures;  with  a  fine  intellectual 
face  and  exceptionally  strong  and  expressive  eyes;  with  a  voice  mild  and  musical, 
and  a  choice  vocabulary  and  a  careful  enunciation  that  combine  to  make  it  a 
pleasure  to  listen. 

Dr.  Forney  has  always  had  an  aptitude  for  disputation,  and  he  found  his 
first  opportunities  of  this  kind  in  the  debating  societies  of  his  school  days  in  the 
Linglestown  neighborhood.  Here  he  began  to  cultivate  that  habit  of  careful 
and  exact  statements  and  logical  reasoning  which  has  been  so  characteristic  and 
effective  in  his  later  years.  He  also  further  equipped  himself  for  public  debate, 
as  well  as  for  the  work  of  deliberative  bodies,  by  a  thorough  study  of  parliamen- 
tary rules.  He  makes  a  thorough  investigation  of  every  subject,  with  that  clear- 
ness of  perception,  that  breadth  of  view  and  that  unselfish  consideration  which 
usually  enable  one  to  select  the  right  side  of  a  question  at  issue.  And  the 
man  who  is  thus  prepared  to  take  his  stand  on  the  right  side,  has  the  victory 
half  won  before  the  battle  begins.  By  the  right  side  is  meant  the  position  that 
is  most  nearly  in  harmony  with  the  revealed  will  of  the  great  Head  of  the 
church;  that  looks  to  the  welfare  of  others  rather  than  self;  that  places  all 
Interests  of  the  church,  local  and  general,  in  positions  proportionate  to  their 
relative  importance,  and  seeks  to  do  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number. 
Having  taken  his  stand  on  this  vantage  ground.  Dr.  Forney  proceeds  to  fortify 
himself  with  facts.  Instead  of  speaking  at  random,  or  from  hearsay,  or  on  mere 
suppositions,  he  has  all  facts  bearing  on  the  question  at  issue  carefully  noted 
down,  ready  for  use  at  a  moment's  notice.  Every  argument  which  might  be 
offered  is  first  brought  to  the  test  of  truth,  and  is  given  as  searching  an  analysis 
as  it  could  receive  at  the  hands  of  his  opponent.  Arguments  on  the  other  side  of 
the  question  are  given  like  consideration.  It  only  remains,  then,  to  properly 
marshall  these  facts  in  support  of  a  position  in  order  to  maintain  it.  Thus,  with 
a  firm  grasp  of  the  whole  subject  in  all  of  its  details.  Dr.  Forney  is  able  to  take 
up  a   question   calmly,   and   with   confidence   as  to  the   outcome.     He  is  an   able 


GENEi^AL  History  303 

and  fearless  defender  of  what  he  believes  to  be  right,  but  is  as  calm  as  he  is 
courageous.  With  all  of  his  faculties  under  perfect  control,  and  at  instant  com- 
mand, he  gradually  unfolds  his  line  of  argument  until  it  becomes  as  clear  to 
his  hearers  as  it  is  to  himself.  In  doing  this  his  tenacity  for  his  own  opinions 
is  properly  blended  with  a  due  respect  for  the  opinions  of  others.  He  never 
allows  a  difference  of  opinion,  however  heated  the  discussion,  to  disturb  his 
personal  relations  with,  or  his  friendship  for,  his  opponent.  "Principia,  non 
homines,"  is  his  motto. 

The  foregoing  glance  at  the  work  of  Dr,  Foraey  as  a  leader  will  show  that, 
both  in  the  character  and  extent  of  his  service,  he  ranks  second  to  none  in  our 
history  as  a  religious  body.  He  has  held  one  or  more  official  positions  for  a 
longer  period  of  time  than  any  other  man  who  has  been  connected  with  the 
churches  of  God.  He  became  a  member  of  the  General  Eldership  which  met 
at  New  Brighton,  Pa.,  in  1863.  That  membership  has  continued  without  inter- 
ruption to  the  present  time,  and,  with  the  meeting  of  the  General  Eldership 
in  1913,  completed  the  unparalleled  record  of  fifty  years.  During  that  time 
every  other  member  of  the  General  Eldership  of  1863  has  passed  away.  Dr. 
Forney  has  also  held  an  official  position  in  the  General  Eldership  for  the  same 
length  of  time.  He  was  elected  Transcribing  Clerk  in  1863,  Assistant  Editor  of 
The  Church  Advocate  in  1866,  and  was  Editor  of  The  Church  Advocate  from 
1869  to  1909.  He  also  served  on  the  Board  of  Incorporation,  the  Board  of 
Education,  and  the  Executive  Board  of  the  General  Eldership.  He  was  elected 
President  of  the  General  Eldership  in  1878,  and  again  in  1905.  He  is  now,  and 
has  been  since  1893,  the  President  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Publishing 
House  and  Book  Rooms,  and,  with  the  exception  of  one  term,  was  its  Treasurer 
since  1885.  This  makes  a  half  century  of  continuous  official  service.  He  has 
filled  these  positions  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  brotherhood.  The  material 
interests  intrusted  to  him  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  and  the  General 
Eldership  have  shared  in  the  careful  management  and  wise  economy  which  he 
devotes  to  his  personal  affairs,  and  with  the  same  successful  results.  He  has 
been  faithful  in  the  discharge  of  every  duty  devolving  upon  him.  Loyalty  and 
efficiency  have  characterized  his  work  in  whatever  position  he  has  been  placed. 
While  he  has  the  gift  of  leadership  in  a  pre-eminent  degree,  he  has  always  been 
willing  to  serve,  even  though  service  meant  the  carrying  of  heavy  and  perplexing 
burdens.  In  fact  he  has  carried  in  his  heart  the  burden  of  every  movement 
which  promised  to  advance  the  interests  of  the  churches  of  God.  Other  leaders 
have  finished  their  labors  and  have  gone  to  their  reward,  and  sufficient  time 
has  elapsed  to  form  a  mature  conclusion  as  to  the  value  of  their  services.  But 
Dr.  Forney  is  still  with  us,  for  which  we  are  profoundly  grateful,  and  therefore 
the  time  is  not  yet  here  to  form  a  finql  estimate  of  his  leadership.  Something 
can  be  said  of  his  work,  and  its  impress  on  every  local  and  general  enterprise 
can  be  clearly  seen;  but  only  the  future  can  reveal  the  larger  results.  And 
it  is  safe  to  predict  that  each  of  the  coming  years  will  increase  the  appreciation 
which  the  churches  of  God  have  of  his  services,  and  confirm  their  conviction 
that  they  never  had  a  truer  friend,  nor  a  more  efficient,  faithful  and  indefatigable 
worker. 

As  a  Writer. 

It  was  during  Mr.  Forney's  student  days  at  Obelin  that  he  began  writing  for 
The  Church  Advocate.  His  first  article  was  written  on  the  Fourth  of  July, 
1859,  and  published  in  The  Church  Advocate  of  July  21st.  It  was  on  the 
subject,  "Can  Backsliders  Be  Saved?"  The  article  is  not  lengthy,  and  does 
not  attempt  to  go  into  a  thorough  discussion  of  the  question.  There  is  lacking 
that  positiveness  which  characterizes  his  writings  of  later  years.  With  the  natural 
timidity  of  a  beginner  he  does  not  even  pretend  to  decide  the  question,  but 
contents  himself  with  quoting  certain  passages  of  Scripture  which  have  more 
or  less  of  a  bearing  on  the  subject,  and  closes  by  saying: 

"Brethren  and  sisters,  let  us  watch  and  pray,  and  not  become  lukewarm 
and  finally  backslide.  For  if  the  backslider  can  be  saved,  it  is  after  all  a  great 
risk;  yea,  the  greatest  risk  that  man  can  run  to  try  it.  Thus,  my  brethren  and 
sisters  of  Pennsylvania,  I  have  endeavored  to  celebrate  the  Fourth  of  July. 

C.   H.  FORNEY." 

Oberlin,  O.,  July  4th. 


304  History   01'   the  Churches   of   God 

His  next  article,  which  appeared  the  same  month,  was  on  "Bridling  the 
Tongue,"  and  was  continued  in  a  later  issue.  In  his  third  effort,  September  8, 
1859,  he  took  up  the  subject  of  "Baptism  and  Rantism."  It  related  a  conversa- 
tion which  he  had  engaged  in  with  a  fellow  student  who  believed  that  sprinkling 
and  pouring  were  as  valid  as  immersion,  without  purporting  to  be  a  thorough 
discussion  of  the  question.  In  fact  he  begins  his  article  by  modestly  apologizing 
for  attempting  to  write  on  the  subject  at  all,  saying: 

"It  would  appear  rather  presumptions  in  a  youthful  tyro  like  myself,  to 
write  an  article  for  your  beloved  and  ably  conducted  paper,  upon  the  much 
disputed  question  of  baptism,  and  I  dare  say  I  would  be  amenable  to  my  more 
experienced  brethren  who  have  been  investigating  the  subject,  for  my  nugacity 
compared  with  their  profound  and  elaborate  essays  and  sermons  that  have  puzzled 
from  time  to  time  the  deluded  and  fluctuating  minds  of  their  opponents.  But 
since  it  is  not  my  intention  to  write  particularly  about  the  mode  or  anything 
else  connected  with  the  rite,  I  hope  you  will  carefully  read  the  few  thoughts 
that  I  have  to  present,  and  not  cast  me  off  at  once  as  an  intruder  and  presump- 
tuous   novitiate." 

That  he  possessed  that  independence  of  thought  and  investigation  so  neces- 
sary to  the  young  ministerial  student  who  takes  his  course  at  an  institution  of 
learning  conducted  by  those  of  a  different  religious  faith  is  shown  in  this 
article,  in  which  he  says: 

"It  is,  however,  not  very  strange  if  Oberlinites  hold  that  sprinkling  is  the 
mode  in  which  baptism  ought  to  be  administered,  when  the  Doctors  of  Divinity 
descend  from  the  pulpit  with  a  baptismal  font  in  one  hand  and  then  baptize, 
erroneously  so-called,  those  who  present  themselves  for  admission  into  the  church, 
unless  they  had  been  baptized  previously." 

Mr.  Forney  continued  to  write  at  intervals  for  the  Church  paper,  and  as 
early  as  the  Spring  of  1861,  in  a  series  of  articles  on  "Redemption  and  Salvation," 
we  find  something  of  the  positiveness  and  theological  style  with  which  we  are 
now  so  familiar.  These  early  writings  contain  a  plentiful  supply  of  large  words, 
and  a  more  frequent  use  of  Greek  and  Latin  words  and  phrases  than  are  found 
in  his  writings  of  forty  years  later.  This  was  in  keeping  with  a  custom  of  the 
time,  followed  by  those  who  were  able  to  do  so. 

The  brotherhood  was  so  favorably  impressed  with  the  ability  of  Elder  Forney 
as  a  writer,  as  well  as  by  his  evident  loyalty  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Church,  that 
when  the  General  Eldership  met  in  1866  he  was  elected  Assistant  Editor  of 
The  Church  Advocate.  During  the  next  three  years  the  products  of  his  pen 
appeared  in  the  editorial  department  of  the  paper,  and  were  read  with  approval 
and  profit.  They  showed  a  clear  grasp  of  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  edi- 
torial work,  and  were  true  to  every  interest  for  the  furtherance  of  which  the 
paper  was  conducted.  His  work  in  this  position  received  its  official  sanction 
when  he  was  re-elected  Assistant  Editor  by  the  General  Eldership  in  the  Spring 
of  1869.  And  when,  in  the  Autumn  of  that  year,  he  succeeded  to  the  position 
of  Editor-in-chief  on  the  death  of  Elder  E.  H.  Thomas,  he  received  from  the 
brotherhood  that  hearty  support  which  is  the  outgrowth  of  confidence  in  one's 
efficiency  and  fidelity.  That  this  confidence  was  justified  needs  no  other  proof 
than  the  fact  that  Elder  Forney  was  continued  in  this  position  by  the  General 
Eldership  for  forty  years,  and  was  then  relieved  from  its  responsibilities  only 
because  of  his  urgent  request. 

In  going  over  the  pages  of  The  Church  Advocate  from  1869  to  1909,  one  is 
forcibly  impressed  with  the  wide  range  of  the  field  of  editorial  discussion.  While 
this  is  accounted  for  in  part  by  the  great  length  of  this  period,  it  also  reveals 
the  versatility  and  the  extensive  reading  and  research  of  the  Editor.  The  edi- 
torial office  furnishes  an  exceptionally  favorable  opportunity  for  reading,  includ- 
ing that  which  is  optional,  as  well  as  that  which  is  obligatory.  And  this  con- 
tinued opportunity,  improved  by  the  alert  and  inquisitive  mind  of  Dr.  Forney, 
contributed  a  fund  of  information  and  developed  a  breadth  of  thought  which  made 
his  editorials  as  comprehensive  in  their  scope  as  they  are  valuable  in  their  char- 
acter. 

His  writings  on  devotional  subjects  are  both  Instructive  and  inspiring.  They 
deal  ^Vith  every  phase  of  scripturar  truth.  The  great  doctrine  of  regeneration, 
which  has  ineant  so  much  in  the  work  of  the  churches  of  God,  is  set  forth  in 
no  uncertain  terms.     Great  emphasis  is  laid  on  the  importance  of  experimental 


GeneraIv   History  305 

Teligion,  and  ministers  are  exhorted  to  so  teach  this  truth  that  they  may  not 
weaken  the  local  churches  by  bringing  into  their  membership  persons  who  have 
not  been  born  again.  Then  the  welfare  of  the  true  convert  is  taken  up  and  con- 
sidered in  all  the  various  relations  that  he  sustains  in  life,  giving  careful  thought 
to  his  opportunities  and  his  obligations,  his  trials  and  his  triumphs.  The  church 
has  a  large  share  in  the  editorial  discussions,  and  all  of  its  means  of  grace  are 
clearly  explained  and  urged  upon  the  favorable  consideration  of  the  people  as 
contributing  factors  in  their  spiritual  development.  The  home,  with  its  far- 
reaching  influence  and  the  value  of  its  devotions,  is  given  proportionate  attention, 
as  are  all  the  phases  of  life  with  which  the  individual  Christian  has  to  deal. 
Nothing  is  neglected  or  overlooked,  but  everything  pertaining  to  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  the  readers  is  given  due  attention  by  the  Editor,  just  as  a  studious 
and  faithful  pastor  looks  to  everything  that  concerns  every  member  of  a  local 
church  during  a  long  pastorate. 

Dr.  Forney  always  kept  himself  thoroughly  informed  concerning  the  ac- 
tivities of  other  religious  bodies,  and  gave  the  readers  of  The  Church  Advocate 
the  benefit  of.  his  information.  And,  with  his  clear  view  of  a  situation  ^nd  his 
philosophic  method  of  considering  it,  he  was  able  to  do  more  than  merely  report 
the  news;  he  could  interpret  the  handwriting  on  the  wall  as  well  as  call  atten- 
tion to  it.  This  was  of  great  value  to  the  reader,  because  many  subjects  of 
importance  in  the  religious  world  are  scarcely  considered  by  the  secular  press, 
and  the  average  layman  knows  but  little  about  them  unless  informed  by  his 
Church  paper.  His  editorial  utterances,  however,  were  not  confined  strictly 
to  what  are  known  as  religious  subjects.  He  discussed  other  questions  that 
were  of  general  interest,  especially  those  pertaining  to  reform  movements,  such 
as  the  efforts  to  secure  a  better  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  and  the  various  tem- 
perance movements.  These  subjects  were  not  merely  touched  on  incidentally, 
but  were  given  that  broad  view  and  careful  thought  that  always  characterize 
the  work  of  the  man  who  believes  that  "what  is  worth  doing  at  all  is  worth  doing 
well."  As  an  illustration  of  this  fact  we  mention  the  editorial  discussion  pre- 
ceding the  Prohibition  Amendment  campaign  in  Pennsylvania  in  1889.  These 
editorials  continued  weekly  for  four  months  and  a  half — from  the  announcement 
of  the  passage  of  the  Resolution  submitting  the  question  to  a  vote  of  the  people, 
made  in  The  Advocate  of  February  6th,  to  the  time  of  the  election,  June  18th. 
Every  phase  of  the  subject  was  carefully  reviewed.  The  question  at  issue  was 
fully  explained,  as  were  the  methods  by  which  the  campaign  was  to  be  carried 
on.  The  prohibition  forces  were  brought  into  review,  and  the  elements  of  the 
enemies'  strength  were  accurately  measured.  Then  follow  five  editorials  on 
"Indictment  of  the  Liquor  Traffic;"  one  on  "The  Liquor  TraflSc  the  State's  Worst 
Enemy;"  one  on  "The  Liquor  Trafiic  a  Fruitful  Cause  of  Infanticide  and  Insan- 
ity," and  one  on  "The  Amendment  and  the  Grain  Market."  The  discussion  closed 
with  four  editorials  on  "Objections  to  Prohibition."  These  twenty  editorials 
fairly  illustrate  the  wide  scope  of  his  editorial  discussion  of  important  questions. 

Another  class  of  subjects  that  frequently  received  editorial  consideration,  and 
which  constitutes  one  of  Dr.  Forney's  most  valuable  contributions  to  the  churches 
of  God,  is  made  up  of  questions  on  Church  doctrine  and  polity,  and  matters  per- 
taining to  our  general  interests.  Some  of  these  questions  were  discussed  because 
certain  occasions  suggested  them  to  the  Editor,  and  many  others  were  sent  in  by 
ministers  and  laymen  with  the  request  that  they  be  answered  editorially. 

These  editorials  cover  practically  every  phase  of  Church  doctrine  and  polity 
that  could  arise,  and,  in  the  absence  of  a  comprehensive  work  on  the  doctrines  and 
polity  of  the  churches  of  God  to  which  inquiring  minds  could  turn,  they  have  been 
of  very  great  value  to  the  ministry  and  to  the  churches.  They  include  in  their 
scope  all  of  the  doctrines  of  the  churches  of  God,  both  general  and  specific.  Every 
passage  of  Scripture  having  any  bearing  on  these  doctrines  is  carefully  considered 
and  every  objection  is  fully  answered.  In  this  way  there  was  furnished  to  the 
ministers  of  the  churches  of  God  information  and  arguments  on  the  ordinances,  as 
well  as  on  other  doctrines,  that  was  of  inestimable  value  in  their  work  of  contend- 
ing "for  the  faith  which  was  once  delivered  unto  the  saints." 

The  editorials  on  Church  polity  deal  with  everything  from  the  local  church 
on  up  to  the  General  Eldership.  The  scriptural  officers  of  the  local  church 
are  named  and  their  qualifications  and  duties  clearly  set  forth;  so  are  the 
privileges  and  responsibilities  of  the  members.     The  Annual  Eldership,  with  its 

C.  H.— 11* 


3o6  History   of  the   Churches   of   God 

various  boards  and  committees,  and  their  respective  powers,  is  often  made  the 
subject  of  editorial  consideration.  So  is  the  General  Eldership,  with  the  duties  of 
Its  different  boards  and  their  relation  one  to  another,  as  well  as  the  more  general 
but  no  less  essential  connection  that  extends  from  the  local  church,  through  the 
Annual  Eldership,  up  to  the  General  Eldership. 

The  enterprises  of  the  General  Eldership  always  found  their  strongest  sup- 
porter in  The  Church  Advocate.  The  mission  work  of  the  Church  was  encouraged 
and  plans  suggested  for  its  advancement.  The  importance  of  having  a  college  and 
a  publishing  house  was  urged  by  the  Editor  for  many  years  before  these  institu- 
tions were  established,  and  his  influence  was  a  potent  factor  in  leading  up  to  their 
establishment  and  in  guiding  their  activities. 

The  character  of  Dr.  Forney's  editorial  writings  is  as  high  as  their  scope  is 
wide.  He  has  always  been  a  close  student  and  a  careful  observer.  He  has  culti- 
vated a  lucid  and  forceful  style  of  expressing  the  results  of  his  researches  and  ob- 
servations. His  editorials  reveal  the  tastes  and  habits  of  the  scholar,  and  have 
the  charm  of  a  diction  that  is  both  strong  and  graceful.  But  in  addition  to  these 
general  observations,  it  is  in  order  to  write  more  specifically  of  a  few  of  the  char- 
acteristics of  these  editorials  which  for  forty  years  contributed  so  much  to  the  in- 
struction and  encouragement  of  the  ministry  and  the  laity  of  the  churches  of  God. 

They  bear  the  marks  of  painstaking  preparation  and  thorough  discussion. 
This  accounts,  in  part  at  least,  for  the  unusual  length  of  certain  editorials,  which 
perhaps  did  not  appeal  to  that  class  of  readers  to  whom  brevity  is  most  desirable, 
and  who  insist  on  a  writer  expressing  himself  on  almost  any  subject  in  a  few  para- 
graphs. But  every  earnest  and  conscientious  writer  feels  disposed  to  say  all  he 
can  in  support  of  his  position,  and  Dr.  Forney,  being  a  man  of  wide  research  and 
retentive  memory,  had  much  to  say  on  any  question  pertaining  to  his  line  of  work. 
Moreover,  he  kept  in  mind  the  facts  that  most  of  our  ministers  do  not  have  the  ex- 
tensive libraries  necessary  to  make  exhaustive  researches  .for  themselves,  and  that 
an  elaborate  consideration  of  certain  questions  is  an  advantage  to  the  laity  in  help- 
ing them  to  a  better  understanding  of  the  truth.  In  nothing  else  is  this  feature 
of  Dr.  Forney's  editorial  work  more  noticeable  than  in  his  answers  to  questions  on 
Church  doctrine  and  polity.  One  is  especially  impressed  with  the  care  and  labor 
bestowed  when  comparing  his  answers  with  the  answers  given  to  such  questions  by 
the  editors  of  other  Church  papers.  Instead  of  a  few  brief  paragraphs,  as  in  other 
papers,  it  was  his  custom  to  write  an  editorial  of  two  or  three  columns,  or  perhaps 
a  series  of  editorials.  The  questions  were  not  only  answered,  but  proofs  were 
given  and  reasons  assigned  from  Scripture,  history,  commentaries,  etc.  This  re- 
quired a  great  deal  of  extra  time  and  labor,  but  the  service  was  given  cheerfully 
for  the  good  of  the  cause,  and  hundreds  of  ministers  and  thousands  of  laymen 
can  testify  to  its  value. 

While  as  a  rule  the  positions  taken  by  Dr.  Forney  in  his  editorial  discussions 
were  accepted  by  the  brotherhood,  there  were  occasional  exceptions.  Once  in  a 
while  a  contributor  would  call  in  question  the  tenability  of  a  position  taken  by  the 
Editor,  which  would  call  out  his  ability  as  a  disputant.  His  replies  were  always 
characterized  by  the  utmost  courtesy  to  his  opponents  and  fairness  in  dealing  with 
the  divergent  views  presented  by  them.  He  always  carried  on  his  controversies  in 
a  spirit  of  brotherly  love,  without  malice  and  without  guile.  In  1884  he  had  a 
discussion  with  a  minister  of  the  Iowa  Eldership  on  "The  Unity  of  Moral  Char- 
acter," which  continued  for  five  weeks.  In  1891  he  had  what  was  perhaps  his 
most  exhaustive  editorial  discussion  on  doctrinal  questions.  It  was  with  a  min- 
ister of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  on  the  several  phases  of  the  Millennium, 
and  continued  for  fifteen  weeks.  The  Editor  defended  the  post-millennial  as 
against  the  pre-millennial  theory,  advocating  the  doctrines  of  a  simultaneous 
resurrection  and  judgment.  It  was  at  the  General  Eldership  of  189  6  that  the 
change  was  made  in  Eldership  titles  from  "Church  of  God"  to  "churches  of  God." 
This  question  was  first  brought  up  by  Dr.  Forney  in  the  East  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship, and  by  that  Eldership  sent  to  the  General  Eldership  of  1893,  and  by  the  latter 
sent  down  to  all  of  the  Annual  Elderships  for  action  prior  to  the  General 
Eldership  of  1896,  at  which  time  the  above  change  was  made.  During 
the  intervening  three  years  this  question  was  carefully  considered,  as  sug- 
gested by  the  General  Eldership,  the  Editor  of  The  Advocate  taking  the  lead- 
ing part  in  the  discussion.  He  first  published  a  series  of  six  editorials  on 
"Change  of  Eldership  Titles,"  in  which  he  strongly  advocated  the  proposed  change. 


General   History  307 

Then  about  six  months  were  given  for  other  brethren  to  express  their  views,  after 
which  the  Editor  reviewed  these  articles  in  a  series  of  ten  editorials,  making  six- 
teen in  all.  In  earlier  years  Dr.  Fomey  had  strongly  defended  the  singular  form 
of  the  word  "Church,"  but  his  views  had  undergone  a  change  on  the  subject,  which 
he  frankly  stated  in  the  beginning  of  the  discussion.  The  proposed  change  under 
consideration  involved  two  things — a  change  from  "Church"  to  "churches,"  and 
from  "Eldership"  to  "Association."  When  the  matter  came  to  a  vote  at  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership  of  1896  the  former  carried,  but  the  latter  failed  to  pass.  These  few 
examples,  selected  from  many  others,  will  indicate  the  thoroughness  with  wnich 
the  Editor  investigated  and  discussed  the  questions  brought  before  him.  He 
always  took  his  stand  squarely  on  the  word  of  God.  "To  the  law  and  the  testi- 
mony" was  his  battle-cry,  and  a  "thus  saith  the  Lord"  was  the  deciding  voice.  In 
fact  the  dominant  passion  of  his  life  has  been  to  hear  the  voice  of  God  as  ex- 
pressed in  the  written  word.  And  in  nothing  else  is  his  thoroughness  more  mani- 
fest than  in  his  investigation  of  the  Scriptures.  He  first  takes  up  the  Bible  and 
studies  it  in  the  original  languages,  and  with  the  utmost  care.  Then  he  turns  to 
every  other  book  at  hand  that  may  throw  any  light  on  the  question  at  issue.  And, 
not  stopping  with  his  researches  in  his  own  extensive  library,  he  has  spent  hours 
of  time  in  the  book  stores  and  libraries  of  Harrisburg  and  Philadelphia  for  the 
same  purpose. 

If  the  subject  taken  up  for  consideration  did  not  involve  any  controversy,  but 
was  one  of  a  great  variety  of  topics  that  were  discussed  from  time  to  time,  it  re- 
ceived the  same  careful  consideration.  In  that  case  the  writer  simply  led  the  way 
for  the  reader  in  the  search  for  the  truth.  All  possible  light  from  the  lamp  of  the 
word  was  first  thrown  on  the  subject,  and  then  history,  the  opinions  of  the  world's 
best  scholars,  observation  and  experience  were  all  laid  under  tribute  to  help  in  the 
solution.  Thus  they  came  to  a  common  conclusion  hand  in  hand,  and  with  the 
satisfaction  of  looking  back  over  a  field  of  investigation  that  had  been  thoroughly 
covered.  And  this  close  attention  to  preparation  and  thoroughness  of  discussion 
was  given  to  all  editorial  work,  whether  it  involved  any  important  question  of  doc- 
trine or  not. 

These  editorials  are  conclusive  in  their  character.  A  conclusive  argument 
is  a  natural  product  of  painstaking  preparation  and  thorough  discussion  in  support 
of  a  tenable  proposition.  The  comprehensive  character  of  Dr.  Forney's  editorials 
indicates  the  extent  of  his  investigation,  while  his  careful  preparation  is  shown  by 
his  accuracy  of  expression  and  the  logical  arrangement  of  the  facts  disclosed  by  his 
researches.  This  explains  why  the  editorial  utterances  of  The  Church  Advocate 
were  generally  regarded  as  conclusive.  They  were  accepted  as  such  because  they 
were  in  harmony  with  the  facts — in  harmony  with  the  Scriptures,  with  the  history 
of  the  churches  of  God,  and  with  the  teachings  and  practices  commonly  accepted 
among  us.  In  this  way  The  Church  Advocate  has  exercised  an  influence  second  to 
none  in  shaping  our  policies,  directing  our  activities  and  confirming  our  faith. 

His  writings  are  of  an  enduring  character.  The  student  of  Dr.  Forney's  edi- 
torials will  look  in  vain  for  the  ephemeral.  There  is  nothing  light  or  trifling.  He 
wrote  to  instruct  rather  than  to  entertain.  Much  that  he  wrote  thirty  and  more 
years  ago  could  be  reprinted  with  equal  proflt  to-day.  The  truths  he  taught  found 
an  abiding  place  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  people.  They  are  being  reiterated 
in  the  pulpits  and  the  homes.  They  will  stand  the  test  of  time.  They  will  con- 
tinue to  exercise  a  potent  influence  in  the  religious  life  of  the  churches  of  God,  for 
the  guidance,  comfort  and   progress  of  which  they  were  written. 

It  is  impossible  for  the  uninitiated  to  fully  understand  the  extent  of  one's 
duties  in  the  editorial  office,  and  the  average  reader  has  but  a  vague  idea  of  the 
amount  of  work  required  every  week  in  order  to  prepare  and  publish  a  paper  like 
The  Church  Advocate.  In  addition  to  reading  the  daily  papers  and  monthly  mag- 
azines to  keep  in  touch  with  current  events,  the  Editor  must  read  a  large  number 
of  religious  exchanges.  He  must  read  certain  classes  of  books  as  they  appear,  in 
order  to  keep  abreast  of  the  best  secular  and  religious  thought.  He  has  several 
pages  of  editorials  to  write  every  week.  All  other  manuscripts  must  be  edited  by 
him,  and  then  read  the  second  time  in  proof  sheets.  Dr.  Forney  also  had  charge 
of  the  business  affairs  of  The  Church  Advocate,  all  of  which  he  attended  to  him- 
self, including  the  collecting  and  paying  of  bills  and  the  keeping  of  accounts  with 
advertisers  and  subscribers.  He  spared  not  himself,  but  gave  close  personal  at- 
tention to  every  detail  of  the  work.      There  is  perhaps  not  another  weekly  paper. 


3o8  History   of   the    Churches  of   God 

equal  in  size  to  The  Church  Advocate,  on  which  all  the  wgrk  is  done  by  one  man. 
There  are  usually  three — an  editor,  an  assistant  editor  and  a  business  manager. 
It  is  only  by  having  a  thorough  system  and  rigidly  adhering  to  it  that  it  is  possible 
for  one  man  to  do  this  work,  and  this  rule  of  life  has  been  the  secret  of  Dr. 
Forney's  success  in  his  abundant  labors.  In  addition  to  his  regular  duties  in  con- 
nection with  The  Church  Advocate,  there  were  many  other  demands  made  upon 
his  time,  including  an  extensive  correspondence  growing  out  of  his  editorial  posi- 
tion and  his  leading  position  in  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  and  the  General 
Eldership.  These  various  matters  received  his  careful  attention.  He  conducted 
his  correspondence  with  the  utmost  promptness.  During  the  earlier  years  of  his 
service  the  typewriter  had  not  become  the  important  adjunct  to  an  office  that  it 
now  is,  and  in  later  years  he  did  not  turn  to  it.  All  of  his  editorials,  amounting 
in  the  aggregate  to  many  volumes,  and  his  correspondence  including  thousands 
of  letters,  were  written  with  his  pen.  Well  could  he  say,  with  Paul,  after  thinking 
of  the  primary  duties  and  trials  of  his  office,  "There  is  that  which  presseth  upon 
me  daily,  anxiety  for  all  the  churches." 

When  a  reader  finishes  the  last  chapter  of  a  book,  he  naturally  decides 
whether  or  not  the  author  kept  his  promises  made  in  the  preface.  As  we  come  to 
the  close  of  Dr.  Forney's  editorial  labors,  we  turn  to  his  introductory  editorial,  in 
the  issue  of  September  29,  1869.  He  had  just  taken  charge  of  the  paper,  follow- 
ing the  death  of  Editor  E.  H.  Thomas.      Among  other  things  he  says: 

"We  regard  a  religious  paper  as  one  of  the  greatest  instrumentalities  for 
effecting  good,  when  properly  conducted,  which  God  in  his  providence  has  placed 

at  the  command  of  the  Church  of  this  age We  shall  endeavor  to  bring  to  it 

all  the  talent,  ability  and  time  which  we  can  command It  shall  be  our  con- 
stant aim  to  keep  the  paper  up  to  its  present  standard  in  every  particular,  ahd  also 
to  make  such  changes  and  improvements  as  from  time  to  time  may  be  thought  ad- 
visable. We  shall  endeavor  to  furnish  our  patrons  weekly  with  reading  matter 
which,  both  as  to  quality  and  variety,  shall  not  be  inferior  to  that  of  the  best 
religious  journals  of  the  day." 

Forty  years  later,  in  19  09,  Dr.  Forney  closed  his  final  report  to  the  General 
Eldership  with  these  words: 

"Many  and  precious,  extending  over  the  entire  territory  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship, have  been  the  friendships  formed  during  these  years.  Always  generously 
sustained  by  the  General  Eldership  and  upheld  by  the  sympathy  and  prayers  of  the 
brotherhood  at  large,  the  official  labors  of  all  these  years  have  been  a  delight.  I 
avail  myself  of  this  opportunity  to  say,  albeit  I  am  sure  it  is  not  needful,  that  I  am 
inexpressibly  grateful  to  the  General  Eldership  for  the  generous  and  abiding  con- 
fidence which  has  led  the  delegates  fourteen  successive  times  to  elect  me  to  the  im- 
portant and  responsible  office  of  Editor  of  our  Church  organ.  And  as  I  retire  from 
this  honorable  position  I  carry  with  me  most  cherished  recollections  of  my  edi- 
torial life.  It  has  been  practically  my  life-work,  and  it  is  submitted  to  the  mag- 
nanimous judgment  of  the  General  Eldership  and  the  beloved  brotherhood,  and  to 
the  gracious  benediction  of  heaven." 

A  conservative  estimate  of  the  editorial  work  of  Dr,  Foniey  justifies  the  con- 
clusion that  "the  official  labors"  which  were  "a  delight"  to  the  Editor  were  of  in- 
estimable value  to  the  churches  of  God,  and  that  the  promises  made  in  1869  were 
more  than  fulfilled  in  forty  years  of  faithful  service.  His  record  is  rich  in  achieve- 
ment, and  secure  in  the  hearts  of  his  brethren. 

As  far  back  as  1893  Dr.  Forney  requested  the  General  Eldership  to  relieve 
him  of  the  responsibility  which  it  had  placed  upon  him.  This  request  was  re- 
newed at  succeeding  General  Elderships,  but  in  each  instance  he  was  re-elected 
and  prevailed  upon  to  continue.  In  addition  to  this  evidence  of  confidence  the 
General  Eldership  from  time  to  time,  and  the  Annual  Elderships  from  year  to  year, 
passed  strong  resolutions  of  commendation.  And  when  the  General  Eldership 
finally  yielded  to  his  request  to  be  permitted  to  retire,  in  1909,  it  was  with  the 
unanimous  adoption  of  the  following  expressions  of  esteem: 

"Whereas,  Rev.  C.  H.  Forney,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  has  served  as  Editor  of  The 
Church  Advocate  for  forty  years,  with  a  three-year  term  as  Assistant  Editor,  and 
now,  at  his  own  earnest  request,  has  been  permitted  to  retire  from  that  position; 
and  whereas,  his  work  as  Editor  and  Business  Manager  of  The  Advocate  has  built 
a  monument  in  the  thought  and  heart-life  of  the  churches  of  God,  as  well  as  in  the 
property  of  our  Publishing  House  and  Book  Rooms,  that  will  continue  to  testify 
to  his  remarkable  service;  therefore. 


General    History  309 

"Resolved:  1st.  That  we  heartily  thank  our  heavenly  Father  for  sparing 
him  to  and  for  us  during  these  years,  and  that  the  present  finds  his  physical,, 
mental  and  spiritual  strength  unabated. 

'^'2nd.  That  while  we  appreciate  his  labors  and  rejoice  in  their  results,  we 
value  his  Christian  character  and  the  proof  of  his  personal  integrity  most  of  all. 

"3rd.  That  we  devoutly  pray  our  Father  to  spare  him  for  many  more  yeara 
of  fruitful  service,  and  that  those  years  may  be  crowned  by  the  goodness  of  God." 

During  these  years  Dr.  Forney  also  found  time  to  write  an  introduction  tc 
^Y'inebl•enner's  sermon  of  1830  on  "Christian  Baptism,"  republished  in  1873;  an 
article  on  John  Winebrenner  for  McClintock  and  Strong's  Cyclopedia,  in  1878;  a 
preface  to  "Spiritual  Songs,"  prepared  by  a  committee  of  which  he  was  a  member, 
and  published  in  1882,  and  now  extensively  used  as  our  Church  hymnal;  his  work 
on  "The  Christian  Ordinances,"  published  in  1883;  a  preface  to  the  revised  edition 
of  Winebrenner's  "View  of  the  Church,"  published  in  18  8.5,  and  of  which  he  also 
did  the  work  of  revising  and  editing;  an  introduction  to  "Robert  Woodknow,"  by 
Rev,  Charles  F.  Reitzel,  published  in  1902;  an  introduction  to  a  new  edition  of 
"Jewett  on  Baptism,"  published  in  1905,  and  which  Dr.  Fomey  also  revised  and 
enlarged  with  quotations  and  references;  an  introduction  to  "Spiritual  Counsel 
and  Encouragement,"  by  Rev.  J.  W.  Gable,  published  in  1907.  His  work  on  "The 
Philosophic  Basis  of  Ordinances  and  Bible  Doctrine  of  Sanctification"  appeared  in 
1906.  The  first  part  of  this  book  is  a  sermon  which  the  author  had  preached  at 
several  places,  and  the  second  part  is  a  series  of  editorials  which  appeared  in  The 
Church  Advocate  in  1887.  This,  and  his  somewhat  larger  book  on  "The  Christian 
Ordinances,"  with  the  present  volume,  are  the  only  products  of  his  versatile  and 
active  pen  that  have  been  published  in  permanent  form.  This  is  accounted  for  in 
part  by  the  busy  years  of  his  life,  which  left  but  little  time  for  anything  aside  from 
the  regular  duties  of  each  day,  and  in  part  by  his  lack  of  inclination.  It  is  worthy 
of  note,  that  he  never  published  anything,  not  even  a  pamphlet  or  tract,  volun- 
tarily. He  prepared  "The  Christian  Ordinances"  for  publication  in  compliance 
with  an  action  of  the  General  Eldership  of  1881.  His  sermon  on  "The  Philosophic 
Basis  of  Ordinances"  was  written  out  in  response  to  the  urgent  request  of  quite  a 
number  of  brethren,  and,  in  connection  with  the  "Bible  Doctrine  of  Sanctification" 
(also  by  request),  was  published  by  Dr.  C  I.  Brown,  President  of  Findlay  College. 
And  the  present  volume,  to  the  preparation  of  which  he  devoted  nearly  four  years, 
and  which  is  destined  to  be  his  monumental  work,  is  his  response  to  the  repeated 
requests  of  the  General  Eldership.  Nothing  but  his  strong  sense  of  duty  to  the 
brotherhood,  his  love  for  the  churches  of  God  and  their  doctrines,  and  his  recogni- 
tion of  the  importance  of  preserving  their  history,  could  have  induced  him,  at  the 
age  of  seventy,  to  undertake  this  laborious  task.  But,  once  the  decision  was 
made,  his  plans  were  formulated  and  carried  out  in  the  same  thorough  manner 
that  had  characterized  all  of  his  previous  work.  Perhaps  no  other  man  would 
have  devoted  the  time,  or  exercised  the  patience,  necessary  to  examine  every  vol- 
ume of  the  Church  paper  for  seventy-five  years,  page  by  page,  as  he  did  in  the 
preparation  of  this  book.  But  as  a  result  the  churches  of  God  have  a  work  of  in- 
estimable historical  value.  All  that  has  been  previously  said  about  Dr.  Forney 
as  a  writer  is  applicable  to  his  books.  Here  his  thorough  method  of  investigation, 
and  his  clear,  logical  and  conclusive  manner  of  expressing  his  thoughts  are  always 
in  evidence. 

It  was  but  natural  that  Dr.  Forney's  ability  as  a  scholar  and  writer,  which  was 
so  generally  recognized  by  the  common  consent  of  the  brotherhood,  should  also  be 
given  official  recognition.  And  this  was  done  in  1905,  when  Findlay  College  con- 
ferred upon  him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws.  The  General  Eldership  had  also 
been  recognizing  the  value  of  his  writings  from  time  to  time,  not  only  by  continu- 
ing him  in  the  editorial  office,  but  in  the  adoption  of  the  most  commendatory  reso-^ 
lutions.  And  the  same  was  done  from  year  to  year  by  all  of  the  Elderships.  These 
official  actions  recognize  the  sterling  qualities  of  his  Christian  character  and  the 
versatility  and  resourcefulness  of  his  ability;  his  unquestioned  loyalty  to  Christ 
and  the  doctrines  of  the  church  which  he  established  in  the  world;  his  marvelous 
capacity  for  work  and  his  deep  and  abiding  interest  in  every  local  and  general 
enterprise;  his  carefully  formed  plans  for  the  discharge  of  every  duty  devolving 
upon  him  and  the  benefits  following  their  intelligent  execution.  And  the  senti- 
ment is  voiced  that,  considering  the  great  length  of  his  period  of  official  service, 
its  unusual  opportunities  and  the  faithful  manner  in  which  he  improved  them,  no 


3IO  History  of  the   Churches  of   God 

man  has  exerted  a  wider  or  more  effective  influence  among  us  than  Dr.  Forney  has 
by  his  voice  and  pen.  And  yet  the  most  impressive  thought  suggested  by  the  con- 
sideration of  a  long  and  useful  life  is,  that  the  extent  of  its  service  can  not  be 
measured  by  any  human  standard.  It  requires  greater  wisdom  than  we  possess 
and  a  longer  time  than  we  have  to  live  to  understand  its  meaning  and  measure  its 
results.  Some  things  can  be  mentioned,  the  more  prominent  ones,  but  the  many 
smaller  duties,  the  daily  routine  of  events,  which  in  the  aggregate  may  be  the 
greater  forces,  can  not  even  be  remembered.  But  they  are  not  forgotten  by  the 
Master. 

It  is  not  possible,  even  if  it  were  profitable,  to  separate  the  workman  from 
his  work.  Back  of  the  preacher,  the  leader,  the  writer,  is  the  man  of  strong  and 
gentle  Christian  spirit,  who  reveals  and  perpetuates  himself  in  his  achievements. 
And  this  is  especially  true  of  that  part  of  his  work  which  is  most  abiding — his 
work  as  a  writer.  The  late  Richard  Watsou  Gilder,  in  writing  on  "Lincoln's 
Genius  for  Expression,"  says:  "He  achieved  a  singularly  clear  and  forcible  style, 
which  took  color  from  his  own  noble  character,  and  became  a  thing  individual  and 
distinguished."  This,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  is  true  of  every  writer.  What 
he  is  in  his  character  he  puts  into  his  writings,  and  his  writings,  in  turn,  furnish 
the  best  index  to  his  character.  We  have  it  from  the  highest  authority  that  "out 
of  the  abundance  of  the  heart  the  mouth  speaketh,"  so  that  the  character  of  a 
man's  speech,  whether  spoken  or  written,  is  identical  with  the  character  of  the 
man  himself.  Whatever  Dr.  Foniey  writes  with  his  pen  he  subscribes  to  in  his 
heart,  and  he  writes  as  he  feels.  This  will  enable  the  readers  of  coming  years  to 
get  a  glimpse  of  the  man  through  his  writings.  As  they  turn  the  pages  of  this 
book  and  admire  its  comprehensive  scope,  its  richness  of  detail,  its  chaste  literary 
style,  the  manifest  fairness  in  the  treatment  of  all  subjects  considered,  and,  above 
all,  the  Christian  spirit  that  gives  to  every  true  production  its  highest  value,  they 
win  be  recognizing  the  prominent  traits  in  the  character  of  its  author. 

The  splendid  principles  and  characteristics  which  are  so  pronounced  in  his 
public  work  lose  nothing  of  their  charm  in  the  privacy  of  his  home.  He  and  his 
sister.  Miss  Lydia  A.  Forney,  have  made  their  home  together  since  1868,  both  hav- 
ing remained  single.  Nearly  all  of  these  years  have  been  spent  in  Harrisburg,  in 
a  large  and  well-arranged  dwelling,  constructed  nearly  forty  years  ago,  in  accord- 
ance with  their  personal  desires.  In  their  intellectual  tastes  and  religious  activi- 
ties they  have  much  in  common.  Miss  Forney  is  a  lady  of  culture  and  devotion, 
and  has  rendered  invaluable  service  to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  and  the 
General  Eldership,  particularly  in  mission  work  and  in  connection  with  our  Sun- 
day-school literature.  Helped  by  this  companionship,  and  free  from  family  cares. 
Dr.  Forney  has  been  able  to  prosecute  his  work  with  a  singleness  of  purpose  not 
possible  to  most  men.  In  addition  to  these  favorable  circumstances,  his  life  has 
been  governed  according  to  strict  hygienic  principles  and  methodical  habits  of 
work  and  recreation.  He  has  always  been  able  to  wholly  dismiss  the  responsi- 
bilities of  the  day  when  he  turns  from  his  desk,  so  that  they  may  not  interfere  with 
the  restful  sleep  of  the  night.  In  this  way,  although  never  a  man  of  robust  con- 
stitution, he  has  been  able  to  lengthen  his  years  and  maintain  his  strength,  and 
carry  a  burden  of  work  that  many  a  stronger  man  would  have  hesitated  to  assume. 
Manifold  as  his  official  duties  have  been,  they  have  not  prevented  the  exercise  of 
hospitality.  And  by  a  delightful  personality  and  a  frank  and  intelligent  conversa- 
tion he  has  won  the  high  regard  and  genuine  affection  of  those  who  have  been 
welcomed  to  his  home.  Here,  in  the  midst  of  quiet  and  refined  surroundings,  he 
is  spending  his  closing  years.  He  entered  the  service  of  his  Master  in  the  early 
morning  of  life,  and  has  continued  his  labors  into  the  lengthening  shadows.  He 
has  faithfully  served  his  day  and  generation,  thus  bringing  to  the  evening  hours 
the  sincere  satisfaction  of  a  well-spent  life  and  the  precious  comfort  of  a  hopeful 
Bunset. 


DIVISION  II. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ANNUAL    ELDERSHIPS. 


DIVISION  II. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ANNUAL    ELDERSHIPS. 


I.     THE  EAST  PENNSYLVANIA  ELDERSHIP. 


1st  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — There  is  no  question  more  interesting 
in  sociological  science  than  the  development  of  institutions  and  organizations. 
Their  inception,  gradual  evolution  and  final  character  are  questions  of  fascinating 
moment.  Naturally  great  emphasis  is  laid  on  origins,  on  beginnings.  We  com- 
memorate them;  we  institute  fixed  anniversaries.  The  organization  of  the  first 
Eldership  was  generally  commemorated  by  the  Church  of  God  in  1880,  and 
created  quite  a  measure  of  interest  and  enthusiasm.  How,  when,  where  and 
by  whom  did  it  originate  are  absorbing  questions.  To  know  the  views  of 
Winebrenner  as  published  by  him  in  1829,  and  contrast  them  with  the  Eldership 
of  1900,  one  would  not  suppose  that  in  1830  he  would  have  been  the  originator 
of  these  bodies.  Yet  the  presumption  is  that  he  was.  The  origin  was  extremely 
simple.  In  writing  the  "History  of  the  Church  of  God"  for  the  "History  of  all 
the  Religious  Denominations  in  the  United  States,"  in  184  4,  AVinebrenner  states 
that  a  meeting  of  those  who  had  similar  views  and  were  of  kindred  spirits  was 
held  in  the  Union  Bethel,  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  in  the  month  of  October,  1830,  "for 
the  purpose  of  adopting  a  regular  system  of  co-operation."  The  meeting  was 
organized  by  electing  John  AV'inebrenner,  Speaker,  and  John  Elliott,  Clerk.  The 
morning  session  was  spent  in  "solemn  prayer  and  deliberations."  At  2  o'clock 
p.  m.  a  sermon  was  preached  by  the  Speaker,  from  Acts  v.  38,  39.  "After  the 
sermon,"  says  Winebrenner,  "the  business  meeting  was  called  to  order,  and  after 
some  further  consultation  it  was  agreed,  as  the  unanimous  sense  of  the  meeting: 
"First.  That  there  is  but  one  true  church;  namely,  the,  church  of  God. 
"Secondly.  That  it  is  the  bounden  duty  of  all  God's  people  to  belong  to  her, 
and   none   else. 

"Thirdly.  That  it  is  'lawful  and  right'  to  associate  together  for  the  purpose 
of  co-operation  in  the  cause  of  God. 

"Fourthly.  That  we  agree  to  hold  an  Eldership  annually  for  this  purpose, 
consisting  of  teaching  and  ruling  elders  belonging  to  the  Church  of  God."  To 
this  declaration  of  principles  the  following  six  teaching  elders  subscribed  their 
names:  Andrew  Miller,  John  Winebrenner,  John  Elliott,  John  Walboni,  David 
Maxwell  and  James  Richards.  Winebrenner  adds:  "Thus  originated  the  Church 
of  God,  properly  so  called,  in  the  United  States  of  America,  and  thus  also 
originated   the   first   Eldership." 

The  date  of  this  meeting  as  given  by  Winebrenner  is  said  to  be  uncertain. 
A.  Snyder  in  his  history  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  in  1880,  discusses 
the  question  of  date,  but  without  definite  results.  All  agree  that  the  year,  1830, 
is  correct.  A.  C.  Raysor,  in  March,  18  80,  gives  it  as  his  "impression  that  it  was 
held  in  January,  1830."  As  the  second  Eldership  was  held  January  7,  1831,  he 
thinks  "it  is  not  probable  that  the  second  was  held  three  months  after  the  first." 
This  improbability  is  increased  by  the  fact  that  the  newly  organized  body  had  just 
resolved  to  "hold  a  yearly  Eldership,"  or  "hold  an  Eldership  annually." 

The  body  thus  organized  assumed  no  other  name  than  "Eldership."  The 
Minutes  as  published  in  The  Gospel  Publisher,  Jan.  10,  1840,  are,  however, 
headed  "Journal  of  the  First  General  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Penn- 
sylvania." But  this  is  an  anachrolsm,  as  the  Minutegof  1831  call  it  "The  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership."  But  the  term  "General  Eldership"  adopted  in  the  Constitu- 
tion reported  in  1831  was  used  later,  so  that  in  1841  "the  next  annual 
meeting  of  the  General  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Pennsylvania"  was 
called  to  meet  Oct.  30th.  The  same  form  was  used  df  the  Ohio  Eldership.  The 
title  was  adopted  to  discriminate  between  the  eldership  of  the  local  church, 
made  quite  prominent  in  Winebi-enner's  "Scriptural  View  of  the  Church  of  God," 


314 


History  of  the   Churches   oe  -God 


and  this  newly  organized  body.  The  members  of  this  first  organization  were  all 
teaching  elders.  But  one  of  the  actions  taken  declared  that  the  Eldership  shall 
consist  of  "teaching  and  ruling  elders."  No  ratio  of  representation  was  adopted, 
nor  any  directions  given  concerning  the  election  of  lay  delegates.  The  organiza- 
tion was  of  the  most  elementary  character.  No  business  was  done  beyond  the 
adoption  of  the  four  resolutions  above  quoted.  No  one  was  ordained,  and  no 
appointments  of  ministers  to  fields  of  labor  were  made.  No  confession  of  Faith, 
or  Articles  of  belief,  were  drawn  up,  and  no  declaration  of  principles  was  adopted. 
Not  all  the  teaching  elders  were  present  at  this  Eldership,  as  several  of  them 
were  opposed  to  the  movement.  Thomas  Hickemell,  who  became  the  greatest 
revivalist  in  the  West,  was  present,  but  he  did  not  become  a  teaching  elder 
until  1833. 


Andrew   Miller 


Of  the  six  teaching  elders  constituting  the  first  Eldership  of  the  Church  of 
God,  John  Winebi-enner  was  ordained  by  the  General  Synod  of  the  German  Re- 
formed Church  in  Zion's  church,  Hagerstown,  Md.,  Sept.  24,  1820.  He  withdrew 
from  said  Church  in  the  year  1825.  He  remained  the  leading  member  of  the 
Church  of  God  until  his  death,  in  1860. 

Andrew  »liller  was  converted  in  1815,  immersed  in  1823,  by  Abraham  Moyer, 
a  United  Brethren  minister;  became  a  member  of  the  church  of  God  organized 
in  his  house  in  1829.  He  was  a  "full-faced,  good  natured  German  farmer,"  or- 
dained a  teaching  elder  by  the  church  at  his  house  in  1829.  He  traveled  con- 
siderably in  those  early  years,  going  as  far  as  Carroll  county,  Md.,  and  served 
several  circuits  by  appointment  of  the  Eldership.  He  became  a  member  of  the 
Printing  Board,  and  assisted  in  starting  The  Gospel  Publisher,  and  remained  on 


East   Pennsylvania   Eldership 


315 


the  Board  until  the  affairs  of  the  Establishment  were  wound  up.  He  died  March 
22,  1865. 

John  Elliott  was  an  Englishman,  eminent  as  a  preacher  and  theologian. 
Where  and  when  he  entered  the  ministry  the  records  do  not  reveal.  He  was 
pastor  of  several  churches  besides  Lancaster,  where  he  was  the  minister  when 
he  joined  the  first  Eldership  in  1830.  In  1831  the  Eldership  met  in  his  house 
at  Lancaster.  Here  a  charge  was  preferred  against  him  for  holding  the  doctrine 
of  Universalism.  This  charge  he  denied,  but  confessed  that  he  held  the  doctrine 
of  Restorationism.  At  the  Eldership  held  at  Linglestown,  October,  1831,  this 
acknowledgment  led  to  a  lengthy  debate,  and  to  further  charges  of  duplicity  and 
studied  concealment  of  his  sentiments  at  Lancaster.      He  was  disfellowshiped. 

John  Wallboi-n  became  a  member  of  the  first  organization  at  Linglestown, 
in  1829.  He  was  "a  large,  bold-hearted  man,  who  feared  nobody."  He  was 
ordained  by  the  church  at  Linglestown  "to  preach  the  gospel"  Nov.  15,  1829.  He 
traveled   different   circuits   until    he   was   disfellowshiped,   in    1841,    for    "making 


v>J>avid  Maxwell 


expressions  which  would  seriously  impeach  the  characters  of  sundry  of  the 
teaching  elders  of  this  Eldership,  and  on  being  requested  either  to  prove  what 
we  think  such  expressions  would  imply,  or  make  confession  that  he  did  wrong, 
which  he  has  refused  to  do." 

David  Maxwell,  a  "thin,  nervous,  honest-hearted  man,"  was  a  native  of 
Mifflin  township,  Cumberland  Co.,  Pa.,  born  in  the  year  1792.  He  was  converted 
at  Shippensburg,  and  removed  to  near  Linglestown,  where  in  1829  he  became 
a  member  of  the  first  organization  in  that  village.  He  was  ordained  by  said 
church  Nov.  15,  1829,  "to  preach  the  gospel."  He  was  a  successful  minister,  and 
traveled  extensively  within  the  Eldership  as  a  missionary  for  many  years.  "He 
was  a  good  and  faithful  man,"  and  "many  will  rise  up  and  call  him  blessed  as 
the  instrument  in  God's  hands  in  their  salvation."     He  died  Feb.  13,  1865. 

James  Richards  was  "a  descendant  of  the  Red  Man  of  the  forest,"  a  physician. 
He  was  born  in  Lancaster  county,  Pa.,  March  15,  1797,  and  died  March  1,  1880. 
In  1834  he  was  sent  to  Philadelphia  as  a  missionary.  He  seldom  had  a  regular 
charge,  but  was  enrolled  as  a  "general  missionary,"  which  then  meant  little  more 
than  local  minister.     He  removed  to  Ohio,  where  in  1871  he  was  elected  Speaker 


3i6 


History   of   the:   Churches  of   God 


of  th-e  West  Ohio  Eldership.  In  187  2  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership,, 
and  published  a  "Farewell  Address  to  his  relatives,  friends  and  the  Church  of 
his  choice"  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  for  Mt.  Carroll,  111.  He  was  again  a 
delegate  to  the  General  Eldership  in  1875. 

2n(l  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Agreeably  to  adjournment,  the  second 
Eldership  "met  at  the  house  of  John  Elliott,  Lancaster,  Pa.,  Jan.  7,  1831. "■ 
An  organization  was  effected  by  the  choice  of  John  Winebrenner  for  "President," 
and  John  Elliott  for  "Secretary."  They  were  elected  by  ballot.  The  first  reso- 
lution adopted  provided  for  the  appointment  of  a  "committee  to  draft  and  report 
a  system   of  rules  and  regulations  for  the  transaction  of  business  in   our  official 


James  Richards 


meetings."      The    committee    consisted    of    the    President    and    Secretary,^  which, 
reported  at  the  afternoon  session.     Nine  rules  were  reported,  which  provided: 

1.  For  an  annual  meeting  of  "a  General  Eldership  at  such  time  and  place^ 
as  may  from  time  to  time  be  determined  on;"  that  the  Eldership  shall  "consist, 
of  all  the  ministers  belonging  to  the  same,  and  of  an  equal  number  of  delegates^ 
chosen  from  among  the  ruling  elders  of  each  circuit  or  station."  A  quorum  is- 
to  consist  of  a  majority  of  all  the  members  in  attendance.  , 

2.  The  annual  election  of  a  President  and  Secretary. 

3.  The  third  and  fourth  Articles  defined  the  duties  of  these  officers. 

4.  Threefold  powers  are  given  to  the  Eldership,  to  wit.  (a)  To  receive- 
by  a  plurality  vote  persons  into  membership.  (b)  To  define  the  boundaries  of 
circuits  and  stations.  (c)  To  appoint  the  preachers  to  fields  of  labor,  limiting, 
the  term  to  three  years. 

5.  That   whenever   practicable   two    ministers   are   to   be   oppointed   to   each) 


East    Pennsylvania   Eldership  317 

circuit,  the  senior  one  to  be  called  the  Leader,  and  the  junior,  the  Helper,  and 
defining  their  duties. 

6.  That  one  or  more  missionaries  are  to  be  appointed  annually,  to  visit 
destitute  places,  establish  churches  and  assist  in  holding  camp-meetings  and 
other  big  meetings. 

7.  That  "there  shall  be  an  annual  reckoning  with  the  ministers  and 
missionaries  in  the  service  of  the  Church,  and  such  salaries,  and  in  such  pro- 
portion, allowed  them  as  the  funds  of  the  Church  will  justify,  or  the  General 
Eldership   authorize." 

8.  Presenting  for  amendments  to  the  Rules,  or  the  adoption  of  new  or 
additional  Rules. 

This  report  was  "ordered  to  lie  on  the  table."  Various  other  matters  were 
taken  up  and  discussed,  but  without  any  definite  action  being  taken.  The 
Eldership  adjourned  without  doing  any  other  business  to  meet  in  October  of 
the  same  year. 

3rd  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  third  session  of  the  "General  Elder- 
ship" was  held  at  Linglestown,  Dauphin  Co.,  Pa.,  "in  October,  1831."  The 
officers  of  the  preceding  session  were  re-elected.  The  Rule  requiring  "an  annual 
reckoning  with  the  ministers  and  missionaries,"  though  not  yet  adopted,  was 
put  into  effect,  and  the  first  business  to  hear  reports  of  ministers  and  examine 
their  characters.  A  charge  was  preferred  against  John  Elliott  for  "holding  the 
doctrine  of  Universalism."  On  a  motion  to  retain  him  in  fellowship  it  was 
•decided  in  the  affirmative,  as  he  disavowed  such  sentiments.  But  on  reconsidera- 
tion at  the  -next  sitting  this  vote  was  reversed.  John  Walbora  was  then  elected 
.Secretary.  The  first  applications  were  made  at  this  meeting  for  licenses,  which 
were  granted  to  Edward  AVest,  AVilliam  Bretz,  John  Greiger  and  Jacob  Myers.  West 
had  been  preaching  for  several  years  before  he  came  to  the  Eldership,  and 
Myers  had  been  ordained  by  the  church  at  Linglestown,  Jan.  19,  1831.  Without 
taking  any  action  on  the  Rules,  or  making  any  appointmets,  the  Eldership  ad- 
journed to  meet  in  December,   1832. 

4th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  session  of  the  General  Eldership 
was  held  at  Mechanicsburg,  Cumberland  county,  in  December,  1832.  Wine- 
brenner  was  chosen  President,  and  Walborn,  clerk.  The  moral  characters  and 
conduct  of  the  preachers  were  examined  "to  the  great  satisfaction  of  the  whole 
Eldership."  Jacob  Keller,  David  Shrom,  Jonathan  Hawk  and  AVilliam  McFadden 
were  "ordained  to  office  by  granting  them  licenses."  The  Rules  were  not  con- 
sidered, but  "a  committee  was  appointed  to  arrange  the  preachers  on  the  circuits 
and  stations.     The  following  was  the  report: 

"Cumberland  and  Perry  counties — E.  West  and  John  Walborn. 

"Lancaster  county — David   Maxwell. 

"Dauphin  county — J.   Hawk  and  Wm.   McFadden. 

■"York  county — David  Shrom. 

■'Harrisburg  and  Middletown — John  Winebrenne?;. 

5th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldei*ship. — The  Eldership  in  1833  held  its  session 
In  December,  beginning  on  the  25th,  at  Middletown,  Dauphin  county.  It  was 
in  session  three  days  and  a  half.  Thirty-six  teaching  and  ruling  elders  were  en- 
rolled. AAlnebrenner  was  re-elected  President,  and  James  Mackey  was  chosen 
■clerk.  The  reports  of  the  ministers  were  heard  and  their  characters  examined. 
Brief  abstracts  of  the  reports  were  entered  on  the  Minutes.  Mackey  reported 
liis  "call"  to  Shippensburg,  which  he  left  "to  the  wisdom  and  discretion  of  the 
Eldership  to  confirm  or  reject  the  same."  Joseph  Adams,  John  Lenkert,  John 
Homing  and  Thomas  Hickemell  received  licenses.  Christian  Foraey  was  a 
member  of  this  Eldership,  and  a  local  preacher.  A  Committee  on  Boundaries 
was  appointed,  which  made  three  stations  and  nine  circuits,  one  being  thp  Ohio 
'Circuit,  with  D.  Maxwell  as  minister.  But  he  did  not  go  to  his  field,  but  instead 
took  charge  of  the  church  in  Philadelphia,  and  Joseph  Adams  traveled  the  Ohio 
Circuit,  and  "left  the  churches  there  in  a  very  prosperous  condition"  at  the  end 
of  the  year.  A  resolution  was  adopted  which  provides  "that  each  of  the  preachers 
shall  keep  an  account  of  all  his  receipts  and  expenditures,  and  of  the  number  of 
times  he  shall  have  preached  during  the  next  Eldership  year,  and  make  a  report 
thereof  at  the  next  Eldership,  when  a  division  shall  be  made  of  all  the  salaries 
Among  the  stationed  and  traveling  preachers  according  to  their  several  circum- 


3i8  History  of  the   Churches  of   God 

stances  and  wants."     A  committee  was  appointed,  consisting  of  one  preacher  from; 
each  circuit,  to  arrange  and  fix  the  time  of  holding  the  camp-meetings  in  1834. 

The  most  important  action  taken  related  to  the  subject  of  a  Printing  Estab- 
lishment, as  the  Eldership  deemed  "it  highly  important  for  the  good  of  the 
cause  of  God  to  establish  a  religious  paper." 

6th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.- — In  1834  the  General  Eldership  met  at 
Shippensburg,  Cumberland  county,  Dec.  13th.  Twenty-six  teaching  and  ruling 
elders  were  present.  The  officers  of  1833  were  re-elected.  Three  "honorary  mem- 
bers" were  received.  Fourteen  teaching  elders  reported.  A  committee  was  created 
"to  examine  the  journal  of  last  year  and  report  all  items  of  unfinished  business." 
A  letter  from  Ohio  gave  "a  favorable  account  of  the  state  of  religion."  It 
recommended  "several  persons  to  the  Eldership  for  license,"  and  John  Funck, 
of  Ohio,  was  granted  license,  along  with  Jacob  Flake,  Henry  Wingeit.  and  A.  C. 
Raysor,  of  Pennsylvania.  The  camp-meeting  committee  was  continued.  A  com- 
mittee was  also  appointed  "to  report  on  the  expediency  and  utility  of  the  common 
stock  resolution  passed  at  the  last  yearly  meeting."  It  recommended  its  repeal. 
A  Standing  Committee  was  created.  Eleven  fields  of  labor  were  defined,  one- 
being  the  Ohio  Circuit,  with  Thomas  Hickennell  and  Jacob  Keller  as  preachers. 
One  minister  was  expelled.     AVinebrenner  was  not  assigned  to  a  charge. 

7th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  General  Eldership,  or  East  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership,  commenced  its  annual  meeting  for  1835  at  Uniontown,  Md., 
November  2nd.  Twenty-two  teaching  and  ruling  elders  "were  recognized  as 
being  present,"  without  stating  how  many  of  each  class.  The  officers  were  John 
Winebrenner,  President;  Jacob  Flake,  Clerk.  The  ministers  after  making  their 
reports  were  not  required  to  withdraw  while  their  characters  were  being  inquired 
into.  Jacob  Keller  reported  "from  the  Ohio  circuit."  He  also  "presented  a 
letter  from  a  meeting  of  elders  in  Ohio,  held  September  7,  1835,  requesting  the 
privilege  of  holding  a  yearly  Eldership  in  Ohio."  This  request  was  granted,  and 
it  was  further  resolved  "to  send  two  brethren  to  visit  the  Annual  Eldership  in 
Ohio."  Fourteen  ministers  volunteered  to  take  work  the  following  year,  of  which 
number  thirteen  were  appointed  to  the  ten  fields  of  labor,  one  of  which  was  the 
Ohio  circuit,  with  Hickeniell  and  Keller  as  the  preachers.  In  Maryland  was  the 
Uniontown  circuit,  with  David  Ma.xwell  as  the  preacher.  Schuylkill  county  had 
one  circuit,  Orwigsburg,  with  Jonathan  Hawk  as  the  preacher.  Some  differences 
of  opinion  arose  on  certain  questions  not  mentioned  in  the  Minutes,  but  a  resolu- 
lution  was  adopted  "that  the  preachers  meet  together  privately  to  converse"  on- 
these  questions.  The  Clerk  in  a  letter  a  few  weeks  later  admonished  all  the 
brethren  "to  try  as  much  as  possible  to  speak  the  same  things."  He  noted  it  as 
a  "singular"  fact,  that  while  the  preachers  had  "been  to  no  theological  seminary, 
yet  the  gospel  flowed  from  their  lips  as  a  stream  from  the  well  of  salvation." 

8th  East  Pennsylvnia  Eldership. — In  the  year  1836  the  Minutes  state  that 
"the  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  of  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  commenced 
its  annual  session  at  Churchtown,  Cumberland  county,  Pa.,  November  5,  1836." 
But  no  action  was  taken  thus  to  change  the  title,  for  the  Eldership  in  1835  had 
resolved  "that  the  next  General  Eldership  meet  at  Churchtown."  There  were 
eighteen  teaching  elders  in  attendance,  and  twenty-two  ruling  elders.  Wine- 
brenner was  re-elected  "Speaker,"  and  J.  B,  Porter,  Clerk.  Thus  far  there  were 
no  committees  appointed  by  the  Eldership,  or  the  President,  except  that  each 
year  "a  committee  was  chosen  by  ballot  to  appoint  the  teaching  elders  to  their 
various  places  of  labor  for  the  ensuing  year."  Fields  of  labor  were  more  or  less 
rearranged  each  year.  This  year  there  were  ten  fields  as  before,  but  there  were 
two  circuits  in  Maryland,  one  in  Washington  county  and  one  in  Frederick  county,, 
while  Uniontown,  in  Carroll  county,  is  not  on  the  list.  Two  ministers  are  as- 
signed to  Orwigsburg.  Nine  brethren  were  licensed,  making  the  total  number 
of  teaching  elders  twenty-seven.  Of  this  number  twelve  were  assigned  to  the  ten 
fields  of  labor,  and  the  others  are  classed  as  "missionaries."  There  was  a  dis- 
cussion at  this  meeting  of  the  question:  "Who  are  fit  subjects  for  baptism"? 
and  "it  was  unanimously  agreed,  that,  according  to  apostolic  doctrine,  none  but 
justified  believers  are  fit  subjects  for  baptism."  A  committee  on  camp-meetings 
was  "appointed  to  make  arrangements  for  holding  camp-meetings  the  ensuing 
year."  Contemplating  the  licensing  of  so  many  "promising  young  men,"  Flake 
suggested  that  "a  spiritual  ministry,  of  divine  calling,  will  come  from  the  bosom 
of  the  church,  rather  than   from  theological   seminaries."      It  is  notable  tliat  at 


East    Pennsylvania    Eldership  319 

this  Eldership  Joseph  Ross,  grandfather  of  "Charlie  Ross,"  the  Philadelphia  kid- 
napped boy  of  many  years  later,  was  licensed  to  preach  the  gospel. 

9th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — In  1837  "the  Pennsylvania  Eldership" 
met  in  Harrisburg,  on  November  13th.  It  was  composed  of  forty-two  teaching 
and  ruling  elders.  An  organization  was  effected  by  the  election  of  James  Mackey, 
Speaker,  and  Edward  West,  Clerk.  Thomas  Hickernell,  of  Ohio,  was  present.  A 
"messenger  from  the  Christian  Conference  was  received  as  a  member  of  the 
body,"  by  the  name  of  H.  Gaylord.  "A  communication"  was  received  by  his 
hand  "from  the  P.  C.  Conference,"  to  which  AVinebrenner  and  West  were  ap- 
pointed "a  committee  to  reply."  West  was  appointed  a  delegate  to  the  Christian 
Conference.  The  Speaker  appointed  the  Stationing  Committee,  while  by  resolu- 
tion a  committee  was  appointed  to  arrange  for  the  camp-meetings.  A  delegate 
was  also  appointed  to  the  Ohio  Eldership,  and  such  annual  exchanges  of  delegates 
between  the  Elderships  was  urged.  A  resolution  was  passed  "recommending  to 
the  brothers  and  sisters  generally  to  observe  plainness  of  dress."  The  characters 
of  ministers  were  carefully  inquired  into,  and  discipline  administered  without 
favor.  At  this  Eldership  a  committee  was  appointed  during  the  reports  of  min- 
isters "to  investigate  a  charge  of  immorality  brought  against  J.  B.  Porter,"  Clerk 
of  the  Eldership  in  1836.  The  report  of  the  first  committee  "was  disagreed  to," 
and  another  committee  appointed  which  was  "authorized  to  deal  with  him  ac- 
cording to  the  nature  of  the  case."  Whatever  may  have  been  the  action  of  this 
committee,  or  the  character  of  Porter's  offense,  when  his  "case  was  taken  up" 
again  later,  a  motion  to  expel  him  from  the  Eldership  "was  unanimously  agreed 
to."  Because  Walborn  had  accepted  the  position  of  "oflfice  collector  on  the  canal, 
and  attends  to  the  duties  of  the  same  on  the  Lord's  day,"  he  was  brought  before 
the  Eldership.  He  was  "excused  and  acquitted  from  the  charge  of  immorality" 
because  he  did  it  "from  necessity,  and  not  from  a  want  of  reverence  for  the  day, 
or  because  he  believes  it  unauthorized  by  the  head  of  the  church  as  a  Christian 
institution."  Discussion  of  various  subjects  was  continued,  but  no  actions  are 
on  record. 

10th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — November  11,  183  8,  the  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  met  in  Middletown,  Dauphin  county.  Pa.,  on  Sabbath.  Presumably  on 
Sabbath  evening,  to  hear  what  later  became  the  regular  "opening  sermon,"  though 
the  fact  only  is  recorded  by  Flake  in  a  letter  of  November  22nd,  that  Mackey 
"preached  in  the  morning,"  and  that  "other  brethren  spoke  in  the  afternoon  and 
evening."  He  thought  it  to  be  "well  to  begin  our  yearly  meetings  with  worship- 
ing God  for  one  or  two  days."  Winebrenner  was  elected  Speaker,  and  J.  AVal- 
bom.  Clerk.  Among  those  licensed  at  this  Eldership  were  Edward  H.  Thomas, 
who  later  filled  so  large  a  place  in  the  counsels  of  the  Church,  and  George  Mc- 
Cartney, third  Editor  of  The  Gospel  Publisher.  Also  John  Hickeniell,  who,  like 
most  of  the  fathers,  had  no  educational  advantages,  yet  "so  developed  his  natural 
talents  that  he  has  had  few  equals  in  West  Pennsylvania  in  pulpit  power."  When 
Winebi-enner,  who  some  charged  was  somewhat  hasty  in  receiving  strangers  into 
the  ministry,  presented  the  name  of  "Bi-o.  Ringer"  he  was  "advised  to  write  Ringer 
to  procure  some  evidence  of  his  moral  character  and  good  standing  among  the 
people  where  he  now  lives."  A  Standing  Committee  is  here  implied  to  exist,  as  it 
was  "authorized  to  withhold  or  grant  him  license  according  to  the  nature  of  his 
evidences  which  they  may  receive  from  him."  Upon  his  acknowledgment  of 
having  "done  wrong  in  taking  too  active  a  part  in  politics  in  the  late  election," 
Walborn  was  "forgiven  by  the  Eldership."  The  case  of  Wm.  C.  Cresop,  licensed 
in  1836,  was  "referred  to  the  Standing  Committee  for  examination,"  with  author- 
ity "to  expel  or  license."  Against  Joseph  Ross,  licensed  with  Ci-esop,  "charges 
were  alleged  of  backbiting,  and  that  he  indirectly  lent  his  horse  to  be  used  at  a 
political  celebration."  But  "he  was  cleared."  A  resolution  on  "Strange  Com- 
munion" was  adopted  unanimously,  that  "it  is  inexpedient  for  the  members  of 
the  Church  of  God  to  intermarry  with  the  unconverted."  Attendance  at  the 
"yearly  meetings,  or  sending  a  communication,"  was  made  obligatory  on  pain  of 
not  having  "his  license  renewed,  or  be  considered  a  member  of  this  Eldership." 
The  Pittsburg  mission  was  established,  and  J.  Hickeniell  and  E.  West  were  ap- 
pointed the  missionaries.  Besides  this  mission,  there  were  only  eight  fields  of 
labor  mapped  out,  with  eleven  pastors.  AVinebi-enner  was  appointed  "a  delegate 
to  the  General  Conference  of  the  Free-Will  Baptists,  in  Ohio,"  and  also,  with 
Flake,  "a  delegate  to  the  Ohio  Eldership."  After  discussion,  "the  question 
whether  unbaptized  persons  are  fit  subjects  for  membership  of  a  church  of  God" 


320  History  of  the   Churches  of   God 

was  "indefinitely  postponed."  The  term  "Eldership"  was  defended  on  the  ground 
that  it  is  the  same  as  "Presbytery,"  and  the  right  to  hold  an  Eldership  was  main- 
tained as  a  deduction  from  the  fact  that  while  such  a  body  existed  in  apostolic 
times  in  each  particular  church,  so  the  "elders  of  any  larger  number  would  still 
be  an  Eldership." 

11th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  eleventh  annual  meeting  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  began  its  session  at  Shiremanstown,  Cumberland  county, 
Pa.,  November  11,  1839,  with  a  membership  of  fifty-four  teaching  and  ruling 
elders.  AVinebrenner  was  elected  Speaker,  and  Edward  West,  Clerk.  A  Com- 
mittee on  Overtures,  and  a  Committee  on  Journals  were  created.  The  first  Rule 
was  adopted,  providing  that  "no  one  shall  be  permitted  to  speak  more  than  twice 
on  one  subject  without  special  permission."  When  William  Miller  reported,  a 
preamble  and  resolution  were  offered  based  on  the  fact  that  he  "has  been  faulted 
for  preaching  the  doctrine  of  the  witness  of  the  Spirit  as  one  of  the  evidences  of 
religion."  This  looked  too  much  like  "a  declaration  of  belief,"  and  so  it  was 
agreed  to  strike  out  "resolved,"  and  the  rest  was  adopted: — "That  we  agree  in 
holding  the  belief  that  the  Spirit  and  the  word  of  God  are  not  to  be  confounded 
with  each  other,  but  that  they  are  to  be  considered  as  separate  and  distinct  from 
each  other,  as  Christ  and  the  word,  or  as  soldier  and  sword;  that  the  Spirit  may 
operate  with  or  without  the  word  as  a  means;  that  he  has,  may  and  does  teach 
men  their  duty  in  some  things  apart  from  the  word  and  independent  of  it;  yet 
not  in  contradiction  of  it,  and  that  he  may,  and  sometimes  does,  bear  a  direct 
witness  with  the  spirits  of  believers  that  they  are  the  children  of  God."  George 
Kimmel  was  called  to  account  under  complaints  that  he  held  the  following 
erroneous  opinions: 

1.  That  he  was  "authorized  and  able  to  forgive  sins." 

2.  That  "three  of  the  Epistles,  to  wit,  Hebrews,  James  and  Jude,  are  not 
canonical." 

3.  Views  of  Christ  "rather  peculiar,  yet  not  materially  wrong." 

4.  Professing  "to  have  the  gift  of  healing."  After  committees  had  been  in 
consultation  with  him  for  several  years,  the  matter  was  adjusted  and  his  member- 
ship continued.  It  was  provided  that  "all  committees  appointed  by  this  Eldership 
to  try  any  member  or  members  thereof  shall, have  power  to  cite  them  to  appear  at 
such  time  and  place  as  they  may  choose  to  name."  The  local  churches  had 
hitherto  ordained  men  to  the  ministry,  as  they  did  prior  to  the  formation  of  the 
Eldership.  This  became  quite  unsatisfactory,  and  so  a  resolution  was  adopted 
"advising  the  local  and  individual  churches  not  to  grant  perpetual,  but  limited, 
licenses  to  such  as  they  may  authorize  and  appoint  to  preach."  The  Eldership 
also  expressed  its  "opinion,"  that  "church  members  are,  and  ought  to  be,  admitted 
by  mutual  consent."  Ten  fields,  with  twelve  pastors,  were  arranged  by  the 
Stationing  Committee,  Morrison's  Cove  appearing  the  first  time  as  a  circuit. 

12th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  twelfth  session  of  the  East  Pennsyl- 
vania Eldership,  held  at  Newburg,  Cumberland  county.  Pa.,  beginning  November 
9,  1840,  was  one  of  the  longest  so  far  held,  and  in  some  respects  one  of  the  most 
important.  There  were  eleven  fields  of  labor,  with  fifteen  pastors,  and  twelve 
"missionaries,"  or  local  ministers.  AVinebrenner  was  elected  Speaker,  and  Ed- 
ward AA^est,  Clerk.  The  committee  which  received  and  acted  on  letters  and  other 
documents  is  now  called  by  the  specific  name,  although  different  functions  with 
such  committees  in  other  bodies,  of  Committee  on  Overtures.  Its  duties  were 
"to  examine  and  report  on  all  communications  and  documents  addressed  to  the 
Eldership."  The  Eldership  also  for  the  first  time  passed  "censure"  on  a  church 
"for  proceeding  in  a  disorderly  manner  in  appointing  a  carap-meeting  without 
consulting  the  Camp-meeting  Committee,  and  for  examining  some  preachers  in 
good  standing  in  this  Eldership  before  permitting  them  to  exercise  at  their  meet- 
ings." The  "missionaries"  all  reported  work  done,  with  encouraging  success. 
The  Eldership  appointed  "a  Board  of  Missions,  with  a  view  to  carry  out  a  system 
of  Home  Missionary  operation,"  with  "power  to  appoint  an  agent  or  agents  to 
raise  funds  for  the  support  of  one  or  more  missionaries  to  be  appointed  and  sus- 
tained by  them."  One  minister  was  expelled  "for  immoral  conduct."  AV'm.  Mc- 
Elroy,  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church,  and  AVm.  Baiiemieister  and  John 
Tucker,  both  of  the  Baptist  Church,  were  received  and  ordained.  Nineteen  min- 
isters were  assigned  to  fields  of  labor,  on  twelve  circuits  and  stations  and  two 
missions.  The  missions  were  Virginia,  with  Samuel  Conrad  as  minister,  and 
Morrison's  Cove,  with  Lininger  and  Suavely  as  ministers.      AA'inebi-enner  insisted. 


East    Pennsylvania   Eldership  321 

for  want  of  adequate  support  the  previous  year,  that  he  be  given  "a  regular  ap- 
pointment in  future,  or  else  that  some  reasonable  guarantee  be  given  for  his  sup- 
port as  a  home  missionary."  He  v^^as  assigned  to  Middletown,  Harrisburg  and 
Lisburn. 

13th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldei-ship. — In  1841  "the  Eldership  of  the  Church  of 
God  in  Pennsylvania"  convened  at  Mt.  Joy,  Lancaster  county.  Pa.,  with  thirty-nine 
ministers  enrolled.  Provision  was  made  for  "messengers,"  several  delegates  hav- 
ing reported  who  were  not  elders.  They  were  granted  the  "privilege  of  deliberat- 
ing upon  all  subjects  before  this  Eldership,  but  not  to  vote."  Winebrenner  was 
elected  Speaker,  and  Joseph  Ross,  First  Clerk,  and  J.  F.  Weishampel,  Second 
Clerk.  Thomas  Hickernell  was  a  delegate  from  the  Ohio  Eldership.  There  were 
several  ministers  expelled,  Walborn  on  account  of  "expressions  which  would  seri- 
ously impeach  the  character  of  sundry  of  the  teaching  elders  of  this  Eldership," 
and  because  he  "refused  to  make  confession  that  he  did  wrong;"  Bauermeister 
"for  immoral  conduct  and  hypocrisy,"  and  J.  Myers  "for  immoral  conduct."  But 
among  the  licentiates  were  two  young  men  who  filled  a  large  place  in  the  subse- 
quent history  of  the  Church,  George  Upton  Harn  and  Carlton  Price.  The  Board 
of  Missions  created  in  1840  reported  the  receipt  of  $70.00,  and  the  expenditure  of 
$75.83.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  negotiate  with,  Winebrenner  for  the  pur- 
chase of  his  copyrights  and  stereotype  plates  of  the  "Revival  Hymn  Book"  and 
the  "Reference  and  Pronouncing  Testament."  Winebrenner  offered  to  sell  them 
for  $2,000.  William  Miller  was  appointed  to  splicit  subscriptions  for  this  pur- 
pose in  Pennsylvania,  and  Thomas  Hickernell,  in  Ohio.  The  territory  of  the  Eld- 
ership was  divided  into  fourteen  fields  of  labor,  with  sixteen  pastors.  Wine- 
brenner and  Flake  were  assigned  to  Lancaster  City.  The  Eldership  decided  as 
its  "unanimous  opinion,"  "that  baptism  prior  to  conversion  is  unlawful,  and  there- 
fore a  person  should  be  rebaptized  after  he  becomes  a  believer." 

14th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — When  "the  Eldership  of  the  Church  of 
God  in  Pennsylvania  met  at  Fayetteville,  Franklin  county,  Pa.,  on  Monday  the 
7th  day  of  November,  A.  D.  1842,"  twenty-nine  ministers  were  enrolled.  They 
elected  George  McCartney,  Speaker,  and  M.  F.  Snavely,  First  Clerk,  and  J.  H.  Bam- 
berger, Second  Clerk.  When  in  1831  a  Committee  on  Rules  was  appointed,  and 
its  report  later  "ordered  to  lie  on  the  table,"  it  was  never  called  up,  and  the  Eld- 
ership had  neither  Constitution,  nor  Rules  of  Order.  But  at  this  Eldership  Wine- 
brenner offered  a  resolution  "that  a  committee  be  appointed  to  draft  an  Order  of, 
and  Rules  for,  the  transaction  of  business  at  this  meeting."  Winebrenner, 
Mackey  and  William  Miller  were  appointed.  They  forthwith  reported  an  "Order 
of  Business"  of  six  items,  and  eight  "Rules  of  Order."  These  Rules  provided  for 
two  daily  sessions;  religious  worship  at  the  opening  of  each  session;  election  of 
Speaker  and  Clerks  who  shall  preside  and  conduct  the  business;  only  ministers 
of  the  Eldership  and  delegates  elected  by  the  churches  shall  have  the  right  to 
vote;  speakers  limited  to  half  an  hour  on  a  subject  and  to  two  speeches;  motions 
admissible  when  a  motion  is  pending,  and  the  right  to  appeal  from  decisions  of 
the  Speaker,  except  "when  he  gives  the  casting  vote."  Ministers  had  been  re- 
quired to  withdraw  when  they  had  reported,  and  while  their  characters  were 
being  investigated.  This  rule  was  abrogated.  About  three  hundred  and  fifty 
conversions  were  reported  during  the  year.  The  committee  to  raise  funds  to 
purchase  Winebrenner's  stereotype  plates  reported  $745.75  subscribed,  and 
$559.00  paid  in.  In  order  to  provide  funds  for  missionary  purposes  a  resolution 
was  adopted  directing  each  preacher,  "if  the  churches  for  which  he  labors  agree 
to  it,"  to  "lift  two  collections  each  year  for  missionary  purposes."  There  were 
six  stations  and  nine  circuits  to  which  nineteen  preachers  were  appointed,  and 
Baltimore  City  was  to  be  supplied.  Indiana  circuit  was  created,  with  J.  M.  Klein 
as  pastor.  Cumberland  county  circuit  during  the  year  1841-2  had  increased  from 
fourteen  to  twenty-two  appointments.      Other  fields  were  expanding. 

15th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Following  the  great  excitement  incident 
to  the  Millerite  movement,  the  "Pennsylvania  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  met 
at  Shippensburg,  Cumberland  county.  Pa.,  on  the  6th  of  November,  1843."  Flake 
was  elected  Speaker,  and  Geo.  McCartney,  First  Clerk,  and  J.  H.  Bamberger, 
Second  Clerk.  The  "Rules  of  Order  and  Schedule  of  Business  of  last  year"  were 
adopted  "for  the  government  of  the  present  Eldership."  It  had  been  suggested 
in  advance  by  Weishampel  that  "the  Eldership  might  give  some  wholesome  sug- 
gestions to  the  churches  on  a  number  of  subjects,"  and  mentioned  "the  propriety 
or  impropriety  of  attending  to  the  ordinances  at  camp-meetings  and  other  large 

C.  H.— 12 


322  History   op^   ths  Churches  of'   God 

meetings;  on  forming  missionary  societies  in  each  local  church,  etc.;"  but  the 
Eldership  ignored  the  suggestions.  The  first  steps  were  taken  to  form  another 
Eldership.  A  letter  was  received  from  the  Ohio  Eldership,  "requesting  the  for- 
mation of  a  new  Eldership  in  western  Pennsylvania  and  the  eastern  part  of  Ohio." 
Mackey  offered  a  resolution  "that  this  Eldership  agree  to  the  proposition,"  and  it 
was  adopted,  and  J.  M.  Klein,  pastor  on  the  Indiana  circuit,  was  "appointed  as  a 
delegate  to  the  new  Eldership,  and  be  instructed  by_  the  Standing  Committee." 
Two  delegates  were  also  appointed  to  attend  "the  extra  session  of  the  Ohio  Elder- 
ship in  December  next."  To  guard  against  objectionable  books  being  introduced 
into  the  families  of  churches  of  God,  or  to  facilitate  the  circulation  of  approved 
publications,  the  Eldership  appointed  "a  committee  to  examine  the  books  of  the 
American  Baptist  Publication  Society,  and  recommend  to  the  members  of  the 
Church  of  God  such  as  they  could  approve."  The  first  private  session  was  held. 
An  unusual  number  of  conversions  was  reported,  aggregating  over  one  thousand. 
Keller  reported  "between  five  hundred  and  six  hundred"  on  his  field.  Ham  bap- 
tized "sixty  or  seventy."  J.  Ross  "baptized  about  one  hundred  and  fifty."  Lin- 
inger  "baptized  between  forty  and  fifty."  Winebrenner  said:  "In  no  one  year 
of  the  twenty-three  years  he  had  gone  preaching  the  gospel  had  he  witnessed  such 
mighty  displays  of  Jehovah's  power  in  the  conversion  of  sinners  as  during  the 
past  year."  The  resolution  to  grant  licenses  only  to  "applicants  who  are  disposed 
to  travel"  was  rescinded.  Among  the  half  dozen  who  applied  for,  and  received, 
licenses  was  John  C.  Owens,  "a  preacher  in  the  Methodist  connection,"  but  he  was 
directed  first  to  be  baptized.  The  purchase  of  the  stereotype  plates  having  fallen 
through,  it  was  "resolved  that  the  money  which  had  been,  or  may  be,  collected  be 
paid  over  to  Bro.  J,  AVinebrenner  towards  the  debt  which  the  Eldership  owes 
him."     But  the  wishes  of  contributors  were  to  be  consulted. 

16th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — For  the  first  time  it  is  "the  East  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God,"  and  it  met  at  Linglestown,  Dauphin 
county,  Pa.,  less  than  a  mile  from  Wenrich's  Reformed  church.  The  date  is 
November  13,  1844.  Some  new  problems  confronted  the  fifty  ministers  and 
thirty  ruling  elders  which  sat  together  in  serious  deliberation.  George  McCart- 
ney was  duly  elected  Speaker,  and  J.  H.  Bamberger,  First  Clerk,  and  E.  H. 
Thomas,  Second  Clerk.  The  advisory  members  were  made  "full  members,"  and 
voted  as  well  as  spoke  on  questions  before  the  body.  The  idea  of  forming  a  Gen- 
eral Eldership  was  brought  before  this  Eldership  by  Winebrenner  at  the  morning 
session  of  the  second  day.  It  had  not  been  discussed  in  The  Gospel  Publisher; 
but  Winebrenner  had  been  at  the  Ohio  Eldership  October  14,  1844,  and  at  the 
West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  on'  October  2  8th,  in  part  to  urge  this  matter  upon 
them.  He  did  so  successfully.  He  therefore  "brought  before  this  Eldership  the 
actions  of  the  Ohio  and  West  Pennsylvania  Elderships  touching  the  propriety  of 
holding  a  General  Eldership,  for  the  transaction  of  business  of  a  general  char- 
acter." After  some  explanations  and  an  interchange  of  views,  the  Eldership  en- 
dorsed the  movement,  and  at  once  elected  five  teaching  and  five  ruling  elders  by 
ballot  as  delegates.  It  also  resolved  "that  said  General  Eldership  hold  its  first 
meeting  in  the  city  of  Pittsburg,  to  commence  on  the  25th  of  May,  1845."  The 
three-year  limit  of  pastorates  was  established.  It  also  took  an  important  step 
to  strengthen  the  authority  of  the  Eldership  over  ministers  by  adopting  a  resolu- 
tion declaring  "that  any  preacher  belonging  to  this  Eldership,  who  shall  refuse  to 
carry  out  any  order  or  resolution  thereof  shall  be  liable  to  a  charge  of  contumacy 
and  insubordination  before  the  Standing  Committee,  or  before  this  body." 
Written  reports  of  ministers  were  required,  to  be  handed  to  the  Clerk  for  publi- 
cation in  the  Journal.  During  the  Summer,  in  the  absence  of  any  Rule  or  Con- 
stitutional provision,  Winebrenner  had  written  strongly  in  defense  of  co-opera- 
tion, because  Weishampel,  aided  editorially  by  Mackey,  had  started  an  indepen- 
dent paper,  called  "Gospel  Missionary."     He  stigmatized  it  as  a  "disorderly  and 

disorganizing  project  ,  contrary  to  all  good  government."      He  insisted 

that  "when  he  [Weishampel]  entered  the  Eldership  he  pledged  himself  to  the  sys- 
tem of  co-operation."  And  "there  is  no  manner  of  use  to  adopt  the  plan  of  co- 
operation, and  then  every  one  ad  libitum  make  a  strike  for  independency."  "Be- 
fore he  commenced  his  'Gospel  Missionary'  he  ought  to  have  consulted  his  breth- 
ren, and  obtained  permission  to  do  so."  The  Eldership  took  up  the  matter,  and 
it  sustained  these  views  by  declaring  that  it  holds  the  course  of  these  brethren  "to 
be  Irregular  and  contrary  to  the  plan  of  co-operation,"  because  they  had  "taken 
in  hand  to  start  the  publication  of  a  paper,  called  the  'Gospel  Missionary,'  with- 


East   Pennsylvania   Eldership  323 

out  the  consent  and  approbation  of  the  Eldership."  Mackey  made  a  public  ex- 
planation of  his  course,  and  it  was  condoned,  and  his  license  was  renewed.  But 
Weishampel,  because  he  was  "guilty  of  an  act  of  insubordination  in  starting  a 
publication  in  violation  of  a  pledge  given  to  this  Eldership,"  and  "for  contempt 
of  this  Eldership,"  and  "unjust  charges  and  unchristian  epithets,"  and  "for  un- 
just charges  against  this  body,"  was  expelled.  He  was  subsequently  restored  as 
at  heart  loyal,  and  upon  good  evidence  of  repentance.  Samuel  Crawford,  a 
Methodist  minister  and  a  radical  anti-tobacconist,  received  license.  The  first 
mention  of  an  "institution  of  learning"  was  in  a  resolution  recommending  "the 
Cedar  Hill  Seminary  to  our  brethren  and  friends,"  a  school  for  "young  ladies." 
A  day  of  "fasting  and  prayer  for  the  purity  and  prosperity  of  religion  among  us, 
and  throughout  the  world"  was  appointed.  There  were  ten  stations  and  sixteen 
circuits,  to  which  twenty-eight  preachers  were  appointed. 

17th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  Eldership  met  at  Lancaster,  Lan- 
caster county,  November  12,  1845.  J.  Flake  was  elected  Speaker;  George  Mc- 
Cartney, Recording  Clerk,  and  J.  H.  Bamberger,  Transcribing  Clerk.  Winebren- 
ner  offered  Rules  of  Order,  which  were  adopted.  Also  a  motion  providing  for 
eight  committees.  Upon  invitation  "from  various  ministers  now  met  in  the 
Presbyterian  meeting-house  in  this  city,"  the  Eldership  appointed  a  committee  of 
five  to  attend  a  convention  the  first  evening  of  its  session  "to  adopt  measures  for 
the  better  sanctification  of  the  Sabbath  and  the  suppression  of  vice  and  immoral- 
ity." The  Gospel  Publisher  had  been  suspended  in  August  preceding  the  Elder- 
ship, and  hence  arrangements  were  made  to  issue  an  edition  December  12,  1845, 
to  contain  the  Journal.  The  reports  of  ministers  so  far  as  published  do  not  show 
as  large  a  number  of  conversions  and  accessions  as  some  former  years.  The 
circuits  were  mostly  very  large.  Dauphin  and  Lebanon  circuit  reported  twenty- 
seven  appointments,  with  nine  organized  churches  and  seven  houses  of  worship. 
The  Hagerstown  circuit,  Md.,  had  ten  regular  appointments.  Many  fields  were 
reported  in  a  very  prosperous  condition.  As  this  Eldership  followed  the  session 
of  the  first  General  Eldership,  held  in  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  May  25,  1845,  when  "a 
wise,  just  and  equitable  plan  for  general  co-operation"  was  matured,  a  resolution 
was  reported  by  the  Committee  on  Journals,  declaring  that  "this  Eldership  highly 
approves  of  all  the  doings  of  the  General  Eldership,  and  cordially  pledges  itself 
to  co-operate  with  it  according  to  the  Constitution,  or  plan,  unanimously  adopted." 
This  "report  elicited  considerable  discussion"  at  the  Saturday  morning  session, 
when  it  was  postponed  until  the  afternoon.  The  "afternoon  was  entirely  occu- 
pied in  discussing  the  resolution  on  the  adoption  of  the  Journal  of  the  General 
Eldership."  It  was  resumed  on  Monday  morning,  and  again  postponed  "after  a 
short  time  spent  in  the  interchange  of  views."  In  the  afternoon  "the  interchange 
of  views  and  sentiments"  was  continued,  until  finally  "the  report  was  unani- 
mously adopted."  Upon  objection  formally  made  to  members  of  churches  of 
God  "attaching  themselves  to,  or  belonging  to,  the  'Sons  of  Temperance,'  or  any 
secret  associations,"  the  Eldership  adopted  a  resolution  declaring  it  to  be  "inex- 
pedient for  this  body  to  interfere  with  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  members 
of  this  Eldership,  and  the  private  members  of  the  local  churches  in  mere  matters 
of  opinion  respecting  charitable  and  reform  associations."  A  Board  of  Missions 
was  appointed,  and  it  was  recommended  to  the  churches  "to  raise  missionary 
funds  on  the  plan  proposed  by  the  General  Eldership."  A  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  arrange  for  the  camp-meetings  in  1846.  J.  A.  Plowman  submitted  "a 
proposition  for  a  union  between  this  Eldership  and  what  he  calls  the  General  Con- 
ference of  the  Church  of  God."  He  asked  for  a  committee  to  be  appointed  to 
meet  a  like  committee  from  said  Conference  at  Smith's  school-house,  Bedford 
county.  Pa.,  on  January  2,  1846,  "to  mature  and  complete,  on  certain  conditions, 
the  proposed  union."  Owing  to  the  fact  that  Plowman  had  formerly  been  a 
member  of  the  church  of  God  at  Shepherdstown,  Cumberland  county.  Pa.,  the 
Eldership  declared  that  it  "can  not  agree  to  notice  any  overtures  from"  him.  The 
Eldership  took  strong  and  definite  action  on  the  question  of  starting  a  new  paper". 
There  were  nine  stations  and  eleven  circuits.  Among  them  were  Philadelphia,. 
Baltimore,  Dauphin  and  Juniata  counties.  Broad  Top  and  Awkwick,  with  two- 
fields  in  Maryland. 

18th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership, — The  Eldership  in  1846,  which  assembled' 
at  Mechanicsburg,  Cumberland  county,  on  October  28th,  is  the  first  one  to  be 
"opened  with  a  discourse,"  which  was  delivered  by  Winebrenner.  Subject — "A 
Zealous  Ministry."     Text — Gal.  iv.   8.     This  was  in  accordance  with  a  resolution 


324  History  op  the   Churchks  of  God 

of  the  previous  Eldership.  There  were  twenty-three  ministers  enrolled.  Jacob 
Keller  was  elected  Speaker;  E,  H.  Thomas,  First  Clerk,  and  Abraham  Swartz, 
Assistant.  When  the  "Martinsburg  station"  was  called,  "George  3IcCartney, 
teaching  elder,"  the  entry  in  the  Journal  is:  "Non  est  inventus."  He  had  with- 
drawn from  fellowship  with  the  Church  of  God.  Mackey  having  been  elected  a 
member  of  the  Legislature,  the  question  was  raised  whether  a  minister  may  hold 
3,  political  office,  that  of  Justice  "of  the  Peace  being  also  mentioned.  The  matter 
•was  referred  to  a  "private  session,"  and  the  "decision"  asked  for  is  not  published. 
Most  rigid  discipline  was  administered,  and  charges  against  ministers  were 
promptly  taken  up.  Edward  West,  who  had  returned  his  license  received  in  1845, 
brought  three  charges  against  Winebrenner.  The  first  was  for  "monopolizing  the 
publication  and  sale  of  hymn-books  in  the  Church,  and  treating  as  disorderly 
walkers  those  who  spoke  of  publishing  a  hymn-book."  The  Eldership  decided 
that  the  hymn-book  in  use  was  duly  authorized.  The  second  charge  was  one 
relating  to  the  right  of  "a  church  to  license  preachers,"  which  West  maintained 
according  to  Winebrenner's  teaching  in  1829.  But  Winebrenner  accepted  the 
action  of  the  Eldership  assuming  exclusive  right  to  license  preachers,  and  so  in- 
sisted that  West  should  "submit  to  the  proper  authorities,  or  he  should  be  marked 
as  the  Apostle  directs."  The  third  charge  was  for  inconsistency  in  this  matter  of 
the  right  of  a  local  church  licensing  preachers.  AVinebrenner  explained  this  with 
the  statement,  that  he  "holds  that  the  Eldership  has  the  sole  right  to  license  the 
preachers  connected  with,  and  being  members  of,  that  body;  but  does  not  deny 
the  right  of  individual  churches  to  give  license  to  preachers  of  their  congrega- 
tions who  are  not  connected  with  this  Eldership." 

For  the  first  time  applicants  for  license  were  required  to  go  before  a  com- 
mittee on  license.  P.  Stanton,  colored,  licensed  in  1844,  was  this  year  appointed 
to  a  mission  in  Carroll  county,  Md.,  the  first  colored  minister  to  receive  a  charge 
from  an  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God.  There  were  ten  circuits,  four  missions 
and  nine  stations.  Among  the  misisonaries  was  E.  Logue  to  Iowa.  Ham  had 
by  this  time  so  changed  his  views  on  Eldership  titles  from  "Eldership  of  the 
Church  of  God,"  to  "Eldership  of  churches  of  God,"  that  he  persistently  used  the 
latter  in  his  communications  to  the  Eldership.  But  it  had  not  yet  become  a 
mooted  question. 

The  Board  of  Missions  reported  the  receipt  of  $90.37.  Yet  the  Eldership 
authorized  it  for  the  following  year  "to  appropriate  one  hundred  dollars  to  the 
Philadelphia  mission,  and  fifty  dollars  to  the  Baltimore  mission,"  without  any 
provision  for  the  Pittsburg  mission,  the  Iowa  mission,  the  Lancaster  and  Berks 
county  mission,  and  the  Carroll  county,  Md.,  mission  for  the  colored  people. 

19th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — As  per  resolution  adopted  in  1846,  J. 
Flake  opened  the  Eldership  session  of  1847  "with  a  discourse"  on  Wednesday 
evening,  the  20th  of  October.  On  the  following  day,  instead  of  the  officers  of  the 
previous  Eldership,  two  ministers  were  appointed  to  constitute  the  Eldership. 
There  were  twenty-eight  teaching  elders  and  nineteen  ruling  elders  enrolled.  E. 
Bl.  Thomas  was  elected  Speaker;  Jacob  Keller,  First  Clerk,  and  D.  A.  L.  Laverty, 
Assistant.  As  there  were  no  permanent  Rules,  and  no  Constitution,  the  old  Rules 
•were  adopted.  Among  the  committees  was  one  on  Education,  but  no  report  was 
made.  The  powers  of  the  Standing  Committee  were  defined  in  a  series  of  six 
rules,  authorizing  it  to  grant  licenses  and  "receive  persons  as  applicants  for  ad- 
mission into  the  Eldership;  upon  request  by  churches  or  preachers  concerned  to 
make  changes;  to  inquire  into  complaints  against  the  moral  and  ministerial  con- 
duct of  preachers,  and  advise,  reprove,  rebuke  or  suspend  them;  act  as  mediators 
in  church  difficulties,  and  act  as  trustees  of  property  belonging  to  the  Eldership. 
Accordingly  the  deed  for  the  property  purchased  in  Baltimore  for  a  meeting-house 
"was  directed  to  be  made  to  the  Standing  Committee,  and  their  successors  in  office. 
The  General  Eldership  plan  for  raising  missionary  money  through  societies  in  the 
•churches  was  adopted.  The  Board  of  Missions  reported  $151.75  received,  and 
$127  paid  out. 

A  new  rule  was  adopted,  by  which  all  ruling  elders  in  attendance  were  "en- 
titled to  full  membership;  but  hereafter  none  shall  be  so  admitted  except  such  as 
are  regularly  appointed  to  represent  the  several  stations  and  circuits  equal  to 
the  number  of  their  teaching  elders."  Provision  was  also  now  made  to  pay  the 
expenses  of  the  Standing  Committee.  J.  H.  Bamberger's  "legacy  left  to  the  Eld- 
ership" was  being  contested  by  the  heirs,  and  the  Eldership  disapproved  of  taking 
advantage  on  the  part  of  any  of  the  heirs  "of  a  mere  defect  and  technicality  in 


East    Pennsylvania   Eldership  325 

law,  and  thereby  frustrate  the  expressed  wishes  of  the  testator."  Preachers  were 
required  to  report  hereafter  the  number  of  preaching  places  on  their  charges,  and 
give  the  reasons  for  dropping  any  points. 

Six  teaching  elders  and  six  ruling  elders  were  elected  as  delegates  to  the 
General  Eldership  in  184  8.  Collections  were  ordered  "on  the  several  stations 
and  circuits  for  the  purpose  of  defraying  the  traveling  expenses  of  the  delegates 
to  the  General  Eldership."  A  camp-meeting  committee  was  appointed.  In  the 
report  of  the  Stationing  Committee  the  stations  were  reduced  to  seven,  and  the 
circuits,  to  nine,  with  a  mission  in  Illinois,  unsupplied,  and  one  in  Iowa,  with  E. 
Logue  as  missionary. 

20th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — According  to  resolution,  the  twentieth 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  met  at  Orrstown,  Franklin  county,  November  1, 
184  8.  E.  H.  Thomas  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  on  Wednesday  morning.  The 
enrollment  showed  a  remarkable  condition.  There  were  seventeen  active  teach- 
ing elders  present,  and  six  ruling  elders  as  delegates.  Also  nineteen  "mission- 
aries," or  teaching  elders  without  appointments,  while  twenty-two  teaching  elders 
were  absent.  The  officers  elected  were:  Speaker,  A.  Swartz;  Clerk,  J.  C.  Owens; 
Assistant  Clerk,  Wm.  Mooney.  A  Stationing  Committee  was  elected  by  ballot. 
E.  West  withdrew  from  the  Eldership  and  the  Church  of  God,  and  published  his 
reasons  in  a  pamphlet.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  "report  on  the  same,"  but 
no  subsequent  mention  is  made  of  the  case.  Further  dissensions  and  troubles  are 
indicated  by  the  withdrawal  of  several  other  ministers,  and  the  expulsion  of  three 
or  four.  Otherwise  the  prospects  were  reported  as  "good  all  around."  A  project 
was  started  to  procure  and  publish  in  a  book  "the  biographical  sketches  of  the 
first  one  hundred  ministers  of  the  Church  of  God  in  North  America."  "The  tithe 
system,  as  adopted  by  the  General  Eldership,  was  discussed,  and  after  some  debate 
was  indefinitely  postponed."  The  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  which  failed 
to  attend  its  session  were  required  "to  give  their  reasons  for  non-attendance." 
The  number  of  circuits  was  increased  by  division  of  a  few  of  the  largest.  The 
Dauphin,  Lebanon  and  Schuylkill  circuit,  with  its  twenty-five  and  thirty  appoint- 
ments, was  divided  into  the  Dauphin  circuit  and  the  Schuylkill  circuit.  Lancaster 
circuit  was  continued,  with  its  fourteen  appointments;  Perry  and  Juniata,  with 
its  sixteen  preaching  places;  while  York  circuit,  with  its  thirteen  appointments, 
was  divided  into  Lower  End  and  Upper  End.  Cumberland  had  twenty  appoint- 
ments. 

Another  colored  minister,  Henry  Goings,  was  licensed.  The  licentiates  were 
for  the  first  time  formally  addressed  by  a  minister  appointed  by  the  Eldership. 
Benjamin  Howard,  Free  Baptist,  of  New  York  State,  was  an  advisory  member. 

The  Eldership  arranged  to  "create  a  fund  for  the  relief  of  poor,  worn-out 
preachers,  preachers'  widows  and  orphans,"  "by  each  member  paying  one-half 
per  cent,  annually  on  his  whole  income."  The  churches  were  also  advised  "to 
establish  a  church  fund  on  the  same  equitable,  reasonable  and  Scriptural  prin- 
ciples." The  desirability  of  the  Church  having  an  institution  of  learning  was 
strongly  expressed  by  the  Committee  on  Education,  and  it  recommended  "the  ap- 
pointment of  a  committee  of  five  members  of  this  Eldership  to  consider  the  ex- 
pediency of  establishing  such  an  institution  of  learning."  The  committee  ap- 
pointed was  Winebrenner,  Ham,  Flake,  Swartz  and  Thomas.  Uniformity  in  the 
observance  of  the  ordinances  was  insisted  upon. 

21st  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — When  the  twenty-first  Eldership  convened 
at  Washington  Borough,  Lancaster  county,  October  31,  1849,  D.  Maxwell,  who  had 
been  appointed  "to  deliver  the  opening  discourse,"  was  absent,  and  B.  Howard,  of 
the  Church  of  God,  or  Free  Baptist  Church,  New  York  State,  was  appointed  in  his 
place.  In  the  afternoon  when  the  Eldership  was  constituted  there  were  seven 
stations  and  ten  circuits,  six  of  which  were  not  represented.  Twenty-nine  min- 
isters out  of  a  total  enrollment  of  forty-six  were  absent.  A.  D.  Williams,  Free 
Baptist,  was  present,  as  was  also  S.  B.  Howard,  son  of  B.  Howard,  a  Free  Baptist. 
These  brethren,  as  advisory  members,  "suggested  the  propriety  of  a  correspon- 
dence between  the  General  Conference  of  the  Free-Will  Baptists  and  this  Elder- 
ship." The  Eldership  took  favorable  action,  and  appointed  "John  Wfnebi-enner 
and  G.  U.  Harn  corresponding  messengers  to  the  next  General  Conference  of  that 
denomination." 

A  Rule  was  adopted,  "that  the  ruling  elders  of  the  churches  have  an  equal 
representation  with  the  teaching  elders,  and  the  right  to  vote."  The  first  move- 
ment looking  toward  the  adoption  of  a  Constitution  since  in  1831,  when  a  brief 


326  History  of  the   Churches   of   God 

draft  of  one  was  laid  on  the  table,  was  made  when  a  resolution  was  adopted  "to 
appoint  a  committee  to  draft  a  Constitution  for  the  government  of  this  body." 
Winebi-enner,  W.  Hiniiey  and  A.  Swartz  were  appointed.  The  project  of  hold- 
ing "a  model  camp-meeting"  was  endorsed,  and  a  committee  appointed  to  con- 
duct it.  Sunday-schools  were  strongly  approved,  as  "an  institution  peculiarly 
blessed  of  God,  and  destined  ultimately  to  become  the  chief  nui'sery  of  youthful 
minds  in  religion  and  morality."  On  the  matter  of  an  institution  of  learning  the 
committee  only  advised  that  "the  subject  be  agitated  by  all  the  ministers,  and 
kept  before  the  mind  of  the  public."  A  nutfiber  of  new  preaching  points  were 
reported.  The  work  was  extended  westward  from  Matamoras,  Dauphin  county, 
into  Juniata  county.  A  circuit  was  created  in  Lehigh  and  Berks  counties.  T.  H. 
Deshiri  was  transferred  to  Ohio;  M.  F.  Snavely  and  L.  Lininger,  to  Iowa.  Several 
ministers  were  expelled,  on  account  of  "the  low,  declining  state  of  religion." 
"Friday,  the  21st  day  of  December  next,  be  recommended  to  the  Church  of  God 
to  be  observed  as  a  day  of  fasting,  humiliation  and  prayer." 

The  Eldership  resolved  that  "the  ruling  power  of  the  Church  is  vested  in  the 
teaching  and  ruling  elders  thereof."  A  Committee  on  Boundaries  having  been 
created,  it  reduced  the  stations  to  five,  and  rearranged  the  circuits  so  as  to  make 
thirteen.  To  these  fields  twenty-one  ministers  were  appointed.  The  Board  of 
Missions  reported  its  receipts  as  having  been   $183.28;    expenditures,   $141.50. 

22nd  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — With  the  Eldership  which  convened  at 
Churchtown,  Cumberland  county.  Pa.,  October  16,  1850,  it  entered  upon  the  third 
decade  of  its  existence.  Yet  this  was  the  twenty-second  meeting,  three  sessions 
having  been  held  the  first  year.  It  is  a  decade  which  chronicled  some  of  the  most 
vital  events  which  had  transpired  in  the  whole  cycle  of  years  since  1830.  When 
this  Eldership  was  constituted  it  was  found  that  there  were  five  stations  and 
twelve  circuits.  Twenty-seven  teaching  elders  "were  found  to  be  in  attendance." 
Wm.  McFadden  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  G.  U.  Ham  and  J.  Haifleigh,  Clerks. 
There  being  no  Constitution,  and  also  no  permanent  Rules  of  Order,  ten  Parlia- 
mentory  Rules  were  adopted,  under  which  the  business  was  transacted.  Ham 
submitted  four  resolutions  which  were  referred  to  committees.  One  proposed  a 
committee  of  twelve  which  was  "to  select  a  site  and  erect,  rent  or  purchase  a  suit- 
able building  or  buildings  in  which  to  commence  an  institution  of  learning." 
The  committee  reported  through  The  Church  Advocate  a  well-devised  plan  to 
secure  "a  literary  institution."  The  second  suggested  "the  propriety  of  appoint- 
ing a  World's  Convention  for  the  purpose  of  presenting  a  new  and  improved 
version  of  the  whole  Bible."  The  third  declared  that  the  time  had  "arrived  for 
the  churches  of  God  to  take  some  efficient  measures  to  sustain  a  missionary  or 
misisonaries  in  heathen  lands."  The  fourth,  requiring  church  members  upon 
removal  "into  other  neighborhoods  to  take  letters  of  recommendation  and  pre- 
sent them  to  the  churches  where  they  locate."  The  latter  was  adopted,  but  the 
other  two  were  buried  in  committees.  The  committee  appointed  in  1849  "to 
draft  a  Constitution  for  the  government  of  this  Eldership"  was  not  prepared  to 
report.  It  was  continued,  and  was  instructed  to  "report  through  The  Advocate." 
The  presence  of  S.  B.  Howard,  of  the  Free-Will  Baptist  Church,  and  Amos  Sutton, 
of  "the  General  Baptist  body  in  England,"  awakened  a  strong  sentiment  of  friend- 
ship and  closer  fellowship,  especially  in  foreign  mission  work.  Ham  dwelt  on 
this  point  in  his  report  of  his  visit  to  the  General  Conference  of  the  Free-Will 
Baptist  Church,  suggesting  "the  strengthening  of  the  bonds  of  Christian  fellow- 
ship, with  the  ultimate  object  of  Christian  union  between  the  Free-Will  Baptists 
and  the  churches  of  God."  The  report  of  Ham  as  delegate  to  the  Free-Will  Bap- 
tist General  Conference  occasioned  the  sharpest  and  most  protracted  debate  on 
the  floor  of  the  Eldership  which  had  hitherto  been  witnessed.  Winebrenner, 
Ham,  Thomas  and  Swartz  were  the  principal  speakers.  Before  the  Free-Will 
Baptist  General  Conference  Ham  had  "read  the  resolutions  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship on  the  subject  of  slavery,  giving  also  a  short  account  of  the  practice  and 
views  of  the  churches  in  relation  to  that  subject,  and  an  expression  of  his  own, 
that  the  bare  relation  of  master  and  slave  should  not  debar  from  Christian  fellow- 
ship in  all  cases."  It  was  on  this  point  that  the  "lengthy  debate"  took  place. 
Thomas  moved  the  adoption  of  the  report.  Swartz  offered  an  amendment,  de- 
claring that  the  Eldership  "holds  the  sentiment  that  the  relation  between  master 
and  slave,  as  it  exists  in  this  country,  is  sinful  and  subversive  of  Christian 
equality,  arid  at  war  with  republican  liberty;"  and  further,  "disclaiming  Bro. 
Harn's  views  on   slavery  as   expressed    before    said     Conference."       Winebrenner 


East  Pennsylvania    Eldership  327 

moved  "to  strike  out  the  preamble  and  second  resolution,"  leaving  the  first  reso- 
lution as  here  quoted  stand.  Svvartz  then  withdrew  the  second  resolution,  and 
so  a  yea  and  nay  vote  was  taken  on  the  motion  of  Thomas,  "that  his  report  be 
adopted."  There  were  seventeen  yeas  and  nineteen  nays.  Ham  then  "moved 
that  this  action  be  stricken  from  the  Journal,"  but  this  was  "not  agreed  to." 
Later  Price  "moved  a  reconsideration  of  the  vote  on  the  adoption  of  Bro.  Ham's 
report."  Winebrenner  "moved  that  the  call  for  the  reconsideration  of  Bro. 
Ham's  report  be  indefinitely  postponed,"  which  "carried."  This  disposed  of  the 
whole  subject.  The  matter,  however,  was  revived  through  The  Church  Advocate. 
Harn  was  dissatisfied,  and  claiming  that  "the  hasty  action  of  the  late  Eldership 
on  the  slavery  question  places  me  before  the  world  and  the  churches  of  God,  and 
especially  the  Free-Will  Baptist  denomination,  in  an  unenviable  predicament." 
He  defended  his  course  and  position  in  a  clear  and  cojent  article  published  in  The 
Advocate.  A.  D.  Williams,  Free-Will  Baptist,  took  up  the  matter,  and  demanded 
a  statement  from  Winebrenner  as  to  "your  own  views  upon  the  subject  of  slavery, 
and  also  with  what  you  regard  the  true  position  of  the  Eldership  in  relation  to 
it."  This  he  did  at  some  length,  assuring  Williams  that,  "we  are  happy  to  say 
that  this  difference  of  opinion  has  not  led  to  strifes  and  divisions  among  our- 
selves, as  unfortunately  it  has  done  in  other  bodies."  Missionary  interests  re- 
ceived much  attention  at  this  Eldership,  and  an  evening  session  was  held  to  dis- 
cuss mission  enterprises.  Two  missionary  agents  were  "appointed  to  canvass  the 
entire  bounds  of  the  Eldership;  present  the  claims  of  missions  to  the  churches, 
and  take  up  pledges,  donations  and  collections  in  aid  of  the  missionary  cause." 
This  was  in  view  of  securing  the  needed  funds  "to  employ  and  send  out  three  mis- 
sionaries to  Illinois  and  two  to  Iowa  next  Spring."  The  Eldership  for  the  first 
time  received  a  formal  communication  from  sisters  of  the  churches,  in  the  form 
of  a  memorial,  praying  "your  body  to  give  public  expression  upon  the  subject  of 
the  use  of  tobacco  as  a  luxury."  A  resolution  was  immediately  adopted,  "recom- 
mending to  each  member  of  this  body,  and  all  the  members  of  the  churches  gen- 
erally, to  abstain  from  so  filthy  a  practice."  But  there  was  opposition  to  the 
resolution,  one  minister  offering  a  motion  "that  the  whole  matter  be  laid  on  the 
table."  The  territory  of  the  Eldership  was  divided  into  six  stations  and  fourteen 
circuits,  with  twenty-four  pastors.  The  Standing  Committee  was  made  the  Camp- 
meeting  Committee,  to  arrange  for  the  camp-meetings  to  be  held  in  1851. 

23rd  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Prior  to  the  meeting  of  the  Eldership  at 
Middletown,  Dauphin  caunty,  Pa.,  November  5,  1851,  the  Committee  to  draft  a 
Constitution,  consisting  of  Winebi-enner,  Mooney  and  Swartz, '  reported  through 
The  Church  Advocate.  This  long  delay  to  adopt  a  Constitution  resulted  from 
opposition  to  such  an  instrument  on  the  ground  that  it  partook  of  the  nature  of 
legislation  and  creed-subscription,  as  found  in  other  religious  bodies.  The  Eld- 
ership after  organizing  by  electing  E.  H.  Thomas,  Speaker;  S.  Crawford,  First 
Clerk,  and  A.  Swartz,  Second  Clerk,  took  up  the  draft  of  the  Constitution,  and 
considered  it  item  by  item.  But  without  making  any  progress,  the  consideration 
was  postponed  until  the  session  of  Monday  morning.  It  was  then  again  post- 
poned until  Thursday  afternoon,  when  it  was  resolved  "that  the  further  consid- 
eration of  the  Constitution  be  laid  over  for  one  year."  Joseph  Ross,  one  of  the 
original  members  of  the  church  at  Middletown,  was  chosen  Treasurer  of  the  Eld- 
ership. A  committee  which  had  been  appointed  the  previous  year  on  Systematic 
Benevolence  made  its  report,  and  it  was  made  a  special  order  for  the  evening 
session  of  Monday,  when  a  number  of  addresses  were  made  by  prominent  min- 
isters, and  "an  opportunity  was  given  to  the  congregation  to  aid  in  the  mission- 
ary enterprise,  and  they  contributed  $151.60."  The  Committee  on  Education 
was  continued,  and  the  securing  of  an  institution  of  learning  strongly  urged. 
Special  efforts  had  also  been  made  by  D,  A.  L.  Laverty  and  S,  Knisley  to  establish 
an  Academy  at  Shippensburg.  This  school  was  "recommended  for  patronage  to 
the  members  of  the  Eldership."  The  ten-cent  tax  per  capita  of  the  members  of 
all  the  churches  was  established  to  raise  funds  for  superannuated  ministers  and 
widows  of  deceased  ministers.  A  new  committee  was  "appointed  to  make  an 
effort  to  secure  a  place  and  use  their  infiuence  to  raise  a  General  Camp-meeting 
during  the  coming  camp  season."  The  peculiar  position  in  which  the  Eldership 
was  placed  by  its  action  on  the  slavery  question,  and  on  Ham's  report  in  1850, 
led  to  the  adoption  without  debate  of  a  resolution  declaring  it  to  be  "the  opinion 
of  this  Eldership,  that  the  relation  of  master  and  slave,  as  authorized  by  the  laws 
that  make  and  sustain  American  slavery,  is  a  sufficient  bar  to  membership  in  this. 


328  History   of   the   Churciiks   of   God 

body,  and  ought  to  be  a  bar  to  membership  in  all  the  churches  where  this  institu- 
tion exists." 

24th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  twenty-fourth  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership,  held  at  Mt.  Joy,  Lancaster  county,  October  23,  1852,  listened  to  the 
Opening  Sermon  on  Saturday  morning,  and  convened  for  business  in  the  after- 
noon. J.  Keller  was  elected  Speaker;  J.  F.  Weishampel,  First  Clerk,  and  J.  Hai- 
fleigh  and  S.  Crawford,  Second  Clerks.  A.  D.  Williams,  Free-Will  Baptist,  was 
in  attendance  as  "Corresponding  Messenger  from  the  Rhode  Island  and  Massa- 
chusetts Yearly  Meeting."  The  consideration  of  the  Constitution  came  up 
through  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Journals  on  Monday  morning,  and  it  was 
postponed,  with  the  amendments  offered  in  1851,  until  Wednesday  morning,  when 
it  was  taken  up  and  held  first  place  in  the  order  of  business  until  near  the  close 
of  the  session  on  Friday.  A  number  of  amendments  were  adopted.  In  publish- 
ing this  document  Winehrenner  defined  "Constitution"  to  mean  "a  code  of  fixed 
laws  defining  equal  rights  and  privileges,  and  showing  what  each  one  should  do, 
and  should  not  do."  Omitting  the  "Preamble"  and  the  purely  Parliamentary 
Rules,  the  following  are  the  most  important  provisions  of  the  Constitution,  viz.: 

I.  The  name  shall  be  "The  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  of  the  Church  of 
God."      Ham  was  in  favor  of  the  plural,  "churches  of  God." 

II.  Provided  for  annual  meetings,  with  provision  for  extraordinary  sessions, 
and  defining  the  purpose  to  be  "for  the  transaction  of  such  business  as  properly 
pertains  to  ecclesiastical  bodies." 

III.  Regularly  licensed  ministers  of  the  Eldership,  with  an  equal  number 
of  ruling  elders  regularly  appointed  as  delegates  to  represent  the  several  stations 
and  circuits,  shall  be  entitled  to  membership,  and  equal  rights. 

IV.  The  officers  shall  be  Speaker,  Treasurer  and  two  Clerks. 

V.  to  X.  relate  to  the  duties  of  the  officers,  the  tenth  authorizing  the  Speaker 
to  "appoint  all  the  committees  required  by  the  Rules  of  Order." 

XI.  Provides  for  the  election  by  ballot  of  a  Board  of  Missions,  a  Standing 
and  a  Stationing  Committee. 

Articles  XII.,  XIII.,  and  XIV.  fix  the  number  of  the  Board  of  Missions,  the 
Standing  and  the  Stationing  Committees,  and  prescribe  their  duties.  The  Board 
of  Missions  is  to  consist  of  "not  less  than  three,  nor  more  than  seven  persons." 
The  Standing  Committee  is  to  be  composed  of  three  persons,  and  it  "shall  have 
all  the  right  and  authority  of  the  Eldership,  except  to  expel,  or  change  preachers 
without  cause."  The  Stationing  Committee  is  to  "consist  of  five  persons,  and 
their  report  shall  always  be  final,  except  it  be  rejected  by  a  vote  of  a  majority." 

XV.  "All  persons  putting  in  for  an  appointment  shall  stand  pledged  to  take 
and  fill  whatever  appointment  may  be  allotted  them,  and  whoever  shall  fail  to 
do  so,  without  sufficient  excuse,  shall  forfeit  his  right  to  any  and  all  appointments 
for  one  year." 

Article  XVI.  requires  preachers  "to  use  prudence  and  economy  in  their  mode 
of  living;  to  keep  up  in  all  cases  the  regular  appointments  on  their  fields;  to  open 
up  new  appointments  wherever  it  is  suitable  and  convenient,  and  in  no  case  to 
drop  old  or  new  appointments  without  mutual  consent  and  the  approval  of  the 
Standing  Committee. 

XVII.  This  Article  requires  the  churches  "to  give  their  ministers  a  compe- 
tent support;  to  pay  the  same  quarterly,  and  to  make  such  timely  provisions  for 
them  that  they  shall  not  suffer  for  the  necessaries  of  life,  nor  be  obliged  to  leave 
them  embarrassed  with  debt." 

Article  XVIII.  provides  for  the  two-fold  membership  and  two-fold  responsi- 
bility of  all  the  ministers.  For  their  moral  conduct  they  are  amenable  to  the 
church  where  they  reside,  and  for  their  moral  and  official  conduct  they  are  all 
without  exception  amenable  to  the  Eldership. 

Under  Article  XIX.  "ministers  and  churches  who  fail  to  comply  with  these 
rules  of  order  and  co-operation  shall  be  liable  to  rebuke,  supension  or  expulsion." 

The  last  Article  (XX.)  provides  for  amendments  to  the  Constitution  "when 
two-thirds  of  the  enrolled  members  for  that  Eldership  are  present,  and  two-thirds 
thereof  shall  vote  in  favor." 

Opposition  to  the  Constitution  continued  for  some  time,  as  it  was  still  re- 
garded by  some  of  the  minority  as  differing  in  no  essentials  from  "the  fixed  laws 
or  Discipline  of  some  of  the  sectarian  Churches,  or  Conferences."  AVinebrenner 
defended  it  in  answer  to  questions,  declaring  that  "between  the  two  there  is  a 
wide,  and  vast  difference."     At  this  Eldership,  and  before  the  Constitution  was 


East    Pennsylvania   EivDErship  329 

adopted,  under  a  special  resolution,  a  Stationing  Committee  was  elected,  consist- 
ing of  nine  members,  five  teaching  and  four  ruling  elders.  Much  interest  was 
manifested  in  Bible  Revision,  and  a  committee  on  the  subject  was  authorized  to 
report  through  The  Advocate.  This  it  did,  strongly  approving  the  "General 
Rules  for  the  direction  of  translators  and  revisers  employed  by  the  American 
Bible  Union.  Winebrenner  and  Harn  were  specially  interested  in  this  work,  the 
latter  publishing  a.  number  of  communications  on  the  subject. 

The  territory  this  year  was  divided  into  eight  stations,  two  of  which  were  in 
Lancaster  City,  and  twelve  circuits.  Winebrenner  was  appointed  "agent  to  sell 
scholarships  for  Bethel  College." 

25th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  only  Eldership  of  which  Winebren- 
ner was  a  member  that  he  did  not  attend  from  1830  to  1860,  Annual  or  General, 
was  the  one  which  convened  at  Newburg,  Cumberland  county.  Pa.,  October  2  6, 
1853.  He  sent  a  letter,  stating  that  he  could  not  be  present  because  he  "had  been 
sorely  afflicted,  but  was  convalescent,  and  able  to  sit  up  again,  and  to  write, 
feebly,  with  my  own  hand."  He  suggested  four  things  to  "the  attention  and 
serious  consideration  at  the  present  session  of  the  Eldership."  These  were  "the 
establishment  of  the  Texas  Mission;"  "the  purchase  of  a  printing  establishment;" 
"the  material  aid  system,"  and  "Advocate  dues,  which  are  growing  larger  from 
year  to  year."  The  first  item  the  Eldership  approved,  and  recommended  to  the 
Board  of  Missions  the  propriety  of  sending  one  or  more  missionaries  to  the  State 
of  Texas,  and  then  referred  it  to  the  Stationing  Committee.  But  said  Committee 
made  no  appointment,  and  did  not  mention  the  Texas  Mission.  The  second  item 
was  referred  to  the  General  Eldership.  On  the  third  item  a  resolution  was 
adopted,  directing  "all  the  members  of  this  body  to  urge  on  the  churches  the  im- 
portance and  necessity  of  all  the  members  of  the  churches  to  pay  twenty-five  cents 
to  liquidate  the  debt  due  Bro.  AVinebrenner."  As  to  Advocate  dues,  the  ministers 
were  instructed  "to  make  special  efforts  to  have  the  dues  collected."  Twenty- 
two  other  ministers  were  absent.  James  Mackey  was  elected  Speaker;  Joseph 
Ross,  Treasurer;  Jesse  Haifleigh,  First  Clerk,  and  Samuel  Crawford,  Second  Clerk. 
A  new  Rule  was  adopted,  depriving  a  minister  of  his  license  who  failed  to  report 
for  two  consecutive  years.  The  strong  prejudice  against  the  colored  people  mani- 
fested itself  in  the  adoption  of  a  resolution  appointing  "a  committee  to  confer 
with  Bro.  Stanton  [a  colored  preacher  of  the  Eldership]  respecting  the  propriety 
of  organizing  an  Eldership  of  colored  people,  to  be  under  the  supervision  of  the 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership."  The  aggregate  number  of  conversions  during  the 
year,  so  far  as  reported,  was  3  87.  Harn,  who  for  several  years  past  had  been 
discussing  the  use  of  the  plural  form  of  the  word  "church"-  in  Eldership  titles, 
offered  a  resolution,  changing  the  title  of  the  Eldership  in  the  first  Article  of  the 
Constitution  "so  as  to  read  'The  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  of  the  churches  of 
God.'  "  The  resolution  prevailed.  Delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  were 
elected,  and  were  by  resolution  "instructed  not  to  involve  this  Eldership  in  debt 
by  the  establishing  of  a  Printing  Establishment." 

The  early  struggles  for  Prohibition  cover  the  present  decade,  and  it  was  gen- 
erally agreed  that  the  policy  should  stand  or  fall  in  accordance  with  the  spon- 
taneously expressed  will  of  the  people.  And  as  there  were  avowed  prohibitionists 
in  the  Eldership,  on  motion,  "a  special  Committee  was  appointed  to  draw  up  reso- 
lutions on  the  subject  of  Prohibition."  This  committee  reported  resolutions  stat- 
ing that  the  Eldership  "is  decidedly  favorable  to  the  principle  of  Prohibition  that 
seeks  the  abrogation  of  the  sale  and  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  common 
drink,;"  "that  it  is  the  duty  of  all  men,  and  particularly  Christian  men,  to  seek 
the  passage  of  such  a  law";  and  "respectfully  petitioning  Congress  to  pass  a  law 
prohibiting  the  importation  of  intoxicating  drinks  into  this  country  for  beverage 
purposes."  The  starting  of  a  mission  in  Reading,  Berks  county,  was  approved. 
I.  E.  Boyer  was  "licensed  as  a  missionary  to  Illinois."  For  the  Eldership  session 
of  1854  the  Eldership  provided  that  Winebrenner  preach  the  opening  sermon; 
E.  H.  Thomas,  a  sermon  on  Missions;  G.  U.  Ham,  on  the  claims  of  the  Bible 
Union,  or  the  revision  and  translation  of  the  Scriptures;  Wm.  Mooney,  on  Educa- 
tion, and  A.  Swartz,  on  Systematic  Benevolence.  More  general  interest  in  camp- 
meetings  was  strongly  urged,  and  churches  were  requested  to  send  to  the  Camp- 
meeting  Committee  in  good  time  their  wishes  respecting  such  meetings  the  com- 
ing season. 

26th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Winebrenner,  according  to  appointment 
the  previous  year,  was  to  preach  the  opening  sermon  of  the  Eldership  which  con- 


330  History  of  the  Churchks  of   God 

vened  at  Mechanicsburg,  Cumberland  county,  October  26,  1854;  but  "being  un- 
well, IJro.  Swartz  officiated  in  his  place."  He  was,  however,  in  attendance  during 
the  session.  There  were  ten  stations,  twelve  circuits  and  three  missions.  Wm. 
Mooney  was  elected  Speaker;  Joseph  Ross,  Treasurer;  J.  F.  Weishampel,  First 
Clerk,  and  A.  H,  Long,  Second  Clerk.  .  No  permanent  Rules  of  Order  had  as  yet 
been  adopted;  hence,  a  committee  was  "appointed  to  report  Rules  of  Order  for 
the  regulation  of  the  session  of  this  body."  The  inviolability  of  Eldership  terri- 
tory was  embodied  in  a  resolution  of  censure  on  Felix  Hartinan  for  "entering 
upon  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership's  grounds  without  an  understanding  to 
that  effect  with  that  Eldership."  The  Eldership  adopted  blank  forms  for  sta- 
tistical reports,  which  the  pastors  were  required  to  fill  out  each  year  for  publica- 
tion, and  recommended  similar  forms  to  be  used  by  all  the  Elderships.  Provision 
was  also  made  to  keep  the  journals  of  the  Eldership  and  all  actions  of  the  Stand- 
ing Committee  in  permanent  form.  The  Eldership,  through  its  Committee  on 
Temperance,  again  put  itself  clearly  on  record  in  favor  of  "a  Prohibitory  Liquor 
Law  as  a  sure  and  safe  remedy  for  this  gigantic  evil."  At  the  missionary  meet- 
ing held  on  Monday  evening  Winebrenner  offered  a  resolution  in  favor  of  estab- 
lishing a  mission  in  Texas,  accompanied  with  a  pledge  for  its  support.  This  was 
adopted,  and  $134.00  was  pledged.  Colder  reported  having  received  $578.16 
from  different  churches  which  he  had  visited  for  the  support  and  education  of 
Ting-Ing-Kavv,  a  young  Chinaman  whom  he  had  brought  with  him  on  his  return 
as  missionary  to  China.  The  Eldership  recommended  the  churches  "the  con- 
tinuation of  their  sympathy  and  assistance  in  carrying  out  the  object  contem- 
plated in  the  education  of  the  young  Chinaman,  Ting-Ing-Kaw."  By  the  vote  of 
the  Eldership  in  adopting  the  Report  on  Slavery,  the  body  "continued  its  voice  of 
remonstrance  and  condemnation  of  this  unmitigated  evil;"  recommended  "the 
petitioning  of  Congress  for  the  repeal  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  and  the  Nebraska 
Bill,"  and  pronounced  "the  system  of  American  slavery  always  unchristian,  and 
under  all  circumstances  iniquitous."  Harn's  resolution  adopted  in  1853,  chang- 
ing the  word  "church"  to  "churches"  where  it  occurs  in  the  Constitution  of  the 
Eldership,  was  rescinded,  and  the  singular  form  again  inserted  "in  the  several 
Articles  of  the  Constitution,  thus  making  it  uniform  with  the  title  of  the  General 
Eldership  and  all  the  other  Elderships."  Winebrenner,  as  delegate  to  the  con- 
vention to  organize  a  German  Eldership,  reported  that  "said  Eldership  had  been 
organized,  and  wished  to  co-operate  with  this  and  all  other  Elderships,  as  directed 
by  the  General  Eldership."  He  then  offered  a  resolution,  which  was  adopted, 
recommending  to  all  the  German  brethren  of  the  Eldership  the  propriety  of  pat- 
ronizing and  aiding  in  the  circulation  of  "a  German  paper  which  said  Eldership 
contemplates  publishing."  In  making  the  appointments  Lebanon-  and  Schuylkill 
counties,  and  all  the  territory  eastward,  was  left  to  the  German  Eldership  to 
supply  with  preachers.  But  as  the  German  Eldership  had  no  boundaries,  a  mis- 
sion was  opened  in  Montgomery  county,  and  A.  H.  Long  was  appointed  as  mis- 
sionary. A.  J.  Fenton  and  Philip  Shaw  were  appointed  as  missionaries  to  Iowa 
Mission. 

•  27th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Under  auspicious  circumstances  the 
twenty-seventh  session  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  was  held  in  the  fine 
new  house  of  worship,  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  beginning  November  3,  1855,  with  sixty- 
one  ministers  enrolled.  But  one  had  gone  to  Ohio  and  two  to  Iowa.  The  officers 
were  A.  Swartz,  Speaker;  Joseph  Ross,  Treasurer;  J.  Haifleigh  and  A.  H.  Long, 
Clerks.  Permanent  records  of  the  doings  of  the  Eldership,  in  the  way  of  a 
"Protocol"  for  the  Minutes  of  the  Eldership,  and  Minute  Books  for  the  Standing 
Committee  and  Board  of  Missions  were  ordered.  Upon  motion  by  D.  A.  L.  Lav- 
erty  a  committee  was  appointed  "to  prescribe  a  Course  of  English  studies  and 
Bible  and  Theological  readings  for  all  the  young  men  who  shall  hereafter  receive 
license."  A  three-year  course  was  reported  and  adopted.  J.  H.  Hurley  seriously 
offered  a  resolution  to  create  a  committee  "to  prepare  a  liturgy  for  the  use  of  the 
Church  of  God,"  but  it  was  "not  agreed  to."  But  a  "special  day  of  prayer  with 
each  church  for  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  of  God  upon  the  churches  and  for  the 
promotion  of  spiritual  religion  among  us"  was  at  once  adopted.  Winebrenner's 
"Brief  Scriptural  View  of  the  Church  of  God"  was  ordered  republished,  after  it 
has  been  revised  by  him,  and  brethren  were  urged  to  "prepare  small  works  on 
Baptism,  Washing  the  Saints'  Feet,  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  other  topics  of  general 
interest  to  the  Church.  This  was  for  the  purpose  "of  explaining  ourselves  to  those 
around  us,"  and  so  that  "our  peculiarities  of  faith  and  practice  should  be  more 


East    Pennsylvania    Eldej^ship  331 

.generally  and  distincty  made  known."  The  initial  steps  were  taken  to  secure  an 
Act  of  Incorporation  from  the  Legislature  of  1856.  Additional  preparation  was 
made  for  systematic  mission  work,  and  AVinebrenner  was  appointed  General  Mis- 
sionary, to  supervise  collections  over  the  whole  Eldership.  The  Statistics  of  the 
Eldership,  though  not  quite  complete,  showed  baptisms,  174;  fellowshiped,  2  56; 
number  of  members,  2,408;  appointments,  125  on  eight  stations,  10  circuits  and 
6  missions;  Widows'  Fund,  $113.82;  Contingent  Fund,  $29.18;  Missionary 
Fund,  $52.14  (evidently  not  the  total  for  the  year);  Sabbath-schools,  43;  scholars, 
2,603.  The  Clearfield  Mission  was  established,  and  the  Texas  Mission  enterprise 
was  referred  to  the  Board  of  Missions.  The  Eldership  took  strong  action  in  favor 
of  camp-meetings,  and  resolved  to  "appoint  an  efficient  committee  of  five,  whose 
duty  it  shall  be  to  appoint  the  time  and  places  of  holding  our  camp-meetings  the 
coming  year."  Winebrenner,  Thomas,  Svvartz,  Colder  and  A.  Snyder  were  made 
the  committee.  Winebrenner  preached  the  opening  sermon,  and  Colder  was  ap- 
pointed by  resolution  to  preach  the  opening  sermon  in  185  6.  Winebrenner's  ser- 
mon was  published  in  a  pamphlet,  which  he  desired  his  "friends  to  help  to  circu- 
late far  and  wide  among  the  people."  He  reported  the  Eldership  as  having  done 
its  work  "with  great  harmony  and  satisfaction,"  and  that  "the  whole  session  was 
an  unusually  pleasant  and  interesting  one."  Important  action  was  taken  with 
reference  to  education.  The  Shippensburg  Institute  was  endorsed,  and  a  com- 
mittee was  selected  "with  power  to  draw  up  a  plan  for  the  effectual  establishment 
of  a  Seminary  or  High  School"  for  the  Church. 

28th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  church  at  Shippensburg,  Cumber- 
land county,  entertained  the  Eldership  which  convened  October  22,  1856.  It  was 
"not  as  full  as  was  expected,"  as  there  were  twenty-one  pastors  present,  and  four- 
teen "missionaries,"  while  twenty-two  "missionaries"  were  absent.  The  "mis- 
sionaries" were  local  preachers,  except  Winebrenner,  who  was  appointed  General 
Missionary,  with  specific  work  to  do.  He  calls  the  other  "missionaries"  "local 
preachers."  A.  Swartz  was  elected  Speaker;  James  Colder,  First  Clerk,  and  A.  H. 
Long,  Second  Clerk.  As  the  committee  to  secure  an  Act  of  Incorporation  failed 
to  discharge  that  duty,  it  was  continued,  with  instructions.  The  effort  to  have 
each  church  represented  by  a  ruling  elder  was  strongly  opposed  and  "unanimously 
negatived."  But  resolutions  to  urge  churches  to  build  or  buy  parsonages;  install 
"the  heavy  articles  of  furniture,"  and  "to  pay  actual  expenses  of  preachers  in  case 
of  removal,"  were  "unanimously  adopted."  The  Committee  on  Slavery  reported, 
a  strong  resolution,  adopted  without  debate,  which  denounced  this  system  of 
monstrous  cruelty  and  oppression  as  "destructive  to  our  civil,  social,  moral,  po- 
litical and  religious  affinities  as  children  of  one  common  Parent."  The  effort  to 
extend  this  system  of  "human  bondage  over  free  territories,  and  especially  for- 
ever blast  the  virgin  soil  of  Kansas  by  this  heinous  sin,"  was  to  be  resisted  by 
every  "lawful,  religious  and  constitutional  means,"  to  which  the  Eldership  "sol- 
emnly pledges  itself  as  a  body,  and  individually."  Schools  to  "teach  the  science 
of  sacred  music"  were  recommended  to  the  churches.  The  Board  of  Missions  re- 
ceived during  the  year  $781.87.  The  lukewarmness  evident  in  the  temperance 
•cause  was  deplored,  and  ministers  were  admonished"to  stir  up  the  minds  of  the 
people  on  a  subject  of  so  great  importance  to  our  social,  political  and  religious 
institutions."  Winebrenner  was  always  heartily  in  favor  of  co-operation  on  the 
part  of  ministers,  laymen  and  churches,  and  in  strong  terms  disapproved  any 
tendency  toward  the  non-observance  of  established  Rules,  or  the  instructions  of 
the  Eldership.  Near  the  close  of  the  session  he  submitted  two  resolutions  bear- 
ing on  this  matter,  after  declaring  in  the  preamble  that  "some  of  the  preachers 
and  churches  have  heretofore  repeatedly  failed  to  carry  out  the  recommendations, 
plans  and  resolutions  of  this  body."  In  the  resolutions  all  the  churches  were 
"earnestly  requested  to  carry  out  truly  and  faithfully  our  whole  plan  of  co-opera- 
tion." But  a  penalty  was  necessary  to  give  force  to  this  request,  and  so  in  the 
second  resolution  it  was  declared,  "that  all  delinquents  in  future,  in  this  matter, 
shall  subject  themselves  to  the  censure  of  this  Eldership,  unless  a  good  reason 
for  such  neglect  can  be  given."  The  Eldership  agreed  with  its  leader.  Tracts 
were  requested  to  be  written  for  the  Committee  on  Publication  by  Swartz,  on  Sys- 
tematic Beneficence;  Thomas,  The  Ordinance  of  Feet-washing;  Colder,  Missions; 
Flake,  Sabbath-Schools;  Winebrenner,  the  Lord's  Supper;  Laverty,  Education; 
Mackey,  Importance  of  Externals  in  Religion;  Crawford,  Internal  Religion; 
Mooney,  Guide  to  Baptism  for  Converts,  and  Hurley,  Use  and  Abuse  of  Tobacco. 

29th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Signs  of  an    approaching    tempest    can 


332  History   of   the   Churches  of   God 

readily  be  discerned  in  the  proceedings  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  which 
convened  at  Middletown,  Dauphin  county,  November  4,  1857.  The  Eldership^ 
was,  by  resolution,  to  "be  constituted  according  to  the  facts  as  they  now  exist." 
In  1856  J.  Colder  was  appointed  to  Harrisburg,  and  AV.  Mooney,  to  Shippensburg. 
Neither  was  at  his  appointment  when  the  Eldership  convened,  and  so  the  two 
stations  as  put  on  the  Roll  are:  "Harrisburg: — William  Mooney.  Shippens- 
burg:— James  Colder  (by  the  election  of  the  church)."  The  exchange  had  been 
made  by  the  two  ministers  and  the  churches,  but  was  "ratified"  by  the  Standing 
Committee  on  September  23rd.  The  organization  was  effected  by  the  election  of 
G.  U.  Hani,  Speaker;  Joseph  Ross,  Treasurer;  James  Colder,  First  Clerk,  and  J. 
F.  Weishampel,  Second  Clerk.  A  collection  of  all  the  Journals  of  the  Eldership^ 
was  ordered.  The  Act  of  the  Legislature,  incorporating  the  Eldership,  was 
presented  by  the  Committee,  and  was  adopted.  As  Winebrenner  had  disposed  of 
his  interest  in  The  Advocate  to  Colder,  the  latter  was  now  in  the  editorial  chair, 
which  placed  Winebrenner  and  the  Church  as  he  represented  it  at  a  disadvantage. 
The  missionaries  to  Texas  had  been  appointed  and  sent  out  by  the  Board  of  Mis- 
sions between  the  two  sessions  of  the  Eldership  in  1855  and  1856,  and  their  action 
reported  and  adopted  in  1856.  It  was  but  a  short  time  after  their  arrival  in 
Texas  that  it  became  conclusively  evident  to  them,  that  to  attempt  to  do  work  for 
the  Church  of  God  among  slave-holding  people  meant  a  change  of  teaching  and 
practice  on  the  subject  of  slavery  from  that  which  characterized  the  Church  in 
the  North.  The  alternative  to  this  course  was  to  leave  on  the  next  boat.  And 
so  either  from  conviction,  or  the  compulsion  of  their  environment,  or  both,  the- 
missionaries  in  theory  and  practice  made  what  was  considered  a  radical  departure 
from  the  views  which  prevailed  in  the  Board  of  Missions  and  the  Church  gen- 
erally. When  this  fact  became  known  it  produced  a  storm  of  opposition  in  the 
churches  throughout  the  North.  The  friction  created  is  mildly  characterized  in 
the  preamble  to  Keller's  resolution  as  "some  difficulties  with  our  missionaries  in 
Texas."  The  resolution  reveals  more:  "That  we  instruct  our  Board  of  Missions- 
to  appropriate  no  more  missionary  money  in  that  direction."  The  Board  had' 
already  held  back  money  due  them.  The  variance  and  division  in  the  camp  in 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  are  indicated  by  a  preamble  and  resolutions  intended 
as  a  substitute  for  Keller's,  which  "Weishampel  offered  in  behalf  of  Winebren- 
ner" on  Wednesday  morning.  The  preamble  represents  the  missionaries  in  Texas-- 
as  having  been  ."brought  into  great  trouble  and  embarrassment  by  the  publication 
of  certain  unnecessary  and  harsh  sentiments  and  strictures  in  The  Church  Advo- 
cate." Then  the  first  resolution  follows:  "We  highly  disapprove  of  the  Editor's 
course.  ..  .and  advise  him  to  be  more  careful  and  prudent  in  future."  The 
second  resolution  instructed  "the  Board  of  Missions  to  send  our  missionaries  in 
Texas  $200."  The  Eldership  took  time  to  deliberate,  to  think;  but  did  not  en- 
gage in  a  long  discussion.  Keller's  resolution  was  offered  on  Tuesday  evening, 
and,  after  a  brief  discussion,  was  "deferred  until  to-morrow  afternoon." 
Weishampel's  w^as  "deferred  for  the  present"  without  discussion.  On  taking  the 
vote  Wednesday  afternoon,  the  motion  "to  strike  out  Brother  Keller's  resolution, 
and  insert  Brother  Winebrenner's,  was  lost."  On  a  yea  and  nay  vote,  Keller's 
resolution  prevailed,  fifteen  voting  for  it  and  ten  against  it.  The  Board  of 
Missions  was  then  directed  to  "confine  their  labors  within  the  bounds  of  this 
Eldership  the  present  year."  Mooney  was  reappointed  to  Harrisburg,  and  Colder- 
to  Shippensburg.  Hani's  resolution  to  change  the  Eldership  title  to  "Eldership 
of  churches  of  God"  was  "passed  over,  and  will  be  discussed  through  the  columns 
of  The  Advocate." 

Extra  Session  East  Pennsylvania  Eldei-ship. — While  the  relations  between 
Winebrenner  and  Colder  were  becoming  daily  more  relaxed,  and  conditions  por- 
tentous of  a  crisis  were  fast  taking  shape,  the  first  open  conflict  was  doubtless 
precipitated  by  the  sudden  and  unexpected  death  of  Ellen  Cordelia  Colder, 
daughter  of  Winebrenner  and  wife  of  Colder,  "one  of  the  excellent  of  the  earth," 
and  the  widely-lamented  death  of  William  Mooney,  pastor  of  the  Fourth  Street 
church,  Harrisburg.  The  former  event  made  it  advisable  for  Colder  to  remove 
from  Shippensburg  to  Harrisburg;  the  latter  opened  Fourth  Street  pulpit  to  him. 
Without  any  published  notice  in  The  Advocate,  suddenly  and  within  two  weeks  of 
the  date  of  the  "call,"  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  was  summoned  by  the 
Speaker,  G.  U.  Harn,  to  meet  at  Shiremanstown,  Cumberland  county.  Pa.,  "to- 
hold  a  special  or  extra  session,  commencing  on  Tuesday,  the  6th  of  July  next,  at 
10  o'clock  a.  m."     The  call  for  this  extra  session  is  dated  June  24th,  at  Wooster,. 


East    Phnnsylvania    Eldership  333 

•Ohio.  The  "Petition"  gives  no  reason  why  an  extra  session  was  asked.  It  is 
:signed  by  twelve  ministers  and  four  delegates,  and  requests  the  call  to  be  issued 
"immediately,  and  address.ed  to  Elder  J.  Winebrenner,"  one  of  the  signers.  The 
Eldership  met  as  per  call,  with  twenty-five  ministers  and  eight  delegates  present. 
Colder  is  enrolled  as  pastor  of  the  church  at  Shippensburg;  but,  "J.  C.  does  not 
■claim  to  be  pastor  of  the  Shippensburg  church,  nor  to  represent  it  in  the  Elder- 
ship." The  first  and  main  business,  being  "Certain  Charges  against  Colder, 
Winebrenner  and  McFadden,  and  against  three  ruling  elders  of  the  church  at 
Harrisburg,"  these  were  at  once  "preferred  and  read."  But  there  is  no  record  of 
any  but  the  first  Charge,  with  three  Specifications,  against  Colder,  and  that  with- 
out the  name  of  the  accuser  or  accusers.  The  Charge  is  "Insubordination  and 
violation  of  the  Rules  of  the  Eldership."  The  first  Specification  is  that  of  "re- 
fusing to  act  with  the  Board  of  Corporation  on  the  ground  that  he  was  no  mem- 
ber of  the  Eldership,  not  having  lifted  his  license;  and  then  again  consenting  to 
act  at  the  second  meeting  as  a  layman,  or  private  member."  The  second,  that  he 
"attempted  to  introduce  foreign  Hymn-Books  into  the  churches,  for  general  con- 
gregational use,  without  authority  from  the  General  Eldership."  The  third,  "Re- 
signing his  appointment  at  Shippensburg,  and  taking  charge  of  the  church  at 
Harrisburg,  without  the  approbation  of  the  Standing  Committee,  and  in  direct 
violation  of  the  Constitution,  or  Rules  of  Order,  adopted  for  the  government  of  the 
Eldership."  Without  any  record  of  evidence  or  arguments,  and  after  adopting, 
and  then  rejecting,  a  substitute  for  the  first  Specification,  and  considering  the 
third,  and  then  the  second.  Specification,  A.  Swartz  presented  a  preamble,  with 
three  resolutions,  which  were  adopted.  The  preamble  recites  that  "the  Eldership 
Tiave  learned  the  painful  fact  that  a  serious  personal  misapprehension  is  found  to 
exist  between  Brothei-s  Colder  and  Winebrenner,  which  has  led  to  the  preferring 
of  a  number  of  Charges  against  each  of  them,  involving  their  moral  character;  but 
believing  from  their  well  known  personal  Christian  character  that  these  personal 
Charges  are  founded  in  a  mistaken  view  of  each  other's  conduct;  therefore,  we 
earnestly  recommend  to  them  as  Christian  ministers,  the  duty  of  burying  forever 
these  personal  difficulties,  and  that  they  hereafter  unite  in  our  common  work." 
The  first  resolution  declares  that  "the  church  at  Harrisburg  erred  in  their  late 
action  in  electing  Colder,  and  he  in  his  acceptance  of  their  call  as  pastor  without 
their  referring  it  to  the  action  of  the  Standing  Committee."  This  affirms  the 
third  Specification,  and  the  church  is  advised  "to  refer  their  action  to  the  Stand- 
ing Committee"  and  abide  by  the  disposition  it  may  make  of  it.  »  The  second 
Specification  is  also  afl^rmed,  and  Colder's  action  is  declared  to  have  been  "uncon- 
stitutional and  in  violation  of  the  action  of  the  General  Eldership."  It  is  then 
resolved  that  "if  the  above  parties  fail  to  meet  the  above  recommendations, 
then  the  Standing  Committee  is  authorized  to  proceed  and  deal  with  the  parties 
according  to  our  Constitution."  All  were  then  granted  "liberty  to  withdraw  their 
Charges."  As  much  ill-feeling  had  grown  out  of  the  rejection  by  Colder  of 
articles  furnished  for  publication  by  Winebrenner  and  others,  a  resolution  was 
adopted  directing  that  such  articles  be  referred  to  the  Board  of  Publication,  whose 
decision  should  be  final.  This  trial  led  to  the  adoption  of  the  Rule,  that  Charges 
and  Specifications,  with  the  names  of  at  least  two  accusers,  must  be  presented  to 
the  accused  at  least  five  days  before  the  meeting  of  the  Eldership.  The  Elder- 
ship was  in  session  Tuesday  forenoon,  afternoon  and  evening,  and  Wednesday 
forenoon. 

30th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.— Although  but  four  months  intervened 
between  the  adjournment  of  the  extra  session  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership 
in  July,  and  the  regular  session,  which  met  at  Shiremanstown,  Cumberland 
county,  Pa.,  November  3,  1858,  it  at  once  became  evident  that  not  only  was  noth- 
ing settled  at  the  extra  session,  but  that  conditions  had  become  much  more 
serious.  The  Eldership  convened  on  Thursday  morning.  C.  Price  was  elected 
Speaker;  J.  Haifleigh,  First  Clerk;  J.  F.  Weishainpel,  Second  Clerk,  and  J.  Ross, 
Treasurer.  The  business  was  taken. up  and  disposed  of  with  unusual  deliberation, 
as  if  the  body  were  recoiling  from  a  distasteful  task.  All  day  Thursday,  and 
Friday  forenoon,  were  taken  up  with  practically  routine  business;  such  as  con- 
stituting the  Eldership,  adoption  of  Rules,  election  of  Board  of  Missions,  Station- 
ing and  Standing  Committees,  and  action  on  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on 
Journals.  This  Report  laid  before  the  Eldership  "a  document  from  a  part  of  the 
church  at  Harrisburg,  who  claim  to  be  the  Eldership  party,  setting  forth  the  un- 
happy and  deplorable  state  of  things  in  the  church   brought  about  through  the 


334  History  of   the   Churches   of   God 

influence  and  intrusion  of  Elder  J.  Colder.  ..  .and  preferring  Charges  against 
Elder  Colder  and  that  part  of  the  church  they  believe  he  has  misled."  This, 
document  was  made  the  first  order  for  Friday  afternoon.  The  Charges  were 
prepared  "at  a  meeting  of  a  number  of  the  members  of  the  church  of  God  at 
Harrisburg,  held  on  the  2  6th  of  October,  to  deliberate  on  our  unhappy  church 
matters  and  consult  each  other  as  to  what  course  to  pursue."  Isaac  Stees  was 
made  Chairman  of  the  meeting,  and  Henry  P.  Rodeannel,  Secretary.  The  de- 
liberations resulted  in  the  framing  of  Charges  against  James  Colder,  and  "against 
certain  officers  of  the  church  at  Harrisburg."  These  are  all  presented  over  the 
signatures  of  the  officers  of  the  meeting,  no  other  names  appearing  as  accusers. 
There  are  three  Charges  against  Colder: 

I.  "Insubordination  and  factious  conduct."  Under  this  Charge  are  six 
specifications,  viz.:  1.  Refusing  to  submit  his  case  to  the  disposition  of  the 
Standing  Committee.  2.  Refusing  to  abide  by  the  decision  of  the  Standing 
Committee.  3.  Refusing  to  pay  over  Hymn-Book  money  in  his  hands  to  the 
Treasurer.  4.  Getting  up  a  meeting,  August  16th,  and  declaring  himself  the 
legal  pastor  of  the  church  before  the  proceedings  of  the  Standing  Committee  were 
read.  5.  Refusing  to  publish  the  Speaker's  call  for  an  extra  session  of  the 
Eldership.  6.  Getting  up  an  illegal  proceeding  against  Brother  Isaac  Stees, 
one  of  the  elders  of  the  church,  and  having  him  suspended. 

II.  Colloging  with  Elder  George  Sigler  in  an  unlawful  detention  of  a  cer- 
tain letter  and  package. 

III.  Falsely  accusing  and  misrepresenting  Eldei-s  John  AVinebrenner  and 
AVilliani  McFadden  before  the  late  extra  session  of  the  Eldership,  and  on  other 
occasions.  Colder,  joined  by  two  other  ministers  and  an  elder  and  delegate  of 
Fourth  Street  church,  offered  a  "Protest  against  the  reception,  consideration  and 
publication  of  the  document"  containing  the  charges;  but  the  Eldership  refused 
to  "agree  to  the  Protest."  The  Eldership  then  proceeded  with  the  trial,  Wine- 
brenner  acting  as  attorney  for  the  prosecution,  and  Colder  conducting  his  own 
defense.  When  both  sides  "rested"  and  the  case  was  submitted  upon  the  evidence 
adduced,  the  verdict  was  as  follows:  Under  Charge  I.  the  first  Specification  was 
"sustained"  by  a  vote  of  32  to  5;  the  second  by  a  vote  of  2  5  to  9;  the  third  by  a 
vote  of  23  to  15;  the  fourth  Specification  was  divided,  the  first  item  being  sus- 
tained by  a  vote  of  20  to  9,  and  the  second,  17  to  5;  the  fifth  Specification  was 
lost  by  a  vote  of  13  to  15.  The  second  Charge  was  lost,  the  vote  against  it  being 
unanimous.  The  third  Charge  was  sustained  by  a  vote  of  13  to  9.  The  first 
Charge  was  then  sustained  by  a  vote  of  2  8  to  8.  There,  so  far  as  official  action  is 
concerned,  the  trial  ended.  No  censure,  no  penalty  was  imposed.  It  is  stated 
that  "by  mutual  consent  Brothers  Colder  and  Winebrenner  were  authorized  to 
submit  their  personal  difficulties  for  adjustment,  as  soon  as  practicable,  to  the 
Standing  Committee."  "Colder  reported.  His  report  was  accepted  and  license 
renewed."  "AV^inebrenner  reported.  His  report  was  accepted  and  license  re- 
newed." Was  it  "the  truce  of  God?"  AA'inebrenner  was  generous,  sometimes  to 
a  fault;  he  however  was  also  possessed  of  that  staunch  and  invincible  manhood 
which  in  the  face  of  what  he  conceived  to  be  wrong  made  him  inexorable.  A 
scene  at  the  trial  revealed  these  traits..  His  address  in  summing  up  was  a  master- 
piece of  affecting,  convincing,  incisive  reasoning.  As  he  reached  its  culmination. 
Colder,  under  the  charm  of  his  impassioned  eloquence,  arose,,  walked  toward 
AVinebrenner  and  reached  out  the  hand  of  reconciliation  and  fellowship.  "No!" 
slowly  said  AVinebrenner,  withholding  his  hand;  "the  time  is  not  yet  for  the  hand 
of  reconciliation!"  But  when  the  court  had  rendered  its  decision,  he  would  not 
ask  for  punishment,  and  he  was  ready  for  peace  and  amicable  relations.  Colder 
was  not  removed  from  Harrisburg,  but  for  the  year  beginning  April,  1851,  he  was 
appointed  to  Camp  Hill.  He  announced  editorially  that  he  is  "willing  to  acquiesce 
in  the  decision  of  the  Eldership  in  the  difficult  and  unpleasant  task  it  had  to  per- 
form." 

The  "Charges  against  certain  officers  in  the  church  at  Harrisburg"  were,  in 
substance,  as  follows: 

I.  Greatly  misrepresenting  AVinebrenner  and  McFadden  in  a  published 
letter. 

II.  Assailing  and  slandering  AVinebrenner  in  said  letter. 

III.  Conspiring  with  Colder  to  break  down  the  Rules  of  co-operation  of  the 
Eldership. 


East    Pennsylvania   Eldership  335 

While  testimony  was  submitted  by  plaintiffs  and  defendants,  no  vote  on 
either  Charge  is  recorded. 

The  Board  of  Missions  was  "instructed  to  settle  with  the  missionaries  in 
Texas."  P.  D.  Collins,  known  as  the  Indian  Preacher,  a  native  of  Virginia,  and 
minister  in  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church,  received  license  at  this  Eldership. 
He  became  "one  of  the  most  successful  as  well  as  faithful  ministers."  He  was 
later  transferred  to  the  Illinois  Eldership,  but  returned  to  Pennsylvania.  When 
the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership  was  organized  he  became  a  member.  He 
died  at  Warfieldsburg,  Md.,  May  13,  1875.      The  Eldership  closed  hopefully. 

31st  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — It  was  not  in  the  fruition  of  the  hopes 
which  had  been  cherished  at  adjournment  in  1858  that  the  Eldership  convened 
at  Goldsboro,  York  county.  Pa.,  November  2,  1859.  The  gravity  of  the  situation 
had  increased  after  the  close  of  the  session  of  1858.  The  "personal  difficulties'" 
which  the  Standing  Committee  was  expected  to  adjust,  continued,  and  became 
more  insuperable.  Colder,  with  a  majority  of  the  church  at  Fourth  Street,  re- 
sisted the  authority  of  the  Eldership,  declared  themselves  independent,  and  re- 
fused to  accept  the  services,  as  supplies  of  the  pulpit,  of  Flake  and  Winebrenner,. 
and  the  regular  appointee  of  the  Eldership  from  April  1,  1859,  A.  X.  Shoemaker. 
Charges  were  preferred  against  Colder  by  Isaac  Stees  and  Henry  Clay,  and  he  was 
notified  to  appear  before  the  Standing  Committee  on  January  18,  1859,  and 
answer  to  the  same.  This  he  "neglected  to  do."  Hence,  at  said  meeting  the 
Committee  "suspended  him  from  the  functions  of  the  Christian  ministry  in 
the  Church  of  God,  until  such  time  as  he  retraces  his  steps,  and  submits  to  the 
proper  authorities  of  the  Church."  On  a  motion  to  adopt  this  Report,  the  vote 
was  3  6  yeas,  and  1  nay.  Following  this  vote,  a  resolution  of  expulsion  was 
offered,  declaring,  that  "James  Colder  be,  and  he  is  hereby,  expelled  from  this-. 
Eldership,"  etc.  On  the  adoption  of  this  resolution  the  yeas  were  42;  nays,  0. 
Ministers  of  the  Eldership  who  "continued  to  fellowship  James  Colder  after  they 
knew  that  he  was  suspended"  were  warned  not  to  continue  such  acts  of  fellow- 
ship. The  course  of  the  Committee  in  instituting  "a  suit  in  equity  against  the 
seceding  party  in  the  church  at  Harrisburg,"  to  recover  possession  of  the  church 
building  and  other  property,  was  approved,  and  the  Eldership  agreed  "to  assist 
and  sustain  them  in  defraying  the  expenses  of  the  prosecution." 

The  Roll  of  the  Eldership  as  constituted  showed  a  membership  of  sixty-six 
ministers,  of  whom  thirty-one  were  absent,  and  twenty  delegates.  An  organiza- 
tion was  effected  by  the  choice  of  A.  Svvartz,  Speaker;  Joseph  Ross,  Treasurer;  J. 
Haifleigh,  First  Clerk,  and  J.  F.  Weishampel,  Second  Clerk.  In  addition  to  the- 
Report  of  the  Standing  Committee  in  the  Colder  case,  it  also  reported  charges 
against  three  of  the  elders  of  the  church  at  Harrisburg,  and  had  notified  them 
"to  appear  before  the  Eldership  at  Goldsboro  and  answer"  to  the  same.  This, 
they  failed  to  do.  And  the  Eldership  believing  "from  the  testimony  before  it"' 
that  "the  charges  are  fully  sustained,"  "declared  the  said  elders  excluded  from 
the  ecclesiastical  body  associated  together  by  the  name,  style  and  title  of  the 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  in  North  America."  The^ 
Standing  Committee  was  "authorized  and  instructed  to  cite  the  deacons  and 
members  of  said  church  who  have  aided,  abetted  and  adherred  to  the  factious  and 
disorderly  proceedings  of  said  elders  to  trial  for  their  conduct,  and,  if  they  can- 
not be  reclaimed,  to  deal  with  them  according  to  the  Constitution."  Shoemaker, 
the  pastor  since  April,  1859.  and  who  was  reappointed,  was  instructed  "to  re- 
organize the  church  under  the  provisions  of  their  charter.'-'  The  Eldership 
adopted  a  resolution  "disapproving  of  preachers  forming  the  habit  of  reading  their 
sermons."  Also  against  preachers  "complaining  in  the  pulpit  of  their  support," 
and  "advising  churches  to  pay  their  preachers  quarterly."  The  importance  of 
"pastoral  visitation"  was  emphasized.  The  proposition  to  "open  a  new  mission  in 
parts  of  Schuylkill,  Carbon  and  Luzerne  counties,"  was  referred  to  the  Stationing 
Committee,  but  it  made  no  annointment.  Winebrenner  was  made  General  Mis- 
sionary by  action  of  the  Eldersbin,  and  was  also,  by  resolution,  appointed  to  preach 
the  opening  sermon  in  1860.  An  action  on  church  polity  was  taken,  giving  it  as- 
"the  opinion  of  this  body,  that  the  preachers  in  charge  and  the  ruling  elders  in 
the:  churches  do  constitute  the  scriptural  authority  before  which  disorderly  mem- 
bers should  be  tried." 

32nd  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — When  the  Clerk  called  the  Roll  at  the- 
East  Pennsvlvania  Eldership,  which  convened  at  Bainbridge,  Lancaster  county. 
Pa.,  November  8,  1860,  there  was  no  response  when  the  name  of  John  Winebren-- 


336  History  of  the   Churches  of   God 

ner  was  called.  He  had  been  "transferred"  to  "the  general  assembly  and  church 
of  the  first  born,  which  are  enrolled  in  heaven."  McFadden  was  substituted  in 
Winebrenner's  place  to  preach  the  opening  sermon.  Mackey  was  appointed  "to 
write  out  and  prepare  for  publication  a  sermon  on  the  life  and  death  of  our  late 
and  lamented  Father  Winebrenner,"  which  he  had  preached  before  the  Eldership. 
The  Committee  on  Obituaries  also  reported  resolutions,  speaking  of  "the  sterling 
character  and  success  of  his  ministry,  associating  his  name  with  the  most  noted 
and  acknowledged  reformers  of  modern  times."  It  also  included  in  its  Report 
the  name  of  William  Clay,  who  was  licensed  in  1849,  "a  young  man  of  genius, 
talents  and  usefulness,"  and  an  active,  successful  minister  during  his  brief  period 
of  service.  Also  Christian  T.  Foniey,  "a  lay  preacher  of  extraordinary  talents 
and  gifts  for  usefulness  in  the  church  and  in  the  world;"  a  delegate  from  the 
Dauphin  circuit  for  a  number  of  years,  and  several  times  a  delegate  to  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership,  and  a  close  personal  friend  and  admirer  of  Winebrenner.  As 
these  older  workers  came  down  from  the  walls  of  Zion,  younger  men  stepped 
forward  to  take  their  places.  C.  H.  Forney  had  been  licensed  on  September  25, 
1860,  by  the  Standing  Committee,  on  their  own  initiative,  and  for  the  first  time 
took  his  seat  in  the  Eldership  at  this  session.  W.  L.  Jones  and  H.  E.  Reever  were 
licensed  at  this  Eldership  and  added  to  the  active  working  force  in  the  field.  The 
Eldership  organized  by  electing  J.  C.  Owens,  Speaker;  Joseph  Ross,  Treasurer; 
J.  Haifleigh,  First  Clerk,  and  C.  H.  Foniey,  Second  Clerk.  There  were  present 
thirty-five  ministers  and  twenty-three  delegates,  while  thirty-two  teaching  elders 
were  absent.  There  was  a  fair  number  of  judicial  cases  before  the  Eldership; 
but  they  were  settled  without  extreme  measures  being  necessary,  except  in  one 
case,  in  which  the  Special  Committee  concluded  "that  under  existing  circum- 
stances we  as  a  body  can  use  the  accused  no  more  as  a  minister  among  us." 
Immediate  action  was  taken  "to  publish  a  Life  of  Elder  Winebrenner,"  author- 
izing the  "Publishing  Committee  to  employ  an  Agent  to  collect  funds  for  that 
purpose."  As  the  revision  of  the  Constitution  was  in  the  hands  of  a  Committee, 
Ham,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  the  Eldership  containing  his  Report,  offered  a  reso- 
lution "to  alter  and  amend  the  title  of  the  Eldership  so  as  to  read.  The  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  of  Churches  of  God,  and  that  we  recommend  conformity 
to  this  style  by  all  other  Elderships,  Synods,  Conferences,  or  ecclesiastical  con- 
ventions of  like  nature."  The  Eldership  was  in  no  mood  to  entertain  such  a  reso- 
lution by  the  newly  made  grave  of  Winebrenner,  champion  of  the  negative  of  this 
proposition,  and  so  without  debate  it  "laid  the  preamble  and  resolution  on  the 
table."  The  appointments  made  this  year  were  fifteen  stations,  twelve  circuits 
and  three  missions.  Altoona  was  added  to  the  list,  and  was  made  a  mission 
station,  with  S.  S.  Richmond,  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  as  pastor. 

33rd  East  Pennsylvania  Eldei-ship. — The  Eldership  in  1861  was  the  first 
one  to  sit  after  the  opening  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  and  there  were  sevefal 
painful  reminders  of  this  fact.  Prom  some  of  the  homes  in  Mechanicsburg,  Cum- 
berland county.  Pa.,  where  the  session  was  held,  sons,  or  fathers,  or  husbands 
had  gone  to  the  army,  and  as  well  from  all  the  other  churches  represented  in  the 
Eldership.  The  session  began  with  the  Opening  Sermon  by  A.  Swartz,  on  Wed- 
nesday evening,  October  30th.  There  were  present  forty-three  ministers  and 
twenty-six  delegates,  twenty-seven  ministers  were  absent.  Forty-two  ministers 
were  classed  as  "Local  Preachers."  The  officers  chosen  were  E.  H.  Thomas, 
Speaker;  Joseph  Ross,  Treasurer;  J.  Haifleigh,  First  Clerk,  and  C.  H.  Foniey, 
Second  Clerk.  The  Eldership  was  so  well  pleased  with  the  Opening  Sermon  that 
it  ordered  it  printed  in  pamphlet  form.  Certain  articles  of  the  Constitution  were 
amended,  one  of  which  increased  the  Stationihg  Committee  from  five  to  seven 
members.  Among  the  difficulties  brought  before  the  Eldership  were  charges 
against  the  officers  of  the  church  at  Mt.  Joy  by  the  pastor,  whose  services  had 
been  rejected;  and  charges  against  one  of  the  ministers  "for  preaching  in  the 
Fourth  Street  Bethel,  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  for  a  party  who  are  in  open  rebellion 
against  the  Eldership,  and  especially  while  the  suit  of  equity  was  pending."  The 
Committee  on  Slavery  has  given  w.ay  to  the  "Committee  on  the  State  of  the 
Country."  The  Report  of  this  Committee  declared  "in  unmistakable  words  our 
unwavering  confidence  in,  and  loyalty  to,  our  Constitutional  obligations;" 
tendered  to  "the  Government  our  warmest  sympathies  and  prayers  for  its  final 
and  triumphant  success,"  and  recognized  the  duty  "always  to  remember  in  our 
private  and  public  devotions  the  numerous  brethren  we  have  at  present  in  the 
army."     The    Report   was   adopted,   and    later   reconsidered,   and   again   adopted, 


East    Pennsylvania   Eldership  337 

when  on  Roll  Call  twenty-eight  votes  were  cast  in  favor  of  adoption,  and  none 
against.  The  project  of  purchasing  the  Mt.  Joy  Academy  was  brought  before 
the  Eldership,  and  Thomas,  Swartz  and  Forney  were  appointed  a  committee  to 
confer  with  Principal  Moore.  Forney  and  Moore  were  "granted  cordial  permis- 
sion to  go  throughout  the  bounds  of  this  body  to  obtain  subscriptions  of  stock  for 
the  contemplated  purchase  of  said  Academy."  Arrangements  were  made  "to 
publish  the  Life  of  Elder  John  AVinebi-enner,"  and  also  to  erect  a  monument  over 
his  grave.  "The  increase  and  prosperity  of  the  last  year,"  said  the  Committee 
on  the  State  of  Religion,  "will  not  compare  with  some  years  of  our  past  history;" 
yet  nearly  four  hundred  persons  were  received  on  profession  of  faith.  The  total 
number  of  members  reported  was  2,607.  The  two-year  Rule  being  in  force. 
Shoemaker's  reappointment  was  "noticed  as  a  specialty"  on  the  Journal.  A  com- 
mittee consisting  of  J.  Keller  and  C.  H.  Forney,  of  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership,  and  George  M.  Hepler,  of  the  German  Eldership,  met  a  committee  of 
the  "Union  Brethren"  at  Dr.  George  Ross's,  Lebanon,  Pa.,  January  1,  1862.  Said 
Committee  consisted  of  Elders  Christian  Sechrist,  David  Zimmerman  and  Henry 
Flowers.  The  object  of  the  conference  was  to  determine  a  basis  of  union  between 
the  two  bodies  represented.  After  carefully  canvassing  the  material  points  of 
faith  and  polity  of  the  two  Churches,  "it  was  agreed  by  the  undersigned  Com- 
mittees, that  since  there  is  no  material  difference  that  could  hinder  a  union  from 
being  beneficial  to  both  Societies,  from  henceforth  we  mutually  co-operate  for 
the  purpose  of  consummating  a  more  perfect  union  at  our  next  annual  Eldership." 
This  received  the  signatures  of  all  the  members  of  the  Conference.  The  Elder- 
ship by  resolution  expressed  its  judgment,  that  "it  is  inexpedient  for  any  mem- 
ber of  any  of  the  churches  of  God  within  the  bounds  of  this  Eldership  to  ad- 
minister the  rites  of  Christian  baptism,  the  Lord's  Supper  and  matrimony  with- 
out a  license  from  this  body."  A  "Course  of  Studies  for  our  young  ministers" 
was  prescribed,  in  which  they  were  to  be  examined  annually. 

34th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — James  Mackey  delivered  as  an  Opening 
Sermon  to  the  Eldership,  which  convened  at  Elizabethtown,  Lancaster  county,  Pa., 
October  29,  1862,  a  discourse  of  a  political  character,  on  the  rights  of,  and  duties 
of  citizens  to,  the  Government,  based  on  Matt.  xxii.  21.      He  was  chosen  Speaker, 
and  Joseph  Ross,  Treasurer;  J.  Haifleigh,  First  Clerk,  and  C.  H.  Forney,  Second 
Clerk.      Friday  and  Monday  evenings  were  set  apart  for  general  discussion  of  sub- 
jects selected  by  a  committee.      Said  Committee  submitted  three  questions,  viz.: 
1.     What  measures,  if  any,   can  the  ministers  of  this  Eldership   adopt  to  make 
their  labors  more  efficient,  both  in  extending  the  cause  of  God-  within  our  borders, 
and  in  giving  more  permanency  and  stability  to  the  churches,  and  to  counteract 
the  terrible  reaction  that  so  frequently  follows  great  revivals  of  religion?"      2. 
"Are  we  as   an   Eldership  following  the  apostolic  practice  in  setting  apart  men 
for  the  Christian  ministry?"      3.      "Do  we  as  a  Church  generally  follow  the  prac- 
tice of  the  Apostolic  Church  in    the  order    of    administering    the    ordinances?" 
Twenty  ministers  participated  in  the  discussions.      Laverty,  Swartz  and  Long  were 
the  Examining  Committee,  and  they  reported  in  favor  of  a  three-year  Course  of 
Studies,  naming  the  studies.      Each  minister  was  directed  "to  preach  at  least  one 
sermon  on  the  subject  of  Temperance  during  the  coming  year."     Churches  which 
had  been  supplied  by  the  German  Eldership  were  coming  back  to  the  East  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership,  and  were  received,  thus  creating  contention  between  the  two 
Elderships.      A  committee  was  named  "to  confer  with  the  German  Eldership"  on 
the  matter.     Upon  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Conference  with  the  "Union 
Brethren"   being  received,  Forney,  Keller  and  Peti-y  were  designated  as  a  Com- 
mittee "to  visit  the  Union  Brethren's  Eldership."     As  these  brethren  were  located 
principally   in    the   south-eastern    section    of   Lebanon    and    the    adjoining   north- 
eastern section  of  Lancaster  counties,  a  mission  was  created,  to  be  known  as  the 
Lancaster  and  Lebanon  County  Mission.      The  Report  of  J.  Keller,  C.  H.  Forney 
and  J.  S.  Gable,  as  Committee  on  Slavery,  was  the  occasion  of  an  animated  dis- 
cussion.     It  was  considered  seriatim,  one  resolution  amended  and  three  "stricken 
out,"  but  published.     The  three-year  time  limit  was  suspended  in  the  case  of  the 
Fourth    Street    church,     to     permit     the      reappointment    of    Shoemaker.      In     all 
Itinerant  Churches  in  those  early  years  the  time-limit  at  first  was  practically,  if 
not  constitutionally,  one  or  two  years.      Such  a  rule  furnished  a  splendid  oppor- 
tunity  for    sifting   out   the   useless,    or    changing   the    unfit,    or    most    effectually 
utilizing  the  strong  when  the  list  of  strong  men  was  unavoidably  limited.     The 
Stationing  Committee  reported   fourteen  stations,   fourteen   circuits  and  six  mis- 

C.  H.— 12* 


33^  History   of   the   Churches   of    God 

sions.  All  the  ministers  were  taxed  $1.00  a  year  for  the  Superannuated  Fund. 
The  total  of  $255.00  was  paid  to  widows  of  deceased  ministers.  Into  this  Fund 
each  minister  was  also  required  to  pay   $1.00   annually. 

35th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  exhortation  of  Thomas  published 
a  week  before  the  Eldership  met,  October  28,  1863,  at  Middletown,  Dauphin 
county,  Pa.:  "Let  all  the  churches  be  fully  represented,  and  let  all  the  ministers 
of  the  body,  whether  local,  missionaries,  or  itinerants,  attend,"  doubtless  had  its 
effect,  for  of  the  thirty-one  "itinerants"  only  five  were  absent.  Thomas  preached 
the  Opening  Sermon.  Shoemaker  was  elected  Speaker;  J.  Rife,  Treasurer,  to  suc- 
ceed Joseph  Ross,  deceased;  J.  Haifleigh,  First  Clerk,  and  A.  H.  Lonj^,  Second 
Clerk.  The  committee  on  topics  for  discussion  submitted  three:  The  purpose 
of  the  apostolic  practice  of  the  imposition  of  hands;  the  relation  of  children  of 
one  or  both  believing  parents  to  the  church,  and  the  progress  of  the  Church,  is  it 
commensurate  with  our  privileges  and  duty.  When  the  first  subject  was  under 
discussion  "Elder  Forney  offered  the  following  resolution:  'Resolved,  That  in 
future  the  licentiates  be  specially  dedicated  to  God  by  prayer,  when  the  Report 
of  the  Committee  is  received,  on  the  floor  of  the  Eldership,  and  addressed  by  the 
Speaker.'  "  An  amendment  was  offered — "that  they  be  set  apart  by  the  imposi- 
tion of  the  hands  of  four  elders" — and  then  the  resolution  and  amendment  were 
postponed  to  the  first  day  of  the  session  of  1864.  In  line  with  this  action,  it  was 
agreed  that  in  future  an  ordination  sermon  be  preached  before  the  Eldership  on 
the  last  evening  of  the  session,  by  a  minister  appointed  the  previous  year. 
Laverty  submitted  strong  resolutions  on  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  which 
were  adopted.  C.  H.  Forney  was  appointed  First  Clerk,  pro  tem.  "J.  S.  Stamm 
and  others  of  our  brethren  in  the  ministry  having  been  drafted  into  the  military 
service  of  the  United  States,"  the  Eldership  earnestly  recommended  the  churches 
"to  aid  them  in  the  payment  of  the  commutation."  The  Eldership  resolved  "to 
raise  $1,500  the  coming  Eldership  year  for  missionary  purposes,"  on  motion  of 
Thomas,  always  the  strong  advocate  of  missions.  At  once  $242.00  were  sub- 
scribed. There  were  still  churches  without  Sabbath-schools,  and  so  the  Elder- 
ship urged  "the  brethren  throughout  the  bounds  of  the  Eldership  to  organize 
Sabbath-schools  in  all  the  churches."  Books  for  libraries  the  churches  were  ad- 
vised to  buy  from  the  Baptist  Publication  Society.  The  attention  of  the  churches 
was  specially  directed  to  the  importance  of  reading  the  Bible  in  the  families, 
the  observance  of  the  Lord's  day,  the  weekly  prayer-meeting  and  the  "training 
of  children  in  the  teaching  and  practice  of  the  Church,  so  that,  as  they  grow  up, 
they  may  follow  in  the  same  way."  The  Eldership  was  emphatic  in  its  insistance 
on  discipline,  declaring  that  "it  is  an  essential  element  to  preserve  order  and 
to  secure  the  dignity  and  perpetuity  of  the  Church  of  God,"  and  "that  such  dis- 
cipline can  only  be  secured  by  a  strict  adherence  by  all  the  members  of  this  body, 
and  the  churches  in  connection  therewith,  to  the  disciplinary  acts  and  decisions 
of  the  proper  judicatories  of  the  Church."  Having  at  times  "been  under  the  pain- 
ful necessity  of  expelling  unworthy  and  disorderly  members,"  which  were  re- 
ceived into  other  Churches,  the  Eldership  "highly  disapproves  of  the  course  of 
such  denominations  as  pay  no  regard  to  the  disciplinary  decisions  of  other  Chris- 
tian bodies."  As  many  readers  of  The  Advocate  were  annoyed  by  the  person- 
alities and  often  bitter  reflections  on  each  other  by  writers  in  their  discussions, 
Long  submitted  resolutions,  which  were  adopted,  advising  writers  "to  refrain 
from  public  crimination  and  improper  personalities,"  and  requesting  the  Editor 
"to  refuse  publicity  to  any  article  that  contains  such  obnoxious  features."  The 
pastors  were  "requested  to  appoint  female  collectors  to  wait  upon  the  members 
of  their  respective  churches  to  collect  funds  for  missionary  purposes."  The  Rule 
was  adopted,  "that  the  Speaker  of  the  Eldership  hereafter  preach  the  Opening 
Sermon  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  Eldership."  By  a  rearrangement  of  fields  of 
labor,  they  were  reduced  to  fourteen  stations,  eleven  circuits  and  four  missions. 

36th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.— Though  Shoemaker  was  not  appointed  by 
the  Eldership  in  1863  to  the  Chicago  Mission,  he  was  enrolled  in  1864,  when  on 
October  2  6th,  the  Eldership  convened  at  Newburg,  Cumberland  county,  Pa.,  as  the 
appointee  to  the  Chicago  Mission.  Holding  his  membership  in  this  Eldership,  he 
was  entitled  to  preach  the  Opening  Sermon;  but  it  was  preached  by  B.  F.  Beck. 
Theme: — "The  Saints'  Perseverance."  D.  A.  L.  Laverty  was  honored  with  the 
Speakership,  and  J.  Rife  was  chosen  Treasurer;  J.  Haifleigh,  First  Clerk,  and  C. 
H.  Forney,  Second  Clerk.  Among  those  ministers  of  other  Elderships  "received 
as  full  members  of  the  Eldership  during  its  present    sessions"    was    Mrs.    M.    J. 


East   Pennsylvania    Eldership  339 

Beecher,  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  the  first  woman  to  preach  before  the 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  A  minister  of  the  "Christian  Connection,"  John 
Hunter,  was  received  and  a  license  granted  him.  When  the  postponed  resolutions 
on  Ordination  came  up,  they  were  discussed,  and  then  "the  subject  was  indefinitely 
postponed."  The  serious  condition  of  the  country  was  strongly  set  forth  by  the 
Committee  on  the  State  of  the  Country,  Mackey,  Thomas,  Forney,  and  was  at  once 
adopted.  Richmond,  Beck  and  Sterner,  Committee  on  Temperance,  were  un- 
usually co'ncise  in  their  Report,  but  recommended  at  least  two  sermons  to  be 
preached  by  all  the  pastors.  On  Education,  Forney,  Stamm  and  Ross,  Committee, 
a  recommendation  was  submitted  and  adopted,  inviting  all  the  Elderships  to  co- 
operate with  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  "the  erection  of  a  suitable  college 
building,  centrally  located,  easily  accessible  and  in  a  healthy  locality."  Instead 
of  $1,500  missionary  money,  the  Board  of  Missions  received  only  $679.31.  The 
Eldership  decided  "to  appoint  a  meeting  to  be  held  annually  on  Whitsuntide,  to 
be  known  as  the  Pentecostal  Meeting."  By  the  adoption  of  a  new  Constitution, 
making  Maryland  a  free  State,  the  Eldership  saw  enlarged  opportunities  for  mis- 
sion work,  and  recommended  to  the  Stationing  Committee  the  opening  of  a  mis- 
sion there.  Frederick  County  Mission  was  accordingly  placed  with  the  list  of  ap- 
pointments, with  S.  Spurrier  as  missionary.  Swartz's  Ordination  Sermon,  by  di- 
rection of  the  Eldership,  was  published  in  The  Advocate.  Thomas  was  chosen  to 
preach  the  Ordination  Sermon  in  1865.  Though  the  subject  of  Ordination  had 
been  "indefinitely  postponed"  on  Friday  morning,  on  Wednesday  morning  Owens 
offered  a  resolution  granting  to  any  licentiate  who  desired  it  hereafter  the  right 
"to  have  the  hands  of  elders  laid  on  him,"  and  that  such  ceremony  shall  take  place 
"at  the  time  of  the  Pentecostal  Convention."  But  the  Eldership  postponed  it 
"until  after  the  Ordination  sermon  at  the  next  Eldership."  On  the  "state  of  re- 
ligious enjoyment  and  external  manifestations,  such  as  refreshings  at  meetings 
and  reformations  in  the  local  churches,"  the  Committee,  Soule,  Hunter  and  Weis- 
hampel,  was  "not  prepared  to  speak  flatteringly,"  "for  there  seems  to  be  a  lack  at 
present,"  which,  the  Committee  said,  "is  traceable  to  the  present  civil  war,  occa- 
sioned by  this  wicked  rebellion  in  our  land." 

37th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — When  the  Eldership  was  in  session  in  the 
bethel  of  the  Fourth  Street  church,  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  beginning  October  25,  1865, 
Thomas'  editorial  appeared,  in  which  he  discussed  the  "Relation  of  the  Churches 
to  the  Eldership."  It  seems  that  a  number  of  "brethren  regard  the  Elderships 
not  only  as  separate  and  distinct  bodies  from  the  churches;  but  also  as  laboring 
for  distinct,  and  even  for  antagonistic,  interests  and  objects."  The  secret  of  this 
impression  was  the  authority  of  the  Eldership  in  the  appointment  of  ministers,  in 
which  it  was  felt  that  the  interests  of  the  churches  were  subordinated  to  those  of 
the  ministers.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by  D.  A.  L.  Laverty,  on  "The 
Christian  Ministry."  C.  Price  was  chosen  Speaker;  J.  Rife,  Treasurer;  J. 
Haifleigh,  First  Clerk,  and  C.  H.  Forney,  Second  Clerk.  There  were  eleven  sta- 
tions, sixteen  circuits  and  four  missions,  including  Wooster  station  and  Chicago 
Mission.  An  animated  and  lengthy  discussion  arose  over  the  report  of  the  Stand- 
ing Committee,  in  which  it  developed  that  one  station  had  refused  the  appointee 
of  the  Eldership,  and  had  called  another  minister  of  the  Eldership.  By  this  act 
the  Committee  declared  that  "a  severe  blow  has  been  struck  at  the  honor  and  in- 
tegrity, as  well  as  the  future  peace  and  prosperity,  of  the  churches,  and  one  which 

we  think  now  demands  a  thorough  sifting and  such  reproof  as  will  prove  a 

salutary  warning  against  such  open  contumacy  and  insubordination  in  the  future." 
The  report  was  adopted  by  a  resolution  declaring  that  the  Eldership  saw  no  way 
"of  escape  from  our  duty,"  but  to  adopt  it,  "seeing  that  the  harmony  and  co-opera- 
tion of  the  Church  of  God  in  its  various  locations  might  be  preserved  and  peace 
and  harmony  prevail  in  the  whole  membership."  The  action  met  a  crisis  which 
required  some  years  wholly  to  overcome.  The  Committee  on  the  State  of  the 
Country  presented  an  elaborate  Report,  "hailing  with  joyful  gratitude  the  complete 
subjugation  of  the  slaveholders'  rebellion;"  deploring  the  assassination  of  Presi- 
dent Lincoln;  gratefully  remembering  the  soldiers  and  sailors  and  pledging  needed 
aid  to  them,  and  "the  orphan  children  of  the  gallant  dead,"  and  insisting  that  the 
lessons  of  the  war  regarding  slavery  taught  us  by  providence  be  impressed  on  all, 
and  ever  held  sacred.  The  Licensing  Committee  was  empowered  "to  determine 
whether  a  licentiate  shall  be  a  member  of  classes  for  examination.  The  Board 
of  Missions  consisted  of  C.  H.  Forney,  J.  S.  Stamm,  E.  H.  Thomas,  D.  A,  L.  Laverty 
and   J.   Keller.      The   Standing   Committee,   E.   H.   Thomas,   A.   Swartz   and   J.   C. 


340  History   of  the  Churchks  of   God 

Owens.  A  Committee  on  Revision  of  the  Rules  was  created,  consisting  of  C.  H. 
Foniey,  A.  Swai-tz  and  W.  O.  Owen.  After  a  missionary  meeting  on  Monday  even- 
ing, by  resolution,  the  Eldership  discussed  "the  vicarious  sufferings  and  death  of 
Christ,  and  the  Second  Advent."  The  Committee  on  Education  recommended  that 
"we  proceed  forthwith  to  make  an  effort  to  establish  an  institution  of  learning." 
The  Eldership  heartily  endorsed  and  recommended  the  American  Bible  Union 
translation  of  the  New  Testament.  When  the  Philadelphia  Mission  project  was 
discussed,  a  resolution  prevailed  to  raise  $3,000  to  purchase  the  house  of  worship 
on  Diamond  street.  Forney,  Swartz,  Thomas  and  Laveily  were  appointed  the  Ex- 
amining Committee.  The  time-limit  was  changed  by  a  resolution  submitted  by 
Thomas,  so  that  no  preacher  could  remain  longer  than  two  years  on  one  charge. 
The  Rule  was  subject  to  change  only  by  a  two-thirds  vote.  This  was  the  Metho- 
dist Rule  at  this  time.  Churches  were  strongly  urged  to  build  parsonages.  Mackey 
was  appointed  to  preach  the  ordination  sermon  in  1866.  These  sermons  were  a 
discussion  of  the  affirmative  and  negative  of  the  ordination  question.  Evils,  or 
unwise  plans,  often  change  themselves.  And  so  with  the  plan  of  building  monu- 
ments to  deceased  ministers.  After  an  experience  of  a  number  of  years  it  was 
found  advisable  to  drop  the  purpose  entirely.  The  Eldership  considered  that  the 
collections  made  personally  by  Shoemaker  exonerated  it  from  paying  the  $300.00 
per  annum  to  that  mission.  The  Chicago  Mission  was  omitted  from  the  list  of  ap- 
pointments. 

38th  East  Pennsylvania  Eltlei'ship. — The  Eldership  in  1866  expressed  its  ap- 
preciation of  the  presence  of  J.  M.  Domer  and  P.  Loucks,  of  the  West  Pennsylvania 
Eldership,  by  doing  the  unusual  thing  of  receiving  them  "as  full  members  of  this 
body  during  its  present  session,"  and  giving  them  places  on  two  important  com- 
mittees. It  met  at  Mechanicsburg,  Cumberland  county,  Wednesday  evening, 
October  31,  1866,  when  C.  Price  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  from  John  i.  29. 
Theme — "The  Atoning  Lamb  of  God."  The  Committee  on  Rules  of  Order — 
Forney,  Swartz  and  Owen — reported  a  complete  body  of  Rules,  which  with  few 
changes  have  been  the  permanent  Rules  of  Order  since.  By  resolution  Thomas, 
Swartz  and  Forney  were  "appointed  a  committee  to  revise  the  Article  published  by 
Elder  Winebrenner  in  the  History  of  All  Denominations  for  publication."  This 
committee  favored  the  publication  of  the  Article  verbatim  as  the  production  of 
Winebrenner,  except  the  section  treating  of  Polity  and  Statistics,  which  it 
suggested  should  be  revised  and  enlarged.  Also,  that  there  should  be  added 
resolutions  on  the  Bible  cause,  education,  deeding  of  church  property,  book 
concern,  slavery  and  temperance  passed  at  the  first  General  Eldership, 
together  with  the  Constitutions  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  and  the  General 
Elderships.  Authority  was  given  to  sell  the  Diamond  Street  Mission  prop- 
erty, Philadelphia,  and  buy  or  build  a  more  suitable  house  of  worship.  On  a 
yea  and  nay  vote  a  resolution  to  restore  the  three-year  rule  was  lost  by  a  vote  of 
31  nays  to  5  yeas.  A  resolution  declaring  that  "the  use  of  instrumental  music  in 
the  public  worship  of  God  is  scriptural  and  beneficial,  and  should  be  encouraged 
hy  the  ministers  of  this  body,"  was  laid  on  the  table,  after  some  discussion.  The 
"action  of  the  various  Orders  of  Temperance  in  endeavoring  to  banish  the  demon 
rum  entirely  from  our  country"  was  heartily  endorsed.  A  comprehensive  system 
of  mission  work  was  proposed,  by  recommending  "that  the  Board  of  Missions  of 
the  General  Eldership  open  correspondence  with  the  Boards  of  Missions  of  the 
various  Elderships,  with  the  view  of  providing  a  large  missionary  fund  for  the 
purpose  of  sending  missionaries  into  the  States  and  Territories  of  the  mountains 
and  the  Pacific  to  open  new  territory,  purchase  properties,  erect  houses  of  worship 
and  extend  the  cause  generally."  Swartz,  by  request  of  the  Eldership,  delivered 
"an  able  and  eloquent  address  on  the  life  and  labors  of  Elder  G.  U,  Ham."  The 
licensing  of  exhorters  was  provided  for  by  authorizing  the  Committee  on  License 
to  "recommend  applicants  either  as  exhorters  or  preachers."  The  action  of  the 
General  Eldership  with  reference  to  Centralia  College  and  a  Central  College  was 
endorsed,  and  the  brotherhood  was  urged  to  respond  liberally  when  the  College 
Agent  calls  upon  them  "for  funds  for  educational  purposes."  The  Standing  Com- 
mittee was  made  the  Camp-meeting  Committee.  A  committee  to  assess  the  dif- 
ferent stations  and  circuits  for  missionary  purposes  made  an  aggregate  apportion- 
ment of  $1,9.55.00  for  the  following  year.  Thomas,  Swartz  and  Keller  were  made 
a  committee  with  instructions  to  "address  a  pastoral  letter  to  the  ministers  and 
churches  with  reference  to  the  general  prosperity  of  the  cause."  The  Eldership 
was  pronounced  "one  of  the  most  pleasant  ones  we  ever  held."  It  was  presided 
over  by  J.  Haifleigh,  with  J.  Rife,  Treasurer;  J.  S.  Stamm.  First  Clerk,  and  A.  H. 


East    Pennsylvania   Eldership  341. 

Long,  Second  Clerk,  who  received  "a  vote  of  thanks  for  the  able  manner  in  which 
they  discharged  their  respective  duties." 

39th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  General  Eldership  in  1866  had  rec- 
ommended the  publication  of  Annual  Eldership  Journals  in  pamphlet  form;  but 
in  1866  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  decided  against  doing  so,  and  resolved 
to  publish  its  entire  Journal  in  The  Advocate.  But  the  session  held  at  Newville^ 
Cumberland  county,  beginning  November  13,  1867,  "appointed  J.  F.  Weishampel 
as  reporter  of  this  body,  to  prepare  a  synopsis  of  the  Journal  for  The  Church  Ad- 
vocate." He  was  an  advisory  member,  being  a  member  of  the  German  Eldership. 
J.  Haifleigh  delivered  the  opening  sermon  from  Acts  xx.  28.  The  Eldership  was 
constituted  with  thirty-four  teaching  elders,  and  thirty-two  ruling  elders  and  mes- 
sengers. The  latter  had  no  vote.  A.  H.  Long  was  the  Speaker;  J.  Rife,  Treas- 
urer; C.  H.  Foniey,  First  Clerk,  and  G.  Sigler,  Second  Clerk.  The  Eldership  de- 
cided to  make  memorial  services  each  year  a  regular  order,  "in  honor  of  any  min- 
isterial members  who  may  have  died  during  the  year."  "A  lengthy  and  spirited 
discussion"  took  place  during  two  sittings,  on  several  resolutions  "relative  to  the 
continuance  of  the  "itinerancy  among  us."  They  were  offered  by  E.  H.  Thomas, 
and  declared  that  "the  itinerancy,  as  we  have  understood  and  practiced  it,  is  fun- 
damental to  our  system  of  co-operation;"  that  "every  effort  to  annul  or  set  aside 
a  fixed  or  specific  period  for  a  preacher  to  remain  on  any  appointment  is  revolu- 
tionary and  subversive  of  the  system  of  co-operation  practiced  by  this  body,"  and 
urging  "the  General  Eldership  at  its  next  session  to  pass  a  constitutional  Article, 
declaring  the  system  of  itinerancy  as  it  has  existed  among  us  for  nearly  forty 
years  fundamental  to  the  existence  of  our  plan  of  co-operation."  The  resolutions 
were  adopted.  Eight  brethren  were  licensed,  and  were  addressed,  and  prayer 
offered  for  them,  by  Long  and  Keller.  The  Board  of  Missions  was  "directed  to 
devise  ways  and  means  whereby  the  sum  of  $500.00  may  be  secured  as  a  partial 
remuneration  for  the  highly  efficient  labors  of  this  beloved  father  in  Israel" — E. 
H.  Thomas.  Ministers  removing  within  the  territory  of  any  other  Eldership  were 
requested  to  take  Transfers.  Thomas,  Swartz  and  Forney  were  designated  as  a 
committee  "to  examine  all  the  records  of  the  Eldership  to  ascertain  on  what  points 
of  doctrine,  practice  and  Church  polity  the  Church  has  already  declared  her 
views."  The  report  showed  that  the  Eldership  had:  1.  Made  all  ministers 
amenable  to  it  for  their  official  and  moral  character  and  their  theological  faith. 
2.  Reserved  to  itself  the  right  to  fix  boundaries  and  assign  the  ministers  to  their 
fields  of  labor.  3.  That  "plainness  of  dress"  is  a  Christian  characteristic.  4. 
That  none  but  justified  believers  are  fit  subjects  for  baptism;  that  baptism  prior  to 
conversion  is  unlawful,  and  therefore  a  person  should  be  rebaptized  after  he  be- 
comes a  believer.  5.  That  the  Spirit  and  the  word  are  not  to  be  confounded  or 
identified  with  each  other;  that  the  Spirit  may  operate  with  or  without  the  word. 
6.  That  it  is  inexpedient  for  the  members  of  the  Church  of  God  to  intermarry 
with  the  unconverted.  7.  Persons  should  be  received  into  church  membership 
by  mutual  consent.  8.  On  temperance,  education  and  slavery  the  records  were 
simply  referred  to.  9.  Withholding  from  preachers  by  the  churches  of  their 
promised  support  made  them  guilty  of  an  act  of  immorality.  10.  Refusing  to 
interfere  with  the  personal  rights  of  members  in  the  matter  of  benevolent  and 
secret  associations  outside  of  the  Church.  11.  Enjoining  on  members  the  ob- 
servance of  public  days  of  fasting,  thanksgiving,  etc.  12.  The  duty  of  members 
of  the  Church  to  assist  in  establishing  Sabbath-schools.  13.  Insisting  on  uni- 
formity by  all  the  ministers  in  the  observing  of  the  ordinances  as  held  by  the 
Church.  14.  That  the  ruling  power  of  the  churches  is  vested  in  the  teaching 
and  ruling  elders.  15.  Against  the  followers  of  Christ  mingling  in  the  vain 
amusements  of  the  world,  such  as  the  theater,  the  circus,  dancing,  triffling  parties, 
light  reading,  extravagance  and  gaiety  in  dress  and  furniture.  16.  The  right 
of  ministers  is  denied  to  leave  their  appointments  without  the  consent  of  the 
Standing  Committee,  as  also  the  dropping  or  neglecting  of  appointments.  17. 
Insisting  on  pastoral  visiting.  18.  That  the  itinerancy  is  fundamental  to  our 
system  of  co-operation.  It  can  not  be  said  that  this  report  is  exhaustive.  The. 
Eldership  was  in  debt  to  the  Treasurer  to  the  amount  of  $2,731.51,  and  the  Board' 
of  Missions  was  empowered  to  employ  an  agent  to  collect  funds  to  pay  off  this-- 
debt.  Exhorters'  licenses  were  to  be  limited  to  "persons  contemplating  the  Chris- 
tian ministry."  J.  Rife  resigned  as  Treasurer,  and  Dr.  George  Ross  was  elected. 
By  resolution  of  the  Committee  on  Temperance,  "temperance  covers  all  excesses," 
but   the    "occasional   or   habitual    use    of   spirituous,    vinous,    malt    or    fermented;- 


342  History  of  the   Churches  of  God 

liquors  as  a  beverage"  was  declared  to  be  "in  direct  antagonism  with  Christianity 
and  unbecoming  any  professor  of  religion."  Assessments  for  $2,700.00  were 
made  by  the  Board  of  Missions.  The  territory  was  divided  into  fourteen  stations, 
fifteen  circuits  and  four  missions,  including  Wooster,  Ohio. 

40th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldersliip. — On  July  8,  18  68,  the  Assistant  Editor, 
C.  H.  Forney,  announced  in  an  editorial,  that  at  the  Eldership  which  would  con- 
vene at  Uniontown,  Md.,  October  21,  1868,  he  would  offer  an  amendment  to  the 
Constitution  making  "the  Journalizing  Clerk  also  the  Stated  Clerk  of  the  Elder- 
ship, who  shall  take  care  of  all  the  papers  pertaining  to  the  Eldership,"  etc.,  and 

for  which  extra  work  he  was  to  receive compensation.     The  reasons  for 

this  amendment  were  set  forth.  After  the  Eldership  was  constituted  and  J.  Keller 
elected  Speaker;  George  Ross,  Treasurer;  C.  H.  Foniey,  Journalizing,  and  B.  F. 
Beck,  Transcribing  Clerks,  Foi-ney  submitted  the  proposed  amendment,  which  was 
referred  to  a  special  committee  composed  of  Thomas,  Deshong  and  Long,  which 
reported  favorably,  and  the  amendment,  covering  the  provision  for  a  Stated  Clerk, 
more  fully  defining  his  duties  and  those  of  the  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  creating 
the  office  of  Financial  Clerk  and  defining  his  duties,  was  adopted.  Thereupon 
the  resignation  of  Foniey  as  Journalizing  Clerk,  offered  when  the  amendment  was 
submitted,  was  taken  from  the  table  and  accepted,  and  he  was  elected  Stated 
Clerk.  As  the  East  Ohio  Eldership  had  recommended  "the  sale  of  the  bethel  at 
Wooster,  for  the  purpose  of  paying  the  debt  and  building  a  smaller  house,"  the 
Eldership  proposed  "to  assume  all  responsibility,  pay  the  debt  and  supply  that  con- 
gregation with  a  preacher,  provided  the  East  Ohio  Eldership  transfer  all  its  rights 
thereto  to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership."  Members  of  the  classes  in  the 
Course  of  Studies  being  somewhat  negligent,  the  Eldership  resolved  that  their 
licenses  should  be  withheld  after  "having  failed  for  two  consecutive  years  to  com- 
ply with  the  action  of  the  Eldership."  This  session  of  the  Eldership  definitely 
fixed  the  months  in  which  the  various  collections  for  its  regular  Funds  are  to  be 
lifted.  The  Eldership's  right  to  hold  preachers  amenable  for  doctrine  taught  was 
asserted  in  the  case  of  H.  L.  Soule,  who  was  "instructed  that  he  be  careful  to 
preach  only  the  gospel,"  and  in  the  case  of  J.  S.  Stamm,  concerning  whom  it  was 
"reported  that  he  is  not  in  harmony  with  the  views  of  this  body  in  a  particular 
point  [feet-washing],  and  his  license  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee." Dissatisfaction  was  expressed  with  the  present  liquor  law,  and  the  Leg- 
islature was  "earnestly  implored  to  enact  a  downright,  positive  prohibition  law." 
A  vote  was  called  for  to  be  taken  "by  the  Maryland  members  of  this  Eldership," 
"whether  they  desire  the  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  to  ask  for  an  Elder- 
ship in  Maryland."  It  was  "decided  not  to  apply  for  permission  to  organize  said 
Eldership."  The  propriety  of  holding  an  Eldership  camp-meeting  was  recom- 
mended to  the  churches  throughout  the  Eldership.  Ministers  were  assigned  to 
seventeen  stations,  including  Wooster,  thirteen  circuits  and  four  missions.  The 
first  minister  placed  on  the  Superannuated  list  by  the  Eldership  was  A.  Swartz. 

41st  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  fears  of  the  Eldership  in  1868,  that 
Thomas  might  not  be  one  of  its  number,  when  on  October  20,  1869,  it  convened  at 
Washington,  Lancaster  county,  Pa.,  were  painfully  realized.  He  who  had  "in  a 
masterly  manner  conducted  our  Church  organ  for  ten  years"  had  ceased  from  his 
labors  and  entered  into  rest.  The  officers  chosen  were  A.  Swartz,  Speaker;  C.  H. 
Forney,  Stated  Clerk  (but  no  election  was  required);  George  Ross,  Treasurer;  B. 
F.  Beck,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  J.  Haifleigh,  Financial  Clerk.  The  Standing 
Committee  of  which  Thomas  had  so  long  been  a  member  was  now  composed  of 
Swartz,  Forney  and  Laverty.  By  direction  of  the  Eldership  the  funeral  sermon 
of  E.  H.  Thomas  was  preached  on  Sabbath  morning  by  C.  H.  Forney,  at  which  time 
an  address  which  had  been  delivered  by  J.  Mackey,  was  also  ordered  to  be  read. 
Text  of  the  sermon,  Heb.  xi.  4,  and  the  sermon  was  ordered  to  be  published  in 
The  Church  Advocate.  The  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Temperance,  which  was 
adopted,  recommended  "petitioning  the  Legislatures  of  Pennsylvania  and  Mary- 
land to  pass  laws  doing  away  with  the  license  system."  If  this  is  impracticable, 
then  "petition  the  judges  of  the  courts  to  license  no  liquor  selling  houses  in  the 
townships,  boroughs  and  cities  in  which  they  are  located."  At  his  request,  J.  S. 
Stamm  was  "dismissed  from  the  ministerial  fellowship  of  this  Eldership."  An 
effort  failed  to  amend  the  Constitution  so  as  to  admit  one  ruling  elder  from  each 
organized  church  who  shall  be  regularly  appointed  to  represent  the  same."  At  a 
missionary  meeting,  held  on  the  last  evening  of  the  session,  "cash  contributions 
and  pledges  to  the  amount  of  $1,157.50  were  given."     Strong  resolutions  on  the 


East    Pennsylvania   Eldej^ship  343 


death  of  Thomas  were  adopted,  declaring  that  "his  record  will  be  cherished  by  the 
members  of  this  Eldership  as  an  able  and  efficient  expounder  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
Church  of  God  and  an  able  Editor  of  The  Church  Advocate." 

42nd  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Presumably  up  to  this  date  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  and  its  members  had  been  very  innocent  in  the  matter  of 
prearranging  tickets.  It  was  the  theory  that  in  all  eclesiastical  elections  every 
member  would,  without  bias  or  persuasion,  cast  his  ballot  for  men  he  thought 
should  hold  certain  official  positions.  But  brethren  had  become  more  or  less  in- 
terested in  politics,  and  learned  political  methods,  so  that  immediately  after  elect- 
ing Mackey  unanimously  Speaker;  Geo.  Ross,  Treasurer;  E.  D.  Aller,  Transcribing 
Clerk,  and  J.  Haifleigh,  Financial  Clerk,  of  the  forty-second  annual  session,  at 
Shippensburg,  Cumberland  county,  November  9,  1870,  a  motion  prevailed  "to  ap- 
point a  committee  to  investigate  the  movement  to  elect  a  picked  ticket  of  the  Eld- 
ership, consisting  of  Keller,  Laverty  and  Price."  The  committee  made  no  report. 
The  office  of  Stated  Clerk  being  permanent,  C.  H.  Forney  continued.  On  account 
of  neglect  by  some  pastors  to  lift  collections  for  certain  funds,  they  were  required 
to  return  to  their  fields  and  lift  them.  An  instance  of  the  evil  of  misappropriating 
funds  by  religious  bodies  occurred  at  this  meeting,  when  indirectly  $150.00  mis- 
sionary money  were  appropriated  "to  pay  a  debt  contracted  by  two  churches"  in 
consequence  of  a  change  in  the  appointments  two  years  ago.  By  constitutional 
amendment  it  was  made  the  duty  of  ministers  on  fields  of  labor  to  ask  each  mem- 
ber for  ten  cents  annually  for  the  Widows'  Fund,  and  to  lift  other  collections 
named  during  given  months.  Other  amendments  being  desired,  it  was  directed 
"that  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed,  of  which  the  Editor,  C.  H.  Forney,  shall 
be  chairman,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  revise  the  Constitution  and  Rules  of  Order." 
This  committee  announced  a  meeting  in  April  and  invited  suggestions,  so  as  to  be 
ready  to  report  at  the  next  Eldership.  The  report  of  the  Treasurer  shows  that  he 
had  received  for  the  Missionary  Fund  $1,252.14,  and  paid  out  $1,690.32;  for  the 
Widows'  Fund  he  received  $386.94,  and  paid  out  $338.63;  for  the  Contingent 
Fund  he  received  $215.67,  and  paid  out  $128.93,  and  for  the  Superannuated  Fund 
he  received  $309.91,  and  paid  out  $165.00.  It  was  required  that  hereafter  the 
Treasurer  give  bond  in  the  sum  of  $5,000.00.  The  tendency  toward  formal  or- 
dination is  seen  in  a  resolution,  which  was  adopted,  directing  "the  Speaker  to  ap- 
point a  minister  to  receive  into  the  ranks  of  the  ministry  by  the  right  hand  of  fel- 
lowship and  an  appropriate  address  and  prayer  those  who  receive  licenses  from 
this  body;"  and,  "that  said  ceremony  shall  take  place  after  an  appropriate  sermon 
on  the  work  of  the  ministry  on  Monday  evening  of  the  Eldership."  Payment  for 
services  by  the  clerks  of  the  Eldership  was  made  a  rule.  The  appointments  num- 
bered seventeen  stations,  twenty  circuits  and  six  missions.  The  enrolled  ministers 
at  this  Eldership  numbered  eighty-one,  with  seven  exhorters.  One  of  the  most 
important  actions  of  this  Eldership  was  that  directing  "that  a  convention  of  min- 
isters of  this  body  be  held  at  Harrisburg  in  January  next"  to  form  a  Ministerial 
Association,  "to  promote  the  literary  and  spiritual  improvement  of  the  members." 
It  was  also  recommended  that  "local  poor  funds  be  established  by  the  various 
churches." 

43rd  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — It  may  be  inferred  that  the  Committee 
on  Revision  of  the  Constitution  made  important,  if  not  radical,  recommendations 
from  the  fact  that  the  Eldership  which  met  in  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  October  2  5,  1871, 
consumed  nearly  two  whole  days  in  the  consideration  of  its  Report.  Yet  edi- 
torially it  was  stated  by  Forney,  the  Chairman,  that  "the  changes  made  are  not 
of  a  material  character."  The  Report  being  ready,  it  was  handed  in  shortly  after 
the  organization,  and  its  consideration  entered  upon.  Its  consideration  was 
finished  and  the  whole  report,  with  a  few  changes,  adopted  on  Saturday  morning. 
The  yeas  and  nays  were  taken  on  an  amendment  to  the  Committee's  Report  of 
Article  I.,  changing  the  title  from  "Church  of  God"  to  "Churches  of  God,"  which 
prevailed  by  a  vote  of  40  to  28.  In  the  Report  of  the  Committee  the  former  two- 
year  limit  for  pastors  was  changed  to  three  years.  As  there  developed  a  tendency 
to  still  further  lengthen  the  term,  the  provision  being  only  a  By-Law,  subject  to 
amendment  by  a  majority  vote,  the  friends  of  the  fixed  limit  secured  the  adoption 
of  an  amendment  giving  it  the  character  of  a  Constitutional  Article,  so  that  it 
would  require  a  two-thirds  vote  to  change  it.  In  the  organization  of  the  Elder- 
ship B.  F.  Beck  was  made  Speaker;  Dr.  Geo.  Ross,  Treasurer;  E.  D.  Aller,  Trans- 
cribing Clerk,  and  J.  Haifleigh,  Financial  Clerk.  C.  H.  Forney,  Stated  Clerk,  re- 
signed his  office,  "to  take  effect  at  the  close  of  the  session,"  and  "Bro.  H.  C.  Dem- 


344  History   of  the.  Churches  of   God 

niing-  was  elected  to  succeed  him."  A.  H.  Chase,  Free  Baptist,  was  present  and 
participated  in  the  deliberations,  for  which  he  received  the  thanks  of  the  Elder- 
ship. He  was  especially  "interested  in  our  missionary  operations."  The  dele- 
gates to  the  General  Eldership  in  1872  were  instructed,  (1)  To  vote  as  a  unit;  (2) 
for  a  Managing  Editor;  (3)  for  a  Corps  of  Editors,  and  (4)  rescinding  an  Article 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  General  Eldership.  The  name  of  L.  B.  Hartman  and 
W.  O.  Owen,  men  of  standing,  ability  and  influence,  were  "stricken  from  the  Roll 
of  Ministers"  for  failure  to  co-operate  faithfully  with  the  Eldership.  The  Reports 
on  Temperance  and  Education  were  brief  and  conservative.  The  disposition  and 
power  of  the  Eldership  to  guard  against  heterodox  teaching  were  evidenced  in  the 
Withholding  of  license  from  J.  W.  Collins  because  he  was  charged  with  advocating 
"soul-sleeping  or  materialism."  A  new  form  of  Ordination,  to  take  the  place  of 
one  adopted  in  1870,  was  incorporated  in  the  By-Laws  by  the  Committee  on  Re- 
vision, and  was  used  at  this  session.  Among  the  missions  is  "Freedmen's  Mission 
— J.  H.  Gaines"  (colored).  There  are  eighteen  stations,  twenty-one  circuits  and 
five  missions.  The  Eldership  directed  three  Ministerial  Associations  to  be  organ- 
ized so  as  to  be  within  easy  reach  of  all  the  ministers,  and  appointed  C.  H.  Foi-ney, 
C.  Price  and  G.  Sigler  to  fix  the  boundaries  of  the  districts. 

44th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldei'ship. — When  the  Eldership  met  at  Mechanics- 
burg,  Pa.,  November  6,  1872,  it  stood  face  to  face  with  the  question  as  to  whether 
it  would  or  would  not  accept  the  verdict  of  the  General  Eldership  of  1872,  direct- 
ing all  the  Annual  Elderships  to  use  the  singular  form  of  the  word  "Church"  in 
their  titles.  After  the  organization,  which  resulted  in  the  election  of  D.  A.  L. 
Laverty  for  Speaker;  Geo.  Sigler,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  Haifleigh,  Financial  Clerk, 
and  Geo.  Ross,  Treasurer,  Foniey  offered  a  resolution  intended  to  make  submis- 
sion as  easy  as  possible  in  the  part  of  the  majority  of  1871,  which  provided,  "that, 
irrespective  of  our  individual  beliefs  on  this  question,  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eld- 
ership acknowledges  the  propriety  of  uniformity  in  Eldership  titles,  and  re-adopts 
the  title  by  which  it  has  from  the  first  been  designated,  viz.:  'The  East  Pennsyl- 
vania Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God.'  "  It  was  made  the  special  order  for  Mon- 
day. When  it  was  taken  up  the  absence  of  "that  mild  and  gracious  temper"  which 
Milton  commends  in  him  "who  hears  and  judges,"  was  evinced  when  Swartz 
"moved  to  strike  out  'all  after  the  word  'Whereas,'  "  in  Forney's  preamble,  "and 
insert  a  preamble,  declaring  that  "the  General  Eldership  is  the  creature  of  the 
Annual  Elderships,"  and  that  "the  Church  of  God  modeled  after  the  pattern  con- 
tained in  the  New  Testament,  do  not  delegate  the  right  to  determine  the  appro- 
priate use  of  Church  title  to  the  Annual  Elderships,  and  through  them  to  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership."  This  was  followed  by  a  resolution  declaring  that  "legislation  in 
response  to  the  faith,  practice  and  policy  of  the  churches  of  God  only  belongs  to 
Christ,  their  head,  and  that  it  is  daring  usurpation  to  appropriate  the  divine 
church  title  contrary  to  its  significant  meaning  and  use."  But  the  consideration 
of  the  matter  was  again  deferred,  and  on  the  fifth  day  the  battle  was  fought  out 
under  the  leadership  of  Swartz  for  his  amendment  and  Forney  against  it  and  for 
his  resolution,  with  the  result  that  the  action  of  1871  was  reversed,  and  "the 
original  resolution  of  C.  H.  Foi-ney  was  adopted.  Yeas,  43;  nays,  21."  The  Con- 
stitution was  amended  accordingly.  This  settled  the  question  of  Eldership  titles 
for  twenty-one  years. 

An  important  Board  was  added  by  constitutional  amendment  to  the  Boards 
of  the  Eldership,  viz:  the  Board  of  Education.  The  statistics  indicated  encourag- 
ing growth  in  all  departments  of  the  Church.  The  number  of  members  had  in- 
creased to  4,270,  with  426  additions  during  the  year.  There  were  194  preaching 
points;  111  Sunday-schools,  with  7,224  scholars,  and  1,648  teachers.  A  mission 
was  projected  for  Lancaster  City,  and  at  the  missionary  meeting  $1,000.00  were 
raised  for  missionary  purposes. 

45th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  Free  Baptist  Church  had  for  many 
years  manifested  such  a  friendly,  fraternal  spirit,  and  made  unofficial  overtures 
for  co-operation,  that  it  was  no  surprise  when  the  Eldership  met  at  Middletown, 
Dauphin  county.  Pa.,  October  29,  1873,  to  find  Dr.  G.  H.  Ball,  Editor  of  "The  Bap- 
tist Union,"  New  York,  and  Rev.  Bryan,  in  attendance.  The  Eldership  by  formal 
resolution  expressed  its  pleasure  at  their  presence  and  cordial  greetings,  and 
promised  "heartily  to  seek  to  further  any  means  whereby  the  various  bodies  hold- 
ing sentiments  similar  to  our  own  may  be  brought  into  closer  and  more  general 
Christian  and  ecclesiastical  fellowship."  To  this  end  a  committee,  consisting  of 
G.  Sigler  and  B.  F.  Beck,  was  appointed  to  "visit  the  Free  Baptist  Association  next 


East    Pennsylvania   Eldership  345 

Fall,  in  Providence,  R.  I."  An  organization  was  effected  by  electing  G.  Sigler, 
Speaker;  Dr.  Geo.  Ross,  Treasurer;  B.  F.  Beck,  Stated  Clerk;  J.  W.  Deshong, 
Transcribing  Clerk,  and  J.  Haifleigh,  Financial  Clerk.  The  Eldership  refused  to 
make  it  mandatory  to  elect  one  ruling  elder  on  the  Standing  Committee  and  three 
on  the  Stationing  Committee.  Resolutions  by  C.  H.  Forney  for  a  fuller  accounta- 
bility of  ministers  were  adopted,  which  provided  for  a  more  "careful  inquiry  into 
the  character  and  extent  of  their  labors  outside  of  the  pulpit,  and  the  faithfulness 
with  which  they  have  carried  out  the  rules  of  co-operation."  Reports  of  the  dele- 
gates were  also  provided  for  in  the  resolutions  in  connection  with  the  reports  of 
the  pastors,  and  a  committee  was  empowered  to  arrange  "a  series  of  questions  to 
be  used  in  the  examination  of  preachers."  The  Report  of  the  Treasurer  showed 
that  $2,637.16  had  been  received  for  missionary  purposes,  and  $3,967.28  expended. 
The  Eldership  made  arrangements  to  furnish  a  preacher  for  the  Maine  mission, 
which  had  during  the  year  been  in  the  hands  of  the  Standing  Committee,  and  it 
appointed  J.  C.  Seabrooks  to  that  field,  but  he  declined  to  go.  The  Eldership  was 
not  disposed  to  commit  itself  definitely  on  the  matter  of  "Christian  Union,"  on 
which  Mackey  had  submitted  a  resolution,  although  Dr.  Ball  insisted  that  "the 
demand  for  union  among  liberal  Baptists  in  these  central  States  is  imperative." 
He  favored  organic  union  between  the  Free  Baptists  and  the  Church  of  God. 
"Philadelphia  Mission"  in  addition  to  the  Philadelphia  church,  which  had  become 
self-supporting,  was  placed  among  the  stations,  with  B.  F.  Beck  as  pastor.  The 
spirit  of  Christian  patriotism  always  characterized  the  Eldership,  and  accordingly 
it  did  not  hesitate  to  act  upon  certain  documents  received  from  the  Executive 
Committee  of  the  United  States  Centennial  Commission.  A  "Select  Committee," 
composed  of  C.  H.  Forney,  H.  C.  Deniming;  and  J.  Kennedy,  was  appointed  to  con- 
sider and  report  on  said  documents.  After  canvassing  the  subject  said  Committee 
advised  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of  three  to  collect  the  necessary  data  for 
"the  writing  and  publication  in  suitable  form  of  a  history  of  the  Church  of  God  in 
the  United  States,  which  shall  embody  all  the  items  of  information  called  for  by 
the  circular  letter  of  the  Centennial  Commission,"  relating  not  only  to  organiza- 
tion, but  doctrines,  articles  of  faith,  polity  and  statistics.  The  committee  was 
considerate  enough  to  anticipate  objections  by  those  who  would  likely  see  a  Creed 
in  such  a  work  by  adding  a  separate  resolution,  "that  nothing  in  this  work,  if  pub- 
lished, shall  be  regarded  or  construed  as  a  Creed,  Confession  of  Faith,  or  authori- 
tative Church  Standard." 

46th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  forty-sixth  Annual  East  Pennsyl- 
vania Eldership  had  an  enrollment  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  members,  di- 
vided as  follows:  Preachers,  64;  delegates,  35;  messengers,  22;  Treasurer,  1. 
Eighteen  enrolled  were  absent.  In  the  organization  C.  H.  Foraey  was  chosen 
Speaker;  B.  F.  Beck,  Stated  Clerk;  J.  M.  Carvell,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  Haifleigh, 
Financial  Clerk,  and  Geo.  Ross,  Treasurer.  Many  churches  had  become  more  or 
less  embarrassed  financially,  and  made  appeals  for  help.  The  matter  was  referred 
to  a  committee;  but  the  Eldership  could  only  permit  said  churches  to  go  out  and 
canvass  for  funds.  To  shorten  the  session  the  device  of  early  fixing  the  time  for 
final  adjournment  was  resorted  to,  and  also  the  holding  of  night  sessions.  The 
attendance  had  become  so  large  as  to  make  the  Eldership  session  burdensome  to 
churches  entertaining  it.  Two  missionary  meetings  were  provided  for,  at  which 
a  large  sum  was  secured  for  missions.  The  first  action  was  taken  to  change  the 
time  from  Spring  to  Fall  for  pastors  to  go  to  their  new  fields  by  the  appointment 
of  a  committtee  on  the  subject,  which  reported  in  favor  of  the  change,  but  action 
was  deferred  "to  the  first  day  of  the  next  Eldership."  The  opening  of  a  Book- 
store in  Harrisburg,  by  Dr.  Geo.  Ross,  was  strongly  commended,  as  was  the  action 
of  the  Board  of  Publication  in  deciding  to  begin  the  publication  of  "The  Sabbath- 
School  Record"  in  January,  1875.  "Certain  ecclesiastics  of  the  Romish  Church, 
alienated  from  our  Constitution  and  laws  by  their  supreme  allegiance  to  a  foreign 
Potentate,"  being  charged  with  "openly  and  unqualifiedly  avowing  themselves 
enemies  of  our  public  school  system,"  resolutions  were  adopted,  disapproving  in 
severe  terms  of  their  course,  declaring  "that  intelligence,  virtue  and  religion  are 
the  main  pillars  of  the  Republic;  that  our  public  schools  are  necessary  to  the  one, 
and  the  Bible,  without  note  or  comment,  in  our  public  schools,  is  necessary  to  the 
other,  and  that  the  enemies  of  either  are  the  enemies  of  the  Republic."  The  dele- 
gates to  the  General  Eldership  having  been  elected,  they  were  instructed  to  "use 
all  proper  measures  to  secure  the  freedom  of  the  press  so  far  as  The  Church  Advo- 
cate is  concerned;"  "to  vote  for  a  corps  of  editors,"  and  for  "a  just  settlement" 


346  History  of  the  Churches   of   God 

of  certain  claims.  Temperance  having  become  a  political  issue,  the  Report  of  the 
Committee  was  more  thoroughly  discussed,  and  there  was  strong  dissent  by  a 
small  minority  to  a  provision,  declaring  it  to  be  "the  duty  of  every  Christian  to 
use  the  ballot  against  this  cruel  system  whenever  opportunity  is  offered;  and  in 
order  to  do  this  we  should  vote  only  for  men  who  are  avowed  temperance  men, 
irrespective  of  pdrty."  Ecclesiastical  electioneering  was  forcibly  condemned,  with 
a  penalty  for  any  one  found  guilty  of  deprivation  of  the  office  for  that  year  for 
which  he  electioneered.  The  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion  made  a  pessi- 
mistic report,  stating  that  it  was  sensibly  impressed  with  the  fact  that  in  the  last 
year,  and  in  years  which  have  passed,  we  have  failed  and  come  short  of  accomp- 
lishing the  good  to  the  people  of  our  generation  which  we  might  have  done,  and 
which  we  should  have  done  in  the  name  and  strength  of  our  divine  Master."  To 
secure  well  prepared  obituaries  of  deceased  ministers  for  the  memorial  services  it 
w'as  now  made  the  rule  to  have  the  Committee  on  Obituaries  appointed  a  year  in 
advance.  The  Examining  Committee  was  also  to  do  its  work  before  the  Eldership 
convened.     The  session  was  held  at  Shippensburg,  Pa.,  in  1874. 

47th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — A  conflict  between  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee and  the  Board  of  Missions  developed  during  the  year,  in  the  matter  of  con- 
trol of  mission  funds.  The  former  assumed  authority  to  appropriate  money  out 
of  said  Fund,  which  the  latter  resisted.  This  was  under  an  old  provision  of  the 
Constitution,  giving  the  Standing  Committee  all  the  powers  of  the  Eldership.  The 
Board  of  Missions  resisted  this,  and  was  prepared  to  defend  its  position,  and  have 
the  question  determined  in  1875.  Accordingly  after  the  organization  on  October 
20th,  by  the  election  of  W.  L.  Jones,  Speaker;  B.  F.  Beck,  Stated  Clerk;  J.  M. 
Carvell,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  Haifleigh,  Financial  Clerk,  and  Dr.  Geo.  Ross, 
Treasurer,  the  special  order  was  suspended  to  take  up  the  Report  of  the  Standing 
Committee.  All  items  containing  appropriations  out  of  the  Missionary  Fund  were 
stricken  out.  The  retiring  Speaker,  C.  H.  Forney,  contrary  to  rule,  did  not  read 
his  sermon,  and  thus  also  broke  the  prevailing  custom  of  publishing  the  opening 
sermon  in  The  Advocate.  The  question  of  changing  pastors  in  the  Fall  was  again 
postponed  for  one  year.  Two  of  the  doctrinal  sermons  ordered  to  be  preached  at 
this  session  were  ready,  and  were  delivered — one  by  Swartz  and  the  other  by 
Beck.  Dr.  D.  M.  Graham,  Free  Baptist,  was  in  attendance,  bringing  the  greetings 
of  the  Central  Association  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania.  A  part  of  the  church 
at  Lancaster  having  withdrawn  and  organized  a  separate  church,  after  a  pro- 
tracted discussion  it  was  recognized  and  received  into  the  Eldership.  The  effect 
of  the  Prohibition  party  organization  was  more  clearly  revealed  at  this  session. 
The  Committee  on  Temperance  sought  to  avoid  both  Scylla  and  Charibdis,  and 
so  brought  in  a  Report  "reaffirming  our  former  views  on  the  temperance  ques- 
tion." But  Sigler  moved  a  substitute  in  which  it  was  declared  to  be  "the  bounden 
duty  of  all  ministers.  Christians  and  well-wishers  of  mankind  to  assume  an  atti- 
tude of  uncompromising  Prohibitionists,"  and  that  it  be  "our  duty  to  withdraw 
our  votes  from  parties  which  have  hitherto  only  disappointed  our  expectations 
upon  this  question,  and  give  them  to  a  party  pledged  to  seciare  all  our  interests 
that  are  at  stake,  and  at  the  same  time  prohibit  the  liquor  traffic."  So  entirely 
unprepared  was  the  body  for  such  a  radical  departure  from  its  past  traditions  that 
it  "laid  the  whole  subject  on  the  table"  by  a  yea  and  nay  vote  of  37  to  13. 

The  Eldership  prohibited  the  granting  of  certificates  by  pastors  without  the 
concurrence  of  the  elders.  It  also  expressed  its  favorable  judgment  on  "the  use 
of  unfermented  wine  at  the  Lord's  Supper."  November  14th  was  named  as  "a 
day  of  prayer  throughout  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  for  a  revival  of  re- 
ligion," and  the  ministers  were  "requested  to  preach  suitable  sermons"  on  said 
day.  Upon  Dr.  Graham's  address  to  the  Eldership,  Swartz,  Kennedy,  Ross,  Gahle 
and  Forney  were  appointed  to  draft  recommendations  for  the  Eldership  to  adopt. 
They  reported  in  favor  of  a  foreign  mission  in  connection  with  the  Free  Baptist 
Mission  in  India;  the  appointment  of  delegates  to  the  Free  Baptist  Association  of 
New  York,  and  favoring  "a  general  convention  of  religious  bodies  holding  similar 
views  to  those  of  our  own  and  of  the  Free  Baptists."  Forney,  Sigler,  Ross  and 
Smuller  were  appointed  the  delegates  to  the  Free  Baptist  Association.  The  Elder- 
ship was  held  at  Mt.  Joy,  Pa. 

48th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  Roll  of  the  Eldership  which  con- 
vened at  Middletown,  Dauphin  county,  October  18,  1876,  contained  one  hundred 
and  forty-nine  names.  Of  this  number  forty-two  were  pastors,  thirty-two  are 
classed  as  local  ministers,  forty-eight  delegates  and  twenty-three  messengers,  the 
latter  having  no  vote.      B.  F.  Beck  was  chosen    Speaker;    J.    M.    Carvell,    Stated 


East    Pe^nnsylvania    Eldership  347 

"Clerk;  A.  Wiley,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  Haifleigh,  Financial  Clerk,  and  George 
Ross,  Treasurer.  The  Eldership  was  favored  with  the  presence  of  Dr.  D.  M.  Gra- 
liam,  delegate  from  St.  Joseph's  Yearly  Meeting  of  the  Free  Baptist  Church,  Mich., 
who  addressed  the  body,  whereupon,  "to  express  our  fraternal  sentiments"  the 
Speaker  appointed  C.  H.  Forney,  A.  H.  Long  and  W.  L.  Jones  a  committee  to  draft 
suitable  resolutions.  As  Dr.  Graham  dwelt  upon  union  of  "liberal  Baptists,"  the 
Committee's  Report  expressed  "belief  in  the  propriety  of  the  Christian  people  of 
all  beliefs  striving  for  the  unity  of  the  Spirit;"  especially  did  it  favor  "a  closer 
union  between  ourselves  and  all  those  Christian  bodies  whose  sentiments  are  so 
nearly  similar  to  our  own;"  expressed  the  belief  that  "it  is  possible  to  enter  into 
some  arrangement"  for  co-operation,  but  that  "we  cannot  entertain  any  proposi- 
tion looking  toward  organic  union  that  would  oblige  us  to  compromise  any  of  the 
distinctive  Bible  principles  and  doctrines  which  we  hold,"  and  suggested  the  "ap- 
pointment of  a  commission  by  each  of  the  bodies  in  contemplation  of  conferring 
together  upon  all  matters  in  reference  to  which  co-operation  is  proposed."  Forney, 
Sigler  and  Beck  were  appointed  "Commissioners."  The  question  of  changing 
preachers  in  the  Fall,  after  receiving  some  consideration,  was  postponed  one  year. 
The  temperance  question  became  a  live  issue  on  account  of  the  activity  of  min- 
isters in  promoting  "local  option;"  yet  the  Eldership  did  not  take  definite  action, 
but  in  a  general  way  insisted  that  it  is  "the  bounden  duty  of  all  ministers.  Chris- 
tians and  well-wishers  of  mankind  to  assume  the  attitude  of  constant  and  untir- 
ing opposition  to  the  liquor  system."  The  terms  "politically"  and  "ballot-box" 
were  stricken  out  of  the  Report.  The  Stationing  Committee  was  instructed  to 
send  a  missionary  to  Maine,  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  organization  of  a  Maine 
Eldership.  The  Eldership  prohibited  any  one  from  canvassing  for  funds  who  has 
not  been  "publicly  accredited  as  such  by  the  Standing  Committee."  The  Com- 
mittee on  Education  insisted  that  "the  ministers  of  the  Eldership  endeavor  to 
create  a  strong  and  wide-spread  sentiment  in  favor  of  a  Church  College."  The 
use  of  unfermented  wine  for  Communion  purposes  was  recommended.  Arrange- 
ments were  made  to  start  a  new  mission  in  Huntingdon,  county-seat  of  Hunting- 
don county,  and  a  committee  was  named  to  canvass  for  funds.  Also  an  agent  was 
authorized  to  be  appointed  to  visit  during  the  year  all  the  appointments  in  the 
Eldership  "to  work  up  our  missionary  interests,  the  collections  for  the  various 
funds,"  etc.  J.  W.  Deshong  was  appointed  "to  collect  money  and  purchase  a  lot 
in  Columbia,  Lancaster  county,  for  the  future  use  of  the  Church  for  a  mission." 
The  Eldership  now  had  twenty-two  stations,  nineteen  circuits  and  three  missions, 
with  two  new  missions  in  contemplation. 

49th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership, — While  the  Commissioners  on  union  with 
other  bodies  had  done  nothing,  and  made  no  report  at  the  Eldership  held  at  Har- 
risburg,  Dauphin  county,  beginning  October  24,  1877,  said  action  of  1876  did  not 
create  a  breach  in  the  friendly  relations  between  the  Eldership  and  the  Free  Bap- 
tist Church.  Dr.  Graham  was  again  present,  representing  the  Free  Baptist  Cen- 
tral Association,  and  Dr.  J.  L.  Phillips,  Free  Baptist  Missionary  to  India.  Co- 
operation in  foreign  mission  work  was  the  burden  of  their  message.  Following 
their  addresses  before  the  Eldership,  it  was  agreed  to  send  "two  representatives 
to  their  next  General  Conference;"  to  formulate  "a  plan  of  operation  for  foreign 
mission  work,"  and  to  create  a  Board  of  Foreign  Missions."  The  following  di- 
rectors, with  the  Treasurer,  Dr.  Ross,  to  constitute  said  Board,  were  elected:  A. 
Swartz,  D.  A.  L.  Laverty,  C.  H.  Forney,  B.  F.  Beck  and  J.  Kennedy,  ministers,  and 
J.  S.  Gable,  I.  Frazer,  Geo.  Smaller,  A.  Hostetter  and  D.  C.  Kolp,  laymen.  Ballot- 
ing for  officers  of  the  Eldership  resulted  in  the  choice  of  C.  H.  Forney,  Speaker; 
A.  Wiley,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  Haifleigh,  Financial  Clerk,  and  Dr.  George  Ross, 
Treasurer.  The  Treasurer's  report  showed  that  collections  for  the  year  were:  — 
Home  Missionary  money,  $1,900.94;  Widows'  Fund,  $378.19;  Contingent  Fund, 
$107.18;  Superannuated  Fund,  $145.09.  The  Columbia  mission  project  was  re- 
ported in  good  condition,  as  a  lot  had  been  bought,  and  everything  seemed  en- 
couraging. The  Committee  recommended  that  the  mission  be  created,  and  J.  W. 
Deshong  appointed  to  raise  the  money  to  build.  W.  L.  Wright  received  an  "hon- 
orable dismissal  to  the  Free  Baptist  denomination."  C.  W.  Cooper,  J.  Cooper  and 
J.  Jontz  also  applied  for  honorable  dismissals,  but  a  committee  on  their  cases 
reported  that  the  last  named  only  "be  granted  a  dismissal  from  the  body,"  and 
that  it  did  not  consider  the  first  two  "worthy  of  ministerial  fellowship,  and  there- 
fore recommend  that  their  names  be  stricken  from  the  Roll."  The  report  of  the 
Committee  on  Temperance,  after  being  laid  over  for  several  sittings,  was  adopted, 


348  History  of  the   Churches   of   God 

which  declared  it  to  be  "the  duty  of  all  Christian  people  to  use  the  ballot  as  well 
as  every  other  lawful  means  in  the  suppression  of  the  whiskey  system."  An  ef- 
fort was  unsuccessfully  made  "to  institute  an  inquiry  into  the  present  inequality 
of  the  districting  of  the  territory  of  the  Eldership,  with  the  view  to  equalize  the 
labor,  as  well  as  the  support,  of  the  various  ministers  in  the  field."  The  secular- 
izing of  the  Lord's  day  was  emphatically  condemned.  The  Standing  Committee 
was  empowered  to  act  in  the  matter  of  "the  semi-centennial  of  this  body,"  and  it 
was  requested  that  "every  member  of  the  several  churches  make  special  donations 
into  the  treasury  of  the  Eldership."  The  Eldership  favored  the  holding  of  a  gen- 
eral camp-meeting,  and  place  the  matter  into  the  hands  of  a  committee.  The  Eld- 
ership mourned  the  death  of  J.  Mackey,  J.  Stanim  and  B.  Mateer.  After  hearing 
the  address  of  P.  Loucks,  fraternal  delegate  from  the  West  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship, C.  H.  Forney  and  J.  S.  Gable  were  appointed  delegates  to  said  body  in  1878. 

50th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Step  by  step  the  organization  of  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  was  brought  to  its  present  state  of  perfection.  Boards  and 
committees  were  created  to  meet  new  conditions,  or  to  do  more  efficient  work.  One 
of  these  new  departures  characterize  the  Eldership  in  1878,  which  convened  at 
Philadelphia  on  the  evening  of  October  23rd,  when  the  retiring  Speaker,  C.  H.  For« 
ney,  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Acts  i.  8.  Theme:- — "The  Power  of  the 
Ministry."  A.  Snyder  was  chosen  Speaker;  J.  M.  Carvell,  Stated  Clerk;  A.  Wiley, 
Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  Haifleigh,  Financial  Clerk,  and  George  Ross,  Treasurer. 
Upon  report  of  the  Standing  Committee,  H.  Mills,  of  Maine,  was  received  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Eldership.  The  Report  of  the  Treasurer  showed  quite  a  decrease  in  the 
amount  of  missionary  money  received,  being  only  $1,091.91.  A  resolution  was 
introduced  by  C.  H.  Forney,  creating  a  new  Standing  Committee,  to  be  known  as 
the  Judiciary  Committee.  This  committee  was  to  have  charge  of  all  judicial  cases 
at  the  Eldership  and  during  the  year.  It  was  a  movement  which  aroused  some 
suspicion,  as  there  were  at  this  time,  and  for  some  years,  cases  of  alienation  in  the 
Eldership  and  latent  enmities.  The  matter  was  referred  to  a  committee,  which, 
however,  reported  favorably,  except  that  feature  wh^h  made  the  committee  a 
Standing  Committee.  Instead  of  sermons  in  the  evSings  of  the  sittings  of  the 
Eldership,  a  committee  was  named  "to  decide  on  subjects  for  discussion  in  the 
evenings  during  the  Eldership."  To  meet  and  answer  reports  circulated  westward, 
to  the  effect  that  in  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  the  ordinance  of  Feet-wash- 
ing "has  been  more  or  less  neglected,  and  is  becoming  unpopular,"  a  poll  of  the 
pastors  was  ordered,  by  resolution  submitted  by  Forney,  in  answer  to  five  ques- 
tions, to  wit:  1.  Whether  the  two  ordinances  are  observed  together.  2.  If  not, 
how  often,  when  and  where  do  you  observe  the  Lord's  Supper?  3.  How  often, 
when  and  where  do  you  observe  the  ordinance  of  Feet-washing?  4.  If  you  ob- 
serve them  together,  how  often,  when  and  where?  5.  Are  both  ordinances  gen- 
erally observed  by  the  membership?  The  answers  were  tabulated  and  published 
in  the  Journal,  and  were  a  complete  refutation  of  the  report.  The  Eldership  camp- 
meeting  was  reported  "a  grand  success,"  and  one  was  ordered  to  be  held  in  1879. 
The  licenses  of  half  a  dozen  ministers  were  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Standing 
Committee,  some  of  which  were  never  renewed.  About  as  many  cases  went  to  the 
new  committee — the  Judiciary  Committee — an  evidence  of  its  utility.  The  im- 
portance of  the  Ministerial  Association  was  so  fully  recognized  that  ministers  were 
"instructed  to  attend  these  meetings  more  regularly."  The  Eldership  was  pain- 
fully surprised  when  B.  F.  Beck  "requested  a  certificate  of  his  standing  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership."  This  was  done  in  terms  significant  of 
his  unimpeachable  character  and  the  high  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  en- 
tire body.  Authority  was  given  to  "the  German  brethren  of  the  Eldership  to  start 
a  Ministerial  Association  in  addition  to  the  one  authorized  in  1874."  The  starting 
of  "a  beneficiary  fund  for  the  education  of  young  men  for  the  ministry,"  as  recom- 
mended by  Forney,  Beck  and  Haifleigh,  Committee  on  Education,  was  duly  author- 
ized. The  death  of  John  G.  Price  and  AV.  H.  Anderson,  as  ministers  "highly  re- 
spected and  esteemed,"  were  duly  memoralized.  It  was  decided  "to  perpetuate 
the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,"  with  the  membership  unchanged. 

51st  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Simultaneously  with  the  publication  of 
the  Journal  of  the  Eldership  held  in  1879,  at  Lancaster,  Pa.,  the  Opening  Sermon 
by  A.  Snyder  was  published.  It  was  based  on  I.  Cor.  i.  21,  and  was  delivered  on 
Wednesday  evening,  October  22nd.  The  theme  was: — "The  Preaching  of  the  Gos- 
pel God's  Plan  of  Saving  the  World."  The  Eldership  elected  G.  W.  Seilhammer 
Speaker;  A.  Wiley,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  Haifleigh,  Financial  Clerk,  and  George 


East    Pennsylvania    Eldership  349 

Hoss,  Treasurer.  But  later  in  the  session  Ross  resigned,  and  S.  Kiiisley,  Orrstown, 
Franlilin  county,  was  elected.  Sigler  was  "specially  commended  for  his  able  and 
faithful  defense"  of  Feet-washing  against  Dr.  Swailz,  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 
Forney  moved  the  appointment  of  "a  committee  to  prepare  a  program  for  the  semi- 
centennial anniversary  of  this  Eldership."  The  committee  reported,  that  the 
session  in  1880  meet  one  day  earlier;  that  on  Tuesday  evening  a  "semi-centennial 
sermon"  be  preached;  on  Wednesday  morning  "a  sermon  on  the  mission  of  the 
Church;"  Wednesday  afternoon  "a  memorial  service  be  held;"  on  Wednesday  even- 
ing "a  general  reunion  and  ordinance  service  be  held."  C.  H.  Forney  was  appointed 
to  preach  the  "anniversary  sermon,"  and  A.  Swartz,  "the  sermon  on  the  Mission 
of  the  Church."  Prof.  Ege  and  son  submitted  to  the  Board  of  Education  a  prop- 
osition for  the  sale  of  the  Cumberland  Valley  Institute  to  the  Eldership,  which  was 
considered,  and  again  referred  to  a  committee,  consisting  of  Forney,  Ross  and 
Long,  which  reported  in  favor  of  appointing  a  committee  to  visit  the  Institute,  and 
take  such  action  as  they  may  think  advisable.  The  committee  was  Ross,  Frazer, 
•Gable,  Haifleigh  and  Esterline.  "The  Religious  Education  of  Children"  was  made 
the  subject  for  general  discussion  on  Saturday  evening.  "The  religious  interests 
of  the  State  of  Maine"  were  placed  in  the  care  of  a  committee  composed  of  Forney, 
Price  and  Hershey,  which  reported  in  favor  of  organizing  a  Sisters'  Eastern  Mission 
Society;  that  one  evening  of  each  Eldership  session  be  given  this  Society,  and  that 
bi-monthly  or  quarterly  collections  be  taken  in  all  the  Sabbath-schools  in  the  Eld- 
•ership.  The  Society  was  duly  organized.  Every  pastor  was  "requested  to  preach 
more  frequently  on  the  duty  and  obligation  of  the  Sabbath,  pointing  out  the  num- 
•erous  ways  in  which  it  is  profaned,  and  showing  the  proper  manner  of  its  sancti- 
fication."  The  matter  of  the  Salem  church,  Lancaster,  came  up  in  connection  with 
the  renewal  of  the  license  of  J.  Tucker,  local  minister,  and  member  of  said  church. 
A  committee,  consisting  of  Jones,  Price  and  Forney,  was  sent  to  confer  with  said 
church.  The  committee  reported  its  visit  to  Salem  church,  and  its  answer,  "that 
said  church  do  not  consider  themselves  members  of  the  Eldership,  and  will  not 
co-operate."  The  report  being  recommitted,  a  second  visit  was  made  to  Salem 
church,  after  which  the  committee  recommended  "that  the  Eldership  refrain  from 
any  further  action  at  this  time,  but  permit  matters  to  remain  as  they  are  for  the 
present."  This  was  approved.  "The  permanent  location  for  a  camp-meeting 
ground"  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Camp-meeting  Committee.  The  Ministerial 
Association  having  ceased  to  meet,  a  committee,  consisting  of  J.  M.  Speese,  J.  H. 
Esterline  and  G.  W.  Getz,  was  appointed  to  reorganize  it.  The  Eldership  appreci- 
ated the  presence  of  T.  Hickemell,  of  Ohio,  and  invited  him  to  make  an  address, 
and  the  Committee  appointed  him  to  preach  on  the  last  evening  of  the  session. 

52nd  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — This  was  the  semi-centennial  Eldership, 
though  numbered  here  as  the  "fifty-second."  Its  official  number  is  "the  fifty-flrst 
Annual  Eldership,"  three  sessions  having  been  held  between  October,  1830,  and 
October,  1831.  Very  appropriately  it  was  held  at  Harrisburg,  where  it  was  or- 
iginally organized.  It  met  in  the  Fourth  Street  Bethel,  at  7  o'clock  p.  m.,  October 
20,  1880.  But  a  preliminary  meeting  was  held  during  the  preceding  day.  The 
afternoon  was  devoted  to  educational  matters,  when  "the  importance  of  immediate 
action  by  the  body  was  urged  in  the  direction  of  the  establishment  of  a  school 
nnder  the  control  of  the  Eldership."  In  the  evening  a  "memorial  sermon"  was 
preached  by  D.  A.  L.  Laverty.  On  Wednesday  morning  A.  Swartz  preached  on 
■"The  Mission  of  the  Church."  The  afternoon  was  set  apart  for  a  regular  memorial 
service,  at  which  C.  Price  delivered  an  address  on  "The  Faith  of  the  Fathers,"  pre- 
ceded by  "the  reading  of  the  Roll  containing  the  names  of  forty-four  of  our  de- 
parted brethren  and  fellow-laborers  in  the  ministry."  The  Opening  Sermon  on 
Wednesday  evening  was  dispensed  with,  and  a  "re-union  and  ordinance  meeting 
was  held."  It  was  the  largest  Eldership  held  up  to  this  date,  the  enrolled  member- 
ship consisting  of  eighty  ministers,  fifty-six  delegates,  forty-four  messengers,  seven 
exhorters  and  the  Treasurer.  The  officers  elected  for  this  semi-centennial  session 
were  C.  Price,  Speaker;  D.  S.  Shoop,  Stated  Clerk;  F.  L.  Nicodemus,  Transcribing 
Clerk;  J.  Haifleigh,  Financial  Clerk,  and  S.  Knisely,  Treasurer.  The  sermons  by 
Laverty,  Swartz  and  Price  were  ordered  to  be  published  in  The  Advocate.  The  W. 
C.  T.  U.  was  also  in  session  in  Harrisburg,  and  G.  Sigler  offered  resolutions,  which 
prevailed,  heartily  endorsing  its  work,  and  providing  for  the  appointment  of  "a 
committee  of  three  to  convey  to  said  meeting  our  greetings,"  and  urging  "our 
women  to  give  their  energies  and  influence  to  the  furtherance  of  the  end  contem- 
plated by  the  W.  C.  T.  U."     The  actions  of  the  Educational  Convention  held  the 


350  History   of  the   Churches  of   God 

day  preceding  the  Eldership  were  reported,  and  received  the  unanimous  endorse- 
ment of  the  Eldership,  which  declared  it  "to  be  the  sense  of  the  Eldership  that  a 
school  should  be  established  for  the  education  of  the  youth  of  the  Church,  as  well 
as  others,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Church."      C.  H.  Forney  offered  the  following, 
whicii  was  adopted:    That  the  Eldership  authorize  and  direct  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion to  appoint  a  proper  person  to  canvass  the  territory  to  raise  funds  for  the  pur- 
pose of  establishing  a  school  under  the  auspices  of  the  Church."     The  committee 
added  to  this  the  words  "that  the  time  has  come  when,  without  further  delay,  the 
Eldership  should  enter  upon  this  work."      A  special  sitting  was  held   on   Friday 
evening  to  canvass  the  whole  suTiject  more  fully,  when  the  sentiments  of  the  Con- 
vention were  more  directly  embodied  in  resolutions  of  its  own  by  the  Eldership. 
Thursday  evening  the  special  order  was  the  consideration  of  a  resolution  offered  by 
G.  Sigler,  as  to  "what  can  be  done  to  make  the  work  of  the  Lord  committed  to  us 
more  effective."     At  the  same  sitting  Fomey's  resolution,  that  "during  the  coming^ 
year  the  special  efforts  of  the  Eldership  and  the  Board  of  Missions  shall  be  directed 
toward  the  strengthening  and  enlarging  of  the  weak  charges  which  at  present  are 
unable  to  give  their  pastors  a  living  support,"  was  discussed.      After  these  sub- 
jects had  been  thoroughly  considered  they  were  referred  to  a  committee,  consisting 
of  Sigler,  Forney  and  Hunter.      Said  committee  reported  these  items,  which  were 
heartily  adopted:      "Pledging  ourselves  anew  to  the  heartiest  co-operation  to  ad- 
vance the  cause  of  God  within  the  bounds  of  the  Eldership;"  to  give  special  atten- 
tion to  the  weak  fields  of  labor,  and  to  mature  plans  to  attach  new  points  to  them, 
or  insure  a  living  support  to  the  pastors;   requiring  the  Stationing  Committee  to 
appoint  men  to  the  weak  charges  who  are  best  adapted  to  build  them  up;  urging^ 
ministers  on  other  fields  to  interest  themselves  and  their  churches  in  the  work  on 
these  weak  fields;  advising  that  laymen  on  adjoining  fields  visit  and  encourage  the 
membership  at  the  weaker  points;  seeking  to  cultivate  more  of  a  sense  of  the  vital 
unity  of  the  body,  so  that  the  interests,  the  progress  or  the  sufferings  of  one  charge 
may  be  made  the  same  to  all  the  churches;  the  deepening  of  a  sense  of  individual 
responsibility  of  each  member  for  the  success  of  interests  committed  to  the  Church, 
and  recommending  the  creation  of  a  Church  Extension  Fund  and  the  appointment 
of  a  Board  of  Church  Extension.      Another  new  board  created,  under  a  resolution 
by  H.  C.  Demming,  was  the  "Board  of  Sunday-school  Work."      One  minister,  Alex- 
ander Wiley,  had  died  during  the  year,  concerning  whom  the  Committee  on  Obit- 
uaries declared  that  "words  are  inadequate  to  express  the  sterling  worth  of  this 
eminent  servant  of  God."     The  sense  of  the  Eldership  was  expressed  by  resolution, 
"that  persons  unbaptized,  and  who  do  not  believe  and  practice  the  ordinances  as 
preached  by  our  ministers,  should  not  be  elected  as  elders  of  the  church."     The 
General  Eldership  was  requested  to  prepare  and  publish  "the  Semi-centennial  his- 
tory of  the  Church  of  God  in  the  United  States,  with  a  biographical  sketch  of  the 
lives  of  the  members  connected  with  said  history."     The  charges  as  fixed  by  the 
Stationing  Committee  were:  Stations,  twenty;  circuits,  twenty-two;  missions,  four. 
53rd  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  number  of  deaths  reported  by  the 
Committee  on   Obituaries,   appointed  the  year  before,  was  so  much  larger  than 
usual  as  to  evoke  the  inquiry,  "Has  the  Great  Head  of  the  church  a  controversy 
with  us  that  so  many  of  our  number  have  been  removed  by  death?"     They  were 
John  Brown,  "reared  under  the  bitter,  cruel,  accursed  scepter  of  slavery,"  "cut 
down  in  the  midst  of  his  days;"  Israel  Brady,  a  convert  of  1830,  licensed  in  1832, 
died  "at  the  ripe  age  of  71  years  and  2  months,"  who,  "during  all  these  years  to- 
the  day  of  his  death  continued  faithful  to  his  trust  as  an  honored  member  of  this 
body;"  Ayers  L.  Hilsher,  "a  young  man  of  considerable  promise,"  who  was  licensed 
in  1879,  whose  "pure  life,  irreproachable  character  and  useful  labors  gained  for 
him  an  infiuence  which  was  full  of  promise  for  the  future;"  S.  S.  Richmond,  aged 
58  years  and  5  months,  licensed  by  the  Ohio  Eldership  in  1843,  a  man  with  "nat- 
ural abilities  of. a  high  order,  a  well-stored  mind,  and  a  power  of  penetration  and 
a  firmness  of  grasp  which  enabled  him  to  grapple  with  the  most  intricate  prob- 
lems;" G.  W.  Coulter,  licensed  in  184  8,  a    man    "possessed    of    excellent    natural 
qualifications   for  the   ministry,   of   a   meek,   and   quiet  and   patient   spirit;"   and 
among  the  prominent  laymen.  Dr.  George  Ross,  twelve  years  Treasurer  of  the  Eld- 
ership, eight  times  a  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership,  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Publication  from  1857  to  the  day  of  his  death,  November  30,  1880,  he  was  honest 
and  conscientious  as  a  steward  and  treasurer,  served  the  Church  with  an  enthu- 
siastic zeal,  and  an  intelligent  devotion  worthy  of  all  commendation,  and  "excelled 
most  other  Christian  men  in  the  energy,  activity  and  zeal  with  which  he  prosecuted 


East    Pennsylvania    Eldership  351 

the  Lord's  service,"  and  John  S.  Gable,  who  died  August  11,  1881,  one  of  the  first 
members  and  elders  of  the  church  at  Lancaster,  for  years  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Publication,  "a  man  of  many  admirable  qualities  of  head  and  heart  and  mind." 
It  was  with  these  dark  clouds  hanging  over  it  that  the  Eldership  convened  in  an- 
nual session  at  Mechanicsburg,  Cumberland  county,  October  19,  1881.  On  said 
evening  C.  Price  delivered  the  opening  sermon,  from  John  i.  14.  J.  M.  Carvell  was 
chosen  Speaker;  D.  S.  Shoop,  Stated  Clerk;  F.  L.  Nicodemus,  Transcribing  Clerk,, 
and  J.  Haifleigh,  Financial  Clerk.  H.  Mills  was  transferred  to  the  Maine  Elder- 
ship, where  he  had  been  laboring  as  a  missionary.  The  Judiciary  Committee  had 
considerable  work,  and  proved  to  be  a  very  useful  committee,  always  elected  by 
the  Eldership.  S.  Knisely,  Treasurer,  made  his  Report,  showing  that  $1,096.10 
had  been  received  for  the  Missionary  Fund;  $54.67  for  Foreign  Mission  work; 
$230.49,  Widows'  Fund;  $174.24,  Contingent  Fund;  $130.74,  Superannuated 
Fund;  $38.84,  Church  Extension  Fund;  $133.00,  Educational  Fund.  A  final  set- 
tlement was  made  with  B.  Ober,  missionary  to  Texas  in  1856,  by  the  payment  of 
$5  0.00  on  appropriation  which  had  been  withheld.  What  was  known  as  "Specula- 
tive Life  Insurance"  was  declared  to  be  "of  the  nature  of  gambling;  and  as  all 
gambling  is  immoral  and  against  all  law  and  order  in  all  cases,  and  especially  is 
it  so  when  human  life  is  the  subject  of  the  transaction,"  and  accordingly  "all  the 
brethren,  whether  in  or  out  of  the  ministry,  are  urged  to  abstain  altogether  from 
all  business  schemes,  which  are  of  a  doubtful,  suspicious  or  speculative  character." 
The  observance  of  the  ordinances  during  the  session  of  the  Eldership,  which  had 
been  required  by  the  By-Laws,  was  made  optional,  at  the  request  of  the  church 
where  the  Eldership  holds  its  session.  The  sale  of  Mt.  Zion  Bethel,  Lebanon 
county,  was  ordered,  the  proceeds  to  be  applied  on  the  Hummelstown  church  debt. 
The  question  of  holding  an  Eldership  camp-meeting  in  1882  was  considered  by  a 
committee,  which  made  a  favorable  report,  and  an  Eldership  Camp-meeting  Com- 
mittee was  appointed.  In  order  to  "cultivate  more  of  a  fraternal  feeling,  and  for 
the  spiritual  edification  of  the  churches,"  the  Eldership  advised  "a  more  frequent 
exchange  of  pulpits  on  the  part  of  the  ministers  on  the  various  charges." 
Ministers  were  requested  to  give  attention  to  "the  reading  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  as  an  important  part  of  the  public  worship  of  God."  A  change  was 
made  in  the  use  of  the  funds  collected  for  Church  Extension  purposes,  so  that 
they  are  to  be  used  "first  for  the  payment  of  interest  on  church  debts,  and,  sec- 
ondly, for  the  helping  of  weak  charges  and  the  opening  of  new  ones."  The  Elder- 
ship manifested  quite  a  degree  of  concern  over  "the  lamentable  falling  off  in  our 
missionary  and  other  collections,  thereby  hindering  the  carrying  forward  of  the 
work  of  the  gospel."  The  ministers  were  directed  "to  make  special  efforts  to  lift 
all  collections  as  speedily  as  possible."  It  congratulated  "the  brotherhood  at  large 
upon  the  auspicious  inauguration"  of  the  College  enterprise.  In  some  respects 
the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Temperance  was  radical.  It  affirmed  the  Elder- 
ship's "inflexible  opposition  to  the  importation,  manufacture  and  sale  of  all  in- 
toxicating liquors,  and  the  use  of  narcotics,  opium  in  all  its  preparations  and  modi- 
fications, tobacco  in  all  its  various  forms,"  and  asked  "of  our  legislative  branch 
of  the  State  government  a  constitutional  prohibitory  statute  against  the  manu- 
facture, importation,  licensing  and  sale  of  the  above-named  beverages,  drug  and 
weed."  Ministers  who  "sign  any  application  for  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors 
shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  shall  answer  to  this  body,"  and 
churches  were  "requested  to  require  of  all  their  members  to  refuse  to  sign  such 
applications  under  penalty  of  reproof  or  expulsion." 

54th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — As  an  evidence  that  the  sanguinary  hopes 
of  strengthening  of  weak  points  entertained  in  1880  were  not  fully  realized,  the 
Eldership  in  1882  received  the  Reports  of  two  committees  which  in  1881  were  em- 
powered to  sell  two  houses  of  worship.  Mt.  Zion  Bethel  was  sold  for  $150.00, 
which  was  paid  toward  the  liquidation  of  the  debt  on  the  Hummelstown  Bethel. 
The  church  property  at  Carlisle  was  sold  for  $1,171.25,  of  which  $1,060.93  was 
paid  George  Ross  &  Co.,  cancelling  their  claim  against  the  Hummelstown  Bethel, 
and  the  balance  was  paid  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  Eldership.  The  Board  of  Incor- 
poration was  "authorized  and  empowered  to  make  sale  of  the  property  of  the  Elder- 
ship situated  in  the  city  of  Reading,  Pa."  The  session  of  the  Eldership  was  held 
at  Mt.  Joy,  Lancaster  county,  beginning  on  Wednesday  evening,  October  18th,  when 
J.  M.  Carvell  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  from  Col.  i.  28 — "Christ  the  Theme  of 
Our  Ministry."  J.  W.  Deshong  was  elected  Speaker;  D.  S.  Shoop  continued  in  the 
office  of  Stated  Clerk;  F.  L.  Nicodemus,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  Haifleigh,  Financial 


352  History  of  the   Churches  of   God 

Clerk,  and  S.  Knisley,  Treasurer.  A  singular  case  was  disposed  of  by  the  Special 
Judiciary  Committee  elected  in  1881.  A  minister  of  the  Eldership  had  secured  a 
divorce  upon  grounds  disapproved  by  the  Eldership,  and  said  Committee  reported 
its  findings,  and  the  penalty.  The  Report  was  re-committed,  when  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  the  guilty  minister  had  "applied  to  this  body  in  the  year  1878  to  have  his 
official  relations  with  it  dissolved,  and  the  Eldership  neglected  to  do  its  duty  in 
complying  with  the  request,"  the  Committee  reported  "that  his  name  be  now 
stricken  from  the  Roll  of  Ministers."  The  Eldership  then  adopted  the  further 
report  of  the  Committee,  "  That  it  is  the  decided  opinion  of  this  body  that  any 
one  putting  away  his  wife  except  for  the  cause  assigned  by  the  Great  Head  of  the 
church,  and  marrying  another  woman,  is  guilty  of  the  sin  of  adultery,  and  that 
any  minister  marrying  such  parties  is  accessory  to  said  sin."  The  growing  senti- 
ment against  the  three-year  limit  of  the  pastorate  evidenced  itself  in  the  action  lay- 
ing on  the  table  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Art.  X.  of  the  By-Laws,  which 
"deemed  it  inexpedient  at  this  time  to  make  any  change"  in  said  Article.  Yet  it 
was  not  strong  enough  to  extend  the  time-limit.  The  death  of  but  one  minister 
occurred  during  the  year,  that  of  John  C.  Owens,  aged  7  7  years,  6  months  and  16 
days.  He  was  a  native  of  Cecil  county,  Md.;  was  converted  at  a  Methodist  camp- 
meeting,  and  became  a  member  of  said  Church  and  was  by  it  ordained  to  the  gospel 
ministry.  He  became  a  member  of  the  Eldership  in  1843,  having  been  baptized 
during  the  session  by  Winebrenner  at  Angle's  Mill,  near  Shippensburg.  "His  min- 
isterial character  was  uniformly  affectionate  and  unusually  attractive,  and  was  in- 
viting to  the  people,  and  it  therefore  received  public  approval  and  commendation." 
The  "Foreign  Mission  Fund"  was  "incorporated  in  the  Home  Mission  Fund."  The 
"Hymnal  prepared  by  the  Committee  of  the  General  Eldership  "received  the  hearty 
endorsement  of  the  Eldership.  D.  S.  Shoop  resigned  as  Stated  Clerk,  which  was 
accepted,  and  H.  E.  Reever  was  elected. 

55th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  sentiment  in  favor  of  a  change  in  the 
time-limit  of  the  pastorate  continued  to  grow,  and  manifested  itself  in  an  amend- 
ment by  G.  Sigler  to  a  resolution  by  J.  H.  Redsecker,  appointing  "C.  H.  Forney, 
J.  M.  Carvell  and  D.  A.  L.  Laverty  a  committee  to  collect  the  various  amendments 
to  the  Constitution  and  Rules  of  Order,  and  publish  a  new  edition."  The  amend- 
ment directed  "this  Committee  to  revise  the  Constitution,  and  report  at  this  Elder- 
ship," and  it  was  adopted.  A  number  of  important  changes  were  recommended, 
among  which  was  the  creation  of  a  Board  of  Education,  and  the  elimination  of  the 
time-limit.  The  first  Board  of  Education  elected  under  this  new  provision  of  the 
Constitution  consisted  of  C.  H.  Forney,  George  Sigler,  J.  M.  Carvell,  S.  D.  C.  Jack- 
son and  J.  B.  Lockwood.  A  spirited  discussion  of  the  recommendation  on  the  time- 
limit  was  had,  when  by  a  yea  and  nay  vote  of  36  to  31  it  was  agreed  to.  But  the 
point  of  order  was  raised  that  it  required  a  two-thirds  vote  to  amend  the  Constitu- 
tion. This  was  over-ruled  by  the  Speaker  on  the  ground  that  this  provision  does 
not  apply  when  the  entire  Constitution  is  undergoing  revision,  and  so  making  every 
minister  subject  to  removal  "at  the  end  of  any  one  year,"  and  give  the  Eldership 
power  to  reappoint  for  an  indefinite  number  of  years.  This  session  of  the  Elder- 
ship was  held  at  Altoona,  Blair  county,  and  began  November  7,  1883.  J.  W.  De- 
shong  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon  on  said  evening,  from  Rom.  viii.  31.  The 
enrollment  showed  60  ministers,  8  exhorters,  39  delegates  and  24  messengers. 
The  election  for  officers  resulted  in  the  choice  of  C.  H.  Forney,  Speaker;  H.  E. 
Reever,  Stated  Clerk;  F.  L.  Nicodemus,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  Haifleigh,  Financial 
Clerk,  and  S.  Knisley,  Treasurer.  Rev.  Joel  Baker,  of  Bell  Vernon,  New  York  Cen- 
tral Free  Baptist  Association,  was  received  as  Corresponding  Messenger.  A  special 
order  was  made  for  Friday  afternoon  to  hear  his  address  to  the  Eldership.  The 
expressions  of  "fraternal  greeting,  and  the  cordial  and  kindly  spirit"  evinced  in 
Baker's  address  were  reciprocate  in  resolutions  adopted,  and  "a  messenger"  was 
directed  "to  be  appointed  to  represent  us  to  our  Baptist  fellow  laborers  in  Christ 
at  their  next  Annual  Association."  The  actions  of  the  Convention  of  Liberal  Bap- 
tists held  at  Minneapolis"  were  approved.  They  provided  for  the  publication  an- 
nually of  a  Year  Book,  containing  the  names  and  post-offices  of  all  the  ministers 
in  all  the  bodies  represented,  with  a  sufficient  history  of  each  body;  the  publishing 
of  a  quarterly,  or  magazine,  in  the  interest  of  a  closer  affiliation;  the  union  of  all 
these  bodies  in  foreign  mission  work;  the  change  of  ministers  from  one  body  to 
another  "without  considering  himself  as  having  left  his  society,  and  the  patroniz- 
ing of  the  literature  of  the  different  churches  represented."  Four  of  the  eight 
items  as  adopted  by  the  Convention  were  not  agreed  to.     The  death  of  A.  Swartz, 


East    Pennsylvania   Eldership  353 

which  occurred  December  30,  1882,  in  the  sixty-seventh  year  of  his  age,  was  fit- 
tingly commemorated.  He  was  converted  under  the  labors  of  Winebi-enner.  "His 
early  educational  advantages  were  limited;  but  he  was  gifted  by  nature  with  a 
strong  intellect,  clear  perceptive  faculties,  a  retentive  memory,  sound  judgment 
and  a  thirst  for  learning,  and  soon  acquired  a  fund  of  solid  and  useful  knowledge." 
He  was  licensed  in  1842,  and  "was  a  man  of  marked  ability  and  distinguished 
worth,"  The  sale  of  the  Reading  church  property  had  been  effected  for  $3,500.00, 
leaving  a  balance,  after  all  liabilities  were  paid,  of  $487.30.  Strong  resolutions 
were  adopted  on  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  and  the  ministers  were  advised  by 
their  example  upon  this  subject,  and  by  faithful  and  repeated  preaching  on  the 
same,  to  be  ensamples  to  all  the  flock  and  a  standing  exemplification  to  their  fel- 
low men  of  the  necessity,  wisdom  and  blessedness  of  maintaining  the  distinctive 
Christian  character  and  the  strictly  religious  observance  of  that  day  which  is  em- 
phatically contrasted  with  all  other  days  as  'the  Lord's  day.'  "  The  modern  camp- 
meetings,  as  conducted  by  ministers  of  the  Church  and  of  other  Churches,  were 
condemned,  and  "our  brethren  are  requested  not  again  to  countenance  or  partici- 
pate in  any  camp-meetings  conducted  in  such  a  manner  as  to  violate  the  sanctity 
of  the  Sabbath."  The  Eldership  placed  itself  on  record  against  any  one  but  a 
properly  ordained  minister  of  the  gospel  administering  the  ordinance  of  baptism, 
or  performing  the  marriage  ceremony. 

56th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldei*ship. — In  1884  the  Eldership  convened  at  Lan- 
caster, Lancaster  county,  on  Wednesday  evening,  and  listened  to  the  Opening  Ser- 
mon by  C.  H.  Forney,  on  "The  Ministry — Its  Mission  and  Rewards."  The  enroll- 
ment consisted  of  6  5  teaching  elders,  45  delegates,  32  messengers  and  three  ex- 
horters.  Four  names  were  added  to  the  Ministerial  Roll  during  this  session.  The 
election  for  officers  resulted  in  the  choice  of  D.  S.  Shoop,  Speaker;  H.  E.  Reever, 
Stated  Clerk;  F.  L.  Nicodemus,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  Haifleigh,  Financial  Clerk, 
and  S.  Knisley,  Treasurer.  The  attempt  to  limit  the  election  of  members  of  the 
Eldership  to  but  "one  board,  committee  or  office  of  this  Eldership"  failed  of  adop- 
tion after  being  "discussed  at  length."  As  a  committee  "on  uniformity  in  the  prep- 
aration for,  and  observance  of,  the  ordinances  of  the  Church,  C  H.  Forney,  J.  Hai- 
fleigh,  C.  C.  Bartels,  H.  C.  Demming  and  John  Rae,  recommended  that  "the  matter 
be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  delegation  from  this  Eldership  to  the  next  General 
Eldership."  E.  O.  Dare,  layman,  proposed  that  "the  Stationing  Committee  shall 
hereafter  consist  of  three  teaching  elders,  three  delegates  and  one  teaching  elder 
who  is  not  actively  engaged  in  the  ministry,"  was  ruled  out  of  order  by  the  Speaker, 
who,  upon  an  appeal  being  taken,  was  sustained  by  the  Eldership.  The  agitation 
of  the  question,  however,  resulted  in  the  election  of  one  lay  member  on  the  Com- 
mittee. But  three  of  the  nine  members  of  the  Board  of  Missions  were  laymen. 
W.  J.  Grissinger  introduced  the  question  of  a  change  in  the  time  for  pastors  to 
move  to  their  new  fields,  when  the  Eldership  decided  that  "they  shall  move  on, 
and  take  charge  of,  the  fields  to  which  they  have  been  appointed  immediately  after 
the  close  of  the  Eldership."  The  Roll  of  the  dead  this  year  contained  four  names. 
Wm.  Figard  died  January  4,  1884,  aged  67  years,  4  months  and  23  days.  He  was 
licensed  in  1871.  "Religion  was  evidently  a  life  work  with  him,  for  during  all  the 
years  of  service  in  his  Master's  cause  he  held  on  his  way,  and  never  faltered  in 
the  Christian  race,  nor  looked  back  upon  the  world  he  had  left  behind."  J.  E. 
Arnold  died  February  4,  1884,  aged  37  years,  1  month  and  27  days.  He  was  or- 
dained in  1868.  "His  ministerial  work  was  crowned  with  abundant  success.  He 
was  an  earnest,  and  fruitful  revival  preacher.  His  conversation  and  deportment 
were  truly  exemplary."  S.  W.  Naill  died  February  24,  1884,  aged  3  5  years,  9 
months  and  3  days.  He  was  received  into  the  Maryland  and  "Virginia  Eldership 
in  1872,  and  came  into  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1881.  "As  a  Christian 
minister  he  was  without  a  blemish.  He  was  a  respectable  preacher,  earnest,  inter- 
esting and  successful."  D.  A.  L.  Lavei-ty  died  December  23,  1883,  at  Mechanics- 
burg,  where  he  was  born  and  converted,  and  ordained  in  1846.  He  entered  the 
active  ministry  in  1861.  "He  was  an  efficient  minister,  an  earnest  and  valuable 
counsellor,  and  filled  with  ability,  credit  and  general  acceptance  a  number  of  the 
principal  charges  of  the  Eldership."  The  death  of  Laveity,  on  motion  of  G.  W. 
Seilhammer,  induced  the  Eldership  to  agree  "that  a  fund  be  created  for  the  pur- 
pose or  erecting  a  suitable  monument  to  mark  his  resting  place,"  which,  on  motion 
of  G.  Sigler,  was  so  enlarged  as  to  provide  for  "the  erection  of  suitable  testimonials 
of  honor  to  the  memory  of  these  brethren,"  and  of  other  "prominent  ministers  of 
this  body  whose  resting  places  remain  unmarked  by  any  token  of  honor."     An 

C.  H.— 13 


354  History   of   the   Churches  of   God 

effort  made  to  restore  the  three-year  pastoral  limit  failed  of  success,  a  resolu- 
tion to  that  elTect  being  "indefinitely  postponed."  Allowing  trafficing  at  camp- 
meetings  in  "such  articles  as  ice  cream,  watermelons,  candies,  peanuts  and  tobacco 
on  the  Lord's  day"  was  attempted  to  be  made  "a  misdemeanor,  and  the  brethren 
having  charge  of  such  camp-meeting  shall  be  held  amenable  to  this  body;"  but  the 
resolution  was  "laid  on  the  table."  The  tendency  to  regard  the  validity  of  ordina- 
tion as  dependent  upon  its  being  performed  by  the  Speaker  was  checked  by  an 
action  of  the  Eldership  to  the  contrary.  The  Eldership  provided  for  an  annual 
sermon  on  Mission  Interests,  on  Educational  Interests  and  on  Publications  and 
General  Benevolent  Interests,  and  for  the  session  of  1885  appointed  J.  B.  Lock- 
wood,  J.  M.  Carvell  and  C.  H.  Forney  to  preach  these  sermons,  and  J.  Haifleigh  to 
preach  the  ordination  sermon  on  Sabbath  evening,  as  provided  for.  A  Mutual 
Beneficial  Society  having  been  organized,  a  committee  appointed  for  the  purpose 
reported  "Articles  of  Association,"  which  were  adopted.  The  object  of  the  Society 
was  to  secure  "a  mutual  benefit  in  case  of  death."  The  Eldership  pledged  itself 
to  "use  all  legitimate  means  to  bring  about  an  amendment  to  the  State  Constitu- 
tion prohibiting  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  in  this  Common- 
wealth, except  for  mechanical,  medicinal  and  scientific  purposes." 

57tli  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — An  enterprise  of  special  interest  to  the 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1885  was  the  auspicious  opening  of  the  Bookstore 
at  No.  335  Market  Street,  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  by  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership.  The  event  was  announced  in  The  Advocate  of  September  9,  1885: 
"To-day  the  first  step  in  this  enterprise  is  a  reality" — that  is,  in  the  iarge  enter- 
prise of  establishing  a  Publishing  House  and  Book  Room.  It  finally  settled  the 
question,  mooted  for  forty  years,  of  some  western  location  for  the  "Printing  Estab- 
lishment." The  Eldership  naturally  was  enthusiastic  in  its  "endorsement  of  said 
enterprise,"  and  expressed  "hearty  approval,"  and  promised  "faithful  support," 
and  "recommended  it  to  the  favorable  mention  of  the  entire  brotherhood."  The 
Eldership  held  its  session  at  Shippensburg,  Cumberland  county,  October  21-27, 
1885,  the  Opening  Sermon  being  preached  by  D.  S.  Shoop,  from  Acts  v.  20.  Seventy 
ministers  were  enrolled,  and  fifty-two  delegates  and  thirty-two  messengers.  F.  L. 
Nicodemus  was  elected  Speaker;  H.  E.  Reever,  Stated  Clerk;  B.  F.  Beck,  Trans- 
cribing Clerk;  J.  Haifleigh,  Financial  Clerk,  and  S,  Knisley,  Treasurer.  Forney, 
Sigler  and  Price  were  elected  on  the  Standing  Committee.  The  Eldership  wel- 
comed O.  R.  Bacheler,  Free  Baptist  Mission  of  Bengal,  India,  as  an  advisory  mem- 
ber, and  instructed  the  "Committee  on  Arrangement  to  appoint  him  to  preach  the 
annual  missionary  sermon."  The  amount  received  for  the  year  by  the  Missionary 
Fund  was  $2,551.41;  Widows'  Fund,  $354.07;  Contingent  Fund,  $211.64;  Super- 
annuated Fund,  $219.61;  Church  Extension  Fund,  $183.44.  The  amount  of 
$400.00  was  received  for  "damages  to  the  Chambersburg  church  property  from  the 
Western  Maryland  Railroad  Company"  on  account  of  the  laying  of  its  tracks  in 
close  proximity  to  the  bethel.  This  money  was  ordered  to  be  paid  "into  the 
Widows'  Permanent  Fund,  as  part  repayment  of  a  loan  made  by  said  Fund  to  the 
Board  of  Incorporation  for  the  original  purchase  of  the  Chambersburg  house"  in 
185  9.  P.  H.  Woodworth  and  Mrs.  M.  B.  Woodworth,  of  the  Indiana  Eldership, 
were  received  as  advisory  members,  the  latter  having  gained  considerable  notoriety 
as  an  evangelist.  Failing  to  secure  sufficient  means  to  erect  a  monument  over  the 
grave  of  Laverty,  the  money  on  hand  was  ordered  to  be  paid  to  Mrs.  Laveity. 
Sigler  was  appointed  agent  to  receive  funds  for  a  monument  in  memory  of  Mackey. 
The  Committee  on  Resolutions  affirmed  that  the  "changing  of  pastors  in  the  Fall, 
and  the  unlimited  Rule,  are  not  proving  satisfactory,"  and  recommended  a  return 
to  the  old  system  of  moving  on  the  first  of  April,  and  re-establishing  the  three-year 
limit.  The  vote  on  the  first  question  was:  Yeas.  40;  nays,  41.  It  was  moved  to 
indefinitely  postpone  the  second  question,  on  which  the  vote  stood,  yeas,  44;  nays, 
25.  Yet  the  question  was  reopened,  and  on  a  direct  vote  to  "restore  the  former 
limit  of  three  years,"  the  yeas  were  37  and  the  nays,  36.  But  as  it  required  a 
two-thirds  vote  to  amend  the  Constitution,  the  resolution  was  lost.  The  obnoxious 
term  "expelled,"  in  the  statistical  table,  was  ordered  changed,  and  "disfellow- 
shlped"  substituted.  Co-operation  with  the  Free  Baptist  Church  in  foreign  mis- 
sion work,  as  per  action  of  the  General  Eldership  in  June,  1884,  was  endorsed, 
and  each  church  was  to  be  given  the  privilege  to  contribute  toward  this  work.  On 
temperance  a  moderate  report  was  adopted,  yet  rejoicing  over  the  "aroused  public 
sentiment  and  the  security  of  legislation  which  is  a  sure  earnest  of  a  grand  and 
glorious  victory  in  the  near  future  all  over  our  land."      Unfermented   wine  was 


East   Pennsylvania   Eldership  355, 

recommended  to  be  used  at  the  Lord's  Supper.  The  Judiciary  Committee  had  an 
unusual  amount  of  work,  and  several  ministers  received  adverse  verdicts,  one  name 
being  directed  to  be  stricken  from  the  Roll  "as  the  Committee  cannot  approve  a 
recommendation  that  he  be  given  an  honorable  dismissal."  A  peculiar  case  waS' 
that  of  S.  D.  C.  Jackson,  who  purposed  removing  to  California,  and  desired  a  spe- 
cial "certificate  of  membership  in  this  Eldership,"  as  he  had  prospects  of  a  call  to 
some  other  Church.  IJeck,  Foniey  and  Sigler  were  named  as  a  committee  to  pre- 
pare a  certificate,  who  reported  a  form,  stating  Jackson's  "good  character  and  emi- 
nent qualifications  as  a  minister,"  and  giving  "the  consent  of  the  Eldership  ta 
transfer  his  membership  to  any  other  ecclesiastical  organization."  The  Eldership 
seemed  dissatisfied  with  the  disproportionate  amount  of  time  which  was  annually 
"given  to  merely  secular  affairs  of  the  churches,"  and  ordered,  "that  in  the  future 
a  larger  proportion  of  time  shall  be  devoted  to  the  preaching  of  the  word."  There 
were  twenty-five  stations,  twenty  circuits  and  one  mission.  The  total  membership 
of  the  churches  was  given  at  5,308. 

58th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldei-ship. — At  the  Eldership  in  18  85  there  were  no 
deaths  reported  in  the  ranks  of  the  ministry;  in  1886,  two  had  answered  the  ques- 
tion, with  James  Hurdic, 

"What  js  death 

To  him  who  merits  it  with  an  upright  heart? 

A  quiet  haven,  where  his  shattered  bark 

Harbors  secure,  till  the  rough  storm  is  past." 

One  was  the  veteran  Simon  Fleegal,  born  January  9,  1808;  converted  about  182  8, 
an  elder  of  the  first  church  of  God  organized  in  Maryland;  ordained  in  1843,  and 
died  December  1,  1885.  He  "was  specially  gifted  with  the  power  of  exhortation; 
had  always  a  pleasant  word  for  every  one;  was  of  a  cheerful  and  confiding  nature," 
and  a  very  acceptable  and  useful  preacher.  The  other  was  John  Hunt«r,  a  native 
of  Ireland,  who  died  July  16,  1886,  having  attained  the  age  of  69  years.  Raised 
in  the  Presbyterian  faith,  he  began  his  ministerial  life  as  a  missionary.  He 
preached  experimental  religion,  and  was  cruelly  persecuted.  He  came  to  America 
in  1847,  where  he  became  a  member  of  the  Christian  Connection;  but  becoming 
acquainted  with  the  Church  of  God,  he  began  his  labors  as  a  member  of  the  Elder- 
ship in  1864,  and  continued  in  the  active  work  to  the  end  of  his  life.  He  was 
specially  adapted  to  revival  work,  and  was  often  called  "the  eloquent  Irishman." 
It  is  no  disparagement  to  a  body  of  people  co-operating  under  an  organic  law  some- 
what frequently  to  amend  its  Constitution.  Motion  is  the  law,  the  essence  of  life. 
If  organic  life  stands  still  it  degenerates  into  inevitable  machinery,  and  becomes 
mechanism.  Rules  and  orders  need  to  be  frequently  recast,  except  fundamentals, 
so  that  theories  may  be  made  to  fit  to  new  facts.  Hence,  amendments  were  fre- 
quently made  to  the  Constitution,  in  the  Rules  and  the  working  plans  of  the  Elder- 
ship. The  loose  order  of  Elderships  in  earlier  years  gave  way  to  new  and  flexible, 
but  stringent,  regulations.  In  1886  several  radical  ideas  were  embodied  in  an 
amendment  to  Art.  XVIII.:  "That  the  relation  of  pastor  and  people  established  by 
authority  of  the  Eldership  shall  not  be  severed  except  by  previous  consent  of  the 
Eldership,  or  of  the  Standing  Committee."  The  Eldership  in  1886  convened  at 
Mlddletown,  Dauphin  county,  October  6th,  when  the  retiring  Speaker,  F.  L.  Nico- 
demus,  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Rom.  xv.  30-33.  J.  H.  Esterline  was 
chosen  Speaker  on  the  morning  of  the  7th;  H.  E.  Reever  continued  Stated  Clerk; 
B.  F.  Beck,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  Haifleigh,  Financial  Clerk,  and  S.  Knlsley, 
Treasurer.  The  Board  of  Missions  elected  had  on  it  three  laymen,  while  the  other 
elective  boards  and  committees,  except  the  Board  of  Church  Extension  which  had 
one  layman  on  it,  were  all  composed  of  ministers.  The  Evangelical  Temperance 
Association  addressed  a  communication  to  the  Eldership,  on  which  the  Committee 
on  Temperance  took  action,  directing  the  Speaker  and  Stated  Clerk  to  "sign  a  peti- 
tion to  the  Legislature  for  submission  to  the  voters  of  Pennsylvania  of  an  amend- 
ment to  the  Constitution  prohibiting  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  alcoholics  as  a 
beverage."  It  repudiated  all  forms  of  license,  and  aflSrmed  that  prohibition  is  the 
remedy  for  the  evil  of  intemperance.  Greater  stress  was  laid  on  the  duty  of  mem- 
bers of  the  classes  in  the  Course  of  Studies  to  pursue  the  studies  diligently,  and' 
appear  before  the  Board  for  examination.  The  Board  was  instructed  to  meet  the- 
classes  at  noon  of  the  day  the  Eldership  convenes,  and  it  was  tacitly  agreed  that 
the  personnel  of  the  Board  be  changed  less  frequently.  The  applicants  for  license 
were  five  for  license  to  preach,  one  being  a  United  Brethren  minister;    also  five 


356  History  of  the   Churches  oe  God 

for  exhorters'  licenses,  one  of  them  a  sister,  the  latter  being  reported  by  the  Com- 
mittee with  a  negative  recommendation,  "because  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership 
does  not  license  women  to  preach."  This  the  Eldership  approved.  To  prevent 
the  constant  loss  of  members  of  churches  through  removals  without  certificates,  it 
was  made  the  duty  of  pastors  "to  give  them  certificates,  and  to  write  to  the  min- 
ister in  charge  of  the  church  into  whose  locality  they  move."  The  name  "Bethel 
Church"  was  entirely  repudiated,  as  "there  is  no  scriptural  authority  for  such 
title."  "Annual  fees"  for  clerks  were  fixed  for  the  future.  "Carefully  prepared 
papers"  were  directed  to  "be  furnished  for  the  Eldership  next  year,"  by  ministers 
named,  on  "The  Interpretation  and  Authority  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,"  "The  Di- 
vinity of  Jesus  Christ,"  "The  Church  and  Its  Mission,"  "Christ  the  Mediator,"  and 
"The  Second  Coming  of  Christ."  A  resolution  was  adopted,  "that  any  person  ap- 
plying for  a  license  to  preach  the  gospel  shall  be  required  to  pledge  himself  to  ab- 
stain from  the  use  of  tobacco." 

59th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  "papers"  directed  in  1886  to  be  pre- 
pared and  read  at  the  Eldership  in  1887  were  read  "during  the  first  half  hour  of 
each  morning  session."  In  the  organization  of  the  body  the  question  of  "life 
elders"  was  indirectly  decided.  J.  B.  Rae,  of  Saxton,  presented  himself  as  a  dele- 
gate from  the  Saxton  circuit,  having  been  elected  an  elder,  some  years  previous, 
of  the  church  at  Fairplay.  His  seat  was  contested  on  the  ground  that  elders  are 
elected  at  Saxton  for  one  year,  and  not  for  an  indefinite  period,  and  that  an  elder 
of  one  church  on  a  field  is  not  by  virtue  of  that  fact  an  elder  of  any  other  church 
to  which  he  might  remove.  He  was  seated,  as  well  as  the  contestant,  because  the 
circuit  was  entitled  to  two  delegates;  but  "with  the  definite  proviso,  that  this  act 
shall  not  be  a  precedent  for  the  future."  The  retiring  Speaker  preached  the  Open- 
ing Sermon  when  the  Eldership  convened  at  Washington  Borough,  Lancaster 
county,  October  5,  1887,  from  John  xx.  21.  Twenty-eight  stations  and  twenty- 
three  circuits  were  represented  by  as  many  pastors,  and  there  were  twenty-three 
other  ministers  enrolled.  C.  C.  Bartels  was  chosen  Speaker;  H.  E.  Reever,  Stated 
Clerk;  B.  F.  Beck,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  S.  Knisley,  Treasurer.  The  members 
of  the  boards  and  committees  elected  by  the  Eldership  were  all  ministers,  except 
one  on  the  Board  of  Missions.  Two  ministers  requested,  and  were  granted,  "letters 
of  withdrawal  from  the  Eldership."  At  this  Eldership  two  brethren  were  ordained 
who  have  attained  high  places  in  the  general  body — F.  W.  McGuire  and  C.  I. 
BrowTi.  Formal  ordination  services  were  held  on  Saturday  evening.  C.  D.  Rishel's 
proposed  Year  Book  received  the  endorsement  of  the  Eldership.  W.  P.  Winbigler, 
who  had  died  at  Uniontown,  Md.,  shortly  before  returning  to  the  East  Pennsyl- 
vania Eldership,  in  October,  1886,  was  remembered,  in  suitable  resolutions,  "as  a 
"worthy  brother,  of  no  small  talent;  full  of  holy  zeal  for  a  righteous  cause,  and  a 
bold  defender  of  Bible  truth."  H.  L.  Banzhoff  had  succeeded  in  establishing  a 
church  in  Hollidaysburg,  Blair  county,  and  the  Eldership  received  both  pastor  and 
church,  and  made  Hollidaysburg  a  station.  While  the  holding  of  a  camp-meeting 
at  William's  Grove,  where  the  annual  Grangers'  Picnics  were  held,  was  disap- 
proved. C.  H.  Forney,  J.  M.  Cai-vell,  George  Sigler,  H.  N.  Bowman  and  Samuel 
Knisley  were  appointed  a  committee  "to  consider  the  advisability  of  holding  a  re- 
union of  the  brotherhood,  at  such  time  and  place  as  it  may  deem  proper,  during 
next  Summer."  A  new  and  more  complete  form  of  statistical  blanks  was  reported 
by  a  committee,  and  was  approved. 

60th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — While  the  Eldership  in  1887  named  Roar- 
ing Spring,  Blair  county,  as  the  place  for  holding  the  session  in  1888,  the  body  con- 
vened at  Maytown,  Lancaster  county,  October  3rd,  when  C  C.  Bai-tels  delivered  the 
Opening  Sermon,  from  Matt,  xxviii.  19.  The  following  morning,  the  Eldership 
being  constituted,  J.  M.  Speese  was  elected  Speaker;  H.  E.  Reever  continued  Staffed 
Clerk;  B.  F.  Beck  was  chosen  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  Haifleigh,  Financial  Clerk, 
and  S.  Knisley,  Treasurer.  The  "papers"  ordered  to  be  prepared  on  doctrinal  sub- 
jects were  read  at  different  sittings.  The  Standing  Committee,  Forney,  Carvell 
and  Sigler,  who  were  re-elected,  during  the  year  had  to  deal  with  a  matter  vitally 
affecting  the  general  polity  of  the  Church.  The  General  Eldership  Constitution, 
Art.  XXIX.  of  the  Constitution  of  1885.  prohibits  any  "members  of  one  Eldership 
from  removing  into  the  territory  of  another  Eldership,  or  laboring  within  its  terri- 
tory, without  becoming  a  member  of  said  Eldership."  Mrs.  AVoodworth,  without 
becoming  a  member  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  without  the  consent 
of  its  constituted  authorities,  came  within  its  territory  and  held  evangelistic  ser- 
vices with  several  churches.     The  Standing  Committee,  believing  that  such  meet- 


East    Pennsylvania    Elde^rship  357 

ings  would  prove  seriously  detrimental  to  the  churches  and  the  peace  and  harmony 
of  the  Eldership,  through  her  advocacy  of  trances,  faith-healing  and  other  peculiar 
views,  ordered  her  to  desist  from  these  labors  and  leave  the  territory  of  the  Elder- 
ship. It  directed  the  bethel  at  Chambersburg  to  be  closed  against  her.  It  also 
formulated  charges  against  her,  and  laid  them  before  the  Eldership  of  which  she 
was  a  member.  When  the  Committee  reported,  these  actions  provoked  a  lengthy 
discussion,  but  they  were  "unanimously  approved."  The  Bald  Hills  Bethel  prop- 
erty, York  county,  and  the  lots  for  a  house  of  worship  at  Renova,  Clinton  county, 
were  directed  to  be  sold.  J.  Ross,  who  died  during  the  Eldership  year,  made  a 
bequest  to  the  Eldership,  which  was  ordered  to  be  paid  into  the  Superannuated 
Fund.  He  had  reached  the  age  of  79  years,  having  been  a  minister  of  the  Elder- 
ship since  1856.  "His  Christian  character  was  above  reproach."  Two  other  min- 
isters, who  had  lived  to  a  ripe  old  age,  had  heard  the  voice. 

"I  make  you  blessed — 
I  call  you  home  to  a  glorious  rest!" 

These  were  Henry  Borgner  and  John  Tucker.  The  former  was  a  German 
preacher,  licensed  in  1859,  but  at  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  a  member  of  the 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  He  died  in  the  66th  year  of  his  age.  "He  was  a 
good  and  faithful  man.  and  exerted  a  healthful  influence  in  the  community  where 
he  lived."  Tucker  had  reached  the  age  of  86  years.  He  had  been  a  minister  in 
the  Baptist  Church,  but  became  a  member  of  the  Eldership  in  1840.  "He  was  a 
pious  and  godly  man,  and  a  strong  believer  in  the  personal,  pre-millennial  advent 
of  Christ."  All  the  churches  were  "requested  to  organize  missionary  societies  at 
once."     Extreme  action  was  taken  on  temperance,  recommending  the  "laying  aside 

of  all  sectarian  and  political  prejudices,  and  unite  in  one  solid  compact and 

either  demand  of  existing  political  parties  further  legislation,  or  by  constituting  a 
party  whose  ultimate  end  shall  be  the  entire  prohibition  of  the  liquor  traffic."  On 
the  state  of  religion  the  Committee  reported  "that  it  is  not  satisfactory.  There  is 
much  worldly  conformity,  powerless  profession,  cold  formality  and  attachment  to 
forms  and  outward  ceremony."  An  additional  incentive  to  the  churches  to  pay 
larger  salaries  was  adopted.  The  Speaker  was  directed  to  inquire  of  each  dele- 
gate, after  the  pastor's  report,  "the  amount  of  salary  paid,  and  if  the  full  amount 
has  been  paid."  And  "churches  were  requested  to  set  a  stipulated  salary,  and 
report  the  same  to  the  Stationing  Committee."  There  were  twenty-six  stations 
and  twenty-five  circuits.  The  Stated  Clerk,  elected  for  an  indefinite  period,  re- 
signed, and  I.  A.  MacDannald  was  elected.  He  had  been  licensed  in  1885;  was  the 
son  of  a  minister,  of  whom,  in  1886,  the  Examining  Committee  reported  that  he 
"has  proved  himself  a  good  student,  and  has  completed  the  course  with  credit  to 
himself  and  satisfaction  to  the  Committee." 

61st  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — A  new  enterprise  was  set  on  foot  during 
the  sixty-first  session  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  "A  communication  was 
received  from  C.  H.  Foraey  in  regard  to  an  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  Bene- 
ficiary Fund,"  on  which  a  committee  was  appointed  for  whose  report  a  special 
order  was  made.  It  consisted  of  C.  H.  Forney,  Geo.  Siguier,  J.  M.  CaiTell,  D.  M. 
Bare,  G.  W.  Getz  and  W.  J.  Grissinger,  which  reported  favorably.  The  Board  of 
Educaition  was  made  the  custodian  of  the  Fund,  the  "Fund  to  be  raised  by  dona- 
tions, bequests,  and  in  extraordinary  emergencies  by  special  collections."  The 
unusual  coincidence  of  the  death  of  the  Speaker  marked  this  Eldership.  J.  M. 
Speece  had  died  July  19,  1889,  aged  41  years.  He  had  been  licensed  in  1870. 
"He  was  a  good  preacher,  kind,  affable  and  courteous,  and  deserved  the  esteem  of 
all."  On  the  Roll  of  Death  with  his  name  was  engraved  that  of  P.  Stanton,  a 
colored  minister,  licensed  in  1835.  "As  a  preacher  he  was  courteous,  prudent  and 
uncompromising,  an  acknowledged  leader  among  the  people  of  his  own  race."  The 
session  was  held  in  the  Fourth  Street  Bethel,  Harrisburg,  beginning  October  2, 
1889,  when  A.  H.  Long,  appointed  by  the  Standing  Committee,  preached  the  Open- 
ing Sermon,  from  I.  Cor.  i.  23.  Twenty-six  stations  and  as  many  circuits  were  on 
the  list,  and  seventy-two  ministers  and  fifty-seven  delegates  were  enrolled  when 
the  Eldership  was  constituted  by  the  new  Stated  Clerk.  An  organization  was 
effected  by  the  election  of  C.  H.  Forney,  Speaker;  B.  F.  Beck,  Transcribing  Clerk; 
J.  Haifleigh,  Financial  Clerk,  and  S.  Knisley,  Treasurer.  An  innovation  by  the 
Speaker  was  the  placing  of  every  minister  and  delegate  present  on  some  committee. 
Williamsport,  Lycoming  county,  with  J.  A.  Bro\vn  (colored),  pastor,  was  one  of 
the  fields  of  labor.     The  Treasurer's  Report  indicated    a    fair    condition    of    the 


358  History   of  the   Churcpies   of   God 

finances.  There  were  $1,594.81  received  into  the  Mission  Fund;  $422.82,  into  the 
Widows'  Fund;  $374.05,  into  the  Superannuated  Fund;  $104.34,  into  the  Church 
Extension  Fund;  $149.32,  into  the  C.  E.  Contingent  Fund;  $478.94,  into  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership  Missionary  Fund.  Among  the  advisory  members  were  nearly  all 
the  pastors  of  Harrisburg  Churches,  including  S.  C.  Swallow,  D.  D.,  late  candidate 
for  President  of  the  United  States  on  the  Prohibition  ticket;  J.  A.  Saxton,  of  the 
Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership;  J.  A.  Shuler,  Illinois,  for  some  years  Treasurer 
of  the  General  Eldership,  and  AV.  J.  Schaiier,  Illinois  Eldership,  who  brought  with 
him  his  transfer.  There  was  a  prevalent  feeling  that  "there  is  not  that  degree  of 
prosperity  among  the  churches  that  is  desired,"  and  so  the  Eldership  adopted  a 
resolution  offered  by  Sigler,  "that  the  third  Sunday  in  December  be  set  apart  as  a 
day  of  special  prayer  to  God  for  his  blessing  upon  the  churches,  and  for  an  increase 
of  earnest  men  for  the  ministry."  Strong  resolutions  favoring  prohibition  and  en- 
dorsing the  W.  C.  T.  U.  were  passed.  The  former  order,  to  have  a  number  of  doc- 
trinal essays  prepared  and  read  before  the  body,  was  changed  so  that  the  Standing 
Committee  would  "appoint  from  time  to  time  a  man  to  preach  a  doctrinal  sermon 
during  the  session  of  the  Eldership."  The  loss  to  the  Church  of  children  of 
Church  families  was  deplored,  and  the  "Eldership  earnestly  urged  upon  the 
brotherhood  to  put  forth  their  earnest  endeavors  to  have  all  their  children  saved 
to  the  Church."  A  general  missionary  was  provided  for,  "to  open  new  appoint- 
ments and  assist  in  holding  protracted  meetings."  So  varied  and  numerous  were 
the  preambles  and  resolutions  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions,  that  nearly  one- 
fourth  of  them  were  tabled,  one  series  being  a  denunciation  in  most  vigorous  lan- 
guage of  "bands  of  outlaws,  known  as  'Regulators'  and  Roughs,  who  tortured  and 
murdered  innocent  and  inoffensive  negroes  in  Louisiana,  and  imperiled  the  lives  of 
several  ministers  in  Tennessee  while  on  their  way  to  the  National  Colored  Baptist 
Convention  at  Indianapolis,  Ind."  A  uniform  course  of  studies  for  ministers  of  all 
the  Elderships  was  made  a  subject  of  instructions  of  the  delegates  to  the  General 
Eldership.  Also  to  have  the  representation  in  the  General  Eldership  reduced  to 
one  for  every  twenty  ministers. 

62nd  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.- — With  the  sixty-second  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  said  body  began  to  publish  its  Minutes  in  pamphlet  form,  as  per  action 
taken  on  the  report  of  a  committee  on  the  subject.  With  this  first  Journal  thus 
published  the  Opening  Sermon  delivered  by  the  retiring  Speaker,  C.  H.  Forney,  was 
also  published  in  full.  The  new  Speaker,  W,  J.  Grissinger,  and  B.  F.  Beck,  Tran- 
scribing Clerk,  and  J.  Haifleigh,  Financial  Clerk,  were  not  elected  until  after  the 
Committee  on  Printing  the  Journal  was  provided  for,  and  the  Treasurer's  Report 
had  been  made.  Ira  A.  MacDannald  was  Stated  Clerk.  The  Eldership  held  its 
session  at  Mechanicsburg,  from  October  2-7,  1890.  The  Eldership  consisted  of 
74  ministers  and  90  delegates  and  messengers.  The  Treasurer's  Report  showed 
the  following  amounts  received  during  the  year  by  the  various  Funds:  Mission- 
ary, $1,743.55;  Widows',  $453.54;  Contingent,  $222.87;  Superannuated,  $255.32; 
Church  Extension,  $135.23;  General  Eldership  Contingent,  $54.47;  Sinking, 
$450.00.  Forney,  Sigler  and  Carvell  were  elected  as  the  Standing  Comraittee.  The 
Examining  Committee  was  made  an  elective  committee.  Considerable  friction 
developed  on  account  of  the  adoption  of  the  following:  "Resolved,  That  we  are 
not  fully  satisfied  with  some  actions  of  the  Board  of  Misisons  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship, and  ask  that  the  objectional  features  in  past  actions  be  obviated  in  the 
future,  to  the  end  that  our  efforts  to  collect  needed  funds  may  not  be  hindered." 
The  Board  of  Missions  resented  this,  and  the  controversy  continued  for  several 
years.  The  "indilTerence  manifested  in  our  Eldership  Missionary  Meetings"  is 
seen  in  the  amount  raised  on  Friday  evening,  after  "an  earnest  missionary  sermon 
by  B.  F.  Beck — $40.81."  The  Board  of  Missions  consisted  of  J.  M.  Carvell,  C.  H. 
Forney,  D.  S.  Shoop,  J.  H.  Esterline,  Geo.  Sigler,  Geo.  W.  Getz,  B.  F.  Beck,  C.  C. 
Bartels,  M.  M.  Foose.  The  Eldership's  right  to  overrule  actions  of  a  local  church 
was  exercised  in  the  case  of  the  Saxton  church,  where  a  special  election  for  church 
officers  was  ordered,  at  which  the  Chairman  of  the  Standing  Committee  was  di- 
rected to  preside.  Also  in  the  case  of  the  church  at  Shepherdstown,  where  names 
erased  from  the  Church  Record  were  directed  to  be  restored,  and  the  council  "di- 
rected to  act  in  regular  order  in  all  cases  in  dismissing  members  to  other  churches." 
It  decided  that  "the  minister  of  a  church  or  churches  is  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Elders,  and  as  such  he  has  the  rights  and  privileges  of  an  elder;  and  that  in  the 
ruling  of  the  church,  the  reception  and  disciplining  of  members,  and  in  transferring 
members  from  one  church  to  another,  he  has  only  equal  powers  with  other  elders." 


East    Pennsyu^ania    Eldejiship  359 

A  resolution  was  adopted,  declaring  "that  it  is  the  moral  sense  of  this  Eldership 
that  electioneering  and  combinations  of  all  kinds  in  the  Eldership  are  wrong  and 
Injurious."  Emphasis  was  laid  on  the  order  of  attending  to  the  ordinances.  In 
"the  apostolic  order"  Christian  baptism  comes  first,  "and  the  importance  of  mak- 
ing this  order  prominent  in  the  teaching  and  practice  of  ministers"  was  urged  upon 
all.  The  "alarming  indifference  manifested  in  regard  to  missions"  was  deplored. 
"Unity  and  co-operation"  were  made  the  subject  of  an  earnest  resolution.  There 
were  twenty-seven  stations  and  twenty-four  circuits.  And  while  no  appointments 
are  designated  as  "missions,"  thirteen  received  appropriations  out  of  the  Mission- 
ary Fund,  from  $15.00  to  $12.5.00.  Rules  were  reported  by  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion, governing  appropriations  out  of  the  Beneficiary  Educational  Fund.  The 
money  in  this  fund  was  directed  to  be  "invested  in  good  interest-bearing  securities, 
in  real  estate,  stocks,  bonds,  or  scholarships,  or  loans  on  first  mortgages."  A  form 
of  bequests  to  the  Fund  was  also  approved.  The  new  Board  consisted  of  C.  H. 
Forney,  D.  S.  Shoop,  B.  F.  Beck,  C.  I.  Brown,  J.  M.  Cai-vell. 

63rd  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  session  of  the  Eldership  held  at  Al- 
toona,  Blair  county.  Pa.,  October  7  to  13,  1891,  had  a  few  exceptional  incidents. 
President  Latchaw,  of  Findlay  College,  was  an  advisory  member,  and  by  invitation 
spoke  on  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Education.  By  special  action,  laymen 
were  placed  on  the  Auditing  Committee.  The  Constitution  was  amended  in  sev- 
eral Articles  which  had  remained  undisturbed  for  many  years.  One  of  these  re- 
lated to  "messengers."  The  Eldership  was  becoming  so  large  that  a  sentiment 
developed  against  "messengers,"  provided  for  in  Art.  II.  They  were  a-iso  consid- 
ered wholly  unnecessary,  as  each  charge  was  entitled  to  a  delegate  for  the  pastor 
and  for  each  local  minister  living  on  the  field.  Letters  to  the  number  of  eighty- 
six  were  also  sent  to  the  Eldership  this  year,  representing  the  wishes  of  the  fields. 
And  so  the  provision  for  "messengers"  was  "stricken  out."  The  echo  of  the  dis- 
cussion of  "the  Stationing  Committee"  was  heard  in  a  proposed  amendment  to 
the  Constitution  providing  that  said  Committee  "shall  not  have  the  power  to  sever 
the  relations  between  pastor  and  people  when  harmony  prevails."  Another  amend- 
ment to  this  Article,  of  which  notice  was  given,  proposed  that  all  ministers  shall 
be  subject  to  change  at  the  end  of  any  one  year,  but  may  be  reappointed  for  four 
consecutive  years.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  on  Wednesday  evening,  by 
W.  J.  Grissinger.  Theme: — "The  Preacher's  Intimacy  With  Christ."  Text: — John 
xiii.  23.  The  presiding  officer  of  the  Eldership  was  J.  W.  Miller;  Stated  Clerk,  Ira 
A.  MacDannald;  Transcribing  Clerk,  B.  F.  Beck;  Financial  Clerk,  J.  Haifleigh,  and 
Treasurer,  S.  Knisley,  The  Eldership  took  favorable  action  on  "tithing,"  affirming 
It  to  be  "in  accordance  with  the  word  of  God,  and  that  it  should  be  so  taught  and 
practiced  within  the  bounds  of  this  Eldership."  A  unanimous  protest  against  the 
keeping  open  the  gates  of  the  World's  Fair  at  Chicago,  in  1893,  was  adopted,  and 
a  copy  of  the  resolution  ordered  to  be  sent  to  the  President  of  the  World's  Fair 
Commission.  It  was  proposed  to  have  a  "Children's  Missionary  Day;"  but  on  ac- 
count of  its  possible  interference  with  Children's  College  Day  it  was  made  op- 
tional. The  death  of  one  minister  was  duly  memorialized.  Isaiah  T.  Browii,  a 
colored  man,  "loved  by  his  people,  a  zealous  young  man,  whose  labors  were  not 
in  vain,"  "fell  on  the  victor's  field."  The  Christian  Endeavor  Society  was  "rec- 
ommended to  pastors  of  churches  within  the  body  as  being  helpful  in  bringing 
souls  to  Christ."  A  bequest  of  $1,000.00  to  the  Church  "by  Sister  Ridenower,  of 
Chambersburg,  was  acknowledged,  and  it  was  ordered  to  be  paid  into  the  Bene- 
ficiary Educational  Fund.  The  bethel  at  Paradise,  Clearfield  county,  was  ordered 
to  be  sold,  with  a  view  of  building  a  new  bethel  in  West  Clearfield.  The  press- 
ing needs  of  Findlay  College  for  funds  were  fully  realized,  and  President  Latchaw 
was  requested  in  person  to  bring  them  before  the  churches  of  the  Eldership.  The 
ministers  were  "urged  to  prepare  the  way  for  him,  and  to  render  him  all  neces- 
sary assistance."  The  appointments  consisted  of  twenty-nine  stations  and  twenty- 
three  circuits.  While  no  appointments  are  classed  as  missions,  fifteen  had  re- 
ceived appropriations  from  the  Board  of  Missions  the  previous  year.  The  total 
amount  of  missionary  money  reported  by  the  Treasurer  was  $1,732.43.  The 
"State  of  religion  within  the  bounds  of  the  Eldership,"  the  Committee  reported,  "is 
quite  encouraging.  More  accessions  to  the  Church  have  been  reported  this  year 
than  last  year."  The  ministers  were  exhorted  "to  devote  their  time,  their  strength, 
their  talents  to  this  one  thing,  viz.:  The  saving  of  souls." 

64th   East  Pennsylvania   Eldership. — The   Eldership   in    189  2    adopted   a   new 
rule  "to  facilitate  and  expedite  the  business."      It  made  the  election  of  delegates  to 


360  History  dp  tiik   Churches  of   God 

the  General  Eldership  in  189  3  a  special  order.  It  provided  that  no  sitting  should 
be  held  on  Friday  afternoon;  but  that  all  the  committees  were  to  meet  and  pre- 
pare their  reports,  and  the  Board  of  Missions  was  to  hold  a  meeting  to  finish  its 
work.  The  session  was  held  at  Lancaster  city,  from  October  5th  to  12th.  G. 
Sig'ler  was  elected  Speaker;  B.  F.  IJeck,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  Haifleigh,  Financial 
Clerk,  and  Samuel  Kiiisley,  Treasurer.  Dr.  J.  J.  Sunimerbell,  of  the  Christian 
Church,  was  given  permission  to  present  "the  greetings  of  the  American  Christian 
Convention."  The  committee  to  "prepare  a  suitable  memorial  in  reference  to  the 
overtures  "which  he  presented  to  this  body,"  reported  that  the  "Eldership  cor- 
dially reciprocates  the  generous  overtures  so  fittingly  presented,"  and  "requested 
the  Eldership  to  send  a  Commissioner  to  represent  this  body  at  the  next  meeting  of 
the  Christian  Convention."  B.  F.  Beck  was  named  as  the  fraternal  delegate.  The 
Eldership  decided  that  a  local  minister  can  not  serve  "as  a  delegate  from  a  local 
church."  On  temperance  the  Eldership  declared  "that  all  sanction  of  the  liquor 
traffic,  by  high  license  or  low  license,  by  ballot  or  by  indifference,  is  a  great  sin." 
The  state  of  religion  was  represented  as  revealing  "the  lamentable  fact  that  there 
is  a  lack  of  deep  and  ardent  piety  among  us  as  a  people;  a  growing  conformity  to 
the  amusements  of  the  world;  an  increasing  spiritual  apathy  and  indifference,  and 
a  marked  neglect  of  the  divinely  appointed  means  of  grace."  "Days  of  fasting, 
confession,  humiliation  and  prayer  on  all  the  charges  within  the  bounds  of  this 
Eldership,  "were  recommended."  The  Eldership  mourned  the  death,  during  the 
year,  of  D.  W.  Keefer,  for  the  entire  body  felt  that  "over  our  hearts  and  over  our 
lives"  a  deep  shadow  had  fallen.  His  labors  were  limited  to  a  few  years,  as  he  was 
ordained  in  1886.  He  was  a  faithful  preacher  of  Christ,  and  always  "endeared 
himself  to  his  people."  The  change  of  sentiment  in  the  Eldership  on  several  con- 
stitutional questions  was  strikingly  evidenced  by  the  votes  on  three  pending 
amendments.  The  first  was  on  "changing  ministers  at  the  end  of  four  years." 
The  vote  stood:  Ayes,  13;  nays,  5  4."  On  "discontinuing  the  sending  of  mes- 
sengers" the  vote  stood:  Ayes,  41;  nays,  36.  On  "vesting  in  the  churches  and 
ministers  the  power  of  stationing  preachers,"  the  vote  was:  Ayes,  32;  nays,  49. 
An  analysis  of  the  vote  shows  that  of  the  32  aye  votes  24  were  by  ministers  and  8 
by  laymen;  of  the  49  nay  votes,  32  were  by  ministers,  and  17  by  laymen.  How- 
ever, the  proposition  to  do  away  with  the  Stationing  Committee  was  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  Revision  of  the  Constitution,  which  consisted  of  C.  H.  Forney,  J.  M. 
Carvell,  D.  S.  Shoop,  B.  F.  Beck  and  George  Sigler.  Action  was  taken  "recom- 
mending the  appointment  of  commissioners  by  different  nations  which  shall  con- 
stitute a  Supreme  Council  or  High  Court,  to  which  shall  be  referred  all  differences 
or  difficulties  existing  or  arising  between  nations  for  adjudication,  without  resort 
to  war."  Opposition  was  expressed  against  boards  of  the  General  Eldership  em- 
ploying any  of  their  members  in  salaried  positions.  The  College  was  strongly 
endorsed,  and  the  President's  services  commended;  but  there  was  an  implied  con- 
viction that  there  was  lacking  at  the  College  "a  definite  Church  sentiment,"  which 
the  body  positively  favored.  The  Standing  Committee  was  empowered,  by  amend- 
ment to  Art.  X.  of  the  Constitution,  "to  nominate  persons  to  fill  vacan<;ies  on  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  Findlay  College."  An  effort  was  made  to  restrict  member- 
ship of  any  one  person  to  not  exceeding  three  boards  or  committees.  The  matter 
was  referred  to  the  Revision  Committee.  The  Eldership  placed  itself  on  record 
against  annual  licenses  by  instructing  its  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  to 
vote  for  life  certificates.  The  question  of  holding  "an  Eldership  camp-meeting" 
was  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  committee  of  five  to  report  in  1893. 

65th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Great  changes  occurred  during  the  year, 
so  that  when  the  Eldership  met  at  Shippensburg,  October  4,  1893,  instead  of  the 
presence  at  its  session  of  the  first  President  of  Findlay  College,  W.  N.  Yates,  Act- 
ing President,  was  received  as  an  advisory  member,  and  "the  Eldership  accorded 
to  him  an  expression  of  entire  confidence  in  his  qualifications  and  adaptation  to 
his  responsible  vocation."  Continuing  Ira  A.  MacDannald  as  Stated  Clerk,  the 
Eldership  made  choice  of  C.  D.  Rishel  for  Speaker;  F.  L.  Nicodemus,  Transcribing 
Clerk;  J.  Haifleigh,  Financial  Clerk,  and  S.  Knisley,  Treasurer.  The  revised  Con- 
stitution was  discussed  during  four  sittings.  The  Article  changing  the  title  of 
the  body  to  "East  Pennsylvania  Association  of  churches  of  God"  was  adopted  by  a 
vote  of  ayes,  44;  nays,  13.  Two  Articles  are  recorded  as  "defeated,"  though  the 
vote  on  Art.  viii.  is  given  as,  "yeas,  40;  nays,  28."  But  the  opposition  united 
on  the  final  vote,  and  "the  Constitution  as  a  whole  was  rejected  by  the  following 
vote:      Yeas,  18;  nays,  52."     The  funds  of  the  Eldership  were  in  satisfactory  con- 


East   Pennsylvania   Eldership  361 

dition,  the  Treasurer's  Report  showing  Missionary  Fund,  $1,696.73;  Widows', 
$567.31;  Contingent,  $158.96;  Superannuated,  $347.16;  Church  Extension,  $609.- 
95;  General  Eldership  Contingent,  $83.52;  Sinking,  $100.00;  General  Eldership' 
Mission,  $398.03;  G.  E.  Delegate,  $281.93;  Foreign  Mission,  $37.11.  Three  men, 
"with  tidings  of  salvation  shod,"  dropped  out  of  the  ministerial  ranks  during  the 
year.  J.  M.  Stoufter,  licensed  in  185  6,  died  January  25,  1893,  "an  excellent  helper 
of  his  pastor,"  as  he  "labored  almost  exclusively  as  a  local  preacher."  Thomas 
Still,  ordained  in  1861,  died  August,  1893;  "a  successful  laborer,  and  possessed 
the  happy  faculty  of  endearing  himself  to  the  people  he  served."  John  W.  Swank 
was  received  from  another  Church  in  1875,  died  shortly  before  the  Eldership,  at 
the  time  being  Chaplain  of  the  Lancaster  County  Almshouse  and  Prison."  "His 
memory  survives."  The  Eldership  disclaimed  all  authority  "to  influence  the  vote 
of  any  member  or  church  on  any  political  question,  or  in  favor  of  any  political 
party."  Yet  it  expressed  the  belief  that  "it  is  not  only  the  duty  of  every  Christian 
to  abstain  from  the  use  of  intoxicating  drink,  but  also  to  vote  always  and  only  for 
men  and  measures  which  openly  favor  the  vigorous  enforcement  of  present  laws 
and  the  enactment  of  laws  prohibiting  the  sale  and  manufacture  of  alcoholic 
beverages."  The  committee  created  the  year  previous  reported  negatively  on  the 
matter  of  holding  an  Eldership  camp-meeting.  A  much  more  elaborate  course  of 
studies  was  reported  by  the  Revision  Committee,  which  was  adopted.  It  provided 
for  an  "Entrance  Course"  of  four  branches;  a  Three  Years'  Pre-Licentiate  Course, 
of  five  and  six  branches  in  each  year,  and  a  Four  Years'  Post-Licentiate  Course, 
with  five  and  six  studies  in  each  year.  The  Stationing  Committee,  according  to  a 
new  Rule,  reported  one  sitting  before  the  final  one.  There  were  32  stations,  and 
23  circuits.  Very  positive  resolutions  were  adopted  against  whatever  "tended 
toward  the  secularization  of  the  Christian  Sabbath;"  advising  "ministers  and 
church  members  to  discountenance  the  Sunday  paper,  excursions  of  all  kinds, 
traveling  on  the  railroads  on  Sunday,  as  well  as  all  forms  of  Sunday  desecration." 

66th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — A  new  and  pleasant  incident  at  the  first 
sitting  of  the  Eldership  at  Middletown,  Dauphin  county,  October  3,  1894,  was  the 
introduction  to  the  body,  by  the  pastor,  C.  I.  Behney,  of  the  members  of  the  Mid- 
dletown Ministerial  Association.  Through  its  Secretary,  Rev.  J.  H.  Groflf,  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  a  series  of  resolutions  was  presented,  "extending  most 
heartily  the  fraternal  greetings  to  the  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God,  and  bidding 
them  welcome  to  the  town."  H.  E.  Reever  was  elected  Speaker;  F,  L.  Nicodemus, 
Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  Haifleigh,  Financial  Clerk,  and  S.  Knisley,  Treasurer. 
The  enrollment  showed  that  the  membership  consisted  of  55  active  ministers,  50 
delegates,  16  local  ministers,  4  superannuated,  1  general  evangelist,  1  editor  of 
The  Advocate.  C.  H.  Grove  was  received  on  Transfer  from  the  West  Pennsyl- 
vania Eldership,  and  J.  A.  Staub  from  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. 
Seven  applicants  for  licence  were  also  received. 

During  the  year  $1,356.32  was  paid  out  of  the  treasury  for  missionary  pur- 
poses. In  anticipation  of  a  change  of  place  for  the  holding  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship in  1896,  a  Petition  to  the  Executive  Board  was  adopted,  asking  that  Harris- 
burg  be  selected.  Advancement  was  reported  to  have  been  made  during  the  year 
"in  every  department  of  Church  work.  We  believe  that  there  are  more  conse- 
crated, self-denying,  active  Christian  workers  among  us  at  the  present  time  than 
there  have  been  at  any  former  period  in  our  history."  During  the  year  "the 
reaping  angel  has  thrust  in  his  sharp  sickle,  and  three  of  our  number  have  been 
gathered  home."  It  was  a  sad,  dark  sitting  at  which  the  Committee  on  Obituaries 
in  mellowed  tones  recounted  the  virtues  of  C.  H.  Blough,  Henry  Hackenberger  and 
J.  M.  Carvell.  Blough  was  licensed  in  1889;  died  June  26,  1894,  aged  nearly 
36  years,  and  "was  an  active,  energetic  minister  and  pastor."  Hackenberger  was 
ordained  in  1870;  died  June  9,  1894,  aged  a  few  days  less  than  76  years.  Car- 
vell was  received  into  the  Eldership  in  1866,  and  died  September  1,  1894,  aged 
51  years.  He  "was  a  diligent  student,  as  well  as  minister  and  pastor;  a  faithful, 
earnest  preacher  of  the  gospel  and  an  exemplary  Christian  in  all  life's  varied  re- 
lations." A  communication  "from  Rev.  G.  W.  Reed,  United  Presbyterian,  touch- 
ing the  Sabbath  question"  was  acted  upon,  by  declaring  that  a  day  of  rest  "is  a 
fundamental  law  in  the  divine  government;"  that  our  best  interests  demand  "rest 
from  all  secular  employment,  except  acts  of  mercy  and  necessity,  and  devoting 
the  day  to  the  culture  of  our  spiritual  natures."  But  "inflicting  punishment  upon 
persons  who  from  honest  religious  convictions  prefer  to  keep  the  seventh  day  in- 
stead of  the  first"  was  disapproved.     The  question  of  the  "verbal  inspiration  of  the 


362  History  of  the   Churches   of   God 

Scriptures"  was  by  special  action  limited  to  one  hour.  After  the  discussion  the 
resolution  affirming  verbal  inspiration  was  "indefinitely  postponed."  The  Elder- 
ship "most  heartily  approved  of  the  action  of  the  Incorporate  Board"  in  as- 
suming $5,500  of  the  $24,000  debt  resting  on  the  College,  and  which  had 
"threatened  its  destruction  as  a  Church  school."  There  was  a  failure  on  the  part 
"of  a  number  of  ministers  and  churches  to  observe  Children's  College  Day,"  and 
"the  duty  and  necessity  of  observing  said  day"  was  emphatically  set  forth. 

67th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldei-ship. — The  sale  of  church  properties  was 
always  an  unpleasant  item  of  business  for  the  Eldership,  and  action  was  at  times 
too  long  delayed  to  dispose  of  them  to  advantage.  The  Board  of  Incorporation 
had  the  following  properties  to  sell  in  1894-5:  At  Crete,  and  at  Barada,  Neb., 
and  at  Paradise,  Clearfield  county,  Pa.  On  October  2,  1895,  the  Eldership  met 
at  Landisburg,  Perry  county.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by  H.  E. 
Reever,  from  Zech.  xii.  1.  Theme:  "Burden  of  the  word  of  the  Lord."  The 
preacher  received  the  compliment  of  a  request  "to  hand  the  sermon  to  the  Editor 
of  The  Advocate  for  publication."  Officers  were  chosen,  as  follows:  J.  T. 
Fleegal,  Speaker;  F.  L.  Nicodenius,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  Haifleigh,  Financial 
Clerk,  and  S.  Knisley,  Treasurer.  The  enrollment  showed  a  membership  of 
seventy-seven  ministers,  and  seventy-one  delegates  and  messengers.  Being  the 
year  before  the  meeting  of  the  General  Eldership,  arrangements  were  made  at  the 
first  sitting  for  the  election  of  delegates  to  said  body,  and  "immediately  there- 
after, the  questions  handed  down  by  the  General  Eldership  shall  be  taken  up  and 
discussed."  Accordingly,  on  Friday  afternoon  the  question  of  a  change  of  Elder- 
ship titles  was  taken  up,  when  C.  H.  Forney  introduced  resolutions  as  the  basis  for 
discussion  and  action  which  affirmed,  that  the  term  "church  of  God"  is  used  in  two 
senses,  the  one  to  designate  all  true  believers  in  the  world,  sometimes  called  the 
universal  or  invisible  church,  and  the  other,  to  designate  a  local  body  of  Chris- 
tians organized  according  to  the  New  Testament.  Also  that  the  use  of  the  term 
"Churc^j  of  God"  in  a  provincial,  national  or  denominational  sense  is  discordant 
with  the  New  Testament;  that  the  term  as  it  occurs  in  the  title  of  this  Eldership 
is  not  according  to  New  Testament  usage,  and  that  it  should  be  changed  to 
"churches."  Also  that  the  body  of  men  in  each  local  church  known  as  "elders" 
is  the  Eldership  of  that  church,  and  that  there  is  "no  other  body  in  the  New 
Testament  called  an  Eldership,  and  that  what  we  call  an  Eldership  is  not  known, 
and  hence  not  so  called,  in  the  New  Testament.  Thus  the  conclusion  was 
reached  that  "the  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God"  should  be  called  "Association 
of  churches  of  God."  These  resolutions  were  adopted  by  a  vote  of  ayes,  39;  nays, 
37.  The  Eldership  also  voted  in  favor  of  Life  Ordination,  and  of  Certificates  of 
Ordination  in  lieu  of  "Preachers'  Licenses."  To  revive  the  Ministerial  Associa- 
tion a  committee,  consisting  of  C.  H.  Grove,  C.  I.  Brown,  G.  Sigler,  J.  W.  Deshong 
and  O.  E.  Houston,  was  appointed.  On  temperance  it  was  determined  as  "the 
■sense  of  this  body,  that  when  a  Christian  exercises  the  right  of  suffrage  he  should 
vote  for  men  and  parties  who  are  openly  pledged  in  favor  of  the  absolute  prohibi- 
tion of  the  liquor  traffic."  The  posture  in  public  prayer  was  the  subject  of  action, 
in  which  it  was  declared  that  "the  most  appropriate  and  scriptural  attitude  is  that 
of  deep  humiliation,"  and,  hence,  the  Eldership  disapproved  of  any  other  than 
the  kneeling  posture,  and  "urged  upon  all  ministers  and  elders  the  duty  of  guard- 
ing against  any  innovations  which  will  change  this  appropriate  custom  to  any 
other  posture  in  public  worship."  The  "slow  progress"  of  the  Church  was  rec- 
ognized, and  it  was  recommended  that  "pastors  and  churches  inquire  into  the 
causes  and  remove  them  as  far  as  it  may  be  in  their  power,"  and  to  "pray  earn- 
estly for  the  reviving,  sanctifying  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit."  The  total  mem- 
bership is  given  as  6,492. 

68th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — On  its  Journals  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  does  not,  as  a  rule,  distinguish  its  colored  ministers  and  churches  from 
the  others.  The  Roll  of  ministers  and  delegates  in  1896  had  on  it  the  names  of 
three  colored  ministers  and  five  churches;  but  the  fact  is  nowhere  indicated. 
And  the  ministers  enjoyed  a  perfect  parity  of  rank  and  privileges.  The  session 
of  1896  was  held  at  Elizabethtown,  Lancaster  county,  from  October  7th  to  13th. 
It  had  the  gratification  of  welcoming  to  a  seat  as  an  advisory  member,  Clara 
Tjandes,  shortly  to  sail  as  missionary  to  India.  She  was  given  the  privilege  "to 
address  the  Eldership  in  its  official  capacity,"  and  one  evening  was  set  apart  for 
lier  to  make  a  public  address.  The  Openftig  Sermon  was  preached  by  J.  T.  Fleegal, 
from  I.  Cor.   iii.   11.      Theme:    "Christ  the  Foundation  and  Chief  Corner-stone  of 


East    Pennsylvania    Eldership  363 

the  Church."  The  number  of  appointments  was  fifty-six,  served  by  as  many  pas- 
tors. There  were  also  thirteen  "local  ministers,"  and  four  superannuated.  The 
Eldership  was  organized  by  electing  the  following  officers:  Speaker,  J.  W.  De- 
shong;  W.  J.  Schaner,  continued  Stated  Clerk;  C.  H.  Grove,  Transcribing  Clerk; 
J.  Haifleigh,  Financial  Clerk,  and  Samuel  Knisley,  Treasurer.  A  fund  of  $100.00 
was  raised  to  secure  a  home  in  an  institution  for  incurables  at  Philadelphia  for 
W.  Sanborn,  a  superannuated  minister.  The  Eldership  at  this  time  had  eight 
different  Funds,  all  in  fair  condition.  The  receipts  during  the  year  were  $1,387.38, 
JMissionary  money;  $467.77,  Widows'  Fund;  $90.42,  Contingent  Fund;  $211.39, 
Superannuated  Fund;  $.500.00,  Church  Extension  Fund;  $546.72,  General  Elder- 
-ship  Missionary  Fund.  The  Momorial  Services  were  more  than  ordinarily  im- 
pressive, as  two  comparatively  young  ministers  had  gone  to  "inherit  some  holier 
vcause,  some  vaster  trust."  These  were  F.  L.  Nicodemus,  ordained  in  1869,  and 
JVI.  M.  Foose,  in  1884.  Strong  resolutions  were  adopted,  which  gave  suitable 
vexpression  to  the  deep  sense  of  loss  sustained  in  their  death.  The  standard  of 
-activity  and  attainment  reached  by  these  men  is  worthy  of  study  and  emulation 
by  aspiring  young  ministers.  Arrangements  were  at  once  made  to  raise  money 
from  the  Young  People's  Societies  of  Christian  Endeavor  for  the  purpose  of  erect- 
ing a  monument  over  the  grave  of  Foose,  as  he  had  been  one  of  the  most  active 
promoters  of  the  organization.  Action  on  the  temperance  question  was  em- 
bodied in  more  moderate  terms,  but  it  favored  prohibition  in  that  it  declared  that 
our  "aims  and  our  efforts  should  be  unceasingly  directed  toward  the  abolishing  of 
the  liquor  traffic,  until  our  State  is  free,  and  we  can  touch  hands  with  Maine  and 
Tejoice  with  Iowa  and  all  other  States  which  are  uniting  in  one  common  brother- 
hood of  States  in  shaking  themselves  free  from  this  monster  evil."  Increased 
stimulus  was  given  the  missionary  work  of  the  Eldership  and  its  Woman's  Mis- 
sionary Society  by  the  prospective  opening  of  a  mission  field  in  India.  Pastors 
were  directed  "to  present  the  subject  of  missions  to  the  churches  by  sermons  or 
otherwise  as  frequently  as  possible,  and  to  assist  in  organizing  societies"  and 
Ta'ising  funds  for  home  and  for  foreign  mission  work.  The  Eldership  held  that 
"camp-meetings  in  which  Sunday  trafficking,  railroad  excursions  and  the  toll  sys- 
tem are  conspicuous  features,  are  not  in  harmony  with  the  true  idea  of  worship, 
and  are  generally  more  derogatory  than  helpful  to  the  cause  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion." It  also  placed  its  seal  of  condemnation  "on  the  transformation  of  the 
pulpit  into  a  stage,  and  the  church  of  God  into  a  play-house  in  which  secular  and 
Tinchristian  performances  are  given."  It  also  "denounced  the  'Santa  Claus'  farce 
■and  like  exhibitions  as  subversive  of  the  true  spirit  of  worship,  and  destructive  of 
the  spirituality  of  the  Church."  The  deed  of  conveyance  of  a  fine  grove  in  Hunt- 
ingdon county  was  accepted,  the  grove  to  be  used  as  a  permanent  camp  ground. 

69th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — "The  proper  time  to  do  a  thing  is  now," 
Ts  an  old  aphorism.  Has  it  been  improved  by  the  sage  remark  of  a  more  recent 
age:  "Whatever  you  are  going  to  do,  do  it  yesterday?"  The  Stationing  Com- 
mittee in  189  6  reached  a  compromise  on  the  appointments  to  two  charges,  by 
which  a  certain  minister  was  to  be  appointed  to  a  given  station  in  1897.  The 
Committee  in  1897  failed  to  do  this,  which  resulted  in  the  calling  of  an  extraordi- 
nary session  four  weeks  after  the  regular  annual  session  closed,  and  in  complica- 
tions and  antagonisms  which  required  years  to  adjust  and  tranquilize.  Both  the 
regular  and  the  extraordinary  sessions  were  held  at  Mechanicsburg,  Cumberland 
•county.  The  former  convened  October  7,  1897,  the  Opening  Sermon  having  been 
delivered  the  previous  evening  by  J.  W.  Deshong,  from  Jer.  xxxi.  7.  C.  I.  Behney 
was  elected  Speaker.  W.  J.  Schaner,  who  had  been  elected  Stated  Clerk  at  the 
'Close  of  the  session  of  1895,  was  continued  without  re-election,  according  to  the 
provision  of  the  Constitution;  C.  H.  Grove,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  Haifleigh,  Fi- 
nancial Clerk,  and  S.  Knisley,  Treasurer.  A  pleasant  incident  occurred  on  Sat- 
urday, when,  upon  invitation  of  the  President  of  Irving  College,  the  Eldership 
-visited  said  institution  in  a  body.  Much  time  was  given  to  the  discussion  of  the 
report  of  the  Committee  on  Revision  of  the  Constitution,  said  report  involving  the 
-discontinuance  of  the  Stationing  Committee,  and  the  substitution  of  the  call  sys- 
tem. The  result  was  the  adoption  of  a  compromise  proposition,  whereby  the 
■"question  was  postponed,  and  the  matter  ordered  to  be  sent  down  to  the  churches 
for  consideration  and  action."  This  action  was  to  be  reported  in  1898,  and  "the 
delegates  shall  be  instructed  to  vote  in  harmony  with  the  action  of  the  churches, 
and  the  matter  shall  be  decided  by  popular  vote."  The  amendments  were  to 
strike  out  of  Art.  viii.  the  words  "Stationing  Committee,"  and  to  replace  Articles 


364  History   of  the   Churches   oe   God 

xiii.  and  xiv.  with  two  others,  vesting  in  the  churches  themselves  the  power  to  se- 
cure ministers;  denying  to  the  Eldership  the  power  to  dissolve  the  relation  of 
pastor  and  church  except  by  their  previous  agreement,  and  making  "the  Stand- 
ing Committee  an  Advisory  Board  to  which  churches  having  no  ministers,  and 
ministers  having  no  charges,  may  apply,  and  mutual  arrangements  may  be  made 
between  churches  and  preachers."  The  month  of  September,  1898,  was  desig- 
nated as  the  time  when  the  churches  shall  vote  on  the  questions  submitted,  and  the 
ballots  were  to  be  printed  respectively  "For  the  Eldership,"  and  "For  the 
Churches."  A  majority  of  the  former  ballots  would  mean  that  the  existing  sys- 
tem should  continue;  a  majority  of  the  latter,  that  the  call  system  should  be 
adopted.  No  pastor  was  permitted  to  "seek  to  influence  the  vote  of  any  church" 
on  the  subject.  The  Board  of  Incorporation  was  empowered  to  sell  the  Holli- 
daysburg  church  property.  The  state  of  religion  throughout  the  Eldership  was 
very  satisfactory.  There  was  "evident  growth  in  membership,"  "new  houses  of 
worship  were  erected,  and  others  remodeled  and  repaired;"  "ministers  and 
churches  are  alive  and  zealous,"  and  "the  labors  of  the  brethren  on  the  various 
stations  and  circuits  have  been  graciously  blessed."  After  a  long  life  of  useful- 
ness, one  member  of  the  body,  J.  AV.  Collins,  "was  called  from  labor  to  reward" 
during  the  year.  G.  W.  Seilhammer,  who  had  removed  to  the  Maryland  Elder- 
ship, and  who  died  during  the  year,  was  also  "called  home  to  wait  the  final 
gathering  of  the  faithful."  Affecting  memorial  services  were  held.  There  were 
one  hundred  and  thirty-two  organized  churches  in  the  Eldership,  and  one  hun- 
dred and  seventeen  houses  of  worship. 

The  call  for  the  extraordinary  session  of  the  Eldership,  which  convened  at 
Mechanicsburg,  November  18,  1897,  was  issued  by  the  President  upon  "petition 
signed  by  fifty-three  ministers  and  delegates  of  the  regular  session  of  October, 
1897."  The  call,  quoting  the  language  of  the  petition,  stated  that  the  Eldership- 
had  failed  to  supply  Fourth  Street  Church,  Harrisburg,  with  a  pastor,  and  that 
after  having  exhausted  all  its  powers  under  the  Constitution,  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee was  unable  to  do  so,  and,  hence  the  Eldership  is  reconvened  for  that  pur- 
pose. All  the  committees  of  the  regular  session  were  revived,  except  the  Station- 
ing Committee,  which  at  the  regular  session  consisted  of  C.  H.  Forney,  D.  S.  Shoop, 
G.  Slgler,  C.  I.  Brown,  J.  W.  Deshong,  J.  H.  Esterline  and  C.  C.  Bartels,  was 
changed  by  a  regular  election  to  the  following:  C.  H.  Forney,  D.  S.  Shoop,  C.  I. 
Brown,  F.  W.  McGiiii-e,  C.  H.  Grove,  J.  T.  Fleegal  and  H.  Whitaker.  This  com- 
mittee made  three  changes  in  the  report  of  the  Committee  at  the  regular  session, 
and  approved  six  made  by  the  Standing  Committee.  It  also  adopted,  and  handed 
down  to  the  churches  a  proposition  to  re-establish  a  time-limit  for  pastors,  making 
it  3,  4  or  5  years  as  the  vote  might  result.  The  referendum  was  thus  incorporated 
again  in  the  practice  of  the  Eldership. 

70th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Agreeably  to  the  action  of  the  Eldership 
in  1897,  the  vote  on  the  proposed  amendments  to  the  Constitution  by  the  churches 
was  taken  in  September,  1898.  The  result  was  as  follows:  "For  the  churches," 
641;  "for  the  Eldership,"  2,462.  The  former  meant  "the  settled  pastorate;  the 
latter,  the  continuation  of  the  system  of  appointment  of  pastors  by  the  Eldership. 
On  the  time-limit  the  vote  was:  "Limit,"  1,454;  "no  limit,"  1,511.  On  the  length 
of  the  pastoral  term  the  vote  stood:  Three  years,  857;  four  years,  340;  five  years, 
865.  The  question  of  "messengers"  from  charges  to  the  Eldership  was  decided 
in  the  negative  by  the  following  vote:  Yes,  1,308;  no,  1,660.  On  the  method  of 
voting  for  pastors  the  following  was  submitted:  "An  annual  vote  for  pastor  shall 
be  taken  in  each  church,  but  it  shall  be  by  the  representatives  known  as  the  church 
council,  said  action  to  be  submitted  to  the  church  at  a  congregational  meeting  for 
approval."  The  vote  was:  Yes,  1,269;  no,  1,564.  Less  than  half  of  the  reported 
number  of  church  members  voted  on  any  one  of  these  questions;  but  they  were 
thus  finally  settled,  and  all  agitation  ceased.  The  Eldership  which  computed  the 
ballots  convened  at  Saxton,  Bedford  county,  October  13,  189  8.  The  previous 
evening  the  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by  C.  I.  Behney,  from  II.  Tim.  iv.  2. 
Theme — "Preaching  the  Word."  Officers  were  chosen  as  follows:  President,  F, 
VV.  McGuire;  C.  H.  Grove,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  Samuel  Knisley,  Financial 
Clerk.  After  the  Treasurer's  Report  was  audited  Knisley  was  re-elected  Treas- 
urer. One  of  the  aged  ministers  of  the  Eldership  mysteriously  "disappeared  dur- 
ing the  year" — S.  Spui-rier — and  the  matter  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  com- 
mittee, instructed  to  "make  all  possible  investigation  concerning  his  case."  The 
Eldership  felt  the  need  of  practicing  economy  in  its  contingent  expenses,  and  a 


East  Pennsyi^vania   Elde.rship  365 

reduction  in  sundry  expenses  was  ordered.  The  bars  were  put  up  against  the  in- 
coming of  illiterate  ministers  on  transfers  from  other  Elderships,  by  "requiring 
them  to  appear  before  the  Board  of  Education  and  pass  a  satisfactory  examination 
under  the  same  rules  that  govern  our  own  men."  Action  was  taken  to  "apportion 
the  Eldership  funds  to  be  raised  among  the  churches  in  the  same  manner  and  pro- 
portionate amounts  as  the  missionary  money  is  now  apportioned."  The  Elder- 
ship deeply  mourned  the  tragic  death  of  one  of  its  younger  members,  and  the  pass- 
ing away  of  a  beloved  minister  who  reached  the  final  goal  and  received  his  pass- 
port to  life  at  a  good  old  age.  S.  G.  Corbiii  "met  with  a  shocking  and  sudden 
death  in  a  wreck  at  Altoona,  December  20,  1897."  He  was  ordained  in  1883,  but 
had  retired  from  the  active  ministry  some  six  years  prior  to  his  death.  J.  B.  Lock- 
wood  died  September  3,  1898.  While  he  was  only  eleven  years  a  member  of  the 
Eldership,  he  had  been  a  minister  of  another  body  for  a  number  of  years.  The 
Eldership  was  conservative  in  its  deliverance  on  temperance,  favoring  local  option 
by  "recognizing  the  possibility  of  extending  the  work  of  prohibition  into  the  dif- 
ferent towns  and  communities  and  counties  until  the  whole  State  is  freed  from  the 
rum  curse."  But  it  insisted  on  "personal  prohibition  on  the  part  of  the  believer." 
The  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  were  "instructed  to  use  their  influence  to 
liave  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  open  mission  work  in  one  or 
more  of  our  larger  eastern  cities."  Also  to  "vote  as  a  unit  for  a  change  in  the 
form  of  The  Church  Advocate,"  and  against  having  published  otherwise  than  in 
a  condensed  form  the  minutes  of  Elderships,  church  societies  and  church  meetings. 
The  body  rejoiced  in  the  encouraging  work  of  the  Woman's  Missionary  Society, 
"the  grand  and  good  work"  of  the  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.;  yet  regretted  "that  the  Church 
as  a  whole  is  not  meeting  fully  her  high  calling  and  obligations." 

71st  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — During  the  Winter  of  189  8-9  the  Field 
Agent  of  the  Eldership,  C.  I.  Brown,  with  the  active  co-operation  of  the  Treasurer, 
C.  H.  Forney,  and  pastors  and  trustees  of  the  College,  succeeded  in  raising  enough 
money  to  pay  in  full,  principal  and  interest,  the  obligation  of  the  Eldership  of 
$5,500  toward  the  debt  of  said  institution  of  $24,000,  or  .$25,000,  in  1894.  "The 
entire  Eldership  rejoiced  in  the  accomplishment  of  a  purpose  which  means  more 
than  any  other  single  act  for  itself  and  for  Findlay  College  within  the  past  fifteen 
years."  "As  we  are  giving  more  we  are  rejoicing  more."  Under  such  auspices 
the  Eldership  met  in  Washington  Borough,  Lancaster  county,  October  5,  1899, 
E.  W.  McGuire  having  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  the  evening  before,  from  Acts 
xxiv.  14,  15.  Theme — "Paul's  Confession."  The  Eldership  as  constituted  by  the 
Stated  Clerk  consisted  of  51  stations,  with  as  many  pastors  and  an  equal  number 
of  delegates,  and  26  other  ministers.  C.  I.  Brown  was  elected  President;  C.  H. 
Grove,  Transcribing  Clerk;  Samuel  Knlsley,  Financial  Clerk,  and  also  Treasurer. 
Three  ministers  during  the  year  "departed  in  the  triumphs  of  the  faith  for  which 
they  had  long  contended."  B.  E.  Beck  died  March  20,  1899;  J.  Halfleigh,  July  26, 
1899,  and  William  Sanborn,  November  10,  1898.  The  Eldership  expressed  its 
"admiration  for  the  character  of  these  brethren,  and  rejoiced  in  the  excellencies 
"which  adorned  their  lives,  and  will  hold  them  up  as  patterns  for  imitation."  While 
there  are  intimations  in  the  Minutes  of  some  internal  troubles,  the  fraternal,  co- 
operative disposition  of  the  ministers  and  delegates  proved  as  oil  upon  the  troubled 
waters.  The  Funds  were  in  gratifying  condition.  Missionary  Fund,  $1,944.84; 
Widows'  Fund,  $862.92;  Contingent  Fund,  $140.50;  Superannuated  Fund, 
$426.30;  Church  Extension  Fund,  $272.28;  General  Eldership  Missionary  Fund, 
$610.31;  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.  Church  Extension  Fund,  $196.62.  The  sum  of  $114.68 
was  raised  for  the  Eoose  Monument  Fund.  All  bequests  to  the  Eldership  were 
ordered  to  be  placed  in  "Permanent  Funds,  to  be  held  sacred  as  such, 
and  invested,  and  only  the  interest  thereof  to  be  ajinually  used."  The 
religious  condition  of  the  churches  was  so  favorable  that  the  Eldership 
"acknowledged  with  deepest  gratitude  to  God  the  favor  and  measure  of  suc- 
cess which  he  has  given  in  the  accessions  made  both  to  the  ministry  of  this  body 
and  to  the  churches,  and  an  increase  in  Interest  in  the  Sunday-school  and  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  work."  The  committee,  however,  "recognized  the  great  and  essen- 
tial need  of  the  'fulness  of  the  Holy  Spirit'  dwelling  in  the  heart,  greater  humility, 
more  earnest  prayer  and  a  deeper  sense  of  that  co-operation  taught  in  God's  word 
and  embodied  in  our  Constitution."  The  number  of  stations  was  thirty-three; 
circuits,  twenty.  Apportionments  were  made  to  the  fields  of  labor  for  six  different 
Funds  aggregating  $3,169.00.      There  were  seventeen  parsonages,  one  hundred  and 


366  History  of   the   Churches   of   God 

seven   houses   of   worship   and   one   hundred   and  twenty-seven    regular   preaching- 
places.      Total  membership,  6,740. 

72n(l  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — In  constituting  the  Eldership  in  1900 
the  enrollment  consisted  of  fifty-three  pastors,  three  superannuated  and  seventeen, 
local  ministers,  and  fifty-seven  delegates,  a  total  of  one  hundred  and  thirty.  The 
session  was  held  with  the  Green  Street  Church,  Harrisburg,  where  the  Opening 
Sermon  was  preached  on  the  evening  of  October  3rd,  by  C.  I.  Brown,  from  Ps.  xvi. 
8 — "The  Conscious  Presence  of  God."  Balloting  for  officers  resulted  in  the  elec- 
tion of  I.  A.  MacDannald,  President;  C.  H.  Grove,  Transcribing  Clerk;  SamueL 
Knisley,  Financial  Clerk  and  Treasurer.  The  Chairman  of  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee returned  to  the  Eldership  the  Certificates  of  Ordination  of  four  ministers,, 
which  were  annulled,  and  one  other  minister  was  requested  to  return  his  Certifi- 
cate. The  Report  of  the  Treasurer  showed  the  following  balances:  Missionary 
Fund,  3394.42;  Widows'  Fund,  $450.56;  Contingent  Fund,  due  Treasurer,  $80.45; 
Superannuated  Fund,  $285.23;  Church  Extension  Fund,  $17.87;  General  Elder- 
ship Contingent  Fund,  $0.37;  General  Eldership  Missionary  Fund,  $346.81;  Y.  P. 
S.  C.  E.  Church  Extension  Fund,  $4.80.  The  receipts  in  the  same  order  were, 
$1,887.40;  $940.56;  $197.83;  $460.23;  $434.06;  $52.12;  $646.81;  $168.68.  The^ 
Judiciary  Committee  had  an  unusually  aggravated  case  of  immorality  on  the  part 
of  a  minister  to  deal  with,  and  recommended  that  the  guilty  party  be  "most  sol- 
emnly deposed  from  the  office  of  the  ministry  of  the  churches  of  God."  Seven, 
applicants  were  recommended  for  ordination.  "Ministers,  Sunday-school  teachers, 
editors  and  all  others  engaged  in  the  moral  education  of  mankind"  were  called 
upon  to  "speak  in  clear  and  emphatic  terms  against  every  phase  and  form"  of  the. 
whiskey  traffic.  Also,  that  it  is  "the  duty  of  the  Christian  citizen  to  vote  from 
the  high  conviction  that  he  is  responsible  to  God  and  society  to  the  extent  that  his. 
vote  determines  whether  or  not  the  evils  of  the  whiskey  traffic  shall  continue  to 
be  inflicted  upon  the  people."  The  deaths  of  two  of  the  young  ministers  of  the 
Eldership  occurred  during  the  year.  David  B.  Herr,  born  in  1868,  was  qualifying 
himself  for  his  chosen  work  at  Findlay  College,  when  he  was  stricken  with  the; 
fatal  malady  which  ended  his  life.  "He  was  faithful!"  Elias  F.  Eshleman,  who 
had  made  diligent  preparation  at  College  for  the  ministry,  and  was  licensed  in. 
1895,  ended  his  promising  career  on  July  14,  1900.  He  was  a  young  man  of 
"noble  character,  deep-seated  piety  and  sanctified  ambition."  Conditions  in  the 
Eldership  were  regarded  as  in  "a  very  encouraging  state;"  yet  there  is  a  "lack  of 
piety  and  spirituality."  There  was  a  good  measure  of  enthusiasm  and  a  resolute 
purpose  to  continue  earnestly  to  contend  for  the  cause  and  to  revive  the  churches; 
into  more  hopeful  activity,  that  the  work  might  be  prosecuted  with  power.  The 
growing  flippancy  regarding  conceptions  of  sin  was  considered  one  of  the  greatest 
moral  perils  of  the  age.  The  Statistics  show  that  there  were  53  charges,  124  ap- 
pointments, 105  houses  of  worship,  19  parsonages,  6,819  members. 

73rd  East  Pennsylvania  Eldei-ship. — Within  six  months  after  the  adjourn- 
ment of  the  session  of  1900  one  minister  "laid  down  the  cross  to  wear  the  crown." 
William  Palmer  died  March  15,  1901.  He  was  ordained  in  1867.  He  was  am 
earnest  Christian,  a  zealous  and  devoted  minister,  a  close  student  of  God's  word, 
spiritual  in  temperament  and  life,  and  free  from  a  worldly  spirit  and  worldly 
tastes.  He  had  good  controversial  powers.  He  loved  to  dwell  on  the  glorious 
certainties  of  the  unseen  world.  The  Eldership  held  its  annual  session  at  Mt. 
Carmel,  Northumberland  county,  where  on  October  2nd  I.  A.  MacDannald  preached 
the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Rom.  x.  14 — "The  World's  Need,  and  Its  Remedy."  On 
the  morning  of  the  3rd  O.  E.  Houston  was  chosen  President;  J.  R.  Stonesifer, 
Transcribing  Clerk;  S.  Knisley,  Financial  Clerk  and  Treasurer.  In  electing  the- 
delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  the  Eldership  decided  to  make  the  first  ballot 
a  nominating  one,  when  all  receiving  five  votes  and  upward  were  to  be  considered 
in  nomination.  A  petition  to  the  Executive  Board  of  the  General  Eldership  was 
adopted,  requesting  it  to  change  the  place  for  holding  the  session  of  said  body 
from  Anderson,  Ind.,  to  some  other  point,  and  not  accept  the  offer  of. the  "Com- 
mercial Club"  of  Anderson,  Ind.,  "to  provide  entertainment"  on  account  of  the- 
weak  condition  of  the  Anderson  church.  The  proposed  reunion  of  the  churches 
of  the  Eldership  the  following  Summer  was  favorably  acted  upon.  The  Board  of 
Education,  under  whose  authority  the  Beneficiary  Educational  Fund  had  been 
placed,  finding  a  demand  from  students  at  Findlay  College  for  aid  increasing, 
availed  itself  of  a  privilege  granted  to  it  for  an  offering  from  each  church  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Fund.      The  interests  of  the  College  were  presented  by  the  Agent,. 


East   Pennsylvania    Ei.dekship  367 

J.  C.  Forncrook.  The  Eldership  lamented  the  evident  decrease  "in  the  number 
of  conversions  and  accessions  to  the  churches  during  the  past  year;"  but  "the 
financial  condition  of  the  churches  is  very  encouraging."  The  assassination  of 
President  McKinley,  one  of  the  greatest  of  our  Chief  Magistrates,  having  occurred 
on  September  6,  1901,  it  was  to  be  expected  that  such  a  loyal  and  law-abiding 
class  of  men  as  an  Eldership  of  the  churches  of  God  would  "utterly  condemn  and 
protest  against  anarchy  and  all  other  depredations  against  our  Government,  as 
well  as  those  who  are  prompted  by  an  evil  spirit  to  lay  violent  hands  upon  those 
who  are  in  authority."  The  Anti-Saloon  League  was  endorsed,  and  it  was  de- 
clared that  "all  sanction  of  the  liquor  traffic,  whether  the  sanction  of  silence  or 
of  the  ballot,  is  a  sin."  A  local  option  law  was  heartily  -recommended,  making 
the  unit  wards,  boroughs  and  townships;  but  the  belief  was  expressed  that  the 
only  successful  way  of  dealing  with  "the  giant  evil  is  the  total  prohibition  of  the 
manifacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage."  There  were  eighty 
ministers  on  the  Roll,  and  fifty-one  delegates  were  enrolled.  The  Eldership  also 
received  ninety-one  letters  from  churches  and  ministers.  There  were  fourteen 
"fields  of  labor  on  the  Board  of  Missions,"  and  these  received  an  aggregate  of 
$1,690.00.  The  country  churches  were  reported  not  in  as  flourishing  a  condition 
as  those  of  the  towns  and  cities.  Conditions  existed  in  the  country  which  rendered 
successful  church  work  more  difficult. 

74th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  death  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  office  had  never  occurred  until  the  year  1901-2,  when 
S.  Knisley,  who  was  first  elected  in  187  9,  departed  from  the  active  scenes  of 
mundane  life.  The  Board  of  Incorporation  elected  his  successor  in  the  person  of 
H.  M.  Angle,  a  most  estimable  and  responsible  member  of  the  church  at  Shippens- 
burg.  He  made  his  first  report  at  the  Eldership  held  at  Columbia,  Lancaster 
county,  beginning  with  the  Opening  Sermon  on  Wednesday  evening,  October  1, 
1902.  He  was  later  elected  Treasurer  for  the  following  year  by  a  unanimous  vote. 
O.  E.  Houston  preached  the  opening  sermon  from  I.  Cor.  i.  24 — "Christ  the  Power- 
of  God  and  the  Wisdom  of  God."  The  officers  elected  were  C.  H.  Grove,  Presi- 
dent; J.  R.  Stonesifer,  Transcribing  Clerk;  H.  M.  Angle,  Financial  Clerk.  The 
session  had  added  interest  by  reason  of  the  presence  of  Brother  and  Sister  A.  C. 
Bowers  and  Sister  Viola  G.  Hershey  under  appointment  as  missionaries  to  India. 
The  Board  of  Incorporation  of  the  Eldership  of  1901  was  continued,  and  "recog- 
nized as  the  proper  and  legal  representative  of  this  Eldership,  to  make  full  and 
final  settlement  with  the  executor  of  the  will  of  Samuel  Knisley,  and  with  his 
bondsmen  as  Treasurer  of  this  Eldership."  By  amendments  to  the  Constitution 
proposed  by  C.  I.  Brown,  the  Treasurer  may  be  "a  member  of  a  church  of  God  in 
the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  or  a  bank,  or  corporation  within  its  bounds."  He 
was  made  a  member  of  the  Eldership  ex  officio.  His  bond  was  fixed  at  "$8,000.00, 
by  a  Trust  Company,  or  Bonding  Company."  Important  "rules  and  conditions  of 
the  Beneficiary  Educational  Fund"  were  submitted  and  approved,  according  to 
which  appropriations  were  to  be  made  to  students  for  the  ministry.  The  matters 
relating  to  the  Woman's  General  Missionary  Society  now  became  an  important 
question  for  the  Eldership.  Resolutions  submitted  by  C.  H.  Forney  were  unani- 
mously adopted,  endorsing  the  action  of  the  General  Eldership  in  1902.  On  tem- 
perance the  Eldership  declared  it  to  be  "the  imperative  duty  of  the  Christian 
citizens  of  the  State  and  nation  to  use  their  votes,  as  well  as  all  other  lawful  means- 
within  their  power,  to  remove  the  terrible  evil  of  the  liquor  traffic,  inflicted  by  law 
upon  society."  The  "tendency  to  formality  in  some  of  the  churches"  was  deplored, 
and  churches  were  "urged  earnestly  to  labor  to  win  souls  for  Christ,  and  to  pro- 
mote the  piety  of  the  members,  that  the  world  may  see  their  good  works."  The 
"question  of  re-establishing  a  limit  of  five  years  to  the  pastorate"  was  submitted 
to  the  churches,"  to  be  voted  on  at  the  congregational  meetings  in  19  03.  In  addi^ 
tion  to  the  death  of  the  Treasurer,  two  ministers  paid  the  last  debt  of  nature, 
M.  J.  Hunter,  colored,  and  D.  L.  Anderson,  both  licensed  in  189  6.  Hunter  labored 
as  a  local  minister,  and  "was  earnest  and  interested  in  the  work  of  his  people." 
Anderson,  too,  "served  largely  in  a  local  capacity,"  serving  only  one  appointment. 
"God  has  called  them  from  labor  to  reward." 

T.'jth  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Though  the  title  of  the  Eldership  was 
changed  in  the  Constitution  after  the  General  Eldership  in  189  6,  it  was  not  until 
1903  that  the  Board  of  Incorporation  was  "authorized  and  instructed  to  amend 
the  Charter  and  change  the  seal."  The  Reunion  of  the  churches,  deferred  in 
1902,  was  held  in  the  Summer  of   1903,  and   proved  a  profitable  meeting.      The^ 


368  History   of  the    Churches  of   God 

ballot  of  the  churches  on  the  question  of  re-establishing  a  limit  of  five  years  to  the 
pastorates  was  taken  in  September,  1903.  It  resulted  in  1,034  votes  for  the 
"limit,"  and  1,167  votes  for  "no  limit."  The  session  in  1903  was  held  at  Martins- 
burg,  Blair  county.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  on  the  evening  of  October 
7th,  by  C  H.  Grove,  from  II.  Chron.  xxv.  9: — "Compensations  for  Divine  Service." 
Organization  was  effected  by  the  election  of  F.  Y.  Weidenhammer,  President;  J.  R. 
Stonesifer,  Transcribing  Clerk;  H.  M.  Angle,  Financial  Clerk  and  Treasurer.  S. 
G.  Yahn  was  a  welcome  visitor  to  the  Eldership.  The  various  funds  of  the  Elder- 
ship were  in  satisfactory  condition.  Missionary  Fund,  $2,046.95;  Superannuated, 
$734.92;  Widows',  $765.69;  Contingent,  $219.65;  Church  Extension,  $465.01;  C. 
E.  Church  Extension,  $283.51;  G.  E.  Mission,  $520.24;  Foreign  Mission,  $1,036.52. 
On  account  of  objectionable  features  of  the  Maryland  Camp-meeting,  largely  kept 
up  by  ministers  of  this  Eldership,  it  was  "discountenanced  by  the  Maryland  and 
Virginia  Eldership"  and  it  requested  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  "to  place  a 
restraint  upon  its  ministers  so  that  they  discontinue  their  assistance  in  keeping 
up  the  said  camp-meeting."  This  was  done,  all  ministers  being  forbidden  to  go 
within  the  boundaries  of  said  Eldership  against  its  action,  or  that  of  its  Standing 
Committee.  To  more  fully  guard  the  Funds  of  the  Eldership  the  power  to  loan 
out  money  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Treasurer  and  the  Standing  Committee. 
During  the  year  two  ministers  "were  called  from  labor  to  reward" — J.  C.  Sea^ 
brooks  and  S.  E.  Herman.  The  former  was  ordained  in  1848;  the  latter,  in  1883. 
Seabrooks  was  an  aggressive  minister;  an  excellent  worker;  a  faithful  pastor;  an 
able  preacher  of  the  gospel.  Herman  "was  a  faithful  and  consistent  member  of 
the  Eldership."  He  had  served  only  two  charges,  while  Seabrooks  had  served 
nearly  all  the  circuits  and  several  stations  of  the  Eldership.  A  "Statistical  Clerk" 
was  provided  for,  and  the  office  was  first  filled  by  the  election  of  J.  A.  Better.  It 
was  also  arranged  to  eliminate  the  reports  of  ministers,  and  the  time  thus  saved 
was  to  be  occupied  with  addresses  by  ministers  appointed  in  advance  on  the  work 
of  each  Board  of  the  Eldership  and  the  Publishing  interests.  A  new  order  was 
established  for  all  elections,  so  as  to  minimize  certain  unpropitious  practices  in 
the  Eldership.  For  every  member  to  be  elected  to  any  position  two  were  to  be 
nominated,  and  these  only  were  to  be  considered  eligible.  The  Eldership  consid- 
ered "the  prohibition  of  the  liquor  traffic  to  be  the  question  of  paramount  im- 
portance to-day."  It  also  recommended  the  organization  of  temperance  societies 
among  the  young  people. 

76th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  Eldership  of  1904  was  in  some  re- 
spects an  exceptional  one.  It  convened  in  "the  beautiful  new  house  of  worship  at 
Shippensburg,  Cumberland  county."  Several  items  of  business  of  unusual  interest 
were  transacted.  The  vote  on  the  time-limit  to  the  pastorate,  resubmitted  to  the 
churches  by  the  Eldership  in  1903,  was  defeated  by  a  large  majority.  The  evan- 
gelistic meetings  inaugurated  in  1902,  and  for  two  years  conducted  at  4  p.  m., 
by  W.  N.  Yates,  were  this  year  conducted  by  T.  H.  McAfee.  F.  Y.  Weidenhammer 
preached  the  Opening  Sermon  on  the  evening  of  October  5th.  McAfee  was  chosen 
President;  J.  R.  Stonesifer.  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  A.  Better,  Statistical  Clerk; 
H.  M.  Angle,  Financial  Clerk  and  Treasurer.  On  the  initiative  of  C.  H.  Forney 
a  new  method  of  securing  the  effective  amenability  of  ministers  was  formulated. 
It  substituted  "the  Ministerium  of  the  Eldership"  in  place  of  ministers'  individual 
reports.  This  was  a  "closed  session  of  the  Eldership,  held  on  Friday  afternoon," 
under  the  supervision  of  the  Standing  Committee,  when  the  moral  and  official  con- 
duct of  ministers  was  to  be  inquired  into.  Each  minister  could  be  asked  a  series 
of  questions,  and  the  Standing  Committee  testified  to  his  standing.  The  "hearing 
before  the  Executive  Board  of  the  General  Eldership"  on  certain  "allegations 
against"  officials  of  that  body  was  taken  up  and  the  Report  of  the  Executive  Board 
adopted.  The  Report  of  J.  A.  Better,  Statistical  Clerk,  contained  these  items: 
Appointments,  116;  charges,  55;  membership,  6,531;  baptized,  534;  accessions, 
915;  removed  by  letters  and  deaths,  189;  dropped  and  disfellowshiped,  303;  Y. 
P.  S.  E's.,  58;  members,  2,418;  missionary  societies,  45;  members,  2,325;  parson- 
ages, 26.  While  the  Report  of  a  committee,  consisting  of  G.  W.  Getz,  H.  "Whit- 
aker,  C.  F.  Reitzel,  W.  H.  Snyder,  J.  A.  Better,  C.  C.  Bartels  and  James  Curry, 
which  was  adopted,  provided  a  different  method  from  the  congregational  system 
of  annually  electing  a  pastor,  it  had  not  received  the  support  of  the  churches.  The 
Eldership  was  deeply  affected  by  the  deaths  of  two  of  the  oldest  ministers  of  the 
body  during  the  year.  These  were  Abraham  Snyder,  ordained  in  184  6,  and  Carl- 
ton Price,  ordained  in  1841.      Both  were  self-made  men,  of  great  force  of  char- 


East   Pennsyi.vania   Eldership  369 

acter,  and  influential  as  teachers  and  preachers  of  the  word.  They  left  behind 
them  imperishable  monuments  in  the  esteem  of  thousands  who  had  been  brought 
to  a  saving  knowledge  of  the  truth  through  their  ministry.  They  were  pre- 
eminently preachers  of  the  word.  Though  not  officially  recognized,  the  death  of 
W.  L.  Jones,  ordained  a  minister  in  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1860,  died 
June  11,  1904.  He  had  resigned  his  membership  in  the  Eldership  and  united  with 
the  Baptist  Church  some  years  previous,  but  without  change  of  faith.  He  always 
had  a  warm  heart  for  the  Church,  and  on  two  recent  occasions  attended  sessions 
of  the  Eldership.  His  natural  eloquence,  his  gentleness  of  disposition,  his  staunch 
and  unwavering  friendship  and  his  ready  helpfulness  were  everywhere  recognized. 
There  was  appreciable  advancement  in  the  spirituality  of  the  churches,  with  ample 
room  for  improvement.  The  closing  hours  of  the  session  witnessed  a  touching 
scene,  when  resolutions  were  considered  granting  a  transfer  to  the  Ohio  Eldership 
to  C.  I.  Brown,  an  efficient,  able  and  honored  member  of  the  body  since  1887.  The 
resolutions  voiced  "the  regret  and  sorrow  the  Eldership  experienced  in  his  re- 
moval" to  assume  the  duties  of  President  of  Findlay  College. 

77th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  question  of  Divorce  was  a  heritage 
of  the  Eldership  of  1905,  which  convened  at  Lancaster,  Lancaster  county,  October 
4th.  It  had  been  introduced  in  1904  by  G.  Sigler,  and  was  referred  to  the  session 
of  1905,  when,  on  Monday  morning  he  offered  a  resolution  expressing  "the  sense 
of  this  Eldership  that  none  of  its  ministers  is  justified  in  performing  the  marriage 
ceremony  for  any  divorced  person,  except  for  the  innocent  party  in  the  case  of 
divorce  where  the  cause  is  fornication  or  adultery."  After  a  somewhat  exhaustive 
discussion  of  the  resolution  by  a  number  of  the  ministers  the  Eldership  laid  the 
resolution  on  the  table.  The  Eldership  suffered  the  loss  by  transfer  of  W.  N. 
Yates,  who  went  to  Ida  Grove,  Iowa,  and  T.  H.  McAfee,  who  was  called  to  Findlay, ' 
Ohio,  both  "highly  esteemed  for  their  noble  bearing  and  usefulness,"  and  the  Eld- 
ership expressed  its  "high  appreciation  of  them  as  men  of  high  and  noble  char- 
acter, inspired  with  holy  and  unselfish  purposes,  and  earnest  in  upholding  the 
dignity  and  honor  of  ministers  of  the  gospel."  But  the  body  gained  three  good 
and  efficient  ministers  by  transfer,  viz. :  C.  Manchester,  of  Ohio,  and  J.  D.  Clark 
and  T.  B.  Tyler,  of  Maryland. 

The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by  T.  H.  McAfee,  from  II.  Tim.  iv.  7, 
Theme — "Keeping  the  Faith."  The  Eldership  consisted  of  eighty  ministers  and 
fifty-seven  lay  delegates.  Fifty-eight  of  the  ministers  were  pastors.  A.  P.  Stover 
was  chosen  President;  W.  J.  Schaner  was  the  Stated  Clerk;  J.  R.  Stonesifer  was 
elected  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  A.  Better,  Statistical  Clerk;  H.  M.  Angle,  Financial 
Clerk  and  Treasurer.  Following  their  Reports,  Boards  and  Committees  were 
elected  as  follows:  Standing  Committee — C  H.  Forney,  D.  S.  Shoop  and  Geo. 
Sigler;  Board  of  Missions — C.  H.  Forney,  C.  H.  Grove,  W.  J.  Schaner,  G.  W.  Getz, 
D.  S.  Shoop,  I.  A.  MacBannald,  George  Sigler,  F.  W.  McGuire,  J.  R.  Stonesifer; 
Judiciary  Committee — C.  H.  Forney,  A.  P.  Stover,  F.  W.  McGuire,  G.  W.  Getz, 
Geo.  Sigler;  Board  of  Church  Extension — F.  W.  McGuire,  C.  F.  Reitzel,  O.  E. 
Houston,  J.  A.  Better,  C.  H.  Forney;  Board  of  Education — C.  H.  Foraey,  A.  P. 
Stover,  J.  R.  Stonesifer,  C.  H.  Grove,  George  Sigler.  Beginning  at  4  o'clock  p.  m. 
each  day  evangelistic  services  were  held.  The  Funds  were  all  in  good  condition, 
showing  balances  to  the  credit  of  each  Fund  as  follows:  Mission,  $25  8.37;  Super- 
annuated, $459.93;  Widows'  $332.30;  Contingent,  $127.62;  Church  Extension, 
$115.73;  C.  E.  Church  Extension,  $8.82;  Beneficiary  Educational,  $64.91;  Sink- 
ing, $440.27;  General  Eldership  Mission,  $556.50;  Foreign  Mission,  $1,139.07. 
The  Treasurer  had  investments  to  the  amount  of  $6,381.25.  The  Report  of  the 
Statistical  Clerk  showed  that  during  the  year  the  total  amount  of  all  funds  con- 
tributed by  the  churches  aggregated  $64,314.49;  that  there  were  124  appoint- 
ments, 106  houses  of  worship,  7,323  church  members,  538  baptized,  859  received 
into  fellowship,  521  dropped  from  the  rolls,  removed  and  died;  11,861  Sunday- 
school  scholars,  65  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.,  with  a  total  membership  of  3,655;  37  missionary 
societies,  with  a  membership  of  1,918.  The  spiritual  condition  of  the  churches 
was  "believed  to  be  fairly  good,"  yet  prayer  was  urged  in  all  the  churches  that 
"they  may  be  revived."  By  a  vote  of  110  yeas  and  19  nays  the  Eldership  decided 
that  "no  member  of  this  body  shall  directly  or  indirectly  use  his  influence  by  elec- 
tioneering to  elect  officers,  members  of  boards  or  committees  of  this  Eldership." 
Any  one  violating  this  action  "shall  forfeit  his  right  to  vote,  hold  office  or  serve  on 
any  board  or  committee  of  the  Eldership  for  one  year."  The  Eldership  strongly 
endorsed  the  Anti-Saloon  League  and  the  W.  C.  T.  U.,  and  affirmed  "that  the  only 

C.  H.— 13* 


370  History  of  the   Churches  of   God 

attitude  ministers  of  the  gospel,  Christians  and  good  citizens  can  sustain  toward 
the  whiskey  traffic  is  that  of  uncompromising  opposition,  and  that  in  the  exercise 
of  the  right  of  voting,  as  well  as  in  every  other  way,  they  should  have  the  over- 
throw of  this  evil  in  view."  Two  ministers  were  named  as  "trustees  of  the  Anti- 
Saloon  League."  A  favorable  report  was  received  of  the  annual  Reunion  of  the 
churches  of  God,  and  a  new  Reunion  Committee  was  appointed. 

The  Eldership  placed  itself  positively  on  record  on  the  question  of  education 
and  the  support  of  the  institutions  of  learning  under  the  control  of  the  General 
Eldership  and  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  to  wit:  Findlay  College,  Barkey- 
ville  Academy  and  Ft.  Scott  Collegiate  Institute.  The  Eldership  had  "completed 
the  endowment  of  the  chair  of  English  Language  and  Literature  in  Findlay  Col- 
lege," and  had  "already  $3,000.00  toward  the  endowment  of  the  Latin  professor- 
ship." It  greatly  rejoiced  over  the  proposition  of  C.  H.  Forney  "to  make  himself 
personally  responsible  for  the  endowment  of  the  President's  Chair  in  Findlay  Col- 
lege." -A  series  of  resolutions  prevailed  by. unanimous  vote  relative  to  the  "diffi- 
culties and  troubles  arising  in  our  general  missionary  work."  They  approved  the 
measures  adopted  by  the  General  Eldership  in  1905  to  secure  "harmony  and  gen- 
eral co-operation  under  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  1903."  They  also  favored  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  Commission  by  the  Executive  Board  of  the  General  Eldership,  whose 
duty  it  would  be  to  devise  and  put  into  effect  a  provisional  plan  of  organic  unity" 
of  all  the  Woman's  Missionary  societies. 

78th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  "Ministerium"  which  was  to  displace 
the  old  style  of  ministers'  reports  proved  so  unsatisfactory  that  the  Committee  on 
Resolutions  in  1905  reported  in  favor  of  its  discontinuance.  And  while  the  Eld- 
ership did  not  agree  to  this,  the  "method  failed  to  give  general  satisfaction,"  and 
thus  the  way  was  prepared  for  the  adoption  of  a  new  order,  introduced  by  C..  H. 
Forney  on  the  first  day  of  the  session  of  1906.  This  provided  for  "a  closed  ses- 
sion of  the  Eldership  to  be  held  on  Friday  forenoon,  which  shall  be  called  the 
Ministerium  of  the  Eldership,  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  into  effect  the  provisions 
of  the  Constitution  which  empower  the  Eldership  to  inquire  into  the  moral  and 
official  conduct  of  its  members."  This  examination  of  the  character  and  official 
conduct  of  ministers  was  "to  be  conducted  by  the  Standing  Committee,  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Eldership  presiding.  The  examination  related  to  doctrines,  ordin- 
ances, filling  appointments,  pastoral  visitation  and  observance  of  Rules  and  By- 
Laws.  There  being  "no  complaints  or  charges  against  a  minister,  his  character 
shall  pass  without  formal  action."  Complaints  could  be  made  against  a  minister 
at  any  time,  to  be  called  up  by  the  Standing  Committee  at  the  Ministerium. 

The  Eldership  convened  at  Saxton,  Bedford  county,  October  11,  1906.  On  the 
previous  evening  A.  P.  Stover  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  from  Rom.  i.  16. 
Theme — "The  Gospel  of  Christ."  After  W.  J.  Schaner,  Stated  Clerk,  had  consti- 
tuted the  Eldership,  elections  resulted  as  follows:  J.  M.  Waggoner,  President;  J.  R. 
Stonesifer,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  A.  Detter,  Statistical  Clerk;  H.  M.  Angle,  Finan- 
cial Clerk  and  Treasurer.  The  Judiciary  Committee,  an  important  and  responsible 
committee,  consisting  of  C.  H.  Forney,  George  Sigler,  D.  S.  Shoop,  F.  W.  McGuire 
and  G,  W.  Getz,  was  continued  during  the  year  by  special  action.  The  action  of  the 
Standing  Committee  on  the  appointment  of  a  Commission  on  Unification  of  Mission- 
ary Societies  was  unanimously  approved,  and  ordered  to  be  made  a  part  of  the 
Journal.  Additional  action  on  the  same  subject  was  unanimously  taken  by  the  Elder- 
ship, emphatically  insisting  that  "it  is  our  high  duty  as  a  Christian  brotherhood  to 
seek  by  all  possible  means  to  remove  all  hindrances  to  harmony  and  union  through- 
out all  our  borders,  and  to  bring  all  our  missionary  societies  into  thorough  and  har- 
monious co-operation  under  one  general  management."  The  various  fields  of  labor 
paid  $22,519.00  in  salaries  to  their  pastors;  $786.59  was  raised  on  Children's  Col- 
lege Day,  and  the  grand  total  for  the  year  was  $73,320.39  for  all  purposes.  Thirty- 
three  ministers  were  in  the  classes  of  the  Course  of  Studies.  Several  important 
amendments  to  the  Constitution  were  made,  one  of  which  rescinded  the  drastic 
Rule  against  electioneering  because  it  "has  been  a  dead  letter;"  one  giving  the 
Standing  Committee  power  "by  resolution  or  otherwise  to  reprove,  counsel  or  ad- 
vise ministers  concerning  whom  there  are  reports,  or  complaints  of  improper  or 
injurious  conduct,"  and  one  providing  that  in  the  election  of  officers  of  the  Elder- 
ship and  all  elective  committees  and  boards  nominations  shall  be  made,  the  num- 
ber of  nominations  to  be  at  least  double  the  number  to  be  elected."  While  finan- 
cially and  otherwise  the  Reunion  of  the  churches  was  successful,  the  recommenda- 
tion of  the  Committee  was  approved,  to  discontinue  the  same.     The  total  invest- 


East    Pennsylvania   Eldership  371 

ments  of  funds  by  the  Treasurer  were  $8,750.00.  The  proposition  of  Andi'ew  Car- 
negie to  pay  $12,500.00  toward  a  $50,000.00  endowment  fund  of  Findlay  College, 
provided  $37,500.00  be  contributed  by  others,  was  enthusiastically  greeted,  and 
the  Eldership  pledged  its  "best  efforts  and  liberal  financial  support  in  meeting 
Mr.  Caraegie's  proposition."  The  fields  of  labor  numbered  fifty-eight,  including 
one  which  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership  was  "permitted  to  supply."  The 
division  of  these  fields  into  two  classes  had  almost  wholly  disappeared,  all  being 
designated  simply  as  "appointments."  The  Walnut  Grove  camp-meeting  and  the 
property  located  at  Walnut  Grove,  Huntingdon  county,  were  taken  over  by  the 
Eldership  by  the  appointment  of  "three  trustees  to  take  charge  of  said  Walnut 
Grove  camp-ground,  and  to  have  full  control  of  the  same."  "A  reasonable  meas- 
ure of  success  attended  the  labors  of  ministers  and  churches  during  the  year," 
there  having  "been  an  increase  over  other  years  of  4  52  members  to  the  churches 
of  the  Eldership."  The  churches  lost  106  by  death,  110  by  letter,  and  248  were 
dropped  from  the  Rolls.  The  Eldership  lost  two  ministers  by  death.  One,  George 
M.  Houston,  aged  nearly  twenty-five  years,  ordained  in  19  04,  "loved  and  respected 
by  all."  The  other,  W.  S.  Smith,  aged  sixty-two,  and  ordained  in  1874,  an  earnest, 
devoted  minister,  faithful  to  his  trust.  The  Eldership  reaffirmed  its  "most  ad- 
vanced position  upon  the  question  of  the  whiskey  traffic;"  rejoiced  over  "the 
quickening  of  the  public  conscience  upon  this  and  all  other  great  questions  of  re- 
form," and  congratulated  "the  people  for  their  unwillingness  to  be  held  within 
party  lines  by  designing  men,  and  a  disposition  to  promote  reform  measures  irre- 
spective of  former  political  affiliations."  The  next  Legislature  was  petitioned  "to 
pass  a  law  known  as  the  Local  Option  Law,  believing  it  to  be  in  harmony  with  the 
very  genius  of  our  republican  form  of  government." 

79th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — An  important  change  in  the  Journal 
went  into  effect  with  the  Eldership  of  1907.  The  elimination  of  reports  of  min- 
isters had  reduced  its  length  some  years  before,  it  was  now  to  contain  "all  of  the 
Reports  of  the  Boards  and  Committees  acting  during  the  year,  and  all  legal  docu- 
ments, in  abridged  form."  This  year's  Journal  thus  increased  to  72  pages,  and 
became  a  document  of  much  greater  value.  The  session  of  the  Eldership  was 
held  at  Middletown,  Dauphin  county,  where  on  Wednesday  evening,  October  2, 
1907,  G.  W.  Getz  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Col.  i.  18.  Theme — "The 
Pre-eminence  of  Christ."  The  enrollment  having  been  completed  by  AV.  J. 
Schaner,  Stated  Clerk,  elections  for  other  officers  followed,  and  resulted  in  the 
choice  of  J.  C.  Fomcrook  for  President;  J.  R.  Stonesifer,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J. 
A.  Better,  Statistical  Clerk,  and  H.  M.  Angle,  Financial  Clerk  and  Treasurer.  The 
Eldership  again  expressed  strong  sentiments  on  the  missionary  difficulties,  sub- 
mitted in  a  series  of  resolutions  by  C.  H.  Grove,  endorsing  the  work  of  the  Com- 
mission on  Unification,  the  actions  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship and  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  The  Eldership  was  intensely 
loyal  to  the  General  Eldership  and  all  its  interests.  While  the  Statistical  Clerk 
reported  540  additions  to  the  membership  of  the  churches,  he  also  noted  the  fact 
that  "the  total  membership  is  351  less  than  last  year."  Fields  of  labor  on  the 
Stationing  Committee's  list  numbered  5  9.  Frequent  deficiencies  in  collections  for 
the  different  funds  moved  the  Eldership  to  adopt  an  amendment  to  its  By-Laws, 
holding  "the  delegate"  of  any  charge  "equally  responsible  with  the  pastor  for 
shortages  in  Eldership  funds."  The  Eldership  expressed  its  sincere  gratitude  to 
Abraham  Hostetter,  late  of  Shippensburg,  in  making  a  bequest  "of  the  balance  or 
residuary  of  his  estate,"  after  certain  other  bequests,  "to  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  of  the  churches  of  God."  Authority  was  granted  to  C.  H.  Forney, 
attorney-in-fact,  with  discretionary  power,  "with  reference  to  the  sale  of  the 
church  property  at  Palmyra,  Lebanon  county."  The  Board  of  Education  con- 
tiAued  its  activity  in  increasing  its  Beneficiary  Educational  Fund.  It  made  small 
appropriations  to  six  students  at  Findlay  College  preparing  for  the  ministry.  It 
controls  two  scholarships,  which  were  given  to  three  of  the  students.  Among  the 
thirteen  licentiates  whose  licenses  were  renewed,  or  full  Certificates  of  Ordination 
granted,  was  Preo  Nath  Biswas,  of  India.  Also  three  returned  students  of 
Findlay  College  and  one  of  Dickinson  College.  The  East  Pennsylvania  Woman's 
Missionary  Society  having  petitioned  the  Eldership  to  grant  "all  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  the  gospel  ministry"  to  one  of  the  missionaries  in  India,  the  Elder- 
ship again  placed  itself  on  record  as  "not  in  favor  of  the  ordination  of  women  to 
the  gospel  ministry."  Church  extension  work  was  assuming  large  proportions, 
and  the  Eldership  strengthened  the  hands  of  the  Board  by  special  efforts  to  in7 


372  History  of   the   Churches  of   God 

crease  its  receipts.  Following  its  report  an  address  was  delivered  by  an  appointee 
for  the  purpose,  O.  E.  Houston.  The  Report  of  the  Board  of  Education  was  fol- 
lowed by  an  address  by  C.  Manchester;  that  of  the  Board  of  Missions  by  an  ad- 
dress by  G.  W.  Getz.  "Advocate  Day"  was  fully  endorsed,  and  ministers  were  in- 
structed on  said  day  "to  present  the  need  of  a  Church  paper,  and  make  an  earnest 
effort  to  place  The  Advocate  into  every  home  of  the  Church."  The  Eldership 
recognized  the  decreased  spirituality  of  the  churches,  and  admonished  "the  min- 
istry and  churches  to  seek  a  higher  plane  of  religious  worship,  and  to  set  up  a 
more  exalted  standard  of  religious  life.  It  also  expressed  its  apprehension  that 
"the  spirit  of  evil,  which  often  manifests  itself  in  the  form  of  hatred,  animosities, 
jealousies  and  strife,  was  hindering  our  progress  as  a  people,"  and  hence  "urged 
one  and  all  to  cultivate  a  sweet  spirit  of  love  and  harmony."  A  day  was  desig- 
nated "to  be  set  apart  as  a  day  of  prayer  in  all  the  churches  of  the  Eldership  for 
a  blessed  divine  manifestation  of  power."  The  "spirit  of  compromise  on  some 
of  the  distinctive  doctrines  of  the  Church"  was  disapproved,  and  it  was  "required 
at  the  hand  of  every  minister  of  the  body  to  preach  clearly  and  uncompromisingly 
all  the  doctrines  of  the  Church,  as  found  in  the  New  Testament  Scriptures,  so  that 
there  may  be  an  unquestioned  uniformity  in  our  teachings  as  a  body."  The  Elder- 
ship expressed  its  "satisfaction  over  the  continued  victories  that  have  come  to  the 
temperance  cause,  and  reaffirmed  its  former  utterances  of  uncompromising  hos- 
tility to  the  liquor  traffic  in  all  its  forms."  Two  names  of  ministers  were  taken 
off  the  Eldership  Roll  by  the  hand  of  death  during  the  year.  J.  F.  Meixel,  aged 
nearly  66  years,  and  ordained  in  1870,  was  a  faithful  minister,  and  "sought  to 
live  a  godly  life  and  to  earnestly  declare  the  word  of  God."  Samuel  Smith  began 
as  an  exhorter  in  1867.  "He  was  a  strong  preacher  in  the  English  and  German 
languages;  a  zealous,  self-sacrificing  workman  in  the  Lord's  vineyard,  and  a 
staunch  advocate  of  the  faith  and  principles  of  the  Church  of  God." 

80th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  suit  at  law  in  the  Court  of  Schuyl- 
kill county  against  the  German  Eldership,  instituted  in  1896,  under  authority  of 
the  General  Eldership  and  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  was  still  pending  when 
the  Eldership  of  1908  convened.  C.  H.  Forney,  attorney-in-fact  for  both  Elder- 
ships, reported  the  case  ready  for  argument  before  Court.  The  object  of  the  suit 
was  the  appointment  of  the  Board  of  Incorporation  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eld- 
ership as  trustee  of  the  Kimmel  estate  bequeathed  to  the  German  Eldership,  whose 
Charter  had  been  revoked  and  whose  dissolution  had  been  decreed  by  the  General 
Eldership.  A  better  system  of  accounts  by  church  councils  was  urged  upon  pas- 
tors and  churches,  so  that  there  may  be  "proper  accountability  and  mutual  checks 
to  insure  an  honest  administration  of  the  finances  of  each  church,  and  that  the 
misuse  or  loss  of  moneys  collected  may  be  prevented."  The  Report  of  J.  A.  Better, 
Statistical  Clerk,  showed  that  "the  total  amount  collected  for  all  purposes  during 
the  year  was  $77,035.39."  There  was  an  increase  in  pastors'  salaries  of  $2,192.00, 
making  the  total  salaries  $26,141.79.  Four  new  houses  of  worship  were  erected, 
and  two  parsonages.  Important  action  was  taken  on  the  matter  of  deeds  of  church 
properties,  parsonages,  etc.,  held  by  the  Eldership.  It  provided  that  all  such 
property  be  deeded  to  the  local  churches,  and  that  each  deed  shall  contain  pro- 
visions that  "the  property  shall  never  be  sold,  mortgaged,  or  converted  into  any 
other  use  without  the  prior  approval  of  the  Board  of  Incorporation  of  the  Elder- 
ship; that  it  shall  never  be  alienated  from  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and 
that  whenever  the  church  holding  the  deed  shall  cease  to  co-operate  with  the  Eld- 
ership, or  shall  become  extinct,  said  property  shall  revert  to  the  Eldership."  The 
action  taken  on  the  matter  pertaining  to  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  approved  the  positions 
taken  by  the  Board  of  Missions  and  the  Executive  Board  of  the  General  Eldership, 
and  "pledged  the  delegation  to  the  General  Eldership  in  19  09  to  stand  with  all 
other  Elderships  in  upholding  the  constitutional  authority  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship and  in  vindicating  its  Boards  and  agents  in  the  firm  stand  taken  by  them  in 
the  adjustment  of  the  difficulties  which  have  vexed  the  churches  and  brotherhood 
during  these  years."  The  Eldership  having  at  all  times  manifested  a  deep  in- 
terest in  Findlay  College,  placed  itself  again  on  record  as  true  to  all  the  interests 
of  the  College,  and  highly  commended  the  Faculty  and  the  Board  of  Trustees.  The 
Day  of  Prayer  for  colleges  and  Children's  College  Day  were  specially  commended 
to  the  pastors  and  churches,  and  a  more  general  observance  of  these  days  was  in- 
sisted upon. 

Six  ministers  were  called  to  their  final  reward  during  the  year.  J.  \V.  Jones 
(colored),  who  was  ordained  in  1880,  had  spent  twenty-five  years  in  the  active 


East   Pennsylvania   Eldership  373 

work  of  the  ministry.  "He  was  an  acceptable  preacher  among  his  people,  and 
the  good  he  did  among  them  during  his  life-time  God  alone  can  reveal."  A.  H. 
Long  had  attained  the  age  of  nearly  85  years.  He  had  been  a  member  of  the 
Church  since  September  7,  1851,  and  was  ordained  to  the  gospel  ministry  in  No- 
vember, 1853.  "He  was  a  Christian  of  unblemished  character;  a  plain,  honest 
worker;  ever  true  to  his  convictions,  sound  in  the  faith  and  hope  of  the  gospel. 
No  man  was  ever  more  loyal  to  the  doctrines  and  teachings  of  the  Church  than  was 
Dr.  Long."  S.  E.  Kline  was  ordained  in  189  6.  He  was  "a  brother  of  true  and 
honest  purpose.  In  his  measure  he  was  faithful  to  his  trust  as  a  minister,  and  was 
an  ardent  lover  of  the  Church  of  God,  whose  triumphs  were  a  source  of  great  joy 
to  him."  Elias  Sowers  died  at  the  age  of  76  years.  He  preached  mainly  in  the 
German  language,  and  for  a  number  of  years  was  a  member  of  the  German  Elder- 
ship, and  served  several  of  its  circuits.  Being  in  the  employ  of  the  Philadelphia 
and  Reading  Railroad  Company,  he  became  known  as  "the  railroad  preacher." 
"He  was  respected  and  esteemed  by  those  with  whom  he  associated.  There  was 
that  about  him  which  at  once  distinguished  him  from  men  of  the  world,  and  also 
from  those  who  have  only  'a  name  to  live  while  they  are  dead.'  He  was  faithful." 
C.  Kahler  died  at  the  age  of  67  years.  He  was  converted  when  sixteen  years  of 
age,  but  was  not  ordained  to  the  ministry  of  the  Eldership  until  in  his  forty-second 
year.  He  "was  a  man  of  excellent  character,  admired  and  loved  by  a  large  circle 
of  acquaintances  and  friends,  to  whom  he  had  endeared  himself  by  his  labors  of 
love  and  purity  of  life."  David  Shope  died  at  the  age  of  72  years.  He  was 
licensed  to  preach  the  gospel  in  1866,  and  labored  in  a  local  capacity.  He  was  for 
thirty-five  years  a  teacher  in  the  public  schools  of  Dauphin  and  Schuylkill  counties, 
and  was  also  an  earnest  and  successful  Sunday-school  worker,  and  an  ardent  and 
devoted  advocate  of  the  temperance  cause. 

The  condition  of  the  churches  was  gratifying.  The  number  baptized  during 
the  year  "was  double  that  of  the  preceding  year,  and  there  was  a  net  gain  in  the 
membership  of  500."  But  the  Eldership  felt  that  "the  churches  need  to  cultivate 
a  spirit  to  regard  more  sacredly  the  sources  of  spiritual  strength  and  prosperity." 
It  called  "attention  to  the  worldly  and  commercial  spirit  which  threatens  to  dis- 
tract and  destroy  the  interest  we  should  manifest  in  the  teachings  of  God's  Holy 
Word."  The  President  of  the  Eldership  was  J.  A.  Detter;  Stated  Clerk,  W.  J. 
Schaner;  Transcribing  Clerk,  W,  S.  Sturgen;  Statistical  Clerk,  W.  H.  Snyder; 
Financial  Clerk  and  Treasurer,  H.  M.  Angle.  J.  C  Forncrook  delivered  the  Open- 
ing Sermon,  from  I.  Cor.  i.  23;  ii.  2.      Theme — "Christ  Crucified." 

81st  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — A  strong  effort  was  made  at  the  Elder- 
ship in  1909  to  effect  "an  amicable  settlement  out  of  court"  of  the  German  Elder- 
ship -case.  As  the  session  was  held  at  Auburn,  Schuylkill  county,  near  the  terri- 
tory still  held  by  the  German.  Eldership,  it  was  hoped  the  two  bodies  could  get 
together.  The  attorney-in-fact  in  his  report  asked  "that  such  action  be  taken  by 
the  Eldership  that  any  overtures  to  this  end  might  receive  proper  recognition  and 
consideration."  The  Eldership  accordingly  appointed  a  committee,  consisting  of 
C.  H.  Forney,  C.  H.  Grove  and  C.  F.  Reitzel,  "to  confer  with  representatives  of 
the  German  Eldership."  A  basis  of  settlement  and  co-operation  was  agreed  upon 
by  all  parties,  and  was  adopted  by  the  Eldership;  but  when  the  German  Eldership 
convened  it  failed  to  act  upon  it  so  as  to  give  authority  to  a  committee  to  ratify 
the  agreement,  and  thus  the  matter  ended.  As  one  of  the  provisions  of  the 
"basis"  was  "that  the  legal  proceedings  in  the  courts  of  Schuylkill  county  shall  be 
suspended  until  otherwise  ordered,"  nothing  further  was  done. 

J.  A.  Detter  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  on  the  evening  of  October  7,  1909, 
from  Acts  xx.  26,  27.  Theme — "An  Ideal  Ministry."  The  officers  elected  were  as 
follows:  H.  F.  Hoover,  President;  AV.  S.  Sturgen,  Transcribing  Clerk;  AV.  H.  Snyder, 
Statistical  Clerk;  H.  M.  Angle,  Financial  Clerk  and  Treasurer.  To  insure  both 
greater  accuracy  and  secrecy  in  elections  it  was  provided  that  clerks  to  tellers  be 
a'ppointed;  that  no  one  but  the  tellers  and  clerks  be  present  when  ballots  are 
counted;  that  after  ballots  had  been  counted  they  were  to  be  placed  in  sealed 
envelopes,  to  be  filed  with  the  Stated  Clerk  until  after  adjournment,  "when  he 
shkll  destroy  them  unopened."  It  was  also  provided,  that  the  practice  of  having 
the  Clerk  cast  the  ballot  of  the  Eldership  for  any  elective  office,  or  for  any  board 
be  discontinued,  as  being  "contrary  to  good  usage,  and  of  doubtful  parliamentary 
authority."  The  financial  report  shows  total  collections  for  all  purposes,  $74,- 
833.58.  Number  of  houses  of  worship,  103;  parsonages,  32;  total  church  mem- 
bership, 7,430.      This  was  a  net  increase    of    only    73,    although    the    number    ad- 


374  History   of  the   Churches  of*   God 

mitted  to  fellowship  was  1,163.  The  Sunday-school  scholars  numbered  13,037. 
At  this  session  of  the  Eldership  the  laymen  present  organized  a  "Laymen's  Asso- 
ciation, having  for  its  purpose  a  closer  bond  of  Christian  fellowship  and  greater 
usefulness  in  furthering  the  cause  of  our  Lord."  It  received  the  hearty  approval 
of  the  Eldership.  One  minister  during  the  year  received  "the  infinite  gain  of 
being  translated  to  heaven  to  be  with  Jesus."  Israel  Hay,  born  November  20, 
1838;  died  September  7,  1909,  aged  nearly  71  years.  He  became  a  member  first 
of  the  German  Eldership,  and  preached  on  its  territory.  In  1868  he  united  with 
the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  but  continued  to  preach  on  the  territory  of  the 
German  Eldership  which  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  had  reoccupied.  "He 
was  an  excellent  German  preacher,  a  man  of  fine  character,  and  of  decided  con- 
victions. He  was  true  and  loyal  to  the  Church,  and  faithfully  preached  its  doc- 
trines." While  the  Eldership  lost  Dr.  C.  Manchester  by  transfer  to  the  Kansas 
Eldership,  it  received  Dr.  S.  G.  Yahn  by  transfer  from  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eld- 
ership. The  presence  of  O.  A.  Newlin,  Field  Secretary  of  Findlay  College,  was 
much  appreciated,  and  his  mission  "to  raise  the  funds  still  needed  to  meet  the 
Carnegie  proposition"  was  strongly  commended.  The  Eldership  expressed  its  dis- 
approval of  the  practice  of  "churches  or  missions  dependent  on  the  Board  of  Mis- 
sions making  alterations  and  repairs  to  properties,  and  reduce  their  contributions 
toward  the  pastors'  support,  without  the  previous  consent  of  the  Board,  as  pro- 
vided for  in  the  Constitution."  The  Eldership  "deplored  the  lack  of  real  aggres- 
sive opposition  against  the  unreasonable  and  injurious  legalized  license  system  of 
the  rum  traffic."  It  "emphatically  urged  ministers  and  churches  to  take  a  more 
definite  stand  against  the  rum  traffic,  and  wage  a  relentless  warfare  against  this 
determined  evil."  It  placed  itself  on  record  in  favor  of  "a  national  prohibitory 
law  against  this  evil;"  but  meanwhile  it  resolved  to  "endeavor  to  do  what  we  can 
in  State  prohibition  and  in  local  option." 

82ncl  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  Eldership  of  1910,  which  convened 
at  Altoona,  Blair  county,  October  6th,  was  composed  of  eighty  ministers  and  sixty- 
l?our  delegates.  Of  the  eighty  ministers  sixty-two  were  pastors.  The  Annual  Ser- 
mon was  preached  by  H.  F.  Hoover,  from  Rev.  i.  8.  Theme — "The  Alpha  and 
Omega."  Charles  F.  Reitzel  was  chosen  President;  H.  R.  Lobb,  Transcribing 
Clerk;  W.  H.  Snyder,  Statistical  Clerk;  H.  M.  Angle,  Financial  Clerk  and  Treas- 
urer. One  minister  returned  his  Certificate  of  Ordination,  and  his  name  was 
erased  from  the  Eldership  Roll,  and  one  was  "solemnly  deposed  from  the  ministry, 
and  expelled  from  the  membership  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership."  One 
■was  "granted  a  letter  of  dismissal,  with  permission  to  unite  with  the  Presbyterian 
Church."  AV.  N.  Yates  returned  with  transfer  from  the  Iowa  Eldership.  In  terms 
of  high  appreciation  the  Eldership  made  record  of  the  creation  of  a  trust  fund,  by 
iDequest  of  John  Miller,  of  Dauphin  county,  to  the  amount  of  about  $25,000.00 
■"for  the  benefit  of  the  churches  at  Linglestown,  Mt.  Laurel,  Shope's,  Progress,  Pen- 
Tjrook  and  Pleasant  View."  Also  a  bequest  by  Jacob  Simonetti,  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  of 
^1,000.00  to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  The  matter  of  the  Walnut  Grove 
Camp-meeting  was  adjusted  by  the  adoption  of  a  plan  to  form  a  Camp-meeting 
Association,  accountable  to  the  Eldership,  but  without  official  connection  with 
the  local  church  at  Walnut  Grove.  Provision  was  made  for  the  sale  of  stock  at 
$10.00  a  share,  interest  bearing,  the  minimum  amount  to  be  sold  being  fixed  at 
$1, 000. 00.  Under  these  provisions  the  Association  was  organized,  and  has  con- 
ducted the  camp-meeting  and  controlled  the  property.  The  Eldership  insisted, 
that  as  it  had  the  right  of  nominating  but  one  person  for  each  vacancy  on  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  Findlay  College,  its  nominee  or  nominees  be  elected  by  said 
Board.  It  also  opposed  the  transfer  of  "non-interest  bearing  endowment  notes," 
given  some  years  prior,  to  Mr.  Carnegie's  proposition,  to  the  Carnegie  Endowment 
Fund.  The  Report  of  the  Statistical  Clerk  contained  the  following  among  its  many 
interesting  facts:  Pastors'  salaries,  $27,159.48,  being  an  increase  of  $1,800.82; 
Mission  Fund,  $1,914.21;  Foreign  Missions,  $1,300.60;  Findlay  College,  $1,971.77; 
Findlay  College  Day,  $1,252.29;  total  for  all  purposes,  $88,149.17.  Number  of 
appointments,  122;  members,  7,655;  fellowshiped,  679;  Sunday-school  scholars, 
14,145;  Missionary  societies,  49.  The  practice  by  a  few  churches  of  holding  Chil- 
dren's College  Day  and  appropriating  money  raised  to  other  purposes  was  "severely 
condemned."  Two  ministers  of  the  Eldership  were  transferred  by  death  to  a 
higher  ministry.  AV.  J.  Grissinger,  aged  66  years,  died  February  27,  1910.  He 
•was  ordained  at  the  age  of  33  years.  He  was  a  "methodical  and  painstaking  ser- 
monizer."     "His   life  was   conscientious,   upright  and   virtuous."     "He  was   of  a 


East  Pennsylvania   Eldership  375 

kind,  agreeable  disposition."  "The  Eldership  was  profoundly  grieved  because  of 
his  departure."  Alfred  Young  (colored)  died  August  26,  1910.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Eldership  a  comparatively  short  time.  He  was  self-sacrificing  and  dili- 
gent in  his  calling,  and  possessed  good  natural  talent,  and  maintained  a  good  repu- 
tation for  piety  and  morality.  His  entire  ministry  was  spent  in  Carlisle,  Cumber- 
land county,  where  he  built  a  neat  brick  bethel  for  the  little  church  of  which  he 
was  pastor.  The  Stationing  Committee  placed  fourteen  fields  of  labor  on  the  Board 
of  Missions,  to  be  partly  supported  by  the  Board.  With  these  included  the  stations 
and  circuits  numbered  sixty-seven.  Strong  in  its  denunciation  of  the  whiskey 
traflUc,  the  Eldership  also  "deplored  the  growing  vice  of  cigarette  smoking,"  and 
"placed  itself  on  record  as  being  opposed  to  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  cigarettes 
in  general,  and  to  the  giving  or  selling  to  miners  in  particular."  Fields  of  labor 
having  no  parsonages  were  urged  "to  work  hard  toward  securing  the  same."  In- 
directly the  system  of  doctrine  "known  as  Arminianism"  was  endorsed  by  the  pass- 
age of  commendatory  resolutions  of  the  work  written  by  William  Harris  Guyer  on 
James  Arminius.  The  Eldership  manifested  such  an  interest  in  good  citizenship 
that  it  appointed  C.  H.  Forney,  S.  G.  Yahn,  J.  A.  Better,  G,  Sigler  and  I.  A.  Mac- 
Dannald  delegates  to  the  Christian  Citizenship  Convention,  to  be  held  in  Philadel- 
phia, Pa.,  November  16-20,  1910. 

83rd  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — As   there  had   been   disturbing   conten- 
tions and  friction  to  quite  a  degree  throughout  a  great  part  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship, and  for  several  years  in  the    East    Pennsylvania    Eldership,    the    Executive 
Board  of  the  General  Eldership  in  June,  1911,  requested  that  at  all  the  Annual 
Elderships  "special  prayer  for  peace"  should  be  offered.      This  was  carried  into 
effect  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  at  its  second  sitting  at  the  session  which 
convened   at   Penbrook,   Dauphin   county,   October   4,   1911.     The   officers   of  this 
session  were  as  follows:      D.  S.  Shoop,  President;   G.  R.  Hoverter,  Transcribing 
Clerk;  W.  H.  Snyder,  Statistical  Clerk;  H.  M.  Angle,  Financial  Clerk  and  Treas- 
urer.     The  Stated  Clerk,  W.  J.  Schaner,  who  is  elected  for  an  indefinite  term,  re- 
signed, after  having  filled  that  office  for  sixteen  years,  and  H.  R.  Lobb  was  elected 
as  his  successor.     The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  on  Wednesday  evening  by 
C.  F.  Reitzel,  from  John  i.    67.      Theme — "John  a  Witness  for  Christ."      A  very 
important  change  was  made  in  the  Constitution,  when  at  the  first  sitting  the  Com- 
miittee  on  Mission  Work,  C.  H.  Forney,  G.  Sigler  and  W.  J.  Schaner,  reported,  "that 
the  members  elected  as  the  Stationing  Committee  shall  be  the  Board  of  Missions, 
and  that  it  shall  consist  of  nine  members."     The  Committee  on  "Laws  and  Rules 
for  Judicial  and  Non-judicial  Processes,"  C.  H.  Forney,  F.  W.  McGuii-e  and  H.  N. 
Bowman,  not  only  recommended  a  new  Manual  to  be  used  in  such  cases;  but  sub- 
mitted a  provision  for  the  selection  of  a  Commission  to  be  selected  in  manner  and 
form  as  in  impanelling  of  juries,  which  was  to  act  in  all  trials  of  ministers  charged 
with  wrong  moral  or  official  conduct.     As  some  churches  had  been  electing  "hon- 
orary elders,"  it  became  necessary  for  the  Eldership  to  define  their  status.     This 
the  body  did,  declaring  that  "our  polity  embodies  the  principle  of  rotation  in  office, 
and  annual  election  of  active  elders."     It,  therefore,  decided  "that  an  honorary  or 
life  elder  is  not  eligible  as  a  delegate  to  this  Eldership."     It  also  took  definite 
action  "on  the  matter  of  doctrinal  preaching,  reversal  of  the  order  of  the  observance 
and  frequency  of  the  observance  of  the  ordinances."      It  disapproved  of  any  inno- 
vations in  connection  with  the  observance  of  the  ordinances,  such  as  the  reversal 
of  the  order,  or  the  private  observance  of  the  ordinances."     The  quarterly  ob- 
servance of  the  ordinances  was  recommended  to  all  the  churches.      "More  preach- 
ing upon  the  doctrines  which  have  a  vital   relation  to  the  maintenance  of  our 
identity  as  a  separate  religious  body"  was  insisted  upon.      The  "opening  of  play- 
houses and  picture  shows"  on  the  Sabbath  "for  the  purpose  of  raising  money"  for 
charitable  purposes  was  condemned  as  "an  uncalled  for  desecration"  of  that  sacred 
day,  and  "an  insulting  reflection  upon  the  liberality  and  readiness  of  the  people  to 
respond"  to  calls  for  aid  to  the  needy    and    suffering.       There    was    a    radical    de- 
parture from  former  customs  in  arranging  the  finances  of  the  Eldership.     An  im- 
portant committee,  consisting  of  A.  P.  Stover,  C.  I.  Behney,  C.  S.  Meek  and  F.  W. 
McGuire,  after  a  careful  study  during  the  year,  reported  in  favor  of  creating  a 
"Board  of  Finance."     It  was  to  be  "a  joint  Board  of  ministers  and  lay  delegates, 
and  shall  consist  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  Eldership,  three  ministers  and  three  lay 
delegates."     This  Board  is  to  "fix  all  assessments,  and  exert  every  effort  to  collect 
the  same."     The  first  Board  elected,  following  the  amending  of  the  Constitution, 
consisted  of  H.  M.  Angle,  Treasurer;  A.  P.  Stover,  H.  F.  Hoover  and  G.  R.  Hover- 


376  History  of  the  Churches  of  God 

ter,  ministers,  and  G.  W.  Fox,  C.  S.  Meek  and  H.  N.  Bowman,  lay  members.  The 
various  funds  made  a  creditable  showing.  The  salaries  of  ministers  had  in- 
creased, and  now  aggregated  $28,090.24.  Receipts  during  the  year  were  as  fol- 
lows: Superannuated  Fund,  $659.76;  Contingent,  $186.66;  Church  Extension, 
$478.59;  C.  E.  Church  Extension,  $145.87;  East  Pennsylvania  Mission,  $1,808.48; 
General  Eldership  Mission,  $507.83;  Foreign,  $1,341.17;  Findlay  College,  $408.60; 
Children's  College  Day,  $845.93;  Widows',  $668.91.  For  all  purposes  reported 
the  churches  had  raised  the  sum  of  $80,772.44.  The  Church  membership  was 
given  at  7,211,  a  decrease  of  4  44  on  the  previous  year,  although  there  were  ad- 
mitted by  letter  and  on  profession  of  faith,  849.  The  Sunday-school  scholars 
numbered  14,034.  There  were  sixty-six  fields  of  labor.  The  Eldership  continued 
to  provide  according  to  its  resources  for  the  widows  of  deceased  ministers  and 
for  superannuated  ministers.  Of  the  former  there  were  twenty-two  on  the  list, 
and  of  the  latter,  five.  The  somewhat  singular  fact  that  no  lay  delegates  for  years 
had  been  on  elective  boards,  or  elected  to  any  office  but  that  of  Treasurer,  was 
called  to  the  attention  of  the  Eldership  by  the  Laymen's  Association,  which  en- 
dorsed an  effort  to  secure  to  the  lay  delegates  "the  privileges  afforded  them  by 
the  Constitution."  But  no  action  was  taken.  The  Eldership  rejoiced  over  the 
completion  of  the  Carnegie  Endowment  Fund  of  $50,000.00  for  Findlay  College. 
It  also  insisted  that  the  young  ministers  of  the  body  in  the  Course  of  Studies  be 
diligent  in  pursuing  these  studies,  as  the  Course  "is  admittedly  of  a  superior  char- 
acter, and  is  highly  beneficial  to  our  young  ministers  and  to  candidates  for  the 
ministry." 

84th  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — One  result  of  the  system  of  raising  funds 
for  the  Eldership  was  the  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  churches  to  reduce  their 
membership  by  "dropping"  names  from  the  Roll  of  persons  not  in  active  co-opera- 
tion. In  this  way  the  membership  in  1911  was  reduced  350,  and  in  1912,  289. 
The  total  losses  in  1912  by  removals,  deaths  and  dropped  were  548.  And  while 
there  were  "evidences  of  progress,"  inspiring  gratitude  and  courage  in  the  Elder- 
ship; nevertheless  the  body  was  "forced  to  the  conclusion  that  the  results  of  the 
year's  work  and  the  present  state  of  religion  are  not  equal  to  the  expectations 
which  were  justified  by  the  men  and  money  employed  and  the  opportunities  pre- 
sented." There  were  assumed  to  be  "certain,  weaknesses  which  ought  to  be 
strengthened."  The  material  prosperity  enjoyed  begat  a  spirit  of  worldliness. 
There  was  still  too  much  indifference  in  the  matter  of  "teaching  and  practicing  our 
distinctive  doctrines."  A  body  of  people  may  lose  its  identity  if  it  fail  to  keep 
prominent  the  articles  of  faith  for  which  it  stands.  The  Eldership  convened  at 
Shippensburg,  Cumberland  county,  where  on  the  evening  of  October  2,  1912,  D.  S. 
Shoop  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Phil.  iii.  1.  Theme — "Repetition  of 
Old  Truths."  The  officers  elected  were:  President,  W.  N.  Yates;  Transcribing 
Clerk,  G.  R.  Hoverter;  Statistical  Clerk,  W.  H.  Snyder;  Financial  Clerk  and  Treas- 
urer, H.  M.  Angle.  Owing  to  taking  a  transfer  to  the  West  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship, H.  R.  Lobb,  Stated  Clerk,  resigned,  and  J.  A.  Detter  was  elected  to  that  office. 
The  Standing  Committee  consisted  of  C.  H.  Forney,  D.  S.  Shoop,  C.  H.  Grove.  The 
Board  of  Missions  which  is  also  the  Stationing  Committee,  C.  H.  Forney,  W.  N. 
Yates,  G.  Sigler,  D.  S.  Shoop,  O.  E.  Houston,  F.  W.  McGuire,  H.  F.  Hoover,  I.  A. 
MacDannald,  C.  H.  Grove.  Board  of  Church  Extension,  F.  W.  McGuii-e,  A.  P. 
Stover,  J.  A.  Detter,  C.  H.  Forney,  C.  I.  Behney.  Board  of  Education,  C.  H.  Forney, 
G.  Sigler,  S.  G.  Yahn,  W.  N.  Yates,  A.  P.  Stover.  The  funds  of  the  Eldership  were 
in  gratifying  condition,  there  being  an  increase  in  each  of  them.  Superannuated 
Fund,  $697.58;  Contingent,  $207.05;  Church  Extension,  $508.58;  C.  E.  Church 
Extension,  $167.05;  East  Pennsylvania  Mission,  $1,908.57;  General  Eldership  Mis- 
sion, $565.18;  General  Eldership  Contingent,  $204.90;  Foreign  Mission,  $1,720.16; 
Children's  College  Day,  $1,639.06;  Widows',  $707.58.  The  salaries  of  pastors  had 
increased  nearly  $3,000.00,  being  a  total  of  $30,954.97.  For  all  purposes  re- 
ported the  churches  paid  $87,510.90.  The  number  of  members,  7,239;  fellow- 
shiped,  747;  died,  dismissed  and  dropped,  548.  Number  of  Sunday-school 
scholars,  14,924.  There  were  74  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.  societies.  The  fields  of  labor  num- 
bered 67.  During  the  year  two  ministers  to  whom  death  came  as  a  friend  found 
"the  grave  itself  a  passage  into  the  beautiful  and  glorious."  These  were  Ben- 
jamin Dochterman  and  D.  H.  Mumma.  The  latter  was  ordained  in  1871,  and  for 
some  years  labored  on  different  circuits,  and  was  instrumental  in  many  conver- 
sions, and  also  built  several  houses  of  worship.  He  "had  a  warm,  sympathetic 
heart,  and  his  friendships  were  true  and  lasting."     He  "served  both  his  country 


Ohio    Eu>ership  377 

and  his  Church  with  zeal  and  fidelity."  Dochterman's  labors  were  mainly  local. 
He  was  a  man  of  irreproachable  character,  humility  and  sincerity  being  his  bright- 
est ornaments.  For  these  and  other  traits  of  character  "his  memory  will  long  be 
cherished  by  those  who  were  so  happy  as  to  know  him."  The  deaths  of  laymen 
were  seldom  recorded  by  the  Eldership;  but  this  year  the  names  of  two  laymen 
had  this  distinction  accorded  them.  These  were  Peter  L.  Rickabaugh  and  H.  J. 
Forney.  The  former  in  earlier  life  was  an  exhorter,  and  also  preached  some  at 
points  within  reach  of  his  home.  He  had  been  a  delegate  to  the  General  Elder- 
ship. The  latter  was  a  successful  business  man,  but  always  "greatly  interested 
in  the  various  general  and  local  affairs  of  the  Church,  and  he  repeatedly  served  as. 
delegate  to  the  Annual  and  General  Elderships.  The  Board  of  Finance  this  year,, 
in  addition  to  the  Treasurer,  were  Revs.  A.  P.  Stover,  G.  R.  Hoverter,  H.  F. 
Hoover;  elders,  C.  S.  Meek,  G.  W.  Fo.x,  J.  P.  Karper.  "Teachers'  Training 
Courses"  in  the  Sunday-schools  were  commended,  and  pastors  were  admonished 
to  "fall  in  line  and  encourage  this  most  helpful  work  in  our  Sunday-schools."  A 
notable  feature  of  the  Report  of  the  Stationing  Committee  of  1912  was  the  ap- 
pointment as  missionaries  to  Bogra,  India,  of  HoAvard  W.  Cover,  A.  E.  Myers,  Miss. 
Viola  G.  Hershey  and  Miss  Leah  Becker.  The  broader  view  of  temperance  was. 
exemplified  in  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Temperance,  which  pronounced 
"the  saloon  the  greatest  foe  to  civilization,"  declaring  that  there  "must  be  per- 
petual warfare  between  the  church  and  the  saloon."  But  "the  followers  of  Christ 
must  resist  all  evil,  whether  it  be  in  self,  in  society,  or  in  the  State."  Cleanliness. 
and  sobriety  and  temperance  in  all  things  were  insisted  upon  as  duties  of  min- 
isters and  churches  everywhere.  The  Eldership  manifested  a  commendable  in- 
terest in  securing  funds  for  the  erection  of  a  new  "monument  on  the  cemetery  lot 
of  John  Winebi-enner"  to  replace  the  original  one,  and  the  last  Sunday  in  October, 
1912,  was  designated  as  the  day  for  the  lifting  of  an  offering  for  said  purpose  in 
"all  the  churches,  Sunday-schools  and  Christian  Endeavor  societies  within  the 
borders  of  the  Eldership  for  the  Winebrenner  Monument  Fund." 


II.     THE   OHIO   ELDERSHIP. 


1st  Ohio  Eldership. — Having  obtained  permission  of  the  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship in  November,  1835,  for  "holding  a  yearly  Eldership  in  the  State  of  Ohio," 
the  elders  in  that  State  "met  and  held  their  business  meeting  at  Bro.  John  Beid- 
ler's,  in  Holmes  county,  Ohio,  commencing  on  the  17th  day  of  September,  A.  D. 
1836."  Winebrenner  was  present,  and  "the  meeting  was  opened  for  business  with 
worship"  by  him.  The  meeting  was  organized  by  the  unanimous  election  of  Wine- 
brenner for  Speaker,  and  John  Greeger  was  chosen  Clerk.  All  brethren  present 
were  made  "advisory  members."  The  charter  members  of  this  Eldership  were 
John  Greeger,  John  Funck,  Samuel  Shei*rick  and  Peter  Hartman,  teaching  elders; 
and  John  Beidler,  Joseph  Hummer,  David  Funck,  William  Adams,  John  Reiber, 
Samuel  Metzler  and  Henry  Rupp,  ruling  elders.  Reiber  and  Adams  were  ordained 
teaching  elders.  Besides  Winebrenner,  Jacob  Keller  and  Thomas  Hickeraell  were 
also  present.  These  teaching  elders,  if  not  also  the  ruling  elders,  were  all  emi- 
grants from  Pennsylvania.  Adams  was  a  native  of  Perry  county,  Pa.,  and  "was 
reared  in  the  Presbyterian  faith."  Conditions  in  Ohio  were  reported  "prosper- 
ous," and  the  ministers'  reports  at  this  Eldership  "were  highly  interesting  and 
profitable."  Keller,  Hickemell  and  Gi-eeger  were  "appointed  to  travel  on  the 
circuit  [the  Ohio  circuit]  till  next  Spring,"  1837.  Then  the  Wayne  county  circuit 
was  divided,  with  "the  river  Killbuck  as  the  division  line,"  called  respectively  "the 
eastern  and  western  circuits  of  Wayne  county,  Ohio."  "The  Committee  to  Station 
the  Traveling  Preachers  for  the  next  year"  "appointed  Keller  and  Adams  to  the 
eastern,  and  Hickemell  and  Greeger  to  the  western  circuit."  This  completed  the 
work  of  the  first  Ohio  Eldership. 

2nd  Ohio  Eldership. — The  Ohio  Eldership  held  its  second  session  "at  Bro. 
Funck's  meeting-house,  in  Chester  township,  Wayne  county,  Ohio,  October  16, 
1837.  Emanuel  Logue  had  come  from  Pennsylvania  to  Ohio  during  the  year,  and 
was  enrolled  without  transfer,  thus  increasing  the  teaching  elders  at  this  meeting 
to  seven.  Keller  and  Hickemell  were  also  present,  with  two  delegates  from  Penn- 
sylvania, McFadden  and  Smedmer.  Though  Smedmer  was  a  delegate  from 
Pennsylvania,  he  was  one  of  the  two  appointed  to  constitute  the  Eldership,  and 


:^7S  History  of  the   Churches  oe  God 

was  chosen  Speaker,  and  Thomas  Hlckernell,  Clerk.  The  teaching  elders  made 
"their  usual  reports,  which  "were  all  gratifying  and  satisfactory,"  and  "their  char- 
acters blameless."  Five  ministers  "offered  themselves  to  travel  the  ensuing 
year,"  and  "the  Committee  appointed  to  arrange  the  circuits  and  station  the 
preachers"  gave  them  all  work,  putting  Samuel  N.  Miller,  newly  licensed,  and 
Reibei'  on  the  Richland  county  circuit;  AVilliam  Adams  on  the  Sugar  Creek  cir- 
cuit; Emanuel  Logue  on  the  Stark  county  circuit,  and  sending  Hickeraell  to 
western  Pennsylvania.  A  Standing  Committee  of  five  members  was  created  and 
one  of  its  first  duties  was  to  "appoint  the  camp-meetings  for  next  year."  Smedmer 
was  so  impressed  with  the  character  of  the  meeting  that  two  days  after  he  wrote 
Winebrenner :  "We  had  a  full  meeting,  and  every  item  that  came  before  us  was 
taken  up,  discussed  and  considered  with  much  calmness.  Everything  went  off 
with  as  perfect  harmony  and  regularity  as  clock  work.  I  wish  you  and  your 
brethren  may  copy  our  example  and  do  your  business  in  the  spirit  of  unity,  har- 
mony and  Christianity,  as  you  have  always  done  heretofore." 

3rd  Ohio  Eldei"ship.- — On  October  13,  1838,  at  Crooked  Run  meeting-house, 
Tuscarawas  county,  Ohio,  the  third  Ohio  Eldership  began  its  session.  Jacob  Keller 
was  elected  Speaker,  and  AV^m.  Smedmer,  Clerk.  There  were  seventeen  teaching 
and  ruling  elders  present,  including  Ulrich  Staley  and  Michael  Stevens,  delegates 
from  Pennsylvania.  Three  teaching  elders  were  absent.  The  characters  of  all 
the  ministers  were  "found  unimpeached."  Three  were  ordained,  one  being  Wil- 
liam Hood,  "a  licentiate  from  the  Protestant  Methodist  Church."  The  St.  Mary's 
Mission  was  created,  and  Hickemell  appointed  missionary.  The  Pittsburg  mis- 
sion was  left  unsupplied.  John  Beidler  was  assigned  to  the  German  appointments. 
John  Greeger  had  ceased  by  some  means  to  be  included  this  year  "among  the  min- 
isters of  the  Eldership,"  and  a  resolution  was  adopted  "disapproving  of  the  liberty 
taken  by  the  Editor  of  The  Gospel  Publisher  for  including"  his  name  as  a  member. 
The  Eldership  put  itself  on  record  against  receiving  persons  as  "members  of  the 
Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  unless  first  immersed,"  and  also  declaring  its  be- 
lief "that  immersion  is  the  only  baptism,  and  believers  the  only  subjects."  It 
made  the  first  methodical  provision  for  a  missionary  fund  "by  subscriptions  and 
collections,"  and  appointed  Keller  "for  that  purpose."  The  money  was  to  go  into 
the  hands  of  the  Standing  Committee,  which  was  empowered  to  select  a  Treasurer. 
The  Committee  was  to  pay  the  funds  to  "the  missionaries  every  three  months." 
This  Committee  was  reduced  to  three.     It  was  made  the  Camp-meeting  Committee. 

4th  Ohio  Eldership. — Michael  Stevens,  who  in  1838  was  delegate  from  Penn- 
sylvania to  the  Ohio  Eldership,  remained  in  the  State,  and  so  on  October  21,  1839, 
"the  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Ohio  met  at  Bro.  Michael  Stevens',  Rich- 
land county."  Joseph  Dobson  and  John  Lenkert  were  the  delegates  from  Pennsyl- 
vania. Samuel  Sherrick  was  elected  Speaker,  and  Thomas  Hickemell,  Clerk. 
James  Richards,  one  of  the  six  who  constituted  the  first  Eldership  in  Pennsylvania, 
was  an  applicant  for  license.  The  case  was  referred  to  a  committee,  which,  "after 
a  minute  investigation  of  the  whole  matter,  recommended  that  a  license  be  granted 
him."  Daniel  Wertz  and  James  Neil,  long  useful  ministers  of  the  word,  were  or- 
dained. The  Eldership  strongly  "discountenanced  the  practice  of  preachers  going 
into  an  article  of  agreement  to  hire  themselves  to  preach  for  wages."  Five  ap- 
pointments were  arranged  for  by  a  committee  appointed  for  that  purpose,  with 
one  "missionary  at  large."  These  included  John  Hackemell  and  Joseph  Dobson  to 
the  Pittsburg  Mission.  The  question  of  "ordination  by  the  laying  on  of  hands" 
came  up,  but  was  "laid  aside  till  the  next  Annual  Eldership."  The  Standing  Com- 
mittee was  increased  to  five,  and  a  separate  committee  of  five  traveling  preachers 
was  appointed  to  arrange  for  camp-meetings  in  1839.  Adam  Weiker  was  made 
custodian  of  the  Eldership  papers  "till  the  next  Annual  Eldership." 

5th  Ohio  Eldership. — When  the  Ohio  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  met 
at  Moreland,  Wayne  county,  Ohio,  October  19,  1840,  there  were  present  seventeen 
teaching  elders,  and  thirteen  ruling  elders  and  delegates.  Also  one  delegate  from 
Pennsylvania,  with  four  teaching  elders  absent.  Jacob  Keller,  delegate  from  East 
Pennsylvania,  was  elected  Speaker,  and  Thomas  Hickemell,  Clerk.  The  work  was 
reported  as  "progressing  and  reviving"  through  the  instrumentality  of  the 
preachers,  whose  reports  "were  heard  with  satisfaction."  "The  subject  of  voting 
at  political  elections  was  taken  up  and  discussed,"  with  the  result  that  a  motion 
prevailed  "that  each  and  every  brother  ought  to  have  the  prerogative  to  exercise 
his  own  judgment  in  regard  to  the  elective  franchise,  if  it  be  in  subserviency  to 


Ohio    Eldership  379 

religion."      "The  Committee  to  fix  fields  and  appoint  preachers"  arranged  for  four 
circuits  in  Ohio  and  four  in  Pennsylvania. 

6th  Ohio  Eldership. — The  Eldership  in  1841  met  October  18,  "in  the  Sugar 
Creek  meeting-house,  Holmes  county,  Ohio."  Samuel  Sherrick  was  chosen 
Speaker,  and  Thomas  Hickernell,  Clerk.  Three  "messengers"  were  enrolled,  with 
the  twenty-one  ministers  and  ten  ruling  elders.  From  the  reports  of  ministers  "it 
appears  they  are  still  extending  their  labors  and  preaching  with  considerable  suc- 
cess." The  Committee  on  Boundaries  divided  the  territory  into  nine  circuits,  to 
which  fourteen  teaching  elders  were  appointed.  Adams  county,  Indiana,  con- 
tiguous to  Mercer  and  Van  Wert  counties,  Ohio,  was  part  of  one  circuit.  A  dele- 
gate was  appointed  to  "the  Pennsylvania  Eldership."  Twelve  counties  in  Ohio 
are  included  in  the  territory  occupied  by  the  ministers  of  the  Eldership,  viz: 
Richland,  Marion,  Crawford,  Mercer,  Allen,  Van  Wert,  Wayne,  Holmes,  Stark, 
Tuscarawas,  Coshocton  and  Portage,  and  Butler,  Beaver,  Venango  and  Westmore- 
land, Pa.  A  Rule  was  adopted,  "That  no  charges  shall  be  received  before  this 
Eldership  against  any  one  of  its  members  before  the  person  charged  shall  have 
been  duly  notified,  and  in  other  respects  dealt  with  according  to  the  Bible." 

7th  Ohio  Eldership. — On  Monday,  October  17,  1842,  the  seventh  session  of 
the  Ohio  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  convened  "in  the  Chester  meeting-house, 
Wayne  county."  Edward  AA'^est  was  elected  Speaker,  and  Thomas  Hickernell, 
Clerk.  "A  Committee  to  examine  communications"  was  created.  John  S.  Kerr 
reported  from  Virginia,  now  West  Virginia,  and  his  labors  were  approved.  Several 
new  counties  in  Ohio  were  mentioned  in  the  reports,  as  Knox,  Summit  and  Col- 
umbiana. An  Indiana  mission  was  established,  and  one  in  Columbiana  county, 
Ohio,  on  the  Pennsylvania  line.  There  were  eleven  circuits  formed,  with  sixteen 
preachers. 

8th  Ohio  Eldership. — The  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Ohio,  which 
"met  on  the  16th  day  of  October,  1843,  at  Crooked  Run  meeting-house,  Tuscara- 
was county,  Ohio,"  was  constituted  with  thirty-two  members.  It  elected  E.  West 
Speaker,  and  Samuel  Scott,  Clerk.  A  committee  was  created  "to  receive  and  ex- 
amine letters,  etc.,  and  report  the  same  to  the  Eldership."  Also  one  "to  examine 
the  Journal  of  the  last  Eldership,  and  report  the  result  to  this  Eldership."  By 
resolution,  Thomas  Hickernell  was  appointed  to  preach  a  sermon  on  Church  Gov- 
ernment the  second  day  evening.  A  committee  was  "appointed  to  consider  the 
propriety  of  forming  another  Eldership,"  which  reported  favorably,  naming  as  the 
"boundary  line  on  the  East — the  Allegheny  mountains,"  and  the  West  line  to  com- 
mence at  the  Ohio  river,  and  run  North  along  the  West  line  of  Columbiana  county, 
Ohio,  to  Lake  Erie."  This  report  was  adopted,  but  was  made  conditional  upon 
the  "approbation  of  the  Pennsylvania  Eldership."  As  the  support  of  ministers 
was  inadequate,  the  Eldership  considered  a  plan  "to  raise  a  support  for  the  travel- 
ing preachers."  It  was  decided  to  "recommend  that  the  same  be  raised  by  a  sub- 
scription to  be  paid  weekly."  Two  collections  a  year  were  ordered  "for  mission- 
ary purposes."  Nine  fields  of  labor  were  created,  with  fifteen  pastors.  Pro- 
vision was  made  for  "an  extra  session  of  the  Eldership,  to  be  held  in  the  Union 
Bethel,  Moreland,  Wayne  county,  Ohio,  on  the  20th  of  December,  1843.  Also  one 
In  Pittsburg,  on  the  24th  of  December,  1843,  to  regulate  matters  relating  to 
preachers  and  circuits."  A  Board  of  Missions  was  appointed  "to  receive  and  pay 
over  the  semi-weekly  collections,  donations,  etc."  The  Eldership  was  character- 
ized with  "more  love,  harmony  and  general  union  of  sentiment  than  ever  before." 

The  extra  session  met,  as  per  previous  action.  A  new  organization  was  ef- 
fected by  the  election  of  Archibald  Megrew,  Speaker,  and  Homer  Edwards,  Clerk. 
Sixteen  elders  and  four  messengers  were  present.  Necessary  changes  were  made 
in  circuits  and  preachers.  Indiana  State  Mission  was  created.  A  resolution  was 
adopted  appointing  "a  committee  of  nine  to  act  in  reference  to  the  publication  of 
a  new  hymn  book." 

9th  Ohio  Eldership. — A  number  of  new  names  of  ministers  who  had  emi- 
grated to  Ohio  were  enrolled  when  the  Ohio  Eldership^  of  the  Church  of  God  met 
October  14,  1844,  in  the  bethel  in  Perry  township,  Wayne  county,  Ohio.  The 
number  of  members  was  twenty-eight.  They  elected  Edward  West  Speaker,  and 
Thomas  Hickernell,  First  Clerk,  and  Samuel  Scott,  Second  Clerk.  Winebrenner 
and  John  Hickernell  were  "received  as  full  members."  A  Treasurer  was  ap- 
pointed for  the  Board  of  Missions,  and  "the  same  annual  collections  were  ordered 
for  the  support  of  Bro.  E.  West."  The  Eldership  "discussed  the  propriety  of  this 
body  licensing  preachers,"  and  finally  resolved  to  "proceed  in  this  matter  as  here- 


380  History  of  the  Churches  of  God 

tofore;  and  that  we  advise  the  churches  within  the  bounds  of  this  Eldership  to 
refer  applicants  for  license  to  this  body."  The  first  official  steps  were  taken  to 
create  a  General  Eldership  by  the  adoption  of  a  resolution  agreeing  "to  co-operate 
with  the  East  and  West  Pennsylvania  Elderships"  to  that  end.  Six  delegates  were 
elected,  and  the  naming  of  "the  time  and  place  of  holding  said  General  Eldership" 
was  "left  to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership."  The  territory  of  the  Eldership 
was  divided  into  five  circuits,  upon  which  were  appointed  eight  preachers,  with 
three  assistants.  Samuel  Scott  was  appointed  missionary  to  Iowa,  and  J.  Martin, 
Wm.  Hood  and  D.  Neidig,  "to  the  State  of  Indiana." 

10th  Ohio  Eldership. — The  Ohio  Eldership,  when  it  assembled  at  Sugar 
Creek  meeting-house,  in  Holmes  county,  on  the  15th  of  October,  1845,  its  enroll- 
ment was  twenty-seven  teaching  and  ruling  elders.  They  are  all  designated 
"elders."  John  Hickemell,  who  had  become  a  member  of  the  West  Pennsylvania 
Eldership,  was  in  attendance.  A.  Megrew  was  chosen  Speaker;  John  Reiber,  First 
Clerk,  and  James  McClintock,  Second  Clerk.  Without  Constitution  or  Rules  of 
Order,  items  were  introduced  and  committees  appointed  by  motion  or  resolution. 
One  of  the  latter  was  directed  "to  examine  the  Journal  of  the  last  Eldership,  and 
report  the  items  of  unfinished  business."  There  were  seven  fields  of  labor  as  the 
Eldership  was  constituted;  but  when  the  Stationing  Committee  reported  they  were 
reduced  to  four,  with  six  preachers.  There  were  also  thirteen  "general  mission- 
aries," some  of  whom  did  successful  work  in  enlarging  the  territory  and  opening 
new  points.  A  "Committee  on  Overtures"  was  created;  also  one  on  Resolutions. 
The  latter  reported  a  resolution  "in  regard  to  the  Bible  cause,  as  being  emphat- 
ically the  cause  of  God,"  and  commended  it  "to  the  special  care  and  patronage  of 
the  Church  of  God."  Also  one  "heartily  and  zealously  recommending  to  all  our 
brethren  of  the  Church  of  God  to  avoid  the  desecration  of  the  Sabbath  by  travel- 
ing, feasting,  sleeping,  working,  or  indulging  in  worldly  conversation."  A  resolu- 
tion on  Slavery  was  offered,  discussed  and  adopted,  declaring  that  "the  members 
of  the  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Ohio  believe  that  the  Bible  teaches  that 
slavery  is  a  violation  of  the  law  of  God."  A  Camp-meeting  Committee  was  ap- 
pointed. One  minister  was  expelled  for  "heresy  and  insubordination."  A  serious 
condition  touching  the  general  polity  of  the  Church  in  the  United  States  developed 
when  the  Eldership  "took  into  consideration  the  Constitution  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship held  at  Pittsburg,"  Pa.,  May  25,  1845,  and  "Resolved,  unanimously.  That  it 
be  laid  on  the  table."  There  was  deep-seated  jealousy  of  the  rights  and  powers 
of  the  churches,  as  against  encroachments  of  any  superior  legislative  body. 

11th  Ohio  Eldei-ship. — The  Standing  Committee  having  changed  the  place  of 
meeting  of  the  Eldership  for  1846,  it  convened  at  "Kline's  school-house,  Franklin 
township,  Richland  county,  Ohio,"  on  the  19th  day  of  October.  Instead  of  the 
four  circuits  as  arranged  the  previous  year,  there  were  six  when  the  Eldership 
was  constituted,  one  being  the  Indiana  Mission.  The  Eldership  was  composed  of 
eighteen  teaching  elders,  twelve  ruling  elders,  and  three  delegates.  A.  Megrew, 
Speaker;  Thomas  Hickemell,  First  Clerk,  and  Henry  Murray,  Transcribing  Clerk. 
Thomas  Hickemell  was  the  great  missionary  of  the  Eldership.  He  had  spent  part 
of  the  year  in  western  Pennsylvania;  made  a  tour  through  the  State  of  Indiana, 
working  up  the  interest  for  the  organization  of  an  Eldership  in  that  State,  and 
"gone  through  the  southern  part  of  Ohio  towards  Cincinnati." 

In  electing  the  Standing  Committee  and  the  Stationing  Committee  the  names 
of  two  ministers  and  two  laymen  were,  on  motion,  resolved  to  be  the  Committees. 
By  action  of  the  Eldership,  Hickemell  preached  a  sermon  on  "Church  Govern-- 
ment."  It  was  the  practice  of  the  Eldership  thus  to  name  a  minister  to  preach  on 
some  special  subject.  One  minister  left  the  body  and  united  with  the  Christian 
Church,  and  one  was  expelled.  On  the  question  of  Secret  Societies  "the  members 
of  this  Eldership  are  recommended  not  to  identify  themselves  with  them."  This 
was  popular  sentiment  then  in  Ohio.  For  the  same  year  the  Ohio  Conference  of 
the  Evangelical  Association  adopted  "its  strongest  expression  concerning  oath- 
bound  secret  societies  in  an   out-spoken  resolution  with  reference  to  one  of  its 

members,  as  follows:      'Resolved,  That  shall  withdraw  from  the  order 

of  Free  Masons,  and  procure  a  certificate  of  dismissal  from  them,  which  shall  be 
published.'  " 

A  petition  was  received  "to  have  an  Eldership  formed  in  the  State  of  In- 
diana." Wholly  ignoring  the  General  Eldership,  this  Eldership  resolved  to  "co- 
operate with  the  brethren  in  the  West  in  forming  an  Eldership  in  the  State  of 
Indiana;"  appointed  two  "delegates  to  said  Eldership;"  fixed  "the  second  Saturday 


Ohio    Eldership  381 

in  November  next,  in  the  neighborhood  of  John  Martins,  Milford  township,  La 
Grange  county,  Ind.,"  as  the  time  and  place  of  meeting,  and  established  the 
eastern  boundary: — "that  one  row  of  the  western  counties  of  the  State  of  Ohio, 
extending  north  and  south,  be  thrown  into  the  Indiana  Eldership."  Some  internal 
dissensions  at  this  time  "seemed  to  threaten  a  rent  in  the  Church  of  God  in  Ohio; 
but  the  cloud  apparently  dispersed"  during  the  Eldership.  On  account  of  the 
transfer  of  "Van  Wert,  Mercer,  Darke  and  other  border  counties  to  the  Indiana 
Eldership,  the  number  of  fields  of  labor  was  reduced  to  five. 

12th  Ohio  Eldership. — The  opposition  to  the  General  Eldership  had  appar- 
ently crystallized  when  the  Ohio  Eldership  met  in  annual  session  "in  the  Smith- 
ville  meeting-house,  Wayne  county,  Ohio,  on  the  18th  of  October,  1847."  On  the 
very  day  of  the  meeting  Thomas  Hickemell,  a  member  of  the  General  Eldership 
in  1845,  and  one  of  the  committee  which  drafted  its  Constitution,  wrote:  "We 
could  get  no  delegates  appointed  to  go  to  the  General  Eldership,  although  it  was 
hard  pleaded  for  by  some.  The  idea  is  still  held  that  the  Constitution  of  the 
General  Eldership  looks  too  much  like  a  discipline — that  a  link  is  now  formed, 
and  after  awhile  we  will  have  a  chain."  They  saw  that  co-operation  means  re- 
striction of  the  liberty  of  the  units;  that  freedom  is  a  thing  incompatible  with 
corporate  life.  But  they  did  not  yet  see  that  every  advance  in  richness  of  exist- 
ence, whether  moral,  social  or  ecclesiastical,  is  paid  for  by  a  loss  of  liberty.  And 
so  they  decided  not  to  put  their  necks  under  what  they  regarded  as  a  yoke.  There 
were  five  circuits  reported,  with  eighteen  teaching  elders,  five  ruling  elders  and 
nine  delegates.  H.  Rupp  was  in  Missouri,  and  S.  Scott,  in  Iowa.  A.  Megrew  was 
elected  Speaker,  and  T.  Hickemell,  Clerk.  Hickemell  had  labored  in  Indiana 
since  Spring,  and  had  opened  thirty  appointments,  with  more  calls;  that  "prospects 
were  very  flattering."  His  county  was  put  into  the  Indiana  Eldership,  and  he 
went  with  it  for  the  time. 

The  "'subject  of  church  elders  was  taken  into  consideration;  a  short  discus- 
sion took  place,  which  ended  in  a  good  feeling,  but  no  definite  decision." 
Preachers  were  urged  "to  make  tours  to  those  places  in  the  West  where  they  are 
requesting  preaching,  provided  no  one  can  be  gotten  to  go  there  and  spend  all  his 
time  in  laboring  in  the  gospel."  "The  Constitution  of  the  General  Eldership  was 
reconsidered,"  but  "after  an  investigation  of  the  subject  it  was  laid  over  till  the 
next  yearly  meeting." 

13th  Ohio  Eldership. — The  Ohio  Eldership  met  in  the  Chester  meeting-house, 
Chester  township,  Wayne  county,  Ohio,  on  the  16th  of  October,  1848.  Five  cir- 
cuits were  reported,  with  fourteen  pastors,  and  seven  delegates  and  eleven  ruling 
elders.  Six  ministers  were  absent.  A.  Megrew  was  elected  Speaker;  J.  W.  West, 
Journalizing  Clerk,  and  David  Baker,  Transcribing  Clerk.  The  subject  of  Secret 
Societies  was  at  once  taken  up,  and  a  resolution  adopted,  that  "we  can  not  hold 
members  identifying  themselves  with  secret  societies  as  members  of  this  body." 
A  decision  was  reached  not  to  "receive  charges  against  a  member  of  this  body 
from  a  person  who  has  been  legally  expelled  from  any  organized  church." 

The  Eldership  again  took  "into  consideration  the  Constitution  of  the  General 
Eldership,"  which  had  been  amended  in  one  Article  in  May,  1848,  and  "after 
mature  deliberation,  considering  that  body  a  delegated  body  for  the  transaction 
of  general  business,  and  it  can  not  consistently  act  further  than  they  are  in- 
structed by  their  constituents,"  the  Eldership  decided  that  it  "can  not  accede  to 
the  present  Constitution,  as  framed  by  the  General  Eldership;  but  that,  neverthe- 
less, we  are  in  favor  of  a  General  Eldership,  which  shall  be  composed  of  delegates 
from  the  several  Annual  Elderships,  and  that  said  General  Eldership  shall  trans- 
act such  business  as  is  of  a  general  character  and  for  the  Annual  Elderships,  such 
as  pulDlishing  books,  papers,  etc.,  but  not  to  legislate  laws  for  the  government  of 
either  the  Church  or  the  Annual  Elderships." 

A  committee  was  named  "to  form  rules  for  the  government  of  a  Missionary 
Society."  This  was  done,  and  it  provided  for  the  organization  of  "The  Ohio  Eld- 
ership Missionary  and  Charity  Fund  Society."  Its  object  was  "to  employ,  send 
out  and  support  both  domestic  and  foreign  missionaries,  and  to  support  superan- 
nuated preachers,  widows  and  orphans."  All  the  details  of  the  organization  were 
prescribed  in  the  eighth  Article  of  this  Constitution.  Seven  ministers  were  as- 
signed to  the  six  circuits,  with  eleven  "missionagers."  The  members  of  the  Elder- 
ship were  instructed  to  "arrange  their  matters  so  as  to  stay  one  week  at  the  next 
annual  meeting,  so  as  to  spend  more  time  with  the  brethren  and  friends  in  preach- 


382  History   of  the   Church ks   of   God 

ing  and  other  religious  exercises."  By  request  of  the  church  at  Chester  the  or- 
dinances were  attended  to  on  Wednesday  evening. 

14th  Ohio  Eldership. — The  Ohio  Eldership  held  its  session  in  1849  "in  the 
Madisonville  Bethel,  Wayne  county,  Ohio,  beginning  October  15th.  Abraham 
Hollems  delivered  a  discourse  appropriate  to  the  occasion  at  9  o'clock,  from  II. 
Cor.  ii.  16."  There  were  enrolled  seventeen  teaching  elders,  thirteen  ruling 
elders  and  four  delegates.  Three  ministers  wQre  absent.  A.  Megrew  was  elected 
Speaker;  J.  M.  West,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  Heni-y  Murray,  Transcribing  Clerk. 
The  need  of  Rules  was  evidenced  by  the  appointment  of  a  committee  "to  form 
Rules  for  the  government  of  this  Eldership."  It  reported  eleven  parliamentary 
or  "Standing  Rules."      The  Standing  Committee  was  censured  for  not  informing 

of  the  reasons  why  his  request  was  not  granted,  and  therefore  owe  him 

an  apology."  A  new  Standing  Committee  .was  appointed  "to  consist  of  three 
teaching  and  two  ruling  elders."  Each  minister  was  required  "to  preach  a  mis- 
sionary sermon  at  least  once  a  year  at  each  regular  place  of  preaching."  Ministers- 
were  "to  use  their  utmost  influence  toward  the  establishment  of  Sabbath-schools." 
On  account  of  more  or  less  neglect  in  holding  ordinance  services,  the  Eldership  di- 
rected that  they  be  observed  more  frequently.  Seven  circuits,  with  nine  pastors,, 
were  reported  by  the  Stationing  Committee.  There  were  fourteen  unemployed 
or  "local"  preachers,  among  them  John  S.  McKee,  of  the  U.  B.  Church,  who  re- 
ceived license.  The  ministers  were  "requested  to  write  out  their  biographical 
sketches  for  publication."  The  missionary  funds  were  guarded  by  directing  that 
"no  moneys  be  drawn  out  of  the  treasury  of  the  Missionary  Society  only  on  the 
order  of  the  Eldership;  or,  in  the  time  of  its  recess,  on  the  order  of  the  Stand- 
ing Committee." 

15th  Ohio  Eldership.- — The  Ohio  Eldership  held  an  interesting  session  at 
Sugar  Creek  Bethel,  Holmes  county,  beginning  October  14,  1850.  On  consti- 
tuting the  Eldership  there  were  five  circuits  and  one  station,  on  which  were  fifteen 
teaching  elders,  with  ten  ruling  elders  and  delegates.  Five  teaching  elders  were- 
absent.  William  Adams  was  elected  Speaker;  Henry  Murray,  Journalizing  Clerk, 
and  J.  M.  West,  Transcribing  Clerk.  "Rules  for  this  meeting"  were  adopted.  A 
rule  was  also  adopted,  prohibiting  any  member  leaving  without  permission.  Com- 
mittees were  elected  "by  nomination."  The  presence  of  four  Free-will  Baptist  min- 
isters indicated  the  Christian  fellowship  between  the  two  bodies.  James  Johnson, 
Regular  Baptist,  was  received,  a  license  granted  him,  and  his  name  placed  among 
the  "missionaries."  A  "Brother  Ray,  of  the  Free-will  Baptist  Society,  applied  for 
a  union  between  the  Church  of  God  and  the  Society  with  which  he  labors."  The 
Eldership  appointed  H.  Murray  and  B.  Howard  to  "visit  them  and  supply  them 
with  preaching  until  next  Spring."  In  March,  1851,  the  Standing  Committee 
appointed  J.  Dennis,  member  of  the  Eldership,  "to  take  charge  of  the  Washing- 
ton and  Middletown  churches  of  the  Free-will  Baptist  Association  and  supply 
them  with*  preaching."  B.  Howard,  Free-will  Baptist,  was  received  into  the 
Eldership,  a  license  voted  him,  and  appointed  to  "travel  as  a  missionary  among^ 
the  churches  and  elsewhere."  He  was  chosen  to  preach  the  opening  sermon  be- 
fore the  Eldership  in  1851.  The  Eldership  failed  to  elect  delegates  to  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership,  but  the  Standing  Committee  on  March  3  and  on  May  5,  1851,  ap- 
pointed five.  In  the  case  of  two  ministers  on  the  Superannuated  list  appropria- 
tions were  made  to  them  "out  of  the  Missionary  Fund."  There  was  still  a  good 
deal  of  German  preaching  in  Ohio.  On  the  question  of  fellowshiping  unbaptized 
persons  A.  Megi*ew  offered  the  following:  "Inasmuch  as  this  body  considers  it 
unscriptural  to  receive  unbaptized  persons  into  church  fellowship;  therefore, 

"Resolved,  That  the  ministers  of  the  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Ohia 
teach  the  churches  not  to  receive  unbaptized  persons  into  the  church." 

"A  spirited  debate"  followed,  after  which  the  resolution  was  adopted  by  a 
vote  of  15  yeas,  and  9  nays.  Later  a  motion  to  reconsider  this  action  was  laid  on 
the  table.  This  action  was  a  little  later  strongly  antagonized  by  Winebrenner 
in  several  editorials  on  "Terms  of  Church  Membership."  A.  Megrew  and  James 
Neil  were  appointed  "missionaries  to  the  western  country,"  and  the  former  taught 
in  Iowa  the  sentiments  of  his  resolution.  Positive  resolutions  were  adopted 
against  "the  habit  of  traveling  and  visiting  on  the  Sababth  day,"  and  against  the- 
use  of  tobacco,  "except  as  a  medicine." 

16th  Ohio  Eldei-ship. — A  peculiarity  of  the  sixteenth  annual  session  of  the- 
Ohio  Eldership,  which  met  "in  the  bethel  of  the  church  of  God  in  Bethlehem  town- 
ship. Stark  county,  October  20,  1851,  was  the  preaching  of  the  Opening  Sermon 


Ohio    Eldership  383. 

after  organization  by  the  Speaker-elect,  A.  Hollems.  J.  M.  West  was  elected  Jour- 
nalizing Clerk,  and  J.  Myers,  Transcribing  Clerk.  Of  the  twenty-seven  ministers, 
of  the  Eldership  sixteen  were  present,  with  fourteen  ruling  elders  and  nine  dele- 
gates. The  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  were  called  upon  to  make  reports, 
whereupon  the  Eldership  "highly  approved  of  the  transactions  of  the  delegates  to 
the  General  Eldership,  and  that  the  plan  of  co-operation  may  be  continued." 
Without  debate,  the  Eldership  rescinded  the  resolution  passed  in  1850  "on  the 
subject  of  unbaptized  church  members."  The  churches  in  the  counties  in  south- 
ern Ohio,  Athens  and  Meigs,  according  to  action  of  the  General  Eldership,  were 
"received  under  the  care  of  this  body."  They  had  belonged  to  the  West  Pennsyl- 
vania Eldership.  Because  the  "preaching  and  proceedings  of  Elder  B.  Howard" 
could  not  all  be  "endorsed"  by  the  Eldership,  "we  discharge  him  from  this  body^ 
agreeably  to  his  request."  The  Eldership  strongly  urged  the  publishing  of  a  new 
hymn-book,  and  the  project  of  removing  the  Printing  Establishment  to  Wooster, 
Ohio,  stating  that  they  "have  $570.00  subscribed  for  this  purpose,  and  we  expect 
to  obtain  several  hundred  dollars  more."  Action  was  also  taken  in  favor  of  estab- 
lishing "a  seminary  of  learning  in  Wooster,  or  any  other  suitable  place."  Until 
such  an  institution  is  established  "we  would  recommend  the  brethren  to  patronize 
Oberlin  College."  This  was  based  on  the  ground  that  "not  only  the  sciences,  but 
the  fear  of  God  and  the  principles  of  true  Christianity  are  taught.  .  .  .upon  genuine- 
anti-sectarian  principles."  The  field  of  operation  by  the  Eldership  was  divided 
into  six  circuits  and  one  station,  without  making  provision  for  the  churches  in 
Athens  and  Meigs  counties.  The  Eldership  voted  to  "become  an  incorporated 
body."  E.  Logue  was  present  "as  a  delegate  from  the  West  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship." In  turn  "this  body  appoint  two  delegates  to  the  West  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship, to  be  held  in  the  year  A.  D.  1852." 

17th  Ohio  Eldership. — During  the  year  following  the  Eldership  of  1851  the 
Standing  Committee  made  a  number  of  changes  in  the  circuits,  and  also  supplied 
the  churches  in  southern  Ohio.  When  the  Eldership  met  "in  the  brick  bethel  of 
the  church  in  Perry  township,  Ashland  county,  October  21,  1852,"  there  were 
eight  circuits,  supplied  by  fifteen  preachers.  H.  Murray  was  elected  Speaker;  J. 
M.  West,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  J.  Myers,  Transcribing  Clerk.  At  11  o'clock  of 
the  first  session  the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached,  in  which  special  stress  was  laid' 
"on  the  unity  which  should  exist  in  the  Church  of  God  in  doctrine  and  practice." 
There  were  no  permanent  Rules,  etc.  "Standing  Rules  for  this  session  were  re- 
ported by  the  Committee  to  Form  Rules,"  with  an  occasional  special  rule  to  meet 
an  emergency.  The  irregular  way  in  which  certain  matters  were  done  at  times  is 
seen  in  the  case  of  J.  C.  Seabrooks,  a  member  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership, 
who  was  received  "as  a  member  of  this  body  during  this  session,"  was  placed  on 
committees,  offered  resolutions,  voted  and  made  his  report  to  the  Eldership.  The- 
organization  of  Sabbath-schools  was  strongly  urged,  and  the  American  Sunday- 
school  Union  recommended  to  their  patronage.  The  "Eastern  and  Western  Eld- 
erships" were  solicited  to  co-operate  with  the  Ohio  Eldership  in  "the  use  of  all 
honorable  means  for  the  establishment  of  a  new  printing  press  at  Wooster,  Ohio." 
Winebrenner  editorially  suggested  in  The  Advocate  the  week  following  that  this 
question  "should  be  submitted  to  the  decision  of  the  General  Eldership,  and  in 
their  decision,  under  God,  all  should  quietly  acquiesce."  The  simple  process- 
whereby  the  Eldership  was  incorporated  is  embodied  in  an  action  providing  for  the- 
"appointment  of  trustees,  under  Act  of  the  Legislature,  for  the  control  of  asso- 
ciated religious  societies,  and  to  define  their  privileges  and  duties,  passed  the  12th 
day  of  March,  A.  D.  1844."  To  prevent  the  loss  or  alienation  of  church  prperty 
the  churches  of  the  Eldership  were  instructed  "to  insert  a  provisional  clause  in 
each  deed,  transferring  said  meeting-house  or  houses  to  the  trustees  of  said  Elder- 
ship." The  "circuits  of  the  Ohio  Eldership"  were  also  "advised  to  purchase  a  lot 
of  land  on  each  circuit  and  erect  a  suitable  house  for  the  use  of  the  circuit 
preacher."  Eleven  appointments  were  mapped  out,  one  being  "Western  Ohio," 
and  in  addition  a  minister  was  "advised  to  visit  the  churches  in  Athens  county 
and  preach  for  them,  provided  they  will  support  him."  The  Committee  on  the- 
State  of  Religion  had  stated  that  "we  find  the  declension  of  religion  amongst  us 
owing  to  the  inadequacy  of  ministerial  support." 

18th  Ohio  Eldership. — The  custom  of  preaching  the  Opening  Sermon  of  the 
Eldership  after  the  organization  was  followed  in  18  53,  when  the  Ohio  Eldership 
met  with  the  church  in  Blooming  Grove,  Richland  county,  on  Monday,  October 
17th.     There  were  twenty-two  teaching  elders  present  and  thirteen  absent;  eleven 


384  History  of  the   Churches   of   God 

ruling  eldrs,  and  eight  delegates.  A.  Holmes  was  elected  Speaker;  P.  Hartman 
and  J.  Myers,  Clerks.  Five  trustees  of  the  Eldership  were  appointed  under  the 
Act  of  Incorporation,  viz.:  Samuel  Metzler,  David  Baker,  Peter  Hartman,  J.  Myers 
and  John  Funk.  Wooster  church  was  given  the  privilege  to  supply  itself  with  a 
preacher.  The  ministers  reported  a  fair  number  of  conversions  and  accessions  to 
the  churches,  with  several  new  churches  organized,  one  of  them  near  Attica, 
Seneca  county.  Henry  Rupp  was  transferred  to  the  Illinois  Eldership,  which  had 
recently  been  formed;  and  Samuel  Spohnhower  to  the  Indiana  Eldership.  By 
resolution  the  Eldership  advised  "brethren  in  the  ministry,  both  those  on  circuits 
and  stations,  to  pay  pastoral  visits  as  often  as  possible  to  the  brethren  and  sisters 
in  their  families,  for  the  purpose  of  conversing  with  them  on  the  subject  of  re- 
ligion; praying  with  and  for  them,  and  give  them  a  word  of  encouragement." 
Joseph  White,  of  Genesee  county,  Mich.,  asked  for,  and  received,  license  to  preach. 
The  Stationing  Committee  created  a  mission  in  Michigan,  and  appointed  G.  W. 
AVilson  missionary.  The  Athens  county  mission  was  also  recognized,  and  a  mis- 
sionary appointed.  Seven  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  were  appointed. 
The  Eldership  "highly  approved  of  the  great  Temperance  Reform,  under  the  name 
of  Prohibitory  Law,  and  urge  the  propriety  of  the  church  in  her  universal  capacity 
to  use  all  lawful  and  honorable  exertions  in  pushing  onward  the  great  Temperance 
Cause."  It  required  each  licensed  minister  to  preach  one  missionary  sermon  dur- 
ing each  year,  and  to  do  all  they  can  in  collecting  missionary  money.  The  inade- 
quate support  of  the  ministers  was  deeply  lamented. 

19th  Ohio  Eldership. — The  nineteenth  annual  meeting  of  the  Ohio  Eldership 
was  held  at  Smithville,  Wayne  county,  beginning  October  16,  1854.  From  the 
•enrollment  it  appears  that  the  Wooster  church  had  secured  the  services  of  John 
JHickernell,  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  There  were  ten  appointments, 
with  Athens  county  and  the  Michigan  Mission  not  on  the  list.  The  Stationing 
■Committee  at  the  close  of  the  session  reduced  these  to  eight.  The  officers  of  the 
Eldership  were  Heni"y  Mun-ay,  Speaker;  Jacob  Myers,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  J. 
M.  West,  Transcribing  Clerk.  Abraham  Hollems  preached  the  Opening  Sermon 
after  organization.  Troubles  of  various  kinds  developed  at  this  Eldership,  as 
during  former  Elderships,  there  being  charges  preferred  in  many  instances  with- 
out previous  notice.  This  resulted  in  the  adoption  of  a  Rule  that  "no  charges 
shall  be  brought  against  a  member  of  this  body,  except  he  be  previously  con- 
sulted." Again  the  question,  "Is  it  scriptural  and  according  to  the  apostolic  prac- 
tice to  receive  unbaptized  believers  into  the  local  churches  of  God?"  was  offered 
and  discussed  by  G.  W.  Wilson,  John  Hickemell  and  A.  Hollems  in  the  affirmative; 
and  J.  S.  McKee,  Heni-y  MuiTay  and  T.  H.  Deshiri  in  the  negative.  It  was  then 
laid  on  the  table.  A  resolution  respecting  secret  societies  was  also  laid  on  the 
table,  and  it  was  declared  that  "the  resolution  prohibiting  the  members  of  this 
body  from  identifying  themselves  with  secret  societies  be  considered  advisory." 
The  ordinances  were  observed,  after  a  sermon  preached  by  Jacob  Myers.  Moses 
Coates  had  the  best  report,  as  he  "traveled  over  3,500  miles,  preached  295  times, 
and  baptized  125  believers  in  Christ."  The  Missionary  Society  reported  the  total 
amount  received  by  collections  and  from  Life  Members  to  be  $296.25.  The  Eld- 
ership declared  that  it  "has  the  authority  to  insist  on  the  churches  to  support  their 
preachers  completely;  therefore,  if  they  fail  to  do  so,  to  regard  them  as  delinquent, 
and  take  measures  to  correct  the  evil."  It  also  directed  its  Stationing  Committee 
''to  meet  immediately  after  supper,  in  the  school-house,"  and  "that  no  person  be 
admitted  in  the  room  with  it." 

20th  Ohio  Eldership. — Ham  still  a  member  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship, but  pastor  at  Wooster,  had  the  Eldership  in  Ohio  to  provide  for  which  con- 
vened at  Wooster,  October  15,  1855,  at  9  a.  m.  Monday.  The  Opening  Sermon 
was  preached  that  "evening  at  candle-lighting,"  by  G.  W.  Wilson.  There  were 
ten  fields  of  labor,  two  being  missions,  and  Wooster  station.  Nineteen  ministers 
were  in  attendance;  fifteen  were  absent,  and  fourteen  ruling  elders  and  delegates 
were  enrolled.  Wm.  Adams  was  chosen  Speaker;  J.  Myers,  First  Clerk,  and  J.  M. 
West,  Second  Clerk.  The  Eldership  provided  for  the  preaching  of  special  ser- 
mons in  1856,  on  Systematic  Beneficence,  by  G.  U.  Harn,  and  on  Education,  by 
G.  W.  Wilson.  The  state  of  religion  "as  far  as  the  bounds  of  the  Ohio  Eldership 
extend"  was  reported  "heart-cheering."  The  change  of  Eldership  title  came  before 
the  body  in  the  form  of  a  resolution  from  the  Committee  on  Resolutions;  but  it 
was  voted  down,  the  vote  being  8  to  10.  A  "Memorial"  was  addressed  to  the 
Eldership,  signed  by  six  sisters,  members  of  the  church  at  Wooster,  petitioning  it 


Ohio    Eldership  385 

"to  take  an  action  relative  to  the  using  of  tobacco,  the  use  of  which  creates  so 
much  filth  in  our  bethels  and  around  our  firesides."  And  the  Eldership  by  reso- 
lution declared  that  it  "approbates  the  sentiments  of  the  above  memorial."  The 
initial  action  was  taken  to  form  an  Eldership  in  western  Ohio,  by  recommending 
the  matter  to  the  General  Eldership.  There  were  eight  circuits,  one  station  and 
four  missions  mapped  out  by  the  Stationing  Committee.  To  each  mission  a  small 
amount  was  appropriated  out  of  the  Missionary  treasury,  which  contained  $211.67. 
There  were  nineteen  ministers  who  had  no  appointments  from  the  Eldership. 
Each  of  these  was  assigned  to  a  mission,  two  of  which  were  in  Michigan,  and 
others  in  Jefferson,  Ashland,  Wayne,  Hancock,  Seneca,  Wyandot,  Richland  and 
Van  Wert  counties. 

21st  Ohio  Eldership. — The  Ohio  Eldership  of  1856  convened  near  Reedsburg, 
at  the  Brick  Bethel,  on  Monday  morning,  October  20th,  when  twenty-five  ministers 
and  fourteen  ruling  elders  and  delegates  answered  to  their  names.  Then  ministers 
were  absent.  These  twenty-five  ministers  were  located  on  fourteen  fields.  Janies 
Neil  was  chosen  Speaker;  L.  B.  Hai-tnian,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  J.  Myers,  Trans- 
cribing Clerk.  The  "opening  discourse"  was  ordered  to  be  preached  in  the  even- 
ing of  the  first  day.  The  effect  of  Harn's  teaching  on  Eldership  titles  was  indi- 
cated in  a  resolution  from  the  Committee  on  Resolutions,  of  which  he  was  a  mem- 
ber, which  recommended,  "that  the  letters  'es'  be  added  to  the  word  'Church'  in 
the  sentence  of  the  Journal  designating  the  title  of  the  Eldership,  so  as  to  read, 
"Eldership  of  the  churches  of  God,  in  Ohio."  The  resolution  was  adopted  by  a 
vote  of  25  to  8.  The  same  Committee  also  reported  a  resolution  directing  min- 
isters to  use  the  singular  form,  "doctrine,"  instead  of  the  plural,  as  in  the  phrases 
"doctrines  of  Christ,"  "doctrines  of  the  Bible,"  which  was  adopted.  But  a  resolu- 
tion changing  "the  reading  of  our  preachers'  licenses,"  so  that  instead  of  assuming 
the  nature  of  Episcopal  Authority,  it  would  assume  rather  the  form  and  appear- 
ance of  a  writing  of  recommendation,"  was  postponed  one  year.  And  a  resolution 
in  favor  of  the  laying  on  of  hands  in  ordination  was  voted  down.  The  support  of 
ministers  was  so  small  as  to  call  out  serious  complaints,  and  induced  the  Com- 
mittee on  the  State  of  Religion  to  say:  "This  must  not  continue  so  any  longer; 
the  minister  must  be  supported."  The  recommendation  to  the  General  Elaership 
to  organize  a  "Western  Ohio  Eldership"  was  repeated.  The  Eldership  placed 
itself  unequivocally  on  record  on  the  question  of  the  "extension  of  slavery  over 
the  Territory  of  Kansas."  In  its  opinion  such  an  attempt  was  "a  warfare  upon 
Christianity."  Disapproving  of  the  "Ohio  Liquor  Law,"  it  requested  "the  next 
Congress  of  the  United  States  to  enact  a  law  prohibiting  the  importation  of  for- 
eign intoxicating  liquors  into  this  country,  contrary  to  any  of  the  prohibitory  laws 
of  the  several  States."  The  "ministers  and  members"  were  advised  "carefully  to 
refrain  from  all  evil  speaking  and  writing,  on  pain  of  being  dealt  with  according 
to  the  discipline  of  the  Bible." 

22nd  Ohio  Eldership. — Without  authority  from  the  General  Eldership,  the 
Journal  records  the  meeting  of  "the  Eldership  of  the  churches  of  God  at  Madison- 
hurg,  Wayne  county,  on  Monday,  October  5,  1857."  There  were*  fifteen  pastors 
representing  the  eight  circuits,  two  stations  and  five  missions.  Twenty-two  teach- 
ing elders  were  absent.  J.  S.  McKee  was  chosen  Speaker;  L.  B.  Hartman,  Jour- 
nalizing Clerk,  and  M.  Beck,  Transcribing  Clerk.  By  resolution  the  Opening  Ser- 
mon "be  now  preached,  which  was  done,  in  the  course  of  two  hours  and  a  half, 
with  much  assurance  and  power,"  by  the  Speaker  just  elected.  The  Eldership  in- 
sisted on  annual  examinations  of  all  the  ministers  "in  at  least  the  following 
studies:  Orthography,  Grammar,  Logic,  Philosophy,  Rhetoric,  Chemistry,  Astron- 
omy, Anatomy  and  Hygiene  and  Moral  or  Ethical  Sciences."  The  "doings  of  the 
General  Eldership  were  endorsed."  "The  brethren  of  the  Eastern  Ohio  Elder- 
ship" were  "requested  to  meet  with  our  Western  brethren  in  the  organization  of 
the  new  Eldership."  To  authorize  the  publication  of  sermons  delivered  at  Elder- 
ships in  The  Advocate,  so  usual  in  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  was  intro- 
duced in  Ohio,  and  McKee  was  requested  to  send  in  his  opening  sermon  for  that 
purpose,  as  was  AVilson  his  sermon  on  Education,  and  Ham  his  on  The  Commis- 
sion. Stimulated  by  the  memorial  of  the  sisters  in  1856,  the  Eldership  resolved 
"that  all  our  ministers  quit  the  filthy  usage  of  chewing  tobacco." 

23rd  East  Ohio  Eldership.— The  Eldership  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  State  is 
now  known  as  the  East  Ohio  Eldership;  but  it  continues  as  the  successor  of  the 
Ohio  Eldership,  and  so  the  body  which  assembled  at  Sugar  Creek,  Holmes  county, 
Ohio,  October  4,  1858,  was  the  twenty-third  meeting  of  the  East  Ohio  Eldership, 

C.   H.— 14 


386  History   of   the   Churches  of   God 

It  also  retains  the  plural  form  of  the  title.  It  was  reduced  by  the  division  to  nine- 
teen ministers,  of  whom  five  were  absent;  six  circuits,  one  station  and  one  mission. 
The  election  for  officers  resulted  in  the  choice  of  J.  Myers,  Speaker;  L.  B.  Hart- 
man,  First  Clerk,  and  G.  W.  Wilson,  Second  Clerk.  The  Board  of  Missions  was 
an  outside  organization,  and  so  "its  members  were  elected  to  seats  in  this  body 
during  its  sessions."  The  Stationing  Committee  was  composed  of  "one  from  each 
station  and  circuit."     A  new  form  of  license  was  adopted,  which  certified  "that 

is  a  minister  of  the  gospel  in  good  standing  in  the  East  Ohio  Eldership 

of  the  churches  of  God,  and  that  we  believe  him  qualified  to  discharge  the  duties 
and  functions  of  his  office."  While  the  Eldership  declared  that  it  "does  disagree 
with  Elder  J.  Winebrenner  in  his  views  on  slavery,"  it  invited  him  "to  become  a 
member  of  this  body,  and  heartily  urge  him,  if  possible,  to  move  into  our  midst." 
It  also  expressed  its  "regard  for  him  as  a  scholar,  a  gentleman  and  a  Christian." 
Contrary  to  Wiuebrenner's  views,  the  Eldership  declared  that  "we  cannot  con- 
scientiously and  religiously  unite  in  Christian  and  Church  fellowship  with  any 
man  or  woman  who  persists  in  the  sinful  practice  of  buying  and  selling  any  human 
being  in  the  bondage  of  slavery."  And  so  also  the  Eldership  could  not  "assist  by 
contributions,  or  otherwise,  any  missionary  operation  which  teaches  that  slave- 
holders are  scriptural  members  of  a  church  of  Jesus  Christ."  But  it  at  the  same 
time  strongly  disapproved  of  an  attack  on  Winebrenner  on  his  views  on  slavery, 
calling  said  attack  "injudicious,  ungenerous  and  ungenteel."  It  also  placed  itself 
on  record  as  unequivocally  in  favor  of  "prohibition  as  applied  to  the  traffic  of  in- 
toxicating liquors  for  common  beverage."  It  appointed  "the  first  day  of  January 
next  as  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer."  All  the  Elderships  were  urged  to  use  the 
plural  form,  "Churches  of  God."  The  territory  of  the  Eldership  was  divided  into 
one  station,  four  circuits  and  one  mission. 

24th  East  Ohio  Eldership. — The  church  near  Reedsburg,  Brick  Bethel,  Ash- 
land county,  Ohio,  entertained  the  East  Ohio  Eldership  which  convened  Wednes- 
day, October  19,  1859.  No  session  was  held  in  the  forenoon  because  "the  breth- 
ren were  slow  in  getting  in."  Eleven  teaching  elders  responded  at  the  Roll  call, 
and  ten  ruling  elders.  Nine  teaching  elders  were  absent.  G.  W.  W^ilson  was 
chosen  Speaker;  M. "Beck,  First  Clerk,  and  J.  S.  McKee,  Second  Clerk.  The  Eld- 
ership had  no  permanent  Rules  of  Order,  and  so  adopted  Rules  reported  by  a  com- 
mittee. This  being  the  session  prior  to  the  meeting  of  the  General  Eldership,  the 
delegates  to  that  body  were  "instructed  to  oppose  any  and  every  attempt  to  bring 
that  body  into  a  compromise,  co-operation  or  religious  fellowship  with  slave- 
holders." This  was  in  harmony  with  the  views  of  the  Eldership  "that  slavery 
under  all  possible,  probable  and  conceivable  circumstances  is  necessarily  sinful, 
and  a  sin  against  God  and  humanity."  The  Eldership  was  unanimous  in  "recom- 
mending to  the  General  Eldership  the  propriety  of  assuming  the  title  General  Eld- 
ership of  churches  of  God  in  North  America."  The  Eldership  was  not  ready  to 
direct  that  ministers  move  to  their  new  fields  in  the  Fall.  It  was  emphatic  in  its 
endorsement  of  Prohibition.  Christmas  was  designated  as  "a  day  of  fasting  and 
prayer."  A  "Constitution  of  the  East  Ohio  Eldership  Contingent  Fund"  was 
adopted,  and  each  minister  in  charge  of  a  station  or  circuit  was  required  to 
"collect  ten  cents  for"  this  fund.  Shippensburg  Institute  and  Oberlin  College 
were  recommended  to  the  brotherhood.  The  territory  was  divided  into  four  cir- 
cuits, one  station  and  one  mission,  to  which  eight  ministers  were  assigned. 

25th  East  Ohio  Eldership.— The  East  Ohio  Eldership,  which  assembled  at 
New  Berlin,  Stark  county,  Ohio,  October  1,  1860,  had  no  opening  sermon  preached, 
but  William  Adams  "opened  the  session  by  religious  exercises."  There  were 
fifteen  teaching  elders  present  from  five  circuits  and  one  mission,  and  eleven 
ruling  elders  and  delegates.  Nine  teaching  elders  were  absent.  G.  U.  Harn  was 
elected  Speaker;  L.  B.  Hartman,  First  Clerk,  and  J.  Richards,  Second  Clerk.  A 
new  Rule  was  added,  prohibiting  members  leaving  without  favorable  action  by  the 
body.  The  Eldership  made  an  effort  "to  extricate  the  Wooster  church  from  their 
pecuniary  difficulties  in  relation  to  their  house  of  worship,"  and  named  a  com- 
mittee for  that  purpose.  The  Committee  on  Slavery,  M.  Beck,  J.  Beidler  and  S. 
Metzler,  reported  briefly,  but  radically,  declaring  the  Eldership's  "uncompromising 
opposition  to  the  existence  and  further  extension  of  slavery,"  and  resolving  "that 
we  will  use  all  possible  lawful  means,  both  at  the  ballot  box  and  in  the  pulpit,  for 
its  ultimate  abolition."  It  was  an  inauspicious  time  for  such  a  resolution,  and 
"after  some  warm  discussion  the  yeas  and  nays  were  called,  and  it  was  lost — 13 
yeas  and  14  nays.     Then  the  resolutions  of  1859  were  adopted  and  "inserted  In 


Ohio    Ei,de:kship  387 

the  Journal."  In  general  terms  the  "use  of  spirituous  liquors  was  condemned, 
and  the  Eldership  pledged  against  its  manufacture,  even  declaring  against  "selling 
our  grain  to  the  distillers,  for  them  to  convert  into  a  curse."  The  death  of  Wlne- 
brenner  was  feelingly  recorded  as  that  of  a  man  "whose  ministerial  career  as  a 
reformer,  evangelist  and  Christian  has  ever  shone  as  a  star  in  the  constellation 
of  his  age  with  unsurpassed  brilliancy."  Ham  was  requested  to  deliver  a  dis- 
course on  the  life  of  Winebreniier  the  same  evening,  and  did  so,  from  Acts.  viii.  2. 
Funeral  sermons  were  also  directed  to  be  preached  in  all  the  churches  of  the  Eld- 
ership. The  erection  of  a  suitable  monument  by  the  different  Elderships  was 
favored.  Less  than  $100  missionary  money  was  raised  during  the  year.  The  old 
Board  was  excused,  a  new  Board  appointed  and  a  committee  created  to  "draft  a 
new  Constitution  for  the  Board  of  Missions."  The  conversion  of  "about  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty"  was  reported.  To  supply  the  "need  felt  in  many  places,  in  towns 
where  we  have  no  houses  of  worship  and  at  camp-meetings"  a  project  was  matured 
to  secure  "a  large  and  commodious  canvas  tent."  The  necessity  of  education  was 
emphasized  as  a  means  of  protection  and  prosperity.  Five  circuits,  one  station 
and  one  mission  were  arranged  for. 

26th  Ohio  Eldership.^ — When  the  Eldership  adjourned  in  18  60,  it  did  so  to 
meet  at  Vermillion,  on  the  Richland  circuit,  on  October  28,  1861.  It  was  a  session 
at  which  "there  was  more  love  and  union  manifested  by  the  brotherhood"  than  itg 
Clerk  ever  recollected.  There  were  however,  some  "fiery  ordeals  of  investigation" 
of  which  no  public  record  was  made.  The  Journal  was  directed  to  be  "published 
in  pamphlet  with  the  Journals  of  all  the  other  Elderships,"  a  plan  the  East  Ohio 
"Eldership  adopted,  as  suggested  by  our  Editor,"  but  which  failed  to  be  put  into 
effect.  M.  Beck  was  Speaker;  L.  B.  Hartman,  First  Clerk,  and  J.  Myers,  Second 
Clerk.  The  Clerk  revealed  his  own  enthusiastic  patriotism  in  the  statement  that 
"the  Committee  on  the  National  Crisis,"  whose  names  are  not  furnished,  "ap- 
peared in  patriotic  and  sanguine  colors.  Their  report  will  be  read  with  interest 
and  enthusiasm  by  thousands  of  liberty-loving  citizens."  To  save  the  house  of 
worship  at  Dalton  collections  were  required  to  be  lifted  immediately  at  every 
church.  The  new  Constitution  of  the  Missionary  Society  was  adopted,  and  was 
deemed  of  such  importance  that  "it  should  be  actually  studied  by  every  member 
of  the  churches  of  this  Eldership."  Oliver,  Myeiis,  Beck,  McKee  and  Hai'tman 
were  assigned  to  the  five  fields  of  labor. 

27th  East  Ohio  Eldership. — The  Eldership  which  met  at  Mechanicsburg 
(Winfield),  Tuscarawas  county,  Ohio,  Monday,  October  2,  1862,  realized  the  fail- 
ure of  the  plan  to  publish  all  the  Journals  in  one  pamphlet  or  book,  and  so  de- 
clared that  "The  Advocate  being  established  for  the  purpose  of  publishing  all  the 
Eldership  Journals  and  other  Church  documents"  "all  the  families  of  the  Church 
should  feel  it  their  duty  to  patronize  it."  The  Eldership  organized  by  electing 
L.  B.  Hartman,  Speaker,  and  J.  Myers,  Clerk.  A  church  organization  was  reported 
at  Crestline,  Crawford  county.  Louis  Kraft,  general  missionary  of  the  German 
Eldership,  was  made  a  member  of  the  body  during  its  session.  His  labors  were 
confined  to  the  German  people,  among  whom  he  had  preached  one  hundred  and 
seventy-six  sermons.  The  church  at  Smithville  was  advised  "to  build  a  meeting- 
house on  a  large  plan,  with  an  upper  story  for  a  school."  While  "it  appears  that 
some  souls  have  been  gathered  into  the  churches,  and  some  new  places  have  been 
opened  up,  the  cause  has  dwindled  away  in  part  at  other  places."  The  "Com- 
mittee on  the  National  Crisis,"  Beck,  McKee  and  Beidler,  characterized  the  war 
"as  one  of  self-defense,  in  favor  of  the  preservation  of  constitutional  liberty,  for 
free  speech,  free  press,  free  homes  and  all  the  freedom  peculiar  to  our  free  insti- 
tutions," and  so  the  "war  inaugurated  for  the  preservation  of  these  has  our  un- 
qualified approbation."  They  endorsed  and  highly  approved  the  President's 
Emancipation  Proclamation.  "Young  men  expecting  to  enter  the  ministry"  were 
urged  "to  attend  to  the  educating  of  their  minds  and  storing  them  with  all  neces- 
sary knowledge  so  as  to  make  themselves  proficient  and  acceptable  among  the 
churches  and  people." 

28th  East  Ohio  Eldership. — L.  B,  Hartman  on  Sunday  evening,  October  25,. 
1863,  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  of  the  session  of  the  East  Ohio  Eldership- 
which  began  its  twenty-eighth  session  at  Smithville,  Wayne  county,  Ohio,  on  Mon- 
day morning,  the  26th.  J.  Myers  was  elected  to  preside,  and  J.  H.  Hartman  to. 
record  the  Minutes.  There  were  ten  teaching  elders  present,  and  nine  absent, 
with  fifteen  ruling  elders  and  two  delegates.  The  Stationing  Committee,  "ap- 
pointed by  acclamation,"  consisted  of  "one  from  each  circuit  and  station,"  making 


388  History  of   the:  Churches  of   God 

six,  of  which  four  were  laymen.  The  Illinois  Eldership  is  given  credit  for  having 
"undertaken  to  establish  a  mission  in  the  great  city  of  Chicago,"  and  as  Chicago 
is  "a  great  commercial  center,  and  in  short  one  of  earth's  high  places,"  hence  the 
Eldership  resolved  "to  encourage  the  enterprise  with  our  means,  our  "influence 
and  our  prayers."  Intemperance  being  characterized  as  "this  abominable  com- 
pound of  crimes  and  vices,"  the  Eldership  deplored  "the  want  of  a  downright, 
positive  prohibition  law."  The  "Committee  on  National  Crisis"  declared  that  the 
"avowed  purpose"  of  "the  armed  traitors"  in  rebelling  against  the  government  is 
"to  overturn  the  fabric  of  free  government,  and  rear  another  whose  great  statute 
is  that  capital  shall  own  labor."  To  "crush  the  infamous  conspiracy  is  the  will  of 
God,"  and  the  "work  when  done  will  break  yokes  and  fetters  from  the  neck  of 
slaves,  and  become  the  terrible  argument  of  the  righteous  Lord  against  all 
oligarchies,  aristocracies  and  slave  powers."  Slavery  being  "the  cause  and  power 
of  the  rebellion,"  the  Eldership  regarded  "the  Proclamation  of  freedom  as  the  ax 
laid  at  the  root  of  the  tree."  The  Committee  believed  in  the  use  of  the  negro 
in  the  army,  and  also  deemed  it  "the  duty  of  the  gospel  minister  to  use  all  his 
efforts,  private  and  public,  in  order  to  create  a  sound  public  opinion  concerning 
the  great  issues  now  agitating  the  American  people."  M.  Beck,  J.  S.  McKee  and 
M.  Stevens  were  the  Committee,  and  their  Report  was  sustained.  L.  B.  Hartman, 
M.  Laird  and  M.  Stevens,  "Committee  on  Rules  of  Order,  or  System  of  Co-opera- 
tion," reported  a  Constitution  "for  the  better  government  of  our  deliberations  and 
success  of  our  co-operative  plans,"  which  was  "considered  item  by  item,  and 
adopted  as  a  whole."  The  title  of  the  body  is  "The  East  Ohio  Eldership  of  the 
Churches  of  God."  The  membership  is  to  consist  of  "all  ministers  holding  a  regu- 
lar license  from  this  body,  together  with  all  the  ruling  elders  representing  the 
churches  within  its  bounds."  Or  "any  church  may,  in  lieu  of  one  or  more  elders, 
send  a  delegate,  who  shall  be  entitled  to  the  same  privileges  as  ruling  elders." 
"All  members  of  the  Board  of  Missions,  and  also  the  Board  of  Incorporation,  shall 
be  considered  ex-officio  members  of  this  body."  The  organization,  duties  of 
officers,  sessions,  order  of  debate,  and  voting  are  made  parts  of  the  Constitution, 
being  Articles  IV.,  V.,  VI.,  VII.,  VIII.,  IX.,  X.  A  Stationing  Committee  of  one 
from  each  circuit  and  station  is  provided  for.  The  Standing  Committee  is  to  "con- 
sist of  three  or  five,  as  may  be  ordered."  "It  shall  have  all  the  rights  and  author- 
ity of  the  Eldership"  when  the  latter  is  not  in  session.  Licenses  are  to  be  re- 
newed yearly.  Transfers  either  by  or  to  the  Eldership  are  to  be  "in  force  and 
valid  not  more  than  fourteen  months"  from  their  date  of  issue.  A  Board  of 
Trustees  of  the  Eldership  is  provided  for,  consisting  of  five  members,  which  shall 
hold  their  offices  five  years,  or  until  their  successors  are  elected.  Said  Board  is 
to  have  charge  of  all  the  funds,  notes,  bonds,  etc.,  belonging  to  the  Eldership. 
The  duties  of  ministers  are  carefully  defined  in  eighteen  sections  of  the  last 
Article,  some  of  which  are  at  least  considered  as  insinuations  that  virtues  enum- 
erated were  not  a  common  possession.  And  "all  members  and  churches  which 
fail  to  comply  with  these  Rules  of  Order  or  Co-operation  shall  be  liable  to  rebuke, 
suspension  or  expulsion,  as  the  case  may  require,  by  the  Eldership."  The  Elder- 
ship requested  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  and  Dr.  George  Ross  to  supply 
Wooster  with  a  pastor.  The  Eldership  expressed  its  readiness  "heartily  to 
acquiesce  with  the  General  Eldership  in  all  its  plans  to  gather  funds  for  the  erec- 
tion of  such  a  monument  as  will  manifest  all  due  respect  and  honor  of  that  great 
reformer  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Elder  John  AVinebrenner." 

29th  East  Ohio  Eldership. — If  the  stringent  provisions  of  the  Constitution 
were  to  be  a  prophylactic  against  certain  evils  which  were  gradually  developing 
in  the  East  Ohio  Eldership,  the  result  was  disappointing.  The  Eldership  which 
convened  with  the  church  at  Reedsburg,  Ashland  county,  Ohio,  became  painfully 
aware  of  this.  This  is  seen  in  the  licenses  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Standing 
Committee,  the  difficulties  in  several  of  the  churches,  the  lack  of  support  of  pas- 
tors, which  threatened  to  "silence  ministers  and  compel  them  to  resort  to  secular 
pursuits  for  subsistence,"  and  the  spirit  of  insubordination  manifested  in  sundry 
places.  The  Eldership  met  on  Monday  morning,  October  17,  1864.  A.  H.  Long, 
of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  but  pastor  at  Wooster,  preached  the  Opening 
Sermon  on  Sabbath  evening  previous.  Besides  Long,  C.  H.  Forney,  of  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership,  was  also  in  attendance  throughout  the  session.  The 
former  was  placed  on  the  Committee  on  Temperance,  Overtures,  Resolutions.  Edu- 
cation, National  Crisis  and  Stationing;  the  latter  on  those  on  State  of  Religion, 
Education,  National  Crisis,  and  the  late  G.  U.  Harn.     J.  S.  McKee  was  elected 


Ohio    Eldership  389' 

Speaker,  and  P.  Hartman,  Clerk.  Positive  action  was  taken  against  "countenanc- 
ing the  iniquity  of  intemperance  by  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  by  selling  grain 
or  fruit  to  distillers  or  their  agents,  by  trafficing  in  ardent  spirits,  or  by  signing 
the  rum-seller's  petition  for  a  license."  Any  who  do  any  of  these  things  were  to 
be  disciplined,  "and  if  they  will  not  reform,  that  they  be  excommunicated."  The 
numerical  strength  of  the  churches  "has  not  been  much  augmented"  during  the 
year;  the  "spirituality  is  rather  low,"  and  "the  necessity  of  revivals  of  religion 
among  God's  people  everywhere  is  very  apparent."  The  "want  of  cordial  co- 
operation between  different  members  and  churches  for  trifling  reasons  in  sustain- 
ing the  gospel  ministry  and  advancing  the  cause,"  "cannot  but  meet  with  unquali- 
fied disapproval."  Such  were  statements  embodied  in  the  Report  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  the  State  of  Religion.  Four  circuits  and  two  stations  were  mapped  out 
and  supplied  by  the  Stationing  Committee.  While  the  amount  of  available  funds 
in  the  treasury  of  the  Board  of  Missions  was  only  $193.88,  the  amount  of  invested 
subscriptions  of  life  and  honorary  members  of  the  Society  was  $1,600.00. 

30th  East  Ohio  Eldership. — Already  at  the  session  of  the  East  Ohio  Eldership 
which  convened  at  Sugar  Creek,  Holmes  county,  Ohio,  October  30,  186.5,  there 
were  public  indications  of  a  tendency  to  reunite  the  two  Ohio  Elderships.  There 
were  unrest,  friction  and  dissatisfaction  in  East  Ohio,  and  a  consequent  want  of 
zeal  and  of  success.  There  was  one  station  reported  and  five  circuits,  with  Mans- 
field Mission.  A.  H.  Long  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  L.  B.  Hartman,  Clerk.  A 
committee  was  present  from  the  West  Ohio  Eldership  to  canvass  the  question  of 
the  consolidation  of  the  two  Elderships;  but  after  the  matter  was  carefully  con- 
sidered it  was  "indefinitely  postponed,"  and  "a  Visiting  Committee,  consisting  of 
L.  B.  Hartman,  M.  Beck,  J.  S.  McKee,  A.  H.  Long,  J.  Myers  and  W.  H.  Oliver,  was 
appointed  to  meet  with  the  West  Ohio  Eldership  with  a  view  to  cultivate  acquaint- 
ance, familiarity,  sociability  and  Christian  fellowship."  The  Eldership  declared 
it  as  "the  deliberate  and  earnest  conviction  of  the  body,  that  the  preacher  in 
charge  of  a  church,  together  with  the  ruling  elders  and  deacons  constitute  the 
eldership  of  the  local  church,  holding,  however,  that  the  presence  of  the  deacons 
is  not  essential,  but  only  discretionary."  The  duties  of  this  eldership  were  stated 
to  be  "to  rule  the  church,  conduct  religious  services,  receive  and  discipline  mem- 
bers, expel  the  immoral  and  incorrigible."  Rejoicing  that  the  "war  of  gigantic 
proportions  has  closed  in  our  land,"  it  acknowledged  "a  debt  of  everlasting  grati- 
tude to  God  for  saving  and  protecting  us  from  our  enemies  both  North  and  South, 
domestic  and  foreign;"  rejoiced  over  the  downfall  of  American  slavery,"  and 
pledged  its  "zealous  and  Christian  efforts  for  the  intellectual,  moral  and  political 
amelioration"  of  the  ex-slaves.  For  a  "professor  of  Christianity  to  traffic  in  intoxi-' 
eating  liquors,  or  to  sell  grain  or  in  any  other  way  to  aid  the  cause  of  intemper-- 
ance,"  the  Eldership  pronounced  "highly  imprudent."  It  more  strongly  favored 
"the  purchasing  or  establishing  of  an  institution  of  learning  under  the  control  of 
the  Church."  The  "preaching  of  doctrines  strongly  tinctured  with  Calvinism,  as 
the  final  perseverance  of  the  saints,  etc.,"  it  declared  "we  disapprobate  and  dis- 
countenance in  the  strongest  possible  terms."  It  specifically  named  the  sermon 
preached  at  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  on  the  perseverance  of  the  saints 
"several  weeks  since,  as  containing  doctrine  antagonistic  to  the  teaching  of  the 
Bible,  and  contrary  to  the  principles  of  the  Church  of  God,  believing  that  all  such 
doctrines  are  heterodox."  The  "cause  of  religion  has  somewhat  advanced,"  was 
the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion,  "although  not  so  materially 
and  extensively  as  we  desired  to  see,"  and  "the  spirituality  of  the  Church  is  rather 
low."  Six  new  Honorary  Life  Members,  at  $100.00  each,  were  secured  at  this 
meeting  of  the  Eldership.  Each  preacher  was  instructed  to  preach  "a  sermon  at 
each  point  on  his  charge  on  the  subject  of  education,  and  the  importance  of  having 
a  college  in  our  midst."  By  resolution,  the  Eldership  notified  the  churches  that 
"we  adopt  the  custom  of  changing  ministers  immediately  at  the  adjournment  of 
the  Eldership,  to  take  effect  immediately  after  the  next  Annual  Eldership." 

31st  East  Ohio  Eldership. — Fourteen  ministers  and  eight  ruling  elders  and 
delegates  constituted  the  Eldership  which  convened  at  West  Union,  Wayne  county, 
Ohio,  October  29,  1866.  Six  ministers  were  absent.  The  election  resulted  in  the 
choice  of  J.  Beidler  for  Speaker,  and  B,  L.  Davies,  Clerk.  The  Eldership  at  once 
adopted  a  substitute  in  place  of  the  resolution  of  1865,  declaring  that  "the 
preacher  in  charge  of  a  church,  together  with  the  ruling  elders,  constitute  the 
eldership  of  the  local  church."  But  it  also  adopted  a  resolution,  advising  local 
church  councils  "to  avoid  as  much  as  possible  meetings  for  the  settlement  of  petty' 


390  History  of  the   Churches  of   God 

disputes  between  brethren."  The  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  made  a  re- 
port in  which  they  "congratulated  the  brotherhood  upon  its  important  and  timely 
doings;"  that  said  body  "at  its  late  meeting  awoke  to  a  higher  tone  of  improve- 
ment, and  took  a  loftier  stand  in  the  field  of  progress  than  ever  before,"  inviting 
"the  attention  of  the  churches  in  East  Ohio  particularly  to  the  college  movement." 
Provision  was  made  "to  issue  a  local  preacher's  license,"  which  authorized  the 
holder  "to  preach  the  gospel  and  attend  to  all  other  duties  of  his  office,  except  to 
administer  the  ordinances,  organize  churches  and  solemnize  marriages."  J.  L. 
Jenner,  a  United  Brethren  minister,  received  license,  and  an  appropriation  of 
?200.00  was  made  to  him  to  establish  a  mission  in  Canada  West.  The  course  of 
Andrew  Johnson,  President  of  the  United  States,  was  denounced  in  strong  terms, 
as  "derelict  to  the  great  cause  of  freedom  and  human  rights."  The  Course  of 
Studies  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  was  recommended  to  all  the  min- 
isters, and  directing  examinations  therein."  The  organization  of  Bible  classes 
was  made  the  duty  of  each  minister  in  charge  of  a  circuit  or  station.  All 
preachers  were  also  advised  "in  the  discharge  of  their  ministerial  duties  in  the 
pulpit  to  repeat  the  Lord's  Prayer  more  frequently  as  a  part  of  their  worship,  es- 
pecially on  the  Sabbath  day."  The  translation  of  the  American  Bible  Union  was 
"recommended  to  our  people  as  a  true  transcript  of  the  original  Hebrew  and 
Greek."  J.  B.  Soule,  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  was  appointed  to  Wooster 
station,  and  plans  were  matured  to  liquidate  the  debt  on  the  bethel. 

32nd  East  Ohio  Eldership. — The  Opening  Sermon  of  the  Eldership  which  con- 
vened in  the  bethel  at  Greensburg,  Summit  county,  Ohio,  November  4,  1867,  was 
delivered  by  J.  B.  Soule,  of  Wooster,  but  member  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship, from  Acts  ix.  6.  The  first  sitting  of  the  Eldership  was  on  Monday  morning, 
when  a  ballot  resulted  in  the  election  of  D.  Blakely,  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership, 
for  Speaker;  B.  L.  Davies,  First  Clerk,  and  J.  B.  Soule,  Second  Clerk.  As  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership  had  made  "a  request  that  each  Annual  Eldership 'appropriate  funds 
for  contingent  expenses,"  each  pastor  was  required  "to  collect  as  much  money 
from  each  appointment  as  will  in  the  aggregate  amount  to  ten  cents  per  member" 
for  that  purpose.  Later  it  was  agreed  to  "form  a  Contingent  Society  to  raise 
funds  for  the  purpose  of  defraying  these  expenses."  The  state  of  religion  was  not 
very  good,  yet  "the  Lord  has  owned  his  word  in  the  conversion  of  sinners.  And 
while  we  regret  that  some  local  churches  have  become  disorganized,  but  we  re- 
joice that  others  have  been  organized  elsewhere."  The  expidiency  of  opening  new 
mission  fields  was  discussed,  but  no  definite  action  taken.  On  the  state  of  the 
country  the  Eldership  recognized  that  we  are  still  in  a  condition  of  "political  strife 
and  sectional  discord,  arising  from  the  continued  dereliction  of  the  Chief  Execu- 
tive;" that  "in  this  crisis  of  our  country  arising  from  the  decision  of  the  great 
question  of  reconstruction  our  hope  is  still  in  God  and  a  loyal  and  faithful  Con- 
gress and  an  incorruptible  and  liberty-loving  people."  On  education,  the  Com- 
mittee referred  the  Eldership  to  "sentiments  expressed  heretofore."  The  Elder- 
ship was  quite  deficient  in  active  ministers.  L.  B.  Hartnian  had  been  appointed 
College  Agent,  and  then  located  in  East  Pennsylvania.  Wooster  station  was  un- 
supplied,  as  was  West  Lebanon,  Upper  Sugar  Creek  and  Stump's  Bethel  charge, 
and  D.  Blakely  had  not  united  with  the  Eldership.  The  other  preachers  assigned 
to  fields  were  S.  Lilley,  L.  H.  Selby  (also  not  a  member),  W.  H.  Oliver,  M.  Beck 
and  J.  S.  McKee. 

33rd  East  Ohio  Eldership,— Upon  inquiry,  Editor  Thomas  in  September,  1868, 
stated,  that  as  The  Advocate  has  "now  so  much  more  space  than  heretofore.  .  .  . 
it  will  be  best  to  publish  the  Eldership  Journals  in  full."  So  this  was  done  by  all 
the  Elderships.  The  East  Ohio  Eldership  met  at  Reedsburg,  Ashland  county, 
Ohio,  October  3,  1868,  with  thirteen  teaching  elders  and  eighteen  ruling  elders 
and  delegates.  The  officers  were  M.  Beck,  Speaker;  J.  Durstine,  Clerk,  and  J.  L. 
Jenner,  Assistant  Clerk.  The  interest  of  the  body  in  the  translation  of  the  Ameri- 
can Bible  Union  was  again  manifested  in  the  declaration  that  it  "will  sustain  and 
encourage  it  in  its  commendable  effort  to  translate  correctly  and  faithfully  into  all 
the  languages  this  inestimable  gift  of  heaven  to  mankind."  It  resolved  "to  battle 
against  the  evil  of  intemperance  in  every  Christian  and  lawful  manner."  J. 
Myers,  Mansfield,  in  his  report  suggested  the  establishment  of  a  mission  in  Mans- 
field, county  seat  of  Richland  county.  The  Eldership  responded  by  resolving  that 
"the  time  has  fully  come  to  open  a  mission  in  Mansfield;"  pledging  $500.00  for 
that  purpose;  that  "the  mission  shall  be  opened  by  the  first  of  April,  1869,"  and 
directing  the  Board  of  Missions  "to  take  measures  to  make  the  project  a  practical 


Ohio    Eldership  ■  391 

success."  The  Eldership  emphatically  repudiated  "the  nick-name  'Wlnebrenner- 
ians'  as  unchristian  and  uncourteous,  and  in  direct  opposition  to  the  spirit  of 
Christian  union,"  and  that  "the  name  'Church  of  God'  is  the  only  God-given  and 
scripturally-authorized  Church  title."  A  committee  was  appointed  "to  confer  with 
the  church  at  Wooster  on  the  propriety  of  selling  the  meeting-house  and  property, 
paying  off  the  debt  thereon,  and  building  a  new  house  with  the  remaining  pro- 
ceeds." S.  Fasig,  of  the  Baptist  Association,  reporting  as  an  advisory  member, 
inspirited  the  Eldership  by  "frankly  endorsing  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  God 
in  full,  and  admitting  the  Baptist  Church  to  be  in  the  rear,  and  calling  upon  the 
brotherhood  to  give  their  friendly  aid  in  bringing  the  Regular  Baptist  Church  up 
to  and  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  Church  of  God,"  and  the  Eldership  resolved 
"that  all  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  Baptist  Church  and  brethren  in  that  direction 
have  our  timely  and  brotherly  aid."  Feeling  that  "the  doctrine  of  the  Church  of 
God  is  misunderstood  by  the  multitude  generally,  and  greatly  misrepresented,"  the 
Committee  on  Arrangements  was  directed  "at  our  several  Eldership  meetings  to 
fill  the  pulpit  with  representative  men,  or  Church  of  God  ministers  who  will  preach 
the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus."  The  Eldership  selected  Smithville  as  the  place  for  the 
Pentecostal  meeting  in  1869.  J.  M.  Domer,  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership, 
was  appointed  to  Wooster.  Ministers  were  assigned  to  two  circuits,  leaving  two 
unsupplied,  and  making  no  appointments  to  any  mission  fields. 

34th  East  Ohio  Eldership. — The  Journal  of  the  thirty-fourth  East  Ohio  Elder- 
ship, which  convened  at  Vermillion  Chapel,  Ashland  county,  October  15,  1869, 
shows  that  J.  M.  Domer  did  not  go  to  Wooster,  but  that  O.  H.  Betts  was  appointed 
by  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  The  Eldership 
consisted  of  three  pastors,  five  teaching  elders,  ten  ruling  elders,  two  delegates  and 
one  messenger  when  constituted.  It  elected  J.  S.  McKee,  Speaker;  B.  L.  Davies, 
Clerk;  J.  Durstine,  Assistant  Clerk.  The  question  of  "the  consolidation  of  the 
East  and  West  Ohio  Elderships  was  at  once  taken  up  and  discussed  with  great  in- 
terest and  sincerity  until  adjourning  time,"  when  it  was  laid  over  until  2.00  p.  m. 
the  next  day,  when,  on  motion  of  G.  W.  AVilson,  "it  was  resolved  to  put  the 
question  straight."  "After  some  further  debate  the  question  was  carried  in  the 
affirmative  by  a  rising  vote  of  twelve  to  nine,"  and  the  matter  referred  to  the 
Standing  Committee.  "Memorial  services  on  the  life  and  death  of  Elder  E.  H. 
Thomas"  were  held  and  "a  discourse  delivered  by  J.  S.  McKee  to  a  large  and 
weeping  congregation."  Text — I.  Thess.  iv.  14.  The  Committee  on  the  State  of 
Religion  reported  "no  extensive  outpourings  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  yet  the  work  has 
been  going  steadily  on."  The  Mansfield  mission  had  not  been  started;  but  the 
Board  of  Missions  was  instructed  "to  pay  a  visit  to  Mansfield  and  make  arrange- 
ments for  the  establishing  of  said  mission."  J.  W.  Senseney  was  also  assigned  to 
the  Mansfield  and  Shelby  Mission.  The  Board  of  Missions  also  made  an  appropria- 
tion of  $200.00  to  the  Mansfield  and  Shelby  Mission.  Wooster  church  having 
"turned  their  eyes  to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  as  the  hill  from  whence 
they  expected  their  salvation,  and  have  been  disappointed,"  "they  now  return  to 
our  embrace,  and  promise  to  co-operate  with  the  East  Ohio  Eldership  in  all  con- 
stitutional measures,"  instructions  were  given  to  the  trustees  of  the  property,  in 
connection  with  the  Standing  Committee,  to  arrange  for  the  payment  of  the  debt. 
The  request  for  a  pastor  was  referred  to  the  Stationing  Committee,  which  ap- 
pointed M.  Beck,  with  an  appropriation  of  $200.00  from  the  Board  of  Missions. 
B.  P.  Beck  was  appointed  to  Smithville  and  Madison;  but  having  a  charge  in  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership,  he  did  not  accept  it. 

35th  East  Ohio  Eldership. — The  brief  history  of  a  young  minister  of  the 
Church,  whose  labors  were  but  of  short  duration,  begins  with  the  meeting  of  the 
East  Ohio  Eldership  at  Smithville,  Wayne  county,  Ohio,  October  7,  1870.  The 
Minutes  have  this  entry:  "Rev.  Alex.  Wiley,  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  was  received  as 
an  advisory  member."  When  the  Committee  on  License  reported  two  brethren 
"as  worthy  of  licenses  from  this  body,"  one  was  A.  Wiley.  He  was  appointed  to 
Sugar  Creek  circuit.  But  in  October,  1871,  he  came  into  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership,  where  he  labored  faithfully  to  the  end  of  his  earthly  days.  The  Open- 
ing Sermon  was  deferred  from  the  evening  of  the  6th  to  that  of  the  7th,  "owing 
to  the  absence  of  many  of  the  members  of  the  Eldership."  During  the  first  day 
the  regular  business  was  transacted,  beginning  with  constituting  the  Eldership, 
electing  G.  W.  Wilson,  Speaker,  and  J.  B.  Hartman,  Clerk,  and  hearing  the  Report 
of  the  Standing  Committee.  G.  W.  Wilson  was  appointed  to  preach  the  Opening 
Sermon  on  the  evening  of  said  day,  which  he  did  from  II.  Tim.  ii.  2 — "The  Min- 
ister— his  authority,  qualifications,  rights  and  duties."     In  order  to  secure  a  bet- 


392  History  of  the   Churches  oe   God 

ter  support  for  the  pastors  it  was  directed  "that  in  the  beginning  of  the  Eldership 
year  the  elders  and  deacons  shall  ascertain  from  their  pastor  the  amount  required 
to  sustain  him  properly,  and  said  officers  shall  levy  a  quota  on  each  member  ac- 
cording to  his  or  her  ability,  or  as  the  Lord  has  prospered,  to  be  paid  weekly, 
monthly  or  quarterly  to  the  treasurer  of  the  minister's  salary."  The  Eldership 
voted  "to  support  no  man,  whatever  his  political  proclivities  may  be,  for  a  position 
of  trust  in  our  civil  government  without  he  pledges,  in  good  faith,  to  labor  and 
vote  for  any  and  all  measures  looking  toward  the  suppression  of  the  abominable 
liquor  traffic."  On  ordination  it  granted  each  licentiate  the  choice  to  be  ordained 
with  the  imposition  of  hands.  To  increase  the  missionary  funds  each  male  church 
member  was  "required  to  pay  the  sum  of  $1.00,  and  each  female  member  the  sum 
of  50  cents  annually"  for  missions.  The  Eldership  denounced  "the  modern  heresy 
and  new-fangled  skepticism  now  so  prevalent  in  many  places,  to  wit:  Materialism, 
or  that  the  soul  and  spirit  are  mortal  by  nature;  The  unconscious  state  of  the 
dead,  and  The  Annihilation  of  the  wicked.  It  favored  holding  a  Sabbath-school 
Convention,  and  named  Smithville  as  the  place. 

36th  East  Ohio  Eldership. — The  appointee,  J.  S.  McKee,  to  preach  the  Opening 
Sermon,  being  absent,  T.  H.  Deshiri,  a  visiting  minister  of  the  West  Ohio  Elder- 
ship, "preached  an  able  and  affectionate  sermon,"  followed  by  G.  W.  Wilson  with 
"an  exhortation  full  of  zeal  and  the  Holy  Ghost."  The  session  was  held  at  Greens- 
burg,  Summit  county,  Ohio,  beginning  October  12,  1871.  When  on  the  morning 
of  the  13th  the  Eldership  was  constituted,  J,  S.  McKee  was  present,  and  was  chosen 
Speaker,  and  O.  H.  Betts  and  J.  H.  Haitman,  Clerks.  McKee  was  then  directed  to 
"preach  the  annual  sermon  at  10  o'clock,"  the  second  day.  At  a  missionary  meet- 
ing on  Saturday  afternoon,  and  also  in  the  evening,  when  $1,011.74  were  secured 
in  Life  subscriptions  and  cash.  In  addition  to  the  action  of  1870  not  to  vote  for 
any  candidate  for  office  who  is  not  an  avowed  friend  to  anti-liquor  legislation,  the 
Eldership  resolved  not  to  "patronize  any  man  in  the  business  relations  of  life  who 
is  engaged  in  the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks."  It  also  endorsed  "the  idea  thrown 
out  by  some  of  our  brethren  of  holding  a  General  Sunday-school  Convention  next 
season."  After  its  action  on  "heresies  and  new-fangled  skepticism,"  in  1870,  the 
Eldership  could  not  do  otherwise  than  cite  M.  Beck  to  trial  for  holding  and  teach- 
ing such  views.  The  Stationing  Committee  arranged  for  two  stations,  five  circuits 
and  two  missions. 

37th  East  Ohio  Eldership. — The  Eldership  in  1871  adjourned  to  meet  at 
Lattasburg,  Wayne  county,  Ohio,  the  third  Wednesday  in  October,  1872;  but  the 
place  was  changed,  and  the  session  was  held  in  the  Vermillion  Chapel,  Ashland 
county,  Ohio,  beginning  October  16,  1872,  when  L.  H.  Selby  preached  the  Opening 
Sermon  from  I.  Chronicles  xxvii.  16.  J.  S.  McKee  was  re-elected  Speaker,  as  was 
O.  H.  Belts,  Clerk,  with  J.  A.  Plowman,  Transcribing  Clerk.  The  Beck  case  came 
up  immediately,  and  was  referred  to  a  committee.  The  matter  was  adjusted  by 
a  compromise,  whereby  he  was  retained  in  full  fellowship,  but  granting  him  his 
request  "to  retain  the  views  in  which  he  differed  from  the  body  as  private  prop- 
erty." He  was  reappointed  to  the  Canton  mission,  as  he  was  "commended"  in  a 
letter  from  the  mission,  and  "his  services  for  the  coming  year"  asked  for.  The 
Eldership  voted  to  aid  the  cause  of  temperance  "by  moral  suasion  and  the  ballot 
box."  It  "hailed  with  devout  congratulations  the  great  enterprise  of  holding  a 
yearly  Sabbath-school  Convention  throughout  the  different  Elderships."  It  de- 
clared itself  financially  "not  able  to  meet,  for  the  present,  the  demands  of  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership  relating  to  the  general  missionary  interests,"  owing  to  its  own 
"heavy  missionary  demands."  While  it  approved  the  action  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship relative  to  the  Hillsdale  College  Professorship,  it  more  strongly  recommended 
"an  effort  to  establish  a  school  of  our  own."  A  committee  of  five  was  appointed  to 
superintend  the  Eldership  camp-meeting,  which  it  resolved  to  hold.  A  strong 
effort  was  to  be  made  to  place  Mansfield  mission  on  a  good  financial  basis,  and  to 
this  end  a  "general  missionary  and  financial  agent  to  operate  in  the  interest  of  the 
Mansfield  Mission"  was  put  in  the  field,  and  the  ministers  were  instructed  to  co- 
operate with  him  in  "the  hope  of  the  greatest  possible  success."  The  Eldership 
had  nine  fields  of  labor,  three  of  which  were  missions. 

38th  East  Ohio  Eldership. — Evidently  the  covenant  into  which  the  Eldership 
entered  with  M.  Beck  in  187  2  was  kept  sacred  by  him,  for  not  only  did  he  preach 
the  Opening  Sermon  on  Tuesday  evening,  October  7,  1873,  when  the  Eldership 
convened  at  Lattasburg,  Wayne  county,  Ohio,  but  he  was  chosen  to  be  the  Clerk 
of  the  body,  with  G.  W.  Wilson,   Speaker,  and   was  reappointed   to  Canton   and 


Ohio    Eldership  393 

Moreland.  A  weakness  in  the  missionary  system  was  the  non-payment  of  interest 
on  life  memberships,  by  means  of  which  it  had  been  hoped  steadily  to  replenish 
the  treasury  year  after  year.  Accordingly  it  was  ordered  that  "the  outstanding 
dues  on  life  membership  be  put  into  the  hands  of  an  attorney  for  collection." 
The  Mansfield  debt  was  $4,000,  and  the  Board  of  Missions  was  "authorized  to 
borrow  the  money  necessary  to  carry  on  the  Mansfield  mission,  and  give  the  prop- 
erty as  security."  The  elders  and  deacons  of  the  churches  were  declared  "answer- 
able to  the  local  churches  for  their  moral  and  official  conduct,"  and  charges  could 
be  preferred  against  them,  "subject  to  investigation  and  trial  by  the  church."  By 
vote  of  "a  majority  of  her  membership  voting"  they  could  be  "dismissed  from 
their  office,"  and  even  "expelled  from  the  church."  The  "cause  is  still  advancing" 
was  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion.  There  was  declared  to 
be  "a  disposition  to  insubordination  among  some  of  the  churches  in  the  East  Ohio 
Eldership,"  which  was  "highly  disapproved,"  and  "churches  and  ministers  are  ad- 
vised to  refrain  from  such  a  course  of  conduct." 

39th  East  Ohio  Eldership.— The  forebodings  of  the  Eldership  of  187  3  became 
more  threatening  as  the  months  passed.  And  when  the  Eldership  convened  at 
Cedar  Valley,  Wayne  county,  Ohio,  October  6,  1874,  the  clouds  were  lowering. 
With  McKee  in  the  Chair,  and  PlowTnan  as  Clerk,  the  first  important  item  of  busi- 
ness was  the  Report  of  the  Standing  Committee,  which  contained  items  revealing 
insubordination.  But  the  "Eldership  recognized  the  present  Standing  Committee 
as  our  regularly  constituted  and  official  Committee,  and  endorse  their  doings  as 
official."  The  spark,  however,  which  caused  the  explosion  was  "a  letter  from  his 
brother,  B.  F.  Beck,  which  M.  Beck  read  before  this  body,  speaking  in  a  very  un- 
christianlike  manner,  and  stigmatizing  the  corroborators  of  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee of  the  East  Ohio  Eldership."  On  March  4,  1874,  the  Standing  Committee 
was  in  session  to  investigate  "charges  it  held  against  Beck  for  persistently  vio- 
lating the  Rules  of  Co-operation,  and  also  for  preaching  doctrines  not  accepted  by 
the  Church  of  God."  As  he  failed  to  appear  and  answer  to  the  charges,  the  Com- 
mittee, "feeling  convinced  under  these  circumstances,  not  only  of  Elder  M.  Beck's 
guilt,  but  that  he  ignored  alike  their  authority  and  that  of  the  Eldership,"  de- 
clared him  to  be  "unworthy  of  membership  in  the  Church  of  God,"  and  that  "he  be, 
and  is,  expelled  from  among  us,  and  that  his  license  to  preach  among  us  is  null 
and  void."  This  called  forth  the  offensive  letter.  But  the  Committee  was  sus- 
tained, yet  not  without  the  alienation  of  parts  of  several  churches,  and  especially 
of  the  churches  at  Canton  and  near  Reedsburg.  The  Canton  mission  remained  un- 
supplied  by  the  Eldership.  Mansfield  mission  was  thrown  in  with  the  Ashland 
circuit  appointments.  The  resolutions  of  censure  on  B.  F.  Beck  were  sent  to  the 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  of  which  he  was  a  member,  and  the  matter  was  sat- 
isfactorily adjusted,  as  offensive  sentiments  were  retracted  and  misapprehensions 
corrected. 

40th  East  Ohio  Eldership.— With  hardly  any  premonitory  signs  visible  to  those 
outside  the  East  Ohio  Eldership  the  final  session  of  said  body  was  held  at  Ver- 
million, Ashland  county,  Ohio,  beginning  October  5,  1875.  The  work  of  dis- 
integration seemed  to  have  begun,  and  consolidation  with  the  West  Ohio  Eldership 
was  regarded  as  the  part  of  prudence  and  wisdom.  The  Eldership  quietly  met  as 
usual  and  John  A.  PlowTnan  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  from  Ps.  cxviii.  25. 
There  were  in  attendance  fifteen  teaching  elders,  of  whom  eight  are  classed  as 
pastors;  thirty-two  ruling  elders;  five  delegates,  and  one  trustee.  G.  W.  Wilson 
was  chosen  Speaker,  and  J.  A.  PloAvman,  Clerk.  The  entire  Standing  Committee 
of  the  West  Ohio  Eldership  was  present,  and  the  members,  consisting  of  J.  W. 
Aukerman,  James  Neil,  I.  Steiner,  T.  Koogle  and  S.  Kline,  were  received  as  full 
members.  Wilson,  Mitchel  and  McKee  "were  appointed  a  committee  to  present  to 
this  body  the  consolidation  of  the  East  and  West  Ohio  Elderships  in  a  tangible  form 
for  action."  All  the  usual  committees  were  appointed  by  the  Speaker;  but  no 
Stationing  Committee  was  elected.  The  Committee  on  Temperance  declared  "in- 
temperance in  all  its  forms  a  great  sin;"  that  "we  in  every  way  discountenance  the 
manufacture  and  use  of  all  intoxicating  liquors,"  and  advised  "abstinence  from  the 
use  of  tobacco  as  far  as  practicable."  A  school  at  Ida.  Hardin  county,  "being  of- 
fered upon  reasonable  terms,"  it  was  thought  advisable  to  secure  it.  The  Com- 
mittee on  Consolidation  reported:  "Resolved,  That  the  East  Ohio  Eldership,  with 
its  interests,  be  transferred  to  the  West  Ohio  Eldership."  It  was  thought  ad- 
visable to  defer  action  "till  counsel  be  obtained  as  to  the  safety  of  the  matter  in 
hand."     This  having  been  done,  the  resolution  was  adopted  by  a  viva  voce  vote. 


394  History  of  the;   Churches   of   God 

The  Standing  Committee  of  the  West  Ohio  Eldership  then  became  the  Stationing 
Committee,  and  made  the  appointments,  consisting  of  eight  circuits.  Wooster  was 
left  to  supply  itself.  Canton  was  put  in  with  the  Stark  circuit,  while  no  mention 
is  made  of  Mansfield.  The  East  Ohio  Eldership  "adopted  this  Report,  and  com- 
pleted its  transfer  to  the  West  Ohio  Eldership." 


III.     THE    WEST    PENNSYLVANIA    ELDERSHIP. 


1st  AVest  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Pursuant  to  an  action  of  the  Ohio  Elder- 
ship in  October,  1843,  "to  form  another  Eldership,"  and  defining  its  boundaries, 
seven  ministers  and  two  ruling  elders  within  said  boundaries  "met  in  the  city  of 
Pittsburg,  on  Monday,  March  4,  1844,"  to  carry  said  action  into  effect.  These 
were  John  Hickemell,  Joseph  A.  Dobson,  Daniel  Wertz,  Henry  Rosenberger,  Ed- 
ward Wood,  Jacob  Myers  and  John  S.  Ken-.  The  ruling  elders  were  John  Koermer 
and  Louis  Kraft.  Three  ministers  residing  in  the  territory  were  not  present,  viz: 
Jacob  M.  Klein,  appointee  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  to  the  Indiana  cir- 
cuit; Abraham  Ramsey  and  S.  S.  Richmond.  The  officers  elected  were  John  Hick- 
ernell,  Speaker,  ajid  Jacob  Meyers,  Clerk. 

John  Hickemell  was  born  in  Lisburn,  Cumberland  county,  Pa.,  In  December, 
1814.  His  earliest  religious  impressions  were  received  under  a  sermon  preached 
to  children  by  Winebrenner  when  he  was  eleven  years  old.  When  eighteen  years 
of  age  he  was  converted.  Not  long  thereafter  he  began  "occasionally  to  exercise 
in  exhortation,  until  he  was  impressed  with  the  call  to  go  into  the  gospel  field." 
He  was  a  man  of  extraordinary  physical,  mental  and  moral  strength.  In  1838  he 
attended  the  session  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  held  at  Middletown,  No- 
vember 11th,  made  application  for  license  to  preach  the  gospel,  and  a  license  was 
granted  him.  When  the  Stationing  Committee  reported  he  was  appointed  to  the 
Pittsburg  Mission,  along  with  Edward  West.  West  declined  to  go,  and  Jacob 
Keller  was  substituted  in  his  place.  As  the  pioneer  missionary  and  able  min- 
ister and  wise  counselor,  he  became  a  leader  in  West  Pennsylvania,  a  position  he 
held  for  fifty  years.  He  was  one  of  the  delegates  of  the  Eldership  to  the  General 
Eldership  in  1845,  1851,  1854,  1857,  1860,  1863,  1866  and  1893.  He  was  ap- 
pointed Corresponding  Messenger  to  the  Free-Will  Baptist  General  Conference. 
Quite  a  number  of  times  he  was  chosen  Speaker  of  his  Eldership.  He  had  "so  de- 
veloped his  natural  talents  that  he  had  but  few  equals  in  pulpit  power  and  pastoral 
prestige."     He  died  October  30,  1897. 

"The  Journals  of  the  last  Elderships  of  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  were  read." 
David  Glassbum  and  Louis  Kraft  were  granted  licenses.  There  were  no  com- 
mittees, and  but  little  business  was  done  outside  of  hearing  the  reports  of 
preachers  and  examining  into  their  moral  and  official  characters.  The  work  and 
standing  of  three  ministers  were  in  some  doubt,  but  adjustments  were  affected, 
with  censure  in  the  one  case.  The  Eldership  handled  all  the  business,  including 
the  stationing  of  the  ministers,  as  follows:  Harmony  circuit,  Jacob  Myers;  Rock- 
land circuit,  Edward  West;  Venango  circuit,  Henry  Rosenberger;  Pittsburg  Mis- 
sion, John  Hickemell;  Westmoreland  circuit,  Joseph  A.  Dobson;  Columbiana  Mis- 
sion, Ohio,  John  S.  Kerr.  The  matter  of  buying  the  stereotype  plates  of  the  Re- 
vival Hymn  Book,  etc.,  was  brought  before  the  Eldership  by  a  letter  from  E.  West, 
of  Ohio,  and  after  due  consideration  it  was  decided  "that  an  advisory  letter  be 
addressed  to  the  Hymn  Book  Committee  in  Ohio." 

2nd  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  second  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership 
was  held  the  same  year  as  the  first — October  28,  1844.  Some  of  the  ministers 
during  the  Summer  had  still  been  laboring  under  appointment  by  the  Ohio  Elder- 
ship of  1843.  There  were  eight  teaching  elders  present,  and  three  absent;  eight 
ruling  elders,  and  three  delegates.  J.  Hickemell  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  Jacob 
Myers,  Clerk.  The  delegates  were  received  as  advisory  members.  The  Standing 
Committee  was  authorized  to  appoint  the  camp-meetings  for  184  5.  Winebrenner 
was  present,  on  his  return  from  the  Ohio  Eldership,  and  was  made  a  "member  of 
the  body."  He  was  granted  "leave  to  bring  before  this  body  certain  resolutions 
passed  by  the  Ohio  Eldership,  touching  a  General  Eldership."  After  the  matter 
wras  duly  considered  the  Eldership  resolved  to  "agree  to  co-operate  with  the  Ohio 
and  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  calling  and  holding  a  General  Eldership  to 


West    Pennsylvania    Eldership  395 

transact  business  of  a  general  character."  The  election  of  two  ministerial  and 
two  lay  delegates  followed.  Action  was  also  taken  to  co-operate  with  Ohio  and 
East  Pennsylvania  in  "obtaining  funds  to  liberate  the  Printing  Establishment  from 
its  present  embarrassed  condition,"  and  the  "traveling  preachers"  were  authorized 
to  solicit  subscriptions  for  said  purpose.  Preachers  were  required  to  withdraw 
"after  giving  in  their  reports."  "By  nomination  a  committee  of  five,  three 
preachers  and  two  ruling  elders,  was  appointed  to  assign  the  preachers  to  their 
■circuits  and  stations."  The  territory  was  divided  into  six  circuits,  with  seven 
ministers.  Nine  ministers  are  classed  as  "missionaries."  Provision  was  made  for 
a  Standing  Committee  of  three. 

3rd  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  "West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  met  in 
its  third  annual  session  at  Harmony,  Butler  county,  Pa.,  October  22,  1845.  An 
additional  circuit  is  entered  on  the  Roll  in  constituting  the  Eldership,  the  Perry- 
•opolis  Mission,  Fayette  county.  There  were  sixteen  ministers  enrolled,  two  being 
absent;  one  delegate  and  five  ruling  elders.  The  officers  were  John  Hickemell, 
■Speaker;  J.  Myers,  Clerk.  G.  U.  Ham  was  received  as  "a  full  member,"  but  not 
transferred  from  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  He  served  on  several  com- 
mittees. Committees  on  Overtures,  Resolutions  and  Journals  were  created.  The 
•Committee  on  Resolutions,  S.  S.  Richmond  and  Daniel  Wertz,  reported  the  fol- 
lowing, which  prevailed  without  dissent:  "Resolved,  That  this  Eldership  highly 
approves  of  the  proceedings  of  the  General  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  in 
North  America,  held  at  Pittsburg,  in  May,  1845."  There  was  considerable  Ger- 
man preaching  over  the  Eldership  territory.  H.  Barkey  "talked  more  or  less 
•every  Lord's  day,  in  the  German  language."  The  church  at  Robbstown  was  com- 
posed of  "European  Germans."  A  resolution  adopted  at  the  session  of  1844, 
■"denying  absent  members  the  renewal  of  their  licenses,  unless  they  send  a  com- 
munication," was  rescinded.  The  death  was  announced  of  "Bishop  Edward 
Wood,"  a  member  of  the  Eldership,  and  suitable  action  taken.  On  Secret  Societies 
the  Eldership  adopted  a  resolution  "advising  the  ministers  and  members  of  the 
■Church  not  to  identify  themselves  as  members,"  mentioning  "Free  Masons,  Odd 
Fellows,  etc.,  etc."  The  Stationing  Committee  rearranged  the  fields  so  as  to  make 
six  appointments,  yet  added  Wood  county  (Va. )  Mission.  Church  organizations 
■were  reported  at  Youngstown  and  McKeesport,  on  the  Westmoreland  circuit. 
While  some  of  the  ministers  reported  that  "the  churches  are  very  liberal,  so  far 
^s  they  have  it  in  their  power;"  yet  the  Eldership  adopted  an  action  to  "request 
■and  urge  upon  the  elders  the  necessity  of  laying  the  subject  of  the  support  of  the 
ministers  before  the  churches  in  which  they  are." 

4th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — When  the  fourth  "Annual  Eldership  of 
the  Church  of  God  in  West  Pennsylvania  met  in  the  Union  Bethel,  Grass  Hill,  Sus- 
quehanna township,  Cambria  county.  Pa.,  on  the  28th  of  October,  1846,"  it  was 
"found  that  fields  of  labor  had  been  largely  rearranged,  and  partly  consolidated, 
and  Athens  County  (Ohio)  Mission;  Adams  County  Mission  (Ohio),  and  Virginia 
Mission  had  been  added.  Athens  county,  Ohio,  along  with  Columbiana,  Jefferson, 
Belmont  and  other  eastern  counties  had  been  given  to  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eld- 
ership; but  Adams  county  is  the  fourth  county  east  of  the  Indiana  State  line.  The 
Eldership  elected  John  Hickemell  Speaker,  and  Henry  Barkey,  Clerk.  Consider- 
able work  was  done  during  the  year  in  Adams,  Athens  and  Meigs  counties,  Ohio. 
Also  in  Greene  and  Washington  counties.  Pa.  In  Adams  county,  O.,  "a  church  for 
the  Lord"  was  organized;  also  one  in  Meigs  county,  Ohio.  German  preaching  was 
In  demand  in  Venango  county.  Pa.  The  evil  of  ministers  disappointing  their  con- 
gregations was  strongly  disapproved.  The  report  of  the  Stationing  Committee 
showed  a  remarkable  rearrangement  of  fields  of  labor.  Some  circuits  were  com- 
posed of  several  large  counties,  like  Westmoreland,  Fayette  and  Cambria;  or  Ven- 
ango and  Butler  counties  (Pa.),  and  Columbiana  (Ohio).  And  though  Adams 
county,  Ohio,  and  Athens  and  Meigs  counties,  Ohio,  were  each  made  a  circuit, 
there  were  only  five  fields  of  labor,  with  seven  preachers.  The  Standing  Com- 
mittee "vras  directed  to  arrange  the  camp-meetings  for  1847.  Written  reports  were 
to  be  made  hereafter  by  the  preachers. 

5th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  place  of  meeting  of  the  fifth  West 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  is  given  as  "the  meeting-house  in  Irwin  township,  Venango 
county.  Pa.,  the  time  "the  22nd  of  October,  1847."  This  is  the  place  where  one  of 
the  first  churches  in  the  territory  of  the  Eldership  was  organized,  and  is  where 
Barkeyville,  named  after  Elder  Henry  Barkey,  is  located.  John  Hickemell  was 
chosen  Speaker;   and  Henry  Barkey,   Clerk.       Several    messengers    present    were 


396  History   of  the   Churches  of   God 

made  advisory  members,  among  them  Benjamin  Ober,  who  made  application  for 
license,  which  was  granted,  and,  with  John  Hickernell,  he  was  appointed  to  the 
Westmoreland  and  Cambria  counties  circuit.  Few  conversions  and  accessions 
were  reported.  Two  ministers  and  two  laymen  were  "appointed  delegates  for  the 
General  Eldership."  On  the  matter  of  the  support  of  ministers  the  churches  were 
"advised  to  take  up  subscriptions  for  their  support,  and  that  the  preachers  present 
the  same  to  the  next  Annual  Eldership."  The  preachers  were  directed  "hereafter 
to  give  an  account  of  the  number  of  churches  and  preaching  places  on  their  cir- 
cuits. The  churches  were  asked  to  "represent  themselves  either  by  delegation  or 
letter,  and  give  account  of  their  numerical  strength,  and  the  number  of  sermons, 
preached  to  them  through  the  year  by  their  preachers."  The  appointments  were 
made  by  the  Eldership,  there  being  six  fields,  Pittsburg  and  West  Newton  among 
them.  Fayette  county.  Pa.,  and  the  Virginia  Mission  are  omitted;  as  also  Colum- 
biana county,  Ohio.  Adams  County  (Ohio)  Mission  was  to  be  aided  by  collections- 
in  all  the  churches. 

6th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership, — The  sixth  annual  session  of  the  West 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  was  held  "in  the  meeting-house  in  Brush  Valley  township,. 
Indiana  county.  Pa.,  on  the  10th  day  of  October,  1848."  Eight  fields  of  labor 
were  reported,  and  the  enrollment  shows  the  Eldership  on  the  first  day  to  have 
consisted  of  seventeen  teaching  elders,  and  four  messengers,  all  from  Cambria  and 
Westmoreland  circuit.  J.  Hickeraell  was  elected  Speaker,  and  J.  A.  Dobson,  Clerk. 
The  Standing  Committee  during  the  year  had  "authorized  Elder  M.  W.  Cook, 
Adams  county,  Ohio  [on  the  Ohio  river],  to  receive  certain  churches  and  preachers- 
in  the  South  into  fellowship,  giving  the  preachers  written  permits  to  preach  the 
gospel."  While  Kentucky  is  "across  the  river,"  Cook  reported  that  "he  got  across- 
the  Ohio  into  Virginia;  that  he  saw  much  good  done,  and  that  prospects  were  fav- 
orable to  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  and  Bible."  He  was  appointed  to  Mason 
county,  Va.  [now  West  Virginia],  and  Adams  county,  Ohio,  Mason  county  being 
four  counties  east  of  Adams.  The  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  were  "called 
upon  to  give  in  their  reports,  and  reasons  for  not  attending  to  the  appointment." 
They  "were  exonerated  from  blame;"  but  the  "Eldership  feels  sorry  for  the 
failure  of  all  the  delegates  to  attend  the  General  Eldership."  Joseph  Glenn  re- 
ported having  "extended  his  work  into  Clarion  county."  Wei*tz  had  "extended 
his  borders  on  the  Greene  county  circuit  through  the  northern  part  of  Virginia." 
A  strong  resolution  was  passed,  urging  the  preachers  to  look  to  the  organization  of 
Sabbath-schools.  Several  items  of  statistics  were  required  to  be  annually  re- 
ported by  all  pastors.  In  the  Stationing  Committee's  Report  Pittsburg  is  made  a 
station,  with  Jacob  Myers  pastor.  Marshall  county  (Va. )  circuit  is  added  to  the 
list.  Mason  county,  Va.,  is  part  of  Cook's  field.  Athens  county,  Ohio,  is  a  cir- 
cuit; but  Columbiana  county,  Ohio,  is  not  mentioned. 

A  new  Article  having  been  added  to  the  Constitution  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship, giving  it  power  "to  review  the  Journals  of  all  the  Annual  Elderships,"  the 
Eldership  took  up  the  matter,  and  adopted  a  resolution  to  "inquire  of  those  whom 
it  may  most  concern  to  give  us  satisfactory  information." 

7th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldei-ship. — The  progress  of  the  work  in  Virginia  is 
indicated  by  the  fact  that  the  Eldership  "met  in  the  new  meeting-house  at  Wood- 
lands, Marshall  county,  Va.,  on  the  24th  day  of  October,  1849."  The  Eldership 
elected  Jacob  M.  Klein  Speaker,  and  Daniel  Wertz,  Clerk.  The  Committee  on  Un- 
finished Business  reported  but  one  item,  viz:  "The  resolution  relative  to  a  mys- 
terious resolution  passed  by  the  last  General  Eldership."  It  stated  that  "the 
mystery  had  not  as  yet  been  unfolded."  However,  the  new  Article  had  been  pub- 
lished in  The  Advocate  of  July  1,  1848,  in  full.  The  camp-meeting  spirit  having- 
perceptibly  decreased,  the  Eldership  advised  "all  the  churches  to  strive  and  pray 
to  revive  the  former  camp-meeting  spirit  in  all  their  members."  Regular  trans- 
fers were  now  granted  to  ministers  removing  to  other  Elderships.  Eight  fields  of 
labor  were  mapped  out  by  the  Stationing  Committee,  with  nine  pastors.  Colum- 
biana county,  Ohio,  is  made  a  part  of  Harmony  circuit.  Pittsburg  is  omitted. 
The  Standing  Committee  is  made  the  Camp-meeting  Committee,  and  the  hope  is 
expressed  that  there  "would  be  at  least  one  camp-meeting  on  every  circuit."  Col- 
lections were  ordered  on  all  "the  stations  and  circuits,  and  that  the  preachers  bring 
the  money  to  the  Eldership  at  its  next  session,  and  that  the  same  be  applied  to 
traveling  preachers  as  they  may  have  need." 

8th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — In  1850  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership 
met  in  the  extreme  western  county  of  the  State,  near  the  part  of  its  territory  in 


West    Pennsylvania    Elde.rship  397 

Ohio.  The  place  of  meeting  was  at  Fayetteville,  Lawrence  county,  November  20th. 
It  occupied  parts  of  Mahoning  and  Columbiana  counties  across  the  boundary  line 
in  Ohio,  having  a  church  at  Youngstown,  Mahoning  county,  and  several  in  Colum- 
biana county.  Some  distance  south  was  the  Marshall  county  circuit.  West  Va. 
On  its  list  of  circuits  was  Athens  county,  Ohio.  The  Eldership,  as  was  quite  usual, 
had  trouble  with  several  of  its  members,  and  in  a  few  instances  licenses  were 
withheld.  The  tendency  toward  union  between  Free-Will  Baptist  churches  located 
in  the  north-western  counties  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  south-western  counties  of 
New  York  was  emphasized  by  the  presence  of  two  delegates  from  "the  Crawford 
Quarterly  Meeting  of  the  Free-Will  Baptist  denomination,"  which  "expressed  the 
most  friendly  feeling  towards  the  Church  of  God,  and  desired  a  more  intimate 
acquaintance  and  union  between  the  two  bodies."  In  return  "J.  Hickeniell  and 
E.  Logue  were  appointed  delegates  to  the  Yearly  Meeting  of  the  Free-Will  Baptist 
denomination,  to  be  held  in  Greene  township,  Erie  county.  Pa.,  June  20,  1851." 
The  Eldership  by  resolution  denounced  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  "as  imposing 
duties  on  us  subversive  to  the  laws  of  God  and  our  feelings,"  and  resolved  to  "use 
all  possible  legal  means  for  the  immediate  repeal  of"  said  law.  Without  designat- 
ing its  object,  the  preachers  of  the  Eldership  were  directed  to  "receive  donations 
and  lift  collections,  and  bring  the  liberalities  of  the  people  to  the  next  Eldership, 
for  the  purpose  of  establishing  an  Eldership  Fund."  W.  Vance  had  removed  to 
Iowa,  but  retained  his  membership  in  the  Eldership.  Two  ministerial  delegates, 
and  one  lay  delegate  were  appointed  to  the  next  General  Eldership.  The  fields  of 
labor  were  rearranged  so  as  to  make  but  four  circuits  instead  of  eight,  constituting 
McKeesport  and  Pittsburg  a  mission,  and  making  no  mention  of  the  Athens  county, 
Ohio,  territory,  nor  Mahoning  and  Columbiana  counties.  But  J.  M.  Klein  is  ap- 
pointed to  "New  York  State  Mission."  J,  W.  Klein  was  the  Speaker,  and  J.  Hovis, 
Clerk,  of  this  Eldership.  E.  Marple,  later  missionary  to  Texas,  received  license  at 
this  Eldership. 

9th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership.^ — Upon  constituting  the  Eldership  which 
met  at  Bethany,  Westmoreland  county,  Pa.,  October  15,  1851,  there  is  quite  a  vari- 
ance between  the  fields  of  labor  as  entered  on  the  Journal  and  as  given  in  the  re- 
port of  the  Stationing  Committee  in  1850.  J.  Hickeniell  was  chosen  Speaker,  and 
J.  Hovis,  Clerk.  Without  a  Constitution  or  fixed  Rules,  there  was  considerable 
disorder  in  managing  the  interests  of  the  work.  Parliamentary  Rules  were 
adopted,  but  these  were  limited  to  the  transaction  of  business  while  the  Eldership 
was  in  session.  Neither  of  the  delegates  to  the  Free-Will  Baptist  Yearly  Meeting 
liad  been  in  attendance.  Two  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  reported  their 
presence  at  its  sessions.  They  "were  much  pleased  with  the  spirit  of  the  body, 
and  most  of  the  doings;  yet  there  were  some  things  to  which  there  might  be  ex- 
ceptions." And  by  resolution  the  Eldership  took  exception  to  "the  report  of  the 
Committee  on  Publication."  This  related  to  "a  selection  of  congregational 
hymns,"  which  the  General  Eldership  proposed  to  publish  "for  the  use  of  and  as 
the  property  of  the  Church."  The  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  declared  that 
"we  disapprove  of  publishing  the  said  book,  or  any  other  book  or  publication,  as 
Church  property,  with  further  encumbrances  thereon  than  that  of  defraying  the 
expenses  of  publication."  This  referred  to  an  "old  debt"  due  AVinebrenner,  with 
reference  to  which  the  Eldership  "petition  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  to 
give  us  some  definite  satisfaction."  It  also  declared  that  "the  Board  of  Missions 
of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  acted  disorderly  and  uncourteously  to  this 
"body"  in  "inducing  Brothers  Weitz  and  Klein  to  leave  their  fields  of  labor  and  go 
into  their  employ  [as  missionaries  to  Illinois],  without  the  consent  and  contrary 
to  the  wishes  of  this  Eldership."  The  Eldership  divided  the  territory  into  five 
circuits,  omitting  the  Marshall  county.  West  Va.,  circuit  altogether;  but  it  was  in- 
serted by  the  Stationing  Committee.  Agreeably  to  the  action  of  the  General  Eld- 
ership Athens  and  Meigs  counties,  Ohio,  were  "transferred  to  the  Ohio  Eldership." 

It  approved  "the  purchase  of  a  Printing  Establishment to  be  located   west 

of  the  mountains."  It  recommended  "to  the  patronage  of  the  brethren  the  Free- 
Will  Baptist  institution  of  learning  situated  at  Chester,  Geauga  county,  Ohio," 
and  also  "the  institution  of  D.  A.  L.  Laverty  and  S.  Knisley,  situated  at  Shippens- 
burg.  Pa."  It  was  resolved  to  "make  a  determined  effort  to  raise  the  cause  in 
Pittsburg,"  and  petitioned  "the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  for  Bro.  McFadden 
to  take  charge  of  the  Pittsburg  Mission."  The  Eldership  proposed  to  "purchase 
an  Eldership  Library  for  the  benefit  of  the  younger  ministers." 

10th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership, — The  tenth  session  of  the  West  Fennsyl- 


39^  History   of  the   Churches  of   God 

vania  Eldership  was  held  in  the  bethel  in  Irwin  township,  Venango  county.  Pa., 
beginning  October  28,  1852,  with  E.  Lo^ue,  Speaker,  and  H.  Barkey,  Clerk.  One 
of  the  first  items  of  business  was  the  Pittsburg  Mission,  in  reference  to  which 
nothing  had  been  done  as  no  missionary  had  been  secured,  and  the  request  was 
repeated,  that  one  be  furnished  by  East  Pennsylvania,  as  "prospects  are  still  flat- 
tering." The  "25-cent  plan  to  liquidate  Bro.  Winebrenner's  claims"  was  approved 
and  recommended  to  the  churches.  Three  trustees  were  appointed  "to  receive 
and  hold  funds  and  bonds  in  trust  for  the  Eldership,"  in  the  matter  of  purchasing 
a  "new  Printing  Establishment."  The  "efforts  making  to  introduce  the  Maine 
Law  into  our  respective  States"  was  "highly  approved,"  and  "each  of  the  preachers 
of  the  Eldership"  was  recommended  "to  give  a  lecture  or  sermon  in  favor  of"  said 
liquor  law.  But  seven  out  of  the  sixteen  ministers  on  the  Roll  were  present  at 
this  session,  a  fact  which  the  Eldership  "deeply  regretted,"  and  expressed  the  hope 
that  "a  deeper  interest  will  be  taken  in  our  yearly  meeting  in  the  future."  "Num- 
bers of  appointments  declined  for  the  want  of  preaching,"  and  the  Eldership  "rec- 
ommended and  hoped  that  the  ministers  and  elders  will  make  a  more  vigorous 
effort  to  extend  their  labors  and  raise  the  cause."  Wheeling  Mission,  being  prin- 
cipally the  district  of  which  Wheeling  is  the  center,  was  placed  on  the  list  of  cir- 
cuits. Also  "Canal  Mission,"  making  eight  fields  in  all,  with  nine  pastors  and 
four  assistants. 

11th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — But  half  the  ministers  enrolled  answered 
to  their  names  when,  on  October  29,  1853,  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  was 
constituted  to  hold  its  eleventh  annual  session.  It  convened  at  Slippery  Rock, 
Beaver  county.  Pa.,  one  of  the  first  churches  organized  by  Hickemell.  On  Sunday 
morning  the  new  bethel  was  dedicated,  E.  Logue  preaching  the  sermon,  while  Sat- 
urday evening,  the  day  before,  William  Davis  preached.  On  Monday  morning  "the 
Eldership  met  to  transact  business,  when  the  opening  sermon  was  preached  by  B. 
Ober."  S.  S.  Richmond  was  made  Speaker;  Henry  Barkey,  Journalizing  Clerk, 
and  A.  C.  Raysor,  "an  advisory  member,"  Transcribing  Clerk.  The  Eldership  re- 
ceived and  licensed  Henry  Berkey,  of  the  Evangelical  Association,  and  Philip  W. 
Haskins,  of  the  Free-Will  Baptists  of  England.  Two  teaching  elders  and  two 
ruling  elders  were  elected  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  in  1854.  The  efforts 
to  raise  funds  for  the  new  Printing  Establishment  were  continued.  A  "mission- 
ary fund"  was  established,  and  each  minister  was  instructed  "to  lift  a  collection  at 
each  preaching  place,  and  likewise  request  each  member  to  pay  twenty-five  cents 
to  be  applied"  to  this  fund.  The  deacons  of  all  the  churches  were  "requested  to 
make  a  more  vigorous  effort  to  raise  an  adequate  support  for  their  preachers  in 
charge."  The  Standing  Committee  was  made  the  Camp-meeting  Committee.  Six 
circuits  and  two  missions  were  outlined,  and  to  these  were  assigned  eight  pastors, 
with  six  assistants.  No  provision  was  made  for  Pittsburg,  but  a  "Mahoning  Mis- 
sion," also  called  "Canoe  Mission,"  was  created,  and  a  minister  appointed. 

12th  AVest  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  constant  shifting  of  boundaries  of 
fields  of  labor  is  again  emphasized  at  the  twelfth  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership, 
convened  at  Bethany,  Westmoreland  county.  Pa.,  October  30,  1854.  There  were 
seven  fields,  two  of  them  missions,  placed  on  the  Journal  when  the  Eldership  was 
constituted.  The  Stationing  Committee  near  the  close  reported  eleven,  four  of 
them  being  called  missions.  Ohio  Eldership  had  "failed  to  supply  the  churches 
of  God  in  Athens  and  Meigs  counties,  Ohio,  with  preaching  ever  since  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership  has  placed  them  under  the  supervision  of  the  same,"  the  Eldership 
decided  "to  supply  them  with  preaching  to  the  best  of  our  ability."  The  Athens 
county  circuit,  Ohio,  was  placed  with  the  appointments,  and  Edward  Jordan  ap- 
pointed to  serve  it.  S.  S.  Richmond  was  elected  Speaker;  E.  Logue,  Journalizing 
Clerk,  and  A.  C.  Raysor,  Transcribing  Clerk.  A  Committee  to  "draft  Rules  for 
this  Eldership  reported  ten  Parliamentary  Rules.  The  delegates  to  the  General 
Eldership  were  required  to  report.  The  "opening  discourse"  was  preached  on 
the  evening  of  the  first  day's  sittings.  Davis,  a  Free-Will  Baptist,  was  present, 
and  sat  as  an  advisory  member.  On  some  of  the  fields  about  one-third  of  the- 
preaching  was  in  German.  About  two  hundred  accessions  were  reported.  The 
Eldership  elected  a  regular  Treasurer  again,  but  no  report  is  published.  Referrlng- 
to  "a  resolution  on  the  Journal  of  this  Eldership,  prohibiting  members  of  this 
Eldership  identifying  themselves  with  Secret  Societies,  a  resolution  was  adopted 
so  to  "modify  it  as  not  to  include  temperance  and  politics." 

13th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — There  were  only  seven  teaching  elders 
and  one  ruling  elder  in  attendance  when  the  thirteenth  annual  session  of  the  Eld- 


West    Pennsylvania    Eldership  399-, 

ership  convened  at  Slippery  Rock,  Beaver  county,  Pa.,  October  29,  1855.  Twelve 
teaching  elders  were  absent.  No  delegates  reported.  John  Hickeraell  was  chosen 
Speaker;  A.  C.  Raysor,  Journalizing  Clerk;  Heni-y  Barkey,  Transcribing  Clerk, 
and  Abraham  Shei-ick,  Treasurer.  Ministers  were  held  to  a  strict  account- 
ability, and  censures  were  passed  on  several  for  delinquencies  in  their  of- 
ficial duties.  There  was  still  considerable  German  preaching  in  several  counties, 
as  in  Venango  county,  where  Latchaw  and  Barkey  had  regular  German  services. 
While  there  was  a  lack  of  preachers  to  travel  the  fields,  there  were  twelve  who 
were  local.  Seven  circuits  and  three  missions  were  on  the  list  when  the  Elder- 
ship met;  but  the  Committee  on  Circuits  reported  "they  had  set  off  seven  circuits 
and  five  missions."  Among  the  latter  was  Johnstown.  The  Stationing  Com- 
mittee, however,  lacked  four  men  to  supply  them.  The  constant  emigration  west- 
ward retarded  the  work,  and  complaint  is  also  made  that  the  "Church  suffers  by 
divisions  caused  by  persons  rather  refractory,  all  arising  from  self-righteousness  in., 
themself."      But  "in  the  Eldership  union  and  harmony  prevail." 

14th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  territory  of  the  West  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  extended  over  a  very  large  area,  and  so  on  account  of  the  distance  be- 
tween two  extreme  points  thereof  and  the  inconvenience  of  travel,  it  was  impossi- 
ble to  secure  a  large  attendance  of  ministers  and  delegates  at  these  remote  points. 
So  when  for  the  second  time  the  Eldership  convened  in  Virginia  less  than  half  the- 
members  were  present.  It  met  with  the  church  at  Antioch,  Wheeling  circuit,  Oc- 
tober 25,  1856,  with  six  out  of  twenty-one  teaching  elders  present,  five  ruling 
elders  and  two  delegates.  The  organization  was  effected  by  the  choice  of  John 
Hickernell,  Speaker;  A.  C.  Raysor,  Journalizing  Clerk;  John  Hovis,  Transcribing 
Clerk,  and  Peter  Loucks,  Treasurer.  The  delegates'  to  the  General  Eldership  were 
"instructed  to  urge  on  the  publication  of  the  new  Hymn  Book."  It  was  rather 
common  for  traveling  ministers  to  complain  of  accidents,  or  misfortunes,  occasion- 
ing losses  which,  with  their  meager  salaries,  they  could  not  bear,  when  these  com- 
plaints were  taken  up  and  "a  project  set  on  foot  for  relief."  But  the  churches  did 
not  take  kindly  to  these  extra  calls  for  money,  and  so  this  Eldership  resolved  that 
such  charitable  help  be  discontinued.  A  committee  was  appointed,  to  report  a 
year  hence,  "to  draft  a  Constitution  and  Rules  of  Order  for  the  formation  of  a 
Missionary  Society."  The  pastors  present  reported  one  hundred  and  fifty  con- 
versions. The  funds  of  the  Eldership  were  exceedingly  limited.  Athens  and' 
Meigs  counties,  Ohio,  were  greatly  neglected,  and  between  the  West  Pennsylvania 
and  the  Ohio  Elderships  the  work  there  finally  went  to  nothing.  The  territory 
for  the  coming  year  was  divided  into  seven  circuits,  with  one  General  Missionary. 
The  missions  of  this  Eldership  year  were  attached  to  circuits  adjoining  them. 
Regular  German  preaching  was  provided  for  at  West  Newton,  and  in  Irwin  town- 
ship, Venango  county, 

15th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — From  the  southern  borders  of  the  terri- 
tory in  185  6,  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  convened,  on  October  28,  1857, 
with  the  church  in  Irwin  township,  Venango  county.  Pa.,  almost  the  extreme  north- 
ern point.  But  nine  of  its  twenty-two  ministers  were  in  attendance,  and  four 
ruling  elders  and  delegates.  Joseph  Glenn  was  elected  Speaker;  A.  C.  Raysor, 
Journalizing  Clerk;  J.  M.  Domer,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  Peter  Loucks,  Treasurer. 
The  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  were  required  to  report.  The  Committee^ 
to  draft  a  Constitution  and  Rules  for  the  formation  of  a  Missionary  Society  re- 
ported a  Constitution  of  nineteen  Articles.  The  membership  was  voluntary,  upon 
the  payment  of  $1.00  annually.  The  ministers  present  reported  two  hundred 
conversions.  They  preached  from  sixty-eight  to  two  hundred  and  eighty-five  ser- 
mons during  the  year.  Ober  and  Marple,  missionaries  to  Texas,  were  still  held 
amenable  to  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  their  names  being  called,  the 
letters  which  they  had  sent  in  were  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Slavery.  Said 
Committee  reported,  that  "in  said  letters  it  finds  not  only  a  departure  from 
original  land-marks,  and  the  setting  up  of  new  things,  but  the  charging  of  our 
Savior,  the  Redeemer  of  mankind  and  adorable  Founder  of  the  Church  of  God, 
with  sanctioning  indirectly  the  great  sin  or  evil  of  Slavery."  It  quotes  actions  of 
the  Eldership  on  October  22,  1845,  and  the  action  of  the  General  Eldership  in 
May,  1845,  to  which  "these  brethren  now  laboring  in  Texas  agreed by  com- 
ing into  the  Eldership,"  and  then  in  terms  of  severe  disapproval  repudiate  their 
present  teachings  and  actions  on  the  subject,  and  condemned  them  for  "setting  up 
for  themselves  [organizing  the  Texas  Eldership]  without  asking  the  consent  of* 
the  body  to  which  they  belonged."     This  it  called  "seceding,"  and"  so  for  all  these' 


4<X)  History   of   tiik   Churches  of   God 

wrong  acts  alleged  against  them,  the  Committee  declared,  and  the  Eldership  rati- 
fied it,  that  "we  do  '~  ^'eby,  by  virtue  of  the  great  moral  law  which  we  consider 
them  to  have  violate^..  ..nlare  that  we  must  withhold  from  them  the  hand  of 
Christian  Fellowship."  Thus  they  "cast  them  off  as  wandering  sons  from  the 
original  land-mark."  They  could  not  tolerate  "villanies  in  the  name  of  Allah," 
even  if  the  perpetrators  "call  upon  the  prophet  to  bless  their  crimes."  Nor  did 
they  deem  the  severe  language  employed  as  partaking  of  the  nature  of  railing 
accusations  which  the  Archangel  Michael  durst  not  bring  against  his  worst  enemy. 
A  singular  coincidence  is  found  in  the  fact  that  immediately  following  the  Journal 
containing  this  arraignment  in  The  Church  Advocate  is  the  "Journal  of  the  First 
Annual  Meeting  of  the  Eldership  in  Texas,"  in  which  in  resolutions  the  position 
of  the  Texas  brethren  is  set  forth. 

16th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldei-ship. — Perhaps  as  an  expression  of  the  "sym- 
pathy" the  Eldership  manifested  by  resolution  in  18.57  for  Slippery  Rock  church 
in  its  financial  straights,  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  on  October  27,  1858, 
met  with  said  church,  located  in  Beaver  county.  Nine  teaching  elders  were  in  at- 
tendance, and  three  ruling  elders;  fourteen  teaching  elders  being  absent.  The 
officers  elected  were  J.  Hovis,  Speaker;  J.  M.  Donier,  Journalizing  Clerk;  H. 
Barkey,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  Peter  Loucks,  Treasurer.  One  of  the  first  items 
of  business  to  be  considered  was  "the  claim  against  the  bethel  at  Slippery  Rock." 
The  Eldership  made  a  broad  and  luminous  deliverance  on  the  subject  of  "female 
preaching,"  declaring  that  it  "believes  female  preaching  scriptural  and  beneficial 
to  the  furtherance  of  the  work  of  God."  Hence  it  resolved  "that  we  vote  (upon 
application)  a  recommendation  to  all  sisters  laboring  in  the  gospel,  whose  quali- 
fications and  religious  character  will  justify  us  in  so  doing."  This  year  there 
are  seven  circuits  and  two  missions,  on  two  of  which  German  preaching  is  pro- 
vided for. 

17th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — At  the  convening  of  the  seventeenth 
Annual  Eldership  at  West  Newton,  Westmoreland  county.  Pa.,  October  25,  1859, 
twelve  ministers  and  four  ruling  elders  and  delegates  were  present;  thirteen  min- 
isters were  absent.  An  election  for  officers  resulted  in  the  choice  of  Seth  S.  Rich- 
mond for  Speaker;  John  A.  Plowman,  Journalizing  Clerk;  Jacob  M.  Domer,  Trans- 
cribing Clerk,  and  Peter  Loucks,  Treasurer.  The  first  steps  toward  the  formation 
of  "circuit  councils"  were  taken  by  the  adoption  of  a  recommendation  that  "each 
circuit  be  advised  to  hold  two  Circuit  Elderships  each  year,  consisting  of  all  the 
preachers,  ruling  elders  and  deacons,"  and  itemizing  their  business.  Holding 
"that  they  that  preach  the  gospel  are  to  live  off  the  gospel,"  the  Eldership  advised 
"the  Circuit  Elderships,  before  making  application  to  this  body  for  a  preacher,  to 

ascertain  as  nearly  as  they  can  his  probable  wants,  and  inform  us whether 

those  wants  can  be  met."  A  committee  was  appointed  "to  prepare  a  Constitution 
for  the  government  of  the  Eldership,"  and  one  "to  take  the  preparatory  steps  to 
secure  an  Act  of  Incorporation."  The  Committee  on  Religious  Exercises  reported 
these  six  subjects  on  which  special  sermons  were  to  be  preached  before  the  Elder- 
ship in  1860:  Qualifications  of  the  Ministry — Loucks;  Depravity — Raysor;  Atone- 
ment— Hickernell;  Evidences  of  Adoption — Domer;  Christian  Warfare — Plow- 
man; Eternal  Salvation — Richmond;  Endless  Punishment — Glenn.  Hickeraell 
reported  that  the  "several  churches  of  which  I  had  charge  were  low  in  spirit;  and 
no  particular  prospects  for  a  reformation,"  he  and  Loucks  decided  to  invite  "Sister 
Martha  Jane  Beecher,  at  that  time  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church, 
an  invitation  to  assist  us  in  holding  a  special  meeting  at  Bethany."  Immense 
crowds  attended  "to  hear  the  voice  that  plays  so  musically  upon  the  ears  of  the 
people  in  general."  No  conversions  were  reported  at  Bethany,  while  at  West 
Newton  "some  few  were  converted."  The  Committee  on  License  "voluntarily 
considered"  Mrs.  Beecher's  case;  spoke  in  terms  of  commendation  of  "her  labors 
and  her  evident  merits,"  and  advised  a  "certificate  expressive  of  the  above"  be 
given  her,  "recognizing  her  as  a  co-worker  in  the  gospel,  and  authorizing  her  to 
continue  her  labors  among  us."  The  fields  of  labor  were  increased  to  fourteen, 
including  Washington  County  Mission,  Athens  County  (Ohio)  Mission,  and  North 
Mission.  On  nearly  all  the  circuits  the  preacher  in  charge  had  one  or  two  assist- 
ants. Mrs.  Beecher  was  appointed  to  assist  the  pastor  on  the  Westmoreland 
circuit. 

18th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  eighteenth  annual  session  of  the 
West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  met  at  West  Newton,  Westmoreland  county.  Pa., 
at  9  o'clock  a.  m.,  on  Tuesday,  October  23,  18"80,  but  listened  to  the  Opening  Ser- 


West    Pennsylvania    Eldership  401 

mon  by  P.  Loucks  in  the  evening  of  said  day.  A.  C.  Raysor  was  chosen  Speaker; 
P.  Loucks,   Journalizing  Clerk;    J.  Hovis,   Transcribing  Clerk,   and  J.  Hickernell, 

Treasurer.  A  "Protocol"  and  the  transcribing  of  the  Minutes  of  the  sessions  of 
the  Eldership  had  been  ordered,  and  A.  C,  Raysor,  Committee,  reported  the  work 
completed.  As  a  further  step,  a  committee,  consisting  of  J.  Hickei-nell,  P.  Loucks 
and  A.  C.  Raysor,  was  appointed  "to  prepare  and  commit  to  writing  our  system  of 
co-operation."  As  to  "ordination  and  setting  apart  to  the  office  of  the  ministry," 
the  Eldership  directed  that  "persons  obtaining  license  from  this  body  shall  be  ad- 
dressed and  a  short  prayer  offered  in  their  behalf  by  some  one  to  be  appointed  by 
the  Speaker."  The  Eldership  placed  itself  on  record  as  being  "as  much  as  ever 
convinced  that  female  preaching  is  scriptural."  All  preachers  "when  speaking  on 
the  ministry"  were  directed  "to  engraft  and  defend  this  sentiment."  The  terri- 
tory was  divided  into  nine  circuits  and  three  missions,  Pittsburg  Mission  "to  be 
supplied  by  Bros.  Hickernell,  Domer,  Plowman  and  Sister  Beecher,"  the  latter  "to 
get  all  the  support."  S.  S.  Richmond,  according  to  previous  arrangements,  on  the 
last  evening  of  the  session  "preached  a  funeral  sermon  on  the  life  and  death  of 
Elder  Winebrenner,  from  Rev.  xiv.  13." 

19th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — "A  revival  of  religion,"  called  "a  glori- 
ous revival,"  "in  progress  in  the  church"  made  it  expedient  for  the  West  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership  when  it  met  at  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  October  22,  1861,  to  dispense 
with  the  opening  sermon.  Instead,  "A.  X.  Shoemaker,  of  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership,  preached  an  interesting  discourse."  Thomas,  of  the  same  Eldership, 
was  also  present.  Both  were  placed  on  committees,  and  had  the  right  to  speak 
and  vote.  The  officers  were,  Hickernell,  Speaker;  J.  M.  Domer,  Journalizing 
Clerk;  A.  C.  Raysor,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  P.  Loucks,  Treasurer.  The  Consti- 
tution, or  "System  of  Co-operation,"  was  reported  and  adopted.  The  name 
adopted  was  "West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God."  The  member- 
ship was  to  consist  of  "all  the  preachers  holding  a  license  from  this  body,  to- 
gether with  an  equal  number  of  ruling  elders  or  delegates."  The  Rules  of  Order 
were  incorporated  in  the  Constitution.  The  Standing  Committee,  consisting  of 
three,  was  given  "the  right  and  authority  to  act  in  behalf  of  the  Eldership  during 
the  year,"  but  were  not  empowered  to  expel  a  minister,  but  to  suspend,  after  trial 
and  conviction.  Five  members  constituted  the  Stationing  Committee.  Preachers 
were  forbidden  entering  on  the  field  of  another  minister  without  the  consent  of 
said  minister.  Churches  were  to  report  to  the  Eldership.  Statistical  reports 
were  to  be  made  by  the  pastors.  "The  Eldership  is  considered  a  Missionary  So- 
ciety, and  each  local  church  an  auxiliary  society."  "Preachers  and  churches 
which  fail  to  comply  with  the  Rules  of  Order  and  Co-operation  are  liable  to  re- 
buke, suspension  or  expulsion."  Jordan,  Free-Will  Baptist,  who  had  united  with 
the  Eldership,  at  the  solicitation  of  a  certain  "Free-Will  Baptist  Church  in  want  of 
ministerial  labor,"  was  "advised  to  return  to  their  connection."  One  preacher 
was  expelled  for  "heterodoxy  and  recklessness  of  character."  "Each  preacher  re- 
ceiving a  license"  was  "required  to  pay  $1.00  at  least  into  the  Treasury  of  the 
Eldership  on  the  reception  thereof."  The  Eldership  appointed  a  committee,  con- 
sisting of  Hickernell,  Domer  and  Cook,  "to  solicit  subscriptions  and  purchase  the 
house  known  as  the  Old  Asbury  Chapel,  in  the  city  of  Pittsburg."  Pittsburg  was 
made  a  part  of  the  New  Brighton  circuit,  besides  which  there  were  seven  circuits 
and  two  missions. 

20th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — "Prospects  bidding  fair  for  a  revival  of 
religion,"  the  meeting  having  been  in  progress  a  week,  when  the  Eldership  con- 
vened at  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  October  28,  1862,  "it  was  thought  expedient  to  direct  the 
efforts  of  the  pulpit  towards  that  object,"  and  dispense  with  the  opening  sermon. 
"Domer  preached  an  appropriate  discourse."  Eleven  ministers  were  present; 
fourteen,  absent.  The  choice  for  Speaker  was  J.  M.  Domer,  with  P.  Loucks,  Jour- 
nalizing Clerk;  J.  A.  PlowTiian,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  J.  Hickernell,  Treasurer. 
The  committee  to  purchase  Asbury  Chapel  had  been  increased  to  five,  and  it  re- 
ported the  purchase  of  the  Chapel  for  $2,500,  with  interest;  $150  was  paid  down; 
$550  "at  the  time  of  receiving  the  deed."  Of  this  amount  $510  was  furnished  by 
individual  members  of  the  committee,  and  only  $190  "raised  by  subscription." 
The  Report  was  adopted,  and  all  the  preachers  on  fields  of  labor  were  instructed 
"to  co-operate  with  the  committee  in  raising  all  the  money  possible  to  meet  the 
payments  as  they  become  due."  An  agent  was  also  "appointed  to  canvass  the 
bounds  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  to  solicit"  help  "in  this  enterprise." 
Martha  J.  Beecher  was  made  the  Agent.     Licenses  were  withheld  and  placed  In 

C.  H.— 14* 


402  History   of  the  Churches  of   God 

the  hands  of  the  Standing  Committee  from  "some  of  the  preachers"  because  they 
"did  not  conform  to  the  Rules  of  Co-operation."  The  Committee  on  the  State  of 
the  Country,  J.  Glenn,  A.  O.  Stouft'er  and  J.  Hovis,  reported,  stating  it  to  be  "the 
duty  of  every  loyal  organization  to  so  express  its  loyalty  and  love  of  its  country 
that  the  Government  may  assuredly  know  who  its  true  and  faithful  subjects  are;" 
sanctioning  "every  measure  and  proclamation  which  a  military  necessity  may  de- 
mand;" "highly  approving  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,"  and  promising  to 
pray  "God  to  give  wisdom  and  direction  to  the  President,  to  his  Cabinet  and  to  the 
heads  of  Departments  of  Government,  success  to  our  Army  and  Navy,  that  they 
may  be  successful  in  bringing  this  fratricidal  war  to  an  honorable  termination." 
There  were  eleven  fields  of  labor,  with  twelve  pastors,  and  one  General  Missionary. 

21st  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — New  Brighton,  Beaver  county,  Pa.,  in 
1863,  entertained  both  the  General  Eldership  and  the  West  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship. The  former  met  there  in  June,  the  latter  on  October  27,  1863.  The  Stand- 
ing Committee  had  used  its  power  over  fields  of  labor  by  so  changing  boundaries 
and  men  as  to  make  seven  circuits,  one  station  and  two  missions.  On  a  ballot 
being  taken  P.  Loucks  was  elected  Speaker;  A.  O.  Stouflfer,  Journalizing  Clerk; 
J.  M.  Domer,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  J.  Hickemell,  Treasurer.  The  delegates 
to  the  General  Eldership  reported  their  attendance  and  participation  in  the  busi- 
ness, "and  feel  satisfied  with  the  manner  in  which  it  was  disposed  of."  Hicker- 
nell  as  pastor  at  Pittsburg  reported  that  "no  effort  has  been  made  to  liquidate  the 
debt."  To  enforce  provisions  of  the  Constitution,  a  Rule  was  adopted  to  "drop  the 
names  of  preachers  from  the  Minutes  who  fail  to  report  for  two  successive  years." 
While  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  the  country  recommended  "a  hearty  re- 
iteration of  our  former  resolutions,"  it  also  congratulated  "the  Union  cause  on  the 
re-election  of  the  Hon.  A.  G.  Curtin  as  Governor  of  the  State,"  and  "could  not  for- 
bear to  express  our  exultation  over  the  complete  defeat  and  as  we  hope  effectual 
overthrow  of  the  traitorous  policy  of  the  notorious  Vallandigham."  Mrs.  Beecher 
was  appointed  to  deliver  lectures  to  raise  money  to  pay  the  Pittsburg  debt.  Fay- 
ette City  was  made  a  mission,  as  well  as  Pittsburg. 

22nd  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — For  reasons  incident  to  the  Civil  War, 
the  work  in  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  had  declined  during  the  year,  so 
that  while  the  Eldership  was  constituted  at  Center  Bethel,  Westmoreland  county. 
Pa.,  October  18,  1864,  with  one  station,  seven  circuits  and  three  missions,  it  ad- 
journed with  six  circuits  and  one  missions.  And  Pittsburg,  the  one  mission,  was 
connected  with  Fayette  City,  Butler  and  Armstrong  circuit.  The  church  at 
Fayetteville,  Lawrence  county,  had  become  extinct,  and  the  bethel  was  directed  to 
be  sold.  In  organizing  the  Eldership  J.  Hovis  was  chosen  Speaker;  J.  A.  Plow- 
man, Journalizing  Clerk;  P.  Loucks,  Transcribing  Clerk  and  J.  M.  Domer,  Treas- 
urer. Mrs.  Beecher's  "lectures  for  the  benefit  of  the  Pittsburg  meeting-house" 
did  not  result  in  bringing  in  so  much  money.  She  "delivered  four  lectures  during 
the  year,  and  collected  $94.80."  The  sum  of  $113.00  was  subscribed  for  this 
purpose  on  the  floor.  There  being  "no  change  in  any  way  in  our  views  in  rela- 
tion to  our  country,"  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  the  Country  simply  referred 
"all  whom  it  concerns  to  our  former  resolutions."  The  Eldership  mourned  the 
death  of  "a  worthy  and  promising  member,"  Elder  A.  O.  Stouffer.  Loucks  was 
designated  to  "preach  a  missionary  sermon  during  our  next  annual  Eldership." 

23rd  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership.- — There  were  enrolled  as  present  tea 
teaching  elders,  three  ruling  elders,  two  delegates  and  one  messenger,  when  the 
West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  was  constituted  at  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  October  25,  1865. 
Ten  teaching  elders  were  absent.  J.  M.  Domer  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  on 
Wednesday  evening,  from  Gen.  xxiv.  56.  He  was  elected  Speaker,  with  P.  Loucks, 
Journalizing  Clerk;  J.  W.  Stoner,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  J.  Hickemell,  Treas- 
urer. The  Treasurer  presented  a  receipt  in  full  payment  of  the  Eldership's  share 
of  the  claims  of  Winebrenner.  Action  was  taken  for  the  immediate  payment  of 
the  balance  of  a  debt  on  the  Limestone  Bethel,  Armstrong  county.  The  Fayette- 
ville house  of  worship  was  reported  to  "have  been  sold  by  a  person  or  persons  not 
legally  authorized,"  and  an  agent  was  appointed  to  see  after  it.  Martha  J. 
Beecher  was  enrolled  as  General  Missionary,  and  as  such  she  "preached  one  hun- 
dred and  five  sermons  during  the  year,  and  received  for  her  support  $305.00." 
Pittsburg  was  included  in  a  mission  with  Fayette  City,  Butler  and  Armstrong 
counties,  with  J.  Hickemell  and  J.  Reese  as  the  missionaries,  Hickemell  also 
serving  Altoona  mission,  in  the  East  Pennsylvania  territory.  The  debt  on  the 
Pittsburg  church   property  was  reported  as  being   $2,373.69,   and   after   ordering 


West    Pennsylvania    Eldership  403 

payment  of  interest,  the  "House  Committee  was  given  discretionary  power  to  act 
in  the  matter  as  their  judgment  may  dictate."  To  provide  "a  perpetual  interest- 
bearing  fund"  for  missionary  purposes  a  proposition  was  offered,  but  not  finally 
acted  upon,  to  secure  "perpetual  interest-bearing  notes,  made  to  the  treasurer  of 
the  Eldership,  and  the  interest  to  be  paid  yearly,  and  the  principal  to  be  paid  by 
the  person  or  persons  giving  the  note  or  notes  during  their  natural  lives,  or  by 
their  heirs,  executors,  administrators  or  assigns.  This  principal  to  be  kept  in  the 
treasury  as  a  perpetual  fund,  the  interest  to  be  applied  to  missionary  purposes  as 
directed  by  the  Eldership."  Immediately  $700.00  were  pledged  by  eight  persons. 
Domer  and  Loucks  were  appointed  a  committee  "to  take  the  necessary  preliminary 
steps  and  have  the  Eldership  incorporated."  Pittsburg  was  made  a  mission  by 
itself,  as  was  Armstrong  county.  Mrs.  Beecher  was  continued  General  Mission- 
ary.     Besides  these,  there  were  nine  fields  of  labor. 

24h  AVest  Pennsylvna  Eldership. — During  the  year  1865-6  Mrs.  Beecher  be- 
came Mrs.  Mary  Jane  Beecher  Wertz,  and  her  active  relation  to  the  Eldership- 
ceased,  as  she  removed  to  Iowa.  E.  H.  Thomas  attended  the  session  which  con- 
vened with  the  church  at  Limestone,  Armstrong  county,  October  18,  1866,  and 
was  made  a  full  member.  J.  A.  Plowman  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon  from 
Ps.  1.  2.  J.  Glenn  was  elected  Speaker;  D.  Blakely,  Journalizing  Clerk;  H. 
Barkey,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  J.  Hickeraell,  Treasurer.  The  debt  on  the 
Pittsburg  property  was  reported  to  be  $2,309.00,  with  interest  due  $110.78.  The 
interest  was  ordered  paid,  and  authority  given  the  Standing  Committee  to  solicit 
subscriptions  and  contributions  to  pay  the  debt.  The  house  of  worship  at  Car- 
rolltown,  Cambria  county,  having  been  sold,  the  net  balance  was  appropriated  to- 
ward the  building  of  a  bethel  at  Paddytown,  Somerset  county.  The  passage  by 
the  Legislature  of  an  Act  incorporating  the  Eldership  was  reported.  To  secure 
"greater  union  of  effort  to  advance  the  interests  of  the  Church  throughout  the 
bounds  of  this  Eldership,"  "the  Chairman  of  the  Standing  Committee"  was  to  "be 
considered  our  General  Missionary,  ex-officio."  His  duties  were:  "To  exercise  a 
general  supervision  over  all  the  circuits  and  churches  within  the  bounds  of  the 
Eldrship;  to  assist  as  far  as  possible  in  holding  Communion  and  protracted  meet- 
ings on  all  the  circuits."  In  holding  these  meetings  he  was  "to  have  the  privilege 
of  lifting  collections  for  his  support."  The  churches  were  advised  to  secure 
Church  Records  and  keep  them  faithfully.  The  matter  of  securing  notes  for  the 
Permanent  Mission  Fund  was  strongly  urged  on  ministers  and  churches,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  regular  collections  each  quarter  for  immediate  use.  In  response  to« 
an  expressed  "desire  upon  the  part  of  some  to  have  the  Eldership  declare  its 
views  relative  to  the  conditionss  upon  which  the  reception  of  pardon  and  the  gift 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  are  suspended,"  the  Eldership  voted  on  this  proposition: 
"That  there  is  no  remission  of  sins  or  promise  of  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit  with- 
out baptism."  The  vote  stood  yeas,  none;  nays,  seventeen.  J,  Hickemell  was 
made  the  General  Missionary;  P.  Loucks  was  placed  in  charge  of  Pittsburg  and 
J.  Hovis  of  the  Armstrong  Mission.  Besides  these  missions  there  were  seven 
circuits  served  by  eight  preachers. 

25th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership.- — The  Act  of  Incorporation,  incorporated 
in  the  Journal  of  the  Eldership  held  at  Wesley,  Venango  county.  Pa.,  beginning 
October  17,  1867,  made  the  Eldership  "a  body  politic  and  corporate  in  law"  in  the 
names  of  Jacob  M.  Domer,  John  Hickeraell,  Peter  Loucks,  Joseph  W.  Stoner  and 
John  Hovls  and  their  successors  in  office  as  Speaker,  Treasurer,  Clerks  and  the 
Standing  Committee.  The  official  name  is  the  "Board  of  Trustees  of  the  West 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God."  One-third  of  the  members  is  a 
quorum.  The  yearly  value  of  the  income  of  whatever  kind  "shall  not  at  any  time 
exceed  twenty  thousand  dollars."  The  use  of  this  income  is  restricted  "to  the 
financial  and  religious  purposes  of  the  said  Eldership,  or  for  any  similar  objects  of 
the  General  Eldership."  The  presiding  officer  of  the  Eldership  -svas  A.  C.  Raysor, 
with  P.  Loucks,  Journalizing  Clerk;  H.  Barkey,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  J,  Hicker- 
nell.  Treasurer.  There  was  no  reduction  of  the  Pittsburg  debt.  The  deed  was 
ordered  to  be  made  to  the  Board  of  Corporation,  and  judgments  given  to  the 
brethren  who  advanced  the  money.  Loucks  was  elected  by  the  Eldership  Chair- 
man of  the  Standing  Committee  under  the  Rule  which  made  him  ex-officio  Gen- 
eral Missionary.  In  addition  to  the  duties  prescribed  in  the  action  of  1866,  he 
was  to  collect  funds  to  pay  off  the  debt  on  the  Pittsburg  property,  he  having  gen- 
erously offered  to  cancel  $500.00  of  his  own  judgment  against  it.  Pittsburg  Mis- 
sion, and  Indiana  and  Somerset  circuits  were  unsupplied. 


404  History  of  the   Churches  of   God 

26th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — As  there  was  from  the  Deginning  de- 
cided prejudice  against  the  reading  of  sermons,  J.  Hovis  preached  an  extem- 
poraneous Opening  Sermon  at  the  Eldership,  which  held  its  session  at  New  Brigh- 
ton, Beaver  county,  Pa.,  beginning  October  15,  1868.  He  used  for  his  text  Matt, 
xxiv.  14.  But  at  the  third  sitting  a  resolution  was  adopted,  that  "the  Opening 
Sermon  for  next  year  be  written  out  and  read  before  this  body."  When  on  the 
last  afternoon  "J.  A.  Plowman  was  elected  to  read  the  Opening  Sermon  at  the 
commencement  of  our  next  Eldership,  he  declined,  "being  opposed  to  reading  ser- 
mons under  pretense  of  preaching,"  and  P.  Loiicks  was  elected  in  his  place.  P. 
Loucks  was  Speaker;  A.  C.  Raysor,  Journalizing  Clerk;  J.  A.  Plowman,  Tran- 
scribing Clerk,  and  D.  S.  Fox,  Treasurer.  The  Standing  Committee  had  created 
a  mission  in  South-western  Missouri,  in  January,  1868,  whither  Blakely  had  emi- 
grated, and  appointed  him  a  missionary,  which  the  Eldership  approved.  Loucks 
reported  that  he  had  received  by  subscriptions  and  donations,  including  his  own 
$500.00,  a  total  of  $1,249.88  toward  the  Pittsburg  debt,  leaving  $1,156.59  still 
due,  besides  a  balance  due  Loucks  of  $79.00.  Plowman  was  appointed  to  Pitts- 
burg and  McKeesport  mission.  J.  S.  McKee,  East  Ohio  Eldership,  was  stationed 
at  New  Brighton.  The  proposition  to  change  the  ministers  in  the  Fall  instead 
of  the  Spring  of  the  year,  which  was  recommended  by  the  Committee  on  Resolu- 
tions, was  "postponed  for  one  year." 

27th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Near  his  own  home,  when  the  Eldership 
met  at  Center  Bethel,  October  21,  1869,  it  elected  John  Hickemell  Speaker.  He 
was  highly  esteemed  by  the  churches  and  brotherhood,  and  was  one  of  their  most 
eminent  representatives.  There  were  present  twenty-five  preachers,  eleven  ruling 
elders  and  three  delegates.  It  was  also  the  home  church  of  P.  Loucks,  who 
"read"  the  Opening  Sermon,  with  which  "many  of  us  were  so  well  pleased  as  an 
experiment,"  that  the  Eldership  "advised  the  reading  of  the  Opening  Sermon  next 
year."  Fourteen  preachers  are  noted  as  absentees.  A.  C.  Raysor  was  chosen 
Journalizing  Clerk;  J.  A.  Plowman,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  D.  S.  Fox,  Treasurer. 
Under  direction  of  the  Eldership,  the  Committee  on  Arrangements  appointed 
Hickemell  to  preach  "a  funeral  sermon  on  the  death  of  Elder  E.  H.  Thomas  on 
Sabbath  morning."  By  resolution  the  Eldership  expressed  its  sense  of  bereave- 
ment at  his  death,  by  which  "the  Church  of  God  has  lost  one  of  its  most  efficient 
instrumentalities  for  advancing  the  cause  of  virtue  and  religion  in  the  world." 
Commendable  interest  was  manifested  in  missions,  and  "our  brethren  are  begin- 
ning to  realize  the  propriety  of  giving  more  liberally  of  their  means  to  sustain 
home  and  foreign  missions."  The  Missouri  mission  "deserves  our  fostering  care, 
and  the  missionary  deserves  to  be  liberally  supported."  Increased  interest  and 
greater  efforts  in  the  missionary  enterprises  "are  urged."  The  unusual  action  on 
the  iteneracy  is  peculiar  to  this  Eldership.  A  resolution  proposing  to  "so  amend 
our  system  of  co-operation  as  to  declare  that  the  itineracy  is  fundamental  to  its 
existence,"  was  "negatived  by  a  unanimous  vote."  An  "impressive  ceremony  and 
presentation  of  licenses"  was  a  feature  of  the  closing  sitting. 

28th  AV'est  Pennsylvania  Eldership.^ — A  very  interesting  session  of  the  Elder-i 
ship  was  held  at  Antioch,  Marshall  county,  W.  Va.,  beginning  October  20,  1870. 
Fifteen  ministers  were  present  and  twelve  absent,  four  delegates  and  four  ruling 
elders.  P.  Loucks  was  chosen  Speaker;  A.  C.  Raysor,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and 
J.  Grimm,  Transcribing  Clerk.  The  Treasurer  was  D.  S.  Fox.  The  Eldership 
received  G.  W.  Thompson,  of  the  Free  Baptist  Church,  as  an  advisory  member. 
The  question  of  holding  a  Pentecostal  meeting,  after  some  discussion,  was  referred 
to  a  committee,  which  stated  that  such  "meetings  and  Sabbath-school  Conventions 
have  been  a  satisfactory  experiment,  as  tried  by  some  of  the  Elderships,"  and 
"resolved,  that  they  might  be  conducive  to  our  good."  Further  discussion  fol- 
lowed, when  the  report  was  recommitted,  and  made  a  special  order  for  the  next 
sitting,  when  it  was  decided  to  "hold  a  Pentecostal  meeting  in  connection  with  a 
Sabbath-school  Convention."  With  far  less  caution  and  deliberation,  the  Elder- 
ship resolved  in  "favor  of  holding  a  general  Sabbath-school  Convention  as  has 
been  suggested  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership."  The  Eldership  asked  per- 
mission of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  to  pay  its  missionary 
assessment  directly  toward  the  support  of  Blakely  missionary  in  Missouri.  The 
office  of  Stated  Clerk  was  created,  "with  $5.00  annually  as  compensation  for  his 
labors."  One  minister  was  "appointed  to  preach  a  missionary  sermon,  and  one 
to   preach    a   Sabbath-school   sermon    during   the   next   session    of  the   Eldership." 


WeST     pE^NNSYtVANIA     Eld£RSHIP  4O5 

Loucks  was  chosen  to  preach  the  former,  and  Domer  the  latter.  The  appoint- 
ments consisted  of  six  stations  and  eight  circuits. 

29th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  Opening  Sermon  of  the  twenty- 
ninth  annual  session  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  was  delivered  by  J, 
Hickemell,  on  Thursday  evening,  October  19,  1871,  from  Acts  xiii.  2.  Hickemell 
was  duly  elected  Speaker;  A.  C.  Raysor,  Stated  Clerk;  J.  AV.  Davis,  Transcribing 
Clerk,  and  P.  Loucks,  Treasurer.  While  the  preachers  were  "required  to  pass  an 
examination  annually,"  it  had  been  unenforced;  hence,  a  committee  was  created 
"to  report  a  course  of  studies  for  the  benefit  of  young  ministers."  The  Eldership 
thought  "every  Christian  should  constantly  carry  with  him  a  copy  of  the  New 
Testament."  The  death  of  two  ministers  were  reported — J.  Travis  and  J.  Rees — 
who  were  "active  and  zealous  laborers,"  "energetic  and  faithful  ministers,"  "bear- 
ing good  moral  and  religious  characters."  Exhorters'  licenses  were  issued  to  five 
brethren.  The  Eldership  refused  to  add  to  "the  ceremony  of  ordination"  as 
practiced  "the  imposition  of  hands,"  as  recommended  by  W.  J.  Davis,  G.  J.  Bartle- 
baiigh  and  D.  Kearshling,  Committee  on  Resolutions.  From  one  of  the  funds  the 
Eldership  "donated  $50.00  to  Elder  J.  A.  Plowman  as  a  token  of  friendship,"  with 
his  transfer  to  the  East  Ohio  Eldership.  The  churches  were  "instructed  to  have 
all  their  deeds  for  church  property  made  to  the  Treasurer,  by  name,  of  the  Board 
of  Incorporation  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership."  Said  Board  was  "author- 
ized to  sell  the  property  belonging  to  the  Church,  in  Pittsburg,  if  in  their  judg- 
ment they  think  it  expedient."  The  proceeds  were  to  be  applied  "to  the  erection 
of  a  new  house  in  some  other  locality."  "Six  promising  young  men  manifested  a 
desire  to  engage  in  the  work  of  the  ministry,"  which  fact  was  mentioned  by  the 
Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion  as  "an  evidence  of  progress."  There  were 
also  "extensive  revivals  and  large  numbers  of  accessions." 

30th  AVest  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Interchange  of  friendly  relations  between 
the  Free  Baptists  and  the  Church  of  God  as  represented  in  the  West  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  continued.  E.  Jordan,  of  the  fonner  Church,  attended  the  session  of 
said  Eldership  which  convened  at  Ursina,  Somerset  county,  Pa.,  October  17,  1872. 
The  Eldership  expressed  its  pleasure  to  have  him  present,  and  voted  to  appoint  P. 
Loucks  as  a  delegate  to  the  next  meeting  of  the  Free  Baptist  Association.  The 
officers  of  this  Eldership  were  J.  Hovis,  Speaker;  A.  C  Raysor,  Stated  Clerk;  J. 
Cook,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  P.  Loucks,  Treasurer.  The  Eldership  was  insistant 
that  the  annual  examinations  of  preachers  shall  not  go  by  default,  but  that  they 
be  held.  It  adopted  a  short  course  of  studies,  extending  three  years.  At  this 
session  Clearfield  mission  was  formally  transferred  to  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership.  The  remaining  appointments  consisted  of  five  stations  and  eleven 
circuits.  Among  the  former  was  Pittsburg,  to  which  S.  Woods  was  appointed. 
The  Report  of  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion  was  very  encouraging,  as 
it  showed  "accessions  to  the  Church,  about  five  hundred;  five  new  houses  of 
worship  built;  preachers  better  supported,  and  more  zeal  for  the  promotion  of 
the  cause  of  God."  The  finances  of  the  Eldership  also  indicated  improvement. 
The  only  shadow  which  hung  over  the  Eldership  was  the  fact  that  "Elder  J.  M. 
Domer  is  now  seriously  afflicted,"  and  it  was  resolved  that  "each  member  of  this 
Eldership  offer  up  prayer  in  his  behalf  for  his  recovery." 

31st  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Months  before  the  calends  of  October, 
1873,  dawned,  the  spirit  of  one  of  the  noblest  ministers  of  the  West  Pennsylvania 
Eldership,  had  taken  its  departure.  J.  M.  Domer  died  November  1.5,  1872,  highly 
respected  and  loved  by  his  whole  Eldership,  and  esteemed  by  the  brotherhood 
generally  as  a  man  of  exceptional  talents,  for  "by  his  many  noble  qualities  he 
gained  the  respect  and  admiration  of  all."  He  was  "enabled  by  divine  grace  to 
wield  a  powerful  influence  over  the  minds  of  his  fellow  men."  In  such  terms  the 
Eldership  recorded  its  sentiments  concerning  their  deceased  fellow-member.  The 
body  met  at  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  October  16,  1873,  J.  AV.  Davis  preaching  the  Opening^ 
Sermon  from  I.  Thess.  i.  5.  An  election  for  officers  resulted  in  the  choice  of  P. 
Loucks,  Speaker;  A.  C.  Raysor,  Stated  Clerk;  J.  A.  Cook,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and 
J.  Hickemell,  Treasurer.  Having  received  greetings  of  friendship  from  the  Free- 
Baptist  Conference,  by  its  delegate,  E.  Jordan,  the  Eldership  appointed  J.  Hicker-- 
nell,  P.  Loucks  and  W.  B.  Long  fraternal  delegates  to  said  body.  To  such  an  ex- 
tent had  sentiment  changed  on  the  question  of  Secret  Societies  that  a  proposed' 
action  against  them  was  laid  on  the  table.  But  a  strong  resolution  against  the  use 
of  tobacco  as  being  "a  habit  essentially  filthy  and  inconsistent  with  the  character 
of  a  Christian  gentleman,"  along  with  one  insisting  on  total  abstinence  from  all 


4o6  History   of  thk   Churches  of   God 

intoxicants,  was  readily  agreed  to.  The  Eldership  deemed  it  expedient  to  dis- 
continue licensing  exhorters,  but  declared  that  "in  its  judgment  this  should  be 
left  to  the  local  churches."  A  colored  man  was  licensed  who  had  a  call  to  Shen- 
andoah Valley,  Va.,  where  he  proposed  to  start  a  mission,  and  be  "responsible 
himself  for  his  support;"  but  no  appointment  was  made.  R.  L.  Byrnes,  who  be- 
came a  leader  in  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  and  a  prominent  official  of  the 
General  Eldership,  received  license  at  this  session,  a  man  of  fine  character  and 
serviceable  talents.  It  was  made  the  duty  of  local  preachers  to  preach  twenty- 
five  sermons  a  year.  As  the  ministers  were  at  considerable  expense  in  moving 
from  one  field  to  another,  the  various  circuits  were  "requested  hereafter  to  make 
provision  for  the  same,  in  addition  to  the  salary." 

32nd  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Quite  a  full  Eldership  assembled  Oc- 
tober 15,  1874,  in  the  new  mission  building  at  Mt.  Pleasant,  Westmoreland 
county,  Pa.,  to  listen  to  the  Opening  Sermon  by  J.  Grinini,  from  Deut.  x.  12-14. 
Jordan,  Free  Baptist  Church,  was  again  present,  returning  the  visit  of  Loucks 
to  their  Conference.  Jordan  had  formerly  been  a  member  of  the  Eldership,  but 
■"withdrew  by  mutual  consent,  and  has  held  his  membership  among  the  Free  Will 
Baptists."  Expressing  a  desire  to  return  to  the  Church  of  God  and  the  West 
Pennsylvania  Eldership,  he  was  received,  and  a  license  voted  him.  The  Elder- 
ship, after  a  full  discussion,  by  an  almost  unanimous  vote,  decided  "that  the 
change  of  preachers  shall  take  place  immediately  after  the  adjournment  of  the 
Eldership."  A  bond  in  such  amount  as  the  Board  of  Corporation  may  require 
was  after  this  to  be  given  by  the  Treasurer.  Loucks  and  others  made  a  strong 
effort  to  interest  the  Eldership  in  Mt.  Pleasant  Classical  and  Scientific  Institute 
with  a  view  of  securing  it  as  a  Church  school.  The  body  endorsed  the  new 
monthly  to  be  published  by  the  Board  of  Publication  of  the  General  Eldership, 
"The  Sunday-School  Record."  The  labors  of  the  ministry  had  been  "signally 
blessed  in  the  conversion  of  hundreds  of  souls,  and  peace,  union  and  harmony 
prevailed."  The  report  of  the  Committee  on  License  was  adopted,  which  recom- 
mended "that  public  collections  be  taken  up  at  each  regular  appointment  once 
during  the  year,  to  be  apppropriated  to  aid  young  men  to  prepare  themselves  for 
the  ministry."  The  South  Pittsburg  and  Allegheny  mission  was  created,  with  S. 
"Woods  as  missionary.  The  Shenandoah  mission,  Virginia,  was  also  recognized, 
3ind  J.  Bro>vn  (colored)  appointed.  Another  mission  was  ordered  to  be  opened 
in  the  Kanawha  Valley,  W.  Va.,  and  one  in  Jefferson  county,  Pa.  The  Station- 
ing Committee  did  not  supply  Pittsburg,  but  left  Woods  on  the  South  Side  Pitts- 
burg Sunday-school  Mission.  The  Eldership  was  presided  over  by  J.  Grimm, 
Speaker,  with  J.  A.  Cook,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  P.  Loucks,  Treasurer. 

33rd  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  Eldership  was  called  to  meet  at 
Harmony  by  P.  Loucks,  Chairman  of  the  Standing  Committee,  on  October  21. 
1875.  The  session  began  the  next  morning,  when  J.  W.  Davis  was  chosen 
Speaker;  A.  C.  Raysor,  Stated  Clerk;  W.  B.  Long,  Transcribing  Clerk;  B.  F.  Bol- 
ton, Financial  and  Statistical  Clerk,  and  P.  Loucks,  Treasurer.  Loucks  preached 
the  Opening  Sermon  on  the  evening  of  the  21st,  and  the  Eldership  ordered  it  pub- 
lished in  The  Advocate.  The  Eldership  was  much  pleased  with  the  enterprise  of 
Dr.  Ross  in  starting  a  book  store  in  Harrisburg.  The  Eldership  decided  to  pub- 
lish 100,000  pamphlets  giving  the  statistics  and  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  God. 
Fairs  and  festivals  were  discountenanced  because  considered  "a  species  of  gam- 
■Jjling-"  While  several  ministers  passed  to  their  reward  during  the  year,  there  was 
an  addition  of  seven,  leaving  the  number  of  ministers  of  the  Eldership  at  forty. 
"The  temperance  question  consumed  the  fourth  day.  The  Eldership  "refused  to 
■endorse  the  prohibition  movement,"  but  was  willing  to  "use  all  lawful  means  con- 
sistent with  its  religious  principles  for  the  suppression  of  the  liquor  traflBc."  A 
Tevislon  of  the  Constitution  was  decided  to  be  advisable,  and  a  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  do  the  work.  Important  action  was  taken  "to  secure  greater  efficiency 
of  the  ministry,  the  course  to  be  pursued,  and  the  amount  of  salary  to  be  raised  by 
•stations  and  circuits.  There  were  four  stations,  thirteen  circuits  and  one  mis- 
sion. 

34tli  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Several  important  matters  started  in 
1875  eam<e  over  to  be  finished  at  the  session  of  1876.  One  of  these  was  "revising 
the  systetn  of  co-operation,  or  drafting  a  Constitution,"  which  was  reported,  and 
•occupied  the  sitting  on  Friday  afternoon  and  Saturday  morning.  Another  was 
Tthe  qnestl-on  of  salaries  of  pastors.  The  object  was  to  increase  salaries,  for  which 
MO  specific  provision  had   been   made.      The   following  Item    was    carefully    con- 


West  Pennsylvania    Eldership  407 

sidered,  and  then  adopted:  "That  immediately  after  the  preachers  take  charge 
of  their  appointments,  let  the  deacons  of  each  church  draw  up  the  following  Ar- 
ticle  of   Agreement:      We,   the   deacons   of   the   church    of   God   at , 

agree,  without  defalcation,  to  raise  the  sum  of  $ for  Elder  ,  as  a 

reward  for  his  pastoral  labors  among  us  during  the  year  ,  the  same  to  be 

paid  to  him  by  the  deacons  quarterly  in  advance."  The  Eldership  was  presided 
over  by  B.  F.  Bolton,  with  A.  C.  Raysor,  Journalizing  Clerk;  M.  S.  Pritts,  Tran- 
scribing Clerk,  and  P.  Loucks,  Treasurer.  There  were  "large  ingatherings  of 
souls  all  over  the  Eldership,"  and  "harmony  and  peace  prevailed  among  the 
churches."  Finding  that  the  Eldership  convened  so  late  as  "to  make  it  very  in- 
convenient for  moving  on  account  of  cold  weather,"  the  time  of  meeting  was 
changed  to  the  first  Thursday  in  October.  Funds  were  limited,  as  the  amount  of 
collections  reported  by  the  Treasurer  was  only  $14  5.09.  The  stations  this  year 
were  four;  circuits,  fourteen,  with  one  mission— Kanawha,  West  Va.,  to  which 
W.  J.  Davis  was  appointed,  with  an  appropriation  of  $100.00.  The  Opening 
Sermon  was  preached  on  Thursday  evening,  October  19th  by  M.  S.  Pitts,  and  the 
business  session  began  on  Friday  morning,  October  20th,  and  the  Eldership  ad- 
journed on  Tuesday  afternoon. 

35th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Meeting  at  Benwood,  West  Va.,  October 
4,  1877,  the  distance  prevented  a  large  audience.  Nineteen  teaching  elders 
were  absent,  and  nineteen  were  present,  with  twenty  delegates  and  four  mes- 
sengers. The  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  by  J.  Glenn,  from  Luke  xvi.  1,  2. 
P.  Loucks  was  chosen  Speaker;  B.  F.  Bolton,  Journalizing  Clerk;  M.  S.  Pritts, 
Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  W.  Davis,  Financial  Clerk,  and  P.  Loucks,  Treasurer. 
Having  a  course  of  studies,  but  no  permanent  Board  of  Education,  the  Eldership 
elected  an  Examning  Committee  to  examine  "young  preachers."  The  wisdom  of 
taking  up  certain  matters  in  private  sittings  was  so  clear  that  without  opposition 
such  meetings  were  arranged  for  in  order  "to  consider  private  business."  The 
Eldership  felt  the  need  of  a  system  to  gather  more  missionary  money,  and  so  in 
addition  to  requiring  pastors  "to  collect  $1.00  per  member  missionary  money," 
it  revived  "a  system  to  raise  a  permanent  mission  fund  adopted  in  1859,  and 
re-adopted  in  1865,"  as  "the  best  means  by  which  to  gather  a  mission  fund." 
The  church  at  Stull's  Run  had  become  extinct,  the  property  was  ordered  sold  and 
the  liabilities  paid  and  any  balance  paid  into  the  treasury.  A  Sunday-school  con- 
vention was  ordered  to  be  held.  It  also  strongly  urged  on  the  General  Eldership 
"the  propriety  of  taking  such  steps  as  in  their  judgment  will  be  the  most  effi- 
cient to  raise  the  means  whereby  we  may  be  enabled  to  erect  or  purchase  a  house 
for  a  school  under  our  immediate  control."  The  delegates  to  the  General  Elder- 
ship were  instructed  to  work  for  the  issuing  of  a  Church  Hymnal.  The  Stationing 
Committee  divided  the  territory  into  four  stations,  thirteen  circuits  and  three  mis- 
sions. 

36th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Of  the  forty-two  teaching  elders  enroll- 
ed, twenty-eight  responded  at  roll  call  when  the  Eldership' convened  at  Center 
Bethel,  Westmoreland  county,  October  3,  1878.  There  were  also  present  twenty- 
one  ruling  elders  and  eight  messengers.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by 
G.  J.  Bartlehaugh,  from  Matt.  xvi.  18.  The  churches  of  God  have  always  been 
proverbially  liberal  in  opening  their  houses  of  worship  to  irresponsible  ministers. 
Those  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  were  no  exception.  Hence,  the  Elder- 
ship "discountenanced  such  a  course"  as  "disreputable  characters"  have  thus 
entered  the  pulpits  and  "evil  consequences"  have  followed.  The  churches  were 
"urged  to  be  careful  in  this  matter,  and  to  permit  no  person  to  preach  in  their 
church  houses  unless  they  are  members  in  good  standing  in  some  orthodox 
Church."  The  resolutions  on  temperance  broadened  out,  affirming  that  "intem- 
perance is  not  alone  confined  to  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors,  but  the  use  of  to- 
bacco and  such  other  evils  whereby  we  defile  the  body  and  render  ourselves 
odious  to  society."  Young  ministers  and  applicants  for  licenses  were  requested  to 
refrain  from  the  use  of  these  things.  A  camp-meeting  was  directed  to  be  held,  to 
be  called  "the  Eldership  camp-meeting."  The  cause  of  Sunday-schools  and  mis- 
sions was  made  a  special  order  for  Tuesday  afternoon,  and  a  special  program  was 
arranged  by  a  committee  composed  of  B.  F.  Bolton,  J.  AV.  Bloyd  and  J.  J.  Fox. 
A  Committee  on  Missions  was  created  as  one  of  the  regular  committees.  The 
stations  were  reduced  to  two,  the  circuits  increased  to  twenty,  with  two  mis- 
sions.    Two  special  sermons  were  ordered  for  the  session  of  1879,  one  on  Tem- 


4o8  History  of  the   Churches   of   God 

perance  and  one  on  Missions.  G.  J.  Bartlebaugh  and  R.  L.  Byrnes  were  appointed 
to  preach  them. 

37th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — For  reasons  not  disclosed,  the  privilege 
of  advisory  membership  was  no  longer  to  be  extended  to  ministers  not  members  of 
the  Church  of  God.  They  were  simply  to  be  "introduced"  to  the  Eldership 
by  the  Speaker.  The  Eldership  convened  in  1879,  at  Kingwood,  Somerset  county, 
October  2nd.  J.  S.  Marple  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  from  Matt,  xxviii.  19. 
The  unusual  act  of  a  Speaker-elect  refusing  to  serve  was  witnessed  when  G.  J. 
Bartlebangh  was  elected  to  this  office,  and  so  the  honor  was  conferred  upon  J.  W. 
Davis.  B.  F.  Bolton  was  chosen  for  Journalizing  Clerk;  W.  H.  H.  Crisvvell, 
Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  S.  3Iarple,  Financial  Clerk,  and  S.  P.  P.  Young,  Treasurer. 
Under  the  supervision  of  the  Standing  Committee,  the  house  of  worship  at  Eden- 
burg  was  sold.  As  nothing  was  done  by  the  General  Eldership  to  provide  a 
school,  the  Eldership  resolved  that  it  "will,  at  as  early  a  day  as  possible,  devise 
means  by  which  our  young  ministers  may  obtain  an  education  that  will  enable 
them  to  hold  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  communities  in  which  they  might  be 
thrown."  Perhaps  the  reason  why  Bartlebaugh  declined  to  accept  the  Speaker- 
ship is  found  in  his  later  request  that  he  be  "granted  an  open  transfer."  The 
Eldership  still  elected  one  of  its  members  to  preach  the  Opening  Sermon  the  fol- 
lowing year,  the  choice  at  this  session  being  John  Hickemell,  with  R.  L.  Byrnes 
as  alternate.  The  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion  made  a  hopeful  report, 
stating  that  they  felt  "happy  to  say  that  the  dark,  gloomy  cloud  that  seemingly 
hung  over  the  Church  of  God  is  passing  off  into  a  glorious  day,  and  that  the  op- 
position and  prejudice  to  the  doctrine  of  which  we  are  peculiarly  jealous  are 
now  giving  way  before  us  more  rapidly  than  ever."  A  committee  to  examine  in 
the  prescribed  studies  was  appointed  for  1880.  Each  minister  was  directed  "to 
preach  a  sermon  in  favor  of  the  Sisters'  Mission.  Deeply  conscious  of  its  loss  in 
the  death  of  M.  S.  Pritts,  the  Eldership  put  on  record  its  appreciation  of  his 
character  and  services,  as  "an  able  minister  of  the  New  Testament  and  a  faithful 
defender  of  the  'faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints;'  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary 
abilities  as  a  preacher  of  the  gospel,  and  a  man  of  deep-toned,  practical  piety." 

38th  AVest  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Sixty-three  members  constituted  the 
thirty-eighth  annual  session  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  which  convened 
at  West  Newton,  Westmoreland  county.  Pa.,  October  7,  1880.  John  Hickemell 
preached  the  Opening  Sermon  on  Thursday  evening,  and  on  Friday  morning  he 
was  elected  Speaker;  B.  F.  Bolton,  First  Clerk;  R.  L.  Byrnes,  Second  Clerk;  J.  S. 
Marple,  Financial  Clerk,  and  S.  P.  P.  Young,  Treasurer.  To  emphasize  its  de- 
mand for  shorter  Journals  in  The  Advocate,  and  to  have  "long,  tedious  Journals 
excluded  from  its  pages,  the  Eldership  directed  the  Transcribing  Clerk  "to  prepare 
a  very  condensed  report  for  publication."  There  was  a  regular  "Committee  on 
Examination"  in  the  Course  of  Studies.  This  Committee  reported  that  the  mem- 
bers of  the  second  year's  class  had  made  good  progress.  The  delegates  to  the 
General  Eldership  were  instructed  "to  use  their  influence  to  have  the  complete 
Minutes  of  Elderships  stricken  from  the  pages  of  The  Church  Advocate."  Also 
"to  use  their  influence  to  have  the  Church  Hymn-book  revised  or  to  have  a  hymnal 
prepared  for  use  in  the  churches."  The  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Temperance 
was  very  strong,  recommending  "total  abstinence  from  all  drinks  that  will  intoxi- 
cate." Measures  were  taken  to  enforce  the  Rule,  "requiring  local  preachers  to 
preach  at  least  twenty-five  sermons  a  year."  The  Standing  Committee  was  in- 
structed "to  sell  the  church  property  in  Pittsburg,  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  to  be 
held  for  the  purpose  of  opening  a  mission  some  place  in  the  city."  The  pulpit  was 
left  to  be  supplied.  Besides  Pittsburg,  the  number  of  stations  was  three,  with 
twenty-eight  circuits  and  missions.  S.  P.  P.  Young  was  appointed  "to  work  up 
the  interests  of  the  Women's  Missionary  Society." 

39th  AVest  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  progress  of  church  work  at  Frank- 
lin, Venango  county,  was  slow  and  discouraging,  but  the  relation  of  the  work  to  that 
of  the  adjoining  circuit  was  such  as  to  make  it  a  matter  of  importance  that  it 
should  succeed.  Besides,  Franklin  is  the  county  town  of  Venango  county.  It 
\vas  voted  in  1880  that  the  Eldership  should  be  held  there  in  1881.  And  while  it 
is  the  point  farthest  North  in  the  occupied  territory  of  the  Eldership,  the  attend- 
ance was  good.  The  Eldership  met  there  on  October  6,  1881,  when  D.  T.  Leach 
preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Prov.  xviii.  24.  The  enrollment  showed  the 
presence  of  thirty-two  teaching  elders,  twenty  ruling  elders  and  four  messengers, 
while   sixteen   teaching  elders  were  absent.      R.   L.  Byrnes   was   chosen   Speaker; 


West    Pennsylvania    Elderstiip  4091 

B.  F.  Bolton,  Journalizing  Clerk;  W.  H.  H.  McKlveen,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  S.. 
P.  P.  Young,  Treasurer.  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw,  of  Iowa,  became  a  member  by  trans- 
fer of  the  Eldership  at  this  meeting,  and  was  appointed  to  the  Barkeyville  cir- 
cuit, Venango  county.  The  matter  of  the  sale  of  the  Pittsburg  church  property 
was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Board  of  Incorporation.  A  comhiittee  was  ap- 
pointed to  revise  the  Constitution;  but  the  Eldership  at  once  made  the  amend- 
*ment  changing  the  number  of  members  of  the  Standing  Committee  from  five  to 
three.  A  Superannuated  Ministers'  and  Widows'  Fund  was  created,  and  each  pas- 
tor was  "instructed  to  take  up  a  collection  in  the  month  of  December  of  each  year 
for"  said  Fund.  Two  ministers  had  died  during  the  year — P.  Loucks  and  S. 
Hoerger.  Loucks  was  characterized  as  "a  wise  and  noble  counsellor,  a  genial  and' 
affectionate  brother,  and  one  whom  we  had  learned  to  Icfc  and  esteem;  one  always 
active  in  doing  good  among  his  fellow  men."  HoergCT  was  "a  noble  Christian 
brother."  "The  state  of  religion  within  the  bounds  of  the  Eldership  is  in  a 
flourishing  condition,"  according  to  the  Report  of  the  Committee.  The  Report 
of  the  Financial  Clerk  confirmed  this  statement,  as  there  were  507  conversions, 
during  the  year;  6  churches  organized,  making  a  total  of  fifty-five  churches; 
93  appointments;  496  received  into  fellowship,  and  3,415  sermons  preached. 
The  Stationing  Committee  made  appointments  to  twenty-five  fields  of  labor. 

40th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  Eldership  in  1882  is  memorable 
on  account  of  several  actions  of  unusual  significance,  and  at  the  time  full  of  in- 
spiration. The  session  was  well  attended,  there  having  been  present  37  min- 
isters; 14  ruling  elders,  and  9  messengers.  Thirteen  teaching  elders  were  absent. 
The  session  was  held  at  New  Brighton,  Beaver  county,  beginning  October  5th, 
when  W.  R.  Covert  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Acts  xx.  28.  J.  S.  Marple 
was  elected  Speaker;  J,  R.  H.  Latchaw,  Journalizing  Clerk;  A.  R.  McCahan, 
Transcribing  Clerk,  and  S.  P.  P.  Young,  Treasurer.  A  Committee  on  Boundaries 
was  added  to  the  list  of  committees,  whose  duty,  in  addition  to  that  of  "laying 
out  the  fields  of  labor,"  was  "to  appropriate  money  for  the  different  fields."  A 
"donation  of  a  valuable  parsonage  to  the  church  at  West  Newton,  Westmoreland 
county,"  was  received,  the  gift  of  John  and  Elizabeth  Mellender.  The  Eldership 
made  appropriate  and  grateful  mention  of  the  starting  of  an  Academy  at  Barkey- 
ville, Venango  county,  by  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw  and  E.  F.  Loucks.  This  enterprise- 
was  approved  as  "auxiliary  to  our  general  college  movement."  Six  sisters  from 
different  churches  petitioned  the  Eldership  for  "authority  to  organize  sisters'  mis- 
sionary societies  in  all  the  local  churches."  Permission  was  granted,  and  also 
the  right  to  organize  a  general  society,  to  hold  annual  meetings,  and  "to  send  a 
delegation  of  five  members  yearly  to  the  Eldership  to  represent  their  interests." 
The  committee  to  "take  into  consideration  the  financial  condition  of  church  prop- 
erty at  Franklin,  Pa.,"  suggested  that  "Bro.  Shontz  hold  the  property  another 
year,  if  possible,  and  that  Elder  Young  go  on  that  work,  and,  if  possible,  raise 
the  amount  of  indebtedness  and  pay  the  same,  $1,600.00."  The  Report  of  the 
Committee  to  Revise  the  Constitution  was  adopted  as  a  whole,  and  without  oppo- 
sition, except  that  the  time-limit  was  extended  from  three  to  five  years.  A  reso- 
lution severe  in  its  terms  was  adopted  with  reference  to  "members  of  this  body, 
and  the  wives  of  some  of  the  members,  in  circulating  damaging  reports  of  min- 
isters of  this  Eldership."  It  was  denounced  as  "a  heinous  crime  against  the 
Church,  as  well  as  the  ministers,"  and  "persons  found  guilty  shall  be  required  to 
make  public  confession  before  the  Eldership,  or  else  be  expelled."  The  Elder- 
ship rejoiced  over  "the  cheering  news  coming  from  the  East  and  from  the  West, 
from  Maine,  Kansas  and  Iowa,  of  their  banishing  the  demon  rum  from  their 
borders,"  and  urged  renewed  efforts  in  favor  of  prohibition.  T.  AVoods  offered 
a  resolution,  which  was  adopted  by  a  rising  vote,  "that  proper  steps  should  be 
taken  to  form  a  new  Eldership,  to  be  known  as  the  West  Virginia  Eldership  of 
the  Church  of  God."  A  special  committee  was  appointed  to  define  the  boundaries 
of  the  proposed  Eldership.  A  "donation  of  $1,000.00  to  this  body  by  Bro.  Sample 
Smith,  deceased,"  was  reported  by  R.  L.  Byrnes.  Careful  attention  was  given 
to  the  Course  of  Studies,  and  ministers  were  appointed  to  examine  in  each  of 
the  three  years.  The  authority  to  sell  the  Pittsburg  church  property  was  con- 
tinued. 

41st  AVest  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  orderly  manner  of  effecting  the 
organization  of  a  new  Eldership  out  of  the  southern  part  of  the  territory  of  the- 
West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  continued  until  the  work  was  finished.  The  Com- 
mittee on  Boundary  Lines  of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership  made  its  report  in  1883. 


4IO  History   of   the   Churches   of   God 

It  gave  to  said  Eldership  "Greene  county,  Pa.;  the  State  of  West  Virginia,  Preston 
county  excepted,  and  that  part  of  the  State  of  Ohio  belonging  to  the  West  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership."  The  ministers  contemplating  going  into  the  West  Virginia 
Eldership  were  directed  "to  confer  together  immediately  after  the  opening  of 
the  Saturday  afternoon  session."  A  temporary  organization  was  then  effected, 
and  "the  following  named  persons  were  reported  as  members  of  said  Eldership:. 
T.  Woods,  W.  R.  Craig,  W.  B.  Long,  J.  S.  Marple,  N.  M.  Anderson,  J.  L.  Lucas,  H. 
D.  Grinim  and  J.  C.  Cunningham."  They  were  then  made  "advisory  members 
of  this  Eldership  during  its  entire  session."  This  was  followed  by  another  action, 
holding  these  ministers  "subject  to  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  until  the 
General  Eldership  establishes  them  as  an  Eldership."  The  West  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  convened  at  tttfe  Union  Bethel,  Somerset  county.  Pa.,  October  5,  18 S3. 
On  the  previous  evening  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from 
Prov.  xxiii.  23.  The  officers  elected  were  W.  H.  H.  McKlveen,  Speaker;  J.  R.  H. 
Latchaw,  Journalizing  Clerk;  W.  B.  Elliott,  Transcribing  Clerk;  R.  Vanaman, 
Financial  Clerk,  and  S.  P.  P,  Young,  Treasurer.  Latchaw  resigned,  and  J.  C. 
Cunningham  was  elected.  The  "Committee  on  Boundaries  was  short  lived,  as, 
on  motion  of  R.  L.  Byrnes,  the  Article  creating  this  Committee  was  amended  by 
substituting  the  Stationing  Committee.  W.  R.  Covert  and  the  elders  of  the 
church  at  Pittsburg  presented  charges  before  the  Standing  Committee  agTinst 
Elder  G.  T.  Clayton  for  refusing  to  co-operate  with  the  church,  or  "to  labor  under 
the  direction  of  W.  R.  Covert,"  and  "for  teaching  doctrines  and  practices  contrary 
to  the  received  opinions  of  the  Church  of  God;"  and  against  Clayton,  Richey  and 
Krawl  "for  being  unruly  and  insubordinate,  and  refusing  to  co-operate  with  W.  R. 
Covert,  or  obey  him."  As  Covert  had  "been  given  charge  and  supervision  of  all  the 
work  and  interest  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Pittsburg  and  Allegheny,"  the  Committee 
upheld  him  in  his  course  against  these  persons,  but  it  "did  not  think  Elder  Clayton 
did"  the  things  charged  against  him  "wilfully,  or  that  he  desired  to  do  wrong."  It 
decided  that  this  was  a  case  which  required  the  Eldership  to  uphold,  "Section  2,  of 
Art.  XII.  of  the  Rules  of  Co-operation."  Charges  were  also  preferred  before  the 
Committee  by  the  elders  of  the  church  at  Gravel  Street,  Benwood,  West  Va.,  against 
Elder  A.  R.  McCahan,  for  "persecuting  the  church,  using  improper  language  in  im- 
proper places,  and  making  threats  against  W.  H.  Marple."  On  the  first  two  charges 
it  found  McCahan  guilty,  and  he  was  admonished  to  "pursue  a  different  course  in 
the  future,"  and  his  relation  to  the  church  as  pastor  was  dissolved.  But  the 
vote  on  the  adoption  of  the  Committee's  report  on  Clayton  was:  "Yeas,  6;  nays, 
ten;  refusing  to  vote,  20.  The  death  was  lamented  of  Edward  Jordan,  "a  man  of 
sterling  integrity,  strong  religious  sentiments,  Christian  culture  and  holy  ex- 
ample." There  was  an  increase  of  six  hundred  and  ninety-two  members  of  the 
churches  during  the  year.  The  "first  Lord's  day  in  November  was  set  apart  as  a 
day  of  Thanksgiving  for  the  mercies  of  the  past  year,  and  to  invoke  the  protect- 
ing care  of  Almighty  God  over  his  ministers  and  people  the  coming  year."  "Pitts- 
burg was  made  the  permanent  place  of  holding  the  Eldership."  A  Board  of  Edu- 
cation was  provided  for,  "in  accordance  with  the  resolutions  of  the  General  Eld- 
ership of  1875." 

42nd  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  organization  of  the  West  Virginia 
Eldership  and  the  appointment  of  Pittsburg  as  "the  permanent  place  of  holding 
the  Eldership,"  where  each  minister  and  delegate  was  required  to  provide  for  his 
own  entertainment,  effected  a  large  reduction  of  the  membership  present  at  the 
Eldership  session  in  1884,.  There  were  enrolled  as  present  eleven  teaching  elders 
and  five  delegates  when  the  body  "convened  in  the  bethel  of  the  church,  3  5 
Townsend  street,  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  October  2,  1884."  The  smaller  number  and  the 
expenses  of  entertainment  served  also  to  expedite  business.  In  addition,  the 
"Opening  Sermon  was  dispensed  with,"  and  evening  sessions  were  held,  so  that 
the  Eldership  adjourned  in  the  afternoon  of  the  4th.  R.  L.  Byrnes  was  elected 
Speaker;  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw,  First  Clerk;  W.  B.  Elliott,  Second  Clerk;  R.  A^ana- 
man,  Financial  Clerk,  and  S.  P.  P.  Young,  Treasurer.  An  effort  was  at  once 
made  to  rescind  the  action  of  1883,  making  Pittsburg  the  permanent  place  for 
holding  the  Eldership  sessions.  The  motion  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
resolutions,  which  reported  favorably.  After  considerable  discussion  the  report 
was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  sixteen  to  fifteen.  The  Stationing  Committee  arranged 
the  territory  of  the  Eldership  into  twenty-one  fields  of  labor — six  stations  and 
fifteen  circuits.  The  Sisters'  General  Missionary  Society  appointed  five  delegates 
to  the  Eldership,  and  requested  that  they  be  recognized  as  such.     This  was  done, 


West    Pennsywania    Ei^dership  411 

and  they  "were  enrolled  as  members  of  the  Eldership."  The  Eldership  heartily 
■endorsed  the  action  of  the  General  Eldership  in  accepting  the  proposition  made 
by  the  Free  Baptists  in  reference  to  foreign  mission  work,  and  "urged  upon  the 
brethren  of  this  Eldership  the  importance  of  giving  liberally  to  the  Permanent 
Foreign  Mission  Fund."  The  Board  of  Education  secured  an  Act  of  Incorpora- 
tion of  Barkeyville  Academy,  and  had  a  Board  of  Trustees,  which  was  suggested 
by  the  Board,  appointed  by  the  Venango  county  court.  The  Eldership  during  the 
year  lost  one  of  its  veteran  ministers  by  death,  A.  C.  Raysor.  He  was  born  near 
Harrisburg,  Pa.,  April  8,  1815,  and  died  at  his  home  In  Barkeyville,  Venango 
•county,  August  21,  1884.  He  was  originally  licensed  by  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  in  1834,  and  shortly  after  was  transferred  to  the  West  Pennsylvania 
Eldership.  His  father  became  a  member  of  the  church  organized  at  the  home 
■of  Andrew  Miller,  a  member  of  the  first  Eldership.  He  was  but  nineteen  years 
■old  when  he  entered  the  ministry.  Though  his  education  was  limited,  by  close 
application  to  his  books  he  became  possessed  of  considerable  acquirements.  Of 
•excellent  character,  strong  and  firm  convictions,  he  held  a  high  place  among  his 
fellow  members  of  the  Eldership. 

43rd  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership.^ — The  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  had 
its  peculiar  adversities  and  internal  troubles.  It,  however,  always  manifested  re- 
markable equanimity  and  self-control  as  a  body.  It  was  reserved  and  reticent, 
and  did  not  fan  the  fires  of  contention  by  undue  publicity.  Apparently  there 
was  tranquility  when  the  internal  storms  were  raging  most  violently.  The  body 
resembled  Cooper's  picture  of  the  American  Aborigines,  for  "it  is  rare  indeed 
that  the  philosophy  of  a  dignified  Indian  is  so  far  disturbed  as  to  destroy  the  ap- 
pearance of  his  equanimity."  But  its  calm,  cool,  judicial  acts  revealed  the  evils 
it  sought  to  cure  or  eradicate.  Heresy  and  impurity  were  the  foes  it  had  to 
fight,  and  in  a  number  of  instances  excision  was  the  remedy.  One  of  the  first 
instances  was  a  case  of  "heresy,  insubordination  and  evil  speaking,"  charged 
against  a  minister.  The  "charges  were  sustained"  at  the  Eldership  held  at  Pitts- 
burg, beginning  September  30,  1885,  and  the  guilty  minister  "was  expelled." 
There  was  an  element  of  disloyalty  in  the  minority,  however,  and  the  Eldership 
found  it  necessary  to  "direct  that  no  minister  of  this  body  be  allowed  to  employ, 
countenance,  or  permit  to  preach  in  his  pulpit  any  expelled  minister  from  this 
body."  Barkeyville  Academy  was  beginning  to  bear  fruit,  and  among  the 
licentiates  this  year  was  C.  H.  Grove,  native  of  Dauphin  county  and  graduate  of 
the  school,  who  later  returned  East,  and  became  a  conspicuous  member  in  the 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  and  in  the  General  Eldership.  Twenty-one  preachers 
and  seven  delegates  constituted  this  session,  who  made  choice  of  W.  R.  Covert 
for  Speaker;  W.  H.  H.  McKlveen,  Journalizing  Clerk;  R.  L.  Byrnes,  Transcribing 
Clerk;  R.  Vanaman,  Financial  Clerk,  and  S.  P.  P.  Young,  Treasurer.  The  Sta- 
tioning Committee  made  five  stations  and  fourteen  circuits.  It  also  put  Fayette 
Mission  on  the  list,  but  had  no  missionary  to  send  there.  The  Eldership  felt  an 
evident  pride  in  putting  on  the  list  of  appointments  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw,  A.  M., 
President  of  Findlay  College.  G.  Shober  reported  "the  purchase  of  a  meeting- 
house and  two  lots  in  the  village  of  Garrett,  Somerset  county,"  the  deed  for 
which  was  given  to  the  Eldership.  Such  interest  was  developed  on  education 
in  connection  with  Barkeyville  Academy  and  Findlay  College  that  the  subject 
was  made  a  special  order.  The  body  demanded  that  the  "Church  of  God  come 
to  the  front  in  providing  facilities  for  the  education  of  her  youth,"  and  expressed 
the  belief  that  Barkeyville  Academy  is  "a  source  of  great  power  and  influence  to 
us  as  a  Church."  It  declared  itself  "utterly  opposed  to  the  traffic  in  any  form 
in  alcoholic  liquors  as  a  beverage;  against  high  license,  low  license  and  all  kinds 
of  license."  One  minister,  Jesse  Morgan,  had  paid  nature's  supreme  debt,  and 
was  a  man  of  excellent  local  standing,  having  "spent  a  long  life  in  the  ministry," 
"formerly  in  the  Baptist  Church,  latterly  in  the  Church  of  God."  The  body  took 
strong  ground  in  favor  of  missions,  declaring  "the  Church  of  God  is  a  mission- 
ary Church,"  and  resolved  to  "appoint  a  missionary  to  establish  churches  in 
territory  contiguous  to  circuits  and   stations  in  the   Eldership." 

44th  AVest  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — When  the  Eldership  adjourned  in  1885, 
it  did  so  to  meet  again  "in  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  on  the  first  Thursday  in  October, 
1886."  But  the  Journal  in  1886  states  that,  "Pursuant  to  adjournment,  the 
West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  met  at  Connoquenessing  Chapel, 
Beaver  county.  Pa.,  October  7,  1886."  The  body  was  organized  by  electing  J.  W. 
Davis,   Speaker;   W.  H.  H.  McKlveen,   First  Clerk;    W.   B.   Elliott,   Second   Clerk; 


412  History   of  the   Churches  oe  God 

R.  Vananian,  Financial  Clerk,  and  A.  M.  Jones,  Treasurer.  To  expedite  business, 
reports  of  ministers  were  limited  to  seven  minutes,  while  the  reports  of  com- 
mittees were  uniformly  short.  Two  ministers  returned  with  transfers  from  the 
West  Virginia  Eldership.  Separate  committees  were  appointed  by  the  Speaker 
to  examine  in  each  of  the  three  years'  Course  of  Studies.  A  candidate  for  license 
whose  application  was  favorably  reported,  and  who  rose  to  early  prominence  in 
the  Eldership  and  in  the  general  body,  was  Shennan  G.  Yahn,  formally  ordained 
by  President  Latchaw.  The  total  receipts  of  the  Treasurer  were  $5  26.55,  and  ex- 
penditures, $542.65.  Death  had  claimed  one  of  the  ministers  during  the  year, 
W.  H.  H.  Criswell.  He  had  received  his  first  license  in  1875.  Charges  were 
sustained  against  one  minister,  and  he  was  expelled  from  the  Eldership. 

45th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  project  of  publishing  a  "Year 
Book,"  for  which  C,  D.  Rishel,  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  submitted  a 
prospects  in  1887,  met  with  a  ready  response  from  various  Elderships,  among^ 
them  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  which  declared  it  "of  value  in  many  ways 
to  the  pastors  and  people  of  the  Church  of  God."  It  ordered  the  Clerk  to  gather 
and  forward  "all  statistical  matters,  etc.,  asked  for."  The  Academy  at  Barkey- 
ville,  Venango  county,  where  the  Eldership  convened  Thursday  morning,  October 
6,  1887,  gave  new  inspiration  to  the  body.  The  three  years'  Course  of  Studies 
was  energetically  discussed;  a  higher  standard  of  qualifications  for  the  ministry 
was  emphasized,  and  two  sessions  were  principally  devoted  to  Barkeyville  Acad- 
emy. Pledges  were  taken  for  the  support  of  the  school,  and  $1.00  per  church 
member  was  to  be  raised,  the  same  to  be  collected  by  the  pastors.  The  session 
was  presided  over  by  W.  H.  H.  McKlveen,  Speaker;  and  the  Clerks  were  C.  H. 
Grove,  W.  B.  Elliott  and  T.  Woods,  with  A.  M.  Jones,  Treasurer.  AV.  J.  Davis  had 
preached  the  Opening  Sermon  the  previous  evening.  There  being  a  lack  of  lay 
delegates,  the  Eldership  itself  "appointed  elders  as  delegates  to  equal  the  number 
of  ministers."  The  sale  agreed  upon  of  the  Pittsburg  church  property  was  ratified 
by  the  Eldership.  The  brotherhood  was  strongly  urged  "to  cast  their  ballots  at 
the  polls  for  men  who  are  pledged  to  temperance."  The  Eldership  refused  to 
grant  an  "open  transfer"  to  a  minister,  insisting  that  he  must  first  "locate  some- 
where." The  Principal  of  Barkeyville  Academy  was  "recognized  as  a  member  of 
the  Eldership  during  his  term  of  office."  All  the  "various  missionary  societies" 
were  directed  to  "be  consolidated  into  one  society;"  all  collections  "to  be  paid 
into  treasury  of  the  Eldership,"  whence  was  to  be  paid  ten  per  cent,  for  foreign 
missions,  "twenty  per  cent,  for  general  missions"  and  "seventy  per  cent,  retained 
for  home  missions."  An  effort  was  made  to  declare  the  offices  of  elder  and  dea- 
con to  be  perpetual,  or  "should  be  continued  during  good  behavior."  The  Elder- 
ship found  "great  cause  for  gratitude  to  Almighty  God  for  the  good  will,  unity, 
peace  and  love  existing  among  the  brethren,"  and  "for  the  encouraging  disposition 
manifested  by  the  churches  to  increase  the  salaries  of  ministers  and  the  awaken- 
ing interest  in  education."  The  number  of  conversions  reported  was  34  5.  The 
funds  collected  aggregated   $94.04,  Contingent;    $190.00,  miscellaneous. 

46th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership.^ — The  arrangements  made  a  year  ago  as 
to  the  Three  Years'  Course  of  Studies  for  ministers  proved  satisfactory,  except 
the  formation  of  the  classes.  Accordingly  in  1888,  this  matter  was  promptly 
taken  up,  and  a  committee  appointed,  which  classified  the  members,  and  made 
examinations  imperative,  which  "had  been  neglected  for  six  years."  The  session 
was  held  at  Templeton,  Armstrong  county,  beginning  October  4,  1888.  L.  B. 
Appleton  delivered  the  opening  sermon  the  evening  before.  Charges  were  pend- 
ing against  Appleton,  but  were  not  sustained  by  a  committee  which  investigated 
them.  Twenty-five  teaching  elders  were  enrolled,  and  six  delegates.  Among  the 
teaching  elders  was  a  young  Barkeyville  student,  W'.  N.  Yates,  licensed  by  the 
Standing  Committee,  and  "appointed  pastor  of  the  church  at  Pittsburg."  but  not 
so  enrolled.  W.  R.  Covert  was  elected  Speaker;  S.  G.  Yahn,  First  Clerk;  C.  H. 
Grove,  Second  Clerk;  T.  Woods,  Financial  Clerk,  and  A.  M.  Jones,  Treasurer.  To 
stimulate  greater  and  more  systematic  activity  on  the  part  of  the  churches  to 
provide  adequate  salaries  for  the  ministers,  it  was  ordered  that  "each  minister 
hereafter  upon  entering  upon  his  charge  shall  call  the  officials  of  the  church  or 
churches  together  and  make  an  agreement  as  to  the  amount  he  shall  receive  for 
his  services,  the  stipulated  amount  to  be  paid  weekly,  or  monthly."  The  Board 
of  Education  had  accepted  Latchaw's  resignation  as  Principal  of  Barkeyville  Acad- 
emy and  elected  Prof.  E.  F.  Loncks,  which  was  approved  by  the  Eldership.  "The 
licensing  of  the  liquor  traffic  in  any  form"  was  disapproved.  The  Year  Book  was 
pronounced    a    "pamphlet    of   sterling   worth."      The    Board    of   Education    gained 


West    Pennsylvania    Eldership  413 

greater  prominence  as  Barkeyville  Academy  developed  into  a  growing  school,  and 
Findlay  College  assumed  larger  proportions.      The  new  Board  consisted  of  W.  H. 
S.  McKlveen,  J.  W.  Davis,  C.  H.  Grove,  T.  Woods  and  S.  G.  Yahii,     The  dollar 
j)er  capita  for  Barkeyville  Academy  not  having  been  realized,  W.  R.  Covert  was 
"authorized  to  canvass  the   Eldership  territory  to  solicit  and   collect  money  and 
;secure  students."     On  account  of  the  "isolated  condition  of  many  of  our  churches," 
it  was  given  as  "the  sense  of  this  body,  that- when  it  is  practicable  different  cir- 
cuits and  stations  should  hold  meetings  quarterly  with  each  other."     The  Report 
•of  the  Financial  Clerk  was  carefully  tabulated,  and  showed  sixteen  fields  of  labor, 
not   harmonizing   with    the    six   stations    and    fourteen    circuits    of   the    Stationing 
•Committee.     There  were  .54  appointments,  41  organized  churches;   35  i/^   houses  of 
worship;   2,321  sermons  preached;   29  5  conversions;   2  50  received  into  fellowship; 
1,481    present   membership;    $5,449.25     salaries;     $16.65     for     general     missions; 
:$38.86,  Home  Missions;    $42.60,  Contingent  Fund;    $3,606.30,  Educational  Fund. 
47th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  transfer  of  the  deed  of  the  Barkey- 
ville Academy  was  tendered  to  the  trustees  of  the  Eldership  in  188  8,  but  was  de- 
ferred  "until  the  mortgage  and  the  entire  indebtedness  against  the  Academy  is 
•cancelled."      However,   during   the   year,   the   Committee   on    Education   reported, 
"the  title  of  the  property  has  been  placed  with  the  Eldership,"  but  there  was  a 
•debt  on  it  of  about  $3,900.00,  for  which  provision  had  to  be  made.      For  this  pur- 
3)ose  a  committee  was  appointed,   which  reported   that  "the  endeavor  should   be 
:made  during  the   present  Eldership  to  raise  sufficient  money  to   pay  all  the  in- 
debtedness."    This,   however,   could   not  be  done,   and   lo^ns  and   mortgages  had 
■to   be   resorted   to.      The   Eldership   had   other   liabilities,   altogether   aggregating 
nearly  $6,000.00,  and  a  general  Financial  and  Missionary  Agent  was  appointed. 
■J.   W.   Davis   was    appointed   to    collect   the    money.      The    Eldership    convened    at 
;Stonerville,  Westmoreland  county,  October  3,  1889.     According  to  a  Rule  adopted 
in  1888,  the  retiring  Speaker,  W.  R.  Covert,  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  the 
previous   evening.      J.   S.   Marple  was   chosen   Speaker;    S.  G.   Yahn,   First  Clerk; 
C.  H.  Grove,  Second  Clerk;   T.  Woods,  Financial  Clerk,  and  A.  M.  Jones,  Treas- 
urer.     The  prohibitory  amendment  to  the  State  Constitution  had  been  defeated, 
-and  the  Eldership  showed  its  sense  of  wrong  by  declaring  that  in  its  "opinion  the 
manufacture  arfd  sale,  as  a  beverage,  of  all  kinds  of  intoxicating  liquors  is  the 
greatest  evil,  and  is  a  crime  against  God  and  humanity,  for  which  atonement  in 
blood  and  treasure  will  have  to  be  made,  unless  the  people  can  be  educated  to 
-use  the  only  means  at  their  disposal,  to  wit:  the  ballot,  for  its  suppression."      One 
of  the  "earnest  laborers  in  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord,"  John  Tinsman,  had  been 
"removed  by  death."     He  had  "always  been  found  at  his  post,  and  was  "sadly 
:mlssed  by  Eldership  and  Church."     The  second  Sunday  in  November,  from  and 
after  1890,  was  fixed  as  the  time  for  ministers  appointed  to  new  fields  of  labor 
to  take  charge  thereof.      Proxy  voting  at  church  elections  was  discouraged,  the 
Eldership  expressing  its  judgment  "that  all  ballots  cast  in  church  meetings  should 
be  done  in  person,  unless  sickness  prevents."      In  order  more  effectually  to  carry 
out  its  actions  relative  to  the  Course  of  Studies,  the  Eldership  appointed  three 
committees  to  examine  in  the  studies  of  the  three  years.      The  annual  report  of 
the  Treasurer  showed   income  for  Superannuated   Fund,   $101.35;    Home   Mission 
Fund,   $77.94;    Miscellaneous,  $214.90.      The  reports  of  ministers  were  restricted 
to  the  Statistical  Blanks.     There  were  five  stations  and  fifteen  circuits. 

48th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — "The  Eldership  of  this  session  received 
a  valuable  acquisition  to  its  ministerial  ranks  in  the  person  of  C.  Manchester, 
"Who  came  with  his  transfer  from  the  Illinois  Eldership,  and  who  took  charge  of 
the  work  at  Barkeyville,  in  addition  to  the  work  in  the  Academy."  This  Elder- 
ship has  quite  generally  been  noted  as  a  quiet,  harmonious  body,  notwithstanding 
Its  internal  troubles  on  several  occasions.  This  year,  when  it  convened  at  King- 
wood,  Somerset  county,  October  2,  1890,  "the  sittings  were  characterized  by  a 
degree  of  harmony  and  fraternal  feeling  which  would  presage  the  accomplishment 
of  much  good  throughout  the  coming  year."  C.  H.  Grove  delivered  the  Opening 
Sermon  the  previous  evening.  R.  Ij.  Byrnes  was  elected  Speaker;  C.  H.  Grove 
and  W.  H.  McKlveen,  Clerks.  There  were  twenty-one  fields  of  labor  as  reported 
by  the  Stationing  Committee  at  the  close  of  the  session,  two  of  which  were  "un- 
supplied,"  and  one  of  which  received  an  appropriation  of  $100.00.  W.  J.  Davis 
was  superannuated,  with  an  appropriation  of  $100.00.  The  Eldership  year  was 
•changed  so  that  the  ministers  would  move  to  new  fields  immediately  after  the 
adjournment  of  the  Eldership,  rescinding  an  action  of  the  previous  year  to  defer 


414  History   of   the   Churches   of   God 

moving  until  a  month  after  adjournment.  The  reporter  recorded,  that  "to  the 
shame  of  the  Eldership,  the  resolution  placing  under  the  ban  of  disapprobation 
the  habit  of  tobacco-using  was  lost."  The  actions  on  the  educational,  missionary 
and  other  Church  interests  were  of  such  a  judicious  character  as  to  "place  them 
ultimately  on  a  more  substantial  basis."  This  was  foreshadowed  in  the  Report 
of  the  Financial  Agent,  which  showed  collections  aggregating  upwards  of 
$2,000.00  The  wave  of  sentiment  which  passed  over  other  Elderships  in  favor 
of  increased  religious  services  during  Eldership  sessions  was  responded  to  by 
this  Eldership,  when  it  was  decided  that  revival  services  should  be  held  at  the 
annual  sessions,  beginning  with  "the  evening  of  the  Eldership  convocation,  and 
continuing  during  the  session."  Electioneering  by  ministers  and  delegates  was 
branded  as  "a  reprehensible  practice."  During  the  year  death  claimed  "one  of 
the  most  useful,  faithful,  efficient  and  indefatigable  workers  of  the  Eldership, 
in  the  person  of  H.  Barkey."  The  practice  of  holding  memorial  services  waff 
observed. 

49th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — An  insufficient  number  of  ministers 
ready  to  do  acive  pastoral  work  is  revealed  in  the  two  facts  that  the  number  of 
fields  of  labor  was  reduced  to  seventeen,  several  of  the  circuits  being  consoli- 
dated, and  of  this  number  four  remained  unsupplied.  Yet  three  new  names 
were  added  to  the  Ministerial  Roll,  and  these  received  appointments.  One,  how- 
ever, removed  to  Ohio.  The  session  was  held  at  Mt.  Pisgah,  Westmoreland 
county,  October  1-3,  1891.  The  previous  evening  R.  L.  Byrnes  preached  the  Open- 
ing Sermon,  "an  earnest  and  interesting  discourse  on  the  brevity  of  life  and  the 
true  aims  and  purposes  of  our  existence,"  evidently  keeping  in  mind  the  evan- 
gelistic character  of  the  services  as  ordered  in  189  0.  The  officers  of  the  session 
were  as  follows:  Speaker,  D.  A.  Stevens;  Journalizing  Clerk,  S.  G.  Yahn;  Finan- 
cial Clerk,  Chas.  Manchester;  Treasurer,  A.  M.  Jones.  There  were  enrolled 
twenty  pastors,  twelve  local  ministers  and  fourteen  delegates.  The  "prohibition 
of  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  liquor"  was  favored  "as  the  only  proper  and  suc- 
cessful way  of  dealing  with  the  traffic."  The  body  also  expressed  it  as  its  sense 
of  "duty  to  God  and  humanity,  to  Church  and  State,  to  support  only  such  candi- 
dates for  public  office  as  stand  committed  in  favor  of  prohibition."  In  view  of 
the  "neglect  of  the  missionary  interests  of  this  Eldership,"  and  the  consequent 
fact  that  "the  cause  of  God  is  suffering  and  souls  of  men  are  dying,"  the  Elder- 
ship decided  to  "place  a  competent  man  in  the  field  at  once,  with  an  appropria- 
tion of  $100.00."  Missionary  societies  were  to  be  organized  in  every  church,  and 
local  preachers  were  instructed  to  "go  out  and  open  new  appointments."  There 
was  "a  fair  degree  of  spiritual  prosperity  within  the  bounds  of  the  Eldership." 

50th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — As  this  was  the  semi-centennial  Elder- 
ship, special  interest  was  attached  to  the  proceedings.  The  venerable  John  Hick- 
emell,  the  Speaker  of  the  first  Eldership,  was  present  and  actively  participated 
in  the  work  of  the  Eldership.  He  also  preached  the  Sunday  morning  sermon. 
The  statistics  given  at  the  date  of  this  meeting  were  as  follows:  Preachers,  3  6; 
appointments,  52;  organized  churches,  42;  church  houses,  38;  members,  1,951; 
aggregate  salaries  of  ministers  the  year  endi.ng  October  1,  1892,.  $5,672.88. 
Allowance  in  all  these  items  must  be  made  for  losses  sustained  by  the  organiza- 
tion some  eight  years  previous  of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership.  The  Eldership 
convened  at  West  Newton,  Westmoreland  county,  October  6,  1892.  The  Opening 
Sermon  was  preached  on  the  evening  of  October  5th,  by  D.  A.  Stevens.  Choice 
was  made  of  T.  Woods  for  Speaker;  S.  G.  Y'ahn,  Journalizing  Clerk;  C.  Man- 
chester, Financial  Clerk,  and  A.  M.  Jones,  Treasurer.  There  were  enough  min- 
isters to  supply  the  six  stations  and  fourteen  circuits,  as  five  were  ordained,  three 
of  them  having  been  students  at  Barkeyville  Academy.  Ultra  action  was  taken 
on  temperance,  charging  that  "this  government  has  made  a  contract  with  death 
and  a  covenant  with  hell  to  exchange  7  5,000  souls  annually  for  a  few  paltry 
dollars."  And  "the  ministers  and  laity  w^ere  recommended  to  vote  for  God,  home 
and  native  land  by  casting  their  ballots  for  prohibition."  It  redeemed  itself  on 
the  tobacco  question  by  voting  to  "recommend  that  licentiates  be  total  abstainers 
from  the  use  of  tobacco,  and  that  older  members  ought,  if  possible,  to  cease  the 
habit."  Discipline  was  rigidly  administered,  and  one  was  twice  found  guilty,  made 
confession   and   was   pardoned,    and   one  was  expelled. 

51st  AVest  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  missionary  spirit  manifested  in 
some  previous  Elderships  was  beginning  to  bear  fruit,  as  Fayette  Mission  was 
added  to  the  list  of  appointments.      The  number    of    stations    was    increased    to 


West    Pe;nnsylvania    Eldership  415 

seven.  Pittsburg  was  a  station,  with  an  appropriation  of  |125.00  for  the  pastor, 
and  $12.50  a  month  for  Hall  rent.  Mission  work  was  also  "to  be  inaugurated 
and  carried  on  in  Greensburg,  county  seat  of  Westmoreland  county.  With  these 
indications  of  prosperity  and  progress,  the  Eldership  convened  at  Mt.  Pleasant, 
Westmoreland  county,  October  5,  1893.  On  the  previous  evening  T.  Woods 
preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  There  were  enrolled  nineteen  ministers  and  thir- 
teen delegates.  They  elected  J.  C.  Cuiininghani,  Speaker;  S.  G.  Yahn,  Journaliz- 
ing Clerk;  Geo.  W.  Davis,  Financial  Clerk,  and  A.  M.  Jones,  Treasurer.  The 
faithful,  devoted  and  self-sacrificing  veteran,  W.  J.  Davis,  was  numbered  with, 
"the  enfranchised  dead."  After  "a  touching  report  made  by  the  Committee  on 
Obituaries,"  a  committee  was  named  "to  look  after  the  matter  of  securing  a 
monument  for  him."  The  Eldership  did  not  hesitate  to  affirm,  as  against  the 
repeated  dissenting  statement,  that  an  Eldership  "has  a  right  to  legislate  where 
there  is  no  divine  law."  The  Eldership  was  resolute  in  its  purpose  to  purge  its 
ranks  of  unworthy  men.  It  summarily  expelled  one  minister  for  "a  criminal 
action"  and  "using  profane  language."  A  few  others  were  reproved  for  "violat- 
ing the  Rules  of  Co-operation  which  forbid  interference  of  former  pastors  with 
the  work  of  a  pastor  in  charge."  While  still  adhering  to  "absolute  prohibition" 
as  the  effective  way  of  dealing  with  "the  hydraheaded  monster  and  unmitigated 
evil"  of  the  liquor  traffic;  yet  it  "further  declared  in  favor  of  a  local  option  law 
as  the  temporary  means  until  the  desired  end  contemplated  in  prohibition  is 
reached."  It  included  in  intemperance  "the  use  of  tobacco,"  which  is  "fllthiness 
of  the  flesh,"  and  "defiles  the  body  and  desecrates  the  house  erected  for  God's 
own  worship." 

52nd  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — There  were  twenty-five  ministers  and 
eleven  delegates  present  when  on  October  4,  1894,  the  Roll  of  the  Eldership  was 
called  at  Butler,  Butler  county.  The  Eldership  added  the  names  of  Ruth  Gailey 
and  Mrs.  R.  A.  Marple,  representing  the  W.  M.  Society,  as  "full  members."  It 
was  a  session  which  resembled  a  debating  society.  A  committee  was  appointed 
on  the  first  day  "to  select  two  persons  to  open  each  discussion  on  the  consideration 
of  the  questions  handed  down  by  the  General  Eldership."  These  were:  Ordina- 
tion of  Ministers  by  Laying  on  of  Hands;  Change  of  Eldership  Titles,  and  Life 
Certificates.  The  leaders  in  the  discussion  of  the  first  question  were  J.  S.  Marple 
and  J.  W.  Davis;  of  the  second,  R.  L.  Byrnes  and  C.  Manchester,  while  those  of 
the  third  are  not  reported  in  the  Minutes.  The  Eldership  experienced  additional 
trouble  with  some  of  the  ministers.  The  Standing  Committee  had  suspended  one 
for  a  criminal  act,  and  he  was  disfellowshiped.  The  churches  were  warned 
against  another  self-styled  minister.  These  moral  lapses  of  ministers  had  made 
the  Eldership  sensitive,  and  cautious  in  the  granting  of  licenses.  The  apportion- 
ment of  General  Eldership  assessments  for  its  Missionary  and  Contingent  Funds 
had  now  become  the  rule;  but  its  own  Funds  were  not  yet  thus  replenished.  To 
prevent  hasty  action  in  the  matter  of  buying,  building  and  repairing  church  prop- 
erties, ministers  were  advised  not  to  "encourage  or  sanction  the  purchase  of 
ground  or  the  erection  or  repairing  of  church  houses  or  parsonages  without  first 
obtaining  the  consent  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Eldership."  The  Eldership- 
ratified  the  action  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  in  giving  its  "pledge  of  34,000.00  on 
the  indebtedness  of  Findlay  College,  on  condition  that  the  balance  of  the  $24,000 
be  raised  by  the  other  Elderships  before  July  1,  1894."  There  seemed  gratifying 
progress  indicated  in  the  Report  of  the  Stationing  Committee.  There  were  eight 
stations  and  twenty  circuits,  all  of  which  were  supplied.  Barkeyville  Academy 
furnished  several  additional  young  men  for  active  work.  Pittsburg  station  re- 
ceived an  appropriation  of  $100.00,  and  Youghiogheny  circuit,  $.50.00.  The  Eld- 
ership was  presided  over  by  W,  B.  Elliott,  Speaker,  with  George  AV.  Davis,  Jour- 
nalizing Clerk,  and  T.  Woods,  Financial  Clerk. 

53rd  AVest  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — A  progressive  spirit  was  minifested  by 
the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  It  had  the  responsibility  of  an  institution  of 
learning  at  Barkeyville  under  its  control,  and  literary  aspirations  were  evident. 
It  convened  in  1895  under  the  shadow  of  Barkeyville  Academy,  "Venango  county, 
on  October  2nd.  On  the  evening  of  October  1st  the  Opening  Sermon  was  de- 
livered by  AVm.  B.  Elliott.  With  twenty-six  ministers,  twelve  delegates  and  three 
members  of  the  Women's  Missionary  Society  enrolled,  the  Eldership  was  organized 
by  electing  S.  G.  Yahn,  Speaker;  G.  W.  Byrnes,  Journalizing  Clerk;  T.  Woods, 
Financial  Clerk.  The  Eldership  voted  in  favor  of  a  change  of  "Church"  to 
"churches"  in  Eldership  titles,  and  against  "Association"  for  "Eldership;"  against 


4i6  History   of  the  Churches  of   God 

"ordination  with  the  imposition  of  hands;"  in  favor  of  continuing  annual  licenses; 
against  a  General  Eldership  Fund  out  of  which  to  pay  the  expenses  of  delegates 
to  said  body.  The  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  were  required  to  vote  ac- 
cording to  instructions,  and  not  their  own  views.  Memorial  services  were  held 
in  honor  of  Shadrach  Woods,  "in  whose  death  the  Eldership  lost  an  earnest 
worker  and  wise  counselor,  and  the  Church  a  strong  defender."  After  these  ser- 
vices "the  monument  erected  to  the  memory  of  W.  J.  Davis"  was  "unveiled."  The 
position  of  the  Eldership  "against  the  holding  of  fairs,  festivals,  etc.,  to  raise 
funds  for  religious  purposes,"  was  emphasized,  believing  such  means  of  raising 
money  to  be  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  Scriptures."  Two  additional  clerks  were 
provided  for  by  amendment  of  the  Constitution — a  Transcribing  Clerk  and  a 
Financial  Clerk.  To  provide  additional  funds  to  carry  on  aggressive  Church  work 
the  Eldership  decided  to  create  a  Church  Extension  Fund  "for  the  purpose  of 
helping  such  churches  as  are  in  straightened  circumstances."  Pastors  were  ad- 
vised to  put  into  effect  a  resolution  to  organize  Y.  P.  S.  C.  Es.,  and  a  convention 
•of  these  societies  was  recommended  to  be  held  in  May,  1896.  To  promote 
"greater  unity  of  thought  on  many  points  of  vital  interest  among  us  as  a  body," 
it  was  voted  to  hold  a  Ministerial  Association  in  March,  1896.  The  first  steps 
were  taken  to  organize  a  Ministerial  Aid  Society.  With  other  Elderships,  the 
West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  experienced  much  trouble  in  enforcing  its  regula- 
tions touching  a  Course  of  Studies  for  ministers.  To  compel  ministers  to  take 
the  Course  after  licensure  is  a  perplexing  question,  and  the  Eldership  was  asked 
by  the  Committee  on  Education  to  "take  such  steps  as  will  secure  more  interest 
and  enlist  each  minister  not  having  completed  the  Course  to  a  thorough  study  of 
the  same."  There  were  seven  stations  and  nineteen  circuits,  each  with  a  pastor, 
except  two  churches  in  Venango  county  which  were  "to  be  supplied  from  Barkey- 
ville  Academy." 

54th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  Ministerial  Association  and  the 
Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.  Convention  appointed  by  the  Eldership  in  1895  to  be  held  in  March, 
189  6,  were  well  attended,  and  were  successful.  The  committee  to  draft  a  Con- 
stitution for  a  Ministerial  Benefit  Association  did  its  work,  and  reported  in  1896, 
after  the  organization  of  the  Eldership  which  "convened  in  the, handsome  new 
bethel,  corner  of  Spahr  and  College  avenues.  East  End,  Pittsburg,"  October  2nd. 
S.  G.  Yahn  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon  the  previous  evening.  Upon  Roll  call 
twenty-six  ministers  were  found  to  be  present;  twenty-one  delegates,  and  five 
representatives  of  the  W.  M.  S.,  whose  "names  were  entered  as  voting  members 
of  the  Eldership."  Balloting  for  officers  resulted  in  the  election  of  J.  W.  Davis, 
Speaker;  George  W.  Byrnes,  Journalizing  Clerk;  George  W.  Davis,  Transcribing 
Clerk;  J.  C.  Yates,  Financial  Clerk.  Educational  interests  were  thoroughly  dis- 
cussed, in  which  eight  ministers  and  laymen  participated,  during  which  the  con- 
dition of  Barkeyville  Academy  was  carefully  canvassed.  A  striking  innovation 
was  the  special  order  for  Saturday,  2.30  p.  m.,  when  Hon.  H.  L.  Castle,  a  Pitts- 
burg lawyer,  delivered  an  address  on  "Christian  Citizenship,"  followed  by  the 
report  of  the  Committee  on  Temperance.  The  Committee  held  it  to  be  a  "self- 
evident  truth,  that  the  liquor  traffic  can  not  be  legalized  without  sin;"  also,  that 
any  form  of  license,  tax  or  regulation,  whatever  name  called  by,  to  be  criminal 
in  its  complicity  and  sinful  in  its  nature."  And  so  the  members  were  "called 
upon  to  repudiate  any  political  party  that  does  not  openly  declare  for  the  sup- 
pression of  the  liquor  traffic."  Castle's  address  was  ordered  "placed  on  the 
Journal  and  published  with  the  Journal  in  The  Church  Advocate."  The  state 
of  religion  was  considered  to  be  good;  commendable  zeal  being  "manifested  in 
many  places  by  the  erection  of  churches  and  parsonages  and  the  repairing  of 
houses  of  worship."  But  "along  the  line  of  finances  much  improvement  should 
he  made;"  "more  aggressive  action  should  be  taken  in  regard  to  missions."  The 
sale  of  the  church  property  at  Garrett  was  authorized.  The  Committee  on 
License  was  unusually  emphatic  and  unequivocal  in  declaring  that  a  certain  candi- 
date is  not  "considered  qualified  for  the  ministry  either  in  doctrine  or  ordinary 
intelligence,"  and  "advising  brethren  against  giving  him  recognition  on  their 
fields  of  labor."  It  also  "called  attention  to  the  fact  that  no  minister  or  min- 
isters have  the  right  to  issue  licenses,  or  certificates  of  any  character,  clothing 
men  with  authority  to  preach  the  gospel,  or  to  perform  the  functions  thereof, 
hut  the  Eldership,  or  its  regularly  appointed  Boards."  As  the  Eldership  realized 
that  "there  never  was  a  time  in  the  history  of  the  Church  when  we  needed  more 
activity  than  now,"  it  "set  apart  Sabbath,  December  20th,  as  missionary  day,"  to 


West    Pe:nnsylvania    Eldership  417 

be  a  day  of  earnest  prayer  in  every  church  "for  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  to  open 
the  w^ay  and  send  forth  laborers  into  the  field."  By  an  amendment  to  the  Con- 
stitution, a  Board  of  Missions,  consisting  of  five  members,  was  provided  for,  to 
which  were  to  be  "committed  our  Home  Mission  interests."  The  receipts  during 
the  year  for  Home  Missions  were  $300.18,  and  for  General  Eldership  Mission 
Fund,  $242.91.  The  Course  of  Studies  was  to  be  taken  by  "all  ministers  who 
came  into  the  Eldership  since  1890."  The  Board  of  Education  was  to  classify 
those  enrolled  as  students,  and  to  conduct  the  annual  examination.  The  terri- 
tory of  the  Eldership  was  divided  into  eight  stations  and  seventeen  circuits. 

55th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership.- — It  was  said  of  the  fifty-fifth  session  of 
the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  that  "all  the  business  was  done  as  service  to 
the  Lord;"  that  "from  the  first  the  sittings  were  characterized  by  deep  spiritual- 
ity." The  Eldership  convened  at  Avenue,  Allegheny  county,  Friday,  October  1, 
1897.  The  enrollment  consisted  of  forty-eight  ministers,  of  whom  ten  were 
absent  and  three  had  died  during  the  year;  and  twenty-one  ruling  elders.  The 
election  for  officers  resulted  in  the  choice  of  R.  L.  Byraes,  Speaker;  Geo.  W. 
Byrnes,  First  Clerk;  Geo.  W.  Davis,  Transcribing  Clerk;  Thos.  Woods,  Financial 
Clerk,  and  S.  Arnold,  Treasurer.  The  Speaker  and  clerks  appointed  the  regular 
committees,  "during  which  time  the  Eldership  was  engaged  in  prayer  and  song 
service,"  so  that  no  business  was  transacted  until  after  the  committees  were  an- 
nounced. One  minister  "was  granted  a  letter  of  dismissal  on  the  ground  of  a 
change  of  his  convictions  on  Church  doctrine."  A  strong  deliverance  on  temper- 
ance as  "a  political  as  well  as  moral"  issue,  in  one  of  the  paragraphs  cast  some 
cloud  of  suspicion  on  some  ministers,  in  that  it  declared  that  "if  any  minister, 
in  any  way,  shall  countenance  the  use  of  strong  drink,  or  in  any  way  excuse  its 
use  by  others,  he  is  out  of  harmony  with  the  churches  of  God,  and  that  he  be  dealt 
■with  accordingly."  One  indeed  was  suspended  by  the  Standing  Committee  against 
whom  this  was  one  of  the  charges,  and  he  was  expelled  by  the  Eldership.  The 
spirituality  of  the  sittings  was  promoted  by  the  passage  of  a  resolution  advising 
"all  ministers  while  making  their  reports  to  omit  all  trifling  jests and  char- 
acterize their  remarks  with  the  respect  appertaining  to  the  clerical  office;"  and 
also  by  the  order  directing  the  observance  of  the  ordinances  of  washing  the  saints' 
feet  and  the  Lord's  Supper  at  each  annual  session."  The  "taking  of  the  Church 
paper"  was  made  compulsory  on  ministers.  The  aggressive  spirit  of  the  body 
was  manifested  by  directing  all  ministers  to  open  new  appointments  wherever 
possible;  requiring  each  pastor  to  preach  at  least  one  missionary  sermon  at  each 
appointment  annually;  by  the  provision  to  have  a  permanent  mission  fund,  and 
by  encouraging  missionary  activity  on  the  part  of  the  W.  M.  S.  The  Eldership 
approved  and  commended  the  practice  of  having  pastors  and  churches  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  year  come  to  an  understanding  as  to  the  amount  of  salary  to  be 
paid  to  the  minister.  To  prevent  the  giving  of  mortgages  for  local  church  prop- 
erties which  would  become  a  lien  on  all  Eldership  property,  action  was  taken  re- 
quiring such  mortgages  to  be  limited  to  the  particular  local  property.  The  state 
of  religion  throughout  the  Eldership  was  gratifying.  The  "labors  of  min- 
isters and  churches  were  blessed  and  many  souls  were  saved  through  their  in- 
strumentality." If  "history  has  a  Nemesis  for  every  sin,"  it  also  records  a  bless- 
ing as  following  genuine  repentance.  "During  the  year  past  three  of  our  number 
have  been  called  home,"  reported  the  Committee  on  Obituaries.  These  were  J. 
F.  Smith,  who  came  into  the  Eldership  from  the  M.  E.  Church,  a  man  of  much 
power  and  energy;"  J.  C.  Yates,  a  young  man,  and  a  rising  man,  "stricken  down 
almost  in  the  days  of  his  youth,"  and  G.  W.  Shober,  "a  man  of  years  and  experi- 
ence," a  good  man,  an  honest,  God-honoring  man."  The  total  Eldership  receipts 
"were  $908.35;  disbursements,  $774.51.  The  aggregate  salaries  of  pastors  was 
$8,044.00.  Total  membership,  2,389.  The  Stationing  Committee  made  twenty- 
nine  appointments. 

56th  W^est  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — "One  to  whose  memory  only  volumes  could 
do  justice"  died  within  a  month  after  adjournment  in  1897.  John  Hickernell, 
horn  at  Lisburn,  Cumberland  county.  Pa.,  December,  1814,  died  at  Findlay,  Han- 
cock county,  Ohio,  October  30,  1897.  Converted  in  his  native  village  when  about 
twelve  years  of  age,  in  a  revival  held  by  AVinebrenner,  but  growing  indifferent  he 
was  reclaimed  about  seven  years  later,  and  began  exhorting,  he  entered  the  min- 
istry in  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  183  8.  and  was  appointed  to  the  Pitts- 
burg Mission.  He  was  Speaker  of  the  first  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  a 
delegate  to  the  first  General  Eldership.      "He  was  a  man  of  great  ability,  and  one 

C.  H.— 15 


4i8  History  of  the  Chhurches  oe  God 

whose  life  was  pre-eminently  successful."  He  had  an  unusual  passion  for  souls, 
and  "felt  a  far  greater  interest  in  the  conversion  of  sinners  than  in  anything  else," 
was  his  own  testimony  after  "twenty-five  years  spent  in  preaching  the  gospel." 
The  Opening  Sermon  of  the  Eldership  following  his  death  was  preached  by  R.  L, 
Byrnes,  and  was,  by  action  of  the  Standing  Committee,  "a  memorial  sermon." 
The  session  was  held  at  West  Newton,  Westmoreland  county,  October  6-8,  1898. 
It  consisted  of  thirty  ministers  and  eighteen  delegates.  S.  G.  Yahn  was  made 
Speaker;  Geo.  W.  Bynies,  Journalizing  Clerk;  Geo.  W.  Davis,  Transcribing  Clerk, 
and  T.  S.  Woods,  Financial  Clerk.  To  guard  against  encumbering  churches  with 
heavy  debts  ministers  were  required  to  obtain  consent  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 
before  buying  or  repairing  church  property.  Only  sickness  or  death  would  secure 
leave  of  absence  from  the  Eldership.  The  Principal  of  Barkeyville  Academy,  G. 
W.  Davis,  was  granted  permission  to  visit  the  churches  to  secure  means  and  work 
up  interest  in  the  institution.  There  was  a  praiseworthy  "thirst  for  knowledge 
manifested  on  the  part  of  the  majority  of  ministers,"  and  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion could  "truthfully  testify  to  the  intellectual  improvement  of  the  majority."  A 
good  degree  of  spirituality  was  maintained  throughout  the  territory  of  the  Elder- 
ship, and  much  good  had  been  done  in  saving  souls.  The  liquor  business  was  re- 
garded as  "a  legalized  crime,"  and  that  we  as  a  "body  of  Christian  workers  urge 
our  fellow  men  to  go  out  of  partnership  with  the  saloon  and  the  devil,  and  vote 
as  we  pray,  or  else  change  our  prayers." 

57th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Quite  a  successful  year  followed  the 
session  of  189  8,  and  yet  the  total  membership  was  reduced  to  2,042.  The  con- 
versions were  407;  accessions,  364;  expelled  and  dismissed  by  letter,  31.  There 
were  fifty-six  church  houses  and  church  organizations.  The  session  of  1899  was 
held  at  New  Brighton,  Beaver  county,  October  5-9.  The  Opening  Sermon  on  the 
evening  of  the  4th  was  delivered  by  S.  G.  Yahn.  "In  the  granting  of  Life  Certifi- 
cates the  Eldership  exercised  unusual  care.  It  named  a  committee,  consisting  of 
R.  L.  Bynaes,  S.  G.  Yahn  and  J.  W.  Davis,  to  consider  the  matter,  and  to  make 
such  recommendations  as  it  may  "deem  wise  concerning  the  names  on  the  Min- 
isterial  Roll,    and    also   recommendations   concerning   applicants   for   license."      It 

recommended   that  applicants   for   license   receive    "licentiate   certificates to 

be  renewed  annually  until  they  have  completed  the  Eldership  Course  of  Studies." 
It  recommended  that  thirty  of  the  ministers  named  receive  Life  Certificates,  and 
that  such  Certificates  be  withheld  from  nine  others  "till  such  time  as  they  shall 
receive  work  from  the  Eldership,"  while  the  names  of  the  four  others  were 
"placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Standing  Committee  with  discretionary  power."  One 
minister  requested  his  name  be  stricken  from  the  Roll  "as  he  had  accepted  work 
with  the  Christian  Alliance."  While  the  request  was  granted,  it  led  to  a  lengthy 
discussion,  and  the  passage  of  a  resolution  declaring  "that  what  is  commonly 
called  faith-healing  and  sanctification  as  a  second  work  of  grace  are  not  in  har- 
mony with  the  teachings  and  practice  of  the  churches  of  God  in  the  United  States 
as  a  body."  There  was  considerable  of  a  reaction  in  spiritual  things,  as  the  Com- 
mittee on  the  State  of  Religion  "deplored  the  low  ebb  of  spirituality,  the  neglect 
of  the  ordinances,  and  the  fact  that  the  Church  was  not  advancing  more  rapidly." 
The  officers  which  conducted  the  business  of  the  Eldership  so  acceptably  were 
D.  A.  Stevens,  Speaker;  Geo.  W.  Davis,  Journalizing  Clerk;  W.  H.  Guyer,  Trans- 
cribing Clerk;  J.  L.  Updegraph,  Financial  Clerk,  and  Geo.  W\  Stoner,  Treasurer. 

58th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  revised  Constitution  of  the  West 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  was  printed  in  a  neat  pamphlet  in  1900.  It  made  the 
Standing  Committee  the  Board  of  Missions,  and  gave  it  judicial  powers,  but  it 
could  not  expel  a  minister  found  guilty  under  charges.  No  one  could  be  "de- 
clared elected  to  any  position  unless  he  received  a  majority  of  all  the  votes  cast." 
A  Financial  Clerk  was  to  be  elected  in  addition  to  the  other  officers.  Officers  of 
the  Eldership  were  made  ineligible  to  membership  on  the  Standing  Committee. 
There  was  to  be  a  Board  of  Trustees,  constituted  of  the  officers  of  the  Eldership 
and  the  Standing  Committee.  Provision  was  made  for  appeals  from  churches  by 
members  subjected  to  discipline.  A  regular  form  for  ordination  services  was 
prescribed,  with  certain  questions  to  be  addressed  to  applicants  by  the  President. 
The  session  of  19  00  was  held  at  Kingwood,  Somerset  county,  October  3-6.  W. 
Harris  Guyer  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon.  There  were  enrolled  thirty-eight 
ministers  and  thirteen  delegates.  Officers  elected  were:  President,  W.  B.  Elliott; 
Journalizing  Clerk,  G.  W.  Byrnes;  Transcribing  Clerk,  W.  H.  Guyer;  Financial 
Clerk,   J.   L.   Updegraph;    Treasurer,   Geo.   W.   Stoner.      The   Standing   Committee 


West    Pennsylvania    Eldekship  419 

was  specially  charged  "to  make  careful  inquiry  in  regard  to  the  doctrinal  faith  of 
all  ministers  whose  names  may  be  referred  to  it."  Any  minister  found  "not  in 
harmony  with  the  doctrines  and  practices  of  the  churches  of  God"  was  to  be  "re- 
quested to  return  his  Certificate  of  Ordination."  The  Constitution  of  the  church 
at  Butler  was  decided  to  be  in  conflict  with  the  Rules  of  Co-operation  of  the  Eld- 
ership, and  certain  Articles  were  declared  "void,"  and  the  pastor  was  "censured 
by  this  Eldership  for  his  evident  insubordination,"  as  he  "was  chiefly  instrumental 
in  the  preparation  of  said  Constitution."  As  the  troubles  in  the  churches  at 
Butler  and  Glade  Mills  were  caused  by  the  Christian  Alliance,  "said  Alliance  shall 
not  be  granted  the  use  of  said  church  houses  for  services  without  permission  of 
the  Standing  Committee."  The  Eldership  voted  that  "all  the  ministers  and  mem- 
bers of  the  Eldership  and  of  the  church  which  they  represent  ought  to  be  strong 
prohibitionists."  A  missionary  spirit  was  to  be  inculcated  by  all  the  pastors.  In- 
creased spirituality  was  declared  to  be  manifested  among  the  churches.  A.  C. 
Bovvers,  appointed  a  missionary  to  India  in  1902,  was  ordained;  also  S.  Pulmer; 
but  one  minister  was  requested  to  return  his  Certificate  of  Ordination.  The  Sta- 
tistics contained  these  items:  Churches,  51;  church  houses,  49;  conversions,  124; 
baptized,  137;  accessions,  254;  membership,  1,223.  The  appointments  numbered 
twenty-four — six  stations  and  eighteen  circuits. 

59th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldersliip. — The  result  of  the  investigation  ot  the 
doctrinal  views  of  certain  ministers  by  the  Standing  Committee,  ordered  by  the 
Eldership  in  1900,  was  the  surrender  of  their  Certificates  of  Ordination  by  two, 
and  the  acknowledgment  of  insubordination,  and  confession  and  forgiveness  of 
another.  The  Eldership  justly  had  the  reputation  of  "moral  earnestness  in  the 
performance  of  its  official  duties."  It  had  among  its  leading  men  at  all  times 
those  whose  essential  greatness  of  character  stood  out  in  salient  relief.  This  was 
clearly  evident  at  the  session  held  at  Ursina,  Somerset  county,  October  3-6,  1901. 
On  the  evening  of  October  2nd  the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  by  W.  B.  Elliott. 
The  officers  elected  were:  President,  T.  S.  Woods;  Journalizing  Clerk,  G.  W. 
Byrnes;  Transcribing  Clerk,  W.  H.  Guyer;  Financial  Clerk,  J.  L.  Updegraph; 
Treasurer,  Geo.  W\  Stoner.  Strenuous  measures  were  decided  upon  to  the  end 
that  the  evil  effects  and  schisms  in  the  churches  resulting  from  the  teaching  of 
faith-cure  and  second-work  sanctification  might  be  overcome,  and  harmony  and 
peace  restored.  One  minister  was  expelled  for  intemperance,  and  two  others  re- 
turned their  ordination  papers.  Two  ministers  answered  the  last  roll-call,  and 
joined  the  invisible  host — N.  I.  Van  and  C.  Kreger — whose  loss  the  Eldership 
"felt  very  keenly."  Pastors  were  instructed  to  organize  missionary  societies  in 
every  church.  It  was  also  decided  to  devote  "one  evening  during  each  session  of 
the  Eldership  to  our  missionary  interests."  One  representative  from  each  mis- 
sionary society  was  to  be  received  as  an  advisory  member  of  the  Eldership.  By 
ordination,  services  conducted  by  R.  L.  Byrnes,  Foniey  O.  Eakin  and  Geo.  M. 
Hiilme,  became  members  of  the  Eldership.  The  Eldership's  admiration  for  the 
character  of  President  McKinley  and  its  detestation  of  the  crime  which  ended  his 
illustrious  career  were  expressed  in  resolutions  declaring  that  he  was  "our  great- 
est statesman  and  most  noble  President,"  "stricken  down  by  the  vile  hand  of 
anarchy;"  and,  that  "we  detest  and  denounce  the  methods  and  doctrines  of  an- 
archists as  entirely  without  excuse,  and  treasonable."  Lynchings  in  general  were 
regarded  "as  destructive  of  justice,  cruel  and  revolting."  The  Executive  Board 
was  requested  to  change  the  place  for  holding  the  next  session  of  the  General 
Eldership.  The  state  of  religion  and  morals  throughout  the  Eldership  was 
"highly  gratifying." 

60th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  dur- 
ing the  year  1901-2  had  the  gratification  of  seeing  one  of  its  young  ministers 
leave  his  native  land  and  go  to  India  as  a  foreign  missionary.  And  so  in  1902  it 
enrolled  "A.  C.  Bowers — Indian  Mission  Field."  Suitable  resolutions  were  placed 
on  the  Minutes  "touching  the  departure  of  Rev.  A.  C.  Bowers  and  wife  for  India."" 
The  session  was  held  at  Barkeyville,  Venango  county,  September  25-28,  1902.  T. 
S.  Woods  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon.  The  lay  representation  was  small,  there 
being  present  eleven  delegates,  with  thirty-three  ministers.  The  President  was 
S.  G.  Yahn;  Journalizing  Clerk,  G.  W.  Byrnes;  Transcribing  Clerk,  W.  H.  Giiyer; 
Financial  Clerk,  J.  L.  Updegraph;  Treasurer,  G.  W.  Stoner.  The  action  of  the 
General  Eldership  in  calling  a  Convention  in  June,  1903,  "to  organize  a  Woman's 
General  Missionary  Society"  was  "heartily  approved."  Provision  was  made  for 
a  "Convention  in  connection   with  the   next   mid-year  meeting  of  our   Ministerial 


420  History  of  the   Churches  of  God 

Association  to  organize  a  Woman's  Missionary  Society  of  the  West  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  to  be  represented  in  the  Convention  in  June,  1903."  A  petition  to  the 
General  Eldership  was  adopted  "earnestly  requesting"  said  body  to  take  action 
relative  to  the  destructive  schisms  caused  in  churches  of  West  Pennsylvania  Eld- 
ership by  the  teaching  of  faith-healing  and  second-work  sanctification."  S.  G. 
Tahn  and  K.  L.  Bynies  were  the  active  promoters  of  this  movement  to  purge  the 
Eldership  of  this  element  of  discord.  Notwithstanding  the  faith-cure  and  second- 
work  sanctification  propaganda,  with  the  painful  results  which  followed,  the 
churches  were  reported  as  "never  in  a  better  condition."  The  death  of  John 
Hovis  was  sincerely  lamented,  a  minister  who  "for  fifty-two  years  held  a  Certifi- 
cate of  Ordination  from  this  Eldership."  His  chief  distinction  was  a  spirit  of 
self-sacrifice,  and  "above  all  his  true,  earnest  Christian  life."  "His  trust  and  un- 
failing courage  in  preaching  the  gospel  of  Christ  won  for  him  success."  A  "Cer- 
tificate of  Merit"  was  given  to  G.  W.  Byrnes,  J.  L.  Updegi-aph  and  A.  W.  Snyder, 
who  had  completed  the  Course  of  Studies.  The  establishment  of  "our  own  Pub- 
lishing House"  was  a  "source  of  real  satisfaction"  to  the  Eldership.  The  number 
of  conversions  during  the  year  was  269;  but  only  68  persons  were  baptized,  while 
225  were  received  into  fellowship.      The  total  membership  was  2,237. 

61st  AVest  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — A  more  normal  and  peaceful  condition 
prevailed  throughout  the  territory  of  the  Eldership  as  a  result  of  the  measures  of 
discipline  so  effectively  used  for  several  years.  But  following  the  Convention 
held  at  Findlay,  Ohio,  to  organize  a  W.  G.  M.  S.,  certain  defamatory  publications 
had  been  put  in  circulation,  refiecting  on  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  West 
Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  others.  The  Eldership  adopted  charges  against  the 
author,  which  S.  G.  Yahn  was  authorized  to  prosecute  before  the  Executive  Board 
of  the  General  Eldership.  These  several  actions  served  only  to  cement  the  bond 
of  unity  of  the  Eldership  which  held  its  annual  session  at  Liberty,  Fayette  county, 
beginning  October  1,  1903.  S.  G.  Yahn  preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  The  body 
was  organized  by  electing  T.  S.  Woods,  President;  G.  W.  Byrnes,  Journalizing 
Clerk;  R.  N.  Dillon,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  L.  Updegraph,  Financial  Clerk;  Geo. 
W.  Stoner,  Treasurer.  The  organization  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  at  Findlay  was 
"heartily  commended."  "Special  thought  and  effort"  were  resolved  to  be  "given 
to  establishing  churches  of  God  in  the  towns  and  cities  within  the  territory  of 
this  Eldership."  Though  the  "state  of  religion  will  compare  favorably  with  that 
of  other  religious  bodies,"  said  the  Eldership;  yet  "it  should  be  brighter.  We 
urge  a  more  thorough  consecration  on  the  part  of  our  ministers,  that  the  standard 
of  religion  may  be  raised  and  spirituality  deepened."  Simon  Fulton,  ordained  in 
1874,  was  "called  from  labor  to  reward"  during  the  year.  He  was  "a  most  ex- 
emplary Christian  worker."  Three  new  churches  were  received  into  the  Elder- 
ship, but  the  fields  of  labor  were  two  less  than  in  1900.  All  were  supplied  with 
efficient  pastors.  The  ministry  was  replenished,  and  among  the  active  workers 
was  a  fair  proportion  of  well-equipped  young  men  consecrated  to  their  life  mis- 
sion. 

62nd  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Order  and  harmony  grew  out  of  the 
readjusted  relations  of  the  church  at  Butler  to  the  Eldership,  and  a  spirit  of  co- 
operation was  developed.  For  said  church  in  1904  "royally  entertained  the  Eld- 
ership," and  "the  session  was  characterized  with  the  spirit  of  love  and  kindness." 
The  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  on  the  evening  of  October  5th,  by  T.  S.  Woods. 
On  Thursday  morning  the  reorganization  was  effected  by  the  election  of  W.  H. 
Guyer,  President;  Geo.  AV.  Byrnes,  Journalizing  Clerk;  R.  N.  Dillon,  Transcribing 
Clerk;  J.  L.  Updegraph,  Financial  Clerk,  and  G.  W.  Stoner,  Treasurer.  "The 
new  church  at  Connellsville  was  admitted  to  membership  in  the  Eldership." 
There  were  now  nine  stations  and  fifteen  circuits,  and  the  India  Mission.  The 
"spiritual  standard  of  the  Eldership"  was  found  to  be  "above  the  standard  for 
many  years."  It  was  resolved  to  "make  greater  effort  to  excel  in  spiritual  activi- 
ties during  the  coming  year."  Conversions  reported  were  254;  baptized,  104; 
accessions,  236;  membership,  2.052.  The  Eldership  received  a  bequest  of 
$1,000.00  from  Jonathan  Glenn,  to  become  a  part  of  the  Permanent  Superannu- 
ated and  Widows'  Fund.  It  was  decided  to  "hold  a  camp-meeting  in  1905  in  a 
central  place,  that  we  may  bring  the  brethren  together  for  a  spiritual  awakening." 
One  minister  who  had  been  suspended  by  the  Standing  Committee  for  violating 
the  Rules  of  Co-operation  was  expelled  from  the  Eldership.  The  Eldership  re- 
affirmed its  former  action  on  the  missionary  questions  which  were  agitating  the 
Elderships  and  churches  generally  at  this  time.      An  exception  was  made  by  the 


West    Pennsylvania    Eldership  421 

Committee  on  Obituaries  by  reporting  resolutions  on  the  death  of  a  lay-elder, 
J.  B.  Henderson,  "a  life-long  friend,  brother  and  co-worker  in  all  the  various  de- 
partments of  church  and  educational  work." 

63rd  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — A  superficial  view  of  the  doings  of  the 
West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  will  leave  the  impression  that  few  of  the  Annual 
Elderships,  if  any,  had  such  frequent  occasions  to  discipline  some  of  their  mem- 
bers for  lapses  in  moral  conduct.  Its  Constitution,  as  is  the  rule,  provided  that 
ministers  "are  amenable  to  the  Eldership  for  their  conduct,  and  may  be  tried  and 
expelled  by  the  same  when  found  guilty  of  any  crime,  or  of  conduct  unbecoming 
a  minister  of  the  gospel."  At  the  session  which  convened  at  Alverton,  Westmore- 
land county,  October  5,  1905,  this  power  was  exercised  in  a  fearless  manner.  One 
minister  had  been  "suspended  for  conduct  unbecoming  a  minister  of  the  gospel," 
and  was  "expelled  and  his  name  erased  from  the  Roll"  by  the  Eldership.  The 
name  of  one  "was  stricken  from  the  Roll"  because  he  "had  become  identified  with 
another  Church."  One  was  "severely  censured  for  his  indiscreet  conduct,"  and 
was  "required  to  make  a  public  apology  before  the  Eldership."  These  actions 
were  taken  with  "closed  doors;"  but  such  actions  can  not  be  kept  secret.  The 
officers  elected  at  this  session  were — President,  J.  L.  UpdegTaph ;  Journalizing 
Clerk,  W.  W.  Anderson;  Transcribing  Clerk,  W.  H.  Giiyer;  Financial  Clerk,  J.  W. 
AVhisler;  Treasurer,  G.  W.  Stoner.  The  Eldership  was  in  full  accord  with  the 
General  Eldership  in  its  actions  and  "plans  for  foreign  mission  work,"  and  en- 
dorsed the  basis  of  union  of  the  Missionary  societies.  It  had  twelve  Missionary 
societies,  with  a  membership  of  374.  Also  14  societies  of  Christian  Endeavor. 
Its  41  Sunday-schools  had  an  enrollment  of  2,310.  There  were  47  churches,  50 
houses  of  worship;  206  were  received  into  fellowship,  and  the  total  membership 
was  1,920.  Its  superannuated  ministers  and  widows  of  ministers  were  to  be 
provided  for  by  "the  establishing  of  a  permanent  Superannuated  Ministers'  and 
Widows'  Fund,"  for  the  raising  of  the  funds  of  which  a  regular  agent  was  ap- 
pointed. The  Eldership  always  was  progressive  on  the  temperance  question.  Re- 
calling the  deliverance  on  this  subject  by  the  first  General  Eldership,  which  it 
regarded  as  "advanced  ground,"  it  insisted  that  "we  bring  this  subject  properly 
before  our  people  from  the  pulpit."  It  further  expressed  its  "disapproval  of  the 
license  system,"  and  its  "adherence  to  the  principle  of  prohibition."  The  Elder- 
ship had  one  Slavic  church,  and  it  had  one  minister  and  his  wife  in  India  as  mis- 
sionaries. The  Slavic  church  was  located  at  Sharon,  Pa.,  and  was  organized  by 
Jacob  Luchansky.  It  built  a  house  of  worship,  which  was  dedicated  October  15, 
1905. 

64th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldei-ship. — It  is  a  strong  commendation  of  a  re- 
ligious body  to  state  as  a  fact  that  in  its  session  it  was  "perfectly  united  on  all 
questions,  and  everything  of  importance  was  passed  by  a  unanimous  vote."  More 
so  when  the  troubles  relative  to  ministerial  conduct  had  so  recently  been  adjusted 
by  judicial  processes.  Also,  when  action  of  great  moment  had  to  be  taken  rela- 
tive to  "actions  of  the  General  Eldership,  the  Woman's  General  Missionary  Society 
and  the  work  of  the  Commission  on  Unification."  But  it  was  thoroughly  united, 
and  "put  itself  on  record  as  being  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  General  Eldership" 
and  all  its  interests.  The  session  was  held  at  West  Newton,  Westmoreland  county, 
October  4-6,  1906.  On  the  evening  of  October  3rd  J.  L.  Updegraph  preached  the 
Opening  Sermon.  There  were  34  ministers  enrolled,  and  13  delegates.  Three 
new  names  were  added  to  the  Roll,  two  of  which  were  of  Slavic  nationality,  who 
had  "established  missions  in  several  towns  in  western  Pennsylvania."  They  were 
John  and  Jacob  Luchansky,  who  had  been  raised  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
but  were  converted  to  the  faith  of  the  church  at  Mt.  Pleasant,  Westmoreland 
county,  Pa.  The  officers  elected  were:  President,  G.  W.  Byrnes;  Journalizing 
Clerk,  W.  W.  Anderson;  Transcribing  Clerk,  AV.  H.  Guyer;  Financial  Clerk,  J.  L. 
Updegraph;  Treasurer,  G.  W.  Stoner.  The  Eldership  "placed  itself  on  record  as 
advocating  local  option  in  this  State."  It  also  declared  that  "it  is  inconsistent 
to  pray  for  temperance,  and  cast  your  ballot  for  intemperance  and  the  legalizing 
of  the  liquor  traffic."  That  the  "perpetuation  and  extension  of  the  Church  of 
God  required  that  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  be  kept  before  the  people  con- 
stantly" was  expressed  as  the  belief  of  the  body.  Hence,  it  strongly  endorsed 
the  periodical  literature  published  by  the  General  Eldership,  and  " 'The  Phil- 
osopic  Basis  of  Ordinances,'  by  Dr.  Forney,  and  'Robert  Woodknow,'  by  C.  F. 
Reitzel."  Building  new  houses  of  worship  and  parsonages  and  repairing  and 
improving  old   ones  was  an   encouraging  indication.      This   was   characteristic   of 


422  History   of  the   Churches   of   God 

all  religious  bodies  from  1900  to  1913.  From  1900  to  1906  the  total  value  of 
Church  property  in  the  United  States  had  increased  100  per  cent.,  when  it  reached 
the  enormous  aggregate  of  $1,257,575,867.00.  The  following  seven  years  it  again 
nearly  doubled  in  value,  being  over  $2,000,000,000.00.  In  1906  the  forty-eight 
churches  in  the  Eldership  owned  forty-eight  houses  of  worship.  The  membership 
numbered  1,676,  311  having  been  fellowshiped  during  the  year.  The  Eldership 
had  a  Course  of  Studies  which  it  considered  "an  indispensable  factor  in  our  work, 
which  no  young  minister  can  afford  to  be  without."  A  regular  Committee  on  Ex- 
amination of  Ministers  in  the  Course  of  Studies  was  maintained.  This  Eldership 
was  an  inspiration.  It  was  called  "an  optimistic  Eldership,"  and  "truly  a  Church 
of  God  peace  Eldership." 

65th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Thirty-four  ministers  and  eleven  dele- 
gates were  enrolled  for  the  sixty-fifth  annual  session  of  the  West  Pennsylvania 
Eldership.  According  to  the  records,  "the  Eldership  is  not  quite  as  strong 
numerically  as  it  was  ten  years  ago."  This  was  owing  to  "a  judicious  sifting 
and  pruning  process;"  to  the  "revised  and  improved  Course  of  Studies,  and  mak- 
ing its  provisions  obligatory,"  and  to  "the  Life  Certificate  of  Ordination,"  as 
some  who  had  annual  licenses  were  denied  Life  Certificates.  Some  few  were  also 
disfellowshiped  because  they  "taught  doctrines  which  are  not  in  harmony  with 
the  doctrines  of  the  churches  of  God,  such  as  'faith  healing'  and  'second-work' 
sanctification."  Even  at  this  session  one  of  the  Slavic  ministers  was  "reproved" 
for  "preaching  doctrines  contrary  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Church,  and  teaching 
revelations  by  visions  and  dreams."  The  Certificate  of  Ordination  of  A.  C. 
Bowers,  missionary  to  India,  was  "recalled,  he  having  accepted  work  from  the 
American  Baptist  Missionary  Union."  The  session  of  1907  was  held  at  Bracken- 
ridge,  Allegheny  county,  October  3-6.  On  the  evening  of  October  2nd  G.  W. 
Byrnes  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon.  J.  W.  Whisler  was  chosen  President;  G. 
W.  Byrnes,  Jorunalizing  Clerk;  W.  H.  Guyer,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  L,  Upde- 
graph,  Financial  Clerk;  G.  W.  Stoner,  Treasurer.  Good  financial  management 
characterized  the  Eldership,  as  "the  funds  for  local  and  general  work  were  all 
raised  by  the  pastors."  "Assessments  were  paid  in  full,  and  balances  were  left 
in  various  Funds  of  the  Treasury."  There  was  great  unanimity  of  sentiment,  as 
actions  on  the  most  important  subjects  "were  all  adopted  unanimously."  Thor- 
ough discussion  of  these  subjects  was  had,  so  "that  each  member  of  the  Elder- 
ship fully  understood  the  meaning  of  every  word  before  he  voted."  During  the 
year  there  were  299  conversions;  122  baptized,  and  147  fellowshiped.  The  Per- 
manent Superannuated  and  Widows'  Fund  was  growing,  as  $500.00  were  sub- 
scribed during  the  year.  On  "the  deplorable  division  of  our  foreign  missionary 
forces"  the  Eldership  adopted  unanimously,  by  a  yea  and  nay  vote,  the  emphatic 
resolutions  submitted  by  G.  W.  Byrnes,  G.  W.  Stoner  and  J.  S.  Boyd,  Committee 
on  Resolutions.  They  approved  the  work  of  the  Commission,  and  placed  "the 
responsibility  for  the  continued  division"  elsewhere  than  on  the  General  Elder- 
ship or  any  of  its  Boards,  Societies  or  Agents.  Always  progressive  in  educa- 
tional matters,  the  body  reaffirmed  its  advanced  positions  on  all  questions  per- 
taining to  the  educational  institutions  of  the  Church,  and  on  the  training  of  the 
young  men  for  the  ministry.  Not  only  was  prayer  requested,  that  the  Lord  of 
the  harvest  send  forth  reapers  into  his  vineyard;"  but  it  was  urged  that  "the 
brotherhood  and  the  pastors  talk  to  young  men  relative  to  their  entering  the 
ministry." 

66th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Readjustment  of  some  of  the  fields  of 
labor  caused  fluctuations  in  the  number  of  charges,  which  at  the  enrollment  in 
1908  was  twenty-three,  instead  of  twenty-six  in  1907.  The  session  was  held  at 
Ursina,  Somerset  county,  October  1-3.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  by 
J.  W.  Whisler,  and  was  "a  clarion  call  to  soul-winning."  The  Eldership  elected 
S.  G.  Yahn,  President;  G.  W.  Bynies,  Journalizing  Clerk;  AV.  H.  Guyer,  Tran- 
scribing Clerk;  J.  L.  Updegraph,  Financial  Clerk;  G.  W.  Stoner,  Treasurer.  A 
new  feature  of  the  Eldership  was  a  "Church  Historian,"  an  office  which  was  filled 
by  the  election  of  S.  G.  Yahn,  who  was  to  be  succeeded  by  W.  H.  Guyer.  It  was  ex- 
pected that  this  would  prove  of  "no  little  good  to  the  Eldership."  On  the  mis- 
sionary interests  of  the  General  Eldership  the  resolutions  kept  in  view  the  meeting 
of  said  body  in  1909,  and  its  sentiments  were  forcibly  expressed  in  favor  of  "the 
supreme  authority  of  the  General  Eldership;"  that  "foreign  missionary  work 
and  workers  must  be  brought  under  one  management,"  and  strongly  approving 
all  actions  hitherto  taken  to  this  end,  and  of  the  work  of  the  W.   G.  M.   S.   and 


West    Pennsyi^vania    Eldej^ship  423 

others  in  promoting  general  unity  and  co-operation.  The  Carnegie  endowment 
proposition  was  regarded  as  affording  "a  great  opportunity"  for  enlarging  the 
endowment  fund  of  Findlay  College,  and  "earnest  efforts  were  pledged  to  secure 
at  least  $5,000.00  within  our  Eldership."  Delinquents  in  the  Course  of  Studies 
were  made  to  realize  that  the  displeasure  of  the  Eldership  would  rest  upon  them 
should  they  fail  to  diligently  pursue  these  studies.  Forbearance  was  exercised 
bcause  some  of  the  delinquents  were  doing  good  work  as  pastors,  and  their  ser- 
vices were  needed  to  supply  the  fifty-seven  churches  of  the  Eldership.  Three 
hundred  and  eight  were  fellowshiped  during  the  year,  and  but  fifteen  dismissed  by 
letter  and  expelled,  making  the  total  membership  2,274  In  the  forty-nine  Sun- 
day-schools there  were  3,014  scholars.  There  were  fifteen  missionary  societies 
and  ten  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.  In  every  interest  the  Eldership  "placed  itself  in  hearty 
accord,  and  in  co-operation  with,  and  approval  of,  the  Boards  and  work  of  the 
General  Eldership." 

67th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  loss  to  the  Eldership  of  one  of  its 
strongest  and  most  efficient  ministers  was  anticipated  in  1908,  so  that  when  in 
1909  S.  G.  Yahn,  having  been  elected  Editor  of  The  Advocate,  took  his  transfer 
to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  it  was  prepared  for  it.  He  preached  the 
Opening  Sermon  when  the  body  convened  at  Pittsburg,  Wednesday  evening,  Oc- 
tober 6,  1909,  which  "was  a  heart-talk  to  those  with  whom  he  had  been  closely 
associated  for  twenty-three  years."  The  Eldership  parted  with  him  with  deep 
regret,  and  declared  that  "his  relations  with  the  Eldership  have  been  pleasant, 
profitable  and  inspiring;  his  demeanor  ever  in  keeping  with  the  sanctity  and  dignity 
of  the  high  office  of  the  Christian  ministry;  his  leadership  conservatively  wise 
and  progressive;  his  scholarship  broad  and  ennobling;  his  fellowship  helpful  and 
inspiring;  his  devotion  and  loyalty  to,  and  his  care  of,  the  churches  true  and 
ardent."  When  the  Eldership  was  constituted,  with  thirty-one  ministers  and 
twenty-two  delegates,  it  elected  Thomas  S.  Woods,  President;  George  W.  Bynies, 
Journalizing  Clerk;  W.  Harris  Guyer,  Transcribing  Clerk;  John  W.  Whisler, 
Financial  Clerk;  George  W.  Stoner,  Treasurer.  The  Field  Secretary  of  Findlay 
College,  O.  A.  NeAvlin,  was  made  welcome,  and  represented  the  endowment  fund 
of  the  College.  In  response,  the  Eldership  resolved  that  "we  join  in  the  slogan, 
'The  Carnegie  offer  must  be  met,'  "  and  it  pledged  itself  "to  do  our  utmost  to  at- 
tain this  end."  A  hopeful  condition  of  the  churches  was  reported,  as  "old 
churches  -were  being  strengthened  and  new  ones  are  being  organized."  "The 
spirituality  of  the  churches  seems  not  to  have  declined,  and  the  intellectual  status 
of  the  Church  is  greatly  improved."  The  need  of  better  remuneration  for  min- 
isters was  insisted  upon,  as  many  are  underpaid."  A  more  scientific  "system  of 
finance"  was  urged  upon  the  churches,  as  thus  not  only  could  ministers'  salaries 
be  made  more  adequate,  but  all  Eldership  and  current  funds  could  more  easily 
be  raised.  To  this  end  the  Financial  Clerk  was  authorized  to  advise  and  assist 
churches  in  "inaugurating  some  such  financial  system,"  and  also  "to  supply  them 
with  information  and  literature  relative  to  the  subject." 

68th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — The  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  gave 
another  proof  in  1910  of  its  interest  in,  and  loyalty  to,  every  enterprise  of  the 
General  Eldership.  There  was  a  corresponding  healthful  concern  by  its  members 
in  all  its  own  enterprises.  It  quoted  in  full  in  its  Journal  the  "rules  and  condi- 
tions" governing  the  Church  Extension  Fund  of  the  General  Eldership,  a  Fund 
established  in  1909,  and  "heartily  approved  said  rules  and  conditions,"  and  "urged 
men  and  women  of  this  Eldership  who  have  means  at  their  command  to  give  to 
this  Fund,  or  make  provision  for  the  same  in  their  wills."  The  session  was  held 
at  West  Newton,  Westmoreland  county,  the  Opening  Sermon  having  been  de- 
livered October  5th,  by  Thomas  S.  AVoods,  from  II.  Chron.  ix.  18,  19.  Theme: 
''Six  Steps  to  the  Throne."  Realizing  the  need  of  economizing  the  time  of  the 
Eldership,  a  new  order  for  the  reports  of  ministers  was  adopted,  and  all  ministers 
were  "required  to  make  their  reports  to  the  Financial  Clerk  for  record  as  early  in 
the  session  as  possible,"  and  these  reports  were  "made  a  special  order  of  business, 
interspersed  with  such  devotional  services  as  in  the  judgment  of  the  President 
shall  be  suitable."  The  finances  of  the  Eldership  were  in  a  good  condition,  show- 
ing aggregate  balances  in  the  Treasurer's  hands  of  $1,777.81,  and  invested  funds, 
$3,650.00.  On  temperance  the  Eldership  declared  "that  no  member  of  the 
churches  of  this  Eldership  shall  contribute  by  voice,  vote  or  influence  to  the 
perpetuation  and  protection  of  the  liquor  traffic,"  and  "the  elective  privilege  shall 
be  used  to  free  the  country    from    dishonest    and    criminal    complicity    in    said 


424  History   of  the   Churches   of   God 

traffic."  Also,  "that  one  can  not  be  a  conscientious  Christian  and  vote  for  the 
candidates  for  any  national  or  State  office  who  are  in  alliance  or  favor  of  the 
saloon."  It  deprecated  "the  tendency  to  introduce  a  Continental  Sabbath"  in  this 
country,  and  deemed  such  a  course  "unchristian,"  and  urged  that  "the  Sabbath 
day  be  kept  holy,"  and  that  on  that  day  every  form  of  business  should  be  sus- 
pended. Sermons  were  to  be  preached  at  all  appointments  on  the  proper  ob- 
servance of  the  day.  Unalterable  opposition  was  voiced  against  the  "display  of 
immoral  scenes  on  bill-boards  and  in  shop  windows,  as  being  detrimental  to  the 
morals  of  our  youths."  It  also  recognized  the  fact  that  "a  general  wave  of  in- 
difference and  spiritual  coldness  is  passing  over  our  country,  blighting  the 
churches,"  and  warned  "the  churches  of  the  danger  and  harm  resulting  from 
spiritual  coldness  and  ungodly  indifference."  The  officers  of  this  session  were 
as  follows:  President,  W.  J.  Unistead;  Journalizing  Clerk,  George  W.  Byrnes; 
Transcribing  Clerk,  W.  Hanas  Guyer;  Financial  Clerk,  John  W.  Whisler;  Treas- 
urer, George  W.  Stoner. 

69th  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Real  estate  of  the  West  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  is  managed  by  the  Board  of  Trustees,  composed  of  the  officers  of  the 
Eldership  and  the  Standing  Committee.  It  "holds  and  controls  all  property, 
whether  personal  or  real  estate."  Many  of  the  houses  of  worship  are  deeded  to 
this  Board,  and  "any  church  desiring  to  buy  or  repair  property"  must  "first  obtain 
the  consent  of"  this  Board.  Property  interests  are  thus  well  safeguarded.  Oc- 
casionally this  Board  has  been  obliged  to  sell,  or  to  mortgage,  properties  held  by 
it,  as  following  the  Eldership  of  1910  it  directed  the  sale  of  Camp  Grove  and 
McQuiston  church  lots,  and  placed  a  mortgage  of  $3,000.00  on  the  property  in 
Franklin.  It  also  authorized  the  sale  of  "Glade  Mills  church  property,"  and 
"granted  permission  to  the  church  at  Indian  Head  to  repair,  reseat  and  paint  their 
bethel."  All  its  actions  were  reported  each  year  to  the  Eldership  and  passed 
upon.  Its  report  in  1911  included  a  number  of  such  items.  The  session  was 
held  said  year  with  the  church  at  Indian  Head,  Fayette  county,  beginning  Thurs- 
day morning,  October  .5th.  The  previous  evening  W.  J.  Unistead  preached  the 
Opening  Sermon,  on  "The  Constancy  and  final  Triumph  of  the  Church  of  God." 
J.  S.  Boyd  was  chosen  President;  Wm.  Hari-is  Guyer,  Journalizing  Clerk;  L. 
Edwin  Yahn,  Transcribing  Clerk;  John  W.  AA'^hisler,  Financial  Clerk;  George  W. 
Stoner,  Treasurer.  Before  the  organization,  in  accordance  with  the  recommenda- 
tion of  the  Executive  Board  of  the  General  Eldership,  an  hour  was  set  apart  for 
"prayer  for  the  fostering  of  Christian  unity  throughout  the  bounds  of  the  General 
Eldership."  The  sentiment  of  loyalty  to  the  Eldership  and  to  the  General  Eldership 
received  expression  in  several  actions.  Thus  it  was  "deemed  an  act  of  disloyalty 
to  the  interests  of  our  literature  to  wilfully  neglect  to  observe  the  day  set  apart 
by  the  General  Eldership"  known  as  "Advocate  Day."  One  of  the  qualities  most 
admired  in  agents  of  the  General  Eldership  was  their  "loyalty  to  the  doctrines  and 
principles  of  the  churches  of  God."  The  churches  were  counseled  to  "enter  into 
agreements  with  their  preachers,  and  fix  a  certain  amount  to  be  paid  each  year, 
and  that  it  be  paid  in  a  systematic  way."  Arrangements  were  ordered  to  be 
made  to  put  an  agent  in  the  field  "whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  arouse  interest 
throughout  our  Sunday-schools  and  C.  E.  societies,  and  to  formulate  plans  for 
an  annual  convention  to  be  held  in  connection  with  the  Ministerial  Association 
and  Missionary  Convention."  This  convention  was  to  last  three  days.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  very  creditable  amount  toward  the  Endowment  Fund  of  Findlay  Col- 
lege by  brethren  and  churches  of  the  Eldership,  the  body  also  held  two  scholar- 
ships. An  additional  one  was  provided  for  by  the  Somerset  county  circuit  for  any 
student  at  the  College  from  said  circuit.  In  general,  "a  good,  healthful  growth 
within  the  bounds  of  the  Eldership"  was  reported. 

70th  AVest  Pennsylvania  Eldership. — Thirty-one  ministers  and  eighteen  dele- 
gates were  enrolled  for  the  seventieth  annual  session  of  the  West  Pennsylvania 
Eldership.  They  represented  a  total  of  forty-eight  churches  and  2,670  members. 
The  estimated  value  of  church  property,  including  the  fifteen  parsonages,  was 
$143,900.00.  The  session  was  held  at  New  Brighton,  Beaver  county,  beginning 
October  4,  1912.  On  the  previous  evening  J.  S.  Boyd  delivered  the  Opening 
Sermon.  An  organization  was  effected  by  the  election  of  R.  N.  Dillon,  President; 
W.  Harris  Guyer,  Journalizing  Clerk;  S.  Fulmer,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  W.  Whis- 
ler, Financial  Clerk;  G.  W.  Stoner,  Treasurer.  The  Standing  Committee:  J.  L. 
Updegraph,  W.  J.  Umstead  and  F.  O.  Eakin.  Judiciary  Committee:  J.  S.  Boyd, 
J.  W.  Whisler  and  R.   L.  Byrnes.      Stationing  Committee:      R.  L.  Byrnes,  J.   L. 


West    Pennsyvania    Eldership  425 

Updegraph,  W.  H.  Guyer,  J.  W.  Whisler  and  S.  Fulnier.  The  Eldership  suffered 
serious  loss  by  the  appointment  of  one  of  its  best  qualified  ministers,  W.  Harris 
Guyer,  as  Professor  of  Theology  and  History  iii  Pindlay  College.  In  his  stead 
it  received  a  well  equipped  young  man  in  the  person  of  H.  R.  Lobb,  of  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership,  as  two  years  previous  it  had  received  R.  L.  Crawford 
from  the  same  Eldership.  The  retirement  of  R.  L.  Byrnes  deprived  the  Eldership 
and  churches  of  an  efficient  and  able  minister  and  a  wise  and  judicious  counsellor, 
whose  "exemplary  life  and  loyalty  are  a  splendid  example  for  the  ministry  and 
laity."  The  body  recorded  expressions  of  "sincere  regret,"  and  assured  Dr. 
Byrnes  of  its  "esteem  and  love,"  and  its  "earnest  desire  and  prayer  that  God's 
rich  blessing  and  reward  be  constantly  his."  The  Eldership  renewed  its  as- 
surances of  co-operation  with,  and  loyalty  to,  our  educational  institutions.  The 
year's  work  was  somewhat  inspiring,  as  there  were  560  conversions;  baptized, 
276;  accessions,  341.  The  total  salaries  received  by  the  pastors  was  $10,214.86. 
The  "progressive  plan  for  extending  the  work  in"  India"  was  commended,  and  the 
Eldership  expressed  its  pleasure  "with  the  frontier  mission  work  as  carried  on 
by  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership."  As  being  thoroughly  loyal 
to  all  these  interests,  it  pledged  its  continued  support  to  home  and  foreign  mis- 
sion work.  Denunciation  of  the  liquor  traffic  was  followed  by  the  Eldership 
putting  itself  "on  record  to  fight  this  great  evil  in  all  its  phases,  and  to  encourage 
every  legitimate  movement  that  has  the  destruction  of  the  liquor  traffic  as  its 
end."  By  emphatic  action  the  pulpits  of  all  the  churches  of  God  in  the  territory 
of  the  Eldership  were  declared  "closed  to  any  and  all  persons  known  to  be  out  of 
harmony  with  this  Eldership."  The  occasion  of  this  action  was  the  withdrawal 
from  the  Eldership  of  one  of  the  ministers  who  was  "not  strictly  in  harmony  with 
its  teachings  along  certain  doctrinal  lines."  The  Permanent  Superannuated  and 
Widows'  Fund  reported  a  total  of  $922.39,  and  the  Agent,  J.  L.  Updegraph, 
urged  "special  efforts  this  year  to  raise  the  Permanent  Fund  to  the  largest  possible 
amount."  Progress,  "both  in  material  and  spiritual  things,"  was  the  encouraging 
report  of  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion,  and  the  twenty-seven  pastors 
were  admonished  to  be  "more  persistent  in  giving  Bible  lessons  to  the  children 
with  the  view  of  instructing  and  training  them  on  doctrinal  and  spiritual  mat- 
ters."     "Adherence  to  the  faith  and  practice  of  our  fathers"  was  strongly  urged. 


IV.     THE   INDIANA  ELDERSHIP. 


1st  Indiana  Eldership. — The  internal  improvements  by  the  State  of  Indiana 
resulted  in  bankruptcy  in  the  financial  crash  of  1837,  and  checked  emigration. 
Yet  from  1830  to  1840  public  lands  to  the  amount  of  9,122,688  acres  were  sold  to 
settlers,  as  against  3,5.58,221  from  1820  to  1830.  The  country  is  mostly  level, 
undulating,  the  highest  point  being  only  540  feet  above  the  level  of  the  Ohio. 
One-third  of  the  State  was  dense  forest,  and  was  wet  and  marshy,  and  expensive 
to  prepare  for  cultivation,  as  well  as  unsanitary.  A  number  of  Church  of  God 
families,  however,  had  found  homes  in  the  State  prior  to  1840,  mostly  near  the 
Ohio  State  line.  Across  the  line  in  Mercer  and  Van  Wert  counties,  Ohio,  there 
were  small  colonies  of  Church  of  God  families  as  early  as  1837,  which  called  for 
a  minister.  At  the  Ohio  Eldership  in  1838,  T,  Hiclcemell  was  appointed  to  the 
St.  Mary's  Mission  in  said  counties.  He  began  his  work  there  in  1839,  and  soon 
after  made  his  permanent  home  there.  He  was  an  indefatigable  missionary,  and 
made  preaching  tours  southward  to  near  the  Ohio  river,  and  into  a  dozen  counties 
in  Indiaria.  J.  Martin  also  did  considerable  local  work.  In  1841,  Adams  county, 
Indiana,  with  Mercer,  Van  Wert  and  Allen  counties,  Ohio,  was  made  a  circuit 
by  the  Ohio  Eldership.  In  184  2  Indiana  Mission  was  formed,  with  J.  Martin  as 
missionary.  In  184  4  J.  Martin,  AVm.  Hood  and  D.  Neidig  were  appointed  "mis- 
sionaries to  the  State  of  Indiana."  When  in  1839  Hickernell  went  to  the  St. 
Mary's  circuit  he  was  largely  isolated  from  other  fields  of  labor  in  Ohio.  He  had 
opened  many  appointments  in  Indiana.  The  other  missionaries  in  the  State  were 
also  quite  successful.  They  felt  the  need  of  an  Eldership,  and  accordingly, 
ignoring  the  General  Eldership,  organized  in  184  5.  "A  petition  was  presented  ta 
the  Ohio  Eldership,  October  21,  184  6,  by  Bro.  J.  Martin  to  have  an  Eldership 
formed  in  the  State  of  Indiana."      The  petition  was  granted;   the  Ohio  Eldership 


426 


History   of  the   Churches   of  God 


agreed  to  "co-operate  with  the  brethren  in  the  West  in  assisting  them  in  forming 
an  Eldership  in  the  State  of  Indiana;"  W.  Adams  and  T.  Hickeniell  were  ap- 
pointed delegates;  the  second  Saturday  in  November,  1846,  was  fixed  as  the  time, 
and  "the  neighborhood  of  Bro.  John  Martin's,  Milford  township,  LaGrange 
county,  Indiana,"  as  the  place  for  the  meeting.  The  Ohio  Eldership  also  agreed 
that  "one  row  of  the  western  counties  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  extending  North  and 
-South,  be  thrown  into  the  Indiana  Eldership."  The  work  had  extended  north- 
ward in  Indiana,  as  LaGrange  county  is  on  the  Michigan  State  line,  the  third 
county  north  of  Adams,  and  the  second  west  of  the  Ohio  line. 

The  brethren  met,  as  per  action  of  the  Ohio  Eldership,  in  a  school-house. 
In  the  township  and  county  named,  November  16,  1846.  The  following  were 
present  and   "constituted  the  meeting:"      John  Martin,  Alexander  B.  Slyter  and 


John   Martin. 

Thomas  Hickeniell,  teaching  elders;  Alexander  Menely,  ruling  elder,  and  Henry 
Komp,  Jacob  C.  Sturges  and  David  Paulus,  delegates.  John  Martin  was  elected 
Speaker,  and  Thomas  Hickernell,  Clerk.  A  committee  of  three  on  resolutions  was 
appointed,  which  reported  a  resolution  declaring  that  the  Eldership  "believes  that 
the  Bible  teaches  that  slavery  is  an  evil,  and  therefore  we  feel  unwilling  to  co- 
operate with  any  who  will  countenance  or  practice  the  same."  Also  one  stating 
that  "we,  the  Eldership,  do  not  make  use  of  any  creed  or  discipline."  Also  one 
"highly  recommending  that  all  those  who  profess  to  be  followers  of  Christ  will 
avoid  all  unnecessary  and  worldly  conversation,  especially  on  the  Lord's  day." 
The  Eldership  agreed  to  "unite  with  the  other  Elderships  in  the  general  system 
of  co-operation."  It  declared  it  "inexpedient  to  identify  ourselves  with  Secret 
Societies."  A.  B.  Slyter,  who  had  "formerly  received  his  license  from  a  local 
church,"  had  "his  license  renewed  by  this  Eldership."     As  no  one  was  "willing  to 


Indiana   Eldership    ,  427 

travel  constantly  excepting  Brother  Hickernell,"  he  was  "solicited  to  take  up  the 
Indiana  appointments,  in  connection  with  the  appointments  in  the  western  part 
of  Ohio,  assisted  by  Bi-others  Martin  and  Slyter."  A  Standing  Committee  of  five 
was  appointed — Martin,  Menely,  Latta,  Slyter  and  Hickernell. 

John  Martin  was  born  in  Lancaster  county.  Pa.,  March  13,  1803.  He  died 
July  2,  1888,  and  his  mortal  bed  is  in  the  cemetery  adjoining  the  bethel  in  Mil- 
ford  township.  La  Grange  county,  Ind.,  on  a  farm  formerly  owned  by  him.  Early 
in  life  he  emigrated  to  Ohio,  and  was  licensed  by  the  Ohio  Eldership  in  1838. 
He  was  a  conscientious  minister  of  the  Church,  and  became  a  preacher  of  con- 
:siderable  power.  More  so  as  a  result  of  strong  natural  faculties  of  observation 
and  reasoning,  than  as  a  result  of  intellectual  training,  for  his  education  was 
limited.  Being  a  Pennsylvania  German,  he  could  preach  in  German  as  well  as  in 
JEnglish.  His  preaching,  however,  was  "exhortational  rather  than  textual."  He 
"was  a  successful  evangelist,  and  was  largely  instrumental  in  organizing  churches 
in  La  Grange,  Steuben,  De  Kalb,  Noble  and  Kosciusko  counties,  Indiana.  He  was 
rsent  in  1842  by  the  Ohio  Eldership  as  missionary  to  Indiana.  He  was  a  farmer 
as  well  as  a  preacher,  having  bought  land  and  cleared  up  the  farm  where  he  died. 
By  training  and  experience  he  was  self-reliant  and  of  tenacity  of  purpose,  at  times 
indeed  seeeming  to  others  to  be  firm  to  the  degree  of  obstinacy.  He  was  hence 
very  tenacious  of  Bible  doctrines,  as  he  conceived  them.  Being  opposed  to  secret 
societies,  when  the  Eldership  modified  its  ultra  views  on  this  question  he  "re- 
fused to  fellowship  with  persons  affiliated  with  secret  orders,"  and  his  name  was 
•dropped  from  the  Ministerial  Roll.  He  always  insisted  that  feet-washing  comes 
after  the  Communion,  as  he  so  interpreted  his  German  Bible,  and  so  was  largely 
responsible  for  this  order  of  observing  the  ordinances  in  the  Indiana  Eldership. 

2nd  Indiana  Eldership. — The  second  Indiana  Eldership  convened  in  a  school- 
house  in  Troy  township,  Whitley  county,  November  15,  1847.  The  enrollment 
:showed  that  the  ministers  had  increased  to  four,  E,  B.  Gillespie  having  been  add-' 
ed;  and  six  ruling  elders  were  present.  The  work  had  been  considerably  enlarged, 
as  these  ruling  elders  came  from  churches  in  six  counties,  namely,  La  Grange, 
Wabash,  DeKalb,  Steuben,  Noble  and  Whitley,  the  northeastern  group  of  counties. 
Adams  county  in  Indiana,  and  the  Ohio  counties  were  not  represented.  The 
boundaries  remained  unchanged.  As  Hickeraell  says:  "The  Ohio  Eldership  set 
oflf  one  tier  of  counties  running  North  and  South  in  Ohio.  This  would  take  me 
into  the  Indiana  Eldership,  and  so  the  Indiana  brethren  made  sure  of  one  traveling 
preacher.  You  know  these  western  brethren  have  a  tremendous  job  of  getting 
hold  of  preachers.  As  for  other  boundaries  we  have  none,  either  South,  West,  or 
North." 

The  Eldership  elected  John  Martin  Speaker,  and  T.  Hickeraell,  Clerk.  Only 
the  three  committees,  Stationing,  Standing  and  on  Resolutions,  were  appointed. 
The  latter  reported  a  resolution  requesting  "churches  to  use  all  possible  "exertions 
to  raise  funds  to  support  those  ministers  who  labor  constantly  in  word  and  doc- 
trine." The  limited  supply  of  ministers  is  indicated  in  the  report  of  the  Stationing 
Committee.  Slyter  and  Hickeraell  were  "appointed  to  travel  St.  Mary's  Circuit, 
■Ohio;  J.  Martin  and  E.  B,  Gillespie  are  appointed  missionaries."  T.  Hickernell 
was  "appointed  to  attend  the  next  General  Eldership,  to  be  held  in  Pittsburg,  Pa." 

3rd  Indiana  Eldership. — On  November  6,  184  8,  the  third  session  of  the  In- 
diana Eldership  was  held  "in  the  house  of  Matthias  Lucans,  in  Wabash  county, 
Ind."  Two  new  preachers  are  enrolled — George  H.  Thomas  and  Christian  Sands. 
Five  preachers,  four  ruling  elders  and  three  messengers  were  enrolled.  John 
Martin  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  T.  Hickernell,  Clerk.  A  Committee  on  Overtures 
was  added  to  the  former  committees.  Good  success  was  reported  by  the  ministers, 
and  several  new  churches  were  formed.  Accordingly,  January  1,  1849  was  recom- 
mended "as  a  day  of  thanksgiving  and  prayer  for  the  extension  of  Christ's  king- 
dom." The  Committee  on  Resolutions  gave  expression  to  the  prevailing  sentiment 
against  the  Constitution  of  the  General  Eldership  when  it  offered  a  resolution, 
which  was  postponed,  declaring  that  "we  can  not  believe  or  receive  any  law  or  con- 
stitution framed  by  any  of  our  brethren  as  having  any  legal  authority  over  this 
Eldership  in  the  transaction  of  its  business."  The  Stationing  Committee  formed 
the  territory  into  two  very  large  fields,  Mercer,  Adams  and  Van  Wert  counties, 
Ohio,  with  C.  Sands  as  minister,  and  Whitley,  La  Grange,  Steuben,  DeKalb  and 
Noble  counties,  Ind.,  with  John  Blickenstaflf  as  minister.  "Thomas  Hickeraell  to 
travel  over  the  whole  territory,  as  usual." 

4th  Indiana  Eldership. — In    1849    the    Indiana    Eldership    met    "in    a   school- 


428  History  of  the  Churches  of   God 

house  in  the  sixth  district,  near  Auburn,  DeKalb  county,  on  Monday  morning,  Oc- 
tober 15th."  The  enrollment  revealed  the  work  of  the  Standing  Committee  during- 
the  year.  There  are  seven  circuits,  with  six  teaching  elders,  six  ruling  elders  and 
one  messenger.  On  ballot,  George  H.  Thomas  was  elected  Speaker,  and  T.  Hicker- 
nell,  Clerk.  A  Committee  on  License  was  added  to  the  list  of  committees.  Verr 
few  conversions  were  reported,  and  the  support  of  the  preachers  was  so  meager 
that  some  were  "compelled  to  leave  the  field  on  account  of  extreme  poverty."  The- 
resolution  against  the  Constitution  of  the  General  Eldership  postponed  in  1848, 
was  called  up  by  the  Committee  on  Unfinished  Business,  and  it  "was  adopted  and 
approved."  Instead  of  a  day  of  thanksgiving  and  prayer  for  New  Year's,  1849, 
"the  first  day  of  January,  1850,"  was  designated  "as  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer 
by  all  the  members  of  this  Eldership  for  the  prosperity  of  God's  cause."  Provision 
was  made  to  "establish  a  fund  for  superannuated  and  worn  out  preachers  in  this- 
Eldership."  "Quarterly  meetings"  were  recommended  to  be  "established  through- 
out the  bounds  of  this  Eldership,"  and  the  Standing  Committee  was  directed  "to- 
appoint  those  meetings  next  Spring." 

5th  Indiana  Eldership. — In  1850  the  fifth  "Annual  Eldership  of  the  Church  of 
God  in  the  State  of  Indiana  met  in  a  school-house  near  Auburn,  DeKalb  county, 
October  21st."  There  were  present  five  teaching  elders,  and  one  absent;  one  rul- 
ing elder  and  four  delegates.  The  teaching  elders  represented  fields  in  Wabash,  La- 
Grange  and  Adams  counties,  Ind.;  Mercer  county,  Ohio,  and  Illinois.  John  Martin. 
was  chosen  Speaker,  and  T.  Hiclceniell,  Clerk.  Sixty-five  conversions  were  re- 
ported. The  "prospects  for  more  laborers  in  the  field,"  said  Hickernell,  "are  in- 
creasing." The  Eldership  had  not  much  business,  and  "we  met  in  peace  and 
friendship,  and  thus  we  parted."  One  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership  was  ap- 
pointed. The  report  of  the  Stationing  Committee  contracts  the  territory  by  leaving- 
out  Wabash  and  Adams  counties,  Ind.,  and  the  Illinois  work;  but  it  adds  "Defiance- 
Mission."      An  opening  sermon  for  18  51  is  provided  for. 

6th  Indiana  Eldei-ship. — The  Indiana  Eldership  in  1851  met  in  Ohio,  at  a. 
school-house  one  mile  from  Mendon,  Mercer  county,  November  3rd.  There  were 
in  attendance  six  teaching  elders,  five  ruling  elders  and  one  delegate.  One  min- 
ister was  absent.  T.  Hickernell  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon  before  the  Elder- 
ship was  constituted.  John  Martin  was  elected  Speaker,  and  T.  Hickernell,  Clerk. 
The  Eldership  had  a  regular  Book  Agent  to  receive  and  sell  Church  publications. 
On  "the  project  of  a  Printing  Establishment"  the  Eldership  resolved  to  "remain 
neutral,"  because  "the  Eldership  find  themselves  too  poor  to  assist  in  carrying  out 
the  proposed  project."  There  were  only  three  circuits  reported  by  the  Stationing; 
Committee:     Eel  River,  LaGrange  and  St.  Mary's,  with  one  "Home  Missionary." 

7th  Indiana  Eldership. — In  Wells  county,  adjoining  Adams  on  the  West,  No- 
vember 1,  1852,  in  the  Zanesville  school-house,  the  seventh  Indiana  Eldership  held 
its  session.  Seven  teaching  elders  were  present,  three  absent,  David  Keplinger, 
later  an  active  missionary,  having  been  received  from  Ohio.  Four  ruling  elders 
were  present,  and  three  delegates.  Six  committees  were  appointed  on  motion. 
The  Clerk  made  no  record  of  a  new  organization;  the  officers  of  the  Eldership  of 
1851  signed  the  Journal.  The  Eldership  "did  not  have  a  single  jar."  The  min- 
isters gave  their  reports,  showing  the  organization  of  three  new  churches,  and 
about  one  hundred  conversions.  A  fund  for  Superannuated  Ministers  was  revived, 
and  "each  member  within  the  bounds  of  this  Eldership  requested  to  pay  one  dime 
annually  for  that  purpose."  George  Thomas  was  granted  the  privilege  of  taking 
an  appointment  from  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  to  "open  a  mission  through 
the  south  and  south-west  part  of  the  Reserve  in  the  State  of  Indiana."  A  "mis- 
sionary project  by  T.  Hickernell"  was  endorsed,  and  each  member  of  all  the 
churches  requested  to  pay  25  cents  for  that  purpose.  The  Eldership  made  no  ap- 
pointments of  ministers,  but  "requested  the  circuit  preachers  to  continue  laboring- 
on  their  different  circuits  till  Spring,  and  that  the  Standing  Committee  be  re- 
quested to  appoint  them  to  their  different  stations." 

8th  Indiana  Eldei-ship. — When  the  Indiana  Eldership  "met  in  a  Cabinetshop'" 
owned  by  Philip  Baker,  Pleasantview  township,  Wabash  county,  Ind.,  November  7^ 
1853,  no  list  of  circuits  was  entered  on  the  Journal  in  constituting  the  Eldership. 
There  were  present  seven  teaching  elders;  five  ruling  elders,  and  four  delegates. 
Four  teaching  elders  were  absent.  David  Keplinger  was  appointed  Speaker,  and 
T.  Hickernell,  Clerk.  The  Eldership  appointed  "the  first  day  of  January  next  as  a 
day  of  fasting  and  prayer  for  the  advancement  of  Zion's  cause."  The  ministers 
were  reproved  for  their  "great  neglect  in  preaching,"  and  "solicited  to  make  more 


Indiana   Eldership  429 

efficient  efforts  in  preaching  the  gospel."  Though  poor,  the  Eldership  had  a  treas- 
urer, but  he  made  no  report.  The  arrangement  for  the  year  following  for  supply- 
ing the  churches  with  preaching  was  that  "Bro.  Kepliiiger  travel  the  Wabash  cir- 
cuit, and  Bros.  Hickernell  and  Komp  the  St.  Mary's  and  Miami  [in  Ohio]  circuit, 
embracing  eight  counties  from  Defiance  south  in  Ohio,  and  about  the  same  number 
north  and  south  in  the  State  of  Indiana." 

9th  Indiana  Eldership.- — October  BO,  1854,  the  Indiana  Eldership  convened  in 
a  school-house  in  Georgetown,  Ohio.  Six  teaching  elders  were  present;  four  rul- 
ing elders,  and  eight  teaching  elders  were  absent.  David  Keplinger  was  chosen 
Speaker,  and  T.  Hickernell,  Clerk.  The  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion  re- 
ported "some  eight  churches  organized  in  the  bounds  of  the  Indiana  Eldership, 
about  one  hundred  and  forty  converted  and  one  hundred  and  twelve  baptized." 
The  only  resolution  adopted  was  "that  the  Treasurer  report  to  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee when  it  holds  its  session  next  Spring."  The  Stationing  Committee  "estab- 
lished four  circuits"  and  to  these  assigned  six  preachers.  The  circuits  are  St. 
Mary's,  Napoleon,  Auburn  and  Wabash.  But  provision  was  made  for  preachers  to 
"hold  some  large  meetings  in  LaGrange  and  DeKalb  counties,  Ind.,  and  at  George- 
town, Ohio."      The  backsliding  of  many  converts  of  former  meetings  is  lamented. 

10th  Indiana  Eldership. — Better  accommodations  than  that  of  a  cabinet  shop, 
in  which  the  Eldership  met  in  1853,  or  even  a  school-house  in  which  the  sessions 
were  held  in  1854,  the  Eldership  in  1855  met  October  25th,  "in  the  new  bethel 
near  Bro.  John  Snyder's,  Adams  county,  Ind.  Eleven  teaching  elders  were  pres- 
ent, and  five  ruling  elders;  ten  teaching  elders  were  absent.  There  were  three 
circuits.  David  Keplinger  as  Speaker,  and  Thomas  Hickernell,  Clerk,  were  elected 
on  motion.  On  the  three  three  circuits  one  hundred  and  sixty  conversions  were 
reported.  The  support  of  pastors  was  exceedingly  limited,  and  the  churches  and 
deacons  were  appealed  to  and  urged  to  "raise  all  they  can  to  support  their 
preachers."  Special  contributions  were  solicited  "over  and  above  what  they 
agreed  to  pay  Bro,  Hickernell,  to  purchase  a  horse  for  him."  The  pastors  were 
required  the  coming  year  "to  make  out  a  statistical  account  of  the  number  of  ap- 
pointments, number  of  organized  churches,  number  of  church  members,  conver- 
•sions,  baptisms,  accessions,  expulsions,  removals  and  deaths."  The  Eldership  had 
"in  the  treasury  for  superannuated  ministers  $35.72.  The  Eldership  made  but  one 
appointment,  the  "appointment  of  other  ministers  was  postponed  until  the  Stand- 
ing Committee  meets  next  Spring." 

11th  Indiana  Eldei-ship. — Instead  of  three  circuits,  as  in  1855,  when  the  elev- 
enth Annual  Eldership  convened,  October  27,  1856,  at  Turkey  Creek,  Kosciusko 
county,  Ind.,  there  were  five  circuits,  to  which  were  assigned  five  pastors,  with 
fourteen  "missionaries."  There  were  present  eleven  teaching  elders,  five  ruling 
elders  and  four  delegates,  while  five  ministers  were  absent.  J.  Mai-tin  was  made 
Speaker,  and  T.  Hickernell,  Clerk.  The  circuits  were  of  large  area,  with  many 
preaching  places.  Without  any  recorded  action  the  Journal  opens  with  the  state- 
ment, "the  Eldership  of  the  churches  of  God  in  the  State  of  Indiana,"  etc.  Only 
eighty-nine  conversions  were  reported,  and  the  Eldership  lamented  "that  there  has 
not  been  more  done  among  so  many."  No  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  in 
185  7  were  elected. 

12th  Indiana  Eldership. — As  the  Indiana  Eldership  was  partially  providing 
for  the  churches  in  Michigan,  among  the  members  at  the  session  of  1857,  which 
met  with  the  church  in  Center  .Jackson,  DeKalb  county,  Ind.,  October  26th,  there 
were  several  members  present  from  that  State.  The  total  number  of  ministers  in 
attendance  at  the  opening  session  was  five;  six  ruling  elders  and  four  delegates. 
There  was  no  ballot  taken  for  officers,  but  on  motion  J.  Mai-tin  was  chosen  Speaker, 
A.  L.  Nye,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  T.  Hiokemell,  Transcribing  Clerk.  The  num- 
ber of  reported  conversions  was  two  hundred  and  thirty;  but  reports  from  ab- 
sentees are  not  included.  The  Stationing  Committee  made  two  appointments — 
Greene  county  circuit,  Ind.,  in  the  south-western  part  of  the  State,  and  Thornapple 
circuit,  in  Michigan.  The  "appointing  of  the  other  preachers  is  left  to  the  Stand- 
ing Committee."  T.  Hickernell  attended  the  General  Eldership,  and  reported  its 
"doings."  Thereupon  the  Eldership  resolved  "that  we  adopt  the  doings  of  the 
General  Eldership,  except  that  part  of  their  doings  in  the  shape  of  law  respecting 
the  test  of  church  fellowship;  and  that  we  disapprove  of  the  General  Eldership 
passing  resolutions  to  the  churches,  in  the  shape  of  law,  respecting  church  fellow- 
ship. Also,  we  have  exceptions  to  that  part  of  their  doings  relative  to  the  liquida- 
tion of  old  claims."     When  the  Standing  Committee  met  in  February,   1858,  in 


430  History  of   the   Churches   of   God 

addition  to  the  two  appointments  made  by  the  Eldership,  it  appointed  pastors  to- 
the  following  circuits:  Auburn,  Steuben,  Zanesville,  Eel  River,  Wabash,  Colum- 
bia and  Syracuse,  and  also  to  Braden's  Young's  and  Beigh's  school-houses. 

13th  Indiana  Eldership. — The  Indiana  Eldership  in  185  8  enjoyed  the  distinc- 
tion and  gratification  of  having  as  "members  of  this  body  during  the  present  ses- 
sions," "Bishops  John  Winebi-enner  and  Wm.  McFadden,  of  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership."  The  session  was  held  on  Big  Run,  DeKalb  county,  Ind.,  beginning 
Monday,  October  25,  1858.  Nine  teaching  elders  were  present,  and  fourteen 
ruling  elders  and  eight  delegates.  Eleven  teaching  elders  were  absent.  D.  Kep- 
linger  was  chosen  speaker;  A.  L.  Nye,  First  Clerk,  and  George  Thomas,  Second 
Clerk.  The  Eldership  had  lost  part  of  its  territory  and  some  of  its  members  when 
the  West  Ohio  Eldership  was  formed.  Hence,  when  the  circuits  were  outlined 
and  appointments  were  made,  there  were  only  three  in  Indiana — Auburn,  Colum- 
bia, and  Wabash  and  La  Grange.  Three  circuits  were  in  Michigan,  with  several: 
of  the  points  on  the  Wabash-La  Grange  circuit.  Reports  were  encouraging,  show- 
ing over  four  hundred  conversions,  and  eight  new  churches  organized.  Slyter^ 
was  ready  to  "acknowledge  his  wrong  in  publishing  a  letter  through  The  Advo- 
cate detrimental  to  the  character  of  Elder  John  Winebrenner,"  but  as  he  "prom- 
ised to  recall  the  same,  we  shall  lay  no  greater  burden  upon  him."  Singularly 
enough,  Slyter,  among  other  things,  charges  Winebrenner  with  opposing  co-oper- 
ation. But  frankly  he  published  over  his  signature,  that  he  sincerely  regrets- 
writing  the  letter,  and  acknowledges  that  he  did  him  injustice,  and  to  have  his. 
forgiveness.  Henry  CheiTy,  member  of  the  Free  Baptist  Church,  was  received  and 
license  granted  him. 

14th  Indiana  Eldership. — If  example  is  contagious,  there  is  an  illustration 
in  the  action  of  the  Indiana  Eldership  which  met  with  the  church  in  E.  Branden- 
berg's  neighborhood,  Whitley  county,  Ind.,  October  26,  1859.  It  changed  its  rule, 
and  directed  the  ministers  to  "go  to  the  fields  assigned  them  immediately  after 
the  close  of  the  Eldership."  So  its  action  on  Slavery  denounced  it  in  the  strongest 
terms,  as  "a  curse  upon  our  country;  an  evil  detrimental  to  all  our  relations  and 
interests,  and  a  very  evil,  uncivil  and  unchristian  system."  Twelve  teaching- 
elders  were  present,  and  ten  absent;  and  eleven  ruling  elders  and  one  delegate 
were  enrolled.  A.  B.  Slyter  presided  as  Speaker,  with  W.  M.  Rumrill  as  Journal- 
izing Clerk,  and  S.  V.  Steamer,  Transcribing  Clerk.  Rules  of  order  continued  to 
be  adopted  at  each  session.  In  very  strong  terms  the  Eldership  urged  better  sup- 
port of  the  pastors,  and  suggested  that  salaries  be  paid  quarterly.  Probably  to 
stimulate  the  churches  to  greater  activity  in  this  respect  the  ministers  were  "ad- 
vised to  give  an  account  of  the  amount  of  their  support  at  our  annual  meetings."" 
On  temperance  the  increased  apathy  generally  prevailing  is  seen  in  the  action 
taken.  The  following  Christmas  was  designated  "to  be  observed  as  a  day  of  fast- 
ing and  religious  devotion."  Two  teaching  elders  and  two  ruling  elders  were 
elected  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership,  with  a  request  to  all  the  "travelings 
preachers  to  lift  collections  to  defray  the  expenses"  of  these  delegates.  A  new- 
form  of  license  was  adopted,  copied  from  the  Journal  of  another  Eldership. 

15th  Indiana  Eldership. — The  Eldership  of  the  Churches  of  God  in  Indiana 
assembled  in  the  bethel  near  N.  Pierce's,  Whitley  county,  Ind.,  on  Monday  morn- 
ing, October  29,  18  60,  with  thirteen  teaching  elders  in  attendance  and  seven  ruling 
elders.  Four  teaching  elders  were  absent.  They  elected  John  Martin,  Speaker; 
W.  M.  Rumrill,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  D.  Keplinger,  Transcribing  Clerk.  Each 
pastor  was  instructed  "to  give  an  account  of  the  amount  of  his  support."  The 
highest  reported  was  1228.40.  Thereupon  the  churches  were  urged  "to  support 
the  ministry  as  the  Scriptures  require."  The  Eldership  adopted  appropriate  reso- 
lutions on  the  death  of  AVinebrenner,  "beloved  and  venerated,"  "a  great  man,"  of 
"generous  and  noble  spirit,"  whose  "memory  will  ever  be  cherished  as  that  of  a 
man  possessed  of  a  strong,  deep,  clear,  original  and  well  cultivated  mind."  By- 
resolution,  contributions  were  to  be  solicited  by  ministers  and  brethren  toward 
the  erection  of  a  suitable  monument.  The  day  of  fasting,  Christmas,  1859,  was 
but  partly  kept.  The  Committee  on  Slavery,  consisting  of  Sterner,  B.  Hahn,  L. 
Maring  and  J.  F.  Weishampel,  an  advisory  member  with  privileges  of  a  full  mem- 
ber, was  divided.  Maring  signed  neither  Report,  while  Weishampel  brought  in  a 
minority  Report.  The  action  on  these  Reports  by  the  Eldership  is  not  recorded. 
The  "new  Eldership  organized  in  Michigan"  was  recognized,  and  the  wish  ex- 
pressed that  they  may  enjoy  "the  blessing  of  God,  and  much  prosperity."  The- 
"teaching  elders  within  the  bounds  of  this  Eldership  which  have  no  appointments"^ 


Indiana    Eldership  431 

were  "urgently  advised  to  meet  their  respective  circuit  preachers,  at  as  early  a 
time  as  convenient,  with  a  view  to  make  such  arrangments  as  may  be  deemed  best 
to  call  all  the  local  ministry  into  the  field  of  labor  as  much  as  possible."  Ou 
Temperance  the  Eldership  declared  it  "will  in  no  way  give  aid  or  countenance  to 
any  man  who  will  engage  in  the  fatal  practice  of  trafficking  in  intoxicating  liquors." 
Four  circuits  were  named,  with  six  pastors.  St.  Mary's  circuit  included  Ft. 
Wayne. 

16th  Indiana  Eldersliip. — On  October  28,  1861,  in  the  Union  Bethel,  near 
Millersburg,  Whitley  county,  Ind.,  the  sixteenth  annual  session  of  the  Indiana  Eld- 
ership was  organized  by  the  election  of  George  Thomas,  Speaker;  J.  E.  McColley, 
Journalizing  Clerk,  and  E.  B.  Bell,  Transcribing  Clerk.  There  were  fourteen 
preachers  present,  and  eight  absent.  Also  ten  ruling  elders.  Judging  from  the 
report  of  S.  V.  Stemer's  circuit,  the  churches  generally  of  the  Eldership  were  quite 
small:  Newville  Center,  6;  Spencerville,  20;  Ft.  Wayne,  7;  Antioch,  7;  Union, 
25;  Baker's  neighborhood,  17;  Zanesville,  13,  and  Flat  Creek,  6.  The  Eldership 
manifested  its  spirit  of  loyalty  to  the  Union  by  adopting  clear  and  strong  resolu-- 
tions  against  the  course  of  the  Southern  States  in  seceding  from  the  Union  and 
engaging  in  rebellion  against  the  Government.  Interested  in  the  dissemination 
of  books  published  by  the  General  Eldership  and  by  ministers  of  the  Church,  each 
pastor  was  "constituted  a  book  agent  on  his  field  of  labor."  Journals  were  order- 
ed to  be  printed  in  pamphlet  form.  The  territory  was  divided  into  four  circuits, 
and  to  each  was  appointed  a  pastor,  with  one  and  two  assistants.  Ft.  Wayne  was-, 
attached  to  the  Columbia  circuit,  as  the  Eldership  did  not  possess  the  means  to 
make  it  a  mission  station.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by  John  Martin. 
The  Eldership  consisted  of  fourteen  teaching  elders  present,  and  ten  ruling  elders. 
Eight  teaching  elders  were    absent. 

17th  Indiana  Eldership. — Annual  Elderships  rarely  convened  in  houses  of 
worship  owned  and  used  by  other  religious  bodies;  but  on  October  25,  1862,  the 
Annual  Eldership  of  the  Churches  of  God  in  Indiana  assembled  in  the  "com- 
modious bethel  of  the  church  of  the  United  Brethren  in  Christ"  at  Zanesville,. 
Wells  county,  Ind.  Fourteen  teaching  elders  were  present,  and  eleven  absent; 
seven  ruling  elders  were  in  attendance,  and  twenty-two  are  marked  absent.  John 
Martin  was  Speaker;  J.  E.  McColley,  First  Clerk,  and  E.  B.  Bell,  Second  Clerk. 
"The  cause"  was  reported  to  be  "on  the  increase,  and  the  members  of  the  Church 
are  more  established  in  the  principles  of  the  Bible  than  ever  before."  The  Com- 
mittee on  Resolutions,  Sands,  Thomas  and  Smith,  reported  resolutions  character- 
izing the  rebellion  as  an  "inhuman  war  waged  against  the  best  human  Government 
ever  established  upon  the  earth;"  expressing  "sympathy  and  hearty  co-operation 
with  the  Administration  in  its  attempt  to  crush  this  unholy  rebellion,"  and  heartily 
endorsing  "the  President's  Proclamation"  and  advising  "its  adoption  by  Congress." 
The  motion  to  adopt  was  later  reconsidered,  and  then  the  resolutions  were  adopted 
by  a  yea  and  nay  vote,  of  22  to  1.  The  Eldership  was  divided  into  four  circuits, 
with  six  preachers. 

18th  Indiana  Eldership. — With  "all  the  members  of  the  €hurch  of  God  con- 
sidered as  advisory  members  during  the  sittings"  of  the  Eldership  which  convened 
at  Lake  Bethel,  Kosciusko  county,  Ind.,  Saturday,  October  24,  1863,  it  was  a  body^ 
of  good  size.  Twelve  teaching  elders  were  in  attendance,  and  twelve  were  ab- 
sent; with  thirteen  ruling  elders  present,  and  thirty-two  absent.  George  Thomas 
presided,  and  J.  E.  McColley  was  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  Elias  Bryan,  Tran- 
scribing Clerk.  As  at  former  Elderships,  ministers  of  other  Churches  reported 
their  work.  Among  these  was  P.  Winebrenner,  relative  of  John  Winebrenner,  a 
leading  member  of  the  "Christian  Order."  Elizabeth  McColley,  wife  of  J.  E. 
McColley,  preached  before  the  Eldership  from  Gen.  xv.  11,  and  the  following  morn- 
ing had  license  granted  her.  H.  Croy,  of  the  United  Brethren  Church,  was  also 
licensed.  Through  its  Committee,  Sands,  J.  Slabaugh  and  G.  R.  Kinzey,  declared' 
"in  favor  of  sustaining  the  flag  of  our  country  and  the  Constitution  of  our  fathers 
and  the  Union  under  all  circumstances  and  under  any  Administration,  regardless 
of  party  politics;"  that  it  is  "for  the  Union  whether  slavery  stands  or  falls;"  that 
it  "believes  a  negro  is  no  better  than  a  white  man,  and  if  a  white  man  can  be 
drafted  to  fight  his  enemies,  we  can  see  no  reason  why  a  black  man  is  any  better." 
The  Stationing  Commmittee  arranged  for  five  circuits,  with  nine  pastors. 

19th  Indiana  Eldership. — The  Eldership  of  the  Churches  of  God  in  Indiana  In 
1864  met  at  Olive  Branch  Bethel,  Miami  county,  Ind.,  on  Saturday  evening,  Oc- 
tober 15th.      As  prearranged,  C.  Sands  preached  on  Saturday  evening,  and  A.  B.. 


432  History   of  the   Churches  of   God 

Slyter  on  Sunday  morning.  In  the  evening,  by  previous  appointment,  the  Opening 
Sermon  was  preached  by  George  Thomas,  from  I.  Tim.  iv.  15,  on  "The  Gospel 
Ministry."  When  the  Eldership  vv^as  constituted  on  Monday  morning  fifteen 
teaching  elders  and  twenty-three  ruling  elders  were  present,  and  twelve  teaching 
elders  and  eighteen  ruling  elders  absent.  The  Speaker  chosen  was  C.  Sands,  with 
J.  E.  McColley,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  J.  S.  Shock,  Transcribing  Clerk.  George 
Thomas  was  elected  Treasurer.  Upon  receipt  and  reading  of  "a  letter  from  the 
Corresponding  Messenger  of  the  Northern  Indiana  Conference  of  the  Free  Will 
Baptist  denomination,"  the  Eldership,  through  its  Committee,  D.  Keplinger, 
George  Thomas  and  D.  Gray,  declared  that  "union  is  one  of  the  paramount  features 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  Bible;  that  this  Eldership  accepts  the  friendly  communica- 
tion of  the  Free  Will  Baptist  Church,  and  acquiesces  in  the  Christian  spirit  of 
love  and  union  exhibited,  and  longs  for  the  time  to  come  when  sectarian  distinc- 
tions may  cease  to  exist  between  us,  and  we  mingle  into  one,  and  take  away  the 
reproach  of  sectarianism  from  the  two  bodies."  It  was  arranged  that  D.  Kep- 
linger preach  a  sermon  on  the  ministry,  in  1865,  on  Sunday  evening.  The  four 
circuits,  with  their  seven  pastors,  as  fixed  by  the  Stationing  Committee,  had  an 
average  of  seven  or  more  appointments. 

20th  Indiana  Eldersliip. — What  was  probably  the  Opening  Sermon  of  the 
Indiana  Eldership  of  1865,  was  delivered  on  Sunday  evening,  October  22nd,  at 
Mount  Zion,  Allen  county,  Ind.,  by  "Bishop  George  Thomas."  The  Eldership  con- 
vened on  Saturday,  and  there  was  preaching  that  evening,  and  on  Sunday  morn- 
ing and  evening.  There  were  twelve  ministers  present,  and  eight  ruling  elders; 
while  sixteen  ministers  were  absent.  But  "all  the  members  of  the  Church  of 
God,  male  and  female,"  were  "received  as  advisory  members."  A  ballot  resulted 
In  the  choice  for  Speaker  of  J.  Mai-tin;  J.  S.  Shock,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  E. 
Bi-yan,  Transcribing  Clerk.  The  activity  of  Sister  E.  McColley  is  seen  in  her  re- 
port, that  during  the  year  she  preached  one  hundred  and  eighteen  times;  but  her 
support  was  only  $66.28.  Her  husband,  J.  E.  McColley,  preached  the  same  num- 
ber of  sermons,  and  received  a  total  support  of  $230.77.  He  organized  one  church 
during  the  year.  The  names  of  four  ministers  were  dropped  from  the  Roll,  and 
one  new  name  added.  The  local  ministers  on  the  different  fields  were  instructed 
"to  meet  the  itinerants  at  as  early  a  day  as  practicable  after  they  enter  on  their 
fields  to  make  arrangements  for  a  harmonious  co-operation  during  the  year." 
The  cause  of  God  in  the  Eldership  was  reported  as  "gradually  and  steadily  on 
the  advance."  D.  Keplinger  was  appointed  "to  travel  as  a  General  Missionary 
throughout  the  entire  Eldership."  Seven  circuits  were  mapped  out,  with  ten 
preachers  assigned  to  them.  C.  Sands  organized  two  churches  on  his  field  of 
labor.  The  ministers  were  instructed  "to  hold  the  interests,  confidence  and  feel- 
ings of  their  congregations  as  sacred  as  those  of  their  own  families." 

21st  Indiana  Eldership. — The  Indiana  Eldership  in  1865  elected  Mrs.  Eliza- 
beth McColley  to  preach  the  Opening  Sermon  when  the  body  convened  at  Union 
Bethel,  La  Grange  county,  Ind.,  October  20,  1866,  giving  her  as  the  theme  of  her 
sermon,  "The  Gospel  Ministry."  She  preached  on  Sunday  evening,  changing  the 
subject  to  "The  Christian  Embassy."  Ten  ministers  were  present  on  Monday 
morning,  and  fifteen  ruling  elders;  while  twelve  ministers  were  absent.  The 
choice  for  Speaker  was  J.  E.  McColley;  J.  S.  Shock,  First  Clerk,  and  E.  Bryan, 
Second  Clerk.  There  was  lack  of  co-operation  both  by  ministers  and  churches, 
and  between  them,  "militating  greatly  against  the  prosperity  of  the  Church  and 
tends  to  the  destruction  of  confidence,  and  subjects  both  pastors  and  churches  to 
discouragement,  severe  trials  and  unnumbered  perplexities."  Hence,  the  Elder- 
ship declared  that  "each  minister  receiving  an  appointment  from  the  Eldership 
shall  regard  the  same  as  one  of  most  binding  obligation  that  can  be  laid  upon  him, 
to  feed  the  church  of  God  and  take  care  of  it  faithfully,  regarding  it  as  paramount 
to  his  or  her  life."  But  the  "churches  ought  to  consider  themselves  also  under 
the  most  binding, obligations  that  can  be  laid  upon  them  to  promptly  supply  all  the 
temporal  wants  of  their  pastors."  The  Eldership  excluded  tobacco  from  "the 
house  while  it  is  in  session."  Statistical  reports  were  required  of  the  pastors. 
Keplinger  announced  his  intention  to  remove  to  Missouri.  He  was  reluctantly  re- 
leased, and  was  commended  for  his  "unwavering  faith,  warm  zeal,  deep-toned 
piety,  godly  walk  and  conversation,  his  loyalty  to  God  and  his  country  and  his 
great  success  as  a  minister."  It  was  made  the  duty  of  "each  ruling  elder  to  keep 
an  accurate  account  of  the  numerical  strength  of  his  congregation,  ministerial 
support,  accessions,  baptisms,  deaths,  removals,  expulsions,  etc.,  and  to  report  the 


Indiana   Ei^dership  433 

same  to  the  Eldership."  J.  E.  McCoUey  was  authorized  "to  travel  all  over  the 
bounds  of  the  Indiana  Eldership  to  solicit  aid  to  build  meeting-houses."  A  re- 
quest to  send  a  preacher  to  Centralia,  Kans.,  could  not  be  complied  with  for  want 
of  men.  The  Stationing  Committee's  Report  mentions  thirty-nine  points,  or 
churches,  included  in  the  eight  fields  of  labor.  A  regular  Agent  for  the  Chicago 
Mission  was  appointed. 

22nd  Indiana  Eldership. — The  new  bethel  built  by  the  church  at  Syracuse, 
Kosciusko  county,  Ind.,  was  ready  for  dedication  when  the  Eldership  assembled 
there  on  October  12,  1867.  The  dedicatory  services  were  held  on  Sabbath  morn- 
ing, the  13th,  conducted  by  G.  Smith  and  J.  S.  Shock.  In  the  evening  E.  Bryan 
preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  Shock  was  elected  Speaker  on  Monday  morning; 
Bryan,  First  Clerk,  and  Smith,  Second  Clerk.  According  to  precedent  "all  the 
members  of  the  Church  of  God  in  good  standing  were  received  as  advisory  mem- 
bers." Keplinger  reported  good  success  on  his  mission  in  Missouri,  with  two 
churches  organized.  One  of  the  former  ministers  was  given  an  opportunity  to 
"make  acknowledgments  for  wrongs  done  to  the  Eldership,"  and  received  "par- 
don so  far  as  his  confession  goes."  The  Centralia  College,  Kans.,  "the  property 
of  the  General  Eldership,"  was  strongly  endorsed,  and  George  Thomas,  formerly 
a  member  of  the  Indiana  Eldership,  was  "urged  to  use  all  his  influence  in  its  com- 
pletion." The  funds  in  the  hands  of  the  Treasurer,  C.  Bortner,  consisted  of 
Superannuated  Fund  Notes  to  the  amount  of  $189.30,  and  $5.93  in  cash.  The 
general  condition  of  the  churches  in  the  Eldership  was  prosperous  and  encour- 
aging, and  the  Church  was  making  gradual  advancement.  The  Committee  on 
Temperance  sought  to  impress  "on  the  minds  of  the  brethren  in  the  ministry  the 
duty  to  use  all  their  influence  and  power  against  the  traffic  and  use  of  intoxicating 
spirits."  In  this  class  of  beverages  it  included  "not  only  those  manufactured 
from  corn  and  rye,  but  such  as  the  wine  from  currants,  grapes,  elderberries  and 
rhubarb,  which  at  this  time  are  quite  fashionable  in  our  domestic  circles."  The 
use  of  tobacco  was  denounced  as  "a  dirty,  filthy,  useless  and  expensive  practice," 
and  "all  Church  of  God  people  are  counseled  to  dispense  with  its  use."  The 
Eldership  placed  itself  on  record  against  leavened  bread  for  Communion  pur- 
poses by  advising  "deacons  to  prepare  unleavened  bread  for  use  at  the  Com- 
munion." There  was  one  German  appointment,  to  be  served  by  J.  Martin,  be- 
sides which  there  were  eight  circuits.  Keplinger  was  appointed  Missionary  to 
Missouri,  and  Shock  and  Martin  were  General  Evangelists. 

23rd  Indiana  Eldership. — As  ruling  elders  were  members  of  the  Eldership 
the  same  as  teaching  elders,  the  Roll  of  the  Eldership  which  met  at  Zanesville, 
Wells  county,  Ind.,  October  17,  1868,  showed  eleven  teaching  elders  and  fifteen 
ruling  elders  present,  and  fourteen  teaching  elders  and  thirty  ruling  elders  ab- 
sent. There  was  preaching  on  Saturday  evening,  and  dedicatory  services  of  the 
new  bethel  on  Sabbath  morning  by  R.  H.  Bolton  and  at  4  p.  m.  by  G.  Smith. 
The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  in  the  evening  by  J.  Martin,  who  was  elected 
Speaker,  with  J.  S.  Shock,  Clerk.  Three  members  of  the  Stationing  Committee 
were  laymen.  The  writing  and  publishing  of  books  "by  those  who  possess  the 
ability  and  means"  was  recommended,  "believing  their  mission  a  useful  one." 
After  "considerable  deliberation  on  the  propriety  or  impropriety  of  inaugurating 
a  mission  movement  in  the  city  of  Port  Wayne,"  county  seat  of  Allen  county,  Ind., 
it  was  concluded  to  "seek  to  procure  the  services  of  a  suitable  minister  to  migrate 
to  Fort  Wayne  and  open  out  a  mission,"  said  missionary  was  "invited  to  canvass 
the  Indiana  Eldership  for  assistance,"  while  the  Eldership  "agreed  to  aid  by  our 
prayers,  influence  and  means."  R.  H.  Bolton  was  "invited  to  become  said  mis- 
sionary." J.  Martin  was  also  "requested  to  preach  for  the  German  people  of  Fort 
Wayne."  The  Committee  on  Boundaries,  distinct  from  the  Stationing  Commit- 
tee, arranged  the  territory  into  five  circuits,  with  forty-two  churches  or  preaching 
points.  Co-operation  between  the  Indiana  and  the  Michigan  Elderships  was 
urgently  invited. 

24th  Indiana  Eldership. — From  the  five  circuits  of  the  Indiana  Eldership, 
when  it  assembled  at  Beaver  Dam,  Kosciusko  county,  Ind.,  October  16,  1869,  there 
were  present  fifteen  teaching  elders  and  twenty-four  ruling  elders;  while  ten 
teaching  elders  and  twenty-one  ruling  elders  were  absent.  Z.  Gan-ison  was  chosen 
to  preside,  and  J.  S.  Shock  to  act  as  Clerk.  The  legal  incorporation  of  the  Elder- 
ship was  decided  upon,  and  measures  to  that  end  directed  to  be  taken.  Keplinger. 
missionary  in  Missouri,  and  G.  Thomas,  in  south-western  Iowa,  were  members  of 
the   Indiana   Eldership,    and   their    "appointment   by   the   General    Eldership   was 

C.   H.— 15* 


434  History   of  the   Churches  of  God 

ratified  by  this  Eldership."  Mission  work  within  the  Eldership  territory  as- 
sumed new  proportions.  While  Fort  Wayne  mission  is  not  mentioned,  the  Com- 
mittee on  Boundaries  named  three  other  missions:  Miami,  Paddytown  and  An- 
tioch,  and  a  General  Missionary.  The  Stationing  Committee  appointed  a  mission- 
ary to  each  of  these  fields,  and  Z.  Garrison,  General  Missionary.  B.  ¥.  Bear  was 
also  appointed  to  preach  German  at  Yellow  Lake  Bethel. 

25th  Indiana  Eldership. — No  Opening  Sermon  is  recognized  in  the  Journal 
of  the  twenty-fifth  annual  session  of  the  Indiana  Eldership,  which  convened  at 
Zanesville,  Wells  county,  Indiana,  on  October  8,  1870.  Counting  all  entitled  to 
membership  there  were  present  thirteen  teaching  elders,  and  eighteen  ruling 
elders;  while  fourteen  teaching  elders,  and  thirty-two  ruling  elders  were  absent. 
Five  delegates  were  present.  J.  Martin  was  elected  Speaker,  and  W.  W.  Tjovett, 
Clerk.  Almost  a  verbatim  copy  of  the  Rules  of  Order  of  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  was  adopted;  but  they  were  subject  to  amendment  only  by  a  two-thirds 
vote.  The  Eldership  definitely  committed  itself  to  the  project  of  starting  a  mis- 
sion in  Fort  Wayne,  and  directed  its  Board  of  Missions  to  take  the  initiatory  steps. 
The  beginning  was  to  be  made  by  the  "erection  of  a  small  mission  house  for 
Sunday-school  purposes,"  the  "erection  of  a  good  house  of  worship"  to  follow. 
What  are  called  "Rules  of  Incorporation  of  the  Indiana  Eldership  of  the  Church 
of  God"  were  adopted.  They  provide  for  "the  name,  style  and  title;"  for  an- 
nual meetings,  consisting  of  all  the  teaching  elders  holding  licenses  from  said 
Eldership,  and  all  ruling  elders  from  each  local  church;  prescribe  for  the  regular 
officers,  and  define  their  duties;  that  the  Speaker,  Clerk  and  Treasurer  constitute 
the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Eldership,  to  hold  and  central  all  forms  of  property; 
against  defect  of  bequests  by  reason  of  "misnomer  of  said  corporation,"  and  for  a 
common  seal.  The  Committee  on  Boundaries  outlined  four  circuits,  naming  the 
points  on  each.  The  Stationing  Committee  added  Air  Line  Mission  and  Miami 
Mission,  and  also  one  General  Missionary.  The  funds  of  the  Eldership  were  very 
limited,  but  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion  reported  that  greater  liberality 
is  beginning  to  prevail. 

26th  Indiana  Eldership. — The  attendance  at  the  Eldership  which  met  at  Syra- 
cuse, Kosciusko  county,  Ind.,  September  28,  1871,  was  not  any  better  than  in 
1870,  as  one-half  the  teaching  elders  only  were  present.  A.  X.  Shoemaker,  made 
"a  member  during  the  present  session,"  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  W.  AV.  Lovett, 
Clerk.  Like  some  other  Elderships,  the  old  Rule,  requiring  preachers  to  retire  after 
reporting,  was  rescinded.  The  Committee  on  Temperance  not  only  "resolved  to  use 
every  lawful  means  in  our  homes,  at  the  polls,  in  the  pulpit,  and  everywhere  to  pre- 
vent the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage;  but  to  discourage  the  use  as  a 
beverage  of  domestic  wines,  as  well  as  the  practice  of  fashionable  family  drink- 
ing." With  these  resolutions  it  connected  one  against  "the  free  use  of  tobacco." 
The  Eldership  now  had  $3  39.69  in  the  form  of  Notes  in  its  Superannuated  Fund. 
The  amount  of  $115.00  was  raised  on  the  floor  of  the  Eldership  for  the  ^ort  Wayne 
Mission.  AV.  AA^.  Lovett  was  appointed  to  said  mission,  with  an  appropriation  of 
$300.00  for  the  year.  Besides  this  mission  there  were  seven  circuits,  with  eleven 
ministers. 

27th  Indiana  Eldership. — Eighteen  teaching  elders,  seventeen  ruling  elders 
and  five  delegates  on  October  16,  1872,  constituted  the  Eldership  at  Grove  Bethel, 
Jackson  township,  DeKalb  county,  Ind.  Eight  teaching  elders  were  absent.  The 
Speaker  was  J.  E.  McColley;  Clerk,  E.  B.  Bell.  The  question  of  the  title  of  the 
Eldership,  which  came  up  in  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Business,  was  post- 
poned one  year,  notwithstanding  the  action  of  the  General  Eldership  against 
the  plural  use  of  the  term  "Church."  It  appearing  that  there  was  quite  a  degree 
of  laxness  in  observing  the  ordinance  of  baptism,  the  Eldership  requested  the 
ministers  "not  to  neglect  the  important  duty  of  teaching  and  baptizing  the  young^ 
converts,  inasmuch  as  faith  and  baptism  are  closely  connected  in  the  Commission." 
On  account  of  some  failing  to  co-operate  faithfully  with  the  Eldership,  it  was  in- 
sisted upon  that  rules  of  co-operation  are  necessary  to  successful  work  in  the 
Eldership,  and  hence  all  members  were  urged  "to  act  in  harmony  with  the  ac- 
tions of  the  body,  whether  in  the  financial  or  other  departments  of  the  work." 
A  better  fraternal  spirit  was  also  made  the  subject  of  consideration,  to  the  end 
that  "their  labors  may  be  combined  in  building  up  and  sustaining  God's  great  and 
glorious  cause,  especially  in  regard  to  the  support  of  the  ministry.  The  work 
at  Fort  Wayne  was  not  so  vigorously  pushed  forward,  the  missionary  having  de- 
voted less  than  one-fourth   of  his  time  to  the  mission.      J.  E.  McColley  was  ap- 


Indiana   Eldership  435 

pointed  to  Fort  Wayne.  Columbia  City  Mission  received  permission  for  its  pas- 
tor, S.  Cole,  to  canvass  for  means  "to  complete  the  erection  of  a  house  of  worship 
in  that  city."  Besides  these  missions  there  were  eight  fields  of  labor.  AH  the 
local  preachers  were  instructed  "to  open  new  appointments  and  assist  in  the  great 
work  of  the  Master  as  much  as  practicable  with  them." 

28th  Indiana  Eklei-ship. — Co-operation  inspires  co-operation.  An  Eldership 
for  the  sake  of  consistency,  if  for  no  other  reason,  must  exemplify  its  own  teach- 
ing. If  the  Indiana  Eldership  insisted  in  1872  that  all  its  members  and  churches 
"act  in  harmony  with  the  actions  of  the  body,"  why  should  not  it  act  in  harmony 
with  the  actions  of  the  higher  body?  This  all  the  Elderships  realized,  and  so  with 
the  others  the  Indiana  Eldership  changed  its  title  to  conform  to  the  action  of  the 
General  Eldership  in  1872.  It  convened  at  Union,  HuntingtoYi  county,  Ind.,  Oc- 
tober 1,  1873,  as  "the  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Indiana."  There  were 
twenty  teaching  elders  present,  and  nineteen  ruling  elders;  while  nine  teaching 
elders  were  absent.  In  effecting  an  organization  George  Smith  was  elected  Speaker, 
and  W.  W.  Lovett,  Clerk.  One  of  its  first  actions  was  a  resolution  to  "stand  with, 
the  General  Eldership  in  any  college  project."  Then  it  appointed  a  committee  "to 
arrange  a  program  for  an  Eldership  Sunday-school  Convention."  It  made  it  a 
standing  order  that  the  ruling  elders  report  at  each  session.  The  time  and  place 
for  the  Sunday-school  Convention  were  fixed  so  as  to  follow  the  Pentecostal  meet- 
ing. It  appointed  one  of  its  members  annually  as  a  Book  Agent,  to  keep  on  hand 
Church  publications  for  sale  to  ministers  and  churches.  It  put  itself  on  record 
as  in  favor  of  "the  passage  and  enforcement  of  laws  prohibiting  the  use  of  in- 
toxicating liquors  as  a  beverage,"  and  declared  that  "the  use  of  tobacco  conflicts; 
with  the  laws  of  temperance."  The  "young  brethren  of  the  Eldership"  were  re- 
quired "to  apply  themselves  diligently  to  the  study  of  biblical  history,  grammar, 
rhetoric,  logic,  music,  geometry,  astronomy  and  as~  many  more  of  the  arts  and 
sciences  as  they  may  be  able  to  get  access  to."  No  examinations  were  provided 
for.  The  Ministerial  Association  was  to  be  continued,  and  it  was  made  the  "duty 
of  our  young  ministerial  brethren  to  punctually  attend  them."  The  "tendency 
of  the  Church  to  conformity  with  the  world  and  its  rejection  of  the  authority  of 
the  Bible"  were  "deeply  deplored."  By  a  yea  and  nay  vote  of  18  to  11  the  Elder- 
ship "disapproved  of  secret  organizations;"  but  it  laid  on  the  table  a  resolution 
declaring  it  "will  have  no  fellowship  with  a  member  of  any  Secret  Society." 

29th  Indiana  Eldership. — At  the  twenty-ninth  session  of  the  Indiana  Elder- 
ship, held  at  Evergreen,  Whitley  county,  beginning  September  28,  1874,  there  was. 
considerable  of  a  contest  in  the  election  of  officers.  The  Eldership  "proceeded  tO' 
ballot  for  Speaker  and  Clerk,  resulting  on  third  ballot  in  electing  Elias  Bryan 
Clerk."  Then  "on  motion,  Bro.  George  Smith  was  instructed  to  cast  the  ballot  of 
the  Eldership  for  AV.  W.  Lovett  for  Speaker."  The  Finance  Committee  reported 
finding  "an  indebtedness  on  the  Fort  Wayne  Mission  of  about  $1,500.00,  and 
available  subscriptions  of  about  $900.00."  The  delegates  to  the  General  Elder- 
ship received  instructions  "to  do  what  they  can  in  that  body  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  general  Church  school."  Also  to  work  "to  keep  the  Chicago  Mission 
property  intact  to  the  General  Eldership,  and  not  to  allow  any  person  or  persons 
to  usurp  authority,  control  or  possession  thereof."  The  Eldership  was  not  ready 
to  agree  to  require  the  churches  to  observe  the  ordinances  in  the  order  which  was 
maintained  in  other  Elderships.  The,  work  in  general  throughout  the  Eldership 
territory  had  "not  been  crowned  with  the  visible  success  that  the  cause  of  Christ 
demands."  But  in  the  "aggregate  there  has  been  much  good  done  in  the  saving- 
of  precious  souls  and  in  establishing  the  Church  in  the  faith  and  practice  of  the 
gospel."  A  better  support  of  the  ministry  was  resolved  upon.  An  annual  ten- 
cent  contribution  from  each  church  member  was  required  for  the  Superannuated 
Fund.  Four  candidates  for  license  were  ordained,  "W.  W.  Lovett  giving  the  ad- 
dress and  charge,  and  J.  Bunipus  led  in  solemn  prayer,  together  with  the  laying  on 
of  the  hands  of  several  of  the  elders." 

30th  Indiana  Eldership. — No  absentees  are  noted  when  the  Eldership  was 
constituted  at  Thorn  Creek  Bethel,  Whitley  county,  September  27,  1875.  The  en- 
rollment showed  eighteen  teaching  elders,  seventeen  ruling  elders  and  four  dele- 
gates. W.  AV.  Lovett  was  made  Speaker,  and  I.  AA\  Ijownian,  Clerk.  The  Elder- 
ship voted  to  "give  exhorter's  license  to  applicants  deemed  worthy  of  such  license." 
Realizing  that  "there  has  been  a  neglect  in  the  matter  of  a  more  thorough  educa- 
tion," the  Eldership  resolved  to  "earnestly  urge  and  encourage  by  word  and 
action  an  awakening  to  this  duty;    that  parents  educate  their  children  so  far  a? 


436  •    History  op   the   Churches  of   God 

opportunity  is  afforded,  and  that  we  earnestly  urge  ministers  to  a  more  perfect  and 
thorough  education  both  in  the  training  of  the  mind  and  the  cultivation  of  right 
principles  in  the  dignity  of  the  sacred  office."  The  holding  of  a  Ministerial  As- 
sociation was  agreed  upon.  A  Board  of  Sisters'  Mission  had  been  created,  which 
was  "successful  in  the  collection  of  funds  for  the  support  of  the  pastor  in  Fort 
Wayne."  A  Pentecostal  meeting  and  a  Sabbath-school  convention  were  appointed 
to  be  held  at  Syracuse.  The  Board  of  Missions  was  held  by  note  indebted  to  the 
Eldership  in  the  sum  of  $408.10,  with  "$4.30  mission  fund  in  the  treasury." 
The  Eldership  "sanctioned  every  effort  made  to  prohibit  the  sale  of  intoxicating 
drinks  as  a  beverage."  Applicants  for  license  were  hereafter  required  "to  obtain 
a  recommendation  from  the  local  churches  of  which  they  are  members."  "J.  E.  Mc- 
CoUey  was  appointed  Collecting  Agent,"  his  especial  duty  being  to  collect  funds 
for  Port  Wayne  Mission.  There  were  two  stations  and  seven  circuits,  Fort  Wayne 
Mission  receiving  $200.00  missionary  money. 

31st  Indiana  Eldership. — Some  serious  disaffection  developed  in  the  Elder- 
ship during  the  year,  which  required  careful  handling.  At  least  five  ministers 
were  involved  in  the  difficulties,  but  they  are  enrolled  as  present,  and  their  cases 
were  disposed  of  by  a  strong  vote.  The  Eldership  was  presided  over  by  a  minister 
of  mild  but  resolute  disposition,  and  he  kept  the  situation  well  in  hand.  The 
body  met  at  Eel  River  Bethel,  Wabash  county,  October  2,  1876.  Seventeen 
teaching  elders,  twenty-seven  ruling  elders  and  three  delegates  reported.  AV.  P. 
Small  was  elected  Speaker;  I,  W.  Lovvraan,  Clerk,  and  I.  Schi*ader,  Treasurer. 
After  some  routine  matters  were  disposed  of,  the  cases  of  five  ministers  charged 
with  non-co-operation  came  up  one  after  the  other.  The  first  was  that  of  J. 
Martin,  one  of  the  five  who  refused  further  to  co-operate  with  the  Eldership 
because  it  was  in  fellowship  with  Free-masonry.  Without  disposing  of  his  case, 
that  of  E.  B.  Bell,  another  one  of  the  five,  was  called.  His  license  was  withheld. 
Pending  the  consideration  of  Martin's  case,  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  report- 
ed the  following:  "Whereas,  Free-masonry  seems  to  be  causing  so  much  dissatis- 
faction in  the  Church,  and  inasmuch  as  some  of  the  brethren  look  upon  it  as  a 
great  evil,  and  it  seems  to  be  the  meat  of  offense;  therefore,  Resolved,  That  the 
Indiana  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  have  no  fellowship  with  any  person  or 
persons  belonging  to  any  Secret  Society."  This  would  have  adjusted  the  matter, 
but  it  was  voted  down,  and  Martin's  license  withheld.  When  the  third  name  was 
called,  that  of  B.  F.  Bear,  a  yea  and  nay  vote  was  taken  on  the  renewal  of  his  li- 
cense, resulting  in  yeas,  7;  nays,  29.  Next  came  the  names  of  J.  S.  Shock  and  C. 
Clem,  and  "being  asked  if  they  would  co-operate  with  those  brethren  belonging  to 
Secret  Societies,  they  refused  to  do  so,"  and  their  licenses  were  withheld.  And 
finally  a  resolution  was  adopted,  declaring  "that  it  is  the  sense  of  this  body  that 
the  above-named  brethren  are  dismembered,  and  no  one  to  blame  for  it  but  them- 
selves." Immediately  the  Licensing  Committee  reported  "the  name  of  J.  S.  Shock 
with  an  affirmative  recommendation,  and  a  license  was  granted  him.  A  resolu- 
tion "abandoning  the  itinerant  system,  and  adopting  the  congregational,  was  de- 
feated. While  "the  Eldership  withdrew  its  support  from  the  Mutual  Aid  So- 
ciety," it  continued  the  Sisters'  Missionary  Society,  and  commended  its  work.  A 
Sabbath-school  Convention,  a  Ministerial  Association  and  a  Pentecostal  meeting 
were  directed  to  be  held,  and  committees  were  named  to  arrange  for  them.  To 
prevent  a  disruption  of  the  Eldership  because  of  the  disfellowshiping  of  five  min- 
isters, the  Eldership  refused  to  threaten  to  discipline  churches  which  might  "in- 
vite or  permit  any  of  those  brethren  not  holding  a  license  from  this  Eldership  to 
preach  for  them;"  but  it  insisted  that  "it  is  the  duty  of  the  churches  to  receive, 
co-operate  with  and  support  the  ministers  sent  them  by  the  Eldership."  The  terri- 
tory  was   divided   into   eleven   charges. 

32nd  Indiana  Eldei*ship. — Few  Elderships  had  as  large  and  eflicient  a  lay 
representation  as  the  Indiana  Eldership.  At  the  session  held  at  Compton's 
School-house,  Whitley  county,  beginning  October  4,  1877,  there  were  present 
twenty-two  teaching  elders  and  forty-six  ruling  elders.  J.  E.  McColley  was  chosen 
Speaker;  I.  W.  Markley,  Clerk,  and  I.  Schrader,  Treasurer.  The  Eldership  made 
all  the  arrangements  for  a  Pentecostal  meeting,  a  Sabbath-school  Convention  and 
a  Ministerial  Association,  including  the  making  of  the  programs.  It  agreed  to 
"approve  of  and  assist  in  any  act  to  purge  the  evil  of  intemperance  from  the  land." 
It  also  decided  that  in  making  up  the  Roll  of  each  annual  Eldership  "only  mem- 
bers present  shall  be  enrolled.  Some  form  of  ordination  of  elders  was  agreed 
upon.      Fort  Wayne  was  made  a  part  of  Roanoke  circuit,  which  had  five  preaching 


Indiana   Eldership  437 

points.  Besides  this,  there  were  six  other  circuits.  The  largest  field — Blue  River 
— had  nine  preaching  points,  with  two  pastors.  J.  Bumpus,  Z.  Garrison  and  W. 
Pearce  were  appointed  General  Evangelists.  Encouragement  was  found  in  the 
Report  of  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion,  which  showed  during  the  year 
235  conversions,  188  accessions,  159  baptized,  and  one  church  of  forty-one  mem- 
bers organized.  The  Opening  Sermon  of  the  Eldership  was  preached  in  the  even- 
ing of  October  3rd,  by  A.  B.  Slyter,  and  W.  P.  Small  was  designated  to  preach  the 
Opening  Sermon  in  187  8. 

33rci  Indiana  Eldership. — The  ranks  of  the  Indiana  ministry  were  reduced 
during  the  year  by  the  deaths  of  two  members.  Not  even  the  name  of  one  can 
now  be  determined,  as  the  Committee  on  Obituaries  refers  to  him  only  as  "one 
of  our  young  ministers  who  has  fallen,  but  away  from  home  and  friends."  The 
other  one  was  George  Thomas,  who  was  located  at  Pleasant  Hill,  Mo.,  and  whom 
the  Eldership  regarded  as  "one  of  our  fathers  in  Israel  whom  we  had  learned  to 
love  and  esteem."  The  Eldership  convened  at  Zanesville,  Wells  county,  October 
2,  1878,  the  Opening  Sermon  having  been  delivered  by  AV.  P.  Small  the  evening 
previous.  Upon  the  enrollment  of  members  present  twenty-one  teaching  elders 
were  recognized,  but  the  number  of  ruling  elders  fell  to  nine,  with  six  delegates. 
J.  Bumpus  was  chosen  Speaker;  I.  W.  Markley,  Stated  Clerk;  E.  Miller,  Tran- 
scribing Clerk;  and  Isaac  Schrader,  Treasurer.  Small  decided  to  return  to  the 
Ohio  Eldership,  but  the  Eldership  had  two  accessions  of  experienced  ministers, 
Oliver,  of  the  Ohio  Eldership,  and  Ober,  of  the  Texas  Eldership,  but  later  of  the 
Illinois  Eldership.  Rejoicing  in  "the  widespread  revival  on  the  subject  of  tem- 
perance," the  Eldership  was  ready  to  do  its  full  part  to  the  end  "that  this  good 
and  much  needed  work  of  reform  may  go  on  until  it  shall  sweep  like  a  tidal  wave 
over  our  whole  land,  and  the  entire  liquor  traffic  shall  be  wholly  overthrown."  It 
also  "recommended  to  all  our  ministers  and  people  that  they  use  only  unfer- 
mented  wine  for  Communion  purposes  when  such  can  be  secured."  A  course  of 
studies  was  approved,  and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  prepare  one,  and  also  a 
committee  to  examine  ministers  in  said  course.  W.  W.  Lovett  was  the  committee. 
The  action  of  the  General  Eldership,  to  publish  "The  Workman,"  was  approved'. 
It  laid  down  the  principle,  that  "the  actions  of  the  Standing  Committee  are  bind- 
ing upon  all  members  of  the  Eldership  until  either  adopted  or  rejected  by  the 
Eldership  at  its  first  succeeding  session."  Seven  items  were  named  under  which 
each  pastor  was  to  report  after  this  Eldership.  The  sitting  after  evening  services 
on  Friday  evening  was  "devoted  to  the  interests  of  Fort  Wayne  Mission."  The 
conclusions  reached  were:  That  "the  mission  can  be  sustained;"  accepting  "the 
proffer  of  W.  W.  Lovett  to  serve  it."  Lovett  was  also  appointed  "collecting  agent 
to  secure  moneys  and  notes  for  the  liquidation  of  the  mission  indebtedness."  Be- 
sides Fort  Wayne  Mission,  there  were  seven  circuits,  Oliver  and  Ober  each  being 
assigned  to  one.  They  were  required  to  bring  their  transfers  before  entering  on 
their  fields. 

34th  Indiana  Eldership. — A  very  generous  feeling  pervaded  the  Eldership  of 
1879.  A  sister  led  in  the  movement  to  restore  the  ministers  who  had  been  dis- 
fellowshiped.  She  was  probably  only  an  advisory  member,  though  sisters  were 
eligible  as  delegates.  The  Minutes  only  state  that  "on  motion.  Sister  H.  C.  Smith, 
J.  Bumpus  and  D.  Keplinger  were  appointed  as  a  committee  to  draft  a  resolution 
touching  the  uniting  and  reconciliation  of  those  brethren  who  were  dismembered 
from  the  Eldership."  The  committee  reported:  "That  we  heartily  invite  them 
to  come  back,  and  we  will  meet  them  on  the  one  great  platform  of  the  word  of 
God  revealed  to  men,  and  we  will  do  all  in  our  power  and  by  God's  help  to  effect 
this  much  needed  union."  The  Eldership  approved  this  resolution.  Ten  of 
the  twenty-one  preachers  were  present,  fourteen  ruling  elders  and  eighteen  dele- 
gates. The  Eldership  made  choice  of  AV.  M.  Lovett  for  Speaker;  I.  AV.  Markley, 
Clerk,  and  I.  Schrader,  Treasurer.  The  recommendation  prevailed,  that  "every 
minister  of  the  Church  of  God  put  on  the  temperance  badge,  let  it  be  a  red  or  a 
blue  ribbon;  wear  it,  and  keep  it  sacred  before  the  people."  AA^  AV.  Lovett  was 
selected  "to  preach  at  the  semi-centennial  gathering."  A  resolution  prevailed 
that  "the  Eldership  agree  that  the  month  of  October  be  used  in  finishing  up  the 
.  work  on  the  circuits,  and  that  all  ministers  be  on  their  work  by  the  first  of 
November."  Ministers  were  required  to  "work  up  a  more  systematic  system  of 
finances  on  all  the  circuits,  and  that  the  churches  get  up  their  subscriptions  the^ 
first  of  the  Eldership  year,  said  subscriptions  to  be  paid  quarterly."  The  Elder- 
ship controlled  the  general  meetings — Pentecostal,  Sunday-school  Convention  and; 


43^  History   of  the   Churches   of   God 

Ministerial  Association.  There  were  six  circuits,  with  two  General  Evangelists. 
The  debt  on  the  Fort  Wayne  Mission  at  this  time  was  "about  five  hundred  dol- 
lars;" but  as  the  Eldership  had  voted  to  sustain  the  mission,  brethren  were  en- 
couraged to  give.  Seven  brethren  offered  $20.00  a  piece  to  pay  off  the  debt,  on 
•condition  that  the  whole  amount  be  raised.  The  Standing  Committee,  the  Board 
of  Missions  and  the  Sisters'  Missionary  Society  agreed  to  co-operate  together  to 
secure  this  end. 

35th  Indiana  Eldership. — The  Indiana  Eldership  in  1880  convened  on  Sat- 
urday, October  16th.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  on  Lord's  Day  evening, 
iby  I.  W.  Markley.  Eleven  teaching  elders  were  present,  and  eleven  absent. 
Eight  ruling  elders  were  present,  and  fourteen  delegates,  one  of  them  a  sister. 
A  lay  elder,  Isaac  Schrader,  was  chosen  for  Speaker,  and  another  one,  J.  Mowrey, 
for  Treasurer.  And  I.  W.  3Iarkley  was  elected  Clerk.  The  name  of  "Eldress  Mc- 
Colley  was  dropped  from  the  Roll  of  ministers  of  this  Eldership"  without  an  as- 
signed reason.  The  Eldership  resolved  to  "cohtinue  to  demand  legislation 
which  will  entirely  prohibit  both  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  all  intoxicating 
•drinks  as  a  beverage."  Desiring  "all  the  reports  of  ministers  to  be  made  to 
appear  on  the  Journals  of  the  Eldership,"  it  was  directed  that  "there  be  a 
schedule  of  reports  kept  and  published  as  an  item  in  the  Journals,  to  consist  of 
the  reports  in  full  of  all  the  ministers."  The  Eldership  appointed  the  Pentecostal 
meeting  and  the  Sunday-School  Convention.  The  Ministerial  Association  was  to 
hold  its  meeting  at  the  same  time  and  place  with  the  Pentecostal  meeting.  The 
Eldership  condoned  the  action  of  the  Standing  Committee  in  "having  held  several 
meetings  contrary  to  rule,  less  than  a  quorum  being  present,"  on  the  ground  "that 
the  business  thus  transacted  was  not  derogatory  to  the  interest  of  the  Eldership, 
■except  as  a  precedent;"  but  it  "advised  and  insisted  that  at  all  times  a  quorum 
is  necessary  to  the  legal  transaction  of  business."  The  Eldership  had  $699.00  in 
the  Superannuated  Fund;  $4.50  in  the  Missionary  Fund,  and  $17.62  in  the  Con- 
tingent Fund.  The  State  of  Religion  in  the  Eldership  inspired  a  hopeful  spirit, 
as  "the  dark  clouds  are  breaking  away,  and  a  bright  future  is  looming  up  before 
us,  and  we  feel  confident  that  a  great  harvest  will  be  gathered  in  the  near  future 
■within  the  bounds  of  our  Eldership."  The  Eldership  acquiesced  cheerfully  in  the 
request  of  the  General  Eldership  "to  collect  at  least  twenty-five  cents  or  more 
Irom  each  member  of  the  Church  for  the  support  of  the  mission  cause  in  general." 
It  was  decided  "to  hold  a  camp-meeting  in  the  month  of  August,"  and  a  committee 
was  appointed  to  make  the  necessary  arrangements.  When  a  license  was  granted 
to  Geo.  E.  Konip,  it  was  resolved  that  he  "be  ordained  by  the  laying  on  of  the 
liands  by  the  ministry  present."  There  being  no  minister  in  the  Eldership 
willing  to  serve  Ft.  Wayne,  the  Board  of  Missions  was  directed  "to  correspond 
with  any  minister  who  would  desire  to  serve"  said  mission,  and  to  "secure  a 
minister  as  soon  as  possible."  Committees  were  appointed  on  Ministerial  Asso- 
ciation, Sunday-school  Convention,  and  a  "Board  of  Sisters'  Mission"  elected. 
A  blank  form  was  adopted  for  reports  of  ministers,  containing  twenty  different 
items.  The  Report  of  the  Stationing  Committee  contained  six  circuits,  with  an 
aggregate  of  forty-one  preaching  points.  There  were  three  General  Evangelists, 
two  General  Missionaries  and  one  Colporteur  and  General  Assisting  Minister. 

36th  Indiana  Eldership. — October  3,  1881,  was  the  date  when  the  "thirty-sixth 
Annual  Convention  of  the  Indiana  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God"  began  its 
session  at  Syracuse,  Kosciusko  county.  There  were  enrolled  as  present  twelve 
teaching  elders,  and  nineteen  ruling  elders  and  delegates;  while  six  teaching 
elders  were  absent.  W.  W.  Lovett  was  elected  Speaker;  I.  W.  Markley,  Clerk,  and 
I.  Schrader,  Treasurer.  Five  minutes  were  fixed  as  the  limit  of  "speeches  upon  the 
merits  of  any  question,"  and  "no  member  shall  be  allowed  more  than  two 
speeches."  The  Standing  Committee  was  made  to  consist  of  five  members,  de- 
feating a  motion  to  make  it  three,  and  "the  one  receiving  the  highest  number  of 
votes  be  announced  as  Chairman  of  the  Committee."  The  Eldership  expressed 
itself  as  in  hearty  "co-operation  with  the  General  Eldership  in  carrying  forward 
its  plans  and  purposes  in  the  erection  of  the  college  building  enterprise."  It  ex- 
pressed its  conviction  that  "an  educated  minister  is  necessary  in  order  to  the  con- 
version of  sinners  and  the  building  up  of  the  church  of  the  living  God."  It  also 
concurred  fully  with  all  the  other  actions  of  the  General  Eldership;  welcomed  the 
General  Collecting  Agent  for  missionary  funds,  and  advised  "the  brotherhood  to 
contribute  liberally  to  the  work."  The  Eldership  evidently  felt  that  it  had  been 
insulted  by  the  sending  of  certain  documents  to  it  from  a  minister  of  the  German 


Indiana   Eldership  439 

Eldership,  and  it  gave  evidence  of  its  resentment  by  adopting  a  motion. by  B.  Ober 
that  "said  documents  be  laid  under  the  table."  Misappropriation  of  "the  Super- 
annuated money  on  hand  to  the  mission  debt"  was  prevented  by  a  motion  by  I.  W. 
Markley  "that  we  loan  said  money  to  the  Board  of  Missions."  The  "missionary 
moneys  on  hand  "were  appropriated"  to  the  benefit  of  the  Fort  Wayne  Mission." 
The  Eldership  was  pronounced  "one  of  the  best  we  have  enjoyed  for  a  number  of 
years.  The  wounds  are  fast  healing  over,  and  the  joy  and  peace  of  former  years 
are  returning  to  our  much-loved  Zion.  All  hail  to  the  few  who  have  stood  the 
storm." 

37th  Indiana  Eldership. — When  the  session  of  the  Indiana  Eldership  began 
on  Monday  morning,  as  it  did  in  1882,  the  members  gathered  on  the  Saturday 
previous.  So  Saturday  evening,  September  30th,  and  Sabbath,  October  1,  1882, 
"were  spent  in  religious  services,  preaching  being  had  by  E.  Miller  and  William 
Booth,  J.  Bunipus  delivering  the  Annual  Sermon."  Monday  morning,  October  2nd, 
the  Eldership  was  constituted,  after  which  W.  W.  Lovett  was  chosen  Speaker;  I. 
W.  Markley,  Clerk,  and  I.  Schrader,  Treasurer.  The  Sisters'  Board  of  Missions, 
formerly  elected  by  the  Eldership,  after  making  its  report,  was  discontinued.  It 
was  declared  to  "have  done  efficient  work  in  the  interest  of  the  mission  work  in 
the  Indiana  Eldership."  The  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  having 
secured  the  services  of  I.  W.  Markley  as  General  Missionary  Collecting  Agent,  the 
Eldership  reluctantly  consented  to  release  him,  and  expressed  its  "entire  confi- 
dence in  him,"  and  strongly  commended  "him  to  the  confidence  of  the  entire 
brotherhood."  "Prohibition  of  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks 
as  a  beverage"  was  unanimously  approved,  as  was  "the  submissidn  of  the  pro- 
posed amendment  to  the  State  Constitution  to  the  vote  of  the  people  at  a  special 
election."  The  Eldership  strongly  insisted  on  "the  duty  of  all  ministers  to  collect 
funds  on  their  work  when  required  by  the  Eldership  to  do  so,"  and  "those  who 
refuse,  or  neglect  to  do  so,  shall  be  deemed  derelict  in  their  duty  to  this  Eldership, 
and  shall  be  called  in  question  for  such  indifference."  There  were  seven  fields  of 
labor,  of  which  two  were  missions.  There  were  also  appointed  one  General  Mis- 
sionary, one  General  Evangelist  and  four  General  Workers. 

38th  Indiana  Eldership. — As  women  could  be  ordained  to  the  ministry  in  the 
Indiana  Eldership  and  also  represent  churches  as  delegates,  they  enjoyed  all  other 
rights  of  members  of  the  body.  At  the  Eldership  which  convened  at  Beaver  Dam, 
Kosciusko  county,  October  1,  1883,  Libbie  B.  Shanks,  Sarah  Thomson,  Elizabeth 
Mowrey,  Eliza  Jane  Beaver,  Eliza  F.  Komp  and  Caroline  Bamett  were  delegates, 
and  Libbie  B.  Shank  was  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Temperance,  whose  Re- 
port recommended  "that  the  ministers  and  laity  of  the  Church  of  God  make  dili- 
gent use  of  all  legitimate  means  to  educate  the  public  sentiment  in  favor  of  tptal 
abstinence  from  all  alcoholic  drinks,  and  that  all  who  have  the  right  to  vote  see 
that  they  vote  for  no  man  for  office,  nor  support  any  party  Which  will  not  openly 
oppose  a  legalized  liquor  traffic,  and  favor  the  prohibition  of  the  manufacture, 
sale  and  use  of  all  intoxicants  as  a  beverage."  This  was  the  Eldership's  answer 
to  the  liquor  men,  who  had  formed  "The  Liquor  League  and  Anti-Prohibition 
Party."  The  Committee  also  expressed  its  detestation  of  "the  use  of  tobacco  in 
all  its  various  forms,"  as  "the  use  of  the  poisonous  narcotic  is  an  extravagant, 
filthy  and  useless  habit,"  and  "entreated  those  of  the  ministry  who  are  addicted 
to  the  use  of  tobacco  to  free  themselves  from  this  filthiness  of  the  flesh."  The  or- 
ganization of  the  Eldership  was  effected  by  the  election  of  I.  Schrader,  lay  elder, 
for  Speaker;  I.  W.  Markley,  Clerk,  and  J.  Simonton,  Treasurer.  The  organization 
of  local  Missionary  societies  was  encouraged,  and  they  were  urged  "to  hold  their 
regular  meetings  and  make  every  effort  to  raise  funds  to  carry  on  the  general 
mission  work  of  the  Church."      Two  teaching  elders  during  the  year  had  gone 

"Where  love  has  put  off  in  the  land  of  its  birth 
The  stains  it  had   gathered  in  this." 

These  two  "beloved  brethren"  were  Z.  Garrison,  Sr.,  and  J.  Walters.  The  last 
evening  of  the  session  was  "set  apart  for  memorial  services  in  honor  of  their 
memory."  After  appointing  one  General  Evangelist,  one  Missionary  at  Large 
and  five  General  Workers,  the  Eldership  defined  a  General  Evangelist  to  be  "a 
co-worker  with  the  circuit  preachers,  and  should  assist  them  when  called  upon 
to  do  so,  and  to  look  up  neglected  points  and  organize  new  ones." 

39th  Indiana  Eldership. — So  large  a  proportion  of  ruling  elders  and  delegates 
seldom  constituted  an.  Eldership  as  did  so  when  the  Indiana  Eldership  was  organ- 
ized at  Oak  Grove,  Whitley  county,  Ind.,  September  29,  1884.      There  were  forty- 


440  History  of  the   Churches   of   God 

five  members  enrolled  as  present,  of  which  thirty-two  were  lay  members.  Eight 
ministers  were  absent.  A  layman  was  elected  Speaker — I.  Schrader;  a  minister 
was  chosen  Clerk — W.  W.  Lovett,  and  J.  Simonton,  lay  elder.  Treasurer.  There 
were  no  women  enrolled  as  delegates,  but  seven  were  received  and  "made  mem- 
bers during  the  present  session."  Two  of  them  were  placed  on  the  Committee  on 
Temperance,  one  on  the  Committee  on  Obituaries,  and  one  of  them,  Maria  B. 
Woodworth,  was  granted  a  license  to  preach.  The  Licensing  Committee  was 
given  permission  "to  recommend  persons  worthy  of  exhorter's  license,  and  such 
license  shall  be  issued  to  them."  A  Sunday-school  Evangelist  was  provided  for, 
whose  duty  was  to  visit  as  far  as  possible  all  the  churches  of  the  Eldership,  to  or- 
ganize Sunday-schools  where  there  are  none,  and  encourage  those  that  are."  J.  C. 
Smith  was  appointed  by  the  Eldership  to  this  office.  The  Report  of  the  Committee 
on  Temperance  made  it  "the  duty  of  every  minister  during  the  coming  year  to 
preach  a  sermon  or  give  a  lecture,  or  cause  a  sermon  or  lecture  to  be  given,  at  all 
his  appointments  against  intemperance."  The  "wives  of  our  ministers  and  dele- 
gates" were  "requested  to  use  their  influence  to  secure  the  teaching  of  temper- 
ance in  all  our  Sunday-schools."  The  importance  of  pastoral  visitation  was 
emphasized  by  the  adoption  of  a  resolution  making  it  "the  duty  of  all  ministers 
in  charge  of  circuits  or  stations  to  visit  all  the  members  of  said  charge  at  least 
four  times  each  year."  Every  minister  was  required  "to  attend  the  Sunday- 
School  Convention,  unless  providentially  hindered."  The  Eldership  rejoiced  "in 
the  success  that  has  attended  the  efforts  of  the  churches  in  the  past  year."  The 
Treasurer  was  required  to  give  bond  in  the  sum  of  $1,000.00.  There  were  seven 
circuits  and  one  mission — Doann.  Mrs.  M.  B.  Woodworth  was  appointed  Eldership 
Evangelist.  Some  of  the  money  in  the  funds  of  the  Eldership  were  diverted,  and 
were  appropriated  to  Ft.  Wayne  Mission  as  "borrowed." 

40th  Indiana  Eldership. — The  Eldership  which  convened  at  Union,  Union 
township,  Huntington  county,  Monday  morning,  September  28,  1885,  had  some- 
thing of  a  thanksgiving  festival  over  the  preceding  Sabbath,  closing  with  the  Open- 
ing Sermon  in  the  evening  by  J.  Bunipus.  "For  the  work  thus  accomplished," 
they  said,  "we  give  to  God,  the  Great  Head  of  the  church,  all  the  glory  and  honor." 
"It  has  been  a  work  of  which  any  people  may  well  be  glad  and  thankful."  And 
while  they  "rejoiced  in  the  success  of  the  past,"  their  "hearts  were  filled  with 
hope  for  the  future."  The  membership  present  consisted  of  thirteen  teaching 
elders,  two  exhorters,  and  twenty-seven  ruling  elders  and  delegates.  They  made 
choice  of  I.  W.  Markley  for  Speaker,  and  W.  AV.  Lovett,  Clerk.  The  Licensing 
Committee  was  elected,  instead  of  appointed  by  the  Speaker.  The  three  annual 
meetings- — Pentecostal,  Sabbath-school  Convention  and  Ministerial  Association — 
were  under  the  supervision  of  the  Eldership,  which  through  appropriate  com- 
mittees prepared  programs  and  fixed  times  and  places.  The  liquor  traffic  was  de- 
nounced as  "a  disgrace  and  a  detriment  to  our  civil,  social  and  moral  interests,  and 
a  sin  against  God  and  the  highest  interests  of  humanity,"  and  "an  enemy  of  all 
righteousness."  It  was  decided  to  "sell  the  Ft.  Wayne  Mission  property,  and  pay 
the  debts  thereof."  "Through  the  open  door  of  death"  the  Eldership  saw  "the 
haven"  which  had  beckoned  one  of  their  number  thence,  in  the  person  of  'Wm. 
Booth,  and  it  expressed  its  deep  sense  of  loss  in  the  departure  of  so  useful  a  min- 
ister. The  College  enterprise  and  the  publications  of  the  Church  were  cordially 
endorsed;  while  special  mention  was  made  of  the  "Plea  of  the  Church  of  God," 
the  "Centennial  Sermon"  of  R.  H.  Bolton.  The  "Publishing  House  and  Book 
Rooms"  established  at  Harrisburg  shortly  before  the  Eldership  convened,  was 
highly  appreciated,  and  commended  "to  the  liberal  patronage  of  the  brethren." 
J.  E.  McColley,  who  had  "dissolved  his  relation  with  the  Eldership,"  appeared,  gave 
his  report  and  was  given  "a  right  royal  welcome,"  and  "warmly,  earnestly  and  in 
the  spirit  of  Christian  love  and  confidence"  was  reinstated  "in  his  former  rela- 
tions." Some  restraint  was  thrown  around  Mrs.  Woodworth  by  advising  her  "to 
conduct  her  labors  in  the  interest  of  the  Church  of  God."  Funds  were  quite 
limited,  as  J.  Simonton,  Treasurer,  reported  "received  in  cash,  $3.81;  Contingent 
Fund,  $44.62;  Superannuated  Fund,  $3.57;  Mission  Fund,  $16.00."  There  were 
seven  circuits,  one  unsupplied,  with  Mrs.  Woodworth,  General  Evangelist. 

41st  Indiana  Eldership. — During  the  year  it  developed  that  a  small  indebted- 
ness on  "the  Adams  county  church  property,"  which  had  been  placed  in  the  hands 
of  a  committee,  made  it  advisable  to  effect  a  sale.  And  as  the  debt  had  "to  be 
paid  immediately"  the  trustees  of  the  Eldership  were  authorized  to  sell  the  prop- 
erty.    While  such  failures  had  a  tendency  to  dampen  the  zeal  of  the  body,  yet  it 


Indiana   Eldership  441 

"was  glad  in  God  to  learn  of  the  unusually  large  number  of  conversions,  baptisms, 
and  accessions  that  have  occurred  during  the  past  year."  The  year  ended  when 
the  Eldership  convened  at  Potter's,  Allen  county,  Monday,  September  27,  1886. 
On  the  Sunday  evening  previous  F.  Komp  delivered  the  Annual  Sermon.  Only 
six  of  the  twenty-five  ministers  were  absent;  twenty-nine  lay  elders  and  delegates 
were  present.  John  Huff,  Iowa,  Secretary  of  Findlay  College,  was  in  attendance, 
which  incited  the  Committee  on  Education  to  report  a  very  strong  series  of  resolu- 
tions in  commendation  of  the  work  of  the  Board  of  Trustees.  The  churches  were 
exhorted  to  give  liberally  toward  the  Endowment  Fund.  The  Christian  Mission 
Church  was  represented  by  Isaac  Crago,  «vho  applied  for,  and  received,  license  to 
preach,  along  with  H.  H.  Spiher,  E.  H.  Shanks,  C.  P.  Diltz  and  J.  F.  Pence.  W.  W. 
Lovett,  on  a  motion,  was  appointed  on  Thursday  forenoon  to  "preach  a  doctrinal 
sermon  to-night,  setting  forth  the  distinctive  doctrines  of  the  Church."  The  Eld- 
ership resolved  "to  do  all  in  our  power  by  voice,  example  and  ballot,  and  money  if 
necessary,  in  order  to  banish  the  saloon  from  our  land."  No  minister  had  died 
during  the  year,  but  according  to  rule  or  custom  the  Committee  on  Obituaries 
gave  the  names  and  residences  of  deceased  members  of  local  churches  "who  had: 
been  transplanted  from  the  church  militant  to  the  church  triumphant,"  thirteen 
in  number.  The  fields  of  labor  had  increased  to  ten,  one  being  in  charge  of 
Spiher,  Evangelist,  lying  between  the  two  Elderships  in  the  State. 

42nd  Indiana  Eldership. — The  Indiana  Eldership  again  honored  a  layman  by 
electing  Isaac  Schrader,  Speaker,  to  preside  over  the  session  which  began  at  Col- 
umbia City,  Whitley  county,  September  2  6,  18  87.  Twenty-two  of  the  thirty  teach- 
ing elders  were  present,  and  thirty-six  ruling  elders  and  delegates.  W.  W.  Lovett 
was  chosen  Clerk,  and  I.  W.  Markley,  Treasurer.  Sale  of  part  of  the  Ft.  Wayne 
lot  was  effected  "to  pay  off  certain  claims  against  the  property  and  the  Eldership," 
and  the  remaining  part  of  the  property  was  "assigned  to  I.  W.  Markley,  he  making 
up  the  deficit."  The  Stationing  and  Standing  Committees  were  composed  of  five 
members  each,  one  on  each  being  a  layman.  The  Woodvvorths,  husband  and  wife, 
after  their  reports,  were  granted  transfers  to  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership. 
Trustees  of  the  Pleasant  Ridge  Bethel  were  instructed  to  sell  the  property,  as  the 
"house  is  not  fit  for  church  purposes."  Consideration  of  the  interests  of  Findlay 
College  was  made  a  special  order,  J.  M.  Cassel,  of  Ohio,  College  Agent,  addressing 
the  Eldership.  Sentiments  of  approval  were  voiced  in  the  resolutions.  The 
churches  in  some  localities  had  troublfe  with  "a  certain  sect,  calling  themselves 
'Saints,'  "  whom  the  Eldership  charged  with  "forcibly  monopolizing  bethels  owned 
by  the  local  churches  of  God  'in  trust.'  "  They  had  thus  secured  the  use  of  the 
house  at  Beaver  Dam  "for  every  alternate  Sunday;"  but  the  Eldership  did  "not 
endorse  the  said  compromise,"  but  declared  it  "null  and  void."  The  Eldership 
was  still  not  in  favor  of  insisting  on  "unformity  of  observing  the  ordinances." 
"New  churches,"  it  declared,  "are  being  formed,  new  houses  built,  new  points  are 
being  taken  up,  for  which  we  have  great  reason  to  be  encouraged."  The  W.  C. 
T.  U.  and  its  work  were  endorsed,  and  the  body  declared  that  it  "will  not  support 
any  man  for  public  ottice  who  will  not  fearlessly  lift  his  hand  and  voice  against 
the  great  curse  of  the  liquor  traffic  and  in  favor  of  its  total  prohibition."  Though 
the  property  at  Ft.  Wayne  had  been  assigned,  the  work  had  not  been  abandoned, 
for  of  the  ten  appointments  Ft.  Wayne  is  classed  as  a  station,  with  AV.  W.  Lovett 
as  pastor. 

43rd  Indiana  Eldersliip. — The  Act  of  Incorporation,  by  direction  of  the  Elder- 
ship in  1887,  was  inquired  into  by  a  committee  created  for  that  purpose.  It  re- 
ported "the  papers  on  Act  of  Incorporation  too  elaborate;  some  Articles  could  be 
abridged,  and  others  left  out  altogether."  The  Committee  advised  that  they 
be  rewritten,  and  alterations  made.  This  was  done,  and  at  the  session  of  1888 
the  "Acts  of  Incorporation"  were  readopted.  They  were  called  "Articles  of  Asso- 
ciation," and  declared  "the  object  of  this  Association  is  to  be  the  annual  confer- 
ence of  the  Indiana  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God,  convened  for  the  purpose  of 
transacting  business  pertaining  to  said  conference:  For  the  better  control  of  its 
members;  the  dissemination  of  Bible  truth;  to  organize  local  churches;  to  pur- 
chase, hold  and  convey  real  estate  for  religious,  educational  and  benevolent  pur- 
poses, and  to  protect  and  keep  the  same  in  good  repair."  Art.  II.  repeats  the 
name  and  place  of  residence  of  each  subscriber.  The  third  Article  fixes  the  mem- 
bership— "all  the  teaching  and  ruling  elders — ;"  gives  during  the  Interim  between 
sessions  all  power  to  a  Standing  Committee  of  five,  and  specifies  the  officers  and 
outlines  their  duties.     This  brief  Act  was  approved   by  the   "Association."     The 


442  History  of   the   Churches   of   God 

business  of  the  session,  which  was  held  at  Syracuse,  Kosciusko  county,  beginning 
October  1,  1888,  was  conducted  by  the  re-elected  officers  of  1887,  and  J.  Bunipus, 
Treasurer.  E.  Miller  had  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  on  Sunday  evening 
previous.  Seventeen  ministers  were  present,  and  eleven  absent,  with  thirty-two 
ruling  elders  and  delegates.  During  the  year  A.  Aiislemire  entered  into  his  final 
rest,  having  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  all  his  fellow  ministers.  "Sister  B.  D. 
Masters  passed  a  favorable  examination,"  and  "a  license  was  granted"  her.  While 
the  funds  were  meager,  the  Eldership  cheerfully  "apportioned  the  General  Elder- 
ship mission  money"  to  the  different  churches.  These  churches  were  by  name 
included  in  the  ten  fields  of  labor,  and  numbered  forty.  "Port  Wayne  Mission" 
was  part  of  the  Zanesville  circuit. 

44th  Indiana  Eldership. — While  at  the  Eldership  held  at  Butler,  DeKalb 
county,  beginning  September  28,  1889,  only  thirteen  of  the  twenty-seven  ministers 
were  present,  there  were  in  attendance  thirty  ruling  elders  and  delegates.  These 
controlled  the  election,  and  for  the  third  time  in  succession  elected  one  of  their 
number,  Isaac  Schrader,  to  preside.  W.  W.  Lovett  for  the  sixth  session,  except 
when  in  18  86  he  was  Speaker,  was  chosen  for  Clerk.  The  Pentecostal  meeting, 
the  Ministerial  Association  and  the  Sunday-school  Convention  continued  under 
the  control  of  the  Eldership.  While  "the  Board  of  Missions  reported  nothing 
done  during  the  year,"  the  body  strongly  urged  "the  ministers  and  churches  to 
put  forth  all  possible  effort  to  extend  the  borders,  hold  all  the  points  of  work  now 
in  possession,  and  gain  new  ones."  The  Women's  Home  Mission  Society  "had 
been  doing  good  work,"  which  was  approved  and  commended.  Josephine  Woods 
was  "appointed  to  look  to  the  organization"  of  societies  throughout  the  Elder- 
ship. The  Board  of  Missions  was  empowered  "to  appoint  missionaries  and  levy 
assessments  as  they  deem  necessary  for  the  extension  of  our  Zion."  Arrange- 
ments were  agreed  upon  to  select  "a  course  of  reading  for  all  ministers  under 
five  years'  membership."  To  make  surer  of  having  loyal  men  on  its  fields  of 
labor,  the  Eldership  decided  "to  appoint  no  man  to  fill  appointments  who  is  not 
in  harmony  with  the  rules  and  practices  of  this  Eldership."  On  education  and 
the  College  there  was  a  strong  favorable  sentiment  which  was  embodied  in  a  few 
suitable  resolutions.  The  publications  of  the  General  Eldership  were  heartily 
endorsed.  Two  ministers  were  adjudged  "untrue  to  the  doctrines  and  practices 
of  the  Church,"  and  declared  "unworthy  of  our  fellowship."  The  Eldership  voted 
in  favor  of  "the  enactment  of  laws  prohibiting  the  sale  and  use  of  intoxicating 
liquors."  "The  increase  of  membership  during  the  past  year,  the  occupation  of 
new  fields,  the  erection  of  new  houses  of  worship  and  remodeling  of  old  ones," 
the  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion  declared  gave  "unmistakable  evidence  of 
the  zeal  and  spirituality  which  characterize  the  ministry."  Leaving  Ft.  Wayne 
"unsupplied,"  the  Stationing  Committee  made  appointments  to  ten  other  fields  of 
labor,  with  two  "Helpers,"  one  "General  Evangelist"  and  one  "General  Solicitor," 
whose  duty  it  was  "to  see  that  the  various  assessments  are  collected."  The  addi- 
tion of  four  newly  licensed  ministers  to  the  Roll  gave  the  Eldership  men  enough 
for  its  territory. 

45t.h  Indiana  Eldership. — The  Indiana  Eldership  did  not  look  with  approval 
on  the  action  of  the  General  Eldership  in  1890  relative  to  the  order  in  which  the 
twin  ordinances  of  God's  house  should  be  observed.  No  opposition,  however,  was 
made  on  the  floor  of  the  General  Eldership;  but  when  the  matter  was  brought 
before  the  Annual  Eldership  session,  held  at  Collamer,  Whitley  county,  beginning 
September  27,  1890,  it  "was  indefinitely  postponed  by  an  aye  and  nay  vote."  W. 
AV.  Lovett,  who  was  President  of  the  General  Eldership  in  1890,  and  endorsed  its 
action  on  the  subject,  was  also  President  of  the  Indiana  Eldership  in  1890,  and 
J.  A,  Wood  was  the  Clerk,  and  J.  Bunipus,  Treasurer.  There  were  twenty-eight 
ministers  in  attendance  and  thirty  ruling  elders  and  delegates.  "Routine  busi- 
ness was  the  order,  with  no  discussions  of  interest."  The  majority  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Eldership  were  apparently  sensitive  on  the  question  of  the  order  of 
the  ordinances,  and  indisposed  to  consider  the  recommendation  of  the  General 
Eldership  on  the  subject.  When  the  resolution  was  introduced,  "That  we  advise 
ministers  and  churches  of  the  Indiana  Eldership  that  they  conform  to  the  advice 
of  the  General  Eldership  in  the  observance  of  the  ordinances,"  it  was  first  "or- 
dered laid  on  the  table."  There  were  eleven  appointments,  and  thirty-four 
churches. 

46th  Indiana  Eldership. — Temporary  "hurt  to  the  Eldership"  followed  the 
action  of  1890   on  the  order  of  the  ordinances,  and  "lines  of  division  are  being 


Indiana    Eldership  443 

drawn."  This  fact  doubtless  accounted  for  the  absence  of  sixteen  of  the  thirty- 
one  ministers  from  the  session  of  1891.  "A  goodly  delegation  of  ruling  elders 
and  delegates  was  present."  The  body  convened  at  Auburn,  DeKalb  county,  Sep- 
tember 26,  1891,  remaining  in  session  until  the  28th.  The  officers  elected  were — 
President,  I.  W.  Maikley;  Clerk,  W.  W.  Lovett;  Financial  Clerk,  Isaac  Schrader; 
J.  Biimpus,  Treasurer.  Interest  centered  to  quite  an  extent  on  the  delinquency 
on  Mission  Fund  assessments  by  the  General  Eldership.  It  verified  the  scriptural 
principle  of  "guilty  in  one  thing,  guilty  in  all."  The  spirit  of  non-co-operation 
spreads.  "Many  of  the  ministers  of  the  Eldership  are  too  careless  as  to  this 
Fund,"  is  the  Correspondent's  comment.  And  he  added:  "A  revolution  as  to 
collecting  this  Fund  in  the  Eldership  must  in  some  way  be  brought  around." 
"Nothing  was  done  as  to  the  non-co-operation  of  certain  ministers  of  the  Elder- 
ship with  regard  to  the  usages  of  the  general  body."  During  the  year  occurred 
the  death  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  McCoUey,  who  was  licensed  to  preach  in  1863.  Mem- 
orial services  were  held,  and  suitable  expressions  of  esteem  were  entered  on  the 
Journal.  There  were  thirteen  fields  of  labor,  with  a  total  of  thirty  churches;  but 
for  want  of  active  ministers  some  fields  were  unsupplied.  Provision  was  made 
by  the  Eldership  for  the  Ministerial  Association,  Sunday-school  Convention  and 
Pentecostal  meeting. 

47th  Indiana  Kldership. — During  the  Eldership  year  1891-2  the  Board  of 
Trustees  carried  into  effect  the  action  of  the  Eldership  in  1891,  authorizing  the 
sale  of  the  Ft.  Wayne  Mission  property.  It  was  sold  on  April  8,  1892,  to  the 
Plymouth  Congregational  church,  for  $2,725.  This  sum,  minus  expenses,  was 
"converted  into  a  Permanent  Church  Extension  Fund."  .  The  session  of  the  Elder- 
ship was  held  at  Olive  Branch  Bethel,  Miami  county,  where  the  Opening  Sermon 
was  preached  on  Sunday  evening,  September  24,  1892,  by  J.  liumpus.  On  Mon- 
day morning  the  Eldership  convened  for  business,  when  the  enrollment  showed  a 
membership  of  twenty-eight  ministers  and  twenty-seven  ruling  elders  and  dele- 
gates. The  ballot  for  officers  resulted  in  the  choice  of  I.  W.  Markley  for  Presi- 
dent; S.  W.  Shultz,  Clerk;  J.  Buinpus,  Treasurer.  The  Licensing  Committee  was 
elected,  instead  of  being  appointed  by  the  President.  A  Pentecostal  meeting, 
Sunday-school  Convention  and  Ministerial  Association  were  provided  for.  The 
three  funds  were  low,  the  Contingent  Fund  being  84  cents  overdrawn;  Building 
Fund  had  a  credit  of  $71.4.5,  and  the  Mission  Fund  was  square.  The  Eldership 
declared  that  it  "will  vote  and  pledge  our  utmost  endeavors,  religiously,  socially, 
politically  and  financially,  against  the  sale  and  use  of  intoxicating  liquors."  It 
was  "delighted  over  the  growing  sentiment  in  the  Church  in  favor  of  a  better  edu- 
cated ministry,"  and  believed  it  to  be  the  "bounden  duty  of  the  Eldership  to  urge 
in  every  laudable  way  our  young  men  contemplating  the  ministry  to  secure  for 
themselves  the  advantages  offered  by  a  liberal  education."  The  state  of  religion 
was  "encouraging  and  hopeful,"  and  there  was  "an  increase  of  substantial  mem- 
bers, with  a  bright  outlook  for  the  future."  An  assessment  of  $152.00  was  made 
on  the  churches  for  missionary  purposes.  Five  specific  "duties  were  required  of 
all  ministers  receiving  charges."  These  were:  1.  To  preach  two  sermons  on 
temperance  at  each  appointment.  2.  To  urge  all  members  to  read  the  Church 
literature.  3.  To  visit  every  family  of  his  charge  twice  during  the  year.  4.  To 
hold  quarterly  meetings,  at  which  all  matters  of  differences  shall  be  adjusted  and 
the  minister's  salary  paid  up.  5.  Assist  in  organizing  W.  M-  societies  at  all 
the  appointments.  The  Treasurer's  bond  was  fixed  at  $4,000.00.  There  was  one 
station,  and  the  balance  of  the  territory  was  divided  into  seven  circuits.  J. 
Rumpus  was  the  General  Evangelist,  and  N.  W.  Fuller,  General  Missionary.  The 
Eldership  was  "the  most  pleasant  and  profitable  held  for  a  number  of  years." 

48th  Indiana  Eldership. — The  forty-eighth  session  of  the  Indiana  Eldership 
was  in  a  number  of  particulars  dissimilar  from  previous  ones.  The  attendance 
was  large — twenty-one  ministers  and  twenty-four  ruling  elders  and  delegates,  four 
of  them  women.  An  unprecedented  number  of  prominent  subjects  were  discussed 
■  at  length,  and  actions  taken  with  great  unanimity.  The  body  convened  at  Trinity 
Chapel,  Wells  county,  October  2.  1893.  The  Annual  Sermon  was  delivered  on 
Sabbath  evening,  October  1st,  by  I.  AV.  Markley.  W.  W.  Lovett  was  elected 
Speaker;  Lewis  B.  Fretz,  Clerk.  The  plan  to  raise  funds  for  the  liquidation  of 
the  College  debt  adopted  by  the  General  Eldership  was  approved,  and  each  pastor 
was  instructed  to  solicit  $1.00  per  member  of  each  church  on  his  field.  The 
Report  on  Temperance  of  the  General  Eldership  was  adopted.  Instead  of  taking 
action  on  the  proposition  changing  the  name,  style  and  title  of  Elderships,  a  reso- 


444  History  of  the   Churches   of   God     ' 

lution  was  agreed  to,  asking  "the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  to  publish  through 
The  Advocate,  or  otherwise,  its  reasons  for  the  request  to  change  its  style  and 
title,  that  we  may  intelligently  act  thereon."  On  "the  itinerant  system"  the  con- 
viction was  expressed  "that  said  system  should  be  continued  by  us  as  a  people." 
The  question  of  Life  Certificates  of  Ordination,  submitted  by  the  General  Elder- 
ship, was  carefully  considered,  and  a  resolution  adopted,  "that  it  is  the  sense  of 
this  Eldership  that  the  yearly  renewal  of  licenses  is  preferable."  The  "ordination 
o'f  ministers  by  the  laying  on  of  hands"  was  "disapproved,  esteeming  the  giving  of 
a  license  to  preach  the  gospel  and  perform  all  the  functions  of  the  ministry  to  be 
sufficient  ordination  in  every  particular."  The  amount  of  the  Ft.  Wayne  Mission 
Fund  aggregated  $2,644.93.  Other  Funds  were  comparatively  low.  The  appoint- 
ments consisted  of  five  stations  and  five  circuits,  two  of  them  unsupplied.  J. 
Bumpus  was  appointed  General  Missionary;  J.  E.  McColley,  General  Evangelist; 
T.  H.  Stewart,  General  Worker;  W.  W.  Lovett,  General  Superintendent.  The 
state  of  religion  as  reported  was  such  as  to  "impress  the  Eldership  with  the 
thought  that  there  are  many  reasons  for  great  rejoicing  and  hopeful  anticipa- 
tions." The  ministers  received  better  support;  various  "points  have  gained  in 
membership." 

49th  Indiana  Eldership. — Prosperous  conditions  prevailed  throughout  a  great 
part  of  the  territory  of  the  Indiana  Eldership  following  the  session  of  1893.  The 
work  of  the  Eldership  in  1894  was,  therefore,  taken  up  with  "zeal,  energy  and  in 
a  Christ-like  spirit."  The  meeting  was  held  at  Potter's  Station,  Allen  county, 
from  September  30th  to  October  2nd,  inclusive.  The  eleven  fields  of  labor  were 
represented  by  twenty  of  the  twenty-seven  teaching  elders  and  twenty-nine  ruling 
elders  and  delegates.  J.  W.  Bloyd  was  made  President;  J.  E.  McColley,  Jr.,  was 
chosen  Clerk;  Wm.  Schrader,  Treasurer.  A  "membership  fee  of  25  cents'  was 
collected.  The  Church  Building  Fund  had  to  its  credit  $130.35;  the  General  Mis- 
sion Fund,  $45.47;  the  Permanent  Mission  Fund,  $146.00.  The  deferred  question 
of  Eldership  titles  was  acted  upon,  and  it  was  decided  that  "the  Eldership  of  the 
Church  of  God  be  deemed  the  proper  title."  The  amount  of  "$1,000.00  of  Findlay 
College  debt  was  assumed,  to  be  paid  on  or  before  ten  years,  giving  note  bearing 
6  per  cent,  interest,"  and  "a  man  be  placed  in  the  field  to  secure  notes  and  pledges 
to  bear  6  per  cent,  interest."  The  Eldership  was  to  have  a  scholarship  of 
$1,000.00,  which  was  an  objectionable  feature  to  other  Elderships,  and  required 
adjustment.  Geo.  E.  Komp  was  named  as  collector.  Assessments  for  the  Mission 
Fund  were  made  on  the  twenty-eight  churches  of  the  eleven  appointments,  amount- 
ing to  $473.00.  These  "assessments  are  to  be  collected  by  the  ministers  in  charge 
of  the  several  churches  on  or  before  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Eldership." 

50th  Indiana  Eldership. — Internal  evidence  clearly  indicates  that  the  Indiana 
Eldership  was  a  well  organized  body.  It  had  all  the  interests  of  the  Church  under 
good  control.  Among  its  members  were  ministers  as  well  as  laymen  who  brought 
to  its  business  management  not  only  a  sound  judgment,  but  practical  administra- 
tive experience,  and  a  determination  to  subordinate  other  considerations  to 
efficiency.  It  early  in  its  history  provided  a  Committee  on  Business,  which  kept 
diligent  watch  over  the  proceedings,  and  saw  to  it  that  no  interests  were  over- 
looked. This  was  the  case  at  the  session  which  was  held  at  Oak  Grove  Bethel, 
Whitley  county,  beginning  September  30,  1895.  As  this  was  Monday,  the  mem- 
bers gathered  on  Saturday,  and  there  was  preaching  on  Saturday  evening  by  M. 
S.  Hemniinger;  Sabbath  morning,  by  I.  W.  Markley,  and  on  Sabbath  evening  the 
Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by  J.  Bumpus.  Twenty-seven  ministers  and  thirty- 
seven  ruling  elders  and  delegates  were  enrolled.  The  election  resulted  in  the 
choice  of  I.  W.  Markley  for  President;  Geo.  E.  Komp,  Clerk,  and  William  Schrader, 
Treasurer.  The  sisters  were  active  in  mission  work,  having  organized  local  so- 
cieties under  the  Eldership  Woman's  Missionary  Society,  which  was  required  to 
report  to  the  Eldership.  The  Eldership  also  had  under  its  control  the  Ministeriil 
Association,  Sunday-school  Convention  and  Pentecostal  meeting,  and  appointed 
committees,  arranged  the  programs  and  appointed  preachers.  Opposition  and 
criticism  make  friends.  The  more  so  if  there  is  no  evidence  of  resentment,  and 
one  goes  on  in  the  line  of  duty  contemplating  it  with  callous  patience  and  Christian 
fortitude.  And  so  when  other  Elderships  closed  their  doors  against  Mrs.  Wood- 
worth,  and  prominent  ministers  assailed  her,  the  Indiana  Eldership,  from  which 
she  received  her  first  license,  "recognized  her  successful  efforts,"  testified  to  "the 
great  number  of  her  friends,"  and  "most  heartily  invited  her  and  her  co-workers 
to  come  as  soon  as  possible  and  hold  a  series  of  meetings  within  the  bounds  of  the 


Indiana   Eldership  445 

Indiana  Eldership."  The  Eldership  had  "a  delinquent  debt"  caused  by  "churches 
failing  to  pay  in  their  full  assessments,"  and  to  protect  faithful  churches  directed 
the  Clerk  to  give  them  receipts  in  full,  and  thus  "release  them  from  future  respon- 
sibility as  to  the  payment  of  the  delinquent  debt."  Censure  was  threatened  upon 
any  minister  or  church  refusing  to  provide  for  the  payment  of  arrearages.  The 
use  of  "unfermented  wine  for  the  Lord's  table"  was  encouraged.  The  Treasurer 
was  required  to  give  bond  in  the  sum  of  $5,000.00.  The  assets  of  the  Eldership 
were  notes  to  the  amount  of  $2,496.45,  Permanent  Mission  Fund;  Mission  Fund 
receipts,  $220.50;  General  Eldership  Mission  Fund,  $80.66,  and  Church  Building 
Fund,  $15  5.3  5.  On  the  questions  submitted  to  the  Annual  Elderships  by  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership  it  was  decided  that  the  delegates  be  "instructed  that  we  are  satis- 
fied with  our  present  title;"  that  they  "go  uninstructed  regarding  ordination  of 
ministers."  There  were  nine  fields  of  labor,  with  twenty-nine  appointments.  J. 
E.  McColley,  Sr.,  was  made  the  General  Evangelist,  and  H.  A.  Croy,  General 
Missionary. 

51st  ludiana  Eldership. — The  fact  that  at  this  time  the  Indiana  Eldership 
had  but  nine  fields  of  labor,  or  but  nine  of  its  t-jventy-seven  ministers  were  in  the 
active  work,  probably  accounts  for  the  fluctuations  in  the  number  present  at  dif- 
ferent Elderships.  Eighteen  were  in  attendance  in  1896;  but  there  were  thirty- 
two  lay  delegates,  of  which  number  at  least  four  were  sisters.  The  Eldership  con- 
vened "with  the  church  at  Blue  Ridge,  Whitley  county,  on  Saturday,  September 
26,  1896."  On  Sunday  evening  the  Annual  Sermon  was  delivered  by  M.  S.  Hem- 
Tninger.  The  body  was  organized  by  the  election  of  J,  W.  Bloyd,  President;  I.  W. 
Markley,  Clerk;  Wm.  Schrader,  Treasurer.  The  delegates  to  the  General  Elder- 
ship were  required  to  report,  and  "J.  Biimpus  gave  a  glowing  account  of  said 
meeting."  On  certain  questions  on  which  the  General  Eldership  had  at  times 
acted,  the  Indiana  Eldership  was  more  than  sensitive.  This  spirit  developed  on 
the  part  of  some  with  reference  to  the  change  in  Eldership  titles  made  by  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership  in  1896,  and  it  was  moved  by  J.  E.  McColley,  Sr.,  that  "we  retain 
the  old  title;"  but  "the  motion  was  lost,"  and  one  adopted,  on  motion  of  I.  W. 
Markley,  agreeing  to  "the  title  as  fixed  by  action  of  the  late  General  Eldership  of 
the  churches  of  God."  The  preachers  were  authorized  "upon  entering  on  their 
fields  to  call  together  the  church  councils,  and  enter  into  contracts  with  them;" 
and  said  contracts  were  to  be  placed  on  file  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Standing 
Committee  for  approval."  "Many  appointments"  having  been  "lost  by  ministers 
dropping  them,"  the  Eldership  insisted  "that  ministers  shall  not  quit  serving  an 
appointment  without  being  properly  released  by  the  Standing  Committee."  By 
some  rearrangement  of  circuits,  the  number  was  reduced  to  eight. 

52nd  Indiana  Eldership.- — During  the  year  additional  reasons  were  furnished 
the  Indiana  Eldership  for  standing  in  defense  of  Mrs.  Woodworth.  The  Board  of 
Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  in  June,  1897,  made  it  a  condition  to  the  appro- 
priation of  missionary  money  to  any  point  in  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership  that 
said  "Eldership  withdraw  its  relationship  from  Sister  M.  B.  Woodworth."  Con- 
siderable indignation  was  felt  at  this  action  by  the  Indiana  Eldership,  and  at  its 
session  held  at  Evergreen  Bethel,  Whitley  county,  beginning  Saturday,  September 
25,  1897,  a  resolution  embodying  a  strong  "protest  against  the  action  of  the 
Board"  was  adopted.  Preaching  on  Saturday  evening  by  M.  S.  Hemminger;  Sab- 
bath morning  by  President  C.  Manchester,  and  the  Annual  Sermon  in  the  evening 
by  I.  W.  Markley.  When  the  Eldership  was  constituted  on  Monday  morning 
twenty-four  ministers  and  forty-one  lay  delegates  were  enrolled.  Of  the  latter  six 
were  women.  W.  W.  Lovett  was  elected  Speaker;  J.  E.  McColley,  Jr.,  Clerk;  W. 
J.  Beatty,  Treasurer,  and  G.  E.  Komp,  Financial  Clerk.  There  was  general  re- 
joicing over  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  churches  and  the  progress  made  during 
the  year.  The  mini^rs  gave  "glowing  reports"  of  the  year's  work.  Y.  P.  S. 
C.  E.  work  was  taken  up  by  the  churches  to  such  an  extent  that  instructions  were 
given  the  Committee  on  Program  to  consider  the  societies  in  arranging  the  pro- 
gram for  the  Sunday-school  Convention.  The  Eldership  having  decided  to  give 
licenses  to  exhorters,  one  person  was  granted  such  a  license.  AVilliam  S.  Vaught, 
a  minister  of  the  Baptist  Church,  was  ordained,  who,  with  L.  A.  Luckenbill,  "was 
formally  ordained  by  the  laying  on  of  hands."  The  eight  fields  of  labor  had 
twenty-five  preaching  places.  Four  ministers  were  appointed  "General  Evan- 
gelists," and  fifteen  "General  Missionaries." 

53rd  Indiana  Eldership. — Indications  of  progress  during  the  year  1897-8  are 
reflected  in  the  deeper  interest  felt  in  the  session  of  the  Eldership  in  1898.      It 


440  History   of  the:  Churches  of   God 

was  held  at  Columbia  City,  Whitley  county,  September  24th  to  28th,  and  was  at- 
tended by  thirty-one  ministers  and  forty-three  ruling  elders  and  delegates.  There 
was  one  minister,  J.  R.  Omwig,  added  by  transfer  from  the  Michigan  Eldership; 
and  J.  H.  Bloyd,  an  ordained  minister  of  the  United  Brethren  Church,  was  received 
and  licensed.  W.  W.  Lovett  was  elected  President;  J.  K.  McColley,  Jr.,  Clerk;  L. 
A.  Luckenbill,  Financial  Clerk;  W.  J.  Beatty,  Treasurer.  The  President  of  Findlay 
College,  C.  Manchester,  was  made  welcome  by  a  cordial  reception,  and  by  appro- 
priate resolutions  in  favor  of  "co-operation  with  him  and  the  authorities  of  the 
College  in  liquidating  the  indebtedness  on  said  institution."  The  number  of 
charges  was  nine,  with  a  total  of  twenty-four  churches.  The  Eldership  nad  a 
season  of  religious  services  and  preaching  on  Saturday  evening  and  through  the 
Sabbath  preceding  the  business  session  on  Monday  morning.  On  Sabbath  evening 
the  members,  with  the  church  at  Columbia  City,  listened  to  the  Opening  Sermon, 
by  George  E.  Komp.  Commendable  interest  was  taken  in  Christian  Endeavor 
work.  The  Convention  was  held  in  connection  with  the  Ministerial  Association, 
at  which  these  questions  were  canvassed:  "The  objective  in  C.  E.  Work;"  "the  or- 
ganization of  C.  E.  societies  in  the  churches  of  this  Eldership;"  "plans  of  work;" 
"how  can  ministers  aid  in  C.  E.  Work,"  and  "the  organization  of  C.  E.  societies  in 
the  churches  of  this  Eldership,  how  effected." 

54th  Indiana  Eldership. — The  Indiana  Eldership  had  its  dissensions  and 
troubles.  These  sometimes  were  the  result  of  doctrinal  differences,  and  at  other 
times  they  grew  out  of  personal  antagonisms.  Not  even  all  ministers  display  that 
moderation  and  restraint,  or  that  balance  and  reasonableness  which  are  wholly 
convincing  as  to  the  integrity  of  their  conduct.  But  the  Eldership,  after  being 
vexed  for  several  years  by  scandal-mongers,  decided  to  put  an  effectual  check  upon 
their  disturbing  influence.  At  the  session  held  at  Helmer,  beginning  October  2, 
189  8,  a  resolution  was  adopted,  declaring  that  "the  Eldership  will  hear  no  griev- 
ances from  any  one,  in  any  of  its  future  sessions,  that  have  not  been  preferred  in 
the  form  of  charges  at  the  stipulated  time  previous  to  the  Eldership,  or  the  time 
of  trial."  This  was  no  immunity  to  guilty  parties,  but  a  measure  to  close  the 
mouths  of  whisperers  whose  love  of  the  brethren  was  only  "hate  grown  cold." 
When  these  are  brought  to  the  test  their  complaints  are  evidential  of  a  degree  of 
evasion  and  an  economy  in  the  truth  that  is  something  characteristic.  Hence,  the 
further  plain,  caustic  language  employed:  "Any  one  coming  to  the  Eldership  for 
the  purpose  of  slandering,  or  of  crippling  the  influence  of  any  of  the  members, 
shall  receive  the  censure  of  the  entire  body,  and  be  invited  to  go  home."  Review- 
ing the  proceedings  of  the  session  a  devoted  worker  expressed  the  hope  "that  right 
has  prevailed  in  everything  done,  and  that  God's  name  has  been  glorified."  He 
voiced  its  opposition  "to  any  change  made  in  the  basis  for  delegates  to  the  General 
Eldership."  The  number  of  reported  conversions  during  the  year  was  156;  bap- 
tized, 70;  accessions  to  the  churches,  149.  The  number  of  fields  of  labor  as  ar- 
ranged by  the  Stationing  Committee  was  nine,  all  supplied  with  pastors.  The 
officers  of  the  session  were  as  follows:  Speaker,  George  E.  Komp;  Clerk,  J.  E. 
McColley,  Jr.;  Financial  Clerk,  L.  A.  Luckenbill.  The  W.  M.  S.  had  reported  sixty 
members. 

55th  Indiana  Eldership. — The  interest  in  the  sessions  of  some  of  the  Elder- 
ships this  year  was  increased  by  the  presence,  preaching  and  addresses  of  the 
College  Agent,  J.  C.  Forncrook.  This  was  the  case  at  the  Indiana  Eldership, 
where  he  preached  on  Sunday  morning,  and  in  the  ev-ening  the  Opening  Sermon 
was  delivered  by  A.  McClellen.  Fomcrook  was  also  given  an  hour  during  the 
session  "to  present  the  interests  of  Findlay  College."  The  Eldership  convened  in 
the  Silver  Creek  Bethel,  Fulton  county,  October  1,  1900,  with  quite  a  full  attend- 
ance. Among  the  lay  delegates  were  three  sisters,  who  were  assigned  on  com- 
mittees. The  officers  elected  were  A.  McClellen,  President;  ^.  R.  Gano,  Clerk;  Ij. 
A.  Luckenbill,  Financial  Clerk;  W.  J.  Beatty,  Treasurer.  Assessments  had  been 
made  for  General  Eldership  Missionary  and  Contingent  Funds,  and  all  paid  in  full 
except  seven  churches.  On  temperance,  the  Eldership  regarded  "the  sin  of  in- 
temperance the  greatest  curse  of  the  present  age;"  that  "the  liquor  traffic  can  not 
be  legalized  without  sin,"  and  resolved  "to  do  all  that  is  within  our  power,  in 
accord  with  God's  word,  to  suppress  this  great  evil."  "Quite  a  number  of  con- 
versions, baptisms  and  additions  to  the  churches"  was  reported.  An  exceptional 
action  was  taken  relative  to  articles  in  The  Advocate  on  "Mesmerism,"  "Hypno- 
tism," "and  other  kindre^  subjects,"  in  which  the  author's  name  was  mentioned. 
It  was  common  to  refer  names  of  ministers  to  the  Standing  Committee,  because 


Indiana    Eldership  447 

of  failure  to  report,  four  being  thus  referred  at  this  Eldership.  Not  infrequently 
this  resulted  in  the  forfeiture  of  their  licenses.  Fourteen  fields  of  labor  were  re- 
ported by  the  Stationing  Committee;  but  five  were  connected  with  other  fields  to 
secure  enough   pastors.      There  were,  however,  nine  "General    Missionaries." 

56th  Indiana  Eldership. — The  Roll  of  members  "composing  the  Eldership" 
in  1901  contained  the  names  of  twenty  ministers  and  thirty  lay  delegates.  Min- 
isters were  enrolled  as  "Ministerial  delegates."  The  session  was  held  at  Mt.  Tabor 
Bethel,  Kosciusko  county,  September  29th  to  October  2nd.  L.  A.  Luckenbill 
preached  the  Opening  Sermon  on  the  evening  of  September  2  8th.  A.  McClellen  was 
elected  President;  15.  D,  Eden,  .Journalizing  Clerk;  L.  A.  liuckenbill,  Financial  Sec- 
retary; AV.  J.  Beatty,  Treasurer.  The  Eldership  had  $1,800.00  in  notes  in  its  Per- 
manent Mission  Fund,  and  nearly  $1,000.00  in  mortgages  and  cash.  The  Church 
Building  Fund  had  $208.61.  The  Appoortionment  Committee,  in  addition  to  the 
usual  assessments,  was  authorized  "to  make  an  assessment  to  meet  the  expenses  of 
delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  in  1902;"  but  the  Committee  recommended  that 
the  expenses  be  paid  out  of  "the  interest  on  the  Permanent  Mission  Fund."  There 
seemed  to  be  no  objection,  or  protest,  against  such  a  use  of  missionary  funds. 
"Good  work  was  done  during  the  year  for  the  Master,  and  there  was  advancement 
made  in  all  lines  of  Church  work.  There  were  quite  a  number  of  conversions  and 
accessions."  Threatened  division  of  the  church  at  Olive  Branch,  owing  "to  certain 
influences  working  against  the  brotherhood  and  former  pastor,"  was  averted  by 
prompt  and  decisive  action  to  "rescue  the  church  from  the  leadership"  of  non-co- 
operative persons.  Renewed  complaints  were  voiced  in  resolutions  against  the 
writings  of  certain  parties  whose  articles  in  The  Advocate  were  giving  offense. 
Any  church  "going  beyond  the  borders  of  the  brotherhood  to  procure  a  pastor" 
was  declared  to  be  "non-co-operative  and  liable  to  the  censure  of  the  body." 

57th  Indiana  Eldership. — To  devote  the  first  half  day  of  the  session  of  an 
Eldership  to  a  "spiritual  social  service"  was  wholly  unique.  This  was  the  case 
at  the  Indiana  Eldership  in  1902.  The  members  gathered  at  Oak  Grove,  Whitley 
county,  on  Saturday,  September  28th.  Preaching  on  Saturday  evening  by  B.  D. 
Eden;  Sabbath  morning,  by  J.  Bumpus,  and  the  "annual  address  was  delivered  by 
A.  McCIellon  on  Sabbath  evening."  The  Eldership  convened  on  Monday  morning, 
and  "the  entire  forenoon  was  taken  up  by  an  unusually  interesting  and  spiritual 
social  service."  After  constituting  the  Eldership,  composed  of  twenty-six  min- 
isterial and  forty-four  lay  delegates,  a  newly  organized  church  in  Michigan,  and 
one  at  Akron,  Ind.,  were  received.  In  the  list  of  ministerial  delegates  are  the 
names  of  two  sisters — Emma  Isenberg  and  Maria  B.  W.  Etter.  J.  E.  McColley  was 
chosen  President;  I.  W.  Markley,  Clerk;  L.  A.  Luckenbill,  Financial  Clerk;  W.  J. 
Beatty,  Treasurer.  The  Permanent  Mission  Fund  had  to  its  credit  $2,300.00  in 
notes,  and  $685.90  in  cash.  A  "membership  fee"  was  required,  and  was  increased 
from  25  cents  to  50  cents;  "and  no  name  to  appear  on  the  Roll  unless  the  fee  is 
paid."  "Strong  and  earnest  co-operation  on  all  lines"  was  affirmed  to  be  "abso- 
lutely necessary  to  the  preservation  and  perpetuation  of  the  Eldership."  "Sec- 
tionalism" was  declared  to  be"dangerous,"  as  well  as  "a  spirit  of  secession."  Hence, 
the  action  of  the  General  Eldership  in  May,  1902,  was  "endorsed,"  and  "any  dis- 
loyalty to  the  General  Eldership"  was  "discountenanced."  "The  second-work  of 
grace,"  the  body  regarded  as  "not  in  accordance  with  the  former  teachings  of  the 
churches  of  God."  Strongly  denouncing  the  liquor  traffic,  the  Eldership  also  "ap- 
pealed to  the  Christian  spirit  of  every  brother  that  uses  tobacco,  in  the  name  of 
God  and  in  behalf  of  purity,  to  abstain  from  its  use."  The  "$5.00  membership 
fee  charged  an  applicant  receiving  license  from  this  Eldership"  was  reduced  to 
$1.00.  Of  the  twelve  fields  of  labor  two  were  to  supply  themselves,  one  having 
Emma  Isenberg  for  pastor.  F.  M.  Her  was  appointed  Eldership  Evangelist,  with 
an  appropriation  of  $150.00  out  of  the  Permanent  Mission  Fund.  He  was  to 
devote  his  entire  time  to  the  work,  under  the  direction  of  the  Standing  Committee. 
58th  Indiana  Eldership. — The  notable  historic  event  of  the  ecclesiastical  year 
1902-3  was  the  perfecting  of  arrangements  by  the  Standing  Committees  of  the 
two  bodies  for  the  union  and  consolidation  of  the  Indiana  and  the  Southern  In- 
diana Elderships.  The  Committees  met  at  Idaville,  August  13,  1903,  and  came 
to  a  final  decision,  whereby  it  was  agreed  that  both  Elderships  should  hold  their 
annual  sessions,  and  that  "the  ministers  of  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership  unite 
with  the  Indiana  Eldership  by  transfer,  and  that  the  Trustees  of  the  Southern 
Indiana  Eldership  transfer  the  property  of  the  aforesaid  Eldership  to  the  Trustees 
of  the   Indiana   Eldership."      Accordingly,   when   the    Indiana   Eldership   convened 


448  History  of  the   Churches  of   God 

at  Sugar  Grove,  Noble  county,  on  Saturday,  September  26,  1903,  the  ministers  of 
the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership  were  "received  in  a  body  by  one  Transfer,"  and 
after  the  organization  their  names  were  entered  on  the  official  Roll,  and  they  took 
part  in  the  work  of  the  Eldership.  The  Roll  of  the  Indiana  Eldership  showed  the 
presence  of  twenty  ministers,  and  absent  eleven,  and  sixteen  ruling  elders,  and 
four  delegates.  By  one  Transfer  twenty-four  ministers  were  received  from  the 
Southern  Indiana  Eldership.  The  Annual  Sermon  was  preached  by  J.  E.  McColley. 
He  was  elected  President;  I.  W.  Markley,  Secretary;  L.  A,  Luckenbill,  Financial 
Secretary,  and  W.  J.  Beatty,  Treasurer.  As  the  consolidation  of  the  two  Elder- 
ships had  not  been  authorized  by  the  General  Eldership  in  1902,  a  petition  was 
adopted  requesting  it  "to  give  the  territory  of  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership  to 
the  Indiana  Eldership,"  the  said  "Southern  Indiana  Eldership  surrendering  its 
right,  name,  territory  and  jurisdiction,  and  also  its  ecclesiastical  Charter  granted 
by  the  said  General  Eldership."  Pour  ministers  of  the  Indiana  Eldership  re- 
quested that  their  names  "be  taken  off  the  Roll."  By  previous  action  the  Station- 
ing Committee  was  composed  of  ruling  elders.  There  had  been  much  needless 
friction  in  the  Eldership.  The  body  had  "suffered  immeasurable  harm  and  injury 
as  a  result  of  insinuations  and  slurs  cast  by  those  of  our  number  who  hold  licenses 
from  this  body."  Their  conduct  was  severely  characterized,  as  being  "contrary 
and  rebellious  to  the  Bible  teaching,"  and  the  guilty  parties  were  warned  "to  desist 
on  pain  of  discipline  and  expulsion."  There  are  evidently  among  men,  even  in 
religious  bodies,  two  ways  of  being  at  variance,  of  which  one  is  merely  quarrel- 
some and  the  other  is  stimulating.  Favorable  action  was  taken  on  "the  proposed 
Annual  Assembly  of  the  Indiana  Eldership,"  and  I.  W.  Markley  and  W.  R.  Covert 
were  named  as  a  Committee  to  look  after  the  details.  There  were  twelve  fields  of 
labor  in  the  Indiana  Eldership,  and  the  Standing  Committee  was  empowered  to 
arrange  for  supplying  the  six  circuits  of  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership. 

59th  Indiana  Eldership. — Although  the  twenty-four  members  on  the  Min- 
isterial Roll  of  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership  were  "given  a  transfer  to  the  In- 
diana Eldership  in  1903,"  and  the  list  of  ruling  elders  and  delegates  certified  to 
by  the  Clerk,  and  all  were  received  in  1903  as  members  of  the  Indiana  Eldership, 
the  session  of  the  latter  body  in  19  04  was  officially  designated  as  the  "First 
Annual  Meeting  of  the  Indiana  Eldership  of  the  Churches  of  God,  United."  The 
session  was  held  at  Syracuse,  Kosciusko  county,  where  the  ministers  and  delegates 
assembled  on  Saturday,  September  24,  1904.  On  that  evening  M.  S.  Newcomer, 
of  Illinois,  preached;  on  Sunday  morning,  C.  Ishler,  and  in  the  evening  "the  regu- 
lar Annual  Address  was  delivered  by  E.  M.  Love.  It  was  a  large  Eldership,  as 
forty-four  ministers  were  enrolled,  and  forty-four  lay  delegates.  Two  of  the  min- 
isters and  ten  or  eleven  of  the  lay  delegates  were  women.  New  "Articles  of  Asso- 
ciation" had  been  drafted,  which  were  "received,  considered  and  unanimously 
adopted."  The  officers  of  the  previous  year  were  re-elected,  the  Financial  Clerk, 
L.  A.  Luckenbill,  by  "direction  of  the  body,  cast  a  ballot  electing  them."  Sister 
M.  B.  Newcomer  delivered  the  sermon  on  Monday  evening.  The  assessments  for 
the  Missionary  Fund,  amounting  to  $251.36,  were  all  paid  but  $21.50,  which 
"were  carried  forward."  For  Contingent  Fund,  $63.00  were  assessed,  and  all  but 
$5.10  paid.  The  "Indiana  Assembly  or  Chautauqua"  of  1904  was  reported  as 
"quite  a  success,"  and  the  Eldership  decided  to  extend  it,  "embracing  all  Elderships 
of  the  churches  of  God."  There  were  now  twenty  fields  of  labor,  including  St. 
Louis  First  church;  St.  Louis  Mission,  and  St.  Louis  Second  church.  One  of  the 
active  ministers  was  Emma  Isenberg,  appointed  to  Disko  circuit.  Benton  Harbor 
and  Sodus,  Mich.,  were  included  in  the  list  of  appointments.  W.  H.  Blake,  a  min- 
ister of  the  M.  E.  Church,  South,  who  had  united  with  the  church  of  God  at  St. 
Louis,  was  received  into  the  Eldership,  and  ordained  and  appointed  to  the  St. 
Louis  Mission. 

60th  Indiana  Eldership. — The  Indiana  Eldership  kept  before  the  public  the 
fact  that  it  had  united  with  it  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership,  by  having  the  title 
page  of  its  Journal  in  1905  to  read:  "Journal  of  the  Sixtieth  Annual  Meeting  of 
the  Indiana  Eldership,  and  the  Second  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Indiana  Eldership, 
United."  This  was  continued  for  eight  years.  At  this  second  annual  meeting  of 
the  United  Eldership  the  transfer  of  Eldership  property  was  completed,  the  In- 
diana Eldership  receiving  eleven  deeds  from  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership;  also 
its  Protocal  and  seal,  as  well  as  the  books  of  the  Financial  Clerk  and  the  Treas- 
urer, and  the  Trustees'  book.  The  meeting  was  held  at  Idaville,  White  county, 
the  first  sitting  having  been  had  on  Monday  morning,  October  2,  1905.     On  Sun- 


Indiana   Eldership  449 

day  evening  previous  W.  W.  Lovett  preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  A  Committee 
on  Credentials  made  up  the  "Eldership  Roster,"  enrolling  forty-four  ministers  and 
twenty-eight  delegates.  The  names  of  women  were  on  the  ministerial  Roll,  and 
four  on  the  Roll  of  delegates.  A  "membership  fee"  was  taken  up  at  the  first 
sitting.  W.  W.  Lovett  was  elected  President;  I.  W.  Markley,  Clerk;  L.  A,  Lucken- 
bill,  Financial  Secretary;  J.  D.  Aiiglin,  Treasurer.  Close  relations  existed  between 
the  Eldership  and  Woman's  Missionary  Society,  the  latter  presenting  its  Constitu- 
tion to  the  Eldership,  by  which  it  was  approved.  Overtures  were  extended  by 
the  Eldership  to  "churches  located  in  central  Indiana,  known  as  the  Conference 
Churches  of  God,  who  hold  a  like  common  faith  with  us,"  "to  come  and  unite  with 
us  in  church  fellowship  and  co-operation."  The  "Inter-state  Assembly"  was  ap- 
proved, and  Elderships  in  other  States  invited  to  join  in  the  movement.  Having 
no  Course  of  Studies  for  ministers,  the  Eldership  adopted  the  "course  of  reading 
in  preparation  by  Findlay  College  for  other  Elderships."  Regular  apportionments 
were  made  for  the  Missionary  and  Contingent  Funds.  The  churches  within  the 
territory  of  the  Eldership  were  urged  "to  organize  Christian  Endeavor  societies" 
as  helpful  agencies  in  church  work.  While  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  churches 
was  commended,  yet  "ministers  and  laity"  were  recommended  to  "strive  to  take 
still  higher  grounds  in  the  religious  life,  by  earnest  prayer  and  work."  The  read- 
ing of  the  Bible  in  the  public  schools  was  heartily  approved.  The  Eldership  ad- 
monished all  its  "people,  in  the  discharge  of  their  Christian  duties,  to  use  all  the 
means  in  their  power  to  suppress  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating 
liquors."  There  were  nineteen  fields  of  labor,  three  of  which  were  not  supplied 
with  pastors;  but  there  were  four  State  Missionaries.  The  session  was  regarded 
as  "a  most  pleasant  and  profitable  one."  "The  elements  of  distraction  and  de- 
struction have  been  overcome." 

61st  Indiana  Eldership. — On  the  "Roster"  of  the  sixty-first  Indiana  Eldership 
the  members  are  divided  into  ministers,  of  which  there  were  forty-six;  ruling 
elders,  thirty-five,  and  delegates,  four.  Two  of  the  ruling  elders  were  women,  as 
well  as  two  of  the  ministers.  The  session  was  held  at  Auburn,  DeKalb  county, 
beginning  October  1,  190  6.  H.  H.  Spiher  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  on  Sun- 
day evening  previous.  There  was  preaching  on  Saturday  evening  by  E.  M.  JLove, 
and  on  Sabbath  morning,  by  I.  AV.  Markley.  The  Official  Directory  gives  the  fol- 
lowing: President,  H.  H.  Spiher;  Clerk,  I.  W.  Markley;  Financial  Secretary,  L.  A. 
Luckenbill;  Treasurer,  B.  F.  Magley.  Five  members  constituted  the  Standing 
Committee;  three,  the  Board  of  Trustees;  five,  the  Board  of  Education.  All  these 
were  ministers,  except  the  Treasurer.  The  Trustees  during  the  year  had  sold  the 
bethel  at  Eel  River,  near  Roann.  The  Standing  Committee  had  "concurred  in  the 
proposition  to  appoint  a  commission  to  arrange  plans  for  the  organic  union  of  the 
two  Woman's  General  Missionary  Societies,"  and  its  action  was  approved  by  the 
Eldership.  "Spiritual  conditions"  were  reported  "in  some  places  very  bad,  and 
in  some  places  pretty  good;"  hence  the  ministers  were  required  to  "preach  God's 
word  in  its  purity,  and  to  live  clean  lives,  for  the  uplifting  of  humanity  and  the 
salvation  of  souls."  "All  persons  entering  the  ministry  in  the  Indiana  Eldership" 
were  hereafter  "required  to  take  the  Eldership  Course,  and  pass  examinations 
before  the  Board  of  Education."  For  others  an  annual  license  was  provided  for. 
The  Course  extended  over  a  period  of  three  years,  with  six  branches  in  each  year, 
and  an  "Entrance  Examination"  of  four  branches.  The  interest  felt  in  education 
influenced  the  Eldership,  through  its  College  Committee,  L.  A.  Luckenbill,  W.  J. 
Beatty  and  J.  E.  McColIey,  to  give  a  note  of  $2,000.00  to  Findlay  College,  at  3  per 
cent,  interest.  An  assessment  was  to  be  laid  of  such  amount  as  to  pay  the  annual 
interest,  and  the  principal  in  ten  years.  The  object  was  the  endowment  of  "the 
Chair  of  Biblical  Training."  A  Fund  was  directed  to  be  established,  to  be  known 
as  "The  Indiana  Eldership  Widows'  Fund,"  and  Miss  Lula  Cook  was  "constituted 
the  Solicitor  for  this  Fund  during  this  Eldership  year."  On  temperance  the  Eld- 
ership "urged  that  our  people  do  all  in  their  power,  by  preaching,  teaching,  pray- 
ing and  voting,  to  suppress  the  liquor  traffic."  Regular  accounts  with  the 
churches  were  kept  by  the  Financial  Secretary,  and  where  a  church  was  delinquent 
on  its  assessments,  it  was  charged  against  it.  The  Statistical  Report  for  the  year 
showed  the  following  items:  Churches,  38;  accessions,  163;  baptized,  76;  value 
of  church  property,  $31,100.00;  salaries  of  pastors,  $3,531.06.  But  nine  charges 
failed  to  report  the  value  of  church  property,  and  seven,  the  salaries  of  the  pastors. 
Small  amounts  were  paid  into  the  Church  Extension  Fund  by  eleven  fields  of  labor. 

62nd  Indiana  Eldership. — The  coincidence  of  a  dedication  and  a  session  of 

C.  H.— 16 


450  '  History   of   the   Churches   of  God 

the  Eldership  occurred  at  Mt.  Tabor,  where  the  "newly  repaired  bethel  was  re- 
opened for  divine  worship  on  Sunday  morning,"  C.  I.  Brown  preaching  the  sermon, 
and  in  the  evening  "E.  M.  Love  delivered  the  Annual  Address."  On  Monday 
morning,  September  30,  1907,  the  session  began,  when  H.  H.  Spiher  was  elected 
President;  I.  W.  Markley,  Clerk;  L.  A.  Luckenbill,  Financial  Secretary;  W.  J. 
Beatty,  Treasurer.  The  Committee  on  Temperance  consisted  of  Emma  Isenberg, 
Orlan  Fleck,  Geo.  E.  Piatt,  Mary  O.  McColley  and  Emma  Gearhart.  It  declared 
that  the  "liquor  traffic  is  blighting  homes,  wrecking  young  men,  and,  sad  to  say, 
young  women,  too;  breaking  mothers'  and  wives'  hearts,  causing  little  children  to 
become  beggars  and  homeless  wanderers  on  the  streets,  filling  our  jails  and  peni- 
tentiaries," and  therefore  the  people  of  the  Church  were  counseled  to  "do  what 
they  can  in  every  way  to  drive  this  enemy  of  mankind  from  our  land."  The 
preachers  were  "recommended  to  tell  from  their  pulpits  the  evil  effects  of  liquor 
upon  humanity."  One  minister,  J.  Hanna,  "was  called  from  labor  to  reward.  His 
age  was  83  years.  He  had  "labored  faithfully  all  these  years  in  the  interest  of 
his  Master's  cause."  He  was  "respected  and  loved  by  all."  He  had  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  "White  County  Conference  of  the  Church  of  God"  the  greater  part  of 
his  life,  where  he  was  instrumental  "in  bringing  many  precious  souls  to  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  truth."  The  Treasurer,  who  was  under  bond  in  the  sum  of  $10,000.00, 
held  balances  in  the  different  Funds  aggregating  $3,854.34.  The  Board  of 
Trustees  found  it  necessary  to  institute  legal  proceedings  against  certain  disloyal 
parties  to  get  "possession  of  the  church  property  in  the  town  of  Akron,  Fulton 
county."  The  church  property  at  Indianapolis  was  also  in  litigation,  but  the  case 
"was  settled  by  compromise,"  but  it  cost  the  Board  $384.30.  The  diversion  of 
money  to  uses  different  from  the  original  intention  was  disapproved,  and  money 
so  used  was  ordered  to  be  "returned  to  the  Fund  so  diverted."  The  Eldersnip 
emphatically  approved  the  efforts  in  progress  "to  bring  about  union  in  our  foreign 
mission  work,"  through  "the  duly  appointed  Commission  and  the  Board  of  Mis- 
sions of  the  General  Eldership."  Mission  work  was  directed  to  be  opened  in  In- 
dianapolis "this  year,  if  a  suitable  man  and  means  can  be  procured."  The  Station- 
ing Committee,  consisting  of  three  laymen  and  two  ministers,  made  sixteen  ap- 
pointments, and  named  four  General  Evangelists. 

eSrd  Indiana  Eldership. — The  "Eldership  Roster  for  190  8"  contained  the 
names  of  forty  ministers  and  forty-one  elders  and  delegates.  One  of  the  former 
and  five  of  the  latter  were  women.  The  annual  session  was  held  at  Zanesville, 
Wells  county,  September  26th  to  30th,  but  the  first  sitting  was  on  Monday  morn- 
ing, the  28th.  Saturday  evening  and  on  Sabbath  there  were  preaching  services, 
the  Opening  Sermon  being  delivered  Sabbath  evening,  by  J.  E.  McColley.  The 
Eldership  elected  H.  H.  Spiher,  President;  J.  E.  McColley,  Clerk;  L.  A.  Luckenbill, 
Financial  Secretary;  W.  J.  Beatty,  Treasurer.  Considerable  anxiety  was  expressed 
with  reference  to  "the  slow  growth  of  the  churches  of  God  in  the  State  of  In- 
diana," and  accordingly  it  was  decided  to  "take  action  in  the  election  of  a  Board 
of  Missions,  choosing  not  less  than  three  of  the  best  business  men,  with  others,  to 
execute  plans,  ways  and  means  of  gathering  funds  in  behalf  of  the  Permanent 
State  Missionary  and  Extension  Funds,  to  swell  these  Funds  to  at  least  $10,000.00, 
to  the  end  that  we  shall  be  enabled  to  push  the  Church  work  more  earnestly  and 
thoroughly  in  the  State,  especially  in  the  cities."  A  Board  of  Education  was  also 
to  be  elected,  "whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  make  diligent  search  for  young  men  who 
realize  a  call  to  the  gospel  ministry,  and  to  devise  ways  and  secure  means  in  a 
financial  way  and  otherwise  to  assist  all  worthy  persons  to  enter  Findlay  Theo- 
logical Department  and  secure  a  good  education."  The  lawsuit  against  the 
trustees  of  the  church  at  Idaville  was  "compromised  in  consideration  of  the^sum 
of  $400.00  paid  to  said  trustees."  The  spiritual  condition  of  the  churches  in 
southern  Indiana  was  reported  to  be  "poor,  and  on  the  decline;"  but  in  the  north- 
ern part  of  the  State  there  was  "a  very  marked  degree  of  improvement,  and  con- 
ditions generally  compared  favorably  with,  and  were  even  better  than  in,  recent 
years."  The  loss  by  death  of  two  ministers,  "who  passed  to  the  heavenly  home," 
was  deeply  felt.  These  were  Joseph  Neil  and  J.  W.  Swingfellow,  "for  many  years 
members  of  our  Eldership."  "They  did  good  work  for  Christ  and  the  Church." 
The  Eldership  gave  its  "endorsement  of  the  work  and  agreed  to  join  hands  with 
every  organization  that  has  for  its  aim  the  total  annihilation  of  the  liquor  traffic." 
It  also  condemned  "the  habitual  use  of  naracotics,"  as  its  tendency  is  "to  under- 
mine physical  health,  impair  mental  activity  and  impede  spiritual  growth."  And 
it  enjoined  on  all  "to  be  temperate  in  all  things."      Each  minister  was  "requested 


Indiana   Eldership  45^ 

to  preach  a  rousing  missionary  sermon  to  his  several  congregations  previous  ta 
Thanksgiving,"  suggested  by  the  early  departure  of  Miss  Mary  Witsaman,  one  of 
their  number,  as  missionary  to  India. 

64th  Indiana  Eldership. — The  work  of  the  General  Eldership  of  1909  in 
finally  disposing  of  the  problems  connected  with  the  Woman's  General  Missionary 
Societies  was  cordially  approved  by  the  Indiana  Eldership.  It  also  "noted  with 
joy  the  great  success  of  the  Indiana  State  W.  M.  S.,  favored  by  the  Lord,  and  most 
graciously  growing  in  the  number  of  societies,  members  and  strength."  But  it 
realized  that  "a  crisis  has  come,  as  we  see  it,  when  we  must  plead  for  more  home 
missionary  funds  for  India.  Many  of  our  church  houses  in  city  and  country 
are  standing  idle,  with  new  fields  calling  for  help,  and  our  Eldership  is  shrinking, 
up,  as  there  is  a  great  dearth  of  available  men  for  our  pulpits.  "We  lack  men 
because  we  lack  funds."  With  such  sentiments  pervading  the  Eldership,  it  con- 
vened with  the  church  at  Shiloh,  Daviess  county,  Saturday,  September  26,  1909. 
On  Sunday  evening  I.  W.  Markley  delivered  the  Annual  Address.  Seventy-eight 
names  were  placed  on  the  "Roster"  by  the  Committee  on  Credentials.  The  elec- 
tion resulted  in  the  choice  of  H.  H.  Spiher  for  President;  I.  W.  Markley,  Clerk;  L. 
A.  Luckenbill,  Financial  Secretary;  W.  J.  Beatty,  Treasurer.  The  W.  M.  S.  regu- 
larly met  with  the  Eldership,  and  its  officers  and  committees  were  placed  on  the 
"Official  Directory."  There  was  also  a  Young  People's  Alliance,  which  held  an 
annual  meeting  at  the  time  and  place  of  the  Ministerial  Association,  the  Sunday- 
school  Convention  and  the  Pentecostal  meeting.  All  were  under  the  direct  con- 
trol of  the  Eldership.  The  presence  of  O.  A.  Newlin,  Field  Secretary  of  Findlay 
College,  gave  added  inspiration  touching  educational  interests.  The  body  ex- 
pressed its  belief  that  "Findlay  College  is  doing  all  in  its  power  to  meet  the  need 
of  Christian  education,"  and  pledged  its  hearty  support  to  said  school.  An  assess- 
ment was  made  on  each  church  annually  for  the  College,  to  meet  the  Eldership 
pledge,  and  each  church  received  credit  for  amounts  paid,  and  was  charged  with 
its  assessments  plus  any  delinquencies.  Initial  steps  were  taken  to  establish  a 
Church  Extension  Fund.  The  Eldership  became  conscious  that  it  had  heretofore 
"not  paid  the  attention  to  Sunday-school  work  during  its  sessions  that  it  should," 
and  hence  decided  that  "each  year  there  shall  be  devoted  at  least  two  hours  one 
day  to  discussing  questions  pertaining"  thereto.  The  Minutes  were  also  to  "give 
the  enrollment  of  each  Sunday-school."  There  were  thirty-five  schools.  Each 
local  church  in  the  Eldership  was  "urged  to  open  at  least  one  mission  work  during 
this  year,  looking  toward  the  formation  of  a  new  church  organization."  There 
were  fourteen  fields  of  labor,  but  three  were  unsupplied.  J.  Bumpus  and  W.  W. 
liovett  were  appointed  General  Evangelists. 

65th  Indiana  Eldership. — During  the  year  1909-10  the  Board  of  Trustees 
paid  on  the  Eldership's  Findlay  College  Note  the  sum  of  $590.00,  reducing  it  to 
$1,132.45.  It  also  paid  $725.00  to  the  trustees  of  the  Fort  Wayne  church  of 
God,  and  secured  to  the  Eldership  the  deed  to  said  property.  Its  other  Funds 
were  in  fair  condition,  and  "the  state  of  religion"  was  "improving."  Under  these 
more  auspicious  surroundings  the  Eldership  convened  for  its  sixty-fifth  annual 
session  at  Evergreen  Bethel,  Whitley  county,  September  24,  1910,  J.  R.  Omwig 
preaching  on  said  evening;  O.  A.  Newlin,  on  Sabbath  morning,  and  L.  B.  Fretz  de- 
livered the  Annual  Address  in  the  evening.  The  election  at  Monday  morning's 
sitting  resulted  in  the  choice  of  H.  H.  Spiher  for  President;  W.  W.  Johnson,  Clerk; 
L.  A.  Luckenbill,  Financial  Secretary;  W.  J.  Beatty,  Treasurer.  At  the  afternoon 
sitting  "an  earnest  sermon,  by  N.  S.  Bmndage,"  was  the  first  item.  H.  H.  Spiher 
and  L.  A.  Luckenbill  were  elected  delegates  to  the  World's  Christian  Conference, 
to  be  held  in  Philadelphia,  November  16-20,  1910.  The  need  of  ministers  to  serve 
as  pastors  was  keenly  felt  by  the  Eldership,  although  the  "Roster"  contained  the 
names  of  thirty-eight,  and  the  fields  of  labor  numbered  but  sixteen.  Two  of  these 
the  Eldership  failed  to  supply  with  pastors.  Churches  were  solicited  "earnestly 
to  seek  for  young  men  who  may  realize  a  call  to  the  gospel  ministry,  and  en- 
courage them  to  take  up  the  work."  Money  was  also  needed,  as  "the  fields  are 
large  and  the  harvest  ripe  for  gathering."  In  temperance  work  the  chief  interest 
centered  in  efforts  to  prevent  "the  tearing  down  of  legislation  along  temperance 
lines."  Local  option  was  declared  a  failure  by  the  opponents  of  temperance  legis- 
lation, which  the  Eldership  affirmed  that  "statistics  prove  is  not  true."  The  Eld- 
ership endorsed  the  local  option  law,  and  "pledged  itself  to  support  the  same,  at 
the  same  time  doing  all  in  our  power  to  make  it  State  and  world  wide."  "At  the 
ripe  age  of  81  years,  Isaac  J.  AVhisennand  fell  asleep  in  Jesus."      For  half  a  cen- 


452  History   of  the  Churches  op   God 

tury  he  had  most  earnestly  contended  for  what  he  believed  to  be  the  faith  de- 
livered to  the  saints.  He  was  an  earnest  preacher  and  a  hard  worker  on  many 
fields  of  labor  in  the  Eldership.  By  the  payment  of  $600.00  on  the  debt  of  the 
chui'ch  at  Auburn,  the  Eldership  secured  a  deed  in  fee  simple  to  said  property. 
To  raise  the  standard  of  education  in  the  Eldership,  it  was  "demanded  that  every 
one  coming  into  the  Eldership  for  the  purpose  of  preaching  the  gospel  must  com- 
plete the  Course  of  Studies  prescribed  in  1906,  or  its  equivalent."  Regular  assess- 
ments were  made  by  the  Committee  on  Finance  on  each  church  for  Indiana  Con- 
tingent Fund,  General  Eldership  Mission  Fund,  and  Contingent  Fund,  and  Findlay 
College  Fund.  A  well-matured  system  of  finance  characterized  the  Eldership,  and 
all  its  affairs  were  administered  in  an  orderly  manner  and  upon  business  prin- 
ciples. 

66th  Indiana  Eldership. — While  as  yet  mission  work  projected  for  Indianapo- 
lis had  not  been  begun,  the  "Indianapolis  Mission  Fund"  had  to  its  credit  $265.70. 
One  of  the  drawbacks  to  successful  ministerial  work  in  church  building  was  the 
■worldly  occupations  of  ministers.  Against  this  the  Eldership  noW  protested,  de- 
claring "that,  so  far  as  practicable,  ministers  should  have  no  other  occupation." 
Keglect  of  the  observance  of  the  ordinances  was  to  be  remedied  by  requiring  "each 
minister  to  deliver  at  least  one  sermon  a  year  upon  the  subject  of  the  ordinances," 
and  it  was  recommended  that  "each  church  attend  to  the  ordinances  at  least  once 
«very  quarter."  And  to  increase  the  spirituality  of  the  churches  "each  household 
in  the  Eldership  be  urged  to  re-establish  the  family  altar  of  worship."  An  ag- 
gressive spirit  was  manifested  by  the  Eldership,  and  it  expressed  a  consuming 
desire  to  see  "the  work  grow  and  its  field  of  usefulness  enlarged,  by  building  up 
our  present  churches  and  organizing  many  others  in  our  cities  and  the  country- 
sides of  this  great  State."  The  ministry  and  churches  were  "appealed  to,  to  de- 
vise ways  and  means  to  help  in  our  home  field  in  encouraging  a  forward  mission- 
ary movement."  The  Eldership  was  presided  over  by  H.  H.  Spiher;  I.  W.  Markley, 
Clerk;  M.  W.  Johnson,  Reading  Clerk;  L.  A.  Luckenbill,  Financial  Clerk;  W.  J. 
Beatty,  Treasurer.  Two  ministers  who  withdrew  from  the  Eldership  in  1903, 
Alpheus  McClellen  and  E.  Tatman,  made  overtures  to  return,  upon  the  condition 
"that  all  troubles  and  variances  heretofore  existing  between  this  body  and  them- 
selves be  buried  under  the  Blood,  and  remembered  no  more,"  and  "the  Eldersnip 
by  a  rising  vote  invited  them  to  return."  W.  W.  Welling's  naxnjs  as  a  licentiate 
■was  placed  on  the  Roll,  and  Sarah  A.  Waltz  received  exhorter's  license.  The  Eld- 
ership resolved  to  "agree  before  God,  that  at  the  ballot  box  and  in  every  other  way 
it  will  try  to  put  down  the  great  curse  of  the  rum  traffic."  During  the  Eldership 
year  two  ministers,  E.  M.  Love  and  C.  R.  Davis,  were  called  to  receive  "the  reward 
•of  the  righteous  in  the  land  beyond  the  river."  Memorial  services  were  held  in 
their  honor,  and  their  faithful  services  were  reviewed  by  those  who  knew  them 
best.  Love  was  ordained  in  1871,  by  the  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership, 
and  came  Into  the  Indiana  Eldership  when  the  two  were  united.  Except  a  few 
years  spent  in  Illinois,  he  labored  within  the  territory  of  the  Elderships  in  Indiana. 
He  was  a  diligent,  faithful  worker,  and  a  beloved  pastor.  Davis  was  first  ordained 
by  the  West  Ohio  Eldership,  in  1880;  but  for  the  past  nine  years  was  a  member 
of  the  Indiana  Eldership,  but  lived  most  of  this  time  in  Michigan,  where  he  died. 
After  making  appointments  to  eleven  stations  and  seven  circuits,  "the  Eldership 
spent  half  an  hour  in  a  praise  meeting"  before  final  adjournment. 

67th  Indiana  Eldership. — The  session  of  the  Indiana  Eldership  in  1912  re- 
viewed the  year's  work  with  a  measure  of  gratification.  Spiritual  conditions  were 
"better  than  some  years  ago,"  though  improvement  was  possible,  and  the  Elder- 
ship aimed  "to  raise  the  standard  still  higher."  A  "Young  People's  Union  of 
Sunday-schools  and  Christian  Endeavor  Societies"  had  been  organized,  and  the 
Constitution  submitted  by  the  Committee  of  the  Eldership  was  adopted.  It  was 
a  very  complete  document,  always  subject  to  approval  by  the  Eldership,  as  was 
that  of  the  W.  M.  S.  The  presence  of  Viola  G.  Hershey,  returned  missionary  from 
India,  gave  fresh  inspiration  to  the  work  of  the  W.  M.  S.  and  the  Eldership,  with 
which  it  was  so  closely  identified.  The  session  was  held  at  Ari,  Allen  county,  be- 
ginning with  religious  services  on  Saturday  evening,  September  2  8th.  On  Sab- 
bath evening  W.  W.  Lovett  delivered  the  Annual  Sermon.  During  the  year  H.  H. 
Spiher,  President  of  the  Eldership,  "resigned  and  returned  his  Certificate  of  Ordi- 
nation to  the  Standing  Committee  of  his  own  will."  Seventy-seven  names  were 
placed  on  the  "Eldership  Roster" — 3  6  ministers,  27  ruling  elders  and  14  delegates 
— a  majority  of  which  was  present.     A  membership  fee  of  $1.00  was  charged.      Of- 


Iowa  Eldership  453 

ficers  and  standing  committees  and  boards  were  chosen,  as  follows:  President, 
W.  W.  Lovett;  Clerk,  Thos.  M.  Funk;  Financial  Secretary,  L,  A.  Liuckenbill; 
Treasurer,  W.  J.  Beatty;  Standing  Committee,  J.  E.  McColley,  J.  G.  Wise,  H.  G. 
Herendeen,  I.  W.  Markley,  Geo.  E.  Komp;  Board  of  Trustees,  I.  W,  Markley,  W. 
W.  Lovett,  Li.  a.  Luckenbill;  Stationing  Committee,  J.  E.  McColley,  H.  G.  Heren- 
deen (ministers),  J.  D.  Anglin,  W.  J.  Beatty,  S.  Butt  (ruling  elders).  The  num- 
bei''  of  funds,  all  in  fair  condition,  evidence  the  good  financial  system  of  the  Elder- 
ship. These  are  Indiana  Contingent,  General  Eldership  Missionary,  G.  E.  Con- 
tingent, Findlay  College,  Superannuated,  Fort  Wayne  Mission,  Permanent  Mission, 
Church  Extension,  Widows',  Indianapolis.  The  Eldership  kept  all  interests  and 
organizations  rigidly  under  its  general  supervision.  The  W.  M.  S.,  with  its  own 
organization  and  Constitution  and  Rules,  was  in  close  relation  with  the  Eldership. 
It  made  an  annual  report  to  the  Eldership,  which,  with  its  Minutes,  was  published 
in  connection  with  the  Eldership  Journal.  In  like  manner  the  Young  People's 
Convention  and  Ministerial  Association  made  an  annual  report,  and  the  place  for 
holding  the  annual  meetings  was  selected  by  the  Eldership.  The  annual  mis- 
sionary sermon  was  preached  Monday  evening,  by  J.  G.  Wise.  There  were  some 
"unoccupied  church  houses"  in  the  Eldership  territory,  which  were  "ordered  to 
be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  said  Board  to  use  its  own  discre- 
tion as  to  the  disposition  thereof."  Among  these  was  the  church  property  at 
Greensburg,  which,  however,  the  trustees  "were  authorized  to  sell  immediately." 
Fart  of  the  Wednesday  evening  sitting  was  "set  apart  for  special  prayer  for 
greater  union  and  harmony  in  all  phases  of  our  work  throughout  the  General 
Eldership."  The  adoption  of  the  system  of  Graded  Lessons  for  use  in  the  Sun- 
day-schools was  recommended  to  the  General  Eldership.  Every  Sunday-school 
was  urged  to  "establish  a  Teachers'  Training  Course,"  and  "those  only  who  have 
completed  the  Course  to  be  chosen  for  teachers."  The  Eldership  affirmed  that 
"the  churches  of  God  in  the  Indiana  Eldership  stand  as  the  representatives  of  the 
highest  type  of  citizenship  in  the  communities  of  the  State,"  and  hence  the 
"Church  records  itself  as  being  unequivocally  opposed  to  intemperance  in  all  its 
departments."  The  Eldership  was  not  ready  to  "establish  uniformity  in  the 
method  of  observing  the  ordinances,  the  same  to  be  in  harmony  with,  and  conform 
to,  the  method  approved  by  the  General  Eldership,"  and  so  "laid  on  the  table"  a 
resolution  to  that  effect.  A  Transcribing  Clerk  was  provided  for.  The  Stationing 
Committee  made  appointments  to  sixteen  fields  of  labor,  and  appointed  six  Gen- 
eral Evangelists.  Three  young  men  "were  ordained  to  the  ministry  in  the  Churcti 
of  God." 


V.     THE   IOWA   ELDERSHIP. 


1st  Iowa  Eldership. — Iowa  was  geographically  not  connected  with  the  terri- 
tory of  any  other  Eldership.  While  Indiana  had  no  boundaries  on  the  West, 
North  or  South,  it  could  not  claim  Iowa  as  part  of  its  territory.  Ohio  had  sent  S. 
Scott  as  a  "missionary  to  Iowa,"  in  184  4.  E.  Logue  was  sent  to  Iowa  by  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  184  5,  and  reappointed  in  184  6,  and  J.  Hawk  was  ap- 
pointed as  his  colleague  in  1847,  yet  neither  of  these  Elderships  claimed  jurisdic- 
tion over  that  territory.  The  brethren  were  free  to  act  for  themselves,  except  in 
so  far  as  they  might  be  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  General  Eldership.  But 
this  question  seems  not  to  have  been  raised.  Informally  a  meeting  was  arranged 
for,  to  consist  "of  the  teaching  and  ruling  elders  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Iowa, 
to  convene  at  the  home  of  David  Neff,  two  miles  west  of  Trenton,  Henry  county, 
Iowa,  on  Monday,  the  18th  of  September,  1848,  to  hold  consultation  in  reference 
to  a  more  orderly  system  of  co-operation  as  a  brotherhood."  Six  brethren  re- 
sponded to  this  call,  viz.:  teaching  elde'rs,  Jonathan  Hawk,  Samuel  Scott  and 
Emanuel  Logue;  ruling  elders,  Jacob  Smith,  John  Zentmyer  and  A.  G.  McCormick. 
After  "some  deliberations,"  they  "mutually  resolved  upon  forming  ourselves  into 
a  regularly  organized  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  in  the  State  of  Iowa,"  and 
enrolled  "as  worthy  of  membership"  the  above-mentioned  teaching  and  ruling 
elders.      Then  they  elected  Jonathan  Hawk,  Speaker,  and  Emanuel  Logue,  Clerk. 

Jonathan  Hawk  was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  and  when  not  traveling  a  cir- 
cuit lived  in  the  Cumberland  Valley.  He  was  born  the  early  part  of  the  year 
1796;  died  October  22,  1875.      He  was  one  of  the  early  converts  under  the  preach- 


454 


History  of  the   Churches   of   God 


ing  of  the  United  Brethren  ministry,  before  Winebrenner  came  to  Harrisburg,  in 
the  year  1815.  When  he  heard  the  teaching  of  AVinebrenner  he  at  once  accepted 
the  truth,  and  soon  began  preaching  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  God.  In  1832 
he  received  his  first  license  from  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  For  about 
nine  years  he  served  four  of  the  large  circuits  of  the  Eldership.  In  1841  and 
1842  he  labored  in  a  local  capacity.  In  1845  and  1846  he  made  no  report  to  the 
Eldership,  but  his  relation  was  continued.  In  1847  he  removed  to  Iowa,  and  at 
the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  October,  1847,  he  was  appointed  to  the  Iowa 
Mission.  Of  limited  education,  he  was  a  useful  minister  of  the  gospel.  "He  was 
a  fireside  preacher,  one  who  loved  to  feed  the  lambs  of  the  flock,  and  lead  them 
out."      He  enjoyed  many  precious  revivals  during  his  active  ministry. 

Logue  offered  eight  resolutions,  which  "were  considered  and  agreed  to." 
These  resolutions  declare,  first,  that  "the  New  Testament  is  the  only  authoritative 
rule  of  faith  and  practice  in  matters  of  religion,  and  an  all-sufficient  law  for  the 
rule  and  government  of  the  church  and  people  of  God."  Second,  that  "no  per- 
sons are  legal  subjects  or  members  of  the  Church  of  God  but  those  who  are  born 
of  God."  Third,  that  "it  is  the  duty  of  the  members  of  this  Eldership,  with  the 
members  of  the  several  congregations,  to  do  all  they  can  to  extend  the  borders  of 
the  Church,  and  to  keep  the  same  pure."  Fourth,  that  "this  Eldership  disapprove 
of  secret  and  lodge  meetings,  such  as  Masonry,  Odd  Fellowship,  Sons  of  Temper- 


Jonathan   Hawk. 


ance,  etc.,  and  that  no  persons  belonging  and  attending  to  those  meetings  shall  be 
members  of  this  body."  Fifth,  that  "we  approve  of  a  General  Eldership,  com- 
posed of  delegates  from  the  several  Annual  Elderships,  and  that  said  General 
Eldership  should  transact  such  business  as  is  of  a  general  character  for  the  An- 
nual Elderships  and  the  General  Eldership ;  but  not  to  enact  laws  for  the 

government  of  either  the  Church  or  the  Annual  Elderships."  Sixth,  highly  ap- 
proving of  "Sabbath-schools  when  properly  conducted."  Seventh,  that  "the  teach- 
ing and  ruling  elders  of  the  Church  are  the  proper  persons  to  license  and  recom- 
mend to  the  Church  and  to  the  world  those  who  are  to  preach  the  gospel  and  ad- 
minister the  ordinances  of  God's  house."  Eighth,  that  "no  persons  are  properly 
fit  for  the  gospel  ministry  but  those  who  are  experimentally  converted  to  God,  and 
whose  preaching  and  practice  are  in  harmony  with  the  gospel  of  Christ  and  the 
practice  of  the  first  church."  The  Eldership  also  declared  in  favor  of  annual 
licenses.  Of  the  three  teaching  elders  Logne  consented  "to  travel  and  preach  the 
coming  year"  "in  case  he  could  be  sustained  as  such."  Hawk  and  Scott  "promised 
to  preach  as  local  preachers,  and  assist  in  holding  protracted  meetings  as  much 
as  they  could."  Accordingly  Logne  was  by  resolution  made  "the  traveling 
preacher  the  coming  year,"  the  Eldership  promising  to  "do  all  we  can  to  see  him 
sustained."  A  call  was  made  on  the  East  for  traveling  preachers  "greatly  needed 
in  this  new  western  country."  But  Logue  received  "leave  of  absence  from  Iowa 
till  next  Spring,"  thus  throwing  the  whole  work  on  Hawk  and  Scott. 


Iowa  Eldership  455 

2nd  Iowa  Eldership. — During  the  year  1849  emigrants  from  Pennsylvania 
and  Ohio  reached  Iowa  in  considerable  numbers.  Among  these  were  M.  F. 
Suavely  and  party  from  the  Cumberland  Valley,  Pa.,  who  left  April  18,  1849,  and 
Jacob  Lininger,  with  half  a  dozen  families  from  Bedford  and  Huntingdon  counties, 
who  started  westward  in  October.  Both  located  in  Johnson  county,  Iowa. 
Snavely  and  Lininger  were  ministers  in  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Suavely 
reached  Iowa  in  time  for  the  second  Eldership,  which  was  again  held  at  the  house 
of  David  Neff,  near  Trenton,  Henry  county,  Iowa,  September  17,  1849.  Besides 
Snavely,  Hawk  and  Scott  were  the  teaching  elders  enrolled,  and  Jacob  Smith,  John 
Zentniyer  and  John  McCorniick,  ruling  elders.  Logue  had  not  returned,  and  the 
Eldership  resolved  that  "Elder  Logue  is  highly  censurable  for  taking  license  from 
this  Eldership  last  Fall,  and  promising  to  travel  as  minister  the  present  year,  and 
then  immediately  after  taking  license  from  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  with- 
out asking  leave,  or  obtaining  a  transfer,  thus  forfeiting  his  promise  and  dis- 
appointing the  churches."  Hawk  was  elected  Speaker,  and  Scott,  Clerk.  There 
were  no  applicants  for  license,  and  no  appointments  of  preachers  were  made,  as 
no  one  "consented  to  travel  the  next  year."  A  resolution  was  adopted  to  "use 
proper  exertions  to  swell  the  pledge  list  in  order  to  sustain  a  missionary  in  Iowa." 
J.  Hawk  was  appointed  "to  preach  a  sermon  at  the  opening  of  the  next  Annual 
Eldership." 

3rd  Iowa  Eldership. — In  185  0,  North  Bend,  Johnson  county,  always  a  strong 
point  in  the  Iowa  Eldership,  entertained  that  body,  which  began  its  brief  session 
on  October  7th.  Five  names  were  enrolled  as  members,  viz.:  Teaching  elders — • 
M.  F.  Snavely,  Jonathan  Hawk  and  Samuel  Scott.  Ruling  elders — Jonathan  Hawk 
and  J.  McCormick.  Hawk  was  also  a  minister.  He  was  elected  Speaker,  and 
S.  Scott,  Clerk.  J.  Lininger,  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  having  removed 
to  North  Bend,  made  application  to  become  a  member,  and  was  received  and  a 
license  granted,  without  being  transferred.  He  was  a  tall,  broad-shouldered  man, 
with  a  clean-shaven,  rugged  face,  a  man  of  strong  force  of  character  and  remark- 
able physical  and  mental  powers.  A  circuit  preacher  of  great  usefulness  in  the 
East,  he  did  "not  feel  so  much  in  his  element  as  when  traveling  constantly  in  the 
ministry."  Snavely  did  not  do  so  much  active  work  after  his  removal  to  Iowa 
from  Pennsylvania.  Hawk  reported  that  he  "preached  but  little  for  want  of  the 
English  language."  Scott  preached  at  "four  stated  appointments,  in  regular  ro- 
tation;" "witnessed  some  eighteen  conversions,  and  organized  one  church." 
Logue  brought  "charges  against  this  Eldership  and  certain  of  the  brethren  in 
Iowa,"  but  his  letter  was  "laid  on  the  table."  The  Eldership  "recommended  to 
the  brethren  in  Iowa  the  propriety  of  receiving  funds  by  voluntary  contributions,  at 
such  times  and  in  such  ways  as  they  in  their  wisdom  may  think  best,  for  benevolent 
purposes."  After  appointing  a  Standing  Committee  of  three,  the  Eldership  closed 
without  making  any  appointments. 

4th  Iowa  Eldership. — When  in  1851,  the  Iowa  Eldership,  on  October  13th 
opened  its  sessions  near  Trenton,  Henry  county,  there  was  a  notable  increase  in 
ministerial  strength.  The  enrollment  showed  the  presence  of  the  three  teaching 
elders  of  the  third  session,  with  M.  F.  Snavely  absent,  and  four  ruling  elders.  But 
A.  Megi*ew,  missionary,  and  Wm.  Vance  were  present  and  became  members.  D. 
Gill,  through  A.  Megrew,  applied  for  membership,  and  was  received  and  a  license 
granted  him.  Jacob  Lininger  was  made  Speaker,  and  A.  G.  McCoi-mick,  Clerk. 
A  committee  appointed  for  that  purpose  reported  nine  "Rules  of  Order  for  the 
government  of  the  Eldership."  No  appointments  were  made,  but  Megrew  was 
authorized  to  "use  his  own  judgment  in  preaching  in  the  State  wherever  he  has 
an  opportunity  of  doing  the  most  good."  Winebrenner  had  addressed  a  letter  to 
the  Eldership  with  reference  to  a  "Printing  Establishment;"  but  as  it  referred  to  a 
"suggestion"  in  the  paper  of  October  1st,  which  had  not  yet  reached  the  Eldership, 
no  action  was  taken.  Only  Samuel  Scott,  in  addition  to  Megrew,  "consented  to 
travel  as  a  missionary  in  the  State  of  Iowa  during  the  coming  Eldership  year." 
Megrew  was  instructed  to  "write  a  letter  to  the  Board  of  Missions,  requesting  the 
Board  [East  Pennsylvania  Eldership]  to  send  another  missionary  to  labor  in  this 
State." 

5th  Iowa  Eldership. — Seven  teaching  elders,  two  of  them  absent,  and  four 
ruling  elders  constituted  the  fifth  Iowa  Eldership,  which  convened  at  the  Vir- 
ginia School-house,  Des  Moines  county,  Iowa,  October  11,  1852.  A.  Megrew  was 
chosen  Speaker,  and  Samuel  Scott,  Clerk.  The  Committee  on  Minutes  of  Elder- 
ship of  1851  called  attention  to  the  request  from  Winebi-enner,  which  related  to 


456  History   of  the   Churches  of   God 

"a  New  Printing  Establishment."  The  Eldership  agreed  to  "co-operate  in  the 
New  Printing  Establishment  on  the  proposition  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship, viz.:  That  the  debt  now  on  the  old  establishment  be  first  liquidated."  It 
also  endorsed  the  "25-cent  system  for  the  payment  of  Winebrenner's  claim."  The 
Eldership  disapproved  "of  all  Secret  Societies,  such  as  Free  Masons,  Odd  Fellows 
and  Sons  of  Temperance."  Only  "Wm.  Vance  agreed  to  travel,  provided  he  could 
be  supported."  The  session  lasted  one  day,  Monday.  On  that  evening  Megrew 
preached  on  Feet-washing,  after  which  the  ordinances  were  observed.  There  were 
promising  openings  for  Church  work,  but  the  great  hindrance  was  lack  of  support, 
and  so  the  ministers  labored  chiefly  in  the  neighborhoods  where  they  lived. 
"Traveling  was  almost  wholly  by  horse-back,  and  roads  were  practically  unknown, 
and  in  many  places  a  mere  track  across  the  prairie,  where  it  was  often  a  dozen 
or  twenty  miles  from  one  house  to  another." 

6th  Iowa  Eldership.^ — Again  in  1853,  the  Iowa  Eldership  convened  in  Des 
Moines  county,  on  October  17th,  near  Dodgeville.  Five  ministers  were  present, 
and  two  were  absent;  with  two  ruling  elders,  and  one  delegate.  A  Megrew  was 
chosen  Speaker,  and  M.  F.  Suavely,  Clerk.  The  Rules  of  Order  of  "the  last  yearly 
meeting"  were  adopted.  J.  Lininger  had  been  preaching  during  the  year  on  "the 
Iowa  Mission."  Megi'ew  only  preached  during  the  Winter  of  1852-3.  Vance  had 
"kept  up  two  regular  appointments."  Up  to  May,  1853,  Snavely  had  supplied 
"Clear  Creek  every  four  weeks,  and  Lancaster  school-house  every  two  weeks." 
Gill  had  "preached  as  much  as  circumstances  admitted  of."  Hawk  and  Scott  had 
not  been  heard  from.  The  Standing  Committee  was  made  the  Camp-meeting  Com- 
mittee. Notwithstanding  there  were  seven  regular  ministers  in  Iowa,  the  Eldership 
though  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  did  not  treat  it 
right  "in  reference  to  their  call  through  their  Standing  Committee  for  ministerial 
aid;"  that  they  "feel  aggrieved  and  call  for  redress  of  the  same,  by  sending  us  (and 
sustaining)  an  efficient  minister  for  the  next  Eldership  year."  A  resolution  was 
adopted  asking  "the  brotherhood  in  this  and  all  other  States  to  use  their  infiuence 
in  every  reasonable  and  lawful  way  to  have  a  Prohibitory  Law  passed  in  every 
State,  similar  to  that  known  as  the  'Maine  Liquor  Law.'  "  Also  one  "in  favor  of 
a  better  observance  of  the  Lord's  day,"  and  one  against  "the  use  of  that  filthy 
and  noxious  weed  called  tobacco."  The  Eldership  emphatically  "disapprobate 
the  holding  of  any  human  being  in  slavery without  giving  a  reasonable  com- 
pensation." David  Gill  and  M.  F.  Snavely  "finally  consented  to  travel  the  ensuing 
year."  Gill  was  to  supply  Linn  and  Cedar  circuit;  and  Snavely  the  Des  Moines 
and  Louisa  circuit.     One  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership  was  appointed. 

7th  Iowa  Eldership. — The  seventh  Iowa  Eldership  is  the  first  at  which  the 
record  was  made  that  "the  opening  discourse  was  delivered,"  although  several 
times  before  a  minister  was  appointed  for  that  purpose.  This  Eldership  met  at 
North  Bend,  in  the  new  bethel,  Johnson  county,  October  2,  1854.  Megrew 
preached  the  Opening  Sermon  at  "9  o'clock  a.  m."  Five  teaching  elders  were 
present,  and  two  were  absent.  There  were  enrolled  two  ruling  elders  and  one 
delegate.  A.  Megrew  was  elected  Speaker,  and  Nicholas  Zeller,  Clerk.  The  first 
applicants  to  the  Iowa  Eldership  for  license  appeared  at  this  Eldership,  all  the 
others  having  been  licensed  by  the  East  Pennsylvania,  West  Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio 
Elderships.  These  new  men  were  F.  F.  Kiner  and  J.  Funk.  Eleven  "Standing 
Rules  for  the  Eldership  were  adopted,  one  of  which  provided  that  "ministers  be- 
longing to  the  Eldership,  elders  and  delegates  shall  be  entitled  to  vote,  and  all 
others  whom  this  body  is  willing  to  receive."  Provision  was  made  for  statistical 
reports  by  each  minister,  including  "amount  received  as  support,"  "and  report  the 
same  at  our  yearly  meeting."  "The  brethren  and  sisters  of  the  churches  of  God" 
were  urged  "to  contribute  their  free-will  offerings  toward  aiding  in  the  education 
of  Ting-Ing-Kow."  The  Stationing  Committee  again  divided  the  territory  into 
two  circuits;  named  three  ministers  as  "Home  Missionaries,"  and  one  "Mission- 
ary at  Large."  Michael  F.  Snavely,  appointed  to  t)es  Moines  and  Louisa  circuit, 
in  "a  little  more  than  a  month  after  this  Eldership  adjourned,  was  removed  from 
his  labors  on  earth  by  death,  resulting  from  injury  in  a  railroad  wreck  near 
Joliett,  111."  "He  was  yet  in  his  prime,  with  possibilities  of  great  usefulness  in 
the  Church." 

8th  Iowa  Eldership. — An  increase  of  four  ministers  brought  the  enrollment 
of  the  Eldership  in  1855  up  to  eight,  with  four  ruling  elders  and  four  delegates. 
These  new  men  were  A.  J.  Fenton  and  Philip  Shaw,  of  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership;  William  Wilson,  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  H.  Murray, 


Iowa   Eldership  457 

of  the  Ohio  Eldership.  The  Eldership  convened  with  the  church  at  Grandview, 
Louisa  county,  Iowa,  on  Tuesday,  October  1st,  and  the  Opening  Sermon  was 
preached  at  10  a.  m.  by  Jacob  Liiiinger,  who  was  then  elected  Speaker,  with  A. 
Megrew,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  Henry  Funk,  Transcribing  Clerk.  In  the  Rules 
adopted  for  the  session  it  was  provided  that  "ministers  belonging  to  this  Eldership, 
elders  and  delegates  shall  be  entitled  to  a  vote,  and  all  others  whom  this  body  is 
willing  to  receive."  A  resolution  to  declare  it  "scriptural  to  receive  unbaptized 
persons  into  the  local  churches  of  God"  created  "considerable  debating,"  and  was 
then  "laid  on  the  table."  Another  resolution  which  provoked  "considerable  dis- 
cussion" was  adopted,  declaring  "that  this  body  will  not  receive  into  membership 
any  one  known  to  be  in  fellowship  with  Secret  Societies."  The  reasons  assigned- 
are:  •  "The  great  trouble  and  sore  aggrievances  in  other  bodies  arising  from  mem- 
bers thereof  uniting  with  Secret  Societies;"  and  because  the  Eldership  regarded 
"the  mingling  of  Christians  with  those  Societies  as  inexpedient  and  unbecoming." 
Unnecessary  "visiting  and  traveling  on  the  Sabbath  day"  was  condemned.  Pro- 
vision was  made  for  a  "Book  of  Record"  in  which  to  keep  the  "proceedings  of  this 
body."  The  four  circuits  and  two  missions  formed  by  the  committee  appointed 
for  that  purpose  were  supplied  with  eight  ministers.  A.  Hollems  had  come  from 
Ohio,  though  not  at  the  Eldership,  and  was  appointed  to  Grandview  circuit,  and 
George  Thomas  moved  from  Indiana  to  Iowa  and  was  made  the  missionary  on 
Guthrie  County  Mission.      The  Eldership  had  no  need  for  a  treasurer. 

9th  Iowa  Eldership. — Considerable  antagonism  had  developed  during  the  year, 
which  required  careful  handling  at  the  Eldership  which  assembled  at  Pleasant 
Prarie,  Buchanan  county,  Iowa,  October  20,  1856.  Grandview  had  become  a  sta- 
tion. There  were  eleven  organized  churches  in  the  State,  widely  scattered,  and 
fourteen  other  preaching  places,  with  a  total  membership  of  about  three  hundred 
and  ten.  A  "Constitution  of  the  Home  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Eldership"  was  adopted,  and  the  Society  organized.  The  most  serious  troubles 
before  the  Eldership  were  at  North  Bend,  the  Fenton  case,  the  case  of  "Father 
Jonathan  Hawk,"  and  the  difficulty  with  the  Illinois  Eldership.  "A  number  of  ex- 
pelled persons  of  North  Bend"  had  secured  the  services  of  George  Thomas  "in  vio- 
lation of  the  plan  of  co-operation."  As  he  "made  a  frank  and  open  confession," 
his  license  was  renewed  and  he  received  a  transfer  to  Illinois.  Fenton  had  re- 
moved to  Illinois,  leaving  under  charges;  had  not  "reported  to  this  body  either  in 
person  or  otherwise,  and  while  under  charges,  identified  himself  with  the  Illinois 
Eldership."  His  course  was  "highly  disapproved,"  and  he  was  required  to  "render 
satisfaction  to"  the  Eldership.  The  course  of  the  Illinois  Eldership  was  adjudged 
"improper  in  receiving  a  member  of  this  body  while  under  charges,  and  without 
our  consent,  and  in  violation  of  the  plan  of  co-operation  as  set  forth  in  the  Con- 
situation  of  the  General  Eldership."  When  Hawk's  name  was  called  a  committee 
was  "appointed  to  confer  with"  him.  The  committee  "under  existing  circumstances 
did  not  think  it  necessary  or  practicable  to  meet  with"  him;  the  "case  was  taken 
up  in  committee  of  the  whole,"  and  "after  some  deliberation"  it  was  decided  that 
"Hawk  is  no  longer  considered  worthy  of  membership."  From  this  action  Hawk 
appealed  to  the  General  Eldership  in  1857.  Churches  were  urged  to  build  parson- 
ages. "Calls  from  almost  every  direction  for  the  ministers  of  the  Church  of  God 
to  come  and  preach"  were  received;  but  the  Eldership  could  not  comply,  in  part 
because  "some  of  our  most  able  ministers  have  been,  and  are,  turning  their  atten- 
tion to  farming  and  mechanical  pursuits."  The  "inquitous  institution  of  Ameri- 
can Slavery"  was  utterly  condemned.  Delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  were 
elected,  and  also  two  delegates  to  the  Illinois  Eldership  in  1857.  There  are  eight 
fields  of  labor,  three  being  missions  and  one  a  station.  One  of  the  missions  was  in 
Davis  county,  on  the  Missouri  line. 

10th  Iowa  Eldership. — Three  accessions  to  the  ranks  of  the  Iowa  Eldership 
from  other  Elderships  encouraged  the  faithful  workers  when  they  convened  in 
annual  session  at  North  Bend,  Johnson  county,  Iowa,  October  19,  1857.  These 
were  D.  Wertz,  Illinois,  earlier  from  Ohio  and  West  Pennsylvania;  J.  J.  Miller, 
West  Pennsylvania,  but  first  licensed  in  East  Pennsylvania,  and  W.  H.  Mullenix, 
East  Pennsylvania.  The  enrollment  shows  the  presence  of  seven  teaching  elders, 
three  ruling  elders  and  two  delegates.  The  organization  was  effected  by  the  choice 
of  A.  Hollems  for  Speaker;  H.  Murray,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  J.  Huflf,  Transcrib- 
ing Clerk.  The  "official  conduct  of  their  delegates  in  the  General  Eldership"  was 
"highly  approved."  The  persistent  efforts  to  extend  slavery  into  new  sections  of 
the  territory  of  the  United  States,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Territory  of  Oregon, 
where  the  question  was  to  be  submitted  to  vote  of  the  people,  advocated  by  its 


458  History   of  the   Churches   of   God 

•delegate  in  Congress,  and  the  infamous  Dred  Scott  decision  by  Chief  Justice  Taney, 
of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  inspired  this  Eldership  to  denounce  the  de- 
cision as  "an  insult  against  the  Free  States,"  and  all  efforts  to  extend  slavery  as 
"inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  Christianity,"  and  the  institution  as  "an  infringe- 
ment upon  the  civil  rights  of  the  States."  The  conduct  of  the  Texas  brethren  is 
"highly  disapproved."  Complaint  is  made  by  the  Eldership  of  "a  disposition 
among  some  of  the  members  of  this  body  to  be  negligent  in  carrying  out  and  en- 
forcing upon  the  people  of  their  charge  the  resolutions  and  general  projects  of  this 
body,"  and  they  are  "earnestly  urged  to  be  more  diligent"  in  this  respect,  and  are 
threatened  with  the  "censure  of  this  body"  in  case  of  failure.  Ministers  and 
churches  which  "neglect  to  represent  themselves  to  this  Eldership"  are  declared 
to  be  "highly  censurable,"  and  notified  "that  in  the  future  no  apology  will  t)e  ac- 
cepted, unless  providentially  prevented  from  attending."  A  plan  was  adopted,  on 
motion  of  D.  Wertz,  "to  procure  a  large  canvas  tent,  to  be  used  in  supplying  the 
different  towns,  cities  and  churches  with  practical  preaching,  by  holding  protracted 
meetings  where  we  can  not  do  so  for  the  want  of  suitable  houses  of  worship." 
Funds  were  to  be  raised  during  the  year,  and  N.  Zeller  was  named  as  Treasurer. 
The  territory  was  divided  into  four  circuits,  three  missions  and  two  stations. 

11th  Iowa  Eldership. — Whether  by  authority  or  not,  the  Journal  of  1858 
states  that  "the  Elders  and  Delegates  of  the  Churches  of  God  in  Iowa  met  at 
Grandview,  Louisa  county,  Iowa,  October  18,  18-58."  There  were  four  "absentees." 
At  2  o'clock  p.  m.  "the  Opening  Discourse  was  preached."  These  sermons  were 
always  thus  far  on  the  ministry.  It  was  preached  by  the  elected  Speaker,  A. 
Megrew.  Heiii-y  Murray  was  chosen  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  Henry  Funk,  Trans- 
cribing Clerk.  The  matter  of  securing  a  tent  was  brought  up  by  the  Committee 
on  Journals,  and  no  action  taken.  Ministers  were  recommended  "to  endeavor,  as 
much  as  in  them  lies,  to  make  themselves  acquainted  with  the  laws  of  the  English 
language."  To  take  care  of  their  poor  was  a  duty  commended  to  each  local 
church.  The  Eldership  affirmed  that  there  is  "neither  precept  nor  example  in  the 
word  of  God  for  receiving  members  into  church  before  being  immersed,"  and  min- 
isters were  advised  to  "preach  and  practice  the  same."  It  deprecated  "that  super- 
fluity of  dress  which  is  rapidly  increasing  in  the  local  churches,"  and  declared  that 
it  will  "use  all  lawful  means  to  keep  the  Church  in  a  humble,  Christian-like  man- 
ner." By  adopting  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  the  title  of  the 
Eldership  was  changed  to  "Eldership  of  Churches  of  God."  Also  "advising 
churches  to  co-operate  with  the  Eldership  to  perpetuate  love  and  harmony  by 
kindly  and  affectionately  advising  the  brethren  to  withdraw  and  throw  their 
influence  from  Secret  Societies."  There  are  four  circuits  and  two  missions,  one  of 
the  latter  "yet  to  be  supplied." 

12th  Iowa  Eldership. — A  good  attendance  is  indicated  by  the  enrollment  when 
the  session  held  at  the  Moneka  school-house.  Cedar  county,  Iowa,  October  17,  1859, 
was  constituted.  But  three  of  the  sixteen  teaching  elders  were  absent;  and  there 
were  present  eleven  ruling  elders  and  delegates.  J.  Lininger  was  chosen  for 
Speaker;  John  Huflf,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  Henry  Murray,  Transcribing  Clerk. 
Slavery  was  denounced  as  "a  great  moral  sin,  and  a  disgrace  on  the  character  of 
the  American  people."  The  tent  project  received  no  further  encouragement.  On 
Temperance  the  Eldership  rejoiced  that  "temperance  is  gaining  ground  in  various 
parts  of  the  State,"  and  declared  that  it  "will  not  fellowship  any  one  as  a  member 
of  the  Church  of  God  who  is  engaged  in  making,  buying,  selling  or  drinking  ardent 
spirits  as  a  beverage."  Without  assigning  any  reason  but  "existing  circum- 
stances," the  Eldership  declined  "to  make  appointments  for  the  churches,"  but 
left  them  "to  supply  themselves  with  preaching  as  they  most  conveniently  can." 
On  account  of  "our  financial  embarrassment"  the  Eldership  could  do  "nothing 
toward  paying  off  old  debts."  An  interesting  program  was  carried  out  at  the  clos- 
ing sitting,  Wednesday  evening.  Addresses  were  delivered  by  twelve  members, 
previously  appointed,  on  The  Dignity  of  the  Gospel  Ministry,  Forgiveness,  The 
Unity  of  the  Spirit  and  Church,  Tribulation;  Things  as  They  Were,  Things  as  They 
Are,  and  Things  as  They  Ought  to  Be;  The  Condition  of  Ireland — the  Judgments 
and' Mercies  of  God;  Let  Us  Do  Good  to  Others;  Hear,  For  I  Speak — Miscellaneous; 
On  the  Conquered  Scenes  of  Life,  Prayer,  On  the  Support  of  the  Ministry,  On 
Christian  Experience. 

13th  Iowa  Eldei-ship. — The  political  campaign  of  1860  created  heated  excite- 
ment in  Iowa,   which   proved   detrimental  to  some   of  the   churches,   in   some  in- 


Iowa   Eldership  459 

stances  not  only  creating  strifes  and  contentions,  but  even  divisions.  The  Elder- 
ship which  met  in  said  year  on  Monday,  October  15th,  in  the  new  bethel  In  the 
neighborhood  of  Father  Bai-ton's,  known  as  the  Home  Bethel,  near  Mt.  Pleasant, 
Henry  county,  felt  the  effects  of  the  excitement,  as  it  was  when  the  campaign  was 
at  its  height,  a  few  weeks  before  the  Presidential  election.  On  Sabbath  evening 
D.  Wertz  preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  Twelve  teaching  elders  responded  to 
Roll  call,  while  five  were  absent.  Sixteen  ruling  elders  and  delegates  were  in 
attendance.  A.  Megi-ew  was  chosen  to  preside,  with  John  Huff  Journalizing  Clerk, 
and  H.  Murray,  Transcribing  Clerk.  Very  appropriate  resolutions  were  adopted 
on  the  death  of  Winebrenner,  "one  vho  has  long  adorned  the  doctrine  of  his  pro- 
fession as  a  faithful  minister,  a  reformer  and  a  devoted  Christian."  One  resolu- 
tion approved  the  "erection  of  a  suitable  monument,"  promising  that  the  Iowa  Eld- 
ership will  do  its  part  toward  the  same.  The  Rules  of  Order  of  the  General  Eld- 
ership were  adopted.  More  or  less  serious  difficulties  had  to  be  settled,  involving 
three  or  four  ministers  and  several  churches.  The  action  of  1859,  "establishing 
the  congregational  system"  having  "created  general  dissatisfaction  and  thrown 
many  of  our  ministers  and  churches  out  of  regular  appointments  and  preaching," 
was  rescinded  without  opposition.  The  Eldership  having  learned  that  there  are 
brethren  in  churches  of  God  in  Iowa  "who  are,  or  are  about  to  become,  engaged  in 
the  liquor  business,"  adopted  a  resolution,  declaring  that  "we  cannot  consistently 
■extend  the  right  hand  of  fellowship  to  any  person  guilty  of  the  habitual  use  of  in- 
toxicating liquors  as  a  beverage,  or  to  any  one  who  is  wilfully  engaged  in  the 
manufacturing  of  the  same."  The  churches  were  "advised  to  put  away  from 
among  themselves  such  individuals  as  unworthy  of  a  place  in  the  Church  of  God." 
Lininger  was  appointed  to  deliver  a  sermon  before  the  Eldership  "on  the  best  and 
most  scriptural  plan  of  supporting  the  ministry  and  carrying  out  the  temporal  in- 
terests of  the  Church  of  God."  John  A.  Yambert,  a  minister  of  the  Evangelical 
Association,  applied  for,  and  was  granted,  license.  On  Slavery  the  Eldership  ex- 
pressed its  conviction  that  it  "is  a  sin  per  se,"  that  "slave-holding  is  man-steal- 
ing;" that  the  "whole  traffic  is  a  constant  exercise  of  the  most  wicked  and  bar- 
"borous  passions,"  and  refusing  "to  unite  in  Christian  fellowship  with  any  man  or 
woman  who  persists  in  the  sinful  practice."  The  Eldership  also  declared  against 
giving  ministers  appointments  who  are  not  members.  The  Standing  Committee, 
which  was  also  made  the  Camp-meeting  Committee,  was  composed  of  two  laymen, 
J.  Huff  and  N.  Zeller,  and  one  minister,  D.  Wertz.  Only  four  ministers  agreed  to 
travel,  and  the  Stationing  Committee  arranged  for  five  circuits,  to  which  the  Com- 
mittee appointed  the  four,  with  four  others  to  assist  them.  Before  adjournment 
the  Eldership  "spent  a  short  season  in  Committee  of  the  Whole,"  when  "speeches 
were  made  by  several  brethren  on  different  subjects  of  interest." 

14th  Iowa  Eldership. — An  unusual  event  transpired  at  the  Eldership  which 
met  at  North  Bend,  Johnson  county,  Iowa,  October  21,  1861.  Governor  Samuel 
J.  liirkwood  was  booked  to  deliver  a  political  speech  at  North  Liberty,  a  mile  or 
more  from  North  Bend,  and  the  Eldership  sent  Kiner,  Zeller  and  Huff  a  Committee 
to  wait  on  him  and  invite  him  to  address  a  meeting  in  the  bethel  to  "the  citizens 
•of  this  neighborhood  this  evening,"  as  "it  was  the  most  convenient  place  in  the 
vicinity."  The  Governor  accepted  the  invitation.  D.  AVertz  preached  the  Opening 
Sermon.  F.  F.  Kiner  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  John  Huff,  First  Clerk,  and  J.  R. 
Suavely,  Second  Clerk.  The  Eldership  again  had  a  number  of  difficulties  to  ad- 
just, and  so  adopted  a  resolution  "urging  brethren  to  settle  their  difficulties  at 
home,  and  not  bring  them  into  the  Eldership."  It  pledged  itself  to  "continue 
with  renewed  energy  to  extend  the  blessings  of  temperance  all  over  our  land  and 
nation."  Three  times  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  our  National  Affairs  was 
read,  and  then  adopted.  It  declared  its  approval  of  the  Executive  and  officers  of 
our  country  in  the  wise  and  loyal  enforcement  of  the  Constitution  and  laws,"  and 
expressed  specifically  its  high  "approval  of  General  Fremont's  Proclamation  rela- 
tive to  the  confiscation  of  slave  property  in  Missouri."  But  the  "cause  of  God," 
says  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion,  Lininger,  Shaw  and  Huff,  "seems  to 
he  at  a  low  ebb,  in  consequence  of  the  existing  affairs  of  our  nation  and  members 
from  the  different  churches  having  gone  to  the  war,  preachers  and  brethren,  and 
in  consequence  of  the  meager  support  from  the  fact  of  the  hard  times  in  the  West." 
Five  of  the  ministers  were  in  the  army  at  one  time.  To  secure  better  pay  for 
pastors,  a  resolution  was  adopted  giving  each  pastor  "the  privilege  of  stipulating 
for  a  reasonable  salary,  and  if  the  circuit  fails,  or  refuses  to  give  the  same,  he  will 


460  History   of  the   Churches  of   God 

be  justified  in  refusing  to  travel  the  same,  and  not  censurable."  The  Eldership 
would  not  agree  to  the  publication  of  all  the  Journals  in  one  pamphlet.  A  resolu- 
tion "to  receive  non-baptized  members  into  the  local  churches  of  God"  was  laid 
on  the  table. 

loth  Iowa  Eldei-ship.— The  Eldership  held  at  Grandview,  Louisa  county,  Iowa, 
beginning  October  20,  1862,  was  discouragingly  small.  But  two  circuits  had 
teaching  elders,  and  the  total  number  of  teaching  elders  in  attendance  was  eight; 
fourteen  were  absent,  including  six  who  had  enlisted  in  the  Army.  Only  five  rul- 
ing elders  attended  the  session.  D.  AVertz  was  elected  Speaker;  John  Huff  and  H. 
Muiray,  Clerks.  There  was  a  disposition  to  reflect  on  "ministerial  brethren  who 
left  their  fields  of  labor  and  enlisted  in  the  United  States  service  without  properly 
notifying  this  body  and  being  exonerated  from  their  respective  charges;"  but 
"under  the  circumstances  we  acquit  them."  Local  preachers  were  "urged  to  be 
diligent  and  endeavor  to  supply  the  wants  of  those  churches  within  their  bounds 
with  regular  preaching.  The  condition  of  the  churches  was  deplored,  "in  conse- 
quence of  the  great  number  of  our  ministers  and  brethren  having  enlisted  and  gone 
forth  in  the  service  of  the  United  States."  Appointments  were  made  to  supply 
vacant  fields  until  Spring,  and  then  the  territory  was  divided  into  four  circuits  and 
one  mission.  But  as  only  $12.35  was  paid  into  the  Mission  Fund  during  the  year, 
no  appropriation  was  made  to  the  missionary. 

16th  Iowa  Eldership. — Three  of  the  twenty  teaching  elders  were  in  attendance 
at  the  Iowa  Eldership  which  convened  at  Harmony  Bethel,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Father  Landes,  in  Des  Moines  county,  Iowa,  November  30,  1863,  and  nine  ruling 
elders.  It  was  now  by  official  action  "the  Eldership  of  the  Churches  of  God  in 
Iowa."  The  usual  routine  of  business  was  transacted.  The  Chicago  Mission  pro- 
ject was  the  first  item  of  business,  and  it  was  "highly  approved,  in  case  it  be  placed 
under  the  supervision  and  control  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship." Upon  this  condition  the  "undivided  influence  and  support  of  the  Elder- 
ship" was  pledged.  The  ministers  were  "earnestly  recommended  and  urged  to 
present  the  terrible  results  of  intemperance  clearly  and  fully  to  the  people  of  their 
charges,  and  to  discountenance  the  use  of  alcoholic,  vinous  and  fermented  drinks 
under  all  circumstances  as  a  beverage."  The  Eldership  lamented  the  death  of 
two  of  the  ministers — J.  R.  Suavely,  whose  "fate  it  was  to  fall  as  thousands  of  our 
brave  men  have  fallen;"  and  John  A.  Yambert,  "who  had  long  lived  a  living  epistle 
of  piety."  There  being  a  shortage  of  preachers,  and  no  applicants  for  license,  the 
Committee  on  License  stated  that  "a  number  of  our  official  and  other  local  breth- 
ren possess  talents  worthy  of  improvement  by  exhortation  and  preaching,"  and  so 
it  "recommended  those  brethren  to  make  an  effort  to  improve  their  talents  by 
holding  prayer-meetings  and  other  meetings  in  their  own  and  surrounding  neigh- 
borhoods." Emphasis  was  placed  upon  "the  great  importance  to  young  men  de- 
siring to  enter  the  ministry  that  they  apply  themselves  to  the  study  of  those 
sciences  that  may  assist  them  in  their  responsible  vocation."  "The  immediate 
adoption  of  measures  to  send  out  and  sustain  men  who  will  give  their  minds,  their 
hearts,  their  souls  and  time  to  the  service  of  the  churches  and  cause  of  God  In 
Iowa"  was  the  burden  of  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion. 
Local  churches  were  urged  "to  organize  themselves  into  missionary  societies." 
The  total  receipts  for  missions  were  $41-65.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  report 
in  1864  "to  draw  up  a  more  scriptural  and  efficient  system  for  the  support  of  the 
ministry."  For  want  of  preachers  the  Stationing  Committee  consolidated  the 
fields  into  three  circuits,  one  of  which  was  a  mission. 

17th  Iowa  Eldership. — A  brighter  sky  was  overhead  in  1864,  when  the  Iowa 
Eldership  convened  at  North  Bend,  Johnson  county,  Iowa.,  October  17th,  with 
twelve  teaching  elders  and  seven  ruling  elders  and  delegates  in  attendance. 
A.  X.  Shoemaker,  of  the  Chicago  Mission,  was  present,  and  "was  declared 
Speaker  of  the  house  by  acclamation."  An  election  for  Clerks  resulted  in 
the  choice  of  John  Huflf  and  H.  Murray.  The  Committee  on  Chicago  Mission, 
Megrew,  Wertz  and  Murray,  brought  in  an  enthusiastic  report,  being  "highly 
pleased  with  the  project,  and  promising  to  stand  by  the  Mission  so  far  as  we 
see  it  to  be  our  duty;"  suggesting  the  propriety  of  building  a  parsonage"  and 
promising  "to  furnish  our  share  of  the  funds,"  and  urging  brethren  "to  buy 
an  additional  twenty-five  feet  of  ground  adjoining  the  bethel  on  the  east."  By 
direction  of  the  Eldership  "the  members  of  this  body  be  examined  as  to  their  loy- 
alty to  the  Government."  The  Eldership  did  not  succeed  in  effectually  closing  its 
doors  to  brethren  having  difficulties  between  them,  and  not  less  than  five  or  six 


Iowa   EivDErship  461 

cases  came  up.  A  resolution  changing  the  title  of  the  Eldership  to  "Church  of 
God"  was  agreed  to.  The  Eldership  decided  to  hold  a  Pentecostal  meeting  at  North 
Bend  in  May,  1865.  It  also  recommended  that  "this  body  use  its  influence  to 
bring  about  the  establishment  of  a  school  in  some  central  locality."  "The  civil 
commotions  of  the  war,  and  political  strife,"  are  declared  to  have  been  a  "detri- 
ment to  the  prosperity  of  the  Church,  and  have  caused  a  great  languishing  in  Zion, 
much  to  be  lamented." 

18th  Iowa  Eldership. — The  intense  loyalty  to  the  United  States  manifested 
itself  at  the  Iowa  Eldership  which  convened  at  the  Moneka  Bethel,  Cedar  county, 
Iowa,  October  16,  186.5.  There  were  eleven  teaching  elders  present,  nearly  the 
half  of  them  ex-soldiers,  seven  ruling  elders  and  three  delegates,  while  ten  teach- 
ing elders  were  absent.  Some  difficulty  arose  between  two  of  the  ministers,  which 
involved  the  loyalty  of  one  of  them.  In  Committee  of  the  Whole  the  matter  was 
carefully  considered,  and  the  reports  inquired  into.  But  the  Committee  exon- 
erated the  accused,  and  declared  that  he  "is  and  always  has  been  considered  loyal 
to  his  country."  The  officers  chosen  were  F.  F.  Kiner,  Speaker;  John  Hiiflf,  Jour- 
nalizing Clerk,  and  Heniy  Murray,  Transcribing  Clerk.  The  Stationing  Committee 
was  composed  of  three  ministers  and  two  laymen.  The  war  being  over,  which 
proved  almost  disastrous  to  the  Church  in  Iowa,  the  Eldership  greatly  rejoiced,  as 
"things  appear  more  encouraging,"  and  ministers  and  churches  were  recommended 
to  make  "more  vigorous  efforts  to  advance  the  cause  and  kingdom  of  Christ  in 
Iowa."  A  special  missionary  meeting  was  held  at  which  $280.00  were  subscribed 
for  mission  work.  With  other  Elderships,  Iowa  felt  that  it  ought  to  have  a  school 
of  some  kind  under  its  own  control.  It  therefore  resolved  to  appoint  a  committee  to 
select  a  suitable  site  for  a  select  or  high  school,  which  shall  be  under  the  exclusive 
care  and  direction  of  this  body."  Its  Board  of  Missions  was  also  Instructed  "to 
select  one  or  more  suitable  men,  and  send  them  as  missionaries  to  the  State  of 
Missouri,  and  to  procure  means  to  sustain  the  same."  In  addition,  said  Board 
was  also  directed  "to  employ  a  missionary  to  operate  on  the  western  boundary  of 
this  Eldership."  A  Pentecostal  meeting  was  appointed  to  be  held  at  North  Bend, 
and  H.  MuiTay  was  appointed  to  preach  the  first  sermon.  The  Eldership  mani- 
fested quite  a  degree  of  feeling  over  an  article  publish'ed  six  months  before  by  a 
contributor  to  The  Advocate,  and  disapproved  it  as  "uncalled  for,  and  unjust  and 
unjustifiable  censure  upon  some  of  the  ministers  of  this  body,"  and  denounced  its 
"disloyal  tone."  The  article  had  direct  reference  to  a  "call  for  a  preacher  in 
Iowa,"  and  criticised  the  qualifications  demanded,  as  "full  of  the  Holy  Ghost," 
^'loyal  to  his  God,"  "loyal  to  his  country,"  and  "must  pray  for  the  Government." 
In  view  of  the  deficiency  in  mission  funds  "each  member  of  this  body"  was  re- 
quired to  act  as  "an  agent  to  solicit  missionary  subscriptions  of  the  largest  possi- 
l)le  amounts,  the  interest  of  which  must  be  paid  annually,  and  the  principal  at  or 
before  the  death  of  the  subscriber."  As  per  instructions,  D.  Wertz  was  appointed 
""missionary  on  the  western  boundary  of  this  Eldership." 

19th  Iowa  Eldership. — The  Eldership  in  18  66  began  its  session  on  Monday, 
October  15th,  the  Opening  Sermon  having  been  delivered  the  previous  evening  by 
A.  Hollems,  from  Matt,  xxviii.  19,  20.  Mrs.  Martha  J.  B.  Wertz  being  present,  the 
Eldership  desired  to  hear  its  first  sermon  by  a  sister,  and  at  once  "appointed  her 
to  occupy  the  pulpit"  on  Monday  evening.  A,  Megrew  was  chosen  Speaker;  John 
Huflf,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  J.  L.  Cramer,  Transcribing  Clerk.  Arrangements 
were  made  for  a  missionary  meeting  to  be  addressed  by  A.  X.  Shoemaker,  to  devise 
measures  to  raise  funds  more  vigorously  to  push  mission  work.  At  this  meeting 
$160.00  were  raised.  The  churches  were  also  "urged  to  immediate  action  in  tak- 
ing up  collections  for  this  purpose,  and  an  agent  was  appointed,  A.  Megrew,  "to 
canvass  the  entire  ground  of  the  Eldership  to  collect  money  for  the  purpose  of 
creating  a  missionary  fund  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  the  Eldership  in  employing 
men  and  establishing  missions  in  Iowa."  A.  Wilson  was  appointed  to  "Iowa  Mis- 
sion, including  Grundy,  Tama,  Marshall  and  adjoining  counties  on  the  western 
boundary."  The  Board  of  Missions  had  received  about  $200.00  missionary  money 
during  the  year.  Iowa  Eldership  was  cautioned  by  A.  G.  McCormick,  in  his 
written  Report,  not  "to  legislate  and  make  rules  for  the  Ipcal  churches.  The  great 
drawback  to  our  Elderships,  both  Annual  and  General,  is  too  much  legislation. 
This  is  a  very  questionable  power,  if  at  all  granted  by  the  New  Testament  Scrip- 
tures." The  Report  of  the  Iowa  delegation  to  the  General  Eldership  was  referred 
to  a  special  committee,  which  itimized  it,  and  submitted  actions  on  the  several 
items.      It  urged  collections  to  buy  materials  to  publish  a  Sunday-school  paper; 


462  History   of   the   Churches  of   God 

commended  The  Advocate  and  its  Editor,  and  approved  the  choice  of  the  Assistant 
Editor,  heartily  approved  "the  reception  of  Centralia  College;"  w^ere  pleased  with, 
the  report  on  the  Chicago  Mission.  Five  members  vi^ere  appointed  a  Camp-meeting 
Committee.  The  Eldership  elected  A.  3Iegrew  "Agent  to  canvass  the  entire  ground, 
of  this  Eldership  to  collect  money  for  the  purpose  of  creating  a  missionary  fund."' 
The  number  of  conversions  reported  was  250;  baptisms,  150;  accessions,  200. 
John  Huflf  was  instructed  to  secure  an  Act  of  Incorporation. 

30th  Iowa  Eldership. — There  was  an  unusual  amount  of  debating  at  the  Eld- 
ership which  convened  in  the  bethel  at  Pleasant  Prairie,  Buchanan  county,  October 
21,  1867.  It  began  soon  after  F.  F.  Kiner  was  chosen  for  Speaker;  J.  Lininger, 
Treasurer;  J.  Huff,  First  Clerk,  and  J.  L.  Cramer,  Second  Clerk.  It  began  with 
the  submission  of  a  resolution  ordering  "ministers  appointed  to  a  charge  to  assume 
charge  of  their  appointments  immediately  after  the  Eldership,"  which  was 
adopted.  Then  came  the  question  of  the  right  of  a  member  of  a  local  church  to 
"appeal  from  the  decision  of  said  church  to  this  body."  Murray  presented  a  peti- 
tion from  a  member  of  the  church  at  Cairo,  asking  for  an  expression  of  opinion 
by  the  Eldership  on  this  subject.  J.  Lininger  and  F.  F.  Kiner,  two  of  the  strongest 
debaters  in  the  Eldership,  were  the  principal  disputants.  Lininger  affirmed  the 
right;  Kiner  denied.  After  continuing  the  discussion  for  some  time,  the  matter 
was  referred  to  a  committee  consisting  of  Lininger,  Megi-ew  and  Evans,  which  re- 
ported that  the  right  to  appeal  must  be  recognized,  and  this  report  was  sustained. 
Other  and  minor  questions  consumed  considerable  time.  There  was  unanimity  in 
regard  to  ministers  remaining  six  months  longer  on  their  fields,  to  prepare  for  the 
new  rule  of  changing  in  the  Pall;  on  requiring  statistics  covering  number  of  pas- 
toral visits,  number  of  members,  conversions,  accessions,  baptisms,  expulsions, 
transfers,  deaths,  value  of  church  property,  salaries,  etc. ;  on  "utterly  denouncing- 
vanity  fairs  among  churches,"  and  "advising  ministers  to  exert  their  influence 
against  the  same."  The  Eldership  rejoiced  over  "the  omens  of  future  prosperity 
and  success  which  the  Church  of  God  presented  in  Iowa."  Meads  was  appointed 
"to  purchase  a  house  of  worship  in  the  town  of  Columbus  City,  Louisa  county, 
Iowa,  at  a  cost  of  $300.00.  Two  missionaries,  besides  Wilson  who  was  missionary 
the  previous  year,  were  ordered  by  the  Eldership  to  be  appointed.  These  were 
Marshall  Mission,  J.  M.  Klein,  and  London  Mission,  D.  Gill.  Logue,  Megi-ew  and 
Meads  were  designated  "to  devise  a  system  of  establishing  a  Superannuated  Fund." 
The  Board  of  Missions  reported  total  receipts  of  $465.90  during  the  year.  There 
were  seven' circuits  and  three  missions,  with  one  Missionary  Agent. 

21st  Iowa  Eldership. — The  missionary  spirit  of  the  Iowa  Eldership  continued 
to  become  more  intense,  and  greater  things  were  planned  by  the  body  at  its  twenty- 
first  session,  which  was  held  at  North  Bend,  Johnson  county,  Iowa,  beginning 
October  15,  1868.  The  first  forenoon  was  spent  in  devotional  exercises.  There 
were  but  five  absentees.  A.  X.  shoemaker,  of  Chicago  Mission,  was  elected 
Speaker;  John  Huff,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  J.  L.  Cramer,  Transcribing  Clerk.  An 
"interesting  and  enthusiastic  missionary  meeting"  was  held,  and  missions  were 
projected  known  as  "Marshalltown  and  Washington,  and  on  the  Pacific  Slope." 
"An  active  Agent"  was  authorized  to  be  appointed,  "to  canvass  the  bounds  of  the 
Eldership,  to  solicit  subscriptions  and  make  collections,  and  to  deliver  a  mission- 
ary discourse  at  each  appointment."  The  missions  which  the  Stationing  Com- 
mittee reported  were  Marshalltown,  Loudon;  Washington,  Highland  and  Bound 
Grove  and  Guthrie  county.  A  somewhat  serious  and  acrimonious  contention  arose 
over  the  right  of  F.  F.  Kiner  to  "occupy  a  seat  as  ruling  elder  from  the  church  at 
Cairo."  A  committee  had  also  been  "appointed  to  investigate  the  regularity  and 
legality  of  the  church  at  Cairo."  The  adoption  of  this  item  was  objected  to, 
whereupon  Kiner  presented  two  "charges  against  the  Eldership."  Kiner  had 
been  "suspended  from  the  functions  of  the  Christian  ministry,"  and  so  the  matter 
was  compromised  by  a  resolution  offered  by  Shoemaker,  declaring  that  Kiner  had 
"failed  to  meet  the  issues  fairly;  and  on  the  other  hand  the  Committee  has  acted 
somewhat  prematurely  in  suspending  him;"  therefore,  it  was  directed  "that  Kiner 
and  the  Committee  make  the  necessary  concessions,  and  forgive  one  another." 
This  resolution  prevailed  by  a  majority  of  one.  On  the  charges  against  the  Elder- 
ship the  body  "resolved  itself  into  a  Court  of  Adjustment,"  "Kiner  conducting  the 
prosecution,  and  Lininger  the  defense."  It  sat  as  such  a  Court  during  parts  of  six 
sittings.  The  charges  against  the  Eldership  were:  1.  "Pursuing  a  course  not 
in  harmony  with  the  usages  and  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  God."  2.  That  "the 
said  Committee  of  Investigation  did  exercise  authority  not  delegated  to  it  in  de- 


loAVA  Eldership  463 

daring  said  action  of  the  church  void."  The  "course  of  the  Eldership  and  the, 
Special  Committee  was  sustained."  A  rule  was  adopted  which  entitled  each  church 
to  be  represented  by  one  elder  in  the  Eldership,  or  one  delegate  appointed  by  the 
church.  A  general  camp-meeting  was  to  be  arranged  for  by  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee. Ivinei-  and  Murray  were  deputized  to  effect  a  settlement  in  the  churcn  at 
Cairo  by  inducing  them  to  "bury  all  difficulties  and  hard  feelings,  and  return  to 
each  other  the  hand  of  forgiveness."  The  church  at  Grandview  was  censured  for 
refusing  "to  sustain  the  appointee  of  the  Eldership."  The  Constitution  of  the 
Missionary  Society  was  "so  amended  as  to  merge  the  same  into  the  Eldership,  and 
the  officers  of  the  Eldership  to  constitute  the  Board  of  Missions."  This  year  there 
were  fourteen  fields  of  labor,  of  which  three  are  designated  missions. 

Extra  Session  Iowa  Eldership. — The  holding  of  extraordinary  sessions  of  Eld- 
erships was  always  a  rare  thing.  When  held,  as  a  rule,  it  was  owing  to  conting- 
encies which  could  not  be  anticipated.  However,  the  extra  session  of  the  Iowa 
Eldership,  held  at  North  Bend,  Johnson  county,  beginning  Monday  morning,  March 
22,  1869,  was  called  because  of  "an  amount  of  important  business  of  a  general 
character  which  was  left  unfinished  at  our  last  meeting,"  and  also  because  of 
"business  of  a  general  character  which  had  since  accumulated."  It  was,  hence,  a 
session  for  general  business.  A  committee  was  appointed  "to  devise  a  plan  to 
raise  funds  for  the  support  of  ministers'  widows,"  stimulated,  doubtless  by  the 
death  of  E,  Logue.  He  was  a  native  of  Maryland,  and  was  first  licensed  by  the 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1836.  Four  years  later  he  went  to  Ohio,  by  which 
Eldership  he  was  sent  to  Pittsburg.  After  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  was 
formed  he  traveled  different  circuits  and  held  prominent  positions.  He  returned 
to  Ohio,  and  thence  as  a  missionary  to  Illinois  and  then  to  Iowa.  He  was  a  dele- 
gate to  the  General  Eldership  in  1851,  1854  and  1866.  He  was  a  man  of  more 
than  ordinary  natural  ability,  a  fearless  champion  of  every  cause  he  espoused, 
and  his  ministry  was  characterized  by  fidelity  and  devotion.  He  died  Novem- 
ber 7,  1868,  at  the  home  of  Jacob  Courtney,  in  Jefferson  county,  Iowa,  and  his 
body  was  removed  and  buried  in  the  graveyard  at  Trenton,  Henry  county,  Iowa. 
He  was  fifty-three  years  old.  The  Eldership  put  an  Article  into  its  Rules  embody- 
ing the  Article  in  the  General  Eldership  Constitution,  requiring  ministers  of  other 
Elderships  to  secure  transfers  before  they  can  labor  in  Iowa.  The  resolution  of 
the  regular  session  touching  the  difficulties  in  the  Cairo  church  was  not  carried 
out,  so  that  C.  W.  Evans  was  directed  to  read  said  action  to  the  church.  In  addi- 
tion to  a  regular  Missionary  Agent,  persons  were  to  be  "deputized  to  collect  sub- 
scriptions." The  Eldership  expressed  itself  as  adverse  to  "placing  young  ministers 
in  the  field  alone."  The  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  were  "instructed  tO' 
advocate  a  reduction  in  the  rates  of  representation  to  one  to  every  fifteen  min- 
isters," and  that  "the  General  Eldership  meet  once  in  every  five  years." 

22nd  Iowa  Eldership. — The  earnest,  aggressive  efforts  to  create  a  missionary- 
fund  were  so  successful,  that  when  the  Eldership  met  at  Fairview,  Cedar  county, 
Iowa,  October  21,  1869,  it  had  a  larger  Home  Mission  Fund  than  it  since  has  had. 
It  amounted  to  $1,520.85.  John  Huflf,  layman,  was  elected  Speaker,  a  very  earn- 
est, active  and  efficient  worker;  J.  L.  Cx*amer,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  J.  D.  Meads.. 
Transcribing  Clerk.  Later  N.  Zeller  was  chosen  Treasurer  of  the  Mission  Fund. 
R.  H.  Bolton  became  a  member  by  transfer  from  the  Michigan  Eldership.  He  was 
placed  on  a  "Committee  on  More  Efficient  Missionary  Plan,"  instead  of  the  Life 
Membership  Plan,  which  "was  abolished,  both  principal  and  interest."  The  ques- 
tion of  the  itinerancy  coming  up,  by  resolution  the  Eldership  defined  the  Polity  of 
the  Church  as  being  that  "of  mutual  co-operation,  or,  in  other  words,  a  representa- 
tive form  of  government,"  and  decided  "that  we  continue  to  maintain  the  same." 
The  Eldership  was  deeply  affected  at  the  death  of  Thomas,  Editor  of  The  Advocate, 
personally  so  well  known  to  many  of  the  members.  A  committee,  consisting  of 
Shoemaker,  Hollems  and  Bolton,  was  named  to  draft  resolutions  and  arrange  for 
memorial  services.  "Funeral  services"  were  arranged  for,  to  be  held  Saturday 
evening,  to  be  conducted  by  Shoemaker,  Bolton,  Megrew  and  Hollems.  The  reso- 
lutions declare  that  "his  life  of  usefulness  has  made  a  brilliant  record  and  good 
history;"  that  he  was  "a  valuable,  useful  and  dearly  beloved  brother;"  that  he  was 
"an  able  and  successful  minister  of  the  Church;  a  most  faithful,  self-sacrificing  and 
efficient  publisher  and  Editor."  Ministers  were  also  directed  "to  hold  services  on 
their  charges  in  memory"  of  the  deceased.  Kiner  reported  the  "purchase  of  a 
house  of  worship  in  the  city  of  Washington,  Iowa,"  which  was  approved,  and  he- 
was  "recommended  to  visit  the  brotherhood  at  large  to  solicit  means  .for  the  pur- 


464  History  of   the   Churches   of   God 

pose  of  meeting  payment  on  the  same."  The  "25th  day  of  December  next,"  was 
set  apart  as  a  day  "for  humiliation  and  special  prayer  for  the  unity  and  spirituality 
and  prosperity  of  our  beloved  Zion  in  this  State." 

23rd  Iowa  Eldership. — Deep  interest  and  much  enthusiasm  characterized  the 
Eldership  in  1870,  occasioned  largely  by  several  new  and  successful  enterprises 
and  the  addition  of  eleven  to  the  Roll  of  ministers.  The  Eldership  session  was 
held  at  Victor,  Iowa  county,  and  began  September  15th.  Twelve  of  the  thirty 
ministers  were  absent;  fifteen  ruling  elders  and  four  delegates  were  present.  R. 
H.  Bolton  was  Speaker;  J.  L.  Cramer,  First  Clerk,  and  F.  F.  Kiner,  Second  Clerk. 
A  very  active  interest  was  taken  in  the  Sunday-school  Convention  project,  and 
Pentecostal  meeting,  both  of  which  awakened  much  interest.  Sunday-schools  were 
declared  to  be  "under  the  special  supervision  of  the  church,  when  conducted  in  our 
church  houses."  The  suggestion  of  "holding  a  general  Sunday-school  Convention 
at  some  central  point"  was  approved.  "After  a  spirited  discussion,  a  motion  pre- 
vailed" that  the  Eldership  "issue  exhorters'  recommends  to  such  as  give  evidence, 
of  possessing  the  gift  of  exhortation."  Measures  were  discussed  to  provide  a  Sup- 
erannuated Ministers'  and  Widows'  Fund.  One  afternoon  sitting  was  "especially 
devoted  to  the  consideration  of  the  missionary  interests,"  at  which  the  questions 
of  the  men,  the  territory  and  the  means  were  under  discussion.  The  Treasurer  of 
the  Board  of  Missions  reported  amount  of  funds  on  hand  to  be  $715.00.  The  Mis- 
sionary Agent,  J.  D.  Meads,  had  collected  $245.70  during  the  year.  It  was  pro- 
vided that  the  territory  of  the  Eldership  be  divided  into  two  districts  for  mission- 
ary collections,  with  J.  D.  Meads  and  D.  Gill  as  Agents.  A  stimulating  report  was 
made  by  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion,  showing  conversions,  333;  bap- 
tized, 215;  added  to  the  churches,  271;  new  organizations,  8;  new  church  houses, 
6.  At  the  close  of  the  Eldership  there  were  thirty-nine  ministers.  The  amount 
reported  as  paid  by  the  churches  as  salaries  to  the  pastors  is  $2,633.00. 

24th  Iowa  Eldership. — At  the  Eldership  in  1870  arrangements  were  made 
to  draft  a  Constitution  and  to  incorporate  the  Eldership,  the  work  having  been 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Standing  Committee.  The  text  of  the  proposed  Con- 
stitution had  been  published  in  March,  1871.  It  had  these  provisions,  excluding 
those  referring  to  officers  and  their  duties:  That  "the  name,  style  and  title  of  this 
body  is  'The  Iowa  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God.'  "  The  membership  to  consist 
of  "all  the  preachers  holding  a  license  from  the  body,  together  with  an  elder  or 
delegate  from  each  church  within  the  bounds  of  this  Eldership."  The  Eldership 
to  "appoint  the  committees  required  by  the  Rules  of  Order."  There  is  to  be  a 
"Standing  Committee  of  seven,  and  a  Stationing  Committee  of  five."  To  the  former 
is  given  "the  right  and  authority  to  act  in  behalf  of  the  Eldership  during  the  year." 
Prohibiting  one  preacher  to  go  on  the  field  of  another.  Preachers  from  other  Eld- 
erships are  required  to  become  members  before  applying  for  an  appointment. 
Churches  are  to  report  annually  to  the  Eldership,  as  are  all  the  ministers.  Trans- 
fers are  to  be  granted  to  ministers  desiring  to  unite  with  other  Elderships;  but  a 
transfer  is  to  be  good  only  for  one  year.  "Preachers  and  churches  which  fail  to 
comply  with  the  'Rules  of  Order'  and  of  'Co-operation'  are  liable  to  rebuke,  sus- 
pension or  expulsion  by  the  Eldership."  The  Eldership  at  once  adopted  this  Con- 
situation,  after  it  had  elected  as  its  officers  A.  Megrew,  Speaker;  J.  L.  Cramer, 
Stated  Clerk,  and  R.  H.  Bolton,  Corresponding  Secretary.  The  session  was  held 
at  Pleasant  Grove  Bethel,  Louisa  county,  and  began  September  16th,  with  an  ad- 
dress of  welcome  by  W.  Vance.  Further  impulse  was  given  to  missionary  interests 
by  the  good  report  of  the  missionary  agents,  which  showed  larger  collections,  ag- 
gregating over  $1,300.00.  Two  missionary  collectors  were  again  appointed,  with 
instructions  to  collect  at  least  an  average  of  75  cents  per  member.  The  Stationing 
Committee  reported  twenty-one  appointments,  of  which  two  were  in  the  State  of 
Missouri.  A  mission  was  also  created  in  Nebraska,  to  which  A.  L.  Nye  was  ap- 
pointed. The  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  were  instructed  to  vote  for  a 
change  in  the  ratio  of  representation.  Megrew,  Vance  and  Bolton  were  appointed 
delegates  to  the  Iowa  Association  of  Separate  Baptists,  which  differ  from  the 
Church  of  God  in  their  name  and  polity,  they  being  Congregationalists. 

25th  Iowa  Eldership. — The  General  Eldership  in  1872  passed  two  actions  re- 
lative to  the  Journals  of  the  Annual  Elderships.  One,  that  only  synopses  should 
be  published  in  The  Advocate.  This  was  easy  to  control.  The  other,  that  Jour- 
nals should  be  sent  to  The  Advocate  office  to  be  printed  in  pamphlets  uniform  in 
all  respects.  The  Iowa  Eldership  directed  Bolton  to  publish  and  superintend  the 
sale  of  500  copies  of  pamphlets  containing  the  Minutes.     The  session  was  held  at 


Iowa  Eldership  465 

Richwood,  Jefferson  county,  beginning  September  18th.  A  fraternal  delegate  was 
present  from  the  Free  Baptist  Church,  and  one  from  the  Separate  Baptist  Church. 
The  Speaker  was  J.  Lininger;  Stated  Clerk,  J.  L.  Cramer;  Corresponding  Secre- 
tary, R.  H.  Bolton,  and  Treasurer,  J.  D.  Meads.  To  reciprocate  the  friendly  over- 
tures of  the  Free  Baptists  and  Separate  Baptists,  delegates  were  appointed  to  their 
next  annual  meetings.  Two  hundred  accessions  to  the  churches  were  reported, 
and  conditions  generally  were  encouraging,  except  at  Washington,  where  the  work 
went  down.  Dissatisfaction  with  affairs  at  the  Chicago  Mission  was  not  wholly 
concealed.  The  Committee  on  Boundaries  "reported  the  formation  of  eighteen 
fields  of  labor."  Seventeen  were  reported  by  the  Stationing  Committee,  of  which 
four  were  missions.  In  some  instances  these  missions  extended  over  parts  of  three 
or  four  counties.  One  minister  was  received  from  the  United  Brethren  Church 
and  licensed,  Joel  Rawhauser.  W.  H.  Mullinix,  originally  licensed  by  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1840,  died  during  the  year. 

26th  Iowa  Eldership. — The  decreased  interest  during  the  year  was  reflected  in 
some  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Eldership  whose  session  began  at  North  Bend,  John- 
son county,  September  17,  1873.  There  had  been  some  revivals,  but  the  fruits 
were  not  so  abundant.  The  Opening  Sermon,  instead  of  an  address  of  welcome, 
was  preached  by  F.  F.  Kiner  the  evening  previous,  from  Eph.  iii.  9,  10.  He  was 
chosen  Speaker; J.  L.  Cramer,  Stated  Clerk;  R.  H.  Bolton,  Corresponding  Secre- 
tary, and  J.  D.  Meads,  Treasurer.  A  good  deal  of  time  was  given  to  "the  Wash- 
ington Bethel  property  case,"  and  an  assessment  was  laid  upon  "the  membership 
of  the  Iowa  Eldership  to  raise  money  sufllcient  to  liquidate  all  claims  against  it." 
"The  entire  Columbus  City  Bethel  property"  was  ordered  "conveyed  to  Elder  J.  D. 
Meads."  The  large  shrinkage  which  as  a  rule  results  from  time  subscriptions 
and  membership  dues  was  illustrated  in  the  Report  of  the  Missionary  Collecting 
Agents.  There  were  "$1,082.55  total  amount  of  old  subscriptions;  $275.00  sub- 
scriptions taken;  unpaid  subscriptions  on  books,  $1,102.10."  A  Course  of  Studies 
was  approved,  consisting  of  "the  Bible,  English  Grammar,  Wayland's  Moral 
Science  and  Lee's  Theology,"  and  "a  class  formed,"  consisting  of  thirteen  min- 
isters. Examiners  were  appointed.  The  amount  of  collections  for  missions  was 
$556.26.  There  was  in  the  Superannuated  Fund  $103.43;  and  a  total  "belonging 
to  the  Eldership  treasury  of  $351.52."  The  Nishnabotna  Mission  was  added  to 
the  list  of  appointments.  John  Huflf,  having  been  appointed  to  secure  an  Act  of 
Incorporation,  on  November  29th  reported  to  the  Standing  Committee  that  "the 
matter  had  been  properly  attended  to." 

27th  Iowa  Eldership. — The  effect  of  the  Standing  Committee's  necessary  work 
of  rearranging  fields  of  labor  is  seen  in  their  decrease  from  twenty-one  in  1871  to 
fifteen  when  the  Eldership  convened  at  Harmony  Bethel,  Des  Moines  county,  Sep- 
tember 16,  1874.  D.  Wertz  on  the  previous  evening  preached  the  Opening  Ser- 
mon from  1  Cor.  iii.  21-23.  For  Speaker  the  Eldership  made  choice  of  F.  F.  Kiner, 
with  L.  F.  Chamberlin,  Stated  Clerk,  and  R.  H.  Bolton,  Corresponding  Secretary. 
While  in  1873  an  effort  was  made  by  an  assessment  to  raise  money  to  meet  the 
claims  against  the  Washington  Bethel,  the  property  was  later  placed  in  the  hands 
of  Henry  Funk  to  dispose  of.  At  this  session  he  reported  the  "sale  of  the  bethel 
on  May  21,  1874,  for  $875.00."  Total  abstinence  from  intoxicating  beverages  is 
insisted  upon,  with  instructions  to  "ministers  and  our  people  to  make  use  of  every 
laudable  effort  in  our  power  to  crush  the  venomous  and  mischievous  serpent  of  in- 
temperance." The  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  were  "instructed  to  use 
their  influence  and  votes  to  change  the  ratio  of  representation  to"  said  body. 
"The  Sunday-School  Record"  then  in  contemplation  was  strongly  endorsed.  The 
establishment  of  the  Ross  Bookstore  in  Harrisburg  received  very  favorable  con- 
sideration. Strong  disapproval  was  expressed  by  resolution  of  the  practice  of 
preachers  leaving  their  fields  of  labor,  or  engaging  their  services  to  other  Elder- 
ships, or  to  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  "without  first  gaining 
the  consent  of  this  body."  The  successful  holding  of  Ministerial  Associations  in 
other  Elderships  induced  the  Eldership  to  appoint  a  committee  to  arrange  a  pro- 
gram for  such  a  meeting  in  the  Iowa  Eldership.  The  death  of  Elder  J.  J.  Miller, 
which  occurred  a  few  months  after  adjournment  in  1873,  was  lamented,  as  he  was 
"a  worthy  brother,  an  esteemed  co-laborer  and  a  faithful  minister."  Among  the 
licentiates  was  W.  R.  Covert,  of  Mercer  county.  Pa.  There  were  enough  German 
people  in  various  parts  of  the  Eldership  territory  to  induce  the  Eldership  to  recom- 
mend to  them  W.  Willsdorf  as  a  German  preacher.  The  Eldershin  also  "urged  the 
brotherhood,  especially  the  ministry,  to  seek  for  a  higher  state  of  spirituality." 

C.  H.— 16* 


466  History   of   the   Churches  of   God 

28th  Iowa  Eldei'ship. — When  the  Iowa  Eldership  adjourned  in  1875  it  num- 
bered forty-two  ministers,  but  not  one-half  were  in  the  active  work.  Of  the  thirty- 
nine  who  were  enrolled  when  the  Eldership  was  constituted  September  16,  1875, 
twenty-four  were  in  attendance,  with  eleven  ruling  elders  and  one  delegate.  To 
get  more  service  out  of  the  local  preachers  the  Eldership  required  each  one  to 
preach  twenty  sermons  a  year.  Should  any  one  fail  to  do  so,  unless  providentially 
hindered,  his  license  was  to  be  withheld.  The  Eldership  elected  C.  W.  Evans 
Speaker;  L.  F.  Chamberlin,  Stated  Clerk,  and  K.  H.  Bolton,  Corresponding  Secre- 
tary. Henry  Funk  was  later  elected  Treasurer.  The  session  was  held  at  Pleas- 
ant Prairie,  Buchanan  county,  and  but  for  two  or  three  animated  discussions  was 
very  pleasant.  One  of  these  was  the  attitude  of  the  Eldership  toward  any  minister 
holding  the  doctrine  of  the  unconscious  state  of  the  dead.  The  result  was  that  it 
was  decided  not  to  grant  license  to  any  one  believing  this  dogma.  The  Stand- 
ing Committee  had  assumed  the  authority  to  say  that  a  minister  was  "not  officially 
authorized  to  fill  all  the  functions  of  the  ministry  until  he  has  paid  $1.00  into  the 
Superannuated  and  Widows'  Fund,"  also  provoked  debate  before  it  "was  stricken 
out."  The  Eldership  arranged  to  hold  a  camp-meeting  the  coming  season.  Two 
missionary  collectors  were  appointed.  There  were  twelve  circuits  and  two  mis- 
sions— South  English  and  Decatur.  A  Contingent  Fund  was  created,  and  a  plan 
adopted  to  secure  a  Permanent  Missionary  Fund  for  the  Eldership  through  be- 
quests. 

29th  Iowa  Eldership. — The  plan  matured  by  the  Standing  Committee  to 
secure  "a  Permanent  Missionary  Fund"  was  published  December  29,  1875,  con- 
sisted simply  in  submitting  a  form  of  bequest  and  urging  brethren  to  remember 
the  Fund  in  their  wills.  But  it  bore  some  fruit  before  the  Eldership  convened  in 
1876,  for  one  minister  who  died,  J.  J.  Miller,  bequeathed  $100.00  to  said  Fund. 
The  session  was  held  at  Colo,  Storey  county,  beginning  with  the  Opening  Sermon 
on  Wednesday  evening,  September  2  0th,  by  R.  H.  Bolton,  in  the  absence  of  both 
the  appointee  and  his  alternate,  C.  W.  Evans  and  J.  C.  Kepford.  J,  H.  Besore  was 
elected  Speaker;  C.  L.  AVilson,  Stated  Clerk;  R.  H.  Bolton,  Corresponding  Clerk, 
and  H.  Funk,  Treasurer.  The  latter's  Report  showed  $331.80  in  the  Missionary 
Fund.  The  Eldership  lost  two  of  its  ministers,  and  one  was  virtually  expelled, 
having  been  found  guilty  of  serious  charges,  and  one  requested  his  name  to  be 
dropped.  The  Grandview  Bethel  was  sold  by  the  agent  for  $100.00.  The  Elder- 
ship then  "reaffirmed  our  former  action,  that  churches  deed  their  church  properties 
in  such  a  way  that  they  may  become  the  properties  of  the  Eldership  in  cases  the 
local  churches  become  extinct."  The  policy  of  raising  missionary  money  through 
agents  was  continued,  and  two  collectors  were  appointed  for  this  purpose.  Debts 
on  bethels  proved  a  hindrance  to  church  work.  The  action  of  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee was  disapproved  in  "detaching  Alice  from  the  Colo  and  Grundy  circuit  by 
a  vote  of  14  to  12.  The  power  of  the  Standing  Committee  "to  make  contracts 
that  will  bind  the  action  of  this  Eldership"  was  then  denied;  and  in  general  terms 
said  Committee  was  forbidden  to  detach  single  points  from  circuits  and  give  them 
to  local  resident  ministers  to  supply.  The  Journal  indicates  some  indisposition 
on  the  part  of  churches  to  co-operate  in  the  matter  of  appointments,  and  the  Eld- 
ership strongly  admonished  them  to  "co-operation  and  conformity  to  the  arrange- 
ments made  by  this  body  as  far  as  practicable."  There  were  sixteen  fields  of  labor, 
three  of  them  being  missions,  one  in  Keokuk  county;  one  in  Ida  and  Sac  counties, 
and  one  "near  Sioux  City."  Reports  indicate  a  good  degree  of  success  during  the 
year. 

30th  Iowa  Eldei'ship. — One  of  those  somewhat  unusual  providences  marked 
this  Eldership  year,  being  the  destruction  by  lightning  of  the  Green  Mound  Bethel. 
The  Eldership  convened  at  North  Bend,  Johnson  county,  September  19,  1877.  H. 
Murray  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  the  evening  previous,  from  Matt,  xxviii.  18-20. 
The  enrollment  showed  twenty-one  teaching  elders  present,  ten  ruling  elders  and 
one  delegate,  while  seventeen  teaching  elders  were  absent.  The  officers  chosen 
were  H.  Mim-ay,  Speaker;  C.  L.  Wilson,  Stated  Clerk;  R.  H.  Bolton,  Correspond- 
ing Clerk,  and  Heni-y  Funk,  Treasurer.  An  unsuccessful  effort  was  made  to  ex- 
clude traveling  preachers  from  the  Stationing  Committee,  and  immediately  the 
Committee  was  elected  composed  of  ministers.  Searching  inquiry  was  made  to 
ascertain  whether  the  preachers  had  lifted  collections  as  ordered,  and  a  resolu- 
tion was  adopted  requiring  delinquents  "to  apologize  to  this  Eldership  for  their 
past  neglect,  and  that  they  be  admonished  to  err  no  more."  The  Committee  on 
Temperance  seemed  to  have  extreme  views,  so  that  a  minority  report  was  made; 


Iowa  Ei.dership  467 

but  after  a  slight  amendment  the  report  was  adopted.  It  declared  that  "the  Bible 
idea  of  the  use  of  intoxicating  drink  is  total  abstinence."  And  the  use  of  tobacco* 
it  declared  "wholly  useless,  extremely  lilthy,  ruinous  to  the  human  system,  and  am 
unnecessary  waste  of  money."  The  Rules  of  Co-operation  and  Rules  of  Order  were 
placed  in  the  hands  of  a  committee  for  revision.  The  Eldership  affirmed  "that  the 
present  age  demands  an  educated  ministry."  A  committee  to  "devise  a  plan  for 
the  better  supporting  of  the  ministry"  reported,  "that  the  preacher  in  charge  of 
a  circuit  call  a  linancial  meeting  soon  after  taking  charge  of  the  same.  .  .  .to  agree 
on  the  amount  of  his  salary  and  amount  of  work  to  be  done  by  him,  and  to  appor- 
tion the  amount  among  the  churches."  The  number  of  accessions  during  the  year 
were  145,  and  96  baptized.  The  gradual  change  on  the  question  of  Secret  So- 
cieties is  seen  in  the  resolution  prohibiting  any  minister  "delivering  lectures  for 
or  against"  them.  K.  H.  Bolton  was  appointed  "to  prepare  a  historical  sketch  of 
the  rise  and  progress  of  the  Church  of  God  in  the  United  States,  but  more  especialljr 
in  the  State  of  Iowa." 

31st  Iowa  Eldership. — This  Eldership  witnessed  the  accession  to  its  ranks  of 
a  minister  who  became  very  prominent  in  connection  with  educational  interests. 
He  was  one  of  three  who  were  ordained,  to  wit:  J.  K.  H.  Latchaw,  D.  S.  Guinter* 
and  S.  K.  Akes.  At  the  same  time  Mrs.  Mailha  J.  IS.  AVertz,  formerly  of  the  West 
Pennsylvania  Eldership,  received  license.  The  Committee  to  revise  the  Rules  of 
Co-operation  and  of  Order  reported  only  a  few  unimportant  changes.  The  Elder- 
ship held  its  session  at  Moneka,  Cedar  county,  beginning  September  11,  1878.  The 
evening  previous  C.  W.  Evans  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  from  Ps.  Ixxxviii.  It 
was  a  well-attended  Eldership,  though  there  were  seventeen  teaching  elders  absent- 
J.  H.  Besore  was  elected  Speaker;  C.  Li.  Wilson,  Stated  Clerk;  R.  H.  Bolton,  Cor- 
responding Secretary,  and  H.  Funk,  Treasurer.  The  presence  of  Latchaw,  a  gradu- 
ate of  Hillsdale  College,  was  made  evident  in  actions  taken  on  education.  The 
Committee  recommended  ministers  "to  preach  occasionally  on  the  subject  of  Edu- 
cation," and  a  sitting  of  the  Eldership  was  appointed  "for  the  general  discussiom 
of  the  subject."  "A  spirited  discussion  took  place"  on  "What  is  Education?" 
"What  is  the  Relation  of  Education  to  the  Cause  of  Religion?"  and,  "What  Cam 
We  Do  to  Promote  Education?"  The  only  practical  outcome  was  a  resolve  to 
"create  a  fund  to  aid  in  the  education  of  young  men  aspiring  for  the  ministry." 
The  Eldership  had  put  itself  on  record  as  being  "very  deficient  in  education," 
which  "occasions  our  practical  exclusion  from  many  places."  Three  hundred  and 
forty  accessions  to  the  churches  were  reported.  "Due  moderation  in  all  things" 
and  "total  abstinence  from  all  intoxicating  drinks  as  a  beverage"  was  the  gist  of 
the  Report  on  Temperance.  Two  missionary  collectors  were  appointed,  who  were 
to  be  allowed  ten  per  cent,  on  all  collections,  and  traveling  expenses.  There  were 
fourteen  circuits  and  one  mission. 

32nd  Iowa  Eldership. — The  educational  spirit  in  which  the  Eldership  of  187  8 
closed  was  carried  over  into  the  session  of  187  9.  For  not  only  was  the  subject 
again  discussed;  but  by  resolution  it  was  declared  that  "education  is  a  necessity 
in  this  age  of  progress;"  "that  we  consider  ignorance  a  crime  where  knowledge  is 
within  reach;"  and  that  "we  will  encourage  as  much  as  we  are  able  any  reasonable 
plan  for  the  establishment  of  an  institution  of  learning  under  the  control  of  the 
Church  of  God."  The  business  of  the  Eldership  was  carried  on  with  energy  andi 
in  a  spirit  of  harmony  under  the  direction  of  F.  F.  Kiner,  Speaker;  A.  C.  Ganier» 
Stated  Clerk,  and  R.  H.  Bolton,  Corresponding  Secretary.  The  session  was  held 
at  Alice,  Grundy  county,  beginning  September  25th.  J.  Lininger  preached  the 
Opening  Sermon  on  the  previous  evening.  The  names  of  five  teaching  elders  were 
"dropped  from  the  Minutes."  The  Iowa  Missionary  Society  was  "dissolved,"  and 
"all  the  powers  thereof  delegated  to  the  Iowa  Eldership  as  an  Eldership."  Allen's 
Grove,  Scott  county,  was  named  "for  holding  the  camp-meeting  next  year;"  the 
fixing  of  the  time  was  left  to  the  Standing  Committee.  While  "harmony  pre- 
vailed" in  the  Eldership,  there  were  several  judicial  trials  of  ministers-  against 
whom  charges  had  been  preferred.  Also  one  appeal  case  came  up,  which  was  dis- 
posed of  by  adopting  censures  on  the  church  for  expelling  a  member,  and  declaring 
a  minister  implicated  "to  be  highly  censurable,"  his  course  "being  unscriptural 
and  calculated  to  cause  division  and  strife  contrary  to  the  best  interest  of  the 
said  church."  Dates  were  fixed  for  lifting  the  collections  for  Eldership  funds, 
and  the  ministers  which  had  been  delinquent  were  "instructed  to  collect  the 
same."  There  were  eighteen  fields  of  labor,  one  being  the  Northwestern  Mission, 
and  one  Dakota  Territory. 

33rd  Iowa  Eldership. — In  general  terms,  the  thirty-third  Iowa  Eldership  has 


468  History   of   the   Churches  of   God 

been  regarded  as  one  of  rather  more  than  ordinary  energy  in  the  dispatch  of  busi- 
ness and  the  spirit  of  harmony  which  prevailed.  A  fair  degree  of  success  had  at- 
tended the  labors  of  the  year,  and  special  stress  was  placed  upon  the  cultivation 
of  a  greater  degree  of  spirituality  on  the  part  of  both  the  ministry  and  the  laity. 
The  session  was  held  in  the  bethel  at  North  Bend,  Johnson  county,  beginning  Sep- 
tember 16,  1880.  C.  L.  Wilson  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  on  the  evening  of 
the  15th,  from  Matt.  xxiv.  45,  46.  Twenty-two  of  the  forty-two  teaching  elders 
were  absent;  eighteen  ruling  elders  and  delegates  were  in  attendance.  C.  L.  Wil- 
son was  the  choice  of  the  Eldership  for  Speaker;  A.  C.  Garner,  Stated  Clerk;  R.  H. 
Bolton,  Corresponding  Secretary,  and  Heni-y  Funk,  Treasurer.  The  Eldership 
entered  heartily  into  the  spirit  of  "the  celebration  of  the  one  hundredth  anniver- 
sary of  the  organization  of  the  Sunday-schools,"  and  also  "the  semi-centennial  of 
the  Church  of  God  organization  in  the  United  States."  A  special  program  had 
been  "prepared  for  these  services,  which  was  carried  out."  Some  trouble  was 
experienced  in  getting  ministers  who  did  not  attend  the  annual  sessions  to  make 
their  reports  in  writing,  and  stricter  enforcement  of  the  Rule  on  this  subject  be- 
came necessary.  A  number  of  licenses  were  withheld  until  such  reports  were  re- 
ceived by  the  Standing  Committee.  In  ordaining  licentiates  a  minister  was  ap- 
pointed to  "address  them"  after  which  "the  Eldership  joined  in  prayer,"  and  then 
"extended  the  hand  of  fellowship  to  them."  The  body  regarded  "a  thoroughly 
educated  ministry  as  one  of  the  great  and  pressing  needs  of  the  Church  of  God  at 
this  time,"  and  "deplored  the  non-existence  of  an  institution  of  learning  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Church  of  God."  The  unusual  incident  of  a  minister  "falling  from 
the  ministry  and  grace,"  again  "making  his  peace  with  God,  and  preaching"  and 
being  "invited  to  become  a  member  of  this  body"  was  a  feature  of  this  Eldership. 
Two  "missionary  collecting  agents"  were  again  appointed,  though  the  preceding 
year  only  $278.18  were  collected  by  the  two  agents,  at  an  expense  of  $66.04. 
There  were  twenty-one  appointments  made  by  the  .Stationing  Committee,  one  being 
at  Peaksville,  Mo.,  and  one,  Dekota.  These  fields  were  in  the  twenty-three 
counties:  Adams,  Appanoose,  Buchanan,  Cass,  Carroll,  Cedar,  Des  Moines, 
Decatur,  Guthrie,  Greene,  Henry,  Hamilton,  Ida,  Johnson,  Jefferson,  Keokuk, 
Louisa,  Marion,  Page,  Scott,  Story,  Webster  and  Wayne. 

34th  Iowa  Eldership. — A  feeling  reflected  in  reports  of  the  Committee  on 
the  State  of  Religion  had  been  growing  in  the  Eldership  that  there  were  some 
deterrent  causes  operating  against  successful  work,  and  so  at  the  beginning  of  the 
session  of  1881  a  special  order  was  made  for  the  afternoon  of  the  second  day  "for 
a  general  investigation  of  the  wants  of  the  Eldership  and  Church  as  to  a  more 
efficient  and  successful  work  within  its  bounds  and  the  strengthening  of  its 
churches  and  ministry,  and  if  possible  to  devise  or  suggest  some  ,way  to  more 
surely  spread  the  work  of  Christ  in  Iowa."  The  session  was  held  at  Fairview 
Bethel,  Cedar  county,  beginning  September  8th.  J.  H.  Besore  was  elected  Speaker; 
A.  C.  Gamer,  Stated  Clerk;  C.  L.  Wilson,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  Henry  Funk, 
Treasurer.  Gai-field  had  been  "foully  attacked  and  stricken  down  by  the  hand  of 
the  assassin,"  and  the  Eldership,  "knowing  and  believing  in  the  power  and  ef- 
ficiency of  prayer,"  agreed  "to  spend  one-half  hour  in  special  prayer  for  the 
President."  The  Eldership  highly  apreciated  the  fraternal  visits  of  three  mem- 
bers of  the  Illinois  Eldership  and  one  of  the  Missouri  Eldership.  Through  its 
Committee  on  Temperance,  F.  F.  Kiner,  J.  Rilett  and  A.  C.  Garner,  the  Eldership 
expressed  its  belief  "that  all  Christian  Churches  and  people  should  unite  in  the 
condemnation  of  the  use  and  manufacture  and  sale  of  all  intoxicating  drinks  as  a 
beverage;"  that  "God's  people  can  not  afford  to  legalize  or  countenance  a  traffic 
which  is  in  itself  a  source  and  the  direct  cause  of  such  untold  evil  and  sorrow," 
and  urged  "all  our  ministers  and  brethren  to  use  every  lawful  and  honorable 
effort  to  secure  the  submission  of  the  proposed  amendment  to  the  Constitution  of 
this  State  to  the  vote  of  the  people."  The  fact  of  "the  providential  hindrances  to 
the  success  of  the  work  in  the  Winter  of  1880-'81  by  reason  of  the  severe  cold  and 
snow"  was  recognized  by  resolution;  but  the  Eldership  believed  "that  much  more 
can  be  done  by  a  proper  effort  and  greater  diligence."  The  building  of  Findlay 
College  was  regarded  as  a  "project  to  supply  a  long-felt  need  of  the  Church  of 
God,"  and  all  the  "ministers  and  members  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Iowa"  were 
"urged  to  heartily  co-operate  with  the  General  Eldership  in  this  work." 

35th  Iowa  Eldership. — Preceding  the  Eldership  in  1882,  the  Prohibitory 
amendment  to  the  State  Constitution,  so  strongly  endorsed  by  the  Eldership  in 
1881,  was  voted  on.      In  this  campaign  the  Iowa  ministers  took  a  decided  stand  in 


Iowa  Ei^dership  469 

favor  of  the  amendment.  Accordingly  the  Eldership  could  "hail  with  joy  the 
success  attending  the  efforts  of  the  different  agencies  engaged  in  the  promotion  of 
the  temperance  cause  in  the  United  States,"  and  especially  did  the  body  feel  "to> 
thank  God  for  the  result  of  the  late  election,  in  which  the  prohibition  of  the  manu- 
facture and  sale  of  all  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage  became  the  constitutional 
law  of  the  State."  The  session  of  the  Eldership  was  held  at  Newburg,  Jasper 
county,  beginning  September  28th.  On  the  evening  of  the  27th  J.  H.  Besore- 
preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Isa.  Ixii.  2.  While  seventeen  of  the  thirty- 
three  teaching  elders  of  the  Eldership  were  present,  there  were  only  five  ruling; 
elders  and  two  delegates  in  attendance.  Balloting  for  officers  resulted  in  the  elec- 
tion of  C.  W.  Evans,  Speaker;  A.  C.  Garner,  Stated  Clerk;  C.  L.  Wilson,  Corres- 
ponding Secretary,  and  J.  H.  Lighter,  Treasurer.  The  Speaker-elect  "declined  to 
accept  the  office,  and  J.  H.  Besore  was  chosen  in  his  stead."  During  the  year  the  • 
receipts  were  as  follows:  Missionary  Fund,  $230.05;  Superannuated  and  Widows' 
Fund,  $64.42;  Contingent  Fund,  $17.51.  A  State  Evangelist  was  agreed  upon; 
but  as  two  circuits  remained  unsupplied,  none  was  appointed.  A  missionary  meet- 
ing was  held  on  Friday  evening,  when  missionary  interests  were  discussed  by  C. 
W.  Evans,  J.  H.  Besoi-e,  A.  Wilson,  J.  Hnff,  W.  Vance,  J.  Lininger  and  J.  Rilett. 
The  appeal  made  for  money  was  responded  to  by  a  collection  of  $72.55,  and  $84.05 
in  pledges.  The  Eldership  referred  the  matter  of  the  assessment  of  $50.00  by  the 
Corporate  Board  of  the  General  Eldership  to  the  Standing  Committee,  claiming 
that  it  was  "an  unequal  assessment,"  and  that  the  Board  "has  overtaxed  this  Eld- 
ership;" that  "our  just  proportion  would  not  exceed  $30.00."  While  "in  some 
places  we  have  not  been  as  successful  as  desired,"  stated  the  Committee  on  the 
State  of  Religion,  "in  other  places  a  good  work  has  been  done."  The  body  placed 
Itself  on  record  against  "the  use  of  tobacco  in  its  various  forms"  as  "a  great  and 
growing  evil,  expensive,  filthy  and  unhealthy,"  and  pledged  itself  to  "exert  all  the 
influence  we  can  against  its  use."  Findlay  College  enterprise  was  strongly  en- 
dorsed, and  the  Eldership  insisted  on  "putting  forth  every  effort  possible  to  make 
it  a  success,  and  honor  to  the  Church  and  a  benefit  to  all  who  may  come  within  the 
range  of  its  influence  and  power." 

36th  Iowa  Eldership. — The  year  following  the  Eldership  of  1882  was  not 
very  prosperous  in  the  way  of  conversions  and  accessions  to  the  churches.  Other 
interests  of  the  Eldership  were  being  diligently  looked  after,  and  the  ministers 
were  admonished  "to  put  forth  every  lawful  effort  to  enlarge  the  borders  of  the 
Church  of  God."  A  sore  disappointment  was  the  adverse  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  State,  which  "set  aside  and  held  for  naught"  the  Prohibitory  Amend- 
ment of  the  Constitution  adopted  June  27,  1883,  by  a  majority  of  29,729.  But 
the  Eldership  was  as  firmly  determined  as  ever  to  fulfill  "the  moral  obligation 
which  rests  upon  us,  to  secure  the  enactment  of  such  laws  as  shall  provide  for  the 
enactment  and  enforcement"  of  Prohibition.  In  this  spirit  the  Eldership  convened 
"at  Alice,  Grundy  county,  at  9  o'clock  a.  m.,  September  13,  1883,  after  having 
listened  the  previous  evening  to  the  Opening  Sermon  by  H.  Murray,  from  Acts 
XX.  28.  A.  C  Gamer  was  chosen  Speaker;  C,  L.  WMlson,  Stated  Clerk;  L.  F.  Cham- 
berlin.  Corresponding  Secretary,  and  John  Huff,  Treasurer,  to  succeed  former 
Treasurer  J.  H.  Lighter,  who  died  during  the  Eldership  year.  The  Eldership  de- 
cided to  hold  a  camp-meeting  the  following  Summer,  and  a  Camp-meeting  Com- 
mittee was  appointed.  In  the  Sunday-school  work  the  Eldership  realized  that  it 
was  not  doing  "what  it  should,"  and  action  was  taken  looking  toward  the  holding 
a  Sunday-school  convention.  The  "matter  was  referred  to  the  churches  for  con- 
sideration," which  were  "to  make  their  wishes  known  to  the  next  Eldership."  It 
was  also  agreed  "to  revise  the  Constitution,"  and  a  Committee  was  selected  for 
that  purpose;  to  report  in  18  84.  A  "Permanent  Missionary  Fund"  was  created, 
and  the  "Treasurer  was  instructed  to  set  aside  $200.00"  for  that  purpose,  "the 
same  to  be  kept  separate  from  all  others."  The  Treasurer  was  "required  to  give 
bonds  in  double  the  amount  placed  in  his  hands."  On  the  elective  franchise  the 
Eldership  put  itself  on  record  as  "looking  forward  to  the  day  when  women  may 
have  the  right  to  express  her  wish  at  the  ballot  box  on  all  moral  questions  to  be 
settled  by  a  verdict  of  the  people."  The  months  in  which  pastors  were  to  lift 
collections  for  the  different  Funds  were  fixed,  and  the  Clerk  was  "instructed  to- 
notify  ministers  of  the  time  for  taking  up  these  collections."  The  Treasurer  was 
also  "Instructed  to  set  aside  $400.00  of  Superannuated  and  Widows'  Fund  for  a 
Permanent  Fund." 

37th  Iowa  Eldership. — When  the  Iowa  Eldership  convened  in  1884  the  Com- 


'4-70  History   of  the   Churches  of   God 

mittee  on  Revision  of  the  Constitution  had  no  report  to  make,  as  it  had  done 
nothing.  It  was  continued.  The  General  Eldership  had  refused  to  reduce  the 
.assessment  of  the  Corporate  Board  from  $50.00  to  $30.00  for  the  past;  but  made 
the  assessment  for  the  triennial  period  of  1884-1887  $40.00  a  year.  The  Elder- 
ship acquiesced,  and  directed  an  apportionment  to  be  made  accordingly.  The 
session  of  the  Eldership  was  held  at  North  Bend,  Johnson  county,  beginning  on 
"Thursday  at  9  o'clock  a.  m.,  September  4th.  The  previous  evening  A.  C.  Garner 
.preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Rom.  viii.  3.  Seventeen  of  the  thirty-three 
teaching  elders  enrolled  were  present;  four  ruling  elders  and  six  delegates.  The 
Speaker  was  J.  H,  Besore;  Stated  Clerk,  C.  L.  Wilson,  Transcribing  Clerk,  L.  F. 
■Chaniberlin,  and  John  Huff,  Treasurer.  The  date  for  the  beginning  of  the  Elder- 
ship year  was  fixed  to  be  March  1st,  and  the  "Stationing  Committee  was  instructed 
to  make  all  appointments  to  expire  March  1,  1886."  The  Committee  on  the  State 
of  Religion,  J.  C.  Kepford,  W  A.  AVells  and  D.  Gill,  was  "inclined  to  think  there  is 
■too  much  formality  and  worldliness  among  ministers  and  the  churches,"  and  ad- 
■vised  "the  cultivation  of  a  greater  degree  of  spirituality  and  a  large  liberality 
among  the  churches  in  the  support  of  the  ministers."  In  addition  to  a  cordial 
approval  of  the  work  at  Findlay  College,  the  Eldership  "commended  the  enterprise 
-of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  establishing  and  taking  under  their  care 
the  Barkeyville  Academy."  Young  men  who  contemplate  entering  the  active  min- 
istry were  advised  "to  take  an  academic  or  collegiate  course  before  entering  upon 
the  work."  The  stringent  enforcement  of  the  Rules  of  the  Eldership  was  ex- 
■emplified  in  the  placing  of  "G.  T,  Kininiel's  license  in  the  hands  of  the  Standing 
Committee  until  he  make  apology  for  irregularity  in  accepting  an  appointment 
from  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  without  the  consent  of  this 
body."  The  Eldership  voted  to  "thank  God  for  success  in  securing  the  enactment 
•of  a  statute  prohibiting  the  sale  as  a  beverage  of  all  intoxicating  liquors."  The 
■death  of  John  Rilett  was  recorded,  as  that  of  "an  earnest  advocate  of  the  principles 
of  the  Church  in  his  public  and  private  life."  The  territory  of  the  Eldership  was 
divided  into  fourteen  circuits. 

38th  Iowa  Eldership. — There  was  more  than  the  usual  degree  of  hopefulness 
in  the  Eldership,  and  the  future  success  of  the  Church  in  Iowa  was  apparently 
assured.  Under  such  inspiring  conditions  the  body  met  at  Pleasant  Prairie, 
Buchanan  county,  September  24,  1885,  with  thirteen  fields  of  labor  represented 
*y  nineteen  teaching  elders,  while  fourteen  were  absent.  Only  eight  ruling  elders 
-\vere  present.  The  choice  for  Speaker  fell  to  the  lot  of  J.  C.  Kepford;  A.  C.  Gar- 
dner was  the  Stated  Clerk;  C.  L.  Wilson  was  Corresponding  Secretary.  As  Foreign 
Mission  interests  had  taken  more  definite  shape  at  the  General  Eldership  in  1884, 
a  resolution  was  adopted  in  answer  to  a  letter  from  Secretaiy- Treasurer  J.  R.  H. 
Ijatchaw,  expressing  "heartiest  interest  in  the  Foreign  Mission  work,"  and  "urging 
the  ministry  and  laity  to  encourage  the  work  by  liberal  contributions."  On 
ttemperance,  it  was  the  sense  of  the  Eldership  that  "it  is  the  duty  of  Christians  to 
■vote  for  only  such  men  as  are  known  to  be  in  favor  of  temperance."  The  Elder- 
ship "hailed  with  thankfulness  our  success  so  far  in  our  Findlay  College  enter- 
prise, and  the  enlargement  of  our  Book  Department."  Articles  II.,  III.,  and 
V.  of  the  Constitution  were  amended,  the  Vlth.  Article  being  stricken  out.  As 
"not  as  much  ground  was  gained  as  could  be  desired,"  a  "more  full  consecra- 
tion to  the  work  on  the  part  of  both  ministry  and  laity"  was  recommended. 
The  names  of  two  ministers  were  "dropped  from  the  Roll,"  one  because  "with- 
out the  knowledge  or  consent  of  the  Eldership  has  connected  himself  with 
another  religious  organization."  The  services  of  H.  L.  Soule,  earlier  of  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership,  but  later  of  Illinois,  were  solicited  as  evangelist  to  labor 
among  the  churches.  Assessments  made  by  the  General  Eldership,  and  amounts 
needed  for  Iowa  Eldership,  were  apportioned  among  the  circuits.  There  were 
again  thirteen  circuits.  The  sweet  Christian  fellowship,  with  all  the  trials  inci- 
dent to  the  work,  was  often  expressed  in  the  then  popular  song:  "Shall  we  meet 
teyond  the  river?"  with  which  this  session  closed. 

39th  Iowa  Eldership. — Edward  Young,  in  "Chamber  of  Death,"  expresses  the 
sentiment  that, 

"Heaven  waits  not  the  last  moment;   owns  her  friends 
On  this  side  death;   and  points  them  out  to  men; 
A  lecture  silent,  but  of  sovereign  power!" 

This  was  experienced  by  the  Iowa  Eldership,  which  in  1886  lamented  the  de- 
rparture  of  D.  Wertz,  "a  prominent  member,  who  though  dead,  still  speaks  to  us." 


Iowa  Eldership  471 

One-half  hour  was  devoted  to  memorial  services.  The  Eldership  held  its  session 
at  Newburg,  Jasper  county,  beginning  September  9,  1886,  the  Opening  Sermon 
having  been  preached  the  previous  evening  by  I.  E.  Boyer,  from  Judges  vi.  24. 
The  officers  chosen  were,  Speaker,  L.  F.  Chambeiiin;  Journalizing  Clerk,  A.  C. 
Garner;  Corresponding  Secretary,  C.  L.  Wilson.  The  Illinois  Eldership  was  rep- 
resented by  two  delegates — W.  I.  Berkstreesser  and  C.  Manchester.  The  Station- 
ing Committee  consisted  of  five  members;  the  Standing  Committee,  three;  which 
with  two  additional  members  was  also  the  Board  of  Missions.  All  these  were  min- 
isters. There  were  but  seven  ruling  elders  enrolled.  Jealous  concerning  orthodox 
teaching  by  its  own  ministers,  the  Eldership  was  not  content  to  pass  by  "certain 
teachings  contrary  to  the  accepted  views  of  this  body,"  which  it  found  in  '"The 
Workman  Quarterlies,"  on  John  iii.  5  and  xiii.  It  demanded  "a  frank  and  full  ex- 
planation as  to  how  this  gross  oversight  occurred."  Over  no  other  event  was  the 
Eldership  so  thoroughly  aroused  as  over  that  of  the  assassination  of  Rev.  George 
C.  Haddock,  a  fearless  advocate  of  Prohibition.  In  his  war  against  the  defiant 
saloon  element  in  Sioux  City,  Iowa,  which  resisted  the  State  Prohibitory  law,  he 
incurred  its  inveterate  hatred,  and  was  deliberately  shot  down  on  the  street.  The 
Eldership  embodied  its  sentiments  in  several  most  trenchant  resolutions,  uphold- 
ing "the  healthy  and  effective  statutary  law  prohibiting  the  sale  of  all  intoxicating 
liquors  as  a  beverage;"  denouncing  "the  determined  effort  of  those  who  are 
opposed  to  prohibition  to  suppress  and  disregard  the  law,"  and  reaffirming  its  de- 
termination "from  this  time  forward  to  use  all  lawful  means  to  maintain  the 
honor  of  the  State  and  the  good  of  society  by  diligently  doing  our  duty  as  in- 
dividual citizens  in  making  prohibition  a  success."  One  additional  field  of  labor 
was  reported  by  the  Stationing  Committee — The  Iowa  and  Dakota  Mission,  with 
H.  L.  Soule  and  D.  S.  Guinter  as  ministers.  J.  Huff  was  re-elected  Treasurer,  after 
making  a  very  satisfactory  report  near  the  close  of  the  session. 

40th  Iowa  Eldership. — The  brotherhood  throughout  Iowa  seemed  much  en- 
couraged during  the  Eldership  year  1886-7.  There  was  general  increase  of  in- 
terest in  the  work  of  the  Church  throughout  the  State.  More  preaching  places 
were  opened,  and  the  new  fields,  especially  in  Ida  county,  were  promising  well. 
Newcomer,  of  Illinois,  went  to  Ida  Grove  soon  after  the  Eldership,  and  labored 
successfully  at  that  new  center  and  in  its  vicinity.  The  Eldership  convened  at 
North  Bend,  Johnson  county,  September  22,  1887.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  de- 
livered the  previous  evening,  by  L.  F.  Chamberlin,  from  Ex.  xii.  11,  12.  There 
were  sixteen  teaching  elders  present,  two  exhorters,  seven  ruling  elders  and  three 
delegates.  Seven  teaching  elders  were  absent.  A.  Wilson  was  chosen  Speaker; 
A.  C.  Garner,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  C.  L.  Wilson,  Corresponding  Secretary. 
Temperance  work  held  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  deliberations,  and  was  made  a 
special  order  for  Friday  evening,  with  a  special  committee,  consisting  of  J.  H. 
Besore,  J.  C.  Kepford  and  L.  F.  Chamberlin,  to  prepare  a  program.  Strong  reso- 
lutions were  adopted,  declaring  the  Eldership's  full  "accord  with  the  Prohibitory 
law  of  the  State,"  and  promising  its  aid  and  influence  "that  it  may  and  shall  be 
enforced."  The  enactment  of  a  "more  stringent  pharmacy  law"  was  demanded. 
On  no  questions  before  the  body  was  there  the  least  disposition  to  be  delightfully 
vague  in  the  deliverances  made.  Even  when  "considering  our  publishing  inter- 
ests," which  are  primarily  in  charge  of  the  General  Eldership,  did  it  speak  in  posi- 
tive terms.  The  provision  was  adopted  to  constitute  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the 
Standing  Committee  with  two  additionally  elected  members.  Upon  petition,  a 
committee  was  created  to  hear  and  decide  a  matter  of  a  judicial  character  in  the 
church  at  Moneka.  HuiY,  Besore  and  Garner  were  appointed  "to  take  initiatory 
steps  to  procure  a  tabernacle  for  the  use  of  the  Eldership."  While  the  amounts  re- 
ceived by  the  Treasurer,  John  Huflf,  were  comparatively  small,  the  funds  were  in 
good  condition,  to  wit:  Missionary  Fund,  $612.90;  Superannuated  and  Widows', 
$687.76;  Contingent,  $65.39.  The  Stationing  Committee  made  sixteen  appoint- 
ments with  one  "General  Worker."  The  body  expressed  its  appreciation  of  the 
action  of  the  tleneral  Eldership  in  naming  North  Bend,  Iowa,  as  the  place  to  hold 
its  session  in  1890.  It  was  especially  noted  that  "the  devotional  services  during 
the  session  were  spiritual  and  of  more  than  ordinary  interest,"  and  that  "the 
preaching  was  well-timed,  earnest,  spiritual  and  edifying." 

41st  Iowa  Eldership. — During  the  year  1887-8  Dakota  Mission  was  added  to 
the  fields  of  labor  of  the  Iowa  Eldership,  making  a  total  of  seventeen  when  the 
body  was  constituted  on  September  20,  1888.  A.  Wilson  had  preached  the  Opening 
Sermon  the  previous  evening,  from  Matt,  xxvii.  22.     The  session  was  held  in  the 


472  History   of  the  Churches  of   God 

Beaver  Bethel,  Guthrie  county,  with  nineteen  ministers  present;  two  delegates, 
one  of  them  a  sister,  and  eight  ruling  elders.  Twelve  ministers  were  absent.  J. 
H.  Besore  was  the  choice  of  the  Eldership  for  Speaker;  A.  C.  Gamer,  Stated  Clerk, 
and  L.  F.  Chainberlin,  Transcribing  Clerk.  After  his  Report  was  approved  and 
audited,  John  Huflf  was  re-elected  Treasurer.  The  liquor  traffic  was  denounced  as 
"the  aggregation  of  viciousness,  lawlessness  and  crime,  the  murderer  of  innocents, 
the  financial  cancer  of  economic  industries,  the  cesspool  of  political  trickery  and 
demigogery."  The  "unqualified  prohibition  of  the  traffic,  State  and  national"  was 
favored,  and  it  was  considered  the  duty  of  "citizens  and  Christians  to  renounce  all 
allegiance  to  political  parties  which  are  in  affiliation  with,  or  under  the  control 
of,  the  rum  traffic."  On  the  use  of  tobacco  it  expressed  its  belief  that  it  is  "an  ex- 
pensive, filthy  and  inconsistent  habit,  detrimental  to  spiritual  growth,  and  over 
which  we  cannot  conscientiously  ask  the  blessing  of  God."  For  the  General  Eld- 
ership Missionary  and  Contingent  Funds  assessments  were  made.  The  Committee 
on  Tabernacle  of  1887  had  partly  complied  with  its  instructions,  and  when  its 
report  was  under  consideration,  subscriptions  for  the  tent  were  taken  on  the  floor, 
amounting  to  $149.00.  The  time  for  holding  the  Eldership  was  changed  "so  that 
the  Opening  Sermon  will  be  preached  on  the  Sunday  morning  on  or  before  the  full 
moon  of  September,  the  Ministerial  Association  to  be  held  Friday  evening  and 
Saturday  preceding.  In  the  toll  of  death  of  the  year  was  one  veteran  of  the  cross 
most  highly  esteemed,  Father  Charles  Huff,  "whose  history  as  a  Christian  and  a 
member  of  the  Church  of  God  was  contemporary  with  the  history  of  the  Church 
of  God  in  North  America,  and  whose  life  was  interwoven  with  the  early  history  of 
the  Church  in  Pennsylvania,  Ohio  and  Iowa."  The  Eldership  by  an  incisive  reso- 
lution placed  itself  "on  record  against  the  various  methods,  such  as  church  fairs, 
festivals,  oyster  suppers,  etc.,  for  raising  money  for  religious  and  benevolent  pur- 
poses" as  being  "contrary  to  the  spirit  and  teaching  of  the  gospel."  Findlay  Col- 
lege was  emphatically  endorsed,  the  body  declaring  "that  we  can  not  now  afford 
to  slacken  our  hands  in  financial  and  moral  support  of  the  same."  The  Eldership 
having  resolved  in  favor  of  two  General  Missionaries,  the  Stationing  Committee,  In 
addition  to  the  seventeen  regular  fields  of  labor,  appointed  H.  Murray  and  W. 
Vance  General  Workers.  But  Moneka  and  Ida  Grove  were  unsupplied.  The  Eld- 
ership remained  in  session  until  Saturday  evening;  tarried  over  Lord's  day,  and 
joined  with  the  church  in  the  ordinances  in  the  evening. 

42nd  Iowa  Eldership. — As  the  time  was  approaching  for  the  meeting  of  the 
General  Eldership  in  Iowa,  two  items  were  prominent  in  the  minds  of  the  ministers 
and  churches  in  the  State.  Some  opposition  had  developed  against  holding  the 
General  Eldership  in  Iowa,  and  at  North  Bend,  a  country  church.  Then  the  neces- 
sary preparation  to  entertain  the  body  involved  much  work.  But  the  brethren 
were  advised  to  proceed  with  the  latter,  on  the  positive  assumption  that  no  change 
of  place  would  be  made.  The  matter  of  purchasing  a  tabernacle  assumed  addi- 
tional significance,  the  committee  declaring  that  "there  appeared  no  immediate 
need  for  the  purchase  of  the  same,"  had  "deferred  the  matter  to  await  the  action 
of  this  Eldership."  The  committee  was  continued,  and  a  committee  of  four  was 
appointed  by  the  church  at  North  Bend,  the  two  jointly  constituting  "a  Committee 
on  Arrangements,  to  make  such  arrangements  and  preparations  as  may  be  neces- 
sary for  the  proper  reception  and  entertainment  of  the  next  General  Eldership." 
The  session  was  held  at  Alice,  in  Grundy  county,  beginning  on  Monday  morning, 
October  7,  1889.  On  Sunday  evening  J.  H.  Besore  had  preached  the  Opening  Ser- 
mon, from  Heb.  xi.  24-26.  Sixteen  of  the  thirty-four  ministers  were  absent;  five 
ruling  elders,  four  delegates  and  one  exhorter  were  present.  M.  S.  Newcomer  was 
chosen  Speaker;  A,  C.  Gamer,  Stated  Clerk,  and  C.  L.  Wilson,  Transcribing  Clerk. 
The  Eldership  mourned  the  death  of  I.  Whisler,  "one  of  our  old  ministers,  identi- 
fied with  the  early  history  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Iowa,  a  zealous  advocate  of  the 
doctrine  and  principles  of  the  Church  of  God."  The  Eldership  directed  the  prep- 
aration of  "a  course  of  studies  for  the  young  ministers  now  entering  this  body,  and 
who  are  unable  to  attend  college."  It  also  recommended  that  "an  educational 
fund  be  established  for  the  benefit  of  young  ministers,  and  that  collections  for  this 
purpose  be  taken  up  at  each  appointment  during  the  month  of  November  in  each 
year."  Churches  were  recommended  to  secure  acts  of  incorporation  under  the 
laws  of  the  State.  A  sad  incident  marked  the  session,  when  J.  H.  Hurley,  once 
Speaker  of  the  General  Eldership,  but  later  disfellowshiped  by  the  Illinois  Elder- 
ship for  certain  misdemeanors,  applied  for  license.  Generously  the  Eldership, 
upon  promise  of  restitution,  agreed  to  open  its  doors  for  his  re-admission  to  the 


Iowa  Eldership  '  473 

ranks  of  the  ministry.  Congregationalism  was  in  part  endorsed  when  it  was  re- 
solved that  "we  do  not  consider  a  letter  of  recommendation  or  dismissal  valid 
unless  ratified  by  the  church."  The  Eldership  declared  that  it  emphatically 
favors  Prohibition,  and  that  it  has  "no  sympathy  with  the  license  or  tax  system." 
After  making  a  good  report.  Treasurer  John  Huflf  was  unanimously  re-elected. 
There  were  seventeen  fields  of  labor,  three  of  which  received  missionary  appropria- 
tions. 

43rd  Iowa  Eldership. — "In  a  beautiful  natural  grove,  upon  an  eminence  which 
makes  it  a  very  pleasant  location,"  stands  the  Pleasant  Grove  Bethel,  Louisa 
county,  where  from  September  29th  to  October  1,  1890,  the  forty-third  annual 
session  of  the  Iowa  Eldership  was  held.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  on 
Sunday  morning  previous,  by  M.  S. . Newcomer,  from  Luke  xxiv.  49.  Subject:  — 
"Source  of  Ministerial  Power."  There  were  sixteen  fields  of  labor,  two  of  which 
were  not  represented.  The  enrollment  showed  twenty-two  teaching  elders,  ten 
ruling  elders  and  six  delegates  present;  and  eleven  teaching  elders  absent,  two  of 
which  were  sisters.  There  were  also  two  exhorters  enrolled,  but  absent.  The 
election  resulted  in  the  choice  of  J.  S.  Miller,  Speaker;  A.  C.  Gamer,  Stated  Clerk; 
C  L.  Wilson,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  John  Huff,  Treasurer.  The  funds  were  in 
good  condition,  though  receipts  were  not  large.  There  were  balances  on  hand 
from  the  previous  year,  in  the  Home  Mission  Fund,  $579.44,  and  receipts,  $174.00; 
Superannuated  and  Widows',  balance,  $819.15,  and  receipts,  $94.69;  General  Mis- 
sion, balance,  $92.52,  and  receipts,  $116.46;  Contingent,  balance,  $139.05,  and 
receipts,  $55.14.  Only  $245.00  were  appropriated  out  of  the  Mission  Fund.  For 
this  fund  and  the  Contingent  Fund  assessments  were  made  on  the  churches,  thirty- 
two  in  number.  The  Treasurer's  bond  was  $2,000.00.  There  was  a  good  degree 
of  success,  and  fair  prospects  for  the  coming  year.  A  Course  of  Studies  was  re- 
ported by  a  previously  appointed  Committee.  It  extended  through  three  years, 
and  consisted  of  five  subjects  in  each  year,  instead  of  text-books  on  particular  doc- 
trines. All  ministers  were  given  the  option  to  take  the  Course.  Each  minister 
taking  the  Course  was,  however,  to  study  "Mclllvaine's  Evidences  of  Christianity," 
and  write  a  sermon  on  John  I.  1,  to  be  submitted  to  the  Board  of  Examiners.  On 
"a.  standard  of  giving,"  the  Eldership  expressed  its  judgment,  "that  every  person 
who  is  a  member  of  the  Church  of  God  ought  to  give  at  least  one-tenth  of  their 
annual  income,  as  we  believe  this  is  scriptural,  right  and  just."  The  churches  are 
advised  at  "the  beginning  of  the  Eldership  year  to  assess  the  membership  on  this 
basis."  The  organization  of  Women's  Missionary  Societies  in  all  the  churches  was 
recommended.  "Only  such  men  and  parties  who  favor  the  prohibition  of  the 
liquor  traffic"  are  to  be  "supported  by  our  prayers  and  ballots."  Unfermented 
wine  was  recommended  for  Communion  purposes.  The  Minutes  were  ordered  pub- 
lished in  pamphlet  form. 

44th  Iowa  Eldership. — The  extended  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Obituaries 
in  1891  indicated  the  acute  sense  of  loss  which  the  Eldership  felt  in  the  deaths  of 
A.  Hollems,  J.  B.  Sherbon  and  J.  M.  Kline.  Hollems  was  "an  able  minister,  a 
clear  and  lucid  expounder  of  the  word;  a  logical,  systematic  reasoner  of  great 
power,  and  a  meek,  child-like  man."  Sherbon  was  "a  man  of  quick  penetration, 
positive  convictions  and  good  abilities  as  a  revivalist."  Klein  was  "a  missionary 
of  self-sacrificing  devotion,  and  labored  with  ability  and  great  acceptance."  The 
session  was  held  at  Hayes  Chapel,  Ida  county,  beginning  Monday  morning,  Sep- 
tember 14th.  J.  S.  Miller  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon  the  Sunday  morning 
previous,  from  2  Cor.  iv.  1,  2.  The  officers  elected  were  J.  C.  Kepford,  Speaker; 
A.  C.  Gamer,  Stated  Clerk;  C.  L.  Wilson,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  John  Huff, 
Treasurer.  An  ordinance  meeting  was  held  on  Tuesday  evening,  when  C.  L.  Wil- 
son, by  action  of  the  Eldership,  delivered  an  address.  At  the  missionary  meeting 
the  sum  of  "$600.00  was  raised  in  cash  and  pledges."  The  Eldership  also  raised 
$21.50  "to  place  a  memorial  window  in  the  bethel  at  Ida  Grove  in  memory  of  A. 
Hollems."  The  year  1890-1  was  "one  of  more  than  ordinary  success."  The 
body  strenuously  opposed  "the  attempt  to  bring  about  the  repeal  of  our  present 
prohibitory  law,"  and  the  brotherhood  was  "earnestly  urged  to  use  their  influence 
and  ballots  in  favor  of  such  men  only  as  are  pledged  to  the  retention  and  enforce- 
ment of  the  present  law."  An  important  action  was  taken  to  promote  more  active 
interest  and  effort  on  the  part  of  ministers  and  churches  to  "use  their  influence  in 
retaining  the  children  of  the  jfamilies  of  the  Church,  and  thereby  hold  them  to  the 
principles  and  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  God."  Funds  for  the  purchase  of  a  tent 
for  the  use  of  the  Eldership  were  not  half  sufficient,  and  pastors  were  directed  "at 


474  History  of  the   Churches  of  God 

once  to  make  an  effort  to  secure  the  full  amount  necessary."  A  State  Missionary 
was  to  be  employed  as  soon  as  a  suitable  minister  could  be  secured. 

45th  Iowa  Eldership. — "The  work  of  the  Eldership,"  as  reflected  in  this  year's 
Journal,  "was  carried  on  with  zeal  and  energy.  The  foreign  mission  work  had 
taken  strong  hold  on  the  minds  of  the  brethren,  and  the  subject  was  discussed  at 
some  length,  and  quite  an  interest  created."  The  session  was  held  at  Pleasant 
Prairie,  Buchanan  county,  beginning  October  3,  1892.  On  the  previous  Sunday 
morning  1.  IJ.  Boyer  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  1  Cor.  vi.  20.  When  the 
Eldership  was  constituted,  forty-two  teaching  elders,  of  whom  nineteen  were 
absent,  and  eight  ruling  elders  and  delegates  were  enrolled,  representing  eighteen 
fields  of  labor.  J.  S,  Miller  was  elected  Speaker;  A.  C.  Garner,  Journalizing  Clerk; 
C.  L.  Wilson,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  John  Huff,  Treasurer.  Provision  was  made 
for  a  form  of  Certificate  for  "all  sisters  who  do  not  desire  full  ministerial  license." 
It  made  them  members  of  the  Eldership,  with  "authority  to  preach  the  gospel 
among  the  churches  of  God  within  the  bounds  of  this  Eldership."  "The  Eldership 
Missionary  meeting  and  the  Woman's  Annual  Missionary  meeting"  were  to  be  held 
together,  the  latter  to  receive  one-third  of  the  funds  secured.  The  Eldership  con- 
ceded that  it  could  "not  dictate  what  ticket  Christians  ought  to  vote,"  yet  it  would 
"advise  and  declare  what  they  ought  not  to  vote,  as  follows:  For  no  party  that 
will  not  place  itself  in  direct  and  open  hostility  to  the  saloon,  in  State  and  nation." 
The  "need  of  better  cultured  ministers  and  Christian  workers  everywhere"  was 
emphasized,  and  especially  "for  men  and  women  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
wisdom."  Memorial  services  were  held  "in  memory  of  H.  Murray,  in  whose  death 
"this  Eldership  and  the  Church  have  sustained  a  great  loss."  He  was  a  native  of 
Chester  county.  Pa.,  born  August  28,  1815.  In  1821,  with  his  parents,  he  came 
to  near  Good  Hope,  Cumberland  county.  Here  he  was  converted  in  183  5,  and  bap- 
tized by  Joseph  Adams  in  the  Susquehanna  river.  In  1842  he  removed  to  Rich- 
land county,  Ohio,  and  in  the  Fall  of  that  year  received  license  from  the  Ohio  Eld- 
ership. In  1855  he  emigrated  to  Iowa,  and  in  October  became  a  member  of  the 
Iowa  Eldership. 

46th  Iowa  Eldership. — The  Opening  Sermon  of  this  Eldership,  delivered  on 
Sunday  morning,  September  24,  1893,  by  M.  S.  Newcomer,  was  out  of  the  usual 
line  of  such  discourses.  The  text  was  in  Matt.  xxii.  21,  and  the  theme  was  "The 
Ideal  Citizen."  J.  S.  Miller  was  elected  Speaker;  A.  C.  Gamer,  Stated  Clerk;  J.  K. 
Nelson,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  John  Huff,  Treasurer.  There  was  a  strong  senti- 
ment in  favor  of  employing  a  State  Evangelist,  and  after  approving  the  question,  it 
w^as  referred  to  the  Standing  Committee.  A  motion  to  invite  Mi's.  Woodworth  to 
Iowa  "to  labor  in  evangelistic  work,"  was  not  agreed  to.  Instead  of  arranging 
for  the  collection  of  General  Eldership  missionary  money  through  the  usual 
agencies,  the  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  was  in- 
vited "to  visit  churches  in  Iowa  and  take  collections"  for  that  purpose.  Clara 
Iiandes  appeared  before  the  Committee  on  License,  which  "found  her  deeply  im- 
pressed of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  do  public  work  for  God,  and  that  foreign  mission 
work  for  the  Church  of  God  is  to  be  the  ultimate  field  of  her  labors."  A  Certifi- 
cate of  membership  in  the  Iowa  Eldership  was  granted  her,  and  authority  to 
preach  the  gospel.  The  Eldership  was  evidently  opposed  to  local  option,  as  it 
voted  against  "any  attempt  to  make  a  law  prohibiting  the  sale  of  intoxicants  in 
one  part  of  the  State,  and  establishing  a  license  system  in  an  other."  It  also  "pro- 
tested against  a  high  or  low  license,  believing  it  to  be  wrong."  Emma  Stover  was 
"recognized  by  the  Eldership  as  Singing  Evangelist,"  to  "assist  in  meetings  and 
in  the  work  of  organizing  Sisters'  Missionary  Societies."  On  the  questions  sub- 
mitted to  the  Annual  Elderships  by  the  General  Eldership,  action  was  taken  as 
follows:  Against  a  general  Fund  out  of  which  to  defray  the  expenses  of  dele- 
gates to  the  General  Eldership.  On  "Association  of  Churches  of  God,"  "we  do 
not  object  to  the  term  'Association,'  yet  we  do  not  believe  it  to  be  wise  to  make 
said  changes,"  "unless  it  be  adopted  by  all  the  Elderships."  It  approved  of  the 
action  of  "the  General  Eldership  in  accepting  the  proposition  of  the  Free  Baptist 
Association  in  Foreign  Mission  work."  Funds  as  reported  by  the  Treasurer  were 
— Home  Mission,  $738.65;  General  Mission,  $148.17;  Superannuated  and  Widows', 
$727.50;  Contingent,  $207.80.  $250.00  were  appropriated  out  of  the  Home  Mis- 
sion Fund.  The  number  of  appointments  was  twenty-two,  besides  mission  work 
in  Cedar  Rapids  was  to  be  done,  "as  opportunity  afforded,"  by  Mrs.  A.  C.  New- 
comer. 

47th  Iowa  Eldership. — The  matter  acted  upon  in  1893,  to  invite  Mrs.  Wood- 


Iowa  Eldership  475 

worth  to  Iowa,  and  laid  on  the  table,  came  up  at  the  session  in  1894,  when  J.  L. 
Cramer,  after  stating  that  Mrs.  W.  was  "in  Iowa  unsolicited  by  this  body,"  pro- 
posed to  "invite  her  by  telegram  to  attend  the  session  of  the  Iowa  Eldership,  which 
met  in  annual  session  at  Moneka,  Cedar  county,  September  17,  1894.  She  was 
then  at  North  Bend,  but  declined  to  go  to  the  Eldership  "owing  to  so  long  and  con- 
tinued labor,  and  tired  physical  condition."  The  membership  present  consisted  of 
twenty-seven  ministers,  four  exhorters,  twelve  ruling  elders  and  one  delegate.  Ten 
ministers  were  absent.  L.  F.  Chamberliii  was  chosen  Speaker;  D.  \V.  Blakely,  Stated 
Clerk;  J.  W.  Nelson,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  John  Huff,  Treasurer.  The  death  of 
A.  Megrew  was  the  subject  of  appropriate  resolutions.  His  was  "an  eventful  and 
consecrated  life,"  and  he  "left  a  record  of  precious  memory."  He  was  licensed  by 
the  Ohio  Eldership  in  1841,  but  removed  to  Iowa  in  1850.  He  was  Speaker  of 
the  Iowa  Eldership  at  several  sessions,  and  a  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership  a 
number  of  times.  He  died  July  6,  1894.  He  was  one  of  the  converts  of  the 
notable  prayer-meeting  held  at  Churchtown,  Cumberland  county.  Pa.,  in  1832. 
He  did  the  carpenter  work  of  the  first  bethel  built  there.  He  removed  to  Ohio  in 
1836.  He  was  one  of  the  strong  and  influential  ministers  of  the  Iowa  Eldership. 
At  this  Eldership,  along  with  J.  L.  Cramer,  L.  T.  Craven  and  E.  E.  Heltibridle, 
Clara  Landes  received  "full  ministerial  license."  .Steps  were  taken  to  revise  the 
Constitution,  Rules  of  Incorporation,  Rules  of  Order  and  By-Laws,  the  committee 
to  report  in  1895.  If  a  change  is  to  be  made  in  Eldership  titles,  the  Iowa  Elder- 
ship this  year  voted  that  its  preference  is  "Assembly  of  Churches  of  God."  Twenty- 
two  appointments  were  made,  to  six  of  which  missionary  appropriations  were  made, 
aggregating  $350.00.  The  Tabernacle  Fund  was  to  be  increased,  which  now 
amounted  to  $150.90. 

48th  Iowa  Eldership. — It  is  doubtless  next  to  a  truism,  that  "in  all  religious 
controversies,    exaggeration,    distortion,   prejudice   and    unfairness   are   certain   to 
characterize,  not  one,  but  both  of  the  contending  sides."     So  that  it  is  never  in 
strife  of  this  kind  that  truth  is  likely  to  come  forth,  which,  on  the  contrary  is  the 
fruit  of  impartial,  patient  and  quiet  investigation.      But  discussion  should  be  some- 
thing quite  different  from  controversy.      It  is  the  statement  and  consideration  of 
arguments  for  and  against  a  matter  under  examination.       Mill  "On  Liberty"  says 
Ihere  must  be  discussion  to  "show  how  experience  is  to  be  interpreted."     But  for 
more  than  that.      If  with  calmness  and  judgment  propositions  are  discussed  they 
are  illuminated  and  connected  facts  are  developed  to  enable  parties  to  reach  sound 
conclusions.      In   1895  the  Iowa  Eldership  had  protracted  discussions  on  general 
and  local  questions,  but  not  any  serious  controversies.      It  held  its  annual  session 
at  Alice,  Grundy  county,  beginning  September  23rd.      Twenty-seven  ministers  were 
present,  and  twelve  were  absent;    eighteen  ruling  elders  and  delegates,  and  one 
exhorter,  while  three  exhorters  were  absent.      An  organization  was  effected  by  the 
election  of  A.  C.  Garner,  President;  C.  L.  Wilson,  Stated  Clerk,  and  J.  K.  Nelson, 
Transcribing  Clerk.      The  first  item  under  discussion  was  the  revision  of  the  Con- 
stitution.    After   a   committee   was   appointed,   to   report   in    1896,   the   important 
matter  of  "examining  into  the  character  and  reports  of  ministers"  was  considered 
and  debated,  and  then  referred  to  the  Revision  Committee.      The  Tent  Fund  was 
then  disposed  of,  and  the  "matter  was  dropped,  and  moneys  ordered  returned  to 
donors."      In  succession  the  Eldership  discussed  items  handed  down  by  the  General 
Eldership.      On  change  of  Eldership  titles  it  was  decided  "not  wise  to  depart  from 
the  old  landmarks,"  and  so  the  Eldership  stood  "opposed  to  a  change  of  titles." 
But  if  a  change  should  be  made,  Iowa  preferred  "Assembly  to  that  of  Association 
of  Churches  of  God,"  and  so  instructed  its  delegates.      Life  ordination   was   dis- 
cussed at  the  Ministerial  Association  on  September  21st,  and  the  Eldership  voted 
that  "persons  called  of  God  to  preach  the  gospel  should  be  ordained  for  life."     It 
was  not  in  favor  of  "laying  on  of  hands  as  necessarily  essential  to  scriptural  or- 
dination."    After  the  Treasurer's  Report  was  audited  and  approved,  N.  Zeller  was 
,  chosen  Treasurer.     The  "licensing  of  the  liquor  traffic  as  a  beverage"  the  Elder- 
ship "looked  upon  as  a  crime  and  a  sin,"  and  hence  the  body  pledged  itself  "not  by 
our  ballots  to  support  any  party,  men  or  measures  that  are  not  uncompromisingly 
opposed  to  the  legalization  of  this  demoralizing  and  diabolical  business."      The  Im- 
portant question:     "What  can  we  do  as  an  Eldership  to  increase  the  interest  taken 
in  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.?"  was  carefully  considered.     Assessments  were  made  for  General 
Mission  and  Contingent  Funds,  and  for  expenses  of  delegates  to  the  General  Elder- 
ship.    There  were  twenty-two  fields  of  labor.     Mi-s.  M.  A.  Sutliff  was  appointed 
Evangelist. 


476  History   of  the   Churches  of   God 

49th  Iowa  Eldersliip. — "A  hopeful  spirit  prevailed"  in  the  Iowa  Eldership  la 
1896,  and  "the  meeting  was  full  of  enthusiasm  and  interest."  "All  matters  re- 
lating to  the  general  work  of  the  Church  were  considered."  True,  "during  the 
year  occurred  the  death  of  J,  Lininger,  and  all  felt  that  a  great  loss  was  sustained 
and  a  wise  counselor  was  gone  from  our  midst."  But  J.  W.,  Ault,  Walter  Smith 
and  Conrad  Fatland  were  received  into  the  Eldership,  which  much  encouraged  the 
consecrated  workers.  Lininger  was  a  self-made  man.  He  was  first  licensed  by 
the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  in  1839.  He  became  one  of  the  pioneer  mem- 
bers of  the  Iowa  Eldership.  He  was  firm  to  a  fault  in  his  opinions,  yet  there  was- 
an  absence  of  egotism  in  his  utterances.  A  man  of  great  energy  and  natural 
ability,  he  became  a  leading  member  of  the  Iowa  Eldership.  He  was  tenacious, 
yet  conciliatory.  A  man  of  sterling  character,  he  had  also  a  fine  sense  of  honor 
and  a  kindly,  generous  spirit  toward  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact,  and  so  he 
could  say  with  Hamlet:  "I  think  myself  in  nothing  else  so  happy  as  in  a  soul 
remembering  my  dear  friends."  Barbara  McFadden,  widow  of  Wm.  McFadden, 
minister  in  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  who  died  at  Ida  Grove,  la.,  was  lov- 
ingly remembered  and  honored  at  the  memorial  services.  The  session  of  the  Eld- 
ership was  held  at  Carroll,  Carroll  county,  and  began  September  21st,  the  Opening 
Sermon  having  been  preached  .the  Sunday  morning  before,  by  J.  C.  Kepford,  from 
1  Kings  ii.  2.  A.  C.  Gamer  was  the  President,  and  C.  L.  Wilson,  Clerk.  Three 
new  churches  were  received  after  their  condition  was  investigated  and  favorably 
reported  upon  by  a  committee.  The  revised  Constitution  was  reported,  and 
adopted.  The  amendments  changed  "Church  of  God"  to  "churches  of  God;"  "Cor- 
responding Secretary"  to  "Transcribing  Clerk;"  "Speaker"  was  changed  to  "Presi- 
dent;" provision  was  made  for  the  election  of  "a  Standing  Committee  which  shall 
also  be  the  Board  of  Mission;"  requiring  "all  persons  receiving  license  from  the 
Eldership  to  hold  membership  in  some  local  church  in  the  Eldership;"  requiring 
"all  officers  to  be  actual  members  of  the  Eldership,  except  the  Treasurer  and  the 
Transcribing  Clerk,"  who  need  not  be,  and  do  not  become  members  by  such  elec- 
tion. The  retiring  President  was  required  to  deliver  before  the  next  Eldership- 
"a  message,  stating  so  far  as  possible  the  wants  and  conditions  of  the  churches, 
and  making  such  recommendations  as  in  his  judgment  he  may  deem  necessary."" 
The  use  of  permanent  funds  of  Findlay  College  was  characterized  as  being- 
"dangerous,  and  is  creating  distrust,  and  is  closing  up  the  way  for  securing  perma- 
nent funds  of  that  character;"  but  the  Eldership  expressed  its  "deep  interest  in 
the  success  of  the  College."  Two  sisters  "received  Lay  Evangelist  Certificates." 
In  addition  to  a  forcible  resolution  on  temperance,  the  Eldership  "declared  its 
antipathy  to  the  tobacco  habit,  and  opposed  those  who  desire  to  become  mem- 
bers of  this  body  until  fhe  use  of  tobacco  in  any  form  is  discarded."  Churches 
were  urged  to  organize  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.,  and  to  send  representatives  to  the  next  Eld- 
ership to  organize  a  State  Association.  There  were  twenty-two  fields  of  labor, 
one  vGeneral  Evangelist  and  four  Lay  Evangelists,  three  of  them  women. 

50th  Iowa  Eldership. — This  is  the"  fifty-first  annual  session  of  the  Iowa  Eld- 
ership," according  to  its  official  enumeration.  It  was  held  at  Pleasant  Prairie, 
Buchanan  county,  and  the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  by  D.  S.  Guinter  on 
Sunday  morning,  September  12,  1897,  from  1  Cor.  xv.  22.  On  Monday  morning 
the  provision  of  the  amended  Constitution  went  into  effect,  when  "an  admirable 
address  by  A.  C.  Gamer,  retiring  President,  was  delivered."  He  reviewed  the 
work  of  the  past  year;  gave  an  outline  of  the  work  to  be  done  by  the  Eldership, 
with  many  valuable  suggestions  upon  matters  of  serious  import.  Then  the  Elder- 
ship was  constituted,  and  an  organization  effected  by  electing  J.  S.  Miller,  Presi- 
dent; C.  L.  AVilson,  Stated  Clerk;  J.  W.  Ault,  Transcribing  Clerk.  A  newly  or- 
ganized church  in  Lincoln  township,  Wright  county,  was  received.  Also  one  at 
Shellsburg,  and  one  at  East  Des  Moines.  A  pleasant  incident  was  a  letter  of 
greeting  from  the  Illinois  Eldership  through  Sister  C.  M.  Ritchie.  By  her  hand 
greetings  of  the  Iowa  Eldership  were  sent  to  the  Oregon  and  Washington  Elder- 
ship, and  to  the  Illinois  Eldership.  The  first  report  of  Clara  Landes,  Missionary 
to  India,  was  read,  and  was  received  with  absorbing  interest.  A  special  order 
was  made  for  the  memorial  services  to  do  honor  to  two  ministers  who  had  in  their 
departure  left  legacies  of  pious  devotion  to  the  common  cause.  Sister  A.  C.  New- 
comer was  "a  faithful  advocate  of  the  gospel,  an  earnest  worker  in  the  Church, 
and  a  woman  of  great  faith  in  God  in  times  of  sorrow  and  affliction.  She  re- 
ceived her  first  license  from  the  Illinois  Eldership  in  1873."  W.  Bnrch,  who  for 
many  years  was  a  faithful  minister  of  the  gospel,  and  one  who  was  always  true  to 


Iowa  Eldership  477 

the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  God."  An  effort  to  establish  a  time-limit  for 
pastors,  the  term  being  three  years,  was  not  successful.  Two  General  Evangelists, 
A.  E.  Kepford  and  J.  C.  Forncrook,  were  licensed.  The  receipts  for  the  Mission- 
ary Fund  were  $362.08;  Contingent  Fund,  $160.61;  General  Eldership  Mission 
Fund,  $269.69;  Superannuated  Fund,  $263.88.  N.  Zeller  was  elected  Treasurer. 
The  fields  of  labor  numbered  twenty-three,  with  three  Lay  Evangelists  and  four 
General  Evangelists. 

51st  Iowa  Eldership. — In  addition  to  the  Annual  or  Opening  Sermon,  the 
"Annual  Message"  of  the  retiring  President  was  gaining  in  public  estimation.  At 
the  session  in  1898,  J.  S.  Miller,  retiring  President,  recommended  that  "the  Annual 
Message  be  published  in  The  Advocate  at  least  one  month  before  the  session  of  the 
Eldership."  He  also  recommended  that  "at  least  one-half  of  the  afternoons  of 
the  first  two  days  be  given  to  committee  work,"  a  suggestion  which  experience  in 
deliberative  bodies  has  proved  to  be  quite  generally  approved.  Also  that  "nomi- 
nations in  the  selection  of  officers"  be  adopted.  The  Eldership  convened  on  Sat- 
urday, September  19,  1898,  at  Glidden,  Carroll  county.  On  Sunday  morning  Jay 
•C.  Forncrook  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Matt.  xvi.  18.  The  twenty- 
four  fields  of  labor  were  represented  by  twenty-five  teaching  elders  and  twenty 
ruling  elders  and  delegates.  There  were  also  three  Lay  Evangelists,  three  Gen- 
eral Evangelists,  one  General  Worker,  one  Missionary  in  employ  of  the  Board  of 
Missions  of  the  General  Eldership,  one  Missionary  to  India,  seventeen  local  min- 
isters and  two  exhorters.  But  nineteen  of  the  teaching  elders  were  absent.  Four 
teaching  elders  were  women,  and  three  of  the  evangelists  and  one  exhorter.  After 
nominations,  elections  resulted  in  the  choice  of  D.  S.  Guinter,  President;  C.  L. 
Wilson,  Stated  Clerk;  J.  W.  Ault,  Transcribing  Clerk.  His  "usefulness  impaired 
by  failures  to  meet  his  financial  obligations,"  the  Standing  Committee  suspended 
one  minister  "from  the  functions  of  the  ministry,"  and  the  Eldership  revoked  his 
license.  In  its  action  on  temperance,  emphatically  declaring  against  "the  manu- 
facture and  sale  of  all  intoxicating  drinks,  both  as  a  beverage  and  a  medicine,  the 
Eldership  petitioned  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  use  his  executive  power 
to  abolish  the  army  canteen."  Three  newly  organized  churches,  on  application, 
were  received  into  the  Eldership.  The  unique  entry  of  instances  in  which  the 
Eldership  violated  its  Constitution  was  followed  by  the  passage  of  a  resolution 
that  "in  the  future  the  Iowa  Eldership  hold  sacred  its  Constitution,  and  under  no 
case,  condition  or  circumstance  violate  it."  A  special  effort  was  to  be  made  dur- 
ing the  year  to  increase  the  Home  Mission  Fund,  and  the  last  Lord's  day  in  October 
was  designated  as  the  time  "to  present  the  claims  of  the  Home  Mission  Fund  and 
receive  money  and  pledges."  The  ministers  were  to  be  interrogated  at  the  Elder- 
ship in  1899  as  to  whether  they  complied  with  this  order.  One  minister  was  ex- 
pelled by  the  Eldership  for  conduct  which  brought  "reproach  to  the  cause  of 
Christ  and  disgrace  to  the  gospel  ministry."  The  work  throughout  the  Eldership 
had  "made  good  progress;  the  membership  had  materially  increased;  four  new  or- 
ganizations were  formed;   several  houses  of  worship  were  built." 

52nd  Iowa  Eldership. — To  meet  certain  conditions  under  the  order  of  the 
General  Eldership  requiring  Life  Certificates  of  Ordination  was  a  perplexing  ques- 
tion in  the  Iowa  Eldership.  But  it  was  solved  by  adding  to  the  Life  Certificate  a 
certificate  of  character  and  standing,  "to  be  renewed  every  year  by  the  vote  of 
the  Eldership."  Before  organization  of  the  Eldership  in  1899,  after  it  was  con- 
stituted by  the  Clerk,  a  Committee  on  Credentials  was  appointed,  which  also  re- 
ported petitions  from  the  church  at  Muscatine  and  the  mission  church  at  Iowa 
City  "for  admittance  to  the  Iowa  Eldership."  The  session  was  held  at  North 
Bend,  Johnson  county,  and  began  business  on  Monday  morning,  September  18, 
1899.  J.  C.  Kepford  had  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  on  Sunday  morning,  from 
Joshua  iii.  4.  A.  C.  Garner  was  elected  President;  C  L.  Wilson,  Stated  Clerk; 
F.  F.  Manchester,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  N.  Zeller,  Treasurer.  The  Eldership 
not  only  "condemned  any  and  all  political  parties  w^hich  in  any  way  would  try  to 
sustain  the  saloon  in  Iowa  and  other  States  in  violation  of  the  law,"  and  "de- 
manded the  abolishment  of  the  army  c^jnteen;"  but  it  denounced  "the  use  of 
cigarettes  as  very  destructive  to  the  youth  of  our  land."  A  half  hour  was  "set 
apart  for  memorial  services"  in  honor  of  four  persons  who  had  gone  never  to 
"come  back  from  the  echoless  shore."  None  was  a  minister;  but  John  Huflf  had 
long  been  a  member  of  the  Eldership,  and  its  Treasurer,  and  also  delegate  to  the 
General  Eldership,  and  its  Treasurer.  The  name  of  Can-ie  A.  Kepford  was  added 
to  the  Ministerial  Roll,  she  having  received  an  annual  license.      The  other  regu- 


478  History    of   the   Churches   of   God 

larly  licensed  women  of  the  Eldership  were  Emma  Isenberg,  Mrs.  S.  A.  Rambo, 
Clara  Landes,  M.  Sutliff  and  Mrs.  M.  J.  B.  AVertz,  formerly  Beecher,  who  was  sup- 
erannuated. The  Eldership  rejoiced  that  "notwithstanding  adversities,  victories 
are  ours;  some  new  bethels  are  being  built,  new  churches  organized  and  others 
strengthened."  Thre  were  44  churches  in  the  body,  32  bethels,  1,610  members, 
131  fellowshiped  during  the  year,  $5,911.78  paid  as  salaries  of  ministers.  The 
Stationing  Committee  made  twenty-three  appointments.  The  brethren  were  "rec- 
ommended to  endeavor  to  maintain  a  greater  spirit  of  love  and  preferment  at  the 
Eldership." 

oSrd  Iowa  Eldei-ship. — The  Iowa  Eldership  in  19  00  had  forty-one  ministers 
on  its  Roll,  of  which  number  six  were  women,  including  Clara  Landes,  Midnapore, 
India.  Two  had  died  during  the  year,  and  one  was  suspended.  There  were  also 
four  exhorters,  two  of  them  women.  The  session  was  held  at  Newburg,  Jasper 
county,  beginning  September  10th,  with  the  Opening  Sermon  on  the  previous  even- 
ing, by  C.  Fatland,  from  Jude  3.  Twenty-six  ministers  were  present,  and  four- 
teen ruling  elders  and  delegates.  A.  C.  Gamer,  retiring  President,  opened  the 
session  by  "delivering  his  Address  and  making  rcommendations."  Officers  were 
then  elected  as  follows:  President,  A.  C.  Garner;  Stated  Clerk,  E.  W.  Moyer; 
Transcribing  Clerk,  F.  F.  Manchester;  Treasurer,  N.  Zeller.  There  were  twenty- 
three  charges,  and  I.  E.  Boyer  and  J.  C.  Fonicrook  were  named  as  Evangelists. 
The  state  of  religion  was  not  wholly  satisfactory,  though  "some  advancement  was 
made  along  all  lines  of  Church  work,  and  a  good  degree  of  spiritual  life  prevailed." 
There  was  a  "Committee  on  Disorganized  Churches,"  which  reported  four  churches 
"disorganized"  or  "defunct,"  and  in  one  instance  "the  church  building  gone." 
But  three  churches  were  received  "as  a  part  of  this  Eldership,"  two  of  them 
located  in  Missouri.  The  two  "well-beloved  brethren"  removed  by  death  were 
David  Gill  and  Joel  Rawhauser,  who  had  "devoted  the  best  of  their  lives  to  the 
sacred  cause  of  the  ministry."  Whether  or  not  the  prayer  was  answered,  "that 
their  mantel  of  power  may  fall  on  others,"  it  is  still  true  as  was  said  when 
Webster  died:  "We  do  not  get  another  Webster  by  electing  a  new  United  States 
Senator  to  take  his  seat."  Reports  as  to  the  unfavorable  attitude  of  the  Elder- 
ship toward  C.  E.  societies  had  provoked  discussion,  and  the  body  declared  that 
it  "fully  endorsed  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  as  an  auxiliary  to  the  church 
both  needful  and  helpful."  On  the  resolution  affirming  "that  the  members  of 
this  body  shall  not  in  any  way  oppose  any  of  the  institutions  sanctioned  and 
adopted  by  this  body,  "a  yea  and  nay  vote  was  ordered,  resulting  in  yeas,  25; 
nays,  10;  not  voting.  5.  A  regular  system  of  apportioning  "the  different  Funds 
among  the  churches"  prevailed,  and  the  five  Funds  were  in  satisfactory  condition. 
A  four  years'  Course  of  Studies  was  agreed  upon,  and  a  committee  appointed  to 
outline  it  and  fix  examinations  and  establish  grades.  A  candidate  for  ordina- 
tion was  required  to  make  an  average  of  7  5  per  cent,  in  Reading,  Arithmetic, 
Grammer,   Geography,   Orthography   and   History. 

54th  Iowa  Eldei-ship. — The  Ministerial  Association  met  the  day  before  the 
Eldership,  and  was  attended  by  twenty-one  ministers  and  twelve  laymen.  The 
same  number,  with  two  added,  answered  Roll  call  when  the  session  of  the  Elder- 
ship opened  at  Alice,  Grundy  county,  Monday  morning,  September  23,  1901.  On 
Sunday  morning  E.  E,  Heltibiidle  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Matt, 
xxviii.  18-20.  President  Garner  "addressed  the  Eldership,  reviewing  the  year's 
work,  and  making  recommendations  for  the  consideration  of  the  Eldership."  He 
was  re-elected  President;  E.  W.  Moyer,  Stated  Clerk;  F.  F.  Manchester,  Transcrib- 
ing Clerk;  N.  Zeller,  Treasurer.  The  church  property  at  Arthur  was  sold — -build- 
ing and  lot,  $350.00;  furniture  and  bell,  $80.00.  The  money  was  placed  into  the 
Church  Extension  Fund.  The  church  organized  at  Royal,  Clay  county,  "was  re- 
ceived as  one  of  the  churches  of  the  Iowa  Eldership."  A  Board  of  Education  was 
provided  for,  which  was  to  meet  and  examine  members  of  the  classes  in  the  four 
years'  Course  of  Studies  on  Thursday  preceding  the  Ministerial  Association.  It 
was  to  "recommend  all  candidates  for  license  to  the  Standing  Committee.  A 
Diploma  was  to  be  granted  to  those  who  finished  the  Course.  Ira  L.  Fatland 
was  the  first  one  to  be  licensed  under  this  provision.  Two  soldiers  of  the  cross 
during  the  year  reported  to  the  Great  Commander — F.  F.  Kiner  and  Geo.  Stone. 
Memorial  services  were  held,  at  which  the  characters  and  works  of  these  departed 
ministers  were  duly  set  forth.  They  were  "aged  brethren,  who  had  seen  years  of 
labor  for  the  Master."  But  the  glory  of  their  lives  came  not  from  what  they  did, 
or  what  they  knew;   but  was  found  in  what  they  were.      There  were  twenty  ap- 


Iowa  Eldkrship  479 

pointments,  all  but  one  supplied.  One  was  the  "Missouri  Mission."  Nine  min- 
isters were  named  as  "General  Workers."  Briefly  the  Eldership  affirmed  "that 
the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage  is  "a  sin,"  thus  going  back  to  the 
original  moral  ground  upon  which  the  question  of  temperance  rested  in  early 
years.  But  it  also  pledged  itself  to  "use  our  influence  in  every  legal  way  possible 
to  destroy  the  rum  traffic." 

55th  Iowa  Eldei-ship. — In  1902  the  announcement  of  the  meeting  of  the 
Iowa  Eldership  indicated  that  a  new  question  of  moment  would  require  discus- 
sion and  action.  The  W.  M.  S.  had  been  meeting  annually  at  the  time  and  place 
of  the  meeting  of  the  Eldership;  but  in  1902  "all  societies  of  the  W.  M.  S.  are 
urged  to  send  their  full  quota  of  delegates."  A  "joint  session  with  the  Elder- 
ship" was  asked  by  the  W.  M.  S.  to  consider  certain  questions.  At  this  joint 
meeting  unanimous  action  was  taken  by  the  Eldership  on  "the  action  of  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership  in  1902,"  and  two  kindred  questions.  "No  inflamatory  speeches 
were  m.ade,"  says  the  Stated  Clerk,  "or  sentiments  of  disloyalty  expressed;"  but 
the  Eldership  expressed  it  as  its  opinion  "that  the  action  of  the  General  Eldership 
in  taking  the  Home  Funds  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  was  illegal  and  unjust,  and  in  direct 

violation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  W.   G.   M.  S.,. and  also  of  an  action  of 

the  General  Eldership  at  Decatur,  June  18,  1899."  The  session  was  held  in  the 
Harmony  Bethel,  Des  Moines  county,  beginning  on  Monday  morning,  September 
15th.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  the  previous  Sabbath  morning  by  G.  W. 
Elliott,  from  II.  Tim.  iv.  1-S.  The  officers  elected  were:  President,  J.  S.  Miller; 
Stated  Clerk,  E.  AV.  Meyer;  Transcribing  Clerk,  A.  E.  Kepford;  Treasurer,  N. 
Zeller.  In  addition  to  the  action  in  joint  session  with  the  W.  M.  S.,  the  Elder- 
ship also  adopted  resolutions  alleging  "discrimination  against  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  in 
the  columns  of  The  Church  Advocate,"  and  demanding  that  its  "columns  be  open 
alike  to  all  without  discrimination."  The  President  of  the  Board  of  Publication, 
D.  M.  Bare,  received  these  resolutions,  and  was  "authorized  to  obtain  the  facts 
complained  of,  and  make  answer  to  the  same."  This  he  did,  and  published  them, 
with  his  conclusion,  that  "it  will  be  found  that  there  has  been  no  discrimination." 
But  as  there  was  "more  or  less  of  an  undercurrent  of  dissatisfaction  and  criticism 
prevalent  throughout  the  Eldership  concerning  our  general  interests,"  the  work 
in  Iowa  felt  its  effects.  The  church  at  Smith  Grove,  Bremer  county,  and  the 
church  at  Stahl,  Mo.,  were  received  into  the  Eldership.  The  sale  of  the  Iowa 
City  and  the  Muscatine  church  properties  was  reported.  There  were  thirty-nine 
churches  in  the  Eldership,  with  a  total  membership  of  1,101.  They  paid  a  total 
of  $4,9  03  as  salaries  to  the  pastors.  Being  delinquent  on  assessments  for  General 
Eldership  Funds,  a  committee  on  the  subject  reported  in  extenuation,  that  the 
Eldership  had  "paid  out  a  large  amount  of  money  in  the  support  of  mission  work 
in  northern  Missouri,  which  was  not  in  harmony  with  the  conditions  on  which 
said  work  was  accepted;"  that  the  Eldership  should  have  credit  for  money  thus 
expended;  that  "the  membership  in  Iowa  in  the  past  two  years  has  been  greatly 
reduced  by  removals,"  and  that  "many  of  the  churches  are  now  in  need  of  finan- 
cial help  from  the  Eldership."  There  were  twenty-three  appointments  made, 
with  Mrs.  M.  Siitliff  and  G.  W.  Elliott,  "Evangelists  to  Iowa  and  Minnesota." 
Three  of  the  fields  were  in  Missouri. 

56th  Iowa  Eldership. — The  year  1902-3,  assuming  the  accuracy  of  the  Sta- 
tistics, was  not  a  prosperous  one.  The  number  of  churches  in  1903  was  given  as 
33;  members,  739;  bethels,  28;  conversions,  293;  fellowshiped,  151;  salaries, 
$4,991.35.  The  Eldership  rejoiced  most  over  the  report  of  Clara  I/andes,  whose 
name  stands  on  the  list  of  Appointments  as  "Missionary  to  India."  The  Elder- 
ship expressed  its  "joy  in  her  victories  for  Christ  and  the  Church."  The  Elder- 
ship held  its  session  with  the  church  at  Pleasant  Prairie,  Buchanan  county,  where 
on  Sabbath  morning,  September  27th,  C.  Tj.  AVilson  preached  the  Opening  Sermon, 
from  1  Tim.  iii.  15.  On  the  morning  of  the  28th  the  body  effected  an  organiza- 
tion by  electing  L.  F.  Chamberlin,  President;  A.  E.  Kepford,  Stated  Clerk;  Conrad 
Fatland,  Transcribing  Clerk;  N.  Zeller,  Treasurer.  The  Eldership  through  its 
Committee  on  Credentials  refused  to  seat  a  "regularly  elected  delegate  from  the 
church  at  Mt.  Joy"  because  not  a  member  "with  said  church."  The  church  at 
Ninevah,  Mo.,  was  received  into  the  Eldership.  Two  days  were  to  be  "the  time 
for  the  Ministerial  Association."  The  W.  M.  S.  again  "requested  the  Iowa  Elder- 
ship to  grant  it  a  period  of  time  to  sit  in  joint  session"  with  the  Eldership.  It 
presented  a  preamble,  with  a  list  of  "grievances,"  and  some  resolutions.  These 
were  considered  by  "a  special  committee,  of  which"  the  sisters  were  allowed  to 


480  History   of  the.  Churches   oe  God 

select  two  members."  It  reported,  "deeply  deploring  the  present  difficulties  and 
conditions;"  that  it  believed  "some,  or  all  of  these  grievances  may  be  more  or 
less  exaggerated,  yet  there  is  much  room  for  complaint;"  that  "union  under 
existing  circumstances  is  impossible,"  and  "endorsing  the  action  of  the  Iowa  W. 
M.  S.,"  and  urging  "its  continued  vinity."  The  prevalent  desire  for  harmony  and 
peace,  however,  found  expression  in  the  admonition  laid  upon  all  to  exercise  "the 
utmost  care,  to  refrain  in  conversation,  correspondence  or  publication  from  those 
things  which  increase  division  and  destroy  confidence."  It  suggested  the  publi- 
•cation  of  "a  monthly,  non-partisan  paper,  devoted  to  the  cause  of  missions." 
Local  option  was  endorsed  as  a  measure  "to  abolish  the  saloon,"  while  praying 
and  laboring  for  prohibition. 

57th  Iowa  Eldership. — Within  the  Iowa  Eldership  there  was  a  degree  of 
unity  which  contrasted  with  conditions  elsewhere  in  some  parts  of  the  West. 
Tlje  session  of  19  04  "was  characterized  with  brotherly  love  and  kindness," 
though  there  was  evident  a  degree  of  acerbity  of  feeling  toward  other  sections 
of  the  Church.  There  were  "many  in  the  Iowa  Eldership  radical  in  opposing  the 
General  Eldership,  at  least  on  the  action  relating  to  the  missionary  situation  en- 
acted by  the  last  General  Eldership."  To  adjust  matters  it  was  recommended 
that  "the  Iowa  Eldership  petition  the  General  Eld-ership,  asking  that  a  special  time 
he  set  apart  during  the  session  of  the  next  General  Eldership  for  a  free  and 
deliberate  consideration  of  the  relative  merits  of  all  grievances  of  the  W.  G.  M. 
S.  relative  to  the  acts  or  actions  of  the  General  Eldership,  or  any  of  its  Boards  or 
agents,  with  a  view  to  seeking  such  an  equitable  adjustment  of  all  acts  or  actions 
pertaining  thereto  as  shall  induce  a  spirit  of  true  unity  and  harmony."  This 
action  was  taken  in  response  to  a  resolution  of  the  Iowa  W.  M.  S.  The  Eldership 
held  Its  session  at  Shambaugh,  Page  county,  where  the  Opening  Sermon  was  de- 
livered by  A.  E.  Kepford,  on  Sabbath  morning,  September  13,  1904,  from  Rom. 
V.  1.  The  enrollment  from  the  twenty-one  charges  consisted  of  thirty-seven 
teaching  elders,  three  exhorters  and  ten  delegates.  The  retiring  President  rec- 
ommended: 1.  "Course  of  Study."  2.  "Extreme  care  in  selection  of  delegates 
to  the  General  Eldership."  3.  Avoiding  "technicalities."  4.  "Assist  to  lay 
one  stone  that  might  prove  a  basis  of  union  in  the  missionary  situation."  Con- 
versions during  the  year  numbered  179;  fellowshiped,  113;  C.  E.  Societies,  6; 
churches,  31;  houses  of  worship,  27.  At  one  of  the  appointments  the  two  pastors, 
Conrad  and  Ivy  Fatland,  resigned  because  "strong  drink  was  required  to  be  ad- 
ministered in  the  Communion."  The  position  taken  by  the  church  was  disap- 
proved, and  the  matter  was  adjusted.  On  condition  that  the  church  building  to 
"be  erected  at  Maynard,  Minn.,  be  deeded  to  the  Iowa  Eldership,  the  missionary, 
O.  \V.  Elliott,  was  permitted  to  canvass  the  Eldership  territory  for  funds.  The 
church  at  Maynard,  Minn.,  was  "admitted  into  the  Iowa  Eldership  until  such  time 
as  there  may  be  an  Eldership  formed  in  that  State."  During  the  year  two  min- 
isters, William  Vance  and  Martha  J.  B.  Wertz,  ended  their  earthly  careers.  Affect- 
ing memorial  services  were  held  in  their  honor.  A^ance  was  a  native  of  Fayette 
county,  Pa.,  and  was  converted  under  the  labors  of  Thomas  Hickemell  about  1838. 
He  was  licensed  by  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1845,  and  removed  to 
Iowa  in  1850.  He  was  one  of  the  active  pioneer  preachers  in  that  State.  He 
was  a  man  full  of  zeal,  and  one  of  the  most  successful  pastors  in  his  earlier  years. 
He  was  endowed  with  the  gift  of  song,  and  "his  volume  of  voice  was  wonderful." 
He  reached  the  age  of  78  years.  Mrs.  FJeecher  was  born  in  Chester  county,  Pa., 
August  29,  1819.  She  was  converted  at  a  Methodist  camp-meeting  held  at  London 
Grove,  Chester  county,  Pa.,  September  10,  1834,  and  united  with  the  Methodist 
Protestant  Church.  On  May  24,  1840,  in  Allegheny  City,  Pa.,  she  was  married  to 
David  Beecher.  After  Beecher's  death  she  was  married  to  Rev.  Daniel  AVertz,  in 
Cedar  county,  la.,  August  9,  1866.  She  was  converted  to  the  faith  of  the  Church, 
and  was  baptized  by  J.  M.  Domer  in  1857.  In  1859  the  West  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship granted  her  an  exhorter's  license,  and  in  1864  preacher's  license.  In  1866 
she  removed  to  Iowa  and  became  a  member  of  the  Iowa  Eldrship.  "She  did  her 
work  well."  On  account  of  "grievances  existing  on  some  fields"  of  labor  it  was 
decided  that  "at  least  one  member  of  the  Standing  Committee  visit  each  field  not 
less  than  once  a  year."  On  the  list  of  appointments  this  year  was  Trenton,  North 
Dakota,  to  which  J.  K.  Nelson  was  assigned.  The  officials  of  the  Eldership  of 
1904  were  L.  F,  Chaniberlin,  President;  A.  E.  Kepford,  Stated  Clerk;  Conrad  Fat- 
land,  Transcribing  Clerk:  N.  Zeller.  Treasurer.  Five  of  the  pastors  received  ap- 
propriations out  of  the  Missionary  Fund. 


Iowa  Eldership  481 

58th  Iowa  Eldership. — "The  Iowa  Woman's  Missionary  Society"  continued 
out  of  harmony  with  the  recognized  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  the  General  Eldership;  but  the 
Eldership  so  interpreted  the  action  of  the  latter  body  in  1905  that  its  relations  to 
the  Iowa  Eldership  were  not  disturbed.  It  held  its  meeting  in  1905  simultaneously 
with  the  session  of  the  Eldership,  which  was  convened  at  Mt.  Joy,  Sioux  county, 
to  begin  September  ll'th.  On  Sunday  morning  L.  F.  Chainbeiiin  preached  the 
Opening  Sermon,  from  II.  Tim.  iv.  2-5.  The  enrollment  showed  the  following 
membership:  Present,  twenty  teaching  elders,  seven  ruling  elders,  three  dele- 
gates; sixteen  teaching  elders  absent.  On  the  Roll  as  ministers  were  four  women, 
and  one  as  a  ruling  elder  and  one  as  a  delegate.  Elections  resulted  in  the  choice 
of  L.  F.  Chamberlin,  President;  A.  E.  Kepford,  Stated  Clerk;  Conrad  Fatland, 
Transcribing  Clerk;  Treasurer,  N.  Zeller.  The  Eldership  on  its  list  of  appoint- 
ments had  at  this  time  three  circuits  in  Missouri,  one  appointment  in  Minnesota, 
and  one  in  North  Dakota.  A  church  organized  by  G.  W.  Elliott,  at  Mount  View, 
Minn.,  was  "received  into  the  Eldership  and  recorded  on  the  Roll."  So  also  was 
the  church  at  Mount  Harmony,  Mo.  The  Iowa  City  "church  property  had  been 
disposed  of  for  $1,320.00."  The  "Inter-State  Assembly  of  the  churches  of  God," 
organized  in  the  Indiana  Eldership,  was  "heartily  endorsed,  believing  it  will  afford 
a  fine  opportunity  for  intellectual  culture,  the  spiritual  development  and  the  social 
intercourse  of  our  young  people."  Findlay  College  was  endorsed  as  an  institu- 
tion "which  is  accomplishing  much  in  the  interest  of  the  Church,"  and  "the  young 
people  were  encouraged  to  attend  it,"  and  the  churches  "to  support  it  in  every 
possible  way."  C.  I.  Brown,  the  President,  being  present,  "set  forth  in  a  candid 
way  the  condition  and  needs  of  the  College."  Two  of  the  ministers  of  the  Elder- 
ship had  completed  their  earthly  journey  during  the  year.  I.  E.  Boyer  was  the 
first  to  reach  the  goal.  He  was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  and  was  first  licensed 
by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1852.  For  some  years  he  was  a  member 
of  the  Illinois  Eldership,  and  later  was  transferred  to  the  Iowa  Eldership.  He 
was  "a  man  of  ability  and  strength,  and  thoroughly  faithful  to  the  highest  in- 
terests of  the  Church."  He  was  noted  for  "the  beauty  of  a  devoted,  well-rounded 
and  symmetrical  life."  W.  H.  Hickman  was  a  man  of  good  natural  talent,  and 
his  loss  was  much  deplored.  Not  accepting  "the  doctrine  of  a  second  work  of 
grace"  on  sanctification,  the  Eldership  "admonished"  one  of  its  teaching  elders 
^'to  refrain  from  preaching  anything  that  will  have  a  tendency  to  produce  discord 
or  division."  The  Standing  Committee  was  authorized  "to  continue  as  overseers 
of  the  churches,"  and  was  instructed  to  "stimulate  interest  among  the  churches  in 
financial  matters."  An  expelled  member  of  any  one  church  was  to  be  so  con- 
sidered by  every  other  church.  Pastors  were  to  encourage  the  building  of  par- 
sonages, and  to  this  end  it  was  deemed  important  that  "the  Iowa  Eldership  fix 
boundaries  for  fields  of  labor,  so  that  parsonages  can  be  advantageously  located." 
Always  decided  in  its  convictions  on  temperance,  the  Eldership  expressed  its  judg- 
ment, that  "the  open  saloon  is  legalized  by  our  ballots,"  and  hence  "the  voters 
of  the  churches  of  God  are  requested  to  refuse  to  vote  with  parties  which  fail  to 
put  themselves  in  open  hostility  to  the  saloon."  The  "use  of  tobacco  and  all 
narcotics"  was  condemned,  and  "ministers  and  members  of  the  churches"  were 
required  "to  use  their  infiuence  both  publicly  and  privately  against  their  use." 
The  finances  of  the  Eldership  were  in  a  healthy  condition,  although  the  receipts 
were  below  the  needs  of  the  Eldership.  The  funds  were  as  follows:  Home  Mis- 
sion, Contingent,  General  Mission,  Superannuated  and  Widows',  Church  Extension, 
Permanent  Home  Mission,  General  Contingent  and  Delegate.  There  were  twenty- 
five  fields  of  labor,  but  four  of  them  the  Eldership  left  "to  be  supplied."  Two  of 
the  appointees,  W.  N.  Yates  and  Jesse  Huddle,  were  received  on  transfer,  the 
former  from  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  the  latter  from  the  Oregon  and 
Washington   Eldership.      Two   of  the  pastors   appointed   were   women. 

59th  Iowa  Eldership. — Findlay  College  having  prepared  a  Course  of  Studies 
in  line  with  the  Ministerial  Course  in  the  College  and  Theological  Department, 
the  Iowa  Eldership  was  at  once  prepared  to  adopt  it  for  all  its  "ministers  who  had 
not  been  preaching  ten  years,"  and  "all  coming  into  the  Eldership,  except  such 
as  may  come  from  other  religious  bodies."  A  Board  of  Education  was  also  pro- 
vided for,  and  W.  N.  Yates,  M.  S.  Newcomer  and  J.  S.  Miller  were  elected.  The 
session  of  1906  also  took  action  on  "a  petition  from  the  Standing  Committee  of 
the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  requesting  the  Iowa  Eldership  to  join  It  in 
petitioning  the  Executive  Board  of  the  General  Eldership  to  appoint  a  Commission 

C.   H.— 17 


482  History   of  the   Churches   of   God 

for  the  purpose  of  effecting  a  union  in  our  foreign  mission  work."  The  Eldership 
accepted  the  action  of  its  Standing  Committee,  agreeing  "to  ask  the  Executive 
Board  of  the  General  Eldership  to  appoint  a  special  Commission,  whose  duiy  it 
shall  be  to  act  as  a  mediator  between  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  1890  and  the  W.  G.  M.  S. 
of  1903,  with  a  view  of  securing  a  mutual  agreement,"  subject  to  ratification  by 
the  Incorporate  Board  of  the  General  Eldership.  The  Eldership  "realized  the 
necessity  of  laboring  for  the  uniting  of  all  our  missionary  forces,"  and  pledged 
itself  to  encourage  every  honorable  effort  to  bring  about  the  desired  result;"  yet 
its  several  actions  laid  emphasis  on  the  character  of  the  proposed  Commission 
as  "mediator"  only.  The  position  of  the  Eldership  was  embarrassing,  as  it  aimed 
to  be  loyal  to  the  General  Eldership,  while  its  W.  M.  S.  was  not  in  co-operation 
with  said  body,  but  resisted  all  its  actions  relating  to  itself.  Under  these  condi- 
tions the  session  of  19  0  6  was  held  at  North  Bend,  Johnson  county,  beginning  on 
Monday,  September  17th,  and  continuing  until  Thursday.  Sabbath  morning, 
September  16th,  the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  by  31.  S.  Newcomer.  Elec- 
tions for  officers  resulted  in  the  choice  of  A.  C.  Gamer,  President;  W.  N.  Yates, 
Stated  Clerk;  Conrad  Fatland,  Transcribing  Clerk;  N.  Zeller,  Treasurer.  The 
Eldership  rejoiced  in  "the  return  of  Clara  Landes  for  a  brief  rest,  after  almost 
ten  years  spent  in  India  as  missionary."  Being  present  at  the  session,  she  re- 
ported in  person.  The  Iowa  W.  M.  S.  in  a  body  participated  in  a  special  program 
of  an  hour  on  Monday.  The  action  of  the  Standing  Committee,  that  "financial 
aid  for  the  work  in  India  and  the  return  of  Sister  Landes  might  be  solicited  from 
the  churches  in  Iowa,"  was  approved.  On  temperance  the  Eldership  took  ad- 
vanced ground,  declaring  that  "the  time  has  come  when  the  Christian  voter  can 
no  longer  silence  the  voice  of  conscience  by  devotion  to  parties  known  to  be  allied 
with  the  liquor  traffic  without  compromising  with  the  forces  of  evil."  The  body 
"sympathized  with  all  organized  efforts  among  men  and  women  for  the  overthrow 
of  the  liquor  traffic."  The  Committee  reporting  these  sentiments  consisted  of 
these  six  sisters:  M.  B.  Newcomer,  M.  Sutliflf,  Ivy  Fatland,  Ellen  Gi-een,  Clara 
Landes,  Emaline  "Wilson.  Strong  resolutions  on  education  were  adopted,  declar- 
ing that  "the  whole  man — body,  soul  and  spirit — is  to  be  dedicated,  trained  and 
devoted  to  the  service  of  God,"  and  so  "all  our  young  men  are  advised  to  take  all 
the  collegiate  and  academic  training  possible,  but  at  the  same  time  preserve  the 
pre-eminence  and  control  of  the  Holy  Spirit  over  all."  Obligation  was  laid  on 
the  pastors  to  preach  a  special  sermon  during  the  year  on  home  missions,  one  on 
the  duty  to  support  the  ministry  and  God's  cause  in  general,  and  one  on  the  duty 
of  the  churches  to  patronize  our  Printing  and  Publishing  House.  The  eighteen 
fields  of  labor,  with  two  exceptions,  were  supplied  with  pastors.  Mrs.  M.  Sutliif 
was  appointed  State  Evangelist,  and  Rambo  and  wife  Evangelists.  The  name  of 
Clara  Landes  is  on  the  list  as  "Missionary  to  India."  D.  Kepford,  E.  Angel,  J. 
W.  Mullen  and  Walter  Smith  are  the  "superannuated  ministers,"  and  received  ap- 
propriations out  of  the  Superannuated  Fund,  which  had  a  balance  at  this  time  of 
$955.03.  The  Eldership  elected  ministers  to  preach  the  Missionary  Sermon  and 
the  Gospel  Temperance  Sermon. 

60th  Iowa  Eldership. — While  the  Boards  of  the  General  Eldership  acted  ad- 
versely on  the  reappointment  of  Clara  Landes  as  Missionary  to  India,  and  the  ap- 
pointment of  A.  B.  Chamberlin  to  the  same  territory;  the  Iowa  Eldership,  of  which 
both  were  members,  decided  to  "set  apart  thirty  minutes  for  holding  a  fariewell 
service  to  the  outgoing  missionaries."  Otherwise  "on  the  mission  question"  the 
"Eldership  was  silent."  The  outlook  "for  better  things"  was  hopeful,  and  the 
session  of  the  Eldership  was  characterized  with  earnest  and  spiritual  devotional 
services.  After  the  annual  missionary  sermon,  by  Conrad  Fatland,  $400.00  were 
raised  for  home  missions.  The  session  was  held  at  Alice,  Grundy  county,  and 
began  on  Monday  morning,  September  23,  1907.  On  the  preceding  Sabbath  morn- 
ing W.  N.  Yates  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon.  A.  C.  Gamer  was  elected  Presi- 
dent; W.  N.  Yates,  Stated  Clerk;  Conrad  Fatland,  Transcribing  Clerk;  N.  Zeller, 
Treasurer.  As  per  custom,  the  retiring  President  "delivered  an  address,"  this 
year  "speaking  of  the  general  condition  of  the  churches,  and  recommending  that 
special  attention  be  given  the  work  in  Sullivan  county.  Mo."  Thursday  evening 
until  Saturday  the  Ministerial  Association  held  its  annual  meeting.  During  the 
year  "the  church  property  in  Gentry  county.  Mo.,"  was  sold,  and  the  church  at 
Mount  View,  Minn.,  was  reported  as  having  "become  extinct."  The  church  at 
Burns  school-house.  Mo.,  was  received  into  the  Eldership.     While  the  body  voted 


Iowa  Eldership  4^3' 

favorably  on  Findlay  College  and  Ft.  Scott  Collegiate  Institute,  and  bespoke  for 
"both  these  institutions  the  hearty  support  of  the  brethren  in  general,  and  tke^ 
patronage  of  our  young  people;  yet  it  "recognized  the  Bible  to  be  the  foundatiott. 
of  all  true  learning,"  and  "urged  the  brethren  to  become,  or  continue  to  be,, 
earnest  students  of  the  Holy  Book."  The  Treasurer  reported  the  receipts  for- 
the  Home  Mission  Fund,  including  balance  from  the  ex-Treasurer,  to  have  been 
$738.40;  Contingent  Fund,  $281.20;  Superannuated,  $1,664.46;  General  Mission- 
ary, $106.84;  Church  Extension,  $1,696.39;  Permanent  Home  Mission,  $605.50; 
General  Contingent,  $77.43.  Regular  assessments  were  made  for  the  GeneraJ 
Mission  and  the  Iowa  Contingent  Funds.  To  secure  a  wider  distribution  of  its 
Minutes,  the  Eldership  directed  that  300  copies  be  printed  "for  free  distribution." 
And  as  the  Minutes  of  the  W.  M.  S.  were  printed  with  those  of  the  Eldership,  "as 
many  copies  in  addition  to  the  300  as  the  W.  M.  S.  may  desire"  were  ordered  to 
be  printed.  These  were  all  paid  for  out  of  the  Contingent  Fund,  each  year.  The 
number  of  fields  of  labor  was  twelve,  all  but  one  supplied  with  pastors  by  the 
Stationing  Committee.  There  were  also  seven  ministers  designated  as  "General 
Workers,"  and  several  additional  names  were  placed  on  the  Superannuated  list. 

61st  Iowa  Eldership.— The  sixty-first  session  of  the  Iowa  Eldership  was  "held 
out  of  the  State,  yet  there  were  but  three  votes  less  than  there  were"  the  previous 
year.  The  place  of  meeting  was  at  Hawkeye,  Mo.,  and  the  Opening  Sermon  was 
preached  on  Sabbath  morning,  September  6,  1908,  by  J.  C,  Kepford.  A  Com- 
mittee on  Credentials,  appointed  before  the  Eldership  was  constituted,  reported 
two  new  churches,  one  at  Lakeview,  Mo.,  and  one  near  Hazelton,  N.  Dak.,  which 
were  received  into  the  Eldership.  The  officers  elected  were  A.  C.  Garaer,  Presi- 
dent; W.  N.  Yates,  Stated  Clerk;  Conrad  Fatland,  Transcribing  Clerk;  N.  Zeller, 
Treasurer.  Special  sermons  delivered  on  the  three  evenings  of  the  session  were 
by  W.  N.  Yates,  Annual  Temperance  Sermon;  A.  E.  Schwenk,  Annual  Missionary 
Sermon;  C.  I.  Brown,  President  of  Findlay  College,  on  Education.  On  the  "Mis- 
sionary Question,"  the  Eldership  voted,  that,  "believing  that  co-operation  with 
the  General  Eldership  and  its  Boards  is  the  duty  of  all,  and  is  the  only  safe  way 
to  insure  the  best  interests  of  all,  we  urge  the  Iowa  W.  M.  S.  to  co-operate  with 
the  Commission  appointed  by  the  Executive  Board  of  the  General  Eldership  to 
effect  the  unification  of  our  missionary  societies  in  the  effort  for  the  formation  of 
the  Society  of  the  Future."  "All  were  recommended  to  seek  earnestly  to  bring 
about  union  and  harmony."  The  Eldership's  attention  was  specially  called  "to 
the  thinning  of  the  ranks  of  the  ministry,  and  the  need  of  more  young  men  in  the 
active  ministry  of  the  Church."  During  the  year  one  had  fallen  out  of  the  ranks 
at  the  call  of  the  death-messenger,  E.  Angel,  a  man  of  "many  excellent  traits  of 
character;  of  quiet  and  unobtrusive  temperament,  peaceful,  loving  and  easy  to  be 
entreated,  a  man  known  everywhere  as  a  Christian."  The  church  at  Keystone, 
Mo.,  was  reported  "in  a  disorganized  condition,  and  does  not  hold  services."  It 
was  "declared  extinct,  and  recommended  that  the  property  be  sold."  The  Elder- 
ship "hailed  with  pleasure  the  growing  popularity  of  the  cause  that  stands  for  the 
total  prohibition  of  the  licensed  beverage  liquor  traffic,  and  the  tidal  wave  of  pro- 
hibition sentiment  which  is  rolling  over  our  land."  The  Permanent  Home  Mis- 
sion Fund  received  from  "Sister  M.  E.  Luce  a  donation  of  $200.00."  The  Elder- 
ship pledged  itself  "to  support  the  effort  to  raise  the  'Carnegie  Fund,'  and  thereby 
assure  an  income  sufficient  to  support  the  teachers  at  Findlay  College."  The  bal- 
ances in  the  different  Funds  of  the  Eldership  were  as  follows:  Home  Mission, 
$523.72;  Iowa  Contingent,  $105.21;  Superannuated  and  Widows',  $1,042.35;  Gen- 
eral Mission,  $68.38;  Church  Extension,  $1,798.14;  Permanent  Home  Mission, 
$417.99,  making  the  total  assets  $3,887.41.  There  were  twenty  appointments, 
but  five  were  unsupplied  with  pastors.  Two  ministers,  James  Shipp  and  E.  E. 
Heltibridle,  were  made  General  Workers,  while  five  were  on  the  Superannuated 
list. 

62nd  Iowa  Eldership. — The  General  Eldership  in  May,  19  09,  having  taken 
"final  action  on  the  missionary  question,  sustaining  the  actions  of  the  various^ 
Boards  and  the  Commission  by  a  unanimous  vote,"  the  Standing  Committee  of 
the  Iowa  Eldership  took  action  on  the  same,  as  per  instructions  of  the  General 
Eldership.  This  action  was  reported  to  the  Eldership  at  its  session  held  at  Salem, 
Washington  county,  beginning  September  13,  1909.  It  "appealed  to  all  ministers 
and  churches,  and  missionary  societies,  to  unite  in  one  general  effort  to  bring: 
about  speedy  co-operation  with  the  General  body."     It  also  asked   "the  mission- 


484  History   of   the   Churches  op  God 

aries  in  India,  who  are  members  of  the  Iowa  Eldership,  to  join  in  the  effort  to 
adjust  the  work,  so  that  all  may  be  in  harmony,  and  that  all  may  have  a  part 
in  supporting  the  work  both  in  Ulubaria  and  in  Bogra."  This  "action  was  made 
the  action  of  the  Eldership  by  a  yea  and  nay  vote  of  18  to  7."  The  Opening  Ser- 
mon of  the  Eldership  was  preached  on  the  previous  Sabbath  morning,  September 
12th,  by  O.  A.  Nevvlin,  Field  Secretary  of  Findlay  College,  from  Prov.  xiv.  34; 
■while  in  the  evening  the  Annual  Gospel  Temperance  Sermon  was  preached  by 
M.  S.  Newcomer.  Officers  were  chosen  as  follows:  Prsident,  E.  E.  Heltibridle ; 
Stated  Clerk,  William  N.  Yates;  Transcribing  Clerk,  F.  E.  Hamlin;  Treasurer,  N. 
Zeller.  The  Eldership  expressed  its  sense  of  "the  need  of  a  thorough  prepara- 
tion for  the  gospel  ministry  and  other  Christian  work,"  and,  therefore,  "recom- 
mended our  young  men  and  women  to  attend  either  Ft.  Scott  Collegiate  Institute, 
or  Findlay  College."  It  promised  "heartily  to  support  the  financial  needs  of  our 
educational  institutions  by  observing  the  Day  of  Prayer  for  Colleges,  Children's 
College  Day  and  Ft.  Scott  Institute  Day,  as  provided  by  the  General  Eldership." 
Added  to  several  strong  resolutions  on  temperance,  in  which  it  was  insisted  that 
■"their  ballots  may  count  first  of  all  for  righteousness,"  was  one  expressing  "hearty 
sympathy  with  the  various  organizations"  working  for  "social  purity,  personal 
purity,  spiritual  power,  and  for  the  sanctity  of  the  Sabbath."  All  were  "urged  to 
free  themselves  from  the  power  of  useless,  wasteful  and  filthy  habits."  The  feel- 
ing of  loyalty  to  the  interests  of  the  Eldership  and  of  the  General  Eldership,  and 
love  for  the  great  truths  for  which  the  Church  stands,  proved  stronger  than  the 
passions  aroused  by  the  divisive  controversy  relative  to  the  missionary  question, 
so  that  at  the  close  of  the  session  two  members  of  the  Eldership  which  had  voted 
against  the  adoption  of  the  resolutions  on  the  W.  G.  M.  S.,  "M.  S.  Newcomer  and 
Mi's.  M.  B.  Newcomer,  addressed  the  Eldership,  and  their  addresses  were  fol- 
lowed by  a  song  and  hand-shaking." 

63rd  Iowa  Eldership. — Notwithstanding  the  action  of  the  General  Eldership 
and  of  the  Iowa  Eldership  on  the  W.  G,  M.  S.  question,  and  the  adverse  course  of 
the  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  1890,  the  names  of  Clara  Landes  and  A.  B.  Chamberlin  were 
on  the  Eldership  Roll  as  "Missionaries  in  India"  in  1910.  The  Eldership  con- 
-vened  at  Ida  Grove,  county  seat  of  Ida  county,  Monday  morning,  September  12th. 
On  Sunday  morning  previous  W.  E.  Kelly  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  I. 
Tim.  iv.  16.  E.  E.  Heltibridle  was  elected  President;  F.  E.  Hamlin,  Stated  Clerk; 
A.  E.  Schwenck,  Transcribing  Clerk;  N.  Zeller,  Treasurer.  A  regular  statistical 
report  was  tabulated,  giving  eleven  different  items  for  sixteen  fields  of  labor. 
These  had  25  houses  of  worship,  valued  at  $3,920.00;  membership,  878;  eon- 
versions,  181;  fellowshiped,  77;  baptized,  47;  salaries  of  pastors,  $5,340.56.  Two 
Tninisters  received  Life  Certificates  of  Ordination  instead  of  annual  licenses.  One 
minister,  Henry  Bittle,  was  removed  by  death.  "Always  loyal  to  the  Church 
and  the  Eldership,  and  an  earnest  worker  in  the  cause  of  the  Master,"  the  Elder- 
ship sincerely  lamented  his  death.  A  more  serious  loss  was  experienced  when 
"W.  N.  Yates  was  granted  a  transfer  to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership."  He 
had  "faithfully  labored  in  the  Eldership  for  five  years,  and  "by  his  untiring  ener- 
gies and  devotion  to  the  work  of  the  Church  and  Eldership"  had  "endeared  him- 
self to  the  entire  brotherhood."  The  action  of  the  Eldership  "on  a  Reading 
Course  for  the  benefit  of  the  ministry,"  taken  some  years  prior  to  1910,  was  re- 
affirmed, and  it  was  expressed  as  "the  firm  belief  that  the  Church  of  God  should 
encourage  the  education  of  its  ministry,  and  that  the  Eldership  ought  to  take  some 
steps  toward  establishing  a  Reading  Course  for  the  benefit  of  the  ministry." 
There  were  twenty-four  Sunday-schools  reported,  and  it  was  made  the  duty  of 
"every  minister  in  the  Eldership  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  encourage  the  best 
methods  of  Sunday-school  work."  It  was  agreed  to  increase  the  support  of  pas- 
tors and  to  facilitate  their  moving  on  fields  of  labor  by  requiring  the  charge  to 
which  a  minister  is  assigned  "to  pay  one-half  of  his  moving  expenses,  within  the 
hounds  of  the  Iowa  Eldership."  The  body  was  receiving  some  new  men  by 
transfer  from  other  Elderships,  as  this  year  J,  C.  Fomcrook  came  with  his  transfer 
from  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  But  other  workers  were  locating,  and 
one,  W.  E.  Kelly,  surrendered  his  Life  Certificate  of  Ordination. 

64th  Iowa  Eldership. — Iowa  Eldership  in  1911  joined  the  other  Annual  Eld- 
erships in  prayer  for  peace  and  harmony  throughout  the  General  Eldership,  "in 
compliance  with  the  request  of  the  Executive  Board."  At  the  first  sitting  on 
Monday,  "the  President  of  the  Eldership  called  Jesse  Huddle  to  take  charge  "of 


Iowa    Eldership  485 

this  service.  He  spoke  on  the  subject  of  the  hour,  had  the  Eldership  sing,  "Blest 
Be  the  Tie  That  Binds,"  and  called  on  Jay  C.  Fomcrook  and  G.  W.  Elliott,  who 
offered  prayer  for  this  special  end."  The  brotherhood  had  wearied  of  the  con- 
tention which  had  attended  the  solution  of  the  Missionary  Question,  and  all  hearts 
longed  for  harmony  and  mutual  love  and  confidence.  The  session  of  the  Eldership 
was  held  at  Shambaugh,  Page  county,  September  11-13  inclusive.  The  Opening 
Sermon  was  preached  on  Sunday  morning,  September  10th,  by  Jesse  Huddle.  The 
officers  elected  were.  President,  E.  E.  Heltibridle;  Stated  Clerk,  F.  E.  Hamlin; 
Transcribing  Clerk,  A.  E.  Schwenk;  Treasurer,  N.  Zeller.  While  the  name  of 
Clara  Landes  was  still  on  the  Roll  as  "Missionary  in  India,"  as  well  as  those  of 
A.  B.  Chamberlin  and  wife,  the  Eldership  "adopted  her  report  with  the  under- 
standing that  we  in  no  way  approve  any  action  not  in  harmony  with  previous 
actions  of  this  Eldership,"  and  it  "again  urged  the  speedy  co-operation  of  all  our 
missionary  workers."  A.  B.  Chamberlin  returned  his  Certificate  of  Ordination, 
which  was  "annulled."  Mrs.  M.  B.  Newcomer,  active  worker  in  the  W.  G.  M.  S. 
of  1890,  "requested  an  open  transfer,"  which  was  given  "for  ninety  days,  at  the 
end  of  said  time  she  ceases  to  be  a  member  of  this  body,  unless  she  returns  said 
transfer  to  this  body  within  the  time  limit."  Divine  "providence  had  called  out 
of  this  life,"  said  the  Eldership,  "our  beloved  and  esteemed  co-laborer,  M.  S.  New- 
comer, D.  D.,  an  able  expounder  of  God's  word."  Memorial  services  were  held 
before  evening  preaching  on  Tuesday,  in  charge  of  C.  L.  Wilson.  Newcomer  was 
a  native  of  Franklin  county,  Pa.,  born  .January  15,  1840.  Removed  with  his 
parents  to  near  Polo,  111.,  in  1865.  He  was  converted  January  23,  1866,  at  Mt. 
Morris,  111.,  and  was  baptized  by  I.  E.  Boyer.  In  1867  he  was  licensed  to  preach: 
by  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  Illinois  Eldership.  With  the  exception  of  ten 
years  in  the  Iowa  Eldership  from  1887,  and  again  four  years  from  1905,  his  min- 
isterial life  was  spent  in  the  service  of  the  Illinois  Eldership.  He  died  at  Free- 
port,  111.,  May  26,  1911.  From  1878  to  1885  he  was  Assistant  Editor  of  The 
Advocate;  was  President  of  the  General  Eldership  in  1881  and  in  1893.  For 
twenty-one  years  he  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship, and  President  of  the  Board  fifteen  years.  He  was  a  man  of  talent  and 
ability. 

The  Eldership  manifested  quite  a  degree  of  concern  touching  missionary  in- 
terests, "which  have  been  caused  to  suffer  locally  as  well  as  generally,  and  so- 
cieties have  become  disorganized  and  mission  interests  paralyzed."  Not  only  was 
"reorganization"  insisted  upon;  but  "the  local  churches"  were  "requested  to  or- 
ganize local  societies,  and  elect  delegates  to  meet  for  the  organization  of  an  Elder- 
ship Society  in  harmony  with  the  Constitution  and  By-Laws  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship." N.  Zeller  resigned  as  Treasurer  at  the  sitting  of  the  Eldership  on  the  third 
day,  and  the  vacancy  was  filled  by  the  election  of  "Ernest  Myers  as  Treasurer  of 
the  Iowa  Eldership." 

65th  Iowa  Eldership. — Monday  morning,  September  23,  1912,  the  sixty-fifth 
annual  session  of  the  Iowa  Eldership  opened.  The  preceding  Sabbath  morning 
A.  E.  Schwenk  delivered  the  Annual  Secmon,  from  Job  xxxvi.  24  and  Ps.  xlix.  8. 
Seventeen  fields  of  labor  were  represented  by  fourteen  pastors,  six  elders  and 
two  delegates,  which  were  women.  In  addition  there  were  nine  General  Workers, 
including  Mrs.  M.  Sutliff,  Clara  Landes  and  Mrs.  M.  B.  Newcomer,  who  had  re- 
turned her  "open  transfer  granted  in  1911."  Also  three  superannuated  min- 
isters. Howard  W.  Cover,  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  missionary  ap- 
pointed to  India,  attended  the  session,  and  awakened  renewed  interest  in  foreign 
mission  work.  The  Eldership  pledged  its  "loyalty  and  co-operation  to  Bro.  Cover 
in  the  interests  which  he  represents  in  India."  The  officers  of  the  Eldership  were 
G.  W.  Elliott,  President;  F.  E.  Hamlin,  Stated  Clerk;  A.  E.  Schwenk,  Transcrib- 
ing Clerk;  Ernest  Myers,  Treasurer.  The  Stationing  Committee  consisted  of  C  L. 
Wilson,  Jesse  Huddle,  D.  L.  Cox,  A.  C.  Gamer,  E.  E.  Heltibridle.  The  following 
were  elected  on  the  Standing  Committee:  G.  W.  Elliott,  F.  E.  Hamlin,  Jesse  Hud- 
dle, C.  L.  Wilson,  A.  C.  Gamer.  All  these,  except  the  Treasurer,  are  ministers. 
The  case  of  Mrs.  Newcomer  was  considered  in  Committee  of  the  Whole,  which 
"after  a  lengthy  discussion  made"  report,  which  was  adopted,  that  she  had  "vio- 
lated the  action  of  this  body  in  the  adjustment  of  the  missionary  controversy," 
and  recommended  "that  action  be  taken  in  her  case  accordingly."  Her  report  was 
"placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Standing  Committee  to  be  dealt  with  according"  to 
this  action.     J.  C.  Fomcrook  returned  with  his  transfer  to  the  East  Pennsylvania 


486 


History   of   the   Churches  of   God 


Eldership.  The  Eldership  realized  that  in  Fomci-ook  it  was  "losing  a  worthy- 
brother  and  an  able  minister  of  the  gospel,  one  who  is  always  ready  to  do  his 
work  for  the  building  up  of  the  Church  of  God."  The  Shambaugh  church  having 
suffered  the  loss  by  fire  of  its  bethel,  the  Eldership  "made  a  donation  of  $100.00 
for  the  new  building  out  of  the  Church  Extension  Fund."  To  "raise  Home  Mis- 
sionary Money"  the  Stationing  Committee  was  authorized  to  "give  the  amount 
necessary  for  the  coming  year,  and  the  Standing  Committee  was  directed  to  ap- 
portion the  amount  among  the  different  churches  of  the  Eldership."  On  temper- 
ance the  body  accentuated  former  actions  by  resolving  "that  none  of  us  cast  a 
tallot  with  the  liquor  voters;  that  we  do  all  in  our  power  not  only  to  prohibit  the 
sale  of  liquor,  but  to  do  away  with  the  manufacture  and  transportation  of  the 
sg.me-"  There  were  fifteen  fields  of  labor,  but  five  remained  unsupplied  by  the 
Stationing  Committee.  The  Funds  of  the  Eldership  had  the  following  balances: 
Home  Mission,  $705.02;  Iowa  Contingent,  $124.46;  Superannuated  and  Widows', 
$1,037.48;  Permanent  Home  Mission,  $483.58;  Church  Extension,  $2,167.80. 
■"The  session  of  the  Eldership  was  characterized  by  a  Christian  spirit  and  good 
fellowship." 


VI.    THE    MICHIGAN    ELDERSHIP. 


1st  Michigan  Eldership. — The  Indiana  Eldership  for  some  years  after  its  or- 
ganization in  184  6  had  no  boundaries  on  the  North,  the  South  or  the  West.      In 


Alexander   li.   Slyter 


1S49  A.  B.  Slyter,  of  said  Eldership,  as  a 'general  missionary,  crossed  the  line  into 
Michigan  and  began  work.  His  labors  were  mainly  confined  to  Barry,  Allegan  and 
Kent  counties,  being  in  the  third  and  fourth  tiers  of  counties  north  of  the  Indiana 
line,  and  the  first  and  second  counties  along  Lake  Michigan  on  the  West.  Five 
churches  were  organized  in  these  counties  prior  to  March,  1850,  viz:  One  on 
Duncan  Lake,  in  the  Kilmore  Settlement;  one  in  E.  H.  Searles'  neighborhood; 
<6ne  in  the  Hammond  Settlement;  one  at  Caledonia,  in  the  home  of  Bro.  Mofflt,  and 
<5ne  at  Clark's  Corners.  It  was  estimated  that  these  churches  had  a  membership 
of  sixty-five.  Enoch  B.  Gillaspie,  of  the  church  at  Clark's  Corners,  had  entered 
the  ministry  in  Indiana,  and  Benjamin  Faniham  also  began  preaching,  so  that 
they  counted  that  they  had  three  preachers.  No  authority  was  given  these  breth- 
ren either  by  the  Indiana  Eldership,  or  the  General  Eldership,  to  form  a  new  Elder- 
ship. They  were  quite  a  distance  from  the  territory  occupied  by  the  Indiana  Eld- 
ership, "too  far,"  they  claimed,  and  they  were  as  strong  as  said  Eldership  when 
first  organized.  Yet  their  course  was  not  in  harmony  with  the  action  of  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership  in  184  8.  But  these  ministers  and  churches  agreed  to  meet  March 
2,  1850,  "at  the  house  of  Bro.  E.  H.  Searles  in  Thornapple  township,  Barry  county, 
Mich.,"  to  form  an  Eldership.  In  "constituting  the  meeting"  it  was  found  that 
the  following  were  present  and  entitled  to  membership: 
Teaching  Elders — A.  B.  Slyter  and  E.  B.  Gillaspie. 


Michigan    Eldership  487 

Ruling  elders — John  Ferdig  and  John  Kahner,  Sr. 

Delegates — E.  H.  Searles,  John  Kilmer,  Jr.,  Amos  M.  Sames,  David  Wood, 
Robert  H.  Kilmer,  B.  F.  Hungerford  and  John  E.  AVood.  A.  li.  Slyter  was  elected 
Speaker,  and  E.  H.  Searles,  Clerk. 

Alexander  B.  Slyter  was  born  in  St.  Lawrence  county,  N.  Y.,  December  2, 
1812.  He  was  converted  in  1836.  Removed  to  Indiana,  where  he  became  a 
member  of  the  first  Eldership,  in  1846.  In  1849  he  went  to  Michigan  as  a  general 
missionary,  and  when  the  first  Eldership  was  organized  he  was  elected  Speaker, 
and  re-elected  in  1851  and  1853.  During  1853  he  served  as  general  helper  to 
pastors  in  the  Michigan  Eldership.  He  was  elected  delegate  to  the  General  Elder- 
ship of  1851  and  1854,  but  was  absent  at  both  sessions.  He  returned  to  Indiana 
about  the  time  the  Michigan  Eldership  collapsed,  and  in  1859  was  chosen  Speaker. 
When  the  Michigan  Eldership  was  revived,  in  1859,  he  again  became  a  member 
of  it.  Later  he  removed  to  Kansas,  and  entered  on  mission  work  in  that  State 
under  the  Nebraska  Eldership,  about  the  year  1877.  His  mission  field  was  in 
Pottawatomie  and  adjacent  counties.  He  was  considered  an  able  preacher  and  a 
very  good  counselor.  He  died  April  13,  1886,  aged  74  years,  4  months  and  11 
days.  Slyter  first  united  with  a  church  of  God  in  Milford  township,  LaGrange 
county,  Ind.,  about  March,  1846,  and  was  licensed  by  said  church  to  preach  the 
gospel.  He  attended  the  first  Indiana  Eldership  the  same  year,  and,  with  T. 
Hickernell,  constituted  the  Eldership,  being  enrolled  as  a  teaching  elder.  By 
resolution  reciting  the  fact  of  his  ordination  by  the  local  church,  his  "license  was 
renewed."  He  was  a  very  zealous  minister,  hesitating  at  no  sacrifice.  When 
a  member  of  the  Nebraska  Eldership,  he  traveled  5  00  miles  in  buggy  to  attend  its 
session  in  1885.  The  Nebraska  Eldership  pronounced  him  "an  able  preacher  of 
the  gospel  and  a  wise  counselor."  He  was  converted  under  the  preaching  of  T. 
Hickernell,  in  Ohio.  He  was  what  is  called  a  self-made  man,  having  very  limited 
school  advantages;  but  he  was  a  man  of  good  natural  talents;  a  clear  thinker,  and 
of  robust  moral  character,  and  served  his  Master  and  the  Church  with  marked 
fidelity. 

A  resolution  was  adopted  to  "unite  with  the  other  Elderships  of  the  Church 
of  God  in  the  general  system  of  co-operation."  Also  one  "prohibiting  any  one 
from  uniting  with  us  who  holds  slaves,  or  belongs  to  Secret  Societies;  and  that 
we  will  take  no  book  but  the  Bible  as  the  man  of  our  counsel  and  the  rule  of  our 
faith  and  practice."  John  Ferdig  and  Benjamin  Famham  were  duly  licensed. 
A  Standing  and  a  Stationary  Committee  were  appointed.  The  latter  apointed 
Benjamin  Famham  to  the  Middleville  circuit;  A.  B.  Slyter,  to  Thornapple  circuit; 
E.  B.  Gillaspie,  to  labor  as  much  as  he  can  on  the  Gaines  circuit,  and  John  Ferdig, 
to  the  Caledonia  circuit.  There  was  no  house  of  worship  of  the  Church  of  God 
in  the  State;  but  the  services  were  held  in  private  houses,  school-houses  and  in 
the  woods.  There  was  great  opposition,  but  it  made  them  more  faithful  de- 
fenders of  the  truth. 

2nd  Michigan  Eldership. — As  it  ever  was  the  custom  to  hold  Annual  Elder- 
ships in  the  Fall,  the  first  Michigan  Eldership  adjourned  to  meet  the  third  Monday 
in  October,  1850.  It  accordingly  met  on  Sunday,  November  10th,  in  the  school- 
house  in  the  Hammond  Settlement,  Gaines  township,  Kent  county,  the  date  having 
been  changed  by  the  Standing  Committee,  and  after  services  "adjourned  to  the 
house  of  Bro.  Drake,  November  11th,  at  8.30  a.  m."  There  were  present  three  of 
the  four  teaching  elders;  three  ruling  elders,  and  five  delegates.  A.  B.  Slyter  was 
chosen  Speaker,  and  J.  Drake,  Clerk.  A  difficulty  arose  between  the  Michigan 
and  the  Indiana  Elderships  over  the 'status  of  E.  B.  Gillaspie,  who  had  been 
"wrongfully  excluded"  from  the  latter  Eldership,  and  received  by  the  Michigan 
Eldership.  The  latter  felt  "to  hold  that  Eldership  accountable,  instead  of  Bro. 
Gillaspie,"  and  notified  it  that  Gillaspie  "appeals  to  the  General  Eldership  for  a 
final  hearing."  The  delegate  from  Michigan  Eldership  was  not  present  at  the 
General  Eldership  in  1851,  and  no  action  was  taken  on  the  appeal.  J.  Drake 
was  licensed  at  this  Eldership.  The  Eldership  declared  against  receiving  "into 
the  fellowship  of  the  Church  of  God  any  one  who  holds  slaves,  or  who  belongs  to 
Secret  Societies."  The  "first  day  of  January,  1851,"  was  fixed  "as  a  day  of  fast- 
ing and  prayer  for  the  extension  of  Christ's  kingdom."  A.  B.  Slyte^r  was  chosen 
delegate  to  the  General  Eldership.  There  was  but  one  circuit,  and  it  was  agreed 
"that  Bro.  Slyter  should  take  the  circuit,  and  the  rest  of  the  brethren  be  mission- 


488  History   of  the  Churches  of   God 

aries."     A    camp-meeting   was   appointed    to   be   held    in    Gaines   township,    Kent 
county. 

3rd  Michigan  Eldership. — Conditions  at  this  time  in  the  Michigan  Eldership 
were  not  encouraging.  There  was  unrest  and  friction  between  the  ministers,  and 
very  limited  success  attended  their  labors.  But  when  the  Eldership  convened  at 
"Kilmer's  Mills,  in  a  school-house  in  the  town  of  Thornapple,  Monday  morning, 
November  10,  1851,"  four  ministers,  one  ruling  elder  and  three  delegates  answered 
to  their  names.  One  minister  was  absent,  and  not  heard  from,  and  his  name  was 
dropped,  as  well  as  that  of  another  minister.  B.  Farnham  united  with  the  Ad- 
ventists.  A.  B.  Slyter  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  E.  Moffit,  Clerk.  One  circuit  was 
supplied,  two  ministers  being  assigned  to  it. 

4th  Michigan  Eldei'ship. — Notwithstanding  the  loss  of  three  of  the  ministers 
a  year  ago,  when  the  fouth  Eldership  convened  "in  the  school-house  at  Bi-o. 
Moffit's,  in  Caledonia,  on  the  8th  of  November,  1852,"  more  encouraging  indica- 
tions were  evident.  The  session  began  with  one  teaching  elder,  two  ruling  elders 
and  three  delegates  present;  two  teaching  elders  absent.  Several  churches  had 
been  organized,  and  the  work  was  extended  south-eastward  into  Hillsdale  county, 
on  the  Ohio  line,  and  Branch,  adjoining  Hillsdale  on  the  west.  J.  Ferdig  was 
made  Speaker,  and  John  Kilmer,  Clerk.  It  seemed  singular  enough  to  make 
official  record  of  the  fact,  that  "there  were  no  charges  brought  against  any  of  the 
brethren  of  the  Church  of  God.  All  is  peace  and  harmony."  Three  brethren 
were  licensed,  and  one  was  received  from  the  Baptist  Church.  Two  circuits  were 
made,  and  a  minister  appointed  to  each  one.  No  resolutions  were  adopted  and  no 
action  taken  on  any  subjects  but  such  as  were  purely  administrative. 

5th  Michigan  Eldei-ship. — The  fifth  session  of  the  Michigan  Eldership,  which 
met  "at  the  school-house  in  Kilmer's  neighborhood,"  on  Monday,  the  3rd  of 
October,  1853,  was  the  longest  thus  far  held,  continuing  until  Wednesday  noon. 
There  was  "an  opening  discourse"  delivered  before  the  Eldership  was  constituted. 
Four  teaching  Elders,  one  ruling  elder  and  four  delegates  were  present.  A.  B. 
Slyt-er  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  Samuel  Howe,  Clerk.  A  Committee  on  Resolu- 
tions having  been  appointed,  which  "recommended  to  all  our  brethren  that  they 
abstain  from  the  use  of  liquors  as  a  beverage."  It  also  named  "Thursday  before 
our  monthly  meeting  as  a  fast  day."  It  also  declared  by  resolution  that  "this 
Eldership  has  no  fellowship  with  slavery,  nor  with  slave  laws,  and  that  we  use 
our  influence  against  all  such  laws,  and  in  favor  of  humanity."  The  Eldership 
also  "approved  of  the  efforts  now  making  to  bring  the  Printing  Establishment 
west  of  the  mountains."  A  book  agent  for  the  Eldership  was  appointed,  and  the 
agent  was  to  "sell  all  books  coming  into  his  hands  at  cost,  for  cash."  An  order 
for  several  dozen  books  was  at  once  issued  by  the  Eldership.  As  the  Eldership 
desired  to  "co-operate  with  all  the  Elderships  of  the  Church  of  God,"  a  delegate 
was  elected  to  the  next  General  Eldership,  "to  get  our  boundary  set  off."  The 
elders  of  each  church  were  recommended  "to  draw  up  subscriptions  and  solicit 
subscribers,  for  the  term  of  five  years,  paying  six  cents  a  year,  for  missionary 
purposes."  Two  circuits  were  formed  and  two  missions,  with  one  pastor  on  each, 
and  A.  B.  Slyter  was  appointed  "to  travel  over  the  whole  ground  to  hold  pro- 
tracted meetings."  The  Standing  Committee  was  made  a  Camp-meeting  Com- 
mittee. 

This  favorable  condition  was  of  brief  duration.  While  "the  whole  work 
was  revived  again,"  there  was  apparently  a  sudden  collapse,  without  any  pre- 
monition. The  Eldership  had  "adjourned  to  meet  on  the  second  Monday  in 
October,  1854;"  it  named  no  place,  the  Standing  Committee  being  empowered  to 
do  that.  But  this  it  failed  to  do,  and  for  six  consecutive  years  no  Eldership  ses- 
sions were  held.  C.  C.  Linsley,  long  a  leading  minister  of  the  Eldership,  in  1880 
says:  "This  period  embraces  the  most  solemn  parts  of  our  history."  Slyt«r 
moved  away  and  reunited  with  the  Indiana  Eldership.  John  Ferdig,  S.  Hmve, 
Sr.,  Shaw  and  John  Kilmer  died.  S.  Howe,  Jr.,  and  C.  C.  Linsley  "kept  the 
churches  together"  as  much  as  they  could,  though  Linsley  "did  not  call  himself 
a  preacher,  but  an  exhorter."  Later  he  received  his  first  license  from  the  Indiana 
Eldership,  and  was  appointed  to  the  Thornapple  circuit,  Mich.  Slyter  also  re- 
turned to  Michigan,  and  with  others  who  were  meanwhile  licensed  by  the  Indiana 
Eldership  the  work  was  not  only  kept  alive,  but  the  territory  was  somewhat  en- 
larged. Three  things  militated  against  the  work  during  this  chaotic  period:  The 
United  Brethren  were  very  active,  and  secured  some  of  the  "main  brethren;"  "we 


Michigan    Eldership  489 

had  strong  inducements  held  out  by  them."  "Next  came  the  Adventists.  They 
would  come  and  hold  their  meetings  on  the  ground  after  we  had  prepared  it  for 
meeting."  And  the  "tide  of  emigration  was  westward.  Many  of  our  brethren 
went  West,  and  some  South."  After  most  strenuous  efforts  to  place  the  work 
on  a  more  permanent  basis,  with  the  assistance  of  James  Haskins,  Lovejoy  and 
Calvin,  and  Moses  and  Ezekiel  Kelly,  of  Ohio,  they  felt  that  the  time  had  come 
"to  establish  the  Eldership  again."  In  1858  C.  C.  Linsley,  "as  a  committee,  was 
appointed  to  visit  the  Indiana  Eldership  and  take  the  preliminary  steps  to  get 
boundaries  set  off  and  be  recognized  as  an  Eldership.  Those  means  were  used, 
and  we  set  a  time  and  gave  notice  to  all  the  brotherhood  of  the  time  and  place. 
The  time  set  was  Friday,  September  30,  1859,  with  the  church  at  Rocksand,  Eaton 
county,  Mich."  Eaton  county  adjoins  Barry  on  the  east,  being  the  third  county 
north  of  the  Indiana  State  line,  and  also  the  third  county  east  of  Lake  Michigan. 

6th  Michigan  Eldei"ship. — While  the  fifth  Eldership  in  Michigan  convened 
October  3,  1853,  the  sixth  was  held  in  18  59,  meeting  at  Rocksand,  Eaton  county, 
September  30th.  The  Journal  makes  no  reference  to  this  discontinuity  of  the 
sessions.  The  Eldership  practically  disintegrated  through  deaths  and  removals. 
The  territory  was  gradually  reoccupied  by  ministers  from  Indiana  and  Ohio.  Co- 
operation between  these  and  some  new  men  who  had  been  called  to  the  ministry 
among  these  shepherdless  churches,  and  through  the  self-denying,  intelligent 
efforts  of  Linsley  and  others,  was  again  secured.  As  a  committee,  Linsley  went 
to  the  Indiana  Eldership  to  "take  the  preliminary  steps  to  get  our  boundaries  set 
off  and  be  recognized  as  an  Eldership."  Succeeding  in  this,  the  time  and  place 
for  the  Eldership  to  be  reassembled  were  fixed,  and  a  call  published.  Accordingly, 
the  following  brethren  assembled  at  the  time  and  place  named:  C.  C.  Linsley, 
James  Haskins,  Moses  Kelly  and  Ezekiel  Kelly,  teaching  elders;  N.  Croft,  P.  T. 
Calvin  and  A.  M.  Sames,  ruling  elders;  E.  Moffitt,  J.  F.  Rist,  D.  S.  Young,  Samuel 
Slyter,  M.  Thompson  and  G.  AV.  Lyon,  delegates.  Only  three  of  these  had  been 
members  of  the  former  Eldership,  but  the  matter  of  the  ordinal  number  of  this 
session  was  the  subject  of  a  conference,  when  it  was  decided  that  it  should  be  the 
"sixth."  N.  Croft  was  chosen  Speaker;  P.  T.  Calvin,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  C^ 
C.  Linsley,  Transcribing  Clerk.  The  first  two,  with  Samuel  Slyter,  Geo.  AV.  Lyons 
and  Morgan  Thompson,  received  license  at  this  session.  Two  delegates  to  the 
General  Eldership  were  elected,  "to  get  the  boundary  set  off  for  this  Eldership." 
Three  circuits  were  formed,  with  the  first  two  each  one  preacher,  and  the  third, 
four.  The  title  the  Eldership  assumed  was  "The  Eldership  of  the  Churches  of 
God  in  Michigan." 

7th  Michigan  Eldership.- — Prior  to  1860  the  General  Eldership  had  not  rec- 
ognized the  Michigan  Eldership.  But  at  the  session  of  the  General  Eldership  in 
1860  C.  C.  Linsley  was  present  as  a  delegate  from  the  Michigan  Eldership,  and  in 
its  behalf  made  application  for  admission  as  a  member  of  said  body.  The  Com- 
mittee on  Reception  of  New  Elderships  recommended  "that  a  committee  of  three 
be  appointed  to  pay  them  a  visit,  and  report  their  condition  to  the  next  tri-ennial 
meeting  of  this  body."  This  Committee,  consisting  of  Weishampel,  Bolton  and 
T.  Hickernell  later  was  given  "discretionary  power  to  receive  the  Michigan  Elder- 
ship into  this  body."  On  account  of  a  misunderstanding  by  the  members  of  the- 
Committee  as  to  "the  time  of  visiting  the  Michigan  Eldership,"  they  did  not  go 
to  the  meeting  of  said  Eldership  in  1860;  but  each  separately  later  reported  his 
conclusions  in  favor  of  receiving  the  Michigan  Eldership,  so  that  after  18  60  it  was 
a  regular  member  of  the  general  body.  This  year  the  Michigan  Eldership  met 
November  8th,  with  the  church  near  North  Brownsville,  Kent  county.  It  was 
constituted  of  seven  teaching  elders,  two  being  absent,  and  eleven  ruling  elders 
and  delegates.  The  lot  to  preside  fell  to  C.  C.  Linsley;  and  E.  Kelly  was  chosen 
Journalizing  Clerk,  and  N.  Croft,  Transcribing  Clerk.  Having  no  mission  funds, 
a  Board  of  Missions  was  appointed,  consisting  of  "two  preachers  and  one  ruling 
elder,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  provide  missionary  funds  in  whatever  way  they 
may  deem  proper  and  expedient,  and  appropriate  said  funds  in  such  a  way  as  this 
body  may  direct."  There  was  "difficulty  to  get  enough  men  to  devote  their  entire 
time  to  the  work  of  the  ministry,"  and  so  "some  of  the  places  where  preaching 
should  have  been  kept  up  were  neglected,"  and  so  the  Board  of  Missions  was  in- 
structed to  provide  funds  "to  have  one  faithful,  energetic  and  able  man  to  travel 
constantly  throughout  the  whole  bounds."  The  churches  were  advised  to  hold  a 
union  camp-meeting  in  1861.      The  opinion  of  the  Eldership  was  forcibly  expressed' 


490  History  of  the   Churches   of   God 

in  favor  of  "family  worship — to  keep  the  fires  burning  upon  the  family  altars." 
The  Eldership  had  some  trouble  with  a  woman  "to  whom  they  had  granted  per- 
mission to  exercise  as  a  preacher;  but  she  soon  proved  herself  unworthy  of  the 
sanction,  whereupon  they  recalled  the  permit,  but  she  bids  defiance  to  them," 
says  Weishanipel,  "and  fires  away  as  hard  as  ever,  doing  considerable  harm." 
The  work  of  the  Eldership  was  more  or  less  hindered  by  the  existence  in  Kent  and 
a  few  other  counties  of  local  churches  wearing  the  name  of  "Church  of  God,"  but 
of  Disciple  faith.  They  were  independent  churches,  and  not  disposed  to  unite 
with  the  Church  of  God.  The  territory  was  divided  into  five  circuits,  to  which 
nine  ministers  were  appointed.  Provision  was  made  for  an  Opening  Sermon  in 
18  61,  by  appointing  C.  C.  Linsley  to  preach  one. 

8th  Michigan  Eldership. — A  message  from  R.  H.  Bolton,  member  of  the  Com- 
mittee with  discretionary  power  to  receive  the  Michigan  Eldership,  was  received 
and  read  when  the  eight  annual  session  convened  with  the  church  in  Eagle,  Clinton 
county,  Mich.,  October  2,  1861.  It  notified  the  Eldership  that  it  is  now  "a  part 
of,  and  under  the  influence  of,  the  General  Eldership."  Nine  ministers  attended 
this  session;  two  were  absent,  with  five  ruling  elders.  Linsley  was  chosen 
Speaker,  and  E.  Kelly,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  P.  T.  Calvin,  Transcribing  Clerk. 
The  Eldership  adopted  "the  Old  and  New  Testament  for  our  rule  of  faith  and 
practice."  Considerable  success  attended  the  labors  of  the  ministers,  several  new 
churches  having  been  organized.  Two  preachers,  however,  "left  in  disorder,"  one 
under  charges.  A  delegate  from  the  Free-Will  Baptist  Church  was  present.  The 
territory  was  rearranged,  making  a  "Union  Circuit"  of  Grand  Lodge,  Odessa  and 
Thornapple  circuits,  to  be  supplied  by  four  ministers,  and  one  additional  circuit, 
with  one  minister. 

9th  Michigan  Eldership. — No  Eldership  spent  less  time  than  did  the  Michigan 
Eldership  in  considering  and  passing  resolutions  on  a  variety  of  subjects.  In  1861 
no  one  such  resolution  was  adopted,  and  the  same  is  true  of  the  ninth  Eldership. 
This  Eldership  met  with  the  church  in  Cascade,  Kent  county,  Monday,  October  13, 

1862.  One  circuit.  Union,  was  represented  by  four  teaching  elders.  Six  teaching 
•elders  were  absent.  Seven  ruling  elders  and  delegates  were  in  attendance.  C.  C. 
Linsley  was  elected  Speaker;  J.  M,  Nichols,  Clerk,  and  L.  Lovejoy,  Transcribing 
Clerk.  The  cases  of  four  teaching  elders  were  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Standing 
Committee  to  dispose  of.  "The  cause  of  God,"  it  was  reported  by  the  Committee 
on  the  State  of  Religion,  "is  prospering  among  us  as  well  as  can  be  expected  under 
present  circumstances.  There  have  been  some  conversions,  some  persons  re- 
claimed, some  churches  organized  and  a  good  prospect  of  more  organizations." 
The  scheme  to  consolidate  circuits  not  proving  satisfactory,  the  territory  was  di- 
vided into  six  circuits. 

10th  Michigan  Eldership. — While  no  action  appears  on  record  changing  the 
title  of  the  Eldership,  the  heading  of  the  Journal  was  so  changed  as  to  read 
^'Annual  Eldership  of  the  Churches  of  God  in  Michigan."  The  tenth  session  was 
held  with  the  church  in  Woodland,  Barry  county,  Mich.,  beginning  November  4, 

1863.  Of  the  nine  teaching  elders  on  the  Roll,  but  three  were  present.  Seven 
delegates  and  ruling  elders  were  enrolled.  The  case  of  L.  Lovejoy  was  unique. 
The  Eldership  "concurred  in  the  action  of  the  church  in  Cascade"  in  his  case, 
"and  in  the  withdrawal  of  the  right  hand  of  fellowship  from  him,  and  that  his 
name  be  dropped,  inasmuch  as  he  says  he  does  not  enjoy  religion."  John  S. 
Smurrh  was  chosen  Speaker;  J,  Haskins,  Clerk,  and  D.  W.  Lincoln,  Transcribing 
Clerk.  Five  circuits  were  made,  to  which  seven  ministers  were  assigned,  while 
two  others  were  "to  labor  as  much  as  possible  throughout  the  Eldership."  Three 
Ohio  preachers  were  invited  to  assist  "at  the  woods  meating  in  Michigan." 

11th  Michigan  Eldership. — The  Michigan  Eldership  of  "the  Church  of  God" 
held  its  eleventh  annual  session  with  the  church  near  North  Brownsville,  Kent 
county,  Mich.,  beginning  October  13,  1864.  But  one  of  the  seven  enrolled  min- 
isters was  absent,  and  four  ruling  elders  and  delegates  were  present.  The  of- 
ficers chosen  were  J.  S.  Sniiirrh,  Speaker;  J.  Haskins,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and 
D.  W.  Lincoln,  Transcribing  Clerk.  The  Eldership  resolved  "that  the  sisters  be 
received  as  advisory  members,  if  they  wish."  The  Eldership  appointed  the  com- 
mittees. The  reports  recorded  show  that  there  were  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  conversions,  and  three  or  four  new  churches  organized.  The  preachers  were 
admonished  to  "be  more  zealous  in  the  advancement  of  the  cause  of  God,  by 
going  out  and  opening  up  new  appointments  and  hunting  up  the  lost  sheep  of  the 


Michigan    Eldership  491 

house  of  Israel;  not  only  going  where  there  is  a  church,  but  go  out  into  the 
highways  and  hedges,  and  proclaim  a  risen  Savior."  Conditions  were  reported 
"more  prosperous  the  past  year  than  for  a  number  of  years  before."  Three  cir- 
cuits were  formed,  with  two  ministers  to  each. 

12th  Michigan  Eldersliip. — The  most  extreme  step  taken  by  an  Eldership 
looking  toward  union  with  some  other  religious  body  was  that  of  the  Michigan 
Eldership  at  its  session  which  began  at  Maple  Grove,  Barry  county,  October  12, 
1865.  After  electing  C.  C.  Linsley,  Speaker;  James  Haskins,  First  Clerk,  and 
W,  Seifried,  Second  Clerk,  it  appointed  a  "committee  of  three  members  of  this 
body  to  confer  with  the  Committee  of  the  Church  of  Christ  relative  to  effecting  a 
union  of  the  two  bodies."  It  appeared  that  an  unofficial  meeting  of  committees  of 
two  from  each  body  had  been  held  on  June  7,  18G5,  "for  the  purpose  of  securing 
a  union  of  the  two  bodies."  Resolutions  to  that  end  were  adopted  by  the  joint 
committees,  "and  the  two  bodies  have  labored  together  ever  since  upon  the  most 
friendly  terms."     It  was  agreed  to  appoint  "delegates  to  attend  the  next  Michigan 

Annual  Conference  of  the  Church  of  Christ to  secure  a  greater  union,  and 

if  possible  an  ultimate  consolidation  of  the  two  bodies."     This  action  was  called 

"a   singular   move which   may   prove   detrimental   to  the  cause   of  God"   in 

Michigan.  And  Thomas,  as  Editor,  warned  the  Michigan  Eldership  against  any 
alliance  with  the  Church  of  Christ.  This  organization  was  not  the  Christian  or 
Disciple  Church,  but  a  mixture  of  malcontents  under  the  leadership  of  Hiram 
Rathbun,  largely  fashioned  after  the  United  Brethren  Church.  The  Eldership 
mourned  the  death  of  two  of  its  "worthy  and  much  lamented"  members,  E.  B. 
Gillaspie  and  E.  MofRtt.  Notwithstanding  the  coquetting  with  the  "Church  of 
Christ,"  which  "promulgated  a  creed  while  professing  to  oppose  creeds,"  the 
Eldership  adopted  a  ringing  statement  "denouncing  all  human  creeds,  believing 
them  to  be  the  commandments  of  men  only."  It  also  declared  it  to  be  the  "im- 
perative duty  of  the  churches  within  the  bounds  of  the  Michigan  Eldership  to 
support  their  preachers  according  to  their  ability."  "An  educated,  energetic  and 
efficient  ministry"  was  declared  to  be  "indispensable,"  so  that  "all  ministers  of 
this  body  are  recommended  to  pursue  a  regular  course  of  study."  Preachers 
were  directed  "to  preach  sermons  on  the  propriety  of  Sunday-schools."  The  cir- 
cuits for  the  year  were  Gratiot,  Thornapple  and  Maple  Grove,  with  St.  Joe  as  a 
separate  point. 

13th  Michigan  Eldership. — Discarding  its  old,  limited  Rules  of  Order,  the 
Standing  Committee  was  instructed  to  prepare  "full  and  more  appropriate  Rules." 
The  Eldership  convened  at  North  Brownsville,  Kent  county,  October  20,  1866,  and 
listened  to  the  Opening  Sermon  by  W.  Seifried  on  Sabbath  evening,  the  21st,  from 
Acts  xvi.  17 — "The  Gospel  Ministry."  C.  C.  Linsley  was  elected  Speaker;  W. 
Seifried,  First  Clerk,  and  B.  D.  Bright,  Second  Clerk.  It  declared  "intemperance 
to  be  the  vilest  of  evils,  most  fatal  in  its  tendency,  blasting  the  brightest  anticipa- 
tions of  thousands and  hurling  into  the  vortex  of  ruin  millions  of  our  fellow 

beings."      It  resolved  "to  use  every  energy,  summon  every  power  of  the  soul 

against  this  abominable  compound  of  crime  and  vice."  Bolton  was  invited  to  come 
to  Michigan  and  "travel  as  a  General  Evangelist."  As  part  remuneration  $129.00 
were  raised  on  the  floor.  As  a  treasurer  was  now  needed,  B.  D.  Bright  was  elected. 
The  Eldership  expressed  its  readiness  "to  co-operate  with  other  Elderships  in  estab- 
lishing a  college  for  the  Church."  A  Board  of  Missions  was  organized,  consisting 
of  Linsley,  Seifried  and  Bright.  Four  ministers  were  willing  "to  travel  this  year," 
viz.:  J.  M.  Nichols,  A.  J.  Hull,  ju3t  licensed;  Seifried  and  Smurrh.  Two  missions 
were  named  in  the  Stationing  Committee's  Report — St.  Joseph  and  Nashville. 

14th  Michigan  Eldersliip. — The  Standing  Committee  of  the  Michigan  Elder- 
ship held  a  meeting  at  Maple  Grove,  June  15,  1867,  and  discharged  its  duty  of  pre- 
paring new  Rules  of  Order.  It  selected  the  Rules  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship and  submitted  them  for  adoption  at  the  Eldership  in  1867,  which  assembled 
September  30th,  at  Stump  School-house,  near  St.  Joseph,  Berian  county,  Mich. 
They  were  agreed  to.  R.  H.  Bolton  had  removed  to  Michigan,  and  besides  him 
there  were  five  teaching  elders  present,  and  four  ruling  elders  and  two  delegates. 
Five  ministers  and  seven  ruling  elders  were  absent.  W.  Seifried  was  chosen 
Speaker,  and  R.  H.  Bolton,  Clerk.  A  committee  was  named  by  the  Eldership  to 
prepare  a  Constitution  for  the  Board  of  Missions.  The  Constitution  as  reported 
and  adopted  consisted  of  seven  Articles.  The  organization  was  called  "The  Mis- 
sionary Aid  Society  of  the  Michigan  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God."      The  mem- 


492  History   of  the   Churches   op   God 

bers  were  composed  of  those  who  paid  twenty-five  cents  per  year;  and  a  subscrip- 
tion of  $10.00  and  payment  of  annual  interest  and  principal  at  death  made  a  person 
a  life  member.  Its  object  was  "to  maintain  superannuated  or  disabled  ministers;" 
"to  maintain  the  widows  and  children  of  superannuated  ministers;"  "to  maintain 
missions  and  missionaries."  The  use  of  tobacco  was  denounced  "not  only  as  a 
filthy  practice,  but  a  pernicious  expenditure  of  money,  immoral  in  its  tendency,  and 
tends  to  stultify  the  noble  aspirations  of  the  soul,"  and  so  the  Eldership  resolved 
to  "use  our  influence  to  discourage  its  use  in  all  its  forms,  and  especially  among  the 
rising  generation."  It  took  over  the  Genessee  Mission,  which  had  been  supplied 
by  the  Ohio  Eldership,  as  it  felt  "able  to  supply  said  work  with  ministerial  labor." 
It  rejoiced  "at  the  apparent  success  of  the  Centralia  College,  and  feels  to  bid  them 
God-speed  in  their  noble  work."  One  hundred  and  twenty-two  conversions  were 
reported;  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  accessions,  with  a  few  churches  not  reported, 
and  four  churches  organized. 

15th  Michigan  Eldership. — Another  Eldership  has  decided  that  women  may 
be  ordained  to  the  ministry.  This  the  Michigan  Eldership  of  1868  did  when  it 
voted  Sister  Catharine  E.  Lincoln,  wife  of  Elder  D.  W.  Lincoln,  a  license  after  hav- 
ing "examined  her  relative  to  her  call  to  the  ministry,  qualifications  therefor  and 
labors  therein."  Besides  her,  eleven  ministers  and  nine  ruling  elders  and  dele- 
gates were  enrolled  when  the  Eldership  was  constituted  at  Hyde  School-house, 
Maple  Grove,  Barry  county,  Mich.,  Monday  morning,  October  12,  1868.  The  choice 
for  Speaker  was  J.  B.  AVhite,  and  for  Clerk,  R.  H.  Bolton.  The  work  had  been  ex- 
tended into  Sheawasse  county,  whence  came  a  call  for  a  preacher.  In  Montcalm 
county  A.  W.  Parsons  had  "organized  a  church  of  about  a  dozen  members,  having 
in  fellowship  three  preachers."  Two  of  the  five  members  of  the  Stationing  Com- 
mittee were  laymen.  While  the  Board  of  Missions  reported  only  $26.52  in  the 
treasury,  twenty-seven  life  members  were  secured  on  the  fioor.  The  churches  were 
urged  to  "greater  liberality  and  exertion  in  the  support  of  the  ministry,  that  they 
may  set  themselves  fully  apart  from  the  business  of  the  world,  and  devote  them- 
selves exclusively  to  the  great  work  of  the  Christian  ministry."  There  being  "a 
few  churches  within  the  bounds  of  the  Eldership"  which  reversed  the  order  of  ob- 
serving the  ordinances,  the  Eldership  advised  them  to  practice  feet-washing  before 
the  Lord's  Supper.  The  elders  of  each  church  were  declared  to  be  vested  with  the 
ruling  power,  and  to  them  belongs  the  authority  to  exercise  discipline.  Six  fields 
of  labor  were  mapped  out,  of  which  four  are  styled  missions.  J.  B.  White  was 
made  the  General  Missionary. 

16th  Michigan  Eldership. — There  were  many  absentees  when  the  Eldership 
was  constituted  at  Bangor,  Van  Buren  county,  Mich.,  September  27,  1869.  Thirteen 
teaching  elders  were  present,  and  eight  absent;  four  ruling  elders  were  present, 
and  twenty-one  absent,  with  five  delegates  present.  The  Rules  of  Order  were 
so  amended  that  the  presiding  ofiicer  had  to  be  addressed  as  "Brother  Speaker." 
R.  H.  Bolton  was  elected  to  that  office,  with  J.  H.  Besore,  who  had  emigrated 
to  the  State  during  the  year,  as  Clerk.  The  delegates  to  the  General  Elder- 
ship made  a  written  report,  recommending  "a  perfect  co-operation  of  this  Elder- 
ship with  the  General  Eldership  in  all  the  measures  to  promote  the  work  of 
the  Lord."  A  committee  to  secure  an  Act  of  Incorporation  having  failed  to  do  so, 
another  committee  was  named  for  that  purpose.  A  complaint  which  arose  in  other 
Elderships,  of  ministers  trespassing  on  each  other's  fields,  was  taken  up,  and  it 
was  declared  "not  allowable  to  enter  on  another  man's  work,  make  appointments 
or  solicit  money  for  any  purpose  whatever,  unauthorized  by  the  Eldership,  without 
consent  of  the  preacher  in  charge  of  such  work."  The  translation  of  the  Scrip- 
tures by  the  American  Bible  Union  was  pronounced  "vastly  superior  to  the  version 
of  King  James,"  and  its  "use  in  public  and  in  private  and  in  the  pulpit"  was  urged. 
Hillsdale  College,  Michigan,  was  commended  as  worthy  of  patronage.  The  Elder- 
ship lamented  the  death  of  Thomas,  "recognizing  the  fact  that  we  as  a  Church  have 
lost  a  good,  strong  and  useful  brother."  The  last  evening  of  the  session  was  set 
apart  to  the  "paying  of  a  tribute  of  respect  to  our  departed  Bi-other  Thomas." 
The  Course  of  Studies  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  was  recommended  to 
"our  ministers."  The  practice  of  issuing  licenses  to  exhorters  was  approved,  and 
three  brethren  were  so  licensed.  Insisting  that  "the  missionary  spirit  be  yet  more 
revived,"  the  Eldership  made  three  missions  in  the  State,  to  each  of  which  a  min- 
ister was  assigned,  and  also  created  the  "St.  Louis  Mission,  to  include  a  church 
near  St.  Louis,"  with  J.  M.  Nichols  as  missionary.      Besides  these  fields  there  were 


Michigan    Eldership  493 

four  circuits,  with  six  ministers.  That  these  ministers  might  be  better  supported 
it  was  directed  that  "a  financial  meeting  be  held  by  the  officiary  of  each  church  in 
concert  with  the  preacher  or  preachers  on  the  circuit  to  ascertain  amounts  needed 
for  their  support,  and  that  said  amounts  be  mutually  apportioned  among  the 
churches  on  the  charge." 

17th  Micliigan  Eldership. — The  attendance  of  ministers  was  good  at  the 
Michigan  Eldership  which  held  its  session  with  the  church  south  of  Hastings,  Barry 
county,  beginning  September  26,  1870.  Fifteen  of  the  nineteen  were  present,  but 
with  only  six  ruling  elders  and  four  delegates.  The  Eldership  met  on  Monday 
morning,  having  listened  to  the  Opening  Sermon  the  previous  evening,  by  J.  H. 
Besore,  from  Ezek.  xxxiii.  7.  C.  C.  Liiisley  was  elected  Speaker,  and  Ira  M.  B. 
Oillaspie,  Clerk.  The  Eldership  resolved  to  "change  the  time  of  changing  our 
preachers;  the  change  to  take  place  on  the  1st  of  April."  Bradsliaw,  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  was  received  as  an  advisory  member.  He  desired  to  "bring  certain 
matters  before  the  Eldership,  concerning  a  union  of  this  body  with  the  Christian 
Church."^  As  a  result,  the  Eldership  appointed  "a  Corresponding  Secretary,  to 
correspond  with  a  member  of  like  character  of  the  Christian  Church  on  the  sub- 
ject of  union."  J.  H.  Besore  was  appointed,  and  "Sister  Lincoln  visited  the  Chris- 
tian Conference  in  behalf  of"  the  Eldership.  A  General  Evangelist  was  appointed 
"to  labor  in  this  Eldership  territory  the  coming  year."  The  missionary  and  Church 
extension  spirit  was  strong,  so  that  of  the  nine  fields  of  labor  five  are  classed  as 
missi'ons,  and  are  the  Geneva,  the  Cheshier,  Montcalm,  Genessee  and  the  Alaska,  in 
Kent  county.  But  small  amounts  of  money  were  received  for  the  various  funds. 
The  Board  of  Missions  received  interest  on  Life  Membership,  $18.00;  collections, 
$20.88.  Receipts  for  the  Contingent  Fund,  $8.45.  The  total  apportionment  by 
the  Eldership  "for  missionary  and  contingent  money"  was  $62.14.  The  Statistical 
Report  showed  conversions,  140;  baptisms,  117;  accessions,  121;  expulsions,  44; 
organizations,  4,  with  a  total  membership  of  4.50. 

18th  Michigan  Eldei-ship. — Notwithstanding  the  mission  work  mapped  out  by 
the  Michigan  Eldership  in  1870,  it  was  said  in  1871  that  "their  missionary  opera- 
tions the  past  year  were  almost  a  blank."  But  to  improve  this  condition  "a  gen- 
eral worker  was  appointed,  who  is  to  be  sustained  in  part  from  the  mission  funds, 
and  so  those  interests  will  not  be  neglected."  The  session  of  1871  had  "a  fair 
representation  of  preachers,  twelve  of  the  nineteen  responding  to  their  names,  and 
also  seven  ruling  elders,  when  the  body  convened  in  the  Town  Hall,  in  the  village 
of  Monterey  Center,  Allegan  county,  September  28th.  There  was  some  friction  on 
various  questions;  "but  contrariety  of  feelings  was  harmonized."  J.  B.  White  was 
chosen  Speaker,  and  Ira  M.  B.  Gillaspie,  Clerk.  By  formal  action  the  Stationing 
Committee  was  composed  of  three  teaching  and  two  ruling  elders.  In  its  report  it 
divided  the  territory  into  five  circuits  and  two  missions.  While  no  Opening  Ser- 
mon was  preached  at  the  beginning  of  this  session,  it  was  decided  to  have  one  on 
the  evening  of  the  first  day's  sitting,  and  J.  B.  White  was  appointed.  A  strong  en- 
dorsement of  Sunday-schools  was  adopted,  and  churches  were  directed  to  organize 
schools  wherever  possible.  The  Eldership  favored  an  effort  by  the  General  Elder- 
ship "to  secure  increased  educational  facilities  among  us  especially  adapted  for  the 
instruction  of  those  contemplating  to  enter  the  ministry."  D.  W.  Lincoln  and  wife 
Tiad  visited  the  Christian  Conference  as  fraternal  delegates,  and  made  a  favorable 
report;  whereupon  action  was  taken  to  continue  correspondence  with  said  Confer- 
ence, "with  a  view  of  consolidating  the  two  bodies,  if  possible,  on  a  Bible  basis." 
The  Missionary  Fund  was  comparatively  large,  as  with  "amount  in  hands"  it  ag- 
gregated $1,329.00.  The  action  of  1870  relative  to  the  time  to  change  preachers 
was  rescinded,  and  it  was  resolved  that  "the  change  is  to  take  place  at  once." 

19th  Michigan  Eldership. — The  Eldership  in  1872  was  pronounced  "a  very 
pleasant  and  interesting  one."  The  retrospect  was  brightened  by  the  hope  that 
there  were  "measures  adopted  which  will  be  a  blessing  to  the  Church."  Of  these 
the  one  specially  singled  out  for  approval  was  that  which  required  "each  local 
church  to  have  a  permanent  system  of  supporting  the  gospel  and  the  worthy  needy 
among  us."  The  presiding  officer  was  B.  D.  Bright,  with  W.  Seifiied  as  First 
•Clerk,  and  W.  Redding,  Second  Clerk.  Not  half  the  teaching  and  ruling  elders  and 
delegates  were  present.  This  may  be  accounted  for  by  reason  of  the  place  of  meet- 
ing being  in  the  extreme  south-western  corner  of  the  State,  three  miles  from  Ben- 
ton Harbor,  Berrien  county,  on  Monday,  8  o'clock  a.  m..  October  7th.  While  the 
names  of  three  ministers  were  "dropped,"  there  were  four  additions,  among  them 
S.  D.  C.  Jackson,  who  later  became  a  member  of  the  Kansas  and  Missouri,  the  Illi- 


494  History  of  the   Churches   of   God 

nois  and  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Elderships,  and  was  a  man  of  rare  talents.  A. 
J.  Hull  was  appointed  Book  Agent  for  the  Eldership.  The  General  Missionary, 
B.  D.  Bright,  was  required  "to  travel  throughout  the  entire  bounds  of  the  Elder- 
ship in  the  State."  The  territory  was  divided  into  three  circuits,  two  stations  and 
two  missions.  The  Board  of  Missions  was  working  under  its  own  Constitution, 
which  was  ordered  amended  so  as  to  give  any  person  the  privilege  to  "become  a 
member  of  said  Society  one  year"  by  "paying  one  dollar;"  "five  dollars,  five  years; 
ten  dollars,  ten  years,  and  fifty  or  one  hundred  dollars,  a  life  member." 

20th  Michigan  Eldership. — The  session  of  the  Eldership  in  1873  was  much 
edified  by  six  sermons,  of  which  special  mention  was  made,  though  no  Opening  Ser- 
mon is  reported  as  having  been  preached.  These  were:  one  by  Linsley,  on  "The 
Church's  Faith  and  Practice;"  one  by  Jackson,  "The  Anchor  of  the  Soul;"  one  by 
Selkirk,  "The  Final  Resurrection;"  one  by  Gillaspie,  "Christ  the  Witness  of  the 
Father,"  and  one  by  Seifried,  "Zion's  Peace  and  Prosperity."  The  Eldership  con- 
vened at  Bangor,  Van  Buren  county,  September  24th,  and  adjourned  on  the  27th. 
A.  L.  Edwards  was  elected  Speaker;  S.  D.  C  Jackson  and  B.  D.  Bright,  Clerks. 
Each  minister  was  instructed  "to  set  forth  the  missionary  interests  of  this  Elder- 
ship, and  by  subscriptions,  collections  and  interest  on  Life  Members  raise  funds  for 
the  same."  It  was  determined  "to  call  a  Sunday-school  Convention,  at  such  time 
and  place  as  the  Standing  Committee  may  agree  upon."  A  general  camp-meeting 
was  also  appointed.  The  Eldership  thought  each  licensed  minister  "should  have  at 
least  one  preaching  place,"  and  accordingly  the  Stationing  Committee  assigned 
twenty  to  specified  points. 

21st  Michigan  Eldership. — If  the  arrangement  whereby  each  preacher  of  the 
Eldership  received  an  appointment  did  not  prove  the  most  satisfactory,  the  final 
action  of  the  Eldership  in  1874  showed  unusual  missionary  activity.  Of  the 
thirteen  fields  of  labor  there  is  one  station,  five  circuits  and  seven  missions.  The 
Eldership  was  larger  than  usual,  there  being  but  eight  absentees.  The  session  was 
held  at  Maple  Grove,  Barry  county,  beginning  October  15th.  The  Speaker  was 
J.  B.  White,  with  S.  Smith,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  B.  D.  Bright,  Transcribing 
Clerk.  Shoemaker,  of  the  Chicago  Mission,  being  present,  a  resolution  was  passed, 
stating  that  "the  General  Eldership  is  the  rightful  owner  of  the  Chicago  Mission 
property,  and  is  the  proper  authority  to  control  the  same."  On  temperance,  educa- 
tion, periodicals,  etc.,  the  Eldership  contented  itself  by  declaring  that  it  adhered  to 
resolutions  adopted  at  former  sessions.  But  it  resolved  to  encourage  the  holding 
of  Ministerial  Associations;  the  organization  of  Sunday-schools;  urged  that  "atten- 
tion be  given  to  the  musical  talent,  to  bring  out,  as  best  we  can,  especially  in  the 
young,  the  power  of  song,"  and  urging  "especially  our  young  ministers  to  acquaint 
themselves  with  good  literature." 

22nd  Michigan  Eldership. — Distance  and  inconvenience  of  travel  doubtless  re- 
duced the  number  of  ministers  in  attendance  at  the  twenty-second  session  of  the 
Michigan  Eldership.  It  convened  at  Maple  Grove,  Saginaw  county,  on  September 
20,  1875,  "attendance  not  as  large  as  was  desired."  There  were  only  four  teaching 
elders  present,  four  ruling  elders  and  two  delegates;  while  twelve  teaching  elders 
and  six  ruling  elders  were  absent.  C.  C.  Linsley  was  chosen  Speaker;  I.  M.  B. 
Gillaspie,  Clerk,  and  J.  B.  White,  Treasurer.  The  Eldership  decided  that  it  "will 
license  no  one  who  does  not,  or  will  not,  preach."  Perhaps  for  this  reason  the 
names  of  several  preachers  were  "dropped."  There  was  much  "dissatisfaction 
among  the  members  of  the  Missionary  Aid  Society,"  and  "large  amounts  of  unpaid 
interest  on  Life  Memberships."  It  was  ordered  that  "a  list  of  all  the  members  of 
said  Society  on  his  field  be  given  to  each  minister,"  to  collect  what  Is  due.  Besides, 
a  missionary  collection  was  to  be  lifted  at  each  appointment.  The  Stationing  Com- 
mittee, composed  of  three  ministers  and  two  laymen,  made  eleven  appointments, 
and  one  General  Missionary.  An  act  of  vandalism  was  committed,  to  which  the 
custodians  seemed  to  be  accessories,  in  "allowing  the  Protocol  of  the  Missionary 
Aid  Society  to  be  cut  to  pieces  and  otherwise  destroyed."  An  explanation  of  this 
breach  of  trust  "was  required."  The  Board  of  Missions  had  made  no  report  for 
three  years,  and  a  vote  of  censure  was  passed,  and  a  full  report  required  from  1872. 
Conversions  had  not  been  as  numerous  as  formerly,  and  the  "religious  condition 
within  the  bounds  of  the  Eldership  was  not  up  to  the  high  standard  that  is 
desired." 

23rd  Michigan  Eldership. — Though  the  Michigan  Eldership  had  eighteen 
preachers,  and  but  eleven  charges,  two  of  which  were  unsupplied,  yet  the  Board  of 


Michigan    Eldership  495 

Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  sent  AV.  H.  Oliver,  of  Ohio,  into  the  State  as  a 
general  missionary.  The  twenty-third  session  was  held  at  Blooming  Dale,  Van 
Buren  county,  beginning  October  11,  1876.  There  were  eleven  teaching  elders 
present,  and  seven  absent;  one  ruling  elder  present,  and  ten  absent;  three  dele- 
gates, and  one  exhorter.  Wm.  Redding  was  chosen  Speaker;  S.  Smith,  Clerk.  The 
support  of  ministers  was  so  limited  that  some  "who  were  assigned  work  have  been 
forced  to  leave  their  fields  of  labor,"  so  that  the  Eldership  resolved  "to  hold  that 
the  churches  are  morally  bound  to  support  the  ministers  to  the  full  extent  of  their 
ability."  The  deacons  were  instructed  to  carry  this  decision  into  effect.  The 
Board  of  Missions  was  continued,  though  no  report  is  recorded,  and  each  local 
church  was  "requested  to  elect  a  Board  of  Missions,  to  raise  money  by  call,  dona- 
tion or  otherwise,  to  be  sent  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  Eldership."  The  Eldership 
decided  that  "no  person  shall  be  eligible  to  any  office  in  the  church  unless  he  has 
been  baptized."  "About  fifty  have  been  added  to  the  Church"  during  the  year,  and 
the  Eldership  urged  "the  brethren  to  a  greater  state  of  activity  with  their  means 
and  talents,  and  to  make  more  sacrifices  for  their  Master."  On  temperance  the 
Eldership  simply  declared  it  to  be  "a  cause  which  demands  our  co-operative  labors." 

24th  Michigan  Eldership. — The  meagerness  of  the  missionary  funds,  as  per 
Report  submitted,  no  doubt  accounts  for  the  absence  of  any  Report  for  three  or 
four  years.  At  the  Eldership  in  1877,  the  Board  reported  having  received  $9.55, 
without  anything  having  been  in  the  treasury,  and  all  from  the  church  at  Maple 
Grove,  except  75  cents  "collection  on  the  Eldership  floor."  The  Eldership  con- 
vened at  Maple  Grove,  Barry  county,  September  26,  1877.  Nine  teaching  elders 
were  present,  and  nine  absent;  two  ruling  elders  were  present,  and  ten  absent.  In- 
dications generally  confirm  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion, 
that  "the  cause  has  not  prospered  to  that  extent  desired,  from  the  fact  that  we 
have  not  enough  active  laborers."  The  Stationing  Committee  reduced  the  fields  of 
labor  to  nine,  and  then  left  one  unsupplied.  The  Committee  on  Resolutions  ad- 
mitted that  "the  ordinance  of  Feet-washing  is  growing  unpopular  among  the  breth- 
ren," and  sought  to  "impress  upon  the  minds  of  all  the  ministers  the  necessity  of 
attending  to  it  oftener,  and  to  preach  more  upon  it — -twice  a  year."  The  Com- 
mittee on  Education  declared  "education  to  be  essential  to  the  advancement  of 
civilization  and  Christianity,  and  that  ministers  should  be  men  of  culture,  and 
hence  we  see  the  need  of  a  school  controlled  by  the  Church  of  God."  The  local 
preachers  were  "required  to  help  the  pastor,  and  to  open  new  appointments." 
Larger  contributions  were  asked  for,  so  that  the  Eldership  can  at  an  early  day 
keep  a  missionary  in  the  field.  The  session  of  the  Eldership  was  presided  over 
by  A.  B.  Slyter,  Speaker,  with  I.  M.  B.  Gillaspie  as  Clerk. 

25th  Michigan  Eldership. — Whatever  effect  the  action  of  1877  may  have  had 
in  securing  funds  for  missions,  three  of  the  nine  appointments  of  1878  were  classed 
as  missions.  The  Treasurer's  Report  shows  $9.55  "in  hand."  The  session  of  1878 
was  held  at  Bangor,  Van  Buren  county,  and  began  October  10,  1878.  "H.  Garrett, 
of  Baltimore,  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon  the  evening  previous."  J.  M.  Ireland 
was  chosen  Speaker,  and  B.  D.  Bright,  Clerk.  A  Mr.  Robinson,  a  Baptist  minister, 
applied  for,  and  was  granted,  a  license.  Sheldon  Smith's  name  "was  dropped  from 
the  Journal,  he  having  placed  his  membership  with  the  Baptists  without  officially 
informing  the  Standing  Committee,"  and  censure  was  voted  upon  him.  The  reso- 
lution of  1877,  relative  to  the  observance  of  Feet-washing,  was  called  up,  and  the 
record  made,  "Not  complied  with."  The  Eldership  thereupon  declared,  "That  as 
an  Eldership  we  believe  in  washing  the  saints'  feet,  and  we  do  urge  the  ministers 
to  preach  it,  and  practice  what  they  preach.  We  urge  every  member  to  comply 
with  the  plain  command  of  the  Savior  as  recorded  in  the  thirteenth  chapter  of 
John."  The  matter  of  appointing  Missionary  Boards  in  the  local  churches  was 
also  again  insisted  upon.  While  in  "some  localities  the  cause  is  onward,"  says  the 
Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion,  "in  other  places,  through  neglect,  the  cause 
has  not  prospered  as  it  might."  On  temperance  the  Eldership  declared  that  It 
"stands  on  the  rock  of  total  abstinence,  with  raised  banners  floating  in  the  air  of 
truth  and  justice,  until  our  land  shall  be  free  from  the  blight  of  the  destroyer." 
An  Act  of  Incorporation  of  the  Eldership  was  secured  in  1878. 

26th  Michigan  Eldership. — The  Act  of  Incorporation  was  an  important  meas- 
ure, under  the  laws  of  the  State.  A  religious  body,  or  corporation,  had  to  be  in 
the  exercise  of  the  franchises  and  privileges  of  a  corporation  for  the  term  of  ten 
years,  when  "it  shall  be  presumed  to  have  been  legally  organized,"  and  "as  such 


496  History  of  the   Churches   of   God 

can  and  does  hold  property  legally."  The  Eldership  availed  itself  of  this  provision 
of  law  as  against  certain  seceders,  who  threatened  to  take  property  belonging  to 
the  legal  Eldership.  W.  Seifiied  was  leader  in  this  movement.  He  had  been  dis- 
fellowshiped,  and  gathered  a  few  around  him,  who  on  November  20,  1878,  organ- 
ized themselves  into  the  "Northern  Michigan  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God,"  at 
Carson  City.  As  such  they  threatened  and  boasted  that  "they  can  take  the  prop- 
erty of  the  Michigan  Eldership."  They  also  attempted  "to  intimidate  the  ministers 
of  the  Michigan  Eldership  from  solemnizing  marriages,  and  threatened  to  prose- 
cute them."  The  Eldership  stood  firm,  entrenched  behind  the  law,  and  exhorted 
the  churches  and  ministers  to  "mark  them  which  cause  divisions  and  offenses,  and 
have  no  fellowship  with  them."  The  body  met  in  a  school-house,  at  Duncan  Lake, 
Barry  county,  October  9,  1879,  with  ten  preachers  present,  and  eleven  absent; 
three  ruling  elders  present,  and  thirteen  absent,  and  one  delegate.  J.  B.  White 
was  chosen  Speaker,  and  C.  C.  Linsley,  Clerk.  There  was  an  uneasy  state  of  feel- 
ing in  the  Eldership.  The  independent  movement  had  a  moral  effect  beyond  its 
intrinsic  importance,  so  that  there  was  "a  lack  of  co-operation  amongst  the  min- 
isters," and  the  Eldership  notified  all  such  they  they  "shall  be  called  to  account  to 
this  body  for  their  conduct."  Under  these  conditions  it  is  not  singular  that  the 
Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion  found  it  necessary  to  say,  that  "the  state  of 
religion  is  not  flattering;"  that  "reports  of  preachers  confirm  these  views;  but  we 
believe  that  by  the  Great  Head  of  the  church  a  greater  work  may  be  done  in  this 
Eldership  year."  The  appointments  were  reduced  to  seven  circuits  and  one  mis- 
sion. During  the  year  $15.45  were  collected  for  missions.  The  Eldership  prom- 
ised "to  use  our  utmost  effort  to  establish  a  school  for  the  education  of  the  youth 
of  the  Church  of  God."  The  matter  of  semi-centennial  services  was  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  Standing  Committee.  The  Eldership  set  an  example  by  observing  the 
ordinances  near  the  close  of  the  session,  two  of  the  older  ministers  "taking  the  lead 
in  washing  the  saints'  feet." 

27th  IMichigan  Eldership. — The  attendance  at  the  twenty-seventh  annual  ses- 
sion of  the  Michigan  Eldership  was  so  small  as  to  be  good  ground  for  the  feeling 
of  discouragement  which  is  reflected  in  the  Minutes.  There  were  nine  teaching 
elders  present,  and  eleven  absent,  and  there  were  neither  ruling  elders  nor  dele- 
gates in  attendance.  Wm.  Redding  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  Sheldon  Smith,  Clerk. 
The  session  was  held  in  the  Hide  school-house,  in  Maple  Grove,  Barry  county,  and 
began  at  9  o'clock  a.  m.,  October  13,  1880.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  in 
the  evening  of  the  first  day's  sittings,  by  Sheldon  Smith.  Though  weak  and  poor, 
the  Eldership  cheerfully  responded  to  the  calls  for  the  small  amounts  of  Missionary 
and  Contingent  Funds  apportioned  to  it  by  the  General  Eldership.  It,  however, 
voted  to  dispense  with  its  own  Board  of  Missions.  The  Eldership  "specially  urged 
the  young  men  who  contemplate  engaging  in  the  gospel  ministry  to  use  all  possible 
means  to  make  themselves  wise  and  intelligent  men  of  God,  and  able  defenders  of 
the  truth  as  taught  in  the  Scriptures."  On  temperance  it  declared  itself  in  "favor 
of  Ihe  doctrine  of  total  abstinence."  It  also  regretted  "to  see  the  prevailing  habit 
of  the  use  of  tobacco,  and  would  recommend  that  all  young  men  entering  the  Elder- 
ship be  requested  to  abstain  from  the  use  of  the  same."  It  resolved  to  "carry  out 
the  itinerant  plan,"  and  declared  "that  any  church  requesting  of  the  Eldership  a 
preacher  shall  receive  and  support  the  preacher  sent  by  this  body."  "The  necessity 
of  organizing  Sabbath-schools  wherever  practicable"  was  "urged  upon  the  breth- 
ren." The  Stationing  Committee  reported  twelve  fields  of  labor,  six  of  which  were 
missions.  Two  ministers  "were  appointed  General  Workers."  Each  minister  had 
been  required  to  collect  and  pay  each  year  $2.00  into  the  treasury,  and  failing  to 
do  so,  he  was  to  pay  it  himself.  Eleven  ministers  had  complied  with  this  require- 
ment; but  $16.00  was  due  from  the  others,  and  to  enforce  payment  licenses  were 
to  be  delivered  only  upon  payment  of  dues. 

28th  Michigan  Eldership. — Want  of  unity  is  a  serious  thing  in  any  organiza- 
tion. To  conquer  by  dividing  is  still  the  main  resource  of  an  enemy.  And  while 
the  Michigan  Eldership  in  theory  realized  this,  its  practice  at  this  distance  in  time 
may  not  seem  to  merit  approval.  When  the  body  convened  with  the  church  at 
New  Haven  Center,  Gratiot  county,  on  Wednesday,  September  28,  1881,  it  found 
"two  Elderships  bearing  the  name  Church  of  God  in  Michigan,"  and  that  "they  are 
not  in  co-operative  unity."  Realizing  that  "this  division  is  detrimental  to  the 
cause  of  Christ,  and  contrary  to  the  doctrines  taught  by  us,"  the  Committee  on 
Resolutions,  R.  L.  Smith,  H.  A.  Gari-ett  and  Sheldon  Smith,  offered  a  resolution. 


Michigan    Eldership  497 

"that  we  adopt  measures  immediately  to  unite  the  two  bodies,  for  Christ  has  not 
many  bodies."  But  the  Eldership  "postponed  action  on  it  indefinitely."  The 
Opening  Sermon  was  preached  the  evening  previous  to. the  organization,  by  Wm. 
Redding,  who  was  elected  Speaker,  with  F.  J.  Browne,  Clerk.  Only  eight  of  the 
twenty-one  teaching  elders  attended  the  session,  and  but  one  ruling  elder  was 
present.  At  the  suggestion  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership  the  appointment  of  "an  active  general  evangelist  within  our  terri- 
tory" was  agreed  upon,  and  help  was  requested  from  said  Board,  and  co-operation 
promised  in  its  work.  The  Eldership  endorsed  the  Findlay  College  enterprise,  and 
members  of  the  Church  in  Michigan  were  urged  to  co-operate  in  the  project.  The 
licenses  of  a  number  of  ministers  were  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee on  account  of  the  non-payment  of  arrearages  to  the  Eldership  funds. 
Though  no  treasurer's  report  appears  in  the  Minutes,  I.  M.  B.  Gillaspie  was  elected 
Treasurer.  The  friction  existing  in  the  body  is  betrayed  in  a  resolution  which  was 
adopted,  "that  any  minister  found  guilty  of  trying  to  poison  the  minds  of  the 
people  against  an  appointee  of  this  Eldership,  or  is  guilty  of  throwing  stumbling 
blocks  in  the  way  of  any  minister,  shall  forfeit  his  license."  While  the  Eldership 
adjourned  on  Saturday  afternoon,  it  was  arranged  to  hold  services  and  have  preach- 
ing Saturday  evening.  Sabbath  morning  and  evening,  and  close  on  Sabbath  night 
with  an  ordinance  meeting. 

29th  Michigan  Eldership. — Neither  the  causes  which  led  to  the  organization 
of  two  Elderships  in  Michigan,  nor  the  basis  of  union,  is  on  record  in  the  Minutes. 
The  fact,  however,  is  recorded,  that  "the  election  of  officers  in  1882  was  sus- 
pended until  the  report  of  the  Standing  Committee  is  received,  giving  the  proceed- 
ings of  Bro.  Sheldon  Smith  in  regard  to  the  union  of  the  two  Elderships  in  this 
State."  His  "report  was  given,  and  unanimously  adopted,  and  the  two  Elderships 
are  one."  The  Eldership  held  its  session  at  Salem  Center,  Allegan  county,  begin- 
ning September  6th.  The  previous  evening  Wm.  Redding  preached  the  Opening 
Sermon.  He  was  chosen  Speaker;  F,  J.  Bi-OAvne,  First  Clerk,  and  Heni-y  Lyon, 
Second  Clerk.  R.  L.  Smith  had  "of  his  own  free  will,  and  without  the  knowledge 
of  this  body,  joined  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church."  But  repenting,  he  applied 
for  membership  in  the  Eldership.  Restitution  was  first  demanded.  One  minister 
was  expelled  "for  gross  immorality."  The  Eldership  insisted  that  ministers  "at- 
tend to  the  organization  of  local  missionary  societies  in  the  churches  under  their 
charge  as  soon  as  possible,  to  raise  money  for  mission  purposes."  One  of  the  min- 
isters was,  by  order  of  the  Eldership,  "addressed  by  the  Speaker,  and  instructed  to 
teach  and  practice  the  washing  of  the  saints'  feet  previous  to  partaking  of  the 
Lord's  Supper."  It  was  also  ordered  that  "no  minister  belonging  to  this  Eldership 
is  allowed  to  officiate  at  the  marriage  of  parties  divorced  on  other  than  scriptural 
grounds."  The  Stationing  Committee  assigned  the  ministers  to  ten  circuits  and 
missions.  One  sister,  Lottie  Blackwood,  was  on  the  Ministerial  Roll,  who  was  "to 
be  furnished  work  by  the  Standing  Committee."  The  Funds  of  the  Eldership  con- 
sisted of  $5.4.5  Contingent  Fund;  $18.00  Missionary  Fund.  The  Eldership  was  a 
"happy  and  harmonious  gathering,"  as  reported  by  the  Clerk. 

30th  Michigan  Eldership. — The  hand  of  an  experienced  writer  Reports  of 
Committees  first  appears  in  the  Journal  of  1883.  His  name  stands  at  the  head  of 
the  Committees  on  Publications,  Education,  Resolutions  and  Temperance.  Wm. 
Rice's  reports  were  dissertations,  and  not  preambles  and  resolutions,  and  were  writ- 
ten with  special  care.  He  was  one  of  the  eleven  teaching  elders  enrolled  as  present 
when  the  Eldership  "convened  at  the  North  Side  Church,  Bangor,  Van  Buren 
county,  September  19,  1833,"  and  with  C.  C.  Linsley,  chosen  as  Speaker,  and  S. 
Smith,  was  elected  a  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership  in  18  84.  Nine  teaching 
elders  were  absent,  and  fourteen  ruling  elders  are  also  named  as  absent,  and  only 
two  as  being  present.  F.  J.  Browne  was  elected  Clerk.  The  Report  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Education  was  an  elaborate  argument  on  "Ministerial  Education,"  clos- 
ing with  a  resolution  declaring  the  "renewal  and  continued  and  increased  efforts  of 
the  Eldership,  and  the  promise,  so  far  as  possible,  of  aid  by  our  means,  our  influ- 
ence and  our  prayers,  until  the  capstone  of  the  college  is  laid."  The  power  of  the 
printing  press  is  enlarged  upon,  and  the  excellencies  of  the  General  Eldership  pub- 
lications set  forth  in  ringing  terms.  These  publications  are  commended  to  the  pat- 
ronage of  all  the  families  of  the  Church.  The  Eldership  promised  to  "throw  our 
influence  on  the  side  of  Prohibition,"  and  "our  ballots  shall  count  on  the  side  of 
prohibiting  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  all  spirituous  and  malt  beverages."      It 

C.   H.— 17* 


498       '  History   of'  the    Churches   of  God 

also  declared  its  purpose  to  "cry  out  against  the  fearful  crime  of  desecrating  the 
holy  Sabbath."  It  seriously  "commended  to  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General 
Eldership  the  prayerful  consideration  of  the  question:  What  can  be  done  to  extend 
.the  Church  of  God  throughout  these  United  States?"  Two  brethren  recommended 
for  license  "were  ordained  by  the  laying  on  of  hands."  The  mission  sentiment  and 
spirit  of  the  Eldership  are  reflected  in  resolutions  declaring,  "that  to  be  lax,  or  in- 
different in  this  great  work  is  a  sin  against  God  and  man;"  that  "a  Christian  is  a 
missionary,"  and  "that  it  is  the  duty  of  each  minister  to  preach  at  least  one  mis- 
sionary sermon  each  year,  and  take  up  a  collection  for  missions  at  every  appoint- 
ment on  his  charge."  "The  $2.00  Missionary  System  formerly  adopted  by  this 
body"  was  abolished,  and  the  resolution  of  the  Committee  on  Missions  substituted. 
The  penalty  for  failure  to  carry  out  said  resolution  was  that  the  delinquent  "min- 
ister shall  be  held  censurable  by  this  Eldership."  A  State  Evangelist  was  ap- 
pointed, and  other  ministers  were  assigned  to  nine  stations  and  circuits  and  four 
missions,  with  one  circuit  unsupplied. 

31st  Michigan  Eldership.— Before  adjournment  in  1883,  the  Eldership  ap- 
pointed a  committee,  consisting  of  Redding,  AValker  and  Gillaspie,  "to  draw  up  a 
series  of  resolutions  setting  forth  the  duties  of  ministers,  their  educational  stand- 
ard, mission  work,  etc.,"  to  be  acted  on  in  1884.  This  committee  made  its  report 
at  the  second  sitting  of  the  Eldership  which  convened  with  the  church  at  Carson 
City,  Montcalm  county,  Wednesday  morning,  September  3,  1884.  It  gave  three 
general  "requirements  of  candidates  for  ordination  to  the  ministry  in  the  Michigan 
Eldership:  1.  "A  good,  common  school  education,  and  have  sufficient  knowledge 
of  history  to  give  an  outline  of  the  rise,  leading  events  and  fall  of  the  Chaldean, 
Medo-Persian,  Grecian  and  Roman  Governments."  2.  "They  should  be  able  to 
define  science,  pantheism,  materialism,  polytheism,  atheism,  evolution,  substantial- 
ism,  theology,  the  new  birth,  regeneration,  adoption,  sanctification."  3,  "They 
should  be  able  to  define  and  explain  the  ordinances  of  God's  house,  what  each  rep- 
resents and  commemorates,  and  the  action  of  Christian  baptism,  and  what  we  are 
to  understand  by  the  word  "being  born  of  the  water  and  the  Spirit.  Also  a  general 
knowledge  of  the  Bible."  This  the  Eldership  adopted.  AVm.  Rice  had  preached 
the  Opening  Sermon  on  Tuesday  evening,  and  at  Wednesday  morning's  sitting, 
after  constituting  the  Eldership,  Spencer  Walker  was  made  Speaker,  and  F.  J. 
Browne,  Clerk.  The  "probability"  of  the  organization  of  "a  new  Eldership  of  the 
Church  of  Christ  upon  certain  conditions,"  as  intimated  by  D.  W.  Lincoln,  to  con- 
sist of  "himself  and  some  others"  whose  names  "he  refused  to  divulge"  resulted  in 
his  license  being  withheld,  and  "his  case  being  referred  to  a  committee,  with  dis- 
cretionary power."  Said  committee  decided  that  "his  request  be  granted,"  that 
"his  name  be  stricken  from  the  Roll."  On  marriage  and  divorce  the  Eldership 
"demanded  more  stringent  divorce  laws,  prohibiting  guilty  parties  from  remarrying, 
and  a  higher  moral  sentiment  on  the  nature  and  sanctity  of  marriage,  and  a  firm, 
vigorous  administration  of  the  laws  in  our  courts  of  justice,  as  well  as  rigorous  dis- 
cipline in  all  the  Churches."  It  also  expressed  the  sentiment  of  the  body,  "that  it 
is  the  duty  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  to  enact  such  stringent  laws  as 
shall  promptly  and  effectually,  and  forever,  suppress  the  accursed  system  of  polyg- 
amy within  the  Territories  and  States  of  this  Union."  A  very  favorable  report 
of  the  state  of  religion  in  the  Eldership  was  adopted.  After  sustaining  its  Com- 
mittee on  Sabbath-schools  in  its  vigorous  report  on  the  urgent  need  of  more  dili- 
gent work  in  this  department  of  Christian  activity,  it  appointed  "William  Rice 
State  Evangelist  and  Missionary  Fund  Collector."  A  Superannuated  Fund  was 
created,  for  which  annual  collections  were  to  be  lifted  by  all  the  pastors,  the  Elder- 
ship having  already  superannuated  two  of  its  ministers.  The  licenses  of  two  min- 
isters were  held  up  for  "violating  the  Rules  of  the  Eldership  pertaining  to  marriage 
and  divorce."  It  was  then  made  the  duty  of  the  Speaker  "to  ask  each  preacher 
after  giving  his  report  the  proper  question  regarding  this  subject."  The  number 
of  circuits  and  missions  was  reduced  to  ten. 

32nd  Michigan  Eldership. — The  assumption  seems  verifiable  that  the  work  in 
Michigan  was  more  or  less  hindered  by  the  presence  of  other  religious  bodies  simi- 
lar in  name  and  doctrinal  tenets  and  practices.  There  was  the  Church  of  God  (Ad- 
ventists),  a  small  body  which  withdrew  from  the  Seventh-day  Adventists.  It  had 
six  organizations  in  the  State.  Another  body  of  about  the  same  numerical  strength 
tvas  known  as  the  Churches  of  God  (Adventists)  Unattached  Congregations.  In 
1888  the  Churches  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus  was  organized,  which  had  nine  organiza- 


Michigan    Eldership  •  499 

tions  in  Michigan.  Other  organizations  of  similar  names,  such  as  Church  of  Godl 
and  Saints  of  Christ  (Colored),  Churches  of  the  Living  God,  Church  of  Christ  iru 
God  (Apostolic  Church)  and  Church  of  Christ  in  God  were  not  found  in  Michigan^ 
and  with  few  exceptions  in  the  farther  west  were  not  found  in  the  same  localities 
with  the  Church  of  God.  So  that  even  a  more  united,  aggressive  and  confident 
body  than  that  which  convened  as  the  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Michigani 
at  Duncan  Lake,  Barry  county,  September  24,  1885,  could  not  but  feel  the  effect 
of  these  vagaries  in  the  prosecution  of  its  work.  Seventeen  teaching  elders  were 
present,  eight  ruling  elders  and  one  exhorter,  while  eight  teaching  elders  were 
absent.  Wni.  Redding  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  F.  J.  BroAvne,  Clerk.  A  Com- 
mittee on  Credentials  made  the  enrollment,  which  also  reported  charges  against 
four  ministers,  including  the  Speaker  of  the  Eldership  of  1884,  who  for  this  reasoik 
was  "not  allowed  to  act  as  Speaker,"  "nor  to  act  in  any  official  capacity  while  the 
charges  are  pending."  Each  of  the  four  was  found  guilty  by  the  Special  Committee 
on  Investigation,  and  the  names  were  "dropped  from  the  Eldership  Roll."  One 
minister  reported  that  he  "had  united  with  the  Free  Baptist  Quarterly  Conference."" 
The  only  addition  to  the  body  was  that  of  John  Hall,  a  Canadian  Indian  Chief,  who- 
received  exhorter's  license.  Elaborate  and  painstaking  resolutions,  with  labored^ 
preambles,  evidently  prepared  in  advance  by  one  member,  were  adopted  on  Educa- 
tion, Resolutions,  Missions  and  Sunday-Schools.  These  Reports  were  all  of  com- 
mendable character,  reflecting  a  spirit  of  loyalty  and  devotion  to  the  common  in- 
terests of  the  Church.  Arrangements  were  made  to  have  a  special  sermon  preached?, 
in  1886  on  Church  Polity,  and  one  on  "Characteristics  of  the  Church  of  God."  And 
on  the  last  evening  of  the  present  session  AVm.  Rice  was  "appointed  to  preach  a  ser- 
mon on  the  subject  of  Ordination."  It  was  decided  to  hold  a  "Ministerial  Asso- 
ciation and  Sunday-School  Institute  at  Hamilton,  in  June,  1886."  Also  a  Pente- 
costal meeting  at  Duncan  Lake.  The  fields  of  labor  consisted  of  two  stations,  eight 
circuits  and  one  mission — Mason  county. 

33r(l  Michigan  Eldei'ship. — The  same  virile  writer  of  reports  whose  pro- 
ductions made  so  large  a  part  of  the  Journal  of  1885,  did  equally  good  work  ini 
1886.  Wm.  Rice  was  the  efficient  protagonist  of  the  Michigan  Eldership  while  a 
member.  As  a  writer  and  preacher  he  showed  the  great  cardinal  virtues  of  cour- 
age, endurance  and  skill.  He  had  no  pet  predelictions,  but  was  the  pronounced  ad- 
vocate and  defender  of  all  the  interests  and  institutions  of  the  Church.  He  only 
knew  Duty,  "stern  daughter  of  the  voice  of  God."  So  it  was  not  strange  that  in 
1886  he  was  again  appointed  to  "preach  a  sermon  on  Ordination"  on  the  evening 
of  the  second  day.  The  Eldership  was  not  well  attended  which  met  at  Bangor, 
Van  Buren  county,  Wednesday  morning,  October  6,  1886.  The  previous  evening 
L.  J.  Teed  preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  Only  nine  of  the  twenty-five  teaching 
elders  were  present,  two  ruling  elders  and  one  delegate.  But  the  Act  of  Incorpo- 
ration secured  eight  years  before  provided  for  a  small  number  to  constitute  a 
quorum.  The  Speaker  was  J.  B.  AVliite,  with  F.  J.  Bromie  as  Clerk.  Strong  reso- 
lutions were  adopted  against  immoral  literature,  tobacco  and  the  desecration  of 
the  Sabbath  day,  and  in  favor  of  Sabbath-schools,  as  the  committee  believed  them 
to  be  "the  nursery  of  the  Church,"  and  had  "reasons  for  believing  that  God  and 
the  angels  take  great  interest  in  the  early  instruction  of  children  in  righteousness." 
The  Committee  on  Constitution  recommended  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  "amended  and  added  to  by  the  Committee." 
Various  Reforms  were  endorsed  by  the  Committee  on  Resolutions,  and  the  Elder- 
ship was  urged  to  "buckle  on  the  whole  Christian  armor,  to  stand  united  in  one  un- 
broken phalanx,  ready  to  'move  directly  upon  the  enemy's  works,'  pressing  the 
battle  to  the  very  gates  of  the  foe,  till  the  last  confiict  is  past."  The  cause  of  mis- 
sions was  strongly  endorsed  as  "the  cause  of  God.  Christ,  our  Savior,  our  leader 
and  guide,  and  now  our  advocate  with  the  Father,  is  heaven's  great  missionary." 
"To  be  lax,  or  indifferent,  in  this  great  work  is  a  sin  against  God  and  man."  To 
secure  better  support  for  ministers,  it  was  made  their  duty  on  entering  on  new 
fields  "to  call  a  meeting  of  the  official  members,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  fix  the 
amount  of  the  pastor's  salary,  and  apportion  the  same  to  the  different  appointments 
on  the  circuit."  The  fields  of  labor  were  reported  in  "a  fair,  and  some  in  a  pros- 
perous, condition."  The  Eldership  determined  to  "throw  our  influence  on  the  side 
of  Prohibition,"  and  the  members  of  churches  were  urged  "not  to  vote  with  parties 
which  legislate  in  favor  of  the  liquor  traffic."  A  State  Evangelist  was  elected,  atid 
it  was  made  his  duty  "to  collect  all  missionary  money  possible."  A  Board  of  Edu- 
cation and  a  Committee  of  Church  Extension  were  provided  for.     Nine  fields  of 


500  History   of  the   Churches  of   God 

labor  were  mapped  out,  but  one  remained  to  be  supplied.  The  Indian  preacher, 
John  Hall,  reported,  and  his  license  was  renewed,  but  there  is  no  intimation  as  to 
his  place  of  work. 

34th  Michigan  Eldei-ship. — There  was  a  larger  attendance  at  the  session  of 
the  Eldership  held  at  Callahan  school-house,  Gratiot  county,  Mich.,  beginning  Fri- 
day morning,  September  13,  1887.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  on  Thurs- 
day evening,  by  C.  C.  Linsley,  from  Acts  x.  23.  Fourteen  ministers  were  present, 
eight  absent,  and  two  ruling  elders.  Wni.  Redding  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  L.  J. 
Teed,  Clerk.  On  temperance  the  Eldership  expressed  its  judgment  that  "all  good 
citizens  should  combine  to  procure  an  enactment  prohibiting  the  sale  of  intoxicat- 
ing beverages,"  and  strongly  disapproved  "voting  for  or  upholding  any  party  that 
will  not  give  us  prohibition."  A  sermon  on  the  ordinances  was  ordered  to  be 
preached  on  Lord's  day  evening,  followed  by  their  observance.  The  financial 
weakness  of  the  Church  was  evidenced  in  the  case  of  the  Salem  Bethel.  Without 
means  to  repair  it,  or  keep  up  the  fence  around  the  lot,  C.  C.  Linsley  was  author- 
ized to  rent  it  so  as  to  raise  funds  to  make  the  needed  repairs.  This  condition  of 
things  induced  the  Eldership  to  resolve  to  "make  an  effort  to  secure  means  to  pro- 
mote the  interest  of  the  Michigan  Eldership,  and  also  the  general  interest  of  the 
Church  of  God,  and  not  leave  a  stone  unturned  that  should  be  turned  that  will 
make  the  work  a  greater  success."  The  body  sorely  felt  and  sincerely  lamented 
the  death  of  Elder  James  Haskins,  "one  among  the  first  ministers  that  helped  to 
revive  the  Eldership  that  had  ceased  to  meet  for  the  space  of  about  six  years."  He 
was  originally  licensed  by  the  Indiana  Eldership  in  1856,  and  removed  to  Odessa, 
lona  county,  Mich.,  where  he  began  his  labors  in  the, ministry.  An  order  was  made 
requiring  each  minister  of  the  Eldership  to  raise  $5.00  for  the  Missionary  Fund  and 
$2.00  for  the  Contingent  Fund  the  coming  Eldership  year,  the  penalty  for  failure 
to  do  so  was  the  withholding  of  license  until  complied  with.  There  were  now  ten 
fields  of  labor,  all  supplied  with  ministers.  The  Board  of  Incorporation  began  its 
active  duties  immediately  after  the  Eldership,  and  it  appointed  an  Executive  Board 
of  three  members  to  look  after  the  business  concerns  of  the  Eldership. 

35th  Michigan  Eldership. — The  fluctuating  character  of  the  Michigan  Elder- 
ship is  indicated  by  the  very  small  attendance  in  1888.  This  seemed  a  chronic 
feature  of  the  body,  and  so  the  impression  is  made  on  the  observer's  mind  that  it 
must  necessarily  be  vacillating  in  resolve,  and  wavering  in  execution.  External 
conditions  and  influences  contributed  to  this;  but  the  thought  is  suggested  that  in 
the  ministry  of  the  Eldership  there  were  too  many  who  were  irresolute  and  un- 
determined of  purpose.  The  Eldership  met  at  Hamilton,  Allegan  county,  October 
5th,  with  only  six  of  the  twenty-two  teaching  elders  present,  and  four  ruling  elders 
and  delegates.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  the  previous  evening,  by  Wni. 
Redding,  from  Eph.  iii.  9,  10,  11.  He  was  re-elected  Speaker;  C.  C.  Linsley,  Jour- 
nalizing Clerk,  and  I.  E.  Evans,  Financial  Clerk.  Redding  was  also  elected  Treas- 
urer. The  Eldership  was  explicit  and  emphatic  in  its  opposition  to  "the  destruc- 
tive and  baneful  influence  and  power  of  the  license  system,"  and  committed  itself 
positively  to  the  absolute  prohibition  of  the  liquor  traffic.  The  resolution  of  1887, 
that  each  pastor  collect  $5.00  for  the  Missionary  Fund  and  $2.00  for  the  Contin- 
gent Fund,  was  only  partly  carried  out,  and  compliance  therewith  was  insisted 
upon.  One  minister  who  had  come  into  the  Eldership  from  the  Free  Methodist 
Church  returned  to  its  fellowship,  and  his  name  was  dropped.  Two  other  min- 
isters "left  our  Eldership  and  joined  another  Church,"  and  "their  names  were 
stricken  from  our  Roll."  The  only  compensation  for  this  loss  was  the  reception 
and  ordination  of  E.  Robertson,  of  some  other  Church,  "being  well  seconded  by  his 
Conference."  The  Eldership  realized  that  "what  we  need  most  is  men  of  ability, 
with  good  moral  characters,  to  move  in  our  midst  and  stay."  Some  of  the  "bethels 
are  unoccupied  by  our  preachers."  There  were  eleven  appointments,  to  each  of 
which  a  pastor  was  assigned.  Other  ministers  were  instructed  "to  open  up  new 
points,  or  supply  the  places  which  are  not  supplied." 

36th  Michigan  Eldership. — When  the  Eldership  met  at  Bangor,  Van  Buren 
county,  October  4,  1889,  thirteen  of  the  nineteen  seats  of  teaching  elders  were 
vacant.  There  were  present  two  ruling  elders,  one  delegate  and  two  exhorters. 
The  names  of  two  ministers  were  dropped  from  the  Roll;  but  one  previously 
dropped  was  reinstated.  Redding  was  again  chosen  Speaker,  and  C  C.  Linsley, 
Clerk.  The  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Temperance  was  still  more  definite  and 
pronounced  in  favor  of  Prohibition,  demanding  "the  utter  and  speedy  legal  pro- 
hibition of  this  terrible  curse,"  and  promising  to  "aid  the  Prohibitionists  by  vote 


Michigan    Eldership  501 

and  voice  in  saving  the  people  from  the  destructive  influence  and  power  of  the 
licensed  liquor  traffic."  The  state  of  religion  vi^as  declared  to  be  "low  in  the 
bounds  of  this  body."  A  General  Missionary  was  appointed,  on  "condition  that  he 
agree  to  travel  in  the  bounds  of  the  Michigan  Eldership,  and  not  stay  at  home."' 
J.  M.  Ireland  was  elected  Treasurer,  but  no  Treasurer's  Report  was  submitted.  On 
Education  the  Eldership  took  advanced  ground,  urging  "all  in  the  bounds  of  this. 
Eldership  to  do  all  in  their  power  to  educate  their  children,  especially  those  who 
contemplate  entering  the  ministry."  It  also  expressed  its  full  sympathy  with  "th& 
mission  interests  of  the  General  Eldership,"  and  urged  special  collections  for  this 
purpose  in  all  the  churches.  The  Publishing  House  and  Book  Room  of  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership,  and  the  various  periodicals  were  endorsed,  and  recommended  to 
"the  patronage  of  the  brotherhood."  The  appointments  were  reduced  to  nine,  two 
of  them  being  missions. 

37th  Michigan  Eldership.- — Responsive  to  general  religious  sentiment,  the 
Michigan  Eldership  adopted  strong  resolutions  against  keeping  open  the  World's 
Fair  at  Chicago  on  the  Lord's  day.  It  considered  such  a  course  as  tending  "to 
bring  disgrace  on  our  nation  and  people."  It  provided  for  the  sending  of  its  reso- 
lutions on  the  subject  to  the  Chairman  of  the  World's  Fair  Committee  under  its 
corporate  seal.  The  session  was  held  at  the  Wiles  school-house.  New  Haven, 
Gratiot  county,  beginning  September  25,  1890.  The  membership  consisted  of 
nineteen  ministers  and  nine  delegates.  L.  J.  Teed  was  elected  President;  I.  E. 
Evans,  Clerk.  The  publications  of  the  General  Eldership  were  strongly  endorsed, 
and  ministers  and  churches  were  urged  to  patronize  them.  Missionary  Societies 
were  directed  to  be  organized  in  the  churches.  The  financial  report  presented  a 
good  condition  of  the  Eldership  Funds.  The  camp-meeting  spirit  still  existed  in 
the  Eldership,  so  that  a  Camp-meeting  Committee  had  been  appointed.  The 
churches,  however,  were  indisposed  to  bear  the  expenses  and  endure  the  incon- 
veniences, and  so  none  was  held.  There  were  four  fields  of  labor,  which  were  sup- 
plied with  pastors.  Three  ministers  were  named  as  Home  Missionaries,  "to  help 
where  opportunity  affords,"  while  one  was  appointed  State  Evangelist.  The  opin- 
ion prevailed  that  "this  was  the  best  Eldership  that  was  ever  held  in  Michigan." 
The  only  matter  for  discouragement  which  some  experienced  was  "the  scarcity  of 
ministers,"  which  necessitated  the  merging  of  some  of  the  circuits,  thus  making 
them  "too  large  for  one  man  to  travel,  and  do  justice  to  the  work." 

38th  Michigan  Eldership. — At  the  session  of  the  Eldership  in  1891  there  were 
three  additions  to  the  ministry,  two  of  which  received  appointments,  so  that  six 
fields  of  labor  were  supplied  with  pastors.  The  session  was  held  at  Sodus  Bethel, 
Berrien  county,  and  began  September  17th.  The  officers  chosen  were  L,  J.  Teed, 
President;  I.  T.  Crago,  Clerk.  The  Eldership  felt  its  need  of  a  better  educated 
ministry.  It  sought  to  incite  to  diligent  study  by  requiring  all  the  ministers  "who 
had  not  been  members  for  a  period  of  ten  years  should  make  a  special  study  of 
Grammar  and  Rhetoric,  and  prescribed  the  text-books  in  which  they  were  to  be 
examined.  "The  Eldership  all  through  its  session  was  a  decided  victory  for  God." 
The  religious  fervor  seemed  so  supreme  that  little  was  done  besides  the  routine 
business. 

39th  Michigan  Eldership. — The  more  experienced  members  of  the  Eldership 
rejoiced  at  the  close  of  the  session  of  1892,  that  it  "left  the  field  re-inforced  by 
nine  workers,  three  exhorters  and  six  ministers,  two  of  the  latter  of  marked 
ability."  "The  nightly  efforts  in  the  pulpit  were  in  the  demonstration  and  power 
of  the  gospel.  The  altar  services  were  salutary  and  spiritual."  "The  cause  has 
received  a  new  impetus."  As  in  1891,  the  business  transacted  was  limited,  yet  at- 
tention was  given  to  some  extent  to  matters  of  Church  polity,  as  it  was  the 
opinion  that  "progress  in  the  great  reformation  in  Church  polity  is  assured."  On 
Sunday  evening  the  ordinances  were  observed,  at  which  it  was  noted  that  "a  few 
out  of  three  different  denominations  participated."  The  session  was  presided 
over  "by  one  of  the  old  veterans  in  the  ministry,"  Wm.  Redding,  with  J.  S.  Eakin 
as  Clerk.  It  is  recorded  as  a  peculiarity  of  the  session  that  "no  resolutions  were 
offered."  The  Funds  of  the  Eldership  were  replenished  through  assessments. 
The  session  was  held  in  the  Spencer  school-house,  Montcalm  county,  and  began 
September  1st.  The  seven  fields  of  labor  were  all  supplied.  Not  only  the  un- 
assigned  ministers,  but  the  exhorters  were  required  "to  open  new  appointments 
where  opportunity  affords."  The  Eldership  adjourned  in  the  hope  "that  the  near 
future  will  bring  still  brighter  days  for  the  Michigan  Eldership." 


502  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

40th  Michigan  Eldership. — The  hope  expressed  at  the  close  of  the  thirty-ninth 
session  of  the  Michigan  Eldership  seemed  to  have  been  well  founded.  For  at  the 
<;lose  of  the  session  of  189  3  the  Clerk  reported  that  "the  prospects  for  Church 
-work  in  Michigan  are  gradually  brightening,  and  we  hope  and  pray  that  this  year 
'Will  be  one  of  great  prosperity."  The  session  was  held  at  Bangor,  Van  Buren 
■county,  beginning  September  21st.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by  L.  J. 
Teed.  The  membership  of  the  body  was  twenty-three,  of  which  six  were  ex- 
•iiorters.  One  sister  at  this  session  was  seated  as  a  "ruling  elder."  The  ministers 
■''in  the  active  work  were  stationed  on  nine  appointments."  The  Speaker,  W.  J. 
McNutt,  came  from  the  Ohio  Eldership  by  transfer.  J.  S.  Eakin  was  Clerk.  More 
than  usual  business  was  transacted.  On  temperance  the  body  pledged  itself  "to 
udo  all  in  our  power  to  suppress  the  monster  evil  of  intemperance,  which  endangers 
our  government  and  its  industrial,  educational  and  religious  institutions.  It 
committed  itself  in  favor  of  the  prohibition  of  the  manufacture,  sale,  importation 
and  transportation  of  all  or  any  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage  by  our  ballots 
and  influence."  Because  of  troubles  growing  out  of  the  readiness  to  receive  un- 
tried persons  into  the  ministry  in  former  years,  the  Eldership  declared,  that  "here- 
after we  will  receive  none  into  this  Eldership,  or  grant  to  any  one  a  license,  with- 
out their  having  belonged  to  the  Church  of  God  and  having  preached  twenty-five 
times  at  least  previous  to  making  an  application  for  license,  and  bring  a  letter  of 
recommendation  from  the  church  signed  by  the  ruling  elders  and  preacher  in 
charge."  This  refers  to  new  applicants  for  the  ministry.  The  Eldership  did  the 
singular  thing  of  accepting  the  findings  of  a  committee  that  "there  have  been 
wrong  actions  on  the  part  of"  both  an  expelled  minister  "and  the  Eldership,"  and 
recommending  his  reinstatement  and  mutual  forgiveness. 

41st  Michigan  Eldership. — While  the  General  Eldership  in  1893  had  sent 
down  to  the  annual  Elderships  several  questions  to  be  considered  and  acted  upon, 
the  Michigan  Eldership  took  up  only  that  of  Eldership  titles.  This  was  done  at  the 
.session  held  at  Sodus  Bethel,  Berrien  county,  beginning  September  19,  1894.  It 
•decided  "to  stand  by  the  title  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God,"  by  "a  unanimous 
rising  vote,  and  still  strengthened  by  loud  acclamations."  It  also  voted  to  "adhere 
to  the  Bible  title  'Elder,'  "  and  "denounced  the  prefix  'Rev.'  "  J.  H.  McNutt  was 
chosen  Speaker,  and  J.  S.  Eakin,  Clerk.  "One-half  hour  was  set  apart  for 
anemorial  services,"  when  the  Committee  on  Obituaries  reported  resolutions 
^eulogistic  of  the  life  and  character  of  H.  A.  Garrett,  in  whose  death  the  body  had 
'lost  an  efficient  and  worthy  minister.  He  was  originally  licensed  by  the  Michigan 
Eldership  in  1869,  and  was  "faithful  to  him  that  appointed  him"  to  the  holy  of- 
ifice  of  the  ministry.  To  assist  in  raising  more  missionary  money,  "the  Board  of 
.Missions  was  instructed  to  organize  Woman's  Missionary  Societies."  "L.  J.  Teed 
^was  elected  General  Missionary  throughout  the  State  of  Michigan,"  at  a  salary  of 
:$350.00.  When  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Temperance  was  read  it  was 
•objected  to  because  the  word  "party"  was  used.  The  Committee  was  required  to 
eliminate  it.  The  Report  enumerated  a  number  of  "protean  diseases"  caused  by 
the  use  of  ardent  spirits;  "the  ruining  of  property;"  "hereditary  transmission  of 
tendencies  to  diseases,"  and  "insanity,"  "the  blunting  of  moral  sensibilities  and 
their  final  blotting  out,"  as  reasons  for  favoring  absolute  prohibition,  to  which  end 
■"the  Eldership  will  use  all  its  infiuence  and  all  lawful  means."  The  Treasurer, 
J.  M.  Ireland,  who  was  re-elected,  handled  only  $51.07  during  the  year.  The 
Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion  reported  total  "membership  of  250  a  year 
ago,"  and  "that  more  than  two-fifths  of  this  number  are  good,  spiritual  workers." 
But  "the  spiritual  condition  is  at  a  low  standard."  Two  newly  licensed  ministers 
entered  the  active  work  of  the  Eldership,  enabling  the  Committee  to  supply  all  of 
the  ten  circuits. 

42nd  Michigan  Eldership. — The  reports  from  Michigan  at  this  time  were 
rather  untoward  and  depressing.  The  State  Organizer,  E.  Tatman,  wrote:  "I  am 
almost  ashamed  to  give  the  true  standing  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Michigan." 
Yet  some  things  inspired  confidence,  although  the  Eldership  itself  confirmed 
Tatman's  dispiriting  estimate.  It  declared  that  "we  behold  the  cause  of  Christ 
languishing."  However,  the  Eldership  manifested  a  determined  and  courageous 
spirit,  and  its  deliberations  evinced  sanctified  zeal  for  the  cause  and  a  determina- 
tion to  carry  on  the  work  with  unabating  energy.  It  convened  at  the  Spencer  ap- 
pointment, Montcalm  county,  September  26,  1898,  haying  listened  the  previous 
•evening  to  the  Opening  Sermon,  delivered  by  J.  S.  Eakin.     The  Speaker  elected 


Michigan    Eldership  503 

was  Wm.  Redding,  and  the  Clerk,  J.  S.  Eakin.  A  new  committee  was  named  "to 
draft  a  Constitution  and  Bj'-Laws  for  the  Michigan  Eldership,"  two  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  former  Committee  having  died.  The  Eldership  required  each  able- 
bodied  minister  "to  preach  twenty-five  sermons  a  year,  or  keep  up  two  regular  ap- 
pointments." Failure  to  do  this  would  work  forfeiture  of  license.  The  Treas- 
urer was  required  to  give  bond  in  the  sum  of  not  less  than  $100.00.  Referring 
to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Course  of  Studies,  the  Eldership  resolved  to  adopt  it,  and 
directed  each  minister  under  forty-five  years  of  age  to  take  this  Course,  and  to  pass 
a  regular  examination  each  year.  A  committee  to  examine  in  the  Course  was  at 
once  apointed  for  the  year  1895-6.  Better  qualifications  were  also  demanded  on 
the  part  of  applicants  for  license.  A  Board  of  Missions  and  a  Board  of  Church 
Extension  were  elected.  A  Constitution  and  By-Laws  for  a  Woman's  Missionary 
Society  were  prepared  and  adopted,  and  the  organization  of  local  societies  was  en- 
couraged. There  were  thirteen  fields  of  labor,  one  of  which  could  not  be  supplied 
with  a  pastor,  while  three  were  "under  the  supervision"  of  ministers  not  other- 
wise assigned.  There  was  a  General  Missionary,  and  four  others  were  "requested 
to  take  up  appointments  and  assist  other  ministers."  The  Roll  of  the  Dead  had 
two  names  of  ministers  engrossed  upon  it,  in  whose  honor  memorial  services  were 
held.  M.  D.  Rogers  had  been  licensed  first  in  1892,  but  had  developed  into  "a 
faithful  and  valuable  co-worker,"  and  was  held  in  high  esteem.  J.  H.  McNutt 
was  originally  a  member  of  the  West  Ohio  Eldership,  from  which  he  received  his 
first  license  in  1870.  He  was  an  efficient  minister,  and  the  Eldership  keenly  felt 
his  loss. 

43rd  ]VIicliigan  Eldei-ship. — Two  committees  were  at  work  during  the  year, 
and  were  ready  with  their  Reports  when  the  Eldership  convened.  One  made  a 
draft  of  a  Constitution  and  By-Laws,  which,  after  being  considered  seriatim,  was 
adopted,  with  minor  "corrections."  The  other  prepared  a  Course  of  Studies  of  a 
more  limited  character  "for  all  applicants  for  license,  as  well  as  ministers  under 
fifty  years  of  age."  The  session  was  held  at  the  Bradley  appointment,  or  Colon- 
ville,  Clare  county,  and  began  September  17,  1896.  L.  J.  Teed  presided,  and  J.  S. 
Eakin  served  as  Clerk.  Conditions  in  the  Eldership  had  improved.  One  new 
organization  was  formed,  and  the  total  accessions  were  138.  "The  outlook  is 
hopeful."  But  there  was  an  exigent  "need  of  more  earnest  and  faithful  and  honest 
laborers  in  the  vineyard  of  the  Master."  The  presence  and  addresses  of  Clara 
Landes  gave  the  body  much  inspiration.  Ministers'  names  are  sometimes  "drop- 
ped" reluctantly,  or  indignantly;  but  this  Eldership  "dropped"  a  former  General 
Missionary  "gladly  from  the  Roll  of  the  Eldership  by  a  rising  vote."  On  temper- 
ance, the  "preachers  and  members  of  the  churches  of  God"  were  "requested  to 
vote  as  they  pray."  The  ministers  pledged  themselves  "to  be  more  earnest  and 
faithful,  and  more  fully  consecrated  to  the  great  work  of  the  Master,  that  they 
may  be  more  efl5cient  in  his  service  the  coming  year."  The  funds  were  exceedingly 
limited — Contingent,  $24.66;  Misisonary,  $13.71;  Superannuated,  $3.15.  D.  L. 
Wiles  was  the  Treasurer,  who  received  from  the  Finance  Committee  for  the  three 
Funds,  $15.85.  Thirteen  fields  were  supplied  with  pastors,  and  one  was  to  be 
supplied  by  the  Standing  Committee. 

44th  Michigan  Eldership. — The  Michigan  Eldership  held  its  Ministerial  Asso- 
ciation during  the  day  preceding  the  Eldership  session.  On  the  evening  of  said 
day,  September  7,  1897,  J.  B.  AVhite  preached  the  Eldership  Opening  Sermon. 
Before  the  election  of  officers  the  Constitution  was  amended,  under  suspension  of 
the  second  section  of  Art.  ii.,  and  this  Article  was  stricken  out,  and  the  follow- 
ing substituted:  "All  ruling  elders,  and  delegates  elected  as  alternates  in  the  ab- 
sence of  the  ruling  elders,  shall  be  full  members  of  this  Eldership."  L.  J.  Teed 
was  made  Speaker,  and  J.  S.  Eakin,  Clerk.  The  ministers  and  delegates  were 
much  encouraged  by  the  presence  and  counsel  and  addresses  of  T.  Koogle,  of 
Ohio,  who  was  there  in  behalf  of  Findlay  College.  Also  by  a  communication  from 
Clara  Landes,  misisonary  in  India.  The  Eldership  condemned  the  use  of  tobacco 
under  the  inspired  requirement  of  the  Scriptures  "to  cleanse  ourselves  from  all 
filthiness  of  the  flesh,  perfecting  holiness;"  and  it  resolved  that  "the  older  mem- 
bers of  this  body  will,  in  the  near  future,  abstain  from  its  use,"  and  that  "hereafter 
we  will  refuse  to  license  any  young  minister  who  will  not  abstain  from  the  filthy 
habit."  There  was  a  balance  of  $56.46  in  the  treasury,  and  D.  L.  Wiles  was 
elected  Treasurer.  There  were  thirteen  teaching  elders  at  this  session,  and  four 
ruling  elders  and  eight  delegates.     Wm.  Redding  was  superannuated.     Two  out  of 


504 


History    of    the    Churches    of    God 


seven  applicants  for  license  were  ordained.  Appointments  were  made  to  eleven 
fields,  with  one  General  Evangelist. 

45th  3Iichigan  Eldei-ship. — Little  missionary  or  Church  Extension  work  could 
be  done  in  Michigan  for  lack  of  means.  There  were  always  men  enough  to  de- 
vote their  time  to  such  work  had  an  adequate  support  been  guaranteed.  There 
were  at  this  time  seventeen  teaching  elders  and  exhorters,  yet  there  were  only 
764  sermons  preached  during  the  year  1897-8,  and  forty-four  persons  were  fellow- 
shiped,  and  fifty-one  baptized.  One  church  was  organized.  The  missionary  spirit 
was  low,  as  the  receipts  indicate,  being  less  than  for  either  the  Contingent  or  the 
Superannuated  Fund.  The  Eldership  convened  at  the  Colonville  Bethel,  Clare 
county,  September  21,  1898.  L.  J.  Teed  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon  the 
previous  evening.  The  unusual  action  of  intercepting  and  recalling  a  transfer 
was  taken  in  the  case  of  J.  R.  Oniweg,  who  had  received  a  transfer  to  the  Indiana 
Eldership.  The  difficulty  was  adjusted.  Weak  and  indigent  as  the  Eldership 
seemed  to  be,  and  with  Findlay  College  no  farther  removed,  it  favorably  con- 
sidered "the  project  of  an  academy  within  the  bounds  of  the  Michigan  Eldership." 
The  Standing  Committee  was  "authorized  to  look  up  a  site  and  devise  ways  and 
means  for  the  starting  of  an  academy  and  procuring  a  principal  for  the  same." 
It  was  also  empowered  to  go  over  the  territory  of  the  Eldership  "for  the 
purpose  of  raising  money  for  this  purpose."  The  Constitution  was  amended  by 
changes  in  half  a  dozen  sections,  in  one  of  which  four  regular  Funds  were  estab- 
lished, to  wit:  Missionary,  General  Eldership,  Superannuated  and  Incidental. 
Each  minister  was  to  be  "instructed  by  the  Secretary  as  to  the  amount  he  Is  ex- 
pected to  raise  on  his  work  for  the  different  Funds."  Circuits  were  to  be  more 
completely  organized,  so  that  the  work  might  be  carried  on  with  more  system  and 
efficiency.  Applicants  for  license  were  to  be  more  rigidly  examined  as  to  their 
faith,  knowledge  of  Scripture,  grammar,  history,  and  general  information,  and 
they  must  come  well  recommended.  Exhorters'  licenses  were  to  be  discontinued. 
Mrs.,  Woodworth  was  invited  to  the  State  of  Michigan,  with  her  co-workers  in 
evangelistic  work,  and  was  promised  co-operation. 

46th  Miclugan  Eldership. — Neither  ministers  nor  ruling  elders  and  delegates 
were  largely  in  attendance  at  the  Michigan  Eldership.  Elements  were  wanting 
to  quite  an  extent  to  create  enthusiasm.  Distance  for  too  many  was  a  serious  ob- 
stacle. When  the  Roll  was  called  as  the  body  convened  at  Sodus  Bethel,  Ber- 
rien county,  in  the  extreme  south-western  corner  of  the  State,  eleven  ministers, 
four  ruling  elders  and  one  delegate  responded.  J.  S.  Eakin  was  chosen  President; 
L.  J.  Teed,  Clerk,  and  D.  L.  Wiles,  Treasurer.  Being  near  the  Indiana  State  line, 
J.  Bumpus,  of  the  Indiana  Eldership,  attended  the  session,  and  "his  soul-cheering 
sermons  and  noble  advice  given  as  an  advisory  member"  greatly  encouraged  the 
Eldership.  The  body  was  in  mourning  over  the  death  of  William  Redding,  whose 
"Christian  character  was  unspotted;"  a  "fearless  defender  of  the  truth,  and  a 
wise  counselor."  He  was  first  licensed  in  1871,  and  was  an  active  worker  to 
within  a  year  or  two  of  his  death.  Charges  were  made  against  the  Eldership  by 
the  church  at  Benton  Harbor,  and  an  effort  to  adjust  matters  failed.  The  Board 
of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  proposed  to  send  a  missionary  to  supply  said 
church  along  with  the  church  at  Sodus  Bethel,  but  this  was  not  acceptable  to  the 
Michigan  Eldership,  as  it  did  not  wish  to  relinquish  Sodus  Bethel.  The  issuing 
of  Life  Certificates  to  ministers  was  objectionable.  The  sentiment  of  the  Eldership 
was  against  them,  and  conditions  were  unfavorable.  A  modification  was  sought 
by  correspondence  with  the  Board  of  Publication,  but  said  Board  had  no  discretion, 
as  the  form  of  the  Certificates  had  been  prescribed  by  the  General  Eldership.  In 
addition  to  other  incisive  paragraphs  in  resolutions  against  intoxicating  liquors,  a 
provision  was  incorporated  declaring  that  "any  young  man  who  shall  make  appli- 
cation for  license  who  is  in  the  habit  of  drinking  or  using  tobacco  shall  not  be 
granted  one."  To  secure  a  larger  amount  of  funds  for  home  missions,  "C.  Bums 
was  elected  Agent  to  go  over  the  bounds  of  the  Michigan  Eldership  and  collect 
money  for  the  Home  Mission  Fund."  Ministers  were  instructed  "on  entering  on 
their  fields  of  labor  to  call  a  finance  committee  and  fix  the  amount  of  salary,  said 
amount  to  be  paid  quarterly."  Two  ordinance  meetings  were  directed  to  be  held 
annually  with  each  church.  There  were  nine  circuits  and  stations,  with  one 
General  Worker. 

47th  Michigan  Eldership. — The  territory  of  the  State  occupied  by  the  min- 
isters of  the  Michigan   Eldership   in   1900   can  not  now  be   determined   from   the 


Michigan    Eldekship  505 

records.  The  names  of  but  two  counties,  Clare  and  Gratiot,  near  the  center  of 
the  State,  are  found  in  the  Report  of  the  Stationing  Committee.  There  were 
thirteen  fields  of  labor,  one  of  which  was  divided  two  months  later.  Three  of 
them  are  called  missions,  and  five  of  the  fields  had  but  one  appointment.  These 
fields  were  represented  by  fifteen  ministers  and  four  ruling  elders  and  delegates 
when  the  Eldership  convened  in  annual  session  in  the  new  bethel  at  New  Haven 
Center,  Gratiot  county,  October  4,  1900.  J.  E.  Moffitt  was  chosen  President; 
W.  J.  McNutt,  Clerk,  and  J.  S.  Eakin,  Treasurer.  C.  C.  Linsley,  one  of  the 
pioneer  ministers  of  the  Church  in  Michigan,  "passed  away."  He  was  originally 
licensed  by  the  Indiana  Eldership,  in  1858;  but  spent  the  greater  part  of 
his  ministerial  life  in  Michigan.  He  was  a  leader  in  the  Eldership  for 
many  years,  and  was  faithful  in  his  generation.  Necessary  arrangements  were 
made  to  hold  a  camp-meeting  in  1901,  "for  the  advancement  of  the  spiritual  wel- 
fare of  the  Church  of  God."  A  State  Evangelist  was  appointed,  who  also  was 
charged  with  the  duty  of  "taking  up  collections  and  receiving  time  Notes  to  be 
credited  to  the  Home  Missionary  Fund."  There  were  no  missionary  societies, 
and  no  official  action  on  the  subject  was  taken;  but  financial  boards  were  author- 
ized in  the  churches  to  look  after  salaries,  collections,  etc.  An  appropriation  of 
$5.00  was  made  out  of  the  Mission  Fund  to  each  of  three  of  the  fields  of  labor. 
On  all  the  fields  of  labor  the  ministers  were  to  be  active  in  an  effort  to  secure 
financial  support.  They  were  to  see  that  the  Financial  Boards  were  duly  organ- 
ized, they  being  constituted  members  by  the  Eldership.  They  were  instructed  to 
call  the  Boards  together  "at  least  four  times  during  the  year." 

48th  Michigan  Eldership. — 1901  being  the  year  to  elect  delegates  to  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership,  the  Michigan  Eldership,  through  its  Standing  Committee,  elected  as- 
one  on  its  delegation  Mrs.  Sarah  J.  Cooper.  Having  received  her  transfer  from 
the  Ohio  Eldership,  she  was  appointed  General  Evangelist  of  the  State.  The  ses- 
sion of  the  Eldership  was  held  at  Seville  Center,  Gratiot  county,  beginning  Sep- 
tember 26,  1901.  While  the  total  number  of  members  was  twenty-eight,  there 
were  only  fifteen  present — eleven  ministers  and  four  delegates.  The  choice  of  the 
body  for  President  was  L.  J.  Tee<1;  Clerk,  W.  J.  McNutt;  Financial  Secretary,  J.  E. 
MoiHtt;  Treasurer,  D.  L.  Wiles.  Every  minister  under  forty  years  of  age  was. 
"required  to  take  the  Course  of  Studies  prescribed  by  the  Eldership."  And  every 
minister  and  delegate  was  taxed  "50  cents,  to  be  paid  into  the  Contingent  Fund 
before  having  a  voice  in  said  Eldership."  The  body  was  interested  in,  and  loyal 
to,  all  general  Church  interests,  requiring  each  minister  to  subscribe  for  The- 
Church  Advocate,  and  insisting  on  the  Sunday-schools  using  Church  literature. 
Appointments  were  made  to  eighteen  fields.  The  Board  of  Missions  was  com- 
posed of  Mrs.  Sarah  J.  Cooper,  S.  S.  Teed  and  Geo.  W.  Anderson. 

49th  Michigan  Eldership.- — During  the  year  1901-2  Mrs.  S.  J.  Cooper  began 
mission  work  in  Detroit,  so  that  Detroit  Mission  was  added  to  the  list  of  appoint- 
ments in  1902.  However  the  number  of  fields  of  labor  was  reduced  to  ten,  several 
of  the  charges  having  been  consolidated.  The  session  was  held  at  New  Haven 
Center,  Gratiot  county,  and  opened  September  18th,  with  twenty-two  ministers 
and  delegates  in  attendance.  The  officers  elected  were:  W.  J.  McNutt,  President; 
L.  J.  Teed,  Clerk;  Win.  Nan-agon,  Financial  Clerk;  D.  L.  Wiles,  Treasurer.  The 
action  on  temperance  placed  the  Eldership  "on  record  as  opposed  to  the  liquor 
traffic,"  and  the  members  "pledged  themselves  to  do  all  in  their  power  by  pen, 
voice  and  ballot  to  suppress  the  evil  and  wipe  the  demon  out  of  existence."  What- 
ever deficiencies  may  have  existed  in  practicing  the  amenities  of  ministerial  life, 
the  Eldership  resolved  to  "try  to  cultivate  greater  respect  for  each  other  in 
courtesy  and  brotherly  love,  and  manifest  that  oneness  in  our  evangelistic  and 
organic  work  for  the  Master  which  was  manifest  with  him  and  the  Father."  There 
was  an  earnest  desire  for  a  "perfect  labor  of  love;  the  saving  of  souls,  and  the 
keeping  of  the  fold  securely  as  under-shepherds  until  the  great  Shepherd  comes  to 
receive  his  own."  Fields  were  all  supplied  with  pastors,  and  J.  E.  Moffitt  was 
appointed  General  Missionary. 

50th  Michigan  Eldership. — No  semi-centennial  services  were  held  either  at 
the  Eldership  in  1903,  nor  by  the  pastors  and  churches,  so  far  as  the  records  have 
been  preserved.  There  were  twenty  ministers  and  four  delegates  present  at  the 
fiftieth  session,  held  at  Pine  River  Bethel,  Montcalm  county,  beginning  with  the 
Opening  Sermon  on  the  evening  of  September  2,  1903,  by  J.  B.  AVhite.  W.  J. 
McNutt  was  elected  President;  C.  L.  Dilworth,  Clerk;  William  Narragon,  Financial 
Clerk.      Funds   were    unusually   limited:       "Contingent,    $25.42;    Mission,    $3.98; 


5o6  History    of    the  Churches    of    God 

Superannuated,  $3.98."  There  were  nine  fields  of  labor,  while  John  Lown  and  L. 
Childs  were  appointed  General  Evangelists,  and  Josei>h  Palmer,  Assistant  General 
Evangelist.      Ten  ministers  were  named  "to  open  up  new  points." 

51st  Michigan  Eldersliip. — There  was  improvement  during  the  year  1903-4 
in  the  condition  of  the  churches  and  Eldership,  so  that  the  session  of  1904  "was 
well  attended,"  and  "very  encouraging  reports  were  given."  The  meeting  was 
held  at  Pine  Grove,  Montcolm  county,  where  the  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  on 
Wednesday  evening,  September  21st,  by  J.  E.  Moffitt.  The  following  officers  were 
elected:  President,  W.  J.  McNutt;  Clerk,  C.  L.  Dilworth;  Financial  Clerk,  Wm. 
JVarragon;  Treasurer,  L,  J.  Teed.  Limiting  itself  wholly  to  its  own  interests,  the 
work  of  the  Eldership  was  of  a  routine  character — reports  of  ministers,  recom- 
mendations of  committees,  and  the  stationing  of  ministers.  The  eleven  fields  of 
labor  were  provided  with  pastors,  with  L.  Childs  and  J.  D.  Tanner,  State  Evan- 
gelists; J.  Palmer,  Assistant  Evangelist;  Mrs.  S.  J.  Cooper  to  assist  in  revival 
work,  and  J.  E.  Moffitt,  Missionary  Collecting  Agent.  The  brethren  were  "urged 
strictly  to  adhere  to  the  admonition  of  Paul: — "Study  to  show  thyself  approved 
unto  God,  a  workman  that  needeth  not  to  be  ashamed,  rightly  dividing  the  word 
of  truth." 

52nd  Michigan  Eldership. — The  question  of  entertainment  at  even  so  small 
an  Eldership  as  that  of  Michigan  had  assumed  no  small  proportions  by  this  time. 
The  local  churches  were  relatively  small,  and  it  taxed  their  ability  to  entertain 
all  who  would  be  present  during  the  sessions.  In  1905  the  Clerk  of  the  Michigan 
Eldership  published  that  "ministers  and  their  wives,  and  delegates  and  their  wives 
only,  will  be  supported  by  the  Eldership."  The  ministers  and  delegates  present 
when  the  Roll  was  called  at  the  Spencer  appointment,  Crystal  township,  Mont- 
calm county,  September  6,  1905,  was  twenty-three.  The  officers  elected  were 
President,  L.  J.  Teed;  Clerk,  C.  L.  Dilworth;  Financial  Clerk,  Wm.  Narragon; 
Treasurer,  L.  J.  Teed.  Defective  records  were  not  uncommon,  and  of  this  session 
of  the  Eldership  the  Minutes  furnish  no  data  touching  transactions  of  the  body. 
Resolutions  adopted  and  Reports  of  Committees  the  Clerk  failed  to  record.  The 
names  of  the  members  of  the  Standing  Committee  are  M.  S.  Hemminger,  J.  D. 
Tanner,  C.  Haas,  Wm.  Shaw.  The  Board  of  Missions  consisted  of  J.  L.  Teed,  T.  S. 
Lunbeck,  Wm.  Narragon.  The  laity  was  pretty  well  represented  on  the  Standing 
Committee  and  the  Board  of  Missions,  as  of  the  seven  members  three  were  dele- 
gates. There  were  seven  fields  of  labor,  all  of  which  were  supplied.  There  were 
two  "General  Evangelists,"  and  nine  "General  Workers." 

53rd  >Iichigan  Eldersliip. — On  Wednesday  evening,  September  26,  1906,  L.  J. 
Teed  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon  of  the  fifty-third  annual  session  of  the  Michi- 
gan Eldership.  The  "total  number  of  members  was  twenty-six."  Ten  ministers 
and  six  delegates  attended  this  session.  The  choice  for  President  was  L.  J.  Teed; 
Clerk,  C.  Dilworth;  Financial  Clerk,  Wm.  Narragon;  Treasurer,  L.  J.  Teed.  All 
but  one  of  the  seven  fields  of  labor  were  supplied  by  the  Stationing  Committee. 
J.  E.  Palmer  was  appointed  Evangelist,  and  the  Eldership  elected  L.  J.  Teetl,  Gen- 
eral Evangelist,  while  thirteen  ministers  were  named  as  "General  Workers."  The 
session  was  held  at  Delo  Corners,  Isabella  county. 

54th  Michigan  Eldersliip. — On  Wednesday  preceding  the  session  of  the  Eld- 
ership in  1907  the  Ministerial  Association  held  its  annual  meeting.  In  the  even- 
ing the  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by  L.  J.  Teed.  The  session  was  held  at 
New  Haven  Center,  Gratiot  county,  and  began  September  19th.  While  the  at- 
tendance of  ministers  and  delegates  was  small — eight  ministers  and  three  dele- 
gates— "a  large  crowd  was  in  attendance  at  each  meeting,"  and  "the  ordinance 
meeting  on  Sunday  evening  was  especially  very  impressive."  "The  spirit  of  peace 
and  harmony  prevailed"  throughout  the  sittings.  Officers  were  elected  as  follows: 
President,  L.  J.  Teed;  Clerk,  S.  S.  Teed;  Financial  Clerk,  Wm.  Narragon;  Treas- 
urer, L.  J.  Teed.  One  of  the  ministers  died  during  the  year — S.  L.  McNutt — a 
man  of  excellent  character  and  abilities  for  usefulness.  To  comply  with  the  re- 
quirements of  the  Constitution  of  the  General  Eldership,  it  was  made  the  duty  of 
"every  minister  of  the  Michigan  Eldership  residing  in  any  other  State  to  take  a 
transfer."  Each  pastor  was  required  "to  preach  one  sermon  to  each  congregation 
on  the  blessing  of  giving  to  the  support  of  the  gospel."  The  teaching  elders,  after 
this  session  of  the  Eldership,  were  "not  to  be  elected  to  the  office  of  ruling  elder." 
The  church  building  at  Salem,  Mich.,  was  ordered  to  be  sold.  For  mission  work 
In  towns  the  Eldership  authorized  "the  purchase  of  a  tent,"  and  appointed  "Sister 
S.  J.  Cooper  a  committee  to  purchase  the  tent,  and  placed  the  funds  in  her  hands" 


Michigan    Eldership  507 

for  that  purpose.  She  was  one  of  the  ministers  present  at  this  session.  Some 
"missionary  funds  were  raised  by  collections,"  and  a  Board  of  Missions  was 
elected,  consisting  of  L.  J.  Teed,  S.  J.  Cooper  and  Jas.  Terwilliger.  The  seven 
fields  of  labor  were  supplied  with  pastors,  and  S.  J.  Cooper  was  appointed  Evan- 
gelist. "New  energy  filled  the  brethren"  of  the  Eldership,  and  "a  more  pros- 
perous year  than  any  one  in  the  past"  was  predicted. 

55th  IVIichigan  Eldership. — On  April  30,  1908,  "our  venerable  brother.  Elder 
J.  Ji.  "White,  was  called  from  labor  to  reward,"  is  the  record  of  the  close  of  a 
"Christian  life  which  was  beautiful  from  its  beginning  to  its  close."  White  was 
a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  born  in  Perry  county,  August  5,  1820.  When  a  young 
man  he  removed  to  Ohio,  and  thence,  in  185  0,  to  Michigan.  He  was  first  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  but  later  united  with  the  Church  of  God.  In  the 
Fall  of  1853  he  received  his  first  license  to  preach,  from  the  Ohio  Eldership.  He 
became  a  prominent  member  of  the  Michigan  Eldership,  and  was  frequently 
elected  to  official  positions.  "He  was  a  man  of  wonderful  energy,  and  possessed 
those  sterling  attributes  of  character  which  won  for  him  the  universal  esteem  of 
all  within  the  circle  of  his  wide  acquaintance."  The  Eldership  which  convened  in 
the  Spencer  Bethel,  Montcalm  county,  September  10,  1908,  lamented  the  loss  of 
this  estimable  member  of  the  body.  At  this  session  nine  ministers  and  three  dele- 
gates were  present.  Elections  resulted  in  the  choice  for  President  of  J.  D.  Tan- 
ner; Clerk,  S.  S.  Teed;  Financial  Clerk,  Wm.  Narragon;  Treasurer,  L.  J.  Teed. 
The  Eldership  provided  for  a  Board  of  Education,  before  which  all  applicants  for 
license  were  required  to  appear  and  pass  a  satisfactory  examination.  S.  S.  Teed, 
M.  S.  Heniminger  and  W.  J.  McNutt  were  elected  on  this  Board.  Young  men  who 
proposed  to  enter  the  ministry  were  recommended  to  take  a  course  at  Findlay 
College.  Efforts  were  being  made  to  raise  more  missionary  money;  but  as  there 
were  no  missionary  societies,  collections  were  lifted  for  this  Fund,  and  Mrs.  S.  J. 
Cooper,  C.  Haas  and  L.  J.  Teed  were  elected  on  the  Board  of  Missions.  M.  S. 
Heniniinger  was  made  the  General  Missionary;  J.  E.  Moffitt,  General  Evangelist, 
and  five  of  the  six  fields  of  labor  were  supplied  with  pastors. 

56th  Michigan  Eldership. — Forgetting,  like  Dr.  Bangs  once  in  his  ministry, 
that  "your  duty  is  to  pick,  whether  the  rock  yields  or  not,"  in  1909  "a  number  of 
the  brethren  of  the  Michigan  Eldership  seemed  to  feel  somewhat  discouraged." 
The  session  was  called  to  be  held  at  Pine  Grove,  Ferris  township,  Montcalm 
county,  beginning  September  30th.  and  the  attendance  was  small,  and  no  Opening 
Sermon  was  preached;  but  those  "present  manifested  a  good  deal  of  enthusiasm, 
and  some,  looking  on  the  bright  side,  were  ready  to  promise  us  light  ahead." 
Thirteen  ministers  and  delegates  were  in  attendance.  These  officers  were  chosen: 
President,  J.  D.  Tanner;  S.  S.  Teed,  Clerk;  Wm.  NaiTagon,  Financial  Clerk;  L.  J. 
Teed,  Treasurer.  Two  brethren  received  licenses,  and  "were  ready  to  work,"  and 
there  were  other  rifts  in  the  clouds,  so  that  "as  the  Eldership  neared  the  close  the 
brethren  were  encouraged."  Ministers  were  strongly  solicited  "to  attena  the 
Ministerial  Association,  that  we  may  discuss  doctrinal  points,  and  become  a  unit 
on  the  same." 

57th  Michigan  Eldership.— The  number  of  ministers  ordained  by  the  Mich- 
igan Eldership  from  its  organization  in  1850  to  the  close  of  the  session  in  1910 
was  ninety-six.  Of  this  number  twenty-three  were  enrolled  when  the  Eldership 
was  constituted  at  Colonville,  Clare  county,  October  12,  1910.  Nine  ministers  and 
six  delegates  were  in  attendance.  J.  D.  Tanner  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  on 
the  evening  of  October  11th.  He  was  elected  President;  S.  S.  Teed,  Clerk;  Wm. 
NaiTagon,  Financial  Clerk;  L.  J.  Teed,  Treasurer.  By  a  Rule  of  the  Eldership 
the  Standing  Committee  consisted  of  three  ministers  and  two  ruling  elders.  There 
was  considerable  interest  awakened  in  foreign  mission  work  through  a  "communi- 
cation received  from  Mrs.  Clara  Ritchie,"  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship, and  collections  were  lifted  on  the  fioor  of  the  Eldership  and  at  the  evening 
services.  Four  young  men  appeared  before  the  Board  of  Education  and  were 
favorably  reported  to  the  Committee  on  License,  which  "recommended  them  for 
an  annual  permit  to  preach."  "Greater  diligence  was  observed  in  the  work  of 
the  ministry"  by  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion,  and  it  urged  "that  every 
minister  of  the  Eldership  put  forth  a  greater  effort  in  the  future  than  ever  before 
to  advance  the  cause  of  Christ  and  his  church,  and  to  enlarge  the  borders  of 
Zion."  The  Eldership  "demanded  a  per  capita  of  $1.00"  from  every  minister 
when  the  reports  were  considered.  There  were  four  Eldership  Funds,  with  bal- 
ances October  13,  1910,  as  follows:      Contingent,  $33.50;   Tent,  $25.25;   Mission- 


5o8  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

ary,  $19.09;  Superannuated,  $3.98.  A  three-year  Course  of  Stucfies  was  adopted, 
in  which  the  young  ministers  were  "required  to  pass  a  satisfactory  examination." 
It  was  noted  with  special  gratitude  that  "during  the  Eldership  session  glorious 
meetings  were  enjoyed;  that  there  were  two  souls  gloriously  saved,  one  an  aged 
man  who  had  not  been  to  meeting  but  three  or  four  times  in  fifteen  years,  though 
he  lived  only  one  mile  from  the  bethel." 

58th  Michigan  Eldership. — "One  of  the  best  Elderships  for  a  number  of 
years"  was  held  at  New  Haven  Center,  Gratiot  county,  beginning  October  4,  1911. 
The  Opening  Sermon  could  not  be  preached  the  previous  evening  because  of  in- 
clement weather.  The  President,  D.  L.  Wiles,  was  elected  by  "acclamation;" 
Clerk,  S.  S.  Teed;  Wm.  Narragon,  Financial  Clerk;  L.  J.  Teed,  Treasurer.  Further 
efforts  were  made  to  secure  funds  with  which  to  purchase  a  tent,  "to  be  the  prop- 
erty of  the  Michigan  Eldership."  Subscriptions  were  taken  on  the  floor,  and 
"every  minister  in  charge  of  a  circuit  or  station  shall  do  all  he  can  in  collecting 
money  for  a  Tent  Fund,"  and  "every  local  minister  was  to  consider  himself  a 
committee  of  one  to  collect  all  that  he  can  for  the  Tent  Fund."  The  total  secured 
before  final  adjournment  was  $115.17.  Religious  conditions  in  the  churches 
were  considered  "in  a  fairly  prosperous  state,"  with  "a  number  fellowshiped  dur- 
ing the  year,  and  one  new  work  opened."  "The  spirit  of  co-operation  prevailed, 
and  the  brethren  are  working  in  union."  An  evening  was  devoted  to  the  discus- 
sion of  the  topic — "How  can  a  minister  hurt  his  influence  in  and  out  of  the  pul- 
pit?" On  temperance  the  Eldership  declared  that  it  "deems  it  wise  that  the  min- 
isters should  by  every  possible  means,  by  pen,  voice  and  ballot,  do  all  they  can  to 
create  a  sentiment  that  will  destroy  the  liquor  traffic."  Each  member  of  the 
Eldership  was  admonished  to  "do  all  in  his  power  to  maintain  peace  and  harmony 
among  the  brotherhood."  The  Stationing  Committee  reported  five  fields  of  labor, 
all  supplied  with  pastors,  with  J.  E.  MoflBtt  General  Missionary,  and  M.  S.  Hem- 
minger,  General  Evangelist. 

59th  Michigan  Eldership. — The  religious  services  of  the  fifty-ninth  annual 
session  of  the  Michigan  Eldership  were  most  "inspiring  and  soul-cheering,"  begin- 
ning with  "a  real  old-fashioned  love  feast  on  Sunday  morning."  The  Opening 
Sermon  on  Tuesday  evening,  September  24,  1912,  was  preached  at  Pine  Grove, 
Montcalm  county,  by  J.  D.  Tanner.  The  session  continued  from  Wednesday  morn- 
ing until  Saturday  evening,  and  was  throughout  characterized  by  "Christian  fel- 
lowship and  kind  brotherly  spirit."  Religious  services  were  held  during  Sabbath 
following  adjournment,  closing  with  the  ordinances  in  the  evening.  Of  the  twenty 
names  on  the  Ministerial  Register  eleven  were  enrolled,  with  three  lay  delegates, 
as  constituting  this  Eldership.  The  President  was  M.  S.  Hemniinger;  Clerk,  S. 
S.  Teed;  Financial  Secretary,  W.  Narragon;  Treasurer,  L.  J.  Teed.  The  Standing 
Committee,  three  ministers  and  two  laymen,  was  composed  of  W.  J.  McNutt,  J.  D. 
Tanner,  D.  L.  AViles,  Wm.  Shaw,  Roy  Miller.  The  Board  of  Missions  consisted  of 
three  ministers — Witze  Buch,  M.  R.  Honderick,  G.  W.  Andrews.  The  members  of 
the  Stationing  Committee  were  L.  J.  Teed,  J.  D.  Tanner,  A.  C.  Hanes  (ministers)  ; 
Wm.  ShaAV,  Sarah  Hnniphi-y  (lay  delegates).  The  financial  support  reported  by 
five  pastors  ranged  from  $32.50  to  $342.61.  The  number  of  conversions  and 
accessions  to  the  churches  did  not  reach  fifty.  Final  provision  was  made  to  pur- 
chase a  tent  for  Eldership  use,  the  Committee  being  "empowered  to  draw  from 
the  General  Fund  of  the  Eldership  and  pay  the  difference  between  the  amount  of 
Tent  Fund  available  and  the  cost  of  the  tent."  The  Eldership  "placed  itself  on 
record  as  opposed  to  the  liquor  traffic  and  the  present  license  system,"  and  that  it 
"will  do  all  in  our  power  to  wipe  the  evil  from  our  land."  The  small  attendance 
at  the  annual  sessions  was  a  matter  of  anxious  concern,  and  the  body  expressed 
itself  as  "believing  that  the  time  has  come  when  there  must  be  a  rallying  to  the 
standard  of  the  Bible  and  the  building  up  and  strengthening  of  the  Michigan  Eld- 
ership." It  therefore  resolved  "that  we  as  ministers  and  delegates  will  each 
pledge  ourselves  before  God  and  man  that  we  will  put  forth  every  effort  possible 
to  be  in  attendance  at  our  regular  annual  gatherings,  and  do  all  in  our  power  to 
prosper  the  work  and  help  to  make  the  Eldership  a  success."  "A  spirit  of  peace 
and  harmony"  existed,  "and  a  spirit  of  co-operation"  prevailed.  Five  appoint- 
ments to  fields  of  labor  were  made,  and  the  other  ministers  as  General  Evangelists 
were  instructed  "to  work  up  new  appointments  wherever  they  can." 


Illinois    Eldership  509 

VII.     THE     ILLINOIS     ELDERSHIP. 


1st  Illinois  Eldership. — Illinois  was  pre-eminently  a  field  for  mission  work  by 
the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  In  1847,  when  Harn  visited  the  northern  part 
of  the  State,  including  Jo  Daviess,  Stephenson,  Carroll,  Ogle  and  LaSalle  counties, 
he  found  a  number  of  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  families  of  the  Church  of  God. 
He  suggested  the  establishment  of  "the  Carroll  and  Ogle  Mission,"  and  the  "ap- 
pointment of  a  young  man."  He  thought  that  if  "due  attention  be  paid  to  this 
region,  quite  a  prospect  lies  before  us  here."  He  specially  mentions  "a  great 
number  of  emigrants  from  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania,  who  were  formerly  at- 
tendants on  the  services  of  churches  of  God."  In  Ogle  county  he  found  a  "Mary- 
land colony."  In  LaSalle  county  he  found  John  A.  Shuler,  an  emigrant  from  Mid- 
dletown,  Pa.,  with  "about  a  dozen  brethren  and  sisters  in  and  around  Ottawa, 
formerly  of  Pennsylvania."  Fulton  county,  fourth  county  south-west  of  La- 
Salle, also  had  a  settlement  of  families  from  Lancaster  county.  Pa.  These  facts 
Induced  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  to  take  a  special  interest  in  mission  work 
In  Illinois.  A  strong  effort  was  made  to  secure  the  services  of  Ham,  a  Marylander 
by  birth  and  a  Pennsylvanian  by  adoption,  as  missionary  in  the  north-western 
<;ounties  of  Illinois  in  1847.  But  there  was  no  assurance  of  sufficient  support. 
Besides,  Ham  was  of  too  restless  and  aspiring  a  character  to  settle  down  to  hard, 
self-sacrificing  mission  work.  At  the  second  General  Eldership,  held  in  1848, 
action  was  taken  "recommending  to  the  Indiana  Eldership  to  prescribe  its  own 
boundaries,  including  the  various  missions  in  Illinois."  And  while  several  min- 
isters of  the  Indiana  Eldership  traveled  over  different  counties  in  the  eastern  sec- 
tion of  the  State,  the  distance  to  the  northern  counties  would  prove  an  insur- 
mountable obstacle  to  co-operation.  Accordingly  when  organized  and  systematic 
mission  work  in  Illinois  was  inaugurated  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  the 
•General  Eldership  in  1851  authorized  "the  churches  and  brotherhood  in  Illinois 
to  erect  themselves  into  a  new  and  separate  Eldership  to  be  called  the  Illinois 
Eldership."  The  same  year  Klein,  Wertz  and  Sandoe  were  sent  as  missionaries 
to  Illinois  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  "and  began  the  labors  assigned 
them."  The  work  was  successful,  so  that  by  the  Summer  of  1852  they  seriously 
"contemplated  the  formation  of  an  Eldership."  On  November  5,  1851,  G.  Sandoe 
asked  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  for  his  "transfer  to  the  Illinois  Eldership, 
which  I  suppose  will  be  organized  next  Fall."  In  December  of  the  same  year  he 
wrote  that  "the  brethren  in  the  north  are  doing  great  things.  They  have  an  Eld- 
ership started."  This  refers  to  what  J.  M.  Klein,  missionary,  located  at  Homer, 
LaSalle  county.  111.,  called,  "Journal  of  a  General  Council  in  Illinois."  The  record 
shows  that  this  "Council"  was  composed  of  "the  preachers  and  elders  of  the 
churches  of  God  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  met  at  the  town  of  Homer,  LaSalle  county, 
on  the  1st  day  of  December,  1851,  to  transact  the  following  business,"  that  is: 
"Taking  into  consideration  the  great  importance  of  extending  our  labors  in  the 
ministry  as  far  as  possible."  Sandoe  was  requested  to  "extend  his  labors  north- 
ward toward  the  Troy  Grove  [Homer]  Mission,  and  Klein  working  southward,  and 
to  the  north  and  west,  so  as  to  connect  the  three  missions  of  the  State."  Other 
ministers  were  invited  to  come  to  Illinois.  This  Council  also  adopted  resolutions 
in  favor  of  Sabbath-schools,  of  "getting  a  new  Printing  Press  and  Book  Concern, 
the  liberal  education  of  the  children  of  Church  families,  of  schools,  academies  and 
seminaries  and  colleges.  It  also  resolved  to  "make  an  effort  to  establish  an  Eld- 
ership Fund,  on  the  scriptural  plan,  as  soon  as  practicable,  to  be  under  the  di- 
rection and  at  the  disposal  of  the  Illinois  Eldership."  The  final  resolution  de- 
clared, "That  we  meet  some  time  next  Autumn  for  the  purpose  of  forming  our- 
selves into  an  Eldership,  as  directed  by  the  General  Eldership,  the  time  and  place 
to  be  appointed  hereafter."  But  the  matter  was  deferred  a  year  longer,  the  place 
had  yet  to  be  prepared,  in  the  divine  providence.  Sandoe  on  November  15,  1852, 
says  of  this  delay:  "Our  intended  Eldership  proved  a  failure.  This  seems  some- 
what discouraging  and  perplexing  to  my  mind.  Perhaps  however,  it  will  work 
for  the  better."  "January  3,  1852,  a  protracted  meeting  was  commenced  in  Joseph 
Rife's  brick  residence,  near  Boiling  Springs,"  Macon  county,  conducted  by  Thomas 
Hickernell,  of  Ohio,  and  George  Sandoe,  of  Pennsylvania,  missionary.  Rife  was 
a  native  of  Dauphin  county.  Pa.  He  died  in  1886,  Mi-s.  Rife  having  died  in  1884. 
A  church  of  God  was  organized  in  Rife's  house,  of  nineteen  members    of  which 


5IO 


History    of    the;    Churches    of    God 


Joseph  Rife,   Sr.,   and  Jacob  Schroll  were  the  elders;    and  Joseph  Rife,  Jr.,   and 

David  Houser,    deacons.      It   was   in   Rife's  house,   August   23,    1853,   where   "the 

elders  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Illinois  met to  organize  themselves  into  an. 

Eldership."  William  Adams,  of  Ohio,  conducted  religious  services,  after  which 
the  members  who  wished  to  be  identified  with  this  body  gave  to  each  other  the 
right  hand  of  fellowship."      The  following  constituted  this  first  Eldership: 

"Central  Mission — J.  M.  Klein,  teaching  elder;  J.  Myers,  ruling  elder. 

Rock  River  Mission — D.  Wertz,  teaching  elder. 

Southern  Mission — G.  Sandoe,  H.  Rupp  and  Isaac  E,  Boyer,  teaching  elders; 
J.  Bear,  J.  Schroll  and  G.  Schroll,  ruling  elders. 

Adams  and  Hickernell  did  not  join  the  Eldership.  Rev.  Robert  Henson  and 
Rev.  S.  Dispain,  of  the  Baptist  Church,  were  also  present,  and  "were  invited  to 
take  part  with  us  in  our  deliberations."  J.  M.  Klein  was  chosen  Speaker,  and 
George  Sandoe,  Clerk. 

Jacob  M.  Klein  was  a  native  of  Berks  county.  Pa.,  of  German  descent.  He 
was  born  in  1818.  When  he  reached  his  majority  he  removed  to  Juniata  county. 
His  conversion  occurred  when  he  was  fifteen  years  old,  and  within  a  year  he  began 


House  in   Which   First  Illinois   Eldei'ship   Met. 

to  preach  the  gospel.  Prom  Juniata  he  went  to  Bedford  county,  whence  he  came 
to  the  session  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  held  at  Fayetteville,  Franklin 
county.  Pa.,  November  7,  1842,  and  made  application  for,  and  was  granted,  license 
to  preach.  He  was  appointed  to  Indiana  county,  and  reappointed  in  1843.  When 
the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  was  formed,  Indiana  county  became  part  of  its 
territory,  and  Klein  became  a  member  of  that  body,  and  in  1844  was  reappointed 
to  Indiana  county,  and  in  184.5  to  Indiana  and  Cambria  counties.  In  1846  he  was 
assigned  to  the  Harmony,  Venango  county  and  Columbiana  county,  Ohio,  circuit. 
He  preached  on  parts  of  this  territory  until  1850,  when  he  was  appointed  to  the 
New  York  State  Mission.  In  1850  he  was  Speaker  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eld- 
ership. In  1851  he  was  back  in  Venango  county.  Pa.,  whence,  after  his  appoint- 
ment as  missionary  to  the  Central  Illinois  Mission,  he  started  for  his  new  field  of 
missionary  labors.  This  was  on  April  26,  1851.  Klein  was  active  in  calling  the 
meeting  on  December  1,  1851,  at  Homer,  LaSalle  county.  111.,  to  take  preliminary 
steps  to  organize  an  Eldership,  the  date  for  which  was  fixed  in  the  Autumn  of 
1852.  But  for  some  unknown  reason  this  meeting  was  not  called.  But  on  Aug- 
ust 23,  1853,  the  first  Eldership  was  organized  of  which  Klein  was  made  Speaker. 
He  had  been  Speaker  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in   1850.      In   1855  he 


Illinois    Eldej^ship  511 

was  again  chosen  Speaker  of  the  Illinois  Eldership.  He  represented  the  Illinois 
Eldership  at  the  General  Eldership  in  1854.  In  1866  he  emigrated  to  Iowa,  where 
he  did  effective  work,  until  1886,  when  he  removed  to  Kansas,  and  thence  to  the 
State  of  Missouri,  where  he  died  April  21,  1891.  His  body  was  interred  in  the 
cemetery  at  Alice,  Grundy  county,  Iowa,  where  years  before  he  had  organized  the 
first  church  of  God.  He  was  a  man  of  fine  natural  ability,  and  was  useful  in  soul- 
winning  to  the  close  of  his  life. 

The  missionary  character  of  this  Eldership  is  evidenced  by  its  first  resolution, 
to  "raise  a  missionary  fund,  in  the  following  manner:  The  elder  or  deacon  of 
every  church  to  take  out  a  subscription  paper,  soliciting  subscribers  for  the  term 
of  five  years,  paying  six  per  cent,  interest  each  year  for  the  sum  annexed  to  their 
names.  At  the  expiration  of  said  term  the  principal  to  be  null."  This  money 
was  to  be  applied  solely  to  the  cause  of  missions.  It  also  declared  that  it  "nas  no 
fellowship  with,  nor  charity  for,  slavery  nor  slave  laws,  and  will  use  its  influence 
against  all  such  laws.  It  approved  of  "the  effort  to  bring  the  Printing  Establish- 
ment west  of  the  mountains,"  and  promised  to  "use  all  laudable  and  honorable 
means"  to  this  end.  H.  Sweitzer  was  licensed.  Klein,  Wertz,  Boyer  and  Sandoe 
agreed  to  travel.  And  as  D.  Kyle,  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  expressed  "a 
wish  to  come  to  this  State,"  he  was  appointed  on  the  Decatur  circuit;  I.  E.  Beyer 
on  the  Martinsville  circuit;  D.  Wertz  on  the  Central  Illinois  Mission;  J.  M. 
Klein  to  Mount  Carroll  cir.cuit,  and  George  Sandoe  on  a  new  mission,  called  Win- 
chester Mission.  J,  M.  Klein  was  appointed  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership  in- 
1854. 

2nd  Illinois  Eldership. — The  second  Illinois  Eldership  met  in  the  heart  of  the 
Central  Mission,  over  one  hundred  miles  north  of  the  point  where  the  first  one  was 
held.  It  convened  at  Homer,  LaSalle  county,  September  9,  1854.  Five  ministers- 
were  present,  and  three  absent.  The  officers  elected  were  George  Sandoe,  Speaker; 
David  S.  Byers,  Clerk,  and  Jacob  Bear,  Treasurer.  The  Eldership  recommended 
"payment  of  a  claim  in  favor  of  Winebrenner  and  Ham,  as  urged  by  the  General 
Eldership.  It  placed  itself  on  record  in  favor  of  "prohibiting  the  vending,  im- 
portation and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquor  as  a  beverage."  The  project  of  a  new 
Printing  Press  and  the  getting  up  of  a  Hymn-Book  was  heartily  endorsed.  It 
was  almost  a  Pennsylvania  Eldership  as  to  ministers  and  members,  and  it  did  not. 
fail  to  express  its  appreciation  to  said  Eldership  for  what  it  did  to  spread  the 
gospel  in  Illinois.  It  fully  coincided  with  the  General  Eldership  in  its  condemna- 
tion of  slavery  and  "the  Douglass  Nebraska  Bill."  Perhaps  its  plan  to  raise  mis- 
sionary funds  proved  abortive,  for  it  directed  the  "taking  of  collections  on  each 
charge"  for  this  purpose.  It  appropriated  its  first  missionary  money,  $75.00,  to 
Sandoe  on  the  Winchester  Mission,  and  $50.00  to  D.  S.  Byers,  licensed  by  the 
Standing  Committee,  on  Rock  Island  Mission.  In  addition  to  approving  the  li- 
cense of  Byers,  the  Eldership  received  and  licensed  "Bro.  Lough,  formerly  a  min- 
ister among  the  Free-Will  Baptists." 

3rd  Illinois  Eldership. — By  resolution,  the  Eldership  which  met  at  West 
Bureau,  Bureau  county.  III.,  Monday,  September  17,  1855,  changed  the  name  of 
the  church  to  that  of  "the  church  of  God  at  Enon."  There  were  present  five 
teaching  elders,  and  six  ruling  elders;  four  ministers  being  absent.  Jacob  M. 
Klein  was,  on  motion,  elected  Speaker,  and  George  Sandoe,  Clerk.  The  lifting  of 
missionary  collections  was  "almost  a  total  failure."  Because  of  the  "difficulty  of 
getting  suitable  houses  as  dwellings  for  their  preachers,"  the  Eldership  "recom- 
mended to  all  the  churches  of  God  in  Illinois  to  buy  or  build,  on  each  circuit  and 
station,  a  suitable  house  as  a  parsonage."  The  need  of  more  ministers  was 
emphasized,  as  for  lack  of  men  "during  the  past  year  we  were  rather  limited  in 
our  operations."  And  still  there  were  "calls  from  every  direction  to  'come  over 
and  help  us.'  "  In  some  sections  German  preaching  was  appreciated.  Missionary 
funds  only  amounted  to  $74.70,  with  an  "increase  of  only  $3.00  on  last  year's  sub- 
scription." The  Eldership  resolved  itself  into  "a  committee  of  the  whole  as  a 
Licensing  Committee,"  and  granted  licenses  to  Jereniiah  F.  Schoch  and  Jacob' 
Bear.  Touching  "a  body  of  Christians  in  the  southern  part  of  this  State,  known 
by  the  name  of  'Separate  Baptists,'  holding  religious  sentiments  similar  to  our 
own,"  the  Eldership  professed  "the  most  friendly  feelings,"  and  proposed  "co- 
operation with  them."  Sandoe  was  named  as  delegate  for  this  end  to  their  annual 
Association.  Four  circuits  were  formed,  with  four  pastors  and  four  assistants. 
Two  missions  are  named,  with  no  appointees.  The  title  of  the  Eldership  is,  "The 
Eldership  of  the  Churches  of  God  in  Illinois." 


512  History    of    the    Churchrs    of    God 

4th  Illinois  Eldersliip.— The  affinity  between  the  liberal  Baptist  element  in 
the  west  and  the  Church  of  God  is  well  exemplified  in  the  proceedings  of  the  ses- 
sions of  the  Illinois  Eldership  held  at  Rife's,  four  miles  north  of  Decatur,  Macon 
•county,  Illinois,  beginning  September  4,  1856.  After  the  organization  was  effected 
by  the  election  of  J.  Bear,  Speaker,  and  George  Sandoe,  Clerk,  a  delegate  was  re- 
•ceived  from  the  Separate  Baptist  Association,  who  addressed  the  Eldership,  and 
submitted  "a  letter  of  correspondence  from  the  Association"  sending  "Christian 
love  and  salutation."  Two  delegates  were  appointed,  but  one  "was  not  able  to  get 
here."  Several  "brethren  spoke  their  sentiments  on  the  subject  of  a  scriptural 
union  of  the  two  bodies."  And  "a  union  is  anticipated  at  no  distant  day."  "A.  J. 
Penton  and  J.  Bear  were  appointed  to  attend  the  next  Association."  "Hensen, 
formerly  a  minister  of  the  Separate  Baptist  Association,"  became  a  member  of  the 
Eldership.  Prohibition  was  strongly  endorsed;  the  establishment  of  Sabbath- 
schools  was  made  a  special  duty  of  ministers  "wherever  there  is  opportunity  to  do 
so;"  the  securing  of  parsonages  is  called  to  the  attention  of  churches;  the  need  of 
•education,  especially  by  the  ministry  is  recognized,  and  "politicians"  are  charged 
with  "having  commenced  a  warfare  upon  Christianity"  in  their  efforts  "to  extend 
Slavery  over  the  Territory  of  Kansas."  And  while  it  is  "not  the  duty  of  'ministers 
■of  Christ  to  dabble  in  politics,'  it  certainly  is  their  duty  to  defend  Christianity  from 
the  incendiary  acts  of  all  aggressors,  whether  political,  judicial  or  clerical."  As 
a  Committee  of  the  Whole,  the  Eldership  fixed  the  boundaries  of  the  circuits  and 
missions,  eight  in  all,  and  appointed  the  ministers.  Fenton.  and  R.  AVhit«  were 
two  accessions  to  the  ministerial  ranks,  both  from  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. 

5th  Illinois  Eldership. — The  Illinois  Eldership  in  1857  was  constituted  of 
seven  ministers,  three  ruling  elders  and  three  delegates.  It  met  at  Dover,  Bureau 
county,  in  the  northern  part  of  the  State,  on  October  19th.  Nine  teaching  elders 
were  absent,  partly  occasioned  by  the  organization  of  the  Southern  Illinois  and  In- 
diana Eldership,  which  the  Illinois  Eldership  disapproved,  "believing  it  to  be  detri- 
mental to  the  cause"  within  its  bounds.  J.  M.  Klein  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  E. 
Bear,  Clerk.  J.  A.  Shuler  was  elected  Treasurer  of  the  Eldership,  instead  of 
simply  the  Treasurer  of  the  Board  of  Missions.  The  Eldership  formed  itself  into 
a  Missionary  Society,  and  appointed  a  committee  to  draft  a  Constitution.  The 
■difficulty  with  the  Iowa  Eldership  was  considered  by  a  committee,  which  reported 
that,  "after  due  consideration  and  lengthy  discussion,  we  consider  this  Eldership 
justifiable  in  the  reception  of  Bro.  Fenton,  believing  that  he  was  not  a  member  of 
the  Iowa  Eldership."  Fenton  had  not  handed  in  his  transfer  to  the  Iowa  Elder- 
ship. Accordingly  the  Illinois  Eldership  declared  that  it  "has  been  misrepre- 
sented to  the  public,  and  has  been  abused  as  a  violater  of  the  plaii  of  co-opera- 
tion." The  "delegates  to  this  Eldership  through  whom  the  Iowa  Eldership 
■evinced  their  intention  to  vindicate  their  course  failed  to  meet  us,  and  we  consider 
■ourselves  misrepresented  in  the  Journal  of  the  Iowa  Eldership,  and  by  public 
letters  published  in  The  Advocate."  The  Eldership  seemed  vexed  over  the  con- 
duct of  "some  of  our  brethren  who  leave  the  fields  of  labor  assigned  them  by  the 
Eldership,"  and  sharply  disapproved,  and  expressed  the  "hope  that  in  the  future 
we  may  not  be  troubled  with  such  conduct."  While  denouncing  Slavery  in  gen- 
eral as  "derogatory  to  the  best  interests  of  our  country,  to  the  great  cause  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  in  violation  of  human  rights,"  also  "disapprove  of  the  course  of  the 
missionaries  and  churches  in  the  State  of  Texas  in  receiving  into  the  Church  those 
who  hold  in  bondage  their  fellow  men,"  and  so  "disclaim  all  fellowship  with  pro- 
slavery  churches."  The  charges  were  reduced  to  two  circuits  and  two  missions, 
leaving  out  the  whole  southern  half  to  two-thirds  of  the  State. 

6th  Illinois  Eldership. — Apparently  emphasizing  the  abandonment  of  the 
territory  south  of  Bureau  and  LaSalle  counties,  the  Illinois  Eldership  in  1858  met 
in  the  north-west  corner  of  the  State,  at  Pleasant  Valley,  Jo  Daviess  county,  No- 
vember 8th.  Twelve  members  answered  Roll  call  when  the  Eldership  was  organ- 
ized, six  teaching  elders,  four  ruling  elders  and  two  delegates.  There  were  twelve 
teaching  elders  absent.  J.  Bear  was  elected  Speaker,  and  J.  H.  Hurley,  Clerk.  A 
committee,  appointed  for  that  purpose,  "examined  the  contents  of  a  certain  pam- 
phlet, published  by  a  member  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  entitled,  'Letter 
■on  Slavery,'  "  reported,  that  "we  do  sincerely  regret  its  appearance  among  us,  in- 
asmuch as  it  inculcates  principles  repugnant  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  God 
and  the  best  interests  of  Zion,  at  variance  with  the  Bible  and  antagonistic  to  every 
attribute  of  the  Deity,  and  is  calculated  to  sow  the  seeds  of  discord  among  us." 
When   thus    characterizing   Winehrenner's   letters   published    by   him   in   pamphlet 


Illinois    Eldership  513 

form,  after  Colder  refused  to  admit  them  into  the  columns  of  The  Advocate,  it 
was  believed  that  little  did  the  Eldership  think  how  much  it  behooves  us  to  be 
quite  conservative  and  cautious  in  the  use  of  official  language  about  those  not 
amendable  to  us,  lest  we  find  ourselves  in  a  moment  of  enthusiasm  or  irritation  be- 
trayed into  assertions  of  propositions  which  will  come  back  to  plague  us  when 
they  are  turned  the  other  way.  Over  against  this  arraignment  of  Winebrenner 
stands  the  Eldership's  approval  of  "the  noble  stand  of  the  Editor  of  The  Advocate 
taken  against  all  encroachments  of  the  enemy."  A  Contingent  Fund  was  estab- 
lished, "each  minister  to  pay  into  it  $1.00  annually  and  lift  a  collection  at  each  of 
his  appointments." 

7th  Illinois  Eldership. — The  territory  of  the  Eldership  having  been  re-ad- 
justed, the  Illinois  Eldership  of  the  Churches  of  God  met  in  the  Bethel  in  Decatur, 
Macon  county.  111.,  Saturday,  October  1,  1859.  Four  circuits  and  five  missions 
were  represented;  but  three  ministers  being  absent.  J.  M.  Klein  was  made 
Speaker;  Geo.  W.  Beyer,  Clerk,  and  E.  Bear,  Treasurer.  The  Constitution  or- 
dered to  be  drafted  for  the  Missionary  Society  was  reported,  and  it  was  adopted. 
Action  was  taken  to  secure  from  the  Legislature  an  Act  incorporating  the  Elder- 
ship, in  the  names  of  the  members  of  the  Standing  Committee,  the  Treasurer  and 
J.  H.  Hurley.  "The  black  curse  of  involuntary  slavery"  was  anathematized.  A 
resolution  was  first  laid  on  the  table,  and  then  taken  up,  and  lost  "after  a  spirited 
debate,"  declaring  that  the  charging  of  usury,  or  "exorbitant  interest,"  is  "in 
direct  opposition  to  the  whole  tenor  of  the  New  Testament  Scriptures."  "The 
proper  observance  of  the  Sabbath"  the  Eldership  regarded  as  "a  subject  immedi- 
ately connected  with  the  glory  of  God,  the  salvation  of  souls  and  the  moral  and 
political  welfare  of  our  country." 

8th  Illinois  Eldership. — The  Special  Notice  of  the  Clerk  was  that  "the  Elder- 
ship of  the  Churches  of  God  will  meet  at  Homer,  LaSalle  county,  111.,  yet  the  head- 
ing of  the  Journal,  and  the  Journal  itself,  give  the  title  as  "Church  of  God."  It 
convened  October  3,  1860  in  its  eight  annual  session.  Five  circuits  and  one  mis- 
sion were  represented.  Ten  teaching  elders  were  absent.  All  teaching  and  ruling 
elders,  together  with  one  delegate  from  each  church  in  place  of  each  elder  absent, 
"were  given  the  privilege  of  voting  on  any  question  that  may  come  up  before  this 
body."  J.  H.  Hurley  was  elected  Speaker;  J.  P.  Emniert,  Clerk,  and  E.  Bear, 
Treasurer.  The  Committee  on  Education,  finding  former  resolutions  largely  a 
dead  letter,  "would  recommend  not  only  their  re-adoption,  but  that  we  suggest  the 
propriety  of  reducing  the  same  to  general,  practical  application."  It  also  "urged 
upon  the  ministers  and  members  of  the  Church  in  this  State  the  propriety  of 
putting  forth  still  stronger  efforts  for  the  organization  of  Sabbath-schools."  The 
Plum  River  circuit  was  divided,  making  East  Plum  River  the  dividing  line,  and 
naming  the  two  circuits  Plum  River  and  Mt.  Carroll,  with  six  and  five  appoint- 
ments respectively.  The  death  of  William  Clay  was  lamented  in  resolutions  which 
characterize  him  as  "an  able  and  useful  member,  a  pious  and  efficient  co-laborer, 
and  an  ornament  to  society."  Provision  was  made  at  the  instance  of  a  layman, 
J.  P.  Emmert,  for  a  fund  "for  superannuated  ministers  and  for  families  of  de~ 
ceased  ministers  which  may  become  destitute,  or  in  needy  circumstances"  by 
assessing  "each  male  member  fifty  cents,  and  each  female  member  twenty-five 
cents,  within  the  boundaries  of  the  Eldership."  This  tax  was  to  be  "collected  by 
the  ministers  in  charge  of  the  different  congregations."  The  principal  was  to  be 
"put  at  interest,"  and  the  interest  be  used  "for  the  next  ten  years."  Dissatisfac- 
tion was  expressed  with  the  southern  boundary,  by  which  Macon  county  was  united 
with  the  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership.  The  form  of  a  Charter  for  the 
Eldership  was  submitted  and  approved,  and  J.  P.  Emmert  was  made  a  committee 
to  secure  the  passage  by  the  Legislature  of  the  Act  of  Incorporation.  The  taking 
of  "unlawful  interest"  was  forbidden.  The  churches  were  "requested  and  urged" 
to  organize  church  missionary  associations  to  aid  the  parent  Missionary  Society. 
J.  M.  Klein,  A.  J.  Fenton  and  J.  P.  Emmert  were  appointed  "to  draft  a  Constitu- 
tion for  the  government  of  this  Eldership."  Nine  circuits  were  formed  and  three 
missions,  but  three  were  unsupplied.  The  Eldership  was  severely  criticised  for 
failing  to  make  "even  an  allusion  in  the  remotest  degree  to  the  late  death  of 
Elder  John  Winebrenner."  After  warmly  resenting  the  reflections  thus  cast 
upon  the  Illinois  Eldership  by  "Observer,"  J.  P.  Emmert,  Clerk,  explained, 
that  it  was  not  "for  want  of  reverential  regard  for  the  memory  of  Winebrenner;" 
but  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  Committee  on  Obituaries,  of  which  he  was 
Chairman,  "to  have  added  the  testimony  of  the  Eldership  to  the  well-known  virtues 

C.  H.— 18 


514  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

and  high  moral  and  religious  worth,  to  which  our  lamented  brother  had  attained 
in  this  life;"  but  that  'in  the  hurry  of  business  the  matter  escaped  my  memory." 

9th  Illinois  Eldei-shij). — The  Illinois  Eldership  met  as  an  incorporated  body 
in  its  ninth  annual  session  at  Mt.  Carroll,  Carroll  county.  111.,  October  21,  1861. 
There  were  five  circuits  and  six  missions,  with  seven  teaching  elders,  five  ruling 
elders  and  six  delegates  enrolled  when  the  Eldership  was  constituted.  Five  fields 
were  not  represented,  and  six  ministers  were  absent.  No  copy  of  the  Act  of  In- 
corporation was  secured,  but  the  Constitution  was  submitted  and  adopted.  The 
name  of  the  body  was  declared  to  be  "The  Illinois  Eldership  of  the  Church 
of  God."  The  membership  was  defined  to  consist  of  "all  ministers  of  the 
gospel  holding  license  from  this  body,  together  with  all  the  ruling  elders 
and  one  delegate  that  may  be  sent  to  represent  the  circuits  and  stations." 
After  the  organization,  duties  of  oflicers  and  some  parliamentary  rules,  it  was 
further  provided  that  the  Eldership  shall  elect  by  ballot  a  Standing  Committee  of 
three  and  a  Stationing  Committee  of  five  persons.  The  former  was  given  "all  the 
rights  and  powers  of  the  Eldership  during  its  recess."  Churches  are  "required  to 
give  their  pastors  a  competent  support,"  and  "pay  the  same  quarterly."  The 
amenability  of  the  ministers  to  the  Eldership  is  affirmed,  and  provision  is  made 
for  the  "rebuke,  suspension  and  expulsion  of  ministers  and  churches  which  fail  to 
comply  with  these  Rules  of  Order."  Under  the  Charter  and  Constitution,  J.  H. 
Hurley  was  the  first  Speaker;  Rudolph  WTiite,  Clerk,  and  John  A.  Shuler,  Treas- 
urer. In  McDonough  county,  near  the  Mississippi  river,  were  some  Free-Will 
Baptist  churches,  which  by  letter  expressed  a  "wish  to  be  identified  with"  the 
Eldership.  A  committee  of  one  was  appointed  "to  visit  them,  examine  into  their 
condition  and  standing,  and  report  to  the  Standing  Committee."  As  the  support 
of  pastors  was  quite  generally  insufficient,  from  which  "a  great  deal  of  evil  is  re- 
sulting," the  Eldership  expressed  the  belief  that  "the  remedy  is  within  reach." 
This  was  outlined  to  be  the  making  "of  the  deacons  of  the  churches  sensible  of 
their  duties  in  this  respect,"  and  so  they  were  "urged  to  adopt  a  more  efficient 

plan  in  raising  funds" "and  use  every  exertion  in  carrying  their  plans  out." 

One  minister  while  under  charges  "attached  himself  to  another  denomination," 
treated  the  citation  to  appear  before  the  Standing  Committee  "with  contempt,"  and 
was  suspended  by  said  Committee,  and  "declared  no  longer  a  member  of  this  body 
on  account  of  unchristian  conduct."  The  "cause  of  our  Redeemer,"  declared  the 
Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion,  "has  not  prospered  as  much  as  we  have  de- 
sired." As  the  Eldership  found  some  "men  professing  Christianity  engaged  in 
selling  and  using  spirituous  liquors  as  a  beverage,"  it  resolved  that  it  "will  not 
knowingly  fellowship  among  us  any  person  or  persons  who  are  engaged  in  said 
iniquitous  traffic,"  nor  will  "we  give  our  suffrage  or  influence  to  any  person  or 
persons  who  will  aid  or  uphold  such  a  wicked  traffic."  After  strongly  character- 
izing "the  fraternal  strife"  from  which  the  country  was  suffering  in  a  lengthy  pre- 
amble, the  Eldership  resolved  to  "denounce  disunion  and  secession;"  declared  it 
will  "discountenance  secessionists  North  and  South,  and  will  oppose  secession 
sympathizers  everywhere,"  and  sanctioned  "every  measure  and  proclamation, 
which  we  are  sure  a  military  necessity  demands,  until  this  unhallowed  rebellion 
is  put  down."  There  were  thirteen  fields  of  labor  mapped  out,  seven  of  which  are 
called  "missions." 

10th  Illinois  Eldership. — The  Eldership  in  Illinois  in  1862  came  very  near 
being  a  failure.  When  the  time  arrived,  November  29,  1862,  "but  few  brethren 
met"  at  the  appointed  place.  Homer,  LaSalle  county.  111.  Those  present  waited 
from  November  20th  to  December  2nd,  but  "no  more  came."  There  is  nothing  in 
the  brief  Journal  whereby  to  determine  who,  or  how  many,  were  there.  There 
was  no  Roll  call.  The  Eldership  was  not  constituted.  No  statement  as  to  who 
reported.  Those  present  went  into  "Committee  of  the  Whole;"  but  there  is  no 
record  of  the  officers.  The  Journal  is  signed  J.  M.  Klein,  Speaker.;  J.  A.  Shuler, 
Clerk,  without  showing  their  election.  A  Standing  Committee  and  a  Treasurer 
were  appointed.  All  licenses  were  renewed  and  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Stand- 
ing Committee  "until  called  for."  Made  five  appointments;  elected  delegates  to 
the  General  Eldership;  dropped  one  name  from  the  Minutes  of  the  Eldership;  ap- 
pointed the  time  and  place  for  the  next  Eldership,  and  adjourned.  They  even  did 
not  have  "the  books  and  papers  belonging  to  the  Eldership." 

11th  Illinois  Eldership.^ — As  the  Eldership  in  1863  "convened  pursuant  to  ap- 
pointment by  the  Standing  Committee,"  and  not  pursuant  to  adjournment  in  1862, 
said  action  does  not  seem  to  have  been  considered  valid.      In  constituting  the  Eld- 


Illinois    Eldkrshu'  5^5, 

ership  there  are  further  evidences  indicating  the  work  of  said  Committee  in  the 
appointments.  The  session  was  held  in  the  new  bethel,  near  Buda,  Bureau  county,. 
111.,  beginning  October  12,  1863,  and  was  well  attended.  There  were  three  sta- 
tions,  four  circuits  and  seven  missions.  J.  M.  Klein  presided,  and  J.  P.  Eimiiert 
was  Clerk,  with  J.  A.  Shuler,  Treasurer.  The  certified  copy  of  the  Charter  was- 
received.  A.  X.  Shoemaker,  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  was  received  as  a  full 
member  during  the  session.  Several  items  of  business  of  the  session  of  1862  were 
re-enacted,  among  them  a  "committee  to  visit  the  certain  Free-Will  Baptist  breth- 
ren in  McDonough  county.  111."  Action  was  taken  "urging  upon  the  churches  of 
the  Eldership  the  importance  of  procuring  at  the  earliest  possible  period  a  suitable 
location  for  a  High  School  which  shall  be  under  our  own  supervision."  The' 
Eldership  expressed  itself  as  "decidedly  in  favor  of  raising  means  for  the  erec- 
tion of  a  monument  over  the  remains  of  our  venerated  and  much  lamented! 
Wiiiebreimer."  A  precedent  was  established  in  the  matter  of  appeals,  when 
"the  appeal  of  J.  H.  Hurley  from  the  action  of  the  Decatur  church"  was  heard, 
and  referred  to  a  committee  for  investigation.  The  action  of  the  Decatur 
church  was  reversed,  and  the  case  sent  back.  It  was  agreed  to  "appoint  an 
evangelist  to  take  the  oversight  of  this  body,  whose  whole  duty  it  shall  be  to 
visit  all  the  churches  within  the  bounds  of  this  Eldership,  assist  the  preachers  in 
holding  meetings,  and  open  up  new  appointments."  His  support  was  to  come 
from  "those  among  whom  he  labors."  Going  more  into  detail  on  the  temperance 
question,  the  Eldership  declared  that  "we  will  not  entrust,  by  our  votes,  to  offices 
of  profit  or  trust  any  habitual  drunkard;"  that  "we  will  not  entrust  our  sons  and 
daughters  to  the  care  and  instruction  of  a  practical  drinker;"  discountenancing 
"the  fashionable  practice  of  tippling;"  denouncing  "the  elevating  to  important 
official  positions  in  the  military  service  of  men  given  to  intoxicating  drinks,"  and 
that  "the  regular  or  occasional  use  of  spirituous,  malt,  vinous  or  fermented  liquors 
by  any  minister  of  the  gospel  is  beneath  the  dignity  of  the  sacred  office."  It  also 
"discountenanced  and  utterly  denounced  the  practice  of  visiting  saloons  and  the 
drinking  of  lager  beer  by  professors  of  religion,"  and  declared  that  "we  will  op- 
pose the  practice  by  members  of  churches  within  the  bounds  of  this  Eldership." 
The  Committee  on  the  State  of  the  Country  reported,  that  the  war  has  in  it  "the 
elements  of  God's  judgments  sent  upon  us  as  a  chastisement  for  our  national 
sins;"  petitioning  Congress  "to  break  every  yoke,  and  let  all  the  oppressed  go 
free;"  expressing  "unwavering  confidence  in  the  President,"  and  promising  "to 
labor  by  our  votes,  our  words  and  our  prayers  to  uphold  his  official  hands."  The 
Chicago  Mission  project  was  strongly  endorsed,  and  agents  were  appointed  on  all 
the  charges  "to  collect  subscriptions."  November  12th  was  designated  "as  a  day 
of  general  fasting  and  prayer  to  Almighty  God,  that  he  will  most  graciously  pour 
out  his  Holy  Spirit  on  his  work  and  revive  it  in  our  hands  especially  and  with  his 
people  generally."  A  resolution  was  adopted  in  which  the  Eldership  "opposed  the 
practice  heretofore  indulged  in  of  churches  calling  and  contracting  with  preachers 
without  co-operating  with  the  Eldership."  So  there  were  five  fields  "to  be  sup- 
plied" when  the  Stationing  Committee  reported;  the  appointment  of  the  Evan- 
gelist was  referred  to  the  Standing  Committee. 

12th  Illinois  Eldership. — Ten  teaching  elders  and  eight  ruling  elders  and 
delegates  constituted  the  Eldership  when  it  convened  at  Troy  Grove  Bethel, 
LaSalle  county.  111.,  November  28,  1864.  The  choice  for  Speaker  was  J.  H. 
Hurley;  Clerk,  R.  AVhite;  Treasurer,  J.  A.  Shuler.  W.  B.  Allen,  later  an  efficient 
member  of  the  body,  received  license  at  this  session.  He  was  from  Dauphin 
county.  Pa.  Each  minister  was  taxed  $1.00  annually  for  the  fund  for  ministers' 
widows,  and  his  license  was  "to  be  withheld  until  he  pay  said  amount."  They 
were  also  required  to  collect  fifty  cents  from  male  members  and  twenty-five  cents 
from  female  members  annually  for  the  same  fund.  The  Committee  on  the  State 
of  the  Country  insisted  on  the  prosecution  of  the  war  "for  the  preservation  of  the 
Union  until  the  rightful  authority  of  the  United  States  be  recognized  in  every 
State  in  the  Union;"  that  "disloyalty  to  the  Government  is  disloyalty  to  God;"  that 
it  "hailed  with  pleasure  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  as  the  severest  blow  to 
the  Rebellion,"  and  "demanded  of  Congress  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution 
forever  prohibiting  slavery  in  this  country."  "The  ministers  and  people  of  the 
Church  of  God  are  urged  to  use  all  commendable  means  to  counteract  the  per- 
nicious influence  of  this  monster  evil  of  intemperance."  That  the  local  ministers 
might  be  "more  efficient"  they  were  "requested  to  employ  at  least  every  third 
Sabbath,  and  as  much  more  time  as  they  can,  in  the  great  work  to  which  they  are 


516  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

called."  In  addition  to  favoring  the  "establishment  of  a  college  under  the  super- 
vision of  the  churches  of  God,"  the  Eldership  also  voted  to  establish  a  "National 
College  where  the  children  of  deceased  soldiers  may  receive  a  suitable  education." 
"Two  stations,  three  circuits  and  three  missions  were  designated,  and  ministers  as- 
signed to  them,  and  J.  H.  Hurley  was  made  General  Missionary. 

13th  Illinois  Eldership. — No  special  reason  is  assigned,  but  immediately  after 
the  organization  of  the  thirteenth  Illinois  Eldership,  at  Decatur,  111.,  November 
15,  1865,  the  time  till  adjournment  was  "devoted  to  singing  and  prayer."  J.  H. 
Hurley  was  chosen  Speaker;  J.  A.  Shuler,  Treasurer,  and  R.  Wliite,  Clerk.  The 
Eldership  was  becoming  dissatisfied  with  the  practice  of  publishing  Journals  in 
full,  as  they  "occupy  too  much  space  in  The  Advocate,"  and  instructed  its  "Clerk 
to  transmit  only  a  synopsis,"  specifying  eight  different  items,  besides  "all  im- 
portant resolutions."  It  expressed  some  critical  comments  on  the  character  of 
The  Advocate,  and  instructed  its  "delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  to  labor, 
first,  for  an  enlargement  of  the  paper;  second,  for  a  board  of  editors  chosen  from 
the  different  Elderships;  third,  to  bring  it  westward,  and  fourth,  to  have  the  form 
changed  to  folio."  A  custom  began  to  prevail  "of  churches  and  ministers  making 
contracts  prior  to  the  Eldership,  and  then  presenting  their  cases  to  the  Eldership 
for  adjustment,"  so  that  the  Eldership  declared  "that  too  frequent  changes  must 
be  detrimental  to  the  interest  of  the  cause,"  and  that  "it  is  the  privilege  of 
churches  wishing  changes  to  state  their  preferences,"  but  the  Eldership  "deems  it 
best  that  they  place  their  cases  unreservedly  in  the  hands  of  the  Eldership."  The 
practice  of  ministers  seeking  charges  in  Illinois  without  becoming  members  of 
the  Eldership  was  disapproved,  and  it  was  characterized  as  "being  contrary  to  the 
spirit  of  this  body  to  assign  appointments  to  men  who  will  not  become  members 
of  it."  Rejoicing  over  "the  glorious  triumph  in  the  suppression  of  the  Rebellion," 
the  Eldership  gave  a  strong  declaration  of  its  sentiments  touching  the  "leaders  of 
the  Rebellion,  as  guilty  of  the  highest  crime  known  to  the  law — treason  and  mur- 
der— causing  the  shedding  of  innocent  blood  wholesale."  Also  as  being  in  favor 
of  "supporting  the  needy  families  and  educating  the  orphans  of  our  fallen  heroes." 
It  protested  "against  the  re-establishment  of  slavery  in  any  part  of  this  country," 
and  declared  in  favor  of  "raising  the  negro  to  the  rights  of  citizenship,  and  that 
the  right  of  suffrage  consists  not  in  the  color  of  the  skin,  but  in  intellectual 
qualifications."  Those  who  "had  given  'aid  and  comfort'  to  the  Rebellion  in  any 
shape,  way  or  manner  should  be  excluded  from  the  halls  of  Congress  and  State 
jLegislatures."  Theaters  were  pronounced  to  be  "schools  of  immorality  and  de- 
bauchery," and  circuses  "as  no  less  dangerous  and  corrupting  in  their  tendency," 
and  that  "it  is  unbecoming  a  professor  of  religion  to  attend  these  places  under 
any  circumstances."  A  resolution  in  favor  of  "a  stringent  prohibitory  law"  was 
adopted.  Apparently  not  satisfied  with  its  deliverance  earlier  in  the  session  on 
The  Advocate,  R.  White  offered  another  preamble  and  resolution,  stating  that 
■"we  need  a  Church  paper  which  will  subserve  the  interests  of  our  western 
churches;  that  The  Advocate  from  the  smallness  of  its  size  and  the  manner  in 
which  it  is  controlled,  fails  to  do  this;"  hence  the  "demand  for  the  establishment 
of  a  paper  somewhere  in  the  West,"  and  appointing  "the  delegates  to  the  General 
Eldership  a  committee  to  propose  a  plan  for  the  establishment  of  said  paper,  and 
urge  the  matter  upon  the  delegates  of  the  several  western  Elderships."  The 
Editor  in  several  editorials  vigorously  attacked  these  resolutions,  and  some  of  the 
Illinois  brethren  wrote  apologetically  about  them,  stating  that  they  were  "prob- 
ably nothing  more  than  the  impulsive,  momentary  thought  of  the  proposer  him- 
self," and  "is  not  now  endorsed  or  approved  by  one  in  twenty  within  the  bounds 
of  the  Eldership;"  that  "the  resolutions  were  passed  at  the  'heel'  of  the  session, 
when  there  were  few  present,  and  that  by  only  two  or  three  votes  in  the  affirma- 
tive." The  Eldership  had  seven  fields  of  labor,  not  including  Chicago  Mission, 
none  of  them  noted  as  missions. 

14th  Illinois  Eldei-ship.— The  Eldership  of  1866  consisted  of  eleven  teaching 
elders,  ten  ruling  elders  and  four  delegates,  with  three  fields  of  labor  not  repre- 
sented. Ten  teaching  elders  were  absent.  It  convened  at  Troy  Grove,  LaSalle 
county.  111.,  November  21,  1866.  J.  M.  Klein  was  chosen  for  Speaker;  J.  A. 
Shuler,  Treasurer;  J.  P.  Winebrenner,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  W.  B.  Allen,  Tran- 
scribing Clerk.  The  Committee  on  Rules  of  Order  recommended  the  Rules  of 
Order  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  the  Report  was  agreed  to.  A 
missionary  meeting  was  early  arranged  for,  to  be  held  the  second  day  evening. 
Inspiring  addresses  were  delivered;    $277.00  were  raised  by  subscription,  and  by 


Illinois    Eldej^ship  517 

resolution  the  Eldership  acknowledged  itself  "quite  deficient  in  missionary  oper- 
ations," and  resolved  to  "seek  out  among  us  some  worthy  man,  naturally  adapted 
to  this  work,  and  set  him  apart  solemnly  to  the  work  of  a  general  missionary  and 
collector  of  mission  funds,  to  be  resolved  into  a  State  Mission  Fund.".  An  attempt 
failed  to  fix  the  time  to  change  preachers  in  the  Fall,  immediately  after  the  Elder- 
ship. The  proposed  Sunday-school  paper  was  strongly  endorsed,  and  pastors  were 
directed  to  lift  collections  to  buy  material.  Highly  approving  the  work  of  Shoe- 
maker at  Chicago,  the  Eldership  deprecated  the  publication  "of  certain  articles 
tending  to  embarrass  the  Chicago  Mission  interests."  The  work  of  the  General 
Eldership  in  the  securing  of  Centralia  College  and  the  plan  for  the  building  of  a 
Central  College  was  strongly  endorsed.  Decatur  was  named  as  the  location  for 
the  latter,  and  the  Committee  stated  that  it  was  "able  to  report  fair  prospects  for 
raising  the  amount  necessary  to  procure  the  location  of  the  College  there."  The 
resolutions  of  1865  with  reference  to  The  Advocate  received  no  consideration,  but 
good  resolutions  were  adopted,  and  the  Eldership  pledged  itself  to  labor  to  in- 
crease the  power  of  the  press.  Internal  difficulties  moved  the  Eldership  to  ap- 
point J.  Bear,  R.  White  and  I.  E.  Boyer  "to  draft  resolutions  denouncing  the 
refractory  and  rebellious  spirit  manifested  on  the  part  of  preachers  and  people 
toward  our  rules  of  mutual  co-operation."  This  Committee  stated  that,  "over- 
looking the  teaching  of  the  Savior ...  .some  have  become  refractory  and  re- 
bellious, injuring  themselves  and  in  many  instances  the  cause."  It  therefore 
"deplored  such  course  of  conduct,"  and  "earnestly  entreated  all  the  brethren  to 
avoid  such  a  course,  and  preachers  and  people  work  together  to  advance  the  inter- 
ests of  God's  cause."  The  fourth  Sabbath  of  December  was  named  as  a  day  of 
fasting  and  prayer  "for  efficient  laborers  to  be  sent  into  the  ministry  among  us." 
Neither  Shoemaker  at  Chicago,  nor  Soiile  at  Mt.  Carroll  having  as  yet  united  with 
the  Illinois  Eldership,  the  Rule  was  rescinded  which  "prohibited  any  one  from 
taking  an  appointment  in  this  Eldership  without  becoming  a  member  thereof." 
The  Eldership  would  not  agree  to  "ordination  by  the  imposition  of  hands."  Two 
missions,  Monmouth  and  Ogle,  were  included  in  the  ten  appointments  made  by 
the  Stationing  Committee. 

15th  Illinois  Eldership. — The  Illinois  Eldership  continued  to  meet  on  Mon- 
day morning,  having  the  Opening  Sermon  preached  on  Sabbath  evening.  In  1867 
it  met  at  Mt.  Carroll,  Saturday,  October  5th,  and  on  Sabbath  evening,  R.  White 
preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Eph.  ii.  8-10.  But  before  the  Eldership  ad> 
journed  it  decided  to  meet  on  Wednesday.  On  Monday  morning  the  Eldership 
was  constituted,  and  organized  by  electing  I.  E.  Boyer,  Speaker;  J.  A.  Shuler, 
Treasurer,  and  W.  B.  Allen,  Clerk.  The  Eldership  approved  the  action  of  the 
Standing  Committee  in  granting  T.  H.  Deshiri  a  letter  of  withdrawal,  and  by 
mutual  consent  dismissing  H.  W.  Conley,  and  also  the  licensing  of  M.  S.  New- 
comer. It  reversed  itself  in  the  matter  of  the  appointment  of  "I.  E.  Boyer  as 
General  Missionary  and  Collecting  Agent,  to  receive  twenty-five  per  cent,  of  all 
moneys  collected,"  which  the  Standing  Committee  had  changed  "to  a  fixed  amount 
of  remuneration."  For  want  of  sufficient  local  interest,  the  effort  to  secure  the 
location  of  the  Central  College  at  Decatur  was  abandoned.  With  apparently  no 
opposition  it  was  decided  "that  hereafter  ministers  of  this  Eldership  take  charge 
of  their  respective  appointments  on  the  first  day  of  November  after  the  Eldership."" 
German  preaching  was  demanded  at  Troy  Grove,  and  G.  S.  Petry  was  appointed,  ^ 
German  preacher  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Extensive  revivals  were 
reported  at  some  points,  and  a  "disposition  was  manifested  on  the  part  of  min- 
isters and  laymen  to  work  more  earnestly  to  advance  the  cause  of  Christ  within 
the  bounds  of  this  Eldership."  The  Treasurer  reported  that  the  Illinois  Elder- 
ship had  paid  in  full  Winebrenner's  claims  against  it.  The  appointments  con- 
sisted of  two  stations,  five  circuits  and  four  missions. 

16th  Illinois  Eldership. — After  four  years'  labor  at  Chicago,  111.,  without 
uniting  with  the  Illinois  Eldership,  Shoemaker  presented  his  transfer  when  the 
Eldership  met  at  Buda,  Bureau  county,  111.,  September  23,  1868.  On  Wednesday 
evening  Soiile  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  II.  Tim.  iv.  1-4.  On  Thursday 
morning  the  body  was  organized  by  the  election  of  Shoemaker  for  Speaker;  J.  A. 
Shiiler,  Treasurer;  AV.  B.  Allen,  Clerk.  The  Eldership  appointed  two  Pentecostal 
meetings  for  the  coming  Whitsuntide.  It  also  established  a  Book  Depository  at 
Chicago  for  the  sale  of  Church  publications  to  the  ministers  and  churches  of  the 
Eldership.  Though  without  a  formulated  Creed,  H.  Ij.  Soule  was  required  to 
clear  himself  from  the  reported  heretical  views  charged  against  him.      As  he  was 


5i8  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

not  a  member  of  the  Eldership,  he  was  not  amenable  directly  to  it,  but  he  "re- 
ported his  labors  at  Mt.  Carroll  and  Salem."  It  is  not  stated  in  what  church 
building  the  Eldership  held  its  sittings,  but  on  Monday  evening  a  sermon  on  the 
tjrdinances  was  delievered  by  H,  L.  Soule,  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  after 
■which  the  ordinances  were  observed.  James  J.  Gi-eene,  a  minister  of  the  Methodist 
Protestant  Church,  was  licensed  by  the  Eldership.  The  deliverance  on  the  sub- 
ject of  Temperance  was  mild,  declaring  "cordial  sympathy"  and  promising  hearty 
<;o-operation  in  every  way  not  inconsistent  with  our  obligations  as  Christians  and 
■citizens."  The  working  of  the  rule  on  appeals  was  illustrated  in  the  case  of  J.  H. 
Hurley.  Though  elected  a  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership,  he  was  under  dis- 
cipline by  the  church  at  Decatur,  and  appealed  to  the  Eldership.  The  appeal  was 
not  sustained,  when  he  gave  notice  of  appeal  from  this  action  to  the  General 
Eldership.  The 'unusual  thing  of  a  minister  of  another  Church  sitting  as  an  ad- 
visory member  and  offering  a  preamble  and  resolutions  occurred,  when  a  Mr. 
Emerson,  of  the  Baptist  Church,  offered  an  endorsement  of  the  translation  of  the 
Scriptures  by  the  American  Bible  Union,  which  substitutes  "immerse"  and  "im- 
mersion" for  "baptize"  and  "baptism."  The  patronizing  of  circuses,  theaters  and 
(Other  kindred  amusements  was  decidedly  opposed.  In  Illinois  as  in  all  other 
Elderships  the  matter  of  the  support  of  ministers  was  always  one  of  special  con- 
cern. Resolutions  were  not  only  passed  repeatedly,  but  sundry  schemes  were 
adopted  to  increase  the  salaries  of  pastors.  Sometimes  contrasts  were  drawn  be- 
tween the  earnings  of  men  in  other  callings  to  awaken  a  sentiment  of  the  injustice 
done  to  ministers.  Then  the  publication  of  the  meager  salaries  was  resorted  to 
in  order  to  hold  up  churches  to  public  reprobation.  Other  Churches  have  some- 
times fixed  a  minimum  salary.  The  Illinois  Eldership  this  year  required  the 
teaching  elder  on  a  charge,  as  soon  after  he  enters  upon  his  duties  as  may  be 
practicable,  to  "call  together  the  deacons,  and  if  need  be  some  of  the  leading 
brethren,  who  shall  determine  the  amount  of  salary  to  be  raised,  and  that  on  the 
determination  of  the  amount,  the  deacons  shall  take  immediate  measures  to  ob- 
tain on  subscriptions  from  amongst  the  membership  and  friends  of  the  Church  of 
God  the  full  sum  of  such  amount."  The  Standing  Committee  was  authorized  to 
Act  as  the  Board  of  Missions. 

17th  Illinois  Eldership. — With  all  the  other  Elderships,  the  Illinois  Eldership 
met  in  1869  under  a  sense  of  great  loss  through  the  death  but  shortly  before  of 
E.  H.  Thomas,  Editor  of  The  Advocate.  The  body  met  at  Decatur,  October  8th, 
where  in  1866  the  General  Eldership  held  its  session,  and  Thomas  was  one  of  the 
most  prominent  members.  Besides,  more  than  half  the  ministers  and  delegates 
were  former  Pennsylvanians,  and  personally  acquainted  with  Thomas.  Accord- 
ingly arrangements  were  made  the  first  day  "to  have  a  funeral  sermon  preached" 
in  his  "honor  to-morrow  [Sabbath],  conducted  by  H.  L.  Soule,  A.  X.  Shoemaker 
and  J.  H.  Hurley,  each  originally  licensed  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. 
Upon  ballots  being  taken,  J.  H.  Hurley  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  W.  B.  Allen, 
■Clerk.  The  Constitution  being  amended,  J.  B.  Soule  was  elected  Transcribing 
•Clerk.  After  the  "funeral  services  in  honor  of  E.  H.  Thomas,  the  Eldership  placed 
strong  resolutions  on  its  Minutes,  declaring  him  "the  servant  of  all  the  churches, 
.•and  highly  esteemed  as  an  Editor,  and  an  able  minister  of  the  New  Testament." 
The  Eldership  placed  itself  on  record  as  "entirely  disapproving  of  the  use  of  the, 
prefix  'Rev.'  by  the  ministry  of  the  Church  of  God,"  quoting  Matt.  xxii.  8-10  in 
confirmation  of  its  position.  While  the  Eldership  felt  "grateful  for  as  much  of  the 
life  and  power  of  godliness  as  is  still  found  among  us,"  it  however  confessed  "that 
there  is  a  growing  tendency  to  formality  and  worldliness  on  the  part  of  many  pro- 
fessors." On  the  "Itinerancy"  the  impression  prevailed  that  it  had  been  essen- 
tially modified,  so  that  the  Eldership  declared  that  it  "continued  to  maintain,  as 
we  always  have,  the  'mutual  co-operation  plans'  as  understood  by  us  in  the  early 
organization  and  practice  of  the  Church."  Two  delegates  were  appointed,  J.  H. 
Hurley  and  J.  B.  Soule,  to  attend  the  Shelby  Association  of  Separate  Baptists. 
Excluding  Chicago  Mission  from  the  list  of  appointments,  the  Stationing  Com- 
mittee reported  twelve  charges,  two  of  which  were  missions. 

18th  Illinois  Eldership. — On  October  12,  1870,  at  Troy  Grove,  LaSalle  county, 
111.,  the  eighteen  Illinois  Eldership  began  its  session.  There  were  twelve  fields 
of  labor,  four  of  which  were  not  represented  by  pastors.  Ten  teaching  elders 
were  absent.  A.  X.  Shoemaker  was  elected  Speaker;  W.  B.  Allen,  First  Clerk,  and 
M.  S.  Newcomer,  Second  Clerk.  The  delegates  to  the  Separate  Baptist  Association 
reported   the   friendly   reception   given   them,   and   stated   that   "a   committee  was 


Illinois    Elde^rship  519 

appointed  to  consult  with  them  on  conditions  of  final  union,  and  concluded  upon  a 
further  meeting  of  committees  appointed  by  each  body."  After  strongly  con- 
demning the  liquor  traffic  and  intemperance,  it  was  "resolved  not  to  lend  our  in- 
fluence in  favor  of,  nor  vote  for,  the  election  to  office  of  any  man  whom  we  know 
to  be  guilty  of  intemperate  habits."  "A  Sunday-school  meeting"  was  a  feature 
of  the  Saturday  afternon  sitting,  with  D.  Palmer,  Conductor,  when  subjects  per- 
taining to  Sunday-schools  were  discussed,  and  a  series  of  resolutions  adopted 
urging  ministers  and  churches  to  greater  diligence  in  this  line  of  work;  that 
schools  "conducted  mainly  by  our  brethren  and  in  our  church  houses  should  be 
known  as  Church  of  God  Sunday-schools,"  and  "suggesting  the  propriety  of  hold- 
ing an  Eldership  Sunday-school  Convention."  The  Eldership  decided  in  favor  of 
holding  such  a  Convention.  It  also  favored  holding  "a  general  Sunday-school 
Convention  of  all  the  Elderships,"  and  a  Committee  was  appointed  to  confer  with 
like  committees  from  other  Elderships  on  the  matter.  An  enthusiastic  missionary 
meeting  was  held,  at  which  the  "territory,"  the  "men"  and  the  "means"  were  dis- 
cussed. A  rule  was  adopted,  that  "hereafter  the  Opening  Sermon  be  preached  by 
the  retiring  Speaker,"  and  that  it  be  on  the  first  Wednesday  evening  of  October 
in  each  year.  Including  three  missions,  there  were  nine  fields  of  labor.  A  sad 
scene  was  the  disfellowshiping  for  "immoral  conduct"  of  a  minister  who  had  rep- 
resented the  Eldership  in  the  General  Eldership  on  several  occasions,  and  at  one 
session  was  its  presiding  officer. 

19th  Illinois  Eldership. — The  Illinois  Eldership  had  a  number  of  more  or  less 
serious  troubles.  Sometimes  they  grew  out  of  acts  of  insubordination,  or  want  of 
co-operation.  Again  some  of  the  ministers  "erred  from  the  truth,"  and  had 
to  be  corrected,  and  occasionally  one  was  disciplined  for  laxity  in  morals.  A 
tendency  to  be  lenient  in  discipline  led  the  Eldership  to  bear  with  men  holding 
wrong  views,  to  the  end  that  they  might  be  restored.  In  1870  C.  C.  Marston  was 
found  to  be  "unsettled  in  regard  to  some  most  vital  truths  revealed  in  God's 
word,  and,  therefore,  not  eligible  to  the  office  of  the  sacred  ministry  among  us." 
But  the  Eldership  was  charitable,  and  retained  him  in  fellowship.  But  at  the 
Eldership  in  1871  his  name  "was  stricken  frrom  the  Roll."  The  session  was 
held  in  the  Spring  Grove  Bethel,  Warren  county,  and  began  October  5th,  Shoe- 
maker preaching  the  Opening  Sermon  on  the  evening  of  the  4th,  from  John  xvii. 
21-23.  M.  S.  Newcomer  was  elected  Speaker;  W.  B.  Allen,  Clerk,  and  G.  W.  Ash- 
ton,  Financial  Clerk.  John  A.  Shuler  "was  the  unanimous  choice  for  Treasurer." 
In  adopting  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  Temperance  the  Eldership  voted  in 
favor  of  "co-operation  with  temperance  organizations  to  secure  national  pro- 
hibition;" denouncing  "the  so-called  medicinal  bitters,"  and  declaring  that  "all 
our  offices  in  the  land  ought  to  be  filled  with  men  pledged  to  prohibition."  The 
Eldership  recommended  that  "the  next  General  Eldership  favorably  consider  any 
feasible  plan  for  the  establishment  of  an  institution  of  learning."  Having  received 
G.  S.  Petry  as  a  member,  a  former  East  Pennsylvania  minister,  he  was  appointed 
"German  Missionary."  There  were  twelve  appointments,  not  including  Chicago, 
and  by  appointing  H.  L.  Soule,  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership;  F.  F.  Kiner,  Iowa 
Eldership,  and  J.  H.  Besoi-e,  Michigan  Eldership,  all  the  appointments  were  sup- 
plied. 

20th  Illinois  Eldership. — Journals,  by  direction  of  the  General  Eldership, 
were  much  abridged  in  1872,  and  so  lack  in  interest.  But  several  important  ac- 
tions of  the  Illinois  Eldership  are  published  in  full,  and  possess  special  interest. 
I.  E.  Boyer  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  on  the  evening  of  October  2nd,  from 
I.  Tim.  iv.  16.  Jacob  Bear  was  elected  Speaker;  AV.  B.  Allen,  Clerk;  G.  W. 
Thompson,  Financial  Clerk,  and  J.  A.  Shnler,  Treasurer.  The  Home  Mission 
Fund  showed  a  credit  of  $279.08;  the  Contingent  Fund,  $5.00,  and  the  Eldership 
Widows'  Fund,  $666.95.  The  Eldership  reaffirmed  its  "former  temperance  senti- 
ments;" but  it  also  "hailed  with  pleasure  and  a  fond  hope  the  effects  of  the 
present  State  Liquor  Law,  and  we  fully  and  unhesitatingly  agree  to  support  the 
same."  The  Eldership  had  more  or  less  trouble  on  account  of  the  relation  of  H. 
L.  Soule  to  the  body.  He  was  not  a  member,  yet  for  some  years  served  a  charge. 
He  was  according  to  reports  not  "sound  in  faith,"  but  up  to  this  Eldership  he  was 
only  the  subject  of  general  resolutions.  F.  F.  Kiner  brought  the  matter  to  an 
issue,  when  Soule  declared,  after  examination,  that  he  "does  not  believe  in,  nor 
teach,  the  unconscious  state  of  the  dead,  nor  the  annihilation  of  the  wicked;  but 
that  he  understands  man's  immortality  as  not  being  inherent  in  himself  as  a  self- 
existing,   eternal   being,   but   derives   it   only  through   Christ   at   the   resurrection. 


520  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

The  wicked  may  not  receive  eternal  self-existence."  liiner  therefore  offered  a 
resolution,  stating  that  "while  this  is  not  exactly  the  doctrine  the  Church  teaches, 
yet  the  discrepancy  is  of  such  a  character  that  the  Eldership  can  continue  to  co- 
operate with  him."      On  a  yea  and  nay  vote  this  was  adopted,  15  to  6. 

21st  Illinois  Eldei-ship. — In  constituting  the  Eldership  at  Lanark,  Carroll 
county,  October  1,  1873,  "Chicago — A.  X.  Shoemaker,  was  on  the  list  of  appoint- 
ments. G.  S.  Petry  is  still  enrolled  as  German  Missionary,  and  there  are  ten  other 
fields  of  labor.  A.  J.  Fenton  was  the  choice  of  the  Eldership  for  Speaker,  and 
W.  B.  Allen  for  Clerk.  Shuler  declining  to  serve  longer  as  Treasurer,  E.  Bear 
was  elected.  It  was  ordered  that  there  be  two  Pentecostal  meetings  held  and 
two  Sunday-school  Conventions.  In  each  church  it  was  required  that  a  mission- 
ary collector  be  appointed,  and  their  names  were  to  be  reported  to  the  Clerk  of  the 
Eldership.  The  Eldership  licensed  its  first  woman  to  preach  the  gospel,  in  the 
person  of  Mrs.  A.  C.  Xewconier,  who,  with  her  husband,  was  appointed  to  Lanark, 
Shannon  and  Spring  Valley.  Laymen  coming  to  the  Eldership  as  representatives 
were  required  to  bring  credentials.  While  H.  L.  Soule,  of  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership;  F.  F.  Kiner  and  O.  V.  Kennaston,  of  the  Iowa  Eldership,  were  given 
appointments,  it  was  decided  "that  after  the  present  Eldership  year  we  make  mem- 
bership in  this  body  requisite  to  an  appointment."  A  committee  was  appointed  to 
revise  the  Constitution,  to  report  in  1874. 

22nd  Illinois  Eldership. — The  Eldership  in  1874  carried  out  its  action  of  1873, 
to  make  membership  in  the  body  a  condition  of  receiving  an  appointment.  Kiner 
was  appointed  to  Mt.  Carroll  on  this  condition.  Kennaston  was  left  without  a 
charge,  and  Soule's  name  disappears.  Mt.  Carroll  asked  that  the  action  of  1873 
be  rescinded;  but  the  Eldership  stood  firm.  The  session  was  held  at  Troy  Grove, 
LaSalle  county,  and  began  October  8th.  A.  J.  Fenton  having  preached  the  Open- 
ing Sermon  on  the  evening  of  the  7th  from  Mark  xvi.  20  and  Acts  viii.  4.  A.  X. 
Shoemaker  was  elected  Speaker;  W.  B.  Allen,  Clerk,  and  E.  Bear,  Treasurer. 
As  the  Eldership  believed  that  "in  the  absence  of  a  theological  institution  of  learn- 
ing Ministerial  Associations  are  useful  for  a  better  understanding  of  God's  word, 
and  a  more  united  sentiment  can  thereby  be  gained,"  it  ordered  "that  this  Elder- 
ship establish  such  an  Association,  and  that  a  committee  be  appointed  to  draft 
Rules  and  By-Laws  for  the  government  of  the  same."  "The  Sunday-School 
Record"  was  endorsed  as  "meeting  a  felt  want  among  parents,  teachers  and  Sun- 
day-school workers  generally."  "Theaters,  horse-racing  and  circuses"  were  de- 
nounced as  "demoralizing  in  their  general  tendency,"  as  "sensual  entertain- 
ments," and  "dangerous  exhibitions,"  and  "we  as  an  Eldership  emphaticaly  ex- 
press our  sentiment  and  pledge  our  future  influence  boldly,  squarely,  earnestly  and 
practically  against  these  immoral  and  dangerous  amusements."  Delegates  to  the 
General  Eldership  were  instructed  "to  use  their  influence  in  preserving  the  terri- 
tory of  our  Eldership  intact,"  and  "against  more  or  less  frequency  than  triennial 
meetings  of  the  General  Eldership." 

23rd  Illinois  Eldei"ship. — The  Illinois  Eldership  convened  at  Fairview  Chapel, 
Macon  county,  October  6,  187  5.  It  elected  M.  S.  Newcomer,  Speaker;  W.  B.  Allen, 
Clerk,  and  E.  Bear,  Treasurer.  B.  Ober,  of  the  Texas  Eldership,  was  received  as 
an  advisory  member,  joined  the  Eldership  and  was  assigned  to  Carrollton  Mission 
The  Eldership  confined  itself  mainly  to  routine  business;  but  its  action  on  educa- 
tion and  a  school  was  of  general  interest  and  of  an  aggressive  character.  It 
found  that  "the  only  feasible  plan  looking  to  the  establishment  of  an  institution 
of  learning  is  to  be  found  in  creating  a  fund,  by  bequests  from  the  brethren  who 
may  desire  school  facilities  which  they  have  not  enjoyed."  Hence  the  Committee 
"recommended  the  apointment  of  three  men  to  act  as  trustees  for  this  fund,  the 
fund  to  be  used  as  the  Eldership  directs."  Brethren  are  urged  "to  remember 
this  fund  in  their  wills,"  expressing  the  hope  that  thus  in  a  short  time  "the  General 
Eldership  can  establish  a  good  college  under  the  direct  supervision  and  fostering 
care  of  the  Church."  Licenses  were  to  be  revoked  in  the  case  of  preachers  of 
the  Eldership  who  failed  to  preach  at  least  twelve  sermons  each  year.  Opposition 
expressed  itself  in  a  resolution  against  the  action  of  the  General  Eldership  in 
May,  1875,  in  "appointing  Shoemaker  a  general  worker  throughout  the  bounds  of 
the  various  Elderships."  It  was  claimed  that  this  is  "not  in  harmony  with  the 
Article  touching  the  relation  of  ministers  of  one  Eldership  to  another,  and 
establishes  a  precedent  that  ought  not  to  be  sustained."  The  Stationing  Com- 
mittee divided  the  territory  into  thirteen  fields,  three  of  which  were  missions. 
Three  of  the  appointees  came  from  other  Elderships  with  transfers. 


Illinois    Eldership  521 

24th  Illinois  Eldership. — The  Illinois  Eldership  had  the  same  trouble  to  se- 
cure a  large  attendance  of  ministers  and  delegates  as  other  western  Elderships. 
In  1876  fifteen  of  the  twenty-nine  ministers  were  absent,  and  only  fourteen  dele- 
gates were  in  attendance.  The  Eldership  convened  at  Buda,  Bureau  county,  Oc- 
tober 5,  1876.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by  F.  F.  Iviner  the  previous 
evening.  He  was  then  elected  Speaker;  AV.  B.  Allen,  Stated  Clerk;  Jehu  Bailey, 
Financial  Clerk,  and  E.  Bear,  Treasurer.  The  funds  were  in  good  condition. 
Widows'  Fund,  31,088.31;  Missionary  Fund,  $341.98,  after  paying  out  $560.98; 
Contingent  Fund,  $14.87.  The  Carrollton  mission  was  not  clearly  within  the 
bounds  of  the  Eldership,  and  this,  with  other  matters,  gave  trouble.  Ober  had 
failed  to  "enter  upon  the  mission;"  yet  he  had  received  part  of  the  appropriation. 
The  mission  was  discontinued,  and  he  was  required  "to  return  the  money  ad- 
vanced, to  the  Eldership."  The  Committee  on  Education  ignored  the  plan  of 
1875  to  secure  funds  to  build  a  college,  and  confined  itself  to  the  question  of  edu- 
cation in  general.  In  view  of  the  failure  of  ministers  to  receive  adequate-supports 
by  reason  of  members  not  bearing  "their  portion  of  the  financial  burdens  of  the 
different  charges,"  the  Eldership  "recommended  the  several  churches  to  adopt  the 
assessment  plan,  so  as  to  equalize  the  burdens,  provided  it  can  be  made  satis- 
factory to  the  churches."  The  Eldership  pledged  itself  "to  do  every  thing  in  our 
power  to  stop  the  manufacturing  and  importing  into  our  country,  and  the  selling 
of,  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage;  and  furthermore,  we  will  use  our  influence- 
at  the  ballot  box  against  any  person  who  may  seek  office  in  our  country,  who  uses 
intoxicating  liquors,  or  encourages  the  selling,  manufacture  or  importation  of  the 
same."  The  Constitution  was  amended  so  as  to  give  to  the  Standing  Committee 
"all  the  powers  of  the  Eldership,  except  to  alter  or  infringe  upon  the  Constitution; 
but  all  its  actions  shall  be  subject  to  the  sanction,  or  disapproval,  of  the  Elder- 
ship." Two  Pentecostal  meetings  were  provided  for,  and  also  a  Ministerial  As- 
sociation. Churches  are  accused  of  "becoming  more  formal;  games  are  being  in- 
troduced which  encourage  idle  life  and  feed  idolatry."  "We  would  condemn  the 
use  of  games,  and  would  recommend  a  more  devoted  and  godly  life." 

25th  Illinois  Eldei*sliip. — Several  new  departures  characterize  the  Illinois 
Eldership  of  1877.  It  agreed  to  pay  half  the  expenses  of  its  delegates  to  the 
General  Eldership.  It  renewed  the  agitation  in  favor  of  a  more  central  location 
for  our  publishing  interests,  and  even  instructed  its  delegates  to  vote  for  such  a 
change.  It  so  far  receded  from  the  general  position  held  earlier  as  to  request  the 
General  Eldership  to  issue  a  doctrinal  tract.  It  also  expressed  its  readiness  tO' 
"receive  applications  for,  and  to  issue,  exhorters'  licenses  to  such  brethren  as  in 
its  judgment  are  deemed  worthy."  It  hedged  this  privilege  around  by  declaring 
later  that  such  a  license  shall  confer  "no  official  authority  to  administer  the  or- 
dinances, receive  into  church  fellowship,  solemnize  marriages,  or  exercise  con- 
trolling or  disciplining  power  by  virtue  of  a  license  to  exhort."  The  Eldership 
held  its  session  at  Pleasant  Valley,  Jo  Daviess  county,  so  far  North  as  to  make  a 
large  attendance  improbable,  beginning  October  3,  1877.  Twelve  preachers 
were  present,  and  fourteen  absent;  ten  ruling  elders  and  three  delegates  were 
present.  M.  S.  Newcomer  was  made  Speaker;  W.  B.  Allen,  Clerk;  J.  Wilson, 
Financial  Clerk,  and  D.  Palmer,  Treasurer.  Newcomer  had  preached  the  Opening 
Sermon  from  Isa.  xliv.  24-26.  The  evening  of  October  2nd  and  the  whole  day  fol- 
lowing were  spent  in  Ministerial  Association.  This  order  was  made  a  Rule.  The 
Eldership  had  adopted  a  Rule  at  a  former  session  that  no  minister  of  the  body 
was  to  have  pulpit  fellowship  with  an  expelled  minister  of  this  or  any  other  Elder- 
ship. The  West  Ohio  Eldership  made  complaint  that  Shoemaker  had  violated  this 
Rule  by  assisting  a  man  expelled  from  said  Eldership  in  dedicating  a  house  of 
worship.  The  Standing  Committee  expressed  extreme  sorrow  "to  hear  of  such  a 
breach  of  our  Rules,"  and  "cherished  the  hope  that  Shoemaker  will  not  again 
violate  the  letter  or  spirit  of  our  Rules."  Approved  by  the  Eldership,  this  closed 
the  incident.  In  addition  to  the  Ministerial  Association,  the  Eldership  also  ar- 
ranged for  Pentecostal  meetings  and  a  Sunday-school  Convention.  It  adopted 
a  resolution  in  favor  of  a  Church  Hymnal. 

26th  Illinois  Eldership.- — Eleven  teaching  elders,  thirteen  ruling  elders,  and 
four  delegates  constituted  the  Eldership  which  held  its  session  at  Troy  Grove, 
LaSalle  county,  beginning  October  1,  1878.  W.  B.  Allen  delivered  the  Opening 
Sermon,  from  Mai.  ii.  7.  A  layman,  Jehu  Bailey,  was  elected  Speaker;  W.  B. 
Allen,  Clerk;  J.  Wilson,  Financial  Clerk,  and  D,  Palmer,  Treasurer.  A  committee 
was  appointed  to  prepare  a  three  years'   course  "for  novitiates,  with  a  view  to- 


522  History    of    the    Churches    op    God 

encourage  and  direct  young  candidates  for  the  ministry,  and  to  secure  their 
greater  efficiency  in  the  work."  Among  the  works  to  be  studied  were  Winebren- 
ner's  Sermons,  Watson's  Institutes,  Home's  Introduction,  Pearson  on  Infidelity, 
Macaulay's  English  History,  Conybeai-e's  and  Hawson's  Life  of  Paul,  and  a  Har- 
mony of  the  Gospels.  The  Eldership  lamented  the  death  of  George  Dir  "who  has 
labored  in  this  body  for  a  number  of  years,  and  by  a  consistent  life  and  from  ad- 
herence to  the  principles  of  the  Church  of  God  has  won  the  esteem  and  respect 
of  the  people."  On  Saturday  evening,  after  a  sermon  by  I.  E.  Boyer,  the  Eldership 
observed  the  ordinances.  The  need  of  a  Church  Hymnal  was  strongly  empha- 
sized, asserting  that  "the  necessities  of  the  case  are  such  that  a  failure  to  take 
immediate  action  in  this  matter  will  result  disastrously  to  the  cause  of  our  beloved 
Zion."  The  Eldership  affirmed  "that  total  abstinence  is  the  daughter  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  all  who  would  traduce  the  parent  are  not  to  be  trusted  with  the  inter- 
ests of  the  family."  The  Stationing  Committee  made  twelve  appointments,  and 
one  General  Missionary,  with  a  salary  of  $400.00  out  of  the  Missionary  Fund. 
The  receipts  for  the  year  for  this  Fund  were  $468.46.  The  Widows'  Fund  had  to 
its  credit  $1,425.19. 

27th  Illinois  Eldei'ship. — It  has  often  been  contended  that  but  a  small  part 
of  funds  contributed  for  missionary  purposes  reaches  the  missionaries.  Often 
this  objection  is  not  well  founded.  The  Treasurer  of  the  Illinois  Eldership  re- 
ported in  1879  that  the  receipts  of  the  Missionary  Fund  were  $420.30.  This 
included  a  balance  on  hand  of  $18.46.  The  total  paid  out  was  $408.00,  of  which 
$400.00  was  paid  to  the  General  Missionary.  Other  funds  show  a  better  condi- 
tion. The  Widows'  Fund  had  a  total  of  $1,558.09,  and  the  Contingent  Fund 
$48.11.  The  session  of  the  Eldership  was  held  at  Boiling  Springs,  Macon  county, 
and  began  October  1,  1879,  when  S.  D.  C.  Jackson  preached  the  Opening  Sermon 
from  2  Cor.  iv.  1,  2.  Fifteen  of  the  twenty-four  teaching  elders  were  present,  with 
■eleven  ruling  elders  and  two  delegates.  The  officers  chosen  were  I.  E.  Boyer, 
Speaker;  W.  B,  Allen,  Clerk;  W.  R.  Coveit,  Financial  Clerk,  and  John  Stare, 
Treasurer.  The  Eldership  required  every  resolution  to  be  handed  to  the  Clerk 
to  be  read  by  him.  It  also  directed  that  on  Saturday  evening  A.  J.  Fenton  preach 
on  the  "Nature  of  Regeneration."  The  Church  of  God  being  "abundantly  able 
to  support  its  ministry,"  and  yet  it  receives  "but  a  small  remuneration  compara- 
tively speaking,"  the  churches  were  urged  "to  adopt  the  monthly  system  of  paying 
their  pastors."  In  connecting  the  use  of  tobacco  with  temperance,  the  Committee 
introduced  a  new  feature,  of  "devoting  fifteen  minutes  to  hearing  the  experiences 
of  those  who  have  abandoned  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  and  tobacco."  The 
Eldership  "disapproved  of  the  practice  of  brethren  reflecting  upon  one  another 
when  reporting."  A  committee  was  appointed  to  revise  the  Constitution  and 
By-Laws.  Pastoral  visiting  was  insisted  upon,  and  ministers  were  enjoined  "to 
do  it  with  impartiality."  The  Eldership  assumed  the  right  to  pass  a  vote  of 
"censure  or  condemnation  of  the  Board  of  Publication  of  the  General  Eldership 
in  not  adhering  to  the  resolution  of  that  body  touching  a  Church  Hymnal."  The 
report  of  the  Stationing  Committee  was  declared  "to  be  final,  and  that  no  appeal 
can  be  taken  by  those  dissatisfied  with  its  action,  except  by  a  direct  refusal  to 
to  take  the  appointments  assigned,  or  an  appeal  to  the  Standing  Committee." 

28th  Illinois  Eldership. — In  the  earlier  history  of  organized  societies  their 
constitutions  were  a  growth.  The  needs  of  small  bodies  to  have  organic  laws  is 
not  so  apparent.  Their  interests  are  less  diversified.  A  supreme  and  common 
purpose  actuates  the  membership.  As  the  work  enlarges  and  interests  multiply, 
conditions  and  circumstances,  as  well  as  confiicting  rights,  suggest  the  need  of 
elementary  rules,  which  are  at  first  only  temporary.  Additions  are  made,  as 
from  year  to  year  the  Rules  are  readopted.  Permanent,  organic  laws  follow, 
and  these,  in  various  ways  are  changed  or  amended,  or  entirely  revised.  This  is 
the  process  of  evolution  by  which  all  the  Constitutions  of  the  oldest  Elderships 
were  framed.  Hence,  they  were  rather  frequently  placed  in  the  hands  of  com- 
mittees to  revise.  This  the  Illinois  Eldership  again  did  in  1880,  when  W.  B.  Allen, 
S.  D.  C  Jackson  and  I.  S.  Richmond  were  the  committee,  to  report  in  1881.  The 
Eldership  convened  in  the  bethel  in  Spring  township,  Warren  county,  Tuesday 
evening,  October  12th,  and  spent  one  day  as  the  Ministerial  Association.  On  the 
evening  of  the  13th  S.  D.  C.  Jackson  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  1  John 
iii.  2.  Thirteen  ministers  were  present,  and  fourteen,  absent.  There  were  also 
present  six  ruling  elders  and  three  delegates.  The  Speaker  was  M.  S.  Newcomer; 
Clerk,  W.  B.  Allen;   Financial  Clerk,  W.    I.    Berkstresser,    and    Treasurer,    John 


Illinois    Eldership  523 

Stare.  Christian,  Shelby  and  Moultrie  counties,  adjoining  Macon  on  the  south, 
had  "been  occupied  by  the  Illinois  Eldership  with  much  success,"  and  the  churches 
organized  in  those  counties  desiring  to  be  supplied  by  the  Illinois  Eldership  with 
preachers,  the  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  in  1881  were  requested  to  peti- 
tion said  body  that  these  counties  be  added  to  the  Illinois  Eldership  territory.  The 
Eldership  lamented  "the  apparent  lack  of  critical,  biblical  culture  and  general 
knowledge  among  the  ministers,"  and  "urged  them  to  redouble  their  exertions 
that  they  may  be  qualified  for  the  responsible  duties  of  their  high  calling."  The 
laity  was  "encouraged  to  independence  in  thought  and  to  preparation  for  careful 
and  critical  examination  of  all  the  various  questions  of  duty  and  right  taught  them 
in  the  word  of  God."  Co-operation  was  promised  "with  others  in  all  ways  possi- 
ble in  the  project  of  establishing  a  Church  school."  The  stepping  stone  to  the 
ministry  frequently  was  the  exhorter's  license,  and  at  this  Eldership  several  were 
thus  licensed  who  shortly  after  became  ordained  ministers.  The  name  of  R.  H. 
Heiison,  one  who  "realized  the  divine  injunction  to  earnestly  contend  for  the 
laith,"  was  added  to  the  Roll  of  departed  ones.  Fraternal  delegates  were  fre- 
quently sent  from  one  Eldership  to  another,  A.  C.  Gamer,  of  Iowa,  being  present 
at  this  session  of  the  Illinois  Eldership  in  that  capacity.  The  state  of  religion  in 
the  Eldership  was  reported  by  the  Committee  to  be  very  gratifying,  "as  seen  in 
the  numerous  accessions  to  the  membership  of  the  Church  and  the  quickening  and 
•encouraging  of  the  followers  of  Christ."  But  the  Committee  "urged  the  member- 
ship to  secure  a  higher  plane  of  religious  preparation  and  a  fuller  consecration  of 
themselves  and  their  property  to  the  service  of  God."  Of  the  fourteen  fields  of 
labor  to  which  sixteen  ministers  were  appointed,  three  were  missions. 

29th  Illinois  Eldership. — The  session  of  the  Eldership  held  at  Decatur,  Macon 
county,  began  Thursday  evening,  October  5,  1881,  with  the  Opening  Sermon  by 
George  Sandoe,  from  1  Cor.  i.  21.  The  body  was  considerably  enlarged  by  the 
enrollment  of  the  ministers  and  delegates  from  the  Illinois  part  of  the  territory  of 
the  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership,  which  "the  General  Eldership  in  1881 
merged  into  the  Illinois  Eldership."  T.  Koogle,  of  Ohio,  and  J.  H.  Besore,  of 
Iowa,  were  present  as  fraternal  delegates.  The  officers  elected  were  George 
Sandoe,  Speaker;  W.  B.  Allen,  Clerk,  and  John  Stare,  Treasurer.  There  were  now 
thirty-nine  licensed  ministers  in  the  Eldership,  of  which  number  twenty-three 
were  present;  thirteen  ruling  elders  and  seven  delegates.  Two  exhorters  were 
-enrolled.  It  was  decided  to  be  inexpedient  to  hold  a  camp-meeting,  but  "several 
general  meetings"  were  recommended  to  be  held  instead.  Resolutions  were 
adopted,  "endorsing  with  joy  and  gladness  the  action  of  the  General  Eldership 
favoring  the  erection  of  an  institution"  of  learning,  and  declaring  that  "we 
■solemnly  avow  it  as  our  conviction  before  God,  that  every  member  of  the  Church, 
Tjoth  lay  and  ministerial,  is  morally  bound  to  contribute  to  this  work,  largely, 
liberally  and  joyously."  The  Committee  was  M.  S.  Newcomer,  S.  D.  C  Jackson 
and  W.  I.  Berkstresser.  The  Mendota  Mission  enterprise  was  regarded  as  on  a 
permanent  basis,  and  had  the  sympathies  of  the  Eldership,  which  cheerfully  made 
the  desired  appropriations  as  "conditions  upon  which  Sister  A.  C  Newcomer  pro- 
posed to  carry  forward  the  work."  Receipts  for  the  various  Funds  were  as  fol- 
lows: Widows',  $74.94;  Contingent,  $26.34;  General  Eldership  Contingent  Fund, 
$58.03;  Missionary  Fund,  $173.51.  The  Eldership  pledged  itself  to  use  its  "best 
■endeavors  to  suppress  the  use  and  manufacture  of  malt,  or  spirituous  liquors  in 
our  State;  to  "teach  the  young  the  principles  of  temperance,  and  not  to  vote  for 
men  to  fill  public  offices  while  they  are  encouraging  this  great  evil  of  intemper- 
ance." It  "condemned  the  use  of  tobacco  in  all  its  forms,  and  that  we  consider 
It  a  nuisance."  A  committee,  consisting  of  M.  S.  Newcomer,  W.  B.  Allen  and  J. 
Bernard,  was  "appointed  to  recommend  a  course  of  studies  for  the  young  min- 
isters." The  Stationing  Committee  of  three  ministers  and  two  laymen,  divided 
the  territory  into  twenty-two  fields  of  labor,  assigning  Mary  Berksti-esser  to  Mt. 
Carroll  and  Lanark,  Annie  C.  Newcomer  to  Mendota  Mission. 

30th  Illinois  Eldership. — Quite  an  aggressive  spirit  characterized  the  thirtieth 
session  of  the  Illinois  Eldership,  which  was  held  at  Warrensburg,  Macon  county. 
It  was  presided  over  by  J.  Beraard;  with  W.  B.  Allen  as  Clerk;  M.  Anderson,  Fi- 
nancial Clerk,  and  John  Stare,  Treasurer.  Two  committees  of  three  each  were 
named  "to  draft  programs  for  the  two  Pentecostal  meetings."  Prohibition  had 
l)ecome  an  issue  before  the  people  of  Illinois,  and  the  Eldership  resolved  to  "give 
our  undivided  and  uncompromising  efforts  in  the  pulpit  and  at  the  ballot-box  to 
secure  the  prohibition  of  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  the  accursed  evil."     To  en- 


524  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

courage  fixed  ministerial  salaries,  each  local  church  was  directed  "to  ascertain  by 
church  meetings,  or  otherwise,  the  amount  of  support  which  can  be  given,  and 
report  the  same  to  the  Eldership."  On  the  ordinances  the  body  expressed  its 
judgment  that  "baptism  should  be  attended  to  as  early  as  practicable  after  con- 
version," and  that  "the  ordinances  of  God's  house  should  unlformily  be  observed 
as  frequently  in  each  church  as  once  a  quarter."  An  unusual  action  was  taken 
relative  to  G.  S.  Peti"y,  who  had  "in  writing  declared  his  withdrawal  from  the 
Eldership."  The  Eldership  not  only  "cheerfully  ratify  his  declaration"  and 
"dropped  his  name  from  the  Ministerial  Roll;"  but  directed  the  Clerk  "to  send 
or  take,  the  resolution  touching  Elder  Peti-y  to  the  County  Clerk  of  Kankakee 
county  and  have  it  recorded  by  the  side  of  the  record  of  his  license."  To  secure 
the  means  to  pay  "the  rent  for  the  Mendota  house  of  worship,"  it  was  resolved 
"that  a  Sisters'  Missionary  Society  be,  and  hereby  is,  organized,  consisting  of  the 
following  officers:  Mrs.  A.  C.  Newcomer,  President;  Miss  Mary  Berkstresser,  Sec- 
retary, and  Mrs.  Malinda  McClui-e,  Treasurer."  There  were  eighteen  fields  of 
labor,  of  which  two  were  missions — Troy  Grove  and  Mendota,  and  Streator.  Diona 
circuit  was  "to  be  supplied."  Streator  had  asked  for  $50.00  missionary  money 
for  its  pastor,  and  a  loan  for  the  church.  The  Board  of  Missions  appropriated 
$20.00,  but  declined  to  make  a  loan. 

31st  Illinois  Eldership. — Experience  had  made  it  evident  that  though  the  Con- 
stitution was  revised  in  18  81,  it  was  not  in  all  respects  adapted  to  existing  con- 
ditions. This  developed  when  the  Eldership  was  constituted  on  October  11,  1883, 
at  Bunker  Hill  Bethel,  Bureau  county.  The  lay  representation  was  not  proving 
satisfactory.  There  were  present  twenty  of  the  thirty-six  ministers,  one  exhorter 
out  of  the  four,  eleven  ruling  elders  and  four  delegates.  Four  fields  were  not  rep- 
resented. Immediately  after  completing  the  enrollment  an  amendment  was 
adopted  to  Art.  II.  of  the  Constitution,  "that  in  the  matter  of  lay  representation 
in  the  Eldership  the  ruling  elders  come  first,  and  that  the  right  to  elect  delegates 
apart  from  the  elders  be  exercised  only  where  the  elders  do  not  attend  the  Elder- 
ship." I.  S.  Richmond  was  elected  Speaker;  W.  B.  Allen,  Stated  Clerk;  VV.  I. 
Berkstresser,  Financial  Clerk,  and  John  Stare,  Treasurer.  C.  Manchester  and  D. 
Blakeley  were  in  attendance  as  fraternal  delegates  from  the  Missouri  Eldership. 
One  of  the  alternate  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  in  1884  was  Mai-y  Berk- 
stresser. The  Committee  on  Education  "hailed  with  extreme  satisfaction  the 
establishment  of  Findlay  College."  It  recommended  "that  prayer  be  offered 
specially  for  the  President-elect,  that  in  the  organization  of  said  school  and  the 
preparation  of  the  course  of  studies  he  may  be  guided  by  that  wisdom  which  is 
from  above."  The  Committee  on  Resolutions  was  the  most  active  one  of  the 
session.  It  was  composed  of  Mai-y  Berkstresser,  H.  Will  and  R.  Pen-y,  and  it  re- 
ported eight  preambles  and  seventeen  resolutions,  all  but  one  of  which  were 
adopted.  It  condemned  "fairs,  festivals  and  other  social  gatherings  used  as  a 
means  of  raising  money  for  religious  purposes;"  urged  the  patronizing  of  our 
Church  literature;  declared  "the  use  of  tobacco  one  of  the  ways  of  dishonoring 
God  and  corrupting  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost;"  urged  the  patronage  of  "The 
Little  Star,"  published  by  the  Free  Baptist  Church,  along  with  the  "Sunday- 
School  Gem;"  recommended  "the  appointment  of  an  Evangelist  to  do  general 
work,  and  be  supported  out  of  the  Missionary  Fund;"  constituting  the  Board  of 
Missions  a  missionary  society;  denouncing  "all  attempts  to  control  the  General 
Eldership  in  its  choice  of  Editor  or  other  officials  as  wholly  gratuitous  and  im- 
pertinent," and  "providing  for  an  Eldership  Sunday-School  Convention.",  New- 
comer, Sandoe  and  Allen  were  elected  "to  prepare  a  course  of  studies,  and  to  act 
as  an  Examining  Board  for  the  young  ministers."  The  delegates  to  the  General 
Eldership  were  instructed  (1)  "to  use  their  infiuence  to  have  the  'Sunday-School 
Gem'  published  semi-monthly,"  (2)  to  work  "to  bring  about  a  better  harmony  in 
our  general  missionary  work  in  the  several  States;"  (3)  "to  endeavor  to  have  a 
cheap  primary  paper  published  weekly  or  semi-monthly,"  and  (4)  "to  make  an 
effort  to  secure  from  the  Board  of  Education  tracts  for  free  distribution  at  our 
annual  Elderships  and  general  meetings." 

32nd  Illinois  EIdei*ship. — The  Eldership  held  at  Decatur,  Macon  county,  be- 
ginning October  1,  1884,  was  unusually  well  attended.  Of  the  thirty-eight  teach- 
ing elders  nine  were  absent,  and  five  of  the  six  exhorters  were  present  and  eighteen 
ruling  elders  and  delegates.  One  day  was  devoted  to  the  Ministerial  Association, 
when  on  the  evening  of  October  1st  W.  I.  Berkstresser  preached  the  Opening  Ser- 
mon, from   1   Chron.  xxix.    5.      Balloting  resulted  in  the  election  for  Speaker  of 


Illinois    Eldership  525 

G.  Sandoe;  W.  B.  Allen,  Clerk;  W.  I.  Rerkstresser,  Financial  Clerk,  and  John 
Stare,  Treasurer.  The  action  of  the  General  Eldership  providing  for  the  inaugura- 
tion of  foreign  mission  work  was  "heartily  and  fully  endorsed."  An  attempt  was 
made  by  the  Committee  on  Resolutions,  consisting  of  J.  C.  Fornci'ook,  M.  S.  New- 
comer and  R.  Pen-y,  to  have  action  taken  not  "to  ordain  any  person  to  the  sacred 
and  important  office  of  the  ministry  who  indulges  in  the  use  of  tobacco."  The 
Eldership  was  not  prepared  to  sustain  the  Committee.  The  Eldership  now  had 
$2,266.79  in  its  Fund  for  Superannuated  Ministers  and  Widows.  Its  receipts  dur- 
ing the  year  for  the  Missionary  Fund  were  $629.77.  The  sentiment  in  favor  of 
Prohibition  was  strongly  expressed  by  the  Committee  on  Temperance,  as  being 
"unhesitatingly  and  emphatically,  without  any  mental  reservation  or  equivoca- 
tion," opposed  to  "the  legalized  sale  of  all  intoxicating  drinks,"  and  "in  favor  of 
a  constitutional  amendment  prohibiting  the  legalized  sale  of  intoxicants."  During 
the  year  one  minister  had  gone  "to  'see  the  King  in  his  beauty,'  in  a  land  of  purer 
light,"  and  the  Eldership  placed  sorrowfully  on  record  a  minute  of  its  apprecia- 
tion of  his  worth.  T.  H.  Deshiri  was  "a  man  long  and  favorably  known  as  a 
faithful  student  of  God's  word,  a  strong  defender  of  the  principles  of  the  Church, 
a  mighty  man  in  prayer,  and  one  well  qualified  for  pulpit  work."  Two  Sabbath- 
School  Conventions  were  appointed  "to  be  held  in  connection  with  the  Pentecostal 
meetings,"  one  at  Mendota,  and  one  at  Charleston.  "Every  minister  who  has  no 
regular  work"  was  "requested  to  pledge  this  body  that  he  will  go  out  as  an  inde- 
pendent missionary,  and  keep  up  at  least  two  regular  appointments  during  the 
coming  year."  "A  State  Sisters'  Foreign  Missionary  Society"  was  created,  "with 
full  power  to  collect  money  in  the  local  churches"  for  foreign  missions.  "The 
sisters  shall  have  full  control  of  this  department  of  work."  Three  sisters  were 
appointed  "to  prepare  a  Constitution"  for  this  Society.  It  was  to  do  its  work 
"in  the  local  churches  so  as  not  to  conflict  with  the  work  and  societies  organized 
by  the  General  Eldership." 

33rd  Illinois  Eldership. — Largely  on  account  of  long  distances  the  ministers 
and  delegates  had  to  travel  to  the  Elderships,  Ministerial  Asociations  were  not 
infrequently  held  in  connection  with  the  Eldership  sessions.  A  larger  attendance 
was  thus  secured  for  both  meetings.  But  in  1885  the  Sunday-School  Convention 
of  the  Illinois  Eldership  was  held  immediately  preceding  the  Eldership  session,  on 
Tuesday  evening  and  Wednesday,  and  at  the  place  where  the  Eldership  convened 
in  the  evening  of  Wednesday,  October  14th,  to  listen  to  the  Opening  Sermon  by 
Jay  C.  Forncrook,  from  Ps.  cxxvi.  6.  The  session  was  held  at  Martinsville,  Clarke 
county.  Twenty-three  ministers  were  present,  four  exhorters  and  eighteen  ruling 
elders  and  delegates,  while  fourteen  ministers  were  absent.  The  officers  elected 
were,  M.  S.  Newcomer,  Speaker;  W.  R.  Allen,  Clerk;  W.  I.  Rerkstresser,  Financial 
Clerk,  and  John  Stare,  Treasurer.  A  special  feature  of  the  session  was  "a  season 
of  song  and  prayer"  "each  day  at  10  o'clock  in  the  forenoon,  and  at  3  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon."  Two  Pentecostal  meetings  were  appointed,  one  in  the  northern 
and  one  in  the  southern  section  of  the  territory.  Arrangements  were  made  for 
series  of  lectures  on  prescribed  subjects  and  subsequent  Ministerial  Associations, 
beginning  with  one  on  the  Ministry  at  the  next  meeting,  by  M.  S.  Newcomer.  The 
system  of  liquor  licenses,  "whether  high  or  low,"  was  declared  to  be  "sinful,  and 
promotive  of  profligacy  and  vice,  and  that  all  political  parties  favoring  the  licens- 
ing of  this 'crime  against  God  and  man  ought  to  be  ignored  by  Christian  men." 
"Absolute  prohibition  of  the  liquor  traffic  in  the  State  and  nation"  was  favored  "as 
the  only  proper  solution  of  this  intricate  problem."  As  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw,  Presi- 
dent-elect of  Findlay  College  and  Secretary-Treasurer  of  Foreign  Missions,  was 
present,  these  interests  were  made  a  special  order  for  Saturday  morning  from  10 
to  11.30  o'clock.  It  was  an  enthusiastic  sitting,  and  $1,500  were  pledged  for 
Findlay  College,  and  $80.00  for  Foreign  Mission  work.  Considerable  satisfaction 
was  manifested  over  the  state  of  religion  in  the  Eldership,  as  "considerable  and 
important  accessions  to  the  churches  have  been  made,  good  foundations  have  been 
laid  for  successful  work  in  the  near  future,  two  church  houses  have  been  built, 
three  new  organizations  formed,  and  all  the  fields  seem  more  or  less  to  have  pros- 
pered." A  Woman's  Missionary  Society  was  formed  and  approved  by  the  Elder- 
ship. While  the  Eldership  enjoyed  the  distinction  of  having  its  present  Speaker 
Assistant  Editor  of  The  Advocate,  a  note  of  half-defined  querulousness  is  found  in 
a  resolution  stating  the  "conviction  of  this  body,  that  while  it  would  be  no  detri- 
ment to  the  East,  it  would  be  to  the  interest  and  profit  of  the  Church  at  large, 
if  the  West  were  to  have  accorded  to  it  some  share  of  editorial  right  in 


526  History    of    the  Churches    of    God 

the  columns  of  The  Advocate."  It  was  expressed  as  the  "sense  of  this  body  that 
the  salaries  of  ministers  ought  to  be  paid  monthly."  The  Eldership  also  placed 
itself  on  record  in  favor  of  the  tithing  system,  recommending  that  "one-tenth  of 
our  income  be  devotedly  set  apart  for  the  service  of  the  Master."  The  number  of 
fields  of  labor  was  twenty-two,  all  supplied  with  pastors. 

34th  Illinois  Eklei-sliip. — The  Illinois  Eldership  has  had  at  several  epochs  in 
its  history  ministers  who  for  some  occult  reason  were  disposed  to  antagonize  in- 
terests and  actions  of  the  General  Eldership.  This  developed  in  1865,  when  a 
virulent  attack  was  made  on  The  Advocate  and  its  venerable  Editor,  with  insinua- 
tions to  start  an  opposition  paper.  So  the  veiled  dissatisfaction  voiced  in  a  reso- 
lution on  the  same  subject  in  1885  was  evidenced  in  an  action  taken  in  1886,  de- 
claring that  "The  Church  Advocate  is  a  non-partisan  journal,  in  which  political 
preferences  and  bias  ought  not  to  appear."  Possibly  the  small  attendance,  as  in 
1865,  rendered  the  passage  of  such  a  resolution  possible  by  the  few  whose  con- 
sciousness was  dominated  by  some  evil  passion.  Twenty-two  of  the  forty-one 
teaching  elders  were  absent  when  the  body  convened  in  the  Troy  Grove  Bethel, 
LaSalle  county,  Wednesday  evening,  October  6,  1886,  to  listen  to  the  Opening- 
Sermon  by  George  Sandoe,  from  Acts  xx.  24.  Ten  ruling  elders  and  five  delegates 
were  also  present,  and  one  of  the  three  exhorters.  W.  B.  Long  was  chosen 
Speaker;  W.  I.  Berkstresser,  Clerk,  and  W.  B.  Allen,  Financial  Clerk.  At  three 
successive  sittings  M.  S.  Newcomer  delivered  lectures  on  "The  Christian  Min- 
istry," subdividing  the  subject  into  "Who  Shall  Preach?"  "What  to  Preach?" 
"How  to  Preach?"  The  lectures  "were  delivered  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the 
Eldership,"  and  the  Board  of  Publication  was  requested  "to  publish  them  in 
pamphlet  form."  The  sentiment  of  the  Eldership  was  "not  to  give  our  support  to 
any  political  party  which  does  not  favor  State  and  National  prohibition  in  its  plat- 
form." Pentecostal  meetings  were  less  popular,  and  they  were  referred  to  the 
Standing  Committee.  Finding  some  "teaching"  in  the  "Workman  and  Quar- 
terly" which  the  Eldership  disapproved,  and  "especially  on  the  new  birth  in  John 
iii.,  feet-washing  being  entirely  left  out  of  John  xiii.,  and  erroneous  doctrine 
on  John  xv.,"  it  "called  upon  the  General  Eldership  to  examine  into  this  matter 
in  order  to  adjust  the  same  satisfactorily."  The  Eldership  rebuked  "many 
ministers  who  failed  to  keep  accounts  with  the  several  churches."  It  also  recom- 
mended "the  establishment  of  a  better  financial  system  in  each  church;  that  the 
ministers  impress  upon  the  deacons  the  importance  of  soliciting  subscriptions, 
for  the  ministers  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  of  labor,  and  that  the  deacons  enter 
into  account  with  the  ministers  and  churches,  to  the  end  that  the  ministers 
of  this  body  as  a  whole  may  have  a  much  larger  financial  showing  in  their 
salaries  to  report  at  each  yearly  meeting  of  the  Eldership."  The  use  of  "un- 
fermented  wine  only  for  Communion  purposes"  was  "strongly  recommended.  "^ 
"Receipts  by  the  Financial  Clerk  were  limited:  Mission  Fund,  $82.26;  Widows' 
Fund,  $49.75;  Contingent  Fund,  $141.14.  There  were  twenty-one  fields  of  labor,, 
six  of  which  received  appropriations  from  the  Missionary  Fund,  aggregating 
$375.00.  Three  of  the  charges  were  served  by  two  of  the  ordained  sisters  of  the 
Eldership — Mary  Berkstresser  and  Mrs.  A.  C.  Newcomer. 

35th  Illinois  Eldership. — The  effect  of  distance  on  the  attendance  at  the  Eld- 
ership was  very  perceptibly  seen  in  1887,  when  it  convened  in  the  Summit  Bethel, 
Lanark,  Carroll  county,  in  the  north-western  corner  of  the  State.  Twenty-two 
ministers  were  absent,  fourteen  present,  with  six  ruling  elders  and  three  delegates. 
AV.  B.  Long  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  1  Kings  viii.  27.  The  Ministerial 
Association  was  held  during  the  day  preceding  the  Eldership.  W.  B.  Allen  was 
the  choice  of  the  Eldership  for  Speaker;  W.  I.  Berkstresser,  Clerk,  and  C.  Man- 
chester, Financial  Clerk.  The  latter  delivered  the  lectures  before  the  Eldership 
on  Friday,  Saturday  and  Monday  afternoons.  Allen  had  been  elected  Professor  of 
Theology  at  Findlay  College,  but  after  filling  that  position  for  a  short  time  re- 
signed, and  the  Eldership  was  not  satisfied  with  the  current  reasons  for  his  action, 
and  appointed  a  committee  of  three  to  inquire  into  them;  but  nothing  new  de- 
veloped. The  case  of  Mrs.  M.  B.  Woodworth  created  greater  interest.  She  had 
crossed  the  line  into  the  territory  of  the  Illinois  Eldership,  and  her  "evangelistic 
and  faith-healing  meetings"  had  awakened  much  concern.  A  committee  was  named 
"to  investigate"  the  results  of  her  work.  This  committee  gave  her  credit  "as  an 
earnest,  enthusiastic  worker;"  "that  souls  have  been  truly  converted  under  her 
labors,  and  thus  far  she  has  been  doing  good  work;"  but  condemned  "her  manner 
of  practicing  the  healing  art  as  unscriptural  and  deceptive,"  and  on  the  whole  "re- 


Illinois    Eldership  527 

garded  her  work,  as  at  present  conducted,  as  being  more  detrimental  ttian  bene- 
ficial to  the  cause  of  Christianity;  that  we  view  the  work  with  alarm,  and  that  the 
Church  of  God  in  Illinois  can  not  endorse  the  work."  To  give  wider  publicity  to 
this  action  it  was  ordered  published  in  a  Chicago  daily  paper.  The  W.  M.  S.  was 
in  active  co-operation  with  the  Eldership,  and  asked  its  "aid  and  sympathy  in  the 
work  which  it  had  under  contemplation — publishing  a  missionary  quarterly  in, 
the  interest  of  the  W.  M.  S.  of  Illinois."  In  co-operation  with  the  General  Elder- 
ship in  its  mission  work,  the  Eldership  apportioned  the  $200.00  asked  of  it  among- 
its  fields  of  labor,  and  directed  the  circuits  and  stations  to  collect  the  same.  The 
general  religious  condition  of  the  Eldership  was  somewhat  encouraging.  Finances 
were  still  low,  as  only  $24.42  were  collected  for  the  Contingent  Fund  during  the 
year;  Widows'  Fund,  $210.91;  Missionary  Fund,  $182.61.  "D.  H.  Rupp  was  ap- 
pointed to  deliver  a  lecture  before  the  Ministerial  Association  of  our  next  Elder- 
ship upon  the  subject,  'The  Financial  Obligation  of  Members  of  the  Church  of 
God.'  "  A  distinctively  new  departure  is  indicated  by  a  resolution  adopted,  ap- 
pointing a  committee  "to  select  speakers  and  assign  topics  for  next  Eldership. "- 
The  preamble  states  as  a  reason  for  this  action,  that  "brethren  speaking  before 
the  annual  sessions  of  our  body  are  expected  to  speak  clearly,  and  upon  topics  of 
interest  to  the  Church,  especially  the  cardinal  doctrines  of  the  Church;"  and  that 
to  do  this  "requires  much  study,  forethought  and  arrangement."  The  organiza- 
tion of  Christian  Endeavor  Societies  is  noted  with  approval,  and  the  churches  were 
urged  to  organize  societies.  Seventeen  appointments  were  made  by  the  Stationing 
Committee,  including  Brown  county  mission.  Three  other  fields  received  appro- 
priations of  missionary  money.  The  Eldership  closed  on  Monday  evening  with  two 
memorable  incidents.  The  first  was  the  ordinance  meeting,  when  "some  seventy 
brethren  and  sisters,  with  much  heartiness  and  evident  joy,  engaged  in  the  ser- 
vice." The  second  was  the  presentation  of  a  set  of  Parker's  People's  Bible  to  M. 
S.  Newcomer  and  wife  in  behalf  of  the  Illinois  Eldership.  They  had  received 
transfers  to  the  Iowa  Eldership. 

36th  Illinois  Eldei-ship. — Absenteeism  seems  to  have  become  chronic  in  the 
Illinois  Eldership.  The  session  of  1888  was  held  at  Round  Grove  Bethel,  Shelby 
county,  more  to  the  southward  of  the  territory;  but  the  attendance  was  but  little 
better  than  at  Lanark,  in  the  extreme  north,  in  1887.  Eighteen  "ministers  in 
charge  of  work"  were  present,  with  three  others;  while  fourteen  were  absent.  Two 
exhorters  were  also  present,  eleven  ruling  elders  and  one  delegate.  The  preceding 
day  was  occupied  by  the  Ministerial  Association  in  profitable  discussions.  On  the 
evening  of  September  19th  W.  B.  Allen  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Job. 
xxvii.  6.  D.  H.  Rupp  was  elected  Speaker;  W.  I.  Berkstresser,  Clerk,  and  C  Man- 
chester, Financial  Clerk.  Pentecostal  meetings  were  still  held,  and  the  Eldership 
appointed  two,  one  north  and  one  south,  and  the  Eldership  expressed  its  judgment, 
"that  it  is  the  positive  duty  of  the  brethren  to  attend  these  meetings."  There 
were  no  licenses  granted,  except  to  W.  J,  Schaner  upon  receipt  of  his  transfer  from 
the  Ohio  Eldership.  Action  was  taken,  requiring  applicants  for  license  to  appear- 
in  person  at  the  Eldership  or  before  the  Standing  Committee.  During  the  year- 
the  "pale  monarch  of  the  unending  past"  claimed  two  of  the  ministers  among  his 
"countless  trophies" — S.  White  and  D.  Kyle — whose  virtues  were  recorded  in  suit- 
able terms  on  the  Journal  of  the  Eldership.  Again  the  support  of  the  ministry 
was  the  subject  of  action,  "the  churches  within  the  bounds  of  the  Eldership"  being 
"requested  to  put  forth  their  best  efforts  in  securing  their  pastors'  salaries  as  soon 
as  possible  after  they  enter  on  their  fields  of  labor."  And  further,  the  Clerk  wag 
"instructed  to  issue  a  circular  letter  to  the  officiary  of  the  various  churches,  urg^ 
ing  upon  them  their  obligation  for  a  much  more  liberal  and  prompt  support  of  the 
ministry."  The  Treasurer's  Report  showed  that  during  the  year  the  receipts 
were  $212.96  for  Missionary  Fund;  $264.26,  Superannuated  and  Widows'  Fund; 
$37.98,  Contingent  Fund;  $76.78,  Frontier  Mission  Fund.  John  Stare  was  re- 
elected Treasurer.  An  Examining  Committee  was  appointed  to  examine  a  class  of 
the  younger  ministers  named  in  Winebrenner  on  Regeneration,  Paley's  Natural 
Theology,  Butler's  Analogy  and  Finney  on  Revivals.  Each  one  was  also  required 
"to  prepare  and  present  Bible  readings  on  Revivals,  Growth  in  Grace,  The  Sec- 
ond Coming  of  Christ  and  Church  Discipline."  The  reports  of  ministers  showed 
that  there  were  during  the  year  492  conversions,  383  accessions,  239  baptized,  and 
two  new  churches  organized.  There  were  fifty-four  organizations  in  the  Elder- 
ship. Churches  and  pastors  were  instructed  not  to  give  letters  of  dismissal  to 
members  who  intend  to  remain  out  of  fellowship  with  any  church  of  God.     Twenty-. 


528  History    of    the    Churches    oe    God 

three  fields  of  labor  were  arranged  by  the  Stationiug  Committee,  but  two  of  them 
could  not  be  supplied  with  regular  pastors. 

37th  Illinois  Eldership. — The  advisability  of  having  more  religious  services 
during  sessions  of  Elderships  has  been  frequently  suggested.  There  are  always 
members  of  these  bodies  who  do  not  enjoy  business  sessions,  and  who  object  that 
there  is  too  much  of  the  secular,  the  legal  and  financial,  and  too  little  gospel  and 
grace.  No  one  denies  the  wholesome  effect  of  song  and  prayer  on  these  assemblies; 
but  that  is  not  their  purpose.  Yet  in  some  measure  different  Elderships  have 
yielded  to  this  pietistic  demand,  and  have  had  periods  of  devotion  during  sittings, 
or  a  sermon,  or  evangelistic  services.  Thus,  the  Illinois  Eldership  in  1889  directed 
that  "we  have  devotional  exercises  at  10  a.  m.  and  3  p.  m.  each  day  during  the 
session  of  this  Eldership."  The  plan  of  having  several  lectures  at  different  sit- 
tings was  also  continued.  I.  S.  Richmond  was  the  lecturer,  and  his  theme  was, 
"The  Bible  a  Miracle."  The  session  was  held  at  Warrensburg,  Macon  county,  be- 
ginning with  the  Opening  Sermon  on  Wednesday  evening,  October  2nd,  by  D.  H. 
Riipp.  There  were  twenty-two  teaching  elders  present;  twelve,  absent.  Three 
■exhorters  were  present;  five,  absent,  with  eleven  ruling  elders  present.  R.  Perry- 
was  chosen  Speaker;  C.  T.  McKee,  Clerk,  and  W.  B.  Allen,  Financial  Clerk.  The 
various  Funds  were  replenished  as  follows:  Missionary,  $185.70;  Frontier  Mis- 
sion, $69.84;  Contingent,  $27.55;  Superannuated  and  Widows',  $50.00.  This 
Fund  had  a  balance  in  the  treasury  of  $2,994.25.  The  Standing  Committee  was 
authorized  to  make  sale  of  Cabery  Bethel.  A  change  was  made  in  the  Eldership 
year,  so  "that  it  shall  end  hereafter  with  the  close  of  the  Eldership  session."  An 
action  was  taken  to  purchase  a  tent  for  the  use  of  the  Eldership.  To  increase  the 
receipts  for  home  missions  it  was  decided  that  an  "assessment  be  made  of  three 
hundred  dollars  as  the  lowest  limit,  to  be  apportioned  among  the  local  churches." 
A  step  toward  Congregationalism  is  indicated  in  the  action  expressing  "the  sense  of 

this  body,  that  members  should  be  received  into  fellowship by  the  consent  of 

both  pastor  and  church."  The  Board  of  Publication  having  authorized  C.  Man- 
chester to  publish  a  Missionary  Magazine,  it  was  heartily  endorsed,  along  with  the 
publications  of  the  General  Eldership.  Want  of  proper  care  and  system  in  "mak- 
ing appropriations  from  the  Superannuated  and  Widows'  Fund"  was  deprecated, 
and  needed  correctives  were  directed  to  be  applied.  The  body  placed  itself  di- 
rectly on  record  as  "opposed  to  the  building  of  any  house  of  worship  to  be  deeded 
to  more  than  one  denomination,  as  such  so-called  union  houses  almost  invariably 
lead  to  disunion,  strife  and  contention."  A  rigid  rule  was  adopted,  prohibiting 
any  minister  of  the  Eldership  from  "inviting  to  his  assistance  in  protracted  meet- 
ings any  one  not  holding  license  from  this  body,  without  securing  the  consent  of 
the  Standing  Committee."  The  accessions  to  the  churches  during  the  year  were 
209.  Six  new  churches  were  organized.  The  total  membership  was  1,295.  There 
were  twenty-two  fields  of  labor,  only  one  of  which  received  an  appropriation. 

38th  Illinois  Eldership. — On  May  22,  1890,  the  Illinois  Eldership  was  de- 
prived by  death  of  one  of  its  most  worthy  ministers.  On  the  afternoon  of  that 
beautiful  May  day  George  Sandoe  ended  his  useful  life.  He  was  born  at  Hinkle- 
town,  Lancaster  county.  Pa.,  December  31,  1826.  He  was  ordained  by  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  the  Fall  of  1850,  and  by  said  Eldership  was  sent  as  a 
missionary  to  the  southern  part  of  Illinois  in  1851.  The  deep  shadows  of  his 
death  hung  over  the  Illinois  Eldership  when  it  convened  at  Martinsville,  Clarke 
county,  the  place  where  Sandoe  had  his  permanent  home  during  his  ministry, 
Thursday  morning,  September  25,  1890.  The  Eldership  realized  that  "no  one  who 
has  thus  departed  will  be  missed  more  than  George  Sandoe."  And  in  its  resolu- 
tions reference  was  made  to  his  "association  with  the  Eldership  from  its  begin- 
ning."    He  was  an  able  expounder  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  God. 

"Firm   to   the   last   he   bravely    stood, 
Strong  to  the  last  he  bore  his  part; 
Deserting  his  post  he  never  could. 

For  true  as  steel  was  his  noble  heart." 

The  Eldership  made  choice  of  I.  S.  Richmond  for  Speaker;  J.  Bernard,  Clerk; 
W.  I.  Berkstresser,  Financial  Clerk.  Jas.  M.  Clark,  -a  member  of  the  Wesleyan 
Methodist  Church,  was  granted  license,  and  E.  H,  Baker  was  received  from  the 
West  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  The  Eldership  year  was  fixed  "to  end  with  the 
close  of  the  Eldership  session."  The  bethel  near  Cabery,  Ford  county,  was  sold 
by  direction  of  the  Eldership.     There  were  $3,299.03  in  the  Superannuated  Min- 


Illinois    Eldership  •  529 

isters'  and  Widows'  Fund.  "The  position  our  government  occupies  in  upholding 
the  monster  of  intemperance"  was  characterized  as  "an  outrage,"  and  the  Elder- 
ship declared  that  "we  will  not  vote  for  any  party  that  is  in  sympathy  with  the 
traffic,  but  will  cast  our  votes  with  the  party  that  stands  for  the  entire  prohibi- 
tion of  the  curse  which  blights  our  nation."  The  Eldership  was  "in  hearty  sym- 
pathy with  efforts  being  made  to  close  the  Columbia  Exposition  on  the  Sabbath 
day."  The  statistics  showed  conversions,  204;  accessions,  222;  baptized,  162; 
total  number  of  members,  1,500;  organized  churches,  40;  bethels,  34.  It  was 
agreed  upon  to  open  all  houses  of  worship  in  the  Eldership  to  W.  C.  T.  U.  workers. 
Pastors  were  forbidden  to  "employ  helpers  that  are  objected  to  by  the  Standing 
Committee."  There  were  twenty-five  appointments,  besides  Springfield,  which  was 
"placed  under  the  watch-care"  of  the  pastor  of  the  Decatur  church,  AV.  li.  Allen. 
Mary  Berkstresser,  who  had  been  "released  during  the  year  by  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee as  General  Missionary,  and  was  assigned  to  Martinsville  and  Hazel  Dell, 
was  again  appointed  General  Missionary.  There  was  such  a  deficiency  in  the 
number  of  ministers  willing  to  serve  appointments  that  five  remained  unsupplied. 

39th  Illinois  Eldership. — When  in  189  0,  after  considerable  rivalry,  the  Elder- 
ship voted  to  hold  its  session  in  1891  at  Union,  Jo  Daviess  county,  it  was  advised 
that  "the  place  is  somewhat  isolated;  but  if  the  weather  will  be  favorable,  it  will 
be  an  interesting  place  to  visit,  and  the  brotherhood  may  prepare  for  a  regular 
picnic  at  that  time."  The  "brethren  proposed  to  secure  a  large  tent,  to  be  used 
for  eating  purposes  and  for  holding  overflow  meetings."  Accordingly  the  Elder- 
ship met  at  the  place  selected,  and  held  its  sessions  during  September  17-19,  1891. 
On  Tuesday  evening,  September  15th,  the  Ministerial  Association  began  its  session 
at  the  same  place,  when  the  Opening  Lecture  was  delivered  by  C.  F.  Rogers.  On 
the  evening  of  the  16th  C.  T.  McKee  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  of  the  Elder- 
ship. The  officers  of  the  Eldership  were  W.  I.  Berkstresser,  Speaker;  J.  Bernard, 
Clerk;  W.  B.  Allen,  Financial  Clerk,  and  Monroe  White,  Treasurer.  President 
Latchaw  being  present,  spoke  eloquently  for  Findlay  College,  after  which  $200.00 
were  raised  to  apply  on  College  indebtedness."  There  were  several  new  accessions 
to  the  ministerial  ranks  of  the  Eldership,  so  that  all  but  one  of  the  twenty-three 
fields  of  labor  were  supplied.  Two  sisters,  Mary  Berkstresser  and  M.  E.  Markle, 
were  appointed  to  charges.  The  attempt  to  so  amend  the  Constitution  as  "to  strike 
out  all  references  to  the  Stationing  Committee,"  and  place  "the  securing  of  pastors 
into  the  hands  of  the  churches  and  ministers,"  said  change  to  go  "into  effect  im- 
mediately after  the  close  of  the  Eldership  session,"  was  not  successful,  though 
endorsed  by  the  Committee  on  Resolutions.  The  resolution  was  postponed,  "that 
nothing  like  electioneering  should  be  found  among  us  as  an  Eldership."  Three 
new  churches  were  organized,  and  there  were  330  conversions  and  305  accessions 
to  the  churches.  Assessments  were  made  for  Home  Missions  to  the  amount  of 
$300.00,  and  for  General  Missions,  $225.00. 

40th  Illinois  Eldership. — With  a  membership  present  of,  twenty-one  teaching 
elders,  five  exhorters  and  thirteen  ruling  elders  and  delegates,  the  fortieth  session 
of  the  Illinois  Eldership  began  its  session  in  the  U.  B.  house  of  worship  at  Findlay, 
Shelby  county,  September  29,  1892.  Fourteen  ministers  were  absent,  and  four 
fields  were  not  represented.  O.  B.  Huston  was  elected  Speaker,  and  J.  Bernard, 
Clerk.  The  Opening  Sermon  had  been  preached  the  previous  evening  by  AV.  I. 
Berkstresser,  from  II.  Tim.  ii.  15.  The  church  at  Springfield  had  not  yet  been  re- 
ceived "formally  into  the  Illinois  Eldership."  "Legal  difficulties  concerning  the 
house  of  worship"  had  not  been  "fully  settled."  When  settled,  the  Eldership  was 
ready  to  "negotiate  with  the  church,  looking  to  their  becoming  a  constituent  part 
of  the  Eldership."  The  church  "offered  to  turn  over  its  property  into  the  hands 
of  the  Eldership  on  condition  that  the  Eldership  pay  off  the  indebtedness,  amount- 
ing to$l,600.00."  The  Eldership  declined  to  do  this.  No  appointment  was  made 
to  Springfield  church.  The  government  was  severely  arraigned  for  its  complicity 
in  the  liquor  business,  and  "for  lending  its  aid  at  the  behest  of  the  brewers  and 
malsters  of  the  country  to  collect  information  and  to  use  the  machinery  of  govern- 
ment to  promote  the  sale  of  American  liquors  in  South  American  countries."  It 
also  declared  that  "no  political  party  has  the  right  to  expect  the  support  of  Chris- 
tian men  so  long  as  that  party  stands  committed  to  the  license  policy,  or  refuses  to 
put  itself  on  record  against  the  saloon."  The  churches  were  "requested  to  pay 
half  of  the  moving  expenses  of  the  incoming  pastors."  The  General  Eldership  was 
requested  to  "publish  a  book  setting  forth  the  rules  and  practices  generally  ob- 
served by  the  Church  of  God."      The  duty  of  every  member  and  minister  of  the 

C.  H.— 18* 


530  History    oi*    the    Chl'rches  of    God 

Church  of  God  to  "devote  to  the  cause  of  Christ  one-tenth  of  their  income"  was 
affirmed,  and  the  pastors  were  instructed  "to  preach  one  sermon  to  each  congre- 
gation on  this  subject."  There  were  three  deaths  of  ministers  during  the  year, 
A.  J.  Feiiton,  Jacob  Bear  and  A.  X.  Shoemaker.  They  were  natives  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. Fenton  was  ordained  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1848,  and 
Shoemaker  in  1851.  Fenton,  "after  a  long  and  useful  life  in  the  ministry,  died 
with  the  armor  on."  Shoemaker's  pastoral  labors  were  limited  to  the  East  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership,  except  while  missionary  in  Chicago,  111.,  and  in  "his  earlier 
years  he  was  noted  for  his  efficient  and  successful  work  in  building  up  the  Church 
of  God."  Bear,  while  "an  example  of  diligence  and  faithfulness,"  labored  in  a 
local  capacity.      Of  the  twenty-two  fields  of  labor  three  were  left  unsupplied. 

41st  Illinois  Eldership. — The  strong  denunciations  of  the  government  for 
strengthening  the  hands  of  the  liquor  interests  in  the  western  Elderships,  was  not 
alone  because  of  the  promotion  of  the  sale  of  American  liquors  in  South  America. 
The  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in  1892,  declaring  that  a 
State  law  which  in  effect  made  it  impossible  for  a  brewer  or  distiller  in  another 
State  to  send  any  liquor  for  sale  into  a  prohibition  State  was  unconstitutional,  was 
still  more  violently  assailed.  For  this  decision  wiped  out  apparently  beyond  re- 
pair the  year-long  labors  of  the  Prohibitionist,  and  turned  back  the  wave  of  prohi- 
bition sentiment  which  had  swept  over  the  country  in  the  late  eighties.  This 
accounts  for  the  motto  of  national  prohibition  which  the  Illinois  Eldership  raised 
at  this  time,  in  unison  with  the  slogan  of  the  Prohibition  party.  The  Eldership 
held  its  session  at  Lodge,  Piatt  county,  beginning  September  21,  1903.  I.  S.  Rich- 
mond preached  the  Opening  Sermon  on  the  evening  of  the  20th.  Twenty-three 
ministers  were  present,  thirteen  absent,  eleven  ruling  elders,  and  one  exhorter. 
E.  A.  Fritter  was  chosen  for  Speaker;  J.  Bernard,  Clerk;  L.  F.  Ale.vander,  Fi- 
nancial Clerk,  and  Monroe  AVhite,  Treasurer.  To  revise  the  Constitution  a 
committee  of  three  was  appointed.  It  at  once  reported  an  item,  changing  the 
Article  making  the  Standing  Committee  a  part  of  the  Board  of  Missions.  Into 
the  hands  of  this  Board  was  placed  the  matter  of  Eldership  camp-meetings. 
On  the  questions  submitted  by  the  General  Eldership  to  the  Annual  Elderships 
this  Eldership  voted  as  follows:  1.  Against  the  change  of  "name,  style  and 
title  of  the  Annual  Elderships."  2.  In  favor  of  "Life  Certificates  of  Ordina- 
tion." 3.  Against  a  "common  Fund  out  of  which  to  pay  expenses  of  dele- 
gates to  the  General  Eldership."  A  committee  was  created  to  propose  a  Course 
of  Studies.  Months  were  fixed  during  which  were  to  be  lifted  the  collections  for 
Contingent,  Church  Extension,  a  newly  established  Fund,  and  Superannuated  and 
Widows'  Funds,  all  of  which  were  very  low.  The  amounts  asked  for  to  replenish 
the  Home  and  Frontier  Mission  Funds  were  apportioned  to  the  churches.  A  Gen- 
eral Missionary  and  Collecting  Agent  was  also  put  on  the  field.  The  number  of 
fields  of  labor  was  reduced  from  twenty-five  to  twenty-one.  The  Ministerial  Asso- 
ciation held  its  meeting  immediately  preceding  the  Eldership,  at  which  the  temper- 
ance question  was  thoroughly  discussed.  So  was  the  matter  of  "rotation  in  office 
in  church  and  Eldership." 

42nd  Illinois  Eldership. — This  Eldership  renewed  its  attack  on  the  govern- 
ment and  nation  for  "complicity  in  the  liquor  traffic,"  and  pledged  its  "influence 
and  prayers,  backed  by  our  votes,  to  rid  our  land  of  the  blighting  curse  of  in- 
temperance." As  the  Revision  Committee  had  failed  to  do  its  work,  a  new  one 
was  designated.  The  Eldership  held  its  session  at  Mt.  Pleasant,  Coles  county,  be- 
ginning September  20,  1894.  On  the  evening  of  the  19th  C.  F.  Rogers  preached 
the  Opening  Sermon.  The  Speaker  was  J.  Beraard;  Clerk,  AV.  I.  Berkstresser; 
Financial  Clerk,  C.  A.  Schaaf.  The  Eldership  assumed  $3,000.00  of  the  debt  on 
Findlay  College,  and  through  the  efforts  of  President  Yat«s  raised  $381.00  on  the 
floor.  The  death  during  the  year  of  E.  A.  Longenecker  was  noted  with  "sincere 
regret."  His  memory  was  sacredly  treasured  and  his  example  declared  worthy  of 
emulation.  He  had  been  licensed  originally  by  the  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana 
Eldership  in  185  8.  The  assessments  and  collections  for  the  various  Funds  re- 
sulted as  follows:  Home  Mission,  $243.28;  Frontier  Mission,  $133.13;  Superan- 
nuated and  Widows',  $32.31;  Contingent,  $15.90;  Church  Extension,  $8.04.  The 
assessments  were  continued  for  Home  Missions,  $305.10;  Frontier  Missions,  $273. 
Instructions  were  given  the  members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Findlay  College 
for  whom  to  vote  for  Librarian,  and  the  amount  of  salary.  Not  only  was  the  Eld- 
ership deeply  interested  in  Findlay  College;  but  it  also  expressed  "appreciation 
of  Barkeyville  Academy  as  an  educational  institution  highly  worthy  the  patronage 


Illinois    Eldership  5511 

of  the  Church."  There  were  eighteen  fields  of  labor,  one  of  which  was  unsuppliedi, 
One  minister,  Mary  Berkstresser,  was  appointed  General  Missionary  and  College 
Agent. 

43rd  Illinois  Eldei-ship. — The  Illinois  Eldership  diligently  sought  to  protect 
the  reputation  of  its  ministers;  but  if  any  member  was  found  derelict,  or  under 
reasonable  suspicion  of  deviation  from  recititude,  it  was  not  disposed  to  cover  it 
up.  It  desired,  however,  a  just  popular  verdict,  one  in  which  the  premises  for  the- 
conclusion  would  be  based  on  facts,  and  not  on  hearsay  and  inuendo.  Such  in- 
stances occured  at  intervals,  and  were  always  wisely  handled,  and  the  good  name- 
of  the  body  preserved.  It  also  considered  with  deliberation  the  questions  of  polity 
with  which  it  had  to  deal.  In  1893  it  had  voted  on  change  of  Eldership  titles; 
but  it  did  not  treat  the  question  as  finally  settled.  In  1895,  when  the  session  was; 
held  at  Decatur,  Macon  county,  beginning  September  14th,  the  subject  was  takem 
up  again,  and  it  became  evident  that  there  was  in  progress  a  change  of  views.  It 
was  decided  that  "the  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  shall  favor  deferring  anjr 
such  change  for  at  least  three  years  longer."  On  ordination  the  Elderships 
"favored  the  position  that  the  laying  on  of  hands  is  unnecessary."  It  also  voted3 
to  continue  the  annual  licenses,  as  against  Life  Ordination  and  Life  Certificates- 
The  creation  of  a  Fund  by  the  General  Eldership  out  of  which  to  pay  the  expenses 
of  all  delegates  was  disapproved.  It  voted  strongly  in  favor  of  the  Itenerancy^ 
The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by  J.  Bernard,  on  Sunday  morning,  from  Acts: 
xxi.  17.  In  the  evening  the  ordinances  were  observed,  after  a  sermon  on  "Washing" 
the  Saints'  Feet"  by  M,  S.  Newcomer.  The  names  of  "thirty-three  ministers  were- 
on  the  Roll."  D.  H.  Rnpp  was  elected  President;  W.  I.  Berksti-esser,  Clerk;  L.  F> 
Alexander,  Financial  Clerk.  The  time  for  the  meeting  of  the  Eldership  was; 
changed  to  Thursday  evening  instead  of  Sunday.  The  sale  or  leasing  of  the 
Mendota  church  property  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  an  agent.  Plans  were  to  be 
matured  by  a  committee  to  do  more  aggressive  Christian  Endeavor  work.  The 
sum  of  3516.74  was  received  for  the  various  Funds  of  the  Eldership,  and  assess- 
ments were  made  to  the  amount  of  $729.50,  which  did  not  include  the  Widows'" 
and  Contingent  Funds.  The  body  declared  in  favor  of  Prohibition.  The  pledge 
of  $3,000.00  toward  the  debt  of  Findlay  College  was  but  partially  paid,  and  a  note^ 
was  directed  to  be  given  for  balance  due,  bearing  six  per  centum  interest.  Realiz- 
ing that  in  an  itenerant  system,  with  its  limited  term  and  frequent  changes  of  min- 
isters, the  relation  of  out-going  and  in-coming  pastors  is  peculiarly  delicate  and' 
intimate,  the  Eldership  endeavored  to  have  these  changes  made  with  the  least  pos- 
sible friction.  There  were  twenty  fields  of  labor,  one  unsupplied,  and  four  re- 
ceived appropriations. 

44th  Illinois  Eldership. — Sale  of  church  buildings  is  often  a  slow  process,  such: 
property  not  being  marketable.  So  a  committee  was  again  appointed  "to  sell  the 
Mendota  church  property  as  soon  as  it  can  be  done  without  unreasonably  or  utterly 
sacrificing  the  same."  The  "ground  on  which  stood  Union  Bethel,  Clark  county, 
was  authorized  to  be  sold,  and  proceeds  applied  to  the  payment  of  the  new  church 
there."  The  Eldership  in  189  6  was  much  inspirited  by  the  discussions  during  the 
Ministerial  Association  which  preceded  the  session,  with  its  annual  lecture  by  J. 
Bernard,  and  the  presence  and  address  of  Clara  Landes.  While  Thursday  evening- 
had  been  fixed  the  year  before  for  the  meeting  of  the  Eldership,  this  evidently- 
meant  as  a  Ministerial  Association,  which  occupied  that  evening  and  Friday.  Satur- 
day" was  spent  in  class  examinations,  with  preaching  in  the  evening."  Sunday  morn- 
ing D.  H.  Rnpp  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon,  and  in  the  evening  W.  B.  Allen 
preached  and  "conducted  a  most  interesting  and  impressive  ordinance  meeting."  The' 
attendance  was  not  so  large  when  the  session  was  called  to  order  on  Monday  morn- 
ing, September  20th,  as  eighteen  of  the  thirty-three  ministers  were  absent,  and 
only  seven  lay  representatives  were  present.  It  was  held  at  Mt.  Carroll,  Carroll' 
county.  C.  F.  Rogers  was  chosen  President;  W.  I.  Berkstresser,  Clerk,  and  J.  S. 
Walls,  Financial  Clerk.  Monroe  White  was  re-elected  Treasurer.  Neglect  of  the 
Course  of  Studies  influenced  the  Eldership  to  "insist  that  the  ministers  of  the 
Eldership  make  a  careful  study  of  the  prescribed  books."  The  critical  condition 
of  the  College  was  a  question  commanding  most  serious  consideration,  and  a  reso- 
lution was  adopted  "to  still  support  our  Church  College  with  an  earnest  and! 
Christian  devotion."  The  Eldership  declared  that  "we  will  not  give  our  votes  to 
any  party  that  is  not  outspoken  in  its  principles  in  opposition  to  the  liquor  traffic."" 
The  religious  interests  of  the  Eldership  were  in  good  condition,  "with  general  har- 
mony and  reasonable  advancement"     A  disposition  to  patronize  other  than  Church 


532  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

literature  was  characterized  as  "disloyal  to  our  best  interests  as  a  Church."     There 
were  twenty-three  fields  of  labor. 

4oth  Illinois  Eldership. — During  the  year  the  question  of  changing  the 
Articles  of  Incorporation  so  as  to  conform  to  the  altered  title  of  Elderships  was 
considered,  but  was  deferred.  Church  work  in  East  St.  Louis  was  in  contempla- 
tion by  the  church  and  pastor  at  St.  Louis.  Being  in  the  territory  of  the  Illinois 
Eldership,  its  consent  was  secured  through  the  Standing  Committee.  "The  Golden 
Age;  or,  The  Reign  of  Augustus  Caesar,"  was  I,  S.  Richmond's  subject  for  the 
annual  lecture  before  the  Ministerial  Association.  On  Saturday  evening  W.  I. 
Berkstresser  gave  an  address  on  "Christian  Citizenship."  On  Sunday  morning 
"\V.  B.  Allen  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  from  Heb.  i.  8.  In  the  evening  before 
the  observance  of  the  ordinances,  C.  B.  Kepfoi-d  preached.  On  Monday  at  9  a.  m., 
September  6,  1897,  the  session  of  the  Eldership  began,  at  Milmine,  Piatt  county, 
•with  nineteen  ministers,  three  exhorters  and  eleven  lay  delegates  present,  four  of 
them  women.  The  officers  elected  were  C.  B.  Kepford,  President;  W.  I.  Berk- 
sti-esser.  Clerk;  J.  S.  AValls,  Financial  Clerk,  and  Monroe  Wliite,  Treasurer. 
Hearty  sympathy  with  the  Woman's  General  Missionary  Society  was  expressed,  and 
co-operation  promised.  Appropriate  memorial  services  were  held  in  honor  of 
James  Wenier  and  M.  G.  Bare.  Werner  was  a  member  of  the  Eldership  "for  many 
years,  and  was  an  earnest  Christian,  and  most  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the 
Church,  and  an  able  defender  of  the  truth."  Bare  was  "less  active,  but  was  a 
worthy  member  of  the  Eldership  for  a  long  time."  Careful  supervision  of  Y.  P. 
S.  C.  E.  work  was  maintained,  and  a  State  President  and  District  Presidents  were 
elected.  I.  S.  Riclimond  was  chosen  to  represent  the  Eldership  at  the  State  C.  E. 
Convention  at  Chicago.  Work  in  the  Eldership  was  "in  a  prosperous  condition." 
Two  new  churches  were  organized,  two  new  bethels  and  three  parsonages  were 
built.  However  the  number  of  charges  was  reduced  to  twenty-one,  with  one  un- 
supplied.     Four  fields  received  an  aggregate  of  $200.00  missionary  money. 

46th  Illinois  Eldership. — There  has  always  been  something  incongruous  to 
tlie  consciousness  of  many  ministers,  something  like  "a  fish  out  of  water,"  in  the 
practice  of  preaching  "trial  sermons,"  or  candidating.  Preaching  is  too  sacred  a 
thing  to  be  put  up  in  competition.  Is  it  much  better  to  have  candidates  for  or- 
dination preach  sermons  before  a  committee?  However,  such  a  course  was  in 
vogue  in  the  Illinois  Eldership,  so  that  at  the  session  in  1898,  when  "devotional 

services  were  conducted  by  H.  W.  Kruzan  and  Peers,  licentiates,  each  in 

obedience  to  the  Licensing  Committee  preached  a  short  sermon."  This  was  at 
Troy  Grove,  LaSalle  county,  where  the  Eldership  convened  September  2  6th.  The 
23rd  and  24th  were  occupied  by  the  Ministerial  Association,  and  the  Opening  Ser- 
mon was  preached  on  the  morning  of  the  2.5th,  by  W.  I.  Berkstresser,  from  Jude  3. 
Theme: — "The  Contending  for  the  Faith."  Sixteen  ministers,  six  exhorters  and 
seventeen  delegates  were  enrolled  as  present.  The  officers  were:  President.  J.  S. 
AValls;  Clerk,  C.  F.  Rogers;  Financial  Clerk,  L.  F.  Alexander;  Treasurer,  Monroe 
"Wlvite.  The  revision  of  the  Constitution  was  completed.  Books  for  the  Course  of 
Studies  were  in  possession  of  Prof.  E.  A.  Fritter,  and  when  the  brief  Course  of 
live  studies  was  approved,  "the  books  returned  by  Prof.  FHtter  were  sold  at  public 
auction  before  the  close  of  the  Eldership."  There  were  162.88  in  the  Contingent 
Fund;  $4,746.08  in  the  Superannuated  Fund  in  Notes  and  cash;  $229.73  in  the 
Home  Mission  Fund;  $233.7  5  in  the  General  Mission  Fund;  $301.79  in  the  Church 
■Extension  Fund.  On  temperance  the  Eldership  expressed  itself  in  somewhat  ex- 
travagant terms,  declaring  that  "ninety  per  cent,  of  the  professed  Christian  voters 
of  the  country  are  perfectly  content  to  uphold  this  infamous  liquor  traffic;"  that 
"they  could  destroy  the  hydra  if  they  would,  and  are  therefore  responsible  for  its 
continued  life,  for  no  other  reason  than  that  their  love  for  party  is  greater  than 
their  love  for  humanity  or  the  gospel."  The  President  was  "held  responsible  for 
the  continuance  of  the  canteen  system."  A  State  Union  of  Christian  Endeavor 
had  been  organized,  with  I.  S.  Richmond  as  President;  C.  T.  Ishler,  Vice  President; 
Mollie  East,  Secretary;  Lottie  Stare  Fritz,  Treasurer.  June  23,  1898,  the  death 
occurred  of  the  oldest  minister  of  the  body,  H.  Rupp.  He  had  also  been  in  the 
ministry  longer  than  any  previous  minister,  having  been  licensed  by  the  Ohio 
Eldership  in  1836,  and  had  preached  about  sixty-two  years.  He  helped  to  organ- 
ize the  Illinois  Eldership.  He  was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  having  been  born  at 
Ono,  Lebanon  county.  May  26,  180-5.  He  was  "one  of  the  most  noble  workers  of 
the  Illinois  Eldership,  and  to  his  memory  the  Eldership  owes  a  debt  that  it  can 
'never  pay."      "The  property  at  Streator  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  real  estate 


Illinois    Eldership  53J 

agent  for  sale."  The  statistics  showed  34  churches;  professions  of  faith  during  the 
year,  224;  baptized,  140;  accessions,  221;  members,  1,038;  aggregate  amount  of 
salaries  $4,569.50. 

47th  Illinois  Klder.ship. — The  ecclesiastical  year  189  8-9  was  dark  and  porten- 
tous for  the  Illinois  Eldership.  "Two  of  the  most  able  and  active  ministers  died — - 
W.  I.  IJei'kstressei'  and  W.  IJ.  Allen."  Also  G.  W.  Lear.  The  latter  was  licensed"' 
in  1889,  and  the  testimonies  indicated  his  helpfulness  in  the  spiritual  life  realized' 
by  the  churches  which  he  served.  The  former  two  were  men  who  "knew  no  foCsJ 
save  only  such  as  warred  against  the  peace  of  God."  They  were  both  natives  of 
Pennsylvania,  Allen  having  been  born  in  West  Hanover  township,  Dauphin  county, 
September  23,  1841,  and  Rerkstresser  at  Saxton,  Bedford  county,  December  29, 
1852.  Both  received  their  first  licenses  from  the  Illinois  PJldership,  the  former 
in  1864,  the  latter  in  1879.  Allen  stood  high  in  his  Eldership  as  a  man  of  Ar- 
cadian habits  and  unblemished  character.  He  was  always  a  laborious  student,  and 
finally  graduated  at  Monmouth  College,  111.,  in  18  84.  He  was  delegate  to  ten  Gen- 
eral Elderships.  He  died  .July  18,  1899,  having  "life's  battle  well  won,"  and 
"life's  race  well  run."  Herkstresser  was  a  more  aggressive  force,  and  also  of  spe- 
cial culture.  He  graduated  from  the  Illinois  State  Normal  School  in  1877.  He 
held  official  positions  in  his  Eldership  almost  continuously  from  18  86  to  his  death, 
January  27,  1899.  He  belonged  to  that  higher  type  of  men  whose  animating  and 
ruling  purpose  lies  remote  from  any  present  or  immediate  gratification.  He  was 
eminently  philanthropic  in  the  governing  purpose  of  his  heart.  He  was  not  dis- 
mayed by  competition,  nor  disheartened  by  antagonism.  With  unfailing  fortitude 
he  trod  the  "open,  but  unfrequented,  path  to  honor  and  immortality."  The  Elder- 
ship which  honored  these  ministers  with  most  impressive  memorial  services  con- 
vened at  Good  Farm  Chapel,  Grundy  county,  September  18,  1899.  The  officers 
were:  President,  W.  R.  Johnson;  Clerk,  C.  F.  Roj^ers;  Financial  Clerk,  J.  S. 
Walls;  Treasurer,  Monroe  AV'hit^.  To  include  the  Ministerial  Association  more 
definitely  in  the  Eldership  it  was  considered  advisable  to  begin  on  Friday  evening 
with  the  annual  Opening  Sermon.  The  new.  Life  Certificates  of  Ordination  were 
this  year  given  to  the  ministers.  Good  reports  were  made  by  nearly  all  the  pas- 
tors, while  much  interest  centered  in  the  written  reports  from  the  various  churches. 
They  were  "generally  in  good  spiritual  condition."  The  report  on  temperance 
"raised  quite  a  breeze  in  the  Eldership,"  because  of  some  of  its  extreme  positions, 
and  its  appeal  to  "Christian  voters."  It  also  had  in  it  denunciations  against 
"the  imperialistic"  tendencies  of  the  Government,  which  provoked  "quite  a  lengthy 
and  warm  discussion."  The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by  J.  S.  Walls.  Mrs. 
C.  M.  Ritchie  conducted  a  missionary  meeting  in  the  interests  of  the  "Children's 
Work,"  as  funds  were  being  raised  for  "Indian  Mission  Buildings." 

48th  Illinois  Eldership. — Greetings  from  other  Elderships,  more  common  in 
former  years,  always  added  interest  to  the  session.  More  so  if  delivered  by  per- 
sonal representatives.  In  190  0  the  Illinois  Eldership  received  greetings  from  four 
Elderships — Ohio,  Indiana,  Iowa  and  Kansas.  These  were  conveyed  by  C.  Man- 
chester, Ohio;  J.  C,  Fonicrook,  Iowa;  W.  H.  Ci"oss,  Kansas.  The  session  was  held 
at  Hildreth,  Edgar  county,  the  Opening  Sermon  being  preached  on  Sunday  morn- 
ing, September  30,  1900,  by  W.  R.  Johnson,  from  Eph.  ii.  21.  The  circuits  and 
stations  were  nearly  all  represented  by  the  pastors  and  delegates,  who  elected  R.  S. 
Mackey,  President;  C.  F.  Rogers,  Clerk;  H.  AV.  Kruzan,  Financial  Clerk.  There 
were  35  churches;  202  converts  during  the  year;  134  baptized;  241  fellowshiped; 
total  membership,  1,087.  An  aggregate  of  $4,616.39  was  paid  ministers  as 
salaries.  Two  General  Evangelists  were  appointed — I.  S.  Richmond  in  the  North, 
and  W.  R.  Johnson  in  the  South.  Strict  enforcement  of  constitutional  provisions 
and  rules  can  be  observed  in  the  notice  served  on  the  Standing  Committee  of  the 
Southern  Indiana  Eldership  "that  one  of  its  members  was  holding  meetings  in  our 
territory  without  our  consent."  Also  in  the  refusal  to  grant  the  request  of  one 
of  the  pastors  who  "asked  for  the  services  of  Mrs.  M.  R.  Woodworth."  Definite 
action  was  taken  to  have  the  Course  of  Studies  for  ministers  taken  up  by  all  the 
members  of  the  classes.  Text-books  were  named,  and  a  list  of  the  ministers  in 
the  Course  was  made  out.  It  was  also  recommended  "that  M.  S.  Newcomer  pre- 
pare a  brief  history  of  the  Church  of  God"  for  use  by  "the  Theological  Class  of  the 
Eldership."  The  Christian  Endeavor  Society  was  "recognized  as  one  of  the  essen- 
tial auxiliaries  in  this  Eldership,"  and  the  Eldership  C.  E.  Union  was  encouraged' 
in  its  work.  On  account  of  "so  much  confusion  in  the  preparation  for,  and  sa 
much  difference  in  the  order  of  the  observance  of,  the  ordinances  of  God's  house,  it: 


534  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

•was  decided  to  "choose  some  one  of  our  number,  and  authorize  him  to  write  a  book 
of  instructions  concerning  these  affairs,  and  also  a  form  or  forms  for  marriage 
•ceremonies  and  burial  services."  After  strong  endorsements  of  Findlay  College 
and  Barkeyville  Academy,  the  suggestion  was  approved,  that  "the  Eldership  at  as 
-early  a  date  possible  establish  an  academy  in  Illinois."  A  petition  to  the  General 
Eldership  was  adopted,  asking  said  body  "to  so  change  the  form  of  Life  Certificates 
of  Ordination  that  an  annual  license  be  issued  to  each  holder  of  a  Certificate  to 
;save  the  Eldership  from  imposition  from  unworthy  men."  The  "Canteen  system" 
was  denounced  as-  being  "heathenish  in  inception,  barbarous  in  practice.  ..  .and 
belongs  to  the  work  of  the  devil."  The  finances  were  in  good  condition.  There 
,were  twenty-one  stations  and  circuits,  all  supplied  with  pastors. 

49th  IllinoLs  Eldei-ship. — The  Woman's  Missionary  Society  of  Illinois  held  its 
annual  meeting  on  Saturday  before  the  convening  of  the  Eldership  at  the  same 
place.  The  Ministerial  Association  met  at  the  same  place  on  Thursday  evening 
preceding  the  Eldership.  These  meetings  had  their  infiuence  on  the  attendance 
.at,  and  the  spirit  of,  the  Eldership.  The  Ministerial  Association  discussed  ques- 
tions which  otherwise  might  have  consumed  much  time  at  the  Eldership.  These 
often  affected  underlying  conditions  in  the  Eldership,  and  had  a  direct  and  power- 
ful influence  on  the  trend  of  public  sentiment.  Among  these  this  year  were: 
""Has  the  New  Testament  abrogated  the  law  of  tithes?"  "Are  political  questions 
«ver  moral  questions,  and  when?"  "What  are  the  causes  of  spiritual  declension 
in  churches?"  The  Eldership  convened  at  Mt.  Pleasant,  Shelby  county,  on  Mon- 
day morning,  September  2  3,  1901.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  on  Sunday 
morning,  by  R.  S.  Mackey,  from  Matt.  xxv.  4-5,  and  in  the  evening  an  ordinance 
meeting  was  held.  The  officers  of  the  Eldership  were  J.  AV.  Kingston,  President; 
<C.  F.  Rogers,  Clerk;  H.  W.  Cinizan,  Financial  Clerk.  Earpest  work  and  harmony 
-characterized  all  the  sittings.  Important  changes  were  made  in  the  Constitu- 
tion, one  of  which  provided  that  no  officer  of  the  Eldership  could  be  elected  on 
the  Stationing  Committee.  Another  provided  for  two  delegates  to  be  elected  on 
the  Stationing  Committee.  During  the  year  two  new  churches  had  been  organ- 
ized. There  were  twenty  charges,  all  supplied  with  pastors.  The  provision  was 
inserted  in  the  Constitution,  that  the  Standing  Committee  shall  consist  of  three 
ministers  and  two  laymen,  to  which  two  more  were  to  be  added  to  constitute  the 
Board  of  Missions.  The  officers  of  the  Eldership  were  made  ineligible  on  any 
board  or  committee  acting  during  the  session.  While  a  committee,  consisting  of 
Newcomer,  Mackey  and  Beltz,  was  appointed  on  the  proposed  Book  of  Forms,  it 
accepted  one  prepared  by  J.  AV.  Kingston,  with  a  caution  relative  to  the  direction 
"that  in  observing  the  washing  of  the  saints'  feet  it  must  be  a  "literal  washing  of 
one  another's  feet."  Increasing  circumspection  was  exercised  in  granting  licenses, 
and  a  higher  standard  of  qualifications  was  insisted  upon.  Xo  one  was  to  be 
ordained  unless  h-e  had  "a  good  common  school  education,  and  was  of  studious 
habits."  Much  interest  was  manifested  in  Christian  Endeavor  work,  and  an  hour 
was  given  to  the  Report  of  I.  S.  Richmond,  State  Superintendent.  But  the  Elder- 
ship lamented  spiritual  conditions  throughout  its  territory.  There  was  a  decrease 
in  the  number  of  conversions,  accessions  and  baptisms.  It  regarded  with  appre- 
hension the  fact  "that  there  were  so  few  ordinance  meetings  held;  in  •  some 
churches  none."  The  H, 000. 00  in  the  Superannuated  and  Widows'  Fund  were 
set  aside  as  a  Permanent  Fund.  The  assassination  of  McKinley  was  strongly 
deplored.  Solomon  Bowser,  "one  of  the  early  preachers  of  the  Illinois  Eldership," 
ended  his  earthly  labors  during  the  year.  He  was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania, 
where  he  labored  as  a  local  minister.  His  "chief  characteristics  were  sincerity, 
honesty   and   positiveness   of  convictions.      His   reputation   was   without   blemish." 

50th  Illinois  Eldei"ship. — The  rigorous  provisions  of  some  Articles  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  Eldership  became  evident  when  the  pastor  at  Lanark,  R.  S.  Mackey, 
was  required  to  have  the  consent  of  the  Standing  Committee  to  secure  a  minister 
of  another  Eldership  "to  assist  him  in  revival  meetings."  Also,  when  a  pastor 
could  not  be  removed  from  a  field  at  the  request  of  the  charge  without  his  consent. 
The  Committee  exhorted  to  forbearance  and  an  effort  to  "adjust  all  seeming  dif- 
ficulties." suggesting  that  "each  person  concerned"  ask  the  question:  "What 
would  Jesus  do?"  These  actions  were  approved  at  the  Eldership  which  held  its 
session  at  Hazel  Dell,  Cumberland  county,  beginning  September  1.5,  1902.  On  the 
previous  Lord's  day  morning  the  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by  J.  W.  Kingston, 
from  II.  Tim  ii.  15.  D.  H.  Rupp  was  chosen  President;  C.  F.  Rogei-s,  Clerk;  H. 
%V.  Crazan,  Financial  Clerk;  L.  F.  Alexander,  Treasurer.     The  financial  system  em- 


Illinois    Eldership  535 

braced   Beren   distinct  Funds — Contingent,   balance,    $12.92;    Saperannoated,   bal- 
ance   S4,8;29.89;    Home   Mission,   overdrawn,    $3^.44;    Frontier,   balance,    SIT. 25; 
Church   Extension,   balance,   S496.17;    Findlay  College   Trustee,   balance,   $13.85; 
General    Eldership   Delegate,   no   balance.     The   receipts   during  the  session   ma- 
terially changed  these  figures,  as  a  total  of  $4S7.91  was  reported.     On  temperance 
the  Eldership  insisted  that  "our  people  shall  and  must  abstain  from  the  use  of  in- 
toxicating drinks  in  every  sense  as  a  beverage."     "Every  honorable  and  legitimate 
means"  was  to  be  used  "to  suppr^s  this    great    evil,    with    voice,    example    and 
ballot."    The  sum  of  $100.00  from  the  Church  Extension  Fund  was  set  apart  "as  a 
nucleus  of  a  Special  Fund,  to  be  used  in  the  purchase  of  a  tent  to  be  used  for  eran- 
gelistic  purposes."     When  the  Fund  reached  a  minimum  of  $300.00  a  tent  was  to 
be  purchased  by  the  Board  of  Incorporation.     A  minister  was  to  be  appointed  "to 
go  with  the  tent,"  and  act  as  evangelist.     He  was  to  raise  the  necessary  amount 
of  money  to  make  the  purchase.     I.  S.  Richmond  was  selected.     The  Board  of 
Publication  had  sent  a  letter  to  the  Eldership  "touching  the  publication  of  The 
Missionary  Api>eal,"  without  authority,   "and  charging  two  of  its  members  with 
insubordination."     "The  whole  matter  was  laid  on  the  table."     "The  Appeal"  was 
published  by  members  of  the  W.  G.  M.-  S.  of  1890,  as  against  the  action  of  the 
General  Eldership  of  1S02.     The  Eldership  also  expressed  it  as  its  judgment  that 
"the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  should  pay  back  into  the  treas- 
ury of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  the  Home  Fund  of  said  Society,  which  was  voted  into  the 
treasury  of  the  General  Eldership  at  its  last  session."     "The  spirit  of  progress  and 
advancement  seemed  to  abound  in  the  Eldership."     "SeTeral  new  church  organi- 
zations were  effected  during  the  year,  and  one  or  more  new  houses  of  worship 
built."     The  Eldership  manifested  quite  an  interest  in  Christian  Endeavor  work- 
There  were  twenty-one  appointments,  four  of  which  received  aid  out  of  the  Mission 
Fund. 

51  St  Illinois  Eldership. — As  the  new  Woman's  General  Missionary  Society  had 
been  organized  in  June,  1903,  as  per  action  of  the  General  Eldership  of  1902,  and 
as  several  of  the  dominant  members  of  the  old  Society  were  members  of  the  Illi- 
nois Eldership,  the  lines  were  sharply  drawn.     The  Eldership  was  almost  equally 
divided  in  sentiment,  and  whenever  the  question  came  up  for  action  of  any  kind 
the  springs  of  deep  emotion  were  touched,  and  great  tact  was  necessary  to  keep 
the  body  together  on  the  essentials  for  which  it  stood.     There  was  a  large  attend- 
ance, partly  because  of  pending  questions,  as  the  ministers  were  generally  present. 
and  "nearly  every  church  was  represented  by  a  delegate."     The  session  was  held 
at  Warrensburg.  Macon  county,  beginning  October  5,  1903.     Officers  elected  were: 
President,  J.  Bemard:  Clerk,  C.  F.  Rogers:  Financial  Clerk,  H.  W.  Krozan:  Treas- 
urer, L.  F.  .Alf\ar.fif-r      The  interests  of  Findlay    College    were    represented    by 
President  Man'  K—  ;  the  Eldership  reiterated  its  sentiments  of  loyalty  to  said 

institution.     Ai.     ^,  ...  ...riation  toward  the  support  of  young  men  who  might  need 

help,  thus  securing  their  services  in  Illinois  after  their  school  work  is  done," 
was  recommended.  "Annual  licenses"  were  issued  to  ministers  "in  connection  with 
their  Life  Certificates."  Further  provision  was  made  "to  purchase  a  tent,  to  be 
the  property  of  the  Illinois  Eldership."  It  was  to  be  "not  less  than  70x50  feet," 
and  "the  maximum  price  shall  not  exceed  $175.00,"  the  balance  above  "collections 
to  be  taken  to  be  paid  out  of  the  Church  Extension  Fund."  When  in  use,  "one- 
tenth  of  all  collections  taken  under  the  tent  to  be  paid  into"  said  fund.  The  Com- 
mittee on  State  of  Religion  reported  "the  cause  of  religion  in  a  fair  condition,  but 
lacking  real,  healthy  spiritual  aggression."  It  also  found  "from  reports  both  in 
public  and  private,  that  some  moral  features  are  to  be  deplored,  such  as  horse 
racing,  card  playing,  dancing,  saloon  visiting,  tippling  and  Sunday  visiting."  The 
Committee  on  Temperance  was  yet  more  specific,  and  condemned  "the  habit  of 
some  professed  members  of  the  Church  of  God  entering  saloons,"  which  it  pro- 
nounced "disgraceful  and  wicked."  Assessments  were  made  for  Home  Missions. 
Frontier  Missions  and  Illinois  Contingent  Fund.  Members  of  local  churches  were 
advised  to  "submit  to  the  majority  of  the  church."  but  the  right  to  call  in  the 
Standing  Committee  to  adjust  difficulties  was  conceded.  The  spirit  of  the  Elder- 
ship was  evidenced  on  the  Missionary  Question  when  by  a  vote  of  seven  to  twenty- 
three  it  refused  to  permit  "unlimited  discussion"  of  said  question.  But  it  also 
affirmed  "that  all  attempts  to  suppress  free  discussion  is  contrary  to  the  very  spirit 
and  genius  of  the  gospel,"  having  reference  to  "the  votaries  of  Rome." 

52nd  Illinois  Eldership. — The  question  of  sustaining  the  Illinois  W.  M.  S.  in 
its  affiliation  with  the  new  W.  G.  M.  S.  was  warmly  discussed  at  the  Eldership  in 


536  History    of    the    Ciiukches    op    God 

1904.  It  had  been  agitated  throughout  the  year,  and  it  required  vitality  and  forti- 
tude to  stand  up  staunchly  under  the  stress  and  buffetings  to  which  parties  were 
being  subjected.  When  the  question  of  upholding  the  Illinois  W.  M.  S.,  "which 
proved  itself  loyal  to  the  General  Eldership,"  came  to  a  yea  and  nay  vote  the  result 
was — yeas,  13;  nays,  7;  not  voting,  4.  The  session  of  the  Eldership  was  held  at 
Lanark,  Carroll  county,  and  was  organized  on  Monday  morning,  September  19, 
1904,  the  Opening  Sermon  having  been  preached  the  preceding  Sunday  morning, 
by  J.  IJeniard.  J.  S.  Walls  was  chosen  President;  C.  F.  Kogei"s,  Clerk;  C.  T.  Ishler, 
Financial  Clerk;  L.  F.  Ale.vaiuler,  Treasurer.  Fifteen  fields  of  labor  were  repre- 
sented by  sixteen  pastors,  nine  elders  and  three  delegates.  Four  fields  were  not 
represented.  There  was  considerable  friction  and  trouble  in  several  local  churches 
which  the  Eldership  found  it  necessary  to  lay  under  restraint  by  official  action. 
A  large  amount  of  business  was  transacted  by  the  Standing  Committee  and  the 
Board  of  Missions,  the  consideration  of  which  required  several  sittings.  Among 
these  items  was  the  creation  of  "a  Fund  to  be  known  as  the  Young  Men's  Educa- 
tional Fund,"  for  which  contributions  were  to  be  asked.  Also  the  adoption  of  a 
"Reading  Course  for  all  the  ministers  and  exhorters,"  and  on  which  "the  instruc- 
tors in  the  Course  of  Studies"  were  "to  lecture  on  Saturday  previous  to  the  Elder- 
ship." When  money  was  voted  out  of  Eldership  Funds  for  repairs,  church  build- 
ings or  parsonages,  it  was  generally  with  the  condition  that  "the  property  be 
deeded  to  the  Illinois  Eldership."  For  "Tent  Work"  the  territory  of  the  Elder- 
ship was  "divided  into  three  districts,  North,  South  and  Central,  and  J.  S.  Walls, 
I.  S.  Riclunond  and  W.  H.  Cross  were  assigned  to  the  respective  districts.  The 
Government  was  charged  with  being  in  "partnership  with  the  nefarious  liquor 
traffic  by  legalizing  the  saloon,"  and  "in  taking  revenue  therefrom."  The  Elder- 
ship expressed  its  belief  "that  Christian  voters  ought  not,  and  can  not,  support  po- 
litical parties  at  the  ballot  box  which  refuse  to  place  themselves  in  open  hostility 
to  the  liquor  traffic."  A  series  of  eight  lectures  on  topics  in  the  Course  of  Studies 
was  arranged  for,  to  be  delivered  before  the  Ministerial  Association  in  1905.  The 
Funds  of  the  Eldership  in  the  best  condition  were  the  Superannuated  and  Widows', 
with  a  balance  of  $4,790.00;  and  the  Church  Extension,  with  $492.00  to  its  credit. 
In  view  of  the  death  during  the  year  of  AV.  A.  Smith  the  condition  of  the  former 
Fund  was  a  source  of  gratification.  "Smith  was  a  man  strong  in  the  faith  of  the 
Church,  and  a  lover  of  its  doctrine;  a  brother  loved  and  esteemed,  and  a  strong 
defender  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Church."  Limited  success  attended  the  labors  of 
the  pastors,  as  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion  gave  the  con- 
versions as  86;  accessions,  65;  baptized,  44.  The  disparity  between  the  number 
of  conversions  and  baptized  was  regretted.  The  church  property  at  Frederick, 
111.,  was  sold  by  the  Board  of  Incorporation  for  $400.00.  The  work  of  the  Y.  P. 
S.  C.  E.  was  reported  by  the  President  of  the  Union,  C.  T.  Ishler.  Each  pastor 
was  required  to  state  whether  the  churches  on  his  field  have  societies,  and  the 
number  of  members.  Findlay  College  was  credited  with  having  "exercised  a  great 
influence  over  our  young  people,"  and  it  was  "heartily  commended."  It  was  "ad- 
vised that  its  management  be  left  wholly  in  the  hands  of  the  Board  of  Trustees, 
which  shall  act  according  to  its  best  judgment,  without  interference  or  dictation 
from  outside  parties."  In  addition  to  the  nineteen  fields  of  labor  in  Illinois,  W.  T. 
Turpin  was  appointed  missionary  in  Colorado,  and  M.  S.  Newcomer  and  M.  B.  New- 
comer, General  Evangelists.  C.  A.  Schaaf  was  "actively  engaged  in  preaching  the 
word  of  life  in  North  Dakota."  * 

53rcl  Illinois  Eldership. — The  Ministerial  Roll  of  the  Illinois  Eldership  con- 
tained twenty-nine  names.  Of  these,  seventeen  were  enrolled,  with  thirteen  dele- 
gates, as  constituting  the  Eldership  which  convened  at  Charleston,  Coles  county, 
September  11,  1905.  The  following  officers  were  chosen:  President,  J.  A.  Beltz; 
Clerk,  C.  F.  Rogers;  Financial  Clerk,  J.  S.  Walls;  Treasurer,  L..  F.  Alexander.  A 
new  order  was  adopted,  under  which  the  ministers  reported  consecutively  on  Tues- 
day afternoon  until  all  had  reported.  The  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  in 
1905  were  required  to  report.  "Each  delegate  made  a  brief  report,  and  spoke  in 
the  highest  terms  of  the  work  done."  Well  sustained  interest  was  manifested  in 
the  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.  work,  and  a  special  hour  was  devoted  to  its  consideration,  when 
addresses  were  delivered  by  C.  T.  Ishler,  State  President;  B.  B.  White  and  O.  B. 
Huston.  College  interests  were  presented  by  President  C.  I.  Brown.  The  man- 
agement of  the  College  was  fully  endorsed,  and  an  appeal  made  "to  the  brother- 
hood in  general  to  support  this  institution  in  every  way  possible."  The  "Indiana 
Eldership  Assembly"  was  favorably  mentioned,  and  "the  inducements  to  attend  It 


Illinois    Eldership  537 

were  spoken  of  in  high  terms."  The  liquor  traffic  was  regarded  as  "the  most 
gigantic  foe  confronting  the  church  of  Christ  at  the  present  day;"  but  prohibition 
sentiment  in  Illinois  was  believed  "to  be  steadily  advancing."  Pastors  and  people 
were  urged  "to  take  an  active  part  in  municipal  elections  where  license  or  no 
license  is  the  issue."  Church  work  was  regarded  to  be  in  a  prosperous  condition; 
but  the  reported  professions  were  140;  baptized,  39;  accessions,  70.  The  Y.  P. 
S.  C.  was  viewed  as  an  important  factor  in  the  upbuilding  of  the  churches  in  the 
Eldership.  Persons  called  to  the  ministry  were  advised  to  take  a  college  course. 
The  Eldership  rejoiced  over  "the  spirit  of  unanimity  which  prevailed  concerning 
the  foreign  missionary  controversy,"  and  "pledged  its  Christian  honor  to  co- 
operate, and  to  discourage  any  further  attempts  at  division."  The  Eldership  tent 
had  been  used  at  Hildreth  and  at  Findlay.  Subjects  for  lectures  on  the  Course 
of  Studies  were  assigned  as  follows:  "Importance  of  Systematic  Pastoral  Work," 
O.  B.  Huston.  "Origin  and  History  of  the  Church  of  God,"  I.  S.  Riohniond.  "The 
Cultured  Ministry  Against  the  Cultured  Pew,"  J.  D.  Magill.  "Theology  in  the 
Pulpit,"  T.  M.  Funk.  "Annual  and  General  Eldership  Interests — the  Minister's 
Place  in  Promoting  Them,"  C.  T.  Ishler.  There  were  twenty  fields  of  labor,  four 
of  which  received  appropriations.      \Y.  R.  Johnson  was  the  General  Worker. 

54th  Illinois  Eldership. — In  1906  the  Illinois  Eldership  "from  a  social,  busi- 
ness and  spiritual  standpoint  was  a  grand  success."  The  year  preceding  had  been 
encouraging,  as  the  number  of  professions  had  increased  from  140  to  261;  bap- 
tized, from  39  to  332;  accessions,  from  70  to  239.  Memories  of  earliest  days  in 
the  history  of  the  Eldership  centered  round  the  place  where  the  session  was  held. 
Boiling  Springs,  Macon  county,  as  near  there  "the  first  Eldership  was  organized 
fifty-three  years  ago."  The  fact  was  recalled,  that  "none  of  the  preachers  who 
helped  to  organize  the  Illinois  Eldership  are  now  living."  Unlike  Charles  Lainb, 
they,  ready  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ,  could  not  say,  "I  would  set  up  my  taber- 
nacle here A  new  state  of  being  staggers  me."     The  Eldership  was  in  session 

from  September  24th  to  26th.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  on  Lord's  day, 
September  23rd,  by  J.  A.  Heltz,  from  II.  Cor.  iv.  17,  18.  Beltz  was  elected  Presi- 
dent; C.  F.  Rogers,  Clerk;  H.  W.  Kruzan,  Financial  Clerk;  L.  F.  Alexander,  Treas- 
urer. The  Constitution  was  changed  so  as  to  provide  for  a  Vice  President  and  an 
Assistant  Clerk.  I.  S.  Richmond  was  elected  Vice  President,  and  C.  T.  Ishler,  As- 
sistant Clerk.  "Clara  Landes,  returned  missionary  from  India,  occupied  an  even- 
ing of  the  Eldership."  An  agreeable  compromise  on  the  missionary  controversy 
was  adopted,  declaring  'that  in  order  to  insure  success  there  should  be  general  co- 
operation in  all  departments  of  Church  work,  from  the  local  churches  to  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership,"  and  "all  ministers  and  workers  within  the  bounds  of  the  Illinois 
Eldership"  were  "urged  to  exert  every  influence  to  bring  about  harmony  and  union 
within  the  borders  of  the  General  Eldership."  A  Constitution  and  Rules  of  Order 
were  drawn  up  by  the  Standing  Committee  and  adopted  by  the  Eldership  for  the 
"Young  People's  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  Union  of  the  Churches  of  God  in 
Illinois."  The  Treasurer's  Report  showed  that  there  was  an  aggregate  balance  in 
the  nine  Eldership  Funds  of  $5,660.60.  The  "Prohibition  Chautauqua  Movement" 
was  emphatically  endorsed  as  "a  means  of  helping  to  bring  about  final  prohibition 
of  the  liquor  traffic."  A  proposition  was  favorably  considered,  as  submitted  by  an 
old  friend  of  camp-meetings,  I.  S.  Richmond,  that  "a  committee  be  appointed  to 
arrange  for  an  old-fashioned  camp-meeting  sometime  next  Summer,  in  central 
Illinois."  I.  S.  Richmond,  R.  S.  Mackey  and  J.  Beraard  were  appointed.  Assess- 
ments were  made  on  circuits  and  stations  for  Home  Missions,  $205.00';  Frontier 
Missions,  $205.00;  Contingent  Fund,  $61.00.  O.  B.  Huston  was  the  minister  in 
"charge  of  the  tent  during  the  year."  The  fields  of  labor  numbered  twenty-one, 
of  which  one  was  unsupplied.      L.  T.  Frederick  was  the  General  Worker. 

55th  Illinois  Eldership, — The  growth  of  the  sentiment  of  loyalty  to  the  in- 
terests of  the  General  Eldership  was  strong  and  healthy  in  the  Illinois  Eldership. 
It  was,  hence,  ready  gratefully  to  recognize  this  spirit  elsewhere,  and  so  in  1907  it 
endorsed  The  Advocate  as  "always  standing  in  defense  of  loyalty,  peace  and  order 
among  the  brethren,  and  throughout  the  Church  in  general."  The  session  was 
held  near  Buda,  in  Bunker  Hill  Bethel,  September  18-20,  J.  A.  Beltz  preaching  the 
Opening  Sermon  the  preceding  evening,  from  the  text  in  Heb.  x.  19,  20.  An  or- 
ganization was  effected  by  the  election  of  J.  A.  Beltz,  President;  C.  F.  Rogers, 
Clerk;  J.  S.  Walls,  Financial  Clerk;  L.  F.  Alexander,  Treasurer.  There  were 
thirty-one  names  on  the  Ministerial  Roll;  but  W.  T.  Turpin  and  W.  T.  Ci-oss  were 
in  Colorado;  C.  A.  Schaaf,  in  North  Dakota;  B.  F.  Kelly,  in  Texas;  L.  T.  Frederick, 


538  History    of    the   Churches    of    God 

In  Nebraska.  In  connection  with  the  reports  of  pastors  the  delegates  reported  the 
condition  of  their  churches.  Mission  Work  in  India  was  the  subject  of  an  address 
by  Clara  Laiules,  and  Findlay  College  interests  were  presented  by  S.  G.  Yahn,  West 
Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General 
Eldership.  The  Eldership,  "knowing  the  high  character  of  Findlay  College  and 
Ft.  Scott  Collegiate  Institute,  both  from  a  moral  and  religious,  as  well  as  an  edu- 
cational, standpoint,"  did  "the  more  earnestly  and  cheerfully  recommend  them." 
The  sale  of  the  Morseville  church-house  was  authorized.  Reports  from  twenty- 
four  organized  churches  showed  a  marked  decrease  in  conversions,  accessions  and 
baptisms.  The  total  membership  was  1,196.  The  average  salary  of  pastors  was 
$263.16,  and  the  total,  $4.836.8.5.  One  parsonage  was  purchased  during  the  year, 
and  repairs  made  on  many  church  properties.  A  "Committee  on  Arbitration  on 
the  Foreign  Mission  Work,"  consisting  of  R,  S.  Mackey,  J.  Bernard,  J.  S.  AValls, 
J.  A.  Beltz,  C.  F.  Kegel's  and  O.  B.  Huston,  recognized  the  efficient  labors  of  Clara 
Landes  in  Ulubaria,  India,  and  submitted  a  petition  to  the  Board  of  Missions  of 
the  General  Eldership,  which  was  "unanimously  adopted,"  asking  said  Board  "to 
appoint  Clara  Landes  and  A.  B.  Chaniberlin  to  said  field,  provided  she  will  co- 
operate with  said  Board  of  Missions." 

56th  Illinois  Eldership. — During  the  year  19  07-8  the  experience  of  the  Illinois 
Eldership  had  a  tendency  to  make  it  less  conciliatory  in  relation  to  the  W.  G.  M. 
S.  of  1890.  Hence  at  the  session  of  1908  it  stated  "that  in  the  event  of  the  ap- 
proval of  the  action  o^  the  Executive  Board  by  the  coming  General  Eldership,  our 
pledge  shall  become  all  the  more  binding,  and  any  failure  to  co-operate  with  the 
General  Eldership  and  its  Boards  and  Committees  shall  be  regarded  as  an  act  of 
insubordination  to  the  Illinois  Eldership."  The  session  was  held  at  Martinsville, 
Clark  county,  September  21  to  23,  1908.  On  the  preceding  Sunday  morning  J.  A. 
Beltz  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Ps.  xvii.  15.  J.  Bernard  was  chosen 
President;  W.  W.  Richmond,  Vice  President;  C.  F.  Rogei-s,  Clerk;  C.  T.  Ishler, 
Assistant  Clerk;  L.  F.  Alexander,  Treasurer.  A  practical  and  encouraging  address 
on  Findlay  College  was  made  before  the  Eldership  by  the  President,  C.  I.  BroAvn. 
The  excellent  work  done  at  the  College  wds  recognized,  and  the  Eldership  pledged 
itself  to  work  to  secure  an  average  of  one  student  from  each  field  of  labor,  and  to 
raise  $4,000.00  toward  the  Carnegie  proposition.  The  outlook  was  encouraging, 
in  view  of  the  increased  number  of  conversions,  baptisms  and  accessions,  and  the 
consequent  addition  to  the  total  membership,  making  it  1,273.  Owing  to  a  di- 
vergence of  view's  in  the  churches,  the  Eldership  defined  a  Church  Council  to  be 
constituted  of  the  elders,  deacons,  treasurer,  clerk  and  pastor,  the  latter  as  chair- 
man. At  Casey,  111.,  W.  D.  Orr  was  pastor  of  a  church  of  twenty-seven  members, 
known  as  "the  Free  Church  of  God,"  and  he  and  his  church  proposed  to  unite  with 
the  Eldership.  The  matter  of  home  mission  work  engaged  the  serious  attention 
of  the  Eldership,  and  it  was  decided  to  organize  a  "Home  Mission  League,  to  work 
In  conjunction  with  the  Board  of  Missions,  said  organization  to  raise  funds  to  open 
new  fields  and  to  find  suitable  men  to  place  on  the  fields."  An  Eldership  camp- 
meeting  was  authorized  to  be  held  under  the  management  of  the  Board  of  Mis- 
sions, with  the  privilege  of  "borrowing  from  the  Mission  Fund  $50.00  to  pay  min- 
isters' traveling  expenses."  On  temperance  the  Eldership  expressed  its  grati- 
tude to  God  and  its  thanks  to  "our  Legislature  for  the  township  and  precinct  local 
option  law."  It  also  made  a  plea  "for  a  county  local  option  law,"  and  repeated  its 
purpose  only  "to  vote  for  men  of  clean  morals  and  of  Christian  temperance  senti- 
ment regardless  of  party."  The  Committee  also  directed  that  "the  Clerk  place  a 
copy  of  the  resolutions  in  a  Springfield  paper  during  the  time  the  Legislature  is  in 
session,  and  that  each  member  of  the  Eldership  send  a  copy  to  the  Senator  or  Rep- 
resentative from  his  or  her  district,  accompanying  it  with  a  personal  letter  urging  a 
County  Local  Option  Law."  The  Committee  consisted  of  three  delegates — Clara 
M.  Ritchie,  Anna  Seaton  and  F.  S.  Stover.  The  average  salary  of  pastors  had  in- 
creased over  twenty  per  cent.  There  were  nineteen  fields  of  labor,  well  supplied 
with  pastors.      "Everything  was  in  harmony." 

57th  Illinois  Eldei-ship. — The  Home  Mission  League  organized  in  1908  was  ac- 
tive during  the  year.  It  reported  "the  cities  of  Bloomington,  Stockton  and  Mar- 
shall, 111.,  as  auspicious  places  for  mission  work."  But  the  year  was  not  as  fruitful 
in  conversions,  baptisms  and  accgssions  as  the  previous  year.  The  total  membership 
of  the  churches  represented  in  the  Eldership  had  increased  to  1,500,  and  the 
salaries  of  ministers  from  $3,807.33  in  1907,  to  $5,355.99,  besides  $3,546.36  spent 
for  sundry  purposes.     Such  were  the  general  conditions  when  the  Eldership  con- 


Illinois    Eldership  ^  539 

vened  in  Annual  Session  at  Troy  Grove,  LaSalle  county,  on  September  27,  1909. 
The  preceding  Sunday  J.  Bernard  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  II.  Cor.  xiii. 
11.  Younger  men  were  elected  to  fill  the  offices  of  the  Eldership,  except  that  of 
Treasurer.  President,  W.  W.  Richmond;  Vice  President,  J.  W.  Smith;  Clerk,  C.  T. 
Ishler;  Assistant  Clerk,  J.  AV.  Primrose;  Financial  Clerk,  F.  M.  Newlin;  Treas- 
urer, L.  F.  Alexander.  The  action  of  the  General  Eldership  of  19  09,  relative  to 
the  W.  G.  M.  S.  question,  v^^as  fully  endorsed,  and  "all  our  sisters  in  Illinois  who 
are  not  now  members  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  1903  are  urged  to  affiliate  with  said 
Society  as  soon  as  possible."  As  the  camp-meeting  held  at  Boiling  Springs  in 
1908  "was  well  attended  and  much  good  was  accomplished,"  a  committee  of  five 
was  elected,  "who  shall  constitute  and  be  known  as  the  Illinois  Camp-meeting  As- 
sociation of  the  Churches  of  God,  to  arrange  for  a  mid-Summer  camp-meeting." 
This  committee  consisted  of  J.  W.  Primrose,  J.  Bernard,  O.  B.  Huston,  C.  F. 
Rogers,  I.  S.  Richmond.  O.  A.  Newlin,  Field  Secretary  of  Findlay  College,  pre- 
sented the  matter  of  the  Carnegie  endowment  before  the  Eldership.  The  sale  of 
the  bethel  at  Buda,  111.,  for  1900.00  was  authorized  by  the  Incorporate  Board. 
At  Decatur,  a  new  bethel  having  been  built,  the  old  church  house  was  sold  by  the 
trustees  of  the  church,  and  the  sale  approved  by  the  Board  of  Incorporation  and  a 
deed  made  for  the  same.  Though  no  names  were  erased  from  the  Ministerial  Roll 
during  the  year  by  the  Jiand  of  Death,  yet  the  "ordination  papers"  of  three  promi- 
nent members  were  demanded,  and  their  "names  were  dropped  from  the  Roll  of 
the  Eldership.  These  were  J.  A.  Beltz,  J.  S.  Walls  and  H.  W.  Ki-uzan.  But  as 
two  new  names  were  added  to  the  Roll,  the  number  of  ministers  was  thirty,  in- 
stead of  thirty-one  in  1908. 

58th  Illinois  Eldei"ship. — Fluctuations  in  the  number  of  conversions,  bap- 
tisms and  accessions  are  noticeable,  a  decrease  during  the  year  1909-'10  being 
deprecated.  The  total  membership  also  was  reduced  from  1,500  in  1909,  to  1,382 
in  1910.  And  while  the  total  of  ministers'  salaries  was  increased  by  $200.00,  the 
average  fell  from  $334.72  in  1909,  to  $314.29  in  1910.  The  Eldership  Tent  had 
not  been  used,  but  was  rented  part  of  the  year,  and  was  "in  keeping  at  Decatur" 
at  the  time  of  the  Eldership  session.  This  was  held  at  Warrensburg,  Macon 
county,  September  19-21,  1910.  On  Sunday  evening,  the  18th,  AV.  W.  Riclunond 
preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Jer.  xx.  9.  The  Committee  on  Credentials 
reported  eighteen  pastors,  fifteen  delegates,  four  preachers  and  the  Treasurer  "en- 
titled to  seats  in  the  Eldership."  Two  delegates  were  women.  An  organization 
was  effected  by  the  election  of  G.  E.  Clark,  President;  J.  \V.  Smith,  Vice  Presi- 
dent; Chas.  T.  Ishler,  Journalizing  Clerk;  J.  W.  Primrose,  Assistant  Clerk;  L.  F. 
Alexander,  Treasurer'.  The  Treasurer's  Report  was  welcome  because  the  Funds 
were  in  good  condition,  there  being  $5,644.89  in  the  Superannuated  and  Widows' 
Fund,  $250  of  a  balance  in  the  Home  Mission  Fund,  $963.03  in  the  Church  Ex- 
tension Fund.  An  additional  $1,000.00  of  the  Superannuated  and  Widows'  Fund 
was  ordered  to  be  "invested  with  the  present  $4,000.00  Permanent  Fund."  The 
Report  was  "subscribed  and  sworn  to  before"  a  Notary  Public.  A  surprising  im- 
plication was  found  in  the  Report  on  Temperance,  in  the  recommendation  "that  no 
application  for  license  to  preach  shall  receive  recognition"  from  one  "who  uses 
•either  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage,  or  tobacco  in  any  form."  The  Anti- 
Saloon  advocate  was  granted  an  hour  to  address  the  Eldership,  and  he  "received 
a  pledge  of  co-operation  from  the  Eldership."  After  A.  O.  Newlin  had  presented 
the  interests  of  Findlay  College  the  sum  of  $275.00  was  secured.  To  increase 
the  receipts  for  Home  Missions,  as  "the  present  plan  of  assessments  is  not  suffi- 
cient to  meet  present  needs,"  it  was  arranged  to  "give  an  evening  for  a  Home 
Mission  service  at  the  Eldership  in  1911  and  a  sermon,  and  also  to  raise  a  pub- 
lic offering,  in  which  each  church,  individually,  C.  E.  society  and  Sunday-school 
be  urged  to  be  represented  in  the  offering."  With  one  exception  the  twenty 
fields  of  labor  were  supplied  with  pastors. 

59th  Illinois  Eldership. — Early  on  Tuesday  morning  of  the  fifty-ninth  session 
of  the  Illinois  Eldership  a  tragic  event  without  precedent  in  any  Eldership  occur- 
red, when  "O.  B.  Huston  fell  on  the  floor  of  the  Eldership  mortally  stricken  of 
heart  trouble,  expiring  seemingly  at  once,  and  a  pall  fell  on  the  session  to  the  close." 
Huston  was  ordained  in  1881  by  the  Illinois  Eldership,  and  devoted  the  greater 
part  of  the  following  thirty  years  to  the  active  ministry.  He  held  many  official 
positions,  and  was  diligent  and  efficient  in  all  the  work  of  the  Eldership.  He  was 
a    man    of    fine    social    qualities    and    of  a  genial  disposition.      He    was  a    good 


540  IIlSTOKV      OF      THE      ClIl'RCHES      OF      GoD 

preacher,  and  was  rewarded  in  seeing  many  souls  saved  by  the  power  of  the  gospel. 
There  is  a  ministry  of  sorrow,  for 

"  'Tis  sorrow  builds  the  shining  ladder  up, 
Whose  golden  rounds  are  our  calamities 
Whereon  our  firm  feet  planting  nearer  to  God 
The  spirit  climbs  and  has  its  eyes  unsealed." 

The  Eldership  also  lamented  the  death  of  M.  S.  Xewcomer,  at  the  time  of  his- 
departure,  however,  a  member  of  the  Iowa  Eldership.  The  session  was  held  at 
the  Goodfarm  Chapel,  near  Mazon,  Grundy  county,  beginning  October  2,  1911. 
On  the  previous  Sunday  G.  E.  Clark  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Matt. 
V.  16.  Officers  chosen  were:  President,  I.  S.  Richiiiond ;  Vice  President,  John 
Bernard;  Journalizing  Clerk,  Chas.  T.  Ishler;  Assistant  Clerk,  J.  AV.  Primrose; 
Financial  Clerk,  F.  M.  Xewlin;  Treasurer,  L.  F.  Alexander.  The  aggressive  cam- 
paign for  missions  was  crowned  with  the  organization  of  a  church  "known  as  the 
First  Church  of  God,  Springfield,  111.,"  which  became  identified  with  the  Eldership. 
The  Eldership  favored  "the  graded  Sabbath-school  lessons."  It  also  asked  "the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  Findlay  College  to  consider  the  matter  of  a  department  de- 
voted to  the  study  of  problems  relative  to  the  country  church."  And  while  "the 
desirability  of  a  college  education"  was  recognized,  the  Eldership  "also  heartily 
endorsed  every  other  effort  for  self-improvement  and  general  advancement  along 
educational  lines  by  the  ministry  and  the  laity."  The  State  C.  E.  Convention  was" 
of  "intense  interest,"  under  the  presidency  of  F.  M.  Newlin,  as  Viola  G.  Hei-shey, 
returned  missionary  to  India,  "was  present  and  gave  a  splendid  missionary  ad- 
dress." The  "Union  pledged  itself  to  endeavor  to  raise  $500.00  for  the  India 
Building  Fund."  When  the  Stationing  Committee  reported  it  left  eleven  of  the 
twenty-three  fields  of  labor  unsupplied.  These,  with  the  "preachers  not  having 
fields  of  labor,"  were  to  apply  to  the  Standing  Committee  for  pastors  and  for 
fields. 

60th  Illinois  Eldership. — Some  of  the  unsupplied  charges  of  1911  entered  into 
agreements  with  ministers  to  serve  them  as  pastors,  which  were  "ratified  by  the 
Standing  Committee."  Hence,  when  the  Eldership  convened  in  the  fine,  new 
bethel  at  Decatur,  Macon  county,  Monday  morning,  September  23,  1912,  the  Com- 
mittee on  Credentials  found  the  twenty  enrolled  fields  well  represented  by  pastors 
and  delegates.  I.  S.  Riolunond  had  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  the  preceding 
Sunday,  from  Ezek.  iii.  15.  The  organization  was  effected  by  electing  for  Presi- 
dent C.  F.  Roi[j;ers;  Vice  President,  D.  H.  Rupp;  Clerk,  AV.  W.  Richmond;  Assistant 
Clerk,  John  Bernard;  Financial  Clerk,  Chas.  T.  Ishler;  Treasurer,  L.  F.  Alexander. 
The  Standing  Committee  consisted  of  J.  Bernard,  C.  F.  Rogers,  W.  AV.  Richmond. 
To  these  were  added  C.  T.  Ishler  and  G.  E.  Clark  to  complete  the  Board  of  Mis- 
sions. The  President  of  Findlay  College,  C.  I.  Bro«^l,  was  in  attendance,  and  ad- 
dressed the  Eldership,  which  responded  with  a  collection  of  $60.00  for  the  "Fund 
to  help  students  at  the  College  this  year,"  and  good  resolutions,  "recommending 
that  our  people  work  for  the  promotion  of  our  schools  by  donating  money  to  them 
and  sending  their  children  to  them  to  be  educated."  Howard  W.  Cover,  appointed 
missionary  to  India  from  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  was  a  welcome  visitor, 
and  addressed  the  Eldership  in  behalf  of  the  interests  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.,  and  also 
preached  one  evening.  An  address  by  Dr.  Horace  Reed  on  "Personal  Purity," 
in  the  interest  of  the  American  Vigilance  Association,  w^as  "most  sincerely  en- 
dorsed," and  the  support  of  the  Eldership  pledged  to  the  Association.  The  W.  M. 
S.  of  Illinois  was  granted  one  evening  for  its  public  exercises.  The  State  of  Re- 
ligion, as  represented  by  the  Committee,  was  less  reassuring  in  some  particulars 
than  in  some  former  years.  The  conversions  were  84;  baptized,  40;  accessions, 
80;  membership,  1,140;  total  salaries  of  pastors,  $5,016.60.  The  receipts  dur- 
ing the  year  were  more  gratifying,  as  these  were  as  follows:  Contingent  Fund, 
$102.82;  Home  Mission,  including  a  balance  in  1911,  $478.13;  Superannuated  and 
Widows',  $296.62,  making  a  total  in  this  Fund  of  $6,014.85;  Church  Extension 
Fund,  $49.54;  and  a  total  of  $984.69.  It  was  finally  concluded  that  a  committee 
be  "appointed  to  take  charge  of  the  Eldership  tent,  advertise  it  for  sale,  and  sell 
it  to  the  highest  bidder."  Assessments  were  made  on  the  fields  of  labor  for 
General  Eldership,  Contingent  Fund,  Home  Missions,  Frontier  Missions  and  Illi- 
nois Contingent  Fund,  a  total  of  $467.00.  A  feature  of  the  session  was  addresses 
by  five  licentiates  during  a  special  hour,  among  them  being  Clara  G.  Richmond, 
who   received    "an   annual   preacher's   license,"   and   was   appointed    pastor   of  the' 


Illinois    Eldership  541 

Mt.  Carroll  church.  To  place  young  men  under  obligations  to  serve  as  ministers 
in  Illinois  after  leaving  Findlay  College,  the  Eldership  "agreed  to  furnish  any 
worthy  student  for  the  ministry  the  sum  of  $50.00  a  year,  if  needed,  on  condi- 
tion that  for  every  $50.00  received  he  shall  agree  to  serve  as  minister  in  Illinois 
at  least  one  year."  It  vv^as  "the  consensus  of  opinion  that  this  was  one  of  the 
most  harmonious  and  pleasant  meetings  in  the  history  of  the  Illinois  Eldership." 


VIII.    THE    GERMAN    ELDERSHIP. 


The  German  Eldership  was  peculiar.  It  was  siii  generis,  one  of  its  kind.  It 
was  to  have  no  boundaries,  no  territory  of  its  own,  and  with  the  consent  of  other 
Elderships  was  to  operate  anywhere  in  the  United  States.  These  were  fundamen- 
tal provisions  in  its  organic  law,  provisions  which  had  in  them  the  seeds  of  con- 
tention, internal  strife  and  disintegration.  In  the  Presbyterian  Digest  is  this 
question,  pp.  177,  179:  "Can  two  Presbyteries  occupy  the  same  ground?"  The 
answer  is:  "No.  It  would  be  contrary  both  to  the  letter  and  spirit  of  our  Con- 
stitution and  the  teaching  of  the  word  of  God."  In  187  3  the  General  Assembly 
decided  that  even  no  distinction  can  be  made  "of  race,  or  color,  or  language  to 
Interfere  with  the  unity  and  simplicity  of  that  oversight  which  the  Constitution  of 
this  Church  requires."  And  the  Presbytery  corresponds  to  the  Eldership.  But 
already  at  an  earlier  date  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  had  decided  that  a 
"distinction  of  color"  could  be  reasonable  grounds  for  permitting  two  Elderships 
"to  occupy  the  same  ground."  And  later  the  General  Eldership  authorized  an 
Eldership  of  colored  people  to  be  organized  on  the  same  ground  with  an  Eldership 
of  white  people.  So  it  seemed  wise  to  the  General  Eldership  that  a  "distinction 
of  language"  could  be  reasonable  ground  for  permitting  two  Elderships  "to  occupy 
the  same  ground." 

The  German  Eldership  had  its  inception  in  the  fertile  and  inventive  brain  of 
.J.  F.  Weishanipel.  That  he  knew  that  there  was  an  "East  German  Conference  of 
the  Methodist  Church"  within  the  "Philadelphia  Conference  of  the  Methodist 
Church"  may  be  doubted.  Nor  was  he  probably  familiar  with  the  proposition  of 
John  Di-eisbach  to  Bishop  Aslniry,  much  earlier:  "If  you  will  give  us  German  cir- 
cuits, districts  and  Conferences,  we  are  willing  to  make  your  Church  ours."  The 
Bishop  answered:  "This  cannot  be;  it  would  be  inexpedient."  The  spark  which 
apparently  started  this  project  was  the  remark  of  Jacob  M.  Hepler  to  Weishanipel 
at  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1853:  "I  am  going  home  to-morrow.  I 
am  tired  sitting  here  the  whole  day,  and  understanding  almost  nothing."  And 
added:  "I  wish  we  German  brethren  had  the  German  work  in  our  own  hands,  so 
that  we  could  ourselves  manage  it,  in  our  own  language."  George  Kininiel  en- 
dorsed these  sentiments.  Weishanipel  answered:  "Well,  if  you  desire  to  have  it 
so,  I  will  bring  it  before  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  will  try  to  have  it 
pass  a  resolution  authorizing  you  to  take  the  necessary  steps  to  form  a  German 
Eldership."  Weishanipel  brought  the  matter  before  the  Eldership,  and  a  brief 
discussion  was  had  on  his  resolution.  "But,"  Weishanipel  states  in  "Der  Christ- 
liche  Kundschafter,"  September,  1869,  "a  certain  man,  whom  we  will  not  name 
liere,  placed  his  foot  upon  it.  And  while  other  brethren  seemed  favorably  dis- 
posed, they  thought  perhaps  he  knew  best  what  would  be  for  the  best  interests 
of  the  work,  and  so  the  resolution  was  rejected  by  a  small  majority."  But  this 
did  not  discourage  the  promoters  of  the  enterprise.  In  order  to  ascertain  how 
the  German  preachers  and  churches  felt  on  the  subject  of  organizing  a  German 
Eldership,  a  circular  was  printed  and  mailed  to  the  German  preachers,  exhorters 
and  churches  in  the  bounds  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  inviting  churches 
"to  appoint  delegates  to  attend  a  general  assembly  or  convention  to  be  held  at 
Orwigsburg,  commencing  on  Monday,  the  20th  of  February,  1854."  The  circular 
also  invited  "German  preachers  who  hold  a  preacher's  license  from  any  other 
Eldership;"  "brethren  who  hold  no  license,"  and  "other  brethren  who  feel  con- 
cerned in  spreading  the  gospel  among  the  German  population  in  America."  The 
signatories  of  this  document  were  J.  F.  Weishanipel,  Jacob  M.  Hepler,  Felix  Hart- 
man,  Stephen  Bright  and  William  Kliiiger,  and  it  was  dated  at  "Orwigsburg,  Jan- 
uary the  30th,  1854."  Winehreiiiier  did  not  favor  this  movement,  and  in  The 
Church   Advocate  of  February    11,    1854,   gave  his   "opinion   touching  this   move- 


542  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

ment."  He  felt  "slighted  for  not  having  received  a  circular."  "In  the  next  place, 
I  think  this  movement  is  premature  and  uncalled  for.  The  last  Eldership  had  the 
matter  before  it,  and  decided  by  a  large  majority  against  it."  He  gave  his  "ad- 
vice to  the  German  brethren  to  hold  up  for  the  present;  to  do  nothing  rashly  and 
disorderly,  but  simply  to  get  up  a  petition  expressive  of  their  view^s  and  opinions 
respecting  this  matter,  and  send  it  up  to  the  General  Eldership."  He  also  pro- 
posed to  attend  the  convention  if  a  circular  were  sent  him,  and  he  were  "guar- 
anteed an  uncontested  seat  in  the  convention,  and  the  right  to  make  two  speeches 
— one  on  the  constitutionality,  and  the  other  on  the  expediency,  of  constituting  a 
German  Eldership."  He  received  both  a  circular  and  a  written  invitation  "to  at- 
tend their  German  Eldership  at  Orwigsburg."  But  they  "came  too  late  for  our 
acceptance,  on  account  of  our  engagement  to  preach"  a  "funeral  sermon  next  Sab- 
bath morning."  The  convention  was  held  on  the  date  announced — "Monday  after- 
noon, February  20,  1854."  The  delegates  and  ministers  present  were  J.  K. 
Moyer,  Auburn;  near  Orwigsburg,  George  Kiminel;  near  McKeansburg,  George 
Kinimel,  Jr.;  Orwigsburg,  Stephen  Bright;  Schuylkill  Haven,  William  Neimoyer; 
Mahantango,  Isaac  Haas;  Fredericksburg,  John  Riipp;  and  ministers,  Jacob  M. 
Hepler,  FelLx  Hartnian,  George  S.  Petry  and  J.  F.  Weishampel,  and  eighteen  "ad- 
visory members."  Upon  an  election,  "Jacob  M.  Hepler  was  chosen  President,  and 
J.  F.  Weishampel,  Secretary."  "After  the  object  of  the  convention  was  stated,  a 
few  remarks  were  made  upon  it  pi*o  and  con,"  when  it  adjourned  to  meet  the  next 
morning  at  9  o'clock.  In  the  evening  "the  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by 
J.  F,  W^eishampel."  In  the  morning  the  convention  adopted  a  resolution,  "That  we 
feel  ourselves  justified  in  organizing  a  German  Eldership.  Resolved,  That  we  do 
now  form  ourselves  into  such  an  Eldership."  "After  a  lengthy  discussion  of  the 
above  resolutions,  in  which  both  sides  of  the  question  were  fairly  defended,  the 
vote  was  taken  by  ayes  and  nays,  as  follows:  J.  K.  Moyer,  George  Kimmel,  Sr., 
Stephen  Bright,  Isaac  HaavS,  John  Rupp,  delegates,  in  the  affirmative.  George 
Kimmel,  Jr.,  and  William  Neimoyer,  delegates,  in  the  negative.  Jacob  M.  Hepler, 
J.  F.  Weishampel,  Feli.v  Haitman  and  George  S.  Petry,  preachers,  in  the  affirma- 
tive. Eleven  votes;  nine  ayes,  and  two  nays."  A  resolution  prevailed  to  appoint 
a  "delegate  to  the  General  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God,  at  their  next  meet- 
ing, with  a  petition  from  this  body  for  membership  in  that  body  as  a  German 
Eldership."  AA'inebrenner  was  "requested  to  serve  as  that  delegate,  and  that 
twelve  dollars  be  made  up  and  sent  him  as  a  part  of  his  traveling  expenses."  No 
action  was  taken,  by  agreement  "upon  any  form  of  government."  A  Missionary 
Committee  of  five  persons  was  appointed.  An  invitation  was  given  to  any  who 
"feel  themselves  called  to  preach,"  to  make  application.  Michael  Bolish  and 
Fidele  Hutzman  applied,  "and  were  received  as  members."  Nearly  one  hundred 
dollars  j^ere  subscribed  for  missionary  purposes.  A  letter  was  received  from 
J.  S.  Hoerger,  West  Newton,  Pa.,  "in  which  $4  0.00  were  subscribed  toward  the 
support  of  a  German  preacher  in  that  region,  if  one  were  sent  them  from  this 
body."  Without  fixing  time  or  place  for  a  future  meeting,  the  convention  ad- 
journed. 

Jacob  M.  Hepler  was  born  November  19,  1809,  in  Schuylkill  county.  Pa.  He 
was  brought  to  a  saving  knowledge  of  the  truth  in  his  native  county  under  the 
preaching  of  the  ministers  of  the  Evangelical  Association,  which  had  extensive 
revivals  in  different  parts  of  the  county  as  early  as  1825.  He  became  a  member 
of  said  Church,  like  quite  a  number  of  others  who  became  members  of  the  first 
churches  of  God  organized  in  said  county.  He  received  his  first  license  from  the 
Conference  of  the  Evangelical  Association.  But  when  he  heard  the  doctrines  of 
the  Church  of  God  preached  he  became  dissatisfied  with  the  tenets  he  had  been 
taught,  and  united  with  the  local  church  of  God  in  the  Mahantango  Valley,  where 
he  lived  and  held  his  membership  until  the  troubles  originated  between  the  Ger- 
man and  the  East  Pennsylvania  Elderships.  He  received  license  to  preach  from 
the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1852.  He  was  active  in  the  formation  of  the 
German  Eldership,  and  remained  a  member  of  it  to  the  close  of  his  useful  life.  A 
number  of  his  fellow-laborers  in  the  ministry  gave  strong  testimony  to  his  worth 
as  a  man  and  his  piety  and  zeal  as  a  Christian  at  the  session  of  the  German  Elder- 
ship in  1883.  His  first  charge  he  received  in  1852  from  the  Standing  Committee 
of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  it  consisting  of  Auburn,  in  Schuylkill  county, 
and  the  churches  in  Lebanon  and  Lehigh  counties.  In  the  Fall  of  1853  he  was 
reappointed  to  this  field.      He  continued  in  the  active  ministry,  with  the  exception 


The   German    Eldership  •  543 

of  six  years  at  different  times,  until  the  end  of  his  life,  having  been  appointed  ta 
Mahantango  Valley  in  1882.  During  these  thirty  years  he  traveled  the  whole 
territory  of  the  German  Eldership,  and  was  also  sent  as  a  missionary  to  Montour 
county.  He  had  the  respect  and  confidence  of  his  brethren  and  the  churches,  as 
is  indicated  by  his  election  as  Speaker  of  the  Eldership  at  seven  different  sessions. 
He  "preached  with  great  energy  and  meaning."  He  ended  his  earthly  career 
July  30,  1883,  aged  73  years,  8  months  and  11  days. 

1st  German  Eldership. — The  petition  to  the  General  Eldership  "for  mem- 
bership in  that  body  as  a  German  Eldership"  having  been  granted,  AVinebrenner 
and  Keller  were  "appointed  delegates  to  assist  and  advise  in  the  organization  of 
their  German  Eldership."  The  Missionary  Committee  appointed  by  the  conven- 
tion held  at  Orwigsburg  fixed  "Auburn,  Schuylkill  county,  Pa.,  on  October  19, 
1854"  as  the  place  and  time  for  the  organization  of  the  Eldership.  AVMnebrenner 
preached  the  Opening  Sermon  on  that  evening.  On  constituting  the  Eldership  on 
Thursday  morning  there  were  found  present  teaching  elders  Jacob  M.  Hepler, 
George  S.  Petry,  Felix  Hartman,  J,  F.  Weishampel  and  John  Hepler.  Delegates, 
J.  K.  Moyer,  Auburn;  George  Kimmel,  Sr.,  New  Brunswick;  George  Kinimel,  Jr., 
McKeansburg;  Issaac  Haas,  Mahantango  Valley;  John  Geist,  Deep  Creek  Valley; 
Jacob  Kreiser,  Fredericksburg;  and  J.  Winebrenner  and  Jacob  Keller,  East  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership.  After  reading  the  proceedings  of  the  convention  held  at  Or- 
wigsburg, and  the  actions  of  the  General  Eldership,  which  were  adopted,  the  or- 
ganization was  effected  by  the  election  of  Jacob  Keller  for  Speaker,  and  J.  F. 
AV'eishampel,  Clerk.  A  Committee  on  Overtures,  one  on  Boundaries,  a  Stationing 
and  a  Standing  Committee  were  elected.  Later  in  the  session,  a  Committee  on  Mis- 
sions was  created,  the  former  Committee  having  reported  that  it  paid  Felix  Hart- 
man  twenty  dollars  "as  a  missionary  to  West  Pennsylvania,"  and  had  secured  by 
way  of  subscriptions  $228.75.  West  Newton  applied  for  Hartman  as  their 
preacher,  but  as  his  labors  in  that  Eldership  had  already  created  some  dissatisfac- 
tion, he  was  advised  to  atend  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  and  effect  a  settle- 
ment. The  Eldership  also  asked  pardon  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  for 
the  action  of  its  Missionary  Committee  in  "sending  Hartman  into  their  bounds 
without  first  obtaining  their  sanction."  It  then  recommended  Hartman  "to  the 
kind  consideration  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership."  The  Eldership  adopted 
a  "form  of  Certificate  in  place  of  the  usual  license."  It  certified  that  the  bearer 
"is  a  regularly  ordained  preacher  of  the  gospel,  standing  in  connection  with  the 
German  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  in  the  United  States;  therefore  we  recom- 
mend him  as  a  Proclaimer  of  God's  Word,  and  the  Performer  of  all  the  duties 
pertaining  to  the  sacred  office  of  the  Gospel  Ministry."  These  were  to  be  renewed 
annually.  Keller  was  invited  to  preach  the  next  Opening  Sermon.  The  circuits 
and  pastors  were  as  follows:  Mahantango,  George  S.  Peti-y;  Schuylkill,  Jacob  M. 
Hepler;  Lebanon,  John  Hepler.  The  next  day  after  the  Eldership  adjourned  the 
Standing  Committee  "separated  the  city  of  Reading  and  the  appointments  in  Berks 
and  Lehigh  counties,  and  constituted  them  a  mission,  and  authorized  the  Commit- 
tee on  Misions  to  appoint  J.  F.  AVeishampel  missionary."  This  was  done,  and  an 
appropriation  of  $100,000  made.  The  Standing  Committee  also  "authorized 
Bro.  Weishampel  to  publish  at  his  own  risk  and  on  his  own  account  a  German  re- 
ligious paper."  AVilliam  Klinger,  Eli  Riegel,  J.  K.  Moyer,  John  Rupp  and  Louis 
Kraft  appeared  as  candidates  for  the  ministry,  and  received  "Certificates  of  Rec- 
ommendation" except  Kraft  who  was  required  first  to  secure  "a  certificate  of  hon- 
orable dismissal  from  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  of  which  he  was  a  member. "^ 

2nd  German  Eldership. — The  Opening  Sermon  of  the  second  session  of  the 
German  Eldership  was  preached  on  Sabbath  morning,  October  21,  1855,  at  Auburn, 
Schuylkill  county.  Pa.,  by  Jacob  Keller,  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  He 
was  elected  Speaker,  and  J.  F.  Weishampel,  Clerk.  The  Eldership  convened  on 
Saturday,  October  20th.  Eight  ministers  were  present  and  four  delegates,  repre- 
senting the  four  fields.  Two  ministers  were  absent.  The  Missionary  Committee's 
receipts  amounted  to  $84.75,  and  its  expenditures  to  $75.  Measures  were  adopt- 
ed to  adjust  the  controversy  with  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  growing  out 
of  trespass  on  their  territory  by  Felix  Hartman,  a  member  of  the  German  Elder- 
ship. The  Eldership  arranged  to  raise  the  funds  to  pay  off  a  balance  of  a  debt  on 
Mt.  Nebo  bethel,  Lebanon  county.  It  also  "assumed  the  debt  on  the  Mission  Hall 
at  Reading,"  and  "released  Weishampel  from  further  labors  in  that  city."  Le- 
high Mission  was  created,  and  G.  S.  Petry  was  assigned  to  it,  with  an  appropria- 
tion of  $100. 


544  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

3rd  Gennan  Eldership. — There  was  no  lack  of  ministers  of  the  German  Elder- 
ship at  this  time.  For  when  the  members  met  in  annual  session  "in  the  new 
bethel  in  Upper  Mahantango  township,  Schuylkill  county,  Pa.,  Monday  morning, 
November  10,  1856,"  ten  names  were  enrolled,  three  of  which  were  absent. 
Keller  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  John  M.  Busch,  Clerk.  Two  of  the  ministers  were 
preaching  outside  the  Pennsylvania  territory  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership, 
within  which  the  German  Eldership  existed.  Busch  in  Baltimore,  Md.,  and 
Louis  Kraft  in  Pittsburg.  The  mission  in  Reading  was  continued  as  a  part  of 
the  West  Penn  and  Lehigh  mission.  The  Eldership  confined  itself  exclusively  to 
'the  routine  business.  It  insisted  on  Hai-tman  becoming  "reconciled  with  the 
West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  the  difficulty  existing  between  him  and  that  body;" 
canceled  the  "Certificate"  of  one  minister,  and  licensed  one  new  applicant.  Its 
three  circuits  were  supplied  by  J.  K.  Meyer,  G.  S.  Peti'y  and  J.  M.  Hepler. 

4th  Gennan  Eldei'ship. — In  the  bethel  near  Orwigsburg,  the  home  of  George 
Kimmel,  the  financial  strength  of  the  body,  the  "German  Eldership  of  the  Church 
of  God  in  the  United  States"  began  its  fourth  annual  session  October  26,  1857. 
G.  S.  Petry  was  chosen  to  preside,  and  George  Kimmel  to  act  as  Scribe.  "A  degree 
of  prosperity  was  reported  on  the  various  fields  of  labor."  The  three  circuits  re- 
mained unchanged  as  to  boundaries,  but  two  of  the  pastors  exchanged  places. 
Four  men  were  licensed. 

5th  German  Eldership. — With  the  organization  of  the  fifth  session  of  the 
Eldership,  in  the  bethel  near  McKeansburg,  Schuylkill  county.  Pa.,  October  8, 
1858,  Jacob  Keller  is  again  found  in  the  Speaker's  chair,  and  J.  F.  Weishampel  at 
the  Clerk's  table.  Lebanon  circuit  is  added  to  the  fields  of  labor.  Only  a  few 
■conversions  were  reported.  Busch  reported  accepting  a  "call  to  preach  for  a 
Lutheran  congregation  near  Baltimore,"  and  the  Eldership  resolved  to  "commend 
him  and  the  church  for  which  he  preaches  to  the  grace  of  God;  and  recommend 
to  him  the  necessity  to  preach  to  them  the  faithful  word  of  God."  George  Kimmel 
was  made  Treasurer  of  the  Eldership. 

6th  Gennan  Eldership. — In  185  9  the  session  of  the  German  Eldership  was 
held  at  Fredericksburg,  Lebanon  county.  Pa.,  beginning  Monday  morning,  Oc- 
tober 24th.  J.  Myers  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  on  Sabbath.  Jacob  M.  Hep- 
ler was  elected  Speaker,  and  J.  F.  Weishampel,  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship, Clerk.  Myers  was  "in  the  service  of  this  body,"  but  held  his  license  from 
the  East  Ohio  Eldership.  Busch's  report  of  his  labors  with  a  German  Lutheran 
church  were  commended,  and  "a  resolution  of  encouragement  touching  him  and 
the  congregation  for  which  he  preaches  was  adopted."  The  authority  of  ruling 
elders  was  affirmed;  that  "the  ruling  elders  in  the  churches  do  form  the  scriptural 
authority  before  which  disorderly  members  should  be  tried  and  dealt  with  ac- 
cording to  their  deserts,  and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  elders,  as  well  as  the 
preachers,  to  publish  the  expulsion  of  such  members."  The  death  of  Felix 
Hai-tnian  was  reported,  and  resolutions  of  condolence  adopted.  The  right  was 
affirmed  of  the  Eldership  "to  exclude  any  person  from  this  body  for  becoming  and 
holding  membership  in  any  Secret  Society."  Expelled  members  of  churches  were 
granted  the  right  of  appeal  to  the  Standing  Committee.  Hazleton  was  added  to 
the  West  Penn  circuit,  and  the  Lehigh  county  appointments  were  cut  off,  to  be  sup- 
plied by  local  preachers.  Tamaqua  was  attached  to  the  Schuylkill  circuit.  The 
use  of  tobacco  was  condemned  as  among  the  "species  of  vice  and  filthiness"  from 
which  "all  the  children  of  God  are  bound  to  live  free."  Dr.  George  Ross,  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership,  was  appointed  to  secure  an  Act  of  Incorporation.  A 
Brother  "Nave,  of  Pottsville,  made  a  bequest  for  the  erection  of  a  house  of  wor- 
:ship."  The  system  of  human  slavery  was  "highly  disapproved,"  and  the  Eldership 
"will  do  all  we  reasonably  can  to  encourage  the  abolition  of  the  evil."  The 
"merging"  of  the  German  with  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  "suggested  by 
.several  brethren,"  was  "deemed  inexpedient  at  this  time."  The  need  of  a  "greater 
variety  of  preachers"  is  given  by  the  Clerk  as  the  reason  for  this  desire  to  return 
to  the  parent  Eldership. 

7th  Gennan  Eldership. — As  the  German  preachers  of  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  were  indisposed  to  go  into  the  German  Eldership,  and  thus  the  churches 
were  obliged  to  rely  on  home  talent,  a  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  arose,  and  a  dis- 
position developed  to  return  to  the  parent  Eldership.  This  again  came  to  the 
surface  at  the  session  of  the  German  Eldership  held  at  Holderman's  meeting-house, 
near  Osmansville,  Schuylkill  county,  Pa.,  beginning  October  10,  1860.      There  were 


The   German    Eldership  545 

in  attendance  seven  preachers  and  six  delegates.  They  voted  unanimously  against 
"becoming  united  again  with  the  East  Pennsylvania  (English)  Eldership."  The 
officers  were  J.  M.  Hepler,  Speaker,  and  J.  Myers,  Clerk.  What  became  later  a 
source  of  trouble  and  division  was  the  adoption  of  a  resolution,  that  "we  warmly 
urge  upon  our  preachers  and  ruling  elders  unremittingly  to  preach  and  enforce  the 
church  discipline  as  taught  in  Matt,  xviii.  to  the  churches  under  their  charge." 
J,  M.  Hepler,  on  the  first  evening  of  the  session,  preached  the  Opening  Sermon. 
The  first  official  steps  were  taken  to  publish  a  German  paper  by  the  passage  of  a 
resolution  that  brethren  in  general  adopt  measures  to  publish  a  periodical  in  Ger- 
man, and  that  we  spare  no  efforts  to  accomplish  this  object."  The  churches  in 
West  Penn  township  were  not  wholly  submissive  to  the  authority  of  the  Elder- 
ship, and  they  were  notified  that  they  will  be  supplied  with  preaching  "if  they 
submit  to  the  order  of  this  Eldership;  if  not,  they  must  look  out  for  themselves." 
The  strong  anti-tobacco  resolution,  called  "the  Tobacco  Code,"  was  "modified,  so 
as  to  make  it  advisory."  The  Stationing  Committee  made  appointments  to  Schuyl- 
kill, Mahantango  and  Lebanon  circuits,  leaving  West  Penn  "to  be  supplied  by  the 
Standing  Committee,  if  requested."  Jacob  Keller,  of  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership,  was  appointed  to  the  Schuylkill  circuit  without  becoming  a  member 
of  the  German  Eldership.  The  prospects  were  pronounced  "in  many  respects  very 
flattering;  Sunday-schools  are  regularly  kept,  wherein  German  and  English  are 
taught;  but  "there  is  too  great  a  laxity  in  morals  among  the  youth  in  these  re- 
gions." 

8th  Geiinan  Eldership. — On  October  10,  1861,  the  German  Eldership  con- 
vened at  Auburn,  Schuylkill  county.  Pa.,  George  M.  Hepler  preached  the  Opening 
Sermon.  Of  the  ministers  of  the  Eldership  ten  were  in  attendance,  and  three  ab- 
sent; with  five  delegates.  George  M,  Hepler  was  elected  Speaker,  and  J.  M.  Kulp, 
Clerk.  The  latter  was  licensed  at  this  session.  The  territory  consisted  of  the 
Schuylkill,  Mahantango,  Lebanon  and  West  Penn  circuits  and  Lehigh  mission. 
But  though  there  were  now  fourteen  licensed  ministers,  Jesse  Haifleigh,  of  the 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  was  secured  to  serve  the  Schuylkill  circuit,  and  West 
Penn  and  Lehigh  mission  were  left  to  be  supplied. 

9th  Geraian  Eldership. — The  strongest  friend  in  those  early  days  of  the  Ger- 
man Eldership,  Dr.  George  Ross,  was  present  and  an  advisory  member  of  the  ses- 
sion which  began  October  9,  1862,  in  the  meeting-house  in  Barry  township,  Schuyl- 
kill county,  Pa.  John  M.  Hepler  delivered  the  Opening  discourse.  Only  the  Ma- 
hantango and  Lebanon  circuits  were  represented  by  teaching  elders.  Six  teaching 
elders  were  present,  and  six  absent;  with  four  delegates.  The  organization  was 
effected  by  the  choice  of  Jacob  M.  Hepler  for  Speaker,  and  J.  M.  Gulp,  Clerk.  Two 
delegates  to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  were  elected.  Also  two  to  the 
"Eldership  of  the  Union  Brethren."  John  F.  Deivert  applied  for,  and  received, 
license,  he  being  from  Danville,  Montour  county.  The  Montour  Mission  was  cre- 
ated, and  Jacob  M.  Hepler  was  appointed  the  missionary  till  Spring.  But  the 
Eldership  resolved  to  "continue  to  sustain  Montour  mission."  The  Lebanon  cir- 
cuit was  given  to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  to  supply  with  a  minister, 
Fredericksburg,  the  principal  church,  having  asked  for  this  transfer.  Lehigh 
mission  was  to  be  supplied. 

10th  German  Eldership. — The  Eldership  in  1862  adjourned  to  meet  "the 
third  Tuesday  in  October,  1863,  in  the  meeting-house  at  Elder  George  M.  Hepler's, 
in  Eldred  township,  Schuylkill  county.  Pa.;  but  the  Standing  Committee  changed 
the  time  to  October  4th,  Sunday  evening,  when  the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached 
by  Henry  Borgner.  Joseph  K.  Moyer  was  elected  Speaker,  and  Henry  Borgner, 
Clerk.  The  putative  father  of  the  German  Eldership,  John  F.  Weishampel, 
was  present,  and  was  voted  a  seat  as  advisory  member.  Being  also  by  resolution 
"invited  to  attach  himself  to  this  body,"  he  consented,  when  a  license  was  voted 
him.  The  Eldership  "rejected  that  part  of  the  Report  of  the  Standing  Committee" 
relative  to  a  meeting  with  a  committee  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  held  at 
Orwigsburg,  Schuylkill  county,  "to  discuss  the  question  of  merging  this  body  into 
the  English  body."  Weishampel  was  "again  authorized  to  undertake  the  publish- 
ing of  a  small  German  paper."  He  was  instructed  "to  procure  a  book  and 
transcribe  all  the  Journals  into  it."  The  proceedings  being  held  in  German, 
Weishampel  was  appointed  to  translate  the  minutes  into  English  for  publication  in 
The  Advocate. 

11th  Gei-man  Eldership. — While  the  proof  does  not  appear  on  the  Journal, 

C.   H.— 19 


546  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

the  German  Eldership,  which  held  its  session  in  1864,  at  the  Kimmel  Bethel, 
Schuylkill  county,  Pa.,  beginning  on  Monday  morning,  October  3rd,  yet  it  ad- 
journed feeling  that  it  "has  taken  a  fresh  start,  and  by  the  blessings  of  God  and 
the  faithful  labors  of  preachers  and  people  much  good  is  looked  for  the  coming 
year."  "Breeches"  were  acknowledged  to  exist,  and  "difficulties,"  which  were  in 
the  main  attributed  to  "outside  pressure  and  influence."  The  members  gathered 
on  Saturday,  the  day  it  was  called  to  meet,  and  the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached 
on  Sunday  evening,  by  J.  K.  Meyer.  Jacob  M.  Hepler  was  chosen  Speaker,  and 
J.  F.  Weishampel,  who  presented  his  Transfer  from  the  East  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship, was  elected  Clerk.  The  fact  of  "breeches"  and  "difficulties"  was  empha- 
sized by  the  official  request  of  "one  of  the  congregations,  that  they  should  have 
the  privilege  granted  them  to  invite  other  preachers  occasionally  to  visit  and 
preach  for  them."  This  was  refused.  Tremont  called  for  a  preacher,  and 
Mahanoy  City  asked  for  "a  missionary  to  be  sent  there."  Accordingly  Mahanoy 
Mission  was  created,  and  J.  M.  Hepler  appointed,  and  $80.00  at  once  subscribed 
toward  his  support.  Three  brethren  were  licensed  to  preach,  one  the  son  of 
Jacob  M.  Hepler,  making  the  fourth  preacher  of  that  name.  Circuits  were  con- 
solidated, so  that  there  were  but  two,  with  three  preachers. 

12th  Gennan  Eldership. — The  German  Eldership  of  1865  convened  on  Satur- 
day evening,  October  21st,  at  Auburn,  Schuylkill  county,  Pa.  Weishampel,  hav- 
ing been  transferred  from  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  preached  the  Opening 
Sermon  on  Sabbath  morning,  from  I.  Cor.  iii.  9.  There  was  preaching  on  Satur- 
day evening,  and  two  additional  sermons  on  Sabbath.  There  were  two  circuits 
and  two  missions.  Eight  teaching  elders  and  ten  delegates  were  enrolled.  J.  K. 
Meyer  was  chosen  Speaker;  J.  F.  Weishampel,  Sr.,  Clerk,  and  Isaac  Hoflfmeister, 
Treasurer.  These  officers,  with  the  three  members  of  the  Board  of  Missions  and 
three  of  the  Standing  Committee,  constituted  the  Board  of  Incorporation.  On 
the  Schuylkill  circuit  there  were  "about  one  hundred  conversions,  and  baptized 
fourteen  persons."  "Christian  salutations,"  to  be  borne  to  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  by  delegates  Borgner  and  Weishampel,  were  adopted,  expressing  the 
hope  "that  wherein  we  may  be  able  to  co-work  together  as  two  Elderships  in  the 
work  of  the  Lord,  we  will  do  it  with  a  mutual  good  will  and  cheerfulness."  With- 
out attempting  to  justify  it,  except  that  "several  local  churches  have  lost  sums  of 
money  bequeathed  to  them  by  good  brethren,  who  died  before  their  wills,  or 
testaments,  were  one  month  old  (as  provided  by  law),"  the  Eldership  declared  that 
"this  can  be  obviated  by  the  testator  having  his  will  dated  back."  Hence,  "all 
brethren  and  sisters  who  may  bequeath  anything  to  this  Eldership,  or  to  any  local 
church — are  advised  to  date  their  wills  back  a  month  fi-om  the  times  of  writing 
them."  It  was  agreed  to  appoint  a  General  Missionary,  who  was  also  to  serve  a 
local  mission.  There  was  one  additional  mission  and  two  circuits,  but  no  preacher 
for  the  Schuylkill  circuit.     On  the  last  evening  the  ordinances  were  observed. 

13th  German  Eldership. — After  several  years  of  internal  dissensions,  and  also 
controversies  between  the  German  Eldership,  existing  within  the  territory  of  the 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  the  latter,  the  General  Eldership  having  more 
clearly  defined  the  rights  of  the  German  Eldership,  there  was  a  brief  period  of 
tranquility.  Hence,  the  Eldership  which  met  at  Donaldson,  Schuylkill  county.  Pa., 
October  28,  1866,  was  quiet,  harmonious  and  uneventful.  J.  K.  Meyer  preached 
the  Opening  Sermon  on  Sunday  morning,  from  2  Cor.  iv.  1-6.  The  business  was 
all  transacted  on  Monday,  three  sittings  being  held.  Abraham  Snyder,  East  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership,  had  been  secured  to  serve  the  Schuylkill  circuit.  Mahantango 
and  Lebanon  were  the  other  circuits,  with  one  mission.  Eleven  teaching  elders 
were  enrolled,  and  nine  delegates.  J.  K.  Meyer  was  chosen  Speaker;  J.  F.  Weis- 
hampel, Sr.,  Clerk,  and  Isaac  Hoflfmeister,  Treasurer.  Weishampel  was  authorized 
to  establish  a  German  paper,  the  General  Eldership  the  preceding  May  having 
granted  this  privilege  to  the  German  Eldership.  The  sum  of  .$200.00  was  to  be 
raised  to  purchase  German  type  for  the  Church  paper,"  and  $73.00  were  subscribed 
on  the  spot."  A  church  in  Indiana  asked  for  a  preacher.  It  was  advised  to  apply 
through  the  Indiana  Standing  Committee.  Arrangements  were  made  to  have  "a 
Widows'  Fund  for  deceased  preachers'  indigent  widows,"  by  requiring  each 
preacher  annually  to  pay  $1.00,  and  soliciting  contributions  and  lifting  collections. 
The  missionary  spirit  was  much  revived,  and  pastors  were  required  "to  preach 
missionary  sermons  and  take  up  collections  at  each  appointment,  as  well  as  to  take 
annual  contributions  from  every  member."  I.  Hay,  local  preacher,  entered  the 
active  work,  and  was  assigned  to  Mahantango  circuit. 


The  German   Eldership  547 

14th  German  Eldership. — A  stanch  friend  and  steadfast  adherent  of  the  Ger- 
man Eldership,  Elder  George  Kimmel,  died  fifteen  days  after  that  body  adjourned 
in  1866.  The  Eldership  felt  greatly  afflicted  at  the  loss  of  one  whose  "piety  and 
zeal  for  God  and  his  cause  during  many  years  of  his  life"  were  so  generally  con- 
ceded. The  Committee  on  Obituaries  reported  that  he  had  made  "the  munificent 
bequest  of  all  his  earthly  possessions  to  this  body,  to  be  used  for  missionary  and 
charity  purposes."  This  generous  bequest  further  stimulated  the  missionary 
spirit,  so  that  the  Eldership  which  met  at  Auburn,  within  a  short  distance  of  the 
Kimmel  home,  October  14,  1867,  "required  each  preacher  to  preach  a  missionary 
sermon  at  each  of  his  appointments  once  a  year  and  take  collections."  The  Sus- 
quehanna Mission  was  created,  and  A.  Snyder,  missionary,  was  "guaranteed  $400.00 
in  quarterly  payments."  The  Eldership  was  organized  by  the  election  of  John 
Boyer  for  Speaker;  James  E.  Snyder,  Clerk,  and  Isaac  Hoflfmeister,  Treasurer. 
Eighteen  preachers  were  reported.  The  request  from  Indiana  for  a  German 
preacher  was  renewed.  Difficulties  between  "a  part  of  the  church  at  Kimmel's 
and  their  preacher"  were  becoming  somewhat  serious,  and  were  aggravated  by  a 
movement  to  have  the  Kimmel  Will  contested.  Another  equally  serious  trouble 
arose  at  Auburn,  which  was  brought  before  the  Eldership  in  a  resolution  sub- 
mitted by  J.  K.  Meyer,  a  man  of  courage  and  conviction,  which  affirmed  "that  those 
who  get  themselves  divorced  for  any  other  cause  than  that  of  adultery  or  fornica- 
tion, and  marry  again,  commit  adultery."  And  the  "churches  are  advised  that 
where  such  cases  may  occur,  or  exist,  they  are  to  treat  and  judge  them  according 
to  this  resolution."  A  "lengthy  discussion  ensued,  but  the  resolutions  prevailed, 
only  to  be  "afterwards  reconsidered  and  rescinded  without  a  negative  vote."  The 
ground  of  this  last  act  was  "that  the  body  did  not  deem  it  necessary  to  have  an 
action  upon  God's  laws."  Thereupon  "Moyer  asked  for  a  card  of  dismissal  from 
the  Eldership,  which  was  granted."  H.  Boyer,  at  his  own  request  was  also  granted 
a  letter  of  dismissal. 

loth  Gennan  Eldership. — For  several  years  the  German  Eldership  had  a 
nominal  mission  in  Philadelphia,  and  two  missionary  appointees  in  Baltimore,  Md. ; 
but  in  1868,  it  became  conscious  of  its  violation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  General 
Eldership,  and  declared  that  these  acts,  "without  asking  permission  of  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership,  were  contrary  to  the  Constitution  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship;" but  it  entered  the  plea  "that  they  were  unintentional  acts  of  oversight." 
Besides,  it  was  laying  claim  to  certain  territory  in  the  East  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship, which  said  Eldership  disputed,  and  hence  relations  between  the  two  bodies 
became  more  strained  as  local  churches  expressed  a  desire  to  have  preachers  from 
the  English  Eldership.  Schuylkill  circuit  at  this  Eldership  was  thus  left  open  "to 
be  supplied"  by  said  Eldership.  There  were  ten  ministers  at  the  Eldership  which 
began  its  session  at  Germanville  Bethel,  Schuylkill  county,  Pa.,  Saturday  evening, 
October  17,  1868.  A  sermon  on  "Brotherly  Love"  was  preached  on  said  evening, 
by  A.  Snyder.  On  Sunday  morning  J.  Boyer  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  on 
"The  Ministry  of  the  Word;"  A.  Grimm  preached  in  the  afternoon,  and  J.  E.  Snyder 
in  the  evening.  A.  Snyder  was  elected  Speaker;  J.  F.  Weishami)el,  Clerk,  and  B. 
Koch,  Treasurer.  The  retaining  of  counsel  to  defend  the  Kimmel  Will  was  ap- 
proved, and  under  his  instructions  the  Board  of  Incorporation  took  possession  of 
the  Kimmel  estate,  to  administer  it  according  to  the  provisions  of  the  Will.  A 
committee  to  frame  a  Constitution  was  appointed,  whose  report  was  adopted.  This 
instrument  provided:  That  the  name  of  the  body  shall  be  "The  German  Eldership 
of  the  Church  of  God."  It  is  to  meet  annually,  or  oftener.  Licensed  ministers,  with 
an  eoual  number  of  ruling  elders  elected  as  delegates  by  the  different  stations  and 
circuits,  were  to  constitute  the  membership.  The  officers  shall  be  a  Chairman,  a 
Scribe  and  a  Treasurer.  The  duties  of  these  officers  are  defined.  The  Eldership 
is  to  elect  a  Missionary  Committee,  a  Standing  Committee  and  a  Stationing  Com- 
mittee. The  number  of  each  of  these  committees  is  fixed.  The  Standing  Com- 
rrittee  was  given  all  the  powers  of  the  Eldership,  except  to  exclude  members,  or  lo 
change  preachers  without  cause.  It  can  give  trial  to  a  minister,  and  can  suspend 
him,  and  may  alter  fields  of  labor  and  exchange  preachers  if  circumstances  require 
it.  The  Stationing  Committee  is  to  appoint  the  preachers  to  the  different  charges, 
and  its  report  shall  always  stand  and  be  binding,  unless  rejected  by  a  majority,  in 
which  cnse  the  Committee  shall  bring  in  a  new  report.  The  churches  are  required 
to  give  their  preachers  a  sufficient  support,  to  be  paid  quarterly.  Local  preachers 
are  required  to  preach  as  much  as  possible.  All  the  ministers  are  to  have  a  two- 
fold membership,  except  the  itinerants  and  missionaries,  and  shall  be  under  double: 


548  History    of    the  '^Churches    of    God 

responsibility,  to  thie  local  church  and  to  the  Eldership.  The  Constitution  was 
adopted  October  20,  1868.  Samuel  Smith,  an  East  Pennsylvania  minister,  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  Mahantango  circuit.  Said  Eldership  was  also  to  supply  the  Schuyl- 
kill circuit.  The  Susquehanna  Mission  was  to  be  supplied  by  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee. 

The  serious  condition  of  affairs  in  the  German  Eldership  induced  six  members 
to  join  the  Standing  Committee  in  requesting  the  Chairman  "to  call  the  body 
together  in  extra  session."  It  accordingly  met,  as  per  call,  at  Center  Bethel, 
Schuylkill  county.  Pa.,  Monday,  February  22,  1869,  when  it  was  found  that  thirteen 
ministers,  delegates  and  members  of  Boards  and  Committees  were  present.  I.  Hay 
had  been  transferred  to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  It  was  realized  that  the 
Eldership  had  "arrived  at  a  crisis  in  her  history  when  her  future  usefulness,  and 
perhaps  her  existence  itself,  may  depend  on  speedy,  energetic  and  determined 
action  on  her  part,"  and  so  it  was  resolved  to  "defend  her  by  every  lawful  means 
against  every  encroachment  on  her  rights  from  without."  Action  was  further 
taken,  recalling  the  privilege  granted  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  to  supply 
the  Schuylkill  circuit;  insisting  it  is  to  the  best  interest  of  the  cause  of  God  that 
the  German  Eldership  should  be  kept  in  existence;  virtually  excluding  from  church 
membership  the  leaders  in  the  revolt  at  Kimmel's  and  at  Auburn,  and  that  "any 
preacher  who  may  preach  for  one  or  the  other  of  said  parties  shall  be  regarded  and 
dealt  with  as  a  violator  of  the  Rules  of  Co-operation  of  the  General  Eldership." 
The  Eldership  further  asked  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  to  "relieve  Bro.  Jacob  Keller  of  the  Schuylkill  circuit"  and  thus  "prevent 
difflculties  which  may  otherwise  arise  between  the  two  Elderships."  It  then  dis- 
tinctly claimed  as  its  exclusive  possession  "the  ground  we  have  occupied  since  the 
organization  of  this  Eldership;"  that  said  ground  was  granted  to  "its  jurisdiction 
by  Winebrenner  and  Keller"  at  its  organization,  "and  that  no  Eldership  had  the 
right  to  trespass  upon  it,  or  to  encourage  seceders  from  German  Eldership  churches 
by  supplying  them  with  preachers."  It  also  declared  those  parties  which  were  in 
opposition  to  the  German  Eldership  "no  longer  members  of  the  Church  of  God 
denomination."  Provision  was  made  for  the  licensing  of  exhorters.  And  while 
the  resolutions  adopted  at  this  extra  session  indicate  a  deep  sense  of  grievance,  the 
Minutes  record  that  "sweet  harmony  prevailed  during  all  the  time  of  the  session, 
and  it  closed  after  having  transacted  much  business  with  great  unanimity." 

16th  German  Eldership. — Between  the  extra  session  of  the  German  Eldership 
in  February,  1869,  and  the  annual  session  which  began  October  16,  1869,  at 
Steigerwalt  Bethel,  near  McKeansburg,  Schuylkill  county.  Pa.,  the  General  Elder- 
ship had  held  its  triennial  session  at  Lancaster,  Pa.,  and  taken  very  important 
action  bearing  on  the  situation  in  the  German  Eldership.  Accordingly  the  main 
business  of  this  session  related  to  said  action.  The  Eldership  was  well  attended 
by  the  lay  members,  there  being  thirteen  present,  while  seven  of  the  twelve  teach- 
ing elders  were  present.  A.  Snyder  was  chosen  Speaker;  J.  F.  AVeishampel,  Clerk, 
and  S.  Steigenvalt,  Treasurer.  Two  ministers  surrendered  their  licenses,  and 
were  dismissed  from  the  body  at  their  request.  Suitable  resolutions  were  re- 
ported on  the  death  of  Elder  E.  H.  Thomas.  The  German  paper  had  been  started, 
called  "Christlicher  Kundschafter,"  and  AVeishampel,  Editor  and  Publisher,  was 
highly  commended.  Still  complaining  of  the  action  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eld- 
ership in  appointing  a  preacher  to  Auburn  and  Kimmel's,  and  regretting  that  for 
years,  to  satisfy  disaffected  parties  it  had  permitted  such  action,  the  Eldership 
again  "delegated  its  appointing  power  as  to  said  circuit  to  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership,  upon  advice  of  E.  H.  Thomas,,  as  a  means  of  settling  the  troubles  in  this 
body."  The  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership,  having  attended  the  session  of 
said  body,  reported  its  action  in  relation  to  the  German  Eldership.  Whereupon 
resolutions  were  adopted,  to  wit:  Reconsidering  "the  action  expelling  certain 
parties  at  Kimmel's  and  Auburn  from  the  Church  of  God  denomination,  but  still 
declaring  that  they  have  dissolved  their  connection  with  those  local  churches;" 
accepting  "the  decision  of  the  General  Eldership  which  lifted  the  boundary  lines, 
and  ordered  that  the  German  Eldership  shall  have  no  special  territory;"  that 
"wishing  to  act  in  strict  accordance  with  the  letter  of  our  Charter  from  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership,  which  requires  us  to  labor  upon  other  Eldership  fields  with  their 
sanction,"  it  informed  "the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  of  the  arrangements  to 
supply  its  circuits  for  the  ensuing  year,"  and  asked  said  Eldership  to  respect  said 
arrangements.  The  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  was  also  requested  to  permit 
the  German  Eldership  part  of  the  Kimmel  church  to  use  the  house  of  worship  at 


The  German   Ei^dership  549 

said  place  one-half  of  the  time.  The  territory  was  divided  into  Schuylkill,  Ma- 
hantango,  Donaldson  and  Fredericksburg  circuits,  with  five  preachers. 

17th  Gennan  Eldership. — The  German  Eldership  far  less  than  any  other  Eld- 
ership concerned  itself  about  matters  not  immediately  connected  with  its  internal 
affairs.  With  slavery,  the  state  of  the  country,  or  even  with  the  question,  of 
temperance  except  as  regarded  its  own  members  it  manifested  little,  if  any,  in- 
terest. After  the  spirit  of  alienation  developed  in  tjhe  churches  and  the  relations 
with  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  became  strained,  matters  relating  thereto 
came  up  at  each  session.  Then  the  Kininiel  estate  gave  it  a  great  deal  of  concern. 
At  the  Eldership  held  at  Hepler's  Bethel,  Mahantango  Valley,  Schuylkill  county. 
Pa.,  beginning  Saturday,  October  15,  1870,  these  two  subjects  claimed  much  at- 
tention. J.  F.  Weishampel  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  on  Sunday  morning, 
from  2  Cor.  iv.  1,  2,  and  on  Monday  morning  the  Eldership  was  constituted,  with 
four  circuits,  eight  preachers,  five  delegates  and  three  members  of  the  Missionary 
Committee  and  the  Treasurer.  J.  F.  Weishampel  was  elected  Speaker;  A.  Snyder, 
Clerk,  and  S.  Steigeiivalt,  Treasurer.  The  Committee  on  Resolutions  at  once  re- 
ported, and  referred  to  the  lack  of  results  at  camp-meetings,  and  urged  "falling 
back  on  the  old  plan  of  holding"  them,  and  also  advised  holding  "a  union  camp- 
meeting."  It  strongly  endorsed  the  itinerancy,  and  in  view  of  the  small  support 
pastors  were  receiving  recommended  the  establishment  of  a  "Preachers'  Widows' 
Fund."  Litigation  over  the  Kinimel  Will  had  not  yet  been  ended.  The  question 
of  divorce  and  remarriage  was  making  some  trouble,  and  the  Eldership  advised 
"for  the  sake  of  brethren  who  have  consciencious  scruples,  arid  for  the  sake  of 
peace  in  the  future,  not  to  join  divorced  persons  in  matrimony.  The  income  of 
the  liinimel  farm  was  reported  to  have  been  $472.94  for  the  year.  A  Correspond- 
ing Secretary  was  provided  for,  who  was  instructed  each  year  to  "draw  up  a 
circular  letter  of  friendly  and  Christian  greeting  to  all  the  Elderships  of  the 
Church  of  God."  Good  Friday  was  named  as  an  annual  day  of  fasting  and 
prayer.  The  public  reception  of  church  members  was  insisted  upon.  Mission 
work  and  the  collection  of  missionary  money  were  strongly  emphasized,  the  latter 
being  made  a  special  duty  of  each  pastor.  A  Pentecostal  meeting  was  appointed 
for  1871.  The  translation  of  the  Bible  by  the  American  Bible  Union  was  endorsed. 
"Standing  Rules"  for  the  Eldership  were  adopted  at  this  Eldership. 

18th  German  Eldership. — Fredericksburg,  Lebanon  county,  was  among  the 
first  churches  which  expressed  oflicially  an  unwillingness  to  be  further  served  by 
a  minister  of  the  German  Eldership.  A  delegation  was  sent  by  said  church  to  the 
annual  session  which  convened  at  Center  Bethel,  Schuylkill  county,  October  21, 
1871,  instructed  to  "procure  the  use  of  the  bethel  at  that  place  for  our  portion 
of  the  congregation,  through  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership."  The  Kimmel 
church  preferred  the  same  request.  But  the  German  Eldership  made  regular  ap- 
pointments to  both  points.  A.  Snyder  was  the  Speaker;  J.  F.  Weishampel,  Clerk, 
and  W.  F.  Motz,  Treasurer.  The  Committee  on  Education  reported  "in  favor  of 
parents  giving  their  children  a  liberal  education,  and  of  young  ministers  storing 
their  minds  with  the  useful  knowledge  of  the  day."  The  income  for  the  year 
from  the  Kimmel  Mission  Farm  was  $536.71.  A  meeting-house  had  been  rented 
at  Mt.  Carmel,  Northumberland  county.  $15.00  were  appropriated  to  pay  the  rent. 
The  German  paper,  "Christlicher  Kundschafter,"  was  reported  as  steadily  increas- 
ing in  patronage,  though  it  "did  not  yet  pay  the  editor  for  his  labor."  There  were 
three  circuits,  on  which  there  were  fourteen  regular  appointments.  A  bond  was 
required  of  the  Treasurer  "after  this  year  for  his  faithful  performance  of  duty." 

19th  German  Eldership. — As  the  time  approached  for  the  holding  of  the 
nineteenth  session  of  the  German  Eldership,  the  Clerk  published  that  it  "is  com- 
prised of  about  a  dozen  preachers  and  eight  churches."  It  convened  at  Auburn, 
Schuylkill  county,  on  Monday,  October  21,  1872,  when  eight  preachers  were 
present  and  six  delegates.  The  officers  of  1871  were  re-elected.  The  net  income 
of  the  Kimmel  Mission  farm  received  by  the  Eldership  was  $149.90.  The  names 
of  two  ministers  "were  ordered  stricken  from  the  Roll,"  and  the  names  of  three 
others  were  "placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Standing  Committee."  The  Kimmel  Will 
case  was  decided  in  favor  of  the  Eldership  in  the  court  of  Schuylkill  county,  and 
was  appealed  to  the  State  Supreme  Court.  A  minister  of  the  Eldership  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  Schuylkill  circuit;  but  no  pastor  was  assigned  to  Lebanon  county. 
In  Mahantango  Valley,  Deep  Creek  and  Lykens  Valleys  there  was  so  much  dis- 
satisfaction that  H.  Hackenberger,  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  was  ap- 
pointed to  Mahantango  circuit,  "with  the  request  that  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eld- 


550  History    of    tiik    Ciu"rciii;s    oI'     God 

ership  appoint  him  to  the  Lykens  Valley  circuit,  so  that  he  can  preach  for  both 
parties."  Delegates  were  sent  to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  to  work  for 
harmonious  co-operation;  but  the  latter  body  proceeded  upon  the  principle  that 
the  only  thing  to  do  was  for  the  German  Eldership  churches  to  return  to  its  care 
and  fellowship. 

20th  German  Eldei-ship. — "Great  harmony  and  good  feeling  characterized 
the  three  sittings  of  the  Elde^'ship"  which  convened  at  Steigerwalt's  Bethel,  near 
McKeansburg,  Schuylkill  county,  October  25,  1873.  The  Opening  Sermon  was 
preached  on  Sunday  morning,  by  Wm.  Klinger.  There  were  two  delegates  present 
from  the  Evangelical  Mennonite  Church,  who  addressed  the  Eldership,  in  response 
to  which  the  body  adopted  "a  resolution  of  cordial  welcome,  and  a  hope  of  closer 
acquaintance  and  union."  Two  delegates  to  their  Annual  Conference  were  ap- 
pointed, at  Coopersburg,  Lehigh  county.  Pa.  While  one  applicant  for  license  was 
received,  one  was  dropped  because  he  had  "embraced  the  New  Light  doctrine;" 
another  because  he  had  been  conditionally  licensed  two  years  before,  and  had  not 
since  reported,  and  another  because  he  had  discovered  that  "Elderships  are  not 
of  God."  A  "great  decline  in  spirituality  among  the  brethren"  was  reported, 
chiefly  produced  by  the  distracted  state  of  things  upon  our  fields  of  labor."  Com- 
plaint was  made  that  "through  the  favoring  of  the  spirit  of  secession  amongst 
our  congregations,  we  have  been  greatly  reduced  in  numerical  strength;  and  that 
if  this  course  be  continued,  and  we  should  be  compelled  to  dissolve,  then  the 
Kinimel  legacy  of  $16,000.00  will  be  lost  to  the  Church  of  God."  An  appeal  was 
to  be  made  by  appointed  delegates  to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  "not  to 
pursue  any  longer  a  course  that  will  encourage  disaffection  and  secession  in  our 
German  congregations."  The  death  of  John  M,  Hepler,  a  faithful  minister,  was 
much  lamented.  Two  much  reduced  circuits  received  preachers,  with  three 
nominal  missions. 

21st  Gemian  Eldership. — Efforts  to  cultivate  closer  fellowship  between  the 
German  Eldership  and  the  Evangelical  Mennonite  Church  continued.  Three  dele- 
gates from  the  latter  body  were  present  when  the  Eldership  convened  at  Auburn, 
Schuylkill  county,  October  24,  1874.  One  of  these,  S.  Mussleman,  preached  on 
Saturday  evening.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  on  Sunday  morning,  by 
Jacob  M.  Hepler,  from  1  Tim.  iii.  15,  while  in  the  afternoon,  A.  Strawn,  Evangeli- 
cal Mennonite,  filled  the  pulpit.  However,  no  action  followed,  looking  to  official 
union  between  the  two  bodies.  The  Eldership  realized  that  it  was  "passing 
through  dark  and  trying  seasons,"  but  it  was  "hopeful  of  better  things  in  the 
future."  J.  M.  Hepler  was  chosen  Speaker;  J.  F.  AVeishampel,  Clerk,  and  S. 
Steigenvalt,  Treasurer.  The  Board  of  Missions  reported  having  "received  official 
notice  of  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  Kinunel  Will  case,  which  was 
rendered  in  favor  of  the  German  Eldership."  In  addition  to  the  Kimmel  farm, 
the  Treasurer  reported  that  he  had  secured  in  cash  $2,645.91,  as  part  of  "the 
Kimmel  legacy,  the  balance  of  which  will  soon  be  placed  into  the  hands  of  the 
Treasurer."  But  one  circuit  appointment  was  made — Schuylkill  circuit — with 
three  nominal  missions. 

22nd  German  Eldership. — There  was  considerable  feeling  manifested  on  the 
part  of  members  of  the  German  Eldership  in  1875,  over  the  action  of  the  General 
Eldership  in  May  of  said  year.  The  report  which  the  delegate  to  the  General  Eld- 
ership made  left  the  impression  that  said  body  was,  or  leading  members  thereof 
were,  determined  to  "give  the  German  Eldership  its  death-stroke"  (todeschlog). 
This  feeling  was  molified  by  another  action — that  of  electing  the  Editor  of  the 
German  paper,  "Der  Christlicher  Kundschafter,"  for  a  term  of  three  years.  The 
Eldership  convened  near  McKeansburg,  in  the  Steigerwalt  Bethel,  Schuylkill 
county,  October  17,  1875.  No  one  had  been  appointed  to  preach  the  Opening 
Sermon,  but  Elias  Sowei-s  preached  on  Sunday  morning  of  said  date  what  the 
Journal  calls  the  "Eroffnungspredigt."  There  were  enrolled  nine  preachers  and 
seven  delegates.  J.  M.  Hepler  was  elected  Speaker,  and  T.  E.  Snyder,  Clerk.  The 
Treasurer  was  S.  Steigenvalt.  This  Eldership,  as  was  the  custom,  concerned 
itself  wholly  with  its  own  religious  and  financial  interests,  without  taking  any 
actions  on  temperance,  education,  etc.  The  Kimmel  bequest  had  all  been  adjusted, 
and  after  all  costs  are  paid  there  would  be  left  in  the  treasury  the  sum  of 
$3,231.40.  The  farm  was  rented,  and  yielded  a  fair  income.  While  the  German 
paper,  "through  the  enmity  which  sprang  from  the  unchristian  schism,  had  lost 
many  subscribers,  which  loss  was  partly  made  up  by  members  of  the  Evangelical 


The   German   Eldership  551 

Mennonites,  who  had  made  it  their  organ.  Nominally  there  were  seven  appoint- 
ments, six  of  them  missions,  which  were  practically  only  such  on  the  Journal. 

23rd  German  Eldership. — The  holding  of  Elderships  in  private  houses  was  a 
rare  occurrence;  but  the  record  of  the  German  Eldership  of  1876  states  that  the 
"session  was  held  in  West  Penn  township,  Schuylkill  county,  Pa.,  and  began  on 
Saturday  evening,  September  30,  1876.  The  assembly  will  be  held  in  a  dwelling- 
house  of  IJro.  Andrew  Klechner,  five  miles  from  New  Ringgold."  There  was 
preaching  on  Saturday  evening,  and  on  Sabbath  morning  the  Opening  Sermon  was 
preached  by  J.  M.  Hepler.  Six  of  the  twelve  ministers  were  present,  and  three 
delegates.  The  Speaker  was  Elias  Sowers;  the  Clerk,  J.  F.  Weishampel,  and  the 
Treasurer,  Samuel  Steigerwalt.  The  making  of  the  appointments  was  left  to  the 
Standing  Committee.  Except  Hepler,  on  the  Schuylkill  circuit,  very  little  preach- 
ing was  done  on  the  six  missions.  Sowers  reported  preaching  about  every  four 
weeks  in  Deep  Creek  Valley.  Weishampel  preached  "where  there  was  an  open 
door  for  him."  AVagner  "did  not  preach  often."  Kinzey  "had  preached  more  or 
less  on  the  Reading  Mission."  Menges,  "Mt.  Carmel  mission,  had  preached  but 
little."  Busch,  Baltimore  mission,  did  "what  was  in  his  power."  Klinger,  Sha- 
mokin  mission,  "had  no  house  in  which  to  preach,"  but  did  some  preaching  at 
other  points.  The  Missionary  Committee  reported  having  gathered  $27.84.  There 
was  a  surplus  from  the  Mission  farm  of  $61.25,  while  the  total  cash  in  hand  from 
the  Kimmel  bequest  was  $3,343.00. 

24th  Gemian  Eklership.^ — A  somewhat  aggressive  spirit  characterized  the  Eld- 
ership which  convened  in  the  Steigerwalt  Bethel,  near  McKeansburg,  Schuylkill 
county,  September  29,  1877.  J.  F.  Weishampel  preached  the  Opening  Sermon, 
from  1  Cor.  ix.  12.  Samuel  Steigenvalt,  who  had  been  Treasurer  for  some  time, 
had  died  during  the  year,  and  there  was  charged  against  him  on  account  of  the 
Kimmel  bequest,  $3,308.59,  for  which  AVm.  F.  Steigerwalt,  administrator,  made 
settlement.  Eli  Sowers  was  chosen  Speaker;  J.  F.  Weishampel,  Clerk,  and  F. 
Wagner,  Treasurer.  Eight  ministers  were  present,  and  five,  absent,  with  one  ex- 
horter  and  five  delegates.  AVeishampel  announced  that  the  "Christlicher  Kund- 
schafter"  would  cease  to  be  published  on  April  1,  1878;  but  he  "was  ordered  to 
continue  the  paper  by  authority  of  this  body."  A  small  organization  in  Reading 
made  application  for  membership,  "as  they  expressed  agreement  with  us  in  faith 
and  practice,"  and  desired  a  mission  to  be  established  in  that  city.  E.  Sowers 
was  accordingly  "appointed  to  the  new  mission  church  in  Reading."  The  income 
from  the  Kimmel  farm  was  $285.31;  "outlay  for  repairs  and  widow's  dower, 
$240.60,  leaving  a  balance  of  $44.71."  The  churches  were  "urged  to  establish 
Sunday-schools,  as  a  very  great  necessity  in  the  spread  of  the  gospel."  A  camp- 
meeting  was  directed  to  be  held  "on  the  old  camp-ground  on  the  Kimmel  farm." 

25tli  German  Eldership. — The  Eldership  in  1877  adjourned  to  meet  with  "the 
new  mission  church  in  Reading,  Berks  county;"  but  the  Standing  Committee 
changed  the  place  to  Stagenvalt's,  where  the  members  convened  on  October  12, 
1878,  the  business  sittings  beginning  on  the  14th.  The  Opening  Sermon  was 
preached  on  Sabbath  morning,  by  Amos  Lehman.  Seven  ministers  were  present, 
and  five,  absent;  also  three  delegates  were  present.  The  officers  of  1877  were 
re-elected.  The  fields  of  labor  were  the  Schuylkill  circuit,  Berks  and  Lebanon 
mission  and  the  Lancaster  mission,  which  was  purely  nominal.  The  Board  of 
Incorporation  had  contracted  for  a  chapel  in  Reading,  "and  paid  a  small  sum  upon 
it."  The  income  from  the  Mission  Farm  was  $383.81;  the  expenditures,  $386.16. 
'The  matter  of  continuing  the  publication  of  the  German  paper  consumed  a  good 
deal  of  time.  Said  paper,  like  all  periodical  publications  for  the  Church,  was 
under  the  control  and  supervision  of  the  General  Eldership,  and  could  be  published 
only  by  its  authority.  But  said  body  had  ordered  its  discontinuance  at  the  session 
in  1878.  Hence  the  "German  Eldership  could  not  consistently  authorize  its  pub- 
lication as  under  its  jurisdiction."  To  avoid  responsibility,  Weishampel  expressed 
his  intention  "to  continue  the  publication  on  his  own  responsibility;"  but  the  Eld- 
ership approved  his  course,  and  "advised  and  urged  the  German  reading  brethren 
to  support  the  publisher  by  patronizing  the  paper."  It  made  the  relations  of  the 
German  Eldership  to  the  General  Eldership  more  acute,  and  because  of  factional 
difficulties  in  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  aggravated  the  unpleasant  condi- 
tions there.  While  the  Stationing  Committee  made  three  appointments,  but  one, 
the  Schuylkill  circuit,  had  a  constituency. 

26th  Gennan  Eldei*ship. — The  action  of  the  German  Eldership  in  187  8  on  the 
matter  of  the  "Kundschafter"  was  such  a  manifest  evasion,  and  an  act  of  insub- 


552  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

ordination,  that  during  the  year  the  Executive  Board  of  the  General  Eldership  took 
action,  again  "calling  the  attention  of  the  German  Eldership  to  the  action  of  the 
General  Eldership,  which  ordered  the  discontinuance  of  the  paper,"  but  that  "the 
paper  is  still  published  by  a  member  of  the  German  Eldership."  The  subject  was 
brought  before  the  session  which  convened  in  West  Penn  township,  Schuylkill 
county,  on  Monday,  October  20,  1879.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  the 
Sabbath  morning  previous,  by  J.  M.  Hepler.  The  officers  of  the  preceding  year 
were  re-elected.  On  the  matter  of  publishing  the  "Christlicher  Kundschafter," 
the  Eldership  disclaimed  responsibility,  declaring  also  "that  we  have  no  right  to 
condemn  J.  F.  Weishampel  for  pursuing  the  lawful  calling  of  printing  a  religious 
newspaper,  nor  to  interfere  in,  or  order  him  to  discontinue  the  "Christlicher 
Kundschafter."  The  appointment  of  preachers  was  left  to  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee, but  the  Eldership  added  the  Mahantango  and  Deep  Creek  Valley  to  the 
Schuylkill  circuit.  The  total  receipts  during  the  year  reported  by  the  Treasurer 
were  $223.50;  expenditures,  $164.57.  The  amount  of  the  Kimmel  fund  on  in- 
terest was  $3,000.00.  "The  wood  off  a  certain  portion  of  ground  owned  by  the 
Eldership"  the  Board  of  Incorporation"  was  authorized  to  sell,"  "so  as  to  get  the 
use  of  the  land  for  tillage." 

27th  German  Eldership. — In  the  Opening  Sermon  delivered  on  the  evening  of 
October  17,  1880,  the  preacher,  J.  F.  Weishampel,  "reviewed  the  history  of  the 
Church  of  God,  going  back  about  sixty  years.  He  found  the  state  of  religion  in 
the  central  part  of  Pennsylvania,  where  this  body  of  Christians  took  its  rise, 
mostly  in  a  formal  condition  in  many  thousands  of  church  members,  who  had  a 
form  of  ceremonial  religion,  but  were  without  the  enjoyments  which  true  spiritual 
religion  affords."  On  Monday  morning  the  Eldership  was  constituted  with  one 
pastor,  five  "missionaries"  and  two  delegates.  Eli  Sowers  was  chosen  Speaker;  J. 
F.  Weishampel,  Clerk,  and  F.  Wagner,  Treasurer.  In  response  to  a  letter  from 
the  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership,  asking  for  a  con- 
tribution of,  at  least,  twenty-five  cents  a  year  for  each  member,  action  was  taken 
to  that  effect.  The  amount  asked  by  said  Secretary  for  Contingent  Fund  was  col- 
lected on  the  floor  of  the  Eldership.  Improvements  on  the  Mission  Farm  used  up 
all  the  income  in  the  way  of  rent.  One  field  of  labor  was  all  the  Eldership  had, 
and  this  was  left  in  the  care  of  the  Standing  Committee.  But  there  were  assign- 
ments of  eleven  "missionaries,"  who  preached  as  they  found  opportunity.  No 
resolutions  were  adopted,  except  the  ordinary  ones  on  the  officers,  and  for  enter- 
tainment. "The  Half  Century  Jubilee  Song  of  the  Church  of  God  in  North 
America,"  which  was  written  by  the  Clerk  of  the  Eldership,  was  circulated.  The 
session  was  held  at  Weishampeltown,  Schuylkill  county,  and  lasted  but  one  day. 

28th  German  Eldership. — The  General  Eldership  in  1881  having  made  a  de- 
mand on  the  German  Eldership  to  carry  out  its  action  relative  to  J,  F.  Weishampel, 
the  session  of  18  81,  held  at  Steigerwalt's  Bethel,  beginning  on  October  31,  devoted 
considerable  time  to  the  matter.  After  reciting  the  facts,  as  viewed  by  the  Eld- 
ership, in  a  long  preamble,  it  adopted  resolutions  "disapproving  all  the  wrong 
which  Bro.  W^eishampel  may  have  done,  and  censured  him  for  the  same,  and  en- 
joined him  to  abide  by  the  Rules  of  the  General  Eldership."  It  also  declared 
"that  the  German  Eldership  feels  greatly  grieved  at  being  treated  in  so  unfriendly 
a  manner  by  the  General  Eldership."  Weishampel  having  expressed  his  intention 
to  discontinue  the  "Kundschafter"  in  the  Spring  of  1882,  A.  Snyder  was  requested 
"to  take  measures  to  continue"  the  same.  The  one  circuit  which  the  Eldership 
had  was  supplied  by  one  of  the  teaching  elders.  "All  the  other  preachers  as  local 
ministers,"  was  the  Report  of  the  Stationing  Committee.  Elias  Sowers  presided 
as  Speaker,  and  J.  F.  Weishampel  was  the  Clerk.  The  Board  of  Incorporation, 
through  its  Treasurer,  reported  receipts  of  $338.90,  and  expenditures,  $295.58. 
F.  Wagner  was  re-elected  Treasurer. 

29th  Geraian  Eldei*ship. — The  German  Eldership  in  1882  was  again  held  at 
Steigerwalt's  Bethel,  and  convened  on  Saturday,  October  18th.  The  Opening  Ser- 
mon was  delivered  by  Eli  Sowers  on  Sabbath  morning,  from  1  Tim.  i.  16.  After 
the  Eldership  was  constituted  on  Monday  morning,  J.  K.  Moyer,  Isaac  Hoflfmeister 
and  Dr.  Chas.  E.  Quail,  "delegates  from  the  Independent  church  of  God  at  Auburn, 
Schuylkill  county,"  presented  an  action  of  said  church,  agreeing  "to  unite  with  the 
German  Eldership  again  on  condition  that  our  house  of  worship  shall  remain  our 
own  church  property."  It  also  agreed  "to  receive  a  preacher  from  the  German 
Eldership,  if  it  can  supply  them  with  one  that  they  can  receive;"  stipulated  that 
they  shall  have  the  right  to  regulate  their  "own  domestic  affairs"  as  they  may 


The  German   Eldership  553 

think  best,  and  that  "Moyer  shall  not  be  compelled  to  take  a  license  to  preach  in 
order  to  be  entitled  to  a  preacher's  rights"  in  the  German  Eldership.  The  resolu- 
tions of  the  Independent  church  were  adopted,  and  "the  three  delegates  were  con- 
sidered a  part  of  the  present  session."  This  action,  or  "reunion,"  added  two 
preachers  to  the  Eldership — J.  K.  Moyer,  and  F.  W.  Berkheiser,  pastor  of  the  In- 
dependent church.  J.  K.  Moyer  was  then  elected  Speaker,  and  J.  F.  Weishampel, 
Clerk.  After  the  report  of  the  Treasurer  was  made,  F.  Wagner  was  re-elected 
Treasurer.  Moyer  was  also  elected  President  of  the  Board  of  Incorporation,  and 
Quail,  Secretary.  Berkheiser  was  appointed  pastor  of  the  Schuylkill  circuit,  to 
begin  his  labors  January  1,  1883.  This  field  was  quite  extensive,  as  it  "embraced 
Steigei-Avalt's,  Auburn,  Center  Bethel  and  Weishampeltown  churches,  and  Mahan- 
tango,  Rocktown,  Cressona  and  West  Penn  missions."  "It  was  a  very  pleasant 
and  happy  session." 

30th  Geniian  Eldership. — The  ministers  and  delegates  of  the  German  Elder- 
ship gathered  at  Auburn,  Schuylkill  county,  on  Saturday,  November  10,  1883,  to 
hold  the  annual  session.  Elias  Sowers  preached  in  the  evening.  On  "Sabbath 
morning  Elder  J.  K.  Moyer  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon,  and  in  the  evening 
Franklin  Berkheiser  preached."  When  the  Eldership  convened  on  Monday  at  9 
a.  m.,  "an  election  resulted  in  the  choice  of  J.  K.  Moyer,  Speaker;  Franklin 
Wagner,  Treasurer,  and  Charles  E.  Quail,  Clerk."  Five  ministers  were  present, 
and  seven  delegates.  During  the  year  Jacob  M.  Hepler  died,  and  his  death  was 
lamented  as  that  of  an  efficient  and  useful  member  of  the  Eldership.  At  the  close 
of  the  afternoon  sitting  the  Eldership  adjourned,  having  "appointed  a  committee 
to  select  a  preacher  for  the  circuit."  It  reconvened  on  December  5,  1883,  "to 
finish  the  business,  when  Franklin  Berkheiser  was  elected  to  supply  the  churches 
for  the  ensuing  year." 

31st  German  Eldership. — It  does  not  appear  that  Berkheiser  was  at  any  time 
licensed  by  the  German  Eldership.  Like  J.  K,  Moyer,  after  the  Independent 
church  at  Auburn  again  united  with  the  German  Eldership,  his  relation  seems  to 
have  been  that  of  honorary  member;  but  he  possessed  all  the  rights  of  an  or- 
dained minister  of  the  body.  Like  Moyer,  he  was  eligible  to  office,  and  so  when 
the  Eldership  convened  at  Auburn,  Schuylkill  county,  November  1,  1884,  he  pre- 
sided as  Speaker.  The  doings  of  this  session  were  not  published.  Dr.  Charles  E. 
Quail,  Clerk,  simply  announced  through  The  Advocate  the  time  and  place  of  the 
meeting.  Because  of  the  increasing  infirmities  of  Weishanipel,  his  "Kundschafter" 
was  discontinued,  and  so  there  is,  like  in  the  remarkable  copy  of  "Ingoldsby 
Legends,"  owned  by  an  admirer  of  the  work,  "a  page  in  the  body  of  the  book 
which  had  been  left  blank." 

32nd  German  Eldership. — During  the  year  past  the  German  Eldership  sus- 
tained a  serious  loss  in  the  death  of  J.  F.  Weishanipel,  chiefly  instrumental  in  its 
organization,  and  its  faithful  advocate  and  defender.  He  received  his  first  license 
from  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1843.  He  served  only  a  few  fields  as 
pastor.  He  traveled  a  great  deal,  and  was  as  widely  known  personally  to  the 
brotherhood  as  almost  any  minister  of  the  Church.  He  had  an  unusual  faculty 
for  applying  himself  to  new  and  varied  occupations.  He  was  a  printer,  editor  and 
a  facile  writer;  but  he  lacked  the  quality  of  leadership,  and  was  frequently  in- 
volved in  controversies.  A  man  of  good  character  and  honest  purpose,  but  his  ac- 
complishments were  on  a  limited  scale.  He  had  some  poetic  talent,  and  would 
have  attained  more  distinction  as  a  correspondent,  or  in  literature,  than  he  did  in 
the  pulpit.  His  last  years  were  embittered  with  personal  contentions  which  cost 
him  the  good  will  of  many  of  his  earlier  friends  in  all  the  churches.  The  Com- 
mittee on  Obituaries  of  the  Eldership  made  suitable  mention  of  his  many  good 
traits  and  recognized  his  valuable  services  to  the  German  cause.  The  Eldership 
held  its  session  at  Steigei'walt's  Bethel,  SchuyLkill  county,  beginning  November  1, 
1885,  when  F.  W.  Berkheiser  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Ezek.  xliii.  10, 
11.  Four  teaching  elders  were  present,  and  four  absent;  with  four  delegates. 
Berkheiser  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  C  E.  Quail,  Clerk.  Isaac  Hoffmeister  was 
Treasurer.  There  was  but  one  field  of  labor,  to  which  Berkheiser  was  appointed, 
toward  whose  support  the  Eldership  voted  $300.00.  No  report  was  published  of 
the  income  from  the  Mission  Farm,  or  interest  from  investments.  A  complete  or- 
ganization, in  the  way  of  boards  and  committees,  was  kept  up,  so  as  to  care  for  the 
large  Kimmel  estate  bequeathed  to  the  Eldership. 

33rd  GeiTtnan  Eldership. — Conditions  were  not  improving  in  the  German  Eld- 
ership, and  probably  in  the  absence  of  the  cohesive  power  of  the  Kimmel  bequest 


554  History    of    the    Churches    op    God 

its  existence  could  not  have  been  perpetuated.  But  it  became  a  source  of  irrita- 
tion to  the  surrounding  churches  of  God,  which  began  to  agitate  the  question  of 
seeking  the  abrogation  of  its  Charter  by  the  General  Eldership.  It  was  not  an 
easy  matter  to  get  an  acceptable  preacher  for  the  few  churches  which  still  remained 
in  fellowship  with  it.  Berkheiser  was  only  with  it  temporarily.  When  it  con- 
vened at  Auburn,  Schuylkill  county,  November  6,  1886,  W.  B.  Musslenian 
preached  on  Saturday  evening,  and  Hershey  on  Sunday  morning  and  even- 
ing. Neither  was  a  minister  of  the  Church  of  God,  yet  Hershey's  Sunday  morning 
sermon  was  recognized  as  the  Opening  Sermon.  Both  were  enrolled  as  "elders 
present."  The  membership  consisted  of  four  German  Eldership  ministers  and  two 
delegates.  Berkheiser  and  Quail  were  re-elected  Speaker  and  Clerk,  and  Hoff- 
ineister,  Treasurer.  J.  Riipp  had  died  during  the  year.  A  collection  was  ordered 
in  each  church  for  missionary  pu'-poses.  Bush  received  "license  to  preach  at  Balti- 
more, Md."  In  addition  to  the  appointment  of  "Berkheiser  circuit  preacher,"  with 
an  appropriation  of  $300.00,  Edward  Mengel  was  named  "as  missionary,"  he  "to 
receive  $25.00  from  the  general  fund."  The  meeting  was  considered  "one  of  the 
most  encouraging  the  body  had  held  for  some  years." 

36th  Gennan  Eldership. — No  reports  of  the  sessions  of  18«7  and  1888  were 
published,  but  conditions  remained  unchanged.  In  1889  R.  H.  Bolton,  College 
Agent,  visited  the  German  Eldership  territory  at  the  time  of  the  meeting  of  the 
body  at  Auburn,  Schuylkill  county.  He  preached  what  was  virtually  the  Opening 
Sermon,  on  Sunday  evening,  November  3rd.  On  Monday  morning  the  Eldership 
was  organized  by  the  election  of  Frederick  Wagner,  Speaker,  and  Dr.  C.  E.  Quail, 
Clerk.  Joseph  Fahl  received  license,  and  he  succeeded  Berkheiser  as  pastor  of 
the  churches  of  the  Eldership.  Bolton  reports  the  value  of  the  Kiinniel  estate  in 
the  hands  of  the  Eldership  at  $6,000.00  for  the  farm,  and  $3,000.00  cash.  He 
supposes  this  "would  all  be  lost  to  the  body  if  the  German  Eldership  became  ex- 
tinct. Hence,  these  German  brethren  are  holding  on,  and  hope  to  maintain  their 
•existence  as  an  Eldership.  They  have  but  five  ministers  now,  and  three  churches 
under  their  direct  supervision."  To  the  general  body  much  has  been  lost  in 
Schuylkill  county  as  a  result  of  the  nolicy  of  organizing  the  German  Eldership 
within  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  The  seeds  of  strife,  contention  and  dis- 
integration thus  sown  have  yielded  a  harvest  sad  to  contemplate. 

37th  German  Eldership. — The  German  Eldership  in  189  0  and  1891  did  not 
publish  any  part  of  its  proceedings.  This  may  be  attributed  to  the  fact  that  in 
1890  the  first  attempt  of  an  official  character  was  made  to  end  its  existence.  At 
the  General  Eldership  of  1890  the  East  Pennsylvania  churches  at  Auburn  and 
Kimmel's  sent  a  representative,  S.  C.  Stonesifer,  to  the  General  Eldership  to  peti- 
tion said  body  to  revoke  the  Charter  of  the  German  Eldership.  This  was  opposed 
by  C.  E.  Quail,  the  delegate  of  the  German  Eldership,  and  the  subject  was  finally 
referred  to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  for  official  action.  This  action  was 
duly  taken,  and  the  question  came  before  the  General  Eldership  in  proper  official 
form  in  1893,  when  the  Charter  of  the  German  Eldership  was  revoked,  and  all 
its  privileges  as  an  organized  body  were  canceled.  Since  then  said  Eldership  has 
not  been  recognized  as  in  existence,  and  its  territory,  churches  and  property  were 
adjudged  to  belong  to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. 

In  1892  the  German  Eldership  published  in  The  Church  Advocate  a  list  of  its 
officers,  members  of  the  Standing  Committee,  Mission  Committee;  two  delegates 
to  the  General  Eldership  in  1893,  Geo.  A.  Stein  and  Joseph  M.  Fahl,  and  its  one 
pastor.  But  these  delegates  were  not  present  at  the  General  Eldership  in  1893, 
and  so  there  was  no  opposition  to  the  action  taken  by  said  body.  The  German 
Eldership,  however,  determined  to  resist  all  efforts  to  merge  it  into  the  East  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership  and  to  give  the  latter  body  possession  of  its  churches  and 
property.  The  Attorney-in-fact  of.  the  General  Eldership  and  of  the  Bast  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership,  C.  H.  Forney,  was  present  at  the  session  of  the  German  Elder- 
ship in  1893,  and  proposed  an  amicable  adjustment  of  all  matters  in  controversy. 
These  overtures  were  rejected.  Steps  were  immediately  taken  to  secure  legal  ad- 
vice and  begin  proceedings  in  the  courts  of  Schuylkill  county  with  a  view  of  giving 
legal  effect  to  the  action  of  the  General  Eldership,  and  to  have  appointed  by  the 
court  the  Board  of  Incorporation  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  "as  the 
trustee  of  the  estate  of  George  Kimniel,  deceased,  to  carry  out  and  effectuate  the 
trusts  and  the  religious  and  benevolent  purposes  created  and  provided  for  by  the 
said  last  Will  and  Testament  of  the  said  George  T<:imniel."  This  the  said  German 
Eldership  resisted,  and  a  protracted  law  suit  resulted,  conducted  by  successive  re- 


The   German   Eldership  555 

appointments  by  the  General  and  East  Pennsylvania  Elderships  of  C.  H.  Forney  as 
Attorney-in-fact,  and  the  members  of  the  Board  of  Incorporation  of  the  German 
Eldership,  George  A.  Stein,  Thomas  Hartnng,  William  Gangloff,  Lewis  Osenbaeh, 
Thomas  Paul,  Reuben  Mengel,  Franli  Poland,  Abraham  Zimmennan  and  Howard 
Mengel.  Two  vital  questions  were  involved  upon  which  the  result  of  the  litiga- 
tion seemed  to  hinge,  to  wit:  The  power  of  the  General  Eldership  to  dissolve  an 
Annual  Eldership;  and,  the  effect  of  an  Act  of  the  Legislature,  incorporating  a  re- 
ligious body.  The  contention  of  the  prosecution  was,  that  while  there  is  no 
specific  provision  to  that  effect  in  the  Constitution  of  the  General  Eldership,  it  is 
clearly  implied  in  powers  granted.  Also,  that  this  is  Presbyterian  law,  and  that 
the  government  of  the  Church  of  God  is  presbyterial.  Hence  the  Bill  in  Equity 
stated,  "that  the  German  Eldership  has  ceased  to  exist  ever  since  1893."  On  the 
second  point  it  was  claimed,  that  the  decision  in  the  Harrisburg  Church  Case 
settled  the  question  as  to  the  effect  of  an  Act  of  Incorporation,  since,  though  the 
Fourth  Street  church  was  incorporated,  that  fact  did  not  entitle  the  independent 
church  to  hold  its  property  against  the  expressed  will  of  the  Eldership.  From 
November,  1893,  to  November,  189  5,  no  progress  was  made  in  the  case.  As  at 
the  latter  date  the  Attorney-in-fact  was  advised  that  the  German  Eldership,  which 
kept  up  its  regular  organization,  and  still  does,  had  taken  action  proposing  a  re- 
opening of  the  case  before  the  General  Eldership  in  1896,  he  ordered  a  suspension 
of  the  suit.  But  though  the  General  Eldership  convened  in  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  the 
delegates  from  the  German  Eldership  did  not  appear,  and  no  communication  was 
received.  The  Attorney-in-fact  having  been  reappointed,  he  employed  A.  W. 
Schalck  as  "Solicitor  for  Complaints,"  and  began  active  work  to  push  the  case 
to  an  early  conclusion.  But  "the  law's  delays"  operated  so  effectually  that  the 
Bill  in  Equity  was  not  filed  .until  May  2,  1898,  and  the  taking  of  oral  testimony 
was  still  further  delayed  until  October,  1899.  The  preparation  of  the  documentary 
evidence  required  time  and  tedious  labor.  But  there  were  other,  and  possibly  un- 
avoidable, delays,  so  that  it  was  not  until  October,  19  08,  that  the  Attorney-in-fact 
could  report  to  the  Eldership,  that  the  Solicitor  had  promised  "that  the  case  will 
be  argued  before  the  close  of  the  year."  This  followed  the  labors  of  the  Attorney- 
in-fact,  assisted  by  C.  H.  Grove,  in  August,  1908,  when  the  final  systemizing  and 
classifying  of  the  voluminous  evidence  was  completed.  In  this  anticipation  dis- 
appointment had  to  be  reported  at  the  Eldership  in  1909.  During  all  these  delays 
efforts  were  not  wanting  to  effect  a  settlement  out  of  court.  On  two  occasions 
overtures  to  this  end  were  made  to  the  Respondents,  "with  a  view  of  seeking  an 
amicable  adjustment  of  matters  in  litigation."  Also  in  1905,  "the  German  Elder- 
ship (so-called)  was  ofticially  requested  to  send  representatives  to  the  General 
Eldership"  for  the  same  purpose.  They  were  appointed,  and  were  present  at  Mt. 
Pleasant  General  Eldership  in  that  year.  Conferences  were  held  between  them 
and  a  committee  appointed  for  that  purpose.  Said  committee  finally  reported, 
that  the  representatives  of  the  German  Eldership  declared  that  they  had  'no 
authority  to  accept  any  propositions'  looking  toward  a  settlement,"  and  hence  the 
committee,  "unable  to  offer  any  plan  by  which  the  case  at  issue  can  now  be  ad- 
justed," "recommended  the  continuance  of  the  Attorney-in-fact  to  prosecute  the 
case  to  a  final  judicial  conclusion."  In  1909  the  Attorney-in-fact  reported  to  the 
Fast  Pennsylvania  Eldership  at  Auburn,  that  he  had  "since  May  last  permitted  the 
case  to  lie  quite,  in  order  to  allow  efforts  to  be  made  anew  for  an  amicable  settle- 
ment out  of  Court."  He  also  asked  "that  such  action  be  taken  by  the  Eldership 
80  that  any  overtures  to  this  end  may  receive  proper  recognition  and  considera- 
tion." A  committee,  consisting  of  C.  H.  Foniey,  C.  H.  Grove  and  C.  F.  Reitzel, 
was  named  "to  confer  with  representatives  of  the  German  Eldership."  And  while 
said  representatives  again  "disclaimed  any  authority  to  act  for  their  Eldership," 
a  basis  of  settlement  was  "mutually  agreed"  upon,  to  be  submitted  to  each  of  the 
Elderships  for  approval,  or  rejection,  or  modification.  It  was  adopted,  without  an 
amendment,  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  It  also  authorized  "the  Stand- 
ing Committee  to  meet  a  committee  of  the  German  Eldership  sometime  prior  to 
the  meeting  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1910  to  make  arrangements  to 
carry  the  recommendations  into  effect."  The  German  Eldership,  while  it  appointed 
a  committee,  did  not  act  on  the  basis  agreed  upon  and  gave  its  committee  no  power 
to  enter  into  any  binding  agreement.  Hence,  when  the  two  committees  finally 
met  at  the  Kimmel  Church,  nothing  could  be  done,  as  in  addition  to  having  no 
power,  the  members  of  the  German  Eldership  committee  individually  refused  to 
accept  the  basis  submitted  by  the   East  Pennsylvania   Eldership.      This   fruitless 


556  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

effort  to  effect  peace,  harmony  and  union  was  reported  to  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  in  1910.  And  as  it  was  ordered  in  1909,  "that  the  legal  proceedings  in 
the  courts  of  Schuylkill  county  shall  be  suspended  until  otherwise  ordered,"  in  the 
absence  of  such  an  order  by  the  Eldership,  there  has  since  been  no  resumption  of 
proceedings.  The  German  Eldership  has,  however,  received  no  legal  or  official 
recognition  by  either  the  General  Eldership,  nor  any  of  the  annual  Elderships; 
but  it  has  been  treated,  as  stated  in  the  Bill  in  Equity,  as  having  ceased  to  exist 
ever  since  1893,  and  as  no  longer  competent  to  execute  any  of  the  trusts  created 
by,  X)r  provided  for,  in  the  said  last  Will  and  Testament  of  the  said  George  Kim- 
mel." 


IX.     THE  WEST  OHIO   ELDERSHIP. 


The  West  Ohio  Eldership  was  formed  to  meet  a  natural  demand  growing  out 
of  the  preponderating  strength  of  the  Ohio  Eldership  in  the  north-western  section 
of  the  State;  the  distance  to,  and  inconvenience  in  attending.  Annual  Eldership 
sessions,  and  patriotic  sentiment,  or  State  pride.  Indiana  Eldership  embraced  a 
number  of  counties  in  Ohio,  whose  natural  affiliation  would  be  with  an  Ohio  Elder- 
ship, and  ministers  and  Church  families  were  largely  from  older  sections  of  the 
State.  And  as  the  ministers  and  churches  West  of  the  proposed  line  of  division 
between  the  contemplated  East  and  West  Ohio  Elderships  were  in  the  majority, 
they  could  control  the  matter  of  forming  the  new  Eldership.  But  every  step  taken 
was  with  deliberation  and  in  order,  and  with  unanimity.  With  no  recorded  op- 
position, no  objections  and  no  protests,  the  Ohio  Eldership  in  October,  1855, 
adopted  a  resolution  "recommending  to  the  General  Eldership  [of  1857]  the  pro- 
priety of  organizing  an  Eldership  in  western  Ohio,  with  the  consent  of  the  Indiana 
Eldership."  This  action  having  been  published,  and  no  protests  having  been  re- 
ceived, in  1856  the  Eldership  readopted  its  recommendation  to  the  General  Elder- 
ship. It  also  authorized  the  Standing  Committee  to  agree  upon,  and  suggest,  the 
boundary  line  between  the  East  and  the  West  Ohio  Elderships.  It  was  to  ask  for 
a  conference  with  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  Indiana  Eldership  to  pre-arrange 
matters  for  the  meeting  of  the  General  Eldership  in  1857.  The  joint  meeting  of 
the  two  Standing  Committees  was  called  to  be  held  at  Upper  Sandusky,  Wyandot 
county,  Ohio,  February  7,  1857.  In  the  absence  of  the  Standing  Committee  of  the 
Indiana  Eldership,  the  Ohio  Standing  Committee  requested  said  Committee  to 
agree  "to  make  the  State  line  between  Ohio  and  Indiana  the  boundary  line  be- 
tween the  two  Elderships."  It  also  suggested  "the  propriety  of  arranging  the 
boundary  line  between  the  Eastern  and  Western  Ohio  Elderships  as  follows:  Com- 
mencing at  Portsmouth  on  the  Ohio  River,  thence  north  up  the  Scioto  River  to  the 
south  line  of  Franklin  county,  thence  to  the  south-east  corner  of  said  county, 
thence  north  on  the  said  county  lines  of  Franklin,  Delaware,  Marion,  Crawford, 
Seneca,  Sandusky  and  Ottawa."  The  proposed  line  made  nearly  an  equal  division 
of  the  State.  The  General  Eldership,  sitting  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  on  Wednesday 
afternoon,  June  3,  1857,  adopted  the  report  of  its  Committee  on  Boundaries,  which 
approved  the  proposed  division  of  the  Ohio  Eldership,  and  fixed  the  boundaries 
between  the  East  and  West  Ohio  Elderships  and  between  the  West  Ohio  Eldership 
and  the  Indiana  Eldership  as  petitioned  by  the  Ohio  Eldership  in  the  action  of  its 
Standing  Committee. 

.  1st  West  Ohio  Eldei-ship. — Everything  officially  being  thus  perfected,  J.  M. 
West,  "one  of  the  Standing  Committee"  announced  that  "the  Western  Ohio  Elder- 
ship is  requested  to  meet  on  Wednesday,  the  14th  of  October,  ready  to  organize  on 
the  15th,  at  Upper  Sandusky,  Wyandot  county,  Ohio."  This  was  in  1857.  "All 
the  members  in  the  bounds  of  the  Eldership,  and  all  who  wish  to  become  mem- 
bers" were  "requested  to  attend  without  fail."  West  "called  the  house  to  order," 
and  T.  Hickemell  "opened  the  Eldership  with  the  usual  acts  of  worship."  T.  H. 
Deshiri  and  T.  Hickernell  constituted  the  Eldership,  enrolling  fifteen  ministers, 
seven  ruling  elders  and  three  delegates.  Thomas  Hickemell  was  elected  Speaker; 
J.  M.  West,  First  Clerk,  and  R.  H.  Bolton,  Second  Clerk.  Eight  committees  were 
appointed  by  the  Speaker,  and  the  Eldership  "appointed  a  Board  of  Missions  and 
a  Stationing  Committee."  Hickeraell  was  appointed  "to  preach  the  Opening  Ser- 
mon this  evening."  The  Committee  on  Rules  reported  twelve  Rules.  The  Open- 
ing Sermon  was  based  on  1  John  ii.  6.      The  Constitution  of  the  original  Ohio  Eld- 


The    West    Ohio    Eldkrship  557 

ership  Board  of  Missions  was  adopted.  White,  of  Michigan,  was  present,  and 
asked  for  a  minister,  but  the  Eldership  found  it  "impossible  at  present."  Nine 
ministers  volunteered  to  travel.  One  was  licensed — A.  Rush.  The  Eldership  in- 
sisted on  Transfers,  declaring  that  it  "will  receive  no  minister  from  any  other  body 
without  a  transfer  or  recommendation."  A  resolution  was  passed  in  favor  of  "the 
daily  reading  of  the  Scriptures  in  our  common  schools,  as  a  school-book,"  and  one 
"heartily  advising  all  brethren  to  abstain  from  using  tobacco  in  the  house  of  God 
during  divine  service."  "The  propriety  of  erecting  an  institution  of  education,  on 
the  donation  system,  in  West  Ohio,  to  teach  pupils  free  of  tuition"  was  considered. 
The  work  of  the  American  Bible  Union  was  strongly  commended.  "Slavery,  the 
sum  of  all  evils"  was  pronounced  "contrary  to  the  spirit  and  letter  of  the  gospel," 
and  the  Eldership  pledged  itself  "to  labor  and  render  all  the  aid  and  sympathy 
possible  for  those  in  bonds."  Believing  the  subject  of  temperance  "to  be  overr 
looked  and  neglected  to  a  great  degree,"  the  Eldership  advised  that  "it  be  revived 
In  the  pulpit  and  in  the  churches."  The  ministers  were  directed  "to  solicit  one 
dime  from  each  member ...  .for  missionary  purposes,  to  be  forwarded  to  Elder 
James  Colder,"  Harrisburg,  Pa.  The  circuits  to  which  eight  ministers  were  ap- 
pointed were  Attica,  Carey,  Findlay,  Clintonville,  Celina,  Defiance. 

2nd  West  Ohio  Eldership. — The  first  Eldership  has  no  official  title  on  its  Min- 
utes. The  second,  which  "convened  in  Findlay,  Hancock  county,  Ohio,  September 
16,  1858,"  is  called  "The  West  Ohio  Eldership  of  the  Churches  of  God."  John 
Winebrenner  was  present,  and  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  from  Ezra  v.  11.  He 
was  made  "a  member  of  this  body  during  its  sittings,"  and  was  chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  License.  W^m.  McFadden,  of  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  was  also  made 'a 
member  of  this  Eldership.  The  Speaker  elected  was  T.  Hickeraell,  with  J.  M. 
West,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  R.  H.  Bolton,  Transcribing  Clerk.  Some  extensive 
revivals  were  reported.  At  the  nine  special  meetings  on  the  Blanchard  circuit, 
Bolton  and  Wm.  McCormick,  pastors,  there  were  one  hundred  and  twenty  con- 
versions. Coates  reported  eighty-three  on  the  Carey  circuit.  The  conduct  of  the 
Editor  of  The  Advocate  was  disapproved,  "in  publishing  articles  and  communica- 
tions which  are  derogatory  to  the  character  of  some  of  our  ministerial  brethren, 
and  then  refuses  them  the  right  and  privilege  of  defending  themselves."  And 
then  it  specifically  branded  a  letter  of  A.  B.  Slyter  "in  which  he  has  misrepre- 
sented Elder  John  Winebrenner,  as  one  of  these  unbecoming  and  injurious  com- 
munications, entirely  unjustifiable."  A  committee  was  named  "to  have  the  West 
Ohio  Eldership  incorporated." 

3rd  West  Ohio  Eldership. — The  work  of  the  Standing  Committee  during  the 
year  appeared  in  constituting  the  Eldership  which  assembled  "in  the  bethel  near 
West  Liberty,  Crawford  county,  Ohio,  October  5,  185  9."  One  charge  was  added 
to  the  list;  two  points  are  stations,  and  several  names  are  changed.  Eleven  of  the 
twenty-six  ministers  were  absent.  Twelve  ruling  elders  and  six  delegates  were 
present.  The  resolution  of  1858  the  Eldership  corrected  so  as  to  read,  "That  our 
preachers  proceed  to  their  appointed  fields  of  labor  forthwith  after  the  Eldership." 
The  spirit  of  independency  manifested  by  some  "churches  within  our  bounds"  was 
rebuked  in  trenchant  terms,  as  "resulting  invariably  in  divisions,  alienations  and 
tumults,  detrimental  to  our  union,  harmony  and  co-operation."  Christmas  day- 
was  recommended  to  be  set  apart  by  ministers  and  churches  as  a  day  of  fasting 
and  prayer. 

4th  West  Ohio  Eldership. — The  West  Ohio  Eldership  was  steadily  growing 
both  as  to  mihisters  and  membership.  It  was  becoming  one  of  the  strongest  Eld- 
erships in  the  moral  and  intellectual  strength  of  its  teaching  elders.  There  were 
new  accessions  of  men  of  promise  from  the  ranks,  and  the  strong  men  of  eastern 
Ohio  were  attracted  to  it.  At  the  Eldership  which  met  in  the  bethel  near  Mendon, 
Mercer  county,  Ohio,  October  15,  1860,  W.  P.  Small  and  C.  S.  Bolton  received  li- 
cense. G.  W.  Wilson  was  chosen  Speaker;  R.  H.  Bolton,  First  Clerk,  and  James 
George,  Second  Clerk.  Advisory  ministers  were  accorded  the  privileges  of  full 
members  during  the  session.  Tiffin  was  a  station,  and  there  were  four  circuits 
and  one  mission — Maumee.  The  Eldership  offered  to  the  Indiana  Eldership  to 
have  the  churches  east  of  St.  Mary's  River  added  to  the  West  Ohio  Eldership  if 
the  Indiana  Eldership  "cannot  conveniently  supply  them."  Among  the  difficulties 
to  be  adjusted  this  year  was  one  involving  "the  General  Agent  of  the  General  Eld- 
ership, J.  F.  AVeishampel."  The  Standing  Committee  at  its  meeting  in  August  had 
accused  him  of  committing  "grievous  offenses:  1.  By  disseminating  pro-slavery 
principles.      2.     By  disseminating  sectarian  principles.     3.    By  circulating  slander- 


558  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

ous  reports  against  Elder  John  Winebreniier."  The  Eldership  simply  adopted  the 
Report  of  the  Committee,  although  it  pronounced,  without  a  hearing,  Weishampel's 
"actions  censurable  and  his  guilt  intolerable."  Instead  of  seeking  redress  accord- 
ing to  the  Constitution,  AVcishampel,  after  waiting  four  months,  in  a  letter  dated 
December  1st,  and  published  January  3,  1861,  resented  this  treatment  in  pungent 
and  impassioned  terms.  To  this  letter  G.  W.  AVilson,  member  pro  tem  of  the 
Standing  Committee,  replied  in  a  communication  dated  February  9,  1861,  defend- 
ing the  action  of  the  Committee.  Charges  had  also  been  preferred  against  Elder 
Moses  Coates.  The  Committee  heard  them  in  the  absence  of  the  accused,  and 
reported  their  actions  to  the  Eldership,  and  the  report  was  considered  consecutively 
and  adopted.  But  as  Coates  "confessed"  to  some  of  the  charges  that  "he  had 
done  wrong,"  "pardon  was  granted  him"  on  those  charges.  Yet  the  Eldership 
finally  resolved  "that  he  be  no  longer  a  member  of  this  body."  When  various 
publications  had  been  approved,  a  resolution  prevailed  "commending  all  who  con- 
veniently can,  to  prepare  and  publish  as  many  books  as  possible  on  suitable  sub- 
jects." After  strong  resolutions  were  adopted  on  the  life  and  character  of  Wine- 
brenner,  it  was  ordered  that  "a  funeral  sermon  be  preached  to-night  on  the  death 
of  Elder  Winebrenner  by  Bro.  T.  Hickemell."  "A  solemn  and  impressive  sermon 
from  2  Tim.  iv.  7,  was  preached."  It  favored  the  erection  of  a  monument  over 
Winebrenner's  grave,  and  urged  ministers  and  brethren  to  solicit  and  forward 
contributions  for  that  purpose.  The  sin  of  slavery"  was  declared  to  be  "increas- 
ing most  alarmingly"  and  "making  fearful  inroads  upon  the  interests  of  human- 
ity," and  the  Eldership  resolved  to  "do  everything  within  the  province  of  Chris- 
tians, and  especially  ministers  of  the  gospel,  to  arrest  the  progress  of  this  evil, 
and  ultimately  to  erase  it  from  our  land." 

5th  West  Ohio  Eldership. — Only  a  synopsis,  by  direction  of  the  Eldership,  "of 
the  leading  items  of  the  doings"  of  the  Eldership  of  1861  was  published.  "The 
West  Ohio  Eldership  of  the  Churches  of  God  convened  in  Union  Bethel,  Hopewell 
township,  Seneca  county,  Ohio,  on  Monday  morning,  October  14,  1861."  Fourteen 
teaching  elders  were  present,  and  eleven  absent;  with  nine  ruling  elders  and  four 
delegates.  G.  W,  AVilson  was  elected  "Chairman;"  R.  H.  Bolton,  First  Clerk,  and 
James  George,  Second  Clerk.  The  Eldership  "forwarded  $5.00  for  the  publica- 
tion of  the  Journal  in  full,  to  Bro.  Thomas,  in  pamphlet  form,  in  connection  with 
other  Minutes  of  Elderships  of  the  Churches  of  God  in  North  America."  "The  in- 
testine and  treasonal  strife,  with  thousands  of  armed  rebels  threatening  our 
national  Capitol,  and  even  our  national  existence,"  was  deplored  and  anathema- 
tized. The  Eldership  resolved  "to  pray  for  our  rulers;"  "to  pray  unceasingly  that 
God  will  defend  the  right  and  give  success  in  this  struggle  of  our  nation  to  per- 
petuate its  existence;"  "to  pray  for  our  soldiers  that  have  gone  at  their  couniry's 
call  to  defend  the  liberties  we  enjoy;"  "to  pray  that  God  will  so  overrule  this 
national  calamity  that  the  blighting  curse  of  slavery,  which  is  the  originating 
cause  of  all  this  loss  of  blood  and  treasure,  may  be  swept  from  the  land."  The 
strongest  sentiments  of  patriotism  were  voiced  in  resolutions  following  this  Re- 
port, in  resolutions  on  Elder  C.  S.  Bolton,  who  "had  laid  aside  the  pleasures  of  a 
quiet  home,  and  marched  forth  at  his  country's  call  to  the  defense  of  freedom  and 
the  Constitution."  St.  Mary's  circuit  was  added  to  the  West  Ohio  Eldership  ap- 
pointments, in  addition  to  which  there  were  five  circuits  and  one  station.  Tiffin 
became  part  of  Findlay  circuit. 

6th  AVest  Ohio  Eldei"ship. — The  plan  of  publishing  the  Journals  of  all  the 
Annual  Elderships  in  one  pamphlet  having  proved  impracticable,  the  Journal  of 
the  West  Ohio  Eldership  again  appeared  in  full  in  The  Advocate  in  1862.  The 
session  was  held  in  the  bethel  in  Jefferson  township,  Williams  county,  Ohio,  com- 
mencing on  Monday  morning,  October  20,  1862.  The  attendance  was  small,  as 
twenty  out  of  twenty-nine  teaching  elders  were  absent,  and  but  seven  delegates 
and  five  ruling  elders  were  in  attendance.  An  election  for  officers  resulted  in  the 
choice  of  T.  Hickernell  for  Speaker;  R.  H.  Bolton,  First  Clerk,  and  James  George, 
Second  Clerk.  As  a  result  of  "the  present  unhappy  state  of  our  country,"  the 
Eldership  affirmed  that  "immorality  and  recklessness  are  fearfully  on  the  rise,  and 
the  vice  of  intemperance ...  .seeks  to  spread  its  evil  influence  wider,  and  make 
drunkenness  more  general;"  "opening  the  floodgates  of  every  vice;  fllling  the  air 
with  the  shrieks  and  cries  of  the  distressed  and  broken  hearted."  It  therefore 
resolved  that  "it  is  the  duty  of  all  Christians  to  use  all  their  energies  against  this 
blighting  and  soul-withering  curse;"  that  it  "will  try  to  discourage  any  counte- 
nance that  may  be  given  to  the  unholy  traffic  by  the  patronage  of  professing  Chris- 


The   West    Ohio    Eldership  559 

tians,"  and  "heartily  approving  of  the  course  of  the  War  and  Navy  Department  in 
prohibiting  the  use  of  ardent  spirits  in  the  Army."  Ringing  resolutions  were  re- 
ported by  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  the  Country,  approving  the  course  of  the 
Government;  disclaiming  "all  sympathy  with  rebellion  or  secession  in  either 
Church  or  State;"  attributing  "the  devastation  and  confiscation  of  property,  the 
loss  of  life,  the  mangling  and  ruining  of  bodies,  the  blood  that  has  already 
drenched  cur  once  happy  land"  to  "slavery  as  one  of  the  main  causes."  A  com- 
mittee was  reappointed  "to  draft  a  new  Constitution  for  the  Board  of  Missions." 
M.  Coates,  coming  "with  sufficient  contrition  and  penitence,  and  asking  pardon  of 
all  he  had  offendetJ,"  was  restored  to  fellowship  and  a  license  granted  him.  The 
President's  Proclamation  of  Emancipation  was  "hailed  with  joy"  by  the  Eldership, 
"as  the  harbinger  of  a  new  era  in  the  affairs  of  our  country,"  and  the  hope  ex- 
pressed "that  the  time  will  speedily  arrive  when  universal  emancipation  shall  be 
proclaimed  throughout  the  land."  The  work  of  the  American  Bible  Society  was 
strongly  commended.  The  "revival  of  the  Sunday-school  cause"  was  strongly 
urged  upon  the  ministers  "as  calculated  to  further  the  spiritual  interests  of  the 
Church."  The  conversion  during  the  year  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  souls,  the  im- 
mersion of  fifty-one,  and  the  organization  of  six  new  churches  were  reported. 

7th  West  Ohio  Eldership. — On  Sabbath  morning,  October  18,  1863,  A.  X. 
Shoemaker,  hLarrisburg,  Pa.,  preached  to  the  West  Ohio  Eldership  a  sermon  on 
"The  Ministry."  The  Eldership  convened  on  Monday  morning,  the  19th,  in  the 
Rock  Run  Bethel,  Wyandot  county,  Ohio,  the  Opening  Sermon  having  been 
preached  the  previous  evening,  by  J.  AV.  Aukeiinan.  G.  W.  Wilson  was  elected 
Speaker;  R.  H.  Bolton,  First  Clerk,  and  H.  W.  Conley,  Second  Clerk.  After  the 
Committee  on  Resolutions  had  called  attention  to  "two  very  important  questions 
now  agitating  the  Christian  public: — 1st.  The  relation  of  a  Christian  citizen  to 
the  Government  of  the  United  States;  and  2nd,  His  duty  to  that  Government  in 
the  present  contest  between  it  and  the  States  in  open  rebellion  against  its  author- 
ity"— it  proposed  that  "we  invite  Bro.  G.  W.  Wilson  to  preach  on  said  subject  this 
evening."  Books  written  and  published  by  ministers  of  the  Church  were  recom- 
mended to  "the  ministers,  brethren  and  people  within  the  bounds  of  this  Elder- 
ship." and  the  brethren  were  urged  "to  write  out  and  publish  more  uspful  books  f"r 
the  Church  and  people."  An  Eldership  Protocal,  to  contain  all  the  Minutes  of  the 
body  and  of  its  Standing  Committee  was  ordered  to  be  secured.  As  a  body  of 
Christians  was  found  to  exist  in  northern  Ohio  and  southern  Michigan,  known  as 
"the  Church  of  God  in  Christ;"  and  as  said  body  "holds  to  similar  views  to  those 
we  hold  to  be  taught  in  the  Bible;"  and  as  "those  of  like  precious  faith  should  co- 
operate in  one  body  to  promote  the  cause  of  God  our  Savior,"  the  Committee  on 
Resolutions  asked  the  Eldership  "that  two  delegates  be  appointed  to  attend  their 
next  Eldership  in  order  to  bring  about  a  union  of  the  two  bodies,  if  practicable." 
R.  H.  Bolton  and  James  Wilson  were  appointed.  Ministers  and  deacons  were 
averred  to  be  negligent  in  the  discharge  of  their  duties  in  the  matter  of  the  sup- 
port of  pastors,  and  were  "urged  to  lay  the  sunport  of  the  ministers  clearly  before 
their  congregations,  and  urge  them  to  be  faithful  in  the  performance  of  their 
duties."  The  Committee  on  the  State  of  the  Country  was  sustained  in  declaring 
it  to  be  "the  responsible  mission  of  the  American  people  to  maintain  unimpaired 
the  unity  and  integrity  of  this  Government;"  "that  all  its  subjects  owe  loyalty  to 
the  rightful  authority  of  the  Government;"  that  "there  can  be  no  right  of  revolu- 
tion under  a  democratic  form  of  government,"  and  demanding  "the  complete 
abolition  of  slavery,  which  is  a  sinful,  unnatural  and  cruel  system."  "No  intelli- 
gent Christian,  or  friend  of  humanity  can  sympathize  with  the  authors  of  the  self- 
styled  Southern  Confederacy"  because  "they  are  rebels,"  "they  are  traitors,"  "they 
are  murderers,"  "they  are  the  destroyers  of  the  peace,  commerce,  institutions  and 
happiness  of  their  country."  The  Constitution  of  "the  Missionary  Aid  Society" 
was  considered  and  adopted.  The  Chicago  Mission  project  was  strongly  endorsed, 
and  "solicitors  and  collectors  were  appointed"  to  "take  subscriptions  for  three 
years."  One  hundred  and  eightv-seven  were  received  into  fellowship  during  the 
year,  out  of  two  hundred  and  sixty-six  reported  conversions,  and  the  total  member- 
ship was  given  as  eight  hundred  and  fifty.  Seven  ministers  volunteered  to  travel 
fields  the  foUowine  yenr.  These  were  assigned  to  five  circuits  and  two  missions, 
with  one  other  mission  to  be  supplied  by  an  eighth  minister.  Genessee  Mission, 
Mich.,  was  one  of  the  mission  fields. 

8th  West  Ohio  Eldership. — The  proposition  to  seek  to  effect  a  union  with  the 
Church  of  God  in  Christ  bore  fruit  to  the  extent  that  when  the  West  Ohio  Elder- 


560  History    op    the    Churches    of    God 

ship  met  in  the  United  Brethren  meeting-house  in  Findlay,  Hancock  county,  Ohio, 
October  17,  1864,  J.  Huff  and  J.  Haixlee  were  present  as  representatives  of  said 
Church,  and  were  made  advisory  members.  The  committee  to  visit  the  annual 
Conference  of  said  Church  reported;  the  Eldership  "approved  of  the  efforts  that 
are  making  for  a  union,"  and  appointed  "two  delegates  to  their  next  annual  meet- 
ing." The  Eldership  elected  D.  Shriner,  Speaker;  C.  S.  Bolton,  First  Clerk,  and 
G.  E.  Ewing,  Second  Clerk.  Contrary  to  the  teachings  of  many  in  those  days,  the 
Eldership  declared  that  "the  Bible  stands  opposed  to  oppression  in  humanity  and 
injustice  as  is  embodied  in  the  slave  traffic;  therefore  we,  taking  the  Bible  for  our 
criterion,  can  not  conscientiously  and  religiously  unite  in  church  or  Christian  fel- 
lowship with  any  man  who  justifies,  or  has  fellowship,  or  persists  in  the  sinful 
practice  of  buying,  or  selling,  or  holding  any  human  being  in  bondage."  The 
President's  confiscation  and  Emancipation  Proclamation  "has  our  hearty  ap- 
proval." There  was  one  negative  vote  on  the  resolution  on  slavery.  Declaring 
further  its  "unwavering  confidence  in,  and  loyalty  to,  the  Government,"  the  Elder- 
ship resolved  that  it  "can  not  hold  fellowship  with  any  brother  who  will  knowingly 
and  in  any  way  aid  the  rebellion,  or  conspiracy  against  this  Government  of  the 
United  States  in  the  North  or  South."  The  "fervent  prayers"  of  the  Eldership  are 
"tendered  to  the  President  and  all  others  with  him  in  authority  for  the  final  over- 
throw and  triumphant  success  in  suppressing  the  rebellion,  perpetuating  and  sus- 
taining the  union  of  all  the  States,  and  restoring  an  honorable  and  permanent 
peace,  founded  in  justice,  liberty  and  union."  Hence,  on  the  first  breath  of  sus- 
picion as  to  the  loyalty  of  J.  Dobson  he  was  put  on  trial  upon  charges  preferred 
against  him,  "authorized  by  the  Eldership;"  but  he  "having  answered  satisfactor- 
ily all  the  interrogations  of  the  Eldership,  was  exonerated."  The  Eldership  re- 
solved "in  no  way  to  give  aid  or  countenance  to  any  man  who  will  engage  in  the 
bitter  curse  of  the  rum  traffic,  either  in  furnishing  material  for  distilling,  selling 
or  otherwise  distributing  as  a  beverage  intoxicating  liquors."  It  pronounced  in 
favor  of  an  educated,  energetic  and  efficient  ministry,  "and  so  insisted  that  the 
ministers  pursue  a  regular  course  of  studies."  The  Sabbath-school  was  voted  to 
be  the  most  highly  important  of  the  enterprises  of  the  present  age,  and  each 
preacher  was  required  to  preach  a  sermon  on  this  subject.  Every  itinerant  min- 
ister was  required  at  the  next  Eldership  to  report  "all  money  and  other  articles 
received  from  each  church  on  his  circuit,"  "the  same  to  be  entered  on  the  records 
of  the  Eldership."     Six  circuits  were  formed,  two  of  which  were  left  unsupplied. 

9th  West  Ohio  Eldership. — The  West  Ohio  Eldership  in  1865  had  not  less 
than  thirty  preaching  places,  divided  among  eight  fields  of  labor.  One  of  these 
was  Michigan  Mission,  and  another  Degraff  Mission.  There  were  appointments  in 
Lucas  county,  of  which  Toledo  is  the  county  seat,  which  belonged  to  the  Church 
of  God  in  Christ,  but  which  the  Eldership  was  requested  to  supply.  They  were 
attached  to  Findlay  circuit.  Findlay  station  had  the  three  points  of  Findlay, 
Blanchard  and  Hickory  Grove.  The  Eldership  met  in  the  Rock  Run  Bethel,  Wyan- 
dot county,  Ohio,  on  Monday  morning,  October  16,  1865.  In  addition  to  the 
teaching  elders  and  ruling  elders,  the  members  of  the  Board  of  Missions  composed 
of  laymen  not  members  of  the  Eldership,  were  made  full  members,  as  well  as  Long 
and  Selby,  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  Adams  and  Landes,  of  the  East 
Ohio  Eldership.  The  session  on  Monday  afternoon  was  enlivened  with  "a  warm 
discussion"  of  the  question  of  "preaching  doctrine  contrary  to  the  known  views  of 
this  body  without  previous  consultation."  The  majority  favored  the  resolution, 
but  as  it  seemed  to  resemble  an  unwritten  Creed,  it  was  reconsidered  at  once  after 
another  "lengthy  debate,"  and  changed  so  as  to  express  the  opinion  "that  it  is  out- 
side of  the  calling  of  a  gospel  minister  to  preach  a  doctrine  which  he  can  not  prove 
directly  by  the  Bible."  But  before  this  was  adopted  there  was  "a  warm  and 
lengthy  debate."  Subscribing  toward  the  support  of  a  minister,  and  refusing  to 
pay  when  there  is  ability,  was  made  an  offense  subject  to  discipline.  "Hostilities 
between  the  Government  of  the  United  States  and  the  rebel  forces"  having  ceased, 
the  Eldership  rejoiced  in  "the  overthrow  of  the  Rebellion,"  "the  stability  of  our 
form  of  Government,"  "the  abandonment  of  the  vile  and  damnable  system  of 
slavery,"  "the  elevation  of  the  colored  race  to  the  enjoyment  of  their  natural  and 
inalienable  rights,"  and  pledged  itself  to  "united  efforts  of  all  true  patriots  to  re- 
store harmony  and  Christian  friendship  between  the  lately  divided  portions  of  our 
country."  A  sermon  on  the  ordinances  was  delivered  by  G.  W.  Wilson,  appointed 
by  the  Eldership,  and  their  observances  followed  the  sittings  of  Wednesday.  The 
membership  of  the  Stationing  Committee  consisted    of    three   teaching   and    three 


The    West    Ohio    Eldekship  561. 

ruling  elders;  that  of  the  Standing  Committee  of  three  teaching  and  two  ruling 
elders.  The  Eldership  disclaimed  all  belief  in,  and  sympathy  with,  the  doctrines 
of  election  and  the  final  perseverance  of  the  saints,  nor  their  propagators,  and 
declared  that  the  sooner  the  churches  rid  themselves  of  this  withering  evil  the 
better,  so  as  to  retain  our  confidence  and  to  reflect  favorably  on  the  cause  gen- 
erally." A  vote  on  the  reunion  of  the  two  Ohio  Elderships  "stood  nine  for  and 
eight  against."  Four  delegates  were  appointed  to  deliberate  with  the  delegates 
of  the  East  Ohio  Eldership  on  the  subject.  But  they  were  given  binding  in- 
structions not  to  agree  to  a  union  "if  any  erroneous  doctrines  or  practices  exist, 
except  upon  the  ground  that  these  be  immediately  corrected,  and  prohibited  the 
privilege  of  coming  into  the  consolidation."  G.  E.  Ewing,  of  Williams  county, 
Ohio,  who  had  gone  to  Nemaha  county,  Kas.,  was  "authorized  to  act  as  a  mission- 
ary on  behalf  of  the  Church  in  Kansas."  The  officers  of  the  Eldership  were  W. 
Shafer,  Speaker;  J.  \V.  Senseimey,  First  Clerk,  and  G.  W.  Wilson,  Second  Clerk. 
The  Speaker  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  from  2  Cor.  iv.  1,  2,  on  Sunday  evening 
previous  to  the  organization. 

10th  West  Ohio  Eldersliip. — Several  peculiar  facts  are  connected  with  the  ses- 
sion of  the  West  Ohio  Eldership  at  Blanchard  Bethel,  Liberty  township,  Hancock 
county,  Ohio,  which  convened  on  Monday  morning,  November  19,  1866.  It  is 
specially  noted  that  the  Opening  Sermon  by  G.  AV.  Wilson,  "was  written  and  read 
before  a  large  and  attentive  congregation."  After  electing  T.  Hickemell  Speaker; 
J.  H.  Besore,  First  Clerk,  and  G.  W.  Wilson,  Second  Clerk,  an  unusual  committee 
was  named  "On  Translations  and  the  Bible  Laws  generally."  This  committee 
commended  the  labors  of  the  American  Bible  Union,  and  "sincerely  advised  the 
adoption  of  the  new  translation  as  a  text  book  in  the  pulpit,  a  companion  in  the 
family  and  a  guide  to  inspired  truth  in  our  Sabbath-schools."  It  seems  a  surprise 
that  "a  very  lengthy  and  feeling  debate"  should  take  place  on  the  affirmative  state- 
ment that  "the  Scriptures  authorize  the  laying  on  of  hands  and  prayer  in  setting 
apart  men  to  the  holy  office  of  the  gospel  ministry."  But  the  resolution  was  post- 
poned "for  more  mature  reflection."  Then  G.  W.  AVilson  again  introduced  resolu- 
tions declaring  that  the  Eldership  will  "in  future  set  apart  our  ministers  for  the 
work  assigned  them  by  the  laying  on  of  hands  and  prayer."  But  it  was  not  pro- 
posed to  make  it  obligatory;  but  on  the  same  evening  those  who  so  desired  were 
thus  ordained,  by  L.  Ensminger,  who  himself  had  been  thus  set  apart.  It  was, 
however,  not  until  "after  a  lengthy,  solemn  and  interesting  discussion"  that  the 
resolutions  were  adopted.  It  was  recommended  to  the  churches  to  hold  two  camp- 
meetings  the  following  season.  Dissatisfaction  with  "the  liquor  license  laws  of 
Ohio"  was  expressed,  and  the  Legislature  was  "earnestly  appealed  to  to  pass 
prohibitory  laws  immediately."  To  have  "traveling  preachers"  on  the  Stationing 
Committee  was  affirmed  to  be  "a  great  evil,"  and  so  action  was  taken  that  "no 
preacher  having  a  charge  shall  serve  on  that  Committee."  Wednesday  evening 
was  uniquely  memorable.  Wilson  preached  a  sermon;  ten  ministers,  nearly  all 
having  held  licenses  for  longer  or  shorter  periods,  were  "ordained  by  the  laying 
on  of  hands  and  prayer;"  the  washing  of  the  saints'  feet;  the  Lord's  Supper; 
"embracing  and  greeting  of  the  sympathizing  brethren  after  the  ordination  ser- 
vices," all  combined  produced  a  scene  "which  was  hardly  ever  equalled  among  us." 
Under  such  conditions  it  was  easy  to  adopt  a  resolution  to  raise  $1,000.00  mis- 
sionary money.  There  was  also  need  for  funds,  as  the  Eldership  had  on  its  list  of 
charges  De  Graff  Mission,  Genesee  Mission,  Mich.,  and  the  Kansas  Mission.  Wil- 
son, Ensminger  and  Small  were  appointed  "a  committee  to  draft  a  Constitution, 
or  system  of  co-operation,  for  the  use  of  the  Eldership."  The  only  limitation  on 
the  powers  of  the  Standing  Committee  was  "the  approval  or  disapproval  of  the 
Eldership." 

11th  West  Ohio  Eldei-ship. — The  day  of  the  meeting  of  the  Eldership  having 
been  changed,  it  met  in  its  eleventh  annual  session  in  the  Findlay  Bethel,  Find- 
lay,  Hancock  county,  Ohio,  Wednesday,  October  16,  1867,  at  2  o'clock  p.  m.  The 
officers  chosen  were  D.  Shiiner,  Speaker;  J.  H.  Besore,  Clerk,  and  J.  W.  Sen- 
sinney.  Reporter.  In  the  evening  the  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by  T. 
Hickernell,  from  1  Cor.  ii.  1,  2.  J.  Richards,  one  of  the  ex-ministers  who  consti- 
tuted the  first  Eldership  organized  in  1830,  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  received  license, 
with  three  others,  one  of  them  D.  S.  AVanier,  later  the  leader  in  Ohio  and  west- 
ward of  a  body  of  people  who  gave  the  brotherhood  considerable  trouble.  The 
Eldership  planned  to  have  three  camp-meetings  held  in  1868.  The  project  of 
creating  a  fund  for  superannuated  ministers  and  widows  of  deceased   ministers, 

C.  H.— 19* 


562  History    of    the    Churchks    of    God 

and  for  contingent  purposes,  was  more  fully  matured,  so  as  to  be  put  in  active 
form.  It  was  required  of  the  churches  to  pay  their  ministers  quarterly,  both  for 
their  convenience,  and  to  insure  a  regular  and  full  compensation.  The  Mission 
Fund  was  quite  below  the  needs,  as  well  as  the  expectations,  of  the  Eldership,  as 
the  Board  reported  "cash  received,  $167.78;  subscriptions,  $145.00;  balance  in 
treasury,  $82.78."  There  was  sufficient  demand  for  German  preaching  to  move  the 
Eldership  to  "invite  Elder  Busch,  of  Baltimore,  Md.,"  who  was  an  advisory  mem- 
ber, "to  travel  among  the  Germans  of  this  Eldership."  The  Genessee  Mission, 
Mich.,  as  per  request  of  the  Michigan  Eldership,  was  transferred  to  said  body.  But 
the  Stationing  Committee  arranged  for  the  following  missions:  Degraff,  Osceola, 
Maumee  and  Putnam.  The  Standing  Committee  the  following  May  "appointed  G. 
AV.  Wilson,  J.  W.  Senseimey  and  J.  H.  Besore  to  draft  a  Constitution  for  the  West 
Ohid  Eldership,  to  be  presented  to  that  body  at  its  next  meeting  for  adoption." 

12th  West  Ohio  Eldership. — But  nine  of  the  twenty-four  teaching  elders,  with 
thirteen  ruling  elders  and  delegates,  constituted  the  Eldership,  which  convened  at 
Beery  Bethel,  Mercer  county,  Ohio,  October  19,  1868.  Not  less  than  three  hun- 
dred and  sixty  conversions  were  reported,  nearly  tv/o  hundred  of  which  were  bap- 
tized, with  seven  new  church  organizations.  These  were  all  reported  as  "im- 
mersions," under  the  influence  of  the  American  Bible  Union  Version.  Feeling  the 
need  of  "a  much  better  system  of  missionary  financiering,"  it  was  resolved  to  put 
the  "missionary  system  on  an  independent  basis,"  so  as  "to  exclude  all  other 
claims."  and  that  "the  missionary  money  can  be  applied  only  in  the  employment 
of  missionaries  to  labor  in  the  ministry  exclusively  on  ground  occupied  by  min- 
isters of  the  Church  of  God."  Hence,  after  this  year,  "missionary  funds  shall  not 
be  appropriated  to  any  other  purpose;"  that  "greater  effort  shall  be  put  forth  to 
collect  missionary  money,"  and  that  "at  least  one  preacher  shall  be  employed  as  a 
missionary  upon  new  ground  every  year."  The  Eldership  pledged  each  min- 
ister to  "discountenance  forever  the  use  of  tobacco."  Local  ministers  were  required 
"to  act  as  auxiliaries  to  the  itinerant  ministry,  and  to  co-operate  with  them." 
Failure  to  do  so  was  to  work  forfeiture  of  their  licenses.  So  highly  was  Elder 
Janies  George  esteemed  that  a  committee  was  appointed  to  erect  a  suitable  monu- 
ment over  his  grave  and  that  of  his  wife.  The  committee  appointed  to  draft  a  Con- 
stitution for  the  Eldership  having  failed  to  do  the  work,  W^ilson  was  appointed  for 
that  purpose. 

13th  West  Ohio  Eldership. — By  what  process  of  thought  the  West  Ohio  Elder- 
ship reversed  itself  on  the  matter  of  the  sacredness  of  the  mission  funds  may  never 
be  known.  A  year  ago  it  virtually  recognized  the  fact  that  it  held  these  funds  in 
trust  for  the  specific  purpose  for  which  they  were  solicited  and  contributed.  It 
implicitly  acknowledged  that  to  do  otherwise  was  a  betrayal  of  a  trust,  which  must 
work  a  forfeitlire  of  confidence.  It  substantially  admitted  that  there  are  always 
objections  to  the  use  of  funds  entrusted  to  measurably  irresponsible  parties  or 
bodies,  and  that  the  veto  power  resorted  to  is  the  withholding  of  contributions. 
Yet  at  its  second  sitting  in  1869  it  "rescinded  the  resolution  passed  at  our  last 
annual  session,  that  all  missionary  funds  hereafter  raised  be  applied  exclusively 
for  the  support  of  missions."  It  did  not  spread  on  its  Minutes  to  what  other  pur- 
poses it  applied  some  of  these  funds.  It  held  its  session  in  the  bethel  at  Kirby, 
Wyandot  county,  Ohio,  meeting  on  October  15,  1869.  J.  AV.  Aukemian  presided, 
with  D.  S.  W^anier  and  AV.  P.  Small  First  and  Second  Clerks  respectively.  It 
opened  its  doors  for  ministers  of  other  Elderships  to  "take  appointments  in  this 
Eldership  without  transfers,"  although  the  Constitution  of  the  General  Eldership 
forbids  it.  Deshiri  was  an  example  of  a  wandering  sheep  returning.  A  licensed 
minister  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  he  removed  to  Ohio,  where  he  joined 
the  Free  Will  Baptist  Church,  and  in  1869  came  and  knocked  for  admission  into 
the  West  Ohio  Eldership,  and  was  granted  a  license.  The  death  of  Thomas  was 
appropriately  memorialized  by  resolutions  which  spoke  of  his  "gentlemanly  and 
truly  Christian  deportment,  which  won  for  him  a  deep  place  in  the  affections  of  his 
co-laborers  in  the  ministry;  his  truly  pious  example."  With  the  "increase  of  active, 
zealous,  efficient  ministers"  in  the  Eldership,  the  Stationing  Committee  experienced 
less  trouble  in  satisfactorally  supplying  its  different  charges.  To  give  a  more 
permanent  character  to  provisions  from  time  to  time  made  for  certain  benevolent 
features  of  its  work,  the  Eldership  ordered  the  appointment  of  a  committee  "to 
draft  a  Constitution  for  a  preachers'  widows'  and  orphans'  Fund."  Not  being 
ready  to  reunite  with  the  East  Ohio  Eldership,  it  was  decided  that  "it  is  inex- 
pedient to  consolidate  at  present." 


The   West   Ohio    Eldership  563 

14th  West  Ohio  Eldership. — Sixteen  teaching  elders  and  twenty  ruling  elders, 
with  seven  delegates  responded  to  their  names  when  the  fourteenth  West  Ohio 
Eldership  was  constituted  in  the  country  bethel  known  as  Hopewell,  Seneca  county, 
October  14,  187  0.  Nine  teaching  elders  were  absent.  T.  H.  Deshiri  was  chosen 
Speaker;  D.  S.  AA^tmer,  First  Clerk,  and  W.  P.  Small,  Second  Clerk.  The  Rule  was 
adopted  requiring  ten  days'  notice  when  charges  are  to  be  preferred.  Because 
"the  people  of  God  are  to  be  a  separate  people;"  therefore,  the  Eldership  "confeid- 
ered  that  the  modern  mite  societies  are  not  becoming  for  Christians  to  engage  in," 
and  so  "we  can  not  approve  of  those  societies  in  the  Church  of  God."  An  Elder- 
ship camp-meeting  was  directed  to  be  held,  and  each  pastor  was  instructed  to 
present  the  matter  to  his  churches.  State  fairs  were  denounced  only  in  so  far  as 
they  countenanced  "racing,  trotting,  betting,  drinking,  blasphemy  and  other  crying 
sins."  But  "popular  amusements,  such  as  theaters,  festivals,  circuses  and  base- 
ball are  deleterious  to  a  Christian  life,  and  are  of  such  a  character  as  not  to  be  en- 
gaged in  in  the  name  of  the  Lord."  "All  honorable  and  lawful  means  to  suppress 
the  traffic  and  unnecessary  use  of  intoxicating  beverages"  are  to  be  used.  The 
number  of  conversions  during  the  year  is  given  as  from  200  to  250,  and  "an  al- 
most unprecedented  number  of  young  men  have  come  into  the  ministry."  An 
effort  was  to  be  made  to  purchase  a  house  of  worship  in  Tiffin.  Filled  with  an 
aggressive  spirit,  the  Eldership  further  resolved  to  "make  every  effort  to  occupy 
all  the  ground  we  possibly  can  within  the  bounds  of  this  Eldership."  Findlay 
station  and  McComb  circuit  were  "thrown  into  one,"  with  two  preachers.  In  addi- 
tion six  circuits,  and  two  General  Missionaries.  A  committee  was  named  "to  draft 
a  Constitution  and  By-Laws  for  the  Home  Missionary  Society  of  the  West  Ohio 
Eldership."     The  Eldership  was  regarded  as  "the  best  we  have  ever  had." 

l.lth  West  Ohio  Eldership. — While  "Chairman"  is  the  title  given  to  the  pre- 
siding officer  of  the  fiftienth  West  Ohio  Eldership  in  the  Minutes,  it  is  probably 
correct  to  assume  that  the  proper  title  is  Speaker.  Except  for  a  few  years,  this 
has  been  the  invariable  title  in  all  the  Elderships  up  to  this  time.  The  Eldership 
convened  in  the  bethel  at  Findlay,  Hancock  county,  Ohio,  on  Friday  morning, 
October  13,  1871.  There  were  two  stations  and  six  circuits,  which  were  repre- 
sented by  twenty-two  teaching  elders;  eighteen  ruling  elders,  and  seven  delegates. 
Eight  teaching  elders  were  absent.  W.  P.  Small  was  elected  Chairman;  D.  S. 
Wanier,  First  Clerk,  and  S.  M,  Gaskill,  Second  Clerk.  Two  delegates  were  present 
from  the  North  West  Ohio  Christian  Union.  Being  made  advisory  members, 
Jcsei>h  Neil  prepared  the  way  for  addresses  by  them  by  "remarks  relative  to  the 
subject  of  consolidation  of  the  Church  of  God  and  the  Christian  Union,  and  then 
called  upon  Bros.  S.  AVilson  and  D.  Lepley,  the  delegates  who  were  present  upon 
that  business,  to  speak."  They  made  "many  warm  and  earnest  appeals  for  the 
union  of  all  God's  people,  and  especially  all  such  who  agree  so  well  and  have  such 
strong  affinities  as  seem  to  exist  between  them  and  the  Church  of  God."  Where- 
upon the  Eldership  declared  its  readiness  "to  do  our  utmost  to  bring  about  this 
union."  The  Standing  Committee  was  appointed  to  meet  the  Standing  Committee 
of  the  North-western  Ohio  Christian  Conference  at  Lafayette,  Allen  county,  Ohio, 
November  21,  1871,  to  confer  on  the  matter.  While  the  Eldership  convened  on 
Friday  morning,  the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  on  Saturday  evening.  Min- 
isters in  charge  of  fields  of  labor  and  churches  were  strongly  urged  "to  put  forth 
efforts  to  have  well-organized  Sabbath-schools  wherever"  possible.  It  was  agreed 
to  hold  a  Sabbath-school  Convention  the  coming  year.  Increased  care  was  to  be 
taken  in  granting  licenses,  and  so  recommendations  from  the  elders  of  local 
churches  where  applicants  are  members  were  to  be  required.  The  Legislature  of 
the  State  was  commended  for  the  passage  of  a  law  "making  the  vendors  of  ardent 
spirits,  and  the  owners  of  property  wherein  the  same  is  sold,  responsible  for  all 
damage  done  by  said  traffic."  The  Agent  for  the  Board  of  Missions  collected 
$2,491.00  during  the  year.  A  stringent  provision  was  added  to  the  Constitution 
of  the  Board  of  Missions,  prohibiting  "any  officer  or  officers  of  the  Board,  or  the 
Eldership,  or  any  member  thereof"  from  "expending  any  part  of  the  principal  of 
the  Missionary  Fund."  The  Missionary  Agent  was  continued,  he  to  receive  "three 
per  cent,  on  all  notes  he  takes,  and  ten  per  cent,  on  all  moneys  he  collects,  for  his 
services."  There  were  seven  circuits  and  one  station  reported  by  the  Stationing 
Committee.      Four  of  the  circuits  had  two  pastors. 

leth  West  Ohio  Eldership. — The  Opening  Sermon  of  the  sixteenth  session  of 
the  West  Ohio  Eldership  was  delivered  by  D.  L.  Warner  on  the  evening  of  the  first 
day's  session.      The  body  convened  October  11,  1872,  in  the  Sugar  Grove  Bethel, 


564  HisTOKY    OF    thp:    Churches    of    God 

South  Bridgewater,  Williams  county.  Findlay  had  become  a  station.  A.  X.  Shoe- 
iiiakLM',  of  Chicago,  111.,  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  J.  L.  Jenner,  Clerk.  The  ques- 
tion of  union  with  the  Christian  Union  Church  was  not  brought  before  the  Elder- 
ship; but  a  sermon  on  "Christian  Union"  was.  delivered  by  Shoemaker.  More 
clearly  and  permanently  to  define  the  organization,  powers,  rights  and  duties  of 
the  Eldership,  it  was  ordered  "that  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  to  draft  a 
Constitution  for  this  Eldership."  All  licensed  ministers  were  required  to  preach 
not  less  than  twenty-five  sermons  each  year.  The  Eldership  placed  the  sale  of  the 
Clintonville  church  property  in  the  hands  of  the  Standing  Committee,  the  proceeds 
to  be  "applied  to  liquidate  the  debt  still  resting  on  the  Findlay  bethel."  Charges 
were  preferred  against  L.  Ensininger,  who  had  been  a  successful  general  mission- 
ary agent,  which  were  referred  to  the  Standing  Committee,  to  be  investigated  at 
its  first  meeting.  This  was  done  November  28,  1872.  The  charges  "implicated 
his  moral  and  Christian  character,"  and  "in  the  judgment  of  the  Committee  were 
in  the  main  sustained."  Whereupon  the  Committee  "considered  him  unworthy  of 
a  license  from  this  body,  or  fellowship  in  the  Church  of  God."  The  work  of  the 
year  was  reasonably  successful,  as  the  statistics  show  337  conversions,  199  bap- 
tized, 22  6  fellowshiped.  The  territory  was  divided  into  two  stations  and  six 
circuits.  Some  were  dissatisfied  "that  the  circuits  were  not  divided  and  more 
fields  of  labor  constituted  and  more  men  employed."  "The  meeting  was  a  glorious 
one,"  is  the  estimate  of  one  young  and  enthusiastic  minister. 

17th  AVest  Ohio  Eldership. — When  the  West  Ohio  Eldership  met  in  the  bethel 
at  New  Washington,  Crawford  county,  Ohio,  October  17,  1873,  the  draft  of  the 
Constitution  was  ready  to  be  submitted  for  approval.  It  was  adopted  item  by 
item,  consisting  of  eighteen  Articles.  Its  main  provisions  are  as  follows:  "The 
name — West  Ohio  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God."  Members — "All  the  preachers 
holding  a  license  of  this  body,  together  with  the  ruling  elders  of  the  local  churches." 
Delegates  are  not  entitled  to  membership  except  when  sent  to  fill  the  places  of 
ruling  elders,  and  then  the  number  of  delegates  shall  not  exceed  the  number  of 
ruling  elders.  "A  majority  of  the  members  present  constitute  a  quorum."  "The 
Speaker,  with  the  assistance  of  two  other  members  of  the  Eldership,  which  he 
shall  choose,  shall  appoint  all  the  committees  except  the  Stationing  and  Standing 
Committees."  "The  Standing  Committee  shall  act  in  behalf  of  the  Eldership 
during  the  year."  The  pastors  are  required  to  make  statistical  reports,  includ- 
ing the  amount  of  their  support.  "Two-thirds  majority"  is  required  to  amend  the 
Constitution.  "Each  member  shall  constantly  endeavor  to  promote  the  peace, 
prosperity  and  unanimity  of  the  Eldership."  An  organization  was  effected  by  the 
choice  of  J.  W,  Aukennan  for  Speaker;  VV.  P.  Small,  First  Clerk,  and  G.  T.  Kim- 
mel,  Second  Clerk.  It  became  necessary  to  enforce  the  lifting  of  appointed  col- 
lections, and  to  this  end  some  of  the  pastors  were  sent  back  to  attend  to  this  duty. 
The  Eldership  mourned  the  death  of  one  of  its  promising  and  worthy  young  min- 
isters, S.  M.  Gaskill,  who  "was  called  away  in  the  midst  of  life."  Feeling  "the 
necessity  of  a  Ministerial  Association"  in  the  Eldership,  Wednesday  evening  before 
the  Pentecostal  meeting  was  fixed  for  that  purpose.  The  list  of  appointments  con- 
sisted of  one  station,  eight  circuits  and  three  missions,  with  W.  H.  Oliver  as 
"traveling  missionary."  The  missions  are  Kansas  Mission — Hopewell,  Phillips, 
Kansas,  Bettsville,  Freeport  and  Mill  Grove;  Paulding  Mission — Sugar  Ridge, 
Miller's,  East  and  Blue  Creek,  and  Toledo  Mission— Robinson,  Washington  Station, 
Providence  Center,  Union  School-house,  East  Toledo,  Martin,  Benton  and  Crane 
Creek. 

18th  West  Ohio  Eldership. — The  West  Ohio  Eldership  evinced  quite  a  degree 
of  interest  in  what  was  called  the  "Sisters'  Mission  Movement,"  as  good  work  in 
Nebraska  was  being  accomplished  through  it.  Accordingly  in  1874  the  Eldership 
devoted  some  time  to  its  consideration,  and  requested  A.  X.  Shoemaker  to  make 
a  statement  concerning  it.  The  result  was  the  adoption  of  a  resolution  suggest- 
ing "the  propriety  of  organizing  a  sisters'  mission  society  in  each  local  church,  to 
be  auxiliary  to  the  General  Society."  The  Eldership  met  in  the  bethel  at  West 
Unity,  Williams  county,  September  30,  1874,  and  elected  J.  W.  Aukerman, 
Speaker;  T.  Koogle,  First  Clerk,  and  J.  F.  Fox,  Second  Clerk.  The  Chicago  Mis- 
sion occupied  considerable  time,  and  Shoemaker  was  asked  to  make  a  statement 
concerning  it,  which  was  "appreciated,"  but  without  further  action.  The  dele- 
gates to  the  General  Eldership  in  1875  were  directed  to  "do  all  they  can  for  the 
establishment  of  a  Church  school."  The  Eldership  having  sometimes  consumed 
much   time  in   settling   "difficulties  of  long  standing  and   of  a  serious  character 


The    West    Ohio    Eldhkship  5^>> 

arising  between  brethren,"  insisted  that  "the  good  of  the  cause  demands  that  suchf- 
cases  should  be  settled  privately,"  and  hence  declared  "that  no  such  cases  will  be^ 
admitted  into  this  Eldership  for  adjustment."  The  Eldership  received  "a  bequest" 
made  by  Sister  Anna  Myers.  Authority  was  given  "the  trustees  of  Hickory  Grove- 
Bethel  to  sell  said  property,  and  appropriate  the  proceeds  to  liquidate  the  debt  on 
Findlay  Bethel."  The  beginning  of  trouble  between  D.  S.  Warner  and  the  Elder- 
ship is  foreshadowed  in  an  action  on  the  adoption  of  his  Report,  which  stated  that 
he  had  "organized  a  church  in  Upper  Sandusky  contrary  to  the  Rules  of  Co-opera- 
tion," and  regarding  this  as  "a  schismatic  movement,"  "highly  disapproved  of  his 
course  in  organizing  said  church."  Imbued  with  the  missionary  spirit,  the  Elder- 
ship directed  W.  P.  Small  "to  visit  Toledo  and  see  what  can  be  done  there  to  build 
up  the  good  cause."  Reports  show  an  aggregate  of  eight  hundred  conversions 
and  seven  hundred  accessions  to  the  churches  during  the  year,  so  that  the  Elder- 
ship felt  "greatly  encouraged  to  renewed  effort."  "Her  ministerial  ranks  are 
filling  up  with  vigorous,  strong  young  men;  her  houses  are  multiplying;  her 
borders  are  enlarging,  and  her  ministry  is  zealous,  active  and  efficient."  One 
station,  ten  circuits  and  four  missions  were  reported. 

19th  West  Ohio  Eldership. — It  was  with  the  close  of  the  West  Ohio  Eldership 
of  1875  that  the  consolidation  of  the  two  Ohio  Elderships  was  consummated.  The 
East  Ohio  Eldership  was  ready  six  years  earlier  to  become  merged  in  the  West 
Ohio  Eldership,  and  appropriate  action  was  asked  for,  and  secured,  in  1869  from 
the  General  Eldership.  And  on  July  16,  1869,  the  Standing  Committee  of  the 
East  Ohio  Eldership  took  the  required  steps  to  form  a  union.  The  delay  was  occa- 
sioned by  the  West  Ohio  Eldership;;  but  in  1875  it  took  favorable  action,  resolv- 
ing "that  we,  as  the  West  Ohio  Eldership,  agree  that  the  East  Ohio  Eldership, 
with  her  interests,  be  merged  into  the  West  Ohio  Eldership,  and  that  the  Standing 
Committee  of  the  West  Ohio  Eldership  confer  with  the  Standing  Committee  of 
the  East  Ohio  Eldership  relative  to  this  matter."  The  Eldership  held  its  session 
at  the  Union  Bethel,  Mercer  county,  with  twenty-eight  teaching  elders  present, 
eighteen  ruling  elders  and  eight  delegates.  These  represented  one  station,  twelve 
circuits  and  four  missions.  The  Synopsis  of  the  Minutes  names  only  the  Trans- 
cribing Clerk,  G.  T.  Kimmel.  The  property  at  Clintonville  was  to  be  sold,  and  the 
proceeds  used  in  "the  building  of  a  new  bethel  at  such  a  place  as  may  suit  the 
church  best."  A  bequest  of  $394.34  was  received  from  Anna  Myei-s.  While  the 
Eldership  expressed  itself  in  strong  terms  in  favor  of  "abstaining  from,  and  in 
every  way  discountenancing,  the  manufacture,  sale  and  use  of  intoxicating  liquors," 
it  also  recommended  "temperance  in  the  use  of  food  among  ministers,  especially 
that  of  pork  and  other  food  that  seems  to  stupify  the  mind  and  stimulate  the  pro- 
pensities." There  were  at  this  time  in  the  Eldership  82  preaching  places;  a  mem- 
bership of  1,622,  and  during  the  year  there  were  724  conversions,  396  immersions, 
and  687  fellowshiped.  There  was  considerable  excitement  on  the  free  school 
system,  and  the  Eldership  declared  that  it  believed  this*system  "a  blessing  to  our 
c(  untry,"  and  denounced  the  effort  being  "made  on  the  part  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  to  divide  the  school  fund  and  make  it  subservient  to  sectarian  interests." 
The  Eldership  appointed  the  time  and  place  to  hold  the  Ministerial  Association 
and  the  Pentecostal  meeting.  W.  P.  Turk  was  expelled  because  he  "has  failed  to 
maintain  his  Christian  integrity"  in  his  relation  to  the  Church  and  the  Eldership. 
The  name  of  L.  Leonard  "was  also  dropped  from  the  Minutes,"  while  the  license  of 

Shepherd   was   not   renewed.      Two   new   names   were   added    to   the    Roll, 

those  of  A.  P.  McNutt  and  John  Wilder.  Eighteen  fields  of  labor  were  formed, 
of  which  nine  were  in  the  territory  of  the  East  Ohio  Eldership.  One  of  the  first 
duties  of  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  consolidated  Eldership  was  to  adjust  the 
difficulties  which  had  existed  for  some  time  at  "the  Brick  Bethel."  This  was  done 
by  a  mutual  agreement  on  November  24,  1875,  and  a  reorganization  of  the 
church. 

20th  West  Ohio  Eldership. — The  consolidated  Eldership  for  some  time  re- 
t:iined  the  name  of  the  West  Ohio  Eldership,  as  the  merger  was  really  the  ab- 
scrbtion  of  the  East  Ohio  Eldership  by  the  West  Ohio  Eldership.  It  also  retained 
its  ordinal  number,  the  Eldership  of  1876  being  the  twentieth  West  Ohio  Elder^ 
ship,  but  the  forty-first  Eldership  in  Ohio.  It  convened  at  Findlay,  Hancock 
county,  September  2  8th.  S.  Kline  had  the  distinction  of  preaching  the  Opening 
Sermon  the  previous  evening.  Thirty-nine  ministers  were  present,  and  thirteen, 
ahcent:  and  there  were  present  thirty-two  ruling  elders  and  nineteen  delegates. 
The  officers  elected  were  J.  W.  Aukenman,  Speaker;  T.  Kooj^le,  First  Clerk;  G.  T^ 


566  History    of    the    Churches    op    God 

Kiminel,  Second  Clerk.  These  represented  twenty-four  fields  of  labor,  of  which 
one  was  a  station  and  five  were  missions.  There  being  no  permanent  Rules  of 
Order,  a  committee  reported  seven  parliamentary  Rules.  On  the  subject  of  edu- 
cation the  Eldership  expressed  its  belief  "that  in  no  other  way  can  we  so  effect- 
ually build  up  the  Church  and  retain  the  children  of  our  brotherhood  than  by 
establishing  an  institution  of  learning  to  be  owned  and  controlled  by  the  Church." 
It  therefore  agreed  to  "appoint  a  committee  to  adopt  some  measures  to  attain  ihe 
desired  end."  This  committee  consisted  of  G.  W.  Wilson,  G.  T.  Kininiel  and  D.  S. 
Warner.  The  Standing  Committee  reported  "the  transferring  of  the  East  Ohio 
Eldership,  with  its  interests,  into  the  West  Ohio  Eldership,"  and  its  report  was 
adopted.  One  general  agent  was  "appointed  to  canvass  the  territory  of  the  Elder- 
ship, to  collect  interest  due,  gather  cash  and  take  notes."  The  inconvenience  of 
adopting  temporary  Rules  of  Order  was  remedied  by  appointing  a  committee  "to 
draft  Permanent  Rules  of  Order  to  be  printed  in  connection  with  the  System  of 
Co-operation."  Lower  Sugar  Creek  church  had  "refused  the  ministerial  labors 
of  H.  M.  Lynn,  the  regular  appointee,"  a  course  severely  condemned  as  "utter  con- 
tempt of  the  proper  authority  of  the  Church  of  God,  and  ignored  all  her  law  and 
order."  To  aggravate  the  wrong,  the  church  had  secured  the  services  of  an  ex- 
pelled minister.  The  church  was  admonished  "in  the  future  to  desist"  from  such 
a  course,  and  the  offenders  were  promised  pardon  "for  past  offenses"  if  they  will 
follow  this  advice.  The  Eldership  lamented  the  death  of  two  members  "who  were 
among  the  first  fruits  of  the  ministry  of  God's  word  in  Ohio,  and  who  for  many 
years  have  stood  in  connection  with  the  East  Ohio  Eldership  as  ministers  of  the 
gospel,"  John  Beidler  and  Peter  Hartman.  A  Ministerial  Association  and  a  Pente- 
costal meeting  were  appointed,  and  a  committee  on  program  named.  On  the  dia- 
conate  the  Eldership  afiirmed  its  divine  appointment,  "being  authorized  by  God's 
word,"  and  "solemnly  admonished  the  deacons  diligently  to  perform  their  duty," 
as  "God  will  hold  them  accountable  for  much  of  the  suffering  and  embarrassment 
of  his  ministers."  It  declared  that  "ordination  by  the  laying  on  of  hands  is  scrip- 
tural." It  was  stated  that  "$2,000  are  wanted  immediately  to  meet  the  demands 
of  the  Mansfield  mission  house."  Twenty-eight  appointments  were  reported  by  the 
Stationing  Committee,  of  which  one  was  a  station  and  six  were  missions. 

21st  West  Ohio  Eldership. — On  February  15,  1877,  the  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee to  revise  the  Constitution  and  prepare  permanent  Rules  of  Order  made  his 
Report  public.  It  retained  the  old  name,  "West  Ohio  Eldership  of  the  Church  of 
God."  And  the  announcement  of  the  meeting  in  1877,  and  the  Journal,  number 
it  the  twenty-first  Annual  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  in  West  Ohio."  It  con- 
vened in  the  territory  of  the  former  East  Ohio  Eldership,  at  Smithville,  Wayne 
county,  Wednesday  evening,  September  26th,  when  J.  M.  Cassel  preached  the 
Opening  Sermon.  There  were  thirty-five  teaching  elders  present,  and  eighteen 
absent;  and  thirty  ruling  elders  and  twenty-one  delegates  were  present.  The 
officers  were  J.  W.  Aukemian,  Speaker;  J.  V.  Uptlike,  First  Clerk,  and  T.  Koogle, 
Second  Clerk.  It  witnessed  the  reaffirmation  of  its  sentiments  in  favor  of  "the 
establishing  of  an  educational  institution  to  be  owned  and  controlled  by  the 
Church,"  and  a  repetition  of  its  action  "to  appoint  a  committee  to  adopt  measures 
to  attain  the  desired  end."  The  Standing  Committee  was  authorized  to  appoint 
the  camp-meetings,  and  "churches  desiring  a  camp-meeting  must  inform  the  Com- 
mittee of  place  and  time  they  desire  to  hold  the  same."  The  Stationing  Committee 
was  composed  of  "one  member  from  each  station,  circuit  and  mission."  And  so 
the  Committee  consisted  of  twenty-five  members,  of  which  number  only  eight  were 
ministers.  "A  sacred  link  that  unites  us  with  the  first  fathers"  was  removed  by 
the  death  of  J.  Myers,  first  ordained  by  the  church  at  Linglestown,  Dauphin  county. 
Pa.,  in  1829,  and  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1831.  "His  life,  like 
golden  threads  of  truth  and  devotion,  is  interwoven  with  the  history  of  the  Church 
of  God  from  its  first  organization  in  the  United  States."  Strong,  but  indefinite, 
resolutions  were  adopted  on  temperance,  expressing  the  hope  that  "the  evil  and 
crime  of  drunkenness  will  soon  be  unknown  in  our  land."  An  earnest  plea  was 
made  "with  our  dear  brethren  in  Christ  to  abstain  from  the  unnecessary  and  filthy 
use  of  tobacco."  As  a  precaution  against  loss,  notes  for  money  borrowed  out  of 
the  Permanent  Missionary  Fund  were  required  to  be  renewed  each  year,  and  inter- 
est paid.  Stating  that  "the  practice  of  delaying  the  baptizing  of  the  young  converts 
is  becoming  very  prevalent  among  us,"  and  affirming  "such  a  practice  to  be  con- 
trary to  the  New  Testament  precedent  and  the  plain  command  of  Christ,"  the  Eld- 
ership urged  "ministers  and  churches  to  see  to  it  that  the  membership  are  all 


The    West    Ohio    Eldership  567 

obedient,  especially  to  this  and  every  other  rule  relative  to  the  monumental  or- 
dinances of  the  Church."  Because  of  insubordination  and  resistance  to  the  proper 
authorities  of  the  church  on  the  part  of  certain  members  at  Greensburg,  "the 
officers  of  the  church  were  advised  to  expel  them  from  the  church"  if  upon  being 
"called  upon  to  co-operate  with  the  church  and  be  submissive  to  the  authorities," 
they  refuse  to  do  so.  Churches  and  circuits  which  fail  or  refuse  to  pay  amounts 
assessed  by  the  Eldership,  if  they  are  able  to  do  so,  "shall  not  have  the  services 
of  a  minister  until  they  manifest  a  willingness  to  pay  the  same."  Report  was 
made  of  6^5  conversions,  589  accessions,  383  baptized,  with  a  total  membership 
of  2,340.  D.  S.  Warner's  case  was  acted  on  charitably.  His  "license  was  renewed 
with  certain  restrictions —  that  he  cease  to  spring  this  so-called  'Holiness  Alliance 
Band,'  or  any  other  outside  party  he  may  stand  connected  with,  upon  the  churches 
of  God."  For  prudential  reasons  the  Stationing  Committee  was  required  "to 
transact  its  business  with  closed  doors,  and  keep  strictly  secret  their  actions  until 
they  report  to  the  Eldership."  The  committee  on  the  Mansfield  Bethel  declared, 
that  "under  existing  circumstances  it  can  see  no  way  by  which  sufficient  means 
can  be  raised  to  liquidate  the  claim  held  against  the  bethel  at  Mansfield."  There 
were  twenty-eight  appointments,  one  of  them  a  station,  and  six  missions.  Mans- 
field Mission  remained  "to  be  supplied." 

22nd  West  Ohio  Eldership. — Several  items  of  business  came  over  from  the 
Eldership  session  of  1877.  The  first  of  these  was  the  revised  Constitution,  which 
had  been  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  committee,  and  was  placed  in  the  hands  Of  the 
Standing  Committee.  The  Greensburg  church  case  was  revived,  as  the  insubordi- 
nation continued.  It  was  found  that  "the  calling  upon  the  disaffected  members 
to  be  subordinate  to  the  church  was  not  properly  carried  out,"  and  so  the  resolu- 
tion of  187  7  was  sent  back  to  the  church  with  this  statement  attached.  But  the 
Eldership  granted  permission  to  the  insubordinate  party  "to  organize  at  McDon- 
aldsville,  and  to  be  in  full  co-operation  with  the  circuit  and  ministers  appointed 
by  the  Eldership."  The  Warner  case  was  indirectly  revived  when  the  Committee 
on  Resolutions  submitted  the  following:  "That  any  minister  of  this  body  that 
may  presume  to  preach  the  dogma  of  a  second  work  for  sanctification  shall  be 
deemed  unsound  in  the  theology  of  the  Church  of  God,  and  should  not  hold  an 
ecclesiastical  relation  as  a  minister  in  this  Eldership."  Of  the  fifty-three  teach- 
ing elders  thirty-one  were  present,  with  twenty-six  ruling  elders  and  twenty-one 
delegates,  when  the  Roll  was  called  at  Rock  Run  Bethel,  Wyandot  county,  Septem- 
ber 25,  187  8.  T.  Hickemell  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Acts  xx.  28.  T. 
Koogle  was  chosen  Speaker;  J.  V.  Updike,  First  Clerk;  J.  M.  Cassel,  Second  Clerk, 
and  I.  Steiner,  Financial  Clerk.  For  "unbecoming  conduct,"  after  trial,  the  "li- 
cense of  M.  C.  Skates  was  suspended."  The  Committee  on  Education  advised  "the 
Eldership  to  take  immediate  steps  to  get  a  house  for  the  education  of  our  youths." 
The  question  of  ordination  by  the  laying  on  of  hands  was  discussed  and  a  compro- 
mise was  reached,  "giving  the  privilege  to  all  that  desire  to  be  ordained  by  the  lay- 
ing on  of  hands."  Thereupon  fourteen  of  the  ministers  were  thus  ordained.  Four 
ministers  and  three  lay  elders  constituted,  by  resolution,  the  Stationing  Com- 
mittee. Quite  a  controversy  arose  out  of  the  action  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eld- 
ership which  had  received  O.  H.  Belts,  who  came  as  a  minister  of  the  Baptist 
Church,  but  had  been  disfellowshiped  by  the  Ohio  Eldership.  The  Ohio  Eldership 
demanded  apologies,  which  having  been  duly  made,  the  case  was  closed.  The  Eld- 
ership decided  "that  none  be  permitted  to  go  before  the  Stationing  Committee  in 
person,  but  to  communicate  by  letter."  An  assessment  was  made  of  "$300.00 
for  Superannuated  and  Contingent  Fund,"  and  "stations,  circuits  and  missions 
which  were  delinquent  be  required  to  pay  up  within  six  months  from  date."  Tht^re 
were  five  missions  on  the  Stationing  Committee's  report,  but  Wooster  and  Mans- 
field were  "unsupplied,"  Wooster  being  classed  with  the  "Missions." 

23rd  West  Ohio  Eldership. — The  ministerial  losses  recorded  on  the  Journal 
in  1879  were  important  as  to  numbers  and  talents.  J.  P.  Miller  was  adjudged 
"unworthy  of  membership  in  this  body."  The  name  of  E.  H.  Yeisley  was  "dropped 
from  the  Roll  for  actions  contrary  to  the  Rules  of  Co-operation,  and  for  causing 
schisms  in  the  body  by  urging  churches  not  to  co-operate  with  the  Eldership."  At 
his  own  request  the  name  of  J.  B.  Willaman  was  "dropped  from  the  Journal."  J. 
V.  Updike  "informs  us  that  he  has  about  hired  himself  to  preach  for  the  Disciples," 
and  his  "request  was  granted,  asking  that  his  name  be  dropped  from  the  Journal." 
The  membership  had  been  fifty-nine  when  the  body  convened  at  Anderson  Bethel, 
Mercer  county,  September  24,   1879,    of    which    thirty-three    were    present,    with 


568  HisToRv    OF    THE    Churches    of    God 

thirty-three  ruling  elders  and  thirteen  delegates.  One  member  had  died  during 
the  year, William  Adams,  converted  in  Perry  county,  Pa.,  and  was  ordained  by  the 
Ohio  Eldership  in  1836.  Two  new  names  were  added  to  the  Roll.  T.  Koogle  was 
elected  Speaker;  E.  T.  Vaas,  First  Clerk,  and  AV.  P.  Small,  Second  Clerk.  A  new 
feature  in  the  reports  of  ministers  was  the  asking  of  certain  questions  as  each 
pastor  reported.  The  Treasurer  was  required  to  give  bond.  A  law  suit  having 
grown  out  of  difficulties  at  New  Washington  touching  property  rights,  the  Elder- 
ship deemed  it  advisable  to  secure  an  Act  of  Incorporation,  and  arrangements  to 
that  end  were  at  once  made.  Strongly  opposed  to  Creeds,  the  Eldership  neverthe- 
less adopted  a  resolution  not  only  against  a  certain  theory  of  sanctification;  but  it 
also  declared  that  "the  doctrine  of  baptismal  regeneration  is  unscriptural  and 
dangerous  in  its  effects,"  and  that  "any  minister  of  this  body  who  shall  hold  and 
publicly  preach  the  doctrine  shall  not  be  considered  worthy  of  a  license."  The 
numerical  strength  of  the  Church  in  Ohio  is  given  as  2,155,  of  which  number  330 
were  received  during  the  year.  To  make  more  certain  the  support  of  pastors,  it 
was  directed  that  each  pastor  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  "call  a  financial  meet- 
ing, to  make  an  apportionment  of  the  total  amount  of  salary  agreed  upon  to  the 
several  churches  on  the  field."  All  church  property  was  advised  to  be  "so  deeded 
as  to  secure  the  same  to  the  body  in  any  emergency."  The  Standing  Committee 
was  "empowered  to  consult  with  other  Standing  Committees,  looking  toward  the 
establishment  of  a  general  Church  school. 

24th  West  Ohio  Eldership. — Frequently  there  is  an  unexplained,  and  now  un- 
accountable, change  in  the  ministerial  Roll  of  an  Eldership  between  two  sessions. 
When  the  West  Ohio  Eldership  was  constituted  at  Blooming  Grove,  Richland 
county,  September  30,  1880,  there  were  present  thirty-three  teaching  elders,  and 
nineteen  were  absent,  or  a  total  enrollment  of  fifty-two.  At  the  session  of  1879 
the  enrollment  reached  fifty-nine.  There  were  also  present  in  1880  thirty-two 
ruling  elders  and  delegates.  By  ballot,  J.  W.  Aukemian  was  elected  Speaker; 
E,  T.  Vaas,  First  Clerk,  and  W.  P.  Small,  Second  Clerk.  After  the  Report  of  the 
Treasurer  was  audited  and  approved,  Heni-y  Clay  was  elected  to  that  oflice.  The 
Committee  on  Finance  had  "found  due  to  the  Eldership  in  the  hands  of  the  ex- 
treasurer  the  sum  of  $428.27,"  and  the  new  Treasurer  was  "instructed  to  collect 
said  amount."  Both  the  Treasurer  and  the  Second  Clerk  were  required  to  give 
bond,  the  former  in  the  sum  of  $5,000.00,  and  the  latter,  $500.00.  During  the 
year,  "in  the  inscrutable  providence  of  God  our  highly  esteemed  and  worthy 
brother,  Elder  A.  Kesh,  was  removed  from  our  midst  by  the  hand  of  death,"  re- 
ported the  Committee  on  Obituaries.  A  "private  sitting"  to  consider  a  case  acted 
on  by  the  Standing  Committee,  was  ordered  for  Friday  morning,  and  consumed 
nearly  the  whole  day,  when  the  report  of  the  Committee  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of 
48  yeas  and  5  nays.  The  importance  of  the  case  is  indicated  in  the  order  that 
"the  entire  Eldership  remain  in  the  house;  that  no  committee  be  allowed  to  do 
business,  and  that  counsels  on  both  sides  may  employ  as  much  time  as  the  case 
may  require."  Otherwise  nothing  of  the  case  was  entered  on  the  Journal.  The 
Committee  on  Temperance  in  its  report  severely  reflected  on  the  church  members 
when  it  resolved  to  "discountenance  the  practice  of  members  of  the  Church  visit- 
ing those  dens  of  vice  and  immorality,  and  the  using  of  intoxicating  drinks."  The 
unusual  thing  of  a  suit  at  law  against  the  Eldership  was  reported.  The  trustees 
of  the  church  at  New  Washington,  Ohio,  had  brought  suit,  which  was  adjusted  by 
the  payment  on  the  part  of  the  Eldership  of  the  sum  of  $163.80,  and  the  return 
of  a  note  of  $300.00  held  against  certain  parties.  Because  it  believed  that  "the 
business  now  done  by  the  Board  of  Missions  can  be  more  conveniently  conducted 
by  the  Eldership  and  Standing  Committee,"  said  Board  was  discontinued  after  the 
adjournment  of  the  Eldership.  The  number  of  trustees  of  the  Eldership  was  also 
reduced  from  seven  to  three.  A  tabulated  account  of  the  salaries  paid  "the 
twenty-four  traveling  and  active  preachers"  showed  a  total  of  $5,084.06,  or  an 
average  of  $217.83.  The  Report  on  the  State  of  Religion  showed  conversions, 
37  8;  accessions,  360;  immersions,  205;  total  membership,  2,024;  preaching  places, 
112,  and  number  of  sermons,  3,943.  The  Eldership  decided  to  "form  a  class  of 
study,  to  be  examined  at  our  yearly  Eldership  meetings."  A  committee  of  two 
was  sent  "to  Mansfield  to  sell,  rent  or  close  the  mission  property."  At  the  same 
time  "the  attention  of  all  the  local  preachers"  was  directed  "to  the  clause  in  the 
Constitution  requiring  them  to  open  new  appointments." 

25th  W'est  Ohio  Eldership. — Defections  from  the  Church  on  the  part  of  min- 
isters was  a  very  rare  occurrence  prior  to  1860;  after  that  date  nearly  every  Eld- 


The    Wkst    Ohio    Eldership  569 

ership  lost  some  of  its  members  in  that  way.  The  name  of  one  was  thus  "stricken 
from  the  Roll  when  the  West  Ohio  Eldership  was  constituted  at  Smithville,  Wayne 
county,  September  2  9,  1S81.  The  body  consisted  of  fifty  members,  twenty-seven 
ministers  and  twenty-three  ruling  elders  and  delegates.  Twenty-five  ministers 
were  absent.  J.  W.  Aukeriiian  was  chosen  Speaker;  S.  Kline,  First  Clerk,  and  W. 
P.  Small,  Second  Clerk.  In  addition  to  the  Opening  Sermon  the  evening  of  the 
28th,  which  was  called  "the  Eldership  sermon,"  was  preached  on  the  evening 
of  the  2  9th.  S.  Kline  preached  the  first,  and  G.  W.  Wilson,  the  second.  The  Col- 
lege enterprise  was  strongly  endorsed,  and  it  was  "considered  the  duty  of  the 
Church  generally  to  respond  liberally  to  the  solicitations  of  the  collecting  agents 
in  the  State  of  Ohio."  On  temperance  the  Eldership  was  firmly  "opposed  to  men 
professing  godliness  patronizing  in  the  least  degree  these  places  of  vice  and  im- 
morality," and  pledged  itself  to  "labor  for  the  suppression  of  the  liquor  traffic 
both  by  moral  suasion  and  constitutional  prohibition."  The  body  mourned  the 
death  of  S.  Chamberlin,  "an  excellent  and  worthy"  minister.  It  also  joined  the 
West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  expressions  of  grief  at  the  death  of  P.  Loucks, 
and  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  "in  the  great  loss  sustained  by  the  Church  at 
large"  in  the  death  of  its  two  conspicuous  laymen,  Dr.  George  Ross  and  J.  S.  Gable. 
With  other  Elderships  it  "deeply  mourned  the  sad  national  bereavement  in  the 
death  of  James  A.  Gai-fleld,  President  of  the  United  States."  The  action  of  the 
General  Eldership  in  May,  1881,  employing  a  Permanent  General  Missionary  Sec- 
retary was  endorsed.  The  sum  of  $300.00  Superannuated  and  Contingent  Fund 
for  the  year  was  agreed  upon,  and  was  apportioned  to  the  different  circuits.  The 
receipts  for  the  various  Funds  during  the  preceding  year  were: — Missionary, 
$309.29;  Superannuated  and  Contingent,  $190.69;  Permanent  Fund,  total  on 
hand,  $1,684.90.  The  Sabbath-school  cause  was  strongly  commended  to  ministers 
and  churches,  schools  to  be  "organized  where  there  are  none,  and  those  strength- 
ened which  are  already  organized  by  gathering  in  the  non-Sabbath-school  attend- 
ing children."  Every  minister  was  required  "to  preach  a  missionary  sermon  and 
take  up  a  missionary  collection  at  each  of  his  points  during  the  year."  As  penalty 
on  "a  certain  appointment  on  the  Mercer  county  circuit"  which  "failed  to  pay  its 
pro  rata  of  Eldership  funds,"  the  "Finance  Board  on  said  circuit"  was  given  "dis- 
cretionary power  with  regard  to  supplying  the  same  with  preaching."  The  vacant 
lot  in  Mansfield  having  been  sold,  a  deed  was  authorized  to  be  made  by  the  trustees 
of  the  Eldership.  Several  ministers  were  disciplined  for  violating  Articles  of  the 
Constitution.  Claiming  that  the  "several  fields  of  labor  within  the  bounds  of  the 
Eldership  are  much  deranged,"  "making  the  work  too  unequal  both  for  work  and 
support,"  the  Committee  on  Boundaries  was  required  "to  so  equalize  them  that 
the  labor  and  support  may  be  more  nearly  equal,  and  consequently  more  satis- 
factory to  the  preachers  generally."  The  territory  was  divided  into  three  sta- 
tions, seventeen  circuits  and  two  missions.  G.  W.  Wilson  was  appointed  General 
Missionary. 

26th  West  Ohio  Eldei-ship. — An  innovation  characterized  the  session  of  this 
Eldership.  It  convened  at  Rising  Sun,  Wood  county,  September  27,  1882,  when 
the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  by  T.  Koogle.  On  Thursday  morning  after 
devotional  exercises  a  Committee  on  Credentials  was  appointed,  which  made  the 
enrollment.  This  showed  the  presence  of  thirty-three  of  the  forty-nine  ministers, 
sixteen  ruling  elders  and  eight  delegates.  Nine  fields  of  labor  were  without  rep- 
resentation. The  officers  of  the  Eldership  were  J.  M.  Cassel,  Speaker;  C.  N.  Bel- 
man,  First  Clerk;  W.  P.  Small,  Second  Clerk,  and  Henry  Clay.  Treasurer.  Im- 
portant action  was  taken  relative  to  the  Permanent  Missionary  Notes,  which  were 
directed  "to  be  paid  by  the  session  of  the  next  Eldership."  In  place  of  this  Fund 
there  was  to  be  what  "shall  be  hereafter  known  as  the  Irreducible  Missionary 
Fund."  A  Church  Extension  Committee  was  created  "to  take  the  oversight,  and 
to  recommend  the  expenditure,  of  missionary  money."  The  Standing  Committee 
was  made  this  Committee,  which  was  also  "to  look  after  places  where  preaching 
by  the  Church  of  God  is  requested,  and  to  open  houses  which  have  been  closed." 
Two  tenching  elders  "in  the  order  of  divine  providence"  were  removed  from  "their 
earthly  spheres  of  activity"  both  "highly  esteemed  and  beloved" — H.  M.  Linn  and 
D.  Delcamp.  The  Eldership  "hailed  with  pleasure  the  prospect  of  the  establish- 
ment of  an  institution  of  learning  as  a  first-class  college."  On  Temperance  the 
body  strongly  endorsed  "the  principle  to  touch  not.  t^ste  not,  handle  not,  except 
for  medicinal  purposes"  any  intoxicants,  and  rejoiced  in  "the  drift  toward  prohibi- 
tion in  public  sentiment."      AVith  this  was  connected  a  resolution  directed  especi- 


570  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

ally  to  candidates  for  the  ministry  "to  abstain  from  the  use  of  tobacco,  as  an  evil 
which  is  the  first  step  to  intemperance."  "A  committee  was  appointed  to  draft 
a  course  of  studies  for  licentiates,  and  all  others  who  desire  to  take  the  course." 
The  name  of  one  minister  was  "stricken  from  the  Roll,  as  he  had  not  reported  for 
two  consecutive  years."  One  was  restored,  who  after  "some  remarks  touching 
himself,  asked  pardon."  On  the  Communion  it  was  agreed  as  "the  sense  of  this 
body  that  domestic  wine,  or  the  pure  juice  of  the  grape,  should  be  used." 
Preachers  were  directed  "to  see  that  no  intoxicating  wine  be  used  at  Com- 
munion." A  Sunday-school  Convention  was  directed  to  be  held,  and  "the  brother- 
hood recommended  to  attend  and  aid  in  the  promotion  of  union,  township,  county 
and  State  cnventions."  The  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  was 
commended  for  organizing,  through  its  agent,  missionary  societies  in  the  local 
churches.  The  number  of  fields  of  labor  was  twenty-six,  Findlay  and  Wooster 
being  stations. 

27th  West  Ohio  Eldership. — The  Committee  on  Revision  of  the  Constitution, 
created  in  1882,  had  no  report  to  make  when  the  Eldership  convened  at  Beery's 
Bethel,  Mercer  county,  September  27,  1883,  because  "the  Standing  Committee 
failed  to  perfect  the  incorporation  of  the  Eldership.  .  .  .and  to  change  the  name." 
The  Committee  was  continued.  R.  H.  Bolton  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  on 
the  evening  of  the  26th,  from  Mark  xvi.  15.  A  Committee  on  Credentials  assisted 
in  constituting  the  Eldership.  There  were  enrolled  fifty-three  ministers,  and 
twenty-four  ruling  elders  and  delegates,  while  eighteen  ministers  were  absent. 
Balloting  resulted  in  the  choice  of  T.  Koogle  for  Speaker;  R.  H.  Bolton,  First 
Clerk;  W.  P.  SmalU  Second  Clerk,  and  Henry  Clay,  Treasurer.  Education  was 
made  a  special  order  for  Saturday  morning's  sitting,  at  which  time  the  Report  of 
the  Committee,  made  on  Friday  morning,  was  considered,  which  was  clear  and 
strong  in  its  approval  of  the  work  of  building  Findlay  College  as  "an  institution 
under  our  own  control,  equal  in  educational  advantages  with  any  other  similar 
schools."  The  Eldership  placed  itself  on  record  in  favor  of  "the  entire  prohibi- 
tion of  any  and  all  traffic  in  intoxicants."  It  was  by  a  "unanimous  rising  vote  of 
the  Eldership  and  congregation"  that  the  Report  was  adopted,  after  enthusiastic 
speeches  by  Wilson,  Cassel,  Graham  and  Winbigler.  The  number  of  conversions  re- 
ported during  the  year  was  458;  accessions,  393;  baptized,  201;  church  houses,  55; 
Sabbath-schools,  54.  The  Eldership  had  a  "Permanent  Contingent  Fund"  of  $1,- 
762.39.  The  name  "Irreducible  Fund"  was  changed  again  to  "Permanent  Mis- 
sionary Fund."  The  Pentecostal  meeting  was  discontinued.  G.  C.  Graham,  of 
the  Baptist  Church,  received  license.  "The  expediency  of  a  division  of  the  Elder- 
ship" was  considered  under  propositions  to  instruct  the  delegates  to  the  General 
Eldership,  but  it  "was  decided  that  it  is  not  advisable  to  divide  at  present."  The 
movement  to  "have  one  or  more  depositories  of  the  literature  of  the  Church  of 
God  established"  was  favorably  recognized,  and  "B.  F.  Bolton,  Findlay,  Ohio,"  was 
designated  as  the  Agent  "to  procure  a  supply  of  Church  books."  The  Eldership 
lamented  the  death  of  "Father  William  Adams,  one  of  the  first  pioneer  preachers 
of  the  Church  of  God  in  the  State  of  Ohio;  a  brother  minister  of  deep-toned  piety, 
of  great  zeal  and  earnestness  in  the  work  of  the  gospel  ministry,  and  an  honored 
instrument  in  leading  hosts  of  sinners  to  God,  and  forming  many  churches  of 
God."  It  was  agreed  "to  aid  in  procuring  a  suitable  monument,"  and  an  appeal 
was  authorized  to  be  made  for  free-will  offerings.  The  amount  of  $20.65  was  at 
once  raised.  An  agent  was  appointed  "to  dispose  of  the  Whartonsburg  church 
property  and  material."  J.  M.  Cassel  was  designated  "to  assist  the  trustees  in 
the  adjustment  of  the  Mansfield  Mission  property." 

28th  West  Ohio  Eldership. — The  revision  of  the  Constitution  and  the  incorpo- 
ration of  the  Eldership  were  not  completed  during  the  year,  and  when  the  Com- 
mittee so  reported  it  received  specific  instructions  in  1884  to  proceed  with  the 
work.  It  was  "empowered  and  instructed  to  define  the  object,  powers  and  privi- 
leges of  the  body  under  inccrpcrators."  The  title  of  the  body  was  to  be  changed 
to  "Ohio  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God."  The  work  was  to  be  completed  so  as 
"to  be  submitted  to  the  Eldership  in  September,  1885,  for  approval."  The  Elder- 
ship session  in  1884  was  held  in  the  Union  Bethel,  New  Berlin,  Stark  county,  be- 
ginning September  24th,  on  the  evening  of  which  date  the  Opening  Sermon  was 
preached  by  J.  M.  Cassel,  from  Rev.  xxi.  9.  The  officers  chosen  were  S.  Kline, 
Speaker;  E.  T.  Vaas,  First  Clerk;  W.  P.  Small,  Second  Clerk,  and  Henry  Clay, 
Treasurer.  The  holding  of  "Children's  College  Day  services  in  the  Eldership"  was 
"heartily  approved,"  and  it  was  "suggested  that  said  day  be  the  third  Sabbath  in 


The   West   Ohio   Eldership  571 

June  of  each  year."  An  Association  existed  in  Ohio  whose  object  was  to  secure 
legislation  granting  "divorce  only  on  scriptural  grounds,"  the  Eldership  "recom- 
mended said  Association  to  the  consideration  of  every  minister  of  the  body,"  and 
that  "they  become  members  of  said  Society."  Apprehending  that  Sunday-school 
Helps  might  work  to  the  exclusion  of  the  Bible,  it  was  recommended  "that  strenu- 
ous efforts  be  made  in  every  Sunday-school  in  the  State  to  secure  by  the  first  Sun- 
day in  October  next  the  possession  on  the  part  of  every  scholar  of  a  Bible  of  his 
own,"  so  that  these  Helps,  valuable  as  they  may  be,  shall  not  supersede  in  the 
regards  of  the  children  and  youth  of  the  land  the  divine  word."  The  "act  of  gen- 
erosity on  the  part  of  Father  John  Briggle  in  making  a  bequest  to  the  mission 
cause  of  this  Eldership,"  was  "highly  commended,"  and  his  "example  in  this 
respect"  was  noted  as  "worthy  of  emulation,  and  commended  to  our  brethren  with 
means  to  pattern  after."  His  death  was  memorialized  as  that  of  one  "who  ad- 
hered to,  and  sustained,  the  cause  faithfully;  a  pattern  of  true  piety  and  an  ex- 
ample of  liberality  worthy  of  our  imitation."  Foreign  mission  interests  came  up 
as  a  result  of  the  action  of  the  General  Eldership  in  May,  1884,  and  action  was 
taken,  "recommending  the  brotherhood  to  aid  in  raising  funds  to  send  forth  and 
sustain  a  missionary  in  foreign  lands."  Regular  accounts  were  kept  with  the  dif- 
ferent fields  of  labor,  and  delinquencies  charged  against  them.  The  ministers 
sent  to  these  delinquent  fields  were  "instructed  to  proceed  at  once  to  collect  the 
several  amounts"  those  fields  were  in  arrears.  The  sum  of  "$400.00  was  assessed 
for  the  Contingent  and  Superannuated  Fund"  for  the  year,  and  "apportioned  to  the 
different  circuits,  stations  and  missions."  A  State  missionary  collector  and  so- 
licitor was  appointed,  compensation  fixed  at  "$30.00  per  month  for  actual  expenses 
and  time  employed."  W.  P.  Small  was  appointed.  Notes  were  to  be  taken  and 
"the  notes  given  to  be  recorded  in  a  ledger."  John  Bolton  was  continued  as 
Treasurer  of  the  Monument  Fund  of  William  Adams.  The  appointments  were 
two  stations,  twenty-one  circuits  and  one  mission. 

29th  Ohio  Eldership. — The  revision  of  the  Constitution  and  drafting  of 
Articles  of  Incorporation  during  1884-5  had  so  far  proceeded  that  the  committee 
felt  prepared  to  submit  the  result  of  its  labors  for  the  consideration  of  the  Elder- 
ship which  convened  at  Union  Bethel,  Huron  county,  October  1,  1885.  After 
being  amended  in  a  few  sections,  the  report  was  adopted.  Thus  the  Eldership  "by 
the  direction,  consent  and  authority  of  all  said  Church,  and  the  members  thereof 
in  the  State  of  Ohio,  made  here  for  the  purpose  of  incorporating  in  full  all  the 
divisions  and  branches  of  said  Church  in  said  State,  fully  accept  of  all  the  pro- 
visions of  Title  Ten  of  the  Revised  Statutes  of  Ohio,  under  the  head  of  'Corpora- 
tions,' pages  654-655."  The  two  Ohio  Elderships  thus  became  one  under  the  law, 
to  be  known  as  "The  Ohio  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God."  The  "object  and 
purpose"  set  forth  for  the  "forming  said  Incorporation  is,  and  shall  be,  to  pro- 
mote the  interests  and  cause  of  Christianity,  good  morals,  society  and  such  re- 
ligious and  benevolent  work  as  may  be  proper  and  tend  to  build  up  religious  senti- 
ment and  improve  the  moral,  social  and  religious  condition  of  mankind."  The 
"control  of  all  the  churches  of  said  Church  of  God  in  the  State  of  Ohio  as  the  rules 
of  said  Church  and  the  usages  thereof,  and  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  permit 
and  allow,"  was  given  to  this  Corporation.  Five  trustees,  to  be  elected  annually, 
were  provided  for,  to  "hold  their  office,"  however,  "until  their  successors  are 
elected  and  qualified."  There  was  good  attendance,  fifty-one  ministers  being 
present,  and  twenty-seven  ruling  elders  and  delegates.  E.  T.  Vaas  preached  the 
Opening  Sermon,  from  Ps.  Ixxxiv.  11.  Delegates  and  ruling  elders  were  required 
to  have  certificates,  and  so  there  was  a  Committee  on  Credentials  to  enroll  the 
members.  R.  H.  Bolton  was  chosen  Speaker;  E.  T.  Vaas,  First  Clerk;  B.  F.  Bol- 
ton, Second  Clerk,  and  H.  Clay,  Treasurer.  The  Second  Clerk,  who  acted  as  Fi- 
nancial Clerk,  was  required  to  give  bond  in  the  sum  of  $1,000.00.  The  Eldership 
declined  "to  grant  control  of  the  church  in  Findlay  to  the  Board  of  Missions  of 
the  General  Eldership,"  as  had  been  requested  by  the  Incorporate  Board  of  said 
body.  It  was  resolved  to  hold  a  Pentecostal  meeting.  On  temperance  there  was 
a  measure  of  indicisiveness  in  the  resolutions  adopted,  the  strongest  one  express- 
ing "our  conviction  that  our  civil  authorities  should  take  a  more  decided  stand 
against  intemperance,  and,  irrespective  of  party  lines,  should  unite  harmoniously 
in  the  suppression  of  it."  But  it  would  require  a  miracle  of  popular  faith  to  in- 
spire confidence  in  such  a  movement.  The  sum  of  $430.00  was  assessed  on  the 
churches  for  the  Superannuated  and  Contingent  Fund.  Realizing  "the  great 
necessity  of  pushing  missionary  work,"  the  Eldership  "hailed  with  pleasure  the 


572 


History    of    th?:   Churciiks    ok    Goi> 


growing  interest  in  foreign  mission  worlt,  and  expressed  the  hope  that  in  the  near 
future  the  Church  of  God  may  have  a  representative  in  India."  It  also  "recog- 
nized the  generous  and  magnanimous  offers  coming  to  us  from  the  Free  Baptist 
Foreign  Mission  Board  in  the  overtures  made  by  them  to  the  Church  of  God  in 
foreign  mission  interests."  The  reports  of  ministers  showed  788  conversions  dur- 
ing the  year;  accessions,  684;  baptized,  319.  The  ministers  were  "made  person- 
ally responsible  for  the  delinquencies  in  Contingent  funds  assessed  on  their  cir- 
cuits." On  Monday  evening  the  Eldership  held  an  ordinance  service,  after  a  ser- 
mon by  G.  W.  Wilson.  There  were  two  stations  and  nineteen  circuits,  with  three 
missions,  but  four  of  them  were  unsupplied  with  pastors. 

30th  Ohio  Eldership. — There  was  apparently  a  growing  tendency  on  the  part 
of  the  fields  of  labor  not  to  send  representatives  to  the  Eldership.  Thus  in  1886 
eleven  of  them  were  unrepresented.  Yet  there  were  twenty-one  ruling  elders  and 
delegates  present,  and  thirty-four  of  the  forty-nine  ministers.  The  Eldership 
convened  at  Enterprise,  Van  Wert  county,  Thursday  morning,  September  3Uth. 
The  preceding  evening  K.  H.  Bolton  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Rev.  i. 
12.  J.  VV'.  Aukennan  was  elected  Speaker;  E.  T.  Vaas,  Clerk,  and  B.  F.  Bolton, 
Financial  Secretary.  On  Foreign  Missions  an  apparent  change  of  sentiment  had 
occurred,  and  the  Eldership  declared  that  "we  do  not  think  the  time  has  come  to 
enter  the  work  as  a  body,  and  that  we  so  instruct  our  delegates  to  the  General 
Eldership."  The  "Book  Store  established  in  Harrisburg,  Pa.,"  by  the  General 
Eldership  was  a  gratifying  fact  to  the  Eldership,  and  was  heartily  approved.  The 
Eldership  ordered  the  official  seal  to  be  "placed  on  all  official  documents  of  the 
Eldership,  Standing  Committee  and  trustees,  on  preachers'  licenses,  transfers, 
orders  on  the  Treasurer  and  all  credentials  of  appointees  of  the  Eldership."  The 
opening  of  Findlay  College  was  "hailed  with  delight  and  gratitude,  an  institution 
which  has  for  its  end  and  aim  the  imparting  of  a  true,  scientific  and  religious  edu- 
cation," and  "the  prayers,  sympathy  and  financial  support"  of  the  body  was 
"pledged  to  this  great  enterprise."  Deeper  conviction  characterized  the  Report 
on  Temperance,  and  the  Eldership  placed  itself  on  record  as  against  all  "compro- 
mise," planting  "our  banner  on  the  solid  platform  of  absolute  Prohibition."  With 
it  was  coupled  a  resolution  "to  discountenance  the  use  of  tobacco  by  ministers  and 
Christian  people  everywhere."  The  Statistical  Report  gave  the  number  of  churches 
as  84;  preaching  places,  90;  church  houses,  66;  conversions,  603;  accessions,  557; 
membership,  3,000.  Finding  that  "sometimes  churches  do  not  pay  their  preachers 
as  they  agreed  to  do,  or  should  do,"  the  Eldership  resolved  that  "such  church  or 
churches  be  censured  by  this  body  as  in  its  wisdom  it  may  see  proper,  and  that 
such  censure  be  published  in  the  Journal  of  the  Eldership."  The  territory  was- 
divided  into  two  stations  and  twenty  circuits.  Two  of  the  ministers  were  in  the^ 
field  as  Findlay  College  Collectors,  T.  Koogle  and  J.  M.  Cassel,  the  former  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  Maryland,  and  the  latter  in  Ohio  and  Indiana.  The  "spirit  and  tone 
of  the  Eldership,  with  a  few  slight  exceptions,  were  excellent." 

31st  Ohio  Eldership. — An   undertone  of  sadness  pervaded   the   deliberations 
of  the  thirty-first  session  of  the  Ohio  Eldership.      For  while  it  could  sing, 

"Hail,  heavenly  voice,  once  heard  in  Patmos,  'Write, 
Henceforth  the  dead  who  die  in  Christ  are  blest," 

Yet  it  could  not  but  mourn  the  departure  of  the  most  picturesque  figure  in  the 
body,  the  venerable  soldier  of  many  battles  and  glorious  victories,  Thomas  Hicker- 
nell.  The  "Speaker's  chair"  was  ordered  to  be  "draped  in  mourning  during  the 
session,"  and  Saturday  evening  was  "set  apart  for  memorial  services."  He  was-. 
first  licensed  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1833,  and  was  sent  as  a  mis- 
sionary to  Ohio.  For  "nearly  three  score  years  he  was  one  of  our  faithful  stand- 
ard bearers,"  the  Committee  on  Obituaries  reported,  "who  so  honorably  carried 
the  banner  of  truth  in  our  aggressive  warfare  against  the  King's  enemies."  It 
may  truthfully  be  said  of  him  that  "his  heart  was  pure,  no  anger  remained  in  it,., 
only  peace  and  good  will  dwelt  in  it;  no  guile  ever  tainted  it."  He  was  supremely 
devoted  to  the  truth,  which  Dante  terms  "the  highest  thing  a  man  may  keep." 
The  session  of  the  Eldership  was  held  at  Evergreen  Bethel,  Wood  county,  begin- 
ning Thursday  morning,  September  29,  1887.  On  the  previous  evening  C.  F.  Win- 
bigler  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Acts  xx.  24  and  1  Cor.  xii.  20.  The 
officers  of  the  previous  Eldership  were  re-elected.  A  Sisters'  Missionary  Society 
had  been  organized  at  Findlay,  which  was  reported,  whereupon  R.  H.  Bolton,  T. 
Koog'le  and  E.  F.  Lilley  were  appointed  a  committee  to  consider  the  same,  and  also  • 


Thk    West    Ohio    ELuiiRsnip  573-' 

the  general  missionary  interests.  This  committee  "heartily  approved  of  the  step 
taken  by  the  sisters  of  the  church  of  God  at  Findlay,"  and  recommended  that  they 
"confer  with  the  sisters  of  the  Church  of  God  over  the  State,  looking  toward  the 
complete  organization  of  said  Society."  "The  sale  of  the  property  owned  by  the 
Eldership  at  what  is  known  as  the  Wabash  appointment"  was  authorized.  On 
Temperance,  the  "pledge"  was  made  "not  to  support  any  man,  political  party  or 
class  of  men  who  defend  in  any  way  the  rum  traffic;"  "denounced  the  action,  and 
condemned  the  men,  who  made  it  possible  for  any  city  authorities  to  grant  the 
right  to  saloon-keepers  to  run  their  saloons  on  the  Lord's  day,"  and  promised  to 
"work  for  State  and  national  prohibition  of  intoxicating  drinks  as  a  beverage." 
Many  of  the  Missionary  Notes  secured  under  the  Eldership's  system  of  raising 
missionary  money  it  was  found  "either  outlawed,  or  for  other  reasons  uncollect- 
able."  It  was  decided  "not  to  hold  a  Pentecostal  meeting  this  year;"  but  a  "Min- 
isterial Association"  was  ordered  "to  be  held  at  Mendon,  Mercer  county,  Ohio." 
The  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion  found  "the  state  of  the  Church  good;  the 
number  of  conversions  good;  the  number  of  accessions  good;  the  number  of  bap- 
tisms medium."  To  enforce  assessments,  the  Eldership  resolved  "that  such  cir- 
cuits, or  any  part  thereof,  which  refuse  to  pay  these  assessments  shall  be  left 
without  preaching  until  such  assessments  are  raised."  Delegates  were  appointed 
to  the  Ohio  State  Centennial  Sunday-school  Celebration.  The  delegates  to  the 
General  Eldership  in  May,  1887,  made  a  written  report,  signed  by  the  entire  dele- 
gation. An  action  was  taken  to  reduce  to  a  minimum  the  circulation  of  defama- 
tory reports,  by  making  it  "the  duty  of  all  the  ministerial  brethren  especially  to 
strictly  abstain  from  personal  insinuations,  and  in  any  way  assisting  in  the  circula- 
tion of  any  rumor  or  report  which  is,  or  may  be,  detrimental  to  the  character  of 
a  brother  minister  of  this  Eldership."  Koogle  and  Cassel  were  appointed  "visitors 
to  Findlay  College."  The  appointments  numbered  twenty-five,  two  stations  and 
twenty-three  circuits. 

32nd  Ohio  Eldership. — Even  at  so  late  a  date  as  188  8  there  were  witnessed 
occasional  vestiges  in  some  of  the  Elderships  of  the  original  opposition  to  Consti- 
tutions, or  any  restrictive  or  regulative  actions  which  would  interfere  with  the 
personal  liberty  of  members.  One  of  these  came  to  the  surface  at  the  Ohio  Eld- 
ership which  convened  at  West  Unity,  Williams  county,  on  Thursday  morning, 
September  2  7,  1888.  The  license  of  one  of  the  ministers  was  "placed  into  the 
hands  of  the  Standing  Committee  until  he  expresses  a  willingness  to  comply  with 
the  requirements  contained  in  Art.  xxii.  of  the  Constitution."  Non-representation 
marked  this  Eldership,  as  twenty  ministers  were  absent,  and  fifteen  circuits  were 
not  represented.  Thirty-three  ministers  were  in  attendance,  and  eighteen  ruling 
elders  and  delegates.  J.  M.  Cassel  was  Speaker;  R.  H.  Bolton,  Clerk,  and  T. 
Koogle,  Financial  Secretary.  The  finances  were  in  good  condition.  Permanent 
Funds,  $3,500.00;  Missionary  Interest  Fund,  $711.06;  Superannuated  and  Con- 
tingent Fund,  $416.62.  The  Financial  Secretary  received  for  all  the  Funds 
$732.17.  There  were  two  additions  to  the  ministry,  one  of  which  has  made  a 
notably  good  record — William  Nelson  Yates — formerly  of  West  Pennsylvania;  and 
S.  M.  Young,  a  member  of  the  Christian  Church.  Koogle  led  in  the  opposition  to 
"the  private  observance  of  the  ordinances  of  God's  house,"  by  the  introduction  of 
a  preamble  and  resolution,  which  declared  that  "the  Church  of  God  is  a  co-opera- 
tive body,  and  believes  in  the  essential  unity  and  oneness  of  the  Church;"  that  "it 
is  of  the  highest  importance  that  we  labor  to  maintain  unanimity  of  sentiment 
and  oneness  of  faith  and  practice;"  but  that  "there  has  recently  been  much  dis- 
cussion concerning  the  private  observance  of  the  ordinances  of  God's  house,  a 
practice  at  variance  with  the  usual  custom  of  the  Church  of  God,  and  its  interpre- 
tation of  the  word;  therefore,  it  is  the  sense  of  this  body  that  under  our  present 
system  of  co-operation  no  minister  of  the  gospel  should  take  it  upon  him  to  change 
the  established  order  of  the  Church,  thus  introducing  innovations,  and  removing 
the  'old  landmarks,'  until  so  authorized  by  the  general  body."  No  opposition  to 
this  resolution  is  indicated.  It  was  deemed  advisable  to  "employ  a  minister  to 
travel  during  the  year  and  collect  mission  funds,  interest  on  notes,  and  procure 
notes."  To  this  work  T.  Koogle  was  appointed,  at  a  salary  at  the  rate  of  $50.00 
per  month.  The  pastors  were  held  "equally  responsible  for  raising  General  Mis- 
sion Funds  assessed  as  they  are  for  raising  other  Eldership  assessments."  Of 
twelve  fields  which  were  delinquent,  five  were  exonerated.  The  delinquencies  of 
the  other  seven  "were  added  to  the  assessments  of  the  coming  year;"  but  "the 
punishment  of  non-supplying  of  a  preacher  to  delinquent  churches  or  circuits  be 


574  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

suspended  for  the  coming  year."  The  statistical  report  gave  the  number  of  con- 
versions at  562;  accessions,  567;  baptized,  238;  membership,  2,380.  But  some 
reports  were  incomplete,  making  it  "impossible  to  get  the  exact  numerical  strength 
of  the  Church  of  God  in  Ohio."  This  "carelessness  is  inexcusable,"  declared  the 
Eldership,  adding  these  stinging  words  of  rebuke:  "The  remarks  made  by  some 
ministers  in  their  reports  are  inappropriate,  and  have  a  disreputable  influence 
upon  the  body  and  the  cause  of  God  in  general,  and  can  not  be  tolerated,  and  the 
dignity  of  the  body  maintained."  Pastors  and  churches  were  required  to  "organ- 
ize financial  boards"  to  look  after  the  financial  interests.  An  instance  of  liberality 
was  commended  in  the  case  of  "William  Grindle  and  wife,  who  so  liberally 
contributed  of  their  means  in  canceling  the  indebtedness  resting  on  the  church  at 
West  Unity."      There  was  one  station  and  twenty-two  other  charges. 

33rd  Ohio  Eldership. — As  the  thirty-third  session  of  the  Ohio  Eldership  pre- 
ceded the  session  of  the  General  Eldership,  not  only  were  delegates  to  that  body 
elected;  but  instructions  were  given  them  on  three  points,  viz.:  to  "use  their  in- 
fluence with  that  body  to  change  the  plan  of  raising  missionary  moneys  from  the 
assessment  policy,  to  that  of  employing  an  agent  or  agents;"  to  have  "the  General 
Eldership  relinquish  the  control  it  has  of  church  work  in  Findlay,  and  put  the 
whole  control  of  church  work  in  the  Ohio  Eldership,"  and  "to  increase  the  basis  of 
representation  in  the  General  Eldership."  The  session  was  held  at  Mendon, 
Mercer  county,  and  began  on  Thursday  morning,  September  26,  1889,  with  thirty- 
four  of  the  fifty-four  ministers  present,  and  twenty-nine  ruling  elders.  Prof.  W. 
H.  Wagner,  Findlay  College,  was  elected  Speaker;  K.  H.  Bolton,  Clerk,  and  T. 
Koogle,  Financial  Secretary.  There  being  a  division  of  sentiment  among  min- 
isters and  churches  on  the  question  of  annual  or  life  elders,  some  insisting  that 
the  rotary  eldership  is  unscriptural,  the  Eldership  declared  "that  each  church 
govern  itself  as  touching  the  election  of  officers."  One  of  the  strong  men  of  the 
Eldership  during  the  year  had  departed  to  "  'see  the  King  in  his  beauty,'  in  a  land 
of  pure  delight,"  J.  W.  Aukernian,  "an  efficient  worker  in  the  vineyard  of  the 
Lord."  He  was  licensed  by  the  West  Ohio  Eldership  in  1858,  and  proved  himself 
a  strong  defender  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Church,  a  good  pastor,  a  missionary 
preacher,  and  an  able  New  Testament  minister.  It  was  made  the  duty  of  "each 
pastor  to  encourage  all  Sabbath-schools  on  his  charge  in  their  work  by  his  pres- 
ence and  influence,  and  at  places  where  there  are  none,  to  urge  their  organiza- 
tion as  soon  as  practicable."  The  use  of  our  own  literature  was  strongly  insisted 
upon.  The  somewhat  unusual  thing  occurred  when  the  Eldership  reversed  the 
action  of  the  Standing  Committee,  on  the  ground  that  it  had  "transcended  its 
authority  in  dropping  the  name  of  a  minister  from  the  Ministerial  Roll."  A  State 
Woman's  Missionary  Society  was  organized  September  27,  1889,  "by  adopting  a 
Constitution  and  electing  otticers."  These  were — Mrs.  Ollie  Vanswearingen, 
President;  Miss  Jennie  McDowell,  First  Vice  President;  Mrs.  Tillie  Welker,  Second 
Vice  President;  Mrs.  Celia  IJlessing,  Recording  Secretary;  Mrs.  Simon  P.  Gross, 
Corresponding  Secretary;  Mrs.  R.  H.  Bolton,  Treasurer.  This  Society  was  to  have 
representation  in  the  Eldership.  The  great  disparity  between  the  number  of  re- 
ported accessions  to  the  churches  and  the  number  baptized  induced  the  Eldership 
to  direct  that  at  the  next  annual  session  the  elders  of  the  different  churches 
should  "report  the  number  of  unbaptized  members  in  their  respective  congrega- 
tions." Also  to  insist  "that  earnest  teaching  should  be  done  on  this  Christian 
duty  by  every  pastor."  A  "committee  of  flve  was  appointed  to  prepare  a  theo- 
logical reading  course  for  the  ministers  of  the  Eldership."  The  Eldership  made 
twenty-four  appointments,  to  two  of  which  missionary  money  was  appropriated. 

34th  Ohio  Eldership. — At  the  opening  of  the  session  of  the  Ohio  Eldership 
in  189  0  a  warning  voice  was  heard  from  the  retiring  Speaker,  "urging  that  some 
means  be  taken  to  stem  the  backward  tide  in  Ohio."  "There  seemed  to  be  a  fall- 
ing off  in  many  ways."  However,  this  is  not  evident  from  the  Minutes  which  were 
published  in  full  in  pamphlet  form.  The  session  was  held  at  Rising  Sun,  Wood 
county,  and  began  September  2  5th.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  on  the 
evening  of  September  24th,  by  C.  N.  Belman,  from  I.  Tim.  iv.  16.  There  were 
thirty-three  ministers  present,  and  twenty-seven  delegates.  Seventeen  ministers 
were  absent,  and  eight  fields  were  unrepresented.  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw  was  Speaker; 
M.  K.  Smith,  Clerk,  and  T.  Koogle,  Financial  Secretary.  The  reports  of  the  pas- 
tors "showed  the  following  state  of  the  Church:  Churches,  78;  houses  of  wor- 
ship, 65;  converts,  442;  accessions,  374;  members,  2,511.  A  somewhat  elaborate 
course  of  studies  was  approved,  covering  three  years,  with  four  and  five  studies 


The    West    Ohio    Eldership  575 

each  year.  The  Funds  were  in  comparatively  good  condition,  to  wit:  Per- 
manent, $3,610.55;  Mission.  .$513.54;  Superannuated,  $518.24;  General  Mission, 
$364.07.  Henry  Clay  was  the  Treasurer.  Regarding  "the  liquor  traffic  as  the- 
deadly  enemy  of  the  Church  and  State,"  the  Eldership  "pledged  itself  to  support 
every  effort  that  is  made  to  banish  this  curse  from  our  midst,  and  that  we  will 
positively  refuse  to  cast  our  vote  to  license  the  saloon."  The  "disuse"  of  tobacco 
was  "made  a  condition  on  which  the  young  ministers  may  receive  and  retain  their 
licenses,"  while  "its  use  is  discouraged  among  the  older  brethren."  After  care- 
ful consideration  of  a  Petition  from  the  Woman's  State  Missionary  Association  the 
Eldership  voted:  1.  To  receive  two  delegates  for  each  fifty  members.  2. 
These  delegates  to  be  entitled  to  seats  as  full  members  of  the  Eldership. 
3.  Granting  them  "equal  rights  and  privileges"  and  subject  to  the  same  limita- 
tions, as  other  members  of  the  Eldership.  4.  All  net  funds  to  be  paid  into  the' 
treasury  of  the  Ohio  Eldership,  to  be  used  for  the  support  of  any  existing  or 
proposed  missionary  enterprises.  5.  That  the  Eldership  shall  have  >  a  corre- 
sponding number  of  delegates  in  the  W.  S.  M.  A.  Two  of  "the  most  worthy  mem- 
bers and  efficient  workers  in  the  gospel  ministry"  ended  their  labors  during  the' 
year — J.  M.  Cassel  and  J.  A.  Dobson.  They  were  "a  serious  loss"  to  the  Eldership, 
especially  the  former,  who  was  a  young  man  of  rare  promise.  He  was  licensed 
by  the  West  Ohio  Eldership  in  1868,  and  became  one  of  its  most  efficient  ministers. 
Dobson  was  originally  licensed  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1836.  He 
was  naturally  endowed  with  talents  which  made  him  a  strong  man  in  the  pulpit. 
"The  earnest  words  spoken  in  their  praise  told  how  great  was  the  esteem  in  which 
these  fallen  ministers  of  Christ  were  held."  The  keeping  open  of  the  Columbian 
Exposition  on  the  Sabbath  was  denounced  as  an  "encroachment  on  the  Christian 
Sabbath,  detrimental  to  the  growth  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ,"  and  so  the 
body  "enters  its  most  serious  protest  against  this  proposed  desecration  of  the 
Christian  Sabbath."  The  reading  of  Sunday  newspapers  was  also  strongly  dis- 
countenanced. The  Eldership  "favored  the  movement  on  foot  to  effect  'a  federal 
union'  of  the  various  ecclesiastical  bodies  of  this  country,"  and  proposed  to  be 
represented  in  a  meeting  to  be  called  for  that  purpose.  It  disapproved  the  use 
of  Widows'  Fund  money  in  the  settlement  of  estates  of  deceased  ministers,  as 
such  money  "shall  be  held  sacred  for  the  living  necessities  of  their  widows."  The 
Eldership  voted  against  the  employment  of  a  general  missionary.  There  were 
three  stations,  all  in  Findlay,  and  twenty-four  circuits. 

35th  Ohio  Eldership. — "Decorum  in  the  House  of  God"  was  the  theme  of 
J.  R.  H.  Latchavv's  Opening  Sermon  of  the  thirty-fifth  session  of  the  Ohio  Elder- 
ship. Text — I.  Tim.  iii.  15.  The  session  was  held  at  Wooster,  Wayne  county, 
beginning  September  24,  1891.  T.  Koogle  was  chosen  for  Speaker;  M.  K.  Smith, 
Clerk,  and  R.  H.  Bolton,  Financial  Secretary.  Assessments  were  made  for  the 
Ohio  and  the  General  Eldership  Missionary  Funds,  and  each  church  delinquent 
on  either  Fund  was  charged  with  the  same.  Dr.  Latchaw  offered  a  resolution, 
expressing  "the  sense  of  the  body,  that  the  principle  of  tithing,  or  giving  the 
tenth  of  one's  gross  income  to  God,  is  in  accordance  with  the  word  of  God,  and 
that  it  should  be  so  taught  and  practiced  within  the  bounds  of  the  Eldership."  It 
called  out  "an  animated  discussion,"  but  "was  unanimously  adopted  by  the  Elder- 
ship." The  sum  of  $227.00  was  pledged  on  the  floor  of  the  Eldership  "to  aid 
young  men  attending  Findlay  College,"  and  every  interest  of  the  College  was  em- 
phatically endorsed.  An  intelligent  and  comprehensive  report  on  Sabbath-schools, 
Insisting  on  a  school  being  organized  in  every  church,  that  the  best  teachers 
should  be  secured,  that  good  literature  be  furnished  the  children,  and  that 
teachers'  meetings  should  be  held.  A  revision  of  the  Constitution  was  ordered. 
The  disposition  on  the  part  of  churches  not  to  accept  appointees  of  the  Eldership 
was  rebuked,  and  they  were  requested  to  receive  and  support  the  appointed  min- 
isters, and  fully  co-operate  with  them."  To  secure  more  missionary  money  each 
minister  in  charge  of  a  field  of  labor  was  required  to  preach  a  sermon,  or  hold 
a  missionary  service  at  each  appointment,  and  take  a  collection  for  the  Mission 
Fund.  "The  practice  of  standing  while  praying  during  religious  worship"  was 
"not  to  be  encouraged  among  the  churches,"  was  the  opinion  of  the  Committee 
on  Resolutions.  The  Eldership  "indefinitely  postponed"  the  item.  And  it  tabled 
a  resolution  disapproving  of  "the  raising  of  money  for  the  cause  of  God  by  holding 
socials,  festivals,  oyster  suppers,  etc."  By  a  unanimous  vote  the  Eldership  ap- 
proved of  a  resolution  offered  by  G.  W.  Wilson,  expressing  "the  sense  of  the 
Eldership  that  it  is  our  duty  to  encourage  the  work  of  Mrs.  Woodworth,  and  to 


5/6  History    of    the   Churches    op    God 

invite  and  welcome  her  to  Ohio  to  labor  in  her  calling  for  the  extension  of  the 
Church  of  God  and  the  general  good  of  all  citizens."  The  attempt  by  President 
Latchaw  and  Prof.  Warner  to  reconsider  and  defeat  the  resolution  was  lost;  but 
it  revealed,  as  did  other  actions,  the  division  of  sentiment  growing  up  in  Ohio  on 
important  questions  of  Church  polity  and  practices.  "A  levy  on  the  churches" 
was  made  "for  $340.00  for  Missionary  funds,"  and  "$450.00  for  Superannuated 
and  Contingent  funds."  An  "Orphans'  Home,"  at  Pindlay,  under  the  direction  of 
C.  J.  Chase,  a  member  of  the  Eldership,  was  recognized  and  "commended  to  the 
brethren  as  in  every  way  worthy  of  their  charitable  consideration."  The  Sta- 
tioning Committee  divided  the  territory  into  five  stations  and  twenty-seven  cir- 
cuits, leaving,  however,  two  unsupplied,  and  appointing  Dr.  J.  M.  Cai-vell,  of  East 
Pennsylvania,  to  the  College  Chapel.  There  were  also  two  mission  appointments. 
An  aggressive  spirit  breathes  in  the  deliberations  and  actions  of  the  Eldership. 

36th  Ohio  Eldersliip. — Changing  conditions  in  an  Eldership,  or  shifting  of 
sentiments  and  opinions,  make  revisions  of  Constitutions  of  corporate  bodies  a 
necessity.  This  was  realized  in  Ohio,  as  well  as  in  other  Elderships.  It  was 
natural  that  with  the  growing  influences  of  the  College,  which  now  had  on  the 
Roll  eight  or  ten  ministers  and  delegates  in  closest  touch  with  that  institution. 
At  the  session  of  the  Eldership  held  at  Ohio  City,  Van  Wert  county,  beginning 
September  29,  1892,  the  sentiment  in  favor  of  revision  manifested  itself  in  the 
appointment  of  a  "Committee  on  Revision  of  the  Constitution  and  By-Laws  of  the 
Eldership."  As  this  Committee  was  instructed  to  "report  during  the  session  of 
the  present  Eldership,"  it  did  so  on  Friday  afternoon.  The  important  amend- 
ments were  these:  1.  The  presiding  officer  to  be  called  "President."  2.  Sub- 
jecting to  discipline  any  member  of  the  Eldership  preferring  charges  against  a 
minister  "in  open  Eldership."  3.  Requiring  every  ordained  minister  to  preach 
twenty-five  sermons  every  year,  or  forfeit  his  license.  4.  Giving  churches  "the 
privilege  of  supplying  their  own  pulpits  by  mutual  arrangements  between  pastor 
and  congregation.  5.  Making  it  obligatory  on  all  newly  licensed  ministers  to 
pursue  a  regularly  prescribed  course  of  study;  failure  to  do  so  to  work  forfeiture 
of  license.  All  were  adopted.  E.  Poling  was  elected  Speaker;  M.  K.  Smith, 
Clerk;  R.  H.  Bolton,  Financial  Secretary.  The  membership  of  the  Eldership  was 
increased  by  the  addition  of  six  new  names  to  the  Roll,  one  of  them  being  that 
of  Prof.  Charles  T.  Fox.  But  the  Committee  on  Obituaries  reported  the  deaths  of 
three — James  Neil,  A.  J.  Wai-ren,  Thomas  Metzler.  Neil  had  received  his  first 
license  in  1839;  Wan-en,  in  1858,  and  Metzler,  in  1877.  Memorial  services  of  an 
impressive  character  "were  held  on  Sabbath  evening  in  commemoration  of  their 
worth  and  services."  The  Eldership  Treasurer,  Henry  Clay,  reported  $4,457.53 
in  the  Permanent  Fund;  in  the  Missionary  Fund,  $833.76;  in  the  Superannuated 
and  Contingent  Fund,  $290.57,  and  in  the  Widows'  Fund,  $97.43.  The  delegates 
to  the  General  Eldership  were  instructed  to  vote:  (1)  For  a  change  in  our 
method  of  ordaining  ministers  "which  will  be  more  in  conformity  with  apostolic 
usage."  (2)  To  have  three  columns  in  The  Advocate  devoted  to  educational  in- 
terests. (3)  For  a  Church  of  God  Year  Book.  The  Eldership  adopted  a  pledge 
to  vote  only  for  such  candidates  for  the  Legislature  as  will  "pledge  themselves 
to  aid  in  securing  an  amendment  to  our  State  Constitution  prohibiting  forever 
the  sale  and  manufacture  of  intoxicating  liquors,  except  for  medicinal  and 
mechanical  purposes."  The  Young  People's  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  was 
heartily  endorsed,  and  churches  were  encouraged  to  organize  local  societies.  The 
sum  of  $4,300  of  the  College  debt  was  assumed  by  the  Eldership.  It  was  found 
that  only  fifty-five  per  cent,  of  the  churches  have  Sabbath-schools,  and  the  Elder- 
ship voted  that  "all  the  churches,  as  far  as  practicable,  should  organize  and  sup- 
port Sabbath-schools  throughout  the  year."  The  number  of  conversions  during 
the  year  was  286;  accessions,  270;  baptized,  130;  total  members,  2,371;  amount 
of  pastors'  support,  $6,721.38.  Only  one-third  of  the  membership  of  the  churches 
was  baptized.  There  were  five  stations,  twenty-three  circuits  and  four  missions. 
To  the  latter  $390.00  were  appropriated. 

37th  Ohio  Eldership. — There  is  apparent  in  the  actions  of  the  Ohio  Eldership 
in  1893  a  decided  change  in  the  spirit  and  temper  of  the  body.  The  chastening 
effect  of  the  events  of  the  year  left  a  decided  impression  on  the  body.  The  dis- 
appearance from  the  Roll  of  ministers  of  the  names  of  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw  and 
R.  H.  Bolton  is  significant.  The  former  not  only  left  the  Eldership  and  the 
■Church,  but  severed  his  connection  with  the  College.  Bolton  had  been  under  dis- 
«cipline  by  the  Standing  Committee,  whose  report  was  adopted;  but  he  was  "given 


The    West    Ohio    Eldership  577 

the  privilege  of  a  hearing,  if  he  requests  it."  The  Eldership  held  its  meeting  at 
Deweyville,  Hancock  county,  beginning  September  28th.  E.  Poling  preached  the 
Opening  Sermon  on  the  evening  of  the  27th,  from  John  vi.  67.  Thirty-six  min- 
isters were  In  attendance,  and  twenty  ruling  elders  and  delegates.  W.  P.  Burch- 
ard  was  chosen  President;  J.  W.  Helton,  Clerk,  and  T.  Koogle,  Financial  Secre- 
tary. Before  the  revised  Constitution  went  into  effect,  the  Eldership  rescinded 
the  Article  granting  "the  various  churches  the  privilege  to  supply  their  own 
pulpits  by  mutual  arrangements  between  pastor  and  congregation,"  and  restored 
the  former  Article.  The  Board  of  Missions,  consisting  of  five  members,  was  to 
take  the  place  of  the  Stationing  Committee  and  the  Board  of  Boundaries.  The 
Standing  Committee,  consisting  of  three  members,  was  "given  the  privilege  to 
appoint  two  members  to  assist"  it  in  its  work.  The  Permanent  Fund  was  in- 
creased to  $4,500.44;  the  Mission  Fund  was  $832.01,  and  the  other  Funds  were 
in  good  condition.  As  a  tendency  developed  to  "ignore  the  practice  of  feet-wash- 
ing by  some  members  of  various  churches,"  the  Eldership  not  only  expressed  its 
faith  in  "the  apostolic  practice;"  but  declared  that  "as  ministers  and  elders  of 
this  Eldership  during  the  coming  year  will  do  all  we  can  to  support  this  ordi- 
nance by  teaching  and  practice."  One  minister,  Isaac  Steiner,  was  during  the 
year  "called  home  to  God,  who  giveth  and  taketh  away."  He  was  ordained  in 
1870,  and  though  he  labored  principally  in  a  local  capacity,  he  was  a  useful  and 
efficient  member  of  the  body.  Lyman  Ensminger,  of  the  Wesleyan  Methodist 
Church,  was  granted  a  license.  Five  ministers  received  transfers  to  other  Elder- 
ships, »fhlle  one  was  newly  licensed  and  three  were  reinstated  whose  names  had 
been  dropped.  The  territory  was  divided  into  three  stations,  twenty-three  cir- 
cuits and  three  missions,  all  supplied  with  pastors  except  the  Colton  Mission. 
During  the  year  the  ministers  had  preached  3,706  sermons,  and  they  received 
$6,337.46  in  the  way  of  support.  The  number  of  conversions,  as  a  result  of 
"many  glorious  revivalB,"  was  9  93,  and  the  accessions  704.  "A  strong  tendency 
to  more  harmonious  and  concerted  action"  prevailed  in  the  Eldership. 

38th  Ohio  Eldership, — The  Eldership  now  had  on  its  Roll  the  names  of  forty 
ministers.  Of  this  number  twenty-eight  were  present  at  the  thirty-eighth  annual 
session,  with  eight  ruling  elders  and  nine  delegates.  The  session  was  held  at 
Canton,  Stark  county,  beginning  September  27,  1894.  On  the  evening  of  the 
26th,  W.  P.  Burchard  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Acts  xl.  24.  The  elec- 
tion for  officers  resulted  In  the  choice  of  Prof.  C.  T.  Fox,  President;  T.  W.  BelUnj?- 
ham.  Clerk;  T.  Koogle,  Financial  Secretary,  and  H.  Clay,  Treasurer.  The  Wo- 
man's State  Missionary  Society  was  given  one  evening  during  the  session.  It  also 
made  a  regular  report  to  the  Eldership,  in  which  It  "disapproved  of  the  holding  of 
church  sociables  for  the  purpose  of  raising  money  to  support  the  gospel."  Th« 
balance  of  funds  in  its  treasury  was  $117.91.  The  Eldership  deplored  the  "in- 
difference in  some  Sabbath-Schools"  to  observe  Children's  College  Day,  and  "to 
help  to  raise  the  necessary  amount  for  the  endowment  of  a  professorship  in 
theology,  and  urged  a  more  general  observance  of  the  day."  It  also  disapproved 
of  the  appropriation  of  money  thus  raised  to  other  purposes  than  those  intended 
by  the  action  of  the  General  Eldership.  A  new  feature  was  special  addresses  "on 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  work,  the  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.  movement,  and  the  missionary  cause."  A 
strong  expression  of  sentiment  on  pastoral  visitations  was  given,  by  declaring  it 
to  be  "the  imperative  duty  of  each  minister  to  visit  and  pray  with  the  families 
of  his  charge,  and  that  he  who  falls  in  this  respect,  without  cause,  is  criminally 
guilty  of  violating  his  divine  commission."  "Ministers  deficient  in  their  Elder- 
ship assessments,"  were  "requested  to  go  back  and  raise  the  deficiencies."  The 
death  of  Jacob  Pressler,  licensed  in  1863  by  the  West  Ohio  Eldership,  was  re- 
corded, with  an  order  to  "drape  the  pulpit  over  the  Lord's  day,  when  memorial 
services  were  directed  to  be  held."  Several  church  properties  were  sold,  the  pro- 
ceeds from  which  were  directed  to  be  "placed  in  the  Permanent  Fund  for  the 
time  being,  but  were  released  from  said  Fund  and  applied  to  the  payment  of  the 
debt  on  the  Howard  street  church  property,  Findlay."  The  number  of  accessions 
to  the  churches  was  750,  and  the  total  membership  2,634. 

39th  Ohio  Eldership. — The  abandonment  of  places  of  worship  by  a  body  of 
people  Is  In  many  Instances  no  reflection.  Deaths  and  removals  may  be  the  un- 
avoidable causes.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  reasons  in  the  case  of  the  church 
"five  or  six  miles  west  of  Findlay,"  the  use  of  the  church  property  at  this  place 
had  been  abandoned  prior  to  the  Eldership  in  1895.  The  matter  was  placed  in 
the  hands  of  the  Eldership  trustees.      So  also  the  Lick  Creek  Bethel,  giving  the 

C.   H.— 20 


57B  History    of    the    CnuRCHiis    of    God 

trustees  discretionary  power.  And  "the  removal  of  the  house  at  West  Unity," 
and  "the  church  property  at  Evergreen."  A  church  lot  at  Auburn  was  sold.  The 
Eldership  held  its  session  at  Kirby,  Wyandot  county,  beginning  September  26, 
189  5,  with  a  large  attendance.  There  were  forty  ministers,  eleven  lay  elders  and 
six  delegates  enrolled.  Eight  ministers  were  absent.  They  chose  W.  N.  Yates 
for  President;  T.  W.  Bellingham,  Clerk;  T.  Koogle,  Financial  Clerk,  and  H.  Clay, 
Treasurer.  There  was  a  Permanent  Fund  of  $4,261.32;  Missionary  Interest  Fund, 
$461.83;  Superannuated  and  Contingent  Fund,  $687.30;  General  Mission  Fund, 
$270.18;  Building  Fund,  $206.12.  The  Eldership  kept  a  careful  supervision  over 
its  Funds,  and  exacted  strict  accountability  on  the  part  of  ministers.  If  they 
failed  in  their  collections  the  reason  was  demanded.  Loyalty  was  in  part  meas- 
ured by  fidelity  in  these  matters,  as  "much  of  the  power  and  strength  of  a  people 
associated  to  work  to  accomplish  certain  desired  ends  consists  in  the  loyalty  of 
its  members  to  the  laws  or  requirements  of  that  body."  There  seemed  to  be 
some  disloyalty  in  this  respect,  for  it  was  declared  that  "the  Eldership  can  not 
approve  of  such  manifest  disloyalty  to  its  request;  and  it  must  say  that  if  such  in- 
difference on  the  part  of  its  members  is  allowed  to  continue  it  will  not  be  long 
until  there  will  be  no  Eldership."  While  the  report  was  adopted,  affirming  the 
belief  "that  he  is  guilty  of  blood  who  gives  his  vote  to  perpetuate  the  liquor  li- 
cense system;"  that  "the  saloon  finds  its  existence  in  the  still-house,  and  its  im- 
mortality in  the  still-church,"  it  gave  rise  to  "a  lively  discussion."  A  three-year 
course  of  studies  was  provided  for,  and  it  was  "obligatory  upon  every  licentiate  to 
pursue"  said  course,  and  "pass  a  satisfactory  examination  from  year  to  year  until 
said  course  is  finished."  I.  H.  Green,  a  minister  of  the  Eldership,  was  con- 
gratulated on  his  misisonary  work  in  Colorado,  and  was  recommended  for  ap- 
pointment by  the  General  Board  of  Missions.  W.  N.  Yates  received  a  transfer  to 
the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  was  recommended  as  an  efficient,  earnest  and 
devoted  servant  of  God.  The  Eldership  instructed  its  delegates  to  the  General 
Eldership  in  1896  to  favor  a  change  of  Eldership  titles,  to  vote  for  Life  Certificates, 
and  a  change  of  form  of  The  Advocate.  The  state  of  the  Church  was  indicated  in 
the  report  of  statistics:  Preaching  places,  83;  church  organizations,  75;  church 
houses,  86;  conversions,  838;  accessions,  640;  baptized,  398;  members,  2,781; 
ministerial  support,  $8,149.  There  were  7  stations,  and  21  circuits.  The  deaths 
of  two  of  "the  beloved  and  much  honored  brethren"  were  recorded.  They  were 
"faithful  and  efficient  ministers."  Only  J.  C.  Hoover's  name  is  given,  and  he  was 
first  licensed  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1878. 

40th  Oliio  Eldership. — The  Ohio  Eldership  of  the  churches  of  God  in  1896 
had  the  distinction  of  entertaining  Clara  Landes,  missionary  appointee  to  India. 
The  Woman's  Misisonary  Society  was  granted  Friday  evening  to  hold  a  public 
meeting,  which  was  addressed  by  Miss  Landes.  The  meeting  of  the  Eldership  was 
announced  to  be  held  at  Shawnee,  but  was  changed  to  Fostoria,  Seneca  county,  to 
begin  Thursday,  at  9  a.  m.,  October  1st.  S.  Kline  was  elected  President;  T.  W. 
Bellingham,  Clerk;  T.  Koogle,  Financial  Clerk;  H.  Clay,  Treasurer.  The  Super- 
annuated Fund  was  made  a  separate  Fund,  and  the  amount  to  be  raised  was  fixed 
at  $400.00,  and  the  same  amount  for  the  Trustee  and  Contingent  -Fund.  On  ac- 
count of  some  indifference  in  Sabbath-school  work  ministers  were  required  to 
"organize  as  many  Sababth-schools  as  possible  where  none  exist,  and  see  that 
Church  of  God  literature  is  used."  Chas.  Manchester,  as  Acting  President  of 
Findlay  College,  became  a  member  of  the  Eldership,  and  presented  the  interests 
of  the  College.  The  College  was  strongly  endorsed.  Among  the  licentiates  was 
W.  B.  Dowe,  of  Colorado,  who  was  doing  missionary  work  in  that  State.  The 
provision  of  the  Constitution  requiring  that  delegates  be  provided  with  credentials 
was  much  neglected,  and  the  Eldership  censured  it  as  "inadmissable  carelessness," 
and  "official  boards,  churches  and  ministers"  were  "urged  to  greater  faithfulness 
and  accuracy."  There  being  a  deficiency  of  $300.00  in  the  Sunerannuated  Fund, 
the  Standing  Committee  was  authorized  to  apportion  the  amount  to  the  churches. 
The  President  of  the  Eldership  of  1895  having  removed  to  East  Pennsylvania,  T. 
Koogle  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Col.  iv.  17.  There  were  twenty-eight 
fields  of  labor,  six  stations  and  twenty-two  circuits.  There  were  three  churches  in 
Findlay,  and  two  in  Canton.  Fostoria  was  a  mission  station,  with  $100.00  ap- 
propriation. Mrs.  Witham  was  appointed  with  her  husband,  J.  A.  Witham,  to 
serve  Van  Wert  circuit. 

41st  Ohio  Eldership. — The   difference   in   the   spirit   of   a   body   of  people   at 
successive  gatherings  will  be  read  in  its  minutes  by  the  careful  observer.      It  will 


The    West    Ohio    Eldership  579 

percolate  unconsciously  through  forms  of  words  which  are  not  meant  to  express  it. 
And  when  the  more  elastic  and  animated  phraseology  of  the  Minutes  of  the 
Eldership  of  the  churches  of  God  in  Ohio  in  1897  is  contrasted  with  that  of  the 
Minutes  of  1895,  or  1896,  the  testimony  of  a  visitor  is  appreciated,  when  he  says 
it  was  his  "pleasure  to  be  in  attendance;"  or,  "perfect  unanimity,  harmony  and 
brotherly  love  prevailed."  "The  attendance  was  much  larger  than  for  a  number 
of  years."  The  session  was  held  in  the  Howard  Street  Mission,  Findlay,  Hancock 
county,  beginning  September  30,  1897,  when  W.  P.  Small  delivered  the  Opening^ 
Sermon,  from  Isa.  Ix.  1.  Forty-two  ministers,  twenty  ruling  elders  and  five  dele- 
gates responded  at  the  calling  of  the  Roll.  C.  Manchester  "wielded  the  gavel  with 
marked  precision  and  dexterity;"  T.  W.  Bellingham,  "a  smiling  little  Scotchman," 
was  Clerk,  and  the  strong  featured  T.  Koogle  was  Financial  Secretary.  Items 
which  inspired  hopefulness  were  the  758  conversions,  G12  accessions,  and  an  In- 
crease in  pastors'  salaries.  Prospects  were  brighter  for  mission  work  in  Mans- 
field. The  church  property  in  that  city  had  been  sold.  The  purchaser,  Brother 
John  AVillaman,  offered  it  as  a  gift  to  the  Eldership,  which  was  accepted,  and  it  was 
"voted  that  mission  work  be  reopened  in  Mansfield  at  once."  An  emphatic  "pro- 
test" was  registered  "against  the  countenance  of  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  in- 
toxicants;" also  "deploring  the  existence  of  what  is  known  as  the  'Dow  Tax'  law," 
believing  that  "any  tax  or  license  system  for  the  sale  of  liquors  tends  to  perpetuate 
a  traffic  dishonoring  to  God  and  destructive  to  human  happiness,  homes  and 
hopes."  In  addition  to  the  Course  of  Studies,  a  "reading  course  to  comprise  two 
years"  was  adopted,  and  a  more  stringent,  enforcement  of  examinations  was  in- 
sisted upon.  An  unusual  resolution  was  agreed  to,  "that  ministers  and  dele- 
gates be  careful  to  leave  a  holy  influence  among  those  whose  hospitality  they  en- 
joy." A  total  of  $938.00  was  apportioned  among  the  stations  and  circuits  to  re- 
plenish the  four  different  Funds  of  the  Eldership. 

42nd  Ohio  Eldership. — Ohio  Eldership  delayed  changes  in  its  Constitution  and 
Articles  of  Incorporation  to  harmonize  them  with  the  actions  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship. But  in  1898  the  necessary  instructions  were  given  to  the  officers  of  the 
Eldership  to  have  "the  Articles  of  Incorporation  changed  in  all  places  where  the 
title  occurs,"  and  to  secure  a  new  seal.  The  Constitution  was  amended  accord- 
ingly. The  annual  session  was  held  at  Ney,  Defiance  county,  and  the  Opening  Ser- 
mon was  delivered  September  28,  1898,  by  Charles  Manchester,  from  I.  Tim.  iv. 
16.  Thirty-five  ministers  were  present,  and  eleven  absent,  with  twelve  ruling 
elders  and  delegates.  Delegate  M.  K.  Smith  was  elected  President;  Charles  Man- 
chester, Clerk;  T.  Koogle,  Financial  Secretary,  and  P.  J.  Grose,  Treasurer.  With 
the  Treasurer,  the  trustees  of  the  Eldership  were  to  act  in  making  loans  and  ap- 
proving securities.  The  First  National  Bank  of  Findlay  was  named  as  the  bank 
of  deposit.  "Fifteen  minutes  in  the  midst  of  each  sitting"  was  to  "be  devoted 
to  religious  devotions."  Mrs.  Hill,  of  Loudonville,  had  made  a  bequest  of  $800.00 
to  the  Eldership.  The  Treasurer  held  mortgage  securities  to  the  amount  of 
$2,430.00;  notes  otherwise  secured,  $1,305.00,  and  cash,  $1,449.50.  The  Finan- 
cial Secretary  received  during  the  year  and  at  the  Eldership  $1,096.24.  At  the 
request  of  the  Ohio  W.  M.  S.,  the  Eldership  "set  apart  for  its  use  the  afternoon 
and  evening  of  Friday  of  each  annual  session,  that  the  brotherhood  may  be  more 
fully  informed  of  the  work  and  methods  of  the  W.  M.  S."  The  inactivity  of  local 
preachers  was  not  all  imputed  to  them.  "The  traveling  preachers  should  encour- 
age them,  and  speak  a  good  word  in  their  behalf  before  the  churches."  While 
"forty-one  of  our  members  were  removed  by  the  angel  of  death,"  the  ranks  of  the 
ministry  were  not  invaded.  All  ministers  licensed  since  the  Course  of  Studies 
was  adopted  were  "required  to  pursue  the  Course  adopted"  in  1897.  The  Elder- 
ship realized  the  importance  of  more  systematic  work  in  the  collections  for  its 
various  funds,  and  ordered  assessments  for  four,  the  lifting  of  some  collections 
eor'ipr  in  the  yenr,  and  named  the  month  of  .Tanuary  for  specinl  collections  to 
replenish  the  General  Mission  Fund.  The  Treasurer's  bond  "drawn  for 
$6,000.00."  was  approved.  The  church  membership  had  increased  to  3,074,  the 
accessions  during  the  year  having  been  591.  The  ministers  received  $7,442.49. 
"Not  one-half  of  the  converts  are  baptized."  Hence  the  Eldership  "insisted  on 
all  converts  being  obedient  to  the  commands  of  God."  Among  the  licentiates  was 
Mai*y  H.  Rahcock. 

43rd  Ohio  Eldership. — The  status  of  young  ministers  at  the  College,  and  of 
young  men  contemplating  the  ministry  had  been  from  the  first  a  question  which 
involved  some  embarrassment.     The  definite  solution  reached  in   1899  much  re- 


580  History    oe    the    Churches    of    God 

lleved  the  situation.  It  was  decided  that  the  Ohio  Eldership  would  ordain  only 
such  men  as  proposed  entering  its  ministry,  or  to  receive  only  such  Into  its  fellow- 
ship. Hence,  licensed  ministers  attending  College  were  held  "amenable  to  their 
own  Elderships,"  and  "each  Annual  Eldership  should  have  the  privilege  of  li- 
censing its  own  young  men."  This  action  was  the  result  of  the  action  of  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership  in  1899,  which  "allowed  licensed  ministerial  students  of  Findlay 
College  to  labor  in  the  ministry  in  Ohio."  The  session  of  1899  was  well  attended. 
"When  the  Roll  was  called  at  Rising  Sun,  Wood  county,  September  28th,  there 
were  thirty-seven  ministers  present,  and  twenty-four  lay  delegates.  The  pre- 
vious evening  Z.  H.  Yoder  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  I.  Cor.  xv.  40. 
The  President  was  T.  W.  Bellingham;  Clerk,  M.  K.  Smith;  Financial  Secretary, 
T,  Koogle;  Treasurer,  P.  J.  Grose.  With  the  change  from  annual  licenses  to  Life 
Certificates  of  Ordination,  there  came  other  important  changes.  The  Committee 
on  License  became  the  Committee  on  Ordination.  Three  forms  of  licenses  were 
agreed  upon,  to  wit:  Life  Certificates,  Certificates  limited  to  one  year,  and 
Limited  Annual  licenses.  To  determine  to  which  class  previously  licensed  min- 
isters were  to  belong  the  Committee  on  License  was,  at  its  discretion,  authorized 
to  require  "any  or  all  the  teaching  elders  to  pass  a  satisfactory  examination  in 
reference  to  faith  and  practice."  "The  doctrine  of  'Divine  Healing,'  as  taught  and 
practiced  by  one  Dr.  John  A.  Dowie"  was  declared  "unscriptural,  illogical  and  con- 
trary to  the  laws  of  our  land,  and  tends  to  cause  division  in  Churches  where  it  is 
advocated."  Consequently  "no  one  advocating  said  theory  shall  be  eligible  to  a 
license  or  an  official  position  In  the  Church  or  Sunday-school."  The  ministers 
and  churches  were  inhibited  from  changing  the  order  of  administering  the  ordi- 
nances. Included  with  the  deaths  of  the  wives  of  three  ministers  was  that  of 
"Father  Ensminger,"  who  had  been  a  licensed  minister  since  1893,  but  had  been 
preaching  years  before.  "Licensing  the  saloon"  the  Eldership  denounced  as  "a 
sinful  practice,"  it  being  "inconsistent  to  legalize  that  which  we  know  to  be 
wrong."  The  two  church  organizations  in  Canton  having  been  "merged  into 
one,"  this  action  was  approved.  There  was  a  debt  of  $1,529.94  on  the  Fostoria 
Mission  property.  The  creditors  proposed  to  throw  off  $537.49,  and  the  Elder- 
ship authorized  a  draft  on  the  Available  Mission  Fund  not  to  exceed  $700.00,  and 
make  settlement.  This  was  to  be  reinbursed  from  "the  sale  of  the  Mansfield  Mis- 
sion property."  To  canvass  for  funds  for  a  local  church  required  favorable  ac- 
tion by  the  Eldership.  There  were  "encouraging  openings  for  mission  work  at 
Lima  and  Delphas.  While  the  "spiritual  condition  of  the  various  churches"  was 
given  as  "ten  reported  good,  nineteen  fair  and  five  favorable,"  the  total  member- 
ship was  reduced  to  2,598.  There  were  76  church  houses,  75  churches,  507  con- 
versions, 360  accessions,  183  baptized.  The  number  of  charges  was  twenty-seven. 
44th  Ohio  Eldership. — The  Ohio  Eldership  was  discreet  in  dealing  with  a 
proposition  submitted  by  correspondence,  proposing  to  send  one  M.  G.  Ale.vanian 
as  a  missionary  to  "Armenia,  the  cradle  of  Christianity,  the  Garden  of  Eden  land." 
It  referred  the  matter  to  the  Ohio  W.  M.  S.,  which  was  aiding  the  work  in  India. 
It  however  recommended  Rev.  M.  G.  Alexanian  to  the  churches  of  God  In  Ohio," 
an  instance  of  benevolent  altruism  only  too  common.  The  churches  put  the  right 
construction  on  the  action.  This  occurred  at  the  session  of  the  Eldership  held 
at  Mendon,  Mercer  county,  beginning  Thursday  morning,  September  27,  1900. 
The  previous  evening  Charles  H.  Gatchell  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon,  from 
Gal.  i.  15,  16.  The  oflScers  elected  were  President,  S.  Kline;  Clerk,  M.  K.  Smith; 
Financial  Secretary,  T.  Koogle;  Treasurer,  P.  J.  Grose.  Thirty-four  ministers 
and  twenty-six  ruling  elders  and  delegates  were  present.  To  secure  a  more 
prompt  payment  of  assessments  for  the  different  Funds  the  Eldership  "resolved 
that  each  circuit  and  station  which  fails  to  raise  its  assessment  of  funds  shall  be 
left  without  a  pastor  until  the  said  funds  are  raised  and  turned  over  to  the  Elder- 
ship." Another  proposition  prevailed,  intended  to  overcome  "the  difficulty  in  se- 
curing places  to  hold  the  Eldership."  It  provided  that  "each  minister,  elder,  dele- 
gate and  all  visitors  coming  to  be  entertained,  shall  pay  $1.00  into  the  treasury 
of  the  church  where  the  Eldership  Is  held."  "Legislators"  were  "denounced  who 
voted  against  the  Local  Option  bill"  In  the  last  Legislature.  The  Report  on  the 
State  of  Religion  contained  these  Items:  Preaching  places  and  church  organiza- 
tions, 75;  church  houses,  74;  conversions,  580;  accessions,  467;  baptized,  313; 
membership,  2,608.  The  Ferguson  Bethel  was  sold,  and  the  net  proceeds  placed 
In  the  Permanent  Mission  Fund.  Said  Fund  already  had  $4,594.32.  Two  of  "the 
regularly  ordained  ministers  of  the  Eldership"  were  "called  from  labor  to  reward" 


The   West   Ohio   Eldership  581 

during  the  year — Sisters  L.  Allanian  and  N.  Carr.  They  were  "devoted,  earnest 
Christian  workers,  whose  lives  as  ministers  were  commendable."  Two  of  the 
ministers  severed  their  connection  with  the  Eldership — I.  H.  Gre«ne  and  Thos.  W. 
Bellingham.  The  Eldership  granted  "limited  Annual  Licenses"  to  those  appli- 
cants who  had  not  made  the  required  progress  in  the  Course  of  Studies,  and  later, 
the  "Certificate  of  Life  Ordination."  The  former  did  not  have  "full  rights  as 
members  of  the  Eldership"  until  this  session,  when  action  was  taken  granting 
them  such  rights.  The  W.  M.  S.  was  in  active  co-operation  with  the  Eldership, 
and  was  granted  Saturday  afternoon  to  hold  a  session.  A  bequest  was  received 
from  William  Snodgrass,  "not  a  member  of  the  Church  of  God,"  whose  "wisdom 
and  liberality  in  the  disposition  of  money"  were  "recommended  to  others." 
Greater  activity  was  insisted  upon  on  the  part  of  ministers  "in  encouraging  and 
pushing  forward  the  work  of  the  Sabbath-school."  The  aggregate  support  of  the 
pastors  was  $5,121.00.  There  were  twenty-six  on  the  twenty-five  stations  and 
circuits,  with  E.  Poling  "General  Worker  in  the  Eldership."  There  were  thirty- 
seven  names  on  the  "Roll  of  Ministers,"  and  seven  "licensed." 

45th  Ohio  Eldership. — The  finances  of  the  Ohio  Eldership  were  systematically 
adjusted  and  methodically  worked.  The  Financial  Secretary  during  the  year 
looked  after  the  various  Funds.  Through  his  efforts  the  income  for  the  year 
1900 — 01  of  the  various  Funds  was  $1,361.42;  balance  in  the  Permanent  Fund, 
15,738.37;  Available  Fund,  $1,093.22.  The  session  of  1901  was  held  at  Ohio 
City,  Van  Wert  county,  September  26-30.  Solomon  Kline  preached  the  Opening 
Sermon  on  the  evening  of  the  25th,  from  Matt.  xvi.  18.  On  the  Roll  of  ministers 
were  forty-four  names,  of  which  number  eight  were  not  in  attendance.  Only 
fifteen  Elders  and  delegates,  representing  eleven  of  the  thirty-two  fields,  were 
present.  The  body  elected  Geo.  A.  Bartlebaugh,  President;  Milton  K.  Smith, 
Clerk;  Tobias  Koogle,  Financial  Secretary;  P.  J.  Grose,  Treasurer.  The  subjects 
of  Sunday-schools  and  Temperance  were  given  special  prominence,  an  hour  being 
assigned  to  each,  and  a  number  of  ministers  participating  in  the  discussions. 
Christians  were  admonished  that  it  is  "their  duty  to  put  forth  all  legal  efforts 
with  voice  and  practice  to  get  rid  of  the  great  monster,  the  liquor  traffic."  As 
the  use  of  tobacco  was  always  connected  with  the  subject  of  temperance,  the 
Eldership  resolved  "that  no  license  be  granted  to  any  man  who  uses  tobacco." 
Systematic  and  organized  effort  was  directed  to  be  put  forth  by  all  the  churches 
and  pastors  to  promote  Sunday-school  interests.  On  account  of  the  inevitable  con- 
fusion "resulting  from  breaking  up  the  Eldership  on  Saturday  evening,  the  present 
was  to  be  protracted  until  Monday,  with  an  ordinance  meeting  on  Sunday  even- 
ing. The  time  of  the  meeting  of  the  Eldership  was  then  changed  to  Monday 
morning,  and  the  Opening  Sermon  to  be  preached  on  Sunday  morning,  thus  "giving 
opportunity  for  an  ordinance  meeting  on  Sabbath  evening."  On  Friday  after- 
noon a  joint  session  with  the  W.  M.  S.  was  ordered  in  the  interest  of  missions. 
Chas.  T.  Fox  was  designated  Ohio  Eldership  Sabbath-school  Superintendent,  part 
of  his  duties  being  to  hold  Sabbath-school  conventions  on  the  different  fields  of 
labor.  The  new  Course  of  Studies  extended  through  three  years,  including  six 
and  seven  studies  in  each  year.  The  Eldership  insisted  that  "the  ministers  give 
special  attention  to  the  distinctive  doctrines  which  we  hold,  so  that  faith  in  the 
whole  word  of  God  may  be  inspired."  It  also  declared,  that  "ministers  shall  em- 
phasize the  fact  that  the  authority  and  government  of  the  church  is  the  authority 
and  government  of  heaven,  and  that  ruling  and  teaching  elders  shall  wisely,  but 
sternly,  exercise  discipline,  as  the  Scriptures  direct."  The  trouble  arising  through 
the  theory  that  an  elder  of  a  church  is  an  elder  in  any  church  was  precluded  by 
applying  to  ruling  elders  the  provision  of  the  Eldership  Constitution  against  a 
minister's  laboring  on  another  pastor's  field  without  proper  authority.  Ministers 
were  urged  to  give  attention  to  the  organizing  of  Societies  of  Christian  Endeavor 
In  all  the  churches,  as  they  are  "a  mighty  factor  in  the  spiritual  development  and 
effectual  working  power  In  the  Church."  The  spiritual  condition  of  twenty-one 
charges  was  reported  fair;  five  were  reported  good. 

46th  Ohio  Eldership. — Ohio,  having  been  one  of  the  Elderships  in  active 
co-operation  with  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  1890,  was  deeply  interested  in  the  move- 
ment to  organize  a  W.  G.  M.  S.  with  which  the  Woman's  Missionary  Societies  of 
all  the  Elderships  could  be  identified.  Efforts  were  made  during  the  Summer  of 
1902  to  Increase  the  number  of  local  societies,  preparatory  to  the  Convention  to 
be  held  at  FIndlay,  Ohio,  in  June,  1903,  to  organize  said  W.  G.  M.  S.  As  the 
Eldership  was  expected  to  take  action  relative  to  this  movement  much  Interest 


582  History    oi-^    rnii    Churches    01'    God 

centered  on  its  session  to  be  held  at  Deweyville,  Hancock  county,  beginning  Sep- 
tember 21,  19  02.  The  subject  came  up  when  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  re- 
ported, as  it  submitted  a  preamble  and  two  resolutions  expressing  the  sense  of 
the  Eldership.  "An  interesting  discussion  took  place,  especialy  on  the  resolu- 
tion touching  the  subject  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S."  "The  President  of  the  Society, 
Mrs.  Mary  R.  Newcomer,  of  Illinois  Eldership,  was  present,  and  was  granted 
privilege  to  speak  on  the  resolution."  The  Committee's  Report  was  agreed  to, 
speaking  in  strong  terms  of  the  work  accomplished  "by  Clara  Landes  in  India, 
under  the  auspices  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  and  other  Eldership  Missionary  Societies;" 
declaring  that  she  "earnestly  asked  for  a  united  brotherhood  to  support  her  work," 
and  then  resolved  that  "we  as  an  Eldership  express  our  hearty  approval  of  the 
action  of  the  General  Eldership,  and  pledge  our  loyalty  and  support."  The 
pledge  of  the  Eldership  toward  the  payment  of  the  debt  of  $24,000.00  resting  on 
Findlay  College  in  1894  had  not  yet  been  fully  paid,  and  C.  T.  Fox  and  C.  Man- 
chester were  appointed  "collectors  to  secure  funds  to  cover  the  deficit."  During 
the  year  it  "had  pleased  our  heavenly  Father  to  take  from  our  ranks  and  Elder- 
ship," stated  the  Committee  on  Obituaries,  "our  dear  brother  and  co-worker, 
W.  H.  Oliver.  For  over  forty  years  he  had  labored  in  word  and  doctrine,  and 
maintained  an  untarnished  reputation  as  a  consecrated,  self-sacrificing  man  of 
God.  The  spiritual  condition  of  the  churches  was  reported  to  be  "fair"  and 
"good."  The  ministers  had  preached  3,172  sermons,  and  received  an  aggregate 
of  salaries  to  the  amount  of  $7,689.54.  Church  organizations,  70;  conversions, 
337;  accessions,  205;  total  membership,  2,095.  In  addition  to  very  positive  reso- 
lutions against  the  liquor  traffic  and  "the  tobacco  habit"  the  Committee  on  Tem- 
perance asked  that  the  members  be  continued  in  office  during  the  year,  to  "co- 
operate with  the  brethren  to  bring  to  active  life  the  measures  resolved  on  in  this 
body,  and  secure  the  enforcement  of  the  laws  for  the  suppression  of  the  liquor 
traffic."  Also,  that  it  "shall  work  in  harmony  with  similar  committees  of  other 
bodies  for  the  suppression  of  the  social  vice."  The  Eldership  was  presided  over  by 
Z.  H.  Yoder,  with  W.  E.  Turner,  Clerk;  T.  Koogle,  Financial  Secretary;  P.  J. 
Grose,  Treasurer.  The  number  of  appointments  was  twenty-nine — six  stations 
and  twenty-three  circuits,  one  of  the  latter  unsupplied.  E.  Poling  was  appointed 
General  Missionary  Worker,  and  C.  T.  Fox,  Eldership  Sabbath-school  Superin- 
tendent. 

47th  Ohio  Eldership. — A  new  feature  of  the  forty-seventh  Ohio  Eldership, 
provided  for  in  1901,  was  a  "Sunday-school  rally"  on  the  Sunday  afternoon  follow- 
ing the  Opening  Sermon,  conducted  by  W.  E.  Turner.  The  Opening  Sermon  was 
delivered  on  Sunday  morning,  August  23,  1903,  by  Z.  H.  Voder,  from  Rom.  v.  19. 
In  the  evening  the  ordinances  of  God's  house  were  observed.  The  session  was 
held  at  Canton,  Stark  county,  and  began  August  24th,  with  twenty-four  of  the 
forty  ministers  present,  and  seventeen  ruling  elders  and  delegates,  representing 
the  twenty-eight  fields  of  labor.  T.  Koogle  was  elected  President;  C.  H.  Gatchell, 
Clerk;  Chas.  F.  Raach,  Transcribing  Clerk;  F.  F.  Manchester,  Financial  Clerk; 
P.  J.  Grose,  Treasurer.  Impressive  memorial  services  were  held  in  memory  of 
W.  P.  Small,  who  died  May  18,  1903,  aged  66  years.  A  native  of  Shelby  county, 
Ohio,  he  was  converted  at  the  age  of  seventeen  years,  and  united  with  the 
Methodist  Protestant  Church;  but  he  united  with  the  church  of  God  at  Anderson 
Bethel  in  1858.  He  received  his  first  license  October  17,  1860,  and  remained  a 
member  of  the  Ohio  Eldership  forty-three  years.  He  was  an  earnest  minister, 
unwavering  in  fidelity  to  the  Church;  unassuming  and  affable;  exemplary,  devoted 
and  spiritual.  An  important  change  was  made  in  the  ordinal  number  of  the 
Eldership.  It  was  the  forty-seventh  from  the  organization  of  the  West  Ohio 
Eldership,  but  the  sixty-seventh  from  the  organization  of  the  first  Ohio  Eldership. 
Its  number  was  changed  on  motion  of  Chas.  Manchester.  Subsequent  Elderships 
are  numbered  accordingly.  The  Eldership  strongly  favored  an  educated  ministry, 
and  meanwhile  insisted  on  all  licentiates  taking  in  full  the  Course  of  Studies 
prescribed  by  the  body.  So  interested  was  the  Eldership  in  the  Christian 
Endeavor  work  that  each  pastor  became  a  member  of  the  Society,  and  ordered 
that  "two  hours  of  the  next  Ministerial  Association  be  given  to  the  consideration 
of  C.  E.  work  and  methods."  By  implication  the  Eldership  approved  of  the  or- 
ganization of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  in  June,  1903,  by  printing  in  full  the  Minutes  of 
the  W.  M.  S.  of  Ohio  with  its  Journal.  It  declared  its  "hearty  approval  of  the 
General    Eldership's   action    and   the   work    of   the    Convention,"    and    affirmed    its 


The    West    Ohio    EivDership  583 

"loyalty  and  fidelity  to  the  General  Eldership's  new  W.  G.  M.  S."  There  was  one 
addition  to  the  number  of  appointments. 

68th  Ohio  Eldership. — Two  amendments  to  the  Constitution  marked  the  pro- 
gress of  the  Ohio  Eldership  in  1904.  One  provided  for  an  additional  Clerk,  which 
had  been  elected  in  19  03.  The  other,  for  one  more  regular  committee  of  the 
Eldership — the  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.  Committee.  Conditions  relating  to  the  W.  G.  M.  S. 
were  quite  unsatisfactory  during  the  year,  and  there  was  such  a  degree  of  fric- 
tion and  contention  as  to  prove  very  "detrimental  to  local  interests,  making  it 
difficult  for  pastors  to  labor  on  some  fields  successfully."  The  Eldership  ex- 
pressed it  as  its  conviction  that  such  a  state  of  affairs  is  to  be  "deplored,"  and  "that 
every  possible  effort  should  be  made  to  unify  and  harmonize  our  mission  work." 
The  session  of  the  Eldership  was  held  at  Wooster,  Wayne  county,  August  2  8  to 
September  1,  1904.  On  Sunday  morning  T.  Koogle  preached  the  Opening  Ser- 
mon, from  Jonah  iii.  1,  2.  The  Sunday-school  rally  was  held  in  the  afternoon. 
In  the  evening,  preparatory  to  the  observance  of  the  ordinances,  Chas.  T.  Fox  de- 
livered a  sermon  based  on  I.  Peter  v.  5-7.  The  Eldership  was  organized  by  the 
election  of  C.  N.  Belman,  President;  C.  H.  Gatchell,  Secretary;  F.  F.  Manchester, 
Financial  Secretary;  P.  J.  Grose,  Treasurer.  The  original  pledge  of  $5,000.00 
toward  the  College  debt  had  been  reduced  to  $2,588.89.  Two  ministers  during 
the  year  had  "passed  from  labor  to  reward" — S.  Dickerhoof  and  Wm.  P.  Burchard. 
They  were  commended  for  their  staunch  and  unwavering  fidelity  to  the  cause  in 
whose  interest  they  spent  their  lives,  and  their  helpfulness  toward  every  appeal 
and  need.  Five  new  C.  E.  Societies  were  organized  during  the  year,  and  ministers 
were  urged  to  organize  societies  in  all  the  churches.  Provision  was  made  by  con- 
stitutional amendment  for  two  ruling  elders  as  delegates  from  every  church  having 
fifty  or  more  members.  Five  of  the  ministers  of  the  Eldership  were  officially 
connected  with  Findlay  College — C.  T.  BrowTi,  President,  successor  of  C.  Man- 
chester; F.  F.  Manchester,  Financial  Secretary;  C.  T.  Fox,  Dean  of  the  Faculty; 
F.  K.  Baker,  Professor  of  Theology;  G.  G.  Bruer,  Professor  of  Greek  and  English 
Literature.  The  number  of  church  organizations  was  69;  conversions  during  the 
year,  367;  accessions,  266;  baptized,  104;  total  membership,  2,251. 

69th  Ohio  Eldership. — Though  there  was  dissent  from  actions  of  the  General 
Eldership  in  some  things  in  the  Ohio  Eldership,  the  spirit  of  loyalty  at  all  times 
predominated.  Hence,  after  the  session  of  the  General  Eldership  in  1905,  this 
spirit  found  expression  in  strong  sentiments  of  approval  of  the  actions  of  said 
body.  Its  "action  on  the  'harmony  and  union  of  all  our  Woman's  Misisonary  So- 
cieties' was  commended,"  and  the  Eldership  pledged  itself  to  work  to  that  end. 
The  annual  session  was  held  at  Belmore,  Putnam  county,  August  27-31,  1905. 
On  the  Sunday  morning  previous,  the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  by  C.  N. 
Belman,  from  II.  Tim.  iv.  1-4.  The  Ordinance  Sermon  was  delivered  by  C.  I. 
Brown,  from  John  xiii.  13-15.  The  "Ministerial  Register"  contained  forty-seven 
names.  There  were  thirty-eight  ministers  and  eighteen  delegates  in  attendance. 
Two  of  the  former  and  three  of  the  latter  were  women.  The  officers  elected  were 
President,  C.  H.  Gatchell;  Clerk,  W.  E.  Turner;  Transcribing  Clerk,  Chas.  Man- 
chester; Financial  Secretary,  F.  F.  Manchester;  Treasurer,  P.  J.  Grose.  During 
the  year  the  Liberty  church  property  had  been  sold  for  $234.00,  which  was 
placed  to  the  credit  of  the  Building  Fund.  The  assets  in  the  Permanent  Mission 
Fund  amounted  to  $5,850.03;  in  the  Available  Misison  Fund,  $1,167.32,  and  the 
receipts  for  all  "Available  Funds,"  $2,900.33,  while  the  expenditures  were 
$1,569.53.  A  "Union  Convention  of  the  Sunday-schools  and  C.  E.  Societies  of  the 
Eldership"  was  arranged  for,  to  meet  at  the  time  and  place  of  the  Ministerial 
Association.  On  education  the  Eldership  naturally  took  advanced  ground,  though 
It  was  still  in  arrears  on  its  pledge  toward  the  College  debt  of  1894.  It  made  the 
Report  of  the  Committee  on  Education  a  Special  order  of  business,  and  pledged  its 
"united  and  individual  support  to  Findlay  College,"  and  "approved  the  financial 
plan  adopted  by  the  Board  of  Trustees."  The  Course  of  Studies  extended  over  a 
period  of  three  years.  There  remained  unpaid  on  the  principal  of  its  pledge 
toward  the  College  debt  $1,248.18,  and  interest  to  the  amount  of  $1,290.74;  but 
action  was  taken  to  extinguish  principal  and  interest  at  an  early  date.  On  tem- 
perance the  Eldership  was  specific  in  its  denunciation  of  Governor  Heriick  for  the 
use  of  "the  threatened  veto  pojver"  to  modify  the  Act  pending  in  the  Legislature, 
and  resolved  to  "agree  to  use  our  voice,  vote  and  influence  to  defeat  this  high- 
handed exhibition  of  machine  politics  and  corrupt  subserviency  to  the  liquor  traf- 
fic."    In  addition  to  tobacco,  the  Committee  on  Temperance  also  included  the  use 


584  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

of  the  tongue  as  a  proper  subject  upon  which  to  pass  temperance  resolutions.  It 
declared  that  "we  are  taught  to  be  'temperate  in  all  things,'  and  since  the  'tongue 
Is  an  unruly  member,'  causing  dissension  and  strife  between  brethren,  and  de- 
stroying the  influence  of  the  Christian  minister  by  the  immoderate  use  of  lan- 
guage," the  admonition  of  Peter  should  be  heeded,  "What  manner  of  persons 
ought  ye  to  be  In  all  holy  conversation  and  godliness."  Ministers  were  urged  to 
see  that  C.  E.  Societies  are  organized  in  all  the  churches,  since  these  societies  are 
"schools  for  preparation  and  training  in  all  Christian  work,"  and  "the  future  of 
the  church  depends  upon  the  young  people."  Organized  Sunday-school  work  was 
approved,  as  was  also  the  Home  Department,  the  Cradle  Roll  and  Normal  Bible 
work.  There  were  twenty-nine  fields  of  labor,  all  supplied  with  pastors.  One 
of  these  was  the  President  of  the  College,  and  several  were  College  students,  while 
three  other  professors  in  the  College  were  on  the  "Ohio  Eldership  Ministerial 
Roll."  An  equitable  division  was  made  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  a  parsonage 
located  on  the  Mendon  circuit.  It  had  been  built  by  the  churches  of  a  larger 
field,  and  in  case  of  sale  the  amount  realized  was  to  be  "equally  divided  among 
the  churches  of  the  former  Mendon  circuit."  Assessments  were  made  for  the 
Ohio  Eldership  and  the  General  Eldership  Mission  Funds,  the  former  5  5  per  cent, 
of  the  total,  and  the  latter  45  per  cent.,  the  aggregate  being  $937.00.  Other  col- 
lections were  regulated  by  the  Constitution. 

70th  Ohio  Eldership.— The  returned  missionary  to  India,  Clara  Landes,  of 
Iowa,  was  visiting  in  Ohio  in  the  Fall  of  1906,  and  was  present  at  the  Ohio  Elder- 
ship. An  hour  of  the  sitting  on  the  second  day  morning  was  allotted  to  her. 
But  at  the  previous  sitting  action  was  taken  in  which  the  Eldership  pledged  itself 
"most  heartily  to  support  the  'Commission'  and  the  propositions  adopted  by  the 
'Commission'  and  the  Board  of  Incorporation  at  Findlay,  in  1906,  for  a  basis  by 
which  it  is  hoped  to  bring  about  harmony  and  union  of  all  our  missionary  societies 
and  workers,  the  same  being  in  accordance  with  the  action  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship in  1905."  It  commended  the  Ohio  W.  M.  S.  in  co-operation  with  the  Elder- 
ship; but  for  various  reasons  it  suggested  that  "the  Missionary  Society  meet  at  the 
same  time  and  place  as  the  Ministerial  Association,"  instead  of  the  Eldership. 
Seventy-five  ministers  and  delegates  attended  the  session  in  1906,  which  was  held 
at  Findlay,  Hancock  county,  with  the  College  church,  beginning  Monday  morning, 
August  27th,  and  continuing  until  Wednesday  evening.  On  Sabbath  morning 
C.  H.  Gatchell  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  John  xv.  16.  The  Ordinance 
Sermon  was  delivered  on  Sabbath  evening  by  T.  Koogle,  from  I.  Cor.  xi.  2.  Elec- 
tions for  officers  resulted  in  the  choice  of  C.  T.  Fox  for  President;  W.  E.  Turner, 
Clerk;  Chas.  F.  Raach,  Transcribing  Clerk;  F.  F.  Manchester,  Financial  Clerk; 
P.  J.  Grose,  Treasurer.  The  Eldership  had  comparatively  large  interests  in. 
Church  properties,  and  to  safeguard  these  it  gave  "authority  to  the  Clerk  to  in- 
vestigate Church  property;  to  look  after  the  property  not  deeded  to  the  Ohio 
Eldership;  to  secure  proper  deeds;  to  look  after  vacant  houses  of  worship,  and 
the  sale  of  the  same."  The  Treasurer,  however,  "was  made  the  custodian  of  the 
deeds  and  legal  papers  of  the  Eldership."  The  Eldership  trustees  this  year  were 
T.  Koogle,  C.  T.  Fox,  C.  N.  Belman,  P.  J.  Grose,  M.  K.  Smith.  A  committee  to  be 
known  as  the  Board  of  Education  was  named,  "whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  examine 
candidates  for  the  ministry  in  their  literary  qualifications,  and  recommend  the 
same  to  the  Committee  on  License."  It  was  required  that  "all  persons  entering 
the  ministry  of  the  Eldership  take  the  prescribed  Course  of  Studies,  or  its  equiva- 
lent. T.  Koogle,  C.  I.  Brown,  T.  H.  McAfee,  C.  T.  Fox,  F.  K.  Baker  constituted  the 
Board.  It  was  arranged  to  get  complete  statistics  of  the  Sunday-schools,  and  a 
Sunday-school  Rally  was  ordered  held  each  year  on  the  afternoon  of  the  Sunday 
on  which  the  Opening  Sermon  is  delivered  in  the  morning.  Assessments  were 
ordered  for  the  General  and  the  Ohio  Eldership  Funds  to  the  amount  of  $860.00. 
The  two  ministers  on  the  Superannuated  list — G.  W.  Wilson  and  Levi  Rothrock — 
received  $175.00  and  $125.00  respectively.  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.  work  was  making 
progress,  as  four  new  societies  were  organized  during  the  year.  The  Eldership 
proceeded  on  the  principle  that  "if  we  expect  the  Church  to  live,  we  must  hold 
and  train  our  young  people."  An  attack  was  made  on  "patient  medicines"  in 
connection  with  actions  on  the  temperance  question,  as  they  "are  doing  much  to 
create  an  appetite  for  strong  drink  and  ruining  the  health  of  persons  using  them. 
There  were  72  preaching  places  in  the  Eldership  territory,  68  church  organiza- 
tions, 727  conversions  during  the  year,  267  baptized,  264  accessions,  32  fields  of 
labor,  $9,625.11  amount  of  support  of  pastors,  2,770  names  on  church  Records. 


The   West   Ohio   Eldership  585 

Adam  Kline,  "an  honored  father  in  Israel,"  was  removed  by  death  during  the  year. 
He  was  ordained  by  the  West  Ohio  Eldership  in  1859,  but  labored  mainly  in  a 
local  capacity.  He  was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  born  June  3,  1817.  As  a  min- 
ister he  was  a  firm  believer  and  able  defender  of  the  principles  and  doctrines  of 
the  Church  of  God.  "He  took  the  world  for  his  field,  and  'went  everywhere 
preaching  the  word.'  " 

71st  Ohio  Eldership. — A  very  positive  stand  was  taken  by  the  Ohio  Eldership 
against  the  course  pursued  in  1906-7  by  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  1890.  It  had  re- 
apppointed  Clara  Landes  and  appointed  A.  B.  Chamberlin  and  wife  missionaries 
to  India.  This  action  was  disapproved  by  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General 
Eldership.  But  as  they  desired  to  visit  and  canvass  churches  in  Ohio,  the  Stand- 
ing Committee  withheld  its  consent,  because  it  believed  such  a  course  "would  not 
only  be  unwise,  but  out  of  harmony  with  the  Ohio  Eldership  and  the  General 
Eldership."  A  spirited  discussion  of  this  action  followed  its  report  at  the  Elder- 
ship, which  adopted  it  by  a  vote  of  36  to  7.  This  was  done  at  the  session  held 
at  Vermillion,  Ashland  county,  August  25-28,  1907.  On  Sabbath  morning,  Au- 
gust 25th,  C.  T.  Fox  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  John  xii.  32.  In  the 
afternoon  the  Sunday-school  Rally  was  conducted  by  W.  E.  Turner.  In  the  even- 
ing H.  D.  Boughter  preached  the  Ordinance  Sermon,  from  John  xiv.  15.  "When 
on  Monday  morning  the  Eldership  was  constituted,  balloting  resulted  in  the  elec- 
tion of  M.  K.  Smith,  President;  W.  E.  Turaer,  Clerk;  Chas.  F.  Raach,  Transcribing 
Clerk;  F.  F.  Manchester,  Financial  Clerk;  P.  J.  Grose,  Treasurer.  The  "worldly 
tendency  of  the  times"  was  recognized  as  a  reason  making  it  "imperative  that 
churches  and  all  Christian  people  should  give  more  attention  to  Christian  educa- 
tion." Hence  the  hearty  endorsement  of  Findlay  College,  where  young  men  con- 
templating the  ministry  can  "take  special  training  for  their  life's  work."  The 
amount  of  the  Ohio  Eldership's  pledge  toward  the  College  debt  remaining  unpaid 
was  $196.86,  with  interest  of  $720.83  due  August  24,  1907.  The  observance  of 
Children's  College  Day,  and  the  taking  of  an  offering  for  the  College,  were  em- 
phasized. There  were  47  schools  reported,  with  2,385  scholars.  They  raised 
$2,179.29  for  all  purposes.  The  oldest  minister  in  the  Eldership,  G.  W.  Wilson, 
had  died  during  the  year.  He  was  born  at  Georgetown,  D.  C;  died  at  Findlay, 
Ohio,  February  6,  1907,  aged  92  years,  9  months  and  16  days.  His  parents  were 
Presbyterians;  but  being  left  an  orphan  at  the  age  of  two  and  a  half  years,  he 
was  cared  for  by  an  uncle  and  aunt,  who  were  members  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
They  early  began  to  prepare  him  for  the  priesthood,  but  at  the  age  of  fourteen  he 
"decided  to  free  himself  from  the  tyranny  to  which  he  was  subjected  by  braving 
the  battle  of  life  for  himself."  He  was  converted  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  and 
began  Christian  work  at  once,  laboring  first  among  the  Evangelical  people,  and 
then  among  the  Methodists.  Subsequent  to  1840  he  met  Winebrenner  and  was 
baptized  by  him.  He  was  ordained  by  the  Ohio  Eldership  October  19,  1853.  "He 
was  highly  esteemed  because  of  the  purity  of  his  life,  his  rectitude  of  character 
and  his  ability  as  a  master  builder."  He  held  many  official  positions  in  his  Elder- 
ship, and  at  different  times  was  a  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership,  In  189  6 
preaching  the  Opening  Sermon.  Those  who  knew  him  personally  enjoyed  his 
friendship  and  confidence  with  increasing  gratification  as  he  was  approaching  the 
border  land  of  Death. 

The  good  work  done  by  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement,  which  was  re- 
garded as  "marvelous,"  incited  the  Eldership  to  organize  an  "Eldership  Endeavor 
Convention,"  to  which  the  local  societies  were  urged  to  send  delegates.  The  Anti- 
Saloon  League  of  Ohio  received  commendation  for  its  work,  and  support  was 
promised  it  by  the  Eldership.  The  W.  C.  T.  U.  was  endorsed  as  "a  channel  through 
which  our  temperance  convictions  may  be  voiced  and  carried  successfully  into  our 
respective  communities,  praying  and  working  that  our  Legislature  at  its  earliest 
possible  date  may  give  us  county  local  option."  The  success  already  gained  "in 
freeing  so  many  towns  and  counties  of  this  great  evil"  was  gratefully  recognized 
as  an  act  of  divine  providence. 

72nd  Ohio  Eldership. — The  usual  preliminary  services  to  the  Eldership  ses- 
sion in  190  8  were  held  Saturday  evening  and  throughout  the  Sabbath.  G.  W. 
Rowlinson  preached  on  Saturday  evening.  G.  A.  Bartlebaugh  delivered  the  Open- 
ing Sermon  Sabbath  morning,  from  Isa.  xxviii.  16.  Theme — "The  Sure  Founda- 
tion." At  the  Sunday-school  Rally,  conducted  by  W.  E.  Turner,  the  Adult  Bible 
Class  and  Teachers'  Training  Classes  were  the  subjects  emphasized.  In  the  even- 
ing T.  H.  McAfee  preached  the  Ordinance  Sermon,  after  which  the  twin  ordinances 


586  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

were  observed.  As  the  Ohio  W.  M.  S.  in  co-operation  with  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  of 
189  0  continued  to  maintain  its  organization  and  worlt,  the  Eldership  "most  heart- 
ily endorsed  and  approved"  the  actions  of  the  Executive  Board  of  the  Generil  Eld- 
ership and  of  the  Ohio  Standing  Committee  against  those  societies,  and  pledged 
itself  as  an  Eldership  and  its  individual  members  "to  do  all  in  our  power  t'^  cirry 
said  actions  into  effect."  And  the  course  of  the  W.  M.  S.  in  co-operation  with  the 
Eldership  was  approved  and  commended.  The  officers  of  the  Eldership  were  S.  D. 
Harlan,  President;  W.  E.  Turner,  Clerk;  Chas.  F.  Raach,  Transcribing  Clerk;  F.  F. 
Manchester,  Financial  Secretary;  P.  J.  Grose,  Treasurer.  The  session  was  held 
at  Union  Bethel,  Huron  county,  August  24  and  25,  1908.  Recognition  was  given 
to  Sabbath-school  and  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.  work  by  the  appointment  of  separate  com- 
mittees for  each.  The  Committee  on  Sunday-schools  reported  50  schools,  with 
273  teachers  and  3,273  scholars.  The  organization  of  Teachers'  Training  Classes, 
of  which  there  were,  only  two,  was  insisted  upon  as  the  "solution  of  many  future 
problems  touching  the  progress  of  Sunday-schools."  The  Christian  Endeavor 
work  was  "commended  to  the  churches  as  one  of  the  many  schools  in  our  Chris- 
tian work  for  training  to  do  active  and  consecrated  service."  The  Carnegie  en- 
dowment proposition,  "that  he  will  contribute  $12,500  toward  $50,000  new  endow- 
ment" was  accepted,  with  the  expressed  belief  "that  Ohio  should  raise  $5,000.00." 
Because  of  some  neglect  among  the  churches  in  the  observance  of  Feet-washing 
and  the  Communion  the  Eldership  declared  that  it  "recognized  the  divine  com- 
mand to  observe  these  ordinances,"  and  that  they  are  "a  means  of  deepening  the 
spiritual  life  of  the  churches."  This  "command  we  recognize  as  one  of  the  central 
principles  of  the  Church  of  God,"  and  "we  urge  upon  all  pastors  and  churches  to 
regularly  and  systematically  observe  the  ordinances  at  least  once  a  year."  The 
practice  of  having  formal  "ordination  services"  for  those  who  were  granted  Life 
Certificates  of  Ordination  had  become  a  fixed  order. 

73rd  Ohio  Eldership. — A  Committee  on  Revision  of  the  Constitution  did  its 
work  during  the  year  1908-9,  and  matured  and  reported  "a  uniform  plan  for  the 
financial  support  of  the  churches,"  which  was  adopted.  Also  a  regular  "system  of 
Tiolding  annual  congregational  and  business  meetings,"  providing  for  "the  calling 
of  meetings  for  the  purpose  of  electing  church  officers,  to  plan  for  the  coming  year, 
to  elect  delegates  to  the  Eldership,  to  hear  reports  of  church  officers,"  and  to 
transact  other  business.  The  action  of  the  General  Eldership  of  1909  concerning 
the  W.  G.  M.  S.  troubles  also  required  consideration.  "The  Eldership  by  a  yea 
and  nay  vote,  one  or  two  not  voting,  but  no  nay  vote,"  "pledged  itself  to  loyally 
■co-operate  with  the  General  Eldership  in  the  adjustment  of  our  foreign  missionary 
difficulties."  The  Eldership  convened  at  Ohio  City,  Van  Wert  county,  August 
30,  1909,  the  Opening  Sermon  having  been  preached  the  Sabbath  morning  pre- 
vious, by  S.  D.  Harlan,  from  Acts  xvi.  2  6.  Theme: — "Called  of  God  to  be  a  Min- 
ister and  Witness  for  Christ  Jesus."  The  Ordinance  Sermon  by  Leroy  De  Haves 
was  based  on  Isa.  v.  1-6.  Theme: — "Our  Privileges;  Not  Our  Duties."  Twenty- 
nine  of  the  forty-five  ministers  of  the  Eldership  were  present,  and  twenty-six  dele- 
gates. Two  ministers  and  one  of  the  delegates  were  women — Grace  Xettro  and 
Anna  Witham,  and  Clara  Wetz.  The  officers  of  the  Eldership  were  C.  I.  BroAvn, 
President;  W.  E.  Turaer,  Clerk;  Chas.  F.  Raach,  Transcribing  Clerk;  F.  F.  Man- 
chester, Financial  Secretary;  P.  J.  Grose,  Treasurer.  Leah  K.  Becker,  missionary 
to  India,  was  present  and  addressed  the  Eldership.  The  Treasurer's  Report  showed 
balances  as  follows:  Permanent  Mission  Fund,  $6,088.53;  Available  Mission 
Fund,  $694.19;  Ohio  Eldership  Fund,  $217.83;  Building  Fund,  $225.07.  Scott 
Bethel  had  been  sold,  and  a  deed  executed  by  the  Trustees  of  the  Eldership. 
During  the  Eldership  session  the  Financial  Secretary  received  $854.06.  "The 
Temperance  Pledge  Signing  Movement"  was  "heartily  endorsed,"  and  "the  Sun- 
day-schools within  the  bounds  of  the  Ohio  Eldership"  were  asked  "to  faithfully 
observe  Temperance  Sunday,  and  to  prayerfully  press  home  the  temperance  lessons 
found  in  our  Sunday-school  literature."  Death  had  claimed  Thomas  James  during 
the  year,  as  he  died  July  5,  1909,  aged  79  years  and  3  months.  He  was  born  in 
Adams  county,  Pa.;  but  spent  nearly  his  whole  life  in  Crawford  county,  Ohio.  He 
was  ordained  by  the  West  Ohio  Eldership  in  1871,  and  spent  thirty  years  in  the 
active  ministry.  The  Eldership  would  change  the  polity  of  the  General  Eldership 
in  so  far  as  to  "prevent  a  minister  from  serving  as  a  lay  delegate  to  the  General 
Eldership."  It  also  advised  "that  in  a  church  having  men  eligible  to  the  offices 
of  elder  and  deacon,  women  should  not  be  elected  to  these  offices,  and  that  the 
same  policy  should  prevail  as  to  the  delegates  to  the  Eldership."     The  Eldership 


The    West    Ohio    Eldership  587 

■expressed  its  pleasure  in  having  "one  of  its  members  on  the  Executive  Committee 
of  the  Ohio  Sunday-school  Association  in  the  person  of  M.  K.  Smith."  Commend- 
able interest  was  manifested  in  the  work  of  the  various  Sunday-school  organiza- 
tions, as  the  Eldership  "feels  that  the  work  of  organization  is  not  yet  overdone," 
and  it  continued  to  urge  schools  to  organize  Adult  Bible  Classes,  Theachers'  Train- 
ing Classes,  Teachers'  Meetings,  and  to  have  Home  Departments  and  Cradle  Rolls. 
There  were  30 'fields  of  labor,  54  church  organizations,  5  5  church  houses,  47  8  con- 
versions, 326  accessions,  160  baptized,  2,231  names  enrolled  as  members,  and 
total  amount  of  support,  $9,998.78. 

74th  Ohio  Eldership. — Services  of  an  "evangelistic"  character  were  a  feature 
of  the  Ohio  Eldership  in  1910.  "The  spirit  of  the  Eldership  was  one  of  unanimity, 
brotherly  love  and  sweet  Christian  fellowship."  The  session  was  held  at  Wooster, 
Wayne  county,  September  9-13,  and  organized  on  Saturday  morning,  while  the 
Opening  Sermon  was  deferred  until  Sabbath  morning,  when  it  was  preached  by 
C  1.  Brown,  from  II.  Tim.  iii.  15-17.  W.  E.  Turner  was  elected  President;  Chas. 
F.  Raach,  Clerk;  E.  A.  Fi-itter,  Transcribing  Clerk;  F.  F.  Manchester,  Financial 
Clerk;  P.  J.  Grose,  Treasurer.  The  "old  church  property  located  at  Canton"  was 
authorized  to  be  sold,  to  be  vacated  after  "the  new  house  of  worship  is  completed 
and  occupied."  The  Moreland  Bethel  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  W.  E.  Turner, 
attorney-in-fact,  to  be  sold.  The  Primrose  church  property  was  placed  in  the 
hands  of  J.  F.  Slough,  who  was  instructed  "to  ask  for  bids  on"  the  same.  The 
Permanent  Mission  Fund  was  increased  by  $7,000.00  "realized  from  the  Lucy 
Kryder  estate."  Final  arrangements  were  made  for  the  payment  of  the  balance 
of  .$525.90  of  the  "Eldership  Pledge"  toward  Findlay  College  debt  of  1894.  To 
enforce  collection  of  apportionments  for  this  purpose  the  Eldership  voted,  that  "if 
any  pastor  shall  fail  to  make  an  honest  effort  to  do  so,  he  shall  be  publicly  repri- 
manded by  the  President  of  the  Eldership."  It  was  a  source  of  gratification  that 
the  Sunday-schools  and  Christian  Endeavor  societies  were  engaged  in  securing 
funds  "to  establish  a  scholarship  in  Findlay  College  for  the  help  of  students  from 
the  Ohio  Eldership  preparing  for  the  ministry."  The  interests  of  missions  were 
considered  of  first  importance,  and  it  was  made  "the  duty  of  each  pastor  to  plan 
for,  and  deliver  at  appropriate  times,  at  least  two  sermons  on  Missions"  at  each 
of  his  churches  during  the  year.  Also  "to  interest  each  Sunday-school  on  his 
charge  in  missions,  and  get  an  offering  for  foreign  missions."  "Pledge-signing 
and  thorough  temperance  instruction  in  the  Sunday-schools"  was  recommended. 
No  "liquor  man,  nor  any  other  man  whose  character  is  questionable"  was  to  re- 
ceive the  support  of  the  Eldership  for  any  public  office;  but  it  promised  to  "rally 
around  the  man  whose  business  and  patronage  the  liquor  interests  are  trying  to 
destroy."  "Amusements  and  all  organizations  which  are  proving  detrimental  to 
the  churches"  were  to  be  discouraged.  Pastors  were  required  "to  make  a  con- 
secrated effort  to  organize  a  C.  E.  society  in  each  church."  There  were  twenty- 
nine  charges  in  the  Eldership  territory,  all  but  one  supplied  with  pastors;  with 
sixty  preaching  places,  sixty-two  church  organizations  and  sixty-two  church  houses, 
and  a  total  membership  of  2,237.      Salaries  of  pastors  aggregated  $10,577.64. 

75th  Ohio  Eldership. — On  its  fields  of  labor  the  Ohio  Eldership  in  1911  had 
twenty-seven  pastors;  there  were  two  superannuated  ministers,  fourteen  local  min- 
isters, one  "interdenominational  evangelist"  and  one  "student  in  Seminary."  Five 
of  its  ministers  were  professors  in  Findlay  College.  The  annual  session  was  held 
in  the  M.  E.  house  of  worship  at  Mendon,  Mercer  county,  beginning  on  Friday 
evening,  August  25,  1911,  when  "a  forceful  sermon"  was  delivered  by  O.  A.  New- 
lin.  An  organization  was  effected  on  Saturday  morning,  by  electing  G.  G.  Bruer, 
President;  Chas.  F.  Raach,  Clerk;  R.  F.  Mitchell,  Transcribing  Clerk;  F.  F.  Man- 
chester, Financial  Secretary;  P.  J,  Grose,  Treasurer.  "Ten  o'clock  was  made  a 
•special  hour  for  prayer  that  harmony,  unity  and  peace  may  prevail  in  the  General 
Eldership."  A  solemn  and  impressive  ordinance  service  was  enjoyed  on  Saturday 
•evening,  preceded  by  a  sermon  "on  the  doctrines  of  the  churches  of  God,"  by  E.  A. 
Fritter.  The  Annual  Sermon  was  delivered  on  Sunday  morning,  by  W.  E.  Turner, 
from  Isa.  li.  6  and  II.  Cor.  vi.  3,  4.  Where  there  were  changes  of  pastors,  the 
churches  were  required  to  pay  the  moving  expenses  of  their  new  pastors.  Churches, 
if  possible,  were  directed  to  put  baptisteries  in  their  houses  of  worship,  and  "no 
new  bethel  should  be  built  without  a  baptistery."  Regular  evangelistic  services 
for  each  evening  of  the  session  were  to  be  arranged  for  by  the  Standing  Committee. 
Also  "special  addresses  on  Missions,  Education,  Christian  Endeavor  interests  and 
the  Woman's  Missionary  Society  work."     Provision  was  made  "looking  toward  a 


588  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

Church  of  God  Rally  at  the  Winona  Bible  Conference  in  1912,"  invitations  to  be 
extended  to  the  Indiana,  Illinois  and  other  Elderships  to  participate.  The  sum  of 
^100.00  was  secured  on  the  floor  of  the  Eldership  "to  be  given  to  worthy  students 
at  Findlay  College  preparing  for  the  ministry  of  this  Eldership."  The  completion 
of  the  Carnegie  Endowment  Fund  of  $50,000.00  was  the  subject  of  special  con- 
gratulation, and  Dr.  Brown  was  specially  commended  "for  his  untiring  efforts  and 
his  vigorous  faith,  which  made  possible  the  victory."  Every  other  interest  con- 
nected with  the  institutions  of  learning  of  the  General  Eldership  was  enthusiast- 
ically sanctioned  and  commended.  With  broadening  views  of  civic  problems,  the 
Eldership  "went  on  record  for  arbitration  and  universal  peace,  and  also  took  high 
ground  on  temperance  legislation  and  the  enforcement  of  temperance  laws,  with 
the  ultimate  aim  of  State-wide  and  national  victories."  It  also  sought  to  impress 
upon  all  the  members  the  duty  of  "taking  an  active  part  in  the  matter  of  selecting 
suitable  men  in  their  respective  districts  as  delegates  to  the  coming  Ohio  Constitu- 
tional Convention."  The  Standing  Committee  was  sustained  by  the  Eldership  in 
its  action  forbidding  "the  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  1890"  to  canvass  for  funds  on  fields  of 
labor  of  the  Ohio  Eldership,  as  being  "contrary  to  the  decrees  of  the  General  Eld- 
ership and  the  resolutions  of  the  Ohio  Eldership,"  and  as  tending  to  "further  dis- 
turbance of  our  peace  and  harmony."  The  Eldership  recognized  the  fact  that  in- 
creasing numbers  of  families  of  the  churches  of  God  are  moving  into  the  cities  of 
the  State,  and  decided  to  make  an  effort  to  begin  "missionary  work  in  some  of 
the  large  cities,  and  organize  churches  of  God."  It  resolved  to  "appoint  a  home 
missionary"  to  start  this  work,  who  was  to  begin  by  "gathering  offerings  wher- 
ever practicable,"  which  were  to  be  added  to  the  $990.00  in  the  Missionary  Fund, 
and  to  pay  his  expenses  and  salary.  The  "spiritual  condition  of  the  churches" 
was  represented  to  be  "good"  and  "fair,"  with  a  total  membership  of  2,605. 

76th  Ohio  Eldership. — It  was  particularly  noted,  "that  one  of  the  most  in- 
spiring and  helpful  features  of  the  Eldership  of  1912  was  the  soul-stirring  evan- 
gelistic sermons  preached  each  evening  by  O.  A.  Newlin."  There  were  a  few  con- 
versions. The  session  was  held  at  Colton,  from  September  6th  to  10th,  and  was 
presided  over  by  O.  O.  Tracy;  with  Chas.  F.  Raach,  Clerk;  A.  O.  Musgi-ave,  Trans- 
cribing Clerk;  F.  F.  Manchester,  Financial  Secretary;  P.  J.  Grose,  Treasurer.  Fri- 
day evening  Chas.  F.  Raach  preached  from  John  xv.  13.  The  Opening  Sermon  on 
Sabbath  morning  was  omitted  because  of  the  illness  of  the  appointee,  but  O.  A. 
Newlin  delivered  a  sermon  from  Acts  ii.  47.  The  Standing  Committee  was  com- 
posed of  C.  I.  Brown,  C.  T.  Fox,  T.  Koogle,  W.  E.  Turner,  Chas.  F.  Raach.  Station- 
ing Committee — C.  I.  Brown,  T.  Koogle,  C.  T.  Fox,  W.  E.  Turner,  M.  K.  Smith, 
Chas.  F.  Raach,  P.  J.  Grose,  two  being  laymen.  The  Eldership  greatly  rejoiced 
over  "the  deepened  interest  awakened  in  the  Church  by  Viola  G.  Hershey,  our  re- 
turned missionary  from  India,  and  the  fact  that  Howard  W.  Cover  and  Aaron  Myers 
will  go  with  her  to  India  when  she  sails  in  October,"  and  "pledged  honest  and 
earnest  support  to  these  missionaries  in  this  great  work."  The  W.  M.  S.  in  har- 
mony with  the  Eldership  was  working  with  encouraging  success,  having  received 
during  the  year  $44  8.00.  A  strong  address  on  Missions  was  made  by  W.  E. 
Turner.  The  Eldership  reaffirmed  its  conviction  "that  every  young  man  entering 
the  ministry,  and  every  one  engaged  in  this  high  calling,  should  make  thorough 
preparation  for  the  sacred  work."  It  also  pledged  its  "sympathetic  support  in 
carrying  out  the  plans  for  larger  endowment,  larger  equipment  and  greater  de- 
partmental efficiency"  for  Findlay  College.  The  sum  of  $80.00  was  secured  on 
the  floor  of  the  Eldership  "for  the  support  of  students"  studying  for  the  ministry. 
The  "passing  of  the  proposed  amendment"  to  the  Constitution  of  the  State,  "grant- 
ing sanction  to  a  license  law"  was  regretted.  The  work  of  the  Anti-Saloon  League 
was  endorsed,  and  State-wide  prohibition  was  to  be  made  the  aim  of  ministers  and 
churches.  Men  who  favored  such  a  movement  were  to  be  supported  for  office.  In 
the  interest  of  temperance  the  Eldership  declared  that  "every  effort  should  be  put 
forth  to  give  woman  the  right  to  the  ballot."  Death  during  the  year  had  "entered 
the  ranks  of  the  ministry"  and  removed  our  beloved  brother,  L.  Rothrock.  He  was 
ordained  in  1886,  but  was  engaged  but  about  fifteen  years  in  the  active  ministry. 
The  various  movements  for  federation  and  co-operation  in  church  work,  the  "Men 
and  Religion  Forward  Movement,"  and  the  Laymen's  Missionary  Movement  were 
bidden  "Godspeed,"  and  the  ministers  and  laymen  were  encouraged  to  support 
them.  Being  firm  in  the  conviction  of  "the  oneness  of  the  church,"  the  Eldership 
"rejoiced  in  the  rapidly  increasing  co-operation  of  God's  people  throughout  the 
world."     An  elaborate  plan  for  the  office  of  "State  Evangelist"  was  submitted  by 


Th8   Texas   Eldership  589 

W.  E.  Turner,  received  and  referred  to  the  Eldership  in  1913.  Thirty-four  ap- 
pointments were  made,  one  being  in  Payette,  Idaho,  "under  direction  of  the  Board 
of  Missions"  of  the  General  Eldership.  Apportionments  for  Eldership  Funds  were 
made  to  the  individual  churches  on  each  field,  in  addition  to  which  each  pastor 
was  "required  to  lift  an  offering  for  each  of  these  Funds."  The  statistical  reports 
give  evidence  of  progress  throughout  the  Eldership. 


X.    THE   TEXAS   ELDERSHIP. 


1st  Texas  Eldership. — Elder  E.  Marple,  one  of  the  missionaries  to  Texas  sent 
out  in  1856,  intimates  that  not  only  the  distance  to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship, but  conditions  which  developed  within  a  year  after  reaching  Texas,  precipi- 
tated the  organization  of  an  Eldership.  He  and  Ober  saw  "indications  that  our 
support  would  be  discontinued"  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  that  "our 
names  would  be  dropped  from  the  Journal  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership, 
and  we  would  be  left  here  in  a  flood  of  persecution  without  either  support  or 
licenses."  Nor  could  "the  people  be  made  to  understand  our  system  of  co-opera- 
tion and  government."  "Hence  arose  the  idea  of  the  formation  of  the  Texas  Elder- 
ship," which  Marple  says  "was  hasty,  and  contrary  to  the  Rules  of  the  General 
Eldership."  The  first  news  of  the  event  came  North  in  a  private  letter  to  Editor 
Colder,  and  was  reported  in  print  November  5,  18  57,  with  some  badinage  by  the 
Editor  as  to  "the  usual  resolutions  endorsing  the  action  of  the  last  General  Elder- 
ship on  the  subject  of  Slavery,"  etc.,  "but  which  the  Texas  Eldership  omitted,  as  Is 
highly  probable,  through  press  of  business  or  other  causes."  As  part  of  the  edi- 
torial, an  article  is  copied  from  "The  Lamar  (Texas)  Enquirer,"  defending  Ober 
and  Marple,  and  representing  their  course  as  resulting  justifiably  in  a  "split"  be- 
tween Elder  Ober  and  the  Church  of  God.  It  declares  that  articles  in  The  Advo- 
cate were  proof  that  Ober  and  Marple  were  members  in  the  North  of  an  abolition 
Church,  and  were  sent  South  "to  propagate  abolition  religion."  But  finding  "anti- 
abolition  sentiment  of  this  latitude  too  strong  for  the  safe  advocacy  of  their  doc- 
trines," these  missionaries  were  constrained  to  denounce  the  rlews  set  forth  In 
The  Advocate,  and  to  change  their  attitude  toward  Slavery.  And  so,  "if  one  could 
have  believed  a  tenth  part  of  the  vociferous  and  wrathful  declarations  of  Elder  O. 
since  his  sojourn  amongst  us,  the  'Church  of  God'  was  as  conservative  on  the  sub- 
ject of  Slavery  as  the  most  ultra  Southerner  could  desire."  So  after  due  public 
announcement  the  brethren  in  Texas  met  with  the  church  at  Liberty,  Lamar 
county,  Texas,  July  31,  1857,  to  organize  an  independent  Eldership,  according  to 
the  views  of  this  pro-slavery  paper.  But  its  Minutes  were  forwarded  to  the  Editor 
of  The  Advocate  and  were  published  December  3,  1857.  There  were  present  the 
two  missionaries,  B.  Ober  and  E.  Marple,  and  ruling  elders  J.  M.  Brackeen,  J.  E. 
Cunningham  and  A.  J.  Canady,  and  J.  Jackson,  delegate.  Brackeen,  before  a 
member  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  "was  a  slave-holder,  and  a  man  of  noted  piety,  re- 
spectability and  influence.  One  of  the  advistory  members,  A.  Hamblin,  was  also  a 
slave-holder.  Both  became  members  of  the  first  church  of  God  organized  in 
Texas.  B.  Ober  was  elected  Speaker;  E.  Marple,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  A. 
Hamblin,  Transcribing  Clerk.  Ober  then  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  from  Acts 
v.  38,  39.  The  whole  Eldership  was  resolved  into  a  committee  to  draft  a  Consti- 
tution. In  the  Preamble  the  only  reason  assigned  for  organizing  an  Eldership  is 
"the  too  great  distance  from  our  brethren  in  the  North  to  meet  With  them  In  an 
Eldership  capacity  in  order  to  transact  business."  The  resolution  following  says: 
"We,  the  teaching  and  ruling  elders  of  the  churches  of  God  in  Texas  do  organize 
ourselves  into  an  Eldership  upon  the  system  of  co-operation  that  exists  among  the 
different  Annual  Elderships and  that  it  shall  be  known  by  the  name  Elder- 
ship of  the  Church  of  God  in  Texas."  The  twelve  sections  following  are  merely 
Rules  of  Order,  except  the  last  two.  The  eleventh  provides  for  the  annual  re- 
newal of  licenses.  The  twelfth  is  declarative  of  the  meaning  of  "this  Constitu- 
tion;" that  it  is  "not  to  interfere  with  the  doctrine  of  the  Church,  or  to  enforce 
the  passing  of  any  resolutions,  or  advisory  law,  upon  matters  of  faith  and  practice; 
but  only  to  assist  in  the  regulation  of  such  business  as  belongs  to  the  system  of 
Itinerancy,  which  partakes  of  a  secular  nature."  After  interesting  and  gratifying 
reports  of  Ober  and  Marple  covering  their  work  and  success  since  their  arrival  In 


590  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

Texas.  John  E.  Cunningham  was  licensed.  The  resolutions  adopted  declared,  that 
"the  General  Eldership  has  no  authority  to  enforce  any  law  (upon  matters  of  faith 
and  practice)  upon  any  Annual  Eldership;"  that  "the  Eldership  of  the  Church  of 
God  in  Texas  coincides  with  the  brethren  of  the  General  Eldership  in  all  their  pro- 
ceedings, except  the  resolutions  on  the  subjects  of  Slavery  and  Spiritous  Liquors;" 
"heartily  inviting  some  of  our  Northern  brethren,  who  are  sound  in  the  doctrine 
of  the  New  Testament,  to  come  to  the  Sunny  South  and  aid  us  in  the  spread  of  the 
gospel  upon  the  old  apostolic  plan  of  redemption."  On  Slavery  they  decided  that 
"it  is  a  political  question,  and  much  excited  at  the  present  period  of  time  by  both 
political  and  religious  men  North  and  South,  we  think  it  inexpedient  for  the 
Church  of  God  to  interfere  with  it,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  believing  that 
ecclesiastical  authority  has  no  right  to  interfere  with  political  questions  which  are 
matters  of  law."  The  action  by  the  General-  Eldership  on  the  liquor  question  waa 
objectionable  to  the  Texas  Eldership  because  it  "appears  to  us  in  the  form  of  legis- 
lation of  law;"  that  "the  Bible  is  sufficiently  definite  on  the  subject  to  exclude 
from  the  Church  of  God  such  as  would  make  use  of  spirituous  liquors  as  a  common 
beverage  without  our  placing  it  on  our  Eldership  Journals  in  the  form  of  eccle- 
siastical legislation  upon  the  Bible."  The  territory  was  divided  into  the  North 
Sulphur  Mission  and  the  South  Sulphur  Mission,  with  Marple  as  pastor  of  the 
former,  and  Ober,  of  the  latter. 

2nd  Texas  Eldership. — The  apparently  steady  progress  of  the  work  on  the 
Texas  mission  field  is  indicated  in  the  increased  membership  of  the  second  session 
of  the  Eldership.  It  met  at  Brush  Creek  school-house,  Hopkins  county,  August 
30,  1858,  with  four  ministers,  two  ruling  elders  and  three  delegates.  It  was  also 
honored  by  the  presence  of  one  minister  "of  the  Disciple  Church,"  and  one  "of  the 
Missionary  Baptist  Church."  Ober  was  elected  Speaker,  and  Mai-ple,  Clerk.  The 
latter  then  preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  The  Eldership  recommended  to  each 
church  the  advisability  of  creating  a  fund  for  the  support  of  the  poor.  It  also 
devised  plans  to  establish  an  Eldership  fund.  Marple  was  directed  to  "travel  reg- 
ularly and  serve  the  churches  now  organized,"  while  Ober  was  to  open  new  ap- 
pointments, and  the  other  three  ministers  "to  labor  as  the  Lord  directs."  Most 
of  the  time  was  occupied  in  framing  and  deliberating  upon  resolutions  relative 
to  actions  by  Northern  Elderships  on  the  course  pursued  by  the  Texas  brethren. 
These  actions  were  quite  offensive  to  them.  They  advised  that  those  "harsh  reso- 
lutions" be  "reconsidered  at  their  next  annual  meetings;"  charged  them  with 
"misrepresentations;"  also  with  making  statements  "without  a  shadow  of  proof," 
and  which  are  "of  an  impertinent  and  inimical  character."  Then  as  for  them- 
selves they  disclaim  having  deviated  from  the  early  practice  of  the  Church,  averring 
that  "the  Church  did  in  her  early  practice  receive  those  into  her  fellowship  who 
sustained  the  relation  of  master  to  servant;"  that  they  have  "not  seceded,  and  set 
up  new  things  for  ourselves;"  that  they  were  not  compelled  to  subscribe  to  the 
resolutions  on  Slavery  adopted  by  the  General  Eldership  in  184.5,  as  they  "are  not 
as  a  Creed,  binding  the  consciences  of  men;"  reaffirm  that  slavery  is  a  political 
question,  and  that  to  deny  this  is  to  ascribe  its  "origin  to  be  in  the  infinite  mind 
of  God,"  and  the  "advice  to  us,  to  return  from  our  wanderings,"  they  fling  back  as 
"equally  applicable  to  their  own  condition."  They  consider  it  an  affront  to  be 
told  that  they  are  "under  obligations  to  ask  them — the  West  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship— whether  we  should  or  should  not  organize  an  Eldership  in  Texas."  It 
seemed  that  however  deep  may  have  been  the  self-respect  of  the  members  cf  the 
Eldership,  it  could  have  been  more  delicate  and  refined. 

3rd  Texas  Eldership.^ — As  read  between  the  lines  of  the  Minutes  of  the  Elder- 
ship which  held  its  session  at  the  Union  Bethel,  Lamar  county,  Texas,  September 
27,  1859,  this  session  was  tame,  and  free  from  storms  of  debate  and  denunciations. 
There  were  present  five  teaching  elders,  two  ruling  elders  and  two  delegates. 
Marple  was  chosen  Speaker;  J.  T.  Lyday,  .Tournalizing  Clerk,  and  G.  H.  Vaneil, 
Transcribing  Clerk.  H.  L,  Dixon  preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  By  resolution  it 
agreed  to  the  Rule  that  expelled  ministers  of  one  Eldership  should  not  be  licensed 
by  any  other  Eldership.  On  account  of  trouble  in  getting  the  Church  paper  into 
slave  territory,  Ober  and  Marple  decided  to  publish  "The  Bible  Advocate."  Two 
additional  members  were  added  to  the  ministerial  force,  making  the  usual  dis- 
proportion between  ministers  and  churches  or  lay  members.  This  year  Ober  was 
appointed  to  serve  the  churches,  and  Marple  to  "misisonate  whithersoever  the 
Lord  may  direct,"  and  "the  others  to  preach  all  that  circumstances  will  permit." 

4th  Texas  Eldership. — The  actions  of  the  Texas  Eldership  now  bear  not  only 


The   Texas   Eldership  591 

a  striking  contrast,  but  an  absolute  contradiction,  to  certain  like  actions  of  other- 
Elderships.  This  appears  in  the  deliverances  of  the  Texas  Eldership  at  the  sessioa 
which  was  held  with  the  church  at  North  Sulphur  Academy,  Fannin  county,  Texas,, 
beginning  August  16,  1860.  The  Eldership  was  constituted  with  five  teaching 
elders,  two  ruling  elders  and  two  deacons,  while  two  teaching  elders  were  absent. 
The  deacons  were  "received  as  full  members  of  this  Eldership."  H.  J.  Dixon  was- 
elected  Speaker;  A.  J.  Cannedy  and  A.  Haniblin,  Clerks.  After  the  appointment 
of  committees  and  the  reports  of  ministers,  nearly  the  whole  of  the  two-day  session 
was  taken  up  with  the  Reports  of  Committees  on  Journals,  on  Resolutions,  on. 
Slavery,  and  on  the  State  of  the  Country.  The  first,  did  not  have  in  hand  "the 
Journals  of  the  different  Elderships,"  and  so  passed  them  by.  But  it  had  "ex- 
amined the  Journal  of  the  last  General  Eldership.  .  .  .,  and  think  it  very  objection- 
able in  many  particulars.  In  fact  there  are  some  things  which  come  up  in  the- 
form  of  human  legislation,  which  is  emphatically  contrary  to  the  doctrine  of  the 
Church  of  God."  This  was  adopted.  A.  Hamblin,  E.  Marple  and  J.  F].  Cunning- 
ham constituted  the  Committee.  The  Committee  on  Resolutions,  Ober,  Cunning- 
ham, Lyday  and  Marple,  affirmed  that  "the  members  of  the  Church  of  God  in  the- 
North  have  become  ultra  upon  the  present  political  issues,  and  have  declared  the 
system  of  servitude,  as  laid  down  in  the  Bible,  an  evil,  and  incompatible  with  the- 
interest  of  the  American  people;"  that  "by  so  doing  they  have  violated  our  book 
of  discipline,  the  New  Testament;"  that  this  "course  has  subjected  us  to  an  un- 
necessar.y  persecution,  and  greatly  militated  against  the  work  of  reformation  in 
the  South,"  and  then  resolved,  "that  the  Eldership  in  Texas  stands  upon  the 
Bible;"  that  "we  call  upon  all  to  be  subject  to,  and  assist  in,  carrying  out  and  en- 
forcing the  laws  of  our  country;"  disclaiming  "fellowship  in  the  Church  with 
aboliticn  members  North,  South,  East  or  West,  or  wherever  they  may  be  found,„ 
and  have  neither  voice  nor  part,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  in  making,  forming, 
or  even  winking  at  abolition  resolutions,  and  declare  them  unscriptural,  un- 
brctherly  and  unconstitutional,  and  destructive  to  the  interest  of  Church  and 
State."  The  Eldership  sustained  this  Report.  Then  came  the  Report  of  the- 
Committee  on  Slavery,  composed  of  the  same  members,  with  the  addition  of  A. 
Hamblin.  They  declared  that  they  "have  frequently  examined  the  question  of 
servitude  spoken  of  in  the  Bible,  and  the  system  as  it  now  exists,"  and  are  satis- 
fied that  the  difficulties  "threatening  the  dissolution  of  our  once  happy  Republic 
have  originated  from  a  mistaken  notion  of  the  system,"  and  they  "believe  that 
involuntary  servitude  is  plainly  taught  in  the  Bible."  The  churches  were  author- 
ized to  hold  meetings  and  determine  what  preacher  or  preachers  they  desire  to 
serve  them,  and  report  to  the  Standing  Committee,  that  it  may  confirm  the  actions- 
of  said  meetings.  There  being  quite  a  similarity  in  faith  and  practice  between  the 
Church  cf  God  and  the  Christian  Church,  delegates  were  to  be  "appointed  to  at- 
tend their  co-operative  meeting  the  1st  of  September  next."" 

Hth  Texas  Eldei-ship.- — Though  the  missionaries  to  Texas  were  antagonistic 
to  Nrrthern  sentiment  on  the  Slavery  question,  they  "were  deeply  interested  in 
the  Union  of  the  States."  And  not  having  access  to  The  Advocate,  they  estab- 
lished a  paper,  in  the  Spring  of  1860,  called  "The  Union,"  published  at  Mount 
Pleasant,  Titus  county,  Texas.  But  after  the  State  had  seceded  and  the  Confed- 
erate Government  had  been  organized,  they  were  notified  that  "the  Union  was  dead, 
and  that  we  were  not  to  print  another  paper."  Marple  "had  as  many  as  three- 
clcse  calls  for  life."  Ober  was  threatened  with  lynching.  They  saw  "five  men 
cf  families,  and  good  citizens  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  church  in  Hopkins  county, 
hung  at  the  same  time  and  on  the  same  pole."  To  allay  suspicion,  Marple  enlisted 
in  the  Confederate  Army,  though  he  was  never  out  in  field  service.  That  the  "be- 
ginning cf  missionary  work  in  Texas  by  the  Church  of  God  when  the  question  of" 
slavery  was  shaking  the  United  States  from  center  to  circumference  was  a  prema- 
ture work,"  is  Marple's  opinion.  Yet  "the  work  was  a  fair  success  in  that  from  it 
grew  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership."  A  membership  of  about  five  hundred 
is  claimed  for  Texas  when  it  was  the  strongest  in  numbers;  but  there  is  now  prac- 
tically nothing  left.  It  was  amidst  the  conditions  of  terror  and  tyranny  incident 
to  the  opening  scenes  of  the  War  that  the  fifth  Texas  Eldership  met  in  1861.  No 
reports  cf  any  session  were  published  from  1860  to  1866,  and  but  partial  records 
are  accessible.  Three  or  four  persons  were  licensed  during  those  years,  and  one- 
new  church  was  organized.  The  session  was  held  with  the  church  at  Brush  Creek, 
Honkins  county,  Texas,  beginning  November  11th.  B.  Ober  was  Speaker,  and  A. 
J.  Cannedy,  Clerk.     The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by  E.  Marple.     They  hadH 


592  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

arranged  to  publish  "The  Bible  Advocate,"  but  after  several  numbers  had  been 
issued  it  was  suspended  for  want  of  patronage.  A  heroic  effort  was  made  to  re- 
vive it  at  this  time,  and  upward  of  $400.00  had  been  pledged  for  the  purpose;  but 
there  was  not  enough  patronage  in  sight  to  warrant  resumption. 

6th  Texas  Eldership. — There  was  practically  nothing  for  the  Eldership  to  do. 
The  work  virtually  stood  still,  which  is  equivalent  to  retrograding.  Ober  and 
Marple  were  otherwise  engaged,  so  that  when  the  Eldership  met  in  1862,  with  the 
church  at  the  Union  Bethel,  Lamar  county,  Texas,  neither  was  present.  J.  M. 
Brackeen  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  A.  J.  Cannedy,  Clerk.  Brackeen  was  a  member 
of  the  first  organization  in  Texas,  formed  in  August,  1856,  and  was  a  slave-holder. 
Only  routine  business  was  done,  except  that  Alfred  Haniblin  was  licensed  to 
preach. 

7th  Texas  Eldership. — In  1863  Marple  and  Ober  both  attended  the  session  of 
the  Texas  Eldership,  which  convened  with  the  church  at  Brush  Creek,  Hopkins 
county,  Texas,  on  September  7th.  Ober  preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  Marple 
was  chosen  Speaker,  and  A.  Haniblin,  Clerk.  Ober  was  now  ready  for  work,  and 
the  Eldership  appointed  him  a  general  worker,  his  principal  mission  being  to  open 
new  points  anywhere  in  the  territory  of  the  Eldership,  which  had  no  prescribed 
boundaries.  Renewed  interest  in  the  work  was  manifested.  Being  cut  off  from 
the  North,  the  old  question  of  Slavery,  and  kindred  and  involved  subjects,  did  not 
require  attention.  The  Eldership  turned  its  attention  to  missionary  work,  and 
actions  were  taken  looking  toward  the  extension  of  the  work  beyond  the  limits  of 
the  few  organized  churches.  It  was  during  this  period  that  the  church  in  Fannin 
county  was  organized,  which  at  one  time  was  one  of  the  strongest  churches  in  the 
Eldership. 

8th  Texas  Eldership. — Along  with  other  misfortunes  and  the  hardships  inci- 
dent to  the  war,  when  the  Eldership  met  in  1864,  with  the  church  at  North  Sul- 
phur Academy,  Fannin  county,  Texas,  August  15th,  there  was  a  vacant  chair,  by 
reason  of  the  death  of  A.  Hamblin,  who  had  been  ordained  but  two  years  before. 
It  was  a  sorrowful  little  company  of  ministers  and  elders  which  adopted  "resolu- 
tions of  condolence  and  sung  a  song  composed  by  E.  Marple  on  the  moral  integrity 
of  the  deceased  minister."  The  Opening  Sermon,  preached  by  Ober,  was  adapted 
to  the  more  aggressive  attitude  the  Eldership  had  assumed,  the  theme  being  "The 
Doctrines  and  Government  of  the  Church."  But  his  health  had  been  impaired, 
and  he  was  released  from  evangelistic  work,  and  appointed  to  serve  the  churches. 
J.  M.  Brackeen  was  the  presiding  officer,  and  A.  J.  Cannedy,  Clerk. 

9th  Te.xas  Eldership. — The  ministerial  strength  during  the  year  was  again 
reduced  by  death,  as  during  the  year  J.  C.  Nobler  was  summoned  to  a  higher  min- 
istry. Besides,  at  the  Eldership  in  1865  one  name  was  "dropped  from  the  Roll." 
The  session  was  held  with  the  church  at  Liberty,  Fannin  county,  Texas,  beginning 
August  27,  1865.  No  apparent  progress  having  been  made  in  the  aggressive  work 
contemplated,  and  the  body  sustaining  no  external  ecclesiastical  relations,  slavery, 
temperance  and  other  questions  not  demanding  action,  the  Eldership  had  but  little 
to  do-  The  Opening  Sermon  by  E.  Marple  was  timely,  and  made  a  good  impres- 
sion. Though  weak,  the  body  had  the  respect  of  the  public  generally.  Ober  was 
continued  as  pastor  of  the  churches,  and  no  arrangements  were  made  for  Church 
extension  work. 

10th  Texas  Eldership. — Though  the  promise  for  enlargement  and  increased 
success  held  out  in  1865  was  not  radiant,  the  record  of  1866  was  not  disappoint- 
ing. The  Eldership  met  at  Brush  Creek,  Hopkins  county,  Texas,  on  August  6th. 
It  again  sat  under  the  shadow  of  death,  as  H.  J.  Dixon,  a  "father  in  Israel,"  whose 
"walk  and  conversation  exemplified  the  character  of  a  Christian  in  deed  and  in 
truth."  J.  M.  Brackeen  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  J.  T.  Lyday,  Clerk.  J.  E.  Cun- 
ningham had  removed  to  Missouri,  but  his  membership  in  the  Texas  Eldership  was 
continued.  The  same  disposition  was  made  of  the  case  of  A.  J.  Cannedy,  who  had 
removed  to  Illinois.  The  war  being  over,  a  dispositirn  was  evident  to  resume,  and 
even  cultivate  better,  relations  with  the  Church  and  Elderships  North,  and  especi- 
ally the  General  Eldership.  This  was  manifested  in  the  resolution  adopted,  which 
declared  it  to  be  "indispensably  necessary  to  the  good  of  the  cause  that  a  change 
of  preacher  be  secured,  which  can  only  be  made  through  the  assistance  of  brethren 
North."  Hence  an  effort  was  made  to  secure  the  services  of  W.  L.  Jones,  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Two  other  actions  give  evidence  of  the  same  spirit.  One 
was  a  commendatory  resolution  of  The  Church  Advocate.  The  other  was  a  reso- 
lution to  appoint  "one  or  more  delegates  to  represent  the  Texas  Eldership  at  the 


The   Texas   Eedership  593 

next  General   Eldership."     The  time  for  ministers  to   enter  upon  their  fields  of 
labor  was  after  this  Eldership  "to  take  place  at  the  commencement  of  the  year." 

11th  Texas  Eldership. — Personal  efforts  through  Ober,  who  spent  part  of  the 
Winter  of  1866-7  in  Eastern  Pennsylvania,  failed  to  secure  the  ministerial  help 
Texas  so  badly  needed.  So  at  the  Eldership  held  at  the  Union  Bethel,  Lamar 
county,  Texas,  beginning  October  7,  1867,  a  resolution  was  adopted,  asking  "the 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  to  send  a  suitable  man  to  preach  for  the  present  or- 
ganization of  the  Church  in  Texas,"  offering  to  pay  him  "$300.00  in  wheat,  corn, 
stock,  family  supplies,  etc.,  at  a  cash  price  of  $200.00,  and  twenty  acres  of  land." 
T.  A.  Perkins  had  made  a  larger  offer.  There  were  three  teaching  elders  in  at- 
tendance at  the  Eldership,  four  being  absent,  and  four  ruling  elders  and  one  dele- 
gate. Ober  was  Speaker,  and  T.  A.  Perkins  and  E.  Marple,  Clerks.  It  was  ac- 
knowledged that  slavery  was  dead,  and  could  no  longer  interfere  with  Church 
work  even  by  a  Northern  minister.  Cannedy's  license  was  renewed,  and  he  was 
advised  to  join  the  Illinois  Eldership.  Cunningham's  license  was  also  renewed, 
and  he  "was  requested  to  organize  an  Eldership  in  Missouri."  There  were  four 
charges — Union  Bethel,  Lane's  Academy,  Walker  Prairie  and  Brush  Creek — to 
which  five  ministers  were  appointed.  The  Texas  Mission  was  also  earnestly  "rec- 
ommended to  the  consideration  of  the  General  Eldership." 

12th  Texas  Eldership. — The  Reconstruction  period  was  one  of  intense  excite- 
ment in  the  South  as  well  as  in  the  North.  Indeed  much  greater  in  the  South. 
Feeling  was  worked  up  to  an  alarming  degree.  Conventions  exhibited  intense 
hatred  toward  the  Union.  Power  was  often  usurped  by  them,  and  their  work 
proved  futile.  The  people  shared  the  feelings  of  these  conventions,  and  nearly 
everything  was  at  a  standstill.  Hence,  as  E.  Marple  states,  "Owing  to  extensive 
political  excitement  during  the  reconstruction  of  the  State,  there  was  no  Eldership 
held  In  1868."  The  Eldership  of  1869  has  hence  been  numbered  the  12th.  It 
met  at  Liberty,  Fannin  county,  Texas,  December  2nd.  The  officers  chosen  were 
J.  M.  Brackeen,  Speaker,  and  E.  Marple,  Clerk.  While  no  progress  in  the  way  of 
enlarging  the  work  was  making,  additions  were  made  to  the  Ministerial  Roll. 
James  Pile  and  Richard  Pattan  were  licensed  at  this  Eldership.  But  no  work  was 
given  them,  and  Marple  was  "appointed  to  serve  the  churches."  He  had  preached 
so  much  for  them  during  the  ten  years  that  he  felt  it  to  be  impossible  for  him  to 
do  much,  and  so  earnestly  joined  in  the  call  for  a  preacher  from  the  North.  As 
the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  had  inaugurated  the  mission,  he  made  a  special 
appeal  to  said  body  to  come  to  their  rescue. 

13th  Texas  Eldership.— While  the  Texas  Eldership  still  maintained  its  formal 
existence  and  organization,  it  seemed  as  if  only  one  of  two  things  could  secure  it 
perpetuity.  It  must  get  new  life  infused  into  it  by  accessions  of  ministers  from 
other  parts  of  the  country,  or  it  must  go  out  beyond  its  old  boundaries  and  work 
up  new  territory.  For  the  latter  the  labors  in  Arkansas  were  preparing  the  way, 
and  it  was  hoped  that  the  former  would  also  be  realized  at  an  early  date.  Hence 
there  was  a  somewhat  sanguine  spirit  among  the  few  who  assembled  in  annual 
session  at  the  Union  Bethel,  Lamar  county,  Texas,  October  17,  1870.  B.  Ober  was 
elected  Speaker,  and  J.  V.  Griffis,  Clerk.  Among  the  fruits  of  Ober's  labors  in 
Arkansas  was  a  young  man  of  considerable  natural  talent,  who  felt  moved  to  enter 
the  ministry.  T.  A.  Perkins  was  licensed  at  this  Eldership,  but  J.  E.  Cunningham 
was  transferred  to  the  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership,  while  the  name  of  A.  J. 
Cannedy  was  dropped,  he  having  gone  North  and  failed  to  report.  Only  routine 
business  was  transacted.  And  about  the  best  they  could  say  was,  "We  are  trying 
to  advance." 

14th  Texas  Eldership. — In  1871  the  Texas  Eldership  again  met  at  the  Union 
Bethel,  Lamar  county,  and  B.  Ober  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  November  4th. 
T.  A.  Perkins  was  elected  Speaker,  and  J.  V.  Griffls,  Clerk.  The  young  man  from 
Arkansas,  G,  T.  Bell,  was  an  applicant  for  license,  and  he  was  received  and  a  li- 
cense granted  him.  The  body  suffered  the  loss  by  death  of  one  of  its  number, 
Richard  Pattan,  which  was  deeply  lamented.  J.  R,  Pile  was  assigned  as  pastor 
of  the  churches  in  Lamar  and  Delta  counties,  and  J.  Abemathy  to  those  in  Fannin 
county.  Without  means  to  support  missionaries,  the  Eldership  nevertheless  ap- 
pointed Ober  and  Marple  "to  open  up  new  work."  They  could  choose  their  own 
territory,  and  had  to  look  out  for  their  own  support. 

15th  Texas  Eldership. — Somewhat  favorable  reports  of  the  state  of  the 
churches  and  of  the  work  generally  were  made  to  the  Eldership  in  1872,  which 
met  with  the  church  at  Wood's  Prairie,  Fannin  county,  November  28th.     J.  R. 

C.  H.— 20* 


594  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

Pile  was  Speaker,  and  E.  Marple,  Clerk.  There  were  eight  ministers  connected 
with  the  Eldership,  but  the  half  were  inactive  for  various  reasons.  Churches  ex- 
isted in  Delta,  Lamar  and  Fannin  counties,  Texas,  and  in  Franklin  county.  Ark. 
J.  J.  Abernathy,  licensed  at  this  session,  was  appointed  to  serve  these  churches, 
which  pledged  $350.00  toward  his  support.  Ober  was  appointed  to  serve  the 
church  in  Franklin  county.  Ark.  The  Eldership  in  1871  had  elected  delegates  to 
the  General  Eldership,  largely  with  a  view  of  enlisting  said  body  in  the  interest  of 
the  work  in  the  Southwest;  but  they  failed  to  attend. 

16th  Texas  Eldership. — The  Opening  Sermon  of  the  sixteenth  annual  session 
of  the  Texas  Eldership  was  preached  by  B.  Ober,  at  the  Union  Bethel,  Lamar 
county,  November  4,  1873.  A  majority  of  the  members  was  present.  Without 
any  contentions,  the  Eldership  transacted  its  business  in  peace,  with  unanimity  of 
sentiment.  T.  A.  Perkins  was  Speaker,  and  J.  V.  GrifBs,  Clerk.  There  were  about 
fifty  additions  to  the  churches  reported,  "which,  though  small,  was  encouraging, 
considering  the  embarrassed  circumstances  of  those  preaching."  The  Constitu- 
tion was  amended,  "making  it  more  binding  upon  those  taking  charge  to  comply 
with  their  agreement."  While  the  missionary  cause  was  discussed  with  much  in- 
terest, owing  to  inability  not  much  could  be  accomplished,  yet  nearly  $100.00  was 
subscribed  on  the  floor.  A  Board  of  Missions  was  appointed,  and  the  churches  in 
Delta  county,  Texas,  and  Franklin  county,  Ark.,  with  the  intermediate  points,  were 
constituted  a  missionary  field,  to  which  Ober  was  appointed,  with  an  appropriation 
by  the  Board  of  $125.00. 

17th  Texas  Eldership. — Not  discouraged  by  its  failures  to  receive  recognition 
by  the  General  Eldership,  the  Texas  Eldership  at  its  session  which  began  at  Wood's 
school-house,  Fannin  county,  November  2,  1874,  resolved  to  send  two  delegates  to 
said  body  at  its  session  in  1875.  M.  Brackeen  and  T.  A.  Perkins  were  elected. 
They,  however,  did  not  attend  the  session  of  the  General  Eldership,  nor  was  the 
Texas  Eldership  recognized  in  constituting  the  Eldership.  Perhaps  to  anticipate 
such  a  contingency,  Ober  and  Marple  were  appointed  "to  furnish  the  General  Eld- 
ership with  a  statement  of  their  missionary  labors  and  the  principles  and  doctrines 
upon  which  the  Church  of  God  is  organized  in"  Texas.  Six  teaching  elders  were 
present  at  the  session,  two  ruling  elders  and  two  delegates;  while  two  teaching 
elders  were  absent.  The  Speaker  was  T,  A.  Perkins,  with  William  Hamblin  as 
Clerk.  The  Eldership  commended  all  the  periodicals  published  by  the  General 
Eldership,  and  the  Bookstore  of  Dr.  Ross,  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.  Marple  was  ap- 
pointed "to  take  charge  of  the  churches  in  Texas  the  ensuing  year,  with  a  salary 
of  $300.00  from  the  churches  in  Lamar  and  Fannin  counties."  Ober  was  "ap- 
pointed to  the  Jefferson  and  Marshall  mission."  G.  T.  Bell  was  appointed  to  the 
church  at  Sub  Rosa,  Franklin  county,  Ark.,  the  Board  of  Missions  to  pay  him 
$50.00. 

18th  Texas  Eldership. — Prospects  in  the  Texas  Eldership  seem  to  have  been 
less  bright  in  187  5,  when  the  body  met  with  the  church  in  Fannin  county,  on  De- 
cember 13th.  The  attendance  was  small,  but  "the  session  was  a  very  feeling  and 
harmonious  one."  Two  of  the  ministers  requested  the  discontinuance  of  their 
licenses;  but  "Prof.  Paul  Graham,  a  very  eminent  gentleman  of  Arkansas,  was  re- 
ceived into  the  fellowship  of  the  Eldership  and  licensed."  The  Speaker  was  J.  M. 
Brackeen,  with  E.  Marjile  as  Clerk.  Ober  was  transferred  to  the  Illinois  Elder- 
ship. As  E.  Marple  was  appointed  Corresponding  Secretary,  to  correspond  with 
any  preachers  of  the  Church  who  may  "think  of  coming  to  Texas,"  it  was  deemed 
well  to  see  what  Texas  could  do  to  support  a  missionary.  Accordingly  a  "Fi- 
nancial Committee  of  six  was  appointed  to  ascertain  the  amount  of  support  that 
can  be  raised  here  to  support  some  one  of  our  preachers  from  the  North.  The 
Texas  Eldership  felt  that  it  had  claims  on  the  general  body  for  assistance  in  its 
work,  and  that  they  had  not  been  met.  It  adopted  a  resolution  stating,  "that  we 
insist  on  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership,  at  its  next  annual  meet- 
ing, to  consider  the  wants  and  claims  of  the  Texas  Mission,  and  send,  if  possible, 
a  missionary  to  this  field  of  labor."  The  brethren  "were  much  grieved  on  account 
of  not  receiving  assistance"  earlier.  They  could  not  realize  the  feeling  in  the 
North  growing  out  of  the  Slavery  agitation,  the  War  and  the  Reconstruction 
period,  nor  take  into  account  the  many  calls  for  help  from  other  sections. 

19th  Texas  Eldership. — Another  year  passed,  and  no  missionary  from  the 
North  had  been  sent.  Yet  conditions  were  improving  in  that  part  of  the  territory 
lying  in  Arkansas.  The  attendance  at  the  Eldership  was  better,  when  the  annual 
session  began  in  the  Oxford  school-house,  Lamar  county,  Texas.,  October  4,  1876. 


The   Texas   Eldership  595 

Three  teaching  elders  were  present,  and  three,  absent,  with  two  ruling  elders  and 
two  delegates.  The  Speaker  was  E.  Marple;  Clerks,  T.  A.  Perkins  and  J.  T.  Lyday. 
The  first  action  taken  was  to  change  the  title  of  the  Eldership  so  as  to  read, 
"Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God."  Bell  was  laboring  in 
Arkansas,  and  he  "was  appointed  minister  of  the  work"  in  that  State,  "to  be 
assisted  by  D.  S.  Summit,  G.  W.  Watson,  A.  D.  Douglas  and  Joshua  Alcorn,"  all 
of  Arkansas,  who  had  been  recommended  by  Bell  for,  and  received,  licenses. 
Lamar  and  Fannin  county  churches,  in  Texas,  could  not  be  supplied  with  regular 
pastors.  To  emphasize  its  change  of  title,  the  next  session  of  the  Eldership  was 
appointed  to  be  held  in  Arkansas. 

20th  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — As  voted  in  187  6,  the  Eldership  met 
with  the  church  at  Natural  Dam,  Crawford  county.  Ark.,  on  Tuesday,  October  16, 
1877.  The  name  of  the  missionary  from  the  North  was  not  enrolled  when  the 
Eldership  was  constituted  with  five  teaching  elders,  five  ruling  elders  and  one  dele- 
gate present.  But  his  name  is  on  the  first  committee  appointed,  and  a  little  later 
he  "presented  his  transfer  and  recommendation  from  the  Ohio  Eldership" — J.  A. 
Smith.  After  the  election  of  Marple  for  Speaker,  and  A.  M.  Keen,  Clerk,  "the 
Speaker  was  requested  to  deliver  an  Opening  Address,"  which  he  did  from  II.  Tim. 
iv.  2.  "Prof.  Graham's  name  was  called,  and  dropped  from  the  Journal."  So  was 
that  of  G.  W.  Watson.  The  two  parts  of  the  Eldership  were  so  far  apart  that  a 
Standing  Committee  of  three  was  appointed  for  each.  The  Eldership  also  at  once 
voted  in  favor  of  "organizing  an  Eldership  in  Arkansas,  separate  from  the  Texas 
Eldership."  A  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership  in  1878  was  elected,  who  was  to 
use  his  influence  in  favor  of  an  Arkansas  Eldership.  Four  new  men  were  licensed. 
Four  circuits  were  named  by  the  Stationing  Committee,  all  in  Arkansas,  with  one 
field  in  Texas.  The  Eldership  represented  "the  South  as  an  inviting  field  for 
Church  work,"  and  reflected  seriously  upon  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General 
Eldership  for  "using  all  the  available  means  and  men  for  the  upbuilding  of  Church 
interests  in  the  western  States,  to  the  utter  neglect  of  the  States  South."  A  Min- 
isterial meeting  was  appointed  to  be  held  at  Van  Buren,  Crawford  county.  Ark. 
J.  A.  Smith  was  made  "general  worker  in  Arkansas  until  January  1,  1878,  and 
then  to  take  charge  of  the  churches  in  Texas." 

21st  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — The  impracticability  of  working  the  two 
sections  of  the  Eldership  together  as  one  body  was  again  made  evident  when  the 
body  convened  at  Elm  Grove,  Lamar  county,  Texas,  with  no  teaching  or  ruling 
elders  present  from  Arkansas.  The  session  began  October  3,  1878,  and  four  min- 
isters and  two  ruling  elders  responded  to  their  names.  At  least  nine  teaching 
elders  were  absent,  and  the  Journal  of  the  year  before  not  being  on  hand,  the  Eld- 
ership was  not  sure  but  there  were  more  absent.  J.  A.  Smith  was  chosen  Speaker, 
and  E.  Marple,  Clerk.  There  were  two  more  applicants  for  license  from  Arkansas, 
and  they  were  ordained.  A  Board  of  Missions  was  appointed,  consisting  of  three 
from  Arkansas  and  three  from  Texas.  A  similar  arrangement  was  made  as  to  the 
Standing  Committee,  and  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  Arkansas  part  of  the 
Eldership  was  empowered  "to  change  the  Report  of  the  Stationing  Committee  so 
far  as  it  relates  to  the  brethren  in  that  State."  The  two  counties  of  Lamar  an<} 
Fannin,  Texas,  were  made  one  circuit,  with  J.  A.  Smith  as  minister,  assisted  by 
J.  M.  Brackeen,  and  E.  Marple  as  General  Missionary.  The  work  had  been  ex- 
tended into  the  Indiana  Territory,  so  that  there  were  three  missionaries  appointed 
to  the  Cherokee  and  Chickasaw  Nations,  and  six  pastors  to  churches  in  Arkansas. 
J.  C.  Keys  and  J.  M.  McCarty  received  licenses,  both  of  Arkansas. 

22nd  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — A  new  element  entered  into  the  work 
in  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership,  as  the  Journal  of  1879  indicates.  Some 
churches  composed  of  colored  people  had'  been  organized  during  the  year  in  Ar- 
kansas, and  several  brethren  appeared  for  license  to  preach.  J.  K.  AVilson,  J.  Wil- 
liamson and  G.  Hornback  were  licensed,  and  were  also  appointed  a  Standing  Com- 
mittee for  the  colored  churches,  under  the  instructions  of  J.  R.  Pile  and  D.  S. 
Summit.  The  session  of  the  Eldership  was  held  at  Grand  Prairie  school-house, 
Franklin  county.  Ark.,  beginning  September  3,  1879.  There  were  present  six 
teaching  elders  and  seven  ruling  elders.  They  organized  by  electing  J.  A.  Smith, 
Speaker;  D.  S.  Summit,  Assistant  Speaker;  W.  D.  Abernathy,  Clerk,  and  A.  C. 
Northum,  Assistant  Clerk.  In  addition  to  the  three  colored  brethren  licensed, 
six  white  brethren  were  granted  licenses.  The  Eldership  raised  its  "warning 
voice  against  intoxicating  liquor  as  a  beverage  on  all  occasions,  standing  on  the 
rock  of  total  abstinence  of  its  use  amongst  us."      It  also  affirmed  that  "ordination 


596  History    of    thk    CiiL'uciiiiS    oi'    Gon 

by  the  imposition  of  hands  is  a  Bible  doctrine,  clearly  taught  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment Scriptures,  and  we  have  no  right  to  violate  it."  Co-operation  with  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership  in  all  laudable  efforts  to  extend  the  cause  of  God  was  cheerfully 
endorsed.  Increased  efforts  were  decided  on  "in  the  future  in  raising  mission 
funds."  Again  an  earnest  prayer  was  recorded  to  the  General  Eldership  "to  di- 
vide the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership  into  two  Elderships."  Two  treasurers  were 
elected,  A.  C.  Northuni  for  Arkansas,  and  James  Brackeen  for  Texas.  Conditions 
were  reported  "very  flattering,  and  the  interest  good  all  over  the  work,  and  in- 
creasing." Beginning  of  work  in  the  Choctaw  Nation  was  planned,  and  a  letter  of 
recommendation  to  tlie  Nation  was  given  to  John  Bennett.  The  appointments 
made  were  three  in  Texas,  seven  In  Arkansas  and  two  in  the  Indian  Territory. 
The  missionary  for  the  State  of  Arkansas  was  restrained  from  "organizing 
churches  within  less  than  six  miles  from  other  organized  bodies." 

23rd  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — Certain  abnormal  conditions  are  notice- 
able in  this  most  southern  member  in  the  family  of  Elderships  of  the  Church  of 
God.  There  were  twenty-nine  ministerial  members  in  1880,  of  which  but  eight 
were  present  when  the  organization  was  effected  on  September  2,  1880,  with  five 
ruling  elders  and  delegates.  Three  of  the  teaching  elders  were  colored  men.  The 
various  comm.ittees  were  appointed  "on  motion"  of  some  member.  There  were 
three  Standing  Committees,  one  for  Texas,  one  for  Arkansas  and  one  for  the  col- 
ored portion  of  the  Eldership.  The  officers  were:  Speaker,  J.  W.  Riddle;  Assist- 
ant Speaker,  G.  T.  Bell;  Clerk,  H.  B.  Hale,  and  Assistant  Clerk,  B.  V.  Hoket.  The 
Report  of  the  Committee  on  Order  contained  the  three  items  of  hours  of  opening 
and  adjourning  the  sittings;  that  each  sitting  be  opened  and  closed  with  prayer, 
and  limiting  speeches  to  two,  not  to  exceed  fifteen  minutes.  Hoket  was  also,  on 
motion,  made  "the  Treasurer  of  the  Eldership  in  the  State  of  Arkansas."  Three 
sittings  were  had  each  day,  and  seven  constituted  a  quorum  to  do  business.  .A 
radical  rule  was  agreed  to,  that  all  ministers  "who  do  not  report  in  person,  or  by 
proxy  or  letter,  their  licenses  shall  be  discontinued."  As  a  result  there  were  mmes 
dropped  and  re-enrolled  at  every  session.  The  Eldership  was  largely  a  triple 
body,  "the  Texas  part,"  "the  Arkansas  part,"  and  the  "colored  portion."  Fron; 
the  first  and  second  each  a  delegate  and  alternate  was  elected  to  the  General  Eld- 
ership. A  motion  readily  prevailed  to  "petition  the  General  Eldership  to  divide 
the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership  into  two  Elderships,  the  first  to  go  by  the  name 
of  the  Texas  Eldership,  and  the  second  by  the  name  of  Arkansas  and  Indian  Terri- 
tory Eldership."  The  ministers  were  required  "to  collect  from  each  church  mem- 
ber twenty-five  cents  for  a  free-will  offering  to  the  Board  of  Missions  for  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership  Mission  Fund."  "The  cause  of  the  Master,"  states  the  Report  of 
the  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion,  "is  prospering  throughout  the  entire 
work."  The  date  for  the  Eldership  to  meet  was  changed  to  the  first  of  November, 
and  pastors  were  to  "close  all  their  labors"  at  that  date,  so  as  to  go  to  their  new 
fields  at  adjournment  of  the  Eldership.  There  were  fifteen  appointments  in  Ar- 
kansas, and  two  fields  in  the  Indian  Territory.  Two  Ministerial  Associations  were 
provided  for,  one  in  Texas  and  one  in  Arkansas.  The  session  "closed  by  farewell 
address  of  G.  T.  Bell,  in  which  the  preachers  all  embraced  each  other  and  gave 
each  the  kiss  of  charity." 

24th  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — Though  the  General  Eldership  did  not 
grant  the  petition  to  divide  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership,  yet  an  effort  was 
made  when  the  body  convened  in  1881  to  carry  this  project  into  effect.  Edi- 
torially the  Eldership  was  advised  that  such  action  would  be  beyond  its  "legal 
right  and  power."  But  it  persisted  to  carry  its  purpose  into  effect.  A  resolution 
was  adopted  declaring  it  to  be  "the  sense  of  this  body  that  there  should  be  a  di- 
vision of  this  Eldership."  And  on  the  ground  that  "for  the  last  four  years  we 
have  made  known  our  desire  for  this  division,  and  have  petitioned  the  General 
Eldership,"  and  because  also  "it  is  agreeable  to  the  Texas  brethren  to  have  a  di- 
vision," the  Eldership  voted,  "that  after  this  Annual  Eldership  meeting,  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord  1881,  we  will  consider  ourselves  a  separate  body  from  the  Texas 
part  of  this  Eldership,  to  do  business  in  the  future  for  ourselves,  and  to  be  known 
as  the  Arkansas  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  in  the  United  States  of  America." 
The  session  was  held  with  the  church  in  Mill  Creek,  Franklin  county.  Ark.,  and 
opened  November  31,  1881.  Nine  ministers,  three  ruling  elders  and  two  dele- 
gates were  present,  while  twenty  ministers  were  absent.  J.  A.  Smith  was  chosen 
Speaker,  and  J.  W.  Parker,  Clerk.  The  meeting  and  transactions  of  the  Standing 
Committee  which  tried  "B.  F.  Reese,  and  expelled  him  from  the  Church,"  was  de- 


The   Texas    Eldership  597 

Glared  "illegal,  null  and  void;"  yet  Reese  made  "acknowledgement  to  the  Eldership 
of  his  wrong  and  asked  pardon,"  and  the  Eldership  "freely  forgave  him  and  re- 
newed his  license."  A  Board  of  Missions  was  created.  To  "raise  a  Contingent 
Fund,  each  member"  was  "requested  to  pay  into  the  treasury  twenty-five  cents." 
"Religion  is  at  a  low  ebb  in  our  country,"  was  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on. 
the  State  of  Religion.  Instead  of  the  Eldership  transacting  the  business  for  the- 
colored  churches,  "a  committee"  was  "appointed  to  attend  to  business  among  the 
colored  brethren  to  suit  themselves,  and  report  to  the  next  meeting  of  this  Elder- 
ship." It  was  decided  that  "no  church  shall  be  organized  by  any  one  that  is  not 
ordained  by  a  regular  ordained  presbytery."  A  license  was  refused  to  an  appli- 
cant because  "upon  examination  it  was  found  that  the  brother  believes  in  the  un- 
conscious state  of  the  dead  and  the  annihilation  of  the  wicked."  Having  had  no 
Constitution,  the  Eldership  appointed  a  committee  "to  prepare  one  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  this  Eldership,  and  present  the  same  at  the  next  annual  meeting." 
The  holding  of  an  Eldership  camp-meeting  was  agreed  upon.  Nine  appointments 
were  made,  one  of  them  "a  missionary  for  the  State  of  Arkansas,"  and  three  "to 
preach  among  the  colored  people." 

An  important  extra  session  of  the  Eldership  was  held  at  Cold  Springs,  Craw- 
ford county,  Ark.,  which  began  January  12,  1882.  The  call  was  signed  by  mem- 
bers which  were  absent  at  the  annual  session.  It  was  called  "owing  to  irregulari- 
ties on  the  part  of  some  of  the  members  of  the  Eldership,  and  some  acts  taken  by 
said  Eldership  not  in  harmony  with  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  Rules  of  Co-opera- 
tion of  the  General  Eldership."  Only  six  ministers,  four  ruling  elders  and  three 
delegates  responded  to  the  call.  Many  of  the  actions  of  the  annual  session  "were 
approved."  But  the  pardon  of  Reese  and  renewal  of  his  license  were  reversed, 
and  he  was  "dismissed  from  the  body."  Three  others  were  dealt  with  in  the 
same  manner.  Reese  was  expelled  for  "frequent  drunkenness;"  one  other  for 
"marrying  again  while  his  wife  yet  lives;"  and  two  for  "very  wrong,"  and 
"flagrantly  wrong"  acts.  The  Eldership  also  repudiated  "resolutions  touching 
the  subject  of  laying  on  of  hands,"  which  had  been  adopted  by  the  annual  session. 
And  while  hoping  "that  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  we  shall  pray  the  General 
Eldership  to  divide  our  territory  so  as  to  form  a  Texas  Eldership  and  an  Arkansas 
Eldership,"  yet  the  action  taken  by  the  annual  session  was  rescinded,  because  "it 
Is  alone  the  prerogative  of  the  General  Eldership  to  divide  the  territory  of  Annual 
Elderships  and  fix  the  boundary  lines  of  the  same."  Provision  was  made  again 
for  three  Standing  Committees.  As  no  permanent  records  had  been  kept  of  the 
doings  of  the  Eldership  and  its  Standing  Committees,  "a  Protocol"  was  to  be 
secured  by  "E,  Marple,  and  to  record  all  Journals  of  the  Eldership  and  acts  of  the 
Standing  Committees."  It  was  stated  that  "prayer  is  too  much  neglected  among 
us,"  and  ministers  were  "urged  to  preach  upon  this  subject  of  prayer  in  secret,  in 
the  family  and  in  public."  On  Temperance,  the  Committee  was  constrained  to  ex- 
press "the  sense  of  this  body  that  the  ministry  and  brotherhood  should  not  be 
given  to  the  use  of  ardent  spirits  as  a  beverage."  Not  only  did  this  extra  session 
restate  the  fact  that  "the  cause  of  God  among  us  is  at  a  low  ebb;"  but  that  "there 
has  been  a  great  falling  away,"  and  that  "great  corruption  has  existed  among 
some  of  the  ministers  among  us."  A  camp-meeting  among  the  Cherokee  Indians 
was  recommended.  The  Permanent  General  Missionary  Secretary,  R.  H.  Bolton, 
was  present  during  this  extra  session,  and  guided  the  body  in  most  of  the  actions 
taken. 

23th  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — The  total  ministerial  enrollment  of  the 
Eldership  which  was  held  with  the  church  at  Grand  Prairie  school-house.  Ark., 
beginning  October  25,  1882,  is  not  given;  but  there  were  only  six  teaching  elders 
present,  and  nine  ruling  elders.  G.  T.  Bell  was  elected  "Chairman,"  and  J.  A. 
W'hittinpcton,  Clerk.  The  state  of  religion  was  reported  "at  a  low  ebb,"  and  "we 
urge  the  people  everywhere  to  read  their  Bibles,  and  reform."  The  Report  on 
Temperance  states  "that  we  find  it  necessary  to  command  all  the  members  of  the 
Church  of  God  to  be  temperate  in  all  things;  and  more  especially  in  the  drinking 
of  spirits  of  any  kind  that  would  cause  Intoxication  or  drunkenness."  Edmund 
Burke,  of  England,  once  said,  "You  can  not  Indict  a  whole  people."  That,  how- 
ever, seems  to  have  been  done  in  this  Instance.  Parents  were  urged  to  educate 
their  children,  and  it  was  "found  necessary  to  urge  It  upon  our  preachers  to  give 
themselves  a  good  education  so  as  not  to  become  stumbling-blocks  in  the  way  of 
sinners."  It  was  "recommended  that  the  Texas  part  of  this  Eldership  hold  a 
session  of  their  own  in  Texas,  and  transact  their  business,  and  divide  their  terri- 


598  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

tory  to  suit  themselves."  The  entire  Eldership  was  made  the  Stationing  Com- 
mittee, which  outlined  seven  circuits,  to  which  seven  pastors  were  assigned,  with 
ten  "assistants." 

26th  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — Virtually  two  Elderships  were  held  in 
1883.  Records  show  that  "the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership  met  with  the  church 
of  God  at  the  Wood's  Prairie  Bethel,  Fannin  county,  Texas,  September  12,  1883." 
B.  Ober  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  on  said  evening.  The  following  morning 
the  Eldership  was  constituted  and  organized.  There  were  three  "licensed  min- 
isters" present,  being  "the  Texas  part  of  the  Eldership."  Also  three  elders  and 
delegates.  The  two  absentees  belonged  also  to  the  Texas  part  of  the  Eldership. 
J.  M.  Brackeen  was  chosen  for  Chairman,  and  B.  Ober,  Secretary.  All  committees 
were  dispensed  with,  save  the  Standing  Committee.  Two  of  the  ministers  of  the 
Arkansas  part  of  the  Eldership  reported  by  letter,  and  one  applicant  by  letter  re- 
ceived license.  Nineteen  names  were  called  of  ministers  of  the  Arkansas  part  of 
the  Eldership,  but  there  were  no  reports.  "Their  licenses  were  renewed  and 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Arkansas  Standing  Committee."  A  Standing  Com- 
mittee for  Arkansas  was  appointed.  Delegates  were  elected  to  the  General  Elder- 
ship from  Arkansas,  and  for  the  Texas  part  of  the  Eldership.  All  the  brethren  of 
the  entire  Eldership  were  urged  to  do  all  they  can  to  assist  in  the  building  of 
Findlay  College.  Ober  was  the  only  preacher  appointed  to  a  charge,  and  he  was 
to  supply  the  Texas  Mission  until  other  arrangements  are  made  by  the  Board  of 
Missions  of  the  General  Eldership. 

On  the  same  date  (October  12,  1883)  "the  Arkansas  part  of  the  Texas  and 
Arkansas  Eldership  met  with  the  church  of  God  at  Pleasant  Ridge,  Franklin 
county,  Ark.  Six  ministers  were  present,  and  six  ruling  elders.  D.  S.  Summit 
was  elected  Chairman,  and  J.  A.  Whittington,  Clerk.  Eighteen  ministers  either 
reported,  or  their  names  were  called  for  reports.  The  licenses  of  three  were  dis- 
continued. The  "brethren  in  Texas  and  J.  W.  Riddle  were  reprimanded  for  vio- 
lating a  resolution  at  the  last  Eldership,  for  licensing  preachers  contrary  to  said 
resolution."  Based  on  the  distance  and  consequent  expense  of  going  from  one 
State  to  another  to  hold  Eldership  sessions,  the  Eldership  "humbly  prayed  the 
General  Eldership  to  consider  the  petition  and  grant  the  request  to  organize  an 
Arkansas  and  Indian  Territory  Eldership."  One  or  more  sermons  by  each  min- 
ister was  ordered  to  be  preached  during  the  year  "on  the  duty  of  the  support  of 
the  gospel  according  to  the  word  of  God."  There  were  eleven  appointments  to 
circuits  and  one  "evangelist,  to  preach  where  the  Church  is  not  organized."  A 
Ministerial  Association  was  directed  to  be  held  on  Thursday  before  the  first  Sun- 
day in  September,  1884,  at  Shady  Grove,  Crawford  county.  Ark. 

27th  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — The  Journal  of  1884  purports  to  be 
that  of  the  "Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Texas,  Arkansas  and  the  Indian 
Territory."  And  a  resolution  was  adopted  stating  "that  we  find  it  expedient  to 
have  an  Arkansas  and  Indian  Territory  and  South  Missouri  Eldership."  It  de- 
clares that  the  Arkansas  brethren  "never  go  to  Texas  to  meet  them,  neither  do 
they  ever  come  to  Arkansas  to  meet  us."  Hence  the  resolution  "petitions  for  a 
division  of  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership,  the  former  to  be  the  Texas  Elder- 
ship, and  the  latter  the  Arkansas,  Indian  Territory  and  South  Missouri  Eldership," 
as  there  were  a  few  ministers  living  in  southern  Missouri,  and  one  circuit  was 
partly  in  Missouri.  The  petition  was  addressed  to  the  "Standing  Committee  of 
the  General  Eldership."  There  were  six  teaching  elders  present,  and  twenty-two 
ruling  elders  and  delegates,  when  the  session  opened  at  Camp  Creek,  Cherokee 
Nation,  Ind.  Ter.  G.  T.  Bell  presided,  with  G.  Bond,  Assistant  Chairman:  E.  M. 
Kirkpatrirk,  Secretary,  and  Thomas  Rutledge,  Assistant.  Though  no  ministers 
from  Texas  were  present,  they  reported.  Four  ministers  were  "dismissed," 
"dropped,"  or  "fellowship  withdrawn  from"  for  "disorderly"  or  "bad  conduct." 
A  Standing  Committee  was  appointed  for  "the  Texas  part  of  the  Eldership,"  which 
exercised  the  powers  of  the  Eldership  in  Texas.  The  Cherokee  Nation.  Ind.  Ter., 
was  a  "mission  field,"  with  J.  W.  Riddle,  pastor,  "assisted  by  the  preachers  of  the 
Church  of  God  in  the  Nation." 

28th  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — In  some  respects  the  Texas  and  Ar- 
kansas Eldership  was  peculiar.  Outside  of  Ober  and  Mai-ple  it  was  composed  of 
ministers  and  elders  of  very  limited  culture,  and  of  men  largely  unacquainted  with 
our  polity  and  usages,  or  even  with  parliamentary  rules.  Hence  their  actions 
sometimes  are  open  to  well-founded  criticism.  Thus  without  any  right  or  auth- 
ority the  name  and  implied  boundaries  were  changed  in  1885,  and  we  have  the 


The   Texas    Eldership  599 

record,  that  "September  30,  1885,  the  Eldership  of  Texas,  Arkansas  and  the 
Indian  Territory  met  at  Happy  Hollow,  Crawford  county,  Ark."  "The  laws  of  the 
Eldership"  consisted  of  four  simple  parliamentary  rules.  A  good  many  disorderly 
things  were  often  done  by  ministers,  so  that  charges  were  brought  against  one 
or  more  at  nearly  every  session.  This  was  the  case  in  1885,  when  two  ministers 
were  under  charges.  The  enrollment  consisted  of  eleven  teaching  elders,  six 
ruling  elders,  six  delegates  and  five  "sister  delegates."  "J.  W.  Riddle  was  elected 
Chairman,  and  B.  F.  Reese,  Assistant;  G,  T.  Bell,  Clerk,  and  E.  M.  Kirkpatiick, 
Assistant."  Riddle  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  but  at  what  stage  of  the  ses- 
sion is  not  stated.  The  pastors  were  "urged  to  do  what  they  can  for  Pindlay  Col- 
lege." Several  "young  Timothys  were  received  and  given  the  right  hand  of  fel- 
lowship. G.  T.  Bell  prayed  for  them  to  receive  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  the  Lord  answered  the  prayer,  and  we  were  all  baptized  with  the  Holy 
Ghost  afresh."  "B.  L.  Payne,  bearing  a  license  from  the  Free-Will  Baptist 
Church,"  applied  for  admission  to  the  Eldership.  He  was  received,  and  a  license 
granted  him.  While  "C.  F.  Johnson  was  excluded  from  us,  as  he  has  joined  the 
Free-Baptist  Church."  There  were  eight  circuits,  not  including  the  territory  in 
Texas.  The  work  in  Texas  was  in  charge  of  the  Standing  Committee  for  that 
State.  When  it  met  two  of  the  five  teaching  elders  were  absent;  three  were 
present,  with  one  deacon  and  three  lay  members.  Two  appointments  were  made. 
It  was  the  rule  at  this  time  for  each  church  to  send  a  letter  to  the  Eldership,  giv- 
ing a  report  and  asking  for  a  preacher. 

29th  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — Laxness  in  licensing  men  to  preach  was 
a  serious  defect  in  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership.  As  a  result  the  cause  often 
suffered  because  unworthy  men  were  ordained  whose  conduct  brought  the  Church 
into  disrepute.  There  were  expulsions  at  almost  every  annual  session.  During 
the  year  1885-6  the  Standing  Committee  licensed  two,  and  in  1886  the  Eldership 
licensed  six  more.  It  "withdrew  fellowship"  from  one  "on  account  of  disgraceful 
conduct  towards  the  cause  of  our  Lord."  The  session  was  held  at  Honey  Hill, 
Cherokee  Nation,  Ind.  Ter.,  beginning  on  Wednesday,  September  8,  1886.  D.  S. 
Summit  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Rev.  i.  3.  Nine  teaching  elders  and 
eight  ruling  elders  were  present.  D.  S.  Summit  was  chosen  Chairman,  and  G.  T. 
Bell,  Assistant;  J.  W.  Riddle,  Clerk,  and  G.  T.  Dykes,  Assistant.  Delegates  were 
elected  to  the  General  Eldership.  Other  progressive  measures  favorably  acted 
upon  were  the  holding  of  a  Ministerial  Association;  the  project  of  a  "mission  school 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  Church  of  God,  and  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  committee  and  devising  of  ways  and  means  to  secure  it;"  a  strong 
endorsement  of  Sabbath-schools,  advising  each  church  to  organize  a  school,  and 
the  creation  of  a  Contingent  Fund,  and  of  a  Fund  for  widows  and  orphans.  A 
novel  way  of  arranging  the  territory  into  fields  of  labor  was  adopted,  omitting 
Texas,  which  was  placed  in  the  care  of  its  Standing  Committee.  The  territory  was 
divided  into  four  districts  called  Mission  Fields  Nos.  1,  2,  3  and  4.  For  each  dis- 
trict one  minister  was  appointed  as  "supervisor  of  the  circuit,"  or  "to  have  super- 
vision of  stationing  the  ministers  of  the  circuit."  Under  this  plan,  in  addition  to 
these  "supervisors,"  two  ministers  were  appointed  to  Mission  Field  No.  1;  two  to 
Field  No.  2,  with  seven  assistants,  "all  subject  to  the  orders"  of  the  supervisor. 
Field  No.  3,  one  pastor  "to  take  charge  and  supply  the  churches  with  pastors." 
Field  No.  4,  one  "supervisor  of  the  circuit,  with  two  others  appointed  to  supply 
five  churches." 

30th  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — The  religious  element  was  conspicuous 
in  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership.  It  was  "deemed  necessary  to  have  devo- 
tional services  each  day  at  11  o'clock,"  as  well  as  each  evening,  and  so  at  each 
morning  sitting  "the  Committee  on  Order  and  Devotion"  appointed  some  one  to 
"preach  at  11  o'clock"  and  "at  candle  lighting."  This  order  was  followed  in 
1887,  when  the  Eldership  convened  "with  the  church  at  Price's  Springs,  Franklin 
county,  Ark.,  on  September  7th,  at  11  o'clock  a.  m."  The  Opening  Sermon  was 
preached  at  that  hour  by  J.  M.  Howard,  from  Acts  xx.  28,  and  the  Eldership  held 
its  first  sitting  at  3.30  o'clock  p.  m.  There  were  thirteen  teaching  elders  present, 
and  eight  ruling  elders;  five  deacons,  and  three  delegates.  Officers  elected  were: 
J.  W.  Riddle,  President;  D.  S.  Summit,  Vice  President.  J.  T,  Kittredge,  Clerk, 
and  E.  M.  Kirkpatrick,  Assistant  Clerk.  Fourteen  "churches  reported  by  dele- 
gates." On  account  of  "the  destitute  condition  in  which  quite  a  number  of  places 
are  left,"  and  "the  financial  condition  of  the  ministry"  which  prevents  "those 
places  from  being  supplied  without  a  hearty  co-operation  on  the  part  of  the  whole 


6oo  History    of    THit    Churches    of    God 

body,"  the  Eldership  decided  to  "elect  a  Board  of  Missions  of  three  members, 
■whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  take  charge  of  the  mission  work.  .  .  .and  see  that  these 
vacant  places  be  supplied  with  preaching."  Power  was  given  it  to  "appoint  a 
missionary,  fix  his  salary  and  see  to  the  payment  of  the  same."  It  was  "author- 
ized and  instructed  to  take  steps  to  collect  a  Home  Missionary  Fund."  Kirk- 
pati'ick,  Howard  and  Kittredge  were  chosen.  Provision  was  made  to  have  the 
Minutes  of  sessions  of  the  Eldership  preserved  in  permanent  form,  and  to  this  end 
a  blank  book  was  ordered  into  which  the  clerks  were  required  to  transcribe  the 
Journals.  The  "question  of  locating  a  school"  within  the  bounds  of  the  Elder- 
ship, to  be  under  the  control  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership, 
was  approved.  Each  church  was  "advised  to  organize  a  Sabbath-school,"  and  It 
was  decided  "that  the  officers  of  such  school  be  members  of  the  Church  of  God." 
"The  Standing  Committee  of  the  Texas  part  of  the  Eldership"  was  "authorized  to 
call  a  meeting  for  the  transaction  of  all  such  business"  as  pertained  to  that  sec- 
tion. There  were  eight  fields  of  labor  in  Arkansas  and  the  Indian  Territory. 
Pastors  were  required  "to  see  that  the  churches  on  their  respective  fields  of  labor 
prepare  and  keep  careful  records  of  the  number  of  members,  names  of  officers, 
number  of  accessions,  deaths,  exclusions  and  letters  of  dismissal,  and  report  the 
same  at  each  Annual  Eldership."  Each  pastor  was  also  instructed  "to  preach  at 
least  one  sermon  on  the  duty  of  elders  and  deacons." 

31st  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — During  the  year  1887-8  two  of  the 
licentiates  of  the  Eldership  of  1887  were  subjected  to  discipline  by  the  Standing 
Committee,  and  their  licenses  were  withdrawn.  One  of  these  was  found  guilty  of 
"departing  from  the  faith  and  teaching  heresies,"  and  the  other  of  the  "besetting 
■In"  of  that  Eldership,  "drunkenness  and  other  disorderly  conduct."  The  Elder- 
ship met  November  28,  1888,  with  the  church  at  Red  Land,  Sequoyah  District, 
Ind.  Ter.,  and  listened  to  the  Opening  Sermon  at  11  o'clock  a.  m.,  by  E.  M.  Kirk- 
patrick,  from  John  iii.  3.  There  were  eleven  teaching  elders  present,  two  deacons 
and  five  delegates.  Kirkpatrick  was  elected  President;  J.  W.  Riddle.  Vice  Presi- 
dent; J.  T.  Kittredge,  Clerk,  and  J.  M.  Howard,  Assistant  Clerk.  Twelve  churches 
reported  by  letter.  A  third  Standing  Committee  was  provided  for,  "for  the  colored 
part  of  this  Eldership,  the  same  to  be  subject  to  this  Eldership."  Statistical  re- 
ports were  ordered  to  be  made  in  writing  annually  by  each  pastor.  Violation  of 
the  Constitution  of  the  General  Eldership  was  charged  against  the  Missouri  Elder- 
ship, In  "licensing  and  giving  work  to  ministers  under  its  jurisdiction  without 
having  received  transfers  from  this  Eldership."  The  Standing  Committees  were 
charged  with  the  duty  of  "arranging  the  matter  before  the  sitting  of  either  of  the 
Elderships  In  the  year  1889,  that  we  may  be  In  harmony  with  the  law  of  the 
General  Eldership."  The  number  of  appointments  was  the  same  as  in  1887,  but 
no  colored  churches  are  on  the  list.  Eighteen  churches  are  reported  in  Arkansas, 
with  a  total  membership  of  516,  and  ten  In  the  Indian  Territory,  with  a  member- 
ship of  562.  Two  churches  failed  to  report  their  statistics.  Ten  other  churches 
were  "delinquent,"  and  "were  dropped  from  the  Roll."  Four  ministers  were  also 
found  to  be  "delinquent,"  and  "their  licenses  were  withdrawn  and  called  in." 
Two  ministers  ended  their  labors  during  the  year — John  Vanderpoor  and  Thnma.s 
Chancy,  both  "earnest  workers"  in  the  Eldership.  They  verified  Victor  Hugo's 
characterization  of  a  man:  "A  man  is  what  he  Is;  what  he  has  done  Is  the 
measure  of  his  work.  Beyond  that,  whatever  you  add  or  take  away  counts  noth- 
ing." 

32nd  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — The  discipline  administered  to  churches 
and  pastors  in  1888  had  a  wholesome  effect,  as  reports  were  sent  in  from  every 
church  In  1889.  But  the  revoking  of  licenses  did  not  have  the  restraining  and 
deterrent  effect  doubtless  anticipated.  For  not  only  was  one  prominent  minister 
"expelled  from  this  Eldership"  at  the  session  held  at  Sulphur  Springs,  Montgomery 
county.  Ark.,  beginning  August  31,  1889;  but  within  four  months  after  adjourn- 
ment the  Standing  Committee  gave  a  Judicial  hearing  of  charges  against  one 
minister  for  "telling  falsehoods,  making  contracts  and  not  fulfilling  them,  and 
making  false  reports  In  The  Advocate;"  two  others  for  "teaching  heresies;"  one 
for  "destroying  the  reputation  of  ministers  of  our  Eldership,  and  solemnizing 
matrimony  unlawfully,"  and  two  others  for  charges  not  published.  The  Elder- 
ship was  organized  by  electing  J.  H.  Summit,  President;  J.  W.  Riddle,  Vice  Presi- 
dent; J.  D.  Bradburn,  Clerk,  and  C.  H.  Ballinger,  Assistant  Clerk.  There  were 
enrolled  eight  teaching  elders,  two  ruling  elders,  nine  deacons  and  six  delegates. 
After  receiving  reports   "from   the   colored   brethren,"   the   Eldership   decided   to 


The   Texas    Eldership  6oi 

"send  Elders  Newton  Langley  and  R.  D.  Duncan  to  organize  and  instruct  the 
colored  brethren."  A  delegate  and  alternate  to  the  General  Eldership  were  ap- 
pointed for  Texas,  and  for  Arkansas,  and  for  the  Indian  Territory.  A  general 
missionary  was  appointed  to  Arkansas,  one  to  the  Cherokee  Nation  and  one  to  the 
Choctaw  and  Creek  Nations.  Besides  these,  there  were  eight  circuits.  Not  only 
were  deacons  regular  members  of  the  Eldership;  but  an  action  was  adopted  to 
"select  deacons  to  see  after  the  financial  Interests  of  the  Eldership,  pertaining  to 
that  of  serving  tables,  "and  to  see  after  widows."  Four  of  these  deacons  the 
teaching  elders,  after  having  "resolved  ourselves  into  a  presbytery,"  "ordained  and 
set  forth  by  prayer  and  laying  on  of  hands."  The  Treasurer's  Report  indicated 
the  confessed  poverty  of  the  Eldership,  as  he  reported  only  $23.10.  On  October 
12th  the  Standing  Committee  for  the  colored  churches  transacted  its  Eldership 
business,  at  Webb  City,  Franklin  county.  Ark.  It  "enrolled"  the  two  white  min- 
isters whom  the  Eldership  sent  to  assist  them;  two  colored  ministers,  and  three 
deacons.  It  renewed  the  licenses  of  the  two  colored  ministers;  received  reports 
of  the  colored  churches,  and  made  appointments.  There  were  four  colored 
churches,  one  each  in  Logan,  Franklin,  Johnson  and  Crawford  counties,  organized 
respectively  in  August  and  October,  1886;  June,  1887,  and  August,  1889,  with  a 
total  membership  of  fifty-eight  members. 

33i'(l  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — The  actions  of  the  Standing  Committee, 
which  held  a  meeting  on  December  12,  1889,  were  as  important  and  far-reaching 
as  those  of  the  Eldership  in  1890.  There  was  serious  trouble,  threatening  the 
stability  of  the  Eldership.  J.  C.  Fomcrook  was  present  to  assist  the  Committee 
In  its  difp.cult  work,  and  was  made  Chairman.  J.  W.  Riddle  was  charged  with 
"teaching  heresies."  He  "made  full  confesison,"  recanted  the  erroneous  doctrine 
taught  by  him,  and  was  "discharged."  R.  D.  Duncan  and  N.  Langley  "were  call- 
ed on  to  answer  charges  of  teaching  the  same  heresies."  They  acknowledged 
their  errors,  and  were  restored.  B.  F.  Reese  was  charged  with  "solemnizing  the 
rites  of  matrimony  unlawfully,"  and  was  suspended  from  the  ministry.  Charges 
of  moral  misconduct  were  preferred  against  two  ministers,  but  were  not  sus- 
tained. The  heresy  charges  were  for  teaching  that  the  written  word  of  God  was 
the  Word  spoken  of  in  John  i.  The  Committee  also  found  "a  division  in  the  body 
on  the  subject  of  washing  the  saints'  feet,  and  other  things."  The  advocates  of 
the  erroneous  views  were  cited  "to  be  present  at  the  next  Annual  Eldership,  in 
order  to  thoroughly  settle  the  points  in  question."  The  Eldership  convened  at 
Unicntown,  Crawford  county,  Ark.,  on  September  3,  1890.  E.  M.  Kirkpatrick 
was  elected  Speaker,  and  D.  S.  Summit,  Assistant;  J.  D.  Bradbum,  Clerk,  and 
C.  II.  Hallinger,  Assistant,  and  R.  A.  Wallace,  Treasurer.  "A  good  number  of 
teaching  and  ruling  elders,  deacons  and  delegates  was  enrolled."  D.  Blakely, 
General  Missionary,  was  present,  and  exerted  a  good  influence  in  the  work  of  the 
body.  He  regarded  the  Eldership  as  possessing  "the  elements  of  success;  men  of 
loyalty;  men  hard  to  discourage;  men  fearless  in  fire  and  smoke."  Ober  pro- 
nounced it  "one  of  the  most  pleasant  meetings  I  ever  attended."  The  aftermath 
of  the  Standing  Committee  meeting  was  the  charges  against  B.  F.  Reese,  and  the 
subject  of  feet-washing.  Reese's  "license  was  restored."  "The  subject  of  feet- 
washing  WIS  referred  to  the  next  Eldership."  The  adoption  of  a  Constitution, 
r.lakely  stated,  "was  one  of  the  items  of  greatest  importance  acted  upon.  It  will 
doubtless  add  largely  to  the  order  and  dispatch  of  business,  as  well  as  the  har- 
mony and  unity  of  the  body."  Ober  vouched  for  $100.00  for  a  Texas  missionary, 
and  the  Eldership  requested  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  to 
pay  $200.00,  and  recommended  J.  C.  Caswell  and  E.  M.  Kirkpatrick  as  suitable 
for  the  rrlsslcnary  work  in  Texas.  The  licenses  of  eighteen  ministers  were  con- 
tinued. The  organization  of  'Sabbath-schools  in  all  the  churches  was  strongly 
recommended. 

31th  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — As  the  Indian  Territory  was  embraced 
In  the  'T'exas  and  Arkins-^s  Eldership,  the  Minutes  gave  it  the  name  of  the  "Texas, 
Ark^ns"s  '•nd  Indian  Territory  Eldership."  Lender  this  title  it  convened  at  Enter- 
prise. Sehf>stlan  county,  Ark.,  September  2,  1891.  J.  W.  Riddle  was  chosen  Chair- 
r^an:  C  IT.  n.-illinyer,  Assistant;  R.  A.  Wallace,  Secretary;  James  W.  Brown,  As- 
sistant. There  w^ere  thirty-three  ministers  enrolled,  and  eight  were  licensed,  and 
one  "restored."  "The  Introductory  Sermon  was  preached  by  E.  M.  Kirkpatrick. 
rhT'rc>^es  as  well  as  ministers  renorted  to  the  Eldership.  Eighteen  churches  in 
Ark''ns''s  renorted.  and  twelve  in  the  Indian  Territory.  While  no  Funds  are 
mentioned   in  the  Minutes,  and  there  was  no  Treasurer's  Report,  Joseph  White 

I 


i6o2  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

was  elected  Treasurer.  There  was  a  regular  Home  Board  of  Missions.  A  reso- 
lution to  divide  the  Eldership  was  defeated;  but  notice  was  given  that  an  appeal 
would  be  taken  to  the  General  Eldership.  The  interests  of  the  Texas  part  of  the 
Eldership  were  not  acted  upon,  but  were  referred  to  the  Standing  Committee  for 
Texas. 

3oth  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — The  Eldership  in  1892  had  several 
things  in  the  way  of  discounts.  The  attendance  of  ministers  was  small — thirteen. 
Many  who  were  absent  did  not  report,  and  the  licenses  of  five  were  withheld. 
Other  things  were  greatly  to  the  credit  of  the  body.  It  convened  with  the  church 
at  Lone  Valley,  Montgomery  county,  Ark.,  August  31st.  E.  M.  Kirkpatrick 
preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  He  was  elected  Chairman;  B.  Ober,  Assistant; 
R.  A.  Wallace,  Secretary;  C.  H.  Ballinger,  Assistant,  and  B.  Ober,  Treasurer.  The 
brethren  in  the  Indian  Territory  asked  permission  to  organize  an  Eldership,  which 
was  granted.  The  Standing  Committee  on  January  17,  1893,  went  further.  It 
cut  off  the  Indian  Territory,  and  declared  that  the  name  of  the  Texas,  Arkansas 
and  Indian  Territory  be  changed  to  that  of  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. 
The  ministers  in  the  Indian  Territory  organized  an  Eldership  without  waiting  lor 
the  action  of  the  General  Eldership,  which  alone  has  the  power  to  establish  new 
Elderships.  It  set  in  motion  all  the  machinery  of  an  Eldership,  even  stationing 
the  preachers.  The  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership  now  had  eight  colored  min- 
isters and  one  hundred  and  five  members.  An  organization  known  as  "the 
Church  of  Christ"  was  represented  .at  this  session  by  six  ministers.  Their  mem- 
bership was  given  at  between  four  and  five  hundred,  located  in  southern  Arkan- 
sas, with  some  organizations  in  Texas,  and  a  number  of  colored  churches.  They 
"preached  and  practiced  the  same  doctrine  the  Church  of  God  does."  They  came 
to  the  Eldership  "to  advise  with  us  relative  to  terms  of  union."  Three  of  the 
six  "took  license  from  the  Eldership."  They  appointed  a  committee  to  meet  a 
similar  committee  named  by  the  Eldership  at  Hot  Springs,  Ark.,  "to  form  a 
union."  The  Eldership  created  a  Contingent  Fund,  and  required  each  minister 
to  lift  collections  for  it.  It  committed  itself  "to  so  instruct  and  teach  and  preach 
in  every  way  that  we  can,  so  as  to  raise  the  cause  of  temperance  and  sobriety." 
There  were  twelve  fields  of  labor,  while  six  ministers  were  "to  work  up  their  own 
fields  as  they  can." 

36th  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — Counties  in  Arkansas  in  which 
churches  were  reported  at  the  session  of  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership  in  1893 
were  Montgomery,  Garland,  Sebastian,  Crawford,  Yell,  Logan,  Franklin,  Washing- 
ton and  Hempstead.  The  session  was  held  at  Price's  Springs,  Franklin  county, 
beginning  September  3rd.  D.  S.  Summit  was  elected  Chairman;  C.  H.  Ballinger, 
Assistant;  R.  A.  Wallace,  Secretary;  A.  L.  Cunningham,  Assistant.  The  names  of 
three  ministers  were  "dropped."  Five  new  church  organizations  were  "admitted 
into  the  Eldership,"  while  "the  increase  of  membership  in  the  old  organizations 
was  about  one  hundred  and  ten."  The  churches  were  all  urged  to  organize  Sun- 
day-schools. To  secure  a  larger  attendance  of  ministers  at  the  Elderships,  every 
preacher  was  required  "to  report  in  person  to  this  body,  when  not  providentially 
hindered."  Two  sermons  each  year  were  to  be  preached  by  pastors  "on  the  sub- 
ject of  finances,"  and  "two  on  the  subject  of  intemperance."  Each  church  was 
"assessed  the  sum  of  $1.00  for  General  Eldership  Mission  Fund,"  and  "each 
member  to  pay  50  cents  into  the  Home  Mission  Fund."  There  were  "$5.10  in  the 
treasury."      There  were  nine  appointments. 

37th  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — The  efforts  to  secure  a  fuller  attendance 
of  ministers  and  delegates  at  the  annual  session  of  the  Eldership  were  not  suc- 
cessful in  1894.  There  were  present  eleven  ministers,  two  ruling  elders,  five 
deacons  and  seven  delegates.  Only  nine  churches  reported.  The  session  was  held 
at  Sulphur  Spring,  Montgomery  county.  Ark.,  and  opened  on  August  29th,  when 
at  10  a.  m.,  "a  short  discourse  was  delivered  by  W.  N.  Rhodes."  Officers  were 
elected  as  follows:  J.  M.  Howard,  Chairman;  D.  Summit,  Assistant;  R.  A.  Wal- 
lace, Secretary,  and  W.  N.  Rhodes,  Assistant.  At  11  o'clock  each  morning  sitting 
a  sermon  was  ordered  to  be  preached.  At  the  first  sitting,  at  11  o'clock,  J.  M. 
Howard  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon.  Conditions  throughout  the  Eldership 
territory  were  favorable.  "Religion  is  somewhat  gaining,  having  not  lost  but  little 
interest  in  some  parts.  The  interest  of  religion  has  gained  a  great  hold  in  other 
parts  of  the  country.  The  increase  in  our  churches  is  sufficient  to  give  great  en- 
couragement." H.  C.  Tell,  Treasurer,  reported  $5.00  in  the  treasury.  No 
Foreign   Mission   funds,   and   no   Home   Mission   funds.      General   Eldership   funds. 


The   Tuxas   Eldership  603 

$5.75.  The  withholding  of  licenses  of  a  number  of  ministers  marks  every  ses- 
sion; but  the  ranks  were  annually  recruited  by  newly  licensed  men,  six  having 
been  thus  received  in  1894.  While  not  all  the  churches  were  supplied  with 
pastors,  there  were  eight  circuits  to  which  eleven  preachers  were  appointed,  with 
twenty-two  church  organizations.  "All  ministers  not  employed  on  any  work  must 
go  out  and  preach  and  work  up  their  own  fields." 

38th  Texiis  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — The  churches  in  the  Texas  and  Ar- 
kansas Eldership  made  regular  annual  reports,  mainly  by  letters.  They  remitted 
moneys  raised  for  the  various  Funds,  which  were  the  General  Missionary,  Home 
Missionary  and  Contingent.  But  the  amounts  were  small,  as  the  churches  were 
weak  financially.  In  1895  the  Eldership  directed  "each  church  to  pay  $1.00  each 
year  to  the  General  Board,  and  each  member  50  cents  for  Home  Mission  Fund." 
The  Eldership  which  convened  with  the  church  at  Mt.  Nebo,  Logan  county.  Ark., 
August  28,  1895,  was  attended  by  fourteen  ministers,  three  ruling  elders,  six  dele- 
gates and  three  deacons.  It  began  its  first  sitting  at  10  o'clock  a.  m.,  Wednesday, 
was  constituted  and  organized  by  the  election  of  J.  H.  Summit,  Chairman,  and 
J.  M.  Howard,  Assistant;  D.  S.  Summit,  Clerk,  and  J.  VV.  Bums,  Assistant,  and 
then  at  11  o'clock  a.  m.,  listened  to  a  sermon  by  P.  J.  Costlow.  This  was  the 
order  for  each  day,  the  Eldership  adjourning  at  10.4  5.  On  Thursday  at  11  o'clock 
a.  m.,  D.  S.  Summit  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon.  Texas  was  represented  by 
letter  from  E.  Marple,  and  he  was  given  charge  of  the  work  in  that  State.  The 
interest  there  was  "at  a  low  ebb  for  want  of  ministerial  aid."  The  Treasurer, 
J.  W.  Burns,  handled  the  small  amount  of  funds  in  a  way  to  give  good  saiisfac- 
tion.  "No  special  steps  were  taken  in  the  bounds  of  the  Eldership  in  the  tem- 
perance cause."  There  was  good  interest  in  some  parts  of  the  Eldership  in  Sab- 
bath-schools. September  was  the  season  for  protracted  meetings,  and  so  the 
time  for  the  meeting  of  the  Eldership  was  changed  to  the  first  week  in  October. 
The  giving  of  "a  note  and  security  by  any  person  owing  any  amount  of  money  to 
the  Eldership"  was  required.  There  were  thirteen  fields  of  labor,  to  which  four- 
teen preachers  were  appointed.  Those  not  receiving  appointments  were  "advised 
to  select  fields  of  their  own,  and  extend  the  borders  of  the  Church." 

39th  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — The  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership 
rarely  indulged  in  the  discussion  of  outside  issues,  such  as  the  Texas  Eldership  had 
prior  to  its  extension  northward  into  Arkansas  and  the  Indian  Territory.  They 
apparently  thought  that  these  are  controversial  issues  which  might  just  as  well  be 
relegated  to  the  debatable  ground,  and  left  there.  They  would  give  themselves  to 
the  primary  questions  touching  their  own  direct  interests,  and  let  go  of  the  var- 
ious other  issues  which  make  no  difference  to  them,  and  not  think  that  they  have 
to  settle  everything.  Hence,  even  temperance  as  a  political  issue  received  limited 
attention.  In  1896  it  was  simply  declared  that  "we  find  special  steps  taken  in  the 
boundaries  of  the  Eldership  in  the  temperance  cause."  On  Education  reference 
is  only  made  to  "some  interest  in  Sabbath-schools  in  some  parts  of  the  Elder- 
ship. .  .  .the  interest  in  general  is  at  a  very  low  ebb."  The  session  was  held  at 
Big  Cedar  Creek,  Scott  county.  Ark.,  beginning  September  30,  1896.  Fourteen 
ministers  were  in  attendance,  four  ruling  elders,  five  delegates  and  five  deacons. 
The  Chairman  was  J.  M.  Howard,  and  the  Assistant,  J.  H.  Summit;  Clerk,  J.  W. 
Burns,  and  the  Assistant,  Owen  Jones.  Burns  was  also  elected  Treasurer. 
Preaching  at  11  o'clock  each  day,  and  at  night.  While  the  session  opened  Wed- 
nesday morning,  the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  in  the  evening  of  siid  day, 
by  J.  M.  Howard.  Four  new  churches  were  received  into  the  Eldership.  The 
colored  brethren  in  Sebastian  county.  Ark.,  requested  that  "a  committee  be  sent 
there  to  organize  them  into  an  Eldership,"  which  the  Eldership  did,  naming 
J.  M.  Howard  and  J.  J.  Stewart  as  the  committee.  The  Treasurer's  receipts, 
"altogether,"  were  $5.40.  The  "ranks  of  the  Eldership  were  invaded  by  the 
great  enemy,  who  has  taken  from  our  midst  our  beloved  Brother  Hicks."  There 
were  eleven  fields  of  labor  in  Arkansas.  E.  Marple  was  put  in  charge  of  the 
work  in  Texas. 

40th  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — The  small  attendance  at  the  Eldership 
in  1897  was  discouraging,  and  prompted  the  passage  of  a  resolution  in  which  the 
presence  of  the  ministers  at  the  annual  sessions  was  strongly  urged,  adding,  "We 
beg  you  to  come  to  the  Eldership  each  year."  There  were  but  seven  ministers 
present,  four  ruling  elders,  four  delegates  and  three  deacons.  The  session  was 
held  at  Oak  Grove,  Franklin  county.  Ark.,  and  began  September  8,  1897.  J.  M. 
Howard  was  elected  Chairman,  and  D.  S.  Summit,  Assistant;   J.  H.  Whittington, 


6o4    •  History    op    thu    Churches    of    God 

Clerk,  and  J.  D,  Bradbui-n,  Assistant,  and  J.  T.  Shelby,  Treasurer.  Each  minister 
was  assessed  $1.50  for  the  Contingent  Fund,  and  each  church  $1.50  for  the  same 
Fund.  The  presence  of  R.  L.  Byrnes,  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  President 
of  the  General  Eldership  was  highly  appreciated.  Under  a  charge  of  "heresy"  the 
license  of  one  minister  "was  revoked."  There  was  but  little  interest  taken  in 
Sunday-schools,  and  the  churches  "were  recommended  to  be  more  active  in  Sun- 
day-school work  all  over  the  bounds  of  the  Eldership."  Thirteen  churches  re- 
ported to  the  Eldership.  On  the  nine  fields  of  labor  there  were  over  twenty 
preaching  places,  with  some  churches  unsupplied.  They  were  to  be  served  by 
fourteen  ministers.  Unassigned  ministers  were  instructed  "to  look  out  their  own 
fields  of  labor,  for  behold  the  harvest  is  great  and  the  laborers  are  few."  The 
churches  were  located  in  the  following  ten  counties:  Montgomery,  Scott,  Gar- 
land, Yell,  Sebastian,  Franklin,  Crawford,  Logan,  Perry  and  Washington. 

41st  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — The  action  of  the  Eldership  in  1897, 
deprecating  the  small  attendance,  and  expostulating  with  the  members  to  be  more 
faithful,  did  not  have  the  desired  effect.  For  while  in  1898  there  were  two  more 
ministers  in  attendance,  no  ruling  elders  nor  delegates  were  present.  The  body 
convened  with  the  church  at  Rose  Creek,  Perry  county.  Ark.,  September  15,  1898, 
with  nine  ministers  and  two  deacons  present.  The  Rose  Creek  church  was  located 
"quite  a  distance  from  any  other  church  of  God  organization,"  and  "the  enemy- 
had  been  there,  sowing  seeds  of  discord."  "The  'Holiness'  people  had  been 
preaching  there,  claiming  to  be  the  Church  of  God,  and  some  of  the  brethren  had 
gone  after  them,  and  were  praying  for  God  to  heal  all  their  afflictions."  The  of- 
ficers elected  were  J.  H.  Summit,  Chairman,  and  P.  J.  Costlow,  Assistant;  J.  W, 
Bums,  Clerk,  and  W.  R.  Penninj^ton,  Assistant,  and  J.  H.  AVhittington,  Treasurer. 
A  "reorganized  church  in  Hempstead  county"  was  received  into  the  Eldership. 
Great  disappointment  was  expressed  because  of  the  small  attendance,  and  the 
Eldership  made  an  appeal  especially  to  the  younger  ministers:  "Knowing  that 
the  time  is  soon  coming  that  we  older  preachers  will  pass  away  and  quit  coming- 
to  the  Eldership,  and  if  the  younger  preachers  are  not  more  punctual  In  their 
attendance  and  become  better  acquainted  with  the  business  pertaining  to  the  Elder- 
ship, and  have  her  interests  more  at  heart,  that  when  we  are  gone  the  Eldership 
will  cease  to  meet."  Twenty-two  ministers  were  on  the  Eldership  Roll.  The 
state  of  religion  was  "at  a  very  low  ebb  throughout"  the  Eldership.  Prayer  was 
offered,  that  God  would  "show  us  the  hindering  cause,  and  help  us  to  remove  the 
same  out  of  our  land."  As  faith  and  works  must  co-operate,  the  Eldershlo  was 
solicited  to  "take  such  steps  as  to  change  the  state  of  affairs,  and  the  churches  to 
co-operate  and  combine  their  efforts  to  effect  a  change."  The  territory  was  di- 
vided into  thirteen  fields  of  labor,  to  which  eighteen  ministers  were  assigned, 
while  churches  not  supplied  were  "to  apply  to  the  Standing  Committee  for  pas- 
tors." 

42nd  Tevas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — The  threatened  dissolution  of  the 
Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership  seemed  Impending  in  1899.  "The  ministerial 
delegation  was  unusually  small,  and  so  the  business  was  transacted  mainly 
through  correspondence."  Thus  the  Eldership  made  only  appointments  to  six 
fields  of  labor.  On  November  11th,  the  Standing  Committee  assigned  ministers  to 
five  other  circuits,  and  also  appointed  J.  S.  Evans  Evangelist  for  South-western 
Arkansas.  It  granted  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  permission  to  work  within  the  bounds  of 
the  Eldership.  The  session  of  the  Eldership  was  held  with  the  church  at  Price 
Spring,  Franklin  county.  Ark.,  beginning  September  13,  1899.  Small  as  the  at- 
tendance was,  "good  feeling  and  marked  interest  prevailed  through  ench  sitting. 
The  preaching  was  extra  good,  with  a  marked  degree  of  spirituality."  But  "the 
Information  obtained  from  reports  of  preachers  was  not  very  encouraging.  The 
cause  of  Christ  seems  to  be  lingering,  with  large  fields  for  extensive  missionary 
work  in  this  State."  J.  AV.  Burns  preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  J.  M.  How.nrd 
was  elected  President;  J.  A.  Whittinston,  Clerk,  and  also  Treasurer.  E.  ^farple 
was  the  choice  of  the  Eldership  for  appointment  by  the  Geneni  EldersMn  Board 
of  Missions  as  missionary  to  the  State  of  Arkansas.  The  condition  In  this  Elder- 
ship was  one  of  the  occasions  to  give  rise  to  the  question  as  to  whether  the  Polity 
of  the  Church  of  God  could  not  be  changed  so  that  better  results  would  follow; 
whether  a  different  form  of  government  might  not  prevent  such  serious  losses 
of  promising  territory. 

43rd  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — It  was  the  adverse  fortune  of  the  Texas 
Eldership,  even  as  late  as  1900,  to  be  charged  with  having  "withdrawn  from  the 


The   Texas   Eldership  605 

general  body."  B.  Ober,  one  of  the  originators  of  the  Eldership,  denied  this  in 
June,  19  00,  stating  the  facts  touching  its  organization  before  the  war,  and  the 
opening  of  hostilities  in  1861  "before  the  Texas  Eldership  was  recognized  by  the 
General  Eldership."  And  while  "several  attempts  were  made  by  some  of  the 
Texas  brethren  to  declare  our  independence,  and  withdraw  from  the  general 
body,  it  was  voted  down  almost  unanimously."  After  the  war,  when  the  General 
Eldership  recognized  the  Texas  Eldership,  later  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Elder- 
ship, it  was  always  loyal,  and  conformed  to  the  established  system  of  co-operation. 
The  session  of  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership  was  hindered  from  meeting  on 
August  29,  1900,  by  reason  of  "high  waters;"  but  met  August  30th,  at  Onyx,  Yell 
county.  Ark.,  with  ten  ministers  present,  one,  J.  D.  Henson,  from  Tyson,  Texas. 
Twenty  churches  were  represented  by  delegates  or  letters,  and  four  additional  min- 
isters reported.  The  body  was  organized  by  electing  D.  S.  Summit,  President; 
J.  H.  Whittington,  Clerk.  Two  applicants  for  license  from  Texas  were  granted 
Certificates  of  Ordination,  and  two  from  Arkansas.  Two  Standing  Committees 
were  elected,  one  for  Texas  and  one  for  Arkansas.  In  Arkansas  there  were  nine 
fields  of  labor,  located  in  Crawford,  Washington,  Scott,  Montgomery,  Yell,  Gar- 
land, Sebastian,  Logan,  Hempstead  and  Franklin  counties.  The  Eldership  mani- 
fested an  abiding  disposition  to  revive  and  extend  the  work  in  Texas.  It  appointed 
J.  D.  Henson  to  Hill  county,  Texas,  and  requested  E.  Marple  to  "co-operate  with 
the  brethren  in  Texas,  and  to  do  all  he  can  to  build  up  the  work  there."  Henson 
was  also  to  do  "mission  work  in  the  State  of  Texas."  The  time  for  the  meeting 
of  the  Eldership  was  changed  from  the  latter  part  of  August,  or  the  beginning  of 
September,  to  "Wednesday  before  the  fourth  Sunday  in  July,  to  remain  so  for  ten 
years,  unless  changed  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  Eldership." 

44th  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — The  fields  of  labor  in  the  Arkansas  part 
of  the  Eldership  were  generally  large,  churches  weak  and  support  inadequate.  J. 
H.  AVhittington's  circuit  included  two  churches  in  Franklin  county,  one  in  Sebas- 
tian county  and  one  in  Logan  county.  The  Standing  Committee  of  the  Arkansas 
part  of  the  Eldership  arranged  for  a  Ministerial  Association  to  meet  one  day  before 
the  session  of  the  Eldership.  This  interfered  with  the  organization  of  the  Elder- 
ship, which  was  deferred  one  day,  to  July  25,  1901,  when  the  Opening  Sermon  was 
preached  at  1  p.  m.,  by  D.  S.  Summit.  Officers  elected  were  J.  H.  Whittin^on, 
President;  Owen  Jones,  Clerk.  Withholding  of  licenses,  or  "dropping  from  the 
Roll"  of  ministers,  was  a  common  occurrence.  At  this  session  one  license  was 
withheld,  and  the  licenses  of  three  others  "were  revoked,"  one  that  of  a  woman. 
The  Eldership  required  "each  pastor  to  collect  the  $2.00  assessment  on  each 
church,"  and  the  pastors  were  "held  responsible  for  the  same,  unless  they  give  a 
reasonable  excuse."  Two  new  churches  were  received  into  the  Eldership.  The 
second-work  doctrine  had  secured  some  adherents  in  the  churches,  and  in  the  min- 
istry, and  was  occasioning  some  trouble.  The  doctrine  was  defined  as  "a  second 
and  instantaneous  work  of  grace  wrought  in  the  heart  by  the  Holy  Spirit,"  and 
the  Eldership  decided  that  it  "is  not  the  doctrine  taught  by  the  churches  of  God," 
and  therefore  "from  henceforth  this  Eldership  will  not  grant  a  license  to  any  one 
who  advocates  such  a  doctrine."  There  .were  nine  appointments  made,  all  to 
fields  in  Arkansas. 

45th  Texas  and  Arlcansas  Eldership. — The  Texas  part  of  the  Eldership  was 
making  no  progress,  and  neither  in  1901  nor  1902  was  there  any  report  received. 
In  Arkansas  there  was  a  willingness  to  further  to  the  extent  of  their  ability  every 
general  enterprise,  as  well  as  to  work  with  a  self-sacrificing  spirit  for  the  promo- 
tion of  their  own  interest.  Hence,  a  visit  from  O.  A.  Newlin  in  1902,  in  behalf  of 
the  Ft.  Scott  Institute,  was  much  appreciated.  The  Eldership  convened  at  Enter- 
prise, Sebastian  county,  Ark.,  July  23,  1902.  Ten  ministers  were  present,  by 
whom  "the  business  of  the  Eldership  was  carefully  transacted."  They  declared 
the  "need  of  a  better  educated  ministry,  and  the  great  benefit  of  educating  our 
children  in  institutions  of  learning  conducted  by  the  churches  of  God."  The  fields 
of  labor  had  increased  to  eleven,  served  by  fourteen  ministers.  J.  M.  Howard  at 
Mena  and  surrounding  community  was  also  the  appointee  of  the  Board  of  Missions 
of  the  General  Eldership.  Some  of  the  churches,  however,  were  unsupplied,  and 
were  placed  in  the  care  of  the  Standing  Committee. 

46th  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — The  forty-sixth  session  of  the  Texas  and 
Arkansas  Eldership  was  blessed  with  "the  presence  of  our  aged  and  highly  es- 
teemed brother,  E.  Marple.  who  was  an  inspiration  to  the  Eldership."  In  addition 
to  Marple  there  were  eight  ministers  present  during  the  session,  which  was  held 


6o6  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

with  the  church  at  Lone  Valley,  Montgomery  county,  Ark.,  beginning  July  22, 
1903.  The  body  organized  by  electing  D.  S.  Summit,  President;  J.  H.  Wliitting- 
ton,  Secretary.  The  state  of  religion  and  the  condition  of  the  churches  "were  at 
least  hopeful."  "Crime  is  on  the  increase,  and  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  does 
not  produce  as  good  results  in  the  conversion  of  souls  as  it  did  in  former  years." 
It  was  considered  that  "there  is  a  great  opportunity  for  the  building  up  of  the 
Church  within  the  bounds  of  the  Eldership."  The  Eldership  rejoiced  over  the  fact 
that  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  had  appointed  J.  H.  Whjt- 
tington  as  missionary  in  Arkansas.  It  asked  also  that  D.  S.  Summit  be  appointed 
by  the  Board  as  "a  general  worker  in  the  bounds  of  our  Eldership."  The  names 
of  all  ministers  who  "fail  to  make  their  whereabouts  known"  were  to  be  "dropped 
from  the  Eldership  Roll."  The  number  of  fields  of  labor  was  reduced  to  eight; 
but  they  were  enlarged,  so  that  on  all  but  one  there  was  one  assistant  to  the  pastor, 
and  on  two  there  were  three  assistants.  Texas  was  to  be  looked  after  by  the 
Standing  Committee.  On  August  21,  1903,  occurred  the  death  of  G.  T.  Bell,  one 
of  the  most  active  and  successful  missionaries  of  the  Eldership.  He  was  converted 
when  a  youth  and  united  with  the  church  at  Union  Bethel,  Lamar  county,  Texas, 
and  was  licensed  by  the  Texas  Eldership  in  1869.  Having  emigrated  to  Arkansas 
in  1866,  he  began  his  misisonary  labors  in  that  State  about  1874,  "under  a  fiery 
current  of  persecution."  But  "he  preached  the  pure,  uncompromising  doctrines 
of  the  Church  of  God."  "He  was  an  able  gospel  preacher."  "In  his  death  a  great 
and  good  man  has  gone  up  into  a  higher,  brighter  life." 

47th  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — The  Eldership  in  19  04  was  very  small, 
there  heing  but  five  ministers  present  from  Arkansas  and  two  from  Texas.  Ten 
others  reported  by  letter  or  proxy,  and  five  were  not  heard  from.  "Much  sickness" 
was  the  cause.  The  session  was  held  with  the  church  at  Price's  Springs,  Franklin, 
county.  Ark.,  and  the  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  July  20,  1904,  by  E.  Marple, 
of  Texas.  J.  D.  Henson,  of  Texas,  was  also  present,  and  was  chosen  to  preach  the 
Opening  Sermon  in  19  05.  The  names  of  seven  ministers  "were  dropped  from  the 
Ministerial  Roll."  E.  ftlarple  was  chosen  President;  J.  H.  Whittington,  Secretary 
and  Treasurer.  Conditions  throughout  the  Eldership  were  "better  than  a  year 
ago,  and  the  outlook  for  the  future  was  encouraging."  Two  ministerial  and  two 
lay  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  in  190.5  were  elected;  but  all  were  min- 
isters, the  names  of  no  laymen  appearing  on  the  records  for  years.  The  fields  of 
labor  were  rearranged,  and  numbered  twelve,  one  of  them  in  Texas,  to  which  J.  D. 
Henson  was  assigned.  D.  S.  Summit  was  appointed  missionary,  as  he  was  in  the 
employ  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership,  and  E.  Mai-ple,  General 
Worker.  While  the  Eldership  reported  no  Funds  and  no  money,  it  raised  "money 
to  pay  dues  to  the  General  Eldership  for  the  present  year,"  and  "made  arrange- 
ments to  pay  the  back  dues  during  the  year." 

48th  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldei*ship. — Increasing  interest  throughout  the 
bounds  of  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership  territory  characterized  the  year 
1904-5.  The  ministers  were  "awake  to  the  fact  that  our  distinctive  doctrines 
should  be  kept  to  the  front."  The  eight  sittings  of  the  Eldership  in  session  at  Mt. 
Zion,  Garland  county.  Ark.,  beginning  August  30,  1905,  "were  precious  seasons  of 
grace,"  as  well  as  of  careful  business  transactions.  Fourteen  ministers  were 
present,  but  no  record,  of  laymen.  J.  D.  Henson  was  elected  President;  E.  Marple, 
Journalizing  Clerk;  J.  H.  Whittington,  Transcribing  Clerk;  D.  S.  Summit,  Treas- 
urer. While  three  new  names  were  added  to  the  Ministerial  Roll,  and  one  min- 
ister was  reinstated;  two  "were  dropped  from  the  Roll."  Frequent  troubles  were 
experienced,  so  that  it  was  no  surprise  to  the  Eldership  to  be  called  on  to  investi- 
gate charges  against  one  of  the  ministers,  whose  "license  was  withheld  until  recon- 
ciliation is  perfected  between  the  two  parties."  These  estrangements  between 
ministers  were  viewed  with  apprehensions.  And  they  were  not  always  caused  by 
the  wrong  doing  of  those  against  whom  the  charges  were  preferred;  but  grew  out 
of  the  law  laid  down  by  Tacitus:  "It  is  the  nature  of  the  human  disposition  to 
hate  him  whom  you  have  injured."  Though  the  churches  were  mostly  weak  and 
poor,  and  the  pastors  received  limited  support,  much  interest  was  manifested  in 
the  publications  of  the  General  Eldership,  in  missions  and  educational  institutions. 
There  were  eleven  fields  of  labor,  in  ten  counties  in  Arkansas.  One  field  was  un- 
supplied;  but  seven  of  the  pastors  had  an  "assistant,"  and  J.  t).  Henson  was  the 
General  Evangelist. 

49th  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — As  the  work  in  Texas  was  not  profitable 
to  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership,  the  Executive  Board  of  the  General  Elder- 


The   Texas    Eldership  607 

ship  was  petitioned  to  permit  it  to  be  "dropped,"  and  the  body  be  called  "The 
Arkansas  Eldership."  Said  Board  having  no  authority  to  change  boundaries  or 
titles,  the  matter  was  left  to  rest.  The  body  convened  as  "The  Texas  and  Arkansas- 
Eldership,"  August  29,  1906,  at  Mt.  Nebo,  Logan  county.  It  was  organized  by 
electing  D.  Summit,  President;  J.  H.  Summit,  Clerk;  J.  S.  Summit,  Treasurer.  In 
addition  to  the  twelve  teaching  elders  present,  there  were  also  two  ruling  elders^ 
four  deacons  and  one  delegate,  all  having  the  full  rights  of  members.  In  the  even- 
ing, after  the  first  day's  sittings,  the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  by  James 
Roland.  Arrangements  were  made  to  hold  a  Ministerial  Association  at  Cedar 
Creek,  Scott  county,  in  December.  The  finances  of  the  Eldership  were  limited, 
as  there  were  only  $14.95  in  the  treasury,  and  the  Eldership  was  indebted  to  the 
Contingent  Fund  of  the  General  Eldership  to  the  amount  of  310.00.  The  "patron- 
izing of  our  Publishing  House  and  of  Findlay  College"  was  advised.  Eighteen 
churches  reported  to  the  Eldership  and  nineteen  ministers,  to  which  number  three 
were  added  by  the  Committee  on  License.  The  territory  was  divided  into  ten 
fields  of  labor,  and  the  pastors  appointed  thereto  were  given  the  right  "to  choose 
their  assistants."  The  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  appointed  two 
missionaries,  J.  H.  AVhittington  in  the  northern  and  D.  S.  Summit  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  State,  which  "the  Eldership  endorsed." 

50th  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — Ability  and  interest  are  not  always  com- 
mensurate. The  ministers  and  churches  of  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership  had 
limited  ability  to  help  the  educational  institutions  of  the  Church,  or  to  patronize 
them;  but  when  "V.  V.  Diltz  was  elected  Evangelist,"  he  "was  also  authorized  to- 
represent  the  interests  of  Port  Scott  Collegiate  Institute,  Kansas.  He  was  the 
Clerk  of  the  fiftieth  session  of  the  Eldership,  which  was  held  at  Hurricane  Grove, 
Montgomery  county,  Ark.,  beginning  September  28,  1907.  J.  H.  Summit  was  the- 
President;  D.  S.  Summit,  Treasurer.  Much  of  the  time  was  given  to  the  considera- 
tion of  mission  work.  The  main  difficulty  encountered  was  the  lack  of  means. 
There  was  a  surplus  of  ministers,  as  in  addition  to  the  nineteen  who  were  assigned 
to  the  fourteen  fields  of  labor,  there  were  a  number  unemployed,  and  three  more- 
received  licenses  at  this  session.  And  yet  there  were  churches  without  pastors, 
and  "the  prospects  seem  good  for  the  advancement  of  the  Church  of  God  in  this 
country,"  and  prayer  was  asked  "that  the  Lord  may  send  more  laborers  into  this 
part  of  his  vineyard." 

51st  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — When  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership- 
convened  at  Price's  Springs,  Franklin  county.  Ark.,  September  27,  1908,  the  mem- 
bers could  review  a  year  during  which  "the  work  was  going  steadily  onward," 
although  "the  ingathering  of  souls  had  been  unusually  small."  The  contrast  be- 
tween the  condition  of  the  Eldership  as  a  body  and  as  representing  the  church 
work,  or  "state  of  religion"  and  of  the  churches,  often  awakened  deep  solicitude. 
There  were  ten  ministers  present  at  this  session.  After  the  reorganization,  D.  S. 
Summit  preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  He  had  been  elected  President;  J.  H. 
Whittington,  Clerk.  Three  brethren  secured  licenses  to  preach  the  gospel.  Grati- 
fication was  expressed  that  "the  young  ministers  have  made  considerable  progress." 
But  they  were  counseled  "to  take  a  more  systematic  course  of  study."  To  facili- 
tate this  "books  for  a  Course  of  Study"  were  adopted.  These  were  Winebrenner 
on  Regeneration;  Jewett  on  Baptism;  Forney's  Philosophic  Basis  of  Ordinances- 
and  Bible  Doctrine  of  Sanctification;  Reitzel's  Robert  Woodknow.  The  Eldership- 
had  some  trouble  with  errorists,  and  a  prolonged  discussion  grew  out  of  the  action 
of  the  Standing  Committee  "revoking  the  license  of  J.  L.  Shelby  for  teaching  the- 
so-called  'Holiness'  doctrine."  But  the  action  of  the  Committee  was  sustained. 
Notwithstanding  this  discussion,  and  divergence  of  views  on  some  other  subjects, 
the  harmony  and  unity  of  feeling  were  not  endangered,  for  "peace  and  good  fel- 
lowship prevailed  to  the  close  of  the  session." 

52nd  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — In  1909  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Elder- 
ship commemorated  its  fiftieth  anniversary,  or  held  its  "fiftieth  session,"  and 
adopted  resolutions,  acknowledging  the  "infinite  wisdom  and  abundant  mercy  by 
which  God  saw  fit  to  perpetuate  our  life  as  an  organized  body."  It  calculated  that 
said  session  was  "the  last  meeting  of  our  half  century  life."  But  the  Texas  Elder- 
ship, of  which  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership  is  the  continuation,  was  organ- 
ized in  1857,  so  that  the  session  of  1909  closed  the  fifty-second  year  of  its  exist- 
ence. By  resolution  the  Eldership  renewed  its  vows  of  "loyalty  to  God  and  his- 
cause,  cultivating  the  spirit  of  union  and  subordination,  that  he  may  continue  to 
bless  and  prosper  our  Eldership  for  all  time  to  come."     The  meeting  was  held  at 


6o8  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

Lone  Valley,  Montgomery  county,  Ark.,  beginning  September  1,  19  09.  The  Open- 
ing Sermon  was  preached  by  J.  H.  Jordan.  Sixteen  ministers  and  ten  ruling  elders 
were  In  attendance.  They  elected  D.  S.  Summit,  "Chairman;"  J.  E.  McElroy, 
Clerk.  A  more  stringent  action  was  taken  touching  reports  of  ministers,  making 
It  obligatory  on  each  minister  to  report  every  year,  or  forfeit  his  license.  If  such 
action  is  to  be  regarded  as  measuring  the  value  of  a  license,  it  was  thought  that  it 
made  licenses  quite  too  cheap.  As  it  was  "deemed  reasonable  that  the  ministers 
should  be  about  their  Father's  business,"  so  the  Eldership  "resolved  that  all  the 
preachers  must  preach  at  least  twelve  sermons  each  year,  unless  providentially 
hindered,  or  their  licenses  will  be  discontinued."  Five  applicants  for  license  ap- 
peared, and  their  requests  were  granted.  The  twelve  charges  were  all  supplied 
with  pastors,  several  having  assistant  pastors. 

53rd  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — In  1909  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Elder- 
ship adjourned  to  meet  at  Elnora,  Montgomery  county.  Ark.;  but  the  place  was 
changed  by  the  Standing  Committee  to  Hurricane  Grove,  Montgomery  county, 
where  it  convened  on  August  31,  1910,  at  10  o'clock  a.  m.  Only  a  few  being 
present  the  organization  was  deferred  until  2  p.  m.,  and  a  sermon  was  preached 
at  11  o'clock  by  T.  N.  Gillham.  J.  H.  Jordan  was  elected  President;  J.  H.  Summit, 
Vice  President;  J.  E.  McElroy,  Secretary.  Fifteen  teaching  elders  reported  in  per- 
son, ten  by  proxy  and  two  by  letter.  Eighteen  churches  reported,  and  others  were 
instructed  to  report  to  the  Standing  Committee.  There  was  an  evident  desire  to 
enlarge  the  work,  and  the  "great  need  in  Southern  Arkansas  and  Texas  for  mis- 
sion work  in  order  to  spread  the  borders  of  Zion,  establish  new  churches  and  re- 
vive old  and  unsupplied  churches"  was  strongly  set  forth.  It  was  accordingly  ar- 
ranged "to  put  a  missionary  in  the  field  for  that  purpose."  To  provide  for  his 
support,  each  church  was  required  "to  pay  $1.00  for  each  male  member."  The 
Eldership  was  also  asked  for  a  certain  amount  by  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the 
General  Eldership.  It  was  realized  that  when  God  calls  us  to  duty,  the  only  right 
answer  is  obedience. 

54th  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership. — Though  but  few  more  than  one-half  of 
the  ministers  were  present  at  the  fifty-fourth  annual  session  of  the  Texas  and  Ar- 
kansas Eldership,  "a  good  number  of  ruling  elders,  deacons  and  delegates  from 
all  over  the  work  was  in  attendance."  The  presence  of  E.  Mari)le,  one  of  the 
original  members  of  the  Texas  Eldership,  was  a  blessing,  and  was  highly  appreci- 
ated. The  meeting  was  held  at  Mt.  Nebo,  Logan  county,  Ark.,  and  began  August 
30,  1911,  at  which  time,  Wednesday  evening,  the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached 
by  S.  S.  Lee,  and  the  Eldership  was  organized.  The  officers  elected  were  J.  H. 
Summit,  President;  J.  H.  Whittington,  Clerk.  "The  business  was  transacted  de- 
liberately, harmoniously  and  evidently  with  an  eye  single  to  the  glory  of  God  and 
to  the  upbuilding  of  his  church,"  was  the  testimony  of  the  Clerk.  Yet  one  resolu- 
tion, introduced  by  E.  Marple,  "caused  quite  a  sensation,  and  had  some  very 
strong  opposition."  There  had  been  some  differences  of  views  and  of  practice  on 
the  observance  of  the  ordinances  of  Feet-washing  and  the  Lord's  Supper  which  the 
resolution  was  intended  to  harmonize.  The  resolution  required  "that  the  churches 
■of  God  celebrate  both  these  ordinances  at  the  same  stated  time."  After  being 
amended  so  as  to  make  it  advisory,  it  was  adopted  by  "twenty-four  yeas,  and  eight 
nays."  The  Eldership  also  took  action  on  other  religious  subjects;  but  on  various 
questions  of  a  general  or  civic  character  it  remained  silent.  All  but  one  of  the 
twelve  fields  of  labor  were  supplied  with  pastors,  but  no  assistant  pastors  were 
named.     Twenty-three  churches  were  named  on  the  twelve  appointments. 

55th  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldei-ship. — In  1912  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Elder- 
chip  held  its  annual  session  with  the  church  at  Hurricane  Grove,  Montgomery 
■county.  Ark.,  beginning  at  10  o'clock  a.  m.,  August  28th.  J.  H.  Whittington  was 
the  appointee  to  deliver  the  Opening  Sermon,  and  D.  S.  Summit  the  alternate. 
The  officers  elected  were  J.  H.  Summit,  President;  S.  S.  Lee,  Vice  President;  J.  E. 
McElroy,  Secretary.  The  President  appointed  the  Standing  Committee,  consisting 
of  R.  J.  Scott,  T.  L.  Tabor,  James  F.  Summit.  The  Stationing  Committee  was  com- 
posed of  J.  S.  Story,  C.  B.  Cai-ter,  J.  A.  C.  Spenter,  Arthur  Defoor,  S.  S.  Lee.  This 
•Committee  divided  the  territory  into  eleven  fields,  with  twenty-five  churches,  only 
one  of  the  fields  having  two  ministers  assigned  to  it.  J.  H.  Summit  was  "en- 
dorsed as  General  Missionary  in  North  Arkansas"  to  "the  General  Mission  Board;" 
but  the  Eldership  requested  that  he  be  made  missionary  for  "the  State  of  Ar- 
kansas." The  Eldership  kept  its  high  ideals  alive,  realizing  that  under  many  dis- 
couragements it  is  a  difficult  problem  to  prevent  an  insidious  lowering  of  standards. 
And  the  lowering  of  ideals  along  any  line  means  a  lowered  life. 


The    Southern    Illinois    and    Indiana    Eldership  609 

XI.     THE  SOUTHERN  ILLINOIS  AND   INDIANA  ELDERSHIP. 


With  Terre  Haute,  Vigo  county,  Ind.,  as  a  center,  colonies  of  families  of  the 
Church  of  God  located  in  four  or  five  counties  in  Illinois  and  Indiana,  beginning  as 
early  as  1847.  It  was  in  the  Spring  of  this  year  that  the  Rupps,  Fasigs,  Snavelys 
and  Taggaits  emigrated  from  Richland  county,  Ohio,  to  the  State  of  Missouri.  Not 
being  satisfied  with  their  new  homes,  they  returned  the  same  Fall,  and  located  at 
and  near  Martinsville,  Clark  county.  111.  H.  Rupp  was  a  licensed  minister  of  the 
Ohio  Eldership,  and  preached  in  German.  They  soon  began  holding  prayer-meet- 
ings and  to  carry  on  church  work.  In  1849  John  BlickenstafF,  of  the  Indiana  Elder- 
ship, visited  these  families  and  was  employed  by  them  as  their  preacher;  but  as  he 
became  involved  in  certain  scandals,  he  was  dismissed.  In  1850  Winebrenner  and 
Harn  paid  them  a  visit,  and  were  impressed  with  the  locality  as  a  favorable  one  for 
mission  work.  Sending  of  missionaries  to  Illinois  was  that  Fall  determined  upon 
by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  In  the  Spring  of  1851,  George  Sandoe,  a 
young  man  of  Lancaster  county,  Pa.,  "full  of  zeal  and  with  a  robust  constitution," 
was  started  West  to  occupy  this  new  field.  In  1854,  and  prior,  T.  Hickernell, 
Adams  and  Svveitzer  visited  that  section;  also  in  1854  I.  E.  Beyer  was  preacher  in 
charge.  During  this  year  families  from  Wayne  county,  Ohio,  settled  in  Greene 
county,  Ind.  Among  these  were  the  Millers,  the  Neidigs  and  the  Axes.  Later 
Sandoe  returned  as  preacher  in  this  section.  The  work  prospered,  and  there  were 
churches,  or  preaching  points,  in  Vigo,  Clay,  Greene,  Sullivan,  Parke  and  Putnam 
counties  in  Indiana,  and  in  Clark,  Cumberland,  Crawford  and  Coles  counties,  IlL 
The  territory  was  remote  from  the  other  fields  occupied  in  either  State  by  the  min- 
isters of  the  two  Elderships;  the  inconvenience  of  travel  was  great;  they  had 
limited  means,  and  so,  irregular  as  it  was,  and  against  the  judgment  of  the  Illinois 
Eldership,  it  was  finally  determined  to  organize  a  new  Eldership.  The  Illinois 
Eldership,  October  19,  1857,  "disapproved  the  course  of  the  southern  brethren, 
in  the  organization  of  another  Eldership,  believing  it  to  be  detrimental  to  the 
cause  in  the  bounds  of  this  Eldership."  But  the  new  Eldership  had  been  organ- 
ized October  12th,  at  Prairieton,  Vigo  county,  Ind.,  in  the  Methodist  meeting- 
house. Two  circuits  were  represented — Greene  county,  Ind.,  S.  N.  Miller  and  D. 
Neidig,  teaching  elders,  and  Martinsville  circuit.  111.,  George  Sandoe,  H.  Rupp  and 
H.  Schweitzer,  teaching  elders,  and  John  Snavely  and  Edwin  Longenecker,  ruling 
elders.  They  "gave  each  other  the  right  hand  of  fellowship,  pledging  ourselves  to 
stand  by  the  word  of  God,  and  one  another  as  ambassadors  of  the  same."  S.  N. 
Miller  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  David  Neidig,  Clerk.  James  Werner,  of  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership,  was  present.  The  Eldership  adopted  as  its  name,  style 
and  title,  "The  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership  of  the  Churches  of  God." 
Resolutions  were  adopted  to  do  all  in  their  power  "to  counteract  the  great  and 
growing  evil  of  intemperance,"  and  to  "give  our  undivided  influence  against 
Slavery  as  it  exists  in  the  Southern  States  of  this  Republic."  S.  N.  Miller  was 
placed  in  charge  of  Greene  county  circuit,  Ind.,  and  Sandoe,  of  the  Martinsville 
circuit.  111.,  while  H.  Rupp  and  H.  Schweitzer  were  "to  preach  for  the  German 
brethren  and  sisters  in  Greene  county,  Ind."  A  Methodist  minister  present  "de- 
livered a  short  address  to  the  Eldership"  at  the  close  of  the  session. 

Samuel  N.  Miller  entered  the  ministry  when  he  was  twenty-six  years  of  age, 
receiving  his  first  license  from  the  Ohio  Eldership  at  its  second  annual  session,  in 
1837.  He  at  once  "offered  himself  to  travel  the  ensuing  year,"  and  was  appointed 
to  the  Richland  county  circuit.  He  was  pastor  successively  of  Stark  county  circuit, 
Wooster  circuit,  and  Mohegan  circuit,  serving  several  of  these  fields  a  second  term. 
His  last  circuit  was  the  Wooster,  in  1846.  He  had  removed  to  Indiana  prior  to  the 
organization  of  the  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership,  and  joined  the  In- 
diana Eldership  on  Transfer  given  him  in  1856  by  the  Ohio  Standing  Committee, 
and  was  appointed  to  Greene  county  circuit,  Ind.  When  the  Southern  Illinois  and 
Indiana  Eldership  was  organized  in  1857  he  became  a  member,  and  was  elected 
to  the  office  of  Speaker,  and  re-elected  three  successive  annual  meetings.  In  1865 
and  again  in  1868  he  was  elected  a  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership.  In  1869 
he  was  elected  Treasurer  of  his  Eldership.  He  was  in  the  active  work  until  1871, 
when  he  was  circuit  preacher  in  Daviess  county,  Ind.  He  died  in  Highland  town- 
ship, Greene  county,  Ind.,  May  22,  1873,  aged  63  years,  3  months  and  14  days. 
"He  was  a  man  of  great  faith  and  undoubted  piety;"  "faithfully  advocating  the 

C.  H.— 21 


6io  History    of    the    Churches    oe    God 

doctrine  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles."      "His  labors  were  blessed  to  the  enlighten- 
ment of  many  and  the  establishment  of  churches  of  God." 

2nd  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership, — Encouraged  by  the  presence  of 
J.  H.  Hurley,  of  Decatur,  111.,  who  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  from  1  Peter  v. 
2-4,  the  second  Eldership  in  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  gathered  new  inspira- 
tion as  it  met  at  Martinsville,  111.,  October  2.5,  1858,  for  the  transaction  of  its 
annual  business.  Edwin  Longeneoker  had  received  license  from  the  Standing 
Committee,  so  that  there  were  six  teaching  elders,  all  present,  with  two  ruling 
elders  and  five  delegates.  S.  N.  Miller  presided  as  Speaker,  and  George  Sandoe 
was  the  Clerk.  J.  Werner  and  J.  Richards  were  advisory  members,  and  served  on 
committees.  The  ministers  of  the  Eldership  were  advised  of  "the  importance  of 
pursuing  a  regular  course  of  study,"  and,  "besides  the  Bible,  The  Comprehensive 
Commentary,  AVatson's  Institutes,  Winebrenner  on  Regeneration,  Carson's  and 
Swartz's  works  on  Baptism,  and  Harn  on  Feet-washing"  were  recommended.  With- 
out mentioning  the  author's  name,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  examine  and 
report  upon  "a  certain  pamphlet  published  by  a  member  of  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership."  The  Committee's  report  was  adopted,  which  says:  "We  can  but  ex- 
press our  regret  that  it  ever  found  its  way  amongst  us,  inasmuch  as  it  teaches 
sentiments  repugnant  to  the  principles  and  doctrines  of  the  churches  of  God." 
Resolutions  disaffirming  all  sympathy  with  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a 
beverage  were  adopted,  and  advising  "our  brethren  to  use  their  influence  against 
the  manufacturing  and  vending  thereof."  Slavery  the  Eldership  considered  an 
"institution  derogatory  to  the  revealed  will  of  God,  conceived  in  sin  and  shapen  in 
iniquity."  Subscriptions  of  brethren  in  the  local  churches  were  to  be  solicited 
"for  the  use  and  benefit  of  superannuated  or  worn-out  preachers  of  the  Church  of 
God,  their  wives  and  orphans."  Not  to  seem  antagonistic  to  the  Illinois  Eldership, 
a  resolution  prevailed  declaring  that  "we  wish  to  co-operate  with  the  Elderships  of 
the  Church  of  God  everywhere."  Miller  had  visited  a  Separate  Baptist  Associa- 
tion, which  expressed  a  desire  for  correspondence  with  the  Eldership. 

3rd  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership. — The  third  annual  session  of  the 
Eldership  was  held  "in  the  bethel  on  Bro.  John  Miller's  farm,  Greene  county,  Ind., 
beginning  October  24,  1859.  S.  N.  Miller  and  George  Sandoe  were  re-elected 
Speaker  and  Clerk  respectively.  Rules  were  adopted  for  the  session.  Ministers 
reported  "times  of  refreshing  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord."  S.  N.  Miller,  who 
had  been  appointed  "to  bear  a  letter  of  correspondence"  to  "The  White  River  Asso- 
ciation of  Separate  Baptists  reported  a  favorable  reception  at  their  Association." 
In  response,  a  letter  from  said  Association  was  addressed  to  the  Eldership,  and 
Miller  was  again  appointed  to  bear  a  similar  letter  to  the  next  Association.  The 
cause  of  Missions  formed  the  subject  of  "consultation,"  when  "a  committee  was 
appointed  to  consider  the  best  and  most  available  means  to  raise  missionary  funds." 
The  means  recommended  was  "to  appoint  one  man,  or  more,  in  each  church  to 
circulate  a  subscription,  soliciting  funds  for  home  missions."  Sandoe  was  elected 
delegate  to  the  General  Eldership.  Miller  was  appointed  to  the  Martinsville  circuit, 
and  D.  Neidig  to  Greene  county,  Ind. 

4th  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership. — The  Opening  Sermon  of  the 
fourth  session  of  the  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership  was  preached  in  the 
bethel  at  Martinsburg,  111.,  October  22,  1860,  by  S.  N.  Miller.  He  was  re-elected 
Speaker,  and  George  Sandoe,  Clerk.  Miller  gave  his  reasons  for  not  attending  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  White  River  Association  of  Separate  Baptists,  and  was  ex- 
onerated. The  Eldership  felt  that  said  Association,  "by  failing  to  meet  with  us, 
and  in  other  ways,  treated  this  body  with  contempt,"  and  so  resolved  "that  our  cor- 
respondence close."  The  Eldership  expressed  its  gratitude  "for  our  present  ad- 
vance in  education,  and  earnestly  recommend  all  moral  and  religious  education, 
especially  the  establishing  of  Sabbath-schools  where  practicable."  It  pledged  its 
"entire  and  individual  influence  against  intemperance  as  an  evil  of  the  greatest  mag- 
nitude." Slavery  it  denounced  "as  an  outrage  committed  upon  the  most  precious 
and  God-given  rights  of  man,  at  variance  with  every  attribute  of  our  common  bene- 
factor and  Creator,"  and  hence  it  "will  not  countenance  this  sin  or  villany  under 
any  consideration  whatever."  One  man  in  each  church  "was  to  be  appointed  to 
collect  missionary  money  to  support  one  or  more  missionaries  within  the  bounds 
of  this  Eldership."  The  entering  of  preachers  into  "the  political  arena,"  the  Eld- 
ership refused  to  "believe  is  alike  disastrous  to  the  vitality  and  extension  of  the 
Church,"  and  it  did  not  regard  it  "as  an  ecclesiastical  evil  which  should  be  dis- 
countenanced by  all  the  friends  of  Zion,"  for  it  indefinitely  postponed  a  resolution 


The    Southern    Illinois    and    Indiana    Eldership  6ii 

to  that  effect.  The  "use  of  tobacco  as  a  luxury"  it  pronounced  "a  relic  of  barbar- 
ism, and  a  violation  of  physical,  intellectual  and  moral  law."  It  lamented  "the 
removal  by  death  of  our  beloved  and  much  esteemed  Bro.  John  Winebreuner." 
Two  circuits  and  one  mission  were  outlined,  with  four  preachers  and  three  "mis- 
sionaries at  large." 

5th  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership. — Fourteen  preachers  and  dele- 
gates were  present  at  the  session  of  the  Eldership  which  was  held  in  the  Union 
Bethel,  Greene  county,  Ind.,  beginning  October  14,  1861.  J.  W.  Booth  was 
elected  Speaker,  and  George  Sandoe,  Clerk.  D.  Neidig  preached  the  Opening  Ser- 
mon on  Sabbath  evening.  The  ranks  of  the  ministry  were  increased  by  the 
licensing  of  J.  C.  Hughes,  W.  Shipman  and  J.  Buskirk.  Fraternal  relations  were 
begun  with  the  "Indiana  Conference  of  the  Churches  of  God,"  J.  G.  Laughlin  and 
J.  W.  Neeley  being  present  as  delegates,  bearing  "a  letter  of  correspondence."  The 
Eldership  was  in  favor  of  publishing  the  Journals  together  in  one  pamphlet,  for 
which  purpose  the  Minutes  were  written  out  in  full,  and  but  "a  very  brief  account" 
furnished  The  Advocate. 

eth  Southera  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership. — The  sixth  session  of  the  South- 
ern Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership,  which  began  its  session  at  Martinsville,  Clark 
county.  111.,  October  13,  1862,  was  still  further  encouraged  to  labor  for  union  be- 
tween it  and  the  Indiana  Conference  of  Church  of  God.  This  organization  began 
its  existence  at  Zion  meeting-house,  in  Martin  county,  Ind.,  immediately  adjoining 
the  work  of  the  Eldership  in  Greene  county,  in  October,  1855.  In  August,  1861, 
they  had  their  annual  Minutes  of  1860  published  in  The  Advocate.  "They  have 
fallen  back  upon  the  original  Scripture  platform,"  said  Thomas,  "and  we  can  see 
no  reason  why  this  Conference  and  the  Indiana  Eldership  should  not  either  blend 
together  in  one,  or  cordially  co-operate."  October  31,  1861,  the  Minutes  of  the 
meeting  held  August  30,  31  and  September  1,  1861,  were  also  published  in  The 
Advocate.  In  these  they  adopted  The  Advocate  as  their  paper.  They  "as  a  Con- 
ference take  the  Old  and  New  Testament  Scriptures  as  containing  our  articles  of 
faith  and  rule  of  discipline  for  the  government  and  edification  of  the  Church  of 
God."  Joseph  G.  Laughlin  may  be  called  the  founder  of  this  body  of  people.  He 
had  been  a  member  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  a  local  preacher;  but  after  a  prayerful 
reading  of  the  Scriptures  he  became  dissatisfied  with  human  names  and  parties, 
and  decided  to  withdraw  from  the  M.  E.  Church.  At  this  time  he  "had  no  thought 
of  forming  a  Church."  But  soon  finding  "others  anxious  for  a  Church  to  be 
formed  bearing  the  scriptural  name  and  taking  the  word  of  God  for  the  man  of 
their  counsel,"  a  meeting  was  held  on  June  10,  1854,  "for  the  purpose  of  forming 
and  organizing  a  Church  to  be  known  as  the  Church  of  God."  Thus  originated 
this  body  of  believers,  with  J.  G.  Laughlin  as  their  leader.  "S.  N.  Miller  and  D. 
Neidig  were  appointed  in  1861  to  carry  a  letter  of  correspondence  to  the  Confer- 
ence of  the  Church  of  God  in  Martin  county,  Ind.,  in  September,  1862."  These 
brethren  reported  "that  the  prospect  of  a  union  between  the  two  bodies  is  very 
favorable,  and  have  no  doubt  that  could  those  brethren  have  been  present  a  uniort 
would  have  been  effected."  They  were  invited  "to  meet  the  Standing  Committee 
on  the  last  Saturday  in  March,  1863,  for  that  purpose.  The  "present  effort  to  break 
up  the  Government  of  the  United  States"  the  Eldership  "considered  a  great  sin 
against  God  and  the  most  precious  rights  of  man,"  and  declared  that  they  "will  not 
fellowship  any  person  or  persons  who  give  aid  to,  or  sympathize  with,  those  in  re- 
bellion against  the  Government."  The  ordinances  were  observed  the  second  day 
evening.  "Dark  and  trying  times,  and  doubt  concerning  the  advancement  of  the 
Church  and  cause  of  our  Master  "were  experienced  during  the  year."  Intemperance 
was  denounced  as  "a  growing  evil  whose  natural  tendency  is  to  ruin  the  com- 
munity, the  influence  of  which  is  detrimental  and  ruinous  to  the  morals  of  all 
good  citizens."  The  Eldership  "formed  itself  into  a  society  to  raise  a  Widows' 
Fund,  by  each  member  paying  the  sum  of  twenty-five  cents  annually."  One  circuit 
and  one  mission  in  Indiana,  and  two  circuits  in  Illinois  were  formed.  There  were 
six  ministers  present  and  five  absent,  with  two  ruling  elders  and  one  delegate.  W. 
Booth  presided,  and  E.  Longenecker  was  the  Clerk. 

7th  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership.— In  furtherance  of  the  project 
of  union  between  the  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership  and  the  Indiana  Con- 
ference of  the  Churches  of  God,  when  the  Eldership  met  in  the  Union  Bethel, 
Greene  county,  Ind.,  October  19,  18  63,  J.  G.  Laughlin,  E.  Jackson  and  T.  J.  Whis- 
innand  presented  letters  of  correspondence,  and  were  received  as  advisory  mem- 
bers.    The  Eldership  had  organized  by  the  election  of  S.  N.  Miller,  Speaker,  and 


6i2  HisfoRY  01?  THE  Churches  of  God 

TVillinm  Booth,  Clerk.  What  the  Standing  Committee  did  to  effect  a  union  with 
the  Conference  of  the  Churches  of  God  was  not  recorded,  but  no  action  was  taken 
by  the  Eldership.  The  prayers  of  the  Eldership  were  tendered  to  "the  President 
and  his  Cabinet  for  wisdom  and  understanding  in  performing  the  responsible  duties 
Imposed  upon  them."  Ministers  were  advised  that  if  they  "fail  to  report  either 
in  person  or  by  letter,  they  shall  be  dealt  with,  unless  a  reasonable  excuse  be 
offered."  The  death  of  D.  Neidig  was  deeply  felt,  he  having  died  after  having 
obtained  a  furlough  for  home  from  the  Army  at  Corinth,  and  a  funeral  sermon 
was  preached  on  Sabbath  morning  before  the  Eldership. 

8th  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership. — The  place  of  meeting  of  the 
eighth  session  of  the  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership,  in  the  Whis- 
innand  school-house,  near  Bloomington,  Monroe  county,  Ind.,  evidenced  the  prog- 
ress made  toward  a  union  between  the  Eldership  and  the  Conference  of  Churches 
of  God.  Monroe  county  adjoins  Greene  on  the  east,  and  was  part  of  the  territory 
covered  by  the  said  Conference,  which  originated  in  the  county  adjoining  Greene 
on  the  south,  Greene  being  territory  of  the  Eldership.  R.  H.  Bolton  came  to  the 
Eldership  with  a  Transfer  from  the  West  Ohio  Eldership.  "After  some  agreeable 
deliberation,"  a  resolution  was  adopted  inviting  the  brethren  of  the  Conference  of 
the  Churches  of  God  "into  the  union  and  fellowship  with  us  as  Christian  people 
and  ministers,  and  co-operation  of  the  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership  of 
the  Church  of  God."  The  names  of  1.  J.  Whisennand,  J.  G.  Laughiin,  J.  O.  Laugh< 
lin  and  J.  W.  Neeley,  ministers,  and  Daniel  Pruett,  ruling  elder,  were  entered  on 
the  Roll,  and  they  became  active  members  of  the  Eldership.  The  Eldership  chose 
W.  Booth  for  Speaker,  and  E.  Longenecker,  Clerk.  A  committee  was  appointed  to 
draft  a  Missionary  Constitution,  which  reported,  and  the  Constitution  was  adopted. 
A  delegate  from  the  Separate  Baptist  Church  was  received.  "Godspeed  to  the 
Chicago  Mission"  was  voted,  and  "the  influence,  prayers  and  aid"  of  the  Eldership 
promised  "for  its  success  and  prosperity."  A  Book  of  Minutes  of  the  Eldership 
was  arranged  for,  "in  which  to  record  the  acts  of  the  Elderships  and  Standing  Com- 
mittees of  the  past,  present  and  future."  The  Eldership  lamented  the  limited 
good  accomplished  during  the  year.  "With  joy"  the  Eldership  "hailed  the  era 
when  all  the  oppressed  shall  go  free,"  and  "we  as  a  nation  will  rid  ourselves  of 
the  iniquitous  system  of  a  cruel  and  wicked  slavery."  Hence,  "every  measure 
taken  on  the  part  of  our  Government  to  liberate  the  enslaved  meets  our  hearty  ap- 
proval." "The  sympathy,  influence  and  fellowship"  of  the  Eldership  was  refused 
to  "any  person  engaged  in  the  iniquitous  business  of  using  or  selling  spirituous 
liquors  as  a  beverage."  Nor  can  "we  have  fellowship  with  any  who  justify  the 
course  of  the  rebels  in  rising  up  in  rebellion  against  the  legally  elected  authorities 
of  this  great  Government."  R.  H.  Bolton  was  "appointed  to  travel  over  the  entire 
bounds  of  the  Eldership  as  a  General  Evangelist,  and  the  ministry  to  assist  all 
they  possibly  can  in  serving  appointments,  churches,  and  in  helping  to  hold  special, 
ordinance  and  protracted  meetings." 

9th  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership. — The  two  Evangelists,  R.  H.  and 
C.  S.  Bolton,  who  traveled  over  the  whole  territory  of  the  Eldership,  had  infused 
new  life  into  the  body.  But  it  also  had  a  depressing  effect  on  the  ministry,  and  a 
lessening  of  interest  on  the  part  of  some. .  This  may  account  for  the  fact  that 
when  the  Roll  was  called  at  Martinsville,  Clark  county.  111.,  October  16,  1865,  of 
the  fourteen  teaching  elders  enrolled  six  were  absent.  But  two  ruling  elders  were 
In  attendance,  and  three  noted  as  absent.  The  two  General  Evangelists  had  been 
remunerated  in  cash  to  the  amount  of  $455,93.  As  a  result  of  their  labors  they 
reported  that  "ministers  were  made  earnest,  churches  revived  and  strengthened, 
backsliders  reclaimed  and  about  one  hundred  and  forty  souls  professedly  converted 
to  God."  The  formation  of  one  church,  at  Centerville,  Vigo  county,  of  twenty 
members,  was  reported.  W.  Booth  was  elected  Speaker;  R.  H.  Bolton,  Journaliz- 
ing Clerk,  and  C.  S.  Bolton,  Transcribing  Clerk.  The  translation  of  the  American 
Bible  Union  was  commended.  The  ministers  and  churches  were  earnestly  urged 
"to  engage  in  the  glorious  work  of  Sunday-schools."  The  use  of  tobacco,  being 
"a  filthy  practice,  and  a  useless  waste  of  money,"  it  "should  at  once  be  dispensed 
with  by  all."  "A  happy,  but  slow,  improvement  in  the  cause  of  religion  within 
the  past  year  in  our  Eldership"  was  acknowledged.  In  a  lengthy  series  of  resolu- 
tions, with  separate  preambles,  intemperance  was  denounced  as  "the  vilest  of  evils, 
most  fatal  in  its  tendency,  exposing  the  human  race  to  every  vice,  and  hurling  into 
the  vortex  of  ruin  millions  of  our  fellow  beings."  Everything  possible  was  di- 
rected to  be  done  to  "destroy  this  abominable  compound  of  crime  and  vices."    The 


The    Southern    Illinois    and    Indiana    Eldership  613 

absence  of  a  prohibitory  law,  similar  in  its  provisions  to  the  Maine  Law,  was  de- 
plored. The  hope  was  expressed  that  "the  leaders  of  the  so-called  Confederacy 
will  receive  their  proper  retribution."  The  Chicago  Mission  was  endorsed,  and 
Shoemaker  invited  to  canvass  their  Eldership  for  funds.  But  when  the  resolution 
was  read,  stating  that  in  the  matter  of  membership  in  organizations  of  Odd  Fel- 
lows, Free  Masons,  Good  Templars,  etc.,  "we  recommend  all  to  use  their  own  judg- 
ment whether  or  no  they  will  hold  connection  with  any  or  all  these  institutions," 
it  was  amended  so  as  to  read:  "We  recommend  all  brethren  to  stand  aloof  from 
them  all."  Provision  was  made  for  the  drafting  of  a  Constitution  by  appointing 
R.  H.  Bolton,  Sandoe  and  Longenecker  a  committee  for  that  purpose.  The  Sta- 
tioning Committee  reported  two  circuits  and  two  missions,  to  which  three  ministers 
were  assigned,  to  be  assisted  by  the  local  ministers  living  on  the  fields. 

10th  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership. — The  session  of  the  Eldership 
of  1866  was  "most  harmonious  and  pleasant."  It  met  with  the  new  church  at 
Centerville,  Vigo  county,  Ind.,  October  13th,  Saturday,  at  3  o'clock  p.  m.  S.  N. 
Miller  was  chosen  "Chairman,"  and  R.  H.  Bolton,  Clerk.  The  Separate  Baptist 
Association  had  sent  Silas  White  as  a  Messenger,  bearing  "a  letter  of  Correspond- 
ence," which  were  received.  The  funeral  sermon  of  Elder  James  AVilson  was 
preached  on  Sunday  afternoon,  by  Bolton  and  Miller.  The  Eldership  was  declared 
to  have  "lost  one  of  its  most  exemplary  members."  On  the  temperance  question 
the  Eldership  expressed  its  readiness  "to  co-operate  with  all  proper  efforts,  moral 
and  legal,  for  the  suppression  of  every  form  of  this  giant  evil."  While  recom- 
mending general  co-operation  with  the  General  Eldership,  it  named  "specially  in 
matters  pertaining  to  the  College  or  Colleges."  It  felt  thankful  "for  the  success 
of  the  year;  for  the  harmony  which  prevails  among  the  brotherhood,  and  for  the 
growing  influence  throughout  our  bounds;"  but  declared,  "there  is  room  for  im- 
provement, and  greater  interest  should  be  felt  and  sacrifices  made  to  spread  Bible 
principles."  The  total  amount  of  Life  Membership  in  the  Missionary  Aid  Society 
was  $480.00.  "A  Letter  of  Correspondence  was  ordered  to  be  written  to  tne 
Shelby  Association  of  Separate  Baptists,"  the  same  "to  be  borne  thither  by  Sandoe, 
accompanied  by  Bolton  and  Kiipp."  The  attendance  of  elders  and  delegates  being 
very  small,  churches  were  urged  "to  send  their  elder  or  elders,  or  regular  delegate 
or  delegates  "to  each  Annual  Eldership,"  There  were  but  two  circuits  and  two 
itinerants,  with  one  General  Evangelist. 

11th  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership. — The  overtures  to  the  Shelby 
Association  of  Separate  Baptists  were  received  in  a  kindly  spirit,  and  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  session  of  the  Eldership  in  1867,  Silas  White,  a  Messenger  from  the  Asso- 
ciation, was  received,  bearing  a  Letter  of  Correspondence.  This  courtesy  was 
"highly  appreciated,"  and  the  hope  was  expressed  that  "our  interchange  of  views 
may  tend  to  unite  our  efforts  in  the  cause  of  God."  A  letter  was  directed  to  be 
written  to  the  Association,  and  the  bearers  thereof  were  Shafer,  Rupp  and  Sandoe. 
The  date  of  the  Eldership  meeting  was  October  21st,  when  eight  ministers  and 
seven  delegates  and  ruling  elders  were  present.  Considerable  of  a  missionary 
spirit  was  awakened,  so  that  the  Stationing  Committee,  in  addition  to  the  two 
circuits,  named  three  missions — Centerville,  Daviess  county  and  Milton — with 
eight  preachers,  and  five  others  "to  assist  all  they  can."  The  total  amount  of  Life 
Membership  of  the  Missionary  Aid  Society  was  increased  to  $570.00.  Provision 
was  made  to  create  a  Contingent  Fund  for  the  General  Eldership.  As  the  need  of 
a  better  educated  ministry  was  felt,  action  was  taken  to  prepare  a  Course  of  Studies 
for  ministers;  but  only  four  branches  were  named — the  Bible,  on  which  essays 
were  to  be  written;  Grammar,  Geography  and  Church  History.  The  presiding 
officer  of  the  Eldership  was  William  Booth,  with  George  Sandoe,  Journalizing 
Clerk,  and  J.  W.  Neeley,  Transcribing  Clerk.  As  the  income  from  the  Life  Mem- 
berships amounted  to  less  than  $40.00  a  year,  the  Eldership  directed  that  each 
pastor  preach  a  missionary  sermon  at  each  preaching  place,  and  lift  a  collection 
for  missions. 

12th  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership. — With  its  three  missions  dur- 
ing the  year,  and  receipts  of  but  $29.24,  plus  $.5.75  in  the  treasury,  the  urgent 
need  of  more  funds  was  self-evident.  Eleven  new  Life  Members  were  secured, 
making  the  total  amount  $680.00.  So  the  Eldership  which  met  at  Union  Bethel, 
Greene  county,  Ind.,  Thursday,  October  22,  1868,  had  this  as  one  of  its  most  im- 
portant problems  to  deal  with.  Hence,  it  was  again  made  the  duty  of  "each  min- 
ister in  charge  of  churches  to  take  up  a  missionary  collection  at  every  point  during 
the  year,  besides  soliciting  Life  Members  of  the  Missionary  Society."     The  year 


6i4  History  of  the  Churches  of  God 

just  ended  these  collections  aggregated  but  $5.18.  Quarterly  payment  of  salaries 
of  ministers  was  insisted  upon.  There  were  present  at  this  session  eight  teaching 
elders,  two  ruling  elders  and  two  delegates.  William  Shafer  was  chosen  Speaker, 
and  George  Saiidoe,  Clerk.  The  correspondence  and  exchange  of  delegates  with 
the  Association  of  Separate  Baptists  were  continued.  In  addition,  the  Eldership 
expressed  its  willingness  "to  correspond  with  other  bodies  of  Christians  on  the 
subject  of  Church  union,  and,  if  desirable,  send  delegates,  with  letters  of  corres- 
pondence." Elder  Wesley  Shipman  had  emigrated  to  Kansas.  A  very  hopeful 
spirit  animated  the  Eldership,  as  it  believed  "that  if  we  are  faithful,  the  future 
will  reveal  great  and  glorious  results."  A  minister  of  "the  Christian,  or  New 
Light,  Church,"  T.  T.  Miller,  was  received  and  licensed.  Two  churches,  one  in 
Madison  and  the  other  in  Delaware  county,  north-east  of  Indianapolis,  sent  dele- 
gates to  the  Eldership,  and  asked  admission  to  fellowship.  But  being  within  the 
territory  of  the  Indiana  Eldership,  they  were  referred  to  said  body.  There  were 
arrangements  made  for  three  missions,  two  circuits  and  one  separate  church. 

13th  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership. — As  it  had  been  resolved  to 
alternate  between  the  two  States  with  the  annual  sessions  of  the  Eldership,  the 
session  of  1869  was  held  at  Martinsville,  Clark  county.  111.,  beginning  October  21st, 
Nine  absentees  are  noted,  while  an  unusual  number  of  lay  elders  and  delegates  was 
present,  there  being  eight  ministers  and  eight  delegates  and  ruling  elders.  They 
chose  for  Speaker,  William  Booth,  and  for  Clerks,  George  Sandoe  and  R.  T.  Sargent. 
While  in  1868  the  delegates  from  the  two  churches  in  Madison  and  Delaware 
counties  were  referred  to  the  Indiana  Eldership,  the  Standing  Committee  during  the 
year  had  appointed  Wm.  Booth  to  preach  for  them  till  the  Eldership.  The  Elder- 
ship expressed  its  "high  esteem  of  the  many  virtues  of  the  deceased  Elder  E.  H. 
Thomas,  a  man  of  unswerving  devotion  to  the  principles  of  truth  and  of  arduous 
labors  among  us."  The  Itinerancy  had  been  made  a  prominent  topic  by  the  discus- 
sion at,  and  the  action  of,  the  General  Eldership,  and  so  strong  resolutions  were 
adopted,  characterizing  it  as  "an  efficient  instrumentality  in  spreading  the  gospel  of 
Christ,"  and  "considering  it  essential  to  the  speedy  dissemination  of  the  principles 
of  the  Church  of  God  in  the  world."  It  was  directed  that  a  committee  of  the  Elder- 
ship "mature  a  plan  for  the  co-operation  of  all  the  churches  on  each  field  of  labor  to 
support  the  preacher  in  charge."  This  was  prompted  by  the  fact  "that  there  is  too 
little  effort  on  the  part  of  the  churches  to  support  their  preachers."  The  churches 
were  advised  that  "unless  they  wake  up  to  this  matter  it  will  be  impossible  to 
supply  them  with  regular  preaching."  This  the  Eldership  claimed  was  "the  only 
difficulty — means  to  send  ministers  to  preach  the  wgrd  to  our  fellow  men."  With 
the  accession  of  A.  J.  Fenton  to  the  ministerial  ranks,  the  Eldership  had  the  men 
to  send  out  on  its  five  fields  of  labor,  with  assistants  on  each  one.  Sandoe  was  to 
travel  generally,  "to  open  new  points  for  future  missionary  operations,  and  to 
present  the  missionary  claims  to  the  churches  and  secure  Life  Members." 

14th  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership. — The  exchange  of  delegates  be- 
tween the  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership  and  the  Shelby  Association  of 
Separate  Baptists  continued.  Delegates  were  again  appointed  "to  meet  with  the 
Association."  It  was  a  minority  Eldership  that  met  at  White  Bethel,  Madison 
county,  Ind.,  August  25,  1870,  there  being  but  five  of  the  sixteen  enrolled  teaching 
elders  present,  with  four  ruling  elders  and  delegates.  Doubtless  this  was  owing 
to  the  distance  to  the  place  of  meeting.  A.  X.  Shoemaker  "was  appointed  Speaker" 
and  Geo.  Sandoe,  Clerk.  The  Eldership  was  $64.00  in  arrears  on  General  Elder- 
ship assessments,  and  Sandoe  was  instructed  "to  collect  the  same  forthwith."  It 
was  made  the  duty  of  preachers  on  entering  upon  "their  fields  of  labor  to  call  the 
churches  together  and  ascertain  what  can  be  procured  by  subscription  for  their 
support."  The  Board  of  Missions  reported  $720.00  Life  Membership;  but  only 
$84.30  was  "paid  out  during  the  year."  The  Eldership  pledged  itself  to  "labor 
without  ceasing  for  the  entire  overthrow  of  the  liquor  traffic  in  our  land,"  and  de- 
clared that  "we  will  not  give  our  suffrage  to  any  man  (if  we  know  it)  trafficking 
In,  or  drinking,  spirituous  liquors."  The  Martinsville  circuit  was  divided  into 
Martinsville  and  Robinson  circuits,  and  a  minister  appointed  to  each.  This  gave 
the  Eldership  six  appointments,  three  of  which  were  missions,  viz.:  Milton,  Center- 
ville  and  Daviess  county.  It  was  decided  that  "the  present  Eldership  year  end 
with  the  first  of  November,  and  hereafter  with  the  sitting  of  the  Eldership."  The 
Eldership  now  had  churches  near  the  boundary  lines  separating  it  from  the  Indiana 
Eldership,  in  Howard,  Madison  and  Delaware  counties,  the  second  counties  south 
of  Huntington  and  Wells,  and  much  more  convenient  to  be  supplied  by  said  Eld- 


The    Southern    Illinois    and    Indiana    Eldeiiship  615 

•ership.  It  therefore  requested  the  Indiana  Eldership  to  supply  them,  or  it  will 
cede  said  counties  to  the  Indiana  Eldership.  But  said  Eldership  in  October,  1870, 
took  no  action  in  the  matter,  though  it  was  brought  before  it  by  Shoemaker  and 
W.  A.  Gouiiey,  appointed  a  committee  for  that  purpose. 

15th  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership. — It  was  rather  the  common 
practice  in  western  Elderships  to  malte  visiting  ministers  of  other  Elderships  full 
members,  with  the  privilege  of  voting,  sitting  on  commttees  and  holding  office.  So 
it  was  not  peculiar  when  at  its  session  at  Martinsville,  111.,  beginning  August  21, 
1871,  the  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership  not  only  again  received  Shoe- 
maker as  a  full  member,  but  re-elected  him  Speaker.  Geo.  Sandoe  was  First  Clerk, 
and  R.  T.  Sargent,  Second  Clerk.  Eleven  teaching  elders  attended  the  session, 
while  nine  were  absent.  There  were  seven  ruling  elders  and  six  delegates  in  at- 
tendance. The  Eldership  manifested  a  spirit  of  harmonious  co-operation  with  the 
General  Eldership,  and  while  in  arrears  to  the  said  body,  it  made  an  effort  to  pay 
all  its  assessments.  The  Missionary  Baptist  Church  was  represented  by  L.  W.  P. 
Gilbert  as  delegate.  Having  adopted  strong  resolutions  urging  diligent  Sunday- 
school  work  by  all  pastors  and  churches,  it  was  arranged  to  suspend  preaching  on 
Friday  night  to  hold  "a  meeting  in  the  interest  of  Sunday-school  work."  At  this 
meeting  these  questions  were  discussed:  "What  is  a  Sunday-school?"  "What  re- 
lation does  it  sustain  to  Christianity?"  "How  shall  we  awaken  greater  interest 
in  this  work?"  "Shall  we  have  a  Sunday-school  Convention?"  The  Eldership  de- 
<3lared  that  it  will  "use  all  our  efforts  against  intemperance,"  and  "will  in  every 
lawful  way  strive  to  put  it  down;"  and  that  it  "will  fellowship  no  person  who  deals 
in  intoxicating  liquors."  The  "use  of  tobacco"  it  resolved  to  be  "a  useless,  filthy 
and  expensive  practice  in  the  main,"  to  discourage  which  it  will  use  its  influence. 
The  itenerancy  it  regarded  as  "a  powerful  element  in  the  hands  of  the  ministry  In 
the  accomplishment  of  good,"  and  that  "the  Eldership  stick  close  to  the  old  land- 
marks." Correspondence  with  the  Shelby  Association  of  Separate  Baptists  was 
continued,  and  Fenton  and  Sandoe  were  appointed  delegates  to  their  next  meeting. 
The  Eldership  now  had  seven  appointments,  two  of  which  are  classed  as  missions. 

16th  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership. — Sometimes  commendations 
imply  reflections.  And  so  when  the  Correspondent  of  the  Eldership  of  1872,  either 
for  himself  or  the  body,  stated  that  "greater  devotion  was  manifested  among  the 
ministry  than  formerly,"  the  reader  can  make  his  own  deductions.  No  absentees 
are  noted,  and  fourteen  teaching  elders  responded  to  their  names,  with  eight  ruling 
elders,  when  on  August  22nd  the  Eldership  was  constituted.  In  the  organization 
H.  Rupp  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  R.  T.  Sargent,  Clerk.  "A  better  financial  system 
for  the  Eldership"  was  affirmed  to  be  "absolutely  necessary  to  the  success  of  the 
•Church,"  and  as  an  important  measure  to  this  end  the  Eldership  resolved  to  "ap- 
point a  general  missionary  and  financial  agent  to  travel  at  large  throughout  the 
bounds  of  the  Eldership  to  assist  in  the  double  capacity  of  missionary  and  financial 
agent."  To  raise  funds,  it  was  suggested  that  "a  general  subscription  paper  be 
drawn  up  for  immediate  use;"  the  General  Missionary  and  Financial  Agent  to 
"visit  the  several  fields  of  labor  as  soon  as  possible,  call  together  the  leading  mem- 
bers of  the  respective  circuits  and  stations  and  introduce  the  subscription  and  ap- 
point sub-agents  in  every  church  to  attend  to  this  matter."  In  addition,  "each 
preacher  in  charge  of  a  field  of  labor"  was  instructed  "to  take  personal  missionary 
subscriptions  at  each  appointment  to  be  exclusively  applied  to  home  missions."  A 
secretary  and  treasurer  were  to  be  "appointed  in  each  church"  to  whom  these  sub- 
scriptions were  to  be  given  for  collection. 

17th  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership. — By  appointment  of  the  Elder*- 
ship  in  1872,  R.  T.  Sargent  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon  of  the  Eldership  in  the 
evening  of  August  20,  1873.  Eleven  of  the  seventeen  ministers  attended  the  ses- 
sion, and  nine  ruling  elders  and  delegates.  A  regular  fund  was  created  for  the 
purpose  of  defraying  the  expenses  of  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership,  by  requir- 
ing each  pastor  annually  to  collect  twenty  cents  from  each  brother  and  ten  cents 
from  each  sister  for  that  purpose.  The  Eldership  mourned  the  death  of  S.  X. 
Miller,  whose  "labors  in  our  ranks  were  extended  over  a  number  of  years,  and  were 
blessed  to  the  enlightenment  of  many  and  the  establishment  of  churches  of  God." 
The  financial  plan  a,dopted  in  1872  was  approved;  but  two  men,  one  in  Illinois 
and  one  in  Indiana,  were  "appointed  to  make  one  round  among  the  churches  this 
Fall  and  speak  upon  the  duty  of  all  to  support  the  ministry  and  otherwise  assist 
the  churches  in  this  good  and  great  work."  After  adjournment,  the  Standing 
Committee  agreed  to  call  a  meeting  "to  hold  a  Ministerial  Association,"  and  ap- 


6i6  History    op    the    Churches    of    God 

pointed  a  committee  to  draw  up  a  program.  The  time  for  the  Eldership  year  to 
begin  was  changed  to  October  1st.  There  were  seven  fields  of  labor,  two  of  them 
being  missions.  Some  of  the  local  preachers  were  appointed  assistants  to  the 
pastors. 

18th  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldei*ship. — The  action  of  the  Standing 
Committee,  calling  a  Ministerial  Association  was  unheeded,  and  so  the  first  official 
action  of  the  Eldership  which  met  at  Centerville,  Vigo  county,  Ind.,  September  24, 
1874,  was  to  decide  "as  a  means  of  gaining  information  that  we  hold  a  Ministerial 
Association  as  often  as  the  Eldership  may  think  best."  Conditions  in  the  Elder- 
ship and  among  the  churches  were  such  as  to  inspire  the  hope  "that  the  coming 
year  will  be  one  of  greater  prosperity  than  the  past."  A  division  of  the  Eldership 
was  suggested,  and  a  committee  appointed  to  consider  the  question.  It  reported 
in  favor  of  a  division,  as  this  was  the  original  purpose,  that  "as  soon  as  we  are 
sufficiently  strong,  and  it  was  thought  best  for  the  advancement  of  the  cause  of 
God,  to  form  two  Elderships  instead  of  one."  The  delegates  to  the  General  Elder- 
ship in  1875  were  instructed  to  ask  for  such  division,  the  division  to  be  along  the 
State  line,  and  the  Elderships  to  be  called  respectively  the  Southern  Illinois  and  the 
Southern  Indiana  Elderships.  To  secure  greater  co-operation  meetings  of  elders 
and  deacons  on  the  different  charges  once  a  month  were  suggested,  to  "consult 
and  devise  as  to  the  best  means  of  taking  care  of  the  preacher  in  charge,  and  other 
interests  of  the  Church."  The  Sunday  before  Christmas  was  designated  as  the  day 
for  the  churches  "to  meet  in  order  to  donate  moneys  for  missionary  purposes." 
Geo.  Sandoe  presided  as  Speaker,  and  R.  T.  Sargent  was  Clerk.  The  Stationing 
Committee  made  appointments  to  ten  fields  of  labor,  with  one  General  Missionary. 

19th  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership. — A  comparatively  small  repre- 
sentation of  the  Eldership  met  to  hold  the  session  at  Martinsville,  Clark  county, 
111.,  September  23,  1875.  The  session  lasted  two  days  and  one  evening  sitting, 
during  which  "harmony  and  good  feeling  prevailed."  George  Sandoe  was  the 
Speaker,  and  R.  T.  Sargent,  Clerk.  There  was  "quite  an  ingathering  of  souls  dur- 
ing the  year,  with  increasing  prospects  for  future  success."  "Greater  diligence  to 
qualify  themselves  by  study  for  the  great  work  of  the  ministry"  was  urged  upon 
the  ministers.  All  were  requested  to  "labor  more  fully  to  organize  Sabbath- 
schools."  Ober,  who  lived  within  the  bounds  of  the  Eldership,  in  Greene  county, 
111.,  near  the  Mississippi,  offered  to  open  a  mission  there,  asking  $300.00  for  two 
years'  labor.  No  appointment  was  made,  but  correspondence  with  him  solicited. 
The  body  lamented  the  early  removal  of  Elder  Bratten  by  death.  Appointments 
were  made  to  seven  circuits  and  three  missions. 

20th  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership. — The  seven  circuits  and  three 
missions  of  the  Eldership  were  represented  at  Centerville,  Vigo  county,  Ind.,  Sep- 
tember 20,  1876,  by  ten  teaching  elders,  five  ruling  elders  and  eight  delegates. 
Four  charges  were  not  represented,  and  fourteen  teaching  elders  and  three  ex- 
horters  were  absent.  On  the  evening  previous  R.  T.  Sargent  delivered  the  Opening 
Sermon.  J.  W.  Neeley  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  R.  T.  Sargent,  Clerk.  Sandoe,  on 
the  Charleston  circuit,  reported  the  dedication  of  two  church-houses,  one  at  Oak 
Point,  Clark  county,  and  one  three  miles  east  of  Charleston,  both  in  Illinois.  The 
propriety  of  dividing  the  Eldership  was  discussed,  but  it  is  not  clear  what  action 
was  taken.  By  request  of  the  General  Eldership,  each  pastor  was  required  to  lift 
collections  in  all  the  churches  for  general  missionary  purposes  during  the  month 
of  November.  It  was  a  feature  of  this  session  that  a  number  of  special  seasons  of 
prayer  were  held.  The  propriety  of  "holding  a  special  meeting  once  every  three 
months  on  each  circuit"  was  to  be  presented  to  the  churches,  the  preachers  on  dif- 
ferent circuits  to  assist  each  other.  At  the  close  of  the  session  the  Stationing  Com- 
mittee reported  twelve  fields  of  labor,  to  which  twenty  ministers  were  assigned. 

21st  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership. — The  session  of  the  Eldership  in 
1877  was  held  at  Martinsville,  Clark  county.  111.,  beginning  September  20,  1877. 
Thirteen  of  the  twenty-six  ministers  were  present,  nine  ruling  elders  and  fifteen 
delegates.  Positive  action  was  taken  on  the  question  of  a  division  of  the  Elder- 
ship by  its  indefinite  postponement.  E.  M.  Love  preached  the  Opening  Sermon 
the  previous  evening.  The  election  for  officers  resulted  in  the  choice  of  W.  Booth 
for  Speaker,  and  R.  T.  Sargent,  Clerk.  The  importance  of  education  for  the  min- 
istry was  emphasized,  and  ministers  of  the  Church  were  strongly  recommended  to 
"prepare  themselves  fully  for  their  work,"  and  the  churches  were  requested  to  "en- 
courage and  support  young  men  in  the  pursuit  of  an  education."  The  divine  bless- 
ing was  invoked  upon  the  churches,  to  give  them  "a  spirit  of  liberality,  and  young 


The    Southern    Illinois    and    Indiana    Eldership  617 

ministers  an  earnest,  absorbing  desire  to  qualify  themselves  for  their  high  calling 
and  noble  work  by  a  liberal  education."  Saturday  evening  was  "set  apart  for  a 
mass  temperance  meeting."  A  leader  of  the  discussion  was  appointed,  and  a  spe- 
cial feature  was  an  invitation  to  "any  reformed  inebriates,  or  any  drinkers  who 
may  desire  to  reform,  to  give  us  the  benefit  of  their  experience."  J.  W.  Neeley  was 
appointed  a  delegate  to  the  Association  of  General  Baptists,  to  bear  a  letter  pre- 
pared by  the  Standing  Committee.  When  the  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership 
were  elected  they  were  "instructed  to  vote  to  have  a  man  appointed  to  write  a 
History  of  John  Wiuebrenner  for  publication."  The  appointments  were  rearranged 
so  as  to  make  five  circuits  and  three  missions. 

22n(l  Southera  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldei-ship. — The  Eldership  now  numbered 
thirty  ministers,  but  only  eleven  attended  the  session  held  at  Union  Bethel,  Greene 
county,  Ind.,  beginning  September  19,  1878.  Twenty-one  delegates  were  in  atiend- 
ance.  George  Sandoe  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon.  R.  T.  Sargent  was  elected 
Speaker,  and  D.  H.  Miller,  Clerk.  A  spirit  of  hearty  co-operation  with  the  General 
Eldership  was  expressed  in  its  efforts  to  secure  funds  "to  carry  forward  the  great 
work  of  missions  in  our  land."  The  Eldership  also  heartily  endorsed  the  project 
of  publishing  the  "Sunday-school  Workman."  On  temperance  the  Eldership  de- 
clared that  "there  is  only  one  safe  course  to  pursue: — that  we  array  ourselves 
against  the  distillation  and  use  of  the  accursed  beverage  in  all  its  forms."  A  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  devise  a  plan  for  future  missionary  operations,  claim- 
ing that  the  territory  of  the  Eldership  was  too  extensive  for  proper  cultivation,  and 
points  are  calling  for  help  which  can  not  be  supplied,  the  Board  of  Missions  was 
asked  "to  help  to  support  at  least  one  man  in  the  bounds  of  this  Eldership."  The 
more  efficient  plan  for  home  missions  recommended  by  the  committee  was  "to  ap- 
point a  collecting  agent  to  canvass  our  bounds  and  solicit  cash  and  subscriptions 
for  home  missionary  purposes."  The  ne-^d  of  such  funds  appears  from  the  Treas- 
urer's Report,  which  shows  "amount  of  money  in  the  treasury  last  year,  $8.00. 
Amount  of  money  collected  during  past  year,  $2.00.  As  a  further  evidence  that 
the  Eldership  meant  that  its  members  shall  become  better  qualified,  a  committee 
was  named  "to  prescribe  a  Course  of  Studies  for  young  ministers."  The  Com- 
mittee arranged  them  into  two  classes.  Class  A  was  to  study,  "The  redemption  of 
man,  and  how  accomplished."  Class  B,  "The  fall  of  man,  and  its  cause."  The 
fields  this  year  were  seven  circuits,  two  missions  and  one  station.  On  several 
circuits  there  were  two  ministers  and  an  assistant.  One  minister  was  appointed 
missionary  at  large. 

23rd  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership. — Provision  had  as  yet  not  beea 
made  for  either  Permanent  Rules  of  Order,  or  for  a  Constitution,  as  western  Eld- 
erships preferred  to  call  it,  "A  System  of  Co-operation."  A  committee,  hence,  re- 
ported Rules  of  Order  at  the  beginning  of  the  session  of  1879,  which  was  held  at 
Martinsville,  Clark  county.  111.,  and  opened  on  the  morning  of  October  9th.  And 
a  committee  was  named  to  prepare  and  report  a  System  of  Co-operation.  The 
Opening  Sermon  was  preached  by  A.  Miller.  The  Eldership  was  constituted  with 
forty-two  members — seventeen  teaching  elders,  ten  ruling  elders  and  fifteen  dele- 
gates. 1.  J.  Whisinnand  was  made  Speaker,  and  D.  H.  Miller,  Clerk.  Great  com- 
plaint continued  to  be  made  with  reference  to  the  support  of  pastors.  It  was, 
therefore,  ordered  that  "at  each  preaching  appointment,  immediately  after  the 
Eldership,  a  subscription  be  set  on  foot,  the  same  to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 
deacons,  or  some  suitable  person,  and  the  same  to  be  paid  over  in  quarterly  pay- 
ments to  the  ministers."  The  Eldership  agreed  "to  co-operate  with  the  other  Eld- 
erships in  holding  a  semi-centennial  camp-meeting  in  1880."  It  was  agreed  to 
"create  a  fund  for  superannuated  ministers  and  their  widows,  to  be  called  the 
Widows'  Fund.  Each  minister,  if  able,  was  to  pay  annually  $1.00  into  this  Fund, 
and  all  others  "who  wish  to  assist  in  creating  the  Fund."  "Every  able-bodied 
minister"  was  required  to  "preach  at  least  twelve  sermons  during  the  year."  The 
appointments  made  indicate  the  extent  of  the  territory  and  the  spirit  of  aggression 
in  the  Eldership  if  the  means  had  been  at  its  command.  The  Stationing  Committee 
arranged  eight  circuits  and  five  missions.  These  missions  were  Shelby  county, 
Madison  county,  Indiana;  Jack  Oak,  Gibson  county,  Ind.,  and  Jefferson  county. 
Neb.     There  were  also  two  missionaries  at  large. 

24th  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership. — A  general  survey  of  this  Elder- 
ship, convened  at  Union  Bethel,  Greene  county,  Ind.,  October  14,  1880,  shows  eight 
circuits  and  four  missions,  represented  by  twelve  ministers,  three  ruling  elders 
and  fourteen  delegates;   while  twenty  ministers  were  absent.     The  choice  of  the 


6i8  History  of  the  Churches  of  God 

Eldership  for  Speaker  was  E.  M.  Lovo;  Clerk,  AVilliani  Buzzard.  The  Rule  of  the 
Eldership  was  to  have  members  of  classes  in  the  Course  of  Studies  prepare  essays, 
or  discourses,  and  deliver  them.  Three  clases  were  represented  in  1880.  To  one 
was  assigned  as  a  subject  "The  Fall  of  Man,"  and  to  the  other  "The  Redemption 
of  Man."  The  "brotherhood,  and  especially  the  ministry"  were  "urged  to  in- 
creased activity  in  the  cause  of  education,  in  the  family  circle,  in  the  Sabbath- 
schools,  in  the  Church  and  amongst  the  people  generally."  The  Eldership  de- 
clared that  it  "will  not  help  to  put  men  into  offices  of  trust  who  will  either  use  or 
sell  distilled  liquprs  as  a  beverage,"  and  it  "opposed  the  use  of  tobacco  by  the 
brethren,  especially  in  the  church-house."  A  resolution  on  the  division  of  the 
Eldership  was  considered,  and  "was  unanimously  agreed  to,  every  member  rising 
to  his  feet."  It  declared  that  "it  was  the  agreement  of  the  men  who  first  organ- 
ized the  Eldership,  that  as  soon  as  the  body  was  strong  enough  they  would  form 
two  Elderships;"  that  "the  time  has  come  when  the  cause  of  God  can  be  built  up 
more  rapidly  in  each  State  by  having  two  Elderships;"  that  "the  division  is  not 
asked  for  "because  of  any  unpleasantness  existing  among  us,  but  because  we  be- 
lieve it  to  be  for  the  advancement  of  the  cause  of  God."  The  "deficiency"  in  the 
support  of  the  ministry  was  deplored,  and  each  pastor  was  directed  "to  call  to- 
gether the  officiary  on  his  charge  once  each  quarter,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining 
a  co-operative  understanding  and  action  in  this  important  work."  Each  pastor 
was  also  directed  "to  appoint  two  sisters  in  each  church  to  solicit  twenty-five 
cents  from  each  member  for  general  missionary  purposes."  There  were  fifteen 
fields  of  labor,  of  which  four  were  missions,  to  which  the  Stationing  Committee 
appointed  sixteen  pastors.  The  Eldership  Treasurer  was  continued,  John 
Miller,  Jr.  The  evening  previous  to  the  organization  the  Eldership  listened  to  the 
Opening  Sermon  by  I.  J.  Whisinnand,  from  Ps.  cxlix.  4.  This  session  terminated 
the  existence  of  the  organization  known  as  the  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana 
Eldership,  which  "from  our  first  organization  had  the  sweetest  fellowship,  and 
have  at  this  time" — when  the  resolution  was  adopted  to  petition  for  a  division. 
The  Illinois  part  went  back  to  the  Illinois  Eldership,  and  the  balance  became  the 
Southern  Indiana  Eldership. 

1st  Southern  Indiana  Eldership. — At  the  General  Eldership  held  at  Findlay, 
Ohio,  in  May,  1881,  "the  request  from  the  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Elder- 
ship, asking  for  a  division  of  territory,  with  a  view  of  creating  two  Elderships," 
was  favorably  acted  upon  so  far  as  the  Indiana  portion  of  the  Eldership  was  con- 
-cerned.  The  portion  lying  in  Illinois  agreed  to  consolidate  with  the  Illinois  Elder- 
ship. Action  was  taken  to  create  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership,  with  bound- 
ary lines  as  previously  defined,  except  that  the  State  line  between  Illinois  and 
Indiana  shall  be  the  western  boundary  line  of  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership. 
As  this  was  the  line  agreed  upon  by  the  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership 
In  1880,  the  action  of  the  General  Eldership  was  entirely  satisfactory.  Though 
the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership  could  not  be  strictly  regarded  as  a  new  Elder- 
ship, yet  it  discarded  the  old  ordinal  number  of  the  sessions  and  its  Minutes 
were  officialy  published  as  "The  Journal  of  the  First  Annual  Meeting  of  the 
Southern  Indiana  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God."  The  announcement  of  this 
meeting  by  the  Clerk  of  the  session  of  the  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Elder- 
ship of  1881,  states  that  meeting  "on  October  13,  1881,  at  Shiloh,  Daviess  county, 
Ind.,"  is  "for  the  purpose  of  organizing  a  Southern  Indiana  Eldership  and  to 
transact  the  usual  Eldership  business."  Seventeen  teaching  elders  resided  in  the 
territory  of  this  Eldership,  but  seven  were  absent.  There  were  present  three 
ruling  elders  and  nine  delegates.  The  previous  evening  C.  T.  McKee  preached 
the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Ps.  xx.  2.  There  were  in  this  first  organization  four 
circuits  and  four  missions.  The  election  resulted  in  the  choice  of  S.  Tinimons  for 
Speaker,  and  William  Buzzard,  Clerk.  Rules  of  Order  were  adopted.  The  pub- 
lications of  the  General  Eldership  were  strongly  endorsed.  It  was  affirmed  that 
"a  part  of  the  Christian  work  is  to  support  the  ministry."  The  pasters  were  di- 
rected "to  take  up  collections  at  diiferent  times  at  the  various  points  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  missionary-at-large  of  the  Eldership."  Only  two  Funds  were  reported 
by  the  Treasurer:  Widows',  $23.25;  General  Eldership  Contingent,  $3.90.  The 
Report  on  the  State  of  Religion  stated  that  "religion  is  prospering  within  our 
Eldership  bounds;"  yet  "some  of  the  churches  are  cold  and  indiiferent.'"  The 
Eldership  put  itself  on  record  as  "opposed  to  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  dis- 
tilled liquors  as  a  beverage,  and  that  we  will  use  our  utmost  endeavors  to  pro- 
Ihibit  its  evil  influence  on  the  rising  generation."      It  favored  education,  but  evi- 


The   Southern   Indiana  Eldership  619 

dently  of  a  very  elementary  character.  Applicants  for  license  must  appear  in 
person,  and  "pass  a  favorable  examination."  The  death  of  President  Gai-fleld 
was  deeply  lamented.  S.  Simons'  death  was  deplored  as  a  visitation  of  Providence 
by  the  hand  of  affliction.  Sermons  were  directed  to  be  preached  on  Sunday- 
;schools  by  each  pastor.  The  Eldership  voted  "to  create  a  Fund  for  Super- 
annuated ministers  and  their  widows."  It  was  "to  be  called  The  Widows'  Fund," 
and  a  "Constittition  of  the  Widows'  Fund"  was  adopted.  It  was  to  be  a  Perma- 
nent Fund,  secured  by  the  annual  payment  by  all  ministers,  "and  all  others  who 
wish  to  assist  in  creating  this  fund,"  of  $1.00. 

2nd  Southern  Indiana  Eldership. — Seven  fields  of  labor  were  represented  by 
one-half  of  the  twelve  preachers,  with  nine  delegates,  five  ruling  elders  and  one 
exhorter,  when  the  Eldership  convened  at  Union  Bethel,  Greene  county,  October 
19,  1882.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  the  previous  evening  by  E.  M.  Love, 
from  Acts  xxvi.  29.  The  organization  was  effected  by  the  choice  of  I.  J.  Whisin- 
nand,  Speaker,  and  J.  Miller,  Clerk.  After  his  Report  was  adopted,  John  Miller, 
Jr.,  was  elected  Treasurer.  The  Speaker,  under  a  motion,  appointed  C.  T.  McKoe, 
J.  Miller,  Jr.,  and  I.  J.  Whisinuand  "to  draft  a  Constitution  and  By-Laws  to  govern 
the  Eldership  in  transacting  business."  It  at  once  reported.  The  name,  style 
and  title  as  fixed  by  the  General  Eldership  was  adopted.  The  object  of  the  "Con- 
stitution shall  be  to  secure  and  promote  the  mutual  welfare  of  the  ministry  and 
churches,  and  to  co-operate  in  the  benevolent,  educational  and  missionary  work 
-of  the  Church."  "Licensed  ministers,  exhorters  and  ruling  elders,  with  two  dele- 
gates from  each  church  of  God"  shall  "be  members  of  this  Eldership."  Duties 
of  officers  were  defined,  times  of  meetings  fixed;  provision  made  for  a  Standing 
and  Stationing  Committees,  and  their  powers  defined;  requiring  transfers  to,  or 
from,  other  Elderships.  Applicants  for  license  must  present  "evidence  of,  1. 
A  divine  call;  2.  Fitness  for  the  office;  3.  Qualifications  required  by  the 
Scriptures,  and  4.  Ability  to  teach."  The  liberal  endowment  of  Findlay  Col- 
lege was  urged.  The  Eldership  pledged  itself  to  "do  all  in  our  lawful  power  for 
the  submission,  and  for  the  prohibition  amendment  to  the  State  Constitution."  A 
missionary-at-large  was  provided  for  "to  be  supported  by  each  preacher  in  charge 
■of  churches  taking  up  collections  in  all  the  churches  under  his  care."  The  Stand- 
ing Committee  was  empowered  "to  sell  the  Salem  church  property  in  Owen 
county."  Seven  appointments  were  made,  of  which  four  were  missions,  with 
Whisinnand  as  General  Evangelist. 

3rd  Southera  Indiana  Eldership. — As  in  the  previous  year  only  half  the  teach- 
ing elders  were  present  at  the  session  held  again  at  the  Union  Bethel,  beginning 
October  11,  1883,  with  five  ruling  elders  and  eight  delegates.  But  there  were 
only  ten,  instead  of  twelve,  teaching  elders  on  the  Roll.  I.  J.  Whisinnand  de- 
livered the  Opening  Sermon,  from  II.  Cor.  vi.  1.  A  ballot  resulted  in  the  election 
of  A.  Miller,  Speaker;  AVilliam  Buzzard,  Clerk,  and  J.  Miller,  Jr.,  Treasurer. 
The  beginning  was  made  for  a  Missionary  Fund,  by  directing  the  pastors  "to  so- 
licit donations  for  that  purpose,  and  when  such  fund  amounts  to  $10.00,  to  be 
loaned  out,  only  the  interest  to  be  used."  A  similar  provision  was  made  for  a 
Widows'  and  Superannuated  Fund.  The  "State  prohibitory  amendment  against 
the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks  as  a  beverage"  was  endorsed. 
The  education  of  the  ministry  was  insisted  upon  because  "the  Bible  is  the  foun- 
dation of  all  true  knowledge;"  because  "the  mind  is  the  window  of  the  soul,  and 
a  minister  of  the  gospel  must  cast  the  rays  of  light  through  that  window  in  order 
to  save  the  immortal  soul,"  and  because  "men  must  be  convinced  of  the  error  of 
their  ways  before  they  will  or  can  reform."  As  "the  Constitution  provides  for  a 
Ministerial  Association,"  a  committee  was  appointed  "to  arrange  a  program,"  the 
Eldership  selecting  the  time  and  place.  The  Treasurer  reported  no  missionary 
money  in  his  hands;  Widows'  Fund,  $23.24;  Contingent  Fund,  $6.45.  Each 
pastor  was  required  "to  preach  at  least  one  sermon  at  each  appointment  during 
the  year  on  the  support  of  the  ministry  as  taught  in  the  Bible."  The  sum  of 
$19.50  was  "apportioned  among  the  several  churches  for  the  Contingent  Fund." 

4th  SoutheiTi  Indiana  Eldership. — The  Eldership  in  1884  was  unusually  small, 
there  being  present  three  teaching  elders  out  of  the  eight  on  the  Roll,  and  ten 
ruling  elders  and  delegates,  with  two  exhorters.  The  Opening  Sermon  was 
preached  on  the  evening  of  October  1st,  by  C.  T.  McKee,  from  Matt.  xiii.  3.  I.  J. 
Whisinnand  was  chosen  Speaker  on  the  morning  of  October  2nd;  William  Ruzzard, 
Clerk,  and  J.  Miller,  Jr.,  Treasurer.  "Religion  is  in  a  very  low  condition,"  was 
the  report  of  the  Committee,  "and  is  not  progressing  as  it  should."     One  name 


620  History  of  the  Churches  of  God 

was  taken  from  the  Ministerial  Roll  during  the  year  by  death,  that  of  T.  T.  Miller, 
"who  had  long  been  known  as  a  true  follower  of  Christ."  The  condition  of  the 
treasury  indicated  improvement,  as  there  was  in  the  Widows'  Fund  29.44 1/^; 
Contingent  Fund,  $10.05;  Home  Contingent  Fund,  $20.00.  The  Eldership  lost 
one  minister,  A.  Miller,  by  transfer  to  Kansas.  There  were  only  four  fields  of 
labor,  one  of  them  a  mission,  and  one,  unsupplied,  a  single  school-house  appoint- 
ment. The  Greene  county  circuit  had  four  points;  the  Daviess  and  Martin  coun- 
ties, five,  "and  other  places  as  much  as  they  can,"  two  ministers  and  an  assistant 
having  been  assigned  to  this  field.  McKee  was  "to  preach  at  least  one  sermon  at 
each  preaching  point  in  the  Eldership  during  the  next  Eldership  year." 

5th  Southern  Indiana  Eldership. — The  Southern  Indiana  Eldership  was 
largely  the  theater  of  Mrs.  Woodworth's  revival  labors,  in  so  far  as  she  confined 
herself  within  Church  limitations.  This  is  in  part  the  explanation  of  the  fact  that 
so  large  a  per  centage  of  the  teaching  elders  of  the  Eldership  were  at  one  time 
women.  But  in  1885,  when  the  Eldership  convened  at  Shiloh,  Daviess  county, 
Ind.,  October  22nd,  the  name  of  only  one  is  given  as  having  reported.  Six  of  the 
eleven  teaching  elders  were  absent;  five  ruling  elders  and  eight  delegates  were 
present.  On  the  previous  evening  E.  M.  Love  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from 
John  iii.  3.  I.  J.  Whisinnand  was  elected  Speaker;  William  Buzzard,  Clerk,  and 
John  Miller,  Jr.,  Treasurer.  Funds  were  very  limited.  There  were  but  $29.44 
in  the  Widows'  and  Superannuated  Fund,  and  $12.45  in  the  Contingent  Fund. 
The  small  assessments  of  from  25  cents  to  $1.50  were  only  "partially  complied 
with."  The  Eldership  pledged  itself  "to  use  all  our  influence  in  every  honorable 
way  to  crush  the  hydra-headed  monster  of  intemperance.  .  .  .the  greatest  curse 
of  our  land."  Religion  was  declared  to  be  "at  a  very  low  ebb,  and  not  progressing 
as  it  should."  The  Eldership  rejoiced  at  the  prospects  of  a  good  Institution  of 
learning  at  Findlay,  Ohio,  and  the  brethren  were  urged  "to  assist  all  they  can  with 
their  means."  The  Eldership  deplored  its  inability  to  "aid  in  carrying  forward 
the  foreign  misisonary  work  at  the  present  time,"  as  it  stood  greatly  in  "need 
of  a  missionary  at  home,  and  had  not  the  means  to  put  one  in  the  field."  One 
preacher's  license  was  withheld  and  his  "name  dropped  from  the  ministers'  list" 
because  "he  continued  to  hold,  and  declared  his  intention  to  preach,  a  doctrine 
not  in  harmony  with  the  doctrine  of  the  Bible  as  received  and  taught  by  the 
Church  of  God  in  America."  There  were  three  circuits,  with  six  ministers,  and 
one  "missionary-at-large."  The  Eldership  decided  to  hold  a  Ministerial  Associa- 
tion; appointed  the  time  and  place;  named  the  minister  to  "deliver  the  opening  dis- 
course," and  appointed  a  committee  on  program. 

eth  Southern  Indiana  Eldership. — While  one  teaching  elder  was  added  to 
the  number  in  1885,  and  none  dismissed,  according  to  the  Minutes,  there  were  but 
ten  enrolled  in  1886,  six  of  whom  were  absent.  Five  ruling  elders  and  seven 
delegates  were  in  attendance.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  in  the  Union 
Bethel,  Greene  county,  on  October  6th,  by  E.  M.  Love,  from  Rev.  ii.  10.  I.  J. 
Whisinnand  was  chosen  for  Speaker;  John  S.  AValls  for  Clerk,  and  Whisinnand 
was  also  elected  Treasurer.  The  state  of  religion  was  reported  to  be  "in  a  pros- 
perous condition  throughout  the  bounds  of  the  Eldership."  This  seems  to  be 
confirmed  by  the  Report  of  the  Stationing  Committee,  which  divided  the  territory 
into  five  fields  of  labor,  one  of  which  was  a  mission.  John  S.  Walls,  later  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Illinois  Eldership,  received  license  to  preach  the  gospel.  While  the 
funds  were  exceedingly  limited,  and  no  missionary  money  was  reported,  the 
Eldership  manifested  quite  an  interest  in  mission  work.  A  special  Committee 
on  Missions  was  appointed,  and  an  hour  was  set  apart  to  consider  its  Report. 
This  declared  the  Eldership's  "full  sympathy  with  all  the  interests  of  the  Church," 
and  expressed  a  willingness  "to  do  what  we  can  for  the  upbuilding  of  God's 
kingdom  and  the  salvation  of  souls."  But  "as  an  Eldership  we  are  very  weak; 
In  dollars  and  cents  we  are  very  poor."  But  the  hope  was  expressed  "that  it  is 
not  far  in  the  future  when  we  shall  be  able  to  do  our  part"  in  home  and  foreign 
mission  work.  Much  interest  was  also  developed  in  the  Superannuated  and 
Widows'  Fund,  and  ministers  were  admonished  to  pay  into  it  "annually  the 
amounts  they  feel  themselves  able,"  and  to  "present  the  matter  to  the  churches, 
and  hold  collections  for  the  same." 

7th  Southern  Indiana  Eldership. — Signs  of  progress  are  evident  in  various 
directions  as  the  Journal  of  1887  is  scanned.  The  place  of  meeting  was  the 
capital  of  the  State,  Indianapolis,  Marion  county,  where  a  church  had  been  organ- 
ized.    There  were  important  accessions  to  the  ministry  of  the  Eldership,  as  h.  H. 


The  Southern   Indiana  Eldership  621 

Spiher,  C.  P.  Diltz,  P.  H.  Woodworth  and  Mrs.  M.  B.  Woodworth  presented  trans- 
fers from  the  Indiana  Eldership.  Eight  out  of  fifteen  applicants  for  license  were 
ordained  to  the  ministry,  among  them  three  sisters.  Eight  of  the  fifteen  teaching 
elders  enrolled  when  the  Eldership  convened  were  present,  with  ten  ruling 
elders  and  twenty-three  delegates.  During  the  year  the  Standing  Committee  had 
licensed  two,  one  a  sister.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  on  the  evening  of 
October  12th,  by  W.  L.  Young,  from  Heb.  xiii.  1.  He  was  chosen  Speaker;  J.  S. 
Walls,  Clerk,  and  I.  J.  Whisinnand,  Treasurer.  The  Eldership  placed  itself  on 
record  as  against  the  teaching  that  sanctification  is  "a  second  work  of  grace," 
but  "that  it  is  obtained  in  a  true  conversion,  and  that  we  attain  higher  attainments 
by  a  growth  in  grace."  The  "cause  of  God  in  the  Eldership"  was  reported  to  be 
"in  a  prosperous  condition,"  and  "prospects  for  the  future  very  encouraging."  A 
committee  to  revise  the  Constitution  reported  in  favor  of  "President"  as  the  of- 
ficial title  of  the  presiding  officer,  which  the  Eldership  approved.  The  Eldership 
ordered  a  seal  to  be  procured  for  the  use  of  the  body.  It  was  decided  to  hold  a 
Sunday-school  Convention  in  June,  1888,  and  a  committee  to  prepare  a  program 
was  appointed.  There  were  eleven  fields  of  labor,  and  as  many  pastors.  The 
Woodworths  were  designated  as  "General  Evangelists,"  and  C.  P.  and  Sarah  Diltz 
"evangelists,  to  labor  within  the  bounds  of  our  Eldership."  This  apparent  dis- 
tinction was  construed  by  the  Woodworths  as  a  license  to  go  beyond  the  bounds 
of  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership,  and  even  into  the  territory  of  other  Elder- 
ships, to  labor  in  their  capacity  as  evangelists. 

8th  Southern  Indiana  Eldership. — At  Anderson,  county  seat  of  Madison 
county,  Ind.,  as  at  Indianapolis,  Mrs.  Woodworth  was  successful  in  organizing  a 
comparatively  large  church,  which  in  the  Fall  of  1887  erected  a  fine  bethel.  Here 
the  Eldership  convened  October  2,  1888.  The  previous  evening  I.  J.  Whisinnand 
delivered  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  I.  Tim.  iv.  16,  who  was  chosen  President,  with 
J.  B.  Baring,  Clerk,  and  F.  M.  Bickman,  Transcribing  Clerk.  There  were  present 
seventeen  ministers,  thirteen  ruling  elders  and  eighteen  delegates;  while  four- 
teen ministers  were  absent.  Five  new  church  organizations  were  reported.  Mrs. 
Woodworth's  independent  spirit  manifested  itself  before  she  was  a  member  of  the 
Eldership  a,  year.  For  in  February,  1888,  the  Standing  Committee  declared  her 
license  forfeited,  as  well  as  that  of  her  husband,  because  "they  could  not  con- 
form to  the  laws  of  co-operation  of  the  General  Eldership,  as  found  In  Article 
xxlx.  in  the  Constitution  of  said  body."  This  Article  simply  restrained  the  mem- 
bers "of  one  Eldership"  from  removing  "into  the  territory  of  another  Eldership, 
or  laboring  within  its  territory,  without  becoming  a  member  of  said  Eldership  and 
coming  under  its  .iurisdiction,"  a  provision  which  is  generally  approved  by  re- 
ligious bodies.  The  Woodworths  had  been  holding  revival  meetings  at  several 
points  within  the  territory  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  whose  Standing 
Committee  made  complaint  to  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  Southern  Indiana 
Eldership,  which  resulted  In  the  above  action.  This  course  on  the  part  of  the 
Woodworths  was  the  beginning  of  trouble  and  disintegration  in  the  churches  or- 
ganized by  them  at  Indianapolis,  Muncie,  Anderson  and  other  points.  The  name 
of  A.  P.  Stout,  pastor  at  Indianapolis,  was  "dropped  from  the  ministerial  Roll." 
He  came  in  under  Mrs.  Woodworth's  revival.  The  license  of  G.  Haines  "was  re- 
voked for  insubordination."  The  church  at  Indianapolis  was  divided,  the  larger 
part  withdrawing  from  the  Eldership.  There  was  little  cohesion  in  the  churches 
organized  by  Mrs.  Woodworth,  and  the  stability  of  the  converts  was  proverbially 
of  an  inferior  order.  But  the  Woodworths  sent  a  letter  of  apology  to  the  Elder- 
ship, which  was  "accepted,"  and  "they  were  reinstated  as  ministers  of  the  South- 
ern Indiana  Eldership,  and  a  transfer  was  granted  them."  The  Eldership  made 
strenuous  efforts  to  raise  the  amounts  of  the  several  General  Eldership  Funds  ap- 
portioned to  it;  but  it  realized  that  this  was  not  possible  "on  account  of  the  Im- 
poverished and  financially  weak  condition  of  the  churches."  But  it  adopted  a 
resolution  to  "organize  a  Board  of  Missions,"  and  manifested  a  zealous  and  ag- 
gressive spirit.  It  also  "instituted  an  Eldership  Contingent  Fund,  out  of  which 
the  current  expenses  of  the  Eldership  shall  be  paid."  The  new  Board  of  Missions 
began  work  at  once,  advising  "the  sisters  of  each  local  church  of  God  to  organize 
a  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society,  to  help  to  raise  missionary  money  to  carry 
on  the  work  of  the  Lord  in  this  Eldership."  It  also  appointed  a  general  collecting 
agent  for  the  Board.  There  were  thirteen  appointments  made  by  the  Stationing 
Committee. 

9th  Southern  Indiana  Elderahip. — A  successful  revival  meeting  had  been  held 


622  History  of  the  Churches  of  God 

and  a  church  organized  in  Louisville,  Ky.,  by  Mrs.  Woodworth,  which,  with  one 
organized  in  Greene  county,  Ind.,  was  "received  and  enrolled"  when  the  Elder- 
ship convened  at  Union  Bethel,  Greene  county,  October  1,  1889.  The  previous 
evening  H.  H.  Spiher  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Mark  xvi.  15.  There 
were  present  thirteen  teaching  elders,  nine  ruling  elders  and  sixteen  delegates. 
I.  J.  Wliisinnaiid  was  made  President;  and  J.  S.  Walls,  Clerk,  and  Whisinnand^ 
Treasurer.  The  transfers  of  P.  H.  and  31.  B.  Woodwoi-th  had  not  been  made  use 
of,  as  M.  15.  Woodwoi'th  "reported  by  letter,"  and  her  "license  was  renewed;"  but 
P.  H.  Woodworth  returned  his  license  and  resigned  his  membership,  which  was 
"accepted."  Trustees  for  the  Eldership  were  provided  for,  and  Spiher,  Love  and 
Juhu  i>liller,  Jr.,  were  elected.  Two  sisters  were  granted  licenses  to  preach.  The 
state  of  religion  was  reported  "to  be  iij  a  more  prosperous  condition  than  hereto- 
fore." But  finances  were  low,  as  the  Treasurer  reported  the  receipt  of  only 
$10.60  missionary  money,  and  $14.50  contingent.  The  Superannuated  and 
Widows'  Fund  had  $89.14  to  its  credit.  The  Eldership  strongly  urged  "the 
necessity  of  our  ministers  seeking  as  thorough  a  knowledge  of  English  Grammar 
and  History  (especially  Bible  History)  as  possible.  As  a  modification  of  its  former 
action  on  Sanctification,  the  Eldership  adopted  a  resolution,  declaring,  "that  we 
will,  by  the  help  of  God,  strive  as  never  before  to  heed  the  injunction  of  the 
Scriptures,  'Be  ye  holy,  for  I  am  holy,'  and  so  separate  ourselves  from  all  sin  and 
impurity  of  heart  and  life."  There  were  thirteen  fields  of  labor,  all  but  one  sup- 
plied with  pastors. 

l(Jth  Southern  Indiana  Eldersliip. — The  Southern  Indiana  Eldership  spent 
two  days  prior  to  its  session  in  1890,  holding  the  S.  S.  Convention  and  Ministerial 
Association.  The  three  simultaneous  meetings  were  held  in  the  Cross  Roads 
Bethel,  in  Greene  county,  the  former  two  on  October  14th  and  15th,  and  the  lat- 
ter beginning  October  16th.  The  growth  and  strength  of  the  churches  were 
gratifying.  There  were  also  two  new  organizations  reported;  but  "some  purgings 
were  necessary"  in  the  churches  of  such  heterogeneous  elements  as  were  brought 
together  under  the  Woodworth  excitements.  The  church  at  Louisville,  Ky.,  "the 
first  organization  of  the  Church  on  Kentucy  soil,"  was  composed  of  "a  few  good, 
noble  brethren  for  the  Church  of  God,  straight  and  sound  in  an  organized  church 
of  God  in  the  midst  of  a  great  and  growing  city."  H.  H.  Spiher  was  appointed 
pastor  of  this  church,  and  was  also  "to  work  as  a  general  evangelist  in  the 
Southern  Indiana  Eldership."  Besides  Louisville,  Ky.,  there  were  twelve  fields 
of  labor,  all  supplied  with  pastors,  including  Indianapolis.  The  Board  of  Mis- 
sions of  the  Eldership  "consisted  of  two  sisters  and  three  brethren."  The  "Mace- 
donian call  came  from  Kentucky,"  indicating  favorable  conditions  for  mission 
work  in  that  State;  but  the  General  Evangelist  and  pastor  of  the  Louisville 
church  made  his  headquarters  at  Muncie,  Delaware  county,  Ind.,  and  could  give 
but  little  time  to  Kentucky.  J.  W.  Neely  was  President  of  the  Eldership;  E.  M. 
Love,  Secretary.  The  churches  "felt  the  pressing  necessity  for  more  liberal  giving 
to  the  work"  as  the  demands  for  more  laborers  and  the  widening  of  the  territory 
forced  itself  upon  them.  Hence  also  "the  brethren  and  sisters  holding  licenses 
in  the  Eldership  are  recommended  to  open  up  new  fields  of  labor." 

.  11th  Southern  Indiana  Eldership. — The  same  arrangement  for  holding  the 
S.  S.  Convention,  Ministerial  Association  and  annual  session  of  the  Eldership  was 
followed  in  1891  as  that  which  was  so  satisfactory  in  1890.  The  Ministerial  As- 
sociation was  held  on  October  13th;  the  S.  S.  Convention,  on  October  14th,  and 
the  Eldership  began  its  session  on  October  15th.  On  the  evening  of  October  14th 
the  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by  I.  S.  Havens.  The  Ministerial  Association 
discussed  five  subjects:  1.  Bible  Justification.  2.  Is  it  the  duty  of  ministers 
to  preach  on  the  support  of  the  ministry?  3.  What  is  the  true  meaning  of  Bible 
Sanctification?  4.  What  is  a  church?  5.  Does  the  Bible  teach  a  Trinity  in 
Unity?  In  addition  to  making  assessments  the  Missionary  and  Contingent  Funds 
separately,  delinquencies  were  charged  up  against  churches  which  failed  to  pay 
the  full  amount  assessed  the  previous  year.  Correspondence  was  maintained  be- 
tween the  Eldership  and  the  General  Baptist  Association,  and  I.  J.  AVhisinnand 
was  designated  "to  attend  their  next  Association."  Several  Committees  were 
"appointed  to  investigate  important  matters,"  and  report  to  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee. These  included  the  property  at  Markleville,  where  "certain  expelled 
members  had  rented  the  bethel  to  the  U.  B.  church  half  the  time,"  which  was  de- 
clared "null  and  void;"  charges  against  a  minister  who  "had  invited  a  certain 
sister  into  the  stand  and  gave  her  liberty  to  speak,  which  she  did  in  an  unchristian 


Thk  Southern   Indiana  Eldership  623 

manner;"  complaints  touching  finances  and  reorganizing  the  church  at  Muncie. 
Other  troubles  existed  at  Muncie,  "a  number  of  the  members  acting  in  insubordi- 
nation in  different  ways."  It  was  decided  that  no  man  should  be  considered  a 
member  of  the  Church  of  God  who  will  not  conform  to  its  rulings  and  the  rulings 
of  the  Eldership. 

12th  Southern  Indiana  Eldersliip. — The  transfer  of  W.  R.  Covert  to  the 
Southern  Indiana  Eldership  added  greatly  to  its  strength,  and  gave  it  a  man 
capable  of  contending  with  the  somewhat  abnormal  conditions  in  and  surround- 
ing the  Eldership.  At  its  session  which  convened  with  the  church  at  Union 
Chapel,  Greene  county,  October  6,  1892,  the  recognition  of  this  fact  by  the  body 
became  quite  clear.  He  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon  on  the  evening  of  Oc- 
tober 5th.  He  was  made  the  pastor  at  Anderson  and  Muncie,  where  there  was 
considerable  trouble.  He  was  also  chosen  one  of  the  three  ministerial  delegates 
to  the  General  Eldership  to  convene  in  1893.  The  President  of  the  Eldership  was 
E.  M.  Love;  Clerk,  J.  Vinson.  There  were  appointments  made  to  ten  fields  of 
labor.  Two  of  the  appointees  were  "Eldress  Mary  A.  Shelley,"  and  "Eldress  S.  A. 
Diltz."  No  one  was  appointed  to  Louisville,  Ky.  "The  saloon  traffic,"  the  Elder- 
ship declared  to  be  "a  moral,  mental,  physical,  social,  financial  and  political  curse." 
"No  Christian  should  vote  to  legalize  the  saloon  traffic."  The  "members  of  the 
Church  of  God"  were  urged  "to  use  all  their  intellectual,  moral,  financial  and 
political  power  to  supress  this  great  evil." 

13th  Southern  Indiana  Eldership. — Financially  the  Southern  Indiana  Elder- 
ship was  weak,  as  the  Report  of  its  Treasurer  showed  as  made  some  time  after 
its  session  in  1893.  But  it  paid  its  assessments  for  missionary  purposes  to  the 
General  Eldership.  It  seemed  to  lack  not  only  in  liberality,  but  in  methods  and 
energy.  The  assessments  were  indifferently  paid,  so  that  in  1893  thirteen  out 
of  the  nineteen  churches  were  delinquent.  The  aggregate  assessments  for  all  the 
churches  was  $56.00  for  Contingent  Fund,  and  $112.00  for  Mission  Fund.  The 
Eldership  session  was  held  at  Curtisville,  Tipton  county,  beginning  October  20th. 
E.  M.  Love  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon  on  the  previous  evening.  Twelve  of  the 
twenty-six  ministers  were  present,  nine  ruling  elders  and  delegates  and  two  ex- 
horters.  And  the  names  of  two  ministers  "were  dropped  from  the  Eldership 
Roll,"  while  that  of  one  was  added,  who  had  been  a  Methodist.  E.  M.  Love  was 
chosen  President;  J.  Vinson,  Clerk,  and  I.  J.  Whisinnand,  Treasurer.  Indirectly 
the  "second-work  Sanctification"  theory  was  condemned  by  dropping  the  name 
of  one  minister  "on  account  of  his  second-workism."  To  work  up  one  or  two 
Eldership  Sunday-school  Conventions  two  ministers  were  appointed.  The  death 
of  Joseph  G.  Laughlin,  a  man  ennobled  more  by  nature  than  by  study,  was 
deeply  felt  by  the  Eldership.  He  became  a  member  of  the  body  in  18  64,  and 
served  it  efficiently  in  various  capacities.  There  were  eleven  fields  of  labor,  one 
being  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  to  which  H.  H.  Spiher  was  appointed.  None  of  the 
licensed  sisters  was  made  pastor  at  this  Eldership. 

14th  Southern  Indiana  Eldership. — Efficient  work  was  done  by  pastors  dur- 
ing the  Eldership  year  1893-4.  The  newly-organized  churches  at  Fairview, 
Howesville  and  Pairland  were  represented  at  the  session  of  1894.  Other  evi- 
dences of  progress  were  not  wanting.  The  session  was  held  in  the  Shiloh  Bethel, 
Daviess  county,  and  was  opened  October  11th.  The  Annual  Sermon  was  preached 
by  I.  J.  Whisinnand  the  previous  evening.  Thirteen  ministers  were  present,  and 
eleven  absent,  with  seven  ruling  elders,  ten  delegates  and  four  of  the  six  ex- 
horters.  E.  M.  Love  and  J.  Vinson  were  elected  President  and  Clerk  respectively. 
"The  traffic  in  intoxicating  beverages,"  the  Eldership  declared,  "we  condemn  in  un- 
measured terms  as  an  indirect  traffic  in  the  souls  of  men."  "A  growing  interest 
in  Church  work  throughout  the  Eldership"  was  reported,  as  Indicated  "in  a  great 
gathering  of  souls  into  the  Church,  and  great  energy  and  interest  manifested." 
One  minister,  Jacob  B.  Seneff,  was  removed  by  death  during  the  year.  The  char- 
acter and  services  of  the  deceased  were  such  as  to  make  his  death  a  great  loss  to 
the  body.  The  Eldership  voted  in  favor  of  changing  "Church"  to  "Churches"  in 
the  titles  of  Elderships.  The  churches  were  requested  to  deed  bethels  and  par- 
sonages to  be  built  hereafter  to  the  trustees  of  the  Eldership,  which  were  "author- 
ized to  receive  and  hold  in  trust  all  deeds,  mortgages  and  bequests,  and  moneys 
coming  into  their  possession,  subject  to  the  orders  of  the  Southern  Indiana  Elder- 
ship. "The  Muncie  church  property  was  ordered  deeded  to  the  mortgagee"  "in 
consideration  of  his  mortgage,  expenses  and  costs."  The  appointments  numbered 
eight,  and  there  were  three  ministers  appointed  "to  labor  as  General  Evangelists 
in  the  bounds  of  this  Eldership." 


624  History  of  the   Churches  of  God 

15th  Southern  Indiana  Eldei-ship. — As  the  fifteenth  Southern  Indiana  Elder- 
ship was  held  within  seven  months  of  the  meeting  of  the  General  Eldership,  the 
question  of  changing  the  place  of  meeting  of  the  latter  body  was  extensively  dis- 
cussed. The  Executive  Board  had  changed  the  place  from  Muncie,  Ind.,  to  Har- 
risburg,  Pa.,  which  gave  serious  umbrage  to  at  least  the  Southern  Indiana  Elder- 
ship. The  right  of  the  Executive  Board  to  make  such  a  change  was  called  in 
question;  the  fact  that  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership  did  not  ask  for  the  change 
was  urged,  and  the  offer  to  have  Anderson  substituted  for  Muncie  was  also  set 
forth  as  reasons  why  the  Board  should  "reconsider  its  late  action,  and  have  the 
General  Eldership  meet  at  Anderson."  Reasons,  too,  which  received  no  official 
recognition  were  evidently  exercising  quite  an  influence  in  making  the  change. 
The  Eldership  held  its  session  at  Anderson,  Madison  county,  beginning  with  the 
Opening  Sermon  on  the  evening  of  October  ^,  1895,  by  J.  W.  Neely.  Nineteen 
ministers  were  present,  and  thirteen  absent;  five  ruling  elders  and  eight  dele- 
gates. Two  of  the  delegates  were  women,  and  six  of  the  ministers.  The  officers 
elected  were  President,  J.  W.  Neely;  Clerk,  O.  E.  Smiley;  Assistant  Clerk,  John 
Vinson,  and  Treasurer,  James  Groenendyke.  The  Constitution  was  amended  so 
that  the  Stationing  Committee  would  consist  of  "five  members  of  the  Eldership" 
instead  of  "two  ministers  and  three  delegates."  The  state  of  religion  was  "rea- 
sonably fair,"  and  "the  cause  of  Christ  was  onward."  There  was,  however,  a 
good  deal  of  disputation  in  the  Eldership  and  in  some  of  the  churches.  In  a 
few  instances  "certain  persons  intruded  themselves  into  pulpits"  and  sowed  seeds 
of  discord.  Conflict  of  authority  in  the  local  churches  was  set  straight  by  an  ac- 
tion which  decided  that  "the  ruling  of  the  local  churches  of  God  is  in  the  hands 
of  the  pastors,  elders  and  deacons."  The  evils  of  the  second-work  sanctification 
doctrine  were  manifested  in  the  schisms  which  resulted,  so  that  the  Eldership  con- 
demned the  practice  of  holding  "so-called  cottage  prayer-meetings,  which  are 
often  led  by  dissatisfied  members,  and  especially  by  the  so-called  'Come-Outers,' 
and  those  holding  the  doctrine  of  sanctification  as  a  second  work."  This  doc- 
trine was  repudiated.  "All  their  intellectual,  moral,  social  and  political  powers" 
were  to  be  used  by  "the  members  of  the  church  of  God  of  this  Eldership  to  sup- 
press and  prohibit  the  liquor  traffic."  Mrs.  Woodvvorth  offered  "to  place  the 
church  of  God  members  at  St.  Louis  (not  the  bethel)  into,"  the  Southern  Indiana 
Eldership.  They  were  received.  The  second-work  doctrine  was  also  creating 
trouble  in  said  church.  H.  H.  Spiher  was  appointed  pastor  of  this  church,  against 
whom  "grievances  were  presented  by  certain  complainers  who  believe  in,  and  ad- 
vocate, the  doctrine  of  second-work  sanctification."  There  were  eleven  fields  of 
labor.  The  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  were  "instructed  in  favor  of  the 
system  of  annual  renewal  of  preachers'  licenses." 

16th  Southern  Indiana  Eldership. — The  year  following  the  Eldership  of  1895 
was  one  of  a  good  deal  of  disquietude,  discord  and  contention,  perhaps  insinuated 
in  the  notice  of  the  meeting  of  the  Eldership  in  1896  in  which  it  was  stated  that 
"the  Opening  Sermon  would  be  preached  by  W.  R.  Covert  from  the  words:  "Now 
is  my  soul  troubled,,  and  what  shall  I  say,  John  xii.  27."  The  St.  Louis  church 
also  petitioned  the  Standing  Committee  to  change  the  place  of  the  meeting  of  the 
Eldership  to  some  other  church.  Serious  charges  were  filed  before  the  Committee 
against  four  of  the  ministers,  and  against  one  of  the  churches.  Insubordination, 
disloyalty,  creating  dissensions,  falsifying,  duplicity,  licentiousness,  vulgarity  and 
infidelity  were  among  the  counts  in  the  indictments.  There  were  also  actions  of 
the  Eldership  which  by  implication  revealed  the  abnormal  condition  in  which  the 
body  found  itself,  and  that  notwithstanding  the  report  on  the  state  of  religion, 
which  declared  a  "gain  in  membership,  and  a  marked  improvement  in  spiritual- 
ity." The  Eldership  disapproved  of  any  minister  "in  any  way  or  manner,  either 
directly  or  indirectly,  working  against  any  pastor  in  charge  of  a  field  of  labor,  or 
at  any  of  his  preaching  places,  or  in  any  way  injures  the  influence  of  a  pastor 
among  the  brethren,  or  before  the  public."  Any  one  guilty  of  such  action  was  to 
be  deprived  of  his  license.  The  Eldership  was  flnancially  embarrassed,  and  "three 
or  four  churches  houses"  were  in  danger  of  being  lost  to  the  Eldership.  The 
right  to  discipline  a  whole  church  was  asserted  on  the  ground  that,  "according 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  Eldership,  "all  elders  are  members,"  and  are  thus  "put 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Eldership,"  which  in  case  of  insubordination  has  a 
"right  to  administer  its  local  matters."  In  the  exercise  of  this  power  represen- 
tation was  to  be  denied  to  any  church  "until  its  assessments  are  first  paid  ia 
full."  The  "old  church  of  God  at  Indianapolis"  was  reported  extinct.  The 
Markleville  church  had  only  three  members  left,  and  three  others  were  extinct. 


The  Southern   Indiana  Ei^dership  625 

The  session  was  held  at  Walnut  Grove,  Greene  county,  beginning  October  15,  1896. 
It  was  presided  over  by  I.  J.  Whisiunand,  President;  with  John  Vinson  as  Clerk, 
and  James  Groenendyke,  Treasurer.  Fourteen  of  the  twenty-seven  ministers  were 
absent;  there  were  present  eighteen  ruling  elders  and  delegates,  while  six  ex- 
horters  were  absent.  Assessments  were  made  for  the  Contingent  and  Missionary 
Funds,  but  the  amounts  were  quite  small,  aggregating  ?70.00  for  both  Funds. 
Each  minister  was  also  required  to  pay  "$1.00  into  what  shall  be  known  as  the 
Superannuated  Ministers'  and  Widows'  Fund.  Churches  were  advised  to  form 
Young  People's  Societies,  and  missionary  societies,  and  collect  funds  for  home  and 
foreign  missions.     There  were  eleven  fields  of  labor. 

17th  Southern  Indiana  Eldership. — Neither  the  General  Eldership  nor  any 
Annual  Eldership  at  any  time  came  to  the  point  of  a  deliberate  consideration  of  a 
mutual  union  with  any  other  religious  organization;  several  annual  Elderships  held 
negotiations  with  ecclesiastical  bodies  which  manifested  a  disposition  to  unite 
with  them.  Propositions  of  this  character  were  canvassed  by  certain  churches 
In  Indiana  during  the  Summer  of  1897.  They  reached  a  practical  point  by  Sep- 
tember, so  that  when  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership  met  at  Greensburg,  Decatur 
county,  September  22nd,  an  official  communication  was  on  hand  from  a  minister 
"of  another  Church  of  God  outside  the  Eldership"  containing  overtures  looking 
toward  union.  Initiatory  steps  were  taken,  after  the  Eldership  was  organized  by 
the  elecjtion  of  H.  H.  Spiher,  President;  C.  P.  Diltz,  Clerk,  by  accepting  "the 
friendly  invitation  of  Elder  M.  A.  Hughes  to  send  delegates  to  the  Church  of  God 
which  meets  in  conference  at  Sitka,  Ind.,  October  6-8th,  as  requested  by  that 
body."  H.  H.  Spiher  and  J.  W.  Neely  were  the  delegates.  Twelve  of  the  twenty- 
six  teaching  elders  were  present;  three  ruling  elders  and  six  delegates,  and  one 
of  the  five  exhorters.  Mrs.  Woodworth's  activity  as  an  evangelist  outside  of  the 
Eldership  having  been  officially  criticised,  the  Eldership  freed  itself  of  responsi-  ' 
bility  by  declaring  that  her  license  gave  her  no  such  privilege.  Expressing  high 
esteem  for  her,  she  was  asked  to  devote  more  time  "in  the  bounds  of  our  own 
Eldership."  The  Eldership  took  serious  exception  to  the  action  of  the  Board  of 
Missions  making  appropriations  to  any  point  within  its  bounds  conditional  upon 
the  "withdrawal  of  all  official  relations  from  Mrs.  Woodworth."  It  not  only  re- 
fused to  do  so,  but  demanded  charges  against  her.  The  Muncie  church  property 
having  been  sold,  a  loan  was  asked  of  the  Executive  Board  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship to  redeem  it.  This  was  not  agreed  to  by  the  Board  because  its  terms  were  not 
complied  with.  The  Treasurer's  total  receipts  were  $115.35.  Groenendyke  was 
re-elected  Treasurer.  The  stringent  resolutions  of  1896  against  delinquencies 
bore  fruit,  as  but  one  church  was  in  arrears  on  its  assessments.  The  Standing 
Committee  was  charged  with  the  duty  of  revising  the  Constitution.  There  were 
ten  appointments,  which  included  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  and  Indianapolis, 

18th  Southern  Indiana  Eldership. — E.  M.  Love  attended  the  Conference  of 
the  Church  of  God  at  Sitka,  White  county,  Ind.,  October  6,  1897,  in  lieu  of  H.  H. 
Spiher.  The  body  was  organized  about  1850,  and  at  this  time  numbered  about 
one  thousand.  Their  faith  and  practices  were  about  identical  with  those  of  the 
Eldership.  Their  church  houses  numbered  ten,  with  an  interest  in  a  few  others. 
They  discussed  the  question:  "Would  it  be  profitable  for  us  to  unite  with  the 
Church  of  God?"  A  committee  was  appointed  to  meet  a  similar  committee  of  the 
Eldership.  The  Minutes  of  their  Annual  Conference  at  Sitka  were  forwarded  for 
publication  in  The  Advocate.  A  resume  of  their  beliefs  was  also  published  Jan- 
uary 19,  1898,  over  the  signatures  of  a  committee  of  five  ministers.  They  were 
reported  to  the  Eldership  in  1898  as  "expressing  a  desire  to  unite  with  us  as  a 
body."  But  there  the  matter  rested  so  far  as  both  the  Eldership  and  the  Con- 
ference were  concerned,  except  that  J.  Vinson  of  the  former  attended  the  Con- 
ference and  became  "an  ordained  minister  of  this  Conference."  The  annual 
Minutes  of  the  Eldership  and  Conference  were  published  together  in  pamphlet 
form.  The  session  of  the  Eldership  was  held  at  Fairview  Bethel,  Clay  county, 
and  opened  on  September  29,  1898,  the  sermon  having  been  preached  on  the 
previous  evening,  by  H.  H.  Spiher,  from  Eph.  v.  27.  Theme:  "A  Glorious  Church." 
There  were  ten  of  the  twenty-five  ministers  present,  and  ten  ruling  elders  and 
delegates.  H.  H.  Spiher  was  chosen  President;  C.  P.  Diltz,  Clerk,  and  also  Finan- 
cial Clerk,  and  bonded  in  the  sum  of  $500.00,  and  James  Groenendyke,  Treas- 
urer, who  was  also  required  to  give  bond  in  the  sum  of  $500.00.  The  names  of 
four  "ministers  were  dropped  from  the  Ministerial  Roll."     The  amended  Consti- 

C.   H.— 21' 


626  History   of  the  Churches   of  God 

tution  was  "debated  and  passed  upon."  The  membership  of  the  Eldership  shall 
consist  of  "the  licensed  ministers,  and  two  ruling  elders  from  each  church  who 
shall  be  designated  by  the  church  having  fifty  members  or  less;  also  one  ruling 
elder  from  each  church  for  every  hundred  members,  or  major  fraction  thereof, 
over  fifty."  In  the  absence  of  elders  "other  members  selected  by  the  church  as 
alternates  may  fill  their  seats."  A  Board  of  Missions,  a  Board  of  Education,  and 
a  Board  of  Church  Extension  are  provided  for.  The  Eldership  "sustained  a  great 
loss  "in  the  death  of  J.  W.  Neely.  He  was  "an  able  expounder  of  the  doctrine  of 
the  Church  of  God,  an  able  counselor,  a  true  friend  of  all  good  men,  a  special 
friend  of  young  ministers,  and  one  always  willing  to  sacrifice  that  the  cause  of 
Christ  might  be  built  up."  Thale's  idea  seems  to  have  been  exemplified  in  him: 
"We  can  live  most  justly  and  honestly  if  we  do  not  act  ourselves  what  we  repre- 
hend in  others."  There  were  eleven  charges,  and  Arthur  Barnett,  licentiate,  was^ 
"to  do  missionary  work  in  St.  Louis  under  the  supervision  of  the  pastor  of  the 
First  Church  of  God  in  the  city." 

19th  Southern  Indiana  Eldership. — The  number  of  ministers  of  the  Southern 
Indiana  Eldership  at  its  nineteenth  session  was  twenty-six,  of  which  five  were  wo- 
men. The  strained  relations  between  Mrs.  Woodworth  and  the  Eldership  are 
seen  in  the  placing  of  "her  license  in  the  hands  of  the  Standing  Committee  until 
she  consents  to  work  more  in  the  bounds  of  this  Eldership,  or  takes  her  transfer 
to  the  Eldership  where  she  expects  to  labor  most  in  the  future."  Also  in  another 
action  "discountenancing  physical  healing  and  phenomena  as  not  being  the  fruits 
of  the  Holy  Spirit."  The  session  was  held  with  the  church  at  Shiloh  Bethel, 
Daviess  county,  beginning  October  12,  1899.  H.  H.  Spiher  preached  the  Opening 
Sermon  the  previous  evening.  He  was  chosen  President;  R.  M.  Pine,  Clerk;  G. 
W.  Miller,  Financial  Clerk,  and  James  Groenendyke,  Treasurer.  Spiher  and 
Groenendyke,  by  invitation,  went  to  Idaville,  December  20,  1898,  "to  compare 
points  of  government  and  doctrine  with  some  brethren  who  are  known  as  the 
Church  of  God,"  but  no  conclusions  touching  union  were  reached.  The  church 
property  at  Anderson  was  sold  for  $1,200.00,  amount  of  debt,  subject  to  redemp- 
tion within  three  years,  the  church  to  hold  "joint  possession  with  a  certain  In- 
dustrial school.".  It  was  ordered  that  "a  committee  be  appointed  to  frame  a 
written  form  of  what  we  believe  to  be  a  scriptural  form  of  church  government  for 
the  government  of  local  churches."  The  Board  of  Education  was  "instructed  to 
outline  a  course  of  Studies  to  be  pursued  by  those  desiring  to  enter  the  ministry." 
W.  R.  Covert  was  appointed  "to  bear  the  kindly  greetings  of  the  Eldership  to  the 
General  Baptist  Association  to  be  held  at  Winslow,  Pike  county,  Ind.     Greetings 

from  said  Association  were  delivered  to  the  Eldership  by Manners.     It  was 

claimed  that  the  value  of  Church  property  owned  by  the  Eldership  aggregated 
$6,500.00;  by  local  churches,  $13,725.00;  that  there  were  fourteen  bethels,  seven- 
teen churches;  membership,  1,025;  pastors'  salaries,  $1,196.38.  Seven  appoint- 
ments were  supplied  with  pastors. 

20th  Southern  Indiana  Eldership. — The  President  of  Findlay  College,  C.  Man- 
chester, and  the  Financial  Agent  of  the  College,  attended  the  twentieth  session  of 
the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership  with  the  purpose  of  developing  a  deeper  interest 
in  the  College.  They  succeeded  in  "enlightening  some  in  regard  to  the  magnitude 
of  the  work  and  its  necessity  in  order  to  the  preparation  and  prosperity  of  the 
churches."  The  session  was  held  at  Union  Valley  Bethel,  Greene  county,  begin- 
ning October  4,  1900.  The  oflicers  elected  were  W.  R.  Covert,  President;  R.  M. 
Pine,  Clerk.  Quite  a  number  of  ministers  were  absent,  some  because  of  age  and 
Infirmities,  and  others  because  of  indifference.  One  of  the  "most  important  items 
of  business  transacted  was  a  slight  change  in  the  Constitution,  closing  the  door 
against  isms,  and  not  allowing  parties  to  put  their  own  construction  upon  the  law, 
thus  enabling  the  Eldership  to  guard  the  interests  of  the  churches  more  securely 
against  intruders."  "Incorrect  statements  and  false  representations"  had  been 
put  in  circulation  against  some  members  of  the  Eldership.  These  were  corrected 
so  as  "to  redound  to  the  good  of  the  churches."  The  number  of  fields  of  labor 
was  nine,  all  but  one  supplied;  but  "the  Report  of  the  Committee  caused  some 
friction,"  as  the  assignments  were  not  all  "satisfactory  to  the  churches  and  com- 
munities in  the  southern  part  of  the  Eldership  territory." 

21st  Southern  Indiana  Eldership. — An  important  addition  to  the  Eldership 
was  made  during  the  year  1900-1,  when  the  church  at  Idaville,  White  county,  de- 
cided to  cast  its  lot  with  the  Eldership  of  the  churches  of  God.  At  the  session' 
held  at  Shiloh,  Daviess  county,  opening  on  September  26,  1901,  said  church  "was 


The  Southern   Indiana  Eldership  627 

admitted  to  membership,  and  the  delegates  given  seats."  It  was  at  this  time  the 
strongest  and  most  influential  church  in  the  Eldership.  The  Opening  Sermon  was 
preached  by  W.  R.  Covei't,  the  theme  being,  "Christ  the  Only  Foundation."  H.  H. 
Spiher  was  elected  President;  R.  M.  Pine,  Clerk;  G.  W.  Miller,  Financial  Clerk, 
and  James  Groenendyke,  Treasurer.  It  was  a  session  exceeding  many  former  ones 
in  "the  interest  manifested  on  the  part  of  ministers  and  delegates."  The  Elder- 
ship made  an  effort  "to  raise  the  standard  of  education"  by  adopting  a  Course  of 
Studies,  and  requiring  all  who  "desire  Certificates  of  Ordination  to  pass  the  four 
years'  course  of  reading  and  study."  The  motive  submitted  for  "all  Christians  to 
use  their  influence  to  do  away  with  the  use  of,  and  traffic  in,  intoxicating  liquors," 
and  to  "cast  their  votes  against  the  traffic,"  was  that  such  use  and  traffic  "are 
detrimental  to  the  cause  of  Christ,  and  to  the  success  of  his  church."  "A  more 
liberal  spirit  manifested  by  the  churches"  encouraged  the  pastors  in  entering  on 
their  fields  for  the  coming  year.  There  were  twenty-one  preaching  points  named 
on  the  nine  fields  of  labor,  two  being  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.  J.  W.  Cornell  was  ap- 
pointed General  Evangelist.  W.  R.  Covert  was  the  first  pastor  of  the  church  at 
Idaville. 

22nd  Southern  Indiana  Eldership. — The  church  at  Idaville  had  the  distinction 
of  entertaining  the  General  Eldership  in  1902.  But  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership 
met  at  Cross  Roads  Bethel,  Tulip  P.  O.,  Greene  county,  and  began  its  session 
October  16,  19  02.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  by  W.  R.  Covert,  who  "took 
for  his  theme,  'The  Church  of  God  Composed  of  those  whose  names  are  written  In 
the  Lamb's  Book  of  Life.'  "  It  was  combative  throughout,  and  vigorously  at- 
tacked the  fallacy  of  a  vision  distorted  by  passion  known  as  "the  infallibility  of 
Elderships."  Covert  had  lived  for  some  years  in  an  atmosphere  of  controversy, 
and  was  strong  in  the  defense  of  truth  as  he  saw  it,  or  in  assaults  on  what  to  him 
were  errors.  A  more  moderate  temperament,  it  was  believed,  would  have  en- 
hanced his  power  as  a  disputant.  The  "Official  Reporter"  of  the  session  states, 
.  that  "the  sermon  was  well  received,  and  'co-operation'  was  the  keynote  of  the  Eld- 
ership." This  was  evidenced  by  sundry  actions,  among  them  the  appointment 
of  Mrs.  May  S.  Bloyd,  with  Mrs.  Nettie  Spiher,  and  Miss  Delia  Jewell  as  Assistants, 
"Eldership  organizers  of  Woman's  Missionary  Societies."  Also  the  policy  adopted 
which  relegated  to  the  past  "the  doctrine  taught  many  years  ago  that  it  was  wrong 
for  a  minister  to  receive  a  salary."  A  better  financial  policy  was  adopted,  which 
Covert  called  a  "common  sense  and  scriptural  plan  of  finance."  A  Church  Exten- 
sion Fund  was  also  provided  for  "to  save  our  property  held  in  trust  by  the  Elder- 
ship." In  effecting  an  organization  H.  H.  Spiher  was  chosen  President;  James 
Cornell,  Clerk;  I.  V.  Stalcup,  Assistant  Clerk;  Henry  Ireland,  Treasurer.  Resolu- 
tions were  adopted,  stating  that  the  Eldership  does  "not  approve  of  the  taking  of 
the  money  by  the  Treasurer  of  the  Board  of  Missions"  of  the  General  Eldership, 
"which  was  in  the  treasury  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.,  and  suggesting  its  "return  back  to 
said  W.  G.  M.  S."  And  also,  because  "the  abuse  of  a  good  thing  is  not  an  argu- 
ment against  the  good  thing."  The  "sisters  of  the  churches  of  the  Eldership" 
were  "urged  to  at  once  commence  work  and  the  organization  of  missionary  so- 
cieties," so  that  two  delegates  might  be  appointed  to  attend  the  Convention  to 
meet  in  June,  1903,  "to  form  a  general  society,  as  per  action  of  the  General  Eld- 
ership." The  "locating  and  erecting  of  a  fine  academy  building  in  a  central  place 
for  the  churches  of  God  of  our  Eldership"  was  approved.  This  was  to  be  a  place 
"for  holding  an  annual  camp-meeting  and  a  Chautauqua."  Covert  was  appointed 
as  "promoter  to  see  if  such  a  plan  can  be  carried  out." 

23rd  Southern  Indiana  Eldership. — The  Idaville  church.  White  county,  being 
within  the  boundaries  of  the  Indiana  Eldership,  with  forecasts  of  other  churches 
of  the  "White  River  Conference  of  the  Church  of  God"  coming  over,  probably 
hastened  negotiations  for  the  union  of  the  two  Indiana  Elderships.  On  July  29, 
1903,  announcement  was  made  of  a  meeting  of  the  Standing  Committee  of  the 
Southern  Indiana  Eldership  at  Idaville,  on  August  13th,  and  inviting  "the  Stand- 
ing Committee  of  the  Indiana  Eldership  to  meet  with  us  in  joint  session."  The 
Chairman  of  the  Indiana  Eldership  Standing  Committee  issued  a  notice  simul- 
taneously, calling  a  meeting  at  the  Johnston  Hotel,  Logansport.  Cass  county,  ad- 
joining White  county  on  the  East.  This  notice  stated  the  object  of  "the  joint 
session  of  the  two  Committees  at  Idaville"  to  be  "to  consult  with  reference  to 
uniting  the  two  Elderships."  This  joint  session  was  held  on  the  date  published, 
and  after  "a  free  and  open  discussion"  the  union  was  agreed  to,  and  was  to  be 
effected  by  the  ministers  of  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership  uniting  with  the  In- 


628  History  of  the  Churches  of  God 

diana  Eldership,  and  the  trustees  of  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership  transferring 
the  property  held  by  them  to  the  Indiana  Eldership.  The  former  Eldership  was 
to  "surrender  its  State  Charter  and  return  its  ecclesiastical  Charter  to  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership."  This  action,  however,  did  not  preclude  the  annual  session  of 
the  Eldership  in  1903.  It  therefore  convened,  as  per  adjournment,  at  Shiloh, 
Daviess  county,  September  22nd.  The  Annual  Sermon  was  delivered  by  I.  V. 
Stalcup.  The  officers  chosen  were  W.  11.  Covert,  President;  R.  M.  Pine,  Clerk; 
G.  W.  Miller,  Financial  Clerk;  Henry  Ireland,  Treasurer.  It  was  evident  that 
new  life  and  energy  had  been  infused  into  the  body,  and  a  determination  was 
evinced  "on  the  part  of  the  churches  and  n;inisters  to  keep  up  with  the  times." 
After  appointing  the  ministers  to  the  different  fields  of  labor,  six  in  number,  and 
adopting  resolutions  on  the  missionary  and  other  interests,  the  question  of  "uni- 
ting with  the  Indiana  Eldership  as  a  whole"  was  taken  up.  "After  mature  de- 
liberation and  strong  discussion,  it  was  unanimously  agreed  to,  on  certain  condi- 
tions." The  Eldership  consisted  of  twenty-seven  teaching  elders,  of  whom  fifteen 
were  absent;  six  ruling  elders,  and  eleven  delegates.  Two  women  were  enrolled 
as  teaching  elders,  and  six  as  delegates.  One  Transfer  for  all  the  ministers  was 
signed  by  the  President  and  Clerk  of  the  Eldership,  and  a  certified  list  of  ruling 
elders  and  delegates.  These  were  at  once  carried  to  the  Indiana  Eldership  in  ses- 
sion at  Sugar  Grove,  Noble  county,  and  after  considerable  discussion  were  ac- 
cepted, and  conditions  agreed  to,  and  the  two  Elderships  were  one. 


XII.    THE    KANSAS    AND    MISSOURI    ELDERSHIP. 


1st  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership. — The  last  Eldership  was  formed  fourteen 
years  ago,  in  1857,  and  yet  quite  an  amount  of  Church  extension  work  was  done 
during  these  years.  Emigrants  had  been  going  into  Missouri,  Kansas  and  Ne- 
braska. In  some  instances  colonies  of  Church  families  had  located  in  different 
counties,  constituting  centers  for  Church  work.  These  called  for  preachers,  and 
several  had  responded  as  early  as  1865.  The  territory  in  south-western  Missouri 
and  south-eastern  Kansas  was  at  quite  a  distance  from  the  territory  of  any  or- 
ganized Eldership.  The  ministers  were  from  the  West  Ohio  Eldership,  the  In- 
diana, the  Southern  Indiana,  the  Iowa,  the  West  Pennsylvania  and  the  East  Penn- 
sylvania, as  well  as  one  from  the  Texas  Eldership,  all  without  any  official  bond  of 
unity  except  that  some  of  them  were  in  the  employ  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the 
General  Eldership.  The  work  prospered  reasonably  well,  and  the  prospects  in 
both  States,  Missouri  and  Kansas,  were  hopeful  and  encouraging.  These  brethren 
and  ministers  felt  the  need  of  closer  association  and  of  a  governing  body  in  their 
midst.  Consequently,  but  whether  through  their  initiative  or  not  can  not  now  be 
known,  at  the  General  Eldership  at  Decatur,  111.,  in  1866,  on  motion,  "the  brethren 
in  Kansas  were  authorized  to  form  themselves  into  an  Eldership,  if  they  deem  it 
practicable."  But  no  action  was  taken,  nor  was  the  matter  agitated  until  toward 
the  Fall  of  1871,  when  C.  15.  Konkel  and  D.  Keplinger  and  a  few  others  began  to 
urge  the  organization  of  the  Eldership.  There  was  some  opposition,  partly  on 
the  ground  that  the  territory  was  claimed  to  be  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership,  and  said  Board,  it  was  apprehehded, 
might  withdraw  its  support,  and  go  elsewhere.  Besides,  Iowa  Eldership  had 
taken  up  the  work  in  the  northern  part  of  the  State.  Nor  was  it  a  settled  ques- 
tion whether  the  permission  granted  to  organized  an  Eldership  in  1866  had  not 
lapsed  with  the  General  Eldership  session  of  1869.  Hence  the  further  inquiry  as 
to  whether  the  brethren  who  were  leading  in  the  movement  were  "not  too  fast." 
Keplinger,  "who  has  taken  the  lead  in  the  matter,"  took  the  precaution  to  com- 
municate with  R.  H,  Bolton  and  other  members  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the 
General  Eldership,  received  encouragement  enough  to  urge  the  organization  in 
1871,  instead  of  waiting  until  after  the  General  Eldership  of  1872.  He  thought, 
for  some  unexplained  reason,  that  "we  will  be  losers  by  deferment,"  and  hence, 
wrote  Rolton  in  October,  1871,  he  "proposes  to  organize  this  Fall."  Bolton  re- 
called the  General  Eldership  action  of  1866,  and  assumed  that  it  has  full  force. 
An  appeal  to  the  Editor  of  The  Church  Advocate  elicited  a  reply  in  which  it  was 
stated  that  the  General  Eldership  in  1866  had  "given  them  right  to  organize  them- 
selves into  an  Eldership  when  they  deemed  it  expedient  to  do  so.  That  right  they 
still  have."     The  Editor  also  stated  that  "the  occupying  of  part  of  Missouri  by 


The   Kansas  and   Missouri   Eldership 


629 


the  Iowa  Eldership  did  not  determine  the  question  of  boundary."  Thus  the  ob- 
jections having  been  answered,  the  brethren  seemed  a  unit  in  favor  of  the  im- 
mediate organization  of  the  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership.  Accordingly  a  meet- 
ing of  ministers  and  ruling  elders  and  delegates  was  called  at  the  Keplinger 
school-house,  Crawford  county,  Kas.,  being  on  the  Missouri  State  line,  the  second' 
county  north  of  the  Oklahoma  State  line,  for  November  13,  1871.  At  this  time 
there  were  nine  organized  churches  within  the  territory  to  be  included  in  the 
boundaries  of  the  proposed  Eldership,  of  which  seven  were  in  Missouri  and  two 
in  south-eastern  Kansas,  and  seven  preachers.  On  Sabbath,  November  12th,  there 
were  preaching  services,  and  on  Monday  morning  they  met  for  business.  The  fol- 
lowing resolution  was  submitted,  discussed  and  adopted:  "Resolved,  That  it  is 
expedient  that  we  form  ourselves  into  an  Eldership  capacity,  thereby  enabling  us 
to  have  some  kind  of  co-operation  system  among  ourselves."  An  enrollment  was 
made  to  "ascertain  who  will  become  members  of  this  body,"  when  "the  following 
presented  themselves:  Teaching  elders: — D.  Keplinger,  C.  B.  Konkel,  W.  Ship, 
man,  Wm.  Konkel  and  J.  C.  Cunningham.  Ruling  elders: — D.  Gross,  Wm.  C.  Rutli 
and  A.  Whisler.     Delegates: — H.  S.  Berkstresser,  T.  J.  Stephens,  S.  J.  Konkel,  A. 


D.  Keplinger. 


J.  Davidson,  J.  B.  Kiling  and  T.  R.  Funk."     S.  V.  Sterner  and  D.  Blakely  were 

absent,  the  latter  on  account  of  illness;  but  both  were  represented  by  letters,  ex- 
pressing their  intention  to  become  members  of  the  Eldership,  and  they  were  en- 
rolled as  members.  "D.  Keplinger  was  appointed  Speaker  by  ballot,"  and  O.  B. 
Konkel,  Clerk.  Rules  of  Order  were  adopted,  identical  with  those  of  the  Iowa 
Eldership.  Committees  were  appointed  by  the  Speaker  on  Arrangements.  Over- 
tures, State  of  Religion,  License,  Finance  and  Resolutions.  The  Eldership  elected 
a  Standing  Committee  of  three,  and  a  Stationing  Committee  of  three.  Thomas 
Stephens  made  application  for  license  to  preach,  but  "he  was  recommended  to  im- 
prove his  talents  another  year."  A  delegate  was  elected  to  the  General  Eldership 
in  1872,  and  was  "instructed  to  use  his  influence  to  have  the  General  Eldership 
give  us  all  the  territory  south  of  the  Missouri  River."  Provision  was  made  for  an 
Opening  Sermon  at  the  next  Eldership.  On  temperance  the  Eldership  declared 
that  "the  use  of  ardent  spirits  is  a  great  moral  evil,"  and  that  "we  will  counten- 
ance all  lawful  means  for  the  suppression  of  this  great  evil  in  our  land."  It  "rec- 
ommended and  encouraged  the  organization  of  Sabbath-schools  throughout  the 
bounds  of  the  Eldership."  It  appointed  delegates  to  attend  "Sabbath-school  Con- 
ventions .in  Crawford  and  adjoining  counties."     Ministers  from  other  parts  of  the 


630  History  o^  the  Churches  of   God  ' 

country"  were  earnestly  invited  "to  come  and  join  in  with  us  in  carrying  on  the 
glorious  cause  of  religion."  The  periodicals  of  the  General  Eldership  were 
strongly  approved.  The  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership  was  "instructed  by  his 
influence  and  vote  to  have  established  by  the  General  Eldership  a  'Tract  Fund,' 
to  publish  tracts,  books  and  pamphlets  in  the  interest  of  the  Church  of  God." 
The  Stationing  Committee  created  the  circuits  of  Leavenworth  county,  Kas.  ; 
Bourbon  and  Linn  counties,  Kas.;  Montgomery,  Wilson  and  Allen  counties,  Kas.; 
Crawford  county,  Kas.,  while  Blakely  and  Sterner  were  to  labor  among  the 
churches  in  Missouri. 

David  Keplinger  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  born  September  1,  1823,  and  died 
at  the  Soldiers'  Home  in  California,  November  13,  19  07,  aged  84  years,  2  months 
and  13  days.  He  was  ordained  to  the  ministry  by  the  Ohio  Eldership,  in  1849. 
He  became  identified  with  the  Indiana  Eldership,  in  which  he  labored  until  June, 
1852,  when  he  removed  to  Wells  county,  Ind.,  and  became  a  member  of  the  In- 
diana Eldership  on  November  1st,  of  that  year.  He  soon  became  a  prominent 
member  of  this  Eldership,  a  successful  missionary  and  an  indefatigable  worker. 
He  presided  over  the  Eldership  as  Speaker  in  1853,  1854  and  1855.  He  traveled 
some  very  large  circuits,  one  of  them,  in  1854,  was  "450  miles  around."  At  the 
Indiana  Eldership  in  1867  he  was  among  the  absentees.  He  reported  by  letter, 
stating  that  on  October  3,  1866,  he  left  for  Missouri,  locating  in  Jackson  county. 
Thence  he  removed  to  Crawford  county,  Kas.  He  continued  to  labor  in  Missouri 
and  Kansas  until  he  removed  to  California,  where  he  still  did  considerable  preach- 
ing, and  reported  annually  to  his  Eldership  up  to  1907.  He  was  remembered  by 
his  Eldership  "as  the  one  great  helper  in  the  cause  of  the  Master."  It  regarded 
him  as  "our  beloved  brother  whom  Providence  has  called  to  the  home  above." 
He  was  pronounced  "faithful  to  the  Kansas  Eldership,  of  which  he  was  a  charter 
member,  also  faithful  to  his  fellow  men  and  to  the  God  he  so  fondly  loved."  Of 
limited  education,  his  strength  lay  in  his  natural  talents  and  the  nobility  of  his 
character  and  fulness  of  his  consecration. 

2nd  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership. — The  territory  of  the  Kansas  and  Mis- 
souri Eldership,  as  claimed  according  to  actions  of  the  Stationing  Committee  was 
exceptionally  large,  including  the  two  States.  Appointments  were  made  to  the 
counties  in  the  extreme  north-eastern  and  south-eastern  counties  of  Kansas,  and 
the  south-western  and  north-western  and  central  counties  of  Missouri,  while  the 
Iowa  Eldership  was  requested  to  supply  Peakville,  in  the  north-eastern  corner  of 
the  State.  Hence,  there  was  "a  lack  of  active  workers  to  supply  the  demand"  at 
the  second  Eldership.  The  ministers  and  delegates  assembled  at  the  Frederick 
school-house,  Cass  county.  Mo.,  some  twenty-five  miles  south  of  Kansas  City,  Mo. 
There  were  eight  teaching  elders  present,  and  R.  H.  Bolton,  who  was  made  a  mem- 
ber of  the  body  during  the  session;  two  ruling  elders  and  three  delegates.  D. 
Blakely  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  C.  B.  Konkel,  Clerk.  "The  ground  occupied  by 
this  Eldership,"  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  said,  "properly  speaking,  is  a  mis- 
sionary field,"  and  hence  the  Eldership  looked  for  continued  and  liberal  aid  from 
the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership.  It  rejoiced  over  "past  success," 
and  exhorted  ministers  and  churches  "to  take  courage  to  labor  more  zealously  in 
the  future."  More  missionaries  were  asked  for  the  "inviting  fields  yet  among 
us."  Quarterly  ordinance  meetings  were  recommended.  It  was  suggested  to  the 
Standing  Committee  "to  appoint  at  least  one  camp-meeting  to  be  held  during  this 
year."  The  Eldership  was  deeply  touched  by  the  death  of  Domer,  from  whose 
Eldership  D.  Blakely  came,  and  expressed  the  sense  of  its  "loss  of  a  truly  good 
and  great  man,  whose  brilliant  career  in  the  active  ministry  has  not  only  won  for 
himself  honor  due  the  ministry,  but  endeared  him  to  the  body."  Nine  fields  of 
labor  were  created,  in  addition  to  Peakville,  which  were  to  be  served  by  twelve 
ministers.  In  the  Crawford  county  circuit  was  included  Fort  Scott  mission,  county 
seat  of  Bourbon  county.  Each  preacher  was  required  "to  lift  a  missionary  col-- 
lection  from  each  church  on  his  charge."  And  also  "raise  a  public  collection  for 
Eldership  contingencies."  The  prospects  for  "the  future  growth  and  prosperity 
of  the  Eldership"  were  reported  "flattering,"  and  "if  all  workers  do  their  part,  a 
good  and  glorious  success  may  be  reported  the  following  year."  A  committee  "to 
draft  a  system  of  co-operation,"  which  was  adopted,  "reported  that  of  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  part,  and  in  part  that  of  the  Iowa  Eldership." 

3rd  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership. — The  Eldership  in  1872,  desiring  "to 
meet  further  north  so  as  to  afford  a  favorable  opportunity  for  the  ministers  and 
churches  in  northern  Missouri  and  Kansas  to  attend,"  selected  the  Keystone  Set- 


The   Kansas   and   Missouri   Eldership  631 

tlement,  Clinton  county,  Mo.,  as  the  place  of  holding  its  session  in  1873.  But 
there  was  some  disappointment,  as  seven  of  the  ministers  were  absent  when,  on 
Tuesday,  October  2nd,  the  Eldership  convened.  There  were,  however,  several 
accessions,  as  George  Thomas  and  C.  S.  Bolton  handed  in  their  transfers.  R.  H. 
Bolton,  being  present  and  "received  as  a  member  of  this  body  during  its  session," 
was  elected  "Chairman;"  C.  S.  Bolton,  Clerk,  and  J.  C.  Ozias,  Treasurer.  There 
were  present  eight  ruling  elders  and  four  delegates.  Two  very  important  items 
of  business,  of  which  the  Boltons  doubtless  deserve  the  credit,  were  brought  be- 
fore the  Eldership.  •  R.  H.  Bolton,  George  Thomas  and  D.  Blakely  were  named  as 
a  committee  to  "draft  a  Constitution  for  missionary  purposes."  They  reported 
at  a  missionary  meeting  the  full  draft  of  a  Constitution  of  what  was  called  "The 
Missionary  Aid  Society  of  the  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership."  The  payment  of 
twenty  cents  made  a  person  a  member  for  one  year;  ten  dollars,  a  life  member,  or 
a  subscription  of  $10.00,  with  payment  of  interest,  and  the  principal  at  death,  and 
$100.00  on  the  same  conditions,  "an  honorary  life  member."  The  money  thus 
received  was  to  be  exclusively  appropriated  for  mission  work.  The  amount  of 
$300.00  was  at  once  subscribed.  A  "Constitution  of  the  Superannuated  and 
Widows'  Fund"  was  also  adopted  and  the  money  thus  secured  was  to  be  used  "to 
maintain  superannuated  and  disabled  ministers  in  good  standing,  and  the  widows 
and  children  of  ministers."  By  some  means  the  Report  of  the  Stationing  Com- 
mittee reduced  the  circuits  to  six. 

4th  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership. — In  1874  the  Eldership  returned  to  near 
the  boundary  line  between  the  two  States,  meeting  at  Pleasant  Hill,  Cass  county. 
Mo.,  about  ten  miles  south-east  of  Kansas  City,  on  October  5th.  J.  Moi-eland 
preached  the  Opening  Sermon  the  previous  evening.  Nine  teaching  elders  were 
present,  five  ruling  elders  and  three  delegates.  C.  S.  Bolton  was  elected  Speaker; 
D.  Blakely,  Clerk,  and  J.  C.  Ozias,  Treasurer.  The  error  made  by  the  first  Elder- 
ship in  receiving  "J.  E.  Cunningham  somewhat  irregularly,  he  being  a  member  of 
the  Texas  Eldership,"  which  "had  been  rejected  by  the  General  Eldership,"  was 
corrected,  "by  voting  him  a  member  of  this  Eldership,  and  granting  him  a  license." 
The  Book  Depository  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  was  "hailed  with  joy."  The  delegates 
to  the  General  Eldership  were  instructed  to  use  their  influence  to  have  the  ratio 
of  representation  in  the  General  Eldership  changed  to  one  in  every  fifteen.  The 
Eldership  resolved  that  "the  scriptural  ruling  power  of  each  individual  church  is 
vested  in  the  ruling  elders  thereof."  Some  difficulties  having  grown  out  of  min- 
isters trespassing  on  each  other's  territory,  such  acts  were  strictly  forbidden.  The 
moral  reason  for  abstaining  from  the  use  of  intoxicants  as  a  beverage  were 
strongly  set  forth.  Young  men  contemplating  the  Christian  ministry  were  ad- 
vised to  "avail  themselves  of  the  educational  advantages  offered  so  freely  on  every 
hand."  Cass  county  was  considered  "the  center  of  our  Eldership;"  and  as  it  was 
not  able  to  support  a  minister,  but  "ought  to  be  sustained,"  the  Eldership  made 
an  appropriation  of  $50.00  "for  the  support  of  a  preacher  the  coming  year."  The 
Eldershjp  as  a  committee  of  the  whole  stationed  the  preachers  on  five  circuits, 
three  in  Kansas  and  two  in  Missouri.  The  "news  of  the  prosperity  of  our  beloved 
Zion"  was  "not  as  cheering  as  we  could  wish,"  or  as  was  predicted;  yet  the  Elder- 
ship rejoiced  "to  know  that  numbers  have  been  converted  and  some  churches  or- 
ganized in  our  Eldership  bounds  during  the  past  year." 

5th  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership.— Even  in  so  young  and  small  a  body  as 
the  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership  was  at  this  time,  it  had  its  troubles.  There 
was  a  radical  difference  of  sentiment  on  the  Keystone  and  Caldwell  circuit,  which 
the  Eldership  concluded  could  only  be  adjusted  by  a  division  of  the  field.  The 
Stationing  Committee  with  unaffected  artlessness  thought  "the  whole  circuit  re- 
quired more  piety."  Then  a  spirit  of  "electioneering"  seems  to  have  possessed  the 
representatives  of  circuits,  which  the  Eldership  declared  that  it  "stoutly  con- 
demned, as  calculated  to  anticipate  and  supercede  the  work  of  the  Eldership." 
The  Eldership  convened  at  Center  View,  Cass  county,  Mo.,  October  7,  1875.  The 
officers  chosen  were  C.  B.  Konkel,  Speaker;  S.  D.  C.  Jackson,  Clerk,  and  H.  S. 
Berkstresser,  Treasurer.  There  were  nine  ministers  in  attendance.  John  Coulum, 
a  young  Englishman,  was  ordained.  As  a  tendency  toward  Congregationalism  in 
the  local  churches  manifested  itself,  the  Eldership  called  "the  attention  of  the 
churches  to  a  strict  recognition,  both  in  theory  and  practice,  of  the  scriptural  in- 
vestiture of  the  Eldership  with  the  supervision  and  rule  of  God's  church,  in  con- 
*  tradistinction  to  the  unauthorized  principle  of  Congregationalism."  In  a  strong 
resolution  the  body  disapproved  of  "any  teaching  elder  to  subordinate  his  ser- 


632  History  of  the   Churches  op  God 

vices  in  the  Church  to  his  secular  interests,  so  as  only  to  accept  such  appoint- 
ments as  lie  contiguous  to  his  farm  or  place  of  business,  or  so  circumstance  him- 
self as  to  necessitate  the  residence  of  his  family  many  miles  from  his  scene  of 
activity.  Such  as  are  called,  health  and  opportunity  allowing,  should  be  'wholly 
given  to  the  ministry.'  " 

6th  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership. — Of  the  fifteen  teaching  elders  seven 
were  present  at  the  organization  of  the  sixth  session  of  the  Kansas  and  Missouri 
Eldership  which  convened  at  Polo,  Caldwell  county,  Mo.,  October  5,  1876.  Eight 
ruling  elders  were  present.  The  Eldership  was  organized  by  fhe  election  of  C.  B. 
Konlcel,  Speaker;  D.  Blakely,  Clerk,  and  D.  Keplinger,  Treasurer.  "Intemperate 
use  of  all  things"  was  condemned,  and  the  Eldership  filed  its  "utter  protest  against 
the  use  as  a  beverage  of  all  intoxicating  drinks."  The  written  report  sent  in  by 
the  aged  Wm.  Konkel,  "probably  his  last  report,"  made  a  deep  impression  on  the 
body,  and  was  spread  on  the  Journal  in  full.  He  expressed  the  fear  that  many 
ministers  were  "not  teaching  genuine  conversion,  or  heartfelt  religion.  Hence, 
we  see  so  many  spiritual  declensions  in  the  churches."  "I  have  mourned  to  see 
ministers  and  churches  so  indifferent  in  regard  to  the  kind  of  material  used  in 
establishing  churches."  Finding  more  pressing  needs  for  all  their  funds  in  sup- 
port of  pastors,  it  was  agreed  to  "set  aside  our  Home  Mission  and  Widows'  Fund 
Society  until  such  time  as  our  financial  circumstances  will  justify  us  in  taking 
them  up."  But  the  Eldership  was  careful  to  preserve  inviolate  a  one  hundred 
dollar  trust  fund  donated  to  this  Society.  The  Stationing  Committee  reported 
eight  fields  of  labor,  two  of  them  being  in  Kansas,  in  Crawford  and  Wilson 
counties.  Peaksville  appointment  in  the  extreme  north-eastern  corner  of  the 
State  was  cared  for  by  the  Iowa  Eldership.  The  Eldership  manifested  a  spirit 
of  loyalty  to  the  General  Eldership;  approved  and  commended  its  publications, 
and  expressed  its  willingness  to  bear  its  part  of  all  the  common  burdens. 

7th  Kansas  and  Missouri  Elderehip. — During  the  year  the  Eldership  lost 
several  of  its  strongest  members  by  removal.  C.  S.  Bolton  went  to  the  Nebraska 
Eldership.  John  P.  Coulum  returned  to  England,  and  was  "appointed  mission- 
ary," and  S.  D.  C.  Jackson  was  transferred  to  the  Illinois  Eldership.  In  the  way 
of  accessions  were  G.  R.  Kinzey,  of  the  Iowa  Eldership;  W.  C.  Peters,  of  the  Ohio 
Eldership,  and  Evan  Wilson  and  Clara  Yutzy  licentiates.  The  Eldership  assembled 
with  the  church  at  Frost's  school-house,  De  Kalb  county,  Mo.,  October  4,  1877. 
The  previous  evening  the  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by  D.  Blakely,  from  Matt, 
xxviii.  19,  20.  D.  Keplinger  was  chosen  Speaker;  S.  A.  Wagner,  Clerk,  and  C.  B. 
Konkel,  Treasurer.  The  ministers  were  all  strongly  advised  "to  apply  themselves 
closely  to  study,  keeping  pace  with  the  age  of  advancement  in  which  we  live." 
But  it  was  believed  that  in  addition,  "a  course  of  studies  should  be  fixed  by  the 
Eldership  for  all  ministers  of  the  body,"  and  that  "a  committee  of  three  be 
chosen  annually  to  examine  all  ministers  of  the  body  in  such  branches  as  may 
have  been  assigned  them  by  the  previous  Eldership."  The  renewals  of  licenses 
was  made  dependent  on  passing  in  these  studies.  During  the  year  five  new 
churches  were  organized,  and  one  disorganized.  An  effort  was  made  to  minimize 
the  evil  influence  resulting  "from  preachers  either  neglecting  or  deserting  the 
work  assigned  them,"  by  rendering  them  liable  to  the  censure  of  the  Eldership. 
The  anticipated  death  of  AVm.  Konkel  occurred  "perhaps  at  the  very  time  his 
report,  a  year  ago,  which  will  not  soon  be  forgotten,"  was  being  read,  and  was 
lamented  with  genuine  sorrow.  He  was  "a  noble  father  in  Israel,  whose  wise 
counsels  yet  speak."  Every  licensed  preacher  was  requested  "to  canvass  the 
membership  and  take  a  collection  at  each  preaching  point"  for  the  General  Elder- 
ship Missionary  Fund.  The  Stationing  Committee  made  nine  fields  of  labor, 
three  of  them  being  missions. 

8th  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership. — Returning  to  Kansas,  the  eighth  annual 
session  was  held  at  the  Keplinger  school-house,  Crawford  county,  beginning  Oc- 
tober 10,  1878.  D.  Blakely  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon  the  previous  evening, 
from  Ps.  Ixviii.  11 — The  Word  and  its  publishers.  There  were  eight  teaching 
elders  present,  and  one  delegate.  Balloting  resulted  in  the  election  of  C.  B.  Konkel, 
Speaker;  C.  S.  Bolton,  Clerk,  and  P.  Heflefinger,  Treasurer.  A  judicial  trial  had 
found  one  minister  guilty  of  "contempt  of  Committee,"  and  "untruthfulness;"  but 
acknowledgments  were  accepted,  and  the  offending  member  restored.  Letters  to 
the  Eldership  were  declared  unauthentic  unless  the  names  of  the  ruling  elders 
were  attached  thereto.     The  movement  to  make  a  course  of  studies  effective  bore 


The   Kansas  and   Missouri   Eldeirship  633 

fruit,  as  the  ministers  in  the  course  were  examined  in  English  Grammar,  Church 
History,  Ancient  History  and  Geography.  An  overture  was  adopted  to  the  Iowa 
Eldership,  providing  that  the  worlc  in  Page  county,  Iowa,  be  taken  over  by  the 
Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership  in  exchange  for  the  Peaksville  circuit.  The 
second-work  sanctification  theory  had  been  preached  at  some  points  in  Missouri; 
but  the  Eldership  declared  that  "we  entertain  no  fears  in  relation  to  the  evil 
effects  of  the  error  of  the  second  blessing  doctrine,  clothed  in  a  false  garb,  giving 
it  a  Bible  cast."  On  the  subject  of  temperance  the  deliverance  of  the  Eldership 
was  in  harmony  with  its  doctrine  of  "moderation  in  all  things,  the  rightful  use 
of  all  things  essential  to  our  well  being."  It  defined  "regeneration"  to  be  a 
radical  change  in  the  inner  man,  twofold  in  its  nature,  moral  and  spiritual, 
effected  by  the  power  of  truth  and  the  efficiency  of  the  Holy  Spirit."  And  "re- 
pentance implies  a  deep  humiliation  of  spirit  before  God,  a  deep-seated  indignation 
against  sin,  an  ardent  desire  for  the  remission  of  sin  and  acceptance  with  God." 
On  the  question  of  "the  second  blessing"  in  the  work  of  sanctification  the  yeas 
and  nays  were  called,  resulting  in  yeas,  7;  nays,  3.  This  year  the  Eldership 
mourned  the  death  of  George  Thomas,  who  had  "stood  in  the  front  for  over  thirty 
years  as  a  minister  of  the  gospel;  was  amongst  the  most  useful  preachers  among 
us;  was  the  instrumental  means  under  God  in  the  salvation  of  many  souls,  and 
organized  many  churches."  A  Ministerial  Association  was  appointed  to  be  held 
in  June,  1879.  "Great  declension  in  the  spirituality  of  the  churches"  was  la- 
mented, and  was  attributed  to  "the  neglect  of  prayer."  It  was  accordingly  rec- 
ommended that  "every  church  keep  up  a  weekly  prayer-meeting;  that  every  fam- 
ily, preacher  and  church  member,  keep  regular  family  worship,  morning  and 
evening,  as  far  as  possible."  The  first  day  of  January,  187  9,  was  "set  apart  as  a 
day  of  fasting  and  prayer." 

9th  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership. — The  Eldership  at  the  session  in  1879 
realized  that  it  was  mistaken  clemency  which  restored  a  guilty  preacher  upon  his 
confession,  and  made  him  a  General  Missionary.  For  during  the  year  J.  H.  Wood- 
bury, "twice  censured  for  falsity  and  dishonesty  with  the  brethren,"  in  conjunction 
with  a  few  others,  and  "without  the  consent  and  consultation  of  the  Eldership, 
acted  insubordinately,  and  became  one  of  the  leading  spirits  in  the  organization 
of  an  Independent  Eldership  in  Kansas."  He  was  accordingly  "expelled  from  the 
body,"  and  "we  further  caution  the  brethren  in  Kansas  and  Missouri  of  the  man." 
J.  M.  West,  who  became  "insubordinate,  and  connected  himself  with"  the  Inde- 
pendent Eldership,  was  also  expelled.  Two  additions  in  the  persons  of  Nevnon 
Hill  and  Jasper  Smith  were  received  dliring  the  session.  The  Eldership  convened 
at  Polo,  Caldwell  county.  Mo.,  October  2,  1879.  C.  B.  Konkel  preached  the  Open- 
ing Sermon  on  said  evening.  Theme: — "Repentance  and  Conversion."  Konkel 
had  been  elected  Speaker;  C.  S.  Bolton,  Clerk,  and  P.  Heffelfinger,  Treasurer.  It 
was  becoming  a  practice  to  form  "Circuit  Elderships,"  one  of  which  existed  In 
Crawford  county,  Kas.,  which  transacted  business  for  the  circuit,  recommended 
ministers,  and  arranged  the  affairs  of  the  circuit.  Though  there  "were  divisions 
and  strifes"  during  the  year,  yet  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion  believed 
"the  cause  is  on  the  advance;  some  of  the  obstacles  are  being  removed  from  our 
midst  which  have  been  great  hinderances  to  the  cause,  and  that  the  accessions 
have  been  greater  during  the  year  than  the  number  that  fell  away."  The  min- 
isters were  directed  to  take  collections  at  all  appointments  for  a  Contingent  Fund. 
Co-operation  between  churches  and  the  Eldership  was  insisted  upon,  and  efforts  to 
foster  and  encourage  such  a  spirit  were  to  be  made  by  all  the  ministers  and 
churches,"  and  prayer  was  urged  to  be  made  that  this  "result  may  be  speedily 
accomplished,  until  brotherly  love  and  union  shall  reign,  without  a  schism  in  the 
body."  A  conference  was  solicited  by  "Elder  Linn,  of  the  Baptist  Church,"  with 
"some  of  our  ministers,  at  Pleasant  Hill,  Mo.,"  who  "expressed  a  desire  to  become 
connected  with  the  Eldership  and  take  a  work."  The  invitation  was  accepted, 
the  conference  to  be  held  "some  time  in  the  future."  Three  of  the  nine  circuits 
to  which  ministers  were  assigned  were  in  Kansas — Osage  and  Crawford  counties, 
and  the  South-west  Kansas  Mission.  To  secure  greater  care  in  granting  licenses, 
the  application  of  M.  H.  Northrop  was  refused  because  a  Rule  had  been  adopted 
"requiring  all  applicants  to  be  present." 

10th  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership. — The  last  session  of  the  Kansas  and 
Missouri  Eldership  was  held  at  Keystone,  Clinton  county.  Mo.,  and  began  on  Wed- 
nesday morning,  October  13,  1880.  The  previous  evening  the  Opening  Sermon 
was  preached  by  E.  Wilson,  from  Isaiah  Iv.  7.     The  membership  present  consisted 


634  History   of  the   Churches  of   God 

of  six  ministers,  three  ruling  elders,  three  delegates  and  two  exhorters,  while  ten 
ministers  were  absent.  E.  Wilson  presided  as  Speaker;  N.  Hill  was  Clerk,  and  P. 
Heftelfinger,  Treasurer.  There  were  six  sittings  during  the  three  days  of  the 
session,  apparently  very  busy  ones.  An  appeal  case  came  up  after  organization, 
taken  by  C.  Eckard,  from  the  action  of  the  church  at  Keystone  Bethel,  Kingman 
county,  Kas.,  "on  the  grounds  of  illegality  of  procedure."  After  reading  the  pro- 
ceedings from  the  church  Minutes,  the  appeal  was  entertained.  The  "legality  was 
then  discussed  by  Heftelfinger,  Blakely,  C.  S.  Bolton,  Sudsberry,  Hill  and  Ogden," 
and  "the  action  of  the  church  was  sustained,  and  the  appeal  dismissed."  It  was 
decided  that  applicants  for  license  "before  receiving  a  license  shall  be  solemnly  set 
apart  by  an  ordinational  address,  followed  by  the  solemn  prayers  and  invocation 
of  the  body,  led  by  one  appointed  for  the  occasion  by  the  Speaker."  Positive  reso- 
lutions were  adopted  in  favor  of  "setting  apart  the  seventh  part  of  time  for  special 
service  in  God's  sacred  worship;"  that  "God  commands  the  business  world  to  a 
standstill  during  this  time  for  divine  service  at  his  public  altars,"  and  that  "all 
business  transactions  of  a  worldly  character  on  the  sacred  day  are  wrong,  and 
should  be  rebuked  by  the  example  and  life-acts  of  every  Christian."  In  poetic 
phrases  education  was  lauded,  and  "the  brilliancy  of  our  star  of  educational  in- 
terests" admired,  "as  it  has  assumed  additional  proportions  in  strength  and 
luster."  To  secure  a  better  support  for  the  active  preachers,  each  circuit  was  ad- 
vised to  have  "the  officials  of  each  church  meet  soon  after  the  Eldership,  and  ap- 
point a  committee  to  make  a  pro  rata  assessment  on  each  church,  to  be  paid  by 
said  church  to  the  minister."  Circuit  Elderships  we're  held  on  some  fields,  which 
were  approved.  Against  the  evils  of  intemperance  the  body  spoke  in  clear,  strong 
terms,  and  especially  condemned  "the  visiting  of  saloons  with  the  object  of  tip- 
pling by  any  church  member,"  as  being  "in  direct  violation  of  the  teachings  of 
the  Master."  A  protest  against  "even  the  use  of  tobacco"  was  incorporated  in  the 
resolutions  on  temperance.  A  strongly  worded  protest  was  adopted  against  the 
Iowa  Eldership  for  "taking  entire  control  of  the  Peaksville,  Mo.,  work,  in  supply- 
ing the  pulpit  without  consulting  our  Eldership,"  and  the  matter  was  called  to 
the  attention  of  the  General  Eldership.  On  the  divorce  question  the  Eldership 
"solemnly  protested  against  the  soliciting  for  divorce  and  the  dissolution  of  the 
marriage  relation  in  all  cases  excepting  for  the  cause  stipulated  by  our  Savior,  be- 
lieving this  to  be  the  scriptural  rule."  All  "laborers  within  the  bounds  of  this 
Eldership"  were  "earnestly  entreated  to  devote  their  time  and  talents  to  the  work 
of  sustaining  and  extending  the  cause  in  which  we  labor,  as  a  kind  providence 
may  direct."  Churches  were  admonished  "to  co-operate  in  harmony  with  the 
elders,  not  only  in  appointments  made  by  the  Eldership,  but  in  standing  by  ap- 
pointees with  sympathy  and  support."  Appointments  were  made  to  all  the  cir- 
cuits, ten  in  number,  both  in  Kansas  and  Missouri. 


XIII.    THE  MARYLAND  AND  VIRGINIA  ELDERSHIP. 


1st  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — No  Eldership  had  been  organized  with 
as  much  deliberation  as  the  Maryland  and  Virginia.  This  was  doubtless  the  result 
of  opposition  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  whose  territory  included  Mary- 
land and  Virginia,  and  which  had  built  up  the  work  in  those  States  by  the  em- 
ployment of  its  men  and  means.  The  agitation  to  form  an  Eldership  was  begun 
prior  to  1853,  by  J.  F.  AVeishampel,  a  native  of  Baltimore,  Md.,  and  member  of 
the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  He  was  a  constant  traveler,  going  from  church 
to  church  over  almost  the  entire  territory  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership, 
sometimes  as  authorized  agent  of  The  Church  Advocate,  and  at  other  times  on  his 
own  account.  His  was  ain  inventive,  fertile  mind,  and  his  schemes  were  quite 
numerous,  if  frequently  not  approved,  or  unsuccessful.  A  great  deal  of  his  travel- 
ing in  those  early  days  was  on  foot.  In  this  way  he  got  into  the  homes  of  very 
many  of  the  families  of  the  churches  not  only  in  Maryland,  but  also  in  Pennsyl- 
vania. He  had  thus  canvassed  the  project  extensively  with  the  Maryland  churches 
and  brethren.  In  a  letter  addressed  "To  the  Maryland  Brethren,"  in  1853,  he 
argued  strongly  in  favor  of  organizing  an  Eldership  in  that  State.  In  it  he  states 
that  he  "had  brought  the  matter  before  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  several 
years  ago;   but  it  was  laid  on  the  table."     The  movement  was  not  spontaneous 


The    Maryland    and    Virginia    Eldkrship  635 

with  the  Maryland  churches.  They  knew  the  objections  and  disadvantages.  One 
of  these  objections  was  the  slavery  question;  the  fear  that- an  Eldership  in  Mary- 
land might  become  pro-slavery,  and  thus  cause  serious  trouble.  This  objection 
Weishampel  attempted  to  meet  in  his  open  letter  in  1853.  The  matter  apparently 
slumbered,  after  this  defeat,  for  ten  years,  when,  in  1863,  VVeishampel  made  a 
journey  through  Carroll,  Frederick  and  Washington  counties,  Md.,  on  foot,  and 
agitated  the  matter,  carrying  with  him  a  "Petition"  for  a  Maryland  and  Virginia 
Eldership.  When  his  canvass  was  about  completed  he  published  an  article  in  The 
Advocate,  in  which  he  stated,  that  "all  the  churches  went  in  strongly  for  the 
petition  to  the  next  General  Eldership  for  the  grant  of  the  privilege  to  form  an 
Eldership  in  Maryland,  as  soon  as  the  way  is  ready;"  that  he  thinks  "the  time  has 
•come,  and  has  long  been,  when  Maryland  ought  to  have  an  Eldership  of  her  own." 
He  had  also  with  regret  alluded,  in  June,  1860,  to  the  neglect  of  mission  work  in 
Maryland  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  citing  Frederick  City  as  an  in- 
stance; "but  it  will  be  so  until  Maryland  has  an  Eldership  of  its  own.  All  the 
churches  in  Maryland  seem  favorable  to  such  an  organization."  To  Weishanipel's 
letter  in  1863,  Thomas,  the  Editor,  replied  at  some  length,  and  with  some  severity 
criticised  Weishampel  and  his  project.  "Weishaiiipel  has  laid  hold  again  of  one 
of  his  pet  projects  with  a  will  and  determination  that,  if  directed  to  a  proper  and 
really  useful  object,  ought  to  succeed.  We  have  no  pleasure  in  opposing  or 
throwing  difficulties  in  the  way  of  any  of  the  numerous  schemes  projected  by  our 
mechanically  minded  brother.  We  have  no  misgivings  in  predicting  that,  should 
he  succeed  in  severing  Maryland  from  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  it  would 
result  in  almost  fatal  disaster  to  the  former."  He  then  states  two  objections:  1. 
"That  there  are  only  two  circuits  in  Maryland;"  and,  2,  "The  churches  do  not 
have  the  strength,  even  if  they  should  have  the  pecuniary  means,  to  support  a 
separate  organization."  This  second  objection  he  elaborated  to  a  considerable 
extent.  S.  V.  Steraer,  pastor  of  the  Washington  county,  Md.,  circuit,  took  up  the 
first  objection,  and  endorsed  it,  proposing  that  "an  effort  be  made  to  raise  $50.00 
or  $75.00  missionary  fund  by  the  time  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  meets, 
and  tender  it  to  said  Eldership  on  condition  that  it  find  a  missionary  and  support 
him  out  of  said  fund,  which  would  enable  us  to  form  another  circuit.  An  Elder- 
ship should  never  be  formed  with  less  than  three  circuits."  But  the  "Petition  to 
the  General  Eldership  from  a  number  of  brethren  to  be  granted  permission  to 
form  an  Eldership  in  the  State  of  Maryland,"  was  presented  to  that  body  in  1863. 
It  was  referred  to  a  committee  composed  of  Shoemaker,  Swartz  and  T.  Hickemell, 
who  reported  It  with  a  negative  recommendation,  which  the  Eldership  adopted. 
Thus  the  matter  rested  for  five  years,  when,  in  1868,  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eld- 
ership met  at  Uniontown,  Carroll  county,  Md.  The  matter  was  brought  before 
said  Eldership,  in  an  auspicious  time  and  place,  and  it  was  referred  to  the  min- 
isters and  delegates  present  from  Maryland.  They  met  together  and  discussed 
the  question,  and  then  voted  against  It.  But  at  the  General  Eldership  which  met 
at  Mt.  Carroll,  111.,  May  29,  1872,  "a  memorial  was  received  from  a  number  of 
prominent  brethren  in  the  State  of  Maryland,  praying  this  body  to  grant  them  the 
privilege  of  organizing  an  Eldership  in  their  State."  The  Committee  on  Bound- 
aries, A.  Megrew,  D.  Keplinger  and  J.  F.  Meixel,  reported  favorably  on  this  memor- 
ial, and  fixed  the  boundaries:  "That  the  lines  run  along  the  line  between  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Maryland,  up  to  the  Allegheny  mountains,  and  along  the  line  of  said 
mountains  through  Virginia,  including  all  of  Virginia  east  of  the  Allegheny  moun- 
tains."    This  report  was  adopted. 

The  way  having  been  thus  officially  prepared,  "the  ministers  and  elders  of 
the  churches  of  God  in  Maryland  and  Virginia  met  at  Creagerstown,  Frederick 
county,  Md.,"  in  October,  1872,  to  decide  whether  or  not  an  Eldership  shall  be  or- 
ganized. Ephraim  Garner,  a  lay  elder,  was  elected  President,  and  C.  L.  Amy, 
teaching  elder.  Secretary.  This  Convention  resolved  to  "appoint  the  time  and 
place  for  forming  said  Eldership;"  named  Uniontown,  Carroll  county,  Md.,  as  the 
place,  and  November  27,  1872,  as  the  time;  "requested  all  the  ministers  and  ruling 
elders  in  Maryland  and  Virginia  to  be  present,"  and  "solicited  the  hearty  co-opera- 
tion of  all  the  brethren  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership." 

As  per  action  of  the  Convention,  "the  delegates  appointed  by  the  different 
churches  of  God  in  Maryland  and  Virginia  met  in  Uniontown,  Md.,  on  Wednesday 
evening,  November  27,  1872,  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  an  Eldership  for  the 
State  of  Maryland  and  Virginia.  The  Opening  Discourse  was  preached  by  Ehler 
S.  Spurrier."     The  officers  of  the  Convention  were  made  the  temporary  officers  of 


636 


History  of  the  Churches   of   God 


the  Eldership,  and  it  was  agreed,  "that  all  the  teaching  and  ruling  elders  of  the 
churches  in  Maryland  and  Virginia,  and  all  the  delegates  present,  be  entitled  to 
full  membership  during  the  present  sessions."  To  these  were  added  "all  the 
brethren  whose  names  were  subscribed  to  the  Petition  to  the  General  Eldership." 
The  following,  under  these  actions,  were  enrolled  as  members:  C.  L.  Amy,  \Vm. 
Palmer,  P.  Lookingbill,  B.  Williams,  S.  W.  Naill,  J.  W.  Kipe,  J.  A.  Saxton,  S.  S. 
Richmond,  P,  D.  Collins,  S.  Spurrier,  Wm.  McElroy,  J.  H.  Esterline,  teaching 
elders;  J.  Spielnian,  J.  Shupp,  N.  Greenaualt,  C.  Easterday,  S.  N.  Harbaugh,  John 
Rowser,  P.  Hahn,  B.  Fleagle,  E.  Gamer,  John  Gore,  D.  Fuss,  J.  H.  Chew,  A.  Gar- 
ner, J.  Rowe,  J,  Hooker,  J.  E.  Strickler,  J.  H.  Chi-ist,  Ezra  Garner,  A.  Slonecker,  J. 
Hollenberry,  Joel  Caylor,  D.  S.  Segafoose,  A.  Harris,  S.  P.  Ogle,  Geo.  W.  Gilbei-t 
and  Jesse  Williams,  ruling  elders  and  delegates.  J.  H.  Chew,  C.  L.  Amy  and  P.  D. 
Collins  were  named  as  a  committee  "to  form  a  Constitution  and  By-Laws  for  the 


S.  Spurrier. 


government  of  this  Eldership,"  which  reported  "a  Constitution  which  was  in  sub- 
stance the  Constitution  and  By-Laws  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,"  and 
which  "with  a  few  unimportant  alterations  was  adopted."  The  Eldership  then 
organized  by  electing  S.  Spurrier,  Speaker;  J.  H.  Chew,  Treasurer;  C.  L.  Amy, 
Journalizing  and  Stated  Clerk;  J.  H.  Christ,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  Geo.  W.  Gil- 
bert, Financial  Clerk.  The  advisory  members  were  C.  H.  Forney,  J.  Haifleigh  and 
G.  W.  Seilhammer,  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Eight  ministers  signified 
their  willingness  to  take  appointments.  When  the  Stationing  Committee  reported 
it  named  eight  fields  of  labor,  one  of  them  the  Virginia  and  Potomac  Mission,  to 
which  it  appointed  eight  pastors  with  four  assistants.  A  resolution  was  adopted 
pledging  every  candidate  for  license  "not  to  use  as  a  beverage  any  spiritous  or 
malt  liquors,  or  wine,"  to  which  ^was  added  an  amendment  instructing  "all  min- 
isters to  preach  against  intemperance  in  all  its  forms."  A  Board  of  missions  was 
appointed,  consisting  of  J.  H.  Chew,  E.  Gamer,  J.  Speilman,  J.  Gore  and  P.  Hahn, 


The    Maryi^nd   and    Virginia    Eldership  637 

all  ruling  elders.  A  Board  of  Education  was  named,  consisting  of  C.  L.  Amy,  J. 
H.  Christ  and  P.  D.  Collins.  P.  D.  Collins,  J.  H.  Chow  and  J.  Spielman  were 
named  as  the  Standing  Committee.  S.  W.  Naill  and  D.  Fuss  were  licensed  to 
preach.  The  Eldership  rejected  a  resolution  declaring  that  it  is  "advisable  for 
the  ministry  of  this  body  not  to  acknowledge  any  as  members  of  any  local  church 
until  they  shall  have  been  baptized."  Each  church  was  requested  "to  appoint 
an  active  brother  or  sister  to  collect  all  the  missionary  money  possible."  Resolu- 
tions of  a  general  character  were  adopted,  recommending  to  members  "the  im- 
proving of  their  own  minds  by  all  the  means  within  their  reach,  and  securing  for 
their  children  the  best  educational  facilities  their  means  will  allow." 

The  Speaker  of  the  first  session  of  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership,  S. 
Spurrier,  was  a  native  of  Maryland,  born  near  Mt.  Airy,  in  Frederick  county,  Sep- 
tember 9,  1828.  He  had  no  educational  advantages,  and  had  neither  means  nor 
time  for  mental  improvement.  But  he  was  a  careful  student  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  possessed  good  natural  powers,  so  that  he  became  an  acceptable  and  influ- 
ential minister  among  the  common  people.  His  stalwart  Christian  and  moral 
character  was  the  strongest  recommendation  among  the  people  with  whom  he 
labored.  He  was  a  stonemason,  and  in  building  bethels  where  he  labored,  he 
often  did  the  mason  work  himself.  He  received  his  first  license  from  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  at  Shiremanstown,  Pa.,  November  10,  1858.  After  being 
a  member  of  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership  from  1872  to  1880  he  returned 
to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  in  whose  fellowship  he  continued  until  1897. 
He  was  instrumental  in  the  organization  of  a  number  of  churches,  laboring  most 
of  his  years  in  the  active  ministry  on  missions,  or  poor  charges.  He  built  the  fol- 
lowing eight  houses  of  worship:  Pleasant  Ridge,  Carroll  county,  Md. ;  Creagera- 
town,  Frederick  county,  Md. ;  Friends  Creek,  Frederick  county,  Md. ;  Germantown, 
Washington  county,  Md.;  Fairplay,  Washington  county,  Md.;  Berkeley  county, 
Va.;  New  Baltimore,  Franklin  county,  Pa.,  and  Mt.  Hope,  Adams  county.  Pa. 

2nd  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — The  harmony  which  characterized 
the  first  session  of  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership  was  disturbed  before  it 
met  in  annual  session  at  Creagerstown,  Frederick  county,  October  8,  1873.  S. 
Spurrier,  Speaker,  had  trespassed  on  C.  L.  Amy's  field  of  labor,  and  in  other  ways 
had  laid  himself  open  to  charges,  which  were  preferred  against  him  by  Amy  be- 
fore the  Standing  Committee,  which  came  up  at  the  first  sitting  for  approval.  It 
had  decided  that  Spurrier  had  done  wrong;  but  it  also  reflected  on  Amy  "for  using 
too  strong  language  in  writing  and  speaking  to  other  parties."  As  the  parties 
"assented  to  this,  the  difficulty  was  amicably  settled."  But  Amy's  license  was 
later  withheld  "until  existing  difficulties  between  him  and  the  church  at  Fairplay 
be  amicably  adjusted."  Twelve  teaching  elders,  fifteen  ruling  elders  and  three 
delegates  were  present  at  this  session.  The  officers  elected  were  P.  D.  Collins, 
Speaker;  J.  H.  Christ,  Stated  Clerk;  B.  Williams,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  Kolb, 
Financial  Clerk,  and  J.  H.  Chew,  Treasurer.  By  resolution  "each  member  of  the 
Eldership  personally  agreed  and  hereby  promised  to  make  an  effort  to  collect  all 
the  money  possible  between  now  and  the  meeting  of  the  next  Eldership  for  the 
purpose  of  paying  on  bethels  built  by  the  Church  of  God."  The  Board  of  Mis- 
sions had  appropriated  a  total  of  $410.00  during  the  year.  Mission  work  had  been 
started  at  Frederick  City,  and  Amy  was  instructed  to  continue  his  labors  there. 
A  missionary  meeting  was  held  on  Friday  night,  when  "the  sum  of  $264.87  was 
subscribed  for  the  Missionary  Fund."  Applicants  for  license  were  placed  "under 
the  instructions"  of  their  pastors.  Dates  were  fixed  on  which  the  pastors  were 
required  to  take  up  collections  for  Contingent,  Missionary  and  Superannuated 
Funds.  On  the  use  of  tobacco  the  Eldership  would  only  urge  "the  members  of 
this  body  to  abstain  from  the  use  of  tobacco  while  in  the  house  of  God."  Ten 
fields  of  labor  were  constituted,  of  which  three  were  missions.  Spurrier  was  ap- 
pointed "General  Missionary  of  the  Eldership;  authorized  to  raise  all  the  mis- 
sionary money  he  can  on  the  entire  ground."  Each  licensed  minister  was  to  have 
at  least  one  appointment,  and  "each  minister  of  this  body  be  requested  to  visit 
Virginia,  and  assist  the  pastor  to  hold  protracted  efforts  for  the  advancement  of 
the  cause  of  God  in  Virginia." 

3rd  Mai-j'Iand  and  Virginia  Eldership. — The  friction  created  between  C.  L. 
Amy  and  the  Standing  Committee  was  not  allayed  during  the  year,  and  made  some 
trouble  during  the  session  of  the  Eldership  in  1874.  Amy  offered  an  amendment 
to  the  Committee's  Report,  that  its  action  in  his  case  "be  made  null  and  void,  and 
that  the  whole  matter  be  referred  to  a  special  committee."     After  considerable 


638  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

discussion  this  was  not  agreed  to.  And  when  the  Report  was  adopted,  Amy  pre- 
ferred charges  against  the  Committee  for  "malfeasance  in  office,"  and  other  of- 
fenses. The  matter  was  investigated  with  closed  doors;  but  the  public  record  shows 
that  "Amy  has  fully  acknowledged  he  has  done  wrong,"  and  he  was  "exonerated 
from  all  charges  made  against  him."  But  the  wounds  were  not  healed.  The  Elder- 
ship sat  at  Carrollton,  Carroll  county,  Md.,  meeting  Thursday  evening,  October 
22nd,  with  quite  a  full  representation.  P.  D.  Collins  preached  the  Opening  Sermon, 
from  2  Tim.  ii.  3.  He  was  chosen  Speaker;  J.  H.  Christ,  Stated  Clerk;  B.  Wil- 
liams, Transcribing  Clerk,  and  J.  YV.  Kipe,  Financial  Clerk.  The  Committee  on 
the  State  of  Religion  rejoiced  that  it  could  "report  progress  in  the  different 
churches.  New  churches  have  been  organized  and  numbers  have  been  converted 
during  the  year  and  added  to  the  Church."  It  made  special  mention  of  the 
progress  of  the  work  in  Virginia.  Studies  were  prescribed  for  the  younger  mia- 
isters,  and  they  were  required  to  meet  the  Board  of  Education  to  be  examined  in 
the  first  year's  studies.  To  insure  pastoral  visiting,  each  minister  was  required 
"hereafter  before  receiving  his  license  to  report  the  number  of  families  on  his 
charge  visited  by  him."  Again  the  Eldership  placed  itself  on  record  against  re- 
quiring ministers  "not  to  fellowship  any  one  before  baptism."  At  a  Missionary 
meeting  held  on  Monday  night  a  total  of  $227.86  was  received  in  cash  and  pledges. 
Members  of  the  churches  were  requested  "to  assist  the  young  ministers  in  pro- 
curing books,  and  encourage  the  work  of  education  among  the  young."  One  ser- 
mon each  year  was  to  be  preached  by  each  minister  "against  the  sin  of  using  in- 
toxicating liquors  as  a  beverage."  There  were  eleven  circuits  and  missions  sup- 
plied by  the  Stationing  Committee,  two  of  them  being  in  Virginia. 

4th  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — In  theory  all  the  Annual  Elderships 
maintained  the  parity  of  teaching  and  ruling  elders;  with  a  few  other  Elderships, 
the  Maryland  and  Virginia  reduced  this  theory  to  practice.  At  the  session  which 
was  held  at  Warfieldsburg,  Carroll  county,  beginning  November  11,  1875,  John  H. 
Chew,  a  prominent  lay  elder,  was  elected  Speaker,  with  J.  H.  Christ,  Clerk,  and 
John  Gore,  Treasurer,  both  lay  elders.  But  B.  Williams,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and 
J.  W.  Kipe,  Financial  Clerk,  were  teaching  elders.  B.  Fleagle  preached  the  Open- 
ing Sermon.  There  was  an  unusually  large  attendance,  and  the  business  was  dis- 
patched with  unanimity.  The  good  feeling  was  deepened  by  the  mellowing  influ- 
ence of  death  in  their  ranks,  for  the  Eldership  mourned  the  departure  of  P.  D. 
Collins,  whose  loss  was  keenly  felt.  "We  had  earnestly  hoped  that  our  beloved 
brother  should  have  lived  long  to  fill  his  place  as  a  useful  member  of  the  Church 
of  God."  He  "labored  earnestly  and  faithfully  for  the  extension  of  the  Church." 
L.  H,  Selby  was  received  by  transfer  from  the  West  Ohio  Eldership.  The  friction 
-in  the  relations  between  the  Eldership  and  C.  L.  Amy  brought  about  an  unusual 
condition.  Instead  of  taking  an  appeal  in  regular  form  to  the  General  Eldership, 
he  presented  a  preamble  and  conclusion,  stating  that  on  account  of  "a  disposition 
in  the  Eldership  to  suppress  my  evidence  in  relation  to  matters  concerning  my- 
self, I  hereby  withdraw  wholly  therefrom  to  labor  independently  until  the  meet- 
ing of  the  General  Eldership  in  May,  1878,  to  which  I  appeal."  The  "withdrawal 
from  the  Eldership"  was  accepted,  with  a  "protest  against  the  grounds  of  his  with- 
drawal." The  incorporation  of  the  Eldership  was  decided  upon.  A  Ministerial 
meeting  was  ordered  to  be  held  in  February,  1876.  Stated  times  were  fixed  for 
lifting  the  collections  for  the  different  Eldership  Funds.  The  Eldership  closed  on 
Wednesday  night  with  an  ordinance  meeting. 

5th  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — The  anomalous  position  in  which  Amy 
had  placed  himself  became  evident  during  the  year,  and  in  consequence  his  request 
for  a  conference  in  his  case  between  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  Maryland  and 
Virginia  Eldership  and  that  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  had  to  be  re- 
fused, he  not  being  a  "member  because  of  his  voluntary  withdrawal."  The  nine 
fields  of  labor  were  represented  by  fifteen  teaching  elders,  fourteen  ruling  elders 
and  nine  delegates,  when  the  body  convened  at  Fairplay,  Washington  county,  Md., 
October  27,  1876.  John  H.  Chew,  having  been  licensed  by  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee, preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  The  officers  elected  were  S.  W.  Naill, 
Speaker;  J.  H.  Christ,  Stated  Clerk;  B.  Williams,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J,  A.  Sax- 
ton,  Financial  Clerk,  and  John  Gore,  Treasurer.  Chew,  having  failed  to  secure 
an  Act  of  Incorporation,  was  continued  as  a  committee  to  attend  to  the  matter. 
When  J.  A.  Staub  made  application  for  license  he  was  "requested  to  occupy  at 
least  twenty  minutes  in  a  theological  discourse  before  this  body."  The  same 
.  course  was  taken  with  Elias  Woods  and  G.  Hombaker.      The  bethel  which   had 


The    Maryland    and    Virginia    Eldership  639 

been  built  in  Virginia  was  "recommended  to  be  sold  and  the  debt  paid."  Perhaps 
during  no  other  session  of  the  Eldership  was  a  more  practical  turn  given  to  be- 
reavements than  at  this.  Wm.  McElroy,  the  devoted  missionary  to  Virginia  for 
so  many  years,  had  ended  his  earthly  labors.  He  had  been  an  active  minister  for 
forty  years.  Humble,  unaspiring  and  self-denying,  "he  endeavored  to  preach 
Jesus  to  the  people.  Wherever  he  went,  he  went  preaching."  Each  member  of 
the  Eldership  was  admonished  "to  follow  him  as  he  followed  Christ."  The  death 
of  Bro.  John  Sweden,  whose  bequest  of  $1,300.00  to  the  Eldership  created  the 
"Sweden  Fund,"  was  made  the  occasion  for  solemn  admonitions  to  "our  dear 
brethren  and  sisters  over  the  entire  bounds  of  our  Eldership  to  live  more  holy  and 
pious  lives."  A  general  camp-meeting  was  provided  for.  Each  preacher  was  in- 
structed to  "preach  at  least  one  sermon  each  year  at  each  of  his  appointments  on 
the  evil  effects  of  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors." 

6th  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — The  Eldership  in  1877  met  as  an  in- 
corporated body  by  Act  of  the  Maryland  Legislature.  The  session  was  held  at 
Uniontown,  Carroll  county,  Md.,  where  the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  by  S. 
W.  Naill,  on  Thursday  evening,  October  18,  1877.  The  following  morning  an  or- 
ganization was  effected  by  the  election  of  L.  H.  Selby,  Speaker;  J.  H.  Christ,  Jour- 
nalizing Clerk;  B.  Williams,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  A.  Saxton,  Financial  Clerk, 
and  John  Gore,  Treasurer.  The  receipts  reported  by  the  Treasurer  for  the  dif- 
ferent Funds  were: — Missionary,  $136.32;  Widows'  and  Orphans',  $93.62;  Con- 
tingent, $17.52;  Bethel,  $20.90;  Superannuated,  $41.36.  While  one  bethel  had 
been  sold  in  Virginia,  a  special  committee  to  visit  that  part  of  the  territory  re- 
ported one  "in  course  of  erection  west  of  Martinsburg  about  five  miles."  There 
were  "five  or  six  members  of  the  Church  of  God  in  the  vicinity."  At  the  mission- 
•ary  meeting  the  "amount  collected  and  subscribed  was  $200.35."  When  the  Com- 
mittee on  Temperance  reported  it  submitted  one  resolution  in  which  the  Eldership 
would  pledge  itself  "to  abstain  not  only  from  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors,  wine 
or  cider  as  a  beverage,  but  to  discourage  their  use  in  others."  It  was  proposed 
to  strike  out  "cider,"  and  also  to  insert  the  word  "hard"  before  "cider."  This  pre- 
vailed, and  the  resolution  was  adopted.  Later,  on  a  motion  to  erase  the  whole 
resolution  from  the  Journal  the  yeas  were  four,  and  the  nays,  nineteen.  The  terri- 
tory was  divided  into  ten  circuits  and  missions,  several  of  which  were  left  un- 
supplied. 

7th  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — In  1878  the  Eldership  held  its  annual 
session  at  Creagerstown,  Frederick  county,  Md.,  beginning  October  9th,  with 
twelve  teaching  elders,  eleven  ruling  elders  and  four  delegates  present.  J.  H. 
Chew  was  elected  Speaker;  J.  H.  Christ,  Stated  Clerk;  E.  Appier,  Transcribing 
Clerk,  and  J.  A.  Saxton,  Treasurer.  The  Treasurer's  Report  showed  receipts  for 
Mission  Fund,  $237.52;  Widows'  Fund,  $105.01;  Superannuated  Fund,  $76.38; 
Bethel  Fund,  $12.81;  Contingent  Fund,  $50.98.  The  Eldership  expressed  its 
readiness  "cheerfully  to  co-operate  with  the  General  Eldership  in  all  laudable  ef- 
forts to  extend  the  cause  of  God."  An  appropriation  out  of  Eldership  funds  was 
made  "to  aid  the  church  at  Sharpsburg  in  erecting  a  house  of  worship."  The 
amount  of  $125.00  was  thus  appropriated  out  of  the  Missionary  Fund.  Two  elders 
and  some  of  the  members  of  the  church  at  Union  Bethel  were  condemned  because- 
they  "persisted  in  holding  an  ice  cream  festival  in  opposition  to  the  will  of  a  ma- 
jority of  the  members  of  the  church."  The  Eldership  also  voted,  "that  the  hold- 
ing of  festivals  by  the  Church  of  God  for  the  purpose  of  raising  money  for  any 
cause  is  wrong."  The  total  amount  received  from  the  Sweden  estate  was  $1,- 
897.34,  "invested  at  6  per  cent,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Eldership."  On  Saturday 
evening  of  the  session  a  missionary  meeting  was  held  at  which  "$91.26  were  re- 
ceived in  cash  and  subscriptions."  The  place  for  holding  a  Pentecostal  meeting 
was  selected,  and  the  holding  of  a  Ministerial  meeting  was  decided  upon,  and  a 
Committee  on  Program  was  named.  Monday  evening,  after  an  appropriate  sermon' 
by  J.  W.  Kipe  from  John  xiii.,  on  "The  ordinance  of  washing  the  saints'  feet,"  "the 
ordinances  of  the  Church  were  attended  to."  It  was  also  decided  to  "hold  an 
Eldership  camp-meeting,"  which  was  placed  under  the  direction  of  a  committee 
appointed  for  that  purpose.  Nine  fields  of  labor  were  arranged  by  the  Stationing 
Committee,  two  of  them  being  missions. 

8th  Maryland  and  Y'irginia  Eldership. — Still  further  to  encourage  the  Sharps- 
burg church  for  whose  benefit  an  appropriation  was  made  in  1878,  the  session  of 
the  Eldership  in  1879  was  held  at  said  place,  in  Washington  county,  Md.,  begin- 
ning on  Tuesday  morning,  October  28th.     The  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  on 


640  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

Monday  evening  by  Wm.  Palmer,  from  1  Cor.  i.  21-^"The  Salvation  of  Man." 
Palmer  was  chcsen  Speaker;  J.  H.  Christ,  Stated  Clerk;  E.  Appier,  Transcribing 
Clerk;  J.  A.  Saxton,  Financial  Clerk,  and  John  Gore,  Treasurer.  To  still  further 
aid  the  Sharpsburg  church  in  paying  for  its  house  of  worship,  the  missionary  meet- 
ing was  dispensed  with,  and  instead  "an  effort  was  made  to  collect  funds  to  cancel 
the  debt."  Debts  reported  by  a  committee  on  different  houses  of  worship  aggre- 
gated $559.29.  To  enforce  payment  in  full  by  churches  when  a  pastor  "has  dis- 
charged his  duty,"  the  Eldership  decided  that  it  is  "under  no  obligation  to  supply 
such  churches  with  a  minister  until  the  amount  agreed  upon  is  paid."  The  min- 
ister and  ruling  elders  of  "every  organized  church  within  the  bounds  of  the  Elder- 
ership"  were  "required  to  organize  a  Sabbath-school."  In  the  will  of  John  Sweden 
it  was  provided  that  from  the  income  from  his  bequest  "the  bethel  at  Carrollton 
and  the  burying  ground  be  kept  in  good  order  and  repair,"  and  so  the  interest 
from  said  bequest  for  the  following  Eldership  year  was  appropriated  for  said  pur- 
pose. The  Stated  Clerk,  J.  H.  Christ,  was  at  this  Eldership  ordained  a  teaching 
elder.  The  committee  in  charge  of  the  camp-meeting  in  1878  reported  holding 
the  same,  but  stated  that  it  "did  not  continue  the  camp  over  Sabbath  because  they 
believed  they  could  not  do  so  without  encouraging  "a  great  amount  of  sinful  and 
unlawful  trafficking  on  the  Lord's  day."  The  Eldership  not  only  adopted  the  Re- 
port, but  also  a  resolution  committing  itself  against  Sunday  trafficking  "at  our  re- 
ligious gatherings."  Samuel  Fleagle,  "a  faithful  and  efficient  member  and  min- 
ister of  the  Eldership,"  had  passed  away  during  the  year,  and  his  death  was  la- 
mented by  the  body  in  suitable  resolutions.  The  number  of  fields  of  labor  ar- 
ranged by  the  Stationing  Committee  was  twelve.  Virginia  Mission  was  connected 
with  Sigler's  appointment,  in  Maryland. 

9th  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — Several  unusual  incidents  character- 
ized the  ninth  session  of  this  Eldership.  Of  these  one  was  "a  challenge  received 
during  the  latter  part  of  the  session  by  Wm.  Palmer  to  discuss  certain  scriptural 
questions."  The  Eldership  gave  its  official  "approval  of  said  discussion,"  which 
was  held  in  January,  1881.  A  minister  of  the  German  Baptist  Church  made  appli- 
cation "to  become  a  member  of  the  body."  He  was  "recommended  to  examine 
more  fully  the  Scriptures  on  the  action  of  baptism."  Action  was  taken,  providing 
for  certain  amendments  to  the  Constitution,  one  of  which  entitled  any  minister 
who  paid  $1.00  annually  into  the  Widows'  Fund  "to  draw  from  said  Fund  his  pro 
rata  of  the  whole  amount  of  said  Fund  for  the  benefit  of  his  widow."  The  session 
was  held  at  Carrollton,  Carroll  county,  Md.,  and  began  October  13,  1880,  on  the 
evening  of  which  day  Wm.  Palmer  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Jer.  iv.  2, 
who  was  elected  Speaker;  J.  H.  Chew,  Stated  Clerk;  Elias  Appier,  Transcribing 
Clerk;  J.  A.  Saxton,  Financial  Clerk,  and  John  Gore,  Treasurer.  The  Treasurer's 
Report  showed  that  during  the  year  the  Missionary  Fund  received  $194.27;  the 
"Widows'  Fund,  $52.91;  the  Contingent  Fund,  $18.16;  the  Superannuated  Fund, 
$20.99;  the  Bethel  Fund,  $12.29.  An  "applicant  for  license  was  allowed  twenty 
minutes  to  speak  before  the  Eldership;"  but  was  then  "instructed  to  improve  his 
talents,"  and  report  the  following  year.  The  Eldership  declared  that  it  "will  put 
forth  our  utmost  efforts  to  stop  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  beverages,"  and  each 
pastor  was  "required  to  preach  one  sermon  at  each  appointment  durrng  the  year 
■on  the  sin  of  using  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage."  A  compromise  was  pro- 
posed touching  the  Sweeden  bequest,  whereby  the  Eldership  retain  $1,00().00,  and 
"the  balance  to  be  paid  over  to  the  elders  of  the  church  of  God  at  Union  Bethel." 
The  vote  stood,  yeas,  8;  nays,  14.  As  the  "financial  condition  of  the  Eldership  is 
not  as  good  as  desired,"  it  was  ordered  that  "each  member  of  the  Eldership  en- 
deavor to  become  more  interested  in  all  the  collections,"  and  the  brotherhood  was 
"urged  to  increase  the  funds  by  responding  more  liberally."  A  Camp-meeting 
•Committee  was  appointed  to  conduct  the  Eldership  camp-meeting.  The  Eldership 
also  resolved  to  hold  a  Ministerial  Association,  and  named  the  place.  Virginia 
was  omitted  from  the  list  of  appointments,  which  consisted  of  seven  circuits  and 
five  missions. 

10th  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — Providence  favored  the  Eldership 
during  the  year,  so  that  the  ranks  were  unbroken  when  the  twenty-four  teaching 
-elders  and  three  delegates  convened  in  annual  session  at  Locust  Valley  (Sigler's), 
Frederick  county,  Md.,  October  27,  1881,  to  listen  to  the  Opening  Sermon  by 
William  Palmer.  But  the  body  sympathized  with  the  East  and  West  Pennsylva- 
nia Elderships,  and  recorded  suitable  sentiments  of  condolence  on  the  death  of 
CJeorge  Ross,  P.  Loucks,  S.  S.  Richmond  and  J.  S.  Gable.     J.  W.  liipe  was  chosen 


The    Maryland    and    Virginia    Eldership  641 

Speaker;  J.  H.  Chew,  Stated  Clerk;  Elias  Appier,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  John 
Gore,  Treasurer.  A  Board  of  Education  was  also  elected.  The  financial  condi- 
tion of  the  Eldership  was  deplored,  and  more  liberal  contributions  requested  "to 
carry  on  the  great  work  of  the  Church."  The  interest  in  the  Palmer-Wells  de- 
bate of  January  7,  1881,  still  survived,  and  a  "committee  to  report  on  the  discus- 
sion" was  appointed,  which  expressed  "the  feeling  of  gratitude"  experienced  by  the 
Eldership  "for  the  victory  achieved,"  according  to  Palmer,  "the  highest  commenda- 
tion for  the  able  manner  in  which  he  conducted  the  discussion."  The  College  pro- 
ject was  strongly  endorsed,  and  "the  agent  of  the  Board  of  Education  heartily  in- 
vited to  canvass  our  fields  to  solicit  funds  for  that  purpose."  G.  Sigler,  of  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership,  attended  the  session,  and  was  requested  to  preach  on  the 
ordinance  of  Feet-washing  on  Tuesday  evening  preparatory  to  observing  the  ordi- 
nance. Religious  conditions  were  fair,  but  the  cause  was  "not  progressing  to  the 
extent  desired."  The  "ministerial  brethren  and  the  brotherhood"  were  exhorted 
"to  push  forward  the  good  work." 

nth  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — The  Eldership  camp-meeting  had 
been  so  conducted  in  1880  and  1881  as  to  become  subject  to  severe  criticism.  Min- 
isters and  brethren  of  the  Eldership  were  urgent  in  advocating  reforms,  or  abandon- 
ing the  camp-meeting  entirely.  A  resolution  was,  therefore,  adopted  in  1882, 
in  which  it  was  declared  that  "the  trafficing,  bartering,  selling  and  making 
the  camp-meeting  a  place  of  merchandise  for  financial  profit  is  contrary  to  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  as  set  forth  in  the  Scriptures,"  and  hence  the  Eldership,  repre- 
senting "the  churches  of  God  in  Maryland,  will  abstain  from  this  practice  here- 
after." The  session  of  the  Eldership  was  held  at  Friendship  Bethel,  Frederick 
county,  Md.,  and  began  October  18,  1882,  when  J.  W.  Kipe  preached  the  Opening 
Sermon,  from  Mark  xvi.  15.  The  following  morning  the  body  was  organized  by 
electing  J.  A.  Saxton,  Speaker;  re-electing  Chew,  Appier  and  Gore,  and  making 
choice  of  J.  A.  Staub  for  Financial  Clerk.  The  Sweeden  Fund  and  the  Bethel 
Fund  now  figured  in  the  Treasurer's  Report.  The  former,  however,  was  invested, 
and  was  not  in  the  Treasurer's  hands;  but  $63.04  are  credited  to  the  Fund.  The 
latter  had  $34.86  to  its  credit,  which  was  paid  on  the  Brownsville  Bethel.  An 
attempt  "to  strike  out  the  Bethel  collections"  failed.  The  annual  missionary 
meeting  was  held  on  Monday  evening,  when  the  amount  raised  in  pledges  and 
cash  was  $50.36.  There  were  eight  fields  of  labor,  but  Uniontown,  by  request, 
was  left  unsupplied.     J.  A.  Saxton  was  appointed  General  Evangelist. 

12th  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — The  unsupplied  charge  of  1882  was 
filled  by  the  transfer  of  W.  P.  Winbigler  from  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership, 
who  was  reappointed  in  1883.  Virginia  was  again  placed  on  the  list  of  appoint- 
ments to  be  served  by  three  different  ministers  "every  six  weeks  alternately." 
The  Eldership  convened  at  Fairplay,  Washington  county,  Md.,  on  October  11,  1883, 
the  Opening  Sermon  being  preached  the  same  evening  by  J.  A.  Saxton,  from  Phil. 
1.  6.  There  were  enrolled  as  present  twenty-six  ministers  and  delegates.  William 
Palmer  was  the  choice  of  the  body  for  Speaker;  John  H.  Hombaker,  Journalizing 
Clerk;  John  A.  Saxton,  Financial  Clerk,  and  John  Gore,  Treasurer.  The  report 
of  the  Treasurer  indicated  a  healthy  improvement,  the  total  available  for  mis- 
sions being  $397.60;  Contingent  Fund,  $33.24;  Widows'  Fund,  $215.30;  Super- 
annuated Fund,  $183.51.  The  working  of  the  "Bethel  Fund"  is  seen  in  the  re- 
port of  a  committee  "on  the  bethel  at  Sharpsburg,"  which  paid  off  a  judgment  of 
$340.90,  and  took  title  to  the  property  for  the  Eldership.  These  reports  having 
been  acted  upon.  Gore  resigned  as  Treasurer,  and  J.  A.  Saxton  was  elected. 
Charges  were  preferred  against  one  of  the  most  active  members  of  the  Eldership 
by  Winbigler,  who  claimed  to  have  been  "misrepresented  by  the  statement  that  he 
was  liable  to  indictment  before  the  grand  jury."  But  the  matter,  after  much 
discussion,  was  indefinitely  postponed.  The  missionary  meeting  resulted  in  cash 
and  pledges  amounting  to  $80.00.  Prior  to' the  observance  of  the  ordinances  by 
the  Eldership  on  Tuesday  evening,  William  Palmer  preached  on  the  ordinance  of 
washing  the  saints'  feet.  The  Eldership  greatly  rejoiced  over  the  triumph  of 
the  temperance  cause  in  Iowa  and  other  States,  and  urged  renewed  activity-  in 
temperance  work  by  the  ministers. 

13th  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — The  action  of  the  Eldership  taken  In 
1882,  deprecating  the  desecration  of  the  Sababth  by  Sunday  trafficing  at  the 
camp-meeting,  did  not  effect  a  change.  The  matter  was  agitated  without  inter- 
ruption during  the  two  years,  and  the  evil  work  continuing,  the  Eldership  in  1884, 
under  the  leadership  of  Jolm  H.  Chew,  adopted  most  drastic  measures  to  put  it  to 

C.  H.— 22 


642  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

an  end.  A  resolution  was  passed,  declaring  "that  this  Eldership  will  withhold  the 
license  from  any  teaching  elder  of  this  Eldership  who  violates  the  resolution 
passed  by  this  body  in  the  year  1882,  in  regard  to  trafflcing  at  camp-meetings." 
The  Eldership  held  its  session  at  Mayberry,  Carroll  county,  Md.,  beginning  No- 
vember 6,  1884.  J.  W.  Ivipe  preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  P.  Lookingbill  was 
elected  Speaker;  J.  H.  Chew,  Journalizing  Clerk;  J.  H.  Horabaker,  Transcribing 
Clerk;  B.  Williams,  Financial  Clerk,  and  J.  A.  Saxton,  Treasurer.  While  "the 
missionary  work  in  the  Eldership  was  warmly  advocated  by  the  brotherhood,"  and 
a  Board  of  Missions  was  regularly  elected,  only  $20.00  were  appropriated  during 
the  year  for  missions,  leaving  $84.27  in  the  treasury.  "One  of  the  strong  men 
in  the  Church  of  God  in  Maryland,  Benjamin  Fleagle,  was  called  from  labor  to 
reward  since  the  last  Eldership."  The  Eldership  recorded  its  "high  esteem  for 
his  marked  fidelity  during  the  many  years  of  his  service  as  a  true  minister  of  the 
Church  of  God."  It  was  determined  that  the  Church  at  Sharpsburg  "must  pay  the 
inter' 3t  on  the  judgment"  held  against  the  property  by  reason  of  the  payment  of 
the  debt,  keep  the  bethel  insured,  or  the  "Eldership  will  foreclose  said  judgment 
and  sell  the  property."  By  all  lawful  and  just  mean,  "the  Eldership  declared, 
that  it  will  oppose  the  monstrous  evil  of  intemperance."  It  also  decided  "to 
hold  a  Sabbath-school  Convention,  in  May  or  June."  There  were  nine  fields  of 
labor,  including  Virginia,  to  which  a  missionary  was  appointed. 

14th  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — "A  grand  success"  was  the  judgment 
pronounced  on  the  fourteenth  session  of  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership  by 
William  Palmer,  official  correspondent.  He  declared  "it  was  good  in  its  recep- 
tion;" "delightful  in  its  sittings."  Its  "jtanding"  was  said  to  be  "better  than  it 
has  ever  been."  Misisonary  money  to  the  amount  of  "about  $600.00  was  loaned 
out  to  liquidate  debts  on  different  houses  of  worship."  It  had  "$1,000.00  in  the 
Contingent  Fund"  on  interest;  a  "Widows'  Fund  of  not  less  than  $250.00;"  "per- 
haps $250.00  Superannuated  Fund."  In  the  main  a  layman,  later  licensed, 
J.  H.  Chew,  was  the  active  manager  in  gathering  these  Funds.  A  total  of 
twenty-five  members,  all  called  "elders,"  except  one  delegate,  were  present  at  this 
session,  which  began  October  15,  1885,  at  Warfieldsburg,  Carroll  county,  Md. 
Peter  Lookingbill  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Heb.  xiii.  17.  J.  W.  Itipe 
was  elected  Speaker;  J.  H.  Chew,  Journalizing  Clerk;  J.  A.  Saxton,  Transcribing 
Clerk;  J.  A.  Staub,  Financial  Clerk,  and  J.  A.  Saxton,  Treasurer.  Denouncing  in- 
temperance in  emphatic  terms,  the  Eldership  only  "agreed  to  use  all  lawful  means 
to  stop  this  great  evil."  The  "brotherhood"  was  "strongly  recommended  to  pay 
their  respective  pledges"  for  the  support  of  Pindlay  College,  "and  as  much  more 
as  possible,"  and  "to  pay  liberally  to  aid  in  mission  work  at  home  and  abroad." 
The  Eldership  lamented  the  death  of  Elias  Appier,  a  man  of  "noble  Christian  traits 
of  character."  The  interests  of  the  body  in  Virginia  were  not  prospering.  But  a 
minister  was  appointed  to  that  field,  and  "a  special  agent"  collected  $160.00  to  pay 
toward  a  house  of  worship  on  that  mission.  In  addition  to  this  mission  there  were 
nine  fields  of  labor.  A  general  missionary  was  also  appointed.  The  Uniontown 
circuit  was  left  unsupplied.  It  had  been  served  by  a  minister  of  the  East  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership,  but  he  received  a  transfer  back  to  said  body,  and  the  Stationing 
Committee  was  informed  that  said  "circuit  will  not  receive  a  preacher  from  the 
Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership  the  present  year."  The  Eldership  resolved  "that 
no  Eldership,  or  body  shall  supply  said  circuit  without  the  consent  of  this  Elder- 
ship." 

15th  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldershij). — The  Eldership  during  the  year  came 
to  a  consciousness  of  the  inadvisability  of  direct  control  of  funds  by  the  body.  It 
formerly  made  appropriations  on  the  floor;  but  a  resolution  easily  passed  this 
session,  "that  hereafter  our  ministerial  brethren  apply  to  the  Board  of  Missions 
for  appropriations."  The  Eldership  convened  at  Union  Bethel,  near  Carrollton, 
Carroll  county,  Md.,  October  8,  1886.  There  were  in  attendance  thirteen  teach- 
ing elders,  thirteen  ruling  elders  and  four  delegates.  They  elected  J.  A.  Staub, 
Speaker;  J.  H.  Chew,  Journalizing  Clerk;  J.  A.  Saxton,  Transcribing  Clerk;  G.  E. 
Hughes,  Financial  Clerk,  and  J.  A.  Saxton,  Treasurer.  The  Eldership  resolved  to 
"use  all  and  every  legitimate  means  to  suppress  the  acknowledged  evil  of  intemper- 
ance by  not  only  talking  it  down,  but  by  living  it  down."  A  missionary  meeting 
was  held  on  Monday  evening,  at  which  an  "aggregate  amount  of  $67.96"  wag 
received.  The  Treasurer  received  for  the  same  fund  for  the  year  $182.79.  R.  T. 
Anderson,  of  New  Jersey,  was  licensed  to  preach,  and  "in  connection  with  A.  W. 
Philhovver,"  was  appointed  a  "General  Missionary  in  New  Jersey."  There  were 
eight  other  fields  of  labor,  and  one  General  Misisonary  for  Maryland.     The  cause 


The    Maryland    and    Virginia    Eldership  643 

of  religion  throughout  the  Eldership  was  reported  to  be  "in  a  prosperous  condi- 
tion." On  the  last  evening  a  sermon  was  preached  by  the  Speaker  "on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  ordinance  of  feet-washing,  after  which  the  ordinances  were  observed. 
The  Uniontown  circuit  this  year  received  the  appointee  of  the  Eldership,  J.  A^ 
Saxton. 

16th  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — It  was  doubtless  good  policy  for  the 
Eldership  in  1886  to  vote  to  hold  its  next  session  at  Oak  Hill,  and  let  the  Stand- 
ing Committee  change  it  to  Uniontown.  And  further,  for  the  body  in  1887  to  di- 
vide Uniontown  circuit  so  as  to  make  Uniontown  a  station  and  concede  to  it  the 
privilege  of  securing  a  pastor  from  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  G.  W.  Seil" 
hammer  was  prevailed  upon  to  accept  the  charge.  He  united  with  the  Eldership, 
and  when  it  convened  at  Uniontown,  Carroll  county,  Md.,  October  28,  1887,  he 
was  chosen  Speaker.  The  other  officers  were  J.  H.  Chew,  Stated  Clerk;  J.  A. 
Sa.vton,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  AV.  Kipe,  Financial  Clerk,  and  J.  A.  Saxton,  Treas- 
urer. The  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  were  required  to  make  a  formal 
report.  The  amount  of  missionary  money  which  said  body  assessed  on  the  Mary- 
land and  Virginia  Eldership  was  apportioned  to  the  different  circuits.  A  sad 
coincidence  of  the  Eldership  was  the  death  of  W.  P.  Winbigler  "Just  at  the  close 
of  his  work  among  us,  before  removing  from  our  midst."  He  had  received  a 
transfer,  to  return  to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  It  was  regarded  as  a 
"strange  providence."  He  was  regarded  as  "a  good  and  noble  Christian  brother, 
and  an  able  expounder  of  the  New  Testament  Scriptures."  In  him  was  beautifully 
blended  youthful  optimism  and  matured  experience.  The  Eldership  kept  a  more 
paternal  eye  on  incipient  church  enterprises,  and  was  more  ready  to  step  in  and 
help  struggling  and  weak  churches  than  was  customary.  This  year  the  church  at 
Middletown  was  given  permission  to  canvass  the  Eldership  territory  for  funds  to 
aid  in  building  a  bethel.  The  church  at  Piney  Creek  received  special  attention 
in  a  matter  involving  the  deed  to  its  property,  and  in  the  payment  of  a  debt  on  the 
property.  The  judgment  on  the  Sharpsburg  bethel,  held  by  the  Eldership,  on 
which  execution  had  been  issued,  was  held  over  for  one  year,  and  ministers  were 
appointed  to  go  there,  "hold  a  series  of  meetings,  and  assist  in  an  effort  to  have 
sinners  converted,  and  collect  all  moneys  possible."  Otherwise  the  Eldership 
disclaimed  authority  to  interfere  in  local  church  business.  The  appointments  con- 
sisted of  one  station  and  six  circuits,  with  one  general  missionary. 

17th  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — An  appeal  from  a  local  church  is  a 
proceeding  quite  generally  considered  in  order,  even  where  the  next  higher  organ- 
ization has  no  specific  provision  for  it.  But  at  least  in  a  case  in  "an  appeal  from 
the  decision  of  the  church  of  God  in  Uniontown"  to  the  Maryland  and  Virginia 
Eldership,  it  was  not  entertained.  The  Eldership  met  at  Mayberry,  Carroll  county, 
Md.,  October  12,  1888.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by  G.  W.  Seilhammer 
the  previous  evening,  from  Ps.  ex.  3.  Thirty-four  ministers  and  delegates  were 
in  atetndance.  William  Palmer  was  their  choice  for  Speaker;  G.  W.  Seilhammer, 
Stated  Clerk;  J.  A.  Saxton,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  W.  Kipe,  Financial  Clerk,  and 
J.  A.  Saxton,  Treasurer.  Under  its  strict  business  system  of  managing  funds  the 
Eldership  instructed  the  delegates  of  a  delinquent  charge  "to  return  and  collect 
the  deficit."  Yet  it  was  so  far  oblivious  to  the  requirements  of  fiduciary  integrity 
as  to  adopt  an  action  which  "instructed  the  Treasurer  to  take  money  out  of  any 
fund  that  belongs  to  the  Eldership  if  needed  to  meet  the  wants  of  this  Eldership, 
except  the  Sweden  Fund  principal."  Because  his  "moral  character,  on  his  own 
confession,  was  such  as  was  intolerable  by  this  body,"  one  minister  "was  expelled 
by  a  unanimous  vote  of  the  Eldership."  •  Always  particular  to  pay  assessments 
made  on  it  by  the  General  Eldership,  it  was  ordered  that  "the  amount  lacking  in 
our  General  Eldership  assessments  be  paid  by  the  Treasurer  out  of  any  fund  in  his 
hands,  to  be  replaced  as  the  brethren  return  to  him  their  collections  for  that  pur- 
pose." To  prevent  a  similar  deficit  a  year  later  it  was  resolved,  "that  the  Elder- 
ship positively  enforce  on  the  ministers  to  collect  the  General  Eldership  assess- 
ments on  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership,  and  if  not  paid,  hold  them  re- 
sponsible." Besides  the  "New  Jersey  Mission,"  there  were  eight  fields  of  labor. 
Virginia  Mission  was  omitted. 

18th  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership.— During  the  year  the  most  active, 
aggressive  spirit  in  the  Eldership  for  years  terminated  his  earthly  career.  Though' 
he  had  fallen  under  a  cloud  the  year  previous  to  his  death,  his  moral  delinquency 
was  measurably  condoned,  and  the  Eldership  lamented  his  departure  as  that  of 
"one  who  had  been  so  useful  as  a  counselor  and  prominent  in  all  of  the  work  of 


644  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

the  Eldership."  The  session  was  held  at  Sharpsburg,  Washington  county,  Md., 
and  the  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by  William  Palmer  on  September  5,  18  89, 
from  Lam.  iv.  21.  When  it  convened  the  following  morning  thirty-four  min- 
isters and  delegates  responded  to  their  names.  They  elected  J.  A.  Staub,  Speaker; 
retained  Seilhammer  as  Stated  Clerk;  elected  J.  P.  Garner,  Transcribing  Clerk; 
J.  W.  Kipe,  Financial  Clerk,  and  J.  A.  Saxton,  Treasurer.  The  funds  were  in  a 
creditable  condition.  Receipts  for  Missionary  Fund,  $249.00 ;_  Contingent  Fund, 
$122.79;  Superannuated  Fund,  $245.79;  Widows'  Fund,  $332.78;  Sweeden  Fund, 
total,  $1,272.65.  The  ministers  were  required,  by  an  amendment  to  the  By- 
Laws,  "to  pay  $1.00  into  the  Widows'  Fund  annually,  and  $1.00  annually  into  the 
Superannuated  Fund."  The  beginning  of  the  Eldership  year  was  changed  from 
"the  first  day  of  April,  as  formerly,  to  the  first  day  of  November."  A  Sunday- 
school  Convention  was  agreed  upon  "this  coming  year;"  the  place  selected,  and  a 
Committee  on  Program  named.  R.  T.  Anderson,  the  New  Jersey  missionary,  had 
no  report  before  the  Eldership,  and  "no  person  knowing  any  thing  about  him,  his 
name  was  stricken  from  the  Roll,"  as  was  also  the  name  of  the  Mission.  There 
were  eight  fields  of  labor,  five  of  which  received  appropriations  out  of  the  Mission- 
ary Fund. 

19th  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — Local  interest  in  the  doings  of  the 
annual  Elderships  prevailed  in  keeping  their  Minutes  in  The  Advocate  year  after 
year  for  quite  a  period  after  they  were  generally  disapproved.  And  when  in  1890 
the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership  published  "a  short  synopsis  of  the  proceed- 
ings" its  dissatisfaction  was  voiced  officially  by  the  Clerk:  "It  may  not  be  satis- 
factory to  many  of  our  brethren  that  are  interested  in  the  general  workings  of 
the  body;  but  those  parties  who  hitherto  refused  to  take  The  Advocate  on  account 
of  the  long  Journals  (if  their  profession  be  true)  will  not  object  to  our  brevity.' 
The  session  was  held  at  Middletown,  Frederick  county,  Md.,  and  began  September 
25th.  J.  A.  Staub  preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  J.  W.  Kipe  was  elected 
Speaker;  G.  W.  Seilhammer,  Stated  Clerk;  J.  H.  Christ,  Transcribing  Clerk;  B. 
"Williams,  Financial  Clerk,  and  J.  A.  Saxton,  Treasurer.  Seventeen  ministers  were 
present,  nine  of  which  were  appointed  to  the  fields  of  labor.  No  work  was  being 
done  in  Virginia.  Action  was  taken  to  have  pastors  go  to  their  new  fields  of  labor 
on  November  1st.  Assessments  were  made  for  the  Home  and  for  the  General 
Eldership  Missionary  Funds.  While  only  two  pastors  received  appropriations  by 
the  Stationing  Committee,  it  was  decided  that  "the  missionary  money  collected 
during  the  year  be  divided  among  the  ministers  at  the  coming  Eldership  as  their 
wants  may  deserve." 

20th  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — The  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership 
has  always  enjoyed  the  reputation  of  a  harmonious  and  internally  untroubled 
body.  So  the  session  of  1891  was  said  to  have  been  "well  attended,  well  enter- 
tained, and  for  harmony  and  good  will  it  excelled  any  previous  Eldership  for 
years."  It  met  at  Fairplay,  Washington  county,  Md.,  October  15th.  T.  Still  was 
elected  Speaker;  G.  W.  Seilhammer,  Stated  Clerk;  W.  H.  Engler,  Financial  Clerk; 
Jesse  Billmyer,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  J.  A.  Saxton,  Treasurer.  The  interests 
of  the  Eldership  were  "in  fairly  good  condition,"  and  the  "state  of  the  churches 
spiritually  and  financially"  was  gratifying.  All  but  one  of  the  eight  fields  of  labor 
were  supplied.  A  General  Missionary  appointment  was  also  made.  One  young 
man  was  ordained.  The  local  churches  organized  Aid  Societies  to  help  to  gather 
funds  for  their  own  use  and  to  replenish  the  Eldership  treasury. 

21st  Mai-yland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — The  session  of  the  Maryland  and 
Virginia  Eldership  in  1892  was  "an  interesting  and  harmonious  one,  and  showed 
some  progress."  This  does  not  seem  to  have  been  sustained  by  the  Report  of  the 
Stationing  Committee,  which  reduced  the  fields  of  labor  to  seven.  The  Maryland 
churches  have  supplied  more  preachers  for  other  Elderships  in  proportion  to  their 
numerical  strength  than  those  of  any  other  State.  They  have  suffered  from  the 
emigration  of  ministers,  and  the  Eldership  has  frequently  been  short  of  preachers 
adapted  to  the  work.  But  in  all  the  history  of  the  body  the  members  have  strug- 
gled disinterestedly  and  heroically  to  uphold  and  advance  the  cause.  During  the 
year  1891-2  "all  the  missionary  moneys,  both  for  home  and  general  purposes,  were 
collected,"  and  the  other  funds  were  well  replenished.  The  session  of  1892  was 
held  at  CarroUton,  Carroll  county,  Md.,  beginning  on  Thursday  evening,  September 
1st,  when  S.  J.  Montgomery  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon.  The  organization  was 
effected  by  electing  J.  A.  Saxton,  Speaker;  G.  W.  Seilhammer,  Journalizing  Clerk; 
Jesse  Billmyer,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  W.  H.  Engler,  Financial  Clerk. 


The    Maryland    and    Virginia    Eldership  645 

22nd  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — During  the  year  1892-3  the  Elder- 
ship sustained  a  serious  loss  in  the  death  of  P.  Lookingbill,  originally  ordained  by 
the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1869.  He  was  a  faithful  minister,  hard- 
working and  self-denying,  and  the  body  sincerely  mourn  his  death.  The  Elder- 
ship convened  at  Uniontown,  Carroll  county,  Md.,  October  12,  1893,  and  continued 
in  session  until  the  16th.  "Temperance"  was  the  theme  of  the  Opening  Sermon 
delivered  by  J.  A.  Saxton,  from  Hab.  ii.  16.  W.  H.  Engler  was  chosen  Speaker; 
G.  W.  Seilhammer,  Stated  Clerk;  J.  F.  Billmyer,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  A.  Staub, 
Financial  Clerk,  and  J.  A.  Saxton,  Treasurer.  Thirteen  ministers  and  twenty-three 
delegates  and  elders  were  reported.  On  Saturday  evening  a  missionary  meeting 
was  held.  On  Sababth  evening  the  ordinances  were  observed.  The  Eldership 
"ordered  that  each  pastor  collect  $1.00  for  each  member  he  reported  at  this  Elder- 
ship," to  be  paid  on  the  College  debt.  The  number  of  members  was  911.  The 
Eldership  always  took  an  active  interest  in  the  financial  affairs  of  local  churches, 
and  frequently  aided  them  in  their  struggles  to  free  themselves  from  debt.  A 
debt  of  $200.00  on  the  Germantown  bethel  was  to  be  provided  for.  An  effort  was 
directed  to  be  made  to  raise  the  money.  If  it  failed,  the  church  was  authorized 
to  borrow  the  money,  the  Eldership  agreeing  "to  pay  the  interest  until  such  time 
as  the  church  may  be  able  to  pay  the  principal."  Assessments  aggregating 
$216.00  were  made  for  Home  and  General  Eldership  Mission  Funds.  The  Sta- 
tioning Committee  made  seven  appointments  to  fields  of  labor;  one  General  Mis- 
sionary in  Southern  Maryland;  one  Missionary  "on  the  territory  on  which  he 
lives,"  and  one  General  Missionary  of  the  whole  Eldership,  "to  have  the  general 
oversight  of  the  missionary  work  of  the  body."  Hagerstown  interests  were  placed 
in  the  hands  of  the  Standing  Committee,  which  was  "empowered  to  draw  on  the 
Eldership  resources  to  meet  their  purposes." 

23rd  Maryland  and  V'irginia  Eldership. — Baltimore  received  no  attention  at 
the  Eldership  in  1893.  But  in  1894  J.  A.  Saxton  was  appointed  to  "Baltimore 
Mission."  And  shortly  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Eldership  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee "met  in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  in  the  Mission  House,  on  the  corner  of 
Cross  and  Cleveland  streets."  The  session  of  the  Eldership  was  held  at  German- 
town,  Md.,  beginning  October  12,  1894.  S.  B.  Craft  had  come  into  the  Eldership 
on  a  transfer,  and  he  was  chosen  for  Speaker;  G.  W.  Seilhammer,  Stated  Clerk; 
J.  F.  Billmyer,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  W.  H.  Engler,  Financial  Clerk.  The 
fields  of  labor  were  increased  to  twelve,  including  Baltimore  Mission;  Western 
Mission,  and  Papertown  and  Maryland  and  Virginia  Mission.  The  Western  Mis- 
sion was  unsupplied.  Nine  ministers  were  "instructed  to  aid  their  respective 
pastors,  and  work  as  opportunity  may  afford." 

24th  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — While  the  ministers  of  the  Maryland 
and  Virginia  Eldership  took  no  part  in  the  discussion  in  The  Advocate  of  the  ques- 
tions to  be  decided  by  the  General  Eldership  in  1896,  yet  they  were  observant  and 
thoughtful  readers.  When  the  time  came  for  them  to  vote  in  their  own  Eldership 
their  decision  was  already  made,  and  the  questions  were  decided  without  disputa- 
tion. This  was  at  the  annual  meeting  held  at  Sharpsburg,  Washington  county, 
Md.,  where  the  session  began  with  the  Opening  Sermon  on  the  evening  of  Septem- 
ber 4,  1895,  preached  by  S.  B.  Craft,  from  Acts  xx.  28.  The  attendance  was  small, 
only  seven  of  the  twenty  ministers  being  present,  nine  ruling  elders  and  five  dele- 
gates. An  organization  was  effected  by  the  election  of  W.  H.  Engler,  Speaker; 
G.  W.  Seilhammer,  Stated  Clerk;  Jesse  F.  Billmyer,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  W. 
Rodkey,  Financial  Clerk,  and  John  A.  Saxton,  Treasurer.  The  delegates  to  the 
General  Eldership  were  instructed  to  vote  for  the  title  "The  Eldership  of  the 
Churches  of  God."  Also  in  favor  of  "the  laying  on  of  hands  in  setting  the  candi- 
dates apart  to  the  holy  ministry."  The  delegates  were  instructed  to  vote  "that  our 
present  system  of  renewing  licenses  annually  be  continued."  Assessments  were 
made  for  the  Home  and  the  General  Missionary  Funds,  and  one  evening  sitting  was 
devoted  to  missionary  interests.  The  Treasurer's  bond  was  fixed  at  $.500.00. 
The  territory  was  divided  into  ten  fields  of  labor,  one  of  which  was  left  unsup- 
plied. D.  C.  Eyler  was  appointed  General  Missionary.  The  local  preachers  were 
"instructed  to  preach  in  connection  with  the  ministers  in  charge." 

25th  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership.- — The  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership 
was  one  of  these  annual  gatherings  visited  by  Clara  Landes  shortly  before  sailing 
for  India  to  begin  her  missionary  work.  She  was  received  as  an  advisory  mem- 
ber; addressed  the  body  at  the  Friday  morning  sitting  in  a  manner  to  be  "highly 
appreciated  by  every  one  present,  and  very  favorable  resolutions  were  adopted. 


646  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

The  session  was  held  in  the  Carrollton  Bethel,  Carroll  county,  Md.,  where  on  Wed- 
nesday evening,  October  14,  1896,  W.  H.  Engler  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon, 
from  Judges  ii.  2-4.  Eleven  ministers,  eight  elders  and  three  delegates  responded 
at  Roll  Call,  after  which  S.  B.  Craft  was  chosen  Speaker;  G.  W.  Seilhammer, 
Stated  Clerk;  J.  W.  Rodkey,  Financial  Clerk;  J.  F.  Billmyer,  Transcribing  Clerk; 
and  J.  A.  Saxton,  Treasurer.  There  were  six  regular  Eldership  Funds,  the  total 
amount  being  $1,814.52.  The  state  of  religion  in  the  churches  of  the  Eldership 
was  reported  as  "not  as  progressive  as  it  has  been  in  former  years;"  but  progress 
was  noted  in  Christian  Endeavor  work,  and  "in  other  societies  of  a  similar  char- 
acter." But  the  Committee  added  in  terms  of  dejection  that  it  is  "compelled  by 
the  spirit  of  truth  to  express  our  faith  and  mind  to  this  body  that  we  believe  true 
and  undefiled  religion  is  in  the  background."  The  Eldership  was  admonished  "to 
search  and  find  out  the  causes,  and  rally  to  the  front,  and  lay  all  selfishness  on  the 
altar  of  God,  so  God  will  have  all  the  glory  and  honor."  The  principal  accession  to 
the  ministry  of  tte  Eldership  was  that  of  Thomas  B.  Tyler,  a  minister  of  the  U.  B. 
Church,  who  was  "placed  under  the  care  of  his  pastor"  for  a  year.  On  Temperance 
the  Eldership  advised  "Christian  men,  and  all  other  well-wishers  of  society,  to  use 
their  ballots,  the  only  means  by  which  we  can  have  any  hopes  of  effecting  a  change 
in  the  distressful  condition  of  the  world  which  has  been  brought  about  by  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  the  demon  rum."  The  ten  fields  of  labor  were  all  sup- 
plied, Tyler  and  J.  R.  Geailnger,  licentiates,  receiving  appointments. 

26th  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership.- — ^During  the  Eldership  year  189  6-7 
the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership  sustained  its  most  serious  loss,  in  the  death 
of  G.  W.  Seilhammer.  He  was  not  only  a  "beloved  and  much-esteemed  brother;" 
but  "useful  as  a  counselor  and  prominent  in  all  the  workings  of  the  Eldership 
during  the  greater  part  of  its  existence."  He  was  originally  licensed  by  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1868,  and  served  a  number  of  circuits  and  stations  with 
efficiency.  He  was  highly  esteemed  as  pastor  and  preacher.  He  had  an  en- 
thusiasm for  the  Church  and  brotherhood  which  was  as  generous  as  it  was 
genuine.  With  limited  culture  of  the  schools,  his  triumphs  were  many,  and  where 
he  had  failures  they  left  his  honor  untarnished.  In  the  shadow  of  this  sorrow 
the  Eldership  convened  at  the  Germantown  Bethel,  Wednesday  evening,  October  6, 
1897,  and  listened  to  the  Opening  Sermon  by  S.  B.  Craft,  from  Luke  x.  7.  Four- 
teen ministers,  twenty-four  ruling  elders  and  four  delegates  were  present.  They 
made  choice  of  James  W.  Kipe  for  President;  William  H.  Engler,  Stated  Clerk; 
Jesse  F.  Billmyer,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  W.  Rodkey,  Financial  Clerk,  and  John 
A.  Saxton,  Treasurer.  The  "assets"  of  the  Eldership  were  $2,005.92,  which  in- 
cluded the  Sweeden  Fund  of  $1,375.36.  The  revision  of  the  Constitution  was 
completed,  and  it  was  adopted.  The  Eldership  differed  on  an  important  item  of 
polity  from  the  parent  Eldership — the  East  Pennsylvania — in  that  new  churches 
organized  were  formally  received  into  fellowship.  The  Catoctin  church  was  thus 
received  in  1897.  The  ten  fields  of  labor  were  all  supplied  with  pastors  except 
one.  Virginia,  however,  was  left  oft"  the  list.  J.  A.  Saxton  was  appointed  General 
Missionary.  The  Eldership  was  dissatisfied  with  the  management  of  a  camp-meet- 
ing and  "certain  bush-meetings;"  but  the  sentiment  was  not  sufficiently  crystalized 
to  result  in  positive  action. 

27th  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — It  is  said  that  in  a  volume  of 
Suetonius  which  Mark  Twain  read  until  his  very  last  day,  there  is  a  reference  to 
one  Flavixis  Clemens,  "a  man  of  wide  repute  for  his  abnormal  want  of  energy," 
and  in  a  marginal  note  Twain  had  written:  "I  guess  this  is  where  our  line  starts" 
(Clemens  being  Twain's  real  name).  Any  other  characterization  would  better  por- 
tray the  two  faithful,  useful  ministers  of  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership 
who  had  died  during  the  ecclesiastical  year  1897-8 — L.  H.  Selby  and  J.  W.  Kipe — 
whom  the  Eldership  in  1898  memorialized  as  "wise  counselors  and  active  mem- 
bers of  the  Eldership  in  all  its  workings,  who  gave  the  greater  part  of  their  lives 
to  the  gospel  ministry."  Selby  was  first  licensed  by  the  Ohio  Eldership,  in  1851, 
and  was  transferred  to  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership  in  1888.  Kipe  was 
ordained  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1871,  and  became  a  charter  mem- 
ber of  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership  in  1872.  The  Eldership  in  1897  ad- 
journed to  meet  "at  Sigler's  Bethel"  in  189  8.  On  the  official  records,  however, 
it  is  known  as  "Locust  Valley  Bethel,  Burkettsville,"  Frederick  county,  Md.,  where 
the  body  convened  October  2nd,  when  S.  J.  Montgomery  preached  the  Opening 
Sermon,  from  Ps.  cxxxiii.  S.  B.  Craft  was  chosen  President;  W.  H,  Engler,  Stated 
Clerk;  Jesse  F.  Billmyer,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  W.  Rodkey,  Financial  Clerk,  and 


The    Maryland    and    Virginia    Eldership  647 

J.  F.  Billmyer,  Treasurer.  The  Eldership  thus  far  had  few  serious  internal  trou- 
bles. Its  reputation  for  unity,  peace  and  harmony  was  creditable.  Yet  it  had  a 
standing  committee  "on  Grievances,"  which  often  was  a  mediating  committee, 
and  effected  "settlements  out  of  court."  There  were  appointments  made  to  ten 
fields  of  labor,  but  as  the  Standing  Committee  possessed  nearly  all  the  powers  of 
the  Eldership,  on  October  26th  it  made  five  changes  in  the  appointments,  and  in- 
creased the  number  of  appointments  to  twelve. 

28th  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership.- — The  Ministerial  Association  was  di- 
rected to  meet  on  Tuesday  evening  before  the  Eldership.  It  continued  its  sittings 
until  Wednesday  afternoon,  with  nearly  all  the  ministers  and  delegates  in  attend- 
ance. On  Wednesday  evening,  October  4,  1899,  at  Bark  Hill,  Md.,  the  Opening 
Sermon  was  delivered  by  S.  B.  Craft,  from  Ezek.  x.  14.  The  attendance  was  com- 
paratively large,  and  "some  interesting  and  spiritual  discussions  were  features  of 
the  business  meetings  on  numerous  topics."  "About  twenty-five  ministers  and 
delegates  were  present."  The  exceptional  fact  is  noted,  that  "all  the  ministers 
were  returned  to  their  last  year's  fields  of  labor."  Upon  organization  of  the 
Eldership  L.  F.  Murray  was  made  President;  W.  H.  Engler,  Stated  Clerk;  J.  H. 
Billmyer,  Transcribing  Clerk;  S.  A.  Kipe,  Financial  Clerk,  and  J.  F.  Billmyer, 
Treasurer.  The  Virginia  Mission  was  again  placed  on  the  list  of  appointments, 
with  A.  S.  Poisal  as  missionary.  Three  other  charges  received  missionary  appro- 
priations. Regular  assessments  were  made  on  the  circuits  for  Home  Missions  and 
General  Eldership  missions,  and  for  Contingent  Fund.  These  aggregated  for 
Home  Missions,  $147.06;  General,  $72,  and  Contingent,  $36.  To  these  was  added 
by  the  Standing  Committee  an  aggregate  assessment  of  $45.20  for  the  Delegate 
Fund. 

29th  Mai-yland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — An  intended  visit  of  C.  Manchester, 
President  of  Findlay  College,  to  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership  was  pre- 
vented in  1900;  but  he  attended  the  Ministerial  Association,  and  by  his  address 
before  that  body  and  intercourse  with  its  members  won  their  confidence  and 
esteem.  The  Eldership  then  commended  "the  masterly  manner  in  which  Dr. 
Manchester  is  conducting  the  college  work  of  the  churches  of  God."  It  also 
pledged  co-operation  with  him  in  the  work.  The  session  was  held  at  Warfields- 
burg,  Md.,  beginning  October  10,  1900.  S.  J.  Montgomery  preached  the  Opening 
Sermon,  from  Isa.  vi.  8 — "Messengers  Sent."  T.  B.  Tyler  was  elected  President; 
W.  H.  Engler,  Stated  Clerk;  Samuel  A.  Kipe,  Financial  Clerk;  J.  F.  Billmyer, 
Transcribing  Clerk,  and  also  Treasurer.  The  Boards  and  Standing  and  Stationing 
Committees  were  composed  of  not  less  than  two-thirds  ministers,  and  some  of  them 
liad  no  lay  members  on  them.  The  greetings  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership 
were  not  only  reciprocated;  but  the  Eldership  agreed  to  "unite  with  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  prayer  on  the  last  day  of  November  for  a  revival  of 
religion  throughout  our  bounds."  Assessments  were  laid  on  the  eleven  fields  of 
labor  for  Home  Missions,  General  Missions,  Contingent  and  Delegate  Funds;  but 
the  amounts  were  not  large,  being  in  order  as  follows:  Home  Missions,  $133.00; 
General  Missions,  $70.00;  Contingent,  $36.00;  Delegate,  $45.00.  Two  of  the 
fields  were  unsupplied,  while  four  ministers  "were  instructed  to  work  wherever 
opportunity  presents  itself."  The  Virginia  Mission  was  taken  care  of  in  connec- 
tion with  a  point  called  Harpersburg.  Important  actions  on  various  subjects  of 
interest  were  taken,  but  not  published.  For  the  session  "was  arduous  and  the 
business  important." 

30th  3Iaryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — It  is  an  interesting  study  in  nomen- 
clature to  trace  the  origin  of  names  and  their  significance.  They  are  often  lost 
in  the  course  of  events,  and  speculation  is  of  little  value.  In  many  instances  they 
are  of  special  biographical  interest,  and  "biography,"  Carlyle  thought,  "is  by  na- 
ture the  most  universally  profitable,  universally  pleasant  of  all  things."  For  more 
than  two  generations  no  one  could  mistake  the  origin  of  the  name  of  the  place 
where  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership  convened  October  16,  1901.  It 
was  then  called  Locust  Valley  (Burkettsville) ,  in  Frederick  county,  Md.;  but  its 
former  name  was  "Sigler."  A.  AV.  Philhower  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon. 
Text — Acts  xvi.  30,  31.  L.  F.  Muray  was  President;  W.  H.  Engler,  Stated  Clerk; 
S.  A.  Kipe,  Financial  Clerk;  J.  F.  Billmyer,  Transcribing  Clerk  and  Treasurer. 
The  Eldership  was  well  represented  on  the  Boards.  Board  of  Missions — J.  W. 
Rodkey,  W.  H.  Engler,  G.  H.  Bowersox,  T.  B.  Tyler,  Samuel  A.  Kine.  Board 
of  Education — W.  H.  Engler,  T.  B.  Tyler,  J.  F.  Billmyer.  Board  of  Church  Ex- 
tension— L.  F.  Murray,  T.  B.  Tyler,  W.  H.  Engler.      Standing  Committee — Li.  F. 


648  History    of    the  Churches    of    God 

Murray,  T.  B.  Tyler,  AV.  H.  Eiigler.  But  one  layman  was  on  these  Boards.  The 
Eldership  frequently  lost  ministers  by  transfer  to  other  Elderships.  In  earlier 
years  it  suffered  greatly  in  this  way.  In  1901  S.  B.  Craft  was  transferred  to 
West  Virginia  Eldership,  North;  but  his  place  was  supplied  by  J.  D.  Clark,  of  the 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  while  J.  R.  Thoii>  and  V.  K.  Betts  were  granted  li- 
censes. The  Eldership  did  not  express  its  preference  as  10  change  of  place  for  the 
General  Eldership;  but  referred  the  matter  to  the  Executive  Board  of  the  General 
Eldership.  This  year  the  fields  of  labor  numbered  ten.  J.  W.  Evans  was  the 
General  Evangelist. 

31st  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — The  Standing  Committee  of  the 
Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership  during  the  year  1901-2  experienced  its  power  to 
reduce  assessments  "ten  per  cent.,  saving  on  the  Delegate  and  Contingent  Funds." 
It  also  granted  a  license  to  a  member  of  the  church  at  Kasiesville,  James  Shipp, 
who  had  emigrated  to  Iowa,  and  granted  a  Certificate  of  Ordination  to  J.  D.  Clark, 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  who  had  become  pastor  of  the  church  at  Uniontown, 
Md.  "The  Linwood  Camp-meeting  Association"  made  a  proposition  to  the  Union- 
town  church,  through  E.  B.  Garner,  that  said  church  "take  charge  of  the  camp- 
meeting  proper,  he  retaining  selling  and  boarding  privileges;  the  church  paying 
the  ministers'  expenses."  In  this  way  the  contention  between  the  camp-meeting 
and  the  Eldership  was  to  be  terminated.  This  proposition  the  church  rejected 
five  to  one.  The  Standing  Committee  not  only  rejected  a  proposition  made  by 
E.  B.  Garner  with  a  view  of  settling  the  dispute;  but  it  required  Gamer  "to  notify 
the  Western  Maryland  Railroad  Company  not  to  use  the  name  of  the  Church  of 
God  in  any  manner  in  advertising  the  camp-meeting  to  be  held  at  Linwood,  Md., 
at  any  time  from  and  after  April  10,  1902."  Gamer  "accepted  this  request." 
These  actions  were  adopted  by  the  Eldership  which  assembled  at  Mayberry,  Md., 
October  15,  1902,  on  the  evening  of  which  day  the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached 
by  T.  B.  Tyler,  from  Ps.  cxxvi.  8.  Theme: — "Christian  Sociability."  On  Thurs- 
day morning  the  Eldership  elected  J.  D.  Clark,  President;  W.  H.  Engler,  Stated 
Clerk;  J.  A.  Saxton,  Transcribing  Clerk;  S.  A.  Kipe,  Financial  Clerk;  James  E. 
Smith,  Treasurer.  The  new  Treasurer  was  placed  under  bond.  The  Frederick 
Mission  was  "placed  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Standing  Committee  and  Board 
of  Missions."  The  Virginia  Mission  was  omitted  from  the  list  of  appointments. 
There  were  eleven  fields,  two  "to  supply  themselves,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the 
Standing  Committee."  The  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  reported  an  action 
taken  by  said  body  on  the  doctrine  of  sanctification.  The  Eldership  voted  on  the 
Report,  and  sustained  the  said  action.  Though  th,e  attitude  of  the  body  was  gen- 
erally known,  yet  the  resolution  of  former  years  was  reaffirmed,  stating  that  "our 
belief  in  the  truth,  that  the  Holy  Scriptures  are  the  only  authoritative  rule  of  faith 
and  practice,  and  that  in  themselves,  when  properly  studied,  they  are  suflScient 
for  doctrine,  reproof,  correction  and  for  instruction  in  righteousness." 

32nd  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — With  the  exception  of  the  Woman's 
Missionary  Society,  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership  was  thoroughly  organized 
in  unison  with  the  general  plan  of  Annual  Elderships.  During  the  year  1902-3 
conferences  between  the  leading  workers  resulted  in  a  better  prospect  for  united 
effort  in  this  line  of  religious  activity.  When  the  Eldership  convened  at  Oak  Hill, 
Md.,  October  14,  1903,  this  matter  was  taken  up,  and  a  Special  Committee  on  For- 
eign Missions  was  appointed,  which,  in  conjunction  with  a  committee  of  three  ap- 
pointed by  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  Uniontown,  Md.,  was  in- 
structed "to  organize  a  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  within  the  borders 
of  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership."  This  brought  the  women  of  the 
churches  throughout  the  Eldership  into  united  co-operation  with  the  W.  G.  M.  S. 
of  the  General  Eldership.  The  officers  of  this  Eldership  were  L.  F.  Murray,  Presi- 
dent; T.  B.  Tyler,  Stated  Clerk;  J.  F.  Billmyer,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  W.  Rodkey, 
Financial  Clerk.  The  Eldership  had  both  a  Board  of  Missions  and  a  Board  of 
Church  Extension,  the  latter  having  in  charge  the  weaker  fields.  The  Board  of 
Education  looked  into  the  literary  qualifications  of  applicants  for  license,  and  ex- 
amined in  the  prescribed  studies  of  the  Eldership.  The  practice  of  formally  re- 
ceiving churches  newly  organized  into  the  "fellowship  of  the  Eldership"  was  ejc- 
emplified  in  1903,  when  the  church  at  Wakefield  was  thus  received.  Shortly  after 
the  adjournment  of  the  session  of  1902,  on  November  8th,  Death  claimed  John  W. 
Evans,  a  man  "possessed  of  wonderful  faith  and  spiritual  power."  He  was  or- 
dained October  16,  1874,  and  labored  as  an  evangelist,  making  "full  proof  of  his 
ministry." 


Thk    Maryland    and    Virginia    Eldership  649 

33rd  Mai-yland  and  Virginia  Eldership.  — The  Wakefield  church,  Carroll 
county,  Md.,  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  entertaining  the  Eldership  in  1904.  The 
session  began  October  19th,  and  the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  by  T.  B.  Tyler. 
The  officers  chosen  were  L.  F.  Murray,  President;  W.  H.  Engler,  Journalizing 
Clerk;  J.  F.  Billmyer,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  W.  Rodkey,  Financial  Clerk;  James 
E.  Smith,  Treasurer.  These  officers  were  described  by  a  ministerial  visitor  as  "a 
quartet  of  fine,  venerable  men,  whose  very  appearance  gave  gravity  to  the  sit- 
tings." A  noticeable  trait  of  the  Eldership  was  "the  sympathy  and  respect  mani- 
fested toward  the  aged  ministers  of  the  body."  The  organization  of  the  W.  M.  S. 
was  perfected,  and  all  the  churches  were  requested  to  take  an  active  interest  in 
the  missionary  work.  The  nine  fields  of  labor,  with  the  exception  of  Uniontown 
and  Frizzlesburg,  were  all  supplied  with  pastors.  The  Uniontown  charge  secured 
the  services  of  R.  L.  Crawfoi-d,  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  The  Elder- 
ship also  appointed  one  General  Worker,  one  General  Missionary  and  one  General 
Evangelist.  The  presence  of  G.  Sigler,  a  native  of  Maryland,  but  a  member  of  the 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  was  highly  appreciated,  and  his  preaching  was 
strongly  commended.  His  sermon  on  "Conversion"  was  published,  and  three  hun- 
dred copies  ordered  by  the  Standing  Committee.  Said  Committee  made  the  assess- 
ments for  four  Funds  aggregating  $134.00  for  Home  Mission  Fund;  $77.00  for 
General  Eldership  Mission  Fund;  $34.00  each  for  Contingent  and  Delegate  Funds. 

34th  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — The  W.  M.  S.  of  the  Maryland  and 
Virginia  Eldership  maintained  a  close  relation  to  that  body.  It  met  with  the  Elder- 
ship, and  was  officially  connected  with  it.  Its  second  meeting,  held  in  1905,  re- 
ceived much  inspiration  from  addresses  by  ministers  of  the  Eldership,  R.  L.  Craw- 
ford and  S.  B.  Craft,  the  latter  having  come  from  Ohio  to  take  charge  of  a  work, 
and  Lydia  A.  Foniey,  of  the  W.  M.  S.  of  East  Pennsylvania.  The  session  of  the 
Eldership  was  held  at  Carrollton,  Carroll  county,  Md.,  beginning  with  the  Opening 
Sermon  at  7.30  p.  m.,  October  18,  1905,  by  A.  W.  Philhower.  M.  H.  Penn  was 
chosen  President;  W.  H.  Engler,  Stated  Clerk;  J.  F.  Billmyer,  Transcribing  Clerk; 
J.  W,  Rodkey,  Financial  Clerk;  James  E.  Smith,  Treasurer.  The  spiritual  ele- 
ment was  prominent  in  the  work  of  the  Eldership.  The  President  and  Treasurer 
of  the  Eldership  were  lay  elders,  a  good  lay  delegation  representing  the  churches 
at  each  session.  Loyal  in  all  things,  the  body  was  ready  to  co-operate  with  the 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  "in  making  an  effort  to  endow  a  professorship  of 
Latin  in  Findlay  College."  Accordingly  "the  Board  of  Education  was  instructed 
to  carry  out  said  proposition,  and  to  adopt  such  measures  and  put  forth  such  efforts 
as  will  bring  about  results  in  harmany  with  the  action  of  the  General  Eldership." 
The  Day  of  Prayer  for  Findlay  College  was  ordered  to  be  observed  and  "an  offer- 
ing equal  to  ten  cents  per  member  of  each  church  to  be  taken."  The  Sunday- 
school  Convention  was  endorsed,  and  "the  Standing  Committee  was  instructed  to 
arrange  for  a  Ministerial  Association  meeting."  It  was  necessary  to  restrain 
"ministers  from  intruding  on  other  ministers'  fields  of  labor."  The  redistribution 
of  the  territory  made  twelve  charges,  all  but  one  supplied  with  pastors.  A.  W. 
Philhower  was  appointed  General  Evangelist,  and  John  A.  Saxton,  General  Worker. 
On  November  24,  1904,  the  labors  of  John  Royer  terminated  in  eternal  rest.  He 
was  ordained  October  16,  189  3,  and  "spent  his  ministerial  life  in  a  local  capacity, 
and  was  ever  ready  to  help  any  pastor  who  might  ask  for  his  help.  He  was  a 
man  of  great  faith  and  godliness." 

3oth  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — Maryland  churches  have  been 
notably  prolific  in  preachers.  Sons  of  Maryland  have  been  efficient  ministers  in 
a  majority  of  the  Annual  Elderships  in  earlier  years.  When  they  returned  as 
visitors  to  the  annual  sessions  they  were  honored  and  commended.  In  19  0  6  E. 
Angel,  of  Iowa,  was  present,  and  preached,  and  enjoyed  pleasant  fellowship  with 
the  ministers  and  elders.  The  session  was  held  with  the  church  at  Edgemont, 
Frederick  county,  Md.,  and  began  on  Thursday,  at  8.30  a.  m.,  October  11,  1906. 
The  previous  evening  the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  by  S.  J.  Montgomery, 
from  1  Cor.  xvi.  13.  An  organization  was  effected  by  the  election  of  M.  H.  Penn, 
President;  W.  H.  Engler,  Journalizing  Clerk;  J.  F.  Billmyer,  Transcribing  Clerk; 
R.  Jj.  Crawford,  Financial  Clerk;  James  E.  Smith,  Treasurer.  The  session  was 
portrayed  as  having  been  "the  most  harmonious  that  has  ever  been  held  in  the 
history  of  the  Eldership."  "The  religious  and  preaching  services  were  an  inspira- 
tion to  the  soul."  Yet  subjects  were  discussed  and  acted  upon  which  usually  de- 
veloped antagonistic  views.  Among  these  was  the  Sunday-school  literature,  re- 
sulting in  "the  appointment  of  R.  L,  Crawfowl  as  special  agent  to  see  after  its 


650  History    of    the   Churches    of    God 

interests."  Also  the  temperance  question,  "on  which  strong  resolutions  were 
adopted."  As  the  state  of  religion  was  not  wholly  satisfactory,  ministers  and 
churches  were  counseled  "to  put  forth  a  greater  effort  in  the  ensuing  year  than 
has  been  in  the  past."  The  fields  of  labor  were  eleven,  with  A.  W.  Philhower 
General  Evangelist.  V.  K.  Betts  was  also  put  in  charge  of  Baltimore  Mission, 
and  J.  A.  Saxton,  of  Brunswick  Mission. 

36th  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — There  was  generally  some  difficulty 
in  Maryland  to  secure  enough  active  ministers  to  fill  all  the  appointments  satis- 
factorily. The  Eldership  had  to  depend  frequently  on  men  from  other  Elderships. 
In  1907  it  received  Elmer  W.  Meyer  from  the  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territory 
Eldership,  and  "G.  AV.  Stine  and  George  W.  Masser  were  ordained  to  the  gospel 
ministry."  Thus  the  Eldership  was  enabled  "to  supply  all  the  fields  of  labor," 
after  rearranging  the  circuits  and  reducing  the  number  to  nine.  The  session  was 
held  at  Sample's  Manor,  Washington  county,  Md.,  from  Thursday  morning  to  Sat- 
urday afternoon,  October  31  to  November  2,  1907.  The  Eldership  was  liberal  in 
"granting  the  privilege  of  speaking  on  all  questions"  to  James  E.  Shipp,  of  the 
Iowa  Eldership;  W.  S.  Shimp,  of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North,  and 
H.  S.  Bickel,  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Shimp  received  one  of 
the  nine  appointments,  "subject  to  his  transfer."  Balloting  for  officers  re- 
sulted in  the  election  of  S.  A.  Kipe,  President;  Stated  Clerk,  W.  H.  Engler; 
Transcribing  Clerk,  J.  F,  Billmyer;  Financial  Clerk,  V,  K.  Betts.  The  Open- 
ing Sermon  was  preached  on  Wednesday  evening,  by  L.  F.  Murray,  from  Matt, 
xvi.  18.  The  most  serious  question  before  the  Eldership  was  "the  difficulties 
which  have  arisen  in  our  foreign  mission  work."  But  as  the  W.  M.  S.  of  the  Eld- 
ership was  co-operating  loyally  with  the  General  Eldership  W.  G.  M.  S.,  there  was 
not  much  diversity  of  sentiment  on  the  question  in  the  Eldership.  Resolutions 
were  presented,  which  declared  it  to  be  of  "the  utmost  importance  that  the 
churches  and  Annual  Elderships  within  the  bounds  of  the  General  Eldership  give 
expression  to  their  views  relative  to  this  important  matter,"  and  therefore  "the 
Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership"  affirmed  its  "loyalty  to  the  General  Eldership." 
They  also  "endorsed  the  action  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership 
with  reference  to  foreign  mission  work,"  and  prohibited  every  person  "soliciting 
funds  for  foreign  missions  within  the  bounds  of  this  Eldership,  unless  they  are 
subordinate  to  the  Rules  and  regulations  of  the  General  Eldership."  The  "reso- 
lutions were  adopted  by  a  unanimous  aye  vote."  The  aggressive  and  zealous 
spirit  of  the  Eldership  was  evidenced  by  "the  growth  of  the  Church  in  all  her  de- 
partments; by  accessions  throughout  her  boundaries;  by  the  increase  of  her 
finances,  and  by  the  building  of  one  new  house  of  worship." 

37th  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — In  view  of  the  meeting  of  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership  in  1909,  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership  in  1908  adopted  reso- 
lutions on  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  difficulties,  in  which  it  expressed  its  belief  that  "the 
establishment  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  1903  was  regular,  wise  and  legitimate,"  and 
endorsed  the  actions  taken  "to  establish  harmony  and  union."  The  session  was 
held  at  Uniontown,  Carroll  county,  Md.,  beginning  October  15,  1908,  the  Opening 
Sermon  having  been  preached  on  the  evening  of  the  14th,  by  J.  M.  Carter.  V.  K. 
Betts  was  elected  President;  AV.  H.  Engler,  Stated  Clerk;  Jesse  F.  Billmyer,  Trans- 
cribing Clerk;  J.  A.  Saxton,  Financial  Clerk;  Jas.  E.  Smith,  Treasurer.  The  ex- 
ceptional distinction  was  given  to  Mrs.  D.  Fuss  and  Mrs.  G.  W.  Seilhammer,  widows 
of  ministers  of  the  Eldership,  of  making  them  "honorary  members  of  the  body." 
The  presence  of  C.  I.  Brown,  President  of  Findlay  College,  was  highly  appreciated, 
and  he  received  some  cash,  and  also  the  universal  testimonial  of  a  recess  by  the 
public  schools  so  that  scholars  and  teachers  could  attend  the  sitting  and  hear  his 
address  on  Christian  Education.  There  were  nine  fields  of  labor,  all  but  one 
supplied  with  pastors,  with  seven  "General  Workers."  Yet  the  fact  was  realized 
that  to  do  aggressive  work  there  was  "great  need  of  young  men  to  take  up  the 
work  of  the  ministry."  "There  is  no  better  field  for  home  missionary  work  than 
In  the  State  of  Maryland."  And  even  the  aspirations  of  the  Eldership  to  do 
greater  things  were  not  without  reward.  For  Thoreau  was  right  when  he  affirmed 
his  question:  "Did  ever  a  man  try  heroism,  magnanimity,  truth,  sincerity,  and 
find  that  there  was  no  advantage  in  them — that  it  was  a  vain  endeavor?"  So 
■with  a  religious  body  in  its  seeking  to  do  greater  things  for  the  Master. 

38th  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — Even  more  explicit  and  pronounced 
action  was  taken  on  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  question  in  1909  than  at  previous  sessions  of 
the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership.     The  General  Eldership  in  May,  1909,  had 


Thic    Marylanu    and    Virginia    Ei.de;rship  651 

taken  final  action  on  the  matters  pertaining  to  the  W.  G.  M.  S.,  so  that  sentiment 
in  the  Eldership  had  assumed  fixed  and  definite  shape  before  the  session  opened. 
Little  discussion  was  required  to  secure  unanimous  action  on  the  resolutions  sub- 
mitted. After  reciting  the  main  facts,  "the  action  of  the  General  Eldership"  was 
"emphatically  endorsed,"  as  were  also  "the  actions  of  the  Executive  Board  ana  the 
Board  of  Missions  relative  to  this  matter,  in  seeking  to  establish  harmony  and 
union."  The  session  was  held  at  Germantown,  Washington  county,  Md.,  and 
opened  on  Thursday  morning,  October  14th.  The  preceding  evening  S.  A.  Kipe 
preached  the  Annual  Sermon,  from  John  xii.  21.  The  organization  was  effected 
by  the  election  of  M.  H.  Penn,  President;  W.  H.  Engler,  Journalizing  Clerk;  J.  F. 
Billmyer,  Transcribing  Clerk;  S.  A.  Kipe,  Financial  Clerk;  James  E.  Smith,  Treas- 
urer. In  conference  with  representatives  of  the  churches  the  fields  of  labor  were 
rearranged-  "so  that  no  circuit  will  pay  less  than  $350.00  salary  to  the  pastor  per 
year."  Ten  charges  were  formed,  all  supplied  with  pastors.  The  Field  Secretary 
of  Findlay  College,  O.  A.  Newlin,  attended  the  session,  and  his  "valuable  services 
were  fittingly  recognized  by  resolutions."  The  organization  of  a  Sabbath-school 
and  C.  E.  society  in  each  church  was  regarded  as  of  "vital  importance,"  and  each 
such  organization  "should  be  represented  by  the  minister  and  at  least  one  delegate 
in  the  Annual  Convention."  The  pastors  were  "instructed  to  preach  at  least  one 
missionary  sermon  each  year  at  each  of  his  appointments."  One  minister  of  the 
Eldership  was  taken  during  the  year  from  earth,  not  by  Death,  but  by  Christ,  the 
Head  of  the  church,  namely,  J.  R.  Thorpe.  He  was  a  native  of  New  York  State. 
Removing  to  Sample's  Manor,  he  was  converted  under  the  labors  of  A.  W.  Phil- 
hower  and  united  with  the  church  at  said  place.  He  was  ordained  October  22, 
1894.  He  was  an  ardent  student  of  the  word,  and  "spake  by  the  Holy  Ghost  sent 
down  from  heaven."  He  had  "great  natural  abilities,  which  gave  him  power  with 
■God  and  man." 

39th  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — It  was  on  the  Sabbath  morning  of 
the  Eldership  of  1910  that  the  Reopening  Sermon  of  the  bethel  in  which  the  ses- 
sion of  the  Eldership  was  held  was  preached  by  L.  F.  Murray.  The  Opening  Ser- 
mon was  delivered  in  the  evening  of  October  19th,  by  W.  S.  Shimp.  The  Elder- 
ship convened  the  following  morning  in  the  bethel  at  Zittlestown,  Washington 
■county,  and  organized  by  electing  Shimp  President;  W.  H.  Engler,  Stated  Clerk; 
J.  F.  Billmyer,  Transcribing  Clerk;  C.  Amos  Reynolds,  Financial  Clerk;  James  E. 
Smith,  Treasurer.  The  Eldership  by  the  reception  of  an  expelled  minister  of  the 
West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  made  itself  subject  to  official  complaint  before  the 
Executive  Board  of  the  General  Eldership.  The  matter  was  amicably  adjusted, 
as  the  two  Elderships  concerned  were  actuated  by  friendly  and  generous  motives, 
with  no  disposition  to  disregard  each  other's  rights,  or  ignore  their  mutual  re- 
sponsibility. The  Stationing  Committee  had  a"most  difficult  task;"  but  it  suc- 
ceeded in  securing  pastors  for  the  eleven  charges,  as  two  brethren  ready  for  active 
work  were  ordained  to  the  ministry.  Nova  Mission  was  made  a  charge,  and  the 
General  Evangelist,  J.  A.  Saxton,  was  "to  prospect  Frederick  City  and  Hagers- 
town,"  with  a  view  of  starting  missions  in  those  towns.  The  Blue  Mountain 
church  was  received  into  the  Eldership. 

40th  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — The  pledge  toward  the  payment  of 
the  debt  of  Findlay  College  was  not  fully  paid,  and  final  arrangements  were  ap- 
proved to  cancel  it.  The  fortieth  annual  session  was  held  at  Maple  Grove,  Frank- 
lin county,  Pa.,  the  Opening  Sermon  having  been  preached  by  S.  A.  Kipe,  on  Wed- 
nesday evening,  October  11,  1911,  from  Acts  x.  20.  An  organization  was  effected 
by  the  election  of  L.  F.  Mun-ay,  President;  W.  H.  Engler,  Journalizing  Clerk;  J.  F. 
Billmyer,  Transcribing  Clerk;  C.  A.  Reynolds,  Financial  Clerk;  James  E.  Smith, 
Treasurer.  The  finances  of  the  Eldership  were  in  good  condition,  more  money 
having  been  received  and  expended  "for  work  done  during  the  year  than  the 
previous  year."  The  Financial  Clerk  at  this  session  also  reported  increased  col- 
lections for  the  different  Funds.  To  insure  better  results  the  following  year  as- 
sessments were  made  for  these  Funds:  Home  Mission,  General  Mission,  Con- 
tingent, Delegate,  Findlay  College  Pledge.  The  pastors  were  "requested  to  make 
every  possible  effort  to  collect  the  assessments."  The  ten  fields  were  supplied 
with  pastors,  with  W.  H.  Engler,  General  Worker,  and  six  ministers  "to  work  in 
conjunction  with  their  pastors."  Viola  G.  Hershey.  returned  missionary  in  India, 
attended  the  session,  and  the  Eldership  gave  hearty  testimony  to  her  faithful  work 
in  the  foreign  mission  field,   and   her  blessed  influence  at  the  Eldership.     With 


652  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

much  enthusiasm  the  work  of  the  Woman's  Missionary  Society  of  the  Eldership 
was  commended. 

41st  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership. — A  quite  thorough  Course  of  Studies 
for  the  young  ministers  was  prepared  for  adoption  by  the  Eldership  in  1912.  The 
session  was  held  at  Carrollton,  Carroll  county,  Md.,  beginning  October  17th,  and 
ending  on  the  21st.  Geo.  W.  Masser  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon  on  Wednesday 
evening,  the  16th,  from  Ex.  xiv.  15.  The  following  were  the  officers:  J.  A. 
Saxton,  President;  S.  A.  Kipe,  Stated  Clerk;  J.  F.  Billmyei:,  Transcribing  Clerk; 
C.  Amos  Reynolds,  Financial  Clerk;  James  E.  Smith,  Treasurer.  The  institutions 
of  learning  of  the  Church,  and  the  periodical  literature  for  the  churches  and  Sab- 
bath-schools, were  strongly  commended.  The  body  was  well  organized  as  to  its 
permanent  boards  and  committees.  The  Standing  Committee  was  composed  of 
li.  F.  Murray,  W.  S.  Shimp,  S.  A.  Kipe;  the  Board  of  Education,  of  W.  S,  Shimp, 
J.  M.  Carter,  S.  A.  Kipe;  the  Board  of  Missions,  L.  F.  Murray,  S.  A.  Kipe,  J.  F. 
Billmyer,  J.  Ebaugh,  M.  H.  Penn;  Board  of  Church  Extension,  J.  A.  Saxton,  S.  A. 
Kipe,  J.  F.  Billmyer.  One  minister,  F.  I.  M.  Thomas,  was  received  by  transfer 
from  the  Ohio  Eldership,  and  granted  a  Certificate  of  Ordination,  and  two,  G.  F. 
Nichols  and  T.  J.  Coffman,  received  annual  licenses.  A.  W.  Philhower's  useful 
career  ended  August  26,  1912.  He  was  a  native  of  New  Jersey,  where  he  was  born 
June  6,  1841.  Prior  to  becoming  a  member  of  the  church  of  God  at  Zittlestown, 
Md.,  he  was  a  minister  of  the  United  Brethren  Church,  holding  a  Quarterly  Con- 
ference License.  He  was  ordained  October  24,  1874,  by  the  Maryland  and  Vir- 
ginia Eldership.  He  served  a  majority  of  the  fields  of  labor  in  the  Eldership  as 
pastor,  built  several  bethels  and  organized  a  few  churches.  His  zeal  for  the  cause 
he  loved  was  untiring.  While  his  literary  qualifications  were  limited,  "he  was  an 
able  defender  of  the  distinctive  doctrines  of  the  churches  of  God." 

The  territory  of  the  Eldership  in  1912  was  divided  into  twelve  fields  of  labor, 
one  being  known  as  Jenning's  Mission,  and  all  supplied  with  pastors.  The  good 
condition  of  the  Eldership  is  indicated  by  the  Statistical  items  of  1909,  when  there 
were  10  charges,  30  church  organizations,  with  "a  house  of  worship  at  each  ap- 
pointment," and  1,200  members.  There  was  a  Permanent  Fund  of  $1,000.00,  the 
interest  of  which  is  used  for  the  general  work  of  the  Eldership.  "Harmony  and 
good  will  prevail  throughout  the  Eldership."  On  the  civic  issues  of  the  day  the 
Eldership  seldom  expressed  its  sentiments,  except  on  temperance.  The  position 
it  occupied  on  this  subject  was  indicated  in  1912  when  it  set  apart  an  hour  on  Sat- 
urday afternoon  to  hear  an  "address  in  the  interest  of  prohibition  by  the  Prohibi- 
tion candidate  for  President  of  the  United  States."  The  ministry  of  the  Eldership 
realized  the  great  truth  that  "there  is  no  substitute  for  thorough  going,  ardent 
and  sincere  earnestness,"  and  it  insisted  on  this  trait  in  pastors. 


XIV.     THE     NEBRASKA   ELDERSHIP. 


1st  Nebraska  Eldership. — Nebraska  was  organized  as  a  Territory  in  1854, 
after  an  understanding  had  been  reached  that  the  Territory  was  to  be  "free"  for- 
ever. It  was  included  in  the  Louisiana  Territory,  ceded  to  the  United  States  by 
France  in  1803.  The  present  .limits  of  Nebraska  were  occupied  by  more  than 
eight  Indian  Tribes.  On  this  account,  and  because  of  the  lack  of  precious  and 
non-precious  metals,  and  inadequate  means  of  communication,  the  progress  of  the 
Territory  was  slow.  The  building  of  the  Union  Pacific  railroad,  with  Omaha  for 
its  eastern  terminus,  drew  attention  to  the  exceptional  agricultural  advantages  of 
the  eastern  and  southern  sections  of  the  Territory,  and  substantial  tides  of  immi- 
gration and  eastern  capital  began  to  set  in.  The  Territory  was  admitted  into  the 
Union  as  a  State  on  March  1,  1867.  About  this  time  families  of  the  Church  of 
God  began  to  remove  thither,  locating  in  the  counties  in  south-eastern  Nebraska, 
such  as  Polk,  York,  Seward,  Lancaster,  Saline,  Gage,  Richardson  and  a  few  others. 
Quite  a  good  deal  of  missionary  work  had  been  done  prior  to  the  meeting,  in  1874, 
to  consider  the  advisibility  of  organizing  an  Eldership.  The  work  started  in 
north-eastern  Kansas,  and  was  extended  northward  into  three  or  four  of  the 
counties  in  Nebraska.  Some  of  the  missionaries  were  appointed  by  Annual  Eld- 
erships; others  by  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership.  When  in  1866 
the  General  Eldership  accepted  Centralia  College,  and  arranged  to  send  several  ad- 
ditional ministers  into  that  section  of  Kansas,  it  was  deemed  proper  to  grant  per- 
mission to  organize  an  Eldership.      But  nothing  was  done  in  that  line  so  far  as 


The   Nebraska  Eldership  653 

Nebraska  was  concerned',  the  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership  having  been  organ- 
ized, and  it  was  given  the  whole  States  of  Kansas  and  Missouri.  But  by  1874  at 
least  six  missionaries  were  laboring  for  different  periods  in  Nebraska,  and  as  many 
in  north-eastern  Kansas,  and  not  less  than  a  dozen  churches  had  been  organized. 
North-eastern  Kansas  being  contiguous  to  the  Nebraska  territory  occupied  by 
these  missionaries,  it  was  thought  it  should  become  a  part  of  the  Nebraska  Elder- 
ship. By  some  concert  of  action  a  convention  was  called  to  meet  in  the  bethel  at 
Crete,  Saline  county,  Neb.,  November  7,  1874,  called  "the  Preliminary  Eldership," 
to  consider  the  question  of  organizing  an  Eldership.  The  recorded  membership 
was  as  follows:  Teaching  elders: — E.  D.  Aller,  D.  S.  Warner,  Geo.  F.  MrElvvee; 
ruling  elders: — J.  K.  Paxton,  G.  K.  Mooney;  delegates: — K.  A.  Moore,  A.  M. 
Mahaflfey,  G.  K.  Mooney,  A.  D.  Root  and  John  Litziberg.  The  south-eastern  Ne- 
braska Mission  was  not  represented.  After  electing  K.  A.  Moore  Chairman,  and 
Geo.  F.  McElwee  and  D.  S.  Warner,  First  and  Second  Clerks,  the  Convention  took 
up  for  discussion  the  question,  "Shall  we  take  the  initial  steps  toward  the  organ- 
ization of  an  Eldership  in  the  State  of  Nebraska?"  After  due  deliberation,  a  series 
of  preambles  and  resolutions  was  adopted,  that  "we  form  ourselves  into  an  organ- 
ization to  be  known  as  the  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  in  the  State  of  Nebraska, 
with  the  approval  and  recognition  of  the  General  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  in 
North  America;"  "that  a  committee  of  twelve  be  appointed  to  prepare  and  present 
the  necessary  application  for  recognition  to  the  General  Eldership  at  its  next  regu- 
lar meeting,  to  be  held  at  Smithville,  Ohio,  in  May  next;"  "that  we  adopt  the 
Rules  of  Order  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  subject  to  such  changes  as 
may  be  deemed  necessary."  Under  these  Rules  a  full  list  of  committees  was  ap- 
pointed. A  Standing  Committee  was  also  appointed.  The  following  composed 
the  Committee  to  Memorialize  the  General  Eldership:  E.  D.  Aller,  D.  S.  Warner, 
G.  F.  McElwee,  B.  Hahn,  J.  K.  Paxton,  G.  K.  Mooney,  J.  H.  Anderson,  J.  W.  Kager, 
A.  li.  Nye,  W.  J.  Howard  and  J.  Kooken.  A  ministerial  Association  was  provided 
for,  which  was  to  meet  quarterly.  A  third  sitting,  in  the  evening,  was  devoted  to 
the  discussion  of  the  Polity  of  the  Church;  the  History  of  the  Church,  and  reports 
of  missionaries.  Resolutions  were  also  adopted,  regarding  "the  sin  of  intemper- 
ance as  one  of  the  greatest  evils  which  curse  our  nation  and  the  world;"  pK  1ging 
their  "influence  to  prohibit  the  manufacture  and  vending  of  all  intoxicating 
liquors;"  strongly  urging  education,  and  expressing  appreciation  of  the  periodicals 
of  the  General  Eldership  and  of  the  liberality  of  said  body  in  promoting  mission 
work  in  the  State. 

At  the  General  Eldership  held  at  West  Salem  (instead  of  Smithville),  Ohio, 
in  May,  1875,  "the  memorial  of  ministers  and  churches  of  Nebraska"  was  re- 
ceived by  mail,  neither  of  the  twelve  members  appointed  at  the  "Preliminary  Eld- 
ership" being  present.  It  was  referred  to  the  Eldership,  was  read  and  then  re- 
ferred to  a  special  committee,  consisting  of  Shoemaker,  Kennedy  and  Ross.  Said 
Committee  reported  favorably,  and  the  Petition  was  granted,  and  "the  name,  style 
and  title"  was  fixed,  to  be  "the  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Nebraska." 
Being  thus  regularly  chartered,  the  Nebraska  Eldership  assembled  to  hold  its  first 
session  at  Cropsey,  Gage  county.  Neb.,  October  1,  1875.  Without  designating 
them  by  their  official  titles,  fifteen  members  were  enrolled,  viz.:  C.  S.  Bolton,  E. 
D.  Aller,  C.  S.  Kilmer,  J.  W.  Figart,  G.  F.  McElwee,  E.  C.  GUbert,  J.  W.  Kager,  T, 
S.  Claybome,  I.  Tompkins,  G.  E.  Ewing,  J.  K.  Paxton,  H.  H.  Hoflfer,  K.  A.  Moore, 
H.  Wensel  and  Geo.  K.  Mooney.  An  organization  was  effected  by  the  election  of 
G.  F.  McElwee,  Speaker;  E.  D.  Aller,  Clerk,  and  J.  K.  Paxton,  Treasurer.  The 
members  of  the  Standing  Committee  were  K.  A.  Moore,  E.  D.  Aller  and  G.  F. 
McElwee.  A  Board  of  Missions  was  appointed,  consisting  of  K.  A.  Moore,  E.  C. 
Gilbert  and  H.  H.  Hoflfer.  Also  a  Board  of  Incorporation,  composed  of  G.  F. 
McElwee,  E.  D.  Aller,  J.  K.  Paxton,  K.  A.  Moore,  E.  C.  Gilbert  and  H.  H.  Hoffer. 

G.  F.  McElwee  was  originally  a  member  of  the  Iowa  Eldership,  having  re- 
ceived his  first  license  from  that  body  in  1870,  along  with  B.  F.  Bolton,  R.  M.  Pine, 
J.  S.  Miller,  L.  F.  Chamberlin  and  several  others.  He  was  appointed  to  the  mis- 
sion in  Page  county,  Iowa,  and  Nodaway  county.  Mo.  For  reasons  which  do  not 
appear,  he  was  more  or  less  indifferent  to  his  relations  to  the  Eldership,  as  he 
was  not  heard  from  in  1871;  was  not  mentioned  in  1872,  and  marked  "absent"  in 
1873.  From  his  mission  field  in  the  Iowa  Eldership  he  went  to  Kansas,  and  in 
1874  reported  by  letter  to  the  Iowa  Eldership.  He  was  a  man  of  good  natural 
talents,  who  made  a  favorable  impression  wherever  he  went.  He  manifested  quite 
an  interest  in  the  work  in  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  and  was  present  at  the  Nebraska 


654  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

Preliminary  Eldership,  in  1874,  and  acted  as  one  of  the  Clerks.  When  the  Elder- 
ship was  regularly  organized,  in  1875,  he  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  was  appointed 
to  the  Blue  River  circuit,  in  Nebraska.  He  was  again  elected  Speaker  in  1876. 
Between  1875  and  1880,  he  was  employed  part  of  the  time  by  the  Board  of  Mis- 
sions of  the  General  Eldership,  and  gradually  became  less  active  in  his  relations 
to  the  Nebraska  Eldership. 

The  territory  of  the  Nebraska  Eldership  originally  included  the  whole  State 
of  Nebraska  and  part  of  the  northern  tier  of  counties  in  the  State  of  Kansas. 
Later  these  counties  were  given  to  the  Kansas  Eldership.  The  Constitution  which 
was  adopted  at  this  first  session  has  been  amended  at  several  subsequent  sessions. 
It  provided  that  the  name  shall  be  "The  Nebraska  Eldership  of  the  Church  of 
God,"  later  changed  to  "churches."  The  membership  shall  consent  of  "regularly 
licensed  teaching  elders  and  ruling  elders  chosen  by  the  local  churches."  The 
Standing  Committee  was  made  "trustees  of  the  Corporation  during  the  intervals 
between  meetings  of  the  Eldership."  It  has  power  "to  fill  all  vacancies  in  any  of 
the  oflaces."  The  "Corporation"  was  a  distinct  thing  from  the  Eldership,  as  its 
"annual  meetings  shall  be  held  with  the  meeting  of  the  Eldership;  but  meetings 
may  be  held  at  other  times."  The  Corporation  was  also  "a  Home  Missionary 
Society." 

2nd  Nebraska  Eldership. — The  proportion  of  territory  occupied  in  Nebraska 
and  Kansas  respectively  is  seen  in  the  record  of  the  second  Eldership  session. 
Seven  circuits  were  reported  when  the  Eldership  was  constituted,  two  of  which 
were  in  Kansas.  The  body  convened  at  Barkey,  Gage  county.  Neb.,  September  6, 
1876.  There  were  four  teaching  elders  present,  and  five  ruling  elders.  McElwee 
was  elected  Speaker;  E.  D.  Aller,  Stated  Clerk,  and  J.  K.  Paxton,  Transcribing 
Clerk.  The  Constitution  was  amended  as  the  first  item  of  business,  so  as  to  pro- 
vide for  "one  ruling  elder  appointed  and  sent  by  each  church  to  act  as  delegate," 
which  "shall  be  entitled  to  full  membership."  Article  X.  was  also  amended  so 
as  to  give  the  Standing  Committee  power  to  grant  licenses,  to  make  such  changes 
in  the  appointments  as  may  become  necessary,  and  to  fill  vacancies,  and  to  try 
ministers  upon  preferment  of  charges,  and  to  suspend,  but  not  to  expel.  A  new 
field  of  labor  had  been  opened  in  Jefferson  county,  and  was  reported  to  the  Elder- 
ship, by  Joseph  Broady.  The  necessary  measures  were  taken  to  secure  an  Act  of 
Incorporation.  The  Eldership  readily  acquiesced  in  actions  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship relative  to  the  collection  of  missionary  funds,  and  the  ministers  were  in- 
structed "to  take  up  missionary  collections  in  each  church  on  their  charges."  And 
one  evening  was  devoted  to  missionary  interests.  Each  church  in  the  Eldership 
was  also  "requested  to  organize  a  missionary  society  as  soon  as  practicable."  It 
was  agreed  that  ministers  move  to  new  fields  of  labor  in  October.  On  Temperance 
the  Eldership  pledged  itself  "to  use  all  honorable  means  in  our  power  to  stop  the 
manufacture,  sale  and  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  as  a  beverage."  And  it  classed 
"the  use  of  tobacco  as  intemperance."  The  By-Laws  were  so  changed  as  to  close 
the  Eldership  session  each  year  with  an  ordinance  meeting.  In  ordaining  min- 
isters a  "charge"  was  delivered,  and  "the  licentiates  were  fellowshiped  by  all 
present  in  the  midst  of  shouts  of  praise  to  God."  A  committee  to  define  the 
boundaries  of  circuits  reported  nine  fields  of  labor,  two  of  which  were  in  Nemaha 
and  Marshall  counties,  Kansas.  Those  in  Nebraska  were  in  Saline,  Polk,  York, 
Seward,  Fillmore,  Jefferson,  Gage,  Lancaster  and  Richardson  counties.  The  work 
in  Jefferson  county  soon  enlarged  to  such  an  extent  that  the  Standing  Committee 
divided  it,  and  made  two  circuits,  increasing  the  total  number  of  fields  to  ten. 

3rd  Nebraska  Eldership. — Quite  a  perceptible  increase  in  the  numerical 
strength  of  the  Eldership  is  noticeable  as  it  was  constituted  at  the  Barada  Bethel, 
Richardson  county.  Neb.,  August  29,  1877.  There  were  enrolled  and  present 
eight  teaching  elders  and  nine  ruling  elders,  and  also  two  delegates.  George  E. 
Ewing  was  elected  Speaker;  C.  S.  Bolton,  Clerk;  Jay  C.  Fomcrook,  Financial  Clerk, 
and  E.  C.  Gilbert,  Treasurer.  The  grasshoper  plague  had  so  crippled  the  churches 
financially  that  collections  ordered  had  not  been  lifted,  and  the  Eldership  re- 
quested the  General  Eldership  to  exonerate  it  from  all  collections  for  its  funds. 
Nevertheless,  the  Board  of  Missions  had  appropriated  $200.00  to  three  of  its  mis- 
sionaries. There  were  five  additions  to  the  Ministerial  Roll,  three  from  other  Eld- 
erships, and  two  licentiates — Jay  C.  Fomcrook  and  Franklin  M.  Wixon.  Provision 
was  made  for  a  Widows'  Fund,  and  a  collection  was  ordered  to  be  lifted  for  it  in 
April.  "A  Course  of  Studies  for  young  ministers"  was  arranged,  and  studies  pre- 
scribed for  the  first~year.    By  resolution  the  Eldership  "especially  urged  the  young 


The  Nebraska  Eldership  655 

brethren  in  the  ministry  to  use  their  best  efforts  to  acquire  a  more  general  edu- 
cation." A  more  complete  course  of  studies  was  to  be  prepared  to  be  acted  upon 
in  1878.  The  Report  of  the  Treasurer  showed  but  $28.65  receipts;  but  the  Eld- 
ership directed  that  he  "be  required  to  give  bonds  of  one  thousand  dollars."  The 
holding  of  a  Ministerial  Association  was  approved.  At  the  close  of  the  Eldership 
the  Boundary  Committee's  Report  made  twelve  appointments,  of  which  three  were 
missions. 

4th  Nebraska  Eldership, — The  want  of  proper  care  in  ordaining  men  to  the 
ministry  seems  always,  in  the  earlier  years  of  Elderships,  to  have  been  one  great 
source  of  weakness.  As  a  result,  names  were  dropped  and  unworthy  ones  dis- 
fellowshiped  by  harsher  measures,  and  the  cause  suffered  harm.  When  the  Fourth 
Nebraska  Eldership  convened  and  was  constituted  at  White  Hall,  near  Centralia, 
Nemaha  county,  Kas.,  September  4,  1878,  ten  teaching  elders  were  present,  and 
thirteen  ruling  elders.  Five  ministers  were  absent.  One  was  received  by  trans- 
fer from  the  Iowa  Eldership,  A.  L.  Nye;  one  from  the  Michigan  Eldership,  A.  B. 
Slyter,  and  C.  Manchester  was  ordained.  His  significant  record  stands  on  the 
Journal.  "On  motion,  the  following  names  were  dropped  from  the  Roll  of  min- 
isters of  the  Nebraska  Eldership."  There  are  entered  six  names.  The  organiza- 
tion was  effected  by  the  choice  of  E.  D.  Aller  for  Speaker;  P.  K.  Shoemaker,  Clerk, 
and  P.  Shaw,  Treasurer.  The  bethel  at  Vermillion,  Kas.,  was  in  "danger  of  being 
lost"  because  of  debt.  The  community  was  asked  to  pay  one-third  of  it;  the 
Nebraska  Eldership  to  pay  one-third,  and  "the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General 
Eldership  be  earnestly  requested  to  pay  the  remainder."  Several  persons  to 
whom  the  Eldership  declined  to  give  licenses  to  preach  were  recognized  as  useful 
workers,  and  were  commended  to  the  churches  and  placed  "under  the  care  of  regu- 
larly licensed  ministers."  The  Eldership  appointed  the  "committee  to  prepare  a 
program  for  the  Ministerial  Association."  The  Stationing  Committee  arranged 
the  territory  into  one  station,  two  missions  and  ten  circuits. 

5th  Nebraska  Eldership. — In  1879  the  Eldership  convened  at  Barkey,  Gage 
county.  Neb.,  October  1st.  Fourteen  fields  of  labor  were  represented  by  twelve 
teaching  elders  and  twenty-one  ruling  elders.  Four  teaching  elders  were  absent. 
E.  D.  Aller  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  G.  W.  Mellinger,  Clerk.  Provision  was  made 
whereby  "all  property  held  by  virtue  of  any  deed,  gift,  grant  or  trust,  by  any 
church  organization,  when  the  church  organization  becomes  extinct,  shall  be 
vested  in  this  Eldership."  Under  this  action  the  Eldership  at  once  claimed  title 
to  a  lot  in  Firth,  Neb.,  bought  and  paid  for  by  K.  A.  Moore,  for  the  use  of  the 
church  at  said  place,  and  "the  church  having  no  organized  form  as  recognized  by 
this  Eldership,"  ordered  that  a  deed  "be  executed  for  the  said  lot  of  ground  to 
the  said  K.  A.  Moore."  "Auxilliary  missionary  societies"  were  directed  to  be  or- 
ganized in  each  church  "to  raise  as  much  money,  however  little,  as  they  possibly 
can,  not  to  go  beyond  moral  obligations."  There  were  three  or  four  sharply  con- 
tested questions,  on  which  the  yeas  and  nays  were  called;  but  after  the  storms 
there  was  quiet  and  peace.  One  of  these  was  a  resolution  pending  the  adoption 
of  the  Report  of  the  Standing  Committee,  when  it  was  decided  that  "on  our  behalf 
the  Standing  Committee  erred  in  allowing  themselves  and  witnesses  to  be  sworn." 
The  state  of  religion  was  declared  to  be  "better  than  any  previous  year."  To  pre- 
vent personal  grievances  from  being  ventilated  in  open  session  it  was  decided  that 
"no  business  relating  to  individuals  or  churches  wherein  disaffection  exists  shall 
come  before  this  Eldership  for  its  action  further  than  to  refer  it  to  a  committee, 
the  report  of  which  shall  be  received  and  adopted  or  rejected  without  discussion." 
Eleven  fields  of  labor  were  arranged,  one  being  a  mission  in  Phillips  and  Norton 
counties,  Kas.,  in  the  north-western  part  of  the  State,  with  J.  C.  Fomcrook  as  mis- 
sionary. On  his  return  homeward  after  the  Eldership  P.  Shaw  organized  a  church 
at  Ash  Creek,  on  the  Otoe  Reservation,  thirty  miles  from  where  the  session  was 
held.     The  Reservation  was  part  of  Barkey  circuit,  assigned  to  Shaw. 

6th  Nebraska  Eldership. — The  ministers  of  the  Nebraska  Eldership  were  of 
resolute  purpose,  not  daunted  by  adversity,  nor  influenced  by  worldly  allurements. 
They  would  preach  and  push  forward  the  work  to  the  extent  of  their  powers.  Yet 
some  had  "agricultural  aspirations,"  and  so  the  whole  Eldership  in  1880,  led  by 
Fomcrook,  Miller  and  Kilmer,  was  asked  to  place  on  record  a  resolution  "that  we, 
the  preachers  of  the  Nebraska  Eldership,  will  follow  the  plow  as  the  last  resort, 
and  that  by  the  prayers  and  liberality  of  the  brethren  and  the  blessing  of  God  we 
will  stick  to  our  calling."  This  session  of  the  Eldership  was  held  at  Wayland 
(Victor),  Polk  county,  beginning  on  Tuesday  evening,  September  21st,  with  the 


656  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

Opening  Sermon  by  J.  C  Fomcrook,  from  Heb.  i.  1,  2,  3.  Twelve  teaching  elders 
were  present,  and  nine  were  absent;  with  eight  ruling  elders  and  nine  messengers. 
E.  D.  Aller  was  elected  Speaker;  J,  T.  Clement,  First  Clerk;  J.  C.  Forncrook,  Sec- 
ond Clerk;  J.  S.  Kilmer,  Financial  Clerk.  Trespassers  on  the  territory  of  the  Eld- 
ership were  warned  by  a  resolution,  that  the  whole  State  belongs  to  the  Nebraska 
Eldership  exclusively,  andthat  it  "will  be  regarded  as  a  breach  of  the  Rules  of  our 
system  of  co-operation  should  there  be  any  innovation  on  the  rights  of  the  Elder- 
ship, and  will  be  resisted  as  such."  The  Eldership  discussed  the  question  seri- 
ously, "How  shall  we  support  our  ministers,  and  thus  enable  them  to  devote  their 
whole  time  and  all  their  powers  to  their  calling?"  The  brotherhood  was  "urged 
to  put  forth  every  effort  in  their  power"  to  this  end.  It  also  expressed  its  con- 
viction that  "to  carry  on  the  work  successfully  we  must  make  it  more  effective, 
raise  the  necessary  funds  to  meet  the  required  demands,"  and  zealously  co-operate 
in  every  department  of  the  work.  A  special  sitting  was  devoted  to  the  discussion 
of  "such  financial  policy  as  will  recuperate  our  finances  and  enable  us  to  carry  on 
the  good  work."  C.  Manchester  took  a  transfer  to  the  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eld- 
ership. The  Eldership  acknowledged  that  it  was  "greatly  deficient  in  educational 
qualifications,"  and  hence  "heartily  endorsed  the  efforts  to  establish  an  institution 
of  learning  to  be  owned  and  controlled  by  the  Church."  "All  the  members  of  this 
body,"  it  declared,  "and  all  lovers  of  our  race  and  of  our  God,  are  morally  bound 
to  do  all  in  their  power  to  suppress,  banish  and  exterminate  the  manufacture,  sale 
and  use  of  intoxicating  drinks."  It  expressed  opposition  to  the  transfer  of  the 
northern  counties  in  Kansas  to  the  Kansas  Eldership.  The  condition  of  the 
churches  morally  was  generally  encouraging.  A  Ministerial  Association  was  pro- 
vided for,  in  May,  1881.  Nine  fields  of  labor  were  mapped  out,  to  which  eleven 
ministers  were  assigned. 

7th  Nebraska  Eldership. — As  the  General  Eldership  in  May,  1881,  made  the 
boundary  line  between  Kansas  and  Nebraska  the  northern  boundary  of  the  Kansas 
Eldership,  against  which  a  protest  was  adopted  by  the  Nebraska  Eldership  in 
1880,  at  the  session  held  at  Uebels,  Saline  county,  October  6-8,  1881,  it  adopted  a 
resolution  stating,  that  "with  regret  we  acquisce  in  the  action  of  the  General  Eld- 
ership in  granting  the  territory  of  northern  Kansas  to  the  Kansas  Eldership."  The 
session  was  presided  over  by  Jesse  Evans,  Speaker;  and  J.  C.  Foracrook  was  Jour- 
nalizing Clerk;  D.  B.  Zook,  Transcribing  Clerk;  J.  H.  Barkey,  Financial  Clerk, 
and  C.  S.  Kilmer,  Treasurer.  The  body  expressed  its  abhorrence  at  the  assassina- 
tion of  Garfield,  and  a  special  committee  voiced  "the  respect  and  sorrow  of  this 
body  occasioned  by  the  death  of  so  noble  and  virtuous  a  man."  On  the  ground  of 
"illegality"  certain  actions  taken  in  1880  were  declared  "void."  The  action  of 
the  General  Eldership  in  appointing  "a  Secretary  and  Collecting  Agent  for  the  pur- 
pose of  forwarding  the  mission  cause"  was  greatly  appreciated.  The  Crete  church 
property,  at  Crete,  belonged  to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  a  resolution 
was  agreed  to,  asking  its  transfer  to  the  Nebraska  Eldership.  The  policy  of  issu- 
ing licenses  to  exhorters  was  approved,  and  two  exhorters  were  licensed.  A  Judi- 
ciary Committee  was  added  to  the  list  of  committees.  A  Ministerial  Association 
was  provided  for,  and  it  was  agreed  "that  in  connection  therewith  we  have  a 
normal  class."  The  project  of  "establishing  a  Church  School  by  the  General  Eld- 
ership" was  cordially  endorsed,  with  a  "prayer  that  able  and  liberal  friends  of  the 
school  may  be  multiplied  until  it  is  made  a  glorious  success."  A  Sunday-school 
Convention  was  provided  for  in  connection  with  the  Ministerial  Association,  and 
committees  on  programs  for  both  were  named.  The  Church  "people  everywhere" 
were  "encouraged  to  labor  earnestly  to  advance  the  interests  of  the  Union  Sunday- 
schools  within  our  bounds."  Nine  fields  of  labor  were  reported  by  the  Stationing 
Committee,  with  fourteen  appointees,  three  of  which  were  in  the  employ  of  the 
Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership. 

8th  Nebraska  Eldership. — Twelve  of  the  twenty  teaching  elders  of  the  Elder- 
ship failed  to  respond  at  Roll  call  when  the  eighth  session  began  at  Indian  Creek, 
Fillmore  county,  September  20,  1882.  And  but  four  delegates  were  in  attendance. 
The  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  the  previous  evening  by  A.  G.  Bogart,  from 
Isa.  xxviii.  16.  Jesse  Evans  was  made  Speaker;  D.  B.  Zook,  Journalizing  Clerk; 
J.  C.  Forncrook,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  J.  A.  Horton,  Treasurer.  In  Kansas  and 
Iowa  Prohibition  was  voted  upon  and  carried  as  a  Constitutional  Amendment  in 
1880,  and  the  Eldership  "congratulated  the  temperance  people  of  Kansas  for  their 
grand  victory,"  and  the  body  pledged  itself  "to  do  all  in  our  power  to  place  Nebraska 
third  in  the  rank  among  the  noble  States  which  dare  to  stretch  forth  the  mighty 


The  Nerraska  Eldership  657 

hand  of  the  Law  to  'rescue  the  perishing.'  "  The  state  of  religion  was  reported  as 
"generally  good."  The  Treasurer  was  required  to  give  bond  in  the  sum  of  $200.00. 
There  being  so  many  absentees,  a  resolution  was  adopted,  expressing  "the  sense  of 
this  body  that  every  minister  holding  a  license  ought  to  meet  with  us,  if  possible, 
and  at  least  honor  the  Eldership  by  sending  a  report  of  his  labors."  This  was 
emphasized  by  renewing  the  licenses  of  absentees,  and  placing  them  in  the  hands 
of  the  Standing  Committee  awaiting  their  reports.  Provision  was  made  for  the 
Speaker  to  preach  the  Opening  Sermon  of  the  succeeding  Eldership. 

9th  Nebraska  Eldei-ship. — After  the  organization  of  the  Eldership  at  Possum 
Hill  School-house,  Saline  county,  September  13,  1883,  the  Speaker,  W.  J.  Harris, 
was  authorized  to  name  "a  committee  of  three  on  Constitution  and  By-Laws,  to 
report  at  the  next  session."  Moore,  Zook  and  AUer  were  appointed.  That  "min- 
isters may  be  able  to  act  intelligently  when  called  to  a  place  in  which  they  must 
decide  parliamentary  questions"  they  were  requested  to  study  Cushing's  Manual, 
which  was  adopted  to  govern  the  Eldership.  Rejoicing  over  the  success  of  pro- 
hibition in  other  States,  the  Eldership  resolved  to  "do  all  in  our  power  to  place 
our  own  State  in  line  with  all  others"  on  this  question.  "A  warm  discussion"  fol- 
lowed a  resolution  from  the  same  Committee  "greatly  deprecating  the  use  of  to- 
bacco" and  pledging  the  Eldership  "to  discourage  its  use,  especially  among  the 
ministers  of  this  body;"  but  it  was  adopted  after  thus  amended.  Churches  were 
^'urged  to  organize  home  missionary  societies."  Action  was  taken  "to  constitute 
a  fund  for  the  support  of  widows  and  orphan  children  of  deceased  ministers." 
Each  minister  was  required  "to  pay  $1.00  into  this  Fund  when  making  his  annual 
report,"  and  "each  member  of  the  Church"  was  "invited  to  pay  annually  25  cents 
into  this  Fund."  The  death  of  P.  Shaw,  "a  good  man  of  God,  an  earnest  de- 
fender of  God's  word  and  a  wise  counselor  in  our  deliberations,"  was  sincerely 
lamented.  He  was  first  licensed  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  in  1840. 
Fomci"ook  was  transferred  to  the  Illinois  Eldership.  These  losses  were  partly 
made  up  by  the  addition  of  several  new  men.  The  bethel  at  Barada  was  partly 
wrecked  by  a  storm,  and  a  committee  was  "appointed  to  devise  ways  and  means  to 
rebuild  it."  The  appointments  numbered  twelve,  but  there  were  several  quite  in- 
adequately supplied.  D.  B.  Zook,  Clerk  of  the  Eldership,  apologized  for  the  over- 
sight by  the  Eldership  to  elect  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  in  1884. 
Probably  for  want  of  funds  in  the  treasury,  J.  A.  Hoi-ton,  Treasurer,  made  no 
report. 

10th  Nebraska  Eldership. — The  committee  to  draft  a  Constitution  and  By- 
Laws  were  ready  to  make  its  report  when  the  Eldership  convened  in  1884.  It 
recommended  that  "the  Articles  of  Incorporation  as  recorded  in  the  Secretary's 
office  at  Lincoln  be  adopted"  as  the  Constitution.  These  Articles  give  the  name  as 
"the  Nebraska  Eldership  of  the  churches  of  God."  The  object  is  "to  give  legal 
existence  to  the  Eldership."  The  membership  is  to  consist  "of  regularly  licensed 
teaching  elders,  and  ruling  elders  chosen  by  the  local  churches."  Officers  pro- 
vided for  are  "a  Speaker,  Stated  Clerk,  Treasurer,  Board  of  Missions  and  Standing 
Committee."  These  constitute  the  Board  of  Incorporation.  The  Standing  Com- 
mittee shall  act  as  trustees  between  sessions  of  the  Eldership,  and  shall  fill  va- 
cancies. The  Corporation  shall  hold  its  annual  meeting  with  the  meeting  of  the 
Eldership.  It  shall  also  be  a  Home  Mission  Society.  When,  after  the  Opening 
Sermon  by  W.  T.  Han-is,  on  September  3,  1884,  the  Eldership  convened  for  busi- 
ness on  the  morning  of  the  4th,  seven  teaching  elders  were  present,  and  eight  ab- 
sent. Six  ruling  elders  were  also  present,  and  one  exhorter.  Han-is  was  elected 
Speaker;  D.  B.  Zook,  Clerk,  and  J.  A.  Hortoii,  Treasurer.  By-Laws  to  govern  the 
body  while  doing  business  were  adopted;  yet  they  also  provided  that  each  local 
church  shall  "organize  and  control  a  home  missionary  society."  The  question, 
"What  position  shall  we  assume  on  the  prohibition  agitation?"  was  discussed  by 
Aller,  Moore  and  others,  and  several  sittings  later  the  Committee  on  Temperance 
reported,  that  "we  will  not  be  satisfied  with  a  law  upon  this  subject  short  of  en- 
tire prohibition  of  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  all  intoxicants  of  every  form  and 
character."  The  Home  Missionary  funds  were  "transferred  to  the  Contingent 
Fund  until  enough  Contingent  funds  can  be  raised  to  replace  them."  The  "set- 
ting apart  of  the  first  Lord's  day  after  the  Week  of  Prayer  as  a  day  of  fasting  and 
prayer  for  the  general  prosperity  of  the  Church,"  as  recommended  by  the  General 
Eldership  of  1884,  was  "heartily  endorsed."  The  session  of  the  Eldership  was 
held  in  the  Friendship  school-house.  Gage  county,  "the  Board  of  Directors  having 

C.  H.— 22* 


658  History    of    the    Churches    oe    God 

suspended  school  for  one  week  and  opened  their  school-house,  and  welcomed  this 
body  into  their  building." 

11th  Nebraska  Eldership.- — The  eleventh  session  of  the  Nebraska  Eldership 
had  the  gratification  of  enrolling  as  advisory  members  two  ministers  of  the  Free 
Baptist  Church,  L.  IJ.  Wharton  and  A.  D.  Williams.  The  latter  "made  a  cordial 
response,  recalling  some  of  his  associations  with  the  former  standard  bearers  of 
the  Church  in  the  East."  He  contributed  to  The  Advocate  an  interesting  report 
of  the  session.  He  was  reminded  "of  the  old  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  forty 
years  ago.  There  was  the  same  devotion,  the  same  earnestness,  the  same  re- 
sponsive heartiness,  the  same  sharpness  of  conflict  and  the  same  generous  fra- 
ternity after  it  was  over;  the  same  earnest  contending  for  cherished  opinions,  and 
the  same  readiness  to  fight  whatever  may  oppose,  coupled  with  the  same  burning 
fire  of  personal  devotion."  The  session  was  held  at  Barkey,  Gage  county,  begin- 
ning October  22,  1885.  On  the  evening  of  October  21st  J.  L.  Jackson  preached 
the  Opening  Sermon.  Eight  fields  of  labor,  with  six  pastors  and  six  ruling  elders, 
were  enrolled;  also  ten  "local  ministers  and  one  exhorter."  E.  D.  Aller  was 
chosen  Speaker;  D.  B.  Zook,  Clerk,  and  J.  L.  Jackson,  Treasurer.  By  invitation 
Dr.  AVilliams  "made  a  statement  of  the  success  of  the  Free  Baptist  Church,  and 
gave  the  plan  of  its  system  of  co-operation."  As  he  was  Corresponding  Mes- 
senger of  the  Free  Baptist  Association,  the  Eldership  appointed  Aller  and  Zook 
"delegates  to  the  next  Yearly  Meeting  of  said  brethren."  The  Eldership  placed 
itself  on  record  in  favor  of  unfermented  wine  in  the  Communion,"  in  order  to 
avoid  the  possibility  of  evil,  or  even  the  appearance  of  it."  A  radical  change  was 
made  in  the  system  of  Co-opeartion.  It  was  directed  that  "the  State  be  divided 
into  three  districts,  and  that  a  man  be  appointed  in  each  district  to  assist  the  pas- 
tors in  their  work;  to  incite  the  brethren  to  a  better  support  of  the  ministry,  and  tO' 
build  church  houses  and  contribute  to  our  various  Funds;  to  heal  divisions,  to 
promote  harmony  and  co-operation,  and  to  have  a  general  supervision  over  the 
whole  work  in  his  district."  The  "need  of  more  consecration,  both  among  the 
ministry  and  laity,"  was  emphasized.  The  poverty  of  ministers  "from  the  ex- 
treme northwest"  was  recognized  in  the  action  directing  that  on  "Sabbath  morn- 
ing and  evening  collections  be  held  to  help  these  brethren  to  return  to  their  fields." 
The  organization  of  missionary  societies  in  the  churches  was  strongly  insisted 
upon.  As  directed,  the  Stationing  Committee  divided  the  territory  into  three  Dis- 
tricts, with  a  Superintendent  for  each  one.  There  were  seven  circuits.  The 
"local  workers,"  were  "recommended"  to  the  different  Superintendents. 

12th  Nebraska  Eldership. — During  the  year  the  Eldership  sustained  a  serious 
loss  in  the  death  of  A.  B.  Slyter.  Death  is  a  terrible  leveler.  It  not  only  "mows 
down  all  with  an  impartial  hand;"  but  in  the  grave  there  is  no  distinction.  Yet 
in  character,  talents  and  efficiency  in  service  not  all  are  of  the  same  rank,  and  so 
the  Nebraska  Eldership  could  justly  lament  the  death  of  Slyter  as  that  of  "an  able 
preacher  of  the  gospel  and  a  wise  counselor."  He  was  originally  licensed  by  the 
Indiana  Eldership  in  1856.  The  session  of  the  Eldership  in  1886  was  held  at 
Janesville,  Custer  county,  where  the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  on  the  evening 
of  October  6th,  by  J.  W.  Adams,  from  I.  Tim.  iv.  16.  Eighteen  teaching  and 
ruling  elders  were  in  attendance.  The  officers  elected  were  C.  S.  Kilmer,  Speaker; 
D.  B.  Zook,  Clerk,  and  J.  L.  Jackson,  Treasurer.  One  minister  was  required  to 
confess  that  he  had  done  wrong  "in  expelling  a  member  from  a  church  not 
strictly  according  to  the  word,"  with  a  promise  of  forgiveness.  The  confession 
followed.  Sympathy  was  expressed  for  "the  members  of  this  body  given  to  the  bad' 
habit  of  the  filthy  use  of  tobacco,"  and  the  Eldership  declared  that  it  "earnestly, 
prayerfully  and  feelingly  invites,  persuades  and  urges  all  of  them  immediately  to 
cease  using  it  in  any  form."  It  also  pledged  itself  "not  to  vote  for  any  candidate 
whom  we  know  to  be  against  the  submission  of  the  temperance  question  to  a  vote- 
of  the  people."  The  tendency  of  "teaching  elders  to  stand  aloof  from  local  mem- 
bership" was  disapproved,  and  they  were  required  "to  hold  membership  in  some 
local  church."  There  being  "too  much  slackness  in  observing  the  ordinances," 
the  Eldership  gave  it  as  its  judgment  that  "each  minister  in  charge  of  a  work 
should  hold  ordinance  meetings  as  often  as  once  a  quarter."  The  building  of 
houses  of  worship  was  strongly  insisted  upon,  and  each  minister  was  "requested  to 
urge  upon  the  people  the  great  need  of  this  work."  The  plan  of  districting  the 
territory  and  appointing  "Superintendents"  was  disregarded,  and  the  Stationing^ 
Committee  appointed  the  ministers  to  nine  circuits,  on  several  of  which  two  were- 
appointed,  and  on  a  few  others  one  pastor  with  one  and  two  "helpers." 


The  Nebraska  Eldership  659 

13th  Nebraska  Eldership. — The  "borrowing"  of  money  from  funds  of  the 
Eldership  to  be  replaced  later  by  collections  was  not  uncommon,  usually  from  the 
Home  Mission  Fund.  To  pay  funeral  expenses  the  previous  year  this  was  au- 
thorized by  the  Eldership.  Wherein  this  differs  from  misapplication  of  funds  by 
officials  of  institutions  of  a  financial  character  is  a  question  in  casuistry  not  raised 
by  the  Nebraska  Eldership.  It  held  its  thirteenth  session  at  Kilmer,  Lincoln 
county,  beginning  October  1,  1887.  The  previous  evening  J.  W.  Adams  delivered 
the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Acts  ii.  42.  There  were  twenty  teaching  elders  and 
nine  ruling  elders  present.  J.  W.  Adams  was  elected  Speaker;  D.  B.  Zook,  Journal- 
izing Clerk;  C.  S.  Kilmer,  Financial  Clerk,  and  Eli  Stark,  Treasurer.  To  raise  the 
amount  which  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  asked,  an  assess- 
ment was  made  on  the  different  circuits.  The  By-Laws  were  amended  so  as  to 
have  "ministers  change  fields  on  the  first  of  November  following  the  meeting  of  the 
Eldership,  instead  of  the  first  of  March."  The  Report  on  Temperance  affirmed 
the  extreme  position  that  "the  responsibility  of  our  saloon  system  lies  upon  us," 
and  hence  the  duty  "to  cry  aloud  and  spare  not  until  victory  shall  crown  the  ef- 
fort to  drive  out  of  our  land  alcoholic  drinks  as  a  beverage  forever."  The  state 
of  religion  was  encouraging,  as  "bethels  had  been  built,  churches  have  been 
greatly  strengthened,  new  churches  have  been  organized  and  the  ministry  and  laity 
feel  greatly  encouraged  to  prosecute  the  work."  The  negligence  of  "brethren 
holding  positions  of  trust  in  not  attending  to  their  duties  promptly"  was  "earnestly 
condemned,"  and  a  specific  "vote  of  censure  upon  the  past  Treasurer  for  his 
negligence"  was  adopted.  Money  "borrowed"  from  the  Missionary  Fund  in  1886 
had  not  yet  been  replaced,  and  ministers  were  again  "urged  to  raise  money  to 
replace  said  missionary  money."  The  territory  was  divided  into  ten  circuits,  with 
one  "General  Worker." 

14th  Nebraska  Eldership. — The  territory  of  the  Eldership  being  very  large, 
during  the  year  an  effort  was  made  to  create  sentiment  in  favor  of  a  division  of 
the  Eldership.  But  when  the  question  was  submitted  to  a  vote  it  was  decided 
in  the  negative.  The  session  was  held  in  Berwyn,  Custer  county,  beginning 
October  18,  1888,  and  was  attended  by  eleven  of  the  twenty  ministers,  and  by 
nine  ruling  elders.  J.  W.  Adams  was  Speaker;  D.  B.  Zook,  Clerk,  and  Eli  Stark, 
Terasurer.  The  year  had  been  a  less  successful  one  than  the  previous  one,  yet  all 
were  "hopeful  for  the  future."  However,  the  reports  showed  about  two  hundred 
conversions,  "the  organization  of  three  or  more  churches,"  and  the  erection  of  one 
bethel.  The  only  funds  received  by  the  Treasurer  were  $6.00  Home  Mission 
money  from  Zook.  The  date  for  the  Ministerial  Association  was  fixed  for  Satur- 
day preceding  the  meeting  of  the  Eldership.  A  parsonage  at  Waco,  "useless  to 
the  church,"  was  ordered  to  be  sold,  the  net  balance  to  be  paid  toward  the  new 
bethel  at  Thayer.  It  was  resolved  to  "strike  at  the  head  of  the  serpent  of  in- 
temperance in  word,  deed  and  by  our  vote."  A  call  was  received  from  Frontier 
county  for  a  missionary.  E.  K.  Howe  was  appointed.  There  were  nine  other 
circuits,  for  three  of  which  the  Eldership  could  not  furnish  pastors.  As  Henry- 
Gardner  had  arranged  to  locate  in  the  State  of  Oregon,  and  offered  "to  pay  the 
fare  out  and  back  of  J.  W.  Adams,  provided  he  will  agree  to  go  with  him  and 
remain  until  a  work  for  the  Church  has  been  started  and  organized,"  the  Elder- 
ship recommended  him  to  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  for  an 
appropriation  to  assist  him  in  said  work. 

15th  Nebraska  Eldership. — The  Waco  parsonage  was  sold,  as  ordered,  during 
the  year;  but  the  bethel  at  Thayer  was  not  built,  as  anticipated.  Hence  the  Elder- 
ship did  not  meet  there  in  1889,  as  was  proposed,  but  at  Rosemond  School-house, 
near  Thayer,  York  county,  the  session  beginning  on  October  3,  1889,  with  the 
Opening  Sermon  the  previous  evening,  by  D.  B,  Zook,  from  John  xii.  27.  The 
officers  elected  were  E.  D.  Aller,  Speaker;  D.  B.  Zook,  Clerk,  and  C  S.  Kilmer, 
Treasurer.  The  attendance  was  small,  only  eight  of  the  twenty-one  teaching 
elders  being  present,  and  three  ruling  elders.  And  while  the  work  was  character- 
ized as  "drooping,"  reports  showed  that  "over  two  hundred  have  been  converted, 
one  hundred  and  twenty-six  added  to  the  Church,  and  we  are  hopeful  for  the  fu- 
ture." The  Eldership  took  a  positive  stand  for  Prohibition,  and  the  Report 
adopted  was  of  unusual  length.  It  declared  that  the  liquor  traffic  is  destructive 
to  national  existence  in  any  form,  and  especially  to  our  peculiar  form  of  govern- 
ment," and  hence  the  Eldership  declared  "that  prohibitory  laws  are  indispensable 
to  the  triumph  of  the  temperance  cause;  that  the  license  system  is  a  most  prolific, 
and  standing  paramount  as  an  auxiliary  in  the  great  devastation  and  ruin  resulting 


66o  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

from  its  power."  "People  who  have  the  interest  of  humanity  at  heart"  are  "urged 
to  suport  at  the  ballot  box  all  men  and  measures  calculated  to  destroy  the  traffic." 
The  Eldership  "will  boldly  move  to  the  entire  prohibition  of  the  liquor  traffic." 
Of  the  three  brethren  ordained  to  the  ministry  was  John  Swanson,  a  Swede,  who 
desired  to  preach  among  his  countrymen.  The  Eldership  did  not  have  the  men 
to  supply  two  of  the  eleven  circuits.  Several  points  once  quite  promising  had 
gone  down,  among  them  Crete,  where  the  work  was  at  first  quite  encouraging;  but 
at  this  time  the  church  had  become  extinct,  and  the  property  was  placed  in  the 
hands  of  a  committee  to  sell.  "The  Uebel  bethel  is  going  to  ruins,"  was  the 
committee's  report.  K.  A.  Moore  and  John  Kilmer,  "faithful  and  efficient  lay- 
men, who  were  among  the  important  factors  in  the  origin,  growth  and  develop- 
ment of  this  Eldership"  were  called  to  their  final  reward,  and  were  sincerely 
lamented. 

16th  Nebraska  Eldership. — As  in  most  of  the  annual  Elderships,  so  in  Ne- 
braska, conformity,  to  the  action  of  the  General  Eldership  in  189  0  reduced  the 
published  Minutes  to  a  minimum.  The  Church  at  large  remained  uninformed 
and  uninfluenced  by  their  transactions.  The  Nebraska  Eldership  met  in  1890  at 
Victor  School-house,  Wayland,  Polk  county,  September  25th.  E.  D.  Aller  preached 
the  Opening  Sermon.  The  day  preceding,  the  Ministerial  Association  held  Its 
meeting.  D.  B.  Zook  was  elected  Speaker,  and  H.  G.  Moore,  Clerk.  The  territory 
of  the  Eldership  extended  over  the  following  counties:  Gage,  Saline,  Fillmore, 
Clay,  York,  Polk,  Custer,  Sherman,  Lincoln  and  Frontier.  A  colony  of  Swedes 
had  received  the  doctrines  of  the  Church,  and  John  Swanson,  who  was  of  that  na- 
tionality, was  "recommended  to  labor  among  the  Swede  people  as  a  pastor,  and 
to  preach  to  them  in  the  language  of  their  native  country."  Including  this  mis- 
sion, there  were  eleven  fields  of  labor.  Frontier  county  being  "in  the  hands  of  the 
General  Worker,  A.  Wilson." 

17th  Nebraska  Eldership. — "The  most  pleasant  and  harmonious  meetings  of 
the  Nebraska  Eldership,"  it  was  held,  were  enjoyed  at  the  session  in  1891.  There 
were  indications  of  progress  and  prosperity,  which  always  work  for  peace  and 
harmony.  After  parts  of  two  days  spent  in  the  Ministerial  Association,  the  Elder- 
ship, on  the  evening  of  October  14th,  listened  to  the  Opening  Sermon,  delivered 
by  H.  G.  Mooi-e,  from  Jer.  xxiii.  28.  E.  D.  Aller  was  chosen  Speaker;  H.  G.  Moore, 
Clerk.  The  session  was  held  at  Lone  Tree,  Custer  county.  The  attendance  of  the 
people  was  so  large,  especially  when  the  ordinances  were  observed,  that  "the  house 
was  crowded  from  end  to  end,  and  side  to  side,  with  more  on  the  outside."  The 
number  of  fields  of  labor  as  outlined  by  the  Committee  was  twelve.  Sheridan 
county  was  one  of  the  circuits.  With  the  two  newly  licensed  ministers,  twenty- 
two  were  on  the  Roll. 

18th  Nebraska  Eldersliip. — Being  largely  a  mission  field,  the  Nebraska  Elder- 
ship, and  the  women  of  the  churches,  readily  fell  in  line  in  the  new  movement 
started  with  the  organization  of  the  Woman's  General  Missionary  Society.  A 
State  W.  M.  S.  was  formed,  which  met  with  the  Eldership  in  1892,  and  gave  in- 
creased interest.  It  requested  "the  Eldership  to  unite  with  it  in  inviting  Sister 
M.  B.  Woodworth  to  hold  one  or  two  meetings  in  the  bounds  of  the  Eldership." 
The  session  was  advertised  to  be  held  at  Lone  Elm  Bethel,  Custer  county,  October 
6,  1892.  But  D.  B.  Zook,  who  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  October  5th,  notes 
that  it  was  held  at  Pleasant  Valley,  Sherman  county.  The  officers  were  E.  D. 
Aller,  Speaker;  D.  B.  Zook,  Clerk,  and  Silas  Miller,  Treasurer.  Two  ministers, 
"charged  with  insubordination,"  were  tried  before  "the  Judiciary  Committee;" 
the  "charges  sustained,"  and  "the  names  dropped  from  the  Ministerial  Roll." 
The  churches,  according  to  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion, 
were  "below  the  model  standard  established  by  the  Apostles."  Assessments  were 
made  for  the  different  Funds,  aggregating  $120.00.  The  work  among  the  Swedes 
was  continued,  but  the  numUer  of  fields  of  labor  was  reduced  to  nine.  To  give 
wider  publicity  to  the  actions  of  the  Eldership,  and  so  of  all  the  Elderships,  and 
to  secure  their  preservation  in  permanent  form,  the  Eldership  "instructed  the 
delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  in  1893  to  work  to  arrange  a  plan  to  have  the 
Journals  published  in  pamphlet  form,  with  all  the  Elderships  combined." 

19th  Nebraska  Eldership. — The  Nebraska  Eldership  in  1893  manifested  a 
more  hopeful  and  aggressive  spirit.  Conditions  generally  were  improving;  there 
was  a  better  attendance  at  the  annual  meeting,  and  unity  and  harmony  prevailed. 
The  session  was  held  at  Pleasant  View,  Frontier  county,  beginning  October  19th, 
and  continuing  during  the  20th  and   21st.      On  the  evening  of  the  18th  Richard 


.  The  Nebraska   Eldership  66i 

Bellis  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  John  iii.  3.  Nineteen  of  the  thirty-one 
teaching  elders  were  present,  and  seven  ruling  elders  and  delegates.  C.  S.  Kilmer 
was  elected  Speaker,  and  Richard  Bellis,  Clerk.  There  was  an  important  addi- 
tion to  the  membership  when  A.  Wilson  was  received  by  transfer  from  the  Iowa 
Eldership.  A  minister  of  the  Missionary  Baptist  Church  was  received  and 
licensed.  "The  dollar  plan  of  raising  the  means  to  liquidate  the  debt  on  Findlay 
College"  was  endorsed,  and  the  ministers  pledged  themselves  "to  do  our  utmost 
among  our  people  to  raise  the  money  at  an  early  date."  As  to  conditions  in  the 
Eldership,  it  was  agreed  that  "the  outlook  is  hopeful,  and  the  watchword  is  up- 
ward and  onward;"  but  there  was  "great  need  of  more  earnest,  faithful  laborers." 
The  Eldership  declared  "legislation  a  sham  that  encourages  in  any  way  the  open 
and  deliberate  dealing  out  of  the  health-destroying,  soul-ruining  and  heaven- 
defying  poison"  of  intoxicating  beverages.  The  Eldership  had  a  Monument  Com- 
mittee, to  procure  funds  and  erect  certain  monuments  over  the  graves  of  deceased 
ministers.  The  ten  fields  of  labor  were  all  well  supplied,  some  of  the  pastors 
having  assistants,  two  of  the  circuits  being  supplied  alternately  by  five  ministers. 
Those  ministers  "not  appointed  to  fields,  to  work  in  conjunction  with  pastors,  and 
in  all  ways  possible  to  plant  the  standard  of  the  Church  among  the  people." 
Perkins  county  was  added  to  the  list  of  counties  in  which  at  least  one  church  had 
been  organized. 

30th  Nebraska  Eldership. — Hard  times  in  the  year  1893-4  interfered  seri- 
ously with  Church  work  in  Nebraska.  The  people  were  in  need  themselves  in  a 
number  of  counties,  and  their  "critical  and  desitute  condition"  as  the  Winter  of 
1894  approached  foreshadowed  want  and  suffering.  Appeals  were  made  for  "con- 
tributions in  clothing  or  otherwise"  to  keep  them  in  comfort  during  the  Winter. 
It  was  in  the  presence  of  such  conditions  that  the  Eldership  convened  with  the 
church  at  Lone  Tree,  Custer  county,  October  10,  1894.  But  five  of  the  seventeen 
ministers  enrolled  were  present,  and  eight  delegates.  A.  Wilson  was  chosen 
Speaker,  and  Richard  Bellis,  Clerk.  The  names  of  five  ministers  were  "dropped 
from  the  Ministerial  Roll  of  the  Eldership."  The  Eldership  realized  "that  more 
aggressive  work  must  be  done  by  both  ministers  and  brethren;  and  that  owing  to 
the  far-reaching  drouth  in  our  State  many  have  become  discouraged."  Silas 
Miller,  who  was  re-elected  Treasurer,  reported  an  aggregate  amount  of  $51.60  in 
his  hands.  Three  were  ordained  to  the  ministry,  one  of  them  a  sister.  A  regular 
"ordination  address"  was  delivered,  followed  by  prayer.  An  apportionment  of 
Missionary  and  Contingent  funds,  aggregating  $5  5.00,  was  made  to  churches  lo- 
cated in  ten  counties.  Fields  of  labor  were  merged,  so  that  there  were  only  seven, 
to  which  were  appointed  seven  pastors  and  four  assistants. 

21st  Nebraska  EUlei-ship. — In  its  Constitution  and  By-Laws  the  Nebraska 
Eldership  is  known  as  a  "Corporation."  As,  "This  Corporation  shall  be  known 
by  the  name  of  the  Nebraska  Eldership  of  the  Churches  of  God;"  "the  object  of 
this  Corporation,"  etc.;  "The  officers  of  this -Corporation;"  "The  Treasurer  shall 
receive  and  take  charge  of  the  funds  of  the  Corporation;"  "the  annual  meeting  of 
the  Corporation;"  "this  Corporation  as  a  Home  Mission  Society,"  etc.  But  it 
had  a  Woman's  Missionary  Society,  which  was  actively  promoting  mission  work 
in  the  churches,  and  reported  to  the  Corporation,  as  it  did  at  the  session  in  1895. 
This  session  was  held  at  New  Hope,  Custer  county,  October  4-6,  189  5.  It  was  well 
attended  by  ministers,  only  six  of  the  twenty-four  enrolled  being  absent.  Six 
ruling  elders  were  present.  D.  B.  Zook  was  the  Speaker;  Richard  Bellis,  Clerk, 
and  Silas  Miller,  Treasurer.  As  the  Ministerial  Association  immediately  preceded 
the  session  of  the  Eldership,  the  discussion  of  questions  handed  down  by  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership  took  place  there.  These  were  put  in  this  form:  "What  is  the  best 
title  for  our  annual  and  general  meetings?"  G.  W.  Mizner  and  T.  A.  Moss.  2. 
"Is  'church'  or  'churches'  the  proper  word  in  connection  with  our  meetings?" 
D.  B.  Zook  and  C.  S.  Kilmer.  3.  "Is  annual  license  preferable  to  life  license  in 
our  Eldership?"  A.  Wilson  and  W.  H.  Harris.  4.  "Is  ordination  by  the  laying 
on  of  hands  a  Bible  requirement?"  Eli  Stark  and  T.  D.  Conklin.  The  vote  was 
taken  during  the  sittings  of  the  Eldership  without  discusison,  and  was  against  a 
change  in  Eldership  titles  to  Association;  for  "churches"  instead  of  "church"; 
against  life  certificates,  and  in  favor  of  imposition  of  hands  in  ordination.  The 
Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by  A.  AVilson  in  the  evening  after  the  first  day's 
sittings.  The  Eldership  had  many  obstacles  to  contend  against,  chief  of  which  at 
this  time  were  "their  poverty  and  isolation  from  one  another;"  but  a  strong  and 
earnest  desire  pervaded  the  brotherhood  "to  accomplish  more  for  the  Master  in 


662  History    op   the    Churches    of  •  God 

the  coming  year  than  in  all  the  history  of  the   Eldership."     The  territory   was 
divided  into  ten  circuits,  on  two  of  which  were  stationed  two  ministers. 

22nd  Nebraska  Eldership. — In  the  Nebraska  Eldership  no  discrimination  pre- 
vailed against  women  as  teaching  elders;  yet  there  were  only  a  few  licensed.  The 
Roll  in  189  6  under  "teaching  elders  absent,  of  which  there  were  ten,  contained 
the  name  of  "Hattie  Rousey."  And  of  the  two  licentiates  one  was  "Sister  A.  B. 
Sharpe."  She  had  been  one  of  the  list  of  "ruling  elders  and  delegates.,"  as  were 
also  Mattie  Pitt  and  Nancy  J.  Bellis,  the  latter  State  President  of  the  W.  M.  S. 
The  Eldership  convened  at  Eldorado,  Clay  county,  and  was  in  session  October  15, 
16  and  17,  1896,  eight  ministers,  and  eleven  ruling  elders  and  delegates,  being 
in  attendance.  J.  H.  Barkey  was  elected  Speaker;  D.  B.  Zook,  Clerk,  and  Silas 
Miller,  Treasurer.  The  action  of  the  General  Eldership  in  May,  189  6,  on  Elder- 
ship titles  was  accepted,  and  the  title  of  the  Nebraska  Eldership  changed  ac- 
cordingly. Two  churches  made  application  to  be  received  into  the  Eldership, 
which  was  granted.  "Total  abstinence  from  strong  drink  as  a  beverage"  was  the 
expressed  belief  of  the  Eldership,  and  this  faith  was  to  be  impressed  upon  the 
minds  of  children  by  their  parents.  Prayer  was  emphasized  as  a  "means  by  all 
Christians,  to  the  end  that  the  curse  of  liquor  selling  may  be  blighted,  routed  and 
destroyed."  An  assessment  of  $72.00  was  levied  on  the  churches  for  Misisonary 
and  Contingent  Funds.  The  ministers  were  engaged  in  arduous  labors,  under 
great  privations,  so  that  the  W.  M.  S.  through  its  officers  expresses  an  "earnest 
longing  to  be  instrumental  in  helping  them  to  bear  their  hardships."  While  they 
had  organized  several  local  societies,  "the  failure  of  crops  for  so  many  seasons 
proved  disastrous,  and  many  of  the  societies  became  extinct  by  removals  and  dis- 
couragements." There  were  eleven  fields  of  labor,  all  supplied  with  pastors  except 
Polk  county.  Hattie  Rousey  was  appointed  to  do  missionary  work  in  Wyoming, 
and  John  A.  Swanson  was  the  Eldership  Evangelist. 

23rd  Nebraska  Eldei-ship. — In  making  up  the  Roll  of  the  Eldership  in  1897 
there  were  eighteen  ministers,  of  which  number  twelve  were  present;  eleven 
ruling  elders,  and  seven  delegates,  two  of  which  were  women.  These  delegates 
took  the  places  of  absent  ruling  elders.  Also  three  exhorters,  two  of  which  were 
women,  as  was  also  one  of  the  teaching  elders.  Thus  constituted,  the  Eldership  In 
session  at  Milburn,  Custer  county,  October  7th,  elected  C.  S.  liilmer,  Speaker; 
D.  B.  Zook,  Clerk,  and  Silas  Miller,  Treasurer.  The  names  of  two  teaching  elders 
and  one  exhorter  "were  dropped  from  the  Ministerial  Roll;"  but  two  applicants 
received  licenses.  A  request  from  an  absent  brother,  "that  the  Eldership  engage 
in  prayer  on  his  behalf  for  relief  in  a  chronic  disease"  was  answered  by  "appoint- 
ing a  committee  to  arrange  for  an  hour  of  prayer  in  his  behalf."  On  temperance 
there  was  more  radical  action  taken,  in  declaring  the  Eldership's  belief  "in  the 
absolute  prohibition  of  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a 
beverage;"  in  pledging  itself  to  "work  and  vote  to  bring  the  State  and  Nation 
to  recognize  the  evil  of  the  drink  habit  and  the  sin  of  partnership  in  the  business 
by  the  license  system,"  and  in  charging  "the  license  voter  as  equally  guilty  with 
the  saloon-keeper  and  manufacturer  in  this  nefarious,  soul-destroying,  conscience- 
corrupting  business."  As  there  was  much  "negligence  in  holding  ordinance  meet- 
ings, pastors  were  instructed  "to  hold  these  meetings  at  least  once  a  quarter." 
The  W.  M.  S.  held  its  session  with  the  Eldership,  and  made  arrangements  "to 
become  auxiliary  to  the  W.  G.  M.  S."  Unconverted  persons  were  debarred  from 
"holding  office  in  local  societies." 

24th  Nebraska  Eldership. — The  activity  of  the  W.  M.  S.  during  the  Eldership 
year  1897-8  is  evidence  in  the  funds  collected  and  aid  afforded  pastors.  More 
missionary  money  was  collected  than  by  the  pastors  and  churches,  and  donations 
of  all  kinds  for  various  purposes  were  in  commendable  amounts.  In  other  re- 
spects the  interests  of  the  Eldership  were  not  what  the  body  "desired  them  to  be." 
One  token  of  this  fact  was  the  sale  of  the  bethels  in  Dry  Valley  and  at  Uebel's, 
and  the  renting  of  the  Crete  bethel  to  the  Christian  Church.  These  facts  had  a 
dispiriting  effect  on  the  Eldership  which  held  its  session  at  Lone  Tree,  Custer 
county,  October  27-29,  1898,  and  were  reflected  in  the  reduction  of  the  fields  of 
labor  to  nine.  Of  the  nineteen  ministers  eight  were  absent;  one  exhorter,  three 
ruling  elders  and  ten  delegates  were  present.  The  officers  chosen  were  D.  B. 
Zook,  Speaker;  R.  Bellis,  Clerk,  and  Silas  IVIiller,  Treasurer.  The  ministers  were 
requested  to  "take  up  some  course  of  systematic  or  normal  Bible  study,"  and  plans 
were  to  be  matured  for  a  course  of  reading  by  the  Eldership  for  the  ministers. 
Active  interest  was  taken  in  the  organization  and  work  of  the  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.     The 


The   Nebraska   Eedership  663 

practice  of  making  assessments  for  Missionary  and  Contingent  Funds  was  con- 
tinued, one  assessment  being  made,  of  which  three-fourths  was  for  missions  and 
one-fourth  for  contingent  expenes.  The  aggregate  was  $82.00.  A  Free  Baptist 
minister  proposed  "to  labor  among  us  as  an  evangelist  in  the  gospel  ministry," 
and  the  privilege  was  granted  him,  without  becoming  a  member  of  the  Church  or 
Eldership  "with  the  understanding  that  he  is  to  organize  churches  in  the  name 
church  of  God,  and  that  he  is  to  turn  over  the  churches  thus  organized  to  this 
Eldership." 

25th  Nebraska  Eldership. — "In  the  historic  old  sod  school-house,  at  New 
Hope,  Custer  county,  where  the  Nebraska  Eldership  has  twice  held  its  annual  meet- 
ing," it  convened  Thursday  morning,  October  12,  1899,  for  its  last  session  of  the 
century.  Tender  sentiments  clustered  around  "these  old  sod  walls,"  "soon  to  be 
numbered  among  the  things  of  the  past,  and  to  be  rehearsed  by  the  boys  of  to-day 
to  their  children."  There  assembled,  on  "a  bright  and  beautiful"  morning,  eleven 
teaching  elders,  and  fourteen  ruling  elders,  while  eight  teaching  elders  and  ex- 
horters  were  absent.  The  official  women  enrolled  were  three  teaching  elders  and 
exhorters,  and  two  ruling  elders,  if  the  enrollment  is  accurate.  D.  B.  Zook  was 
chosen  Speaker;  R.  Bellis,  Clerk,  and  Silas  Miller,  Treasurer.  The  year  had  been 
one  of  "spiritual  dearth";  but  there  was  "wise  and  spiritual  teaching  along  the 
line  of  truth  and  righteousness."  In  view  of  the  Life  Certificates  ordered  by  the 
General  Eldership,  the  Nebraska  Eldership  adopted  special  precautions  for  its  own 
protection.  A  committee  was  named  "to  examine  ministers  as  to  their  doctrinal 
views,"  and  every  "minister  whose  name  is  on  the  Roll  of  the  Nebraska  Eldership 
"was  required  to  go  before  said  committee  and  answer  all  questions  propounded 
to  him  regarding  his  views  on  doctrine  and  polity."  And  only  such  as  were  "in 
strict  accord  and  harmony  with  the  doctrine  and  polity  of  the  Eldership  shall 
receive  Certificates  of  Ordination."  In  addition  to  stalwart  resolutions  on  the 
temperance  question,  the  Eldership  "deplored  the  attitude  that  the  President 
and  Administration  have  assumed  in  regard  to  the  canteen  system  in  the  army." 
A.  Wilson,  almost  a  life-long  missionary,  desiring  to  retire  from  that  form  of  ac- 
tivity, "donated  his  tabernacle  to  the  Eldership,"  which  the  body  accepted  "for 
use  where  it  may  be  needed."  The  ten  fields  of  labor  were  located  in  the  follow- 
ing counties:  Gage,  Saline,  Clay,  Polk,  Custer,  Lincoln,  Logan,  Sherman,  Holt, 
Richardson,  Frontier.  G.  W.  Miznor,  a  "worthy  brother  in  the  ministry,  was  re- 
moved by  the  hand  of  death"  during  the  year.  He  was  first  licensed  in  1886.  He 
was  a  man  who  never  sacrificed  principle  for  popularity,  and  he  could  confidently 
await  the  judgment  of  his  colaborers  in  the  ministry  on  that  indictment. 

26th  Nebraska  Eldership. — The  Nebraska  Eldership  exercised  wise  prudence 
in  disposing  of  the  question  of  endorsing  a  private  proposition  to  start  a  mission- 
ary enterprise  in  Armenia.  John  Vinson,  of  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership,  dur- 
ing the  Summer  of  1900  became  much  interested  in  one  Alexanian,  a  native  of 
Armenia  sojourning  in  the  United  States,  and  soliciting  funds  to  organize  a  mission 
in  his  native  country.  Vinson  conceived  the  idea  that  each  member  of  the 
churches  of  God  might  give  2  5  cents  to  establish  this  mission,  and  sent  a  com- 
munication to  the  Nebraska  Eldership,  "urging  immediate  action  in  respect  to 
occupying  territory  in  Armenia."  The  Nebraska  Eldership  considered  this  com- 
munication at  its  session  held  at  Victor,  Polk  county,  October  4-6,  1900.  It 
agreed  to  Vinson's  proposition,  "providing  such  action  is  considered  by  the  Board 
of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership,  with  their  manner  of  working."  This 
diplomatic  answer  can  best  be  appreciated  in  the  light  of  the  fact  that  India  was 
the  foreign  mission  field  of  the  General  Eldership.  This  session  of  the  Eldership 
was  constituted  of  eight  teaching  elders  and  six  ruling  elders  and  delegates.  Nine 
teaching  elders  were  absent.  Two  of  the  teaching  elders  were  women.  Having 
provided  for  an  additional  Clerk,  the  Eldership  elected  D.  B.  Zook,  President; 
R.  Bellis,  Clerk;  T.  A.  Moss,  Financial  Clerk;  D.  B.  Zook,  Treasurer.'  The  Sta- 
tioning Committee,  the  Standing  Committee  and  the  Board  of  Missions  consisted 
exclusively  of  ministers.  The  year  had  been  one  "of  spiritual  growth,  with  a  sys- 
tem of  wise  teaching  along  the  line  of  truth  and  righteousness."  Before  any 
application  for  license  could  be  favorably  considered,  the  applicant  had  to  "answer 
in  the  affirmative  certain  questions  relative  to  doctrine  and  co-operation."  The 
Eldership  had  four  different  Funds,  into  which  the  aggregate  sum  of  $142.01  was 
paid  by  the  Financial  Clerk,  whose  duty  it  was  "to  receive  all  moneys  brought  to 
the  Eldership."  A  conservative  position  was  taken  on  the  liquor  traffic,  simply 
deciding  "to  hold  up  the  truths  set  forth  concerning  it  before  our  people,  that  they 


664  History    of    the    Churciiks    of    God 

may  be  warned  and  the  youth  taught  to  shun  the  awful  consequences  of  taking 
the  first  drink."  The  churches  were  asked  "to  excuse  their  pastors  for  two  weeks 
during  the  ensuing  year,  that  they  may  arrange  to  meet  together  at  some  central 
point  for  special  services."  Nine  fields  of  labor  were  outlined,  and  but  one  re- 
mained unsupplied.  These  were  in  Richardson,  Clay,  Gage,  Saline,  Eldorado, 
Custer,  Lincoln,  Logan,  Holt,  Polk  and  Frontier  counties.  F.  A.  Shai-p  was  to 
"continue  his  evangelistic  work  at  Fairfax  and  Bonesteel,  Gregory  county.  South 
Dakota,  with  a  view  of  opening  a  field."  There  was  a  Woman's  State  Missionary 
Society,  which  made  its  report  to  the  Eldership. 

27th  Nebraska  Eldership. — The  Articles  of  Incorporation,  published  with  the 
Journal  of  1901,  provided  for  the  legal  existence  of  the  Eldership  in  Nebraska. 
The  persons  composing  it  were  the  teaching  and  ruling  elders,  the  latter  being 
chosen  by  the  local  churches  according  to  the  Rules  of  co-operation.  Its  annual 
meetings  were  to  be  held  with  the  meeting  of  the  annual  Eldership;  but  special 
meetings  could  be  called.  It  met  at  the  time  and  place  where  the  session  of  the 
Eldership  was  held  in  1901,  Sunny  Side,  Holt  county,  October  24-26.  D.  B.  Zook 
perached  the  Opening  Sermon.  It  was  an  exceptionally  small  Eldership,  but  four 
teaching  elders  being  in  attendance  and  seven  ruling  elders!  Ten  teaching  elders 
were  absent.  D.  B.  Zook  was  elected  President;  T.  A.  Moss,  Clerk,  and  D.  B.  Zook, 
Treasurer.  After  organization  a  recess  was  taken,  and  A.  H.  Fuller  delivered  a 
discourse  from  John  iii.  14.  One-half  hour  of  each  morning  sitting  was  devoted 
to  preaching.  E.  M.  Hickman  was  transferred  to  the  Oklahoma  Eldership,  and 
F.  A.  Sharp  requested  a  transfer  to  the  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership;  but 
three  additions  were  made  to  the  ranks  of  the  Eldership.  A  Course  of  Studies 
was  agreed  upon  for  one  year,  and  a  Course  for  a  second  year  was  ordered  to  be 
prepared.  There  was  some  "prosperity  in  the  work  and  spiritual  growth  in  cer- 
tain localities,  while  in  others  there  had  been  no  growth,  and  spirituality  was  at 
a  low  ebb."  The  Standing  Committee  was  authorized  to  make  assessments  for  the 
Home  Mission  Fund,  Contingent  Fund,  and  for  the  General  Eldership  delegates. 
Three  of  the  nine  charges  were  "given  the  privilege  to  make  such  arrangements  for 
preaching  as  may  be  satisfactory,  subject  to  the  Rules  of  Co-operation." 

28th  Nebraska  Eldership. — Studying  the  conditions  of  the  Eldership  in  1902 
brings  several  exceptional  facts  to  the  surface.  The  Roll  of  ministers  contained 
twenty  names,  two  of  which  were  women.  The  ministers  lived  in  four  counties 
and  received  their  mail  at  thirteen  post-offices.  There  may  be  a  possible  intima- 
tion in  these  facts  of  reasons  operating  against  the  progress  of  the  work  in  the 
State,  and  the  fluctuating  numbers  present  at  annual  sessions  of  the  Eldership. 
The  body  convened  at  Broken  Bow,  Custer  county,  in  which  county  at  least  ten 
ministers  lived,  in  the  United  Brethren  house  of  worship,  October  16,  1902. 
Fourteen  teaching  elders  and  seven  ruling  elders  and  delegates  were  present. 
D.  B.  Zook  was  the  choice  for  Speaker;  R.  Bellis,  Clerk;  J.  H.  Barkey,  Financial 
Clerk,  and  D.  B.  Zook,  Treasurer.  Each  day  at  10.30  a.  m.  and  7.30  p.  m.  there 
were  preaching  services.  "The  state  of  religion  is  very  low  as  far  as  we  have  any 
knowledge,"  was  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion,  and  an 
earnest  desire  was  expressed  "that  God  will  bless  and  revive  the  churches."  Lack 
of  means  was  given  as  the  reason  for  "again  appealing  to  the  Board  of  Missions 
of  the  General  Eldership  to  cancel  and  relieve  the  Eldership  from  all  assessments 
until  such  time  as  the  Board  can  appoint  a  man  on  our  territory  as  missionary." 
Findlay  College  was  recognized  as  "one  of  the  foremost  and  best  equipped  insti- 
tutions of  learning  in  America."  The  enforcement  of  the  provisions  of  the  By- 
Laws  was  urged,  which  required  each  local  church  to  organize  and  control  a  Mis- 
sionary Society.  Ministers  were  instructed  to  look  after  this  matter,  as  com- 
plaint was  made  by  the  W.  M.  S.  that  this  work  is  neglected,  and  "in  some  in- 
stances ministers  are  arrayed  against  the  Society."  Finances  had  improved,  as 
the  agregate  of  Funds  was  $283.67.  The  fields  of  labor  numbered  eleven,  all 
supplied  but  one.  Two  of  the  pastors  were  women — Annie  E.  Haycroft  and  Nancy 
S.  Trout. 

29th  Nebraska  Eldership. — An  earnest  appeal  was  made  by  the  Clerk  of  the 
Eldership  for  a  special  effort  to  be  made  by  all  the  churches  to  be  fully  repre- 
sented at  the  session  of  1903,  and  that  "all  the  teaching  elders  be  present,  fully 
consecrated  and  ready  to  obey  the  Master's  command."  Nine  ministers  and  five 
ruling  elders  and  delegates  responded  to  this  appeal  and  assembled  at  Lone 
Tree,  Custer  county.  Neb.,  September  30th,  to  hear  the  Opening  Sermon,  preached 
by  C.  W.  Clouse.     Thursday  morning,  October  1st,  the  Eldership  was  organized  by 


The  Nebraska  Eldership  665 

the  election  of  C.  S.  Kilmer,  Speaker;  R.  Bellis,  Clerk;  Silas  Miller,  Treasurer. 
The  Eldership  keenly  felt  the  loss  by  death  of  T.  A.  Moss,  whom  it  characterized  as 
a  "grand  and  noble  man."  His  ministerial  life  was  short,  as  he  was  ordained  in 
1901  by  the  Nebraska  Eldership.  The  removal  of  D.  B.  Zook  to  Sunny  Side,  Wash- 
ington, was  much  deplored,  as  he  was  one  of  the  most  efficient  leaders  the  Elder- 
ship had.  The  legalized  liquor  traffic  was  emphatically  condemned,  and  "as  min- 
isters of  the  gospel  of  righteousness  and  as  Christians,"  the  Eldership  resolved  "to 
lift  our  voices  to  God  in  prayer  and  raise  our  hands  everywhere  possible  against 
it."  The  Anti-Saloon  League  of  the  State  was  congratulated  "on  the  good  work" 
it  was  doing  "in  driving  the  liquor  pest  from  our  towns  and  from  our  presence." 
Appreciating  the  need  of  better  qualified  ministers,  the  Eldership  "recognized  in 
Findlay  College  an  institution  second  to  none  in  our  broad  land,"  and  strongly 
urged  that  it  be  patronized.  Ft.  Scott  Collegiate  Institute  was  also  heartily  en- 
dorsed. Strong  sentiments  of  regrets  and  sadness  were  expressed  because  "religion 
is  at  a  low  ebb,  principally  through  neglect  of  duty  on  the  part  of  both  preachers 
and  people."  "The  work  is  being  crippled  and  the  churches  starved  on  account 
of  the  ministry  having  turned  aside  to  serve  tables."  The  "sisters  of  the  Church" 
were  asked  "to  take  the  work  of  organizing  Woman's  Missionary  Societies  in  the 
bounds  of  the  Nebraska  Eldership,  and  to  work  in  harmony  with  the  General  Eld- 
ership," and  Mrs.  R.  Bellis  was  appointed  to  take  up  this  work.  The  Eldership 
officially  endorsed  "the  petition  to  the  United  States  Senate  to  refuse  to  accept  the 
credentials  of  Senator-elect  Smoot,  of  Utah,  and  if  found  to  be  a  polygamist,  that 
he  be  expelled  from  the  Senate."  There  were  eleven  circuits,  but  three  of  them 
had  to  be  left  unsupplied.  A.  Marks  was  appointed  the  General  Worker  of  the 
Eldership,  with  an  appropriation  of  $40.00  for  the  year. 

30th  Nebraska  Eldership. — During  the  year  1903-4  the  Nebraska  Eldership 
suffered  the  loss  by  death  of  another  of  its  active  ministers,  Eli  Stark,  whose  "voice 
so  often  cheered  us  in  our  Eldership  gatherings."  He  was  greatly  beloved  by  his 
fellow-ministers,  who  looked  forward  to  "the  reunion  in  that  great  Eldership  above, 
where  there  will  be  no  vacant  seats."  It  was  hoped  that  this  cloud  which  rested 
on  the  Eldership  as  it  assembled  at  Mt.  Zion,  Lincoln  county,  Wednesday  evening, 
October  19,  1904,  by  a  providential  mercy,  came  to  the  Nebraska  brotherhood  less 
as  a  discipline  than  as  a  ministry  of  love.  On  that  evening  the  Opening  Sermon 
was  delivered  by  A.  H.  Luther.  The  following  morning  C.  S.  Kilmer  was  elected 
Speaker;  Alex,  Piraie,  Clerk;  R.  Bellis,  Transcribing  Clerk;  Silas  Miller,  Treasurer. 
There  were  four  of  the  thirteen  teaching  elders  present,  and  eight  ruling  elders 
and  delegates.  One  minister  and  one  delegate  were  women.  The  Treasurer  was 
the  Custodian  of  Deeds,  considerable  of  the  Church  property  being  deeded  to  the 
Eldership.  Funds  were  low,  as  the  assessments  aggregated  only  $41.50.  Min- 
isters, however,  were  directed  to  "endeavor  to  assess  all  members  of  their  churches 
from  10  cents  to  $1.00  for  the  Home  Mission  Fund,  that  the  gospel  may  be 
preached  more  throughout  Nebraska,  and  the  churches  of  God  may  be  built  up." 
C.  S.  Kilmer  was  also  appointed  to  call  on  the  churches  of  God  throughout  the  State 
and  endeavor  to  collect  money  to  help  to  build  a  church  of  God  at  Broken  Bow." 
It  was  made  the  duty  of  all  ministers  living  on  fields  of  labor  to  "help  the  pastors, 
and  also  to  open  and  organize  new  points."  Great  disadvantages  and  impediments 
had  to  be  contended  against  by  the  ministers  and  churches  in  Nebraska;  but,  labor- 
ing under  the  compulsion  of  a  clear  and  imperative  duty,  they  girded  themselves 
valiantly  for  the  contest,  hoping  that  "God  will  abundantly  bless  his  humble  ser- 
vants, the  ministers,  on  the  different  fields  of  labor,  with  many  souls  for  their 
hire." 

31st  Nebraska  Eldership. — The  list  of  ruling  elders  and  delegates  in  19  05, 
enrolled  in  constituting  the  Nebraska  Eldership,  included  four  sisters,  who  were 
appointed  on  five  different  committees.  There  were  seven  ministers  present  and 
ten  delegates.  The  session  was  held  with  the  church  at  Lone  Tree,  or  Weissert, 
Custer  county,  October  11-15.  R.  Bellis  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon  on  the 
evening  of  the  11th.  Thursday  morning,  the  12th,  an  organization  was  effected 
by  the  choice  of  Bellis  for  Speaker;  W.  R.  Hodges,  Clerk;  Silas  Miller,  Treasurer. 
"Memorial  services"  were  held  "in  honor  of  our  departed  brother,  C,  W.  Clouse," 
on  Sunday  at  2  p.  m.,  when,  by  appointment,  R.  Bellis  spoke  of  his  "self-sacrificing 
spirit  in  the  Master's  cause  and  work,"  and  three  others  dwelt  on  the  high  appreci- 
ation the  body  had  of  "him  who  though  dead  yet  speaketh."  At  4  p.  m.  there  were 
"baptismal  services."  In  addition  to  assessments  aggregating  $35.50,  "Alex. 
Pimie"  was  "appointed  to  collect  subscriptions  for  Home  Missions."      "If  possible, 


666  History    of    the    Churches    op    God 

ministers  assigned  to  fields  of  labor"  were  required  to  "move  upon  said  fields  in 
order  to  do  more  efficient  work."  Churches  were  directed  "first  thoroughly  to 
canvass  their  fields  and  know  how  much  they  can  pay  a  pastor,  so  that  pastors  and 
churches  can  come  together  understandingly,  and  that  the  churches  of  God  may  be 
as  high  upon  the  pathway  of  life,  and  thus  become  to  the  community  in  which  they 
are  situated  an  honor,  and  that  their  permanency  may  be  guaranteed."  It  was  in 
a  measure  realized  that  there  was  a  wide  discrepancy  between  ideals  of  church 
work  and  the  resources  with  which  to  accomplish  that  work.  This  was  evident  in 
the  aspirations  for  "erudition  and  culture"  in  the  ministry  and  laity,  "that  we  as  a 
Church  may  be  abreast  with  other  church-going  people,"  and  in  the  counsel  to  "our 
brethren  to  acquire  a  full  and  complete  education,  and  to  study  and  improve  their 
talents."  Spirituality  of  the  churches  was  below  the  standard.  Against  "the 
saloon  and  all  other  places  where  intoxicating  drinks  are  to  be  obtained"  the  Eld- 
ership would  "raise  its  voice  as  the  voice  of  one  man."  There  were  six  circuits, 
all  supplied  with  pastors. 

32nd  Nebraska  Eldei-ship. — A  "heavy  snow  storm  that  prevailed  during  the 
week"  of  October  22-27,  1906,  prevented  the  assembling  of  the  Eldership  on  the 
day  fixed,  October  24th.  But  on  the  25th  the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  by 
A.  H.  Luther;  yet  the  business  of  the  Eldership  was  deferred  until  the  27th,  when 
five  ministers  and  four  delegates  were  present.  Seven  ministers  were  absent.  H. 
W.  Hay  croft  was  chosen  for  Speaker;  Alex.  Pimie,  Clerk;  C.  S.  Kilmer,  Financial 
Clerk;  Silas  Miller,  Treasurer.  Delegates  reported  for  the  churches,  and  from 
these  reports  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion  gathered  that  "the  state  of 
religion  is  very  far  beneath  the  privileges  of  the  place  where  God  intended  the 
human  family  to  attain,"  and  the  ministry  was  admonished  to  "preach  a  higher 
standard  of  religion,  and  that  church  and  ministry  live  up  to  the  standard  of  the 
religion  of  the  Bible."  Death  having  claimed  H.  AV.  Ward,  memorial  services  were 
held  on  Sunday  afternoon,  when  four  members  of  the  Eldership  were  appointed  to 
speak.  For  fifteen  years  H.  W.  Ward  had  been  a  member  of  the  Church  of  God, 
and  was  ordained  a  minister  of  the  gospel  in  189  5,  by  the  Nebraska  Eldership. 
"He  was  always  faithful  and  true."  The  Eldership  was  "not  ready  to  give  him 
up;  but  the  Master  came  on  the  wings  of  lightning,  and  being  enchanted  by  his 
smiles  he  went  to  heaven  with  him  without  stopping  to  say  farewell  to  wife  and 
children  dear."  He  "lived  to  honor  God  and  do  good  in  the  world."  The  Elder- 
ship being  "very  weak,"  it  "most  earnestly  asked  that  the  General  Board  of  Mis- 
sions send  one  of  its  members  to  Nebraska  to  confer  with  the  ministry  of  the  Elder- 
ship, to  the  end  that  peace  and  harmony  may  be  restored,  and  the  Board  appoint 
a  man  to  Nebraska."  The  Board  had  withdrawn  aid  from  the  Eldership.  Weak 
financially  as  well  as  numerically,  $25.00  were  "transferred  from  the  Home  Mis- 
sion Fund  to  the  Contingent  Fund."  Transfers  by  churches  of  money  have  been 
repeatedly  condemned.  In  addition  to  the  assignment  of  pastors  to  six  fields  of 
labor,  W.  R.  Hodges  was  "appointed  to  evangelical  work  in  Nebraska  and  Colo- 
rado."    The  session  was  held  with  the  church  at  Mount  Zion,  Lincoln  county. 

33rd  Nebraska  Eldership. — Peculiar  conditions  existed  in  the  Nebraska  Elder- 
ship when  the  body  convened  and  held  its  annual  session  with  the  church  at  Lone 
Tree,  Weissert,  Custer  county,  October  17,  1907.  Nine  ministers  were  present 
during  the  sittings,  nine  ruling  elders  and  two  delegates.  C.  S.  Kilmer  was  elected 
Speaker;  Alex.  Pii-nie,  Clerk;  R.  C.  Leach,  Financial  Clerk;  Silas  Miller,  Treasurer. 
The  "ministers  are  deficient  as  to  knowledge,  and  we  do  insist  that  they  apply 
themselves  more  diligently  in  the  future,  that  they  may  be  more  able  to  divide  the 
word  of  God  for  the  promulgation  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,"  said  the  Com- 
mittee on  Education,  which  was  "accepted."  The  spiritual  condition  was  lower 
than  could  be  approved,  and  the  Eldership  "prayed  God  that  he  may  awaken  min- 
isters, and  also  the  members,  to  a  deeper  sense  of  the  great  responsibility  resting 
upon  them,  that  they  may  redouble  their  diligence  to  make  the  people  see  the  great 
need  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  their  hearts."  With  a  "degree  of  embarrassment"  the 
Eldership  "noted  the  financial  condition  of  the  pastors  due  to  the  non-payment  of 
the  salaries  agreed  upon."  Deacons  were  urged  to  make  "more  diligent  efforts  to 
meet"  these  obligations,  "deeming  them  a  debt  that  should  be  paid."  The  Elder- 
ship also  confessed  that  "we  as  a  Church  ought  to  be  more  zealous  in  our  revival 
efforts  to  the  building  up  of  our  Church,  both  spiritually  and  numerically."  Min- 
isters should  be  invited  "to  come  into  our  midst  and  help  us  to  build  up  the  king- 
dom of  our  Lord."  When  the  Stationing  Committee  reported,  and  its  report  was 
adopted,  there  were  fourteen  charges,  and  but  four  of  them  supplied  with  pastors. 


The  Nebraska  Eldership  667 

A.  Marks  was  appointed  as  Evangelist,  with  an  appropration  of  $50.00  for  the  year. 
One  of  the  ministers,  John  Svvanson,  was  located  in  Houston  county,  Tenn.,  where 
it  was  "hoped  he  may  do  great  work  for  the  Master."  The  want  of  "harmony  "be- 
tween the  Eldership  and  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  was  still 
felt,  as  the  Eldership  declared  that  it  was  "ignored"  by  said  Board.  R.  Bellis  and 
W.  T.  Harris  were  "appointed  to  memorialize  the  Board  of  Missions  in  our  behalf." 
The  ministers  were  instructed  to  "be  more  zealous  to  teach  the  laity  their  duty  to 
the  Church,  and  to  teach  the  doctrines  and  usages  of  the  Church  of  God  more  fully 
in  the  future  than  they  have  in  the  past."  ' 

34th  Nebraska  Eldership. — Spirituality  was  reported  as  still  at  "a  low  ebb" 
at  the  session  of  the  Nebraska  Eldership  in  19  0  8.  Pacts  were  submitted  confirm- 
ing this  view  of  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion,  such  as  the  "silence  of 
localities"  from  which  encouraging  reports  had  been  formerly  received,  and 
"churches  which  once  bore  the  name  of  the  church  of  God  now  nowhere  to  be 
found."  Conditions  were  also  clearly  reflected  in  the  report  of  the  Stationing  Com- 
mittee, which  had  six  fields  on  its  list  of  appointments,  one  of  which  was  "subject 
to  the  Standing  Committee."  There  were  gleams  of  light,  as  the  body  rejoiced 
and  felt  "thankful  to  God  for  the  grace  bestowed  upon  the  ministers,  and  the  faith 
and  zeal  found  in  them."  But  it  realized  "the  need  of  a  higher  standard  of  edu- 
cation and  culture,  so  as  to  increase  our  efficiency  to  do  good  in  all  departments 
of  church  work."  The  proposition  of  A.  Wilson  "to  deed  eighty  acres  of  land  to 
the  Nebraska  Eldership  for  Home  Mission  purposes,"  inspired  a  hopeful  spirit.  The 
session  was  held  at  Berwyn,  Custer  county,  and  extended  from  Wednesday  evening, 
October  7,  1908,  to  Saturday  evening,  the  10th.  The  first  evening  the  Opening 
Sermon  was  preached  by  C.  S.  Kibner,  Sr.  He  was  elected  Speaker;  R.  Bellis, 
Clerk;' Silas  Miller,  Treasurer.  The  Eldership  elected  a  delegate  to  the  Woman's 
General  Missionary  Society  to  meet  at  Ft.  Scott,  Kas.,  in  1909,  as  it  kept  a  careful 
supervision  over  the  W.  M.  S.  of  the  State.  Interest  In  mission  work  was  also 
stimulated  by  the  contribution  of  $87.89  at  the  missionary  meeting  on  Sunday 
evening.  The  Widows'  Fund  was  replenished  in  part  from  year  to  year  by  the  tax 
of  $1.00  payable  by  ministers  when  making  their  reports.  There  was  improve- 
ment noticeable  in  the  finances  of  the  Eldership.  In  view  of  the  regrettable  fact 
that  intemperance  is  spreading  in  this  fair  land  of  ours,"  the  ministers  were  di- 
rected "to  preach  at  least  two  sermons  against  the  spread  of  this  evil  to  their  re- 
spective congregations  during  the  year,  and  do  all  in  their  power  to  bring  about  a 
oetter  condition  of  things."  Concern  was  evpressed  concerning  the  children  of 
Church  of  God  families,  that  they  "might  be  like  Timothy,  who  knew  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  which  are  able  to  make  us  wise  unto  salvation." 

35th  Nebraska  Eldership. — The  ministers  and  churches  of  the  Nebraska  Elder- 
ship were  considerably  disburdened  by  the  action  of  the  General  Eldership  in  May, 
1909,  as  reported  by  C.  S.  Kilmer,  Sr.,  delegate  to  said  body.  He  stated,  that  "the 
General  Eldership  was  willing  and  anxious  to  do  all  it  could  to  build  up  the  cause 
of  the  Master  in  the  State  of  Nebraska."  This  message,  delivered  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  session,  gave  a  measure  of  new  life  to  the  deliberations.  The  meeting 
was  held  with  the  church  at  Berwyn,  Custer  county,  the  county  in  which  the  Church 
was  strongest,  beginning  with  the  Opening  Sermon  on  Wednesday  evening,  October 
27,  1909,  by  C.  S.  Kilmer,  Sr.  W.  T.  Han-is  was  elected  Speaker;  R.  Bellis,  Clerk; 
Silas  Miller,  Treasurer.  The  Eldership  had  always  been  loyal  to  the  General  Eld- 
ership; but  found  itself  financially  embarrassed,  so  as  not  to  be  able  to  meet  all  its 
obligations.  But  it  freely  "placed  itself  on  record  as  in  harmony  with  the  action 
of  the  General  Eldership  at  Ft.  Scott  relative  to  the  Woman's  General  Missionary 
Society."  It  also  "instructed"  its  "Treasurer  to  pay  our  assessments  to  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership."  The  sisters  of  the  Eldership  organized  a  Woman's  Foreign  Mis- 
sionary Society,  to  co-operate  with  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  There  were  other  evidences  of 
revived  life,  and  "increasing  spirituality"  was  reported  in  some  of  the  churches, 
though  "a  lethargic  condition"  characterized  others.  The  need  of  a  better  edu- 
cated ministry  was  strongly  expressed  by  the  Committee  on  Education,  consisting 
of  Sarah  Cotterson,  Martha  Hopkins  and  Rhoda  Betts: — "We  feel  that  a  higher 
standard  of  education  should  be  demanded  of  the  ministerial  brethren."  Three 
names  were  added  to  the  Ministerial  Roll,  of  men  willing  to  do  active  work,  and 
whose  "examination  proved  satisfactory."  They  were  assigned  to  three  of  the  ten 
fields  of  labor.  Albert  Marks  was  appointed  "General  Helper  of  all  ministers  on 
charges,"  receiving  an  appropriation  of  $25.00.  "Ministers  and  members  of  the 
Nebraska  Eldership"  were  exhorted   "to  put  forth  greater  efforts  in  freeing  our 


668  History    of    the    Churches    oe    God 

land  from  the  blighting  influence  of  the  degrading  liquor  traffic."  High  commen- 
dation is  due  the  members  of  the  Nebraska  Eldership  for  the  heroism  displayed  by 
them  under  most  exacting  conditions.  Where  the  spirit  of  sacrifice  is  in  the  nature 
of  a  service  high  and  impersonal,  one  beholds  something  of  the  redeeming  work  of 
Christ,  which  brings  honor  to  his  adorable  name. 

36th  Nebraska  Eldership. — The  Ministerial  Roll  of  the  Nebraska  Eldership 
in  1910  numbered  eighteen,  one  being  the  name  of  a  woman,  Auna  Haycroft.  Of 
this  number  ten  were  present  at  the  thirty-sixth  annual  session,  with  six  ruling 
elders  and  delegates  seated  by  the  Committee  on  Credentials.  The  session  was 
held  with  the  church  at  Mt.  Zion,  Lincoln  county,  October  13-15,  1910.  On  the 
evening  of  October  12th  the  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered,  by  Richard  Bellis.  A 
lay  elder,  Alex  Pimie,  was  chosen  for  Speaker,  and  another  lay  elder,  J.  H.  Know, 
for  Clerk,  while  a  third  one,  Silas  Miller,  was  elected  Treasurer.  One  member  of 
the  Standing  Committee  and  two  of  the  Board  of  Missions  were  laymen.  The  Eld- 
ership did  not  hesitate  to  provide  for  recourse  to  the  civil  law  in  cases  of  malfeas- 
ance, and  so  instructed  the  Standing  Committee  in  the  instance  of  one  of  its  min- 
isters "should  he  fail  to  account  for  every  cent  that  he  received"  in  trust  for  a 
given  church.  Rigid  regulations  were  also  adopted  with  reference  to  the  circula- 
tion of  evil  reports.  It  was  "deemed  cause  sufficient  to  suspend  any  member  of 
the  Eldership  who  shall  say  or  write  any  evil  about  another  member."  They  ex- 
emplified Philip  Heni'y's  reminder  of  the  law  to  those  who  spoke  evil  of  people 
behind  their  backs:  "Thou  shalt  not  curse  the  deaf."  Those  that  are  absent  are 
deaf.  The  Eldership  did  not  violate  this  law  when  in  addition  to  the  Report  on 
Temperance  it  adopted  a  resolution,  declaring  that  "James  Dohlman,  candidate 
for  Governor  of  this  State,  has  placed  himself  on  record  as  an  avowed  enemy  of 
society  and  the  homes  of  this  country,"  by  his  alliance  with  the  liquor  interests. 
The  Eldership  pledged  itself  to  vote  and  use  its  influence  to  defeat  him,  and  to 
elect  his  opponent,  "who  has  so  honorably  and  manly  pledged  himself  to  defend 
our  homes,  protect  society  and  place  this  State  on  record  as  a  civilized  and  God- 
fearing people." 

37th  Nebraska  Eldership.— The  organization  of  the  thirty-seventh  Eldership 
in  Nebraska  was  deferred  half  a  day  because  "the  roads  are  muddy  and  the  clouds 
are  sending  down  their  blessings  upon  the  earth,  and  many  of  the  brethren  are 
traveling  and  striving  to  reach  the  place  of  holding  the  session."  Instead  of  or- 
ganizing, it  was  concluded  "to  honor  the  request  of  the  Executive  Board  of  the 
General  Eldership  by  holding  a  special  prayer-meeting,  that  unity  and  harmony 
and  peace  might  prevail,  that  no  schism  or  divisions  should  come  among  us."  This 
symphony  of  peace  was  a  fitting  sequel  to  the  actions  of  all  the  Annual  Elderships 
after  the  years  of  contention  growing  out  of  the  course  pursued  in  relation  to  the 
organization  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  1903.  It  swelled  the  louder  in  Nebraska  be- 
cause the  Secretary  of  the  Woman's  Missionary  Society  of  the  State  could  report 
"the  Society  in  a  very  flourishing  condition."  On  the  afternoon  of  October  5, 
1911,  the  Eldership  proceeded  to  organize  by  electing  R.  Bellis,  Speaker;  A.  Pirnie, 
Clerk;  John  Kilmer,  Financial  Clerk;  Silas  IVIillei',  Treasurer.  Twelve  teaching 
elders  were  present,  and  five  absent;  eight  ruling  elders  and  delegates,  four  of 
them  men  and  four  women.  One  minister,  J.  L.  "Williams,  was  located  at  Minnette, 
Alabama.  The  feeling  of  fraternal  love  in  the  Eldership  was  strong,  as  was  made 
evident  when  Williams,  and  J.  Swanson,  of  Tennessee  Ridge,  Tenn.,  and  D.  B.  Zook, 
of  Sunny  Side,  Wash.,  reported  by  letter.  Their  dependence  upon  the  word  of 
God  was  evinced  when  the  Judiciary  Committee  declared  its  "inability  to  adjust 
the  matter  of  boundary  lines  between  fields  on  which  any  of  our  brethren  or  min- 
isters may  preach,"  and  "recommended  that  the  two  brethren  meet,  with  the  word 
of  God  as  the  third  party,  and  settle  the  matter  satisfactorily  to  themselves  and  to 
all  parties  interested  in  the  controversy."  The  Stationing  Committee  named  eight 
local  churches,  with  the  counties  in  which  they  were  located,  to  which  the  preachers 
were  appointed,  without  "boundary  lines  governing  the  territory"  on  which  the  ap- 
pointees might  preach.  Three,  however,  were  unsupplied.  Six  were  in  Custer 
county,  one  in  Lincoln  and  one  in  Logan.  The  session  was  held  with  the  church  at 
Lone  Tree,  Weissert,  Custer  county. 

38th  Nebraska  Eldei-ship. — On  Wednesday,  October  — ,  1912,  at  8  o'clock  p. 
m.,  R.  Bellis  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  of  the  thirty-eighth  annual  session  of 
the  Nebraska  Eldership,  at  Berwyn,  Custer  county.  The  following  morning  he 
was  chosen  for  Speaker;  Alex.  Piniie,  Clerk;  Sister  George  Betts,  Financial  Clerk; 
Silas  Miller,  Treasurer.      Eight  teaching  elders  were  present  and  eight  were  absent. 


The   Missouri    Eldership  669 

with  seven  ruling  elders  and  delegates,  three  of  the  latter  being  women,  and  one 
of  the  teaching  elders.  The  Standing  Committee  was  composed  of  teaching  elders 
R.  Bellis,  W.  T.  Harris,  W.  A.  Bence.  The  Board  of  Missions  had  teaching  elders 
Bence  and  Billis,  and  ruling  elder  Alex  Piniie  as  its  members.  The  Speaker 
specially  honored  the  women  delegates  and  advisory  members  by  placing  one  on 
the  Committee  on  Arrangements,  two  of  the  three  on  the  Committee  on  Resolu- 
tions, one  on  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion,  the  three  on  the  Committee 
on  Education  and  two  of  the  three  on  the  Committee  on  Journals.  Also  two  chosen 
as  alternate  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  in  1913  were  Nancy  R.  Bellis  and 
Kate  Bence.  "The  state  of  religion  is  at  a  very  low  standard,  and  in  a  critical  con- 
dition," was  the  belief  of  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion.  It  was  resolved 
"to  do  all  in  our  power  to  uplift  the  cause  of  Christ  in  the  coming  year."  A  special 
hour  was  given  to  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society.  During  the  three  years 
of  its  existence  the  Society  had  paid  out  $245.26.  The  Stationing  Committee 
lacked  men  to  supply  the  fields.  It  fixed  the  number  of  appointments  at  eight,  but 
had  only  four  ministers  to  assign  to  them,  leaving  the  other  four  unsupplied.  Six 
of  the  fields  were  in  Custer  county,  one  in  Logan  and  one  in  Lincoln,  adjoining 
counties  near  the  center  of  the  State.  Ministers  were  also  living  in  other  counties 
of  the  State,  and  a  few  churches  reported  from  other  counties.  A  committee  was 
"authorized  to  sell  the  church  and  all  property  belonging  to  the  said  church  at 
Friendship,  Gage  county."  Having  ordered  all  its  General  Eldership  assessments 
paid,  the  Eldership  asked  for  the  appointment  of  "W.  A.  Bence  as  an  Evangelist 
for  the  State  of  Nebraska  by  the  General  Board  of  Missions."  The  prayers  at  the 
first  sitting  were  answered,  and  "peace  and  harmony  prevailed  in  every  heart." 


XV.     THE    MISSOURI    ELDERSHIP. 


1st  Missouri  Eldership. — As  early  as  1867  the  first  suggestion  to  organize  an 
Eldership  in  Missouri  was  made.  It  occurred  at  the  session  of  the  Texas  Elder- 
ship, when  the  annual  report  of  J.  E.  Cunningham  was  under  consideration.  He 
had  removed  from  Texas  into  south-western  Missouri,  and  being  at  too  great  a  dis- 
tance from  any  Annual  Eldership  to  attend  its  session,  his  Eldership,  without  any 
authority  in  the  premises,  "recommended  J.  E.  Cunningham  to  organize  an  Elder- 
ship in  Missouri."  The  Texas  Eldership  had  been  thus  organized  without  authority 
from  the  General  Eldership.  The  Indiana  Eldership  had  as  good  a  right  to  author- 
ize D.  Keplinger  to  organize  an  Eldership  in  Missouri,  as  he  was  a  missionary  in 
that  State  from  Indiana.  West  Pennsylvania  a  little  later  had  D.  Blakely  as  its 
representative  in  Missouri.  But  these  Elderships  assumed  no  such  authority. 
Perhaps  it  was  this  same  spirit  of  independency  which  culminated  in  the  organi- 
zation by  several  ministers  of  the  Missouri  Eldership  of  an  independent  Eldership 
in  Kansas  in  1879,  of  which  Cunningham  was  one.  But  there  was  no  occasion  for 
Independent  action,  for  at  the  General  Eldership  in  1869  an  action  was  taken 
authorizing  the  brethren  in  the  State  of  Kansas  to  organize  themselves  into  a 
separate  Eldership."  Of  this  privilege  the  brethren  in  Kansas  and  Missouri  availed 
themselves  when,  on  November  13,  1871,  they  organized  the  Kansas  and  Missouri 
Eldership.  But  it  was  from  the  beginning  a  serious  objection  to  have  but  this 
one  Eldership  for  the  two  States.  The  distances  between  the  main  body  of  the 
Eldership  and  the  parts  of  its  territory  in  northeastern  Kansas,  north-western  and 
north-eastern  Missouri  were  too  great  for  the  ministers  laboring  there  to  attend, 
or  the  churches  to  be  represented  at,  the  sessions  of  the  Annual  Eldership.  Ac- 
cordingly the  northern  counties  in  Kansas  were  taken  into  the  Nebraska  Eldership, 
while  the  Iowa  Eldership  supplied  north-eastern  Missouri,  and  sometimes  north- 
western Missouri.  But  even  these  arrangements  did  not  quiet  the  agitation  for 
another  Eldership.  Yet  it  was  no  easy  problem  to  solve.  The  first  attempt  to 
solve  it  was  made  April  10,  1875,  when  what  was  called  "The  First  Mission  Elder- 
ship of  the  Church  of  God  in  Morgan  County,  Mo.,"  was  organized.  Morgan 
county  is  near  the  center  of  the  State,  and  this  Eldership  was  confined  to  that 
section.  The  ministers  in  attendance  were  S.  V,  Sterner  and  D.  Blakely;  lay  elders, 
J.  M.  Sheckler,  W.  Berkstresser,  W.  H.  Berkstresser  and  D.  S.  Berkstresser.  After 
adopting  a  series  of  resolutions  of  a  local  character,  the  Eldership  adjourned  to 
meet  at  the  call  of  the  Chairman. 


670  History    of    the    Churches    of    Gon 

There  is  no  record  that  such  a  call  was  ever  issued;  but  the  boundaries  of  the 
Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership  remained  unchanged,  and  the  work  in  the  two 
States  continued  under  its  supervision.  For  three  years  matters  remained  quiescent, 
when  on  January  28,  1878,  W.  J.  Howard  submitted  a  proposition  through  The 
Advocate  to  organize  "an  Eldership  embracing  western  Iowa  and  Missouri."  The 
proposed  boundaries  were:  "The  Missouri  River  forming  the  south  and  west 
boundaries,  and  making  the  east  line  run  parallel  north  and  south  through  Des 
Moines  City,  la.,  connecting  with  the  south  boundary  (the  river)  near  Carrollton, 
Carroll  county,  Mo."  In  this  territory  were  fourteen  counties,  seven  in  Missouri 
and  seven  in  Iowa.  There  were  in  this  territory  "eight  traveling  preachers,  and 
two  local  preachers."  It  was  reasonable  to  suppose,  as  Howard  did,  that  this  prop- 
osition would  be  acceptable  to  the  ministers  and  churches  in  the  southern  part  of 
Missouri  and  Kansas.  The  proposition  was  seconded,  February  20th,  by  D. 
Blakely,  one  of  the  traveling  preachers  included  within  the  proposed  new  Elder- 
ship. His  main  plea  was  "the  inconvenience  in  attending  the  sessions  of  the  Eld- 
ership on  account  of  the  size  of  our  territory."  The  brethren  in  Iowa  experienced 
the  same  inconvenience.  J.  M.  AVest,  of  the  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership,  not 
then  living  within  the  proposed  boundaries  of  the  new  Eldership,  had  "some  serious 
objections"  to  the  proposition,  which  he  published  March  27,  1878.  C.  B.  Konkel, 
living  in  the  Kansas  part  of  the  territory  of  the  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership, 
also  objected  to  the  proposed  new  Eldership.  He  stated  that  the  Crawford  county, 
Kas.,  Circuit  Eldership  would  discuss  the  proposition  at  a  meeting  called  for  that 
purpose  on  April  27,  1878,  and  would  make  known  its  views  to  the  General  Eldert- 
ship.  The  Iowa  Standing  Committee  at  a  meeting  held  on  April  9,  1878,  adopted 
a  preamble  and  resolution  in  which  it  "requests  the  General  Eldership  not  to  give 
its  authority  for  the  organization  of  such  an  Eldership."  The  authority  was  not 
granted,  and  the  proposition  failed.  Though  a  time  had  been  fixed  for  a  meeting 
to  organize,  the  records  do  not  show  that  it  was  held. 

The  General  Eldership  in  1881  received,  and  acted  favorably  upon,  "a  request 
from  brethren  in  Kansas,  asking  the  privilege  of  forming  an  Eldership  in  said  State 
to  be  known  by  the  name  of  the  Kansas  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God,  within 
the  boundaries  of  the  State.  "As  this  Eldership  was  organized  in  the  Fall  of  said 
year,  and  the  first  session  of  the  Missouri  Eldership  was  held,  beginning  October  6, 
1881,  it  retained  the  ordinal  number  of  the  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership,  and  so 
goes  down  in  history  as  "the  Eleventh  Annual  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  in 
Missouri."  On  the  evening  of  October  5th  D.  Blakely  preached  the  Opening  Ser- 
mon, on  "Conversion."  The  following  were  present  when  the  Eldership  was  con- 
stituted: Teaching  elders — D.  Blakely,  E.  Wilson,  M.  C.  Ogden,  J.  N.  Smith,  W.  J. 
Howard  and  C.  S.  Bolton.  Ruling  elders — James  McNeal,  John  Repley,  P.  Heffle- 
finger  and  S.  Kendig.  Delegates — M.  K.  AVilson,  Wilson  Crawford  and  C.  E.  Bowen. 
W.  J.  Howard  was  chosen  Speaker;  C.  S.  Bolton,  Clerk,  and  C.  E.  Bowen,  Treasurer. 
Other  names  of  teaching  elders  added  to  the  Roll  during  the  session  were  those  of 
C.  Manchester,  S.  V.  Sterner,  Wm.  Peters  and  S.  Ceilings.  Because  of  "the  recog- 
nition of  the  Kansas  Eldership  by  the  General  Eldership,  making  State  lines  Elder- 
ship lines,"  it  was  resolved  "that  our  name  be  hereby  changed  from  Kansas  and 
Missouri  Eldership  to  Missouri  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God."  The  former 
Constitution  was  retained,  except  the  name.  A  Pentecostal  meeting  was  directed 
to  be  held,  and  C.  Manchester  was  appointed  to  preach  the  sermon.  The  Minister- 
ial Association  was  directed  to  convene  "on  Friday  night  previous  to  the  Pente- 
costal meeting."  An  appropriate  resolution  was  entered  on  the  Minutes  on  the 
death  of  President  Gai-fleld.  Resolutions  were  adopted  expressing  "deep  interest 
in  our  great  mission  work,  and  pledging  co-operation  with  the  General  Eldership. 
In  general  terms  the  Eldership  declared  that  it  "stands  ready  with  open  hand  and 
heart  to  help  forward"  the  work  of  education.  Local  ministers  were  "earnestly 
requested  to  open  out  at  least  one  new  appointment  each  year."  The  ministers 
and  churches  were  urged  to  work  up  Sabbath-school  interests  at  each  preaching 
point.  On  temperance  there  was  a  division  of  sentiment,  resulting  in  the  recom- 
mitting of  the  first  report,  and  the  adoption  at  the  last  sitting  of  a  new  report, 
which  expressed  the  "sense  of  this  body  that  total  abstinence  from  the  use  of 
tobacco  and  spirituous  liquors  is  the  only  safe  ground,  and  that  prohibition  is  the 
best  law."  The  Eldership  started  out  with  seven  circuits — Nodaway  county. 
Gentry  and  Harrison  counties — Clinton  and  DeKalb  counties,  Ray  and  Caldwell 
counties,  Cass  county,  Morgan  county  and  Peakesville,  Clark  county. 

12th  Missouri  Eldership. — Some   friction   between  the  two  newly  organized 


The   Missouri    Eldeeship  671 

Elderships  in  Missouri  and  Kansas  arose  when  the  latter  disregarded  the  boundary 
lines,  by  "appointing  T.  Stephens  to  a  field  in  the  territory"  of  the  Missouri  Elder- 
ship. While  they  asked  the  Missouri  Eldership  "to  sanction  their  act,"  yet 
the  Missouri  Eldership  in  1882  "respectfully  refused,"  not  for  want  "of  due 
respect  to  the  Kansas  Eldership,  nor  to  T.  Stephens;  but  simply  on  the  ground 
of  legality  and  uniformity  of  the  body."  Otherwise  the  session  was  pleas- 
ant and  harmonious  which  was  held  at  White  Bethel,  Gentry  county,  be- 
ginning with  the  Opening  Sermon  by  C.  Gaston,  October  18,  1882.  The  mem- 
bership present  was  composed  of  four  teaching  elders  and  four  delegates,  with 
one  ruling  elder.  They  made  choice  of  E.  Wilson  for  Speaker;  C  S.  Bolton,  Clerk, 
and  C.  E.  Bowen,  Treasurer.  Principally  routine  business  was  transacted.  The 
total  number  of  ministers  of  the  Eldership  was  ten,  but  "only  a  few  were  in  the 
active  work."  These  were  C.  S.  Bolton,  E.  Wilson,  C  Manchester,  C.  Gaston,  M. 
C.  Ogden  and  D.  Blakely,  who  were  assigned  to  the  six  fields  of  labor.  On  temper- 
ance the  Eldership  declared  that  it  "hailed  with  gladness  the  tidal  wave  of  prohi- 
bition," and  the  ministers  promised  to  "preach  more  frequently  upon  this  subject, 
and  take  a  more  active  part  in  the  work."  The  receipts  reported  by  the  Treasurer 
were  $10.40;  expenditures,  $5.00,  but  not  credited  to  any  particular  Fund.  The 
need  of  more  active  ministers  was  keenly  felt.  Two  applicants  for  license  were 
refused  because,  contrary  "to  our  established  usage,"  they  were  not  present.  The 
ministers  and  churches  were  strongly  urged  "to  open,  and  assist  in  opening.  Sab- 
bath-schools wherever  they  can." 

W.  J.  Howard  was  ordained  by  the  Iowa  Eldership  in  1870,  and  the  same  year 
was  appointed  to  North  Bend,  an  indication  that  he  was  a  man  of  comparatively 
strong  natural  talents.  But  there  seemed  lacking  the  staying  powers  of  an  ener- 
getic character,  and  so  he  was  frequently  changed,  or  had  no  charge.  In  1871  he 
was  sent  to  the  Cairo  circuit,  and  reappointed  in  1872.  He  had  aspirations  for 
better  intellectual  equipment  for  his  mission,  and  in  1872  he  was  one  of  a  compara- 
tively small  number  of  Iowa  ministers  who  constituted  a  voluntary  "class  to  take 
the  'Eldership  Course  of  Studies."  But  it  was  a  temporary  impulse.  In  1873  he 
was  not  appointed  to  a  field  of  labor.  Nor  in  1874,  when  he  was  absent  from  the 
Eldership.  In  1875  he  was  appointed  to  Colo  and  Guthrie  circuit.  In  1876  he 
was  sent  to  Page  county  circuit,  which  brought  him  in  contact  with  the  work  in 
north-western  Missouri.  He  was  reappointed  in  1877.  In  1878  and  1879  he  did 
not  attend  the  Eldership,  nor  did  he  receive  an  appointment.  He  had  held  no 
official  positions  in  the  Iowa  Eldership.  His  natural  force  of  character  and  re- 
latively strong  personality  were  evinced  when  in  1880  he  became  a  member  of  the 
Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership;  was  appointed  to  the  Clinton  and  DeKalb  circuit, 
and  in  1881  was  elected  Speaker  of  the  newly  formed  Missouri  Eldership.  But  in 
1882,  1883  and  1884  he  was  absent,  and  received  no  appointments. 

13th  Missouri  Eldership. — Had  the  attendance  at  many  of  the  sessions  of  the 
Eldership  been  a  true  index  to  the  interest  felt  by  the  ministers,  and  even  the 
churches,  in  the  cause  committed  to  them  little  progress  could  reasonably  have 
been  expected.  But  other  causes  accounted  largely  for  the  small  number  present 
on  most  occasions.  This  was  doubtless  true  in  1883,  and  at  other  sessions  follow- 
ing. In  1882  the  Eldership  met  in  the  north-western  part  of  the  State.  In  1883 
it  convened  in  Clinton  county,  the  second  county  south  of  Gentry.  The  session 
began  on  September  13th,  the  Opening  Sermon  having  been  preached  the  evening 
previous  by  C.  S.  Bolton,  in  the  Keystone  Bethel.  On  the  calling  of  the  Roll  only 
three  of  the  eleven  ministers  of  the  body  responded,  and  two  ruling  elders  and 
seven  delegates  were  enrolled.  C.  B.  Konkel,  not  a  member,  was  elected  Speaker; 
A.  D.  Berkstresser,  Secretary,  and  D.  Wolf,  Treasurer.  To  have  a  larger  body  for 
deliberation  it  was  agreed,  that  "all  the  members  present  become  members  also  of 
the  Eldership,  as  to  giving  counsel  advisable  in  the  transaction  of  business." 
Konkel  was  "appointed  to  complete  the  canvass  of  the  Eldership  for  Findlay  Col- 
lege, which  had  the  hearty  sympathy  of  the  body.  A  Ministerial  Association  was 
arranged  for,  to  be  held  "at  the  time  and  place  of  the  next  annual  session  of  the 
Eldership."  On  the  state  of  religion  the  Committee  reported,  that  "the  cause  of 
the  Master  has  not  made  the  progress  that  may  have  been  desired,  prayed  and 
looked  for;"  but  "good  has  been  accomplished."  And  wisely  the  Eldership  re- 
solved "with  reneM-^ed  energy,  vigor  and  courage  to  go  on  still  laboring  the  more 
earnestly  in  the  coming  year."  The  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership 
was  asked  to  send  an  Evangelist  "to  visit  all  the  churches  in  this  Eldership  and 
assist  in  holding  meetings."     Strong  in   its  sentiments   in   favor   of  temperance. 


dyz  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

the  Eldership  denounced  the  Legislature  for  "not  granting  the  voters  of  this  State 
the  privilege  of  voting  for  or  against  prohibition."  Each  minister  was  directed 
"to  take  up  a  collection  for  a  Contingent  Fund." 

14th  Missouri  Eldei-ship. — This  session  of  the  Eldership  was  a  serious  disap- 
pointment. The  time  and  place  were  fixed  at  the  session  of  1883 — Polo,  Caldwell 
county,  October  2,  1884.  But  "the  representatives.  .  .failing  to  convene"  on  that 
date,  and  thus  failing  to  legalize  the  giving  of  licenses,  making  appointments,  etc., 
a  call  was  made  by  the  Standing  Committee  for  the  Eldership  to  meet  at,  or  near, 
Versailles,  Morgan  county,  on  the  15th  day  of  December,  1884."  The  Eldership 
accordingly  convened  in  School-house  No.  4.  E.  Wilson,  who  was  to  preach  the 
Opening  Sermon,  was  absent,  and  C.  S.  Bolton  took  his  place,  preaching  from  Prov. 
XV.  32.  There  were  but  six  "representatives"  present  when  the  Eldership  was  con- 
stituted, three  teaching  elders,  one  ruling  elder  and  two  delegates;  while  nine  teach- 
ing elders  were  absent.  C  S.  Bolton  was  made  Speaker,  and  A.  D.  Berkstresser, 
Clerk.  But  three  committees  were  appointed,  individual  members  submittting 
resolutions  which  would  have  come  from  other  committees.  There  was  much  in- 
formality in  all  the  proceedings.  The  College  was  strongly  endorsed,  and  its  near- 
completion  was  hailed  with  joy  and  gratitude  to  God.  The  Eldership  felt  that  it 
was  greatly  hampered  in  its  work  because  "a  number  of  our  best  ministers  have 
gone  to  other  Elderships,  whilst  some  have  fallen  asleep  in  Jesus,  thereby  reducing 
our  number  so  that  the  various  fields  can  not  be  supplied."  As  a  result,  "the  cause 
is  not  advancing  as  it  should,  but  rather  declining."  The  receipts  of  the  Treasurer 
were  a  total  of  only  $18.44.  One  death  was  reported,  that  of  Jacob  M.  Sheckler, 
a  "worthy  brother,"  who  had  been  a  licensed  minister  of  the  Kansas  and  Missouri 
Eldership.  The  fields  of  labor  numbered  seven,  but  two  of  them  were  unsupplied. 
"The  reports  of  ministers"  were  "not  encouraging;"  but  the  "Eldership  still  have 
hopes  for  a  brighter  future." 

15th  Missouri  Eldership. — The  Missouri  Eldership  had  various  difficulties  to 
■contend  against.  Perhaps  the  most  serious  of  these  was  the  disloyal  spirit  which 
developed  in  1884-5,  led  by  a  few  ambitious  ministers.  It  was  temporarily  con- 
trolled, but  to  break  out  a  few  years  later.  The  Eldership  convened  near  Ver- 
sailles, Morgan  county,  Thursday,  January  7,  1886.  It  was  called  by  the  Clerk  of 
the  Standing  Committee,  to  which  only  two  teaching  elders  and  two  delegates  re- 
sponded, who,  with  the  Treasurer  and  one  messenger,  constituted  the  body.  The 
former  Clerk,  A.  D.  Berkstresser,  "appointed  E.  Blacksten  Speaker  pro  tem.,  and 
these  two"  constituted  the  Eldership.  Seven  teaching  elders  were  absent.  But 
one  of  these  reported  by  letter,  and  the  licenses  of  the  other  six  were  "placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  Standing  Committee  till  they  report,"  which  consisted  of  the  two 
teaching  elders  present  and  one  ruling  elder.  A.  D.  Berkstresser  was  chosen 
Speaker;  E.  Blacksten,  Clerk,  and  Wm.  Berkstresser,  Treasurer.  Manifestly  dis- 
couraged, the  Eldership,  as  a  Committee  of  the  Whole,  declared,  that  "having  no 
active  ministry,  and  the  Board  of  Missions  having  signally  failed  to  give  us  any  aid, 
we  have  thought  best  to  dissolve  and  throw  our  influence  with  other  Elderships; 
that  from  this  date  we  give  all  our  territory  into  the  hands  and  to  the  control  of 
the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership."  No  preachers  offering  to  take 
fields,  the  churches  were  "urged  to  employ,  by  writing  or  otherwise,  as  much 
pr^aching  as  they  can  until  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  supply 
them."  This  was  an  extreme  position  taken  for  effect,  as  it  was  later  resolved  to 
authorize  the  Standing  Committee  to  call  the  Eldership  together  in  October  follow- 
ing, should  "the  Board  of  Missions  refuse  to  receive  Missouri  as  a  mission  field." 
But  no  appointments  were  made  and  no  provision  adopted  to  supply  the  churches 
with  preaching. 

16th  Missouri  Eldership. — At  the  Eldership  in  January,  1886,  T.  F.  Gardenhire 
applied  for  membership.  His  case,  in  his  absence,  was  referred  to  a  committee  of 
one,  S.  V.  Stenier,  a  member  of  the  Standing  Committee,  "to  be  investigated." 
This  was  evidently  done,  and  a  license  granted  him,  as  he  was  the  most  prominent 
member  of  the  sixteenth  Eldership.  Announcement  of  the  meeting  of  the  Elder- 
ship, October  29,  1886,  was  made  by  the  Clerk,  in  response  to  which  six  teaching 
and  ruling  elders  met  at  Gillis  Chapel,  Chariton  county.  In  the  absence  of  the 
former  Speaker,  Gardenhii-e  was  elected  Speaker  pro  tem.,  and  also  Speaker;  D. 
Blakely,  Clerk,  and  W.  Berkstresser,  Treasurer.  The  churches  which  sent  letters 
earnestly  asked  for  preachers.  Resolved  into  a  Committee  of  the  Whole,  the  Eld- 
■ership  appointed  S.  V.  Sterner  to  Clark  county;  T.  F.  Gardenhire  to  Morgan,  Mani- 
teau  and  Chaxiton  counties,  leaving  Cass,  Clinton  Caldwell,  Gentry  and  Nodaway 


Th£  Missouri   j&lde:rship.    ;;   ■  I  673 

.counties  unsupplied.  Two  delegates  were  elected  to  the  General  Eldership {  bWt 
no  reference  was  made  to  the  action  taken  by  the  Eldership  in  January,  1886,  jifyj 
instructions  given  to  the  delegates.  So  well  received  was  an  essay  on  Feet-waghi.ng 
read  by  D.  Blakely,  that  he  was  requested  to  have  it  published  in  The  Church  Ad- 
,yocate.  The  churches  were  directed  "to  organize  all  useful  church  work,  and,  ,tp 
adopt  system  in  church  work  as  far  as  possible,  so  that  there  may  be  work  for  g,!! 
and  have  all  at  work."  The  action  on  temperance  was  aimed  at  druggists,  and 
also  the  saloons,  claiming  that  the  liquor  business  under  the  law  was  taken  out  of 
the  hands  of  the  latter  to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  former. 

17th  Missouri  Eldei-ship.^ — With  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  Eldership  there 
seemed  to  be  an  infusion  of  new  life,  notwithstanding  the  spirit  of  disaffection 
which  developed  on  the  part  of  several  ministers.  An  admirable  spirit  was  mani- 
fested during  the  session  held  at  Keystone,  Clinton  county,  beginning  Septenaber 
29,  1887.  D.  Blakely  was  elected  Speaker;  J.  H.  Ohlhousen,  Clerk,  and  David 
Wolf,  Treasurer.  There  were  three  accessions  by  transfer  from  the  Texas,  Ar- 
kansas and  Indian  Territory  Eldership.  Also  two  from  the  Kansas  and  South 
Missouri  Eldership,  an  independent  body.  The  Eldership  generously  expressed  ap 
"earnest  desire  for  a  union  of  the  two  Elderships  in  this  State,"  and  appointed  "a 
committee  to  confer  with  the  members  of  said  Eldership,  and  draft  a  plan  of  union, 
to  be  submitted  at  the  next  Eldership."  The  Eldership  pronounced  against  "bap- 
tism as  a  condition  of  church  fellowship,  much  less  a  condition  of  pardon,  but 
simply  an  act  of  Christian  duty."  It  was  ordered  that  essays  be  prepared  by 
brethren  named,  to  be  read  before  the  Eldership  in  1888,  on  "The  True  Elements  of 
a  Successful  Christian  Life;"  "The  Best  Methods  of  Holding  Special  Meetings;" 
"The  Bible  Import  of  Temperance  and  the  True  Standing  of  the  Church  on  thp 
Same,"  and  "The  Evidences  of  True  Conversion."  Ministers  were  stationed  on 
five  circuits.  G.  T.  Bell  was  specially  appointed  "to  prepare  an  essay  on  The  Ele- 
ments of  a  Successful  Ministry."  The  Constitution  was  amended  so  as  to  preclude 
a  deadlock  in  elections  by  providing  that  "the  person  getting  the  majority  of  votep 
cast  is  elected,  instead  of  a  majority  of  the  whole  Eldership." 

18th  Missouri  Eldership. — The  effort  to  effect  a  union  between  the  Kansas  and 
South  Missouri  and  the  Missouri  Elderships,  made  during  the  year,  was  unsuccesa- 
ful,  as  the  leaders  in  the  former  body  were  opposed  to  it.  One  of  these  was  J.  H. 
Woodberry,  whose  membership  in  the  Missouri  Eldership  had  not  been  discon- 
tinued. But  he  was  "expelled  from  the  body"  in  1888.  Individual  members  of 
the  "Independent  Eldership,"  however  came  into  the  Missouri  Eldership,  and  thp 
seceding  body  gradually  disintegrated.  There  were  two  articles  of  faith  on  which 
they  differed  from  the  Missouri  Eldership — congregational  government  and  the 
order  of  the  ordinances.  The  Eldership  convened  at  Brackney  Bethel,  Bates 
county,  September  20,  1888.  Twelve  ministers,  five  ruling  elders  and  one  dele- 
gate were  in  attendance.  John  Hendricks  was  elected  Speaker;  C.  S.  Bi-umbaugh, 
Clerk,  and  D.  S.  Wolf,  Treasurer.  A  rearrangement  of  circuits  being  necessary,  a 
Committee  on  Boundaries  was  created,  which  mapped  out  ten  circuits.  A  few  Qf 
these  fields  consisted  of  two  and  three  counties  each.  The  Stationing  Committee 
added  Kansas  City,  Mo.  Thirteen  ministers  were  appointed  to  the  eleven  charges. 
The  Treasurer's  Report  showed  receipts  to  have  been  only  $8.01,  and  "a  collectio^ 
taken  up  for  missionary  purposes  resulted  in  raising  the  sum  of  $1.36."  "The 
cause  of  religion"  was  reported  to  be  "in  a  favorable  condition."  An  Eldership 
Contingent  Fund  was  created,  for  which  $45.00  were  to  be  raised,  which  included 
"for  Home  Missions,  $10.00."  Foreign  mission  interests  were  to  be  brought  by 
pastors  before  their  congregations.  The  Eldership  resolved  to  organize  itself  "into 
a  Church  Extension  Association,  the  object  of  which  shall  be  to  assist  in  building 
houses  of  worship."  Circuits  were  directed  also  to  organize  themselves.  During 
the  year  one  minister,  W.  S.  Wood,  was  removed  by  death,  but  to  prove  that  there 
is  no  death  to  the  Christian;  the  glorious  gospel  takes  away  death.  It  prompted 
the  Eldership  to  "establish  a  Widows'  Fund." 

19th  Missouri  Eldership. — The  Standing  Committee  possessed  nearly  all  the 
■powers  of  the  Eldership,  and  so  it  licensed  four  men  during  the  year  and  made 
eight  changes  of  pastors.  The  Eldership  held  its  session  at  Oberg,  DeKalb  county, 
where  on  October  2,  1889,  the  Opening  Sermou  was  delivered  by  J.  H.  Ohlhousen, 
fxom  John  xiv.  3.  There  were  only  four  ministers  and  four  ruling  elders  present 
wlxen  the  organization  was  effected  by  electing  a  layman,  J.  Keisiman,  Speaker; 
<J.  K.  Smith,  Clerk,  and  D.  S.  Wolf,  Treasurer.  T.  F.  Gardenhire,  who  was  censured 
by  the  Eldership  in  1888,  was  again  under  charges,  he  being  accused  of  "untruth- 
C.  H.— 23 


674  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

fulness  and  dishonesty."  A  motion  prevailed  "to  drop  his  name  from  the  Min- 
isterial Roll;"  but  after  recommendation,  and  pending  a  motion  "embodying  a 
severe  Eldership  censure,"  "at  his  own  request  his  name  was  dropped  from  the 
Roll."  Not  only  did  the  Eldership  declare  that  "the  spiritual  rule  and  authority 
are  vested  in  the  elders  of  the  church,"  but  it  granted  them  the  right  to  "discharge 
from  the  pulpit  for  lawful  causes,  or  cause,"  a  minister  appointed  by  the  Eldership. 
But  the  minister  had  the  right  of  "appeal  to  a  higher  court."  A  "Literary  Associa- 
tion" was  formed,  "whose  members  shall  be  subjected  to  a  yearly  course  of  studiea» 
to  be  examined  each  year  by  a  committee  appointed  by  the  Eldership."  The  Elder- 
ship sustained  a  great  loss  in  the  death  of  C.  S.  Biiimbaugh  "in  the  morning  of  his 
useful  life."  He  was  "an  esteemed  and  much  beloved  brother,"  and  the  body  "in- 
voked divine  strength  while  we  drink  the  bitter  cup  of  our  irreparable  loss."  A 
spirit  of  insubordination  developed  in  the  church  at  Hannibal,  which  was  organ- 
ized under  the  labors  of  Mrs.  Woodworth. 

20th  3Iissiouri  Eldership. — In  proportion  to  the  membership,  the  twentieth 
session  of  the  Missouri  "Eldership  was  largely  attended  by  members  south  of  the 
Missouri  River,  and  but  thinly  by  those  to  the  north."  It  convened  at  the  Pleasant 
Valley  Bethel,  Lawrence  county,  October  22,  1890.  H.  Edwards  preached  the 
Opening  Sermon  on  the  evening  of  October  21st.  The  election  for  officers  re- 
sulted in  the  choice  of  J.  Hendricks  for  Speaker;  H.  Edwards,  Clerk,  and  John  E. 
Thomas,  Treasurer.  Salaries  paid  ministers  were  so  inadequate  that  it  was  found 
difficult  to  get  ministers  to  fill  all  the  appointments.  But  fourteen  regular  fields 
received  appointees;  "all  other  points  to  be  supplied  by  the  Standing  Committee." 
D.  Blakely,  who  had  been  a  member  "from  its  youth  up,  in  all  its  trials,  toils  and 
crosses,"  decided  to  seek  work  in  some  other  Eldership,  and  received  "an  open 
transfer."  There  was  much  friction  in  the  Eldership,  and  "the  meetings  were  not 
characterized  with  that  degree  of  love  and  spirituality  that  were  desired."  Not  the 
best  feeling  existed  between  ministers  and  churches,  for  while  the  churches  were 
regarded  as  illiberal,  yet  they  asserted  their  authority,  and  sometimes  exceeded  it, 
in  dealing  with  pastors.  Applicants  for  license  were  required  to  have  "not  only 
certain  qualifications,  but  must  appear  in  person  before  the  Committee  on  License." 
Nearly  thirty  reports  from  churches  and  ministers  "were  good,"  and  indicated  a 
fair  outlook  for  the  following  year. 

21st  Missouri  Eldership. — The  twenty-first  session  of  the  Missouri  Eldership 
was  not  largely  attended,  there  having  been  present  eight  ministers  and  six  dele- 
gates. But  these  were  encouraged  with  the  evident  tokens  of  progress.  The 
session  was  held  at  Jenkins,  Barry  county,  and  began  Thursday  morning,  September 
17,  1891.  On  the  previous  evening  V.  B.  Sutter  preached  the  Opening  Sermon. 
John  Hendricks  was  made  Speaker,  and  H.  W.  Allen  was  chosen  Clerk,  and  D.  L. 
Frazee,  Treasurer.  Twenty-four  ministers  who  reported  had  their  licenses  renewed, 
while  "all  who  had  not  reported 'were  licensed,  and  their  licenses  were  placed  in 
the  hands  of  the  Standing  Committee  until  they  report."  Not  only  did  the  Com- 
mittee on  the  State  of  Religion  report  "the  cause  prospering;"  but  the  fields  of 
labor  were  increased  to  sixteen,  while  there  were  churches  unsupplied.  "One  of 
the  fathers  in  Zion's  cause,  J.  M.  Klein,"  was  called  to  his  eternal  rest.  He  was 
one  of  the  early  pioneers  in  mission  work  in  Illinois,  Iowa  and  Missouri,  who, 
"scorned  or  acclaimed,  had  kept  his  armor  bright."  He  was  originally  licensed 
by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  in  1842.  Thence  he  went  to  West  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  while  laboring  in  that  Eldership  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  three 
missionaries  to  Illinois.  He  was  "a  man  of  fine  natural  abilities."  Died  April  21, 
1891,  in  his  73rd  year, 

22nd  ]VIissouri  Eldership. — In  1892  the  Missouri  Eldership  held  its  session  at 
Lone  Star  school-house,  four  miles  from  the  county  town  of  Bates  county,  begin- 
ning October  6th.  On  the  previous  evening  J.  N.  Smith  preached  the  Opening  Ser- 
mon. A  good  spirit  animated  the  body,  as  the  past  year  "showed  that  some  good 
was  accomplished;  the  gospel  had  been  preached  in  many  new  fields,  and  some 
churches  had  been  organized."  Yet  for  unexplained  reasons  the  circuits  were  re- 
duced to  eleven.  John  Hendricks  was  elected  Speaker;  H.  W.  Allen,  Clerk,  and 
J.  N.  Smith,  Treasurer.  St.  Louis  was  to  be  the  scene  of  active  labors  by  Joseph 
Shedron,  while  A.  J.  Hill  was  State  Missionary,  appointed  by  the  Board  of  Missions 
of  the  General  Eldership.  Death  had  visited  the  ranks  of  the  ministry  and  re- 
moved Alfred  Ellis,  in  whose  honor  "strong  and  feeling  resolutions  were  adopted." 
He  was  a  young  minister,  having  been  licensed  in  1889.  While  the  salaries  of 
ministers  were  small,  the  Eldership  had  requested  the  Board  of  Missions  to  pay  the 


The  Missouri   Eldership  67^ 

state  Missionary  $500.00  a  year.  In  addition  to  the  State  Missionary,  the  Elder- 
ship also  appointed  E.  Gearhart  State  Evangelist. 

23rd  Missouri  Eldership. — The  tender  fraternal  feeling  which  was  often  mani- 
fested in  the  Elderships  where  ministers  lived  far  apart,  and  rarely  saw  each  other 
during  the  year,  was  illustrated  at  the  Missouri  Eldership  in  1893.  The  session 
continued  until  Monday  evening,  when  H.  W.  Allen  preached  from  the  words: 
"Finally,  brethren,  farewell."  The  body  had  convened  with  the  church  at  Syca- 
more, Barry  county,  September  23rd.  John  Hendricks  was  elected  Speaker;  H.  W. 
Allen,  Clerk,  and  Wesley  Hendricks,  Treasurer.  "Peace  and  general  good  feeling^ 
prevailed  throughout  the  session."  The  dollar  per  member  proposition  to  pay  the 
indebtedness  of  Findlay  College  was  approved,  and  each  pastor  was  instructed  to 
bring  the  matter  before  his  congregations  and  ask  for  that  amount.  The  privilege 
was  granted  the  Agent  of  the  Board  of  Missions,  W.  B.  Allen,  "to  make  collections 
for  the  General  Eldership  Mission  Fund."  The  appointments  were  ten  in  number 
to  which  pastors  were  assigned;  but  certain  "points"  were  "to  supply  themselves," 
as  the  Eldership  did  not  have  sufficient  ministers  willing  to  travel,  though  three 
were  licensed  at  this  session.  There  were  eight  ministers  present,  and  twelve  "lay 
members."  Provision  was  made  to  raise  $30.00  for  fees  to  secure  a  State  Charter 
for  the  Eldership.  There  were  eighteen  churches  assessed  for  General  Mission,  and 
General  and  Home  Contingent  Funds. 

24th  Missouri  Eldership. — The  "open  door"  for  the  Church  in  Missouri  is 
evidenced  by  the  withdrawal  several  years  previous  of  three  ministers,  with  two 
churches  of  about  seventy-five  members  and  one  house  of  worship,  from  the  Baptist 
Church,  and  at  this  session  joining  the  Eldership.  It  was  the  result  of  reading 
R.  H.  Bolton's  "Plea  of  the  Church  of  God."  They  were  located  in  Hickory  and 
St.  Clair  counties.  The  year  had  been  a  prosperous  one,  as  "several  churches  were 
organized,  several  bethels  built  and  quite  a  goodly  number  were  converted."  The 
Eldership  met  at  Maple  Grove,  Saline  county,  October  11,  1894.  When  the  Elder- 
ship convened  there  was  no  organized  church  at  Maple  Grove,  but  "five  or  six  per- 
sons who  had  been  converted  to  Church  of  God  doctrine."  Several  ministers  con- 
tinued a  meeting  after  adjournment,  during  which  ten  were  converted,  who,  with 
two  Presbyterians,  were  baptized,  and  "a  church  of  twenty-two  good,  substantial 
members  was  formed."  Sixteen  ministers,  two  ruling  elders  and  two  delegates 
were  present.  The  officers  of  the  previous  Eldership  were  re-elected.  On  temper- 
ance the  Eldership  voted  "to  use  every  reasonable  means  by  voice  and  vote  to  put 
down  the  terrible  evil  of  intemperance,  and  that  we  will  not  vote  for  any  one  who 
upholds  and  indulges  in  the  intoxicating  draught."  The  Treasurer's  bond  was 
fixed  at  $100.00.  With  unfeigned  sorrow  the  Eldership  recorded  the  death  of  D. 
Blakely,  and  commended  "the  life-time  example  to  the  ministerial  brotherhood  as 
worthy  of  emulation."  He  was  "an  acknowledged  leader  among  men,  always  loyal 
to  the  Church  and  its  doctrines."  A  regular  Board  of  Trustees,  consisting  of  five 
members,  was  elected  under  the  Charter.  The  Constitution  was  amended  so  as  to 
provide  for  a  Transcribing  and  a  Financial  Clerk.  The  Eldership  now  had  en- 
rolled twenty-nine  ministers.  There  were  fourteen  fields  of  labor,  all  supplied  with 
pastors. 

25t.h  Missouri  Eldership. — The  twenty-fifth  session  of  the  Missouri  Eldership 
was  conspicuous  for  the  radical  differences  on  the  General  Eldership  questions 
handed  down  and  for  the  doctrinal  declarations  which  it  made.  Some  of  the  strong 
leaders  on  the  questions  submitted  were  voted  down  after  discussions.  On  Elder- 
ship titles  it  was  apparently  assumed  that  the  body  would  favor  a  change,  and  so 
the  resolution  declared  that  "we  as  an  Eldership  decide  favorably  to  said  change, 
believing  it  to  be  more  in  harmony  with  the  teachings  of  Christ  and  the  Apostles." 
But  when  the  yeas  and  nays  were  called  there  were  five  yeas  and  ten  nays.  So  the 
motion  in  favor  of  ordination  without  the  imposition  of  hands  was  lost.  On  doc- 
trine the  Eldership  pronounced  in  favor  of  the  "spiritual  new  birth  as  regenera- 
tion," and  against  "sects  teaching  the  doctrine  of  baptismal  regeneration."  It  de- 
clared that  it  "will  cease  receiving  any  persons  as  members  of  the  Church  on  any 
thing  short  of  immersion  as  baptism."  This  the  Clerk  construed  to  be  a  "resolu- 
tion on  baptism  as  a  door  into  the  Church."  The  Eldership  at  this  session  con- 
sisted of  twenty-eight  ministers,  of  which  only  eleven  were  present  when  it  con- 
vened at  Shady  Grove,  St.  Clair  county,  July  31,  189.5.  Also  four  ruling  elders 
and  six  delegates.  On  the  evening  of  July  30th  the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached 
by  C.  S.  Bolton.  Theme: — "The  Family  of  God."  John  Hendricks  was  elected 
Speaker,  and  H.  W.  Allen,  Clerk,  and  D.  L.    Frazee,    Treasurer.       The    Eldership 


67<3  History    of    the    ChurcjSes    of    God 

pledged  itself  to  "give  our  voice  and  our  vote  to  no  man  to  a  position  of  office  or 
honor  who  engages  either  in  the  use  or  sale  of  intoxicating  liquor  knowingly."  It 
was  sententious  in  its  actions  on  Education:  "I.  We  urge  the  study  of  the  Bible. 
2.  The  study  of  English  Grammar.  3.  Endorse  and  encourage  Findlay  College. 
4.  Heartily  recommend  The  Church  Advocate  as  worthy  the  support  of  all  mem- 
bers of  the  Church."  The  Widows'  Fund  was  "dispensed  with."  The  territory 
was  divided  intp  fourteen  circuits;  but  three  were  unsupplied. 

26th  Missouri  Eldership. — The  Missouri  Eldership  lost  its  oldest  minister  in 
years  of  active  service  during  the  year  1895-6,  in  the  person  of  S.  V.  Sterner. 
Strong  resolutions  on  his  moral  and  ministerial  character  were  passed.  He  was 
first  licensed  by  the  West  Ohio  Eldership,  in  1858.  Thente  he  removed  to  the 
Indiana  Eldership,  and  later  to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  from  which  he 
took  his  transfer  to  the  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership.  He  was  above  all  things 
a  practical  man;  but,  as  is  generally  accepted,  such  men  do  not  always  have  the 
power  of  making  their  minds  and  personalities  known  to  their  contemporaries. 
The  Eldership  which  sang  his  requiem  held  its  session  with  the  church  at  Lone  Star, 
Bates  county,  beginning  September  25,  1896.  While  the  Eldership  "believed  the 
cause  to  be  advancing,"  there  were  signs  of  decadence.  But  a  spirit  of  optimism 
was  evident,  and  it  was  stimulated  by  the  visit  of  the  prospective  missionary  to 
India,  Clara  Landes,  and  reports  of  "the  noble  efforts  put  forth  by  many  of  our 
sister  Elderships"  in  missionary  enterprises.  J.  B,  Murphy  delivered  the  Opening 
Sermon.  Eleven  ministers,  eight  ruling  elders  and  fourteen  delegates  constituted 
the  Eldership.  John  Hendricks  was  the  Speaker;  H.  W.  Allen,  Clerk,  and  ALman 
Daniels,  Treasurer.  G.  L.  Chapman,  who  became  a  very  active,  earnest  mission- 
ary, applied  for  license  at  this  Eldership.  Not  being  present,  his  case  was  deferred; 
but  he  was  "urged  to  preach  and  labor  all  he  can  for  the  Master."  Of  the  fourteen 
circuits  five  were  unsupplied  by  the  Eldership.  P.  L.  French  was  designated  as 
General  Evangelist. 

27th  Missouri  Eldership. — The  ministers  of  the  Missouri  Eldership  ever  seemed 
to  act  under  an  irresistible  impulse  to  be  true  to  their  high  calling.  And  when 
adversity  was  apparently  written  over  their  self-denying  efforts  they  planned  better 
things.  In  1897  there  were  but  seven  of  them  in  attendance  when  the  body  con- 
vened at  Antioch  Bethel,  Morgan  county,  September  9th.  Three  ruling  elders  and 
six  delegates  represented  the  churches.  On  the  evening  of  the  8th  H.  W.  Allen 
preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Mark  vii.  7.  They  chose  for  Speaker,  J.  N, 
Smith;  Clerk,  H.W.  Allen,  and  Treasurer,  G.  W.  Reed.  The  Eldership  was  in 
arrears  to  the  General  Eldership  $76.00  for  several  Funds,  which  exceeded  the  total 
collected  for  all  its  Funds  per  annum;  yet  it  at  once  resolved  to  raise  this  whole 
amount  and  pay  the  debt  on  or  before  January  1,  1898.  If  any  minister  failed  to 
''collect  his  pro  rata  of  the  amount,  he  shall  pay  it  himself."  Also  each  minister 
was  "to  collect  $2.00  for  foreign  mission  work."  Missionary  societies  were  di- 
rected to  be  organized  on  all  the  fields.  The  state  of  religion  was  "found  to  be 
fairly  prosperous  throughout  the  State."  Feeling  the  need  of  more  bethels,  it  was 
decided  "to  make  a  pro  rata  assessment  for  a  building  fund,  and  pay  for  the  erec- 
tion of  new  bethels  as  follows:  for  a  building  costing  $600.00,  $50.00;  one  costing 
$1,000.00,  $100.00,  and  so  on  in  proportion."  Contracts  were  authorized  to  be 
made  by  pastors  for  their  salaries,  and  the  penalty  for  failure  to  pay  the  amount, 
"if  the  minister  fill  his  part  of  the  contract,"  was  that  "said  church  shall  be 
stricken  from  the  Eldership  Roll."  A  reflection  seems  implied  in  the  decision  not 
"to  ordain  to  the  office  of  the  gospel  ministry  any  who  are  not  total  abstainers  from 
intoxicants  of  any  kind."  And  a  like  resolution  on  "the  use  of  tobacco  in  any 
form"  was  agreed  to.  G.  W.  Frizbee  was  during  the  year  "called  to  his  eternal  re- 
ward." He  had  been  in  the  ministry  five  years,  and  possessed  elements  of  useful- 
ness had  there  been  time  fully  to  develop  them.  There  were  twelve  circuits,  all 
supplied,  and  one  General  Evangelist,  one  State  Evangelist  and  one  State  Mission- 
ary. 

28th  Missouri  Eldership. — Creeds  are  sometimes  made  by  accretion,  In  var- 
ious forms,  and  even  by  inadvertence,  a  body  will  add  one  article  of  faith  after 
another,  until  they  cover  many  essentials  in  theology.  The  Missouri  Eldership 
was  not  addicted  to  such  a  practice,  yet  in  1898  it  reached  the  consciousness  that 
such  a  process  was  in  progress.  It  at  once  resolved  to  desist,  and  resolved  "that 
all  records  made  by  Elderships  in  the  past  affecting  articles  of  faith,  creeds  or  Dis- 
cipline be  reconsidered,  and  that  we  adhere  to  our  time-honored  and  God-given  rule 
©f  faith  and  practice,  the  Bible."     It  convened  with  the  church  at  Lone  Star  Bethel, 


The   Missouri   Eldership  dyj 

Bates  county,  September  2nd.  Janrett  Nugen  preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  John 
Hendricks  was  elected  Speaker;  C.  A.  Marksbery,  Clerk;  H.  W.  Allen,  Financial 
Clerk.  The  new  form  of  Life  Certificates  was  ordered  to  be  issued.  Neither  the 
Eldership  nor  the  Standing  Committee  was  hereafter  to  grant  licenses  to  appli- 
cants who  failed  to  appear  in  person;  and  the  rule  was  at  once  applied,  and  W.  E. 
Tuttle,  of  Colorado,  appeared  before  the  Licensing  Committee,  passed  an  examina- 
tion and  received  a  preacher's  license,  while  the  applications  by  letter  of  G. 
Swan,  Andrew  Games  and  G.  W.  IJalden  were  refused.  After  appointing  pastors 
to  nine  fields  of  labor,  and  naming  one  as  State  Evangelist,  the  unsupplied 
churches  were  authorized  to  supply  themselves.  The  extension  of  the  work  was 
contemplated  in  an  action  requiring  "each  minister  having  a  work  to  hold  a  pro- 
tracted meeting  of  three  weeks  within  ten  miles  of  his  preaching  point." 

29th  Missouri  Eldership. — As  a  possible  result  of  the  aggressive  spirit  which 
breathed  in  the  resolution  of  instructions  to  pastors  in  189  8,  the  number  of  cir- 
cuits advanced  again  to  ten  in  1899.  The  meeting  was  held  with  the  church  at 
Black  Jack,  Stone  county,  beginning  October  12,  1899.  On  the  previous  evening 
the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  by  P.  li.  French.  W.  E.  Tuttle,  ordained  in 
1898,  was  meeting  with  success  in  Colorado,  having  organized  a  church  in. 
Prowers  county.  It  worshiped  in  Clover  Meadow  school-house,  but  contemplated 
building  a  bethel.  The  session  was  "pleasant  and  profitable,"  and  "unanimous 
throughout."  It  took  "more  advanced  views  on  College  work  and  General  Elder- 
ship interests  generally"  than  for  some  years.  Bequests  to  General  Eldership  in- 
terests were  not  only  urged,  but  in  some  instances  implied  in  speeches.  Except 
on  one  day  of  the  sittings,  the  Eldership  adjourned  at  11  a.  m.  "to  listen  to  a 
soul-refreshing  sermon."  Among  those  present  and  preaching  was  J.  D.  Henson, 
of  Texas,  formerly  a  minister  in  the  Primitive  Baptist  Church,  who  "as  a  close 
student  of  the  Bible  read  himself  out  of  the  Baptist  Church  into  the  Church  Of 
God."  With  such  a  spirit  prevailing  in  the  body,  the  business  was  largely  routing; 
John  Hendricks  presided,  and  C.  A.  Marksbery  acted  as  Clerk.  One  additional 
circuit  was  enrolled  among  the  appointments.  One  minister  was  appointed  State 
Evangelist  and  one  General  Missionary.  The  most  of  these  twelve  ministers  were 
comparatively  young  men,  or  young  in  the  work;  but  "the  harmonious  spirit  and 
earnest  resolves  of  the  Eldership  inspired  them  with  renewed  hope."  The  hard- 
ships they  were  willing  to  endure;  but  the  question  was  whether  the  inability 
through  poverty  of  the  churches  to  sustain  them  could  be  overcome.  They  were 
strong  men,  and  heroic.  To  endure  and  still  endure,  and  to  be  withstood,  they 
could  without  loss  of  nerve  or  temper,  even  if  it  be  the  acid  test  of  strong  men; 
but  want  might  drive  them  to  other  fields  like  some  before  them. 

30th  Missouri  Eldership. — During  the  year  1899-1900,  John  F.  ThorndS 
secured  a  Charter  for  the  Missouri  Eldership,  which  was  approved,  with  the  "hope 
that  interest  will  increase  in  our  great  State  till  all  are  working'  together,  and 
until  all  churches  in  Missouri  can  be  cared  for  by  us,  and  co-operation  prevail  irt 
the  entire  State  under  the  provision  of  the  General  Eldership.*'  The  session  in 
1900  was  held  with  the  church  at  Lingrove  school-house,  four  and  one-half  miles 
southeast  of  Slater,  Saline  county,  where  on  the  evening  of  October  3rd  the  Open- 
ing Sermon  was  delivered.  H.  W.  Allen  presided,  and  Chas.  A.  Marksbery  was 
the  Clerk,  and  J.  Nugen,  Treasurer.  The  relations  of  this  Eldership  to  the  Kan- 
sas Eldership  had  become  somewhat  strained,  growing  out  of  the  transfei*  of 
P.  L.  French  and  W.  E.  Tuttle  from  the  former  to  the  latter  body.  After  con- 
sidering the  "exceptions  to  the  act  of  the  last  Missouri  Eldership  taken  by  the 
Kansas  Eldership,"  it  was  found  that  the  friction  grew  out  of  a  mere  "tech- 
nicality." The  good  standing  of  the  two  ministers  was  certified  to;  their  "i-ela- 
tion  to  the  Kansas  Eldership"  conceded;  the  kind  spirit  of  said  Eldership  in  the 
matter  acknowledged,  and  a  prayer  for  the  continuance  of  "the  past  good  feeling" 
adopted,  and  so  the  incident  was  closed.  The  interest  in  the  meeting  was  tense, 
and  crowds  were  present  to  hear  and  see.  An  admirable  spirit  pervaded  the  ses- 
sion, and  the  ministers  went  to  the  eleven  fields  of  labor  filled  with  new  zeal  for 
the  cause  they  represented.  J.  F.  Thomas  was  appointed  State  Missionary,  ahd 
H.  W.  Allen,  State  Evangelist  and  Financial  Agent.  The  Eldership  made  a  change 
from  annual  licenses  to  Life  Certificates  of  ordination.  It  expressed  hesitancy 
to  license  any  one  addicted  to  the  use  of  tobacco.  Hearty  approval  was  expressed 
Df  "the  Act  passed  by  Congress  prohibiting  the  sale  of  liquor  in  the  Army  Can- 
teen." 

31st   Missouri    Eldership.— ^In    some    sections   in    the    State'   of    Missouri    th6 


678  History  of  the   Churches  of  God 

churches  suffered  from  "false  teachers,"  "teaching  the  doctrines  of  men  for  the 
truths  of  the  Bible."  F.  F.  Manchester,  Mission  Worker,  found  them  near  Osborn, 
Mo.,  teaching  "second-work  sanctification  and  can't-sin-holiness."  With  these 
errorists  the  Eldership  sometimes  had  to  deal  energetically,  yet  diplomatically, 
lest  wheat  be  uprooted  with  the  tares.  The  session  of  1901  was  held  with  the 
church  at  Fairview,  Hickory  county,  beginning  with  the  Opening  Sermon  on 
the  evening  of  October  23rd,  by  J.  F.  Thomas,  from  I.  Thess.  ii.  14.  The  of- 
ficers were:  Speaker,  John  Hendricks;  Clerk,  C.  A.  Marksbeiy ;  Treasurer,  J. 
Nugen.  There  were  two  or  three  applicants  licensed  during  the  year  by  the 
Standing  Committee;  but  several  good  workers  had  removed  to  other  Elderships, 
one  of  them,  H.  W.  Allen,  who  had  gone  to  Oklahoma.  One  departed  to  the 
"other  room  in  our  Father's  house" — G.  W.  Driunmond.  His  warfare  was  of  brief 
duration,  having  been  ordained  in  1898.  But  his  exemplary  life  and  beautiful 
character  were  to  others  an  abiding  inspiration  "to  live  in  deeds,  not  years." 
"Few  of  the  churches  sent  in  their  assessments,"  so  that  the  Eldership  was  almost 
without  funds;  but  a  commendable  effort  was  made  to  meet  its  obligations  to  the 
General  Eldership.  Some  churches  had  "dwindled  down  to  a  few  members,"  but 
had  not  lost  their  zeal.  The  adoption  of  some  "systematic  form  of  co-operation, 
financial  and  otherwise,"  was  strongly  advocated.  While  the  Eldership  em- 
phatically endorsed  all  the  periodicals  of  the  General  Eldership,  there  were  "some 
members  who  fight  our  Church  paper  and  Sunday-school  literature,  and  every- 
thing else  except  the  Bible." 

32nd  Missouri  Eldership. — "The  dark  side  of  the  Missouri  Eldership"  was 
called  to  the  attention  of  the  members  in  July,  1902,  by  G.  It.  Chapman,  much  of 
his  time  a  very  zealous  missionary.  "The  wolf"  has  been  in  the  fold,  and  there 
was  much  "slaughter  and  many  wounded."  There  was  too  much  laxness  in  the 
enforcement  and  practice  of  resolutions  adopted.  The  "load  we  have  to  carry"  as 
ministers  is  too  heavy.  But  not  discouraged  with  this  view  of  "the  progress  and 
destiny  of  the  Missouri  Eldership,"  Chapman  assured  his  brethren  that  "the  cross 
is  not  greater  than  God's  grace,"  and  they  "can  conquer  every  foe."  Under  these 
conditions  the  Eldership  convened  with  the  church  at  Antioch  Bethel,  Morgan 
county,  October  16,  1902,  the  Opening  Sermon  having  been  preached  the  previous 
evening  by  G.  L.  Chapman,  from  Hag.  i.  4.  Before  organization,  J.  F.  Thomas 
"delivered  an  address  on  the  Missouri  Eldership,  showing  it  had  done  more  for 
the  advancement  of  the  Church  than  many  thought."  H.  W.  Allen  was  elected 
Speaker;  C.  A.  Marksbei-y,  Clerk;  W.  E.  Riddle,  Financial  Clerk;  J.  F.  Thomas, 
Treasurer.  There  was  a  peculiarity  in  the  composition  of  the  Committee  on 
Temperance,  as  "it  consisted  of  Sisters  Mai-y  Wyatt,  A.  E.  Marksbei-y,  Maud  Berk- 
stresser,  Mabel  Cummings,  Ola  Cummings  and  Lillie  Hepford.  They  brought  in  a 
Report  of  four  paragraphs.  They  declared  "intoxicating  drinks  an  invention  of 
the  devil."  They  did  not  "believe  God  ever  intended  us  to  take  the  wholesome 
fruits,  and  bread  from  many  children,  and  feed  from  our  animals,  and  put  it  to 
rot,  and  catch  the  poison  which  was  intended  to  escape."  They  believed  intoxi- 
cating drinks  "to  be  soul-destroying  and  hell-supplying  fluid."  They  asserted 
that  the  traflic  in,  and  use  of,  liquor  "cause  more  deaths  than  war,"  and  insisted 
that  as  we  pray  for  the  overthrow  of  this  evil,  so  "we  should  work  in  harmony 
with  our  prayers."  Denouncing  the  use  of  tobacco  most  vigorously,  the  Com- 
mittee "begged  our  Church  of  God  brethren  to  consider  the  evil,  praying  God  that 
we  may  soon  be  united  in  our  efforts."  A  form  of  statistics  adopted  by  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership  was  approved,  and  adopted  for  use  by  the  ministers  in  making 
reports.  There  were  nine  fields  of  labor,  all  supplied,  and  H.  W.  Allen  and  W.  E. 
Riddle  were  named  for  Leedy,  Oklahoma. 

33rd  Missouri  Eldership. — Encouraging  words  were  repeatedly  spoken  to  the 
younger  members  of  the  Eldership,  to  inspire  them  to  hopeful  endeavors  in  pro- 
moting Church  growth  in  the  State.  None  was  more  insistent  than  J.  F.  Thomas, 
a  native  of  Missouri,  who  was  exceedingly  anxious  "to  see  the  churches  of  God 
prosper,  so  that  when  our  young  men  enter  the  ministry  they  will  not  have  to 
go  to  other  States  to  find  prosperous  fields  to  work  in."  He  knew  the  whole 
territory,  as  he  had  been  General  Missionary,  and  organized  a  number  of  the 
churches.  He  was  Speaker  of  the  Eldership  which  held  its  session  at  Leann, 
Barry  county,  beginning  October  8,  1903;  with  C.  A.  Marksbery,  Clerk;  J.  R. 
Hoges,  Treasurer.  J.  Aleshire  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  on  Wednesday  even- 
ing, October  7th.  Eleven  ministers  were  present.  President  Manchester,  of  Find- 
lay  College,  was  cordially  received,  and  the  College  strongly  commended.      Such 


The   Missouri   Eldership  679 

visits,  the  Eldership  declared,  "are  worth  a  great  deal  to  us  in  the  West."  It  is 
noticeable  that,  in  making  the  appointments,  in  addition  to  H.  W.  Allen,  Mission- 
ary to  Western  Oklahoma,  J.  H.  Cummings  was  assigned  to  Leedy  and  Burmah, 
Oklahoma.  G.  L.  Chapman  was  made  the  State  Missionary.  Saline  county  and 
Southern  Missouri  were  to  supply  themselves  for  want  of  available  men.  Yet 
there  were  "preachers  which  had  no  work,"  and,  who  were  "to  open  new  fields  and 
establish  permanent  work  wherever  opportunity  affords." 

34th  Missouri  Eldership. — With  pardonable  enthusiasm  G.  L.  Chapman  wrote 
of  the  Missouri  Eldership  of  1904,  as  "a  Pentecost  from  start  to  finish."  Other  of 
"the  oldest  brethren  in  the  Eldership  said  it  was  the  best  one  they  had  ever  at- 
tended." They  rejoiced  over  the  successful  effort  to  pay  their  indebtedness  to  the 
General  Eldership  of  over  $77.00.  Also  over  the  fact  that  "the  people  are  begin- 
ning to  wake  up  to  the  support  of  the  ministry."  On  Saturday  evening  six  were 
■converted,  after  listening  to  a  sermon  by  O.  A.  Newlin,  Principal  of  Ft.  Scott  Insti- 
tute, Kansas.  The  session  was  held  at  Fairview,  Hickory  county,  beginning 
October  20,  1904.  J.  F.  Thomas  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Acts  ii.  39. 
Theme:  "The  Rich  Promises  of  the  Lord  to  Those  Who  Obey."  Thomas  was 
elected  Speaker;  C.  A.  Marksbery,  Clerk;  G.  L.  Chapman,  Financial  Clerk;  Thomas 
Scott,  Treasurer.  The  sentiment  of  the  Eldership  was  in  harmony  with  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership  in  all  its  interests,  and  it  took  an  active  interest  in  the  questions 
relating  to  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  The  mission  cause  in  its  own  territory  was  receiving 
renewed  attention,  and  the  fact  was  evidenced  in  that  "it  has  reached  the  pocket- 
books."  The  delegates  elected  to  the  General  Eldership  "were  instructed  to  re- 
quest all  the  territory  for  which  the  Charter  of  the  Eldership  calls,"  The  number 
of  fields  of  labor  was  nine.  And  though  the  Eldership  had  to  "regret  the  loss  of 
so  many  ministers  which  had  been  transferred  to  other  Elderships,"  all  the  ap- 
pointments were  supplied,  with  G.  L.  Chapman  as  missionary  in  addition  to  being 
the  pastor  at  Rich  Hill.     "New  work"  was  to  be  "opened  by  all  other  preachers." 

35th  Missouri  Eldership. — The  Missouri  Eldership  recognized  the  need  of  a 
f(5rm  of  government,  and  so  declared  in  the  Preamble  to  its  Constitution  that  "a 
system  of  co-operation  can  only  be  efficiently  carried  out  in  conformity  to  certain 
permanent  principles  of  government."  These  were  laid  down  in  the  sixteen 
Articles  constituting  its  fundamental  law.  The  membership  consisted  of  all 
"licensed  ministers  of  this  body,  together  with  the  ruling  elders  and  regularly  ap- 
pointed delegates,  and  by  virtue  of  their  office  the  officers  of  the  State  Woman's 
Missionary  Society."  This  Society  was  organized  under  its  own  Constitution.  The 
officers  of  the  Society  in  1905  were: — President,  Iva  Crawford;  Vice  President, 
Kate  Powell;  Secretary,  Maud  Berkstresser.  The  short  notice  of  change  of  place 
and  the  long  distance  for  some  ministers  and  delegates  reduced  the  attendance  at 
this  session  of  the  Eldership,  which  convened  at  Crane,  Stone  county,  October  12, 
1905.  J.  F.  Thomas  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  John  xvii.  20-22. 
Theme — "Union."  He  was  elected  Speaker;  C.  A.  Marksbery,  Clerk;  Thomas 
Scott,  Treasurer.  The  ordination  papers  of  two  ministers  were  "revoked;"  but 
Certificates  of  Ordination  were  granted  to  three  new  applicants.  The  criticism 
was  at  times  openly  made  by  ministers,  that  the  Eldership  erred  in  its  eagerness 
to  increase  the  Ministerial  Roll,  and  hence  often  made  mistakes  in  licensing  un- 
qualified men.  No  one  justified  this  with  the  plea,  that  "God  sent  us  here  to  make 
mistakes;"  but  they  failed  in  reconciling  their  theory  of  a  divine  call  to  the  min- 
istry and  human  certification  thereof.  The  Eldership  expressed  its  lively  satis- 
faction at  the  presence  of  O.  A.  Newlin,  representing  the  Ft.  Scott  Institute.  It 
passed  commendatory  resolutions,  and  also  recognized  Findlay  College  as  "becom- 
ing one  among  the  leading  institutions  of  learning,"  and  "recommended  its  work 
to  the  public,  and  urged  upon  the  young  people  everywhere  to  attend  it."  In  the 
absence  of  a  Course  of  Studies,  ministers  were  admonished  "to  study  to  show  them- 
selves approved  unto  God,  workmen  that  need  not  be  ashamed."  But  a  com- 
mittee was  also  created  to  outline  a  three-year  Course  of  Studies  "for  all  new  ap- 
plicants for  license."  Applicants  were  "to  take  the  first  year's  studies  and  stand 
an  examination  before  asking  for  a  Certificate  of  Ordination."  The  Eldership 
""highly  endorsed  the  action  of  the  General  Eldership  on  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  question." 
It  resolved  to  "use  all  means  possible  to  preserve  union  on  the  subject  among  our 
people."  A  deep  shadow  rested  on  the  Eldership  occasioned  by  the  "sudden  re- 
moval of  our  worthy  brother  and  co-worker,  A.  C,  Denham.  He  was  a  man  "faith- 
ful in  the  discharge  of  his  duties;"  eminent  for  "the  wisdom  and  ability  which  he 
exercised  in  the  Church,"  and  exemplary  in  word  and  conduct.     There  were  eleven 


^Sp"  History   or  the  Churches   of  Gol» 

fields  of  labor,  all  supplied  with  pastors,  and  one  Missionary,  G.  L.  Chapman;  one 
State  Evangelist,  J.  E.  Mitchell,  and  one  General  Worker,  C.  A.  Marksbery. 

36th  Missouri  Eldership. — There  had  been  at  this  time  a  small  body  of  people 
in  Missouri,  almost  identical  in  faith  with  the  churches  of  God,  "known  as  the 
Presbytery  of  the  churches  of  God  in  Missouri."  Negotiations  with  their  min- 
isters in  1905-6  resulted  in  union  with  the  Missouri  Eldership.  At  the  session  of 
the  Eldership  held  at  Antioch,  Morgan  county,  beginning  September  27,  1906, 
three  of  the  ministers  were  received  into  the  Eldership,  "with  all  the  organiza- 
tions of  the  Presbytery,"  which  gave  new  inspiration,  and  "conditions  seemed 
better"  and  the  outlook  more  promising  "than  it  had  been  for  several  years."  J. 
F.  Allman  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Neh.  ii.  17.  Theme: — "Rebuilding 
the  Walls  of  Jerusalem."  G.  L.  Chapman  was  elected  Speaker;  C.  A.  Marksbery, 
Clerk;  Thomas  Scott,  Treasurer.  Attendance  was  small,  but  "everything  went  off 
in  peace  and  harmony."  Several  "bright  and  promising  young  men  entered  the 
ministry."  Not  only  were  the  educational  institutions  of  the  Church  approved; 
but  J.  F.  Allman  was  elected  General  Agent  of  the  Eldership  for  the  Fort  Scott 
Collegiate  Institute.  The  work  in  St.  Louis  was  giving  the  Eldership  much  con- 
eern,  and  "the  church  was  left  in  the  hands  of  the  Standing  Committee,  with  dis- 
cretionary powers."  G.  L.  Chapman  was  appointed  Missionary;  C.  D.  Bradley, 
Evangelist  in  Dallas,  Laclede  and  Camden  counties.  There  were  six  other  charges, 
^ith  one  to  three  points  on  each.  There  were  also  some  unsupplied  churches, 
which  had  granted  them  the  privilege  "to  supply  themselves,"  which  too  often- 
prbved  detrimental. 

'I '•  37th  Missouri  Eldership. — The  conditions  under  which  the  thirty-seventh 
session  of  the  Missouri  Eldership  was  held  verified  to  the  sixteen  in  the  delegation 
the  aphorism  that  "where  there  is  no  sacrifice  there  is  no  service."  Cherry  Grove 
school-house,  Dallas  county,  where  the  meeting  was  held,  was  "far  from  the  rail- 
road (probably  thirty  miles),  making  it  inconvenient  to  get  there."  Other  "sac- 
rifices" were  also  required.  But  elements  of  success  in  the  work  gave  increased 
firtaHess  of  purpose  to  the  faithful  ministers  and  delegates  of  the  body.  The 
session  opened  October  17,  1907,  the  Opening  Sermon  having  been  delivered  on 
the  evening  of  the  16th,  by  J.  F.  Allman.  The  Eldership  appreciated  the  presence 
of  the.  Principal  of  Ft.  Scott  Collegiate  Institute,  O.  A.  Newlin,  whose  preaching 
and  counsels  were  helpful.  More  care  was  taken  in  licensing  men  to  preach.  Ex- 
pferiencfe  seems  to  have  been  needed  to  induce  a  careful  and  dispassionate  action 
in  ordaining  men  to  this  holy  calling,  and  to  teach 

'  '  "The  truths  we  could  not  prize  without 

'"  The  sorrow  of  our  sad  mistakes." 

•J 

,     G.  L.  Chapman  was  elected  Speaker;   C.  A.  Marksbery,  Clerk;  J.  F.  Allman^ 

Treasurer.  L.  B.  Shannon,  of  Nashville,  Tenn.,  was  granted  a  Certificate  of  Or- 
dination, and. was  appointed  pastor  of  the  church  of  God  organized  in  that  city. 
The  "subject  of  a  Woman's  Missionary  Society"  was  revived,  and  a  President,  Vice- 
President  and  other  officers  were  chosen,  they  to  co-operate  with  the  W.  G.  M.  S. 
pf  the  General  Eldership.  Statistics  of  the  churches  were  provided  for,  embracing^ 
the  number  of  "resident"  and  "non-resident  members;"  "number  of  members  on 
Roll,"  and  amount  of  support  for  the  pastor.  A  Children's  College  Day  was  di- 
rected to  be  held  in  the  Sunday-schools,  and  collections  taken  for  Ft.  Scott  Col- 
legiate Institute,  while  "as  many  as  can"  were  urged  "to  complete  the  course  at 
Findlay  College."  The  Eldership  "condemned  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors," 
and  censured  "persons  signing  dram-shop  petitions,  or  voting  for  any  one  that 
upholds  the  liquor  traffic  in  any  way."  Two  sisters,  "Mattie  Hale  and  Emma 
Allen,  read  essays  on  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  and  tobacco."  The  number 
of  appointments,  including  Nashville,  Tenn.,  was  eleven.  G.  L.  Chapman  was  the 
missionary  in  southeastern  Missouri,  and  J.  F.  Allman  in  southwestern  Missouri. 
The  special  feature  of  this  Eldership  session  was  the  "revival,  which  started  the 
first  night."  There  were  six  conversions  by  Sunday  at  11  o'clock  service,  and  on 
Sunday  evening  there  was  a  beautiful  baptismal  service,  the  ordinance  being  ad- 
ministered by  A.  F.  Berkstresser.  Yet  not  all  was  "pleasant  at  the  time"  in  the 
deliberations  of  the  body;  but  "if  we  keep  in  the  love  of  God  and  a  meek  spirit, 
these  things  soon  vanish,  and  they  have  a  tendency  to  make  us  more  careful  in  the 
future,"  soliloquized  the  Clerk.  It  is  still  true:  "We  learn  in  error's  troubled' 
route." 
I        38tli  Missouri  Eldei*ship. — A  good  deal  of  dependence  was  placed  upon  local 


The   Missouri   Eldership  68r 

workers,  not  only  to  care  for  churches  unsupplied  with  pastors,  but  "to  spread  the 
gospel  in  various  parts  of  the  State,  as  they  often  lived  far  from  each  other."  Such 
had  been  the  case  in  the  early  years,  but  was  less  frequently  realized  later.  Not 
only  were  conditions  imperfect  for,  but  often  adverse  to,  successful  church  work. 
It  remained  for  the  Missouri  Eldership  to  make  the  best  of  these  stringent  circum- 
stances. And  year  by  year  the  members  persisted  manfully  in  the  task  of  trying 
to  leave  things  better  than  they  found  them.  This  was  revealed  in  the  delibera- 
tions of  the  session  held  at  Johnston  City,  St.  Clair  county,  beginning  October  8, 
1908.  There  were  present  seven  ministers,  seven  lay  elders  and  twelve  delegates. 
G.  L.  Chapman  on  the  previous  evening  preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  He  was 
re-elected  Speaker,  and  C.  A.  Marksbeiy,  Clerk.  J.  F.  Allman  was  elected  Treas- 
urer. The  Eldership  had  a  Board  of  Trustees,  which  held  and  controlled  the 
property  of  the  body,  the  members  serving  five  years,  one  to  be  elected  each  year. 
G.  L.  Chapman  was  the  Chairman  elected  this  year,  and  J.  F.  Allman,  Clerk.  Hav- 
ing a  year  before  paid  its  dues  to  the  General  Eldership,  an  assessment  was 
authorized  for  mission  funds  for  the  current  year.  Resolutions  of  approval  were 
adopted  relative  to  "the  actions  of  the  Board  of  Missions  in  regard  to  the  W.  G. 
M.  S."  Also  "recommending  all  our  Church  literature,  and  commending  all  the 
editors."  "The  Committee  on  Temperance  consisted  of  the  sisters,  except  Father 
John  Murtin."  The  report  was  a  strong  endorsement  of  prohibition,  and  the  or- 
ganizations working  for  better  social  and  moral  conditions.  The  W.  M.  S.  officers 
were  re-elected  by  the  Eldership.  While  there  were  nominally  twelve  appoint- 
ments made,  only  ten  ministers  were  assigned  to  them.  Five  churches  were  not 
supplied.     There  were  two  missionaries. 

39th  Missouri  Eldei-ship. — A  crisis  was  reached  In  the  matter  of  the  St.  Louis 
church  early  in  1909.  The  Standing  Committee  took  the  matter  up,  and  requested 
"the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  to  take  the  matter  into  considera- 
tion, and  to  do  by  it  just  as  wisdom  and  judgment  may  direct."  The  condition, 
"both  financial  and  spiritual,"  demanded  attention;  but  the  Eldership  at  its  ses- 
sion held  at  Leadwood,  St.  Francois  county,  did  not  fully  approve  this  action,  but 
asked  "the  Board  of  Missions  to  co-operate  with  the  Missouri  Eldership"  in  the 
matter.  The  Eldership  convened  October  28th.  The  Opening  Sermon  was 
preached  the  previous  evening,  by  G.  L.  Chapman,  from  Dan.  xi.  33.  Theme: — ■ 
"The  sUre  blessings  of  God  to  those  who  serve  and  obey,  and  the  sure  threatenings 
to  those  who  disobey."  Three  new  names  were  added  to  the  Ministerial  Roll  by 
ordination  and  one  by  transfer  from  the  Kansas  Eldership.  But  J.  B.  Shannon, 
of  Nashville,  Tenn.,  returned  his  Certificate  of  Ordination,  and  "he  was  dropped 
from  the  Ministerial  Roll."  The  action  of  the  General  Eldership  in  1909  on  the 
W.  G.  M.  S.  question  was  fully  endorsed.  Mrs.  C.  M,  Ritchie,  Illinois,  Organizer 
of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.,  was  gladly  welcomed,  and  gave  special  assistance  to  the  State 
W.  M.  S.,  to  which  the  entire  time  on  Saturday  evening  was  given.  The  spiritual 
condition  of  the  Eldership  was  attested  by  the  conversion  of  three  souls  during  the 
session,  and  three  more  on  Sunday.  There  were  ten  fields  of  labor,  St.  Louis,  Mo., 
and  Nashville,  Tenn.,  being  left  off;      Six  points  were  left  "to  supply  themselves."^ 

40th  Missouri  Eldei-ship. — Reviewing  the  session  of  the  Eldership  in  1910,  G. 
L.  Chapman  says:  "We  as  a  Church  in  Missouri  are  not  decreasing;  but  instead, 
there  is  a  fairly  good  increase.  The  missionary  spirit  is  more  prominent  than 
it  has  been  for  years,  if  ever  before."  The  Eldership  session  was  a  "fine  one." 
It  was  held  with  the  church  at  Linn  Grove,  Saline  county,  and  began  on  the  morn- 
ing of  October  13,  1910.  The  previous  evening  G.  L.  Chapman  delivered  the 
Opening  Sermon.  The  church  at  Linn  Grove  had  completed  its  new  bethel  in 
time  for  the  session  of  the  Eldership.  Thirty-two  ministers  and  delegates  con- 
stituted the  Eldership.  While  there  was  "much  business,  it  was  all  splendidly 
transacted."  "The  spirit  of  love  and  self-sacrifice  had  come  with  the  delegates." 
In  making  the  appointments  the  Eldership  named  points  on  each  pastor's  charge. 
There  were  eight  ministers  assigned  to  charges,  with  eighteen  preaching  points, 
and  two  additional  points  which  were  authorized  to  supply  themselves.  Two  min- 
isters were  designated  as  "assistants  under  the  pastors  and  missionaries."  G.  L. 
Chapman  and  J.  F.  Allman  were  the  "missionaries  in  Missouri;"  V.  S.  Mitchell, 
General  Worker,  and  M.  S.  Sikes,  Evangelist. 

41st  Missouri  Eldership. — "Censure  is  the  tax  a  man  pays  to  the  public  for 
being  great."  But  the  Missouri  Eldership  was  criticised  by  two  of  its  most  loyal 
ministers  in  1911.  One  said:  "Some  things  cropped  out,  showing  that  we  are 
subject  to  error.      But  we  pray  that  we  may  be  more  perfect  in  the  future,  and 


682  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

especially  along  the  line  of  licensing  men  who  fail  in  many  ways  in  filling  the  re- 
quirements of  both  the  Bible  and  our  Constitution  and  By-Laws."  Another,  as  a 
reason  for  limited  success,  said:  "Many  of  our  preachers  are  following  the  plow, 
or  doing  some  other  kind  of  secular  labor,  when  they  ought  to  be  in  the  study." 
"The  church  that  causes  her  minister  to  resort  to  secular  labor,  when  it  is  not 
necessary,  is  committing  spiritual  suicide."  But  the  Eldership  in  1911,  under- 
standing these  conditions,  "appointed  I.  Ossman  as  Financial  Agent  and  Field 
Worker,  to  try  to  bring  pastors  and  people  closer  together  along  this  line."  The 
session  was  held  at  Antioch,  Morgan  county,  beginning  Monday,  October  9th,  and 
continued  until  the  12th.  The  Ministerial  Association  held  its  meeting  on  Friday 
and  Saturday  of  the  previous  week.  It  was  the  first  ever  held  by  the  Eldership, 
G.  L.  Chapman  was  elected  Speaker;  C.  A.  Marksbery,  Clerk;  A.  F.  Berkstresser, 
Treasurer.  The  "finances  showed  up  better  this  year  than  usual."  This  was  "one 
of  the  chief  subjects  discussed  at  the  Ministerial  Association."  The  lack  of  a  good 
financial  system  was  considered  "one  of  our  greatest  weaknesses."  Ministers' 
salaries  ranged  from  $150.00  to  $300.00  a  year.  And  if  during  some  years  their 
labors  were  not  attended  with  the  success  which  may  have  crowned  the  efforts  of 
others,  yet  they  were  marked  by  a  no  less  heroic  spirit.  If  some  of  the  ministers 
did  not  have  the  requisite  training  for  efficient  service,  or  were  not  as  studious  as 
they  should  have  been,  there  was  some  justification  in  the  meager  support.  How- 
ever, the  Eldership  was  disposed  to  make  fewer  concessions  on  these  grounds,  and 
directed  a  committee  to  prepare  a  Course  of  Studies  for  young  ministers.  The 
schools  of  the  Church  were  commended  to  the  patronage  of  the  Missouri  brother- 
hood, and  ministers  were  requested  "to  try  to  interest  our  young  people  in  a 
higher  education."  A  strenuous  effort  was  to  be  made  to  resuscitate  the  St.  Louis 
church  and  save  the  property  from  levy  and  sale  by  the  authorities  of  the  city. 
Chapman  was  made  pastor  of  the  St.  Louis  church,  in  addition  to  three  other 
points.  There  were  eight  other  charges,  one  of  them  unsupplied.  D.  Long  was 
appointed  General  Worker,  and  I,  Ossman,  Financial  Agent. 

42nd  Missouri  Eldership. — Not  until  September,  1912,  did  the  Clerk  of  the 
Missouri  Eldership  publish  the  assessments  made  on  the  churches  for  General  Eld- 
ership, Contingent  and  Church  Extension  Funds,  which  were  to  be  collected  and 
reported  at  the  Eldership  in  1912.  They  were  levied  on  twenty-eight  churches, 
aggregating  $119.05.  The  session  was  held  with  the  church  at  Fairview,  Hickory 
county,  and  opened  October  21,  1912.  On  the  preceding  Sunday  the  Annual  Ser- 
mon was  preached  by  G.  L.  Chapman.  Friday  before  the  Ministerial  Association 
held  its  meeting.  Provision  was  also  made  for  the  State  W.  M.  S.  to  hold  its 
annual  meeting  at  the  same  time  and  place  with  the  Eldership.  The  spirituality 
of  the  Eldership  was  of  a  decided  character.  "It  was  one  of  those  old-time  Elder- 
ships, where  the  Holy  Spirit  seemed  to  be  always  present  in  every  service."  The 
evening  services  were  evangelistic,  and  on  the  last  evening  "three  penitents 
kneeled  at  their  seats,  asking  God  for  mercy."  Four  young  men  received  Certifi- 
cates of  Ordination.  "More  competent  pastors"  was  considered  "the  great  need 
of  this  Eldership."  The  work  hitherto  had  been  mainly  in  the  country  for  want 
of  "competent  pastors  for  towns  and  cities."  This  was  viewed  as  a  mistake  that 
should  be  remedied.  The  Eldership  was  organized  by  the  election  of  J.  F.  Thomas, 
Speaker;  C.  A.  Marksbery,  Clerk;  A.  F.  Berkstresser,  Treasurer;  C.  Hale,  Financial 
Clerk.  C.  Martin  returned  his  Certificate  of  Ordination,  and  I.  Ossman  and  D. 
Long  were  transferred  to  the  Iowa  Eldership.  The  Standing  Committee  was  com- 
posed of  J.  F.  Thomas,  C.  A.  Marksbery,  J.  F.  Allman,  L.  E.  Bradley  and  Samuel 
Van  Meter.  G.  L.  Chapman  was  elected  trustee  of  the  Eldership.  In  general, 
but  strong,  terms  "all  the  publications  of  the  General  Eldership  were  recom- 
mended." The  body  was  especially  emphatic  against  "endorsing  sectarian  com- 
promising in  any  form,  either  in  our  schools  or  churches;  but  we  stand  for  the 
churches  of  God  in  all  that  the  name  implies,  believing  that  our  Lord  is  one  and 
his  name  one."  Much  interest  developed  in  missionary  work.  "The  services  of 
the  W.  M.  S.  created  quite  an  interest  in  missions.  New  fields  were  also  repre- 
sented at  the  Eldership,  which  contributed  to  the  spirit  of  rejoicing  which  pre- 
vailed. 


The    Maine   Eldership  683 

XVI.     THE    MAINE    ELDERSHIP. 


1st  Main  Eldership. — The  organic  form  of  the  body  known  as  the  Eldership 
of  the  Church  of  God  in  the  State  of  Maine  was  the  result  of  gradual  developments. 
H.  Mills,  the  leading  minister  in  the  movement,  was  brought  to  see  the  scriptural 
form  and  polity  of  the  Church  under  the  luminous  teaching  of  P.  Loucks,  of  the 
West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  while  on  a  visit  to  Maine  in  June,  1873.  Mills  was 
a  delegate  to  the  Cambridge  Quarterly  Meeting,  where  Loucks  preached,  setting 
forth  the  polity  of  the  Church  as  exemplified  in  his  own  Eldership  and  the  General 
Eldership.  He  says:  "I  went  to  my  home  from  this  meeting  a  Church  of  God 
man."  Shortly  afterward  he  met  Silas  L.  Pennell,  "who  had  organized  several 
churches,  but  not  connected  with  any  particular  sect."  He  had  also  received  the 
truth,  that  Church  of  God  was  the  only  title  for  the  Church,  and  he  came  to  the 
conclusion  to  assume  the  title."  They  agreed  on  a  time  and  place  to  effect  an  or- 
ganization. Accordingly  they  met  "at  the  town  of  Palmyra,  at  the  Gale  school- 
house,  Somerset  county,  where  the  right  hand  of  fellowship  was  given  to  some 
twenty."  This  was  the  first  organization  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Maine,  and  was 
formed  in  August,  1873.  This  was  thereafter  known  as  "the  Somerset  Quarterly 
Meeting."  A  similar  organization  was  formed  in  the  adjoining  county  on  the  East, 
and  was  known  as  the  Penobscot  Quarterly  Meeting.  This  nomenclature  was 
adopted  from  the  Free-Will  Baptist  Polity.  On  September  19,  1874,  the  delegates 
from  these  Quarterly  Meetings  met  and  "organized  the  first  Annual  Meeting  of  the 
Church  of  God,  in  Somerset  county,  town  of  Palmyra."  In  a  later  historical  article 
Mills  locates  this  first  Annual  Meeting  at  South  Charleston,  Penobscot  county. 
This  "Yearly  Meeting  was  formed  of  eleven  churches  and  six  ordained  preachers." 
Additional  Quarterly  Meetings  were  organized,  and  Yearly  Meetings  were  held  at 
different  points  in  1875  and  1876.  In  1877  "the  question  came  up  as  to  a  change 
in  polity,  when  a  majority  voted  to  establish  an  Eldership  on  the  Pennsylvania 
Polity,  and  a  meeting  was  appointed  for  that  purpose,  to  be  held  at  Glenburn, 
Penobscot  county,"  in  June,  when  the  change  was  effected,  and  the  body  was  or- 
ganized as  an  Eldership.  It  was  numbered  "the  fourth  Annual  Eldership  of  the 
Church  of  God  in  Maine"  when  it  met  in  annual  session  at  the  Gale  Bethel,  Pal- 
myra, Somerset  county,  September  13,  1877,  the  sessions  in  1874,  '5  and  '6  being 
called  "Yearly  Meetings."  The  peculiar  character  of  the  Maine  ministers  and 
churches  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  the  first  attempt  to  organize  the  body  into  an 
Eldership  proved  "a  failure"  because  "several  ministers  withdrew"  when  the 
change  was  decided  upon. 

At  this  first  Eldership,  or  fourth  annual  meeting  the  "preaching  brethren  and 
sisters  found  in  attendance"  numbered  eleven,  three  of  them  sisters.  Ten  min- 
isters were  absent.  There  were  also  two  exhorters  and  eleven  delegates  present, 
and  nine  delegates  absent.  Equal  rights  for  brethren  and  sisters  is  indicated  not 
only  by  the  fact  of  three  of  the  preachers  being  sisters,  but  four  delegates  were 
sisters.  The  officers  chosen  were  Dr.  J.  I.  Brown,  President;  George  H.  Moore  and 
V.  A.  Brown,  Clerks,  and  Alonza  Trim,  Treasurer.  Among  the  committees  not 
found  in  other  Annual  Elderships  was  the  "Executive  Committee."  The  Quarterly 
Meetings  represented  were  Somerset,  Penobscot,  Waldo  and  Kennebec.  Much  at- 
tention was  given  to  Sabbath-schools,  as  the  Committee  on  Sabbath-schools  made 
an  interesting  report  of  the  different  schools,  which  report  was  followed  by  "ad- 
dresses full  of  instruction  and  advice."  No  resolutions  were  adopted,  the  three 
days  the  Eldership  was  in  session  were  taken  up  in  considering  the  work  and  in- 
terests of  the  churches.  Sabbath-schools  and  Quarterly  Meetings.  Much  time  was 
taken  up  with  preaching  and  "seasons  of  prayer."  There  was  a  sermon  on  Thurs- 
day evening,  the  13th,  by  Otis  G.  Trundy,  on  "The  Oneness  in  Christ."  Friday 
morning  "an  hour  and  a  half  was  spent  in  prayer  and  praise  to  God."  Friday 
evening  a  sermon  by  Eliza  Cook,  from  Ps.  Ivi.  13.  Sabbath  morning  "prayer- 
meeting  at  9  o'clock."  At  10.30  sermon  'by  Dr.  J.  I.  Brown,  from  Luke  ii.  10 — 
"Joy  at  the  Birth  of  Christ."  At  2  o'clock,  sermon  by  Otis  G.  Trundy,  from  Jer. 
viii.  7."  "At  7  p.  m.,  sermon  by  Dr.  J.  I.  Brown,  from  Dan.  xii.  13."  On  Monday 
morning  another  sermon  by  Dr.  Brown,  after  "a  precious  season  of  prayer,"  and 
one  by  Hosea  Welsh  at  2  t>-  m.,  from  Luke  viii.  12.  The  three  appointees  were 
H.  Mills,  General  Missionary,  and  minister  "to  labor  in  Penobscot  Quarterly  Meet- 
ing;" L.  W.  Hammons,  Missionary  for  west  of  the  Kennebec,  and  A.  F.  Brown,  east 
of  the  Kennebec. 


684  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

5th  Maine  Eldership. — ITnabated  religious  fervor  characterized  the  fifth  ses- 
sion of  the  Maine  Eldership,  which  convened  at  Bradford,  Penobscot  county,  Sep- 
tember 19,  1878.  What  may  be  called  the  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by  L. 
W.  Hanunons,  from  Col.  iii.  11.  Exhortations  after  sermons  was  the  rule,  the 
record  not  unfrequently  being  "a  number  of  exhortations."  Twelve  ministers  were, 
present.  On  Friday  morning  prayer-meeting  from  9  to  12  o'clock.  Dr.  J.  I.  Brown.; 
was  elected  President;  Henry  Dawson,  Clerk,  and  S.  L.  Pennell,  Corresponding 
Secretary.  It  was  a  feature  peculiar  to  the  Maine  Eldership  that  instead  of 
preachers  reporting,  the  churches  and  Quarterly  Meetings  reported.  At  this  ses- 
sion the  Quarterly  Meetings  of  Kennebec,  Somerset,  Penobscot  and  Waldo  counties 
reported.  These  reports  were  most  encouraging.  Kennebec,  "church  active  and 
in  working  order."  Somerset,  "very  good  report  from  that  section  of  the  State." 
Penobscot,  "very  able  report."  Waldo,  "churches  in  a  very  flourishing  condition." 
In  addition  there  were  reports  from  Swanville,  Searsport  and  Islesboro.  A  Mis- 
sionary Board  was  elected,  and  one  General  Missionary  and  three  Home  Mission- 
aries were  appointed.  All  the  ministers  were  "examined" — their  moral  and  official 
conduct  was  inquired  into,  as  well  as  their  theological  views,  as  is  revealed  in  th€> 
record  made.  "All  passed  a  good  examination,  with  the  exception  of  O.  G.  Tmndy,-. 
who  was  not  sound  on  the  principles  of  the  Church  of  God,  and  refused  to  answer 
the  questions  of  the  council;  therefore  he  surrendered  his  papers,  and  is  now  not 
recognized  as  a  preacher  by  the  people  of  the  Church  of  God."  To  raise  mission- 
ary money  "every  member  of  the  different  churches"  was  "required  to  pay  $1.00 
per  year  into  a  missionary  fund  for  the  benefit  of  the  missionaries."  The  doctrine 
of  the  non-resurrection  of  "the  wicked,"  and  that  "there  is  no  resurrection  of  the 
just  and  the  unjust;  that  the  righteous  dead  sleep  in  the  grave  until  the  resur- 
rection, and  that  there  is  no  resurrection  of  the  body,"  was  declared  to  be  heretir 
cal,  and  the  Eldership  declared  that  it  "withdraws  its  fellowship  from  all  such 
preachers  that  hold  forth  and  preach  such  doctrines."  A  committee  of  ten  min- 
isters was  appointed  "to  confer  with  the  brethren  in  Pennsylvania  to  the  end  thai^ 
our  Annual  Meeting  may  become  united  with  the  General  Eldership  of  the  Church 
of  God  in  the  United  States."  Provision  was  made  "to  have  licenses  to  continue 
one  year  as  to  Christian  character  and  soundness  of  principles."  The  Eldership 
voted  "to  have  a  camp-meeting  ground,"  and  appointed  a  committee  to  procure  it.-i 

6th  Maine  Eldership, — This  body  is  still  called  by  the  Clerk  who  announced 
the  session,  "The  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Maine."  It  was  to 
begin  September  19,  1879,  Friday  morning.  There  was  "a  social  meeting  for  the 
brethren  on  the  evening  of  the  18th.  H.  Mills  had  united  with  the  East  Pennsyl-r 
vania  Eldership,  and  attended  its  session  in  1879,  and  so  was  not  present  at  the 
Maine  Eldership.  He  highly  complimented  said  Eldership,  and  commended  to  the 
Maine'  brethren  its  "manner  of  conducting  its  business."  He  also  revealed  the 
dissensions  among  the  brethren  in  Maine,  some  of  whom  were  "finding  fault  with 
the  Pennsyltania  polity."  Their  presence,  he  felt  sure,  would  have  convinced 
them  that  "the  laws  and  usages  of  the  Pennsylvania  Eldership  are  such  that  no 
better  can  be  found."  Nothing  was  published  concerning  the  session  of  the  Maine 
Eldership  in  1879. 

7th  Maine  Eldership. — There  seemed  to  be  little  cohesiveness  in  the  bodj* 
known  as  the  "Annual  Meeting  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Maine,"  so  that  there  weref 
constant  defections,  and  also  new  additions.  But  in  1879  a  final  division  occurred.,- 
when  "the  Waldo  Quarterly  Meeting  withdrew  from  the  general  body  in  Maine,- 
and  assumed  the  name  of  the  Waldo  Eldership,  and  adopted  the  Rules  of  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership."  But  this  Quarterly  Meeting,  now  an  Eldership,  em- 
braced the  counties  of  Waldo,  Penobscot,  Kennebeck  and  Lincoln.  The  ailnual 
session  was  held  beginning  June  10,  1880,  "with  the  second  church  in  Monroe," 
when  the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  by  M.  E.  Curtis.  On  the  11th  the  body 
was  organized,  with  A.  F.  Brown,  Speaker;  C.  C.  Moody,  Treasurer,  and  E,  F,  Han-t 
son,  Journalizing  and  Transcribing  Clerk.  The  Eldership  "voted  to  adopt  the 
itinerant  system."  One  church  had  "been  recently  organized."  Brown  and  Curtis 
were  to  supply  the  churches  in  Penobscot  county.  Hanimons  and  Hanson  were  ap- 
pointed to  Monroe,  Searsport  and  Islesboro.  Cook  was  to  preach  for  churches  at 
Cooper's  Mills,  Windsor  Neck  and  Frankfort.  AV.  L.  Bi-own  was  made  a  general 
evangelist.  An  assessment  of  "$1.00  on  each  irilale  member,  and  50  cents  on  each 
female  member  was  made,  to  be  paid  quarterly,  said  money  to  be  expended  as  thd 
Church  may  deem  proper."  A  Contingent  Fund  was  to  be  raised  by  voluntary 
pledges  made  to  the  preachers.      A  record  was  directed  to  be  kept  by  each  churdb 


The   Maine   Ei^dership  /..)"-;[:[  685 

Oif  "the  date  of  organization,  by  whom  organized,  number  of  members  and  names 
X)f  church  officers."  A  camp-meeting  was  to  be  held  in  August.  This  session  the 
Clerk  notes  was  "our  first  annual  meeting."  "Perfect  union  prevailed"  between 
those  who  constituted  it. 

1  :  8th  Maine  Eldership. — "The  brethren  in  the  State  of  Maine"  which  consti- 
tuted the  Eldership  in  1880,  without  taking  official  action,  sent  a  "request  to  the 
iGeneral  Eldership  to  be  formed  into  an  Eldership."  This  was  acted  on  in  May, 
iJ:88X,  and  the  recommendation  of  the  Committee  on  Boundaries  of  the  General 
Eldership  was  adopted,  that  "the  name  of  said  Eldership  be  'the  Eldership  of  the 
Church  of  God  in  the  State  of  Maine,'  "  and  that  "the  boundary  lines  be  the  State 
boundary  lines."  Under  this  Charter  the  body  met  at  Bradford,  Me.,  June  16, 
1881,  when  the  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by  A.  F.  Brown,  from  Luke  iv.  18. 
The  session  continued  three  days.  E.  F.  Hanson  was  Speaker;  David  Mitchell, 
Treasurer,  "and  E.  F,  Hanson  was  again  appointed  Journalizing  and  Transcribing 
'Clerk."  Only  two  committees  were  appointed,  a  Standing  and  a  Stationing  Com- 
>mittee.  The  Eldership  did  not  act  on  any  resolutions,  except  to  vote  "to  continue 
in  force  all  the  doings  of  last  year."  The  names  of  seven  ministers  are  recorded 
as  present.  "Everything  had  been  pleasant  within  the  borders  the  past  year." 
"We  enjoyed  perfect  peace  and  prosperity  the  past  year,"  was  the  testimony  of  the 
Transcribing  Clerk. 

9th  Maine  Eldership.- — This  was  "the  third  annual  meeting  of  the  Maine  Eld- 
ership" as  a  chartered  body  of  the  General  Eldership.  It  met  with  the  church  at 
Islesboro,  June  16,  1882,  an  island  about  two  hours'  sail  from  Bedford  City. 
"About  sixty"  were  in  the  party  going  to  the  Eldership,  the  church  standing  a 
short  distance  from  the  warf."  L.  W.  Hammons  was  chosen  Speaker;  E.  F.  Han> 
son,  Journalizing  and  Transcribing  Clerk.  The  "past  year  had  been  one  of  pros- 
perity." Two  "newly  organized  churches"  were  received,  and  others  made  good 
reports.  H.  Mills,  who  had  joined  the  Ea^t  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  was  received, 
"and  the  right  hand  of  fellowship  was  extended  to  him."  It  was  decided  that  "no 
church  shall  be  reported  that  has  no  church  Record,  and  is  not  regularly  organ- 
ized." All  other  churches  were  "to  send  a  written  report  to  the  Eldership."  The 
Standing  Committee  was  instructed  "to  look  after  and  ascertain  the  Standing  of 
the  brethren  in  Aroostook  county,  with  a  view  to  their  reception  into  the  Eldership 
in  1883."  The  annual  camp-meeting  was  again  appointed  on  Maple  Grove  camp- 
ground. 

|.  10th  Maine  Eldership. — At  the  annual  session  in  1883,  no  report  was  made 
by  the  Standing  Committee  on  the  case  of  the  brethren  in  Aroostook  county.  But 
M.  E.  Curtis,  with  whom  the  Clerk  was  "to  correspond,  and  learn  his  position 
toward  the  Church  and  brethren,"  was  present,  and  Hammons,  who  was  to  preach 
the  Opening  Sermon,  being  absent,  Curtis  took  his  place.  When  on  June  15th  the 
body  convened  for  business,  he  was  elected  Speaker,  and  was  also  placed  on  the 
Standing  Committee.  A.  F.  Brown  was  placed  in  the  Clerk's  chair.  The  session 
was  held  at  Charleston,  Penobscot  county.  In  addition  to  the  counties  represented 
in  the  Eldership  in  1880,  there  was  a  "report  from  Franklin  county,  the  new 
ground  of  H.  Mills."  The  Church  in  Maine  was  "in  good  working  order."  What 
was  "wanted  was  more  preachers."      Eight  ministers  were  present. 

11th  Maine  Eldership. — An  Eldership  held  in  the  woods  is  a  rare  occurrence, 
possibly  owing  to  the  season  when  Eldership  sessions  are  held.  But  the  Maine 
(Eldership  convened  at  Searsport,  Waldo  county,  "on  the  Maple  Grove  camp- 
Igrpund,"  Friday,  June  20,  1884,  at  2  o'clock  p.  m.,  and  made  choice  of  A.  F.  Brown 
fOiP  Chairman,  and  S.  H.  Burton,  Clerk.  Burton  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  in 
the  evening.  There  was  preaching  three  times  each  day,  and  the  small  amount  of 
jbu^iness  was  transacted  between  the  services.  Burton  was  a  new  member,  to 
whom  "the  right  hand  of  fellowship  was  extended  on  Sunday."  No  report  was 
^published  from  either  of  the  two  committees,  Standing  and  Stationing,  but  a  reso- 
.liU;tion  was  passed,  that  "these  above-named  officers  do  stand  by  and  sustain  Bro. 
Xi.  W.  Hammons  and  all  others  in  their  pastoral  work  as  far  forth  as  their  work 
a^grees  with  the  teaching  of  Christ." 

*'.!v  13th  Maine  Eldership.— The  camp-meeting  spirit  prevailed  largely  among 
.tbe  ministers  and  churches  in  Maine.  The  Quarterly  Meetings  were  frequently 
Jieia  fat  camp-meetings.  Their  Eldership  meetings  were  more  on  the  evangelistic 
order  than  were  such  gatherings  in  Middle  and  Western  States.  The  Eldership 
which  met  at  East  Thorndike,  June  18,  1885,  did  very  little  ecclesiastical  business. 
It  »*'iComjnenced  with  the  Spirit's  power"  under  the  preaching  of  the  Opening  Ser- 


686  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

mon  by  H.  Mills.  M.  E.  Curtis  was  elected  Speaker;  E.  F.  Hanson,  Journalizing 
and  Transcribing  Clerk.  While  a  Stationing  Committee  was  elected,  no  report 
was  published.  The  annual  camp-meeting  was  appointed  for  the  last  Thursday  in 
August,  at  Maple  GroTe,  to  continue  ten  days.  A  camp-meeting  was  also  ap- 
pointed to  be  held  at  Charleston,  to  commence  September  12th,  and  continue  over 
two  Sabbaths.  The  religious  feature  of  the  meeting  predominated,  and  it  was 
noted  by  the  Clerk  that  "the  meetings  were  a  decided  success.  God  manifested 
his  power  in  every  meeting.  The  brethren  preached  with  power."  A  spirit  of 
hopefulness  was  strongly  in  evidence.  "The  Church  of  God  in  Maine  is  advancing 
to  a  higher  position  before  the  people." 

13th  Maine  Eldership. — The  Maine  Eldership  had  never  been  represented  in 
the  General  Eldership,  and  when  in  1886  it  failed  to  elect  delegates,  the  attention 
of  its  Standing  Committee  was  called  to  the  matter.  Nor  had  it  taken  any  interest 
in  the  College,  nor  in  general  mission  work.  The  session  which  was  held  at  Dix- 
mont  Center,  Penobscot  county,  beginning  June  18,  1886,  devoted  its  time  wholly 
to  its  own  internal  affairs.  There  were  fifteen  ministers  enrolled,  of  which  six 
were  absent.  M.  E.  Curtis  preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  H.  Miller  was  chosen 
Speaker,  and  M.  Cook,  Clerk.  All  the  preachers  were  required  to  report  annually 
in  person  or  by  letter.  Fourteen  churches  are  on  the  list,  of  which  number  seven 
reported.  Six  of  the  preachers  were  given  charge  of  the  churches,  while  one  was 
appointed  "missionary  in  the  State  of  Maine."  Each  church  was  directed  here- 
after to  report  "by  delegates  or  by  letters."  The  Eldership  asserted  its  right  to 
the  title  of  "Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Maine,"  as  the  only  body  chartered 
in  the  State  by  the  General  Eldership.  This  as  against  "a  few  here  in  Maine,  led 
by  one  Silas  L.  Pennell,  who  claims  to  have  an  Eldership  of  his  own."  "The  Eld- 
ership," as  reported  by  the  Clerk,  commenced  in  the  spirit  and  power  of  Elijah's 
God,  and  it  was  carried  through  in  the  same." 

14th  Maine  EIdei"ship. — At  least  in  the  localities  where  the  Maine  Eldership 
held  its  session  there  was  very  favorable  sentiment  and  widespread  interest. 
Houses  were  "crowded  to  overflowing."  This  was  the  case  at  North  Troy,  Waldo 
county,  where  on  June  17,  1887,  the  fourteenth  session  was  held.  H.  Mills 
preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  E.  F.  Hanson  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  M.  Cook, 
Clerk.  As  there  were  no  Eldership  Funds,  a  Treasurer  was  not  needed.  There 
was  little  business  to  be  transacted.  Churches  reported,  and  with  but  one  excep- 
tion they  were  in  "good  condition,"  "good  working  order,"  or  "good,  and  in  work- 
ing condition."  One  church  was  "rather  low."  There  was  preaching  three  and 
four  times  each  day.  The  session  lasted  two  days  and  three  evenings;  but  "there 
were  eight  sermons,  twenty  prayers,  two  hundred  and  ninety  exhortations,  seventy- 
three  songs  of  praise."  In  the  case  of  one  minister  it  was  decided  to  "take  his 
papers  from  him."  Further  action  was  taken  in  case  he  should  "refuse  to  sur- 
render his  papers."  "The  Standing  Committee  shall  commence  action  against  him, 
as  he  has  gone  contrary  to  the  Rules  of  the  Eldership."  The  preachers,  ten  of 
them,  were  appointed  on  eight  fields  of  labor. 

15th  Maine  Eldership. — Of  the  character  and  doings  of  the  Maine  Eldership 
in  1888  nothing  is  known.  No  report  was  published.  It  was  announced  to  meet 
at  West  Winterport,  June  22nd. 

16th  Maine  Eldership. — The  sixteenth  session  of  the  Maine  Eldership  was 
made  the  subject  of  editorial  criticism  because  its  Journal  contained  "matter 
which  does  not  properly  belong  to  such  a  document,"  of  which  "meditations  of  the 
Clerk"  and  "reports  of  religious  meetings"  are  mentioned.  It  also  was  mentioned 
that  this  was  only  the  tenth  session  of  the  chartered  Eldership.  The  fact  that 
again  no  delegate  was  elected  to  the  General  Eldership  was  unfavorably  com- 
mented upon,  and  even  "no  action  of  any  character  taken  relative  to  the  parent 
body  from  which  the  Eldership  received  its  charter."  The  body  met  at  Ilesboro, 
on  an  island  in  Penobscot  Bay,  about  twelve  miles  from  Belfast,  Waldo  county,  on 
June  20,  1889.  The  Church  of  God  had  a  dominant  influence  on  the  Island,  In- 
stead of  an  Opening  Sermon  the  "yearly  meeting  was  opened  by  a  prayer  and 
praise  meeting."  And  "when  the  meeting  closed  that  night  we  recorded  eighty- 
seven  exhortations,  a  number  from  the  converts,  as  there  had  been  a  fevlval." 
At  the  business  meeting  on  Friday  morning  A.  F.  Brown  was  elected  President, 
and  H.  R.  Dawson,  Clerk.  Two  churches  with  their  pastors  were  received  Into 
the  Eldership.  One  of  the  pastors  had  been  a  Free  Baptist,  if  not  both,  and  doubt- 
less the  churches.  Sixteen  other  "towns  were  represented,  besides  Islesboro." 
There  were  twelve  appointments,  with  as  many  ministers.     In  Monroe  there  were 


The   Maine   EiwDERShip  687 

two  churches,  with  two  pastors.  The  Islesboro  church  is  described  as  "a  church 
with  a  congregation  of  500,  and  40  converts  at  the  last  revival."  At  a  "prayer 
and  praise  meeting  at  8  o'clock  p.  m.,  there  were  one  hundred  exhortations."  The 
"sermon  at  2.30  p.  m.  was  followed  by  forty-five  exhortations  in  about  thirty 
minutes." 

17th  Maine  Eldership. — When  the  seventeenth  Eldership  session  was  held  in 
Maine  conditions  were  somewhat  unfavorable  and  prospects  not  inspiring.  Mills 
testified  that  the  outlook  was  "not  as  hopeful  as  it  was  some  time  ago."  While 
there  were  still  a  number  of  loyal  ministers,  the  "laity  to  some  extent  was  indif- 
ferent." All  felt  "somewhat  grieved"  because  of  a  sense  of  neglect  by  other  Eld- 
erships and  the  General  Eldership  of  interests  in  New  England.  They  thought  at 
least  one  strong  man  should  have  been  sent  to  Maine  and  one  to  Massachusetts  as 
missionaries.  "New  England,"  said  J.  I.  Brown,  "is  a  nursery  to  all  parts  of  the 
United  States."  He  was  an  enthusiastic  Church  of  God  minister,  laboring  in 
Massachusetts.  Through  his  efforts  the  church  of  God  at  Lowell,  Mass.,  was  or- 
ganized in  January,  1890,  with  six  elders  and  twenty  members.  This  church,  and 
others  organized  in  the  State,  desired  to  unite  with  the  East  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship. Brown,  however,  was  sent  as  a  delegate  to  the  Maine  Eldership,  which  con- 
vened at  North  Troy,  June  20,  1890.  He  had  full  power  to  effect  a  union  with 
the  Maine  Eldership,  and  did  so.  He  was  "given  oversight  of  the  work  in  Massa- 
chusetts," as  "Missionary  for  Massachusetts,"  and  President  of  the  Eldership  in 
Massachusetts,  "with  power  to  grant  licenses."  He  was  a  very  positive  advocate  of 
the  ordinance  of  feet-washing,  this  being  a  distinctive  doctrine  of  the  Church  of 
God  which  first  appealed  to  him.  The  Eldership  ordained  two  to  the  ministry,  one 
of  which  was  a  converted  Catholic — A.  R.  McDougall.  He,  too,  declared,  that 
"the  first  thing  that  attracted  his  love  for  the  Church  of  God  was  the  belief  in  the 
washing  of  the  saints'  feet."  The  Eldership  sent  S.  H.  Burton  to  Lowell,  Mass., 
to  be  the  pastor  of  that  church. 

18th  Maine  Eldership. — The  Maine  Eldership  was  a  fully  organized  body, 
patterned  after  the-  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  The  business  was  transacted 
under  the  same  Rules,  and  in  the  same  general  order.  But  the  religious  element 
was  more  prominent.  The  eighteenth  session  (or  the  twelfth  according  to  their 
numeration)  was  held  at  West  Winterport,  Me.,  beginning  June  19,  1891,  and  con- 
tinuing three  days.  It  was  a  more  hopeful  one  than  that  of  1890.  M.  Andrews 
was  chosen  President,  and  H.  R.  Dawson,  Clerk.  It  was  ordered  that  hereafter 
"ministers  appointed  over  the  different  churches  shall  give  an  account  in  writing 
of  the  number  of  appointments  they  fill  and  the  amount  of  money  they  collect." 
Delegates  were  present  from  twelve  churches  in  Maine,  and  three  from  Massa- 
chusetts. Eleven  ministers  were  appointed  to  churches  in  Maine,  and  two  to  the 
churches  at  Lowell  and  Haverhill,  Mass.  One  General  Evangelist  and  one  General 
Missionary  were  appointed  "for  the  State  of  Maine."  By  vote  of  the  Eldership 
the  churches  in  Massachusetts  were  "to  be  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Maine 
Eldership  for  one  year." 

19th  Maine  Eldership. — The  churches  in  Massachusetts  remained  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Maine  Eldership,  and  received  pastors  from  it  in  1892.  The 
session  of  the  Eldership  was  held  at  North  Troy,  and  began  June  17th.  L.  W. 
Hammons  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  J.  I.  Brown,  Secretary.  Twelve  ministers,  two 
from  Massachusetts,  were  present.  One  of  the  ministers  in  Maine  and  one  in 
Massachusetts  "asked  to  withdraw  from  the  Eldership,"  and  "it  was  granted." 
There  was  preaching  during  the  session  at  9  a.  m.,  and  2  and  7.30  p.  m.  One 
"afternoon  was  devoted  to  the  reports  of  preachers  and  churches."  A  Woman's 
Home  Missionary  Society  was  organized  at  Pittsfield,  Mass.  While  the  State  Mis- 
sionary reported  "some  of  the  churches  in  a  fiourishing  condition,"  the  report  of 
Dr.  Brown  stated  that  "the  church  at  Haverhill,  Mass.,  is  in  a  struggling  condi- 
tion." Conversions  at  Eldership  meetings  were  not  uncommon,  and  at  this  session 
"many  sinners  and  backsliders  rose  to  witness  their  belief  of  the  gospel  of  Christ." 
20th  Maine  Eldership. — The  ministers  of  the  Maine  Eldership  having  been 
strongly  urged  to  appoint  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  in  1893,  decided  to 
hold  "a  special  meeting"  for  that  purpose.  Oflicers  of  the  Eldership  had  also  "re- 
signed and  left  said  Eldership."  This  meeting  was  held  December  28,  1892,  at 
Swanville,  Me.,  when  J.  I.  Brown  was  elected  Moderator,  and  Sister  V.  A.  Brown, 
Secretary.  Two  more  ministers  "called  for,  and  received,  letters  from  the  Elder- 
ship." J.  I.  Brown  and  H.  Mills  were  chosen  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership. 
Another  meeting  was  held  February  2,  1893,    at   the    Mayo    school-house,    West 


688  History,  .of,    ^he   ,C.h,urches    of    God 

Frankford,  Me.  Two  delegates  were  chosen  to  attend  the  Yearly  Meeting  of  the 
Primitive  Baptists.     Two  lay  delegates  were  also  chosen  to  the  General  Eldership 

— W.  E.  Goen  and  Morrill.     Plans  were  made  to  secure  "funds  to  pay  the 

Maine  indebtedness  to  the  General  Eldership."  The  regular  annual  session  was 
held  on  the  Maple  Grove  camp-ground,  Maine,  and  began  June  8,  1893.  The 
officers  elected  were  M.  Andrews,  Speaker,  and  Vesta  A.  Brown,  Clerk.  Joseph 
D.  Prentiss  and  his  wife,  and  Sarah  Curtiss  "presented  themselves  for  membership 
in  the  Eldership,"  and  were  received.  H.  Mills  was  appointed  "as  missionary  for 
Massachusetts,"  and  Stephen  Dinsmore,  missionary  for  New  Hampshire.  The 
forecast  was  disquieting,  "as  many  had  left  who  had  long  time  been  members,  and 
the  ranks  of  the  Maine  Eldership  thinned  and  weakened." 

21st  Maine  Eldership. — Another  special  session  of  the  Maine  Eldership  was 
called  upon  petition  of  five  of  the  members.  It  was  held  on  the  Maple  Grove 
camp-ground,  near  Searsport,  Me.,  August  31,  1893.  Eight  ministers  and  four 
ruling  elders  were  present.  The  unusual  feature  of  this  meeting  was  the  pres- 
ence and  reception  of  R.  H.  Bolton  as  an  advisory  member,  he  having  been  under 
suspension  by  the  Ohio  Eldership.  He  had  united  with  the  church  at  Searsport, 
Waldo  county,  Me.,  and  was  "recommended  by  the  Quarterly  Meeting  for  license, 
and  ordination  by  the  laying  on  of  hands  by  the  Presbytery."  This  was  "accord- 
ing to  the  custom  of  the  Maine  Eldership,  and  required  by  the  laws  of  the  State." 
Bolton  was  received,  and  was  ordained  "by  the  laying  on  of  hands  by  five  elders."" 
He  was  appointed  General  Missionary  of  the  Maine  Eldership,  at  a  "salary  of 
$300.00  or  more."  He  was  also  appointed,  with  two  others,  "to  draft  a  Constitu- 
tion, By-Laws  and  Rules  of  Order,"  to  be  reported  at  a  special  session  October  20, 
1893. 

The  special  session,  October  20th,  was  held  at  the  Bagley  Hill  school-house, 
Waldo  county.  Me.  Five  of  the  thirteen  ministers  were  present,  and  five  elders 
and  delegates.  J.  W.  Bolton,  of  the  Ohio  Eldership,  was  received  as  an  advisory 
member.  He  had  united  with  the  church  at  Bagley  Hill  school-house,  which  "rec- 
ommended him  to  the  Maine  Eldership  for  ordination."  He  was  ordained  in  man- 
ner and  form  as  was  his  father  in  August.  For  the  first  time  the  Eldership 
adopted  resolutions  with  reference  to  Findlay  College,  and  raised  $19.00,  to  be 
forwarded  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  College.  The  Constitution  was  adopted,  as  well 
as  a  Constitution  of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society.  J.  W,  Bolton  was 
also  appointed  a  General  Missionary,  "to  be  a  co-worker  with  his  father." 

The  regular  session  was  held  at  West  Winterport,  Waldo  county,  Me.,  begin- 
ning June  2  8,  1894,  when  the  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by  R.  H.  Bolton,  from 
Mark  xvi.  15.  Eighteen  teaching  elders  were  enrolled,  eleven  not  being  present, 
and  seven  churches  were  represented  by  delegates.  A.  F.  Hatch  was  elected 
Speaker,  and  J.  W.  Bolton,  Clerk.  It  was  believed  that  "the  outlook"  is  more  fav- 
orable" than  il:  had  beep  for  seveiral  years.  A  Ministerial  Association  was  pro- 
vided for.  Susanna  Moore,  a  licensed  minister,  had  died  during  the  year.  She 
was  "a  good  and  faithful  Christian."  The  Eldership  "favored  Constitutional  and 
statutory  prohibition  in  State  and  nation."  H.  Mills,  who  had  been  one  of  the 
first  ministers  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Maine,  "requested  that  his  name  be  dropped 
from  the  Eldership  Roll.  Four  appointments  were  made,  one  being  R.  H.  Bolton 
as  General  Missionary. 

The  complications  which  arose  in  consequence  of  the  Maine  Eldership  receiv- 
ing and  ordaining  R.  H.  Bolton  hastened  the  dissolution  of  that  body.  The  Ohio 
Eldership  called  official  attention  to  this  violation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership.  The  Maine  Eldership  was  not  accustomed  to  such  extraneous  re- 
straints, and  would  not  undo  its  unconstitutional  action,  nor  indeed  mention  in 
its  Journal  of  1894  the  receipt  of  any  communication  from  the  Ohio  Eldership.  It 
withdrew  its  patronage  from  The  Advocate,  and  did  not  report  its  Minutes  of  any 
sessions  held  after  the  one  in  June,  1894.  But  it  evidently  "withdrew  from  the 
General  Eldership,"  as  the  Minutes  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Findlay  College, 
May  21,  1896,  stated  that,  "Inasmuch  as  the  Maine  Eldership  has  withdrawn  from 
the  General  Eldership."  This  is  confirmed  by  th^  action  of  the  General  Eldership, 
held  in  May,  1896,  which  took  action  on  this  item  by  declaring  "void  the  repre- 
sentation on  the  Board  of  Trustees  heretofore  accorded  to  the  Maine  Eldership." 


The    Kansas    Eldership  689 

XVII.     THE    KANSAS    ELDERSHIP. 


1st  Kansas  Eldership. — Orderly  proceedings  marked  the  division  of  the  Kan^ 
«as  and  Missouri  Eldership  into  the  two  State  Elderships  of  Kansas  and  Missouri. 
After  some  consultation  with  the  ministers  and  churches  in  Kansas,  a  notice  was 
duly  published  in  The  Advocate,  headed,  "Preliminary  Meeting  of  the  Kansas  Eld-i 
ership."  The  Keplinger  school-house  was  named  as  the  place,  and  Saturday,  Sep- 
tember 18,  1880,  as  the  time  for  the  meeting.  Preaching  on  Friday  evening.  The 
meeting  was  "to  continue  over  Lord's  day,"  and  the  ordinances  were  to  be  ob- 
served in  the  evening  of  said  day.  The  object  was  stated  to  be  "for  the  purpose  of 
considering  the  organization  of  a  Kansas  Eldership."  When  the  ministers  and 
representatives  assembled  at  10  o'clock  a.  m.  on  the  date  published,  C.  B.  Konkel, 
whose  name  was  signed  to  the  call,  "called  the  meeting  to  order,"  and  W.  Shipman 
conducted  the  devotional  services.  C.  B.  Konkel  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  J,  V. 
Whisler,  Clerk.  Other  names  which  were  recorded  in  the  Minutes  are  those  of 
D.  Keplinger,  Newton  Hill,  who  with  Konkel  and  Shipman  constituted  the  "Com- 
mittee on  Organization";  M.  C.  Ogden  and  Joshua  Good,  who  with  Hill,  Sliipman 
and  Keplinger,  were  members  of  the  "Committee  to  draft  Constitution  and  By- 
Laws";  S.  Deal,  who  with  Whisler  and  Keplinger,  composed  the  "Committee  on 
Arrangements,"  and  D.  Engle,  who  offered  the  closing  prayer.  Whisler,  Deal,  Good 
and  Engle  were  laymen.  The  ordained  sister  of  the  Kansas  and  Missouri  Elder- 
ship, Clara  Yutzey,  was  a  member,  and  preached  on  Sabbath,  at  11  o'clock  a.  m. 
"After  due  deliberation,  and  the  reading  of  letters  from  ministers  and  members 
in  the  northern  part  of  the  State,"  a  "committee  was  named  by  the  Speaker  to 
draft  resolutions,  praying  the  different  bodies  interested  to  grant  us  the  privilege 
of  organizing  a  Kansas  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God."  This  had  reference  to 
the  Kansas  and  Missouri  and  the  Nebraska  Elderships,  and  the  General  Eldership. 
The  Committee  reported  in  harmony  with  its  instructions,  and  stated  that  "under 

present  arrangements   of  the  territory the  ministers  and   various   fields  of 

labor  cannot  properly  labor  together,  and  are  unable  to  meet  and  confer  with  each 
other  to  advance  the  interests  of  the  Church  of  God."  Hence  "we  realize  the  need 
•of  an  immediate  remedy  in  the  formation  of  a  Kansas  Eldership."  A  request  to 
the  General  Eldership  "to  grant  us  the  privilege  of  forming  an  Eldership  in  the 
State  of  Kansas"  followed.  Also  one  to  the  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership.  A 
petition  was  also  reported  to  the  Nebraska  Eldership  "to  grant  us  the  territory 
lying  in  Kansas,  and  now  a  part  of  said  Eldership."  This  Report  was  adopted, 
and  finished  the  work  of  the  "Preliminary  Eldership." 

J.  V.  Whisler,  Clerk  of  the  "Preliminary  Eldership,"  addressed  a  letter,  em- 
bodying the  action  taken,  to  the  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership,  convened  at  Key- 
stone, Clinton  county,  October  13,  1880,  which  was  read  at  the  Friday  morning 
sititng,  October  15th.  Newton  Hill,  of  the  "Preliminary  Eldership,"  and  D.  Blakely 
discussed  the  proposition  on  a  motion  "that  the  request  be  granted."  "Pending 
this  motion,"  the  Eldership  took  a  recess  until  1.30  p.  m.  No  minute  was  made  of 
any  action  on  the  motion. 

At  the  General  Eldership  which  began  its  session  at  Findlay,  Ohio,  May  24, 
1881,  the  communication  from  the  "Preliminary  Eldership"  in  Kansas,  over  the 
signature  of  its  Speaker,  C.  B.  Konkel,  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Boun- 
daries. Said  Committee  reported  on  Tuesday  afternoon.  May  31st:  "A  request 
from  the  brethren  in  Kansas,  asking  the  privilege  of  forming  an  Eldership  in  said 
State.  Your  Committee  recommend  that  their  request  be  granted,  and  that  the 
name  be  The  Kansas  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God,  within  the  boundaries  of  the 
State."  This  report  was  adopted,  and  everything  was  now  in  readiness  for  the 
organization  of  another  body  in  the  growing  family  of  Elderships. 

Pursuant  to  action  taken  at  the  Preliminary  Eldership,  "a  call  was  accordingly 
published  in  The  Advocate  for  a  meeting  of  the  ministers,  elders  and  delegates  of 
the  churches  of  God  in  the  State  of  Kansas  to  meet  September  23  and  24,  1881,  at 
the  Keplinger  school-house,  Crawford  county,  Kansas,  for  the  purpose  of  organiz- 
ing the  Kansas  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God."  The  Opening  Sermon  was 
preached  the  previous  evening  by  Newton  Hill,  from  Col.  iv.  17.  The  enrollment 
showed  the  following  membership:  Ministers — David  Keplinger,  Christian  B. 
Konkel,  R.  T.  Sargent,  Newton  Hill  and  Clara  Yutzey.  Exhorter— Thomas  Steph*- 
•ens.       Ruling     elders — H.     Bosley,     A.     L.     Cory,     J.  Frederick,     J.     Tj.     Konkel, 

C.  H.— 23* 


690 


History    of    the  Churches    of    God 


E.     Simon,     W.     H.     Sheets,     A.   Whisler,     J.     V.   Wliisler     and     J.     L,   Huffman. 

Delegate — S.  Diehl.  A  ballot  being  taken,  C.  B.  Konkel  was  elected  Speaker; 
N.  Hill,  Clerk,  and  J.  V.  Whisler,  Treasurer.  A  Standing  Committee  of  three, 
and  a  Stationing  Committee  of  three,  were  elected.  The  former  was  com- 
posed of  Konkel,  Keplinger  and  Sargent;  the  latter,  of  Hill,  Huffman  and  Yutzey. 
After  six  other  of  the  usual  committees  were  appointed  by  the  Speaker,  the  Com- 
mittee on  Constitution  and  By-Laws,  appointed  at  the  Preliminary  Eldership,  re- 
ported. The  Constitution  contained  fifteen  Articles.  Art.  I.  accepted  the  name 
given  the  new  body  by  the  General  Eldership.  Art.  II.  defined  the  object  to  be 
"to  secure  and  promote  the  mutual  welfare  of  the  ministry  and  churches  of  the 
Church  of  God  in  Kansas,  and  to  co-operate  in  the  benevolent,  educational  and 
missionary  work  of  the  Church."  Art.  III.  fixed  the  membership — "to  consist  of 
all  licensed  preachers  and  exhorters,  ruling  elders,  together  with  a  delegate  from 
each  church  not  represented  by  ruling  elders."  Art.  IV.  related  to  the  time  and 
place  for  the  annual  sessions.  Articles  V.,  "VI.,  VII.  and  VIII.  defined  the  duties 
of  the  officers.  Speaker,  Clerk  and  Treasurer.      Art  IX.  related  to  the  first  sitting 


C.  B.  Konkel. 


of  a  session,  the  Opening  Sermon  and  constituting  the  Eldership.  Art.  X.  names 
the  two  principal  committees — the  Standing  and  Stationing — and  fixes  the  number 
of  each  and  defines  their  duties,  giving  the  Standing  Committee  the  powers  of  the 
Eldership.  Art.  XI.  requires  annual  reports  from  ministers,  renewal  of  licenses, 
and  other  information   from   each   pastor.     Art.   XII.   relates  to   Transfers.     Art. 

XIII.  states  the  points  on  which  applicants  for  license  were  to  give  evidence.      Art. 

XIV.  directs  that  Rules  of  Order  shall  be  adopted  "at  the  first  annual  meeting." 
Art.  XV.  provides  for  future  amendments.  Rules  of  Order  were  also  submitted. 
As  thus  amended,  having  been  considered  seriatim,  the  Report  was  adopted.  John 
Hammer  received  license.  Absent  ministers  residing  within  the  State,  who  re- 
ported by  letter,  were  Jay  C.  Fonicrook,  J.  W.  Felix,  B.  Hamilton,  J.  W.  Keplinger, 
W.  J.  Shipman  and  J.  Smedley.  The  Committee  on  Boundaries  outlined  eleven 
circuits  and  missions.  The  Stationing  Committee  appointed  ministers  to  thirteen. 
These  fields  were  in  Crawford,  Miami,  Montgomery,  Elk,  Jackson,  Pottawattomie, 
Nemaha,  Brown,  Smith,  Jewell,  Cloud,  Phillips,  Ellsworth,  Rice,  Reno,  Kingman, 
McPherson,  Bourbon,  Linn,  Sumner,  Sedgwick,  Harvey,  Wilson,  Allen.  A  com- 
mittee was  appointed  "to  recommend  a  certain  course  of  reading  to  be  pursued  by 


The   Kansas   Eldership  691 

the  ministers  of  the  Eldership."  On  the  temperance  question  the  Eldership 
strongly  endorsed  the  "law  prohibiting  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating 
drinks  as  a  beverage,"  which  had  "been  passed  in  the  State  of  Kansas,"  and  re- 
solved "to  aid  all  in  our  power  to  enforce  the  same."  It  favored  a  better  "ob- 
servance of  the  Lord's  day,"  and  insisted  on  ministers  and  church  members  "set- 
ting an  example  by  refraining  from  unnecessary  labor  and  travel,  and  by  attend- 
ance upon  the  services  of  divine  worship."  The  Legislature  was  urged  "to  change 
existing  laws  so  as  to  grant  divorce  only  upon  scriptural  grounds."  Resolutions 
were  also  adopted,  commending  the  periodicals  and  publications  of  the  General 
Eldership;  the  General  Missionary  Secretary;  the  American  Bible  Society  and  its 
work;  the  College  enterprise,  and  on  the  assassination  of  President  Garfield. 
A  "course  of  reading  for  our  newly  licensed  ministers"  was  approved,  consisting 
of  the  Bible,  Winebrenner's  Sermons,  Butler's  Analogy,  Doddridge's  Rise  and 
Progress  of  the  Soul,  Paley's  Evidences,  Horn's  Introduction,  Cushing's  Manual, 
and  Constitution  and  By-Laws  of  the  General  Eldership. 

C.  B.  Konkel,  Speaker  of  the  first  Kansas  Eldership,  belonged  to  an  excellent 
family  which  were  originally  brought  into  the  Church  in  Nodaway  county.  Mo.  At 
the  Iowa  Eldership  held  at  Fairview,  Cedar  county,  Iowa,  October  21,  1869,  he  was 
an  applicant  for  license,  having  sent  a  communication  to  that  effect  to  the  Elder- 
ship. The  Eldership  appointed  a  committee  to  visit  him  and  William  Konkel,  and 
authorized  the  Standing  Committee  to  grant  them  licenses  upon  a  favorable  report. 
Both  were  licensed  and  their  names  enrolled  when  the  Iowa  Eldership  was  con- 
stituted in  1870,  though  neither  was  present.  Nor  did  he  attend  any  session  of 
the  Iowa  Eldership,  and  had  no  charge,  preaching  only  in  a  local  capacity.  His 
name  was  dropped  from  the  Roll  of  the  Iowa  Eldership  in  1873.  But  in  1871,  at 
the  organization  of  the  first  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership  he  was  enrolled  as  a 
member;  elected  Clerk,  and  appointed  to  Leavenworth  county  circuit,  Kas.  Here 
began  his  career  as  an  active  minister.  He  was  Clerk  of  the  Eldership  in  1872, 
and  reappointed  to  Leavenworth  county  circuit.  In  1873  he  was  reappointed.  He 
served  on  important  committees,  but  held  no  other  office.  In  1874  he  was  chosen 
Speaker,  and  also  in  1875  and  1876.  In  1874  he  was  sent  to  Crawford  county, 
Kas.,  and  reappointed  in  1875.  In  1876  he  was  assigned  to  Caldwell  and  Ray 
counties,  Mo.,  circuit.  In  1887  he  received  no  appointment,  and  held  no  office, 
though  present;  but  was  elected  an  alternate  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership. 
In  1878  he  was  again  chosen  Speaker,  and  was  appointed,  with  Clara  Yutzey, 
assistant  to  J.  M.  West  on  the  Crawford  county  circuit,  Kas.  In  1879  he  was  again 
chosen  for  Speaker,  and  became  the  pastor  of  Crawford  county  circuit.  These  cir- 
cumstances threw  him  into  the  Kansas  Eldership,  where  his  energetic,  aggressive 
disposition  found  a  large  field  for  healthy  exercise.  He  was  a  man  of  strong  nat- 
ural powers  of  mind,  force  of  character,  an  infiuential  leader  of  men  and  a  good 
gospel  preacher.  His  death  in  1884  was  "a  sad  bereavement,  and  the  Eldership 
mourned  him  as  a  beloved  and  highly  honored  brother,  and  a  sweet  counselor," 
and  made  the  memorial  exercises  a  special  order  for  Friday  at  11  o'clock  a.  m. 

2nd  Kansas  Eldership. — The  idea  of  circuit  Elderships  was  one  of  the  pro- 
gressive features  of  the  Kansas  churches.  As  the  presbytery  originally  was  in  the 
local  church,  these  higher  bodies  might  appropriately  have  been  designated  by  ex- 
trabiblical  names.  But  Kansas  adhered  to  the  older  nomenclature,  and  its  highest 
judicatory  was  still  the  Eldership.  And  so  the  second  session  of  the  Kansas  Elder- 
ship began  its  work  on  "Friday  morning,  September  29,  1882,  at  Mendon  school- 
house,  near  Little  River,  Rice  county."  The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  on  the 
evening  of  the  2  8th,  by  R.  T.  Sargent,  from  Col.  i.  2  8.  Sargent  was  elected 
Speaker;  N.  Hill,  Clerk,  and  Joshua  Good,  Treasurer.  The  College  enterprise  was 
"hailed  with  joy,"  and  "a  voice  of  welcome"  was  "extended  to  the  collecting  agent 
in  securing  funds."  "The  standard  of  religion"  was  declared  to  be  "better  to-day 
than  it  has  ever  been,  and  that  never  was  truth  so  generally  taught."  The  Com- 
mittee on  Temperance  had  its  Report  "referred  back,"  and  another  member  added 
to  the  Committee.  When  it  reported  its  resolutions  were  adopted,  affirming  "in- 
temperance" to  be  "one  of  the  greatest  evils  in  the  land,"  and  declaring  that  "we 
as  a  body  unanimously  raise  our  voice  against  this  deadly  enemy,  both  by  precept 
and  example;  not  only  as  pertains  to  the  intoxicating  cup,  but  also  to  the  filthy 
use  of  tobacco."  An  assessment  was  made  on  fields  of  labor  to  secure  funds  to 
pay  its  proportion  of  General  Eldership  Contingent  Fund  money.  Funds  of  the 
Eldership  were  limited,  there  being  but  $22.35  in  the  Treasury.  The  General  Eld- 
ership Missionary  Collector  was  assured  a  welcome  to  the  State.      Local  church 


692  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

missionary  societies  were  commended,  and  churches  which  had  none  were  urged 
to  organize  them.  "Thursday  before  January  1,  1883,  was  appointed  a  day  of 
fasting  and  prayer,"  and  "the  churches  throughout  the  Eldership  were  all  asked 
to  meet  on  said  evening  to  offer  special  prayer  that  the  Church  may  prosper,  souls 
be  converted  and  more  laborers  be  sent  into  the  fields  of  labor."  The  Committee 
on  Boundaries  outlined  twelve  fields  of  labor,  adding  several  new  counties,  and  the 
Stationing  Committee  increased  by  one  the  fields  to  which  it  assigned  the  min- 
isters, one  of  which  was  "left  in  care  of  the  Nebraska  Eldership."  The  Eldership 
remained  over  Lord's  day,  and  observed  the  ordinances  in  the  evening. 

3rd  Kansas  Eldership. — The  energy,  enthusiasm  and  devout  consecration  of 
the  Kansas  ministers  and  churches  was  bearing  fruit.  The  field  of  vision  ex- 
panded, and  plans  for  larger  work  were  everywhere  in  evidence.  Conservative  in 
some  particulars,  in  others  the  body  eagerly  adopted  innovations  which  gave 
promise  of  better  results.  The  body  convened  with  the  church  at  Riley  Center, 
Riley  county,  at  9  a.  m.,  Thursday,  October  11,  1883.  C.  B.  Konkel  preached  the 
Opening  Sermon  on  the  evening  of  the  10th.  The  only  ill-timed  phase  of  the  ses- 
sion was  the  absence  of  ten  of  the  eighteen  preachers.  And  only  four  ruling 
elders  and  two  delegates  were  present.  But  those  present  were  encour- 
aged by  the  accession  to  their  number  of  J,  C  Frorncrook,  and  P.  K. 
Shoemaker,  of  the  Nebraska  Eldership;  G.  J.  Bartlebaugh,  of  the  West 
Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  two  licentiates — E.  L.  Latshaw  and  C.  S.  Keams. 
These  two  brethren  were  "set  apart  for  the  work  of  the  ministry  by  an  address, 
prayer  and  the  extending  of  the  hand  of  fellowship  by  the  brethren."  P.  Clip- 
pinger  was  elected  Speaker;  W.  H.  Cross,  Clerk,  and  C.  B.  Konkel,  Treasurer.  The 
Eldership  deplored  the  fact  that  "many  of  our  brethren  in  this  and  our  sister  Eld- 
erships are  turning  from  the  work  of  the  ministry  to  secular  employments."  The 
Eldership  was  requested  to  make  them  "the  special  subjects  of  our  prayers,  for 
their  own  good  and  that  of  the  Church."  It  also  named  "Thursday  before  Jan- 
uary 1,  1884,  as  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer."  Subjects  of  prayer  were  submitted: 
Purity  of  the  Church,  More  Laborers,  Reconsecration,  Conversion  of  Souls,  the 
Universal  Spread  of  the  Gospel.  It  asked  the  General  Eldership  to  establish  a 
fixed  annual  day  of  fasting  and  prayer.  A  Ministerial  Association  was  proviaed 
for.  The  pastors  were  directed  "to  collect  mission  funds  through  societies."  It 
denounced  the  non-enforcement  of  the  prohibitory  law,  and  made  the  declaration 
that  "we  will  not  assist  any  one  to  oflSce,  either  by  vote  or  influence,  who  will  not 
enforce,  as  far  as  lies  in  his  power,  the  prohibitory  law."  There  were  sixteen 
fields  of  labor,  seven  of  them  missions,  for  six  of  which  appropriations  were  re- 
quested from  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership.  P.  Clippinger's 
contemplated  "visit  to  brethren  in  Colorado  and  California"  was  made  the  occa- 
sion for  a  "request  to  the  Board  of  Missions  to  recommend  him  as  a  minister 
worthy  of  their  confidence  and  encouragement."  The  death  of  P.  Shaw  was  duly 
remembered.  He  was  ordained  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1840;  emi- 
grated to  Iowa,  and  thence  to  Kansas.  Isolated  members  were  admonished  to  "en- 
deavor to  maintain  their  connection  with  the  Church  of  God."  It  was  found  that 
there  were  about  two  hundred  such  members  in  the  State.  The  Chairman  of  the 
Standing  Committee  was  instructed  to  locate  them  and,  where  possible,  to  have 
the  nearest  ministers  preach  for  them. 

4th  Kansas  Eldei-ship. — This  was  the  best  attended  session  of  the  Eldership 
to  this  date.  Fifteen  of  the  twenty-three  ministers  were  present,  eight  ruling 
elders  and  five  delegates.  It  met  at  the  old  headquarters,  Kiplinger's  school- 
house,  Crawford  county,  October  2,  1884.  On  October  1st  Clara  Yutzey  was  to 
preach  the  Opening  Sermon;  but  in  her  absence  G.  J.  Bartlebaugh  officiated.  He 
was  chosen  Speaker;  with  Ne^vton  Hill,  Clerk,  and  J.  V.  Whisler,  Treasurer.  A 
Free-Will  Baptist  church  at  Graham  school-house,  Graham  county,  asked  to  be 
identified  with  the  Church  of  God,  and  requested  the  services  of  a  minister  of  the 
Eldership.  "The  appointee  to  that  part  of  the  State  was  instructed  to  visit  and 
reconstruct  said  church,  that  it  might  become  a  church  of  God."  The  Committee 
on  Temperance  had  to  deal  with  a  new  issue,  the  question  of  the  resubmission  of 
the  prohibitory  amendment  to  the  vote  of  the  electorate.  It  reported  that  "we 
as  an  Eldership  take  a  stand  against  resubmission,  and  by  voice  and  vote  sustain 
the  law  as  it  now  is."  The  Chairman  of  the  Committee  was  Sister  L.  E.  Cross. 
The  churches  were  urged  "to  adopt  a  system  for  obtaining  a  support  for  their  pas- 
tors." The  Committee  recommended  that  "upon  appointment  of  a  minister  to  a 
field,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  deacons  to  secure  pledges  of  amounts,  to  be  paid 


J 


The   Kansas    Eldership  693 

q«arterly,  and  report  the  same  to  the  minister  when  he  enters  upon  the  work." 
The  local  preachers  were  required  to  preach  more,  and  "to  devote  more  of  their 
time  and  talent  in  the  Master's  vineyard."  Feeling  that  a  law  without  a  penalty 
is  only  counsel,  it  was  amended  by  adding:  "That  ministers  who  neglect,  or  re- 
fuse, to  engage  in  active  work  during  the  coming  year  shall  be  suspended  until 
they  give  sufficient  reasons  for  such  neglect,  or  refusal."  C.  S.  Kems  withdrew 
frorii  the  Eldership,  and  "joined  the  Free-Will  Baptist  Church."  Steps  were  taken 
to  have  the  Eldership  incorporated  under  the  laws  of  the  State.  Churches  were 
advised  to  "so  deed  their  properties  that  they  may  fall  into  the  possession  of  the 
Eldership  in  case  the  churches  become  disorganized."  Trustees  were  elected! 
which  would  hold  and  control- all  such  property.  The  Constitution  was  amended 
in  two  Articles.  One,  requiring  applicants  for  license  to  appear  in  person;  one, 
making  it  the  duty  of  the  Treasurer  to  "give  bond  in  double  the  amount  usually 
coming  into  his  hands."  This  was  no  hardship,  as  he  reported  "amount  on  hand, 
including  Note,  $51.20."  The  statistical  report  had  these  items:  Number  of  min- 
isters, 24;  sermons,  1,200;  conversions,  100;  baptized,  40;  added  to  the  churches, 
100;  present  membership,  350;  isolated  members,  250. 

5th  Kansas  Eldership.- — -The  Kansas  Eldership  was  now  an  incorporated  body. 
On  September  10,  1885,  the  Secretary  of  State  certified  that  a  document  which  he 
promulgated  was  "a  true  and  correct  copy  of  the  original  instrument  of  writing 
filed  in  my  office  February  23,  1885."  It  was  brief,  declaring  that  the  subscribers, 
R.  T.  Sargent,  NeAvton  Hill,  W.  H.  Cross,  Wm.  Konkel  and  J.  V.  Whisler,  "volun- 
tarily associate  ourselves  together  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  private  corpora- 
tion under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Kansas."  The  name  was  "The  Kansas  Elder- 
ship of  the  Church  of  God."  The  purpose — "To  secure  and  promote  the  welfare 
of  the  ministry  and  churches  of  the  Church  of  God  in  the  State  of  Kansas,  and  to 
co-operate  in  the  benevolent,  educational  and  missionary  work  of  the  Church." 
Five  "directors  or  trustees"  were  provided  for.  The  term  of  its  existence  was 
ninety-nine  years.  The  session  in  1885  was  held  at  Zion  Hill  Bethel,  Labette 
county,  beginning  October  22,  1885.  The  previous  evening  N.  Hill  delivered  the 
Opening  Sermon,  from  Acts  xx.  28.  Seven  ministers,  five  ruling  elders  and  two 
delegates  were  in  attendance.  These  elected  R.  T.  Sargent,  Speaker;  N.  Hill, 
Clerk,  and  J.  V.  AVhisler,  Treasurer.  The  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  set  apart  by 
the  General  Eldership  was  directed  to  be  observed.  "Moral  suasion"  was  to  be 
used  "to  persuade  men  to  refrain  from  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  as  a  bever- 
age," and  "legal  suasion  to  prevent  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  the  same."  The 
foreign  mission  project  in  connection  with  the  Free  Baptist  Church  was  strongly 
endorsed.  The  Church  of  God  in  Kansas  was  declared  to  be  "making  progress, 
slowly,  but  steadily  and  surely."  By  implication,  in  the  case  against  Clara  Yutzey, 
a  licensed  minister,  who  obtained  a  divorce,  as  charged,  "on  unscriptural  grounds," 
according  to  "the  abstract  of  the  court  record,"  the  Eldership  seemed  to  agree 
that  "other  serious  reasons"  than  the  one  biblical  reason  would  justify  divorce. 
The  Treasurer's  Report  showed  $35.29  to  the  credit  of  the  Widows'  Fund,  with 
receipts  of  but  $7.00;  Contingent  Fund  receipts,  $2.40;  while  $52.46  were  received 
for  the  Konkel  Monument  Fund.  The  Eldership  assumed  a  debt  of  $72.00  on 
Center  Bethel,  Labette  county.  There  were  seventeen  circuits,  extending  into  four- 
teen counties. 

6th  Kansas  Eldership,— By  actions  of  the  Standing  Committee  during  the 
year  the  number  of  circuits  was  reduced  to  fourteen.  Of  these,  six  were  "not  rep- 
resented" by  either  a  minister,  ruling  elder  or  delegate.  This  induced  the  Elder- 
ship to  strike  "not  represented  by  a  ruling  elder"  from  the  Constitution.  The 
meeting  was  held  at  Mendon  school-house.  Rice  county,  beginning  September  9, 
1886,  with  the  Opening  Sermon  the  evening  before,  by  C.  S.  Bolton,  from  Matt, 
xxviii.  19.  Bolton  was  elected  Speaker;  R.  T.  Sargent,  Clerk,  and  J.  V.  Whisler, 
Treasurer.  Believing  that  "one  great  cause  of  declension  in  spirituality  among 
us  is  largely  due"  to  "the  very  meager  support  of  the  ministry,"  the  Eldership  di- 
rected "each  minister  on  entering  on  his  field  of  labor  to  hold  a  meeting  at  some 
point  on  said  field  for  the  purpose  of  making  arrangements  for  his  support;  and 
that  these  meetings  be  held  quarterly,  composed  of  elders  and  deacons,  with  the 
minister  in  charge,  and  brethren  and  sisters  as  advisory  members."  The  Konkel 
Monument  Fund  was  not  yet  completed,  but  $6.10  having  been  received  during 
the  year.  "The  cause  is  onward,"  reported  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  Re- 
ligion, whose  Report  showed  165  conversions,  154  accessions,  109  baptized.  The 
Stationing  Committee  made  fourteen  appointments,  of  which  six  were  called  mis- 


694  History    of    the  Churches    of    God 

sions,  three  of  which  were  "subject  to  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship." 

7th  Kansas  Eldership. — When  it  is  remembered  that  Kansas  is  in  length  400 
miles,  and  in  width  200  miles,  and  that  circuits  were  occupied  in  north-eastern, 
north-western,  south-eastern  and  south  central  Kansas,  it  is  not  a  matter  of  sur- 
prise that  at  a  session  of  the  Eldership  held  in  the  south-eastern  comer  of  the 
State  the  churches  should  not  be  largely  represented.  On  September  1,  1887,  the 
Eldership  convened  at  the  Bumgardner  school-house,  Wilson  county.  There  were 
twelve  teaching  elders  present,  and  fifteen  absent;  with  eight  ruling  elders  and 
six  delegates.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  by  G.  J.  Baitlebaugh,  in  the 
absence-  of  the  regular  appointee.  He  was  chosen  Speaker,  with  R.  T.  Sargent, 
Clerk,  and  J.  V.  Whisler,  Treasurer.  To  have  the  same  committee  as  a  Committee 
on  Boundaries  and  a  Stationing  Committee  was  found  expedient.  While  the  Eld- 
ership lacked  system  in  raising  funds  for  its  own  use,  it  adopted  the  assessment 
plan  to  collect  funds  for  the  General  Eldership.  Notwithstanding  the  placing  of 
licenses  in  the  hands  of  the  Standing  Committee  in  the  absence  of  reports  from 
ministers,  a  number  failed  to  report,  and  occasionally  a  name  was  thus  dropped 
from  the  Ministerial  Roll.  The  plan  adopted  in  1886  to  "raise  ministers'  salaries 
proved  a  success  wherever  it  was  carried  out,"  and  it  was  hence  more  strongly 
urged  upon  all  other  ministers  and  churches.  The  statistics  showed  that  865 
sermons  had  been  preached  during  the  year;  there  were  124  conversions;  59  bap- 
tized; 103  fellowshiped;  membership  303;  total  amount  of  salaries,  $808.40.  Of 
the  six  applicants  for  license,  the  cases  of  four  were  favorably  considered.  The 
delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  were  required  to  make  a  report.  The  Station- 
ing Committee  made  fifteen  appointments,  and  named  G.  J.  Bartlebaugh  for  "Gen- 
eral Evangelist  of  the  State,"  to  be  supported  by  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership.  Fort  Scott  was  made  a  station,  with  J.  W.  Keplinger  as  pastor. 
P.  Clippinger  had  removed  to,  and  was  preaching  in,  Florida;  but  was  not  ap- 
pointed by  the  Eldership.  Final  disposition  was  made  of  the  Konkel  monument 
project  by  turning  over  the  balance  in  the  hands  of  the  Treasurer  to  the  admin- 
istrator of  the  Konkel  estate. 

8th  Kansas  Eldership. — There  were  two  important  accessions  to  the  active 
ministry  of  the  Kansas  Eldership  through  the  action  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of 
the  General  Eldership.  J.  C.  Fomcrook  was  appointed  General  Missionary  for 
the  State,  and  C.  Manchester  missionary  at  Ft.  Scott.  But  one  efficient  minister, 
on  May  14th,  who  had  fought  the  good  fight  without  reproach  or  fear  as  a  soldier 
of  Christ,  ended  his  warfare.  R.  T.  Sargent  was  53  years  of  age.  A  native  of 
Madison  county,  Ind.,  he  served  during  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  in  the  Union 
army.  He  was  first  licensed  by  the  Indiana  Eldership.  Thence  he  removed  to 
Illinois.  From  there  to  Missouri,  and  later  to  Kansas.  He  met  every  issue  with 
courage  and  convincing  decisiveness,  and  everywhere  secured  the  confidence  of  the 
churches  and  people  among  whom  he  labored.  The  Eldership  which  convened  at 
Riley,  September  20,  1888,  decided  to  erect  a  monument  to  his  memory.  C.  S. 
Bolton,  as  a  member  of  the  Standing  Committee,  issued  the  call  for  the  meeting, 
in  place  of  Sargent,  the  Clerk.  He  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  on  the  evening 
of  September  19th,  and  was  chosen  Speaker;  with  N.  Hill,  Clerk,  and  J.  V.  Good, 
Treasurer.  The  long  discussions  in  The  Advocate  were  disapproved;  but  all  the 
periodicals  and  other  publications  of  the  General  Eldership  were  strongly  com- 
mended. The  formation  of  Women's  Missionary  societies  in  all  the  churches  in 
the  State  was  earnestly  recommended.  The  importance  of  concentration  of 
Church  families  moving  to  Kansas  where  there  are,  or  can  be,  formed,  organiza- 
tions of  churches  of  God,  was  called  to  the  attention  of  "ministers  and  brethren 
in  the  East."  The  resolution  "for  the  better  support  of  the  ministers  in  charge 
of  churches"  was  directed  to  be  read  by  pastors  to  their  churches.  The  Eldership 
placed  itself  on  record  in  favor  of  the  public  observance  of  the  ordinances.  The 
names  of  two  ministers  "were  stricken  from  the  Roll"  for  failing  to  report  for  two 
years.  A  church  had  been  organized  at  Ft.  Scott,  and  a  bethel  was  in  course  of 
erection,  and  ministers  were  instructed  "to  hold  special  collections  from  each 
church  for  this  building."  "A  course  of  reading  for  our  young  ministers"  was 
agreed  upon.  There  were  but  $120.48  in  the  six  Funds  of  the  Eldership,  and  the 
Finance  Committee  reported  that  "in  the  matter  of  ministers'  support  the  state  of 
affairs  is  even  worse,  indicating  that  there  is  something  wrong  or  deficient  in  our 
system  of  raising  funds."  There  were  two  Articles  added  to  the  Constitution,  em- 
bracing the  system  of  collecting  funds  adopted  at  previous  Elderships,  with  the 


Thk   Kansas   Ei^oiviiSHip  695 

forfeiture  of  license  as  a  penalty  for  failure  to  comply  with  their  requirements. 
There  were  fourteen  charges,  and  one  General  Evangelist.  The  project  of  "estab- 
lishing a  school  at  Ft.  Scott,  under  the  care  of  C.  Manchester,  appointee,"  was 
initiated. 

9th  Kansas  Eldei*ship. — The  agitation  of  the  question  of  the  resubmission  of 
the  Prohibition  Amendment  during  the  year  made  it  a  live  issue  at  the  Eldership 
in  the  Fall  of  1889.  A  unanimous  "protest  against  resubmission"  was  adopted. 
The  session  was  held  at  Ft.  Scott,  Bourbon  county,  Thursday,  September  5,  1889. 
On  the  evening  of  the  4th  P.  K.  Shoemaker  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon,  from 
Matt,  xviii.  16-18,  which  the  Eldership  requested  to  be  published  in  The  Advocate. 
W.  H.  Cross  was  elected  Speaker;  P.  K.  Shoemaker,  Clerk,  and  J.  V.  Good,  Treas- 
urer. Each  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership  "was  permitted  to  choose  his  own 
alternate."  This  was  done  at  once,  and  they  were  reported  and  their  names 
entered  on  the  Journal.  A  Church  Extension  Fund  was  created,  and  each  min- 
ister was  required  to  collect  to  the  amount  of  ten  cents  per  member  on  his  field 
of  labor.  Three  ministers  who  failed  to  report  were  dropped  from  the  Roll.  The 
state  of  religion  in  the  Eldership  was  "quite  encouraging."  The  ministers  had 
preached  1,635  sermons;  they  reported  108  conversions,  and  17  reclaimed;  92 
baptized;  156  fellowshiped;  present  membership,  731;  churches  organized,  12. 
The  State  was  divided  into  four  districts  for  the  purpose  of  forming  Women's  Mis- 
sionary societies.  The  Committee  on  License,  J.  C.  Fomcrook,  C.  S.  Bolton  and 
P.  H.  Shoemaker,  demanded  of  a  candidate  for  license  that  he  abstain  from  the  use 
of  tobacco;  reported  favorably,  "having  been  assured  by  the  brother  that  he  has 
this  7th  day  of  September,  1889,  put  away  forever  the  use  of  tobacco."  There 
were  fourteen  appointments,  including  Ft.  Scott  station. 

10th  Kansas  Eldership. — The  Kansas  Eldership  held  its  Ministerial  Association 
in  connection  with,  and  immediately  preceding,  the  annual  sessions.  "The  attend- 
ance from  abroad  was  very  small"  in  1890;  but  the  Association  was  instructive 
and  profitable.  The  "discussions  were  animated,  and  much  good  was  accomp- 
lished." The  Eldership  session  began  September  25th,  when  nine  ministers  and 
eight  delegates  were  enrolled  as  present.  A.  Miller  was  elected  Speaker,  and  Jay 
C.  Fomcrook,  Clerk.  While  the  sittings  "were  harmonious,"  "at  times  the  dis- 
cussions were  very  spirited."  "Questions  came  up  that  were  not  pleasant."  Oae 
of  these,  "which  threatened  for  a  time  to  be  very  serious,"  arose  out  of  an  expres- 
sion in  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Missions,  and  which  seemed  to 
be  a  reflection  on  members  of  the  Eldership:  "We  have  quit  employing  inefficient 
men,  and  are  employing  efficient  men,  with  larger  salaries."  A  committee  of  five 
sisters  was  appointed  "to  prepare  for  the  organization  of  a  State  W.  M.  S.  at  the 
next  Eldership."  The  Eldership  had  twelve  fields  of  labor,  three  of  which  it  had 
to  leave  unsupplied.  Jay  C.  Fomcrook  was  stationed  at  Fort  Scott,  "subject  to 
the  Board  of  Missions"  of  the  General  Eldership. 

11th  Kansas  Eldership. — The  usual  controversy  over  Mrs.  Woodworth's 
methods  and  views  and  practices  at  her  evangelistic  meetings  developed  in  con- 
nection with  her  work  at  Topeka,  Kas.  Resolutions  were  offered  "commending 
her  labors,"  and  also  "requesting  her  to  return  to  our  State  and  labor  among  us." 
The  last  clause  "was  objectionable  to  a  number  of  brethren."  But  on  a  yea  and 
nay  vote  the  resolution  carried  "by  about  two-thirds."  The  session  was  held  in 
the  Maple  Grove  Bethel,  Wilson  county,  beginning  September  17,  1891.  But  for 
the  episode  touching  Mrs.  Woodworth's  work,  "harmony  prevailed  throughout." 
A  layman,  Joshua  Good,  was  chosen  Speaker;  J.  C.  Fomcrook,  Clerk,  and  W.  H. 
Cross,  Financial  Clerk.  Toward  the  close  of  the  session  the  action  on  the  Wood- 
worth  resolution  was  reconsidered,  and  "with  one  exception,  the  vote  stood  unani- 
mous for  striking  out  the  last  clause  of  the  resolution."  It  was  insisted  that  she 
had  violated  the  Constitution  of  the  General  Eldership  in  coming  into  the  territory 
of  the  Kansas  Eldership  without  its  consent,  and  "to  invite  her  to  return  would  be 
sanctioning  past  violations  of  the  Rules  of  Co-operation  of  the  General  Eldership." 
The  Opening  Sermon  of  the  Eldership  was  preached  the  evening  preceding  the  first 
day's  sitting,  by  E.  L.  Latchaw.  A  W.  M.  S.  of  the  Kansas  Eldership  was  organ- 
ized upon  report  of  the  committee  appointed  the  year  before.  The  number  of 
fields  of  labor  was  increased  to  seventeen,  two  of  them  unsupplied.  One  of  the 
fields,  "Hay  Shootes,"  was  in  the  Indian  Territory.  Topeka  station  was  added  as 
the  result  of  the  labors  of  Mrs.  Woodworth. 

12th  Kansas  Eldership. — With  nearly  all  the  weaker  and  poorer  Elderships, 
the  Kansas  Eldership  was  dissatisfied  with  the  exclusion  of  their  Minutes  from  The 


6g6  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

Advocate,  as  directed  by  the  General  Eldership  in  1890.  Accordingly,  its  dele- 
gates to  the  General  Eldership  in  1893  were  "requested  to  use  their  influence  to 
have  Eldership  proceedings  printed  in  full"  in  the  paper.  The  session  was  held  at 
Topeka,  and  began  September  3,  1892.  B.  P.  Parks,  substitute  for  W.  T.  Turpin, 
preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  It  "was  one  of  the  best  Eldership  meetings.  Har- 
mony, love  and  brotherly  preferment  prevailed."  J.  C.  Fomci-ook  was  elected 
Speaker,  and  C.  S.  Bolton,  Clerk.  Temperance  and  prohibition  "were  strongly  en- 
dorsed." Three  young  men  were  licensed,  and  thus  the  Stationing  Committee  was 
enabled  to  supply  fourteen  of  the  sixteen  fields  of  labor.  One  of  the  licentiates 
removed  to  California,  if  possible  to  take  up  work  in  that  State.  An  appropria- 
tion of  $4  00.00  was  asked  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  for 
Fort  Scott,  and  $200.00  for  the  Norton  county  mission.  Assessments  were  made 
for  "general  mission  purposes."  The  reports  of  pastors  did  "not  show  as  great  a 
percentage  of  ingatherings  as  in  previous  years."  As  was  so  common,  "some,  be- 
cause of  not  receiving  sufficient  support,  could  not  push  the  work  as  they  desired." 
A  Special  Committee  on  Missions  was  appointed,  which  considered  the  whole  ques- 
tion of  missions  in  the  Eldership.  It  reported  that  "the  Kansas  Eldership  at  the 
present  time  needs  help  as  never  before  in  its  history.  Many  churches  in  our 
bounds  have  become  discouraged.  We  very  much  need  means  to  carry  on  the 
work  of  the  Church,  as  many  churches  are  small  and  poor."  It  recommended 
"the  support  of  a  general  worker  among  us"  by  the  General  Eldership  Board  of 
Missions.  To  "withhold  their  support  at  this  time  from  Fort  Scott  Mission  would 
at  least  border  on  criminal  carelessness."  A  special  effort  was  recommended  to 
be  made  to  pay  off  the  mortgage  on  the  Fort  Scott  bethel  ($850.00),"  and  $175.50 
was  subscribed  at  once. 

13th  Kansas  Eldership. — Imitation  of  others  sometimes  leads  men  to  overdo 
things.  While  it  is  doubtless  true  in  that  wider  field  of  activity  in  the  other  house 
of  our  habitation,  what  Confucius  said:  "A  thousand  years  of  study  is  only  prep- 
aration for  the  real  knowledge  one  should  possess  to  be  able  to  stand  among  his 
ancestors;"  yet  a  seven  years'  course  of  studies  for  ministers  on  the  Kansas  Eld- 
ership Roll  was  a  mistaken  emulation  of  the  oldest  Eldership,  judged  by  results. 
The  Eldership  which  adopted  this  proposition  held  its  session  at  the  Janes'  school- 
house,  Labette  county,  beginning  September  18,  1893.  The  previous  evening  J.  C. 
Fomci-ook  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  I.  Cor.  i.  21.  Nine  of  the  twenty- 
one  ministers  were  present;  two  exhorters,  five  ruling  elders  and  eight  delegates, 
four  of  which  were  sisters.  J.  C.  Fomcrook  was  elected  Speaker;  C.  S.  Bolton, 
Clerk,  and  A.  E.  Kepford,  Financial  Clerk.  The  prohibitory  amendment  to  the 
State  Constitution  was  heartily  endorsed,  as  were  the  efforts  of  the  Prohibition 
party  to  enforce  the  prohibition  law  of  the  State.  The  Eldership  also  resolved 
that  "we  use  our  influence  to  promote  the  cause  of  woman's  suffrage  in  the  State 
of  Kansas."  It  rejected  "the  term  'reverend'  which  should  not  be  applied  to  men, 
as  the  title  only  belongs  to  God."  The  Treasurer,  J.  V.  Whisler,  reported  Super- 
annuated Fund,  $1.80;  Home  Mission  Fund,  $2.00;  Widows'  Fund,  $122.11,  and 
General  Mission  Fund,  $24.05.  There  was  one  license  granted,  to  Sister  S.  V. 
Johnson,  "God  having  given  to  woman  all  the  rights  he  has  to  man."  But  the 
nkmes  of  five  ministers  were  "dropped  from  the  Roll."  There  were  "thirty 
preaching  places"  in  the  territory  of  the  Eldership;  212  conversions  during  the 
preceding  year;  210  fellowshiped.  Two  Ministerial  Associations  were  arranged 
for,  one  "in  connection  with  the  next  Eldership."  The  territory  was  divided  into 
thirteen  fields  of  labor,  all  of  which  were  supplied,  one  of  them,  Riley  and  Milford 
circuit,  being  given  to  Mrs.  Johnson,  who  was  then  "ordained."  The  Board  of 
Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  gave  Kansas  "two  appointments,  and  appro- 
priated largely  for  the  work  of  the  Church"  in  the  State. 

14th  Kansas  Eldership. — The  disparity  between  the  number  of  persons  fel- 
lowshiped and  the  number  baptized  has  always  been  noticeable  and  undesirable. 
Perhaps  the  fact  was  more  general  in  the  newer  Elderships.  It  was  conspicuous 
in  Kansas  in  1893-4,  when  there  were  300  conversions,  207  fellowshiped,  and  63 
baptized,  as  gathered  from  incomplete  reports.  The  Eldership  convened  at  Engle- 
vale,  Crawford  county,  September  10,  1894.  R.  M.  Johnson  delivered  the  Opening 
Sermon.  J.  C.  Fomcrook  was  elected  President;  W.  H.  Kepford,  Clerk,  and  W.  H. 
Cross,  Financial  Clerk.  Ten  ministers  were  present,  six  ruling  elders  and  five 
delegates.  The  Eldership  realized  that  there  "are  many  fields  of  labor  ripe  for 
the  harvest."  It  found  "the  state  of  religion  to  be  deplorable."  To  meet  these 
conditions  so  far  as  possible,  the  Eldership    appointed    J.    C.    Forncrook    "State 


The   Kansas   Eldekship  697 

Worker,"  and  resolved  to  "buy  a  tabernacle"  for  his  use.  It  was  bought  for  the 
sum  of  $125.00,  and  with  equipments  cost  $144.50.  But  it  was  short  of  ministers, 
so  that  three  of  its  thirteen  fields  of  labor  remained  unsupplied,  and  WilsoQ  County 
Mission  was  attached  to  the  Verdigris  circuit.  One  hour  of  the  Wednesday  after- 
noon's sitting  was  "set  aside  to  consider  mission  work."  The  Eldership  was  en- 
thusiastic in  commendation  and  support  of  Findlay  College,  urging  "the  brother- 
hood to  send  their  children"  there,  and  strongly  endorsing  the  management  of  the 
College.  As  "this  enlightened  age  demands  a  better  qualified  ministry,"  it  was 
ordered  that  the  committee  to  prepare  the  seven  years'  Course  of  Studies  be  ap- 
pointed, said  Course  "to  be  read  by  all  ministers  of  our  Eldership."  An  assess- 
ment of  $125.00  on  the  churches  was  ordered  to  be  made. 

15th  Kansas  Eldership. — The  Kansas  Eldership,  like  others  in  the  West, 
suffered  from  the  unsettled  condition  both  of  Church  families  and  ministers. 
These,  however,  were  secondary  causes.  The  commendable  desire  to  better  them- 
selves financially  caused  the  unrest.  And  this  operated  against  successful  Church 
work  and  hindered  the  building  of  strong  churches.  The  Roll  of  ministers  and 
delegates  was  constantly  changing.  In  1895  the  Roll  of  ministers  was  not  fully 
made  up  for  publication,  and  can  not  be  accurately  determined.  Seven  were 
present,  with  five  delegates,  and  two  delegates  from  the  W,  M.  S.,  when  the  body 
was  organized  at  Milford,  Geary  county,  on  September  2nd.  The  session  was  held 
in  "the  Tabernacle,"  and  the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  by  W.  H.  Cross,  at  11 
o'clock  a.  m.,  September  1st.  The  retiring  Speaker,  J.  C.  Foracrook,  "stated  the 
needs  of  the  Church  in  Kansas,"  after  which  he  was  re-elected  Speaker;  F.  F.  Man- 
chester, Clerk;  W.  H.  Ci-oss,  Financial  Clerk,  and  J.  V.  Whisler,  Treasurer.  Church 
letters  were  declared  "null  and  void  one  year  after  date."  Ministers  were  pro- 
hibited to  go  on  the  fields  of  other  pastors.  The  Eldership  had  a  good  financial 
system,  and  all  the  required  Funds,  and  the  main  drawback  was  fidelity  of  pastors 
and  ability  of  churches.  A  "statement  included  in  a  Transfer"  given  one  minister 
was:  "We  deplore  the  fact,  that  while  on  one  of  the  best  fields  in  our  bounds,  he 
has  not  taken  up  a  collection  for  Eldership  Funds  for  the  whole  time  he  has  been 
with  us."  In  order  "to  keep  the  churches  pure  and  the  records  straight,"  it  was 
ordered  that  thfe  pastors  call  "business  meetings  at  least  once  a  year  of  each 
church,  when  the  Roll  shall  be  called,  and  as  the  names  are  called  each  member 
rise  and  briefly  answer,  telling  how  they  are  getting  along  spiritually,  and  what 
are  their  desires  and  intentions  in  the  Christian  life."  A  proper  watch-care  was 
also  required  over  any  members  removing  to  other  localities.  The  impeachment 
of  State,  county,  or  municipal  officers  refusing  to  enforce  the  laws  prohibiting  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicants  was  demanded,  and  also  their  "punishment 
as  traitors  to  the  State  and  country."  The  Eldership  voted  against  a  change  in 
Eldership  titles,  and  "in  favor  of  the  present  form  of  Church  government."  There 
were  now  twenty  bethels  in  Kansas,  thirty-nine  preaching  places;  number  of  con- 
versions and  accessions,  225;  number  baptized,  156,  and  total  membership,  690. 
The  territory  was  divided  into  twelve  fields,  including  Ft.  Scott  mission,  and 
Topeka  mission. 

16th  Kansas  Eldership. — While  the  Kansas  Eldership  was  not  in  favor  of  a 
change  in  its  title,  it  promptly  acquiesced  in  the  action  of  the  General  Eldership, 
and  on  September  28,  1896,  it  convened  at  Topeka,  Shawnee  county  as  "the  Elder- 
ship of  the  churches  of  God  in  Kansas,"  and  one  of  its  first  actions  was  the  passage 
of  an  amendment  to  its  Constitution  changing  its  title.  Ten  of  the  twenty-one 
teaching  elders  were  present,  and  twelve  ruling  elders  and  delegates.  The  officers 
chosen  were:  Speaker,  J.  C.  Fomci-ook;  Clerk,  J.  V.  Whisler;  Financial  Clerk, 
W.  H.  Cross,  and  J.  V.  Whisler,  Treasurer.  Upon  the  payment  of  $100.00  the  Eld- 
ership secured  as  a  donation  "the  Harrison  Chapel."  A  mid-Summer  Ministerial 
Association  in  addition  to  the  one  held  in  connection  with  the  Eldership  session 
was  arranged  for.  Churches  in  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territory  requesting  mem- 
bership in  the  Kansas  Eldership  were  received  co'nditioned  on  the  approval  of  the 
Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territory  Eldership.  P.  Clippinger  had  removed  to  Florida, 
and  his  work  in  that  State  was  recognized.  The  alarming  increase  in  profaning 
and  desecrating  the  Sabbath  was  deplored;  the  influence  of  the  Eldership  was 
pledged  "to  retard  and  stop  such  unholy  action."  An  important  question  was 
settled  when  the  Eldership  decided  that  "any  minister  whose  license  is  in  the  hands 
of  the  Standing  Committee  is  not  legally  quafified  to  solemnize  marriages,  or  per- 
form the  other  functions  of  the  gospel  ministry."  There  is  no  intimation  that 
Lizzie  Dupree,  who  received  license,  was  a  colored  woman.      For  insubordination 


-698  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

to  the  Eldership  and  disloyalty  to  the  Church  of  God  the  name  of  one  minister  was 
"dropped  from  the  Roll  of  ministers."  By  request,  and  because  of  neglect  to 
report  fgr  two  years,  the  names  of  four  others  were  "dropped."  Though  the  list 
of  appointments  numbered  thirteen,  one  was  unsupplied  and  two  were  dropped 
from  the  Roll — Big  Creek  circuit  and  Phillips  county. 

17th  Kansas  Eldership. — Every  deliberative  body  has  its  embarrassments,  its 
trials,  its  troubled  waters,  or  enters  the  cave  of  Traphonius.  This  might  be  in- 
ferred relative  to  the  Kansas  Eldership  in  1897,  when  "the  waters  seemed  troubled 
at  times."  Conditions  were  less  inspiring  than  they  had  been,  as  some  of  the 
-strongest  men  in  the  ministry  went  to  other  Elderships;  three  fields  were  de- 
pendent on  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership,  and  the  Topeka  Mi8- 
sion  had  become  quite  unpromising.  A  "Peace  Committee"  was  created,  whose 
work  is  not  clearly  disclosed,  nor  its  actions  recorded;  but  it  served  its  purpose 
.so  well  that  "the  oil  soon  quieted  the  waters,  and  the  sea  was  calm."  The  result 
was  "a  pleasant  Eldership."  The  session  was  held  with  the  church  at  New  York 
Valley,  Woodson  county,  and  the  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  on  the  evening 
of  October  5,  1897,  by  J.  W.  liingston.  Friday  and  Saturday  the  Ministerial  Asso- 
ciation held  its  meeting.  The  Stationing  Committee  mapped  out  nine  fields  of 
labor,  four  of  which  were  missions.  All  were  supplied  with  pastors.  The  mission 
"in  the  outskirts  of  the  city"  of  Topeka  was  not  directly  recognized;  but  Lizzie 
Dupree,  in  charge  of  it,  solicited  "chairs  and  other  church  furniture  in  Topeka" 
for  use  at  this  mission.  The  Tabernacle  owned  by  the  Eldership  was  offered  for 
sale  to  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership.  Being  in  sympathy  with 
Findlay  College,  it  approved  "the  dollar  plan"  for  the  support  of  the  College,  and 
the  pastors  were  instructed  "to  urge  each  local  church  to  make  an  offering  for 
that  purpose  on  Thanksgiving  Day." 

18th  Kansas  Eldership. — The  W.  M.  S.  of  the  Kansas  Eldership  was  closely 
connected  with  said  body,  as  delegates  had  seats  in  the  Eldership,  and  an  hour  of 
a  sitting  was  given  to  its  work,  besides  one  evening  was  allotted  to  it.  The  pastors 
were  also  "requested  to  act  as  organizers  on  their  fields  of  labor,  and  that  a  State 
Organizer  be  elected."  The  Eldership  convened  at  Harrison  Chapel,  Wilson 
county,  September  26,  1898.  On  constituting  the  Eldership  thirty-three  "mem- 
bers were  present,"  of  which  number  seven  were  women.  The  balloting  for  officers 
resulted  in  the  election  of  J.  W.  Kingston,  President;  L.  C.  Barnard,  Clerk,  and 
•J.  V.  Whisler,  Treasurer.  The  Funds  were  in  gratifying  condition,  there  being 
in  the  Home  Mission  Fund,  $50.44;  General  Mission  Fund,  $55.54;  College  Fund, 
$12.11;  Church  Extension  Fund,  $213.25;  Widows'  Fund,  $145.87;  Contingent 
Fund,  $14.14.  The  Eldership  declared  that  "the  temperance  cause  is  suffering 
for  the  want  of  more  thorough  support  and  co-operation  of  the  churches,  and  that 
by  our  example  and  vote  we  will  do  all  we  can  against  the  monster  of  intemper- 
ance." It  also  "discouraged  the  use  of  tobacco."  One  evening  was  set  apart  for 
an  ordinance  meeting,  when  J.  W.  Kingston  delivered  a  sermon  in  the  Tabernacle, 
"after  which  the  brethren  and  sisters  repaired  to  the  bethel  for  the  ordinance  ser- 
vices." "Trashy  literature"  was  denounced  as  "ruinous  to  be  read."  The  Elder- 
ship found  itself  in  debt  to  the  General  Eldership  for  Mission  Fund,  $193.30;  for 
Contingent  Fund,  $50.00.  Part  of  this  debt  was  at  once  ordered  to  be  paid.  The 
trustees  of  the  Eldership  were  instructed  "to  see  after  insurance  on  bethels."  The 
sale  of  the  Tabernacle  was  ordered.  The  number  of  fields  of  labor  were  eleven. 
Six  ministers  were  named  "to  assist  in  opening  new  points."  There  was  also  one 
"General  State  Worker,"  and  "Lizzie  Diipree  General  Worker  with  colored  people 
in  the  State."  The  members  "had  a  glorious  time  at  the  Eldership,  which  we  pray 
may  continue  among  us  the  whole  year  round." 

19th  Kansas  Eldership. — The  spiritual  element  was  conspicuous  in  the  Kansas 
Eldership  in  1899.  "We  had  a  glorious  feast  of  the  love  of  God  and  the  brethren" 
is  the  report  of  L.  C  Barnard,  Clerk.  An  aggressive  missionary  spirit  is  revealed 
in  the  arrangement  of  the  fields  of  labor  and  the  assignment  of  ministers.  The 
Eldership  convened  at  Arma,  Crawford  county,  September  18,  1899.  W.  H.  Cross 
delivered  the  Opening  Sermon.  J.  V.  Whisler  was  chosen  President  and  Treas- 
urer, and  L.  C.  Barnaixl,  Clerk.  Theoretically,  at  least,  every  minister  without  a 
field  of  labor  was  a  missionary,  whose  work  consisted  in  "opening  up  new  points." 
In  constituting  the  Eldership  the  names  of  six  ministers  and  fourteen  delegates 
were  enrolled.  The  published  Report  of  the  Stationing  Committee  shows  that  the 
ten  charges  were  well  supplied,  except  Topeka  Mission  and  Phillips  county  circuit, 
which  were  unsupplied.      One  circuit  was  in  Woods  county,  Oklahoma,  and  P.  L. 


Ths   Kansas   Eldership  699 

French  and  W.  E.  Tuttle  were  appointed  to  Colorado.  Lizzie  Dupree  was  made  a 
•'General  Worker  among  the  colored  people  in  Kansas,"  and  T.  U.  Moi-e  held  the 
same  office  among  the  white  people.  The  ministers  living  in  Colorado,  a  total  of 
five,  were  desirous  to  have  an  Eldership  organized.  W.  E.  Tuttle  had  formed 
"the  first  church  of  God  in  the  State  in  the  Summer  of  1899,  consisting  of  twenty- 
five  members." 

20th  Kansas  Eldership. — The  work  in  Kansas  was  carried  on  with  approved 
zeal  and  energy,  under  conditions  not  too  favorable.  Much  of  the  success 
achieved  was  the  result  of  individual  energy  and  an  intelligent  application  of 
means  to  desired  ends.  The  Eldership  at  its  session  held  at  New  York  Valley, 
Woodson  county,  which  began  September  10,  1900,  rejoiced  when  its  Committee 
on  Overtures  reported  that  the  letters  from  twenty  different  points  showed  that 
there  were  "95  0  members  in  the  bounds  of  the  Kansas  Eldership,  an  increase  of 
335  in  the  last  two  years."  There  were  "twelve  houses  of  worship  and  twenty- 
nine  preaching  places."  It  was  deeply  felt  that  permanent  church  work  was  im- 
possible without  houses  of  worship.  There  were  present  eleven  teaching  elders, 
nine  ruling  elders  and  seven  delegates.  J.  V.  Whisler,  a  layman,  was  elected 
President;  L.  C.  Barnard,  Clerk.  There  were  two  accessions  to  the  ministry  by 
Transfer — O.  A.  Newlin  and  J.  N.  Smith — and  W.  H.  Cross  received  a  Transfer  to 
the  Illinois  Eldership.  A  thoughtfully  written  Report  on  Temperance  endorsed 
the  Prohibitory  law  of  the  State,  and  in  positive  terms  "condemned  the  system 
called  the  canteen  system"  and  the  exportation  of  "the  vile  stuff  being  sent  out 
from  this  our  Christian  land  to  foreign  fields  even  before  the  blessed  gospel 
reaches  them."  A  two  years'  reading  course  for  ministers  was  adopted.  All 
were  required  to  take  this  course  who  had  not  already  done  so.  Any  one  failing 
to  do  so  was  to  "forfeit  his  Certificate  of  Ordination."  There  were  ten  circuits, 
all  supplied  but  the  Topeka  Missions.  One  field  was  in  Woods  county,  Oklahoma, 
and  Clover  Meadow,  Colorado,  was  attached  to  the  Ness  county  circuit,  Kansas. 
P.  L.  French  was  designated  as  General  Evangelist  for  Colorado,  and  W.  T.  Turpin 
for  the  State  of  Kansas.  The  Eldership  was  blessed  in  its  close,  for  "the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord  prevailed,  and  the  Eldership  closed  with  a  soul-refreshing  meeting  in 
which  six  souls  found  peace  with  God,  and  were  added  to  the  church,  and  four  at 
the  altar  of  mercy  seeking  salvation." 

21st  Kansas  Eldership. — The  Eldership  in  1901  was  entertained  with  a  lec- 
ture by  O.  A.  Newlin,  whose  enthusiastic  reception  was  more  significant  than 
resolutions.  The  subject  was:  "Red  Hot  Temperance  Shot  and  Shell."  It  was 
published  with  the  Journal  by  action  of  the  Eldership.  Newlin  also  delivered  the 
Opening  Sermon,  from  Ezek.  xxii.  30.  Subject:  "God's  Gap-fillers."  The  body 
convened  with  the  Fairview  church,  Pratt  county,  September  30,  1901.  Eleven 
teaching  elders  and  thirteen  ruling  elders  and  delegates  were  present.  Officers 
chosen  were:  President,  J.  V.  Whisler;  A.  J.  Leonard,  Clerk;  Treasurer,  J.  V. 
Whisler.  The  Treasurer  was  directed  "to  look  after  the  insurance  of  bethels." 
At  the  annual  Ministerial  Association,  prior  to  the  Eldership,  the  ministers  were 
required  to  appear  for  examination  in  the  prescribed  Course  of  Studies.  A  third 
year's  course  was  added.  One  minister,  G.  E.  Dunn,  "passed  from  this  stage  of 
action"  during  the  year,  and  his  loss  was  lamented.  As  there  were  "many  calls 
for  help,"  the  ministers  resolved  "to  return  from  this  Eldership  more  determined 
than  ever  to  carry  the  word  of  life  to  all."  The  doors  were  closed  against  Mrs. 
M.  B.  Woodworth,  on  the  ground  that  she  "no  longer  affiliates  with  the  churches 
•  of  God,"  and  ministers  were  "required  to  see  that  she  does  not  labor  on  their 
fields,  or  within  the  bounds  of  this  Eldership."  The  names  of  eighteen  ministers 
were  on  the  Roll.  There  were  twelve  fields  of  labor,  all  supplied  except  Topeka. 
While  the  boundaries  of  the  Eldership  had  not  been  changed,  one  circuit  was  lo- 
cated partly  in  Colorado,  and  Quapau  Station  was  in  the  Indian  Territory.  Three 
of  the  ministers  resided  in  the  Indian  Territory;  two  in  Colorado,  and  one  in 
Oklahoma.  The  Clerk  had  announced  that  "the  twenty-first  Kansas  Eldership  of 
the  Churches  of  God  in  Kansas  and  Colorado  will  convene  September  29,  1901." 

22nd  Kansas  Eldership. — The  Ministerial  Association  was  practically  part  of 
the  Eldership  session.  It  began  on  September  12,  1902,  the  Opening  Sermon  of 
the  Eldership  having  been  preached  the  previous  evening,  by  A.  J.  Leonard,  from 
Eph.  V.  15,  16.  The  session  was  held  with  the  church  at  Central  View,  Barber 
county,  and  opened  September  15th.  J.  V.  Whisler  was  elected  President;  A.  J. 
Leonard,  Clerk;  W.  H.  Sheets,  Financial  Clerk.  A.  Miller,  State  Evangelist,  re- 
ceived the  "hand  of  congratulation  for  the  successful  work  done  the  past  year," 


700  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

and  was  "requested  to  give  an  outline  for  the  conducting  of  a  revival."  The 
Ft.  Scott  Collegiate  Institute  received  "hearty  sanction"  and  the  promise  of  "a 
generous  support."  The  Eldership  also  stated  that  "the  General  Eldership  voted 
a  fund  of  $1,862.00  for  mission  school  work  in  the  West  on  the  condition  that 
such  school  should  not  become  a  permanent  charge  to  the  General  Eldership  or 
any  of  its  Boards."  It  therefore  expressed  it  as  "the  sense  of  the  body  that  the 
Board  of  Missions  should  accept  the  school,  assured  that  it  will  require  no  further 
financial  aid."  The  spiritual  interests  of  the  Eldership  were  in  a  reasonable 
state.  There  were  19  preaching  points,  13  church  organizations,  11  houses  of 
worship,  233  conversions,  425  fellowshiped,  133  baptized,  $882.00  received  for 
preaching."  Other  funds  were  also  low,  as  the  total  amount  was  $88.00.  Ap- 
pointments were  made  to  twelve  charges,  two  of  them  receiving  an  appropriation 
from  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership. 

23rd  Kansas  Eldership. — The  Ministerial  Association  which  preceded  the 
Kansas  Eldership  in  1903  discussed  certain  questions  appropriate  for  the  Elder- 
ship itself.  Among  these  was  "Our  Mission  Work,  Home  and  Foreign,"  by  O.  A. 
Newlin,  who  had  been  a  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership  in  1902,  and  was  familiar 
with  the  action  taken  at  Findlay,  Ohio,  by  the  Convention  to  organize  the  new  W. 
G.  M.  S.  The  Eldership  stood  loyally  to  the  action  of  both  the  General  Eldership 
and  the  Convention.  The  body  met  with  the  church  at  Mulberry,  Crawford 
county,  September  28,  1903.  On  the  preceding  Sabbath  evening  the  Opening  Ser- 
riion  was  preached  by  P.  L.  French.  The  organization  was  effected  by  electing 
J,  V.  Whisler,  President;  Myrtle  Sheets,  Clerk;  J.  V.  Whisler,  Treasurer.  Eight 
ministers  and  twenty  delegates  were  in  attendance.  What  was  known  as  "A  Mid- 
year Preachers'  Association"  was  arranged  for,  to  hold  its  session  at  Ft.  Scott. 
The  territory  of  the  Eldership  was  too  extensive;  the  churches  too  widely  scat- 
tered, and  the  means  too  limited  to  do  the  best  permanent  work.  The  Eldership 
was  chiefly  concerned  about  these  questions,  and  felt  far  less  interest  in  subjects 
frequently  discussed  and  acted  upon  by  ecclesiastical  bodies.  It  seemed  oppressed 
with  a  sense  of  the  magnitude  of  the  work,  and  its  inability  to  do  it  justice.  There 
were  twelve  charges,  located  not  so  far  from  the  four  corners  of  the  State,  which 
is  408  miles  long,  and  208  miles  broad,  rectangular  in  shape,  and  including  one 
circuit  in  Oklahoma,  and  points  in  Colorado. 

24th  Kansas  Eldei-ship. — The  confident  and  sanguine  spirit  of  the  Kansas 
Eldership  in  1904  found  expression  in  these  words  of  the  Clerk:  "The  recent 
session  of  the  Kansas  Eldership  was  without  doubt  the  brightest  in  the  history 
of  the  churches  of  God  in  Kansas."  The  principal  reason  was  "the  advent  of 
several  young  men  from  other  Elderships,  and  the  ordination  of  four  more  from 
our  own  churches."  The  session  was  held  with  the  church  at  Harrison  Chapel, 
Wilson  county,  with  the  Opening  Sermon  on  the  previous  evening,  by  W.  E.  Tuttle, 
from  Job  ix.  33.  The  organization  was  effected  on  the  morning  of  September  19, 
1904,  by  the  election  of  John  Hendricks,  Speaker;  W.  E.  Kelly,  Clerk;  W.  H. 
Sheets,  Financial  Clerk;  J.  V.  Whisler,  Treasurer.  Eleven  ministers  were  pres- 
ent out  of  twenty-six  on  the  Roll,  and  twenty  delegates.  One  new  "church,  at 
Cleo,  Oklahoma,  was  received  into  the  Eldership."  The  finances  were  in  better 
condition,  $100.00  having  been  received  from  the  sale  of  the  bethel  In  Ness  county. 
But  the  Eldership  was  much  in  arrears  to  the  Contingent  and  Mission  Funds  of 
the  General  Eldership.  Plans  were  matured  "to  raise  $150.00  during  the  coming 
year  to  liquidate  the  indebtedness  to  the  General  Eldership."  Instead  of  "a 
delegate  from  each  church"  to  be  entitled  to  membership  in  the  Eldership,  the 
Constitution  was  amended  so  as  to  read,  "a  delegate  for  each  fifty  members,  or 
fraction  thereof."  The  support  of  the  pastors  on  the  twelve  fields  of  labor  was 
$1,420.12;  the  church  organizations  15,  and  total  membership  575.  The  dele- 
gates to  the  General  Eldership  were  instructed  to  invite  said  body  to  convene  with 
the  church  at  Ft.  Scott,  Kansas,  in  1909.  The  counties  in  the  north-eastern  and 
north-western  parts  of  the  State  were  omitted  from  the  report  of  the  Stationing 
Committee,  and  were  to  supply  themselves. 

25th  Kansas  Eldership. — In  1905  the  Kansas  Eldership  held  its  annual  session 
outside  of  the  State,  at  Bartlesville,  Ind.  Ter.  The  phraseology  of  its  Act  of  In- 
corporation raised  a  doubt  in  the  minds  of  a  majority  whether  its  acts  were  legal, 
having  been  taken  beyond  the  boundaries  of  the  State.  Accordingly  an  extra- 
ordinary session  was  called  to  meet  at  Ft.  Scott,  Kansas,  December  15,  1905,  when 
one  of  its  first  acts,  and  the  main  act,  was  to  appoint  a  committee,  consisting  of 
J.  v.  Whisler,  O.  A.  Newlin  and  C.  H.  Berry,  to  investigate  the  matter,  consult  an 


The   Kansas    Eldership  701 

attorney  as  to  the  legality  of  the  business  transacted,  and  report.  The  conclusion 
was,  "that  there  is  no  question  as  to  the  legality  of  all  business  transacted  by  the 
Eldership  at  Bartlesville,  Ind.  Ter."  The  date  of  the  regular  session  was  Monday 
morning,  September  18,  1905.  The  previous  Sunday  evening  O.  A.  Newlin 
preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  On  Friday  and  Saturday,  September  15th  and 
16th,  the  Ministerial  Association  held  its  meeting,  and  again  the  day  preceding 
the  extraordinary  session.  The  officers  of  the  Eldership  were:  President,  J.  V. 
Whisler;  Clerk,  F.  E.  Hamlin;  Treasurer,  J.  V.  Whisler.  Fifteen  ministers  and 
nine  delegates  attended  the  session.  There  were  fourteen  fields  of  labor,  besides 
""Ft.  Scott  Institute  and  General  Missionary,"  O.  A.  Newlin,  and  General  Worker, 
A.  Miller.  The  second  church.  Ft.  Scott,  and  Newlin,  were  subject  to  an  appro- 
priation by  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership.  An  important  ac- 
cession was  that  of  J.  W.  Bloyd,  by  transfer,  who  took  charge  of  Bartlesville  under 
the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership.  The  Eldership  sought  to  protect 
itself  against  unworthy  men  who  had  received  Certificates  of  Ordination  by  direct- 
ing that  "annual  Certificates  of  Standing"  be  issued  to  each  minister,  and  that 
there  be  stamped  on  the  Life  Certificates  the  words,  "Not  good  unless  accompanied 
by  an  Annual  Certificate." 

2Gth  Kansas  Eldership. — A  Dormitory  had  been  built  for  the  Ft.  Scott  Col- 
legiate Institute  during  the  Summer  of  1906,  which  was  to  be  formally  dedicated 
October  9th.  To  have  the  Eldership  hold  its  annual  session  coincident  with  this 
event,  the  date  of  the  session  was  changed,  and  the  Eldership  met  at  Ft.  Scott, 
Monday  morning,  October  8,  1906.  Seventeen  ministers  and  eighteen  delegates 
were  present.  On  Sunday  morning,  October  7th,  J.  W.  Bloyd  delivered  the  Open- 
ing Sermon.  The  Eldership  was  organized  by  the  election  for  President  of  J.  W. 
Bloyd;  F.  E.  Hamlin,  Clerk;  J.  V.  Whisler,  Treasurer.  The  dedication  of  the 
Dormitory  was  an  Eldership  event,  and  took  place  on  Tuesday,  October  9th,  at 
2  p.  m.,  the  services  being  held  in  the  Chapel  of  the  Institute.  O.  B.  Huston,  of 
Illinois,  preached  the  sermon  and  made  an  appeal  for  funds.  Tuesday  evening  was 
given  to  Clara  Landes,  returned  missionary  from  India,  who  lectured  on  India, 
While  every  one  had  the  kindliest  disposition  toward  Clara  Landes  personally,  the 
Eldership  at  all  times  maintained  its  loyalty  to  the  General  Eldership  and  con- 
formed to  its  actions.  The  actions  on  temperance  were  in  unison  with  Kansas 
sentiment,  sometimes  a  little  extreme  compared  with  views  eastward.  On  educa- 
tion the  Eldership  was  progressive,  inspired  by  the  enthusiastic  spirit  of  the  Prin- 
cipal of  Ft.  Scott  Collegiate  Institute,  O.  A.  Newlin.  There  were  fourteen  charges, 
including  Bartlesville,  Ind.  Ter. ;  two  in  Ft.  Scott,  and  one  in  Prowers  county,  Colo. 
J.  W.  Primrose  was  the  State  Evangelist,  and  O.  A.  Newlin,  General  Missionary, 
as  well  as  Principal  of  Ft.  Scott  Institute.  His  motto  seemed  to  be  "Perse- 
verance and  Victory,"  and  he  infused  much  of  his  spirit  into  others.  W.  W.  Rich- 
mond and  J.  W.  Primrose  earnestly  seconded  his  projects  for  larger  things. 

27th  Kansas  Eldership. — One  of  the  most  advanced  steps  was  taken  by  the 
Kansas  Eldership  in  1907,  when  it  appointed  one  of  its  ministers  a  "State  Tem- 
perance Worker."  The  Ministerial  Association  held  its  meeting  on  Friday  and 
Saturday  before  the  convening  of  the  Eldership.  Temperance  agitation  was  much 
stimulated  by  the  prospective  World's  Temperance  Contennial  Congress,  to  be  held 
at  Saratoga  Springs,  New  York,  June  14-30,  1908.  Temperance  organizations  and 
religious  bodies  of  every  name  and  nature  were  invited  to  participate.  The  ses- 
sion of  the  Eldership  was  held  at  Englevale,  Crawford  county,  Kansas.,  beginning 
Monday,  September  16,  1907.  The  preceding  Sunday  evening  J.  W.  Primrose  de- 
livered the  Opening  Sermon.  On  Monday  evening  the  Missionary  Sermon  was 
preached  by  O.  A.  Newlin.  On  Wednesday  evening  the  ordinances  were  observed. 
John  Hendricks  was  elected  President;  J.  V.  Whisler,  Clerk;  W.  H.  Charles,  Fi- 
nancial Clerk;  J.  V.  Whisler,  Treasurer.  The  attendance  was  disappointing;  but 
the  session  was  harmonious,  without  "a  ripple  to  mar  the  general  good  feeling." 
The  loyal  attitude  of  the  Kansas  Eldership  toward  the  General  Eldership  was 
af)l)ropriately  expressed  by  official  action,  in  view  of  the  meeting  of  the  latter  at 
Ft.  Scott  in  1909.  It  "adviced  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  1890  to  accept  any  reasonable 
adjustment  of  the  questions  involved,  even  at  a  sacrifice,  in  order  that  peace  and 
harmony  might  be  restored."  When  the  appointments  were  made  to  the  twelve 
fields  of  labor,  Ft.  Scott  station  was  unsupplied.  O.  A.  Newlin  was  appointed  to 
the  Collegiate  Institute.  The  second  church  in  Ft.  Scott  was  omitted  from  the 
list.     Besides  Bartlesville  in  Oklahoma,  the  fields  of  P.  L.  French,  J.  N.  Smith  and 


703  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

J.  E.  Barbour  were  partly  in  Oklahoma.  Ossman  and  Long  were  appointed  to 
Lamar,  Colo.  The  arrangement  suggested  the  contraction  of  the  occupied  terri- 
tory in  the  State  of  Kansas. 

28th  Kansas  Eldership. — Of  the  twelve  charges  enrolled  in  1908  to  constitute 
the  Eldership,  six  were  "not  represented,"  or  "not  reported."  A  few  others  had 
no  teaching  elders.  The  personnel  of  the  Eldership  consisted  of  three  pastors; 
five  delegates,  one  of  them  a  woman;  the  Principal  of  the  Collegiate  Institute,  the 
General  Worker,  the  State  Temperance  Worker,  three  local  ministers  and  three 
members  of  the  W.  M.  S.  Upon  balloting  for  organization  J.  W.  Bloyd  was  elected 
President;  J.  V.  Whisler,  Clerk;  W.  H.  Charles,  Financial  Clerk;  J.  V.  Whisler, 
Treasurer.  The  session  was  held  at  New  York  Valley,  Woodson  county,  Kansas, 
September  7  and  8,  1908.  There  was  in  the  Treasurer's  hands  a  total  of  $664.87, 
of  which  $526.18  belonged  to  the  Widows'  Fund.  A  more  systematic  "olan  for 
Eldership  collections"  was  to  be  devised  by  a  committee.  While  the  Eldership 
"rejoiced  over  the  valuable  addition  to  the  body  of  T.  M.  Funk  and  John  H.  Gross," 
it  recorded  with  emotions  of  unfeigned  sorrow  the  fact  that  "God  in  his  all-wise 
providence  has  called  our  beloved  brother,  David  Keplinger,  from  our  Eldership 
to  the  home  above."  He  "was  a  charter  member  of  the  Kansas  Eldership."  He 
was  a  native  of  Virginia,  born  September  1,  1823.  He  died  at  the  home  of  his 
son  in  Kansas,  when  there  on  a  visit  from  the  Soldiers'  Home  in  California,  on 
November  13,  1907,  aged  84  years,  2  months  and  13  days.  He  was  ordained  by 
the  Ohio  Eldership  in  1849.  Thence  he  went  to  Indiana,  in  which  Eldership  he 
was  a  prominent,  active  member  until  he  went  to  Missouri,  and  thence  to  Kansas, 
and  later  to  California.  He  was  a  man  of  great  endurance,  a  self-sacrificing  min- 
ister, faithful  through  storm  and  sunshine.  His  brethren  delighted  to  honor  him. 
He  was  a  man  of  guileless  humility,  the  first  test  of  true  natural  greatness.  On 
temperance  the  Eldership  was  more  explicit  than  before,  in  view  of  the  meeting 
of  the  Legislature  to  act  on  important  liquor  legislation.  It  included  Sunday 
theaters,  Sunday  baseball  and  other  evils  in  its  protest  for  public  reforms  ad- 
dressed to  the  Legislature,  "making  possible  the  enjoyment  of  a  more  sane  and 
modest  Sabbath  day."  Its  resolutions  were  to  be  "placed  in  the  Topeka  Capitol 
during  the  session  of  the  Legislature."  The  Eldership  viewed  with  serious 
urgency  the  matter  of  "having  our  children  taught  the  distinctive  doctrines  of 
the  Church,"  and  therefore  advised  the  dissemination  of  Church  literature  through 
the  Sunday-schools  and  in  the  homes,  and  the  sending  of  the  children  to  Church  of 
God  schools.  It  also  granted  the  request  of  the  Oklahoma  Eldership,  to  "re- 
linquish its  right  to  that  portion  of  the  territory  included  in  the  bounds  of  Okla- 
homa." Desirous  that  the  work  in  Ulubaria,  India,  should  be  continued,  it  never-i 
theless  insisted  that  the  laborers  there  must  come  into  harmony  and  co-operation 
with  the  General  Eldership.  The  W.  M.  S.  of  Kansas  was  commended  for  its 
loyalty  under  the  difficulties  which  surrounded  it.  There  were  nine  charges,  three 
of  them  wholly  or  partly  in  Oklahoma,  with  three  General  Workers  and  one  Gen- 
eral Missionary. 

29th  Kansas  Eldership. — Saturday,  September  18,  1909,  was  to  be  a  day  for 
the  Ministerial  Association  to  hold  its  meeting.  "Some  of  the  brethren  as- 
sembled" for  that  purpose.  Preaching  services  were  held  on  Saturday  evening  and 
Sabbath  morning,  when  T.  B.  More  and  P.  L.  French  officiated.  Charles  Man- 
chester had  become  Principal  of  Ft.  Scott  Collegiate  Institute,  and  on  Sabbath' 
evening  was  pressed  into  service,  in  the  absence  of  the  appointee,  to  preach  the 
Opening  Sermon  of  the  Eldership.  On  Monday  morning,  September  20th,  at  Mul- 
berry, the  Eldership  was  constituted,  with  ten  fields  of  labor,  one  of  them  in 
Colorado;  one  pastor  and  nine  "ministers  without  appointments,"  nine  delegates, 
two  of  them  women,  and  three  officers  of  the  W.  M.  S.  When  the  Ministerial 
Roll  was  made  up  at  the  adjournment,  twenty-two  names  were  on  it.  In  addition 
to  the  ministers,  delegates  and  officers  of  the  W.  M.  S.,  there  were  also  enrolled 
the  laymen  who  were  officers  of  the  Eldership  of  1908,  and  five  other  members  of 
the  W.  M.  S.  Thus  constituted,  the  Eldership  chose  T.  B.  More,  President;  Chas. 
Manchester,  Clerk;  W.  H.  Charles,  Financial  Clerk;  J.  V.  Whisler,  Treasurer.  The 
President  favored  the  women  with  the  three  places  on  the  Committee  on  Temper- 
ance, placing  thereon  Mrs.  Valeria  Gayhart,  Mrs.  W.  H.  Charles  and  Mrs.  Maggie 
More.  Their  report  not  only  declared  it  "an  honor  to  live  in  the  great  State  of 
Kansas,  because  it  has  taken  precedence  in  enacting  laws  prohibiting  and  abolish- 
ing the  liquor  traffic;"  but  it  denounced  "theaters,  five-cent  shows  and  Sunday 
baseball,  because  they  desecrate  God's  holy  day  and  degrade  public  morals."     The 


The   Kansas   Eldershif  i;  703, 

management  of  Ft.  Scott  Collegiate  Institute  under  C.  Manchester  received  gen- 
erous endorsement  by  the  Eldership.  The  work  of  the  General  Eldership  was 
strongly  approved,  and  the  Eldership  "put  itself  on  record  as  opposed  to  all  di- 
visions in  our  Missionary  Forces,"  and  emphatically  sustained  the  "Final  Action" 
Of  the  General  Eldership  on  this  subject.  Provision  was  made  for  the  revision 
of  the  Eldership  Constitution  and  By-Laws.  The  state  of  religion  was  not  satis- 
factory. The  work  did  "not  come  up  to  the  standard  that  we  should  like  to  see." 
Some  churches  had  gone  down.  Yet  "some  good  work  has  been  done."  There 
were  116  conversions,  82  accessions,  62  baptisms.  Oklahoma  Eldership  having 
received  the  territory  south  of  the  State  line,  yet  the  appointments  as  to  num- 
bers remained  the  same,  with  one  in  Colorado.  The  Standing  Committee  had  re- 
yiao'i  *he  Course  of  Studies  for  the  younger  ministers,  and  it  now  covered  a  period 
of  thrt—  years,  and  an  Entrance  Examination  in  the  common  branches. 

30th  Kansas  Eldership. — Nominally  some  fields  in  the  Kansas  Eldership  were 
still  large,  though  a  few  of  them  were  single  churches.  Thus  in  1910  there  was 
one  field  designated  as  "Pratt  county  and  the  western  part  of  the  Kansas  Elder- 
ship." One,  "Stafford  and  Edwards  counties."  One,  "Southern  Texas."  The 
missionary  spirit  was  deeply  rooted  in  the  ministry.  They  could  not  be  chided) 
with  Lowell's  thought,  that  "not  failure,  but  low  aim  is  crime"  in  their  case. 
Their  purposes  were  lofty  and  true;  but  the  mountains  of  difficulties  lay  athwart 
their  path.  When  the  Eldership  convened  at  Fort  Scott,  Kansas,  August  29,  1910, 
it  had  already  listened  to  the  Opening  Sermon  the  Sunday  evening  previous,  hy 
T.  M.  Funk,  from  L  Cor.  i.  10-17.  There  were  present  eleven  ministers,  six  dele- 
gates, three  officers  of  the  W.  M.  S.,  and  the  Financial  Secretary.  T.  B.  More  was 
elected  President;  C.  Manchester,  Clerk;  W.  H.  Charles,  Financial  Clerk;  J.  V. 
Whisler,  Treasurer.  In  the  Treasurer's  hands  were  funds  to  the  credit  of  the 
Church  Extension  Fund,  $20.59;  the  Home  Mission  Fund,  $62.19;  the  General 
Mission  Fund,  $25.75;  the  Widows'  Fund,  $644.64;  the  Contingent,  $32.25.  The 
Eldership  was  jealous  of  the  reputation  of  its  ministers,  and  when  the  name  of  a 
minister  was  called  for  his  report,  it  was  referred  to  a  special  committee  because 
he  had  "issued  a  circular  letter,  and  caused  it  to  be  sent  to  members  of  the  Elder- 
ship, calculated  to  do  injury  to"  another  minister  of  the  body.  Acknowledging 
his  wrong  and  asking  pardon,  his  license  was  granted  him.  This  Eldership  knew 
the  value  of  silence  in  baseless  matters  relating  to  ministerial  reputation.  "Lay 
thine  hand  upon  thy  mouth"  was  its  motto.  They  had  seen  the  statue  of  Har- 
pocrates,  in  which  he,  the  god  of  silence,  is  represented  with  his  fingers  pressed 
upon  his  lips.  The  Eldership  was  beforehand  in  its  action  in  favor  of  the  enact- 
ment of  "federal  laws  to  make  it  a  crime  to  ship  liquor  into  States  that  have 
prohibitory  laws."  It  was  responsive  to  every  effort  to  enlarge  the  Endowment 
Fund  of  Findlay  College,  and  heartily  approved  the  measures  inaugurated  to  se- 
cure the  new  endowment  of  $50,000.  It  manifested  special  interest  in  Fort  Scott 
Institute,  which,  having  no  endowment,  needed  the  more  the  contributions  of  its 
friends  and  collections  on  Collegiate  Institute  Day.  Loyally  it  linked  these  twO' 
educational  institutions  together  in  commending  them  to  the  churches  in  Kansas, 
and  required  "each  minister  holding  a  charge  to  preach  at  least  one  sermon  on 
educational  lines  during  the  year."  Permission  was  "granted  the  Fort  Scott 
church  to  move  the  bethel  to  a  point  nearer  the  center  of  the  city,"  but  without 
expense  to  the  Eldership.  The  results  of  the  year's  work  were  not  up  to  ex- 
pectations, as  the  number  of  conversions  was  126;  baptisms,  51;  accessions,  10. 

31st  Kansas  Eldership. — As  per  arrangement  of  the  Eldership  in  1910,  Sat- 
urday preceding  the  Eldership  in  1911  was  taken  up  by  the  Ministerial  Associa- 
tion, with  "a  sermon  on  Friday  night."  Saturday  evening  the  W.  M.  S.  held  its 
annual  meeting,  with  a  carefully  prepared  program.  On  Sunday  evening  Charles 
Manchester  preached  the  Eldership  Opening  Sermon,  from  Ex.  iv.  24-26.  The 
session  was  held  at  Sharon,  Central  View  Bethel,  Barber  county,  and  the  Eldership 
was  constituted  on  Monday  morning,  August  28,  1911,  when  there  were  present 
five  ministers,  four  ruling  elders,  five  delegates,  the  Financial  Clerk  and  one  rep- 
resentative of  the  W.  M.  S.  These  elected  S.  W.  Konkel,  President;  C.  Man- 
chester, Clerk;  W.  H.  Charles,  Financial  Clerk,  and  also  Treasurer.  Committees 
were  appointed  by  the  President  and  Clerk,  and  the  Eldership  did  its  work  ac- 
cording to  a  regular  Order  of  Business.  It  ordered  its  dues  to  the  General  Elder- 
ship to  be  paid  in  full,  and  in  other  ways  gave  evidence  of  a  spirit  of  loyalty  and 
co-operation.  The  spiritual  interests  of  the  Eldership  were  in  fair  condition. 
There   were    ten    organized    churches,    twelve    houses    of    worship    and    seventeen 


704  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

preaching  places.  Couversions,  159;  baptized,  69;  accessions,  66;  churches  or- 
ganized, 2;  number  of  members,  268.  The  bethel  in  Sumner  county  was  author- 
ized to  be  sold,  as  it  was  not  being  used  by  the  ministers  of  the  Eldership.  The 
efforts  of  C.  Manchester  "to  secure  larger  gifts  for  Fort  Scott  Collegiate  Institute" 
were  "heartily  encouraged,"  and  the  Institute  Day  was  directed  to  be  observed. 
The  "tireless  workers  who  have  succeeded  in  completing  the  Carnegie  Fund  of 
Findlay  College"  were  commended,  and  the  Eldership  "rejoiced  with  them  in  the 
enlarged  opportunities  awaiting  the  faithful  workers  at  Findlay."  Assessments 
were  made  on  the  churches  for  various  Funds,  and  they  were  to  be  "notified  by 
the  Clerk  two  months  before  the  meeting  of  the  next  Eldership." 

32ud  Kansas  Eldership. — On  Saturday,  August  24,  1912,  the  W.  M.  S.  of  the 
Kansas  Eldership  held  its  thirteenth  annual  session,  and  the  faithful  band  of  wo- 
men were  greatly  encouraged  in  their  tireless  labors  by  the  commendations  of  the 
Eldership.  V^iola  G.  Hershey,  returned  missionary  from  India,  had  met  with  the 
Society  in  May,  and  stimulated  it  to  greater  efforts  for  the  foreign  work  and  to 
extend  the  work  in  Kansas.  The  Opening  Sermon  of  the  Eldership  was  delivered 
on  Sunday,  by  Chas.  Manchester,  from  Luke  v.  4.  When  the  Eldership  was 
constituted  it  consisted  of  four  ministers,  three  ruling  elders,  three  delegates,  and 
five  officers  of  the  W.  M.  S.  The  latter  were  placed  on  committees  and  had  the 
other  rights  of  members.  The  Committees  on  Temperance  and  on  the  State  of 
Religion  were  wholly  composed  of  women,  and  there  was  one  on  each  of  the 
Committees  on  Journals,  Education,  Resolutions  and  Business.  The  session  was 
held  at  New  York  Valley,  Woodson  county,  Kansas,  and  began  on  Monday  morn- 
ing, August  26,  1912.  A.  J.  Leonard  was  elected  President;  Chas.  Manchester, 
Clerk;  A.  H.  Shuman,  Financial  Clerk;  AV.  H.  Charles,  Treasurer.  The  State  of 
Religion  was  not  characterized  by  the  Committee;  but  it  gave  facts,  to  wit:  Num- 
ber of  appointments,  13;  churches,  9;  houses  of  worship,  12;  conversions,  99;  bap- 
tized, 57;  accessions,  56;  membership,  253.  The  new  church  at  Gerlane,  Kan- 
sas, was  received,  and  yet  the  Committee  stated  that  "we  have  fewer  appointments 
than  last  year,  and  less  members  converted  and  baptized."  An  undertone  of 
solicitude  is  heard  in  the  words:  "We  still  believe  that  God  is  willing  to  bless 
earnest  and  faithful  labor."  They  may  have  known  that  other  religious  bodies 
working  in  rural  districts  had  similar  experiences.  There  was  much  general 
anxiety  in  ecclesiastical  circles  over  the  twelve  hundred  country  churches  in  the 
State  which  had  been  abandoned  and  deserted  because  of  a  lack  of  interest  in 
church  work,  and  other  causes.  Perhaps  ministers  shared  in  the  responsibility. 
Barber  county  circuit  was  mentioned  by  the  Committee  as  having  had  the  most 
encouraging  work  during  the  year.  Yet  the  "circuit  was  not  supplied  with  a 
minister"  at  this  Eldership.  It  was  "a  work  with  three  churches,  all  thoroughly 
alive  to  the  work,  and  able  to  pay  $500.00  or  $600.00  a  year,"  guaranteed.  The 
broader  view  of  National  Prohibition  was  taken  by  the  Eldership,  and  for  this  the 
Eldership  declared  it  "will  do  all  in  our  power."  It  heartily  endorsed,  and  re- 
joiced in  the  movement  to  prohibit  the  shipping  of  intoxicating  liquors  into  pro- 
hibitory States."  At  the  Monday  evening  sitting,  besides  acting  on  a  strong  re- 
port on  Education,  C.  Manchester  preached  the  Annual  Ordination  Sermon,  from 
John  xiv.  15.  C.  Manchester,  A.  H.  Shuman  and  W.  H.  Charles  were  elected  the 
Standing  Committee,  Charles  being  a  lay  elder.  The  Stationing  Committee  were 
€.  Manchester,  and  T.  B.  More,  ministers,  and  W.  H,  Charles,  C.  M.  Hiestand  and 
S.  W.  Konkel,  lay  elders.  Trustees,  J.  N.  Smith,  minister,  and  W.  H,  Sheets,  J.  V. 
Whisler,  R.  A.  Porter  and  W.  H.  Charles,  lay  elders.  The  Widows'  Fund  had  In- 
creased to  $755.68.  The  Home  Mission  Fund  was  $76.06;  General  Misison  Fund, 
$70.00;  Contingent  Fund,  $49.11;  Church  Extension  Fund,  $45.59.  The  Sta- 
tioning Committee  made  appointments  to  three  charges,  leaving  "Barber  county 
circuit  and  Crawford  county  circuit  in  the  hands  of  the  Standing  Committee  to 
be  supplied."  It  appointed  G.  W.  Wyatt  to  Crawford  county,  and  "asked  the 
Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  to  appropriate  $200.00  to  his  sup- 
port." 


The  We;st  Virginia   Eldership,   North 


705 


XVIII.    THE    WEST    VIRGINIA    ELDERSHIP,    NORTH. 


1st  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North. — That  order  which  is  Heaven's  first  law, 
and  which  Milton  extols  as 

" — a  glorious  law 
Seen  in  thote  pure  and  beauteous  isles  of  light 
That  come  and  go,  as  circling  months  fulfill 
Their  high  behest," 

never  characterized  any  Eldership  more  perennially  than  it  did  the  West  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership.  And  when  the  time  seemed  now  to  have  fully. come  to  sever 
part  of  its  membership  and  territory  from  the  main  body,  not  only  was  every  thing 
done  orderly,  but  with  a  dominant  brotherly  feeling.  Whatever  consultations  and 
caucuses  may  have  preceded,  the  project  of  organizing  a  new  Eldership  was  sud- 
denly sprung  at  the  session  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  held  at  New 
Brighton,  Beaver  county,  Pa.,  beginning  October  5,  1882.      On  Tuesday  afternoon. 


Gravel   Street  Bethel. 


October  10th,  T.  Woods  submitted  a  resolution,  declaring  it  "to  be  the  sense  of  the 
body  that  a  new  Eldership  should  be  formed,  to  be  known  as  the  West  Virginia 
Eldership."  "North"  was  not  at  this  time  part  of  the  title.  It  also  directed  that 
proper  steps  be  taken  to  carry  this  resolution  into  effect.  The  resolutions  were 
adopted  by  a  rising  vote.  A  special  committee  was  named,  consisting  of  J.  Grimm, 
T.  Woods  and  A.  R.  McCahan,  to  determine  the  boundaries  of  the  new  Eldership, 
and  report  in  1883.  The  Report  as  then  made,  at  the  Eldership  held  at  Union 
Bethel,  Somerset  county,  Pa.,  recommended  that  the  territory  embrace  Greene 
county.  Pa.,  the  State  of  Virginia  except  Preston  county,  and  all  that  part  of  the 
State  of  Ohio  belonging  to  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  The  ministers 
present  who  had  determined  to  cast  their  lots  with  the  proposed  Eldership  were 
T.  Woods,  W.  R.  Craig,  W.  B.  Long,  J.  S,  Marjile,  N.  M.  Anderson,  J.  L.  Lucas,  H. 
D.  Grimm  and  J.  C.  Cunningham.  They  held  a  preliminary  meeting,  elected  Stand- 
ing and  Stationing  Committees,  and  "adjourned  to  meet  at  Green  Valley,  Pa.," 
on  November  16,  1883.  When  they  convened  as  per  adjournment,  an  Opening 
Sermon  was  preached  by  J.  S.  Marple,  from  Jer.  iii.  4.  The  members  in  attend- 
ance were  J.  S.  Marple,  W.  B.  Long,  J.  C.  Cunningham,  N.  M.  Anderson,  J.  L. 
Lucas,  H.  D.  Grimm,  W.  G.  Steele,  teaching  elders.      Five  teaching  elders  were  ab- 

C.  H. — 24 


7o6 


History   of.  the   Churches  of   God 


sent.  Delegates  present  were  N.  Vanaman,  S.  Bartrug,  W.  H.  Rose,  E.  Dowler, 
Z.  H.  Yoder,  T.  S.  Gallatin,  G.  W.  Planks,  P.  Morris  and  A.  Ryan.  W. 
B.  Long  was  chosen  Speaker;  J.  C.  Cunningham,  Clerk,  and  E.  Dowler,  Treas- 
urer. The  Treasurer  was  required  to  give  bond  in  the  sum  of  $1,000.00.  The 
Rules  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  were  adopted,  and  the  collections  pro- 
vided for  therein  were  ordered  to  be  lifted.  A  committee,  consisting  of  J.  C. 
Cunningham  and  N.  M.  Anderson,  was  named  to  draft  a  Petition  to  the  General 
Eldership,  asking  for  authority  to  organize  the  West  Virginia  Eldership.  The  Pe- 
tition was  drawn  up  and  reported,  and  was  agreed  to.  Then  the  following  dele- 
gates were  elected  as  bearers  of  the  Petition  to  the  General  Eldership  to  meet  in 
Wooster,  Ohio,  in  May,  1884:  W.  B.  Long  and  J.  C.  Cunningham,  ministerial 
delegates;  N.  Vanaman  and  E.  Dowler,  lay  delegates.  A  mission  was  created  in 
Calhoun  county,  W.  Va. 

The  Petition  to  organize  the  new  Eldership  having  been  granted  by  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership,  the  boundaries  fixed  and  the  name,  style  and  title  determined  as 
per  Petition,  the  newly  chartered  Eldership  was  called  to  meet  at  Gravel  Street, 
W.  Va.,  October  10,  1884.  There  was  no  Opening  Sermon;  but  religious  exer- 
cises were  conducted  by  R.  H.  Bolton,  of  Ohio,  General  Missionary  Secretary.  The 
Eldership  was  constituted  by  the  Speaker  and  Clerk  of  the  "temporary  organiza- 


Thomas  Woods. 


tion,"  and  the  following  enrollment  made:  Teaching  elders — J.  C.  Cunningham, 
W.  B.  Long,  N.  M.  Anderson,  S.  B.  Craft,  G.  A.  Baitlebaugh,  J.  L.  Lucas,  W.  R. 
Craig,  T.  Woods,  W.  G.  Steele,  H.  D.  Grimm  and  J.  R.  Wilson.  J.  S.  Marple, 
absent.  Delegates — N.  Vanaman,  Perry  McMann,  W.  P.  Crosier,  W.  T.  Smith,  B. 
Eagan,  H.  Earnest,  H.  McCabe,  E.  Dowler  and  E.  H.  Lambes.  An  election  for 
officers  followed,  and  resulted  in  the  choice  of  T.  Woods,  Speaker;  N.  M.  Ander- 
son, First  Clerk;  W.  B.  Long,  Second  Clerk;  G.  A.  Bartlebaugh,  Financial  Clerk, 
and  E.  Dowler,  Treasurer.  Realizing  that  "much  of  the  territory  within  the 
boundary  lines  of  the  Eldership  is  unoccupied  by  the  Church,"  the  Committee  on 
Missions  reported  that  "our  prayer  to  God  is  that  he  may  raise  up  good  men  to 
preach  the  gospel,"  and  recommended  the  appointment  of  "a  General  Evangelist 
to  operate  on  our  unoccupied  territory."  A  missionary  meeting  was  also  recom- 
mended "to  make  an  effort  to  secure  funds  with  which  to  carry  on  the  good  work." 
The  Eldership  also  expressed  its  hearty  sympathy  with  the  mission  work  of  the 
General  Eldership,  and  urged  annual  collections  for  frontier  missions.  It  en- 
dorsed the  measures  adopted  by  the  General  Eldership  "to  plant  the  standard 
of  the  Church  in  foreign  lands."  It  was  voted  "to  hold  a  Ministerial  Association 
one  day  before  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Eldership."  The  body  emphatically 
"discountenanced  the  selfishness  manifested   among  our   local   churches   and  cir- 


Thk  West  Virginia  Eldership,   North  707 

cuits  in  the  selection  of  preachers,"  and  charged  that  "there  is  not  as  much  co- 
operation as  there  should  be."  The  Treasurer  had  received  $40.57,  and  paid  out 
$31.90.  A  Sabbath-school  Convention  was  decided  upon.  Anderson,  Cunningham 
and  Woods  were  elected  as  the  Standing  Committee.  The  Stationing  Committee 
made  appointments  to  Wheeling  circuit.  Dry  Ridge,  Bellaire  (Ohio),  Sugar  Grove 
(Pa.),  Greene  circuit  (Pa.),  Marshall  circuit  (W.  Va.),  Pipe  Creek  circuit,  and 
Jackson  and  Kanawha  mission.  T.  Woods  was  made  "Supervising  Evangelist."" 
Items  in  the  Financial  Secretary's  Report:  Appointments,  37;  organized  churches^ 
23;  bethels,  15;  membership,  639;  conversions,  228;  additions,  197;  collected  for 
missions,  $23.30;  Contingent  Fund,  $7.00;  delegates  to  G.  E.,  $39.57;  Sabbath- 
schools,  15;  scholars,  419;  salaries  received  by  ministers,  $1,727.72.  A  commit- 
tee was  appointed  to  secure  a  Charter  from  the  West  Virginia  Legislature. 

Thomas  Woods,  along  with  W.  B.  Elliott,  was  ordained  at  Ben  wood,  Marshall 
county,  W.  Va.,  on  Monday  forenoon,  October  7,  1877,  by  the  West  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  there  in  session.  He  attended  the  session  of  1878,  but  at  neither  was 
he  appointed  to  a  charge.  In  1879  he  was  appointed  to  Proctor,  Wetzel  county, 
W.  Va.  He  served  that  charge  one  year,  when  he  was  sent  to  the  "Old  Indiana" 
circuit,  Pennsylvania,  at  the  Eldership  in  1880.  In  1881  he  was  appointed  to 
Kanawha  River  circuit,  W.  Va.,  which  field  he  served  for  three  years,  or  until  the 
first  session  of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  in  1884.  He  was  absent  from  the 
Eldership  in  1883.  It  was  in  1882,  when  down  in  Kanawha  county.  West  Va., 
that  he  fully  realized  the  long  distance  between  the  extreme  southern  sections  of 
the  Eldership  territory  and  its  central  and  northern  parts.  This  was  the  main 
consideration  which  prompted  him  to  introduce  a  resolution  in  favor  of  a  division 
of  the  Eldership.  Besides,  the  Church  was  prospering  in  West  Virginia,  and  there 
were  preachers  enough  in  that  section  to  make  a  respectable  Eldership.  His  de- 
sire, not  to  say  ambition,  was  accomplished,  when  in  1884  his  plans  were  con- 
summated in  the  organization  of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  October  10,  1884, 
of  which  he  was  the  presiding  officer.  He,  however,  did  not  remain  a  member 
long,  for  in  the  Fall  of  1886  he  asked  for,  and  received,  a  Transfer  to  the  West 
Pennsylvania  Eldership.  He  was  an  efficient  minister  when  in  the  active  work. 
There  was  some  charming  fascination  in  his  ministrations.  He  w"s  not  brilliant, 
but  forceful,  and  his  fervent  appeals  for  righteousness  and  truth,  urged  in  pa- 
thetic and  wholesome  terms,  often  met  responses  in  many  hearts. 

2nd  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North. — The  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North, 
had  some  stormy  sailing  early  in  its  history.  It  found  it  necessary  to  exercise  dis- 
cipline in  the  case  of  several  ministers  at  its  second  regular  session,  which  con- 
vened at  Franklin,  Ohio,  September  2,  1885.  There  were  thirteen  ministers  in 
attendance,  and  six  delegates.  N.  M.  Anderson,  who  has  always  been  an  honored 
leader  in  the  body,  was  elected  Speaker;  W.  B.  Long,  First  Clerk;  T.  Woods,  Sec- 
ond Clerk,  and  W.  G.  Steele,  Financial  Clerk.  The  name  of  one  minister  "was 
stricken  from  the  Journal."  Charges  were  preferred  against  another,  which 
were  "settled  on  conditions"  that  the  accused  "acknowledge  that  he  circulated 
false  reports  against"  his  accuser,  "which  was  injurious  to  his  moral  standing," 
and  that  "it  be  published"  that  his  accuser  "is  not  guilty  of  what  he  was  charged." 
The  ministers  without  charges  were  required  "to  pay  fifty  cents  of  assessments 
made  on  us  by  the  General  Eldership."  In  addition  to  action  against  "the  great 
evils  of  intemperance  in  the  land,"  the  Eldership  recommended  "the  propriety  of 
an  organized  effort  among  the  preachers  and  members  of  every  church  to  bring 
about  a  system  whereby  we  as  a  body  may  be  able  to  do  more  for  the  cause  of 
temperance."  A  committee  was  appointed  "to  wait  on  the  Secretary  of  State  and 
procure  a  charter  for  this  body."  "Various  places  for  missionary  operations" 
were  recommended,  "with  the  request  that  the  Board  of  Missions  of  this  body 
devise  a  plan  to  procure  money  by  which  this  noble  work  may  be  carried  on  within 
the  bounds  of  this  Eldership."  The  mission  work  of  the  General  Eldership  was 
also  strongly  endorsed,  and  each  pastor  was  directed  to  preach  one  sermon  an- 
nually on  it  "and  take  up  a  collection."  Assessments  on  the  various  fields  were 
made  to  raise  the  amounts  apportioned  to  the  Eldership  by  the  General  Eldership. 
The  fields  of  labor  consisted  of  two  stations — Wheeling  and  Gravel  Street — ,  eight 
circuits  and  four  missions.  Each  pastor  was  instructed  "to  collect  fifty  cents 
from  each  member  to  purchase  a  tent  to  hold  meetings  in." 

3rd  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North. — Under  the  provisions  of  actions  taken 
in  1885  the  work  of  missions  was  extended  southward  in  West  Virginia;  but  funds. 


7o8  History  of  the   Churches  oe   God 

were  not  coming  in,  so  that  it  was  difficult  to  keep  missionaries  in  the  field.  The 
condition  of  the  treasury  does  not  disclose  this  fact,  as  no  report  is  given  at  the 
Eldership  which  held  its  annual  session  at  Mt.  Carmel,  Greene  county.  Pa.,  begin- 
ning October  1,  1886;  but  in  the  actions  taken.  There  was  a  Committee  on  Mis- 
sions, which  declared  that  there  was  "a  great  field  open  within  the  boundaries  of 
this  Eldership  which  has  not  as  yet  been  visited  by  any  of  our  ministers."  It  also 
strongly  urged  pastors  to  make  "special  efforts  to  secure  means  to  replenish  the 
treasury,  that  the  Board  of  Missions  may  make  appointments  and  appropriations 
for  mission  work."  An  evening  was  set  apart  for  a  missionary  meeting,  but  only 
:$32..53  was  collected.  Applicants  for  license  were  required  to  "have  a  recommen- 
dation for  religious  standing  where  membership  is  held,  signed  by  the  pastor  and 
ruling  elders."  For  the  following  year  the  Standing  Committee  was  granted 
"power  to  transfer  a  minister  of  good  standing  in  this  Eldership  to  any  other 
Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God."  Intemperance  was  viewed  as  the  outgrowth  of 
"a  dangerous  and  evil  heart,  with  many  heads  and  many  horns,"  and  in  highly 
figurative  language  the  Eldership  resolved  to  "lift  up  our  voice  and  declared  that" 
its  destruction  must  be  accomplished  "by  the  ballot  box."  Woods,  the  putative 
father  of  the  Eldership  and  President  of  its  first  session,  took  a  transfer  to  the 
West  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  There  were  thirteen  fields  of  labor,  but  three  were 
unsupplied.  Wheeling  and  Gravel  Street  stations  disappeared  in  the  Wheeling 
•circuit.  The  officers  of  this  Eldership  were  S.  B.  Craft,  Speaker;  T.  Woods,  Jour- 
nalizing Clerk;  N.  M.  Anderson,  Transcribing  Clerk;  W.  G.  Steele,  Financial 
Clerk,  and  E.  Dowler,  Treasurer. 

4th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North. — For  the  purpose  of  distributing  of- 
ficial positions  as  much  as  possible  the  West  Virginia  Eldership  enacted  a  Rule, 
that  "no  member  shall  fill  more  than  two  positions  at  one  session  of  this  body." 
This  made  quite  a  difference  in  the  composition  of  the  committees  of  the  session 
held  at  "Lower  School-house,  on  Davis  Creek,  Kanawha  county,  W.  Va.,"  the  Open- 
ing Sermon  of  which  was  preached  on  Wednesday  evening,  September  28,  1887, 
hy  W.  G.  Steele,  from  2  Tim.  ii.  15.  The  organization  was  not  effected  until  Sep- 
tember 30th  because  of  the  absence  of  the  Clerk,  "with  the  books  and  papers," 
"When  W.  G.  Steele  was  chosen  Speaker;  N.  M.  Anderson,  First  Clerk;  J.  C  Cun- 
ningham, Second  Clerk;  W.  C.  Leonard,  Financial  Clerk,  and  E.  Dowler,  Treasurer. 
Fifteen  ministers  and  six  delegates  were  present.  The  Eldership  so  positively  in- 
sisted on  ministers  of  other  Elderships  presenting  transfers  before  they  can  serve 
charges  that  it  approved  the  action  of  the  Standing  Committee  in  removing  D.  T. 
lieach  from  the  circuit  assigned  him  by  the  Eldership  because  "he  failed  to  get  and 
hand  to  us  his  transfer."  After  requiring  "the  young  ministers  for  this  Eldership 
year"  to  be  examined,  the  Eldership  adopted  a  rule  "that  all  the  ministers  of  this 
hody  be  placed  in  the  class  for  examination."  Six  brethren  were  licensed  to 
preach,  whose  ages  ranged  from  thirty-six  to  forty-seven  years.  A  Ministerial 
Association  was  arranged  for,  to  immediately  precede  the  Sunday-school  Conven- 
tion. The  total  amount  for  all  purposes  received  by  the  Treasurer  was  $89.44.  A 
new  committee  was  appointed  to  secure  a  State  Charter.  There  were  fifteen  fields 
of  labor,  three  of  which  were  missions. 

5th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North. — With  ten  ministers  present,  and  nine 
absent,  and  eight  delegates,  the  fifth  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North,  met  with  the 
church  at  Woodland,  Marshall  county,  W.  Va.,  September  20,  1888.  The  pre- 
ceding evening  S.  B.  Craft  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Acts  xx.  28.  N.  M. 
Anderson  was  elected  Speaker;  Geo.  E.  Komp,  First  Clerk;  I.  D.  Cousins,  Second 
Clerk;  W.  G.  Steele,  Third  Clerk.  While  the  report  of  the  committee  to  secure  a 
State  Charter  does  not  indicate  whether  it  was  granted,  the  Eldership  proceeded 
to  elect  "five  trustees  to  hold  the  property  of  the  Eldership."  The  church  at 
Peter's  Run  was  "received  into  the  Eldership."  Licenses  to  exhort  were  now 
granted  by  the  Eldership,  but  there  was  no  formal  ordination,  as  in  the  case  of 
ministers.  The  Standing  Committee  was  given  power  to  grant  licenses  and  trans- 
fers "the  coming  year."  The  large  and  inviting  fields  for  mission  work  appealed 
strongly  to  the  Eldership,  and  it  resolved  to  "do  all  we  can  to  extend  the  borders 
of  the  Church  of  God,  and  that  the  missionary  money  be  used  where  most  good 
can  be  done."  There  were  fifteen  fields  of  labor;  but  George  E.  Komp,  appointee 
to  Greenfield  and  Greenwood,  was  also  General  Evangelist. 

6th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North. — The  death  of  "a  devoted  and  efficient 
servant  of  God,"  such  as  was  W.  G.  Steele,  of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North, 
naturally  recalls  the  death  of  Paul  in  contrast  with  that  of  Augustus  Caesar.     The 


The  West   Virginia  Ei^dership,   North  709 

latter  died  as  a  play-actor,  at  the  heights  of  fame,  his  jeweled  hand  grasping  a 
bubble;  the  former  "comes  to  a  martyr's  death,  his  manacled  hand  grasping  an 
Amaranthine  crown."  Steele  had  been  but  nine  years  in  the  ministry.  He  died 
some  time  prior  to  the  meeting  of  the  Eldership  at  Grandview,  Putnam  county,  W. 
Va.,  September  20,  1889.  On  Education  the  Eldership  took  the  position  "that  we 
as  an  Eldership  will  make  every  possible  effort  to  secure  a  liberal  education,  know- 
ing that  it  is  impossible  to  teach  without  being  informed."  The  General  Elder- 
ship missionary  assessment  was  apportioned  to  the  fifteen  fields  of  labor,  but  no 
apportionments  were  made  for  its  own  funds.  The  total  receipts  reported  by  the 
Treasurer  were  only  $4  5.27.  A  new  Treasurer,  L.  F.  Muncay,  was  elected,  who 
during  the  year  was  received  by  transfer  from  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. 
The  other  officers  were:  Speaker,  N.  M.  Anderson;  Geo.  E.  Komp,  First  Clerk; 
I.  D.  Cousins,  Second  Clerk,  and  H.  W.  Marty,  Third  Clerk.  The  Eldership  sought 
to  be  relieved  from  assessment  for  General  Eldership  Missionary  Fund,  as  there 
were  "open  fields  around  them;  the  harvest  white  already,  and  many  are  perish- 
ing, while  earnest,  consecrated  laborers  are  few.  In  order  to  bear  the  gospel  to 
the  unsaved,  financial  aid  is  needed,  and  must  be  had,  to  support  the  work  here." 
A  Rule  was  adopted,  "that  when  a  new  point  of  organization  is  reported  to  the 
Eldership  by  a  preacher  or  delegate,  that  it  be  received  or  rejected  by  the  Elder- 
ship." Another  new  Rule  was  one  to  make  "the  Stationing  Committee  a  Com- 
mittee on  Salaries,  to  make  an  assessment  on  each  circuit,  station  and  mission  in 
this  Eldership,  in  order  to  the  gain  of  ministers'  salaries."  Three  ministers  were 
required  to  appear  for  instru<3tions  before  the  Licensing  Committee.  One  was  to 
receive  "instructions  in  doctrinal  matters;"  one,  "as  to  the  duties  of  a  minister  of 
the  gospel,  and  what  is  required  as  a  member  of  the  Eldership,"  and  one,  to  be  ad- 
monished "to  be  more  careful  in  his  financial  dealings  and  manner  of  life."  Ap- 
pointments were  made  to  sixteen  circuits  and  missions. 

7th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North. — The  Opening  Sermon  of  the  West  Vir- 
ginia Eldership,  North,  delivered  on  the  evening  of  October  1,  1890,  by  H.  W. 
Marty,  was  so  well  appreciated  that  it  was  ordered  to  be  sent  to  The  Advocate 
office  for  publication.  The  Eldership  met  October  1st,  and  was  organized  by  elect- 
ing L.  F.  Murray,  Speaker;  Geo.  E.  Komp,  First  Clerk;  I.  D.  Cousins,  Second  Clerk; 
J.  R.  Campbell,  Financial  Clerk,  and  Jackson  Bayles,  Treasurer.  The  session  was 
held  at  Big  Run,  Jackson  county,  W_.  Va.  "A  Ministerial  Association  was  ordered 
to  be  held  in  May,  in  connection  with  the  Sunday-school  Convention."  The  Elder- 
ship had  a  Home  Mission  Fund,  into  which  "every  Church  member  was  solicited  to 
pay  at  least  ten  cents  annually."  Also  a  Superannuated  Fund,  and  "W.  C.  Leo- 
nard's name  was  placed  on  the  Superannuated  list."  As  the  deeds  of  many  church 
houses  in  the  Eldership  were  held  by  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  said  body 
was  requested  to  turn  them  over  to  the  Clerk  of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership.  The 
cause  was  reported  as  advancing,  as  was  also  indicated  by  the  appointments. 
There  were  seventeen  circuits,  all  but  two  supplied  with  pastors. 

8th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North. — The  coincidence  of  dedication  and  Eld- 
ership gave  the  session  of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership  of  1891  more  than  usual 
interest.  The  Centennial  Bethel,  Greene  county,  Pa.,  was  to  be  rededicated 
on  Lord's  day,  October  11th,  and  the  Eldership  convened  October  7th.  On  the 
evening  of  October  6th  Geo.  E.  Komp  preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  S.  B.  Craft 
was  elected  Speaker;  Geo.  E.  Komp,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  Clarence  J.  Marple, 
Financial  Clerk.  After  the  Report  of  the  Treasurer  was  acted  on,  Jackson  Bayles 
was  re-elected  to  that  office.  While  nothing  of  a  serious  character  disturbed  the 
serenity  of  the  session,  yet  there  was  publicity  on  some  transactions  "doubtless 
to  a  greater  extent  than  was  fruitful  of  good."  Three  young  men  "were  formally 
ordained  to  preach  the  word."  The  Stationing  Committee  made  seventeen  cir- 
cuits, all  of  which  were  supplied  with  pastors.  A  General  Evangelist  and  Fi- 
nancial Agent  was  also  appointed,  who  was  "to  secure  moneys  and  notes  for  Elder- 
ship purposes." 

9th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North. — While  the  West  Virginia  Eldership, 
North,  with  few  exceptions,  was  a  quiet,  harmonious  body,  the  session  of  1892  had 
"some  rough  places;"  but  they  "were  made  smooth  by  the  Spirit  of  Christian  pre- 
ferment and  brotherly  love."  The  session  was  held  with  the  church  at  Gravel 
street,  Benwood,  Marshall  county,  W.  Va.,  beginning  October  5th.  On  the  evening 
of  the  4th  N.  M.  Anderson  preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  An  organization  was 
effected  by  the  choice  of  S.  E.  Stewart  for  Speaker;  Geo.  E,  Komp,  First  Clerk; 
W.  S.  Shimp,   Second  Clerk,   and  E.  Dowler,   Treasurer.      An   amendment  to  the 


7IO  History   of   the   Churches  of   God 

Constitution  provided  for  a  "Vice  Chairman,"  and  L.  F.  Mun-ay  was  elected.  An 
assessment  for  missionary  and  delegate  funds  was  ordered.  B.  F.  Howell,  who 
"came  with  credentials  of  ordination«from  the  Baptist  Church,"  received  license. 
The  circuits  were  reduced  to  fourteen,  two  of  which  were  unsupplied.  There  was', 
however,  one  General  Evangelist,  one  Evangelist  and  one  General  Missionary.  All 
other  ministers  were  "to  assist  in  the  work  wherever  possible,  and  to  open  new  ap- 
pointments." 

10th  AVest  Virginia  Eldership,  North. — One  of  the  various  hindrances  to  the 
progress  of  the  work  in  the  West  Virginia  Eldership  was  the  almost  constant 
transfers  of  ministers  to  other  Elderships.  In  1893  five  efficient  laborers  left  for 
the  Ohio  and  Indiana  Elderships,  while  one  was  previously  transferred  by  the 
Standing  Committee  to  West  Pennsylvania.  The  Eldership  met  at  Mt.  Taber,  Kan- 
awha county,  W.  Va.,  October  5,  1893.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  by  L.  F. 
Murray.  Twenty  ministers  and  six  delegates  were  enrolled.  Balloting  for  officers 
resulted  in  the  election  of  S.  E.  Stewart,  Speaker;  I.  D.  Cousins,  Journalizing 
Clerk;  W.  S.  Shimp,  Financial  Clerk,  and  B.  F.  Doyle,  Treasurer.  The  Eldership 
named  a  layman  for  trustee  of  Findlay  College,  and  "all  ministers  pledged  them- 
selves to  work  for  the  Interest  of  the  College."  During  the  year  death  broke  the 
ranks  of  the  ministry  by  the  removal  of  N.  H.  Messenger,  an  "aged  man  of  God," 
but  licensed  in  1885.  Notwithstanding  the  loss  by  transfers  and  death,  the  Elder- 
ship had  enough  men,  including  several  valuable  accessions  of  young  men,  to 
supply  its  twenty  fields  of  labor. 

11th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North. — Until  this  year  the  term  "North"  had 
not  been  an  official  part  of  the  title  of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership.  But  at  this 
session  the  necessary  steps  were  taken  to  form  an  Eldership  in  the  more  southern 
parts  of  the  State,  to  be  known  as  the  "West  Virginia  Eldership,  South,"  or  "The 
Southern  West  Virginia  Eldership."  The  question  was  carefully  considered,  and 
L/.  F.  Murray  and  B.  F.  Howell  were  appointed  and  "authorized  to  call  a  session  of 
said  Eldership"  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  temporary  organization  and  conduct- 
ing the  business  until  the  meeting  of  the  General  Eldership  in  1896.  The  session 
of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North,  was  held  at  Franklin,  Ohio,  beginning  Oc- 
tober 4,  1894.  G.  C.  Thompson  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon  the  previous  even- 
ing. I.  T).  Cousins  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  B.  F.  Howell,  Clerk.  Two  brethren 
received  exhorters'  licenses.  The  term  "local  preachers,"  it  was  decided,  "should 
he  defined  to  mean  an  unordained  preacher."  The  possible  existence  of  some  un- 
sound views  led  the  Eldership  to  declare,  that  "any  preacher  in  this  body  failing 
or  refusing  to  preach  and  practice  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  God  as  a  whole 
shall  be  considered  deficient  in  doctrine,  and  shall  be  disfellowshiped  at  the  end 
of  one  year."  Each  pastor  was  instructed  to  hold  four  ordinance  meetings  a  year 
on  his  charge,  and  each  church  was  advised  to  "hold  a  weekly  prayer-meeting  on 
«ach  Wednesday  night."  The  departure  to  his  final  reward  of  J.  C.  Wright,  and 
also  of  McKinney,  was  recorded.  Some  "grievances"  between  two  min- 
isters resulted  in  the  withdrawal  of  S.  E.  Steward,  who  had  been  a  prominent  and 
efficient  worker  in  the  body.  By  reason  of  the  organization  of  the  West  Virginia 
Eldership,  South,  the  number  of  circuits  was  reduced  to  nine,  all  but  one  supplied 
with  pastors.  "All  the  unoccupied  territory  within  the  bounds  of  the  West  Vir- 
ginia Eldership"  was  given  in  charge  of  a  General  Evangelist. 

J 2th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North. — With  rare  exceptions  the  West  Vir- 
ginia Eldership,  North,  has  been  a  very  harmonious  body.  Even  questions  pro-, 
yoking  disputations  and  developing  antagonistic  views  were  discussed  with  serenity 
and  disposed  of  without  irritation  or  chafing.  This  was  exemplified  at  the  session 
of  189.5,  held  at  Maynard  Hall,  near  Blaineville,  Belmont  county,  Ohio,  beginning 
October  2nd.  The  officers  elected  were  President,  I.  D.  Cousins,  who  had  preached 
the  Opening  Sermon  on  Tuesday  evening,  from  2  Chron.  ix.  18;  J.  C.  Beam,  Re- 
cording Secretary;  W.  S.  Shimp,  Financial  Secretary,  and  B.  F.  Coyle,  Treasurer. 
There  was  a  good  deal  of  discussion  of  questions  to  be  acted  on  by  each  Annual 
Eldership.  N.  M.  Anderson  had  taken  part  in  the  discussion  of  these  questions  in 
The  Advocate,  and  he  was  a  leader  whom  the  body  readily  followed.  There  were 
eight  ministers  present,  and  when  a  vote  was  reached  they,  with  the  few  lay  rep- 
resentatives present,  voted  unanimously  for  "Association"  in  place  of  "Eldership." 
Also  for  "Churches"  in  place  of  "Church,"  and  against  ordination  with  the  imposi- 
tion of  hands.  It  also  placed  the  granting  of  exhorters'  licenses  in  the  hands  of 
the  local  churches.  An  action  tending  to  promote  harmony  was  adopted  under 
which  "no  certificate  of  license  be  delivered  to  any  who  are  at  variance."     The 


The^  West  Virginia  Ei^dership,   North  711 

right  either  to  grant  or  receive  transfers  of  ministers  was  denied  to  the  Standing 
Committee.  An  effort  to  instruct  preachers  and  churches  to  hold  the  ordinance 
services  in  private,  "none  but  church  and  Christian  people  being  permitted  to  be 
present,  the  world  to  be  excluded,"  failed  of  adoption.  The  Eldership  observed 
the  ordinances  in  public  on  the  last  evening,  and  "it  was  a  time  long  to  be  remem- 
bered by  those  who  were  present  on  account  of  the  deep  solemnity  that  prevailed 
and  the  gracious  outpcJuring  of  the  Spirit." 

13th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North. — In  her  tour  among  the  Elderships  Clara 
Landes  went  to  Martin's  Ferry,  Belmont  county,  Ohio,  where,  on  October  7,  1896, 
convened  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North.  She  not  only  "entertained  a  large 
and  appreciative  audience  on  the  subject  of  missions  and  her  prospective  work  in 
India;"  but  also  addressed  the  Eldership  on  "the  urgent  necessity  of  the  organi- 
zation of  local  missionary  societies."  The  Eldership,  however,  did  not  seem  to 
catch  her  spirit,  for  it  only  declared  that  "the  territory  is  large,  extensive  and  un- 
occupied, and  we  lack  means  to  employ  missionaries."  N.  M.  Anderson  preached 
the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Mark  xvi.  15.  He  was  elected  President;  J.  C  Beam, 
Journalizing  Clerk;  B.  D.  Eden,  Statistical  Clerk,  and  B.  F.  Coyle,  Treasurer.  The 
Constitution  and  By-Laws  were  revised  and  carefully  considered,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Anderson.  An  attempt  "to  throw  ministers  loose,  giving  them  privilege  of 
hiring  and  being  hired  by  churches"  was.  made,  under  the  spirit  of  unrest  abroad, 
but  was  not  successful.  The  state  of  religion  was  "far  below  the  standard,  and 
ministers  of  the  body  were  recommended  "to  make  a  more  vigorous  effort  to  pro- 
mote the  cause  of  Christ  and  the  upbuilding  of  his*  kingdom."  The  new  Constitu- 
tion provided  for  an  Executive  Board,  which  consisted  of  W.  S.  Shimp,  J.  L.  Lucas 
and  R.  Vanaman,  Jr.  A  Ministerial  Association  was  to  be  held  in  June,  the  Stand- 
ing Committee  to  prepare  the  program.  There  were  eleven  fields  of  labor,  and  all 
were  supplied  but  one.  In  three  instances  the  pastor  was  appointed  "with  dis- 
cretionary power,"  which  is  to  be  interpreted  "with  the  privilege  of  refusing  to 
accept  his  appointment"  without  subjecting  himself  to  any  discipline. 

14th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North. — The  vein  of  pessimism  may  be  dis- 
cerned in  some  items  of  business  at  the  Eldership  in  1897.  The  attendance  was 
not  large.  On  account  of  "deaths,  emigration  and  other  causes,  many  church  or- 
iganizations  have  gone  down."  The  church  property  at  Metz's  Crossing  was  or- 
dered to  be  disposed  of.  And  the  "Standing  Committee  was  authorized  to  com- 
municate with  an  evangelist  for  the  purpose  of  reviving  the  work  of  the  churches 
in  general."  The  session  was  held  at  Mt.  Carmel,  Greene  county,  Pa.,  beginning 
October  6th.  J.  L.  Davis  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon.  J.  L.  Lucas  was  elected 
President,  and  W.  M.  Miller,  Vice  President;  B.  D.  Eden,  Journalizing  Clerk;  J.  C. 
Beam,  Financial  Clerk,  and  B.  F.  Coyle,  Treasurer.  On  temperance  the  Eldership 
was  conservative,  resolving  that  "each  minister  of  this  Eldership  use  his  influence 
towards  the  suppression  of  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a 
beverage."  To  increase  the  attendance  and  efficiency  of  the  Ministerial  Associa- 
tions appointed  by  the  Eldership,  it  was  decided  ministers  not  attending  them 
"'shall  be  fined  not  more  than  $3.00,  nor  less  than  $1.00,  unless  satisfactory  rea- 
sons can  be  given."  An  easy  course  of  studies  for  four  years  was  adopted,  in- 
tended mainly  for  applicants  for  license.  An  earlier  date  was  fixed  for  the  meet- 
ing of  the  Eldership  so  that  pastors  could  move  on  to  new  fields  and  begin  the 
Winter's  work  under  more  favorable  conditions. 

15th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North. — The  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North, 
kept  a  record  of  deaths  of  lay  members,  and  these  at  the  end  of  the  year  were  re- 
ported by  the  Committee  on  Obituaries,  with  appropriate  resolutions.  During  the 
year  189  7-8  twelve  brethren  and  sisters  joined  the  invisible  hosts.  The  session  of 
the  Eldership  was  held  at  Windy  Gap,  Greene  county.  Pa.,  beginning  on  Wed- 
nesday morning,  September  7,  189  8.  The  previous  evening  B.  D.  Eden  preached 
the  Opening  Sermon.  Only  four  ministers  were  absent.  J.  L.  Lucas  was  chosen 
as  President;  B.  D.  Eden,  Clerk;  J.  C.  Beam,  Financial  Clerk,  and  B.  F.  Coyle, 
Treasurer.  There  was  a  demand  for  changes  in  circuit  boundaries,  which  resulted 
in  the  reduction  of  the  number  of  fields  to  ten,  all  supplied  with  efficient  ministers. 
The  Eldership  limited  itself  to  the  moral  phase  of  the  temperance  question,  recom- 
mending ministers  and  churches  "to  use  their  utmost  ability  in  the  fear  of  the 
Lofd  to  accomplish  the  overthrow  of  the  saloon  system."  And  "any  member  of 
this  Eldership  violating  the  law  and  virtue  of  temperance  shall  be  brought  to  ac- 
count on  ten  days'  notice."  Church  members  refusing  to  testify,  if  they  have 
knowledge  of  such  violation,   "shall  be   dealt  with  as   insubordinates."     Persons 


712  History   of  the   Churches  of   God 

who  are  "not  members  shall  be  used  as  witnesses  who  are  willing  to  be  qualified 
before  a  notary  public."  To  reduce  to  a  better  system  the  finances  of  the  churches, 
each  member  is  directed  "to  subscribe  to  the  church  council  what  he  or  she  is 
willing  to  pay,"  and  this  amount  shall  not  be  less  than  $1.00.  This  is  to  "become 
an  assessment,  payable  in  monthly  installments."  A  Widows'  Fund  was  created, 
for  which  "each  member  of  the  local  churches  (pastors  not  excepted)  shall  pay 
ten  cents  annually."  The  Green  Valley  (Pa.)  church  property  was  authorized  to 
be  sold.  The  Eldership  arranged  for  "a  Camp-meeting  Association,"  with  W.  H. 
Marple,  President,  and  "a  representative  from  each  local  church."  The  state  of 
religion  was  not  satisfactory;  "many  things  are  not  up  to  the  standard  of  love  and 
piety."      But  on  the  whole,  "the  cause  of  Christ  is  on  the  increase." 

16th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  Noi-tli. — A  further  rearrangement  and  conse- 
quent reduction  in  the  number  of  circuits  was  made  in  1899,  the  number  being 
eight,  and  one  of  these  unsupplied  by  request.  The  session  was  held  at  Blaines- 
ville,  Ohio,  and  the  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  on  the  evening  of  September 
6th.  Choice  was  made  of  J.  C.  Beam  for  President;  B.  D,  Eden,  Clerk.  Two  min- 
isters were  absent.  It  was  a  "quiet  and  orderly"  Eldership.  One  minister  was 
received  by  Transfer  from  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  An  "applicant  for 
license  was  Rev.  L.  C.  Kerr,  formerly  of  the  Baptist  denomination."  He  was  ac- 
cepted and  a  license  granted.  He  was  regarded  as  "a  man  of  ability,  experience 
and  veracity,  who  will  prove  very  serviceable  in  the  future."  The  Life  Certificates 
ordered  by  the  General  Eldership  were  given  to  the  ministers  of  the  Eldership. 
The  session  was  of  shorter  duration  than  usual,  and  "the  Eldership  seems  to  be 
outgrowing  some  of  the  evils  which  have  retarded  its  progress  in  the  past."  The 
session  closed  with  an  ordinance  meeting  on  the  last  evening. 

17th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North. — Two  matters  developed  during  the  ec- 
clesiastical year  1899  and  1900  which  gave  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North, 
some  concern.  The  most  important  was  the  protection  of  the  moral  character  and 
standing  of  ministers,  and  so  of  the  Eldership.  To  protect  pure  and  innocent  men 
and  bring  to  light  evil  deeds  of  unworthy  men  was  the  problem,  and  the  Eldership 
which  convened  at  Woodland,  W.  Va.,  September  6,  1900,  gave  serious  thought  to 
its  solution.  It  concluded  to  require  each  pastor  "to  secure  from  the  elder  or 
«lders  of  each  church  he  serves  a  certificate  of  good  moral  standing  before  he  ends 
his  labors  for  the  year."  Then  a  practice  grew  up  of  preachers  in  charge  of  fields 
of  labor  to  give  "permits"  to  lay  members  to  preach,  which  "documents"  began 
to  have  the  force  of  licenses.  The  Eldership  not  only  declared  "such  documents 
null  and  void;"  but  denied  to  all  the  ministers  the  authority  "to  issue  such 
licenses,  or  permits,  on  penalty  of  suspension  for  three  months."  All  the  min- 
isters except  four  were  present;  two  were  "dropped,"  and  two  applicants  for 
license  were  received,  foreigners,  Leo  Sovieski  and  Mary  Agnes  Sovieski,  his  wife. 
J.  C.  Beam  was  elected  President;  W.  S.  Shimp,  Vice  President;  B.  D.  Eden,  Clerk; 
J.  Li.  Lucas,  Financial  Clerk.  Beam  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  on  the  evening 
of  the  5th.  The  wisdom  of  requiring  certificates  of  character  was  emphasized 
during  the  session  when  it  was  found  necessary  to  purge  the  body  by  disfellow- 
shiping  one  minister  for  "intoxication  and  frequenting  a  saloon."  Advancement 
in  other  lines  of  Church  work  was  planned  for,  so  that  on  the  whole  it  was  a 
session  pervaded  with  progressive  ideas,  and  in  all  particulars  great  "harmony  and 
unity  prevailed  among  all  the  brethren."  There  were  ten  charges,  Leo  Sovieski 
being  assigned  to  McMechen,  and  Mary  Agnes  Sovieski,  to  Elm  Grove  and  Blaines- 
ville. 

18th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North. — Quite  a  proportion  of  local  church 
properties  in  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  territory  was  deeded  to  said  body. 
When  the  West  Virginia  Eldership  was  chartered  and  organized  in  1884,  all  its 
territory  belonged  to  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  properties  therein 
deeded  to  said  Eldership  were  to  be  redeeded  to  the  West  Virginia  Eldership.  But 
up  to  the  meeting  of  said  body  in  1901  these  deeds  had  "not  yet  been  made  as 
agreed  upon  by  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership."  The  matter  was  agitated 
somewhat  during  the  year,  and  then  brought  up  at  the  session  which  was  held 
with  the  church  at  Mt.  Carmel,  Greene  county.  Pa.,  beginning  September  5th.  The 
officers  elected  were  W.  S.  Shimp,  President;  N.  M.  Anderson,  Vice  President;  J. 
C.  Beam,  Journalizing  Clerk;  W.  A.  Jones,  Financial  Clerk;  B.  F.  Coyle,  Treas- 
urer. On  the  matter  of  the  deeds  for  church  properties  held  by  the  West  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership,  an  appeal  was  taken  to  the  General  Eldership,  "to  know 
whether  that  body  will  approve  of  a  neglect,  or  refusal,  of  the  West  Pennsylvania 


The   West   Virginia   Eldership,   North  715 

Eldership  to  make  those  deeds."  In  the  light  of  the  action  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship and  its  Constitution  it  was  an  apparent  contradiction  to  make  such  appeal, 
and  then  "authorize  the  churches  for  the  year  to  employ  their  own  pastors."  Per- 
haps the  Eldership  "laid  hands  suddenly"  on  the  foreigner  and  stranger  when  it 
ordained  Sovieski,  for  at  this  session  his  "case  was  submitted  to  the  new  Standing 
Committee,  with  discretionary  power." 

19th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  Noi-th. — As  a  result  of  the  investigation  made 
by  the  Standing  Committee  in  the  Sovieski  case,  following  the  session  of  1901,  the 
names  of  both  Leo  and  Mary  Agnes  Sovieski  "were  dropped  from  the  Roll  of  mem- 
bership, and  their  Certificates  of  Ordination  were  demanded."  The  Opening  Ser- 
mon of  the  session  in  1902  was  delivered  by  S.  B.  Craft,  at  Rush  Run,  Wetzel  county, 
W.  Va.,  on  Saturday  evening,  September  6th.  On  Monday  morning  N.  M.  Anderson 
was  chosen  President;  W.  S.  Shimp,  Vice  President;  J.  C.  Beam,  First  Clerk;  B.  F. 
Coyle,  Treasurer.  The  Eldership  decided  to  grant  "provisional  licenses  for  three 
years  before  a  Life  Certificate  of  Ordination  is  granted."  "The  congregational 
system  adopted  for  1901  was  continued,  the  churches  selecting  pastors  this  year." 
But  it  was  provided  that  "churches  not  having  hired  preachers  within  thirty  days 
shall  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Standing  Committee."  Each  pastor  was  enjoined 
"to  do  his  utmost  to  organize  a  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.  in  each  local  church  on  his  charge."^ 
The  Eldership  year  was  fixed  to  begin  and  end  with  October  1st.  The  Eldership' 
informed  the  Treasurer  of  the  General  Eldership  that  it  "cannot  pay  delinquencies, 
because  we  do  not  have  the  money,  and  because  we  have  been  forgiven."  It  re- 
ceived assurances  at  the  General  Eldership  in  1902,  on  its  appeal  to  said  body,  that 
"deeds  for  church  property  in  this  Eldership  held  by  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eld- 
ership shall  be  made  on  demand."  To  correct  an  innovation  likely  to  spread  it 
was  resolved  "that  it  is  the  imperative  duty  of  the  local  churches  of  this  Elder- 
ship to  observe  the  washing  of  the  saints'  feet  and  the  Communion  in  the  one  and 
same  meeting,  and  any  preacher  or  local  church  observing  Communion  without  the 
washing  of  the  saints'  feet,  or  vice  versa,  shall  be  considered  guilty  of  heresy  and 
insubordination,  and  dealt  with  accordingly."  In  granting  churches  the  right  ta 
employ  their  own  ministers,  they  were  restricted  to  members  of  the  West  Virginia 
Eldership.  And  no  minister  or  evangelist  was  to  be  employed  "to  hold,  or  assist 
in,  a  revival  meeting  except  such  as  preach  the  doctrine  of  the  churches  of  God." 

20th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North. — Seventeen  members,  nine  ministers 
and  eight  delegates,  constituted  the  twentieth  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North.  It 
required  two  and  one-half  days  to  transact  the  business.  The  session  was  held  at 
Mt.  Carmel,  Greene  county,  Pa.,  the  members  meeting  on  Saturday,  September  19» 
1903.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  on  Sabbath  morning,  by  N.  M.  Ander- 
son. On  Monday  morning  the  body  was  organized  by  electing  B.  C.  Bartlebaugh 
President;  J.  L.  Lucas,  Vice  President;  N.  M.  Anderson,  Secretary;  N.  Vanaman,^ 
Treasurer.  There  was  an  "Incorporate  Board  organized"  to  which  property  w^s 
to  revert  when  a  church  should  become  extinct.  As  to  the  state  of  religion,  the 
Committee  "discovered  room  for  improvement."  While  "speaking  strongly  against 
intemperance  in  all  its  phases,"  the  Committee  "included  narcotics."  The  Rule 
to  require  "three  consecutive  years  annual  license  before  granting  Life  Certifi- 
cates" was  made  to  harmonize  with  the  constitutional  provision  of  "a  special 
course  of  study  for  three  years."  There  were  ten  fields  of  labor,  and  on  each 
church  an  assessment  was  laid  for  Contingent,  General  Mission  and  Superannuated 
Funds,  aggregating  $52.50  for  the  three  Funds. 

21st  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North. — Going  outside  the  West  Virginia  Eld- 
ership, North,  in  calling  a  pastor,  the  church  at  McMechen  secured  the  services  of 
W.  R.  Covert,  of  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership.  He  was  received  on  Transfer 
when  the  Eldership  convened  in  1904.  "Preliminary  exercises"  were  held  on  Sat- 
urday evening,  September  17,  1904,  consisting  of  an  address  of  welcome  and 
"memorial  services  in  honor  of  G.  C.  Thompson,  who  had  formerly  been  a  member 
of  this  Eldership,  but  had  received  a  Transfer  to  the  West  Virginia  Eldership, 
South."  Three  preaching  services  were  held  on  Lord's  day,  at  which  sermons  were 
delivered  by  W.  S.  Shimp,  N.  M.  Anderson  and  B.  C.  Bartlebaugh,  followed  in  the- 
evening  by  the  observance  of  the  ordinances  of  God's  house.  The  session  was  held 
at  Woodland  Bethel,  Marshall  county,  W.  Va.  There  were  present  fifteen  min- 
isters and  ten  delegates.  An  exceptional  action  was  taken  following  the  organiza- 
tion, which  provided  that  "the  entire  supervision  of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,. 
North,  for  the  coming  year  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  W.  R.  Covert  and  N.  M. 
Anderson,  they  having  the  privilege  to  select  the  third  man  to  constitute  a  com- 


7^4  History   of   the  Churches  of   God 

• 

mittee  to  be  known  as  the  Supervising  Committee  of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership, 
North,  which  shall  have  all  the  power  hitherto  vested  in  the  Stationing  and  Stand- 
ing Committee."  The  President  of  the  Eldership  was  N.  M.  Anderson;  Vice  Presi- 
dent, W.  R.  Covert;  Clerk,  J.  C.  Beam;  Financial  Clerk,  J.  C.  Marple;  Treasurer, 
N.  Vanaman,  Jr.  During  the  year  an  "Elders'  Association"  had  been  organized, 
and  it  was  "given  privilege  to  explain  its  aims  and  objects"  to  the  Eldership.  It 
was  "organized  as  an  auxiliary  body  to  the  Eldership,  claiming  no  jurisdiction  or 
authority,  and  seeking  none;  but  its  object  is  for  the  ruling  elders  to  meet  together, 
exchange  views  on  church  work,  consult  and  advise  one  another  on  the  best 
methods  of  taking  care  of  those  intrusted  to  their  care,  and  promote  spiritual 
growth,  peace  and  harmony  in  the  churches."  On  Tuesday  noon,  September  20th, 
the  Eldership,  on  a  motion  by  W.  R.  Covert,  "adjourned  to  meet  again  the  first 

Tuesday  in  October,  1904,  in  an  adjourned  session  of  this  regular  meeting 

to  finish  its  work  of  whatever  nature  that  now  remains  unfinished."  It  can  be 
inferred  that  one  purpose  of  this  recess  was  to  give  time  for  the  preferring  of 
charges,  as  it  was  provided  "that  all  reports  and  charges  must  be  put  in  writing 
and  a  copy  served  on  the  parties  complained  of  eight  days  before  said  Eldership 
time  of  meeting."  When  the  Eldership  reconvened,  on  October  4th,  at  McMechen, 
Marshall  county,  W.  Va.,  M.  S.  Newcomer  and  Mi's.  M.  B.  Newcomer  were  received 
as  advisory  members.  A  "permanent  financial  system,  which  will  build  up  the 
Eldership's  resources  and  make  it  to  spread  its  borders  by  energetic,  practical 
work"  was  to  be  formulated  by  a  committee.  Work  was  to  be  opened  at  York- 
ville  and  McLainsville,  Belmont  county,  Ohio.  Pastors  were  instructed  to  advise 
and  co-operate  with  local  churches  so  that  the  mistake  may  be  avoided  of  "ap- 
pointing novices  as  officers  in  the  local  churches."  Stringent  measures  were 
adopted  to  suppress  "the  practise  of  slandering,  vilifying  and  abusing  the  ministers 
of  the  Church  of  God  by  officers  and  members  of  local  churches."  A  committee 
to  revise  the  Constitution  was  created,  consisting  of  W.  R.  Covert,  J.  C.  Beam  and 
James  E.  Doyle.  This  committee  reported  on  October  6th,  and  the  revised  Con- 
stitution was  adopted.  The  Preamble  provided  that  "all  rules  and  regulations  to 
the  contrary  of  this  Constitution  are  hereby  repealed."  The  "Supervising  Com- 
mittee" had  been  previously  provided  for,  and  was  therefore  considered  by  many  to 
have  been  abolished.  But  it  acted  on  some  questions,  thus  creating  a  seriously 
disturbed  condition  in  the  body.  The  Indiana  Assembly  was  favorably  acted  upon, 
and  all  were  urged  "to  do  everything  possible  to  make  it  a  success."  The  Super- 
vising Committee  was  instructed  to  have  the  Eldership  "properly  incorporated,  so 
that  said  Eldership  can  co-operate,  but  not  be  coerced  by  the  General  Eldership." 
The  action  of  the  Eldership  on  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  question  was  distinctly  adverse  to 
the  action  of  the  General  Eldership  in  19  02  in  providing  for  a  Convention  to  be 
teld  in  June,  1903,  to  organize  a  new  W.  G.  M.  S.,  and  against  this  new  Society. 
It  claimed  that  "the  acts  of  the  late  General  Eldership  at  Idaville,  Ind.,"  and  other 
acts  following  "led  to  the  division  of  said  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  1890,  and  to  legal  pro- 
ceedings, a  spirit  of  strife,  etc."  The  former  W.  G.  M.  S.  was  declared  to  be  "in 
the  right  in  this  dispute  and  confiict  and  legal  proceedings."  These  antagonistic 
resolutions  were  offered  by  W.  R.  Covert,  and,  revolutionary  in  char  .cter,  were 
adopted.     There  were  fourteen  fields  of  labor,  all  supplied  with  pastors. 

22nd  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North. — That  actions  of  the  Eldership  of 
1904  on  vital  questions  did  not  express  the  deliberate  judgment  of  the  min- 
istry and  churches  soon  became  evident.  This  was  true  of  the  action  creating 
the  Supervising  Committee,  and  that  concerning  the  General  Eldership's  action 
calling  a  convention  to  organize  a  new  W.  G.  M.  S.  And  while  the  Super- 
vising Committee  did  some  business  before  the  third  member  was  elected, 
J.  B,  Lafferty,  of  Bellaire,  Ohio,  these  actions  were  considered  illegal  by  "a  num- 
ber of  the  brethren,  who  denied  the  legality  of  the  Committee,  and  refused 
to  be  governed  by  it."  On  April  9,  1905,  Albert  McMahon,  James  Doyle  and 
Thomas  Sharp,  a  Committee  representing  the  elders,  made  strenuous  complaint 
against  certain  decisions  rendered  by  Covert,  Chairman  of  the  Supervising  Com- 
mittee, and  for  "refusing  to  call  a  special  session  of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership 
to  adjust"  existing  differences.  This  Committee  served  notice  of  an  appeal  to  the 
General  Eldership  to  convene  at  Mt.  Pleasant,  Pa.,  May  25,  1905,  "to  hear  our 
grievances."  But  though  matters  seemed  to  have  been  adjusted  at  the  General 
Eldership,  the  dissatisfaction  increased,  fanned  by  certain  actions  of  a  disquieting 
character,  in  the  name  of  the  Supervising  Committee,  and  signed  by  W.  R.  Covert' 
and  J.  B.  Laflferty.      These  actions  seemed  to  many  members  of  the  Eldership  to  be 


The   West   Virginia   Ei^dership,   No'RTh  715 

prophetic  of  disaster,  and  of  a  mischievous  tendency.  They  had  the  appearance 
of  a  personal  and  arbitrary  character,  instead  of  being  an  orderly  and  constitu- 
tional method  to  carry  into  effect  a  deliberately  adopted  policy.  Accordingly  a 
Petition  was  prepared  in  August,  1905,  signed  by  "officers  of  the  Eldership,  min- 
isters of  the  gospel  and  delegates  of  the  Eldership  of  1904,  twelve  in  number,"  and 
addressed  Lo  "the  President  of  the  Eldership  and  Secretary  of  the  Supervising 
Committee,"  requesting  him  "to  call  an  extra  and  special  session  of  said  Eldership, 
to  meet  at  Gravel  Street,  McMechen,  W.  Va.,  on  Wednesday,  August  30,  1905,  at 
9  a.  m."  The  Constitution  required  the  officers  of  the  Eldership  and  the  Standing 
Committee  to  call  an  extra  session.  But  "the  powers  of  the  Standing  Committee 
were  merged  in  the  Supervising  Committee,  which  action  was  repealed,  and  the 
only  remedy  was  a  Petition,  which  a  majority  of  the  Eldership  of  1904  presented 
'to  the  President."  The  President  was  N,  M.  Anderson  who,  if  he  had  faults  of 
judgment,  was  universally  esteemed  as  an  honest  man;  whose  integrity  of  purpose 
had  never  been  questioned.  His  services  in  this  crisis  of  the  Eldership's  history 
In  conducting  the  policy  of  the  body  were  characterized  with  rare  discretion,  skill 
and  knowledge,  and  every  act  revealed  a  sense  of  dignity  and  duty,  of  high  purpose 
and  perfect  integrity,  which  won  for  him  the  by-name  of  "the  Grand  Old  Man." 
He  called  the  "special  and  general  session"  to  meet  at  the  time  and  place  specified 
in  the  Petition.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by  N.  M.  Anderson,  on  Tues- 
day evening,  from  Ps.  xcii.  12.  Nine  ministers  and  twelve  delegates  were  present. 
Reorganization  was  effected  by  the  election  of  N.  M.  Anderson,  President;  W.  S. 
^himp,  Vice  President;  J.  C.  Beam,  Secretary;  B.  D,  Eden,  Financial  Secretary  and 
Official  Correspondent;  B.  F.  Coyle,  Treasurer.  Notice  was  served  on  the  Elder- 
ship by  W,  R.  Covei-t,  "declaring  the  session  irregular  and  illegal."  A  committee 
was  appointed  to  call  on  Covert  and  "request  him  to  be  present  and  make  report  of 
the  work  done  by  him  during  the  year  as  Chairman  of  the  Supervising  Committee." 
This  he  failed  to  do.  The  Eldership  then  proceeded  to  act  on  the  special  items  of 
business.  It  "declared  null  and  void  what  the  so-called  Supervising  Committee 
"had  done."  It  also  rescinded  the  action  of  the  Eldership  of  1904  on  the  W.  G.  M. 
S.  question,  and  "endorsed  the  action  of  the  General  Eldership  of  1905,  and  in- 
vited the  representatives  of  the  new  W.  G.  M.  S.,  organized  in  1903,  to  come  into 
our  midst  and  organize  a  W.  M.  S."  Having  eliminated  all  the  work  of  the  vehe- 
ment and  disturbing  revolutionaries,  "the  Eldership  resolved  itself  into  the  Annual 
Meeting."  The  Articles  of  the  Constitution  which  proved  so  obnoxious  were 
stricken  out.  It  absolved  those  members  of  the  Eldership  which  the  so-called 
Supervising  Committee  had  put  on  trial  "from  all  charges  and  specifications 
against  them."  "W.  R.  Covert,  B.  C.  Bartlebaugh,  J.  C.  Marple  and  J.  L.  Davis, 
members  of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North,"  were  charged  with  "having 
treated  said  Eldership  with  contempt  by  not  attending  the  session,  and  failing  to 
report,  without  offering  an  excuse,"  and  "their  withdrawal  from  membership  at  an 
early  date"  was  "urgently  requested."  Appointments  were  made  to  eight  charges, 
and  McMechen  was  unsupplied.  The  Life  Certificate  of  J.  C.  Mai-ple  was  "de- 
manded from  him,  as  it  was  granted  to  him  unconstitutionally."  Covert,  how- 
ever, was  disposed  to  contest  the  actions  of  this  session  of  the  Eldership,  and  so 
added  greatly  to  the  gravity  of  the  situation,  and  placed  an  additional  strain  upon 
the  already  tense  relations  between  the  General  Eldership  and  the  insubordinate 
element  in  several  Annual  Elderships.  He  decided  to  call  a  session  of  the  Elder- 
ship, in  connection  with  B.  C.  Baillebaugh,  J.  L.  Davis  and  J,  C.  Marple,  to  meet 
at  Bellaire,  Ohio,  September  27,  1905,  "to  organize  what  they  called  the  real  West 
Virginia  Eldership,  North."  At  this  meeting  "charges  of  conspiracy  were  pre- 
ferred against  the  ministers  who  had  attended  the  Eldership  at  McMechen  on  Aug- 
ust 30,  1905,  and  after  a  mock  trial  they  were  expelled,  together  with  a  number 
of  members  of  the  churches  at  McMechen,  W.  Va. ;  Martin's  Ferry,  Ohio;  Elm 
Grove  and  Parkview,  W.  Va."  An  appeal  was  also  taken  to  the  Executive  Board 
of  the  General  Eldership,  asking  said  Board  to  determine  which  of  the  two  bodies 
is  the  real  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North.  The  four  ministers  at  the  Bellaire  (or 
Hiverview)  meeting  were  appointed  respectively  to  McMechen,  Elm  Grove,  Blaines- 
Tille  and  Woodland,  and  Moundsville..  But  with  the  "exception  of  Bellaire  and 
•Georgetown,  Ohio,  the  churches  all  showed  a  disposition  to  remain  loyal  to  the 
Eldership  which  met  at  McMechen,  August  30,  1905." 

23rd  AVest  Virginia  Eldership,  Noi-th. — Strenuous  times  followed  official 
actions  taken  during  and  after  the  Eldership  in  1905.  W.  R.  Covert,  representing 
the  opposition,  appealed  to  the  civil  courts.      He  sought  to  obtain  possession  of  the 


7^6  History   of  the   Churches  of   God 

pulpit  of  the  McMechen  church  by  applying  to  Judge  Harvey  for  an  injunction 
against  the  officials  of  the  church.  The  judge  refused,  and  the  matter  was  then: 
taken  to  the  Supreme  Court,  Judge  Henry  Brannon  presiding.  But  this  Court 
affirmed  the  action  of  the  lower  court.  The  real  question  at  issue  was  as  to  which 
of  the  two  Elderships  is  the  legally  constituted  body.  The  Standing  Committee- 
had  also  investigated  a  number  of  charges  against  Covert,  B.  C.  Bartlebaugh,  J.  L. 
Davis,  J.  C.  Man>le  and  S.  M.  Pan-y,  and  "found  them  guilty  as  charged."  These 
were  "suspended  from  the  ministry  until  the  next  annual  or  extra,  called  session,"^ 
with  a  recommendation  "that  the  Eldership  expel  them  from  the  body."  Mean- 
while the  interference  of  the  Executive  Board  of  the  General  Eldership  was  in- 
voked, which  on  March  27,  1906,  "decided  that  the  meeting  of  August  30,  1905, 
was  the  constitutional  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North,"  and  "sustained  all  its 
actions,  including  those  of  its  Boards  and  Committees."  From  this  ruling  of  the 
Executive  Board  an  Appeal  was  taken  by  Covert  to  the  General  Eldership  to  meet 
in  1909.  The  General  Eldership  approved  the  action  of  the  Executive  Board,  and 
so  confirmed  all  the  actions  of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North.  Several  other 
lawsuits  were  instituted  by  Covert  at  later  dates,  but  they  have  proved  futile.  The 
storm  had  spent  itself,  and  in  comparative  peace  and  harmony  the  twenty-third 
annual  session  was  held  at  Rush  Run  Bethel,  Wetzel  county,  W.  Va.,  beginnings 
Wednesday  evening,  September  5,  1906.  The  preceding  evening  N.  M.  Anderson 
preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  The  officers  chosen  were.  President,  N.  M.  Ander- 
son; W.  S.  Shimp,  Vice  President;  J.  C.  Beam,  Secretary;  Frajik  Marple,  Financial 
Secretary;  B.  F.  Coyle,  Treasurer.  Nine  ministers  attended  the  session.  So  ab- 
sorbed was  the  Eldership  in  the  local  difficulties  growing  out  of  the  schism  and  the 
disaffection  of  a  few  churches  that  its  resolutions  touching  the  publications  of  the 
General  Eldership,  Findlay  College  and  other  public  questions  became  subordinate. 
But  an  intense  spirit  of  loyalty  permeated  these  and  other  actions.  Covert,  in  a 
letter  dated  June  21,  1906,  asked  for  a  transfer  to  the  Indiana  Eldership,  thereby, 
as  he  stated,  "cutting  off  my  right  to  appeal;"  yet  this  request  was  refused  by  the 
Standing  Committee,  and  its  action  approved  by  the  Eldership,  on  the  ground  that 
"it  would  interfere  with  the  previous  action  of  the  Standing  Committee,  October 
23,  1905;  the  action  of  the  Special  Session  of  December  4,  1905,  and  the  actions  of 
the  Executive  Board,  March  27,  1906,  and  June  7,  1906."  The  Eldership  was; 
ready  to  receive  back  into  its  fellowship  any  churches  which  had  been  alienated. 
And  when  the  church  at  Georgetown  sent  a  delegate  with  "a  petition  signed  by  the 
elders  and  fifteen  members,  being  a  majority,  praying  for  admission,"  the  Elder- 
ship accepted  the  delegate  and  "received  the  church  at  Georgetown  into  fellow- 
ship." 

24th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North. — Perhaps  even  of  a  religious  body,  by 
paraphrase,  the  sentiment  of  Ella  Wheeler  Wilcox's  poem  may  be  true: 

"Through  strife  the  slumbering  soul  awakes." 

It  is  sometimes  by  bounds  and  leaps,  but  more  generally  and  naturally  by- 
orderly  development,  that  we  get  away  from  the  wheel  of  routine,  the  weight  of 
custom  and  of  duty,  or  the  fabricated  net  of  established  relations.  So  in  West 
Virginia,  North,  the  Eldership  at  its  session  held  at  Elm  Grove,  W.  Va.,  beginning 
September  27,  19  07,  agreed  to  a  number  of  important  actions,  some  "in  a  direction 
in  which  nothing  had  been  done  before."  The  "field  here  is  a  most  promising  one." 
"Prosperous  towns  all  around  us  are  ripe  unto  harvest."  An  entirely  new  Consti- 
tution was  ordered  to  be  drafted,  which  was  expected  to  form  a  co-operative,  work- 
ing basis.  The  appointment  of  a  Missionary  Agent  was  the  result  of  an  awakened 
interest  in  missions.  Eight  ministers  attended  the  session,  including  a  valuable 
accession  from  Ohio  in  the  person  of  Z.  H.  Yoder.  And  one  received  license. 
Officers  elected  were  N,  M.  Anderson,  President;  W.  S.  Shimp,  Vice  President;  Z. 
H.  Yoder,  Secretary;  W.  A.  Jones,  Financial  Secretary;  B.  F.  Coyle,  Treasurer. 
The  General  Eldership  and  its  Boards  were  heartily  endorsed  in  all  their  actions 
with  reference  to  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  contentions.  The  teaching  of  the  generally  ac- 
cepted doctrines  of  the  Church  received  considerable  attention,  and  ministers  were 
directed  to  enforce  the  "discipline,"  to  "teach"  and  "instruct"  in  all  doctrine  with 
God-given  authority.  The  delegates  were  "instructed  to  carry  these  important 
actions  of  the  Eldership  to  the  local  churches."  The  observance  of  Children's 
College  Day  by  all  the  churches  was  recommended.  There  were  eight  fields  of 
labor,  one  of  them  unsupplied,  and  Moundsville  Mission  placed  under  the  super- 


The  West   Virginia  Eldership,   North  717 

vision  of  the  Standing  Committee.  The  Eldership  closed  with  an  Ordinance  Meet- 
ing, when  "a  plain,  practical,  forceful  sermon"  was  delivered  by  N.  M.  Anderson. 

25th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North. — The  session  of  the  West  Virginia  Eld- 
ership, North,  in  1908,  had  a  reassuring  beginning.  W.  W.  Anderson,  of  the  West 
Pennsylvania  Eldership,  was  present  with  a  view  of  serving  a  charge.  He  preached 
"a  most  spiritual  sermon  on  Saturday  night"  before  the  Eldership  session  began. 
N.  M.  Anderson  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon  on  Sunday  morning,  and  Z.  H.  Yoder 
preached  the  Ordinance  Sermon  on  Sunday  evening.  The  Eldership  convened  for 
business  at  Mt.  Carmel,  Greene  county,  Pa.,  Monday  morning,  September  28,  1907, 
when  N.  M.  Anderson  was  elected  President;  Z.  H.  Yoder,  Secretary;  W.  H. 
Pierson,  Financial  Secretary;  S.  H.  Earnest,  Treasurer.  Nearly  one  whole  day  was 
taken  up  in  most  careful  and  unbiased  discussion  of  the  new  Constitution,  guided 
by  the  experience  of  the  preceding  three  years.  The  territory  of  the  Eldership 
.was  defined  as  embracing  all  of  West  Virginia  north  of  the  Little  Kanawha  River 
except  Preston  county,  which  belongs  to  the  Maryland  Eldership;  also  Greene 
county.  Pa.,  and  Monroe,  Belmont  and  Jefferson  counties,  Ohio.  Appeals  were 
TBCognized  "from  the  lowest  to  the  highest  court  among  us."  Each  local 
church  was  entitled  to  "one  delegate  for  every  twenty-five  active  members,"  but 
each  church  had  a  right  to  one  delegate.  These  delegates  had  equal  rights  in 
the  transaction  of  business.  Besides  the  usual  powers  of  Standing  Committees, 
that  of  this  Eldership  "shall  be  the  Board  of  Missions."  Two  ministers  and 
three  delegates  were  to  be  elected  to  constitute  the  Stationing  Committee.  An 
Executive  Board  of  one  minister  and  two  delegates,  neither  an  officer  of  the 
Eldership,  was  to  be  elected,  which  was  a  court  to  try  officers  of  the  Elder- 
ship. Its  members  could  only  be  tried  by  an  extra  session  of  the  Eldership,  which 
was  to  be  called  by  the  President  upon  petition  of  a  majority  of  the  members  of  the 
last  annual  meeting.  For  three  years  an  applicant  for  license  was  to  receive  an 
annual  license  before  a  Life  Certificate  of  Ordination  could  be  granted.  A  Course 
of  Studies  was  pre'tecribed.  Nine  regular  Funds  were  provided  for.  This  Elder- 
ship had  some  very  commendable  features.  The  churches  were  well  represented. 
The  spirituality  indicated  a  decided  improvement.  There  was  an  increase  in 
funds,  better  salaries  for  ministers,  an  increase  in  the  number  of  conversions,  bap- 
tized and  received  into  fellowship.  Missionary  possibilities  were  most  encourag- 
ing. Nine  fields  of  labor  were  supplied  with  pastors,  and  N.  M.  Anderson  was 
named  as  the  General  Worker. 

26th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North. — At  the  General  Eldership  in  1909  the 
West  Virginia  Eldership,  North,  was  unanimously  sustained  in  its  actions  relative 
to  the  so-called  "West  Virginia  Eldership,  North,  Incorporated."  At  its  session  in 
the  Fall  it  expressed  its  gratification  by  adopting  "resolutions  in  support  of,  and 
expressing  loyalty  to,  all  the  interests  of  the  General  Eldership."  It  also  elected 
a  "Missionary  Correspondent  and  Organizer."  There  was  rejoicing  over  results 
reported  and  prospects  portrayed,  especially  when  at  the  Ordination  services  two 
bright  and  promising  young  men,  Loring  Howell,  of  Elm  Grove  church,  and  William 
Shaw,  of  McMechen  church,  were  ordained  to  the  gospel  ministry.  The  session 
was  held  at  Elm  Grove,  Ohio  county,  West  Virginia,  beginning  Monday  morning, 
September  27,  1909.  On  Saturday  a  session  of  the  Ministerial  Association  was 
held,  when  "some  live  questions  pertaining  to  the  Master's  work  were  discussed," 
including  "the  needs  of  the  various  fields  of  labor  and  the  best  methods  to  supply 
them."  On  Sunday  morning  N.  M.  Anderson  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  on  the 
theme: — "The  Kingdom  of  Christ."  Ten  ministers  and  eighteen  delegates  were 
present  at  the  organization  on  Monday  morning,  when  N.  M.  Anderson  was  elected 
President;  J.  C.  Beam,  Vice  President;  E.  W.  Moyer,  Stated  Clerk;  S.  H.  Earnest, 
Treasurer.  Conditions  generally  were  satisfactory.  The  pastors  on  the  nine  fields 
of  labor  had  received  $2,351.  There  were  443  conversions;  182  baptized,  and  293 
accessions.  Considering  the  fact  that  there  are  about  250,000  church  buildings 
in  the  United  States,  with  a  seating  capacity  of  over  50,000,000,  the  number 
of  bethels  and  church  membership  in  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North,  was  in- 
significant. There  were  four  bethels  in  Greene  county.  Pa. ;  in  West  Virginia, 
eight,  and  in  Ohio,  six.     The  total  membership  was  about  700. 

27th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North. — The  period  of  contention  had  ended, 
and  pleasant  and  harmonious  sessions  were  being  enjoyed.  Under  such  auspices 
the  twenty-seventh  annual  meeting  of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North,  was  held 
with  the  church  in  Deep  Valley,  Greene  county.  Pa.,  beginning  Monday  morning, 
September   19,   1910.     There  were   present  nine  ministers  and   fifteen   delegates. 


7i8  History  of  the   Churches  oe   God 

Balloting  for  officers  resulted  in  the  choice  of  N.  M.  Anderson  for  President;  W.  W^ 
Anderson,  Vice  President;  E.  W.  Moyer,  Stated  Clerk.  A  new  movement  to  secure 
Articles  of  Incorporation  was  started,  by  the  election  of  trustees  who  could  serve  as- 
incorporators.  J.  C.  Beam,  D.  E.  Doughty  and  B.  P.  Coyle,  Ohio;  W.  H.  Marple, 
Ohio,  and  George  Main,  of  Pennsylvania,  were  chosen.  A  majority  living  in  Ohio, 
Articles  of  Incorporation  could  be  secured  from  the  Ohio  State  Department.  A  de- 
cided step  forward  was  taken  in  creating  a  Mission  Fund,  to  carry  on  missionary^ 
work  in  the  territory  of  the  Eldership  in  the  future.  From  the  different  fields 
during  the  year  there  were  reported  459  conversions,  149  baptized,  181  additions,, 
and  an  increase  of  $814.00  in  the  salaries  of  ministers.  The  ten  fields  of  labor 
were  supplied  with  pastors,  and  four  ministers  were  named  as  General  Workers. 

28th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North. — On  top  of  the  hills  of  Wetzel  county, 
four  miles  from  the  village  of  Proctor,  at  a  point  called  Highland,  where  Meshach 
Yoho  had  recently  built  a  new  bethel,  the  West  Virginia  Eldership  held  its  twenty- 
eighth  annual  session.  It  began  on  Monday  morning,  September  25,  1911.  On 
Sunday  morning  previous  W.  \V.  Anderson  preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  Theme: 
"Pentecostal  Baptism."  Text:  Acts  ii.  1-4.  Ten  ministers  were  in  attendance, 
and  fourteen  delegates.  They  elected  E.  W.  Moyer  President;  W.  W.  Anderson,. 
Vice  President;  Loiing  Howell,  Clerk;  W.  W.  Anderson,  D.  E.  Doughty  and  Z.  H. 
Yoder,  Standing  Committee;  W.  W.  Andei-son,  Z,  H.  Yoder,  Geo.  Main,  G.  C,  West 
and  O.  L.  Blake,  Stationing  Committee.  The  only  woman  who  was  a  member  was- 
Sister  E.  J.  Miller,  a  delegate.  The  session  consisted  of  five  sittings,  adjourning 
on  Wednesday  at  11  o'clock  a.  m.  No  actions  of  a  special  character  were  taken, 
outside  of  those  relating  to  the  permanent  interests  of  the  body,  the  publications, 
of  the  General  Eldership,  missions  and  education.  There  were  ten  charges,  each 
one  supplied  with  a  good  pastor.  Several  of  them  were  stations,  not  all  of  which 
could  give  a  pastor  a  living  support.      A  fine  spirit  pervaded  the  Eldership. 

29th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North. — The  want  of  permanency  of  the  min- 
istry of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership  was  always  a  serious  impediment  to  sub- 
stantial progress.  From  the  date  of  its  organization  it  experienced  this  evil. 
Prominent  workers  would  come  into  the  body,  serve  a  charge  or  two,  and  then 
leave.  The  Eldership  was  always  ready  to  receive  these  men,  as  it  needed  their 
efficient  services;  but  it  could  not  prevent  the  sentiment  that  the  evil  was  hardly 
overbalanced  by  the  good  when  they  failed  permanently  to  identify  themselves  with 
the  body  and  its  interests.  The  reaction  hurt  the  growth  of  the  churches  which 
they  served,  and  the  whole  Eldership  has  suffered.  A  minister  must  live  with  the 
people  he  is  to  serve  most  efficiently,  and  participate  in  all  their  problems  of  gov- 
ernment and  general  improvement,  if  the  benefit  of  his  labors  is  to  be  most  benefi- 
cent. Hence  the  Eldership  in  1912  was  saddened  when  two  ministers,  who  had 
labored  for  several  years  with  good  success,  requested  their  transfers.  The  Elder- 
ship "was  reluctant  to  grant  them,  because  of  their  ministerial  ability  and  high 
standing  among  us."  And  the  prayer  was,  that  "the  Lord  of  the  harvest  will  send 
us  such  men  as  are  needed."  The  session  was  held  at  Long  Run,  Greene  county,  Pa., 
where,  on  September  15,  1912,  the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  by  E.  AV.  Moyer, 
from  Gal.  v.  17.  On  the  following  Monday  morning  the  Eldership  was  organized 
by  the  election  of  N.  M.  Andereon,  President;  D.  E.  Doughty,  Vice  President;  J.  C. 
Beam,  Clerk.  Responding  to  the  call  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.,  the  Eldership  directed 
"each  minister  having  a  charge  to  ask  for  a  freewill  offering  for  our  foreign  work, 
during  the  month  of  April."  Earnestly  insistent  on  extending  its  work,  the  Elder- 
ship required  "more  aggressive  efforts  to  open  up  new  places,  and  take  advantage 
of  opportunities  where  churches  might  be  established."  The  Eldership  was  not 
disposed  to  minify  its  faults,  nor  to  magnify  its  virtues,  and  so  had  reached  the 
true  basis  of  measurement.  The  liquor  traffic  was  "condemned,  declaring  it  to  be 
sinful,  and  that  it  should  not  be  tolerated  by  the  children  of  God."  It  assured 
"those  in  authority  at  Findlay  College  and  Fort  Scott  Collegiate  Institute  of  its 
faith  and  confidence  in  the  management  of  these  institutions."  One  minister  of 
the  "so-called  Bellaire  Eldership"  requested  "restoration  and  fellowship  with"  the 
Eldership.  For  reasons  which  aggravated  the  first  offense  against  the  body  by 
said  minister  and  others  with  whom  he  fraternized,  the  Eldership  decided  to 
"ignore,  or  repudiate,  those  men,  and  refuse  to  entertain  any  application,  motion, 
or  disposition  to  restore  them."  Nine  fields  of  labor  were  supplied  with  pastors, 
one  remaining  unsupplied,  and  four  ministers  were  named  as  General  Workers. 


The   Oregon    and   Washington    Eedebship  719 

XIX.     THE  OREGON  AND  WASHINGTON  ELDERSHIP. 


The  earliest  immigrants  of  Church  of  God  families  into  Oregon  and  Washing- 
ton, sustained  by  those  of  following  years,  united  in  testimony  to  the  splendid  re- 
sources, the  mild  and  equable  climate,  the  agricultural  possibilities  and  the  educa- 
tional and  other  facilities  of  these  Pacific  Coast  States.  The  western  parts  of  the 
country  were  unsurpassed  in  climate.  Roses  bloom  in  Seattle  in  December,  pansies 
in  Walla  Walla  in  January,  peaches  blossom  in  Olympia  in  February,  and  snow 
banks  on  the  mountains  are  frequently  within  sight  of  each  place  in  August.  The 
climate  between  the  coast  and  the  Cascade  Mountains  is  lilte  one  produced  by  add- 
ing the  mildness  of  Virginia  to  the  moisture  of  England.  These  conditions  ap- 
pealed to  ministers,  so  that  when  the  religious  conditions  were  represented  to  be 
of  such  a  character  as  to  make  these  States  inviting  fields  of  labor,  a  disproportion- 


J.   F.   Schoch. 

ate  number  of  teaching  elders  of  the  Church  were  induced  to  remove  to  the  Pacific. 
Yet  when  the  first  church  of  God  was  organized  in  either  State,  there  were  in  Oregon 
over  8,000  Methodists,  about  4,000  Baptists,  3,700  Presbyterians,  1,600  Episco- 
palians, 1,500  Congregationalists  and  a  Catholic  population  of  17,000.  When  the 
first  Eldership  was  organized  there  were  at  least  six  ordained  n\inisters  in  the  two 
States  which  responded  to  the  call.  They  met  "at  Fir  Grove  school-house,  School 
District  No.  75,  Washington  county,  Oregon,  on  Saturday,  May  9,  1891."  These 
six  ministers  were  present:  J.  F.  Schoch,  Illinois  Eldership;  S.  S.  Sheldon,  Kansas 
Eldership;  G.  W.  Kemp,  S.  A.  >Iann  and  R.  A.  Slyter,  of  the  Nebraska  Eldership,, 
and  J.  W.  Force,  of  the  Michigan  Eldership.  Four  ruling  elders  were  enrolled, 
one  of  them,  J.  Gan-ijariis,  being  the  Clerk,  with  J.  F.  Schoch,  Speaker.  The 
boundaries  of  the  new  Eldership  were  to  be  the  boundaries  of  the  State  of  Oregon; 
but  "they  agreed  to  give  the  brethren  of  Washington  and  Idaho  'a  home  with  them^ 
until  such  time  as  Elderships  may  be  organized  within  their  territories."  They 
also  elected  a  Treasurer,  G.  W.  Kemp,   and  instituted   measures   "to   raise  some 


720  History  of  the   Churches  oe   God 

funds  for  the  use  of  the  Eldership."  A  Ministerial  Association  was  agreed  to  be 
held,  to  hold  its  meetings  the  day  previous  to  the  Eldership  sessions.  The  Elder- 
ship at  once  placed  itself  on  record  in  favor  of  "the  total  abolition  of  the  traffic  in 
strong  drink."  The  appointments  made  were:  General  Worker,  J.  F.  Schoch; 
West  Portland  and  adjacent  territory,  R.  A.  Slyter;  Yamhill  and  Washington 
■counties,  J.  W.  Force  and  G.  W.  Kemp;  Clark  county.  Wash.,  S.  S.  Sheldon  and  S. 
A.  Mann.  It  was  anticipated  that  "these  brethren  can  do  a  noble  work  for  God 
and  the  Church  in  Oregon."  The  territory  which  was  to  be  the  field  of  operation 
by  these  ministers  lies  in  the  north-western  section  of  Oregon  and  the  south- 
western section  of  Washington,  on  both  sides  of  the  Columbia  River,  and  from 
twenty  to  sixty  miles  from  the  Pacific. 

The  Speaker  of  the  first  Eldership  was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  having  been 
born  near  Middletown,  Dauphin  county,  August  14,  1828.  He  was  converted  on 
February  4,  1843;  was  baptized  soon  after,  and  united  with  the  church  at  Middle- 
town.  With  a  limited  education,  though  impressed  that  he  ought  to  enter  the 
ministry,  he  deferred  the  matter,  meanwhile  studying  the  Bible  and  some  borrowed 
theological  books.  He  emigrated  to  Illinois  in  the  Spring  of  1854,  but  soon  re- 
turned again  for  a  short  time  to  Middletown.  While  East  he  began  preaching  in 
York  county,  organizing  a  church  at  York  Haven.  In  reporting  his  labors  he  also 
stated  that  he  was  "going  West  shortly."  This  he  did,  and  in  the  Fall  of  1855  he 
attended  the  Illinois  Eldership,  held  at  West  Bureau,  or  Enon,  Bureau  county, 
where  he  received  his  first  license  to  preach.  He  served  different  appointments 
until  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  when  he  entered  the  service  of  the  U.  S.  Christian 
Commission.  Upon  his  return  he  again  served  as  a  pastor.  On  three  different 
occasions  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership.  He  is  one  of  the  very  few 
ministers  of  the  churches  of  God  who  have  made  a  visit  to  the  Holy  Land.  After 
"his  return  he  wrote  "From  the  Hudson  to  the  Jordan,"  giving  not  only  an  account 
of  his  travels,  but  most  interesting  descriptions  of  the  many  historical  places  which 
lie  visited.  On  December  23,  1912,  looking  back  over  a  well  spent  life,  and  with 
a  clear  conscience,  he  wrote:  "I  am  now  in  my  eighty-fifth  year.  I  realize  that 
my  days  are  passing  away  swiftly.  I  am  satisfied  that  the  Lord  will  abide  with 
me  alway,  even  to  the  end  of  life's  journey." 

2nd  Oi-egon  and  Washington  Eldei-ship. — To  have  the  Eldership's  annual  ses- 
sion come  in  the  Fall,  the  second  meeting  was  fixed  within  six  months  of  the  first. 
During  this  time  two  ministers  were  at  work  on  their  fields  in  both  States,  and 
reported  good  openings.  The  second  session  was  held  at  Fir  Grove,  Washington 
icounty,  Oregon,  and  began  October  15,  1891.  The  Ministerial  Association  pre- 
ceded it,  and  was  attended  by  all  the  ministers  but  one.  The  Opening  Sermon 
was  delivered  by  J.  F.  Schoch.  Text:  II.  Tim.  ii.  15.  Theme:  "The  Minister's 
Work — Study."  It  was  published  in  full  in  The  Advocate,  by  direction  of  the 
Eldership.  R.  A.  Slyter  was  elected  Speaker;  S.  S.  Sheldon,  Clerk,  and  G.  W. 
Kemp,  Treasurer.  The  Treasurer  "reported  Eldership  funds,  $5.05;  Mission  funds, 
:$8.O0."  Two  Societies  were  organized,  viz.:  A  Superannuated  and  Widows'  Fund 
Society,  and  a  Missionary  Society.  So  sanguine  of  success  were  some  of  the  min- 
isters that  they  "expected  in  a  few  years  to  send  missionaries,  instead  of  asking 
missionaries  to  be  sent  to  them."  J.  F.  Schoch  was  the  General  Missionary  ap- 
pointed by  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership.  Provision  was  made 
to  have  a  Constitution  and  By-Laws  drafted  for  the  Eldership.  The  boundaries 
were  enlarged  so  as  "to  embrace  all  of  the  States  of  Oregon  and  Washington." 
In  addition  to  declaring  "opposition  to  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicants  as 
a  beverage,"  the  Eldership  resolved  "that  the  use  of  tobacco  in  any  form  is  a 
filthy  habit,  especially  very  degrading  for  any  minister  of  the  gospel."  Without 
specifying  the  object,  each  minister  was  instructed  "to  take  up  a  collection  twice 
in  each  year  at  each  one  of  his  appointments."  Appointments  were  made  to  four 
circuits,  two  of  them  in  Clark  county.  Wash. ;  one  in  Yamhill  and  Washington 
counties,  Oregon,  and  one  in  Marion  county,  Oregon. 

3rd  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership. — The  first  defection  in  the  ranks  of 
the  ministry  of  the  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership  occurred  during  the  year 
1891-2,  when  S.  A.  Mann  "irregularly  left  us,  and  united  with  another  body." 
His  "name  was  stricken  from  the  Roll"  when  the  Eldership  session  was  held  at 
La  Center,  Wash.,  beginning  September  30,  1892;  but  he  subsequently  returned  to 
the  Church  and  Eldership.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  by  R.  A.  Slyter, 
from  Acts  xvi.  9.  Three  new  names  were  added  to  the  list  of  teaching  elders.  A 
committee  was  appointed  "to  secure  an  Act  of  Incorporation"  of  the  Eldership, 


The   Oregon    and   Washington    Eldership  721 

after  adopting  the  Constitution  and  By-Laws.  To  meet  the  expenses,  the  com- 
mittee was  authorized  "to  obtain  a  loan  from  the  Eldership  funds,"  and  "in  re- 
funding the  money  that  may  be  loaned  from  the  Widows'  Fund,  for  every  $2.00 
taken  out  $2.50  shall  be  paid  in."  The  action  of  the  World's  Fair  Managers  in 
closing  the  Columbian  Exposition  on  the  Lord's  day  "was  heartily  endorsed." 
Five  fields  of  labor  were  mapped  out,  to  which  six  ministers  were  assigned.  Two 
of  these  were  Salem  Mission,  and  Woodburn  Mission.  R.  A.  Slyter  was  appointed 
"General  Worker,  with  the  understanding  that  the  Eldership  help  to  support  him." 
The  officers  of  the  Eldership  were  J.  F.  Schoch,  Speaker;  R.  A.  Slyter  and  S.  S. 
Sheldon,  Clerks,  and  G.  W.  Kemp,  Treasurer.  Kemp  was  elected  delegate  to  the 
General  Eldership  to  meet  at  Findlay,  Ohio,  in  June,  1893. 

4th  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership. — There  had  been  no  authority  given 
for  the  organization  of  the  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership.  The  General 
Eldership  alone  has  power  to  grant  charters  to  new  Elderships.  At  its  session 
held  at  Findlay,  Ohio,  in  1893,  the  Committee  on  Boundaries,  without  any 
reference  to  this  irregularity,  recommended  that  a  "Charter  be  granted  under  the 
name,  style  and  title  of  the  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership  of  the  Church  of 
God,  to  include  the  boundaries  of  said  States."  Thus  habilitated,  the  Eldership 
assembled  at  Salem,  Oregon,  October  19,  1893,  when  the  Opening  Sermon  was 
preached  by  J.  F.  Schoch.  Of  the  nine  teaching  elders  of  the  body,  eight  were 
present,  three  ruling  elders  and  one  sister  as  a  delegate.  S.  S.  Sheldon  was 
chosen  Speaker;  R.  A.  Slyter,  Journalizing  Clerk;  C.  H.  Hale,  Transcribing  Clerk, 
and  G.  W.  Kemp,  Treasurer.  An  Act  of  Incorporation  had  been  "secured  in  the 
Oregon  and  Washington  State  Departments."  The  total  of  the  Funds  was  $21.16. 
Four  brethren  were  recommended  for  licenses,  which  were  granted.  The  sisters 
were  directed  "to  organize  a  Home  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society,"  which  was 
done,  the  "Society  to  meet  with  the  Eldership."  While  the  work  was  prospering, 
there  were  many  places  which,  for  lack  of  funds,  could  not  be  supplied.  "Some 
churches  are  without  pastors."  On  the  questions  handed  down  by  the  General 
Eldership,  these  actions  were  taken,  to  wit:  "The  Eldership  does  not  favor  a 
change  of  'name,  style  and  title'  of  the  annual  Elderships."  "It  does  not  favor  a 
license  for  life."  "Ordination  by  the  laying  on  of  hands"  was  postponed  one 
year.  The  organization  of  a  Sabbath-school  by  erery  church  was  advised.  The 
circuits  were  rearranged  so  as  to  make  four,  on  three  of  which  there  were  as- 
sistants to  the  regular  pastor,  and  Buckley  and  Nooksachk  was  added  as  a  circuit. 
R.  A.  Slyter  was  appointed  General  Worker,  and  J.  F.  Schoch,  General  Evangelist. 

5th  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership. — As  in  some  other  Elderships,  there 
was  some  instability  on  the  part  of  ministers.  The  names  of  two  "were  dropped 
from  the  Roll"  in  1894.  The  session  was  also  not  so  largely  attended.  It  was 
held  at  La  Center,  Wash.,  beginning  September  13.  1894.  S.  S.  Sheldon  delivered 
the  Opening  Sermon,  from  I.  Sam.  xv.  22.  J.  W.  Force  was  elected  Speaker;  J.  F. 
Schoch,  Clerk,  and  S.  S.  Sheldon,  Treasurer.  Under  the  Act  of  Incorporation  the 
election  of  trustees  was  also  required,  and  at  this  session  Jephtha  Garrigus  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  Board.  The  Eldership  lamented  its  limited  financial 
ability,  as  much  more  could  be  accomplished  if  it  possessed  the  means  to  support 
the  ministers  and  build  houses  of  worship.  Conversions  and  accessions  were  re- 
ported, and  two  new  churches  had  been  organized  during  the  year.  A  Contingent 
Fund  was  provided  for.  The  license  of  one  minister  was  "placed  in  the  hands  of 
the  Standing  Committeee,  with  the  understanding  that  when  he  agrees  to  desist 
from  preaching  the  doctrine  of  the  unconscious  state  of  the  dead,  both  in  public 
and  private  places,  he  shall  receive  it."  Ministers  were  required  "to  preach  at 
least  one  sermon  a  year  on  the  suppression  and  total  destruction  of  the  rum 
power."  The  assessment  on  the  Eldership  by  the  General  Eldership  was  ordered 
to  be  paid.  There  were  seven  appointments,  one  of  them  "to  be  cared  for  by  the 
General  Missionary  until  supplied."  Local  ministers  were  "to  aid  those  in  charge 
of  appointments  and  to  open  new  places  for  Church  work." 

6th  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership. — In  1894  the  license  of  one  minister 
was  withheld  for  preaching  the  unconscious  state  of  the  dead.  He  complied  with 
the  condition  before  the  Standing  Committee,  and  so  in  1895  his  name  appears,  his 
report  was  made  and  his  license  was  renewed.  The  session  in  1895  was  held  with 
the  church  at  Goble,  Oregon,  beginning  October  3rd.  The  Opening  Sermon  was 
preached  the  previous  evening,  by  J.  W.  Force,  from  John  xxi.  3.  The  officers 
chosen  were  President,  J.  F.  Schoch;  George  M.  Frayery,  Clerk.  The  Eldership 
was  gratified  and  encouraged  by  the  presence  and  addresses  of  Mrs.  C.  M.  Ritchie, 

C.  H. — 24* 


']'2.2  History  of  the   Churches  of   God 

bearing  the  greetings  of  the  Illinois  Eldership.  As  a  result  of  her  presence,  the 
Eldership  "urged  the  ministers  of  the  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership  to  en- 
courage the  organization  of  Woman's  Missionary  societies  in  all  the  churches."  It 
also  favored  the  organization  of  Christian  Endeavor  societies.  When  the  field 
of  labor  in  Los  Angeles  county,  Cal.,  was  under  consideration,  the  Eldership  de- 
cided "that  the  State  of  California  be  added  to  the  Oregon  and  Washington  Elder- 
ship," notwithstanding  boundaries  are  fixed  by  the  General  Eldership.  The  Elder- 
shit)  voted  for  the  term  "Eldership,"  and  not  "Association"  in  the  titles  of  the 
Elderships.  The  question  of  ordination  by  the  laying  on  of  hands  was  discussed 
with  ability  and  at  length,  when  the  proposition  was  adopted,  "that  the  Scriptures 
teach  the  setting  apart  of  ministers  by  the  laying  on  of  hands,"  only  one  dissenting 
vote.  The  religious  condition  of  the  churches  was  considered  fairly  prosperous. 
"A  number  of  churches  have  been  organized  the  past  year;  a  goodly  number  have 
been  converted,  baptized  and  added  to  the  churches,  and  several  ministers  have 
been  ordained."  A  declaration  in  favor  of  prohibition  was  adopted.  Stringent 
enforcement  of  the  Rules  is  seen  in  that  the  Eldership  referred  the  case  of  one 
minister  to  the  Standing  Committee  because  "he  left  for  his  home  without  per- 
mission." There  were  nine  circuits,  one  being  the  California  Mission.  Also  one 
General  Missionary. 

7th  Oregon  and  AVashington  Eldership. — At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Standing 
Committee  after  the  Eldership  of  189  5,  on  December  16,  1895,  the  name  of  the 
Eldership  appears  as  the  "Oregon,  Washington  and  California  Eldership."  The 
minister  cited  to  appear  before  the  Committee  for  leaving  the  Eldership  for  his 
home  without  permission  "made  acknowledgment,  which  the  Committee  accepted." 
Though  the  General  Eldership  did  not  change  the  title  of  the  Oregon  and  Wash- 
ington Eldership  at  its  session  in  May,  1896,  it  was  called  to  meet  by  the  Clerk 
October  15,  1896,  as  the  "Oregon,  Washington  and  California  Eldership."  The 
place  of  meeting  was  Thatcher,  Washington  county,  Oregon.  Tuesday  and  Wed- 
nesday preceding  the  Eldership  the  Ministerial  Association  held  its  annual  meeting, 
The  Opening  Sermon  of  the  Eldership  was  preached  by  J.  F.  Schoch,  from  I.  Tim. 
iv.  6.  G.  W.  Kemp  was  Speaker;  R.  A.  Slyter,  Clerk.  Five  teaching  elders  were 
present,  and  eleven  were  absent.  The  inspiring  addresses  of  Bro.  S.  and  Sister  C. 
M.  Ritchie  were  much  appreciated,  and  through  them  the  fraternal  greetings  of  the 
Illinois  Eldership  were  brought  to  the  brethren  on  the  Pacific.  Mrs.  Ritchie  also 
conducted  a  very  interesting  missionary  meeting  on  Sunday  evening.  One  of  the 
licentiates  was  Sister  M.  Madill,  who,  with  G.  W.  Kemp,  was  appointed  to  Salem 
and  Dumsville.  There  was  German  and  French  preaching,  also,  at  Salem,  by  L.  P. 
Lardon. 

8th  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership. — A  meeting  of  the  Ministerial  As- 
sociation preceded  the  annual  Eldership  in  1897,  with  an  Address  of  Welcome,  and 
a  Lecture  by  R.  A.  Slyter  on  Tuesday  evening,  and  sittings  on  Wednesday.  On 
Wednesday  evening,  October  6th,  the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  by  J.  W. 
Force,  from  Heb.  xiii.  1.  The  place  of  meeting  was  Salem.  Seven  of  the  fiftean 
ministers  were  in  attendance,  and  three  delegates.  J.  W.  Force  was  elected  Presi- 
dent, and  J.  F.  Schoch,  Clerk.  The  Eldership  held  memorial  services  on  Sabbath 
morning  in  memory  of  S.  S.  Sheldon,  when  J.  F.  Schoch  delivered  a  special  sermon 
on  the  character  and  labors  of  this  worthy  minister.  It  was  customary  for  the 
churches,  as  well  as  the  ministers,  to  make  annual  reports,  and  in  1897  every 
church  in  the  Eldership  reported.  S.  Ritchie  and  Mrs.  C.  M.  Ritchie,  of  Illinois, 
bore  the  greetings  of  the  Illinois  and  Iowa  Elderships  to  the  Oregon  and  Washing- 
ton Eldership,  and  the  Eldership  "profited  by  their  counsels."  Everything  was 
encouraging  all  over  the  Eldership,  and  the  "Church  could  see  a  bright  day  ahead 
in  the  capital  of  this  grand  State"  (Salem).  Yet  there  were  clouds  on  the  horizon, 
for  the  names  of  four  of  the  ministers  were  dropped  from  the  Roll.  Other  condir 
tions  induced  the  Eldership  to  name  "the  first  Sunday  in  December  as  a  day  for 
fasting  and  prayer  for  greater  success  in  Church  work,  and  that  the  Holy  Spirit 
will  accompany  the  work  in  great  power."  Going  further  than  usual,  the  Elder- 
ship "pledged  itself  to  vote  and  pray  for  a  prohibitory  liquor  law  for  our  State, 
and  for  all  the  States  of  this  glorious  Union."  The  lack  of  houses  of  worship  was 
deplored,  as  it  was  difficult  otherwise  to  maintain  church  organizations.  A  more 
earnest,  careful  and  energetic  teaching  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  was  recom- 
mended. Ministers  were  instructed  to  organize  Woman's  Missionary  societies  in 
the  churches.  With  the  English  and  French  churches  in  Salem,  each  with  its 
own  pasi-or,  there  were  ten  charges.      R.  A.  Slyter  was  General  Evangelist. 


The;   Oregon    and    Washington    Eldership  ^2,% 

9th  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership. — The  usual  complaint  of  "too  limited 
finances"  was  echoed  from  the  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership.  On  this  ac- 
count the  Eldership  finances  were  inadequate,  houses  of  worship  could  not  be  built, 
ministers  could  not  be  paid  a  living  support,  and  no  Church  extension  work  could 
be  undertaken.  These  facts  were  forcibly  stated  at  the  Eldership  held  at  Goble, 
Columbia  county,  Oregon,  beginning  October  27,  1898.  Want  of  means  reduced 
the  attendance  of  ministers  and  delegates,  as  only  six  of  the  thirteen  ministers  were 
present,  two  of  the  four  exhorters  and  one  delegate.  To  increase  the  missionary 
funds  the  first  Sabbath  in  December  was  "set  apart  as  a  missionary  day,  to  pray 
the  Lord  of  the  harvest  to  open  the  way  and  send  forth  laborers  into  the  field." 
The  President  was  J.  F.  Schoch,  and  D.  F.  Batson,  Clerk,  with  J.  C.  Garrigus, 
Treasurer.  The  two  licentiates  "were  ordained  by  the  laying  on  of  hands."  It 
was  enacted  that  "no  minister  be  allowed  to  go  upon  another's  work  to  preach  or 
make  collections,  except  by  consent  of  the  pastor  and  church,  or  by  authority  of 
the  General  Eldership."  The  authority  of  the  latter  body  was  recognized  as  para- 
mount, and  besides,  its  deliverances  on  nearly  all  subjects  were  accepted  as  final. 
Hence,  on  the  matter  of  "disorderly  persons  who  sometimes  seek  to  avoid  an  in- 
vestigation, or  trial,  by  resigning  their  membership,"  the  action  of  the  General 
Eldership  in  1848  was  quoted  and.  "sustained,"  and  the  entire  resolution  spread 
On  the  Minutes.  This  directs  that  such  "disorderly  steps  and  proceedings",  be 
ignored,  and  that  all  such  "persons  be  held  amenable  for  their  conduct,  whether 
in  the  Eldership  or  the  local  church,  until  they  come  forward,  ask  for,  and  obtain, 
a  regular  and  honorable  dismissal."  There  were  twelve  fields  of  labor,  including 
the  French  and  English  churches  in  Salem,  the  Jackson  county  Mission,  Ore.,  and 
the  work  in  Indio  and  Southern  California,  to  which  three  ministers  were  as- 
signed. 

10th  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership, — The  Minutes  continue  to  use  the 
title,  "The  Oregon,  Washington  and  California  Eldership."  This  covered  an  area 
by  air  lines  of  about  1,200  miles  North  and  South,  and  from  195  to  350  miles 
East  and  West.  If  this  were  the  only  question,  then  a  division  of  the  territory 
into  not  less  than  three  Elderships  would  be  justified.  This  is  given  as  the  reason 
for  the  action  in  1899,  under  which  a  separate  Eldership  was  authorized  to  be 
formed  in  Washington  "when  the  churches  in  Washington  can  organize  with  six 
ordained  ministers."  The  organization  was  to  be  "subject  to  the  approval  of  the 
General  Eldership."  The  Eldership  comprising  the  three  States  convened  at  Fir 
Grove,  Oregon,  October  12,  1899.  On  the  previous  evening  J.  F.  Schoch  preached 
the  Opening  Sermon.  J.  Gan-igns  was  elected  President;  D.  F.  Batson,  Clerk,  and 
J.  C.  Gariigus,  Treasurer.  The  Life  Certificates  adopted  by  the  General  Elder- 
ship were  issued  to  the  ministers,  but  emphasis  was  laid  on  the  provision  that  their 
surrender  can  be  demanded.  Special  efforts  were  required  to  be  made  by  min- 
isters and  churches  to  "secure  missionary  money  in  the  month  of  November,  and 
also  to  replenish  the  Contingent  Fund."  There  were  sixteen  ordained  ministers  in 
the  Eldership,  and  two  exhorters.  There  were  eleven  fields  of  labor,  two  of  them 
In  California,  and  a  General  Evangelist  for  California.  The  brethren  in  Washing- 
ton, availing  themselves  of  the  permission  granted  to  organize  an  Eldership  in  that 
State,  were  called  to  meet  for  that  purpose  in  the  Union  Bethel,  Mountain  View, 
Wash.,  May  25,  1900.  On  the  evening  of  the  24th  J.  F.  Schoch  preached  the 
Opening  Sermon,  from  II.  Tim.  iv.  4,  5.  Schoi'h  was  elected  President,  and  A.  H. 
Dujilap,  Clerk.  The  required  number  of  six  ministers  were  enrolled.  The  ses- 
sions were  harmonious  and  peaceful.  Provision  was  made  to  supply  the  circuits 
in  Washington,  with  Mai-y  E.  B.  Buckbee  as  general  worker  in  the  State. 

11th  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership. — The  Washington  Eldership  seems  to 
have  wandered  into  "Death  Valley."  In  May,  1900,  it  held  its  first  session,  and 
adjourned  "to  meet  at  Nooksachk,  Whatcom  county.  Wash.,  before  full  moon  in 
October,  1900."  On  September  26th  an  announcement  of  the  session  was  made, 
"the  meeting  to  be  held  at  Mountain  Bethel,  Whatcom  county.  Wash.,  October  10, 
1900,  the  Opening  Sermon  to  be  preached  by  J.  F.  Schoch."  Nothing  has  since 
been  published  concerning  it.  But  "the  Oregon,  Washington  and  California  Elder- 
ship met  at  Aumsville,  Oregon,  October  4,  1900,  and  was  constituted  by  J.  Ganigus, 
Chairman,  and  John  Boor,  Clerk.  An  organization  was  effected  by  the  choice  of 
J.  W.  Force,  Speaker;  John  Boor,  Clerk.  The  Eldership  expressed  its  desire  for 
a  change  in  form  and  reduction  in  price  of  The  Advocate.  It  gratefully  accepted 
the  appointment  of  A.  Wilson  by  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership, 
and   permitted  him   "to   labor  wherever  he  feels   inclined."     The  ministers  were 


724  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

required  "to  collect  from  each  member  at  least  one  dollar  per  year,"  to  go  into 
"the  treasury  to  be  used  as  the  Eldership  may  direct."  Also  to  "lift  collections 
every  quarter  for  the  Superannuated  and  Widows'  Fund."  There  were  eleven 
fields  of  labor,  of  which  two  were  in  California  and  three  in  Washington.  E.  E. 
Cory  was  named  as  General  Evangelist  in  California. 

12th  Oi-egon  and  Washington  Eldership. — Conditions  existed  in  the  Pacific 
Coast  Eldership  which  demanded  investigation.  The  Eldership  appointed  a  com- 
mittee for  this  purpose,  and  the  second  day's  morning  sitting  was  set  apart  for 
the  work.  While  the  entire  sitting  was  "devoted  to  singing  and  prayer,  the  com- 
mittee was  investigating  matters  on  the  outside."  The  Eldership  had  convened 
on  Thursday  morning,  October  24,  1901,  at  Salem,  Oregon.  On  Wednesday  even- 
ing J.  W.  Force  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon.  The  election  for  Speaker  resulted 
in  the  choice  of  J.  Garrigus,  and  for  Clerk  of  John  Boor.  Force  was  elected  a 
trustee  of  the  Eldership.  Francis  A.  Sharp,  H.  D.  Mclntyre  and  J.  A.  Swanson, 
licensed  by  other  Elderships,  were  "voted  members  of  the  Eldership."  Mclntyre 
was  "recommended  to  the  Board  of  Missions  to  do  mission  work  in  Washington, 
and  Sharp  and  Swanson  were  given  appointments,  of  which  there  were  seven. 

13th  Oi-egon  and  Washington  Eldership.-^This  Eldership  was  one  of  the  first 
to  "organize  an  Eldership  Woman's  Missionary  Society  to  co-operate  with  the  W. 
G.  M.  S.  to  be  organized  in  June,  1903,  at  Findlay,  Ohio,  as  per  arrangements  made 
by  the  General  Eldership  at  Idaville,  Indiana,  in  June,  1902."  A.  Wilson  led  off 
in  the  matter,  and  the  action  was  unanimous.  The  session  was  held  with  the 
church  at  Buckley,  Washington,  beginning  with  the  Opening  Sermon  on  Wednesday 
evening,  October  14,  1902,  by  J.  Garrigus.  The  Ministerial  Association  occupied 
the  previous  day.  Ganigus  was  elected  President,  and  John  Boor,  Clerk.  One 
member,  Francis  A.  Sharp,  had  died  during  the  year,  and  the  Eldership  "deeply 
mourned  the  loss  of  our  beloved  brother."  The  report  on  Temperance  was  of  a 
most  specific  character,  and  severe  in  terms.  It  declared  that  "intemperance  is  the 
blighting  curse  of  the  country,  the  cause  of  at  least  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  crimes 
of  the  whole  country;"  that  "this  monster  evil  is  the  product  of  the  Republican 
and  Democratic  parties,  which  have  dominated  the  politics  of  the  country  for  forty 
years,  and  have  used  the  whiskey  power  in.  order  to  carry  the  election  from  time  to 
time,  and  have  concealed  the  real  needs  of  the  country  from  the  people."  Hence 
the  Eldership  expressed  "the  opinion  that  every  loyal  man,  every  lover  of  home 
and  country,  should  resolutely  turn  away  from  these  parties,  and  under  no  circum- 
stances cast  his  vote  for  a  candidate  for  any  office  who  will  not  pledge  himself  un- 
conditionally to  support  the  prohibition  cause."  There  were  seven  regular  fields 
of  labor,  all  supplied  with  pastors,  and  R.  A.  Slyter  was  appointed  General  Worker, 
and  "to  visit  Spokane  Mission." 

14th  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldei-ship. — The  churches  of  God  in  one  Elder- 
ship in  Pennsylvania  received  nearly  all  their  earliest  preaching  in  German.  In 
several  Elderships  it  was  originally  nearly  half  in  German  and  half  in  English. 
From  Ohio  westward  German  was  the  exception,  there  being  no  German  preaching 
in  the  south-western  Elderships.  In  later  years  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  had 
one  or  two  ministers  who  preached  in  a  Slavish  dialect.  In  the  Oregon  and  Wash- 
ington Eldership  there  was  preaching  in  French,  German  and  English,  at  Salem, 
Oregon,  there  being  at  this  time  organizations  composed  of  members  speaking 
these  three  languages.  L.  T.  Lardon,  in  1903,  was  appointed  pastor  of  "the 
French  and  German  church  at  Salem,  and  to  preach  in  English  wherever  called 
upon."  The  Eldership  convened  at  Fir  Grove,  Oregon,  October  2,  1903,  the  Open- 
ing Sermon  having  been  preached  the  previous  evening  by  A.  Wilson.  The  of- 
ficers were  G.  F.  Shoch,  President;  D.  F.  Batson,  Clerk.  Ten  appointments  were 
made,  and  the  English  church  at  Salem,  Oregon,  was  unsupplied.  Indio,  Cal.,  was 
the  only  charge  in  that  State.  J.  Garrigus  was  appointed  General  Worker  in 
Oregon,  and  H.  D.  Mclntyre,  "Missionary  to  North  Washington,  with  recommen- 
dation to  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  for  support  until  his  suc- 
cessor be  sent  from  the  East." 

15th  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership. — An  Act  of  Incorporation  was  se- 
cured during  the  year  1903-4,  the  State  lines  of  Oregon,  Washington  and  Cali- 
fornia being  the  boundaries.  Three  trustees,  J.  Garrigus,  J.  W.  Force  and  E. 
Porter,  were  named  as  the  trustees  of  the  Eldership.  This  action  was  ratified  by 
the  Eldership  which  convened  with  the  church  at  Salem,  Oregon,  on  Thursday 
morning,  September  29,  1904.  The  previous  evening  the  Opening  Sermon  was 
preached  "in  the  African  church,  by  J.  F.  Schoch."      The  bethel  of  the  church  of 


The   Oregon    and    Washington    Eldership  725 

God  had  been  locked  against  the  Eldership,  as  the  church  had  seceded;  but  re- 
lented in  so  far  as  to  open  the  house  on  Thursday  morning  for  the  session  of  the 
Eldership.  After  organization  by  the  election  of  J.  F.  Schoch,  President,  and 
J.  C.  Garrigus,  Clerk,  the  troubles  at  the  Salem  church  were  taken  up.  The 
Eldership  commended  "the  action  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship in  withholding  aid  from  the  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership  until  the 
trouble  be  settled."  Then  a  "Board  of  Arbitration  was  chosen  to  settle  the 
trouble,  consisting  of  J.  Boor,  J.  Ganigus  and  Jesse  Huddle.  By  mutual  with- 
drawals of  charges  by  A.  Wilson  and  by  the  Standing  Committee,  and  the  exer- 
cise of  "a  spirit  of  forgiveness  manifested  by  each  to  all  of  the  parties  concerned," 
unity  and  peace  were  restored,  and  "the  seceded  church  of  God  at  Salem  was 
reinstated  to  its  former  relations  with  the  Eldership."  There  were  ten  fields  of 
labor,  and  A.  Wilson  was  appointed  Evangelist,  "with  a  recommendation  to  the 
Board  of  Missions  for  new  territory."  The  Board  was  also  asked  "to  send  a  mis- 
sionary to  this  Eldership  and  support  him  until  the  work  is  self-supporting." 

16th  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership. — Sanguine  expectations  of  success 
in  its  work  on  the  "Pacific  Slope"  characterized  the  Eldership  when  it  convened 
in  1905.  There  were  some  local  troubles  unadjusted,  but  there  was  a  spirit  of 
unity  and  co-operation  prevalent.  The  session  was  held  at  Buckley,  Washington, 
and  opened  on  Thursday,  October  oth.  On  Wednesday  evening  J.  F.  Schoch  de- 
livered the  Opening  Sermon.  When  the  Roll  was  completed  there  were  on  it  the 
names  of  nine  teaching  elders  present,  one  a  woman,  and  six  absent;  also  two  ruMng 
elders  and  one  delegate,  a  woman.  The  ballot  resulted  in  the  election  of  J.  F. 
Schoch,  Speaker;  J.  Garrigus,  Clerk;  J.  C.  Garrigus,  Treasurer.  In  general  terms 
it  was  affirmed  that  "men  will  not  endure  sound  doctrine;  that  they  have  become 
largely  a  pleasure-loving  people  more  than  lovers  of  God,  and  that  among  the 
professed  Christians  the  religion  of  Christ  has  reached  such  a  low  ebb  that  we 
look  with  alarm  upon  the  future  of  the  cause  of  God."  The  Church,  therefore, 
"must  educate;"  but  this  must  be  "a  thorough  scriptural  education,"  which  is  "the 
best  that  is  possible  to  man  in  this  world  of  sin  and  infidelity."  Two  candidates 
for  the  ministry  were  ordained,  both  of  which  were  assigned  to  charges.  The 
Eldership  expressed  appreciation  of  A.  H.  Long's  donation  of  a  lot  of  tracts,  with 
which  in  190.5  he  favored  all  the  Annual  Elderships.  The  temperance  sentiment 
was  clear  and  strong,  but  not  fanatical.  The  body  believed  "intemperance  to  be 
the  greatest  evil  we  as  a  Nation  have  to  contend  with,"  and  so  "every  Christian 
should  do  all  that  lies  in  his  power  to  destroy  it.  Then  let  us  vote  as  we  pray, 
and  we  know  that  God  will  bring  about  the  great  reform."  It  linked  tobacco  with 
intemperance,  and  counseled  abstinence,  that  ministers  .especially  may  be  pure 
and  clean.  The  two  women  members  of  the  Eldership  were  on  this  Committee. 
An  important  action  of  the  Eldership  in  1903  was  rescinded  as  having  been  se- 
cured by  "conspiracy  against"  a  prominent  member  of  the  Eldership.  The 
rescinding  resolution  of  "the  work  done  at  the  said  Fir  Grove  Eldership  in  1903," 
which  "created  much  harm  at  home  and  abroad,"  carried  with  it  "the  whole  work 
done  at  said  Fir  Grove  Eldership  in  1903,  except  the  report  of  the  Treasurer, 
together  with  the  receipt  afid  disbursement  of  the  finances."  The  beginning  of 
more  serious  trouble  may  date  from  the  facts  thus  entered  on  the  Journal.  J.  C. 
Garrigus  was  appointed  General  Missionary;  J.  Garrigus  was  the  Missionary  in 
northern  Oregon,  and  E.  Porter  missionary  in  Pierce  county,  Wash.  In  addition 
to  these  there  were  six  fields  of  labor.      California  was  not  on  the  list. 

17th  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership.— It  was  published  in  November, 
1905,  that  at  the  Eldership  held  a  month  before  "the  waters  became  a  little  rough, 
but  were  soon  quieted  by  the  overruling  of  the  better  spirit;"  yet  the  session 
of  1906  witnessed  more  troubled  waters.  Some  actions  of  1904  and  1905  were 
rescinded,  including  the  rescinding  action  of  1905.  The  property  at  Salem,  which, 
contrary  to  the  action  of  the  Eldership,  was  deeded  to  the  Executive  Board  of 
the  General  Eldership,  was  also  a  subject  of  contention.  The  redeeding  of  said 
property  to  the  Oregon,  Washington  and  California  Eldership  was  urged  upon  the 
Executive  Board.  The  session  was  held  in  the  bethel  at  Salem,  Oregon,  and 
began  October  4,  1906.  On  the  evening  of  October  3rd,  J.  W.  Force  delivered  the 
Opening  Sermon.  There  were  present  six  teaching  elders,  two  ruling  elders  and 
two  delegates,  women.  A  peculiar  condition  existed,  which  the  Eldership  sought 
to  correct.  In  19  00  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  sent  A.  Wil- 
son, Nebraska  Eldership,  as  missionary  to  the  Pacific  Coast.  He  held  "his  transfer 
until  September  30,  1904;"  but  "no  action  was  taken  on  it  at  that  time,"  yet  he 


7^^  History    of    the    Churches  of    God 

acted  as  a  member  of  the  body,  and  it  had  physical  possession  of  his  Transfer. 
It  now  decided  to  "refuse  to  accept  his  Transfer,"  but  to  "return  said  Transfer  to 
him  in  Nebraska,"  and  rescinded  "all  actions  which  the  former  sessions  have  taken 
In  regard  to  A.  Wilson's  license  and  Transfer."  There  were  some  men  of  strong 
"Wills,  forceful  personalities  and  inherent  self-reliance  in  the  Eldership.  Milton 
spoke  a  good  word  to  these:  "Those  who  best  bear  Christ's  mild  yoke,  they 
serve  him  best."  The  ministers  were  counseled  to  do  their  duty  in  leading  the 
churches  to  help  to  "crush  out  the  great  evil  of  intemperance."  The  hope  was 
also  expressed  that  "the  evil  of  the  use  of  tobacco  be  suppressed,  and  that  it  may 
cease  in  the  churches  of  God,  especially  in  the  pulpit."  Indio,  Cal.,  again  appears 
on  the  list  of  appointments,  with  eight  other  fields  in  Oregon  and  Washington, 
two  of  them  missions.  Besides,  J.  Garrigus  was  Eldership  Missionary,  and  AVm. 
A.dains,  State  Evangelist. 

18th  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership. — The  divisive  forces  operative  in 
1905-6  sundered  the  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership  in  1907.  Each  section 
claimed  to  be  the  Oregon,  Washington  and  California  Eldership,  and  as  such  met 
at  two  different  places,  organized  and  transacted  business.  The  session  of  the 
first  was  held  at  Salem,  Oregon,  and  began  September  5,  1907.  It  enrolled  as 
present  eight  teaching  elders,  two  of  them  women,  seven  ruling  elders  and  two 
delegates,  both  women.  R.  A.  Slyter  was  chosen  Speaker;  John  Boor,  Clerk.  It 
at  once  took  as  "unfinished  business"  an  action  adopted  by  "a  small  minority  of 
the  members  of  the  Eldership  convened  at  Salem  last  October,"  and  resolved  that 
"said  meeting  was  illegal,  and  the  work  done  by  the  same  is  null  and  void." 
Others  viewed  these  actions  as  hasty,  believing  that  where  there  is  real  regret  at 
a  deplorable  state  in  the  relations  of  a  body  of  people  there  should  be  time  given 
for  the  exercise  of  a  more  calm  balance  of  judgment,  a  thoroughly  candid  search- 
ing of  the  very  springs  of  right  action.  The  Eldership  declared  that  "the  only 
consistent  plan  to  pursue  on  the  Missionary  question  is  to  stand  together  and  af- 
filiate with  the  General  Eldership  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  1903.  It  was  in  full  sympathy 
■with  all  the  interests  and  institutions  of  the  general  body.  Charges  were  pre- 
ferred by  A.  Wilson  against  J.  Garrigus  and  J.  C  Garrigus  for  "joining  in  a  con- 
spiracy headed  by  H.  D.  Mclntyre  in  1903,"  and  other  wrong  acts  in  1904,  1905 
and  1906.  These  "charges  and  specifications  were  sustained  without  a  dissent- 
ing voice,"  the  accused  not  being  present.  Their  names  were  ordered  "stricken 
from  the  Roll  of  the  Eldership,"  and  the  Certificates  of  Ordination  recalled.  The 
Eldership  organized  a  Woman's  Missionary  Society,  in  line  with  its  action  on  the 
W.  G.  M.  S.  question.  The  appointments  numbered  ten,  with  pastors  for  all  of 
them.  Three  of  them  were  called  "missions."  Two  charges  were  in  California. 
Florence  Boyd  was  named  as  General  Worker;  William  Adams  Eldership  Evan- 
gelist, and  Libbie  Wilson  one  of  the  pastors  of  "Salem,  Aumsville  and  surround- 
ings." 

A  month  later,  October  3,  1907,  another  Oregon,  Washington  and  California 
Eldership  met  with  the  church  at  Fir  Grove,  Oregon,  which  claimed  to  be  the 
body  chartered  by  the  General  Eldership.  Nine  ministers  reported  by  J.  Garrigus 
as  present;  three  reported  by  letter;  four  "failed  to  report,  and  their  names  were 
dropped  from  the  Roll."  Five  ruling  elders  were  present,  and  one  delegate.  The 
Opening  Sermon  was  preached  on  the  evening  of  Octobr  2nd.  D.  F,  Batson  was 
elected  President;  J.  Ganigus,  Clerk;  J.  C  Garrigus,  Treasurer.  The  Eldership 
"was  a  unit  on  every  question."  It  claimed  that  "the  Eldership  which  met  at 
Salem,  Oregon,  the  5th  day  of  September,  1907,  purporting  to  be  the  Oregon, 
Washington  and  California  Eldership,  met  contrary  to  the  Constitution  of  said 
Eldership,"  and  therefore  this  body  in  session  at  Fir  Grove,  Oregon,  is  "the 
Oregon,  Washington  and  California  Eldership."  As  such  it  "condemned  the  ac- 
tions taken  at  Salem  by  the  said  so-called  Eldership."  The  action  taken  by  the 
(IJpmmission  to  settle  the  differences  between  the  two  W.  G.  M.  Societies  was 
"acquiesced  in,"  and  the  body  agreed  to  "support  the  General  Eldership  in  the 
fission  work."  Appointments  were  made  to  seven  fields.  Five  of  the  ministers 
were  appointed  by  both  Elderships.  To  many  conditions  were  portentous  of  grave 
aisaster  to  the  cause  on  the  coast,  as  it  looked  as  though  peace  had  "fled  like  the 
night  at  dawn." 

10th  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership. — Three  important  Special  Notices 
were  published  simultaneously  in  August,  19  08.  One  called  a  meeting  of  the 
5regon,  Washington  and  California  Eldership  at  Salem,  Oregon,  October  1,  1908. 
This  was  signed  by  A.  Wilson,  K.  A.  Slyter  and  S.  S.  liihner.  Standing  Committee. 


The:    Oregon    and    Washington    Eldership  727 

The  second  called  a  meeting  of  the  Eldership  under  the  same  title  to  be  held  at 
Buckley,  Wash.,  on  the  same  date.  This  was  signed  by  J.  Garrigus,  Stated  Clerk. 
It  was  also  endorsed  by  J,  Gariigus,  J.  W.  Force  and  E.  Poi-ter,  Trustees.  The 
third  was  a  notice  "to  all  parties  concerned.  .  .  .that  a  petition  will  be  presented 
to  the  next  meeting  of  the  General  Eldership  to  change  the  boundary  lines  and 
divide  the  territory"  and  make  two  Elderships  in  the  three  States.  This  could  be 
a  solution  of  the  trouble,  if  personal,  and  bring  out  again  the  stars  which  were 
hid.  The  Salem  Eldership  convened  as  per  announcement,  October  1,  1908.  The 
preceding  evening  R.  A.  Slyter  preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  There  were  nine 
teaching  elders  present,  seven  ruling  elders  and  one  delegate.  Six  were  marked 
absent.  Three  of  those  present  were  women.  R.  A.  Slyter  was  chosen  Presi- 
dent; S.  S.  Kilmer,  Clerk.  The  deeding  of  "the  church  property  at  Salem  to  the 
Board  of  Incorporation  of  the  General  Eldership  in  order  to  avoid  litigation  and 
trouble"  was  approved;  but  the  redeeding  of  it  to  the  trustees  of  the  church  at 
Salem  was  requested.  The  Eldership  also  renewed  its  expression  of  fealty  to  the 
General  Body  and  its  Boards,  together  with  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  1903.  Delegates 
to  the  General  Eldership  in  1909  were  elected,  but  without  instructions  relative 
to  a  division  of  the  territory.  Appointments  were  made  to  nine  charges,  with 
two  General  Workers. 

On  the  same  date  the  other  body  under  the  same  name  convened  at  Buckley, 
Washington,  where  D.  F.  Batson  preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  It  was  a  spiritual 
meeting,  with  "peace  and  love  prevailing  throughout  all  the"  sittings.  It  closed 
with  an  ordinance  meeting,  and  there  were  two  conversions  before  the  meeting 
closed.  There  were  present  seven  teaching  elders,  and  four  reported  by  letter; 
also  one  ruling  elder.  D.  F.  Batson  was  elected  President;  J.  Garrigiis,  Clerk; 
J.  C  Garrigus,  Treasurer.  A  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership  was  elected, 
"The  cause  of  religion  is  on  the  advance  in  our  Eldership"  was  the  conclusion  of 
the  Committee  on  State  of  Religion.  In  "hearty  sympathy  with  the  temperance 
work  all  over  the  world,"  the  Eldership  "requested  the  ministers  to  preach  at 
least  one  sermon  at  each  appointment  on  the  subject  during  the  year.  Nine  ap- 
pointments were  made,  with  one  General  Missionary.  Six  ministers  were  appoint- 
ed by  both  Elderships.  Both  Elderships  adjourned  to  meet  at  different  points  in 
1909.  The  division  was  hurtful  to  Church  interests  on  the  Pacific,  and  it  seemed 
as  if  the  great  business  should  be  to  find  the  undiscovered  land  of  union  and  peace 
in  these  unpromising  places  of  which  Christian  souls  are  sick  and  tired!  Is  it  not, 
this  ideal  country,  in  our  own  dispositions,  "wherever  may  be  the  garden  of  the 
Hesperides?" 

20th  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership. — The  General  Eldership  in  1909  en- 
rolled A.  Wilson  and  J.  Ganigus,  representing  the  two  Elderships  on  the  Pacific 
Coast,  after  the  Judiciary  Committee  had  made  an  investigation  of  the  differences 
between  the  two  parties.  It  recognized  "the  Eldership  as  chartered  by  the  General 
Eldership,  composed  of  all  ordained  ministers  of  both  factions  and  other  members, 
as  provided  for  by  the  Constitution."  It  then  directed  said  Eldership  to  meet  and 
be  constituted  according  to  this  action,  "on  the  first  Thursday  in  October,  19  09,  at 
Salem,  Oregon,  and  that  all  previous  troubles  and  difficulties  shall  receive  no 
further  recognition."  It  also  directed  how  the  Eldership  should  be  constituted, 
and  who  should  preach  the  Opening  Sermon.  In  September  this  action  was  pub- 
lished without  signature,  and  it  was  added:  "The  brethren  of  the  Eldership 
should  govern  themselves  accordingly."  To  those  not  so  fully  conversant  with  the 
underlying  causes  of  the  division  it  seemed  as  though  the  sun  of  harmony  were 
breaking  through  the  clouds  of  strife.  "The  Eldership  met  at  Salem,  Oregon, 
October  7,  1909,  according  to  order  of  the  Judiciary  Committee  of  the  General 
Eldership."  Fourteen  ministers  were  present,  and  seven  ruling  elders.  D.  L. 
Batson  was  appointed  Chairman  pro  tem.,  and  R.  A.  Slyter,  Secretary,  after  which 
the  permanent  organization  was  effected  by  the  election  of  R.  A.  Slyter,  President; 
S.  S.  Kilmer,  Clerk.  This  ended  the  business  of  the  united  body,  as  was  claimed, 
because  these  two  officials  had  been  members  of  the  one  Eldership,  and  their  elec- 
tion revealed  a  sinister  or  corrupt  purpose.  "At  this  juncture"  seven  ministers 
"arose  and  left  the  room,  and  went  to  another  part  of  the  city  and  organized  what 
they  called  the  Free  Church  of  God."  Efforts  subsequently  made  to  reunite  the 
parties  have  failed  of  success.  The  brethren  which  did  not  leave  "the  room"  pro- 
ceeded with  the  business.  They  gave  their  "unqualified  support  to  the  General 
Eldership  in  the  final  action"  which  it  took,  "relative  to  our  foreign  and  home 
missionary  work,  placing  all  missionary  interests  under  the  government  and  con- 


728  History    op    the    Churches    of    God 

trol  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  1903."  It  deemed  it  "a  matter  of  Christian  loyalty  to 
patronize  and  support"  the  Church  literature.  The  "names  of  those  brethren 
who  went  out  from  us,"  declared  the  Eldership,  "ignored  the  authority  of  the 
Eldership,  and  also  that  of  the  General  Eldership,"  "therefore  their  names  be 
dropped  from  the  Ministerial  Roll,  and  they  be  required  to  return  their  Certificates 
of  Ordination."  There  were  four  charges  to  which  pastors  were  specifically  as- 
signed; but  Florence  Boyd  was  to  labor  "wherever  opportunity  affords;"  R.  A. 
Slyter,  General  Worker,  and  to  look  after  church  property  at  Thatcher,  and  W. 
Adams,  Evangelist  in  southern  Oregon,  including  Polk,  Yamhill  and  Washington 
counties. 

21st  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership. — The  church  at  Payette,  Idaho,  made 
overtures  to  be  received  into  the  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership;  but  adverse 
action  was  taken  until  "they  get  their  trouble  settled."  There  were  other  rea- 
sons also,  and  so  the  Clerk  was  authorized  "to  write  to  the  church  at  Payette  and 
explain  the  cause  of  our  taking  the  above  action."  The  session  was  held  at 
Squamish  Harbor,  Wash.,  and  opened  on  Thursday,  August  18,  1910.  On  the 
previous  evening  AV.  Adams  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon.  During  Wednesday, 
the  17th,  the  Ministerial  Association  held  its  session.  Eight  ministers  attended 
the  Eldership,  and  three  delegates.  R.  A.  Slyter  was  elected  President;  S.  S.  Kil- 
mer, Clerk.  The  Eldership  claimed  to  be  "conscientious  in  the  belief  that  God 
has  given  a  plain  revelation  of  his  will  relative  to  the  churches  of  God;"  it 
charged  that  "there  are  those  who  assume  our  name,  and  are  openly  opposing  us 
and  hindering  us  in  our  work,  and  some  of  this  class  are  members  of  Elderships," 
and  hence  it  declared  "that  no  Eldership  should  assign  a  work  to  a  preacher  who 
is  not  loyal  to  the  Eldership  and  all  its  Boards."  The  significance  of  this  action 
is  veiled,  and  may  have  been  "action"  to  be  explained  to  the  Payette  church.  The 
Board  of  Missions  was  solicited  to  appoint  a  missionary  in  the  State  of  Idaho,  with 
headquarters  at  Payette,  and  one  in  Oregon,  with  headquarters  at  Salem.  The 
ground  for  this  request  was  "the  pressing  needs  of  the  few  churches"  in  the  States 
named.  The  condition  of  the  work  is  revealed  in  the  Report  of  the  Stationing 
Committee:  "Florence  Boyd  to  the  church  at  Airlie  and  wherever  opportunity 
presents  itself.  W.  E.  Couch,  Squamish  Harbor  and  surroundings;  A.  Wilson  to 
preach  wherever  he  chooses;  J.  L.  McClanahan  to  look  up  the  brethren  in  Douglass 
county,  Washington,  and  build  up  a  church  work  there;  W.  Adams  to  all  the  terri- 
tory between  Tacoma,  Wash.,  and  the  Columbia  River."  A.  Wilson,  a  well-pre- 
served man,  and  leader  in  this  Eldership,  entered  the  ministry  in  1861,  in  Iowa. 
He  was  now  in  his  77th  year. 

22nd  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership.— There  was  considerable  rejoicing 
over  conditions  in  the  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership  in  1911.  "The  spirit  of 
the  Master  was  with  us."  "There  was  love  from  the  first  to  the  last  of  the  meet- 
ing." "The  prospect  is  brighter  for  the  future."  "One  of  the  brethren  who  went 
out  from  us  at  Salem,  two  years  ago,  came  back  to  the  Eldership."  "We  re- 
ceived the  Certificates  of"  two  "from  the  Free  Church,  and  gave  a  license  to  one, 
so  that  we  are  four  stronger  than  we  were."  Thus  the  Eldership  almost  felt  to 
say  that  "the  face  of  the  sky  was  never  so  free  and  so  fair."  The  Eldership  con- 
vened with  the  church  at  Squamish  Harbor,  near  Shine,  Wash.,  October  5,  1911. 
The  previous  evening  R.  A.  Slyter  preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  He  was  elected 
President;  S.  S.  Kilmer,  Clerk;  H.  Wood,  Treasurer.  The  efforts  to  adjust  the 
troubles  in  Oregon  and  Washington,  made  by  the  Executive  Board  of  the  General 
Eldership  through  a  Commission  of  which  A.  C.  Gamer  was  Chairman,  were  re- 
ciprocated by  the  Eldership.  It  elected  a  committee  to  confer  with  said  Commis- 
sion. It  also  requested  that  the  territory  of  the  Eldership  be  divided,  making  the 
State  line  between  Oregon  and  Washington  the  boundary  line."  "A  faithful  man 
of  God"  ended  his  career  when  "the  sudden  rending  of  the  veil  of  clay"  released 
the  spirit  of  W.  E.  Couch.  His  ministerial  life  was  brief,  as  he  was  ordained  by 
the  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership  in  1908.      He  was  a  faithful  laborer. 

23rd  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership. — As  the  Commission  appointed  to 
restore  unity  and  harmony  between  the  divided  forces  in  Oregon  and  Washington 
did  not  possess  authority  to  divide  the  territory  into  two  Elderships,  a  petition  to 
that  effect  was  agreed  upon  in  1912  addressed  to  the  General  Eldership  in  1913. 
This  was  done  at  the  session  of  the  Eldership  which  was  held  at  Salem,  Oregon, 
beginning  October  3rd.  On  the  evening  of  October  2nd  J.  C.  Caswell  delivered  the 
Opening  Sermon.  S.  P.  Cresson  was  chosen  President;  W.  H.  Wilson,  Clerk;  J.  H. 
Boyd,  Treasurer.     There  were  echoes  of  the  troubles  which  resulted  in  the  division 


The  Okiahoma   and   Indian    Te^rritory   Eldership 


729. 


of  the  Eldership.  The  General  Eldership  was  "appealed  to  to  use  its  influence  to 
recover  the  money  lost  by  this  Eldership  when  the  Church  was  divided."  And 
"A.  Wilson  was  appointed  a  Committee  of  One  to  secure  the  money  in  the  hands 
of  the  Treasurer  at  the  time  of  the  organization  of  the  Free  Church  of  God." 
Lengthy  resolutions  were  adopted,  "censuring  our  Chief  Executive  for  appointing 
Roman  Catholics  to  high  positions  in  our  Government."  And  yet  it  was  conceded, 
that  the  man  who  was  destined  to  leave  the  White  House  and  the  one  selected  to- 
take  his  place  and  assume  the  awful  responsibilities  of  the  national  Executive  were 
of  the  best  type  of  Americans.  They  think  and  act  in  terms  of  a  pure  and  dis- 
interested patriotism.  The  license  system  was  vigorously  denounced,  while  the 
Governor  of  the  State  was  complimented  because  of  his  strenuous  efforts  and  per- 
sistent crusade  against  vice  of  every  description.  Leaving  Salem,  Oregon,  to  be 
supplied  by  the  Standing  Committee,  and  naming  A.  Wilson  as  Eldership  Mission- 
ary, the  Eldership  m.ade  appointments  to  four  fields  of  labor.  R.  A,  Slyter  was  ap- 
pointed General  Worker,  and  F.  Boyd  and  J.  C.  Caswell  to  labor  "where  oppor- 
tunity offers."  While  the  session  was  "characterized  by  a  feeling  of  peace  and 
harmony,"  the  facts  fail  to  reveal  a  hopeful  condition  of  the  work. 


XX.     THE  OKLAHOMA  AND  INDIAN  TERRITORY  ELDERSHIP. 


1st  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territoi-y  Eldership. — The  gratifying  compensation 
of  the  largely  fruitless  labors,  hardships  and  trials  of  B,  Ober  and  E.  Marple,  the 
first  missionaries  to  Texas,  was  always  found  by  them  in  the  extension  of  their  mis- 


E.  M.  Kirkpatrick. 


sion  northward.  Marple  states,  that  "from  the  Texas  mission  field  the  first 
churches  of  God  were  planted  in  Arkansas,  and  thence  into  Missouri,  and  Indian 
Territory,  and  Oklahoma,  which  is  now  the  Oklahoma  Eldership."  And  Ober  says: 
"The  first  preaching  that  was  done  by  any  minister  of  the  Church  of  God  In  our 
part  of  Oklahoma  [Custer  county]  was  by  me.  The  next  minister  that  preached 
here  was  E.  Marple;  and  the  next,  G.  T.  Bell,  who  organized  some  churches  at  some 
of  my  appointments."  But  the  Kansas  Eldership  began  work  in  the  northern  parts 
of  Oklahoma.  A  strip  of  50  miles  south  of  the  State  line  was  included  in  the  terri- 
tory of  the  Kansas  Eldership.  The  Oklahoma  territory  includes  now  the  two  Terri- 
tories of  Oklahoma  and  Indian,  as  the  State  of  Oklahoma,  being  bounded  on  the  east 
by  Missouri  and  Arkansas,  on  the  south  by  Texas,  on  the  west  by  Texfs  and  New 
Mexico,  and  on  the  north  by  Kansas.  However,  neither  of  these  three  ministers  was 
a  member  of  the  first  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territory  Eldership,  which  was  called 
to  meet  at  Lone  Oak,  Cherokee  Nation,  Ind.  Ter.,  November  16,  1892.  As  this  is 
near  Sallisaw  Station,  it  was  in  what  then  was  known  as  District  11,  in  the  easte'-n- 
central  part  of  the  Territory.  The  call  for  this  "first  Annual  Eldership  of  the 
Church  of  God  in  the  Indian  Territory"  was  issued  by  E.  M.  Kirkpatrick,  "General 


730  HisTOLv    a\'    THE    Ciii'Kciirs    or    Gop 

Missionary  in  the  Cherokee  Nation."  Five  ministers  were  present,  viz:  J.  W. 
Brown,  J.  D,  Shoemake,  E.  M.  Kirkpatrick,  R.  I).  Duncan  and  D.  H.  Hale.  Also 
D.  Jeffei-ies  and  Geo,  W.  Kirk,  "deacons  and  delegates."  Shoemake  was  made 
temporary  Chairman,  and  Brown,  temporary  Clerk.  An  election  for  permanent 
officers  resulted  in  the  choice  of  E.  M.  Kirkpatrick,  Speaker;  J.  W.  Brown,  Clerk, 
and  J.  C.  Caswell,  Treasurer.  Kirkpatrick  delivered  "the  introductory  sermon" 
after  the  organization.  He  was  also  elected  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership  in 
189  3,  and  Caswell,  alternate.  There  were  three  fields  of  labor,  with  appointees  as 
follows:  Honey  Hill,  Sallisaw,  Hanson  and  Breedlove,  R.  D.  Duncan;  Schinn 
School-house,  Standing  Rock,  Mt.  Nebo,  Shoemake  School-house  and  Mountain 
Grove,  J.  D.  Shoemake,  with  J.  F.  Summitt  as  Assistant;  Camp  Creek,  Mt.  Zion, 
Muldrow  and  Little  Lees  Creek,  D.  H,  Hale.  J.  W.  Riddle  was  received  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Eldership.  Each  minister  was  required  to  collect  and  pay  to  the  Treas- 
urer the  sum  of  $5.00  per  annum;  also  twenty-five  cents  from  each  member  for  an 
Eldership  fund.  A  Constitution  and  By-Laws  were  drafted  and  adopted.  The 
Standing  Committee  of  the  Texas,  Arkansas  and  Indian  Territory  Eldership  being 
informed  of  the  organization  of  the  new  Eldership  relinquished  its  claim,  January 
17,  1893,  to  the  Indian  Territory,  and  declared  that  thereafter  its  title  would  be 
"The  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God." 

E.  M.  Kii'kpatrick,  Speaker  of  the  first  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territory  Elder- 
ship, was  first  licensed  by  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership,  in  1884.  He  was 
then  a  member  of  the  church  at  Happy  Hollow,  Ind.  Ter.,  and  was  enrolled  among 
the  "ruling  elders  and  delegates."  That  he  was  a  man  of  more  than  common 
powers  and  culture  is  indicated  by  his  title  as  "Professor,"  and  also  by  the  promi- 
nent positions  which  he  filled  and  the  active  part  he  took  in  the  deliberations.  He 
was  elected  Secretary  of  the  Eldership,  and  was  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Resolutions.  He  did  not  take  an  appointment  in  1884;  but  in  1885  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  Lee's  Creek  circuit,  including  his  home  church.  He  was  made  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Standing  Committee,  and  was  appointed  to  preach  one  of  the  11  a.  m. 
sermons  during  the  session.  In  1886  and  1887  he  was  in  the  active  work.  At 
the  Eldership  in  18  88  he  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  and  was  chosen  President 
of  the  Eldership,  and  again  in  1890.  He  was  not  only  a  "rising  man,"  but  a  leader 
in  his  Eldership,  having  natural  talents  for  leadership.  In  1891  he  was  again 
elected  President,  and  also  in  1892.  And  a  little  later  the  Oklahoma  and  Indian 
Territory  Eldership  was  convened  to  hold  its  first  session,  he  was  the  logical  choice 
for  President.  He  gave  good  satisfaction  in  this  official  position,  and  was  a  worthy 
and  able  representative  of  his  Eldership. 

2nd  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Tenitory  Eldership. — At  the  General  Eldership  in 
June,  1893,  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Boundaries  was  adopted,  which  stated, 
that  "brethren  of  Texas  and  Indian  Territory  have  organized  themselves  into  an 
Eldership,  and  ask  that  they  be  recognized  as  a  separate  Eldership  to  be  known 
as  the  Indian  Territory  and  Oklahoma  Eldership,"  and  recommended  that  "this 
request  be  granted,  and  that  the  boundaries  of  this  Eldership  be  the  boundary 
lines  of  Indian  and  Oklahoma  Territories."  Having  thus  acquired  a  constitutional 
and  legal  status,  the  Eldership  was  called  to  meet  at  Mt.  Nebo,  Cherokee  Nation, 
Ind.  Ter.,  September  26,  1893.  J.  C.  Caswell  preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  The 
officers  chosen  were  R.  D.  Duncan,  President;  J.  D.  Shoemake,  Clerk,  and  J.  C.  Cas- 
well, Treasurer.  The  question  of  the  continuance  of  licenses  was  discussed,  and 
the  decision  reached  was  that  "all  ministers  holding  licenses  under  the  Eldership 
be  recognized  good  until  called  in  question  by  disorderly  conduct."  Presumably 
for  this  reason,  at  the  next  sitting  the  license  of  one  minister  was  "discontinued 
and  his  name  dropped  from  the  Roll."  Eight  ministers  reported,  and  fifteen 
churches.  It  was  voted  as  "the  opinion  of  this  body,  that  the  scriptural  mode  of 
ordination  is  by  prayer  and  the  laying  on  of  hands."  There  were  six  circuits,  to 
each  of  which  one  minister  was  assigned. 

3rd  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territory  Eldership. — There  had  been  no  formal 
deliverance  on  the  question  of  the  right  of  deacons  to  membership  in  the  Elder- 
ship; but  such  right  had  sometimes  been  conceded,  putting  them  on  an  equality 
with  ruling  elders.  None  was  enrolled  in  1894,  when,  on  October  25th,  the  Elder- 
ship was  constituted  at  Mt.  Zion,  Cherokee  Nation,  Ind.  Ter.  After  electing  E.  M. 
Kirkpatrick,  President;  C.  H.  Ballinger,  Clerk,  and  C.  Bnindage,  Assistant  Clerk, 
J.  W.  Riddle  delivered  the  Introductory  Sermon  at  11  a.  m.,  from  II.  Tim.  iii.  1.  Six 
teaching  elders  were  present,  three  ruling  elders  and  one  delegate.  A  sermon  was 
preached  each  morning  at  11  o'clock,  and  in  the  evening.      The  President  appointed 


The   Oklahoma   and   Indian    Territory    Eldership  731 

all  committees,  including  the  Stationing  and  the  Standing  Committees.  Reports  of 
churches  were  received  and  carefully  considered,  with  appropriate  action.  There 
was  "some  confusion  within  the  bounds  of  the  Eldership  relative  to  the  purpose 
or  design  of  baptism,"  when  the  Eldership  declared  its  unanimous  view  to  be,  "that 
water  baptism  is  not  in  order  to  the  remission  of  sins,  but  because  of  the  remis- 
sion of  sins,  and  that  no  one  has  a  right  to  participate  in  baptism,  only  those  who 
have  been  regenerated  and  born  of  the  Spirit."  The  agitation  in  print  of  "the 
right  of  sinners  to  pray"  had  also  been  taken  up  by  some  of  the  churches,  and  so 
the  Eldership  expressed  its  conviction,  "that  the  duty  of  prayer  is  with  the  chil- 
dren of  God;  but  the  privilege  of  prayer  is  extended  to  any  person,  and  that  the 
whole  world  is  the  subject  of  the  church's  prayers."  The  Stationing  Committee 
made  appointments  to  six  circuits,  naming  eleven  churches. 

4th  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territory  Eldership. — The  fourth  Annual  Eldership 
in  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territory  was  anticipated  as  "a  meeting  of  importance." 
It  was  held  with  the  church  at  Elm  Grove,  on  the  Arkansas  river,  Cherokee  Nation, 
Ind.  Ter.,  and  began  September  4,  1895.  R.  D.  Duncan  preached  the  Introductory 
Sermon.  The  forecast  touching  the  special  importance  of  the  session  did  not  pro- 
duce the  desired  results,  for  only  eight  of  the  twenty-one  ministers  were  present, 
with  four  ruling  elders  and  four  deacons.  An  election  for  officers  resulted  in  the 
choice  of  J.  C.  Caswell,  President;  J.  D.  Shoemake,  Vice  President;  C.  H.  Matthews, 
Clerk,  and  J.  M.  Benson,  Assistant  Clerk.  To  secure  funds,  each  pastor  was  re- 
quired to  collect  the  sum  of  $5.00.  Churches  were  all  to  report  annually  to  the 
Eldership,  giving  spiritual  condition,  number  of  members  and  financial  ability. 
Eleven  reported  this  year.  There  were  eight  fields  of  labor,  all  supplied  with 
pastors.  Other  ministers  were  admonished  to  be  active  missionaries,  "working 
their  own  fields  of  labor."  A  Board  of  Incorporation  was  appointed  by  the  Stand- 
ing Committee,  and  property  interests  were  referred  to  it.  One  of  the  first  churches 
organized  in  the  Indian  Territory  had  become  extinct,  the  one  at  Sillisaw,  Flint 
District,  and  the  Board  of  Incorporation  was  "authorized  to  sell  said  house,  and 
turn  over  the  proceeds  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  Eldership." 

5th  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Tenitory  Eldership, — The  importance  of  protecting 
the  moral  character  of  a  religious  body  by  holding  its  members  amenable  for  their 
official  and  moral  conduct  is  everywhere  recognized.  But  so  do  the  members  need 
protection  against  false  accusations  and  hasty  official  action.  In  not  a  few  in- 
stances has  this  principle  been  overlooked.  In  March,  1896,  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee of  the  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territory  Eldership  declared  the  license  of  one 
of  the  most  prominent  and  able  ministers  of  the  body  "null  and  void,  until  he  ex- 
onerates himself  before  the  Standing  Committee."  "When  the  Eldership  convened 
the  case  was  recommitted  to  the  Committee,  which  upon  investigation  "found  the 
brother  not  guilty."  The  session  was  held  at  Standing  Rock,  Cherokee  Nation, 
Canadian  District,  September  15,  189  6.  E.  M.  Kirkpatrick  delivered  the  Opening 
Sermon.  The  membership  consisted  of  nine  teaching  elders,  seven  ruling  elders, 
five  deacons  and  five  delegates.  The  work  had  prospered,  so  that  the  Eldership 
received  nine  churches.  These  were  located  in  the  Choctaw,  the  Creek  and  the 
•Cherokee  Nations.  E.  M.  Kirkpatrick,  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership  in  May, 
1896,  gave  his  report,  "which  was  highly  endorsed  by  the  Eldership."  He  was  the 
President  of  the  Eldership;  K.  A.  Wallace,  Assistant;  C.  H.  Mathews,  Clerk,  and  J. 
W.  Brown,  Assistant,  and  J.  D.  Shoemake,  Treasurer.  The  Eldership  deemed  it 
advisable  to  have  two  Standing  Committees — one  for  Oklahoma,  and  one  for  Indian 
Territory.  Relatively  weak  and  poor,  the  Eldership  felt  under  obligation  to  pay 
its  assessments  to  the  General  Eldership,  and  immediate  steps  were  determined 
upon  for  that  purpose.  The  territory  was  divided  into  nine  circuits,  and  to  each  a 
minister  was  assigned,  while  seven  ministers  "were  allowed  to  choose  their  own 
fields  of  labor." 

6th  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Tenitory  Eldership. — A  Board  of  Incorporation  was 
appointed  in  1894,  but  the  Eldership  had  not  been  incorporated,  so  that  it  had  no 
legal  status.  Hence,  in  1897,  the  Standing  Committee  for  Oklahoma  was  "author- 
ized to  draft  Articles  of  Incorporation,  and  also  to  act  in  the  capacity  of  a  Board 
of  Incorporation."  The  Eldership  held  its  session  with  the  church  at  Star  School- 
house,  Lincoln  county,  Oklahoma,  beginning  October  6,  1897.  Twelve  ministers 
were  enrolled,  and  five  more  were  received  on  Transfer,  and  a  Free  Baptist  min- 
ister was  licensed.  J.  D.  Shoemake  was  elected  President;  C.  Binindase,  Vice 
President;  J.  AV.  BroAvn,  Clerk,  and  J.  R.  Montgomery,  Assistant.  At  11  o'clock 
a.  m.,  each  day  the  Eldership  adjourned  to  listen  to  a  sermon.      The  eight  fields  of 


732  History    op    the    Churches    of    God 

labor  had  seventeen  preaching  points  indicated  by  the  Stationing  Committee^ 
Church  extension  work  was  to  be  zealously  pushed  by  all  the  ministers,  and  min- 
isters unassigned  were  advised  to  select  fields  of  labor  and  devote  their  time  to 
building  them  up.  In  addition  two  evangelists  were  appointed,  one  for  the  Indian 
Territory  and  one  for  Oklahoma.  Pour  things  were  specifically  enjoined  on  the 
ministers:  First.  To  teach  total  abstinence  from  the  use  of  ardent  spirits  as  a 
beverage.  Second.  To  follow  the  teachings  of  the  Apostles  strictly  in  all  their 
preaching  and  organizing  churches.  Third.  To  use  their  influence  to  circulate 
The  Church  Advocate  and  other  literature  of  the  Church.  Fourth.  To  strive  more 
extensively  to  co-operate  with  each  other,  and  each  one  to  teach  the  necessity  of 
supporting  the  ministry.  Though  the  funds  were  very  limited,  the  Treasurer,  J.  D. 
Shoemake,  who  was  re-elected,  gave  a  careful  account  of  moneys  received  and 
disbursed. 

7th  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territory  Eldership. — It  would  seem  next  to  in- 
credible that  at  so  early  a  period  in  the  history  of  an  Eldership  any  part  of  it. 
should  become  so  corrupt  as  to  need  special  "cleansing."  Something  to  this  effect 
was  implied  in  the  resolution  of  1897 — strictly  to  follow  the  teaching  of  the 
Apostles.  Yet  this  might  anticipate.  But  when  a  year  later  three  ministers  of 
experience  and  ability  were  appointed  "with  special  Instructions  that  they  cleanse 
the  work  in  Oklahoma,"  it  is  more  than  an  implication  that  conditions  were 
serious.  This  action  was  taken  at  the  session  held  in  the  Missionary  Baptist  house 
of  worship,  at  Sallisaw,  District  No.  11,  Indian  Territory,  which  began  November 
23,  1898.  The  membership  present  was  small,  there  being  present  four  min- 
isters, three  elders,  one  deacon  and  one  delegate.  The  spirit  of  non-co-operation, 
non-organization  and  independence  had  so  affected  the  work  in  Oklahoma  that  that 
part  of  the  territory  was  not  represented,  and  when  the  Stationing  Committee  re- 
ported it  only  supplied  the  fields  in  the  Indian  Territory — four  circuits.  J,  H. 
Cruniitt  was  chosen  President;  E.  M,  Kirkpatrick,  Clerk,  and  J.  D.  Shoemake, 
Treasurer.  The  license  of  one  minister  was  "revoked,"  and  one  name  added  to 
the  Ministerial  Roll.  The  need  of  a  missionary  well  enough  supported  to  devote  all 
his  time  to  the  work  was  voiced  in  an  action  asking  the  General  Eldership  Board 
of  Missions  to  appoint  E.  M.  Kirkpatrick  missionary  to  the  Indian  Territory,  with 
an  appropriation  of  $400.00.  The  matter  of  organizing  Woman's  Missionary  socie- 
ties was  favorably  considered. 

8th  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Ten-itory  Eldei-ship. — Only  surface  indications  of 
the  work  of  "cleansing"  the  Oklahoma  part  of  the  Eldership  were  given  to  the 
public.  A  better  and  more  sanguine  spirit  was  realized  in  1899,  when  the  Elder- 
ship met  at  Shady  Grove,  Sans  Bois  county,  Choctaw  Nation,  Indian  Territory,  Oc- 
tober 18th.  There  was  well-sustained  interest  to  the  close  of  the  session,  when 
the  ministers  returned  to  their  homes  and  fields  of  labor  much  revived.  The  dual 
Standing  Committees  were  continued,  without  any  special  instructions.  The 
officers  were  J.  D.  Shoemake,  President  and  Treasurer,  and  C.  W.  Ballinger,  Clerk. 
The  Life  Certificates  adopted  by  the  General  Eldership  were  issued  to  the  ministers. 
The  earnest  labors  of  the  ministers  and  churches  during  the  year  189  8-9  bore  a 
good  measure  of  fruit.  The  Stationing  Committee,  supplemented  by  the  acts  of 
the  Oklahoma  Standing  Committee,  created  and  supplied  ten  fields  of  labor. 

9th  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territoi-y  Eldership. — A  disposition  to  co-operate 
loyally  with  the  General  Eldership  always  characterized  the  ministry  of  the  Okla- 
home  and  Indian  Territory.  This  sentiment  was  strengthened  by  the  interest 
which  the  higher  body  manifested  in  the  success  and  enlargement  of  the  work  in 
this  fertile  territory.  Interests  being  mutual,  co-operation  was  natural.  This  was 
again  manifested  at  the  session  held  at  Salt  Creek  School-house,  near  Stroud,  Okla- 
homa, beginning  September  4,  1900.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  by  J.  C. 
Caswell,  from  Matt.  xvi.  18,  who  was  elected  Chairman.  The  other  officers  were 
G.  T.  Bell,  Assistant  Chairman;  C.  H.  Ballinger,  Clerk;  J.  A.  Montgomery,  Assistant 
Clerk.  A  new  Constitution  and  By-Laws  were  adopted.  Funds  of  all  kinds  were 
very  limited,  yet  the  Treasurer,  J.  D.  Shoemake,  made  a  report,  and  was  re-elected. 
The  Clerk  was  to  ascertain  the  indebtedness  of  the  Eldership,  notify  the  pastors, 
who  were  to  inform  the  deacons,  whose  duty  it  was  made  "to  collect  said  amount 
and  turn  the  same  over  to  the  Eldership  Treasurer,  who  was  to  turn  all  such  money 
over  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership."  J.  D. 
Shoemake  was  recommended  to  the  General  Eldership  Board  of  Missions  as  Mis- 
sionary in  Oklahoma.  Four  of  the  oldest  ministers  of  the  body  received  the  Life 
Certificates  of  Ordination.  "Charges  for  preaching  heresy,  and  some  other  things" 
were  preferred  against  one  minister,  and  his  "license  was  revoked  and  his  name 


The   Oklahoma  and   Indian    Territory    Eldership  733 

dropped  from  the  Roll."  A  Standing  Committee  was  appointed  for  Oklahoma,  and 
one  for  the  Indian  Territory  "to  transact  business  until  the  meeting  of  the  next 
Eldership."  There  were  nine  fields  of  labor,  the  largest  having  four  appoint- 
ments. There  were  fine  opportunities  for  enlargement,  so  that  each  minister  un- 
assigned  was  advised  "to  select  his  own  field  of  labor."  But  no  support  was  pro- 
vided for. 

10th  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territory  Eldership. — A  fair  measure  of  success  fol- 
lowed the  Eldership  of  1900.  At  least  three  new  churches  were  ready  "to  come 
under  the  protection  of  the  Eldership  and  be  received"  in  1901.  One  was  located 
at  Duck  Creek  school-house,  near  Mounds,  Creek  Nation,  Ind.  Ter.;  one  at  Fair 
View,  Okla.  Ter.,  and  one  at  Harmony  Grove,  Cherokee  Nation,  Ind.  Ter.  These 
were  received  by  the  Eldership  during  its  annual  session  held  at  Bethel  School- 
house  (originally  Valley  Grove),  near  Shaunee,  Oklahoma,  beginning  September 
3,  1901.  The  Eldership  remained  in  session  until  Friday  evening,  September  6th. 
G.  T.  Bell  was  elected  Speaker;  C.  H.  Ballinger,  Clerk;  D.  J.  Philbin,  Treasurer. 
Three  annual  collections  were  ordered  at  each  church,  one  being  for  the  General 
Eldership  Missionary  Fund.  The  ministers  were  required  to  bring  in  each  year 
"a  written  report  to  the  Eldership  of  all  moneys  received  for  salary  during  the  Eld- 
ership year."  A  Board  of  Missions  was  authorized.  B.  Ober,  the  oldest  member 
of  the  Eldership,  was  incessant  in  his  demands  that  the  Eldership  be  faithful  to  all 
its  obligations.  "We  are  not  worthy  to  be  called  an  Eldership,"  he  said,  "if  we 
pay  no  attention  to  the  financial  department  of  the  Church."  In  addition  to  the 
appointment  of  J.  D.  Shoemake  as  Missionary  in  the  Indian  Territory,  there  were 
five  other  ministers  assigned  to  fields  of  labor. 

11th  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territory  Eldership. — C.  Brundage,  a  member  of 
the  Eldership,  had  located  in  Manitoba,  Dominion  of  Canada,  at  Swan  River;  but 
had  forfeited  his  license.  He  availed  himself  of  the  session  of  1902  to  "ask  pardon 
and  requested  to  be  restored,  which  was  granted."  The  session  was  held  with  the 
church  at  Harmony  Grove  School-house,  Cherokee  Nation,  Ind.  Ter.,  beginning  Sep- 
tember 16,  1902.  The  previous  evening  E.  M.  Kirkpatrick  delivered  the  Opening 
Sermon,  from  Acts  xx.  28.  The  officials  of  the  Eldership  were:  Speaker,  S.  B. 
Moore;  Clerk,  C  H.  Ballinger;  Treasurer,  D.  J.  Philbin.  Dissatisfied  with  the 
boundary  line  between  the  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territory  Eldership  and  the 
Kansas  Eldership,  the  General  Eldership  was  by  unanimous  vote  requested  to  re- 
scind its  action  taken  in  June,  1902.  This  action  was  prompted  by  a  request  from 
E.  M.  Hickman  for  a  Transfer  for  himself  and  the  church  at  Glade  school-house, 
of  which  he  was  pastor,  to  the  Kansas  Eldership.  Earnest  action  was  taken  on  the 
subject  of  mission  work.  Each  minister  was  required  "to  teach  and  do  all  he  can 
to  get  up  an  interest  in  this  work,  and  to  show  the  brethren  the  necessity  of  such 
"work,  and  the  good  there  is  done  through  such  work,  and  to  urge  them  to  give  to 
the  support  of  this  work."  J.  W.  Burns,  of  the  Arkansas  Eldership,  had  labored 
in  the  Choctaw  Nation,  and  organized  two  churches,  which  were  received,  and  his 
Transfer  accepted.  C.  H.  Ballinger  was  recommended  to  the  General  Board  of 
Missions  as  missionary  in  south-eastern  Oklahoma,  and  L.  Teel,  for  the  Indian 
Territory.  The  church  at  Leedy,  Okla.,  organized  by  H.  W.  Allen,  was  received 
into  the  Eldership.  O.  A.  Newlin  was  present  in  the  interest  of  Ft.  Scott  Institute, 
Ft.  Scott,  Kansas.  The  Eldership  seal  had  been  purchased,  and  every  Certificate 
of  Ordination  was  to  have  it  affixed  to  make  it  valid.      There  were  four  circuits. 

12th  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Ten'itory  Eldership. — The  Eldership  year  1902-3 
was  one  of  special  activity  of  an  official  character.  The  Indian  Territory  Standing 
Committee,  on  October  25,  1902,  met  at  South  Bethel,  near  Bragg,  Ind.  Ter.,  and 
after  rearranging  part  of  the  work  of  the  Stationing  Committee,  acted  on  the  ques- 
tion of  "purchasing  a  tabernacle  for  holding  meetings."  A  favorable  decision  was 
reached,  and  it  was  ordered  that  funds  be  raised  and  a  tabernacle  bought  for  use 
in  the  Indian  Territory.  Cash  was  at  once  raised  to  the  amount  of  $43.00.  The 
matter  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  E.  M.  Kirkpatrick  and  George  liirk.  The 
Speaker  of  "the  Eldership  of  the  Indian  Territory  called  the  general  body  together 
to  transact  some  special  business,  on  February  14,  1903,  at  Harmony  Grove  School- 
liouse,  Cherokee  Nation,  Ind.  Ter.,  as  the  Standing  Committee  is  unorganized." 
The  main  business  transacted  related  to  charges  against  one  of  the  members  of  the 
Standing  Committee,  and  against  another  minister  by  the  Committee.  Investiga- 
tion in  the  former  case  resulted  in  "no  charges  being  preferred."  In  the  latter, 
being  guilty  of  "falsehood  and  disorderly  walk,"  the  "Certificate  of  Ordination  was 
called   in."      The   regular    session   was   held   with   the   church   at   Martin's   School- 


734  History    of    the    Churches    of    Gou 

house,  Choctaw  Nation,  Ind.  Ter.,  and  opened  on  Tuesday,  September  1,  1903.  The 
Annual  Sermon  was  delivered  by  F.  C.  Buchanan,  after  which  S.  B.  Moore  was 
elected  President;  C.  H.  Ballinger,  Clerk;  D.  J.  Philbin,  Treasurer.  Not  only  did 
the  Eldership  ratify  the  action  taken  in  calling  in  the  Certificate  of  Ordination  of 
F.  N.  Nedeau,  by  the  extra  meeting  of  the  Indian  Territory  part  of  the  Eldership 
on  February  14th;  but  it  sustained  charges  of  heretical  teaching  against  J.  AV.  Gil- 
bert, and  withheld  his  license.  The  usual  two  Standing  Committees  were  ap- 
pointed, one  for  Oklahoma,  and  one  for  Indian  Territory.  Richard  Martin,  after 
being  granted  a  Certificate  of  Ordination,  was  "elected  by  the  Eldership  to  look 
after  its  church  property  lying  in  the  bounds  of  the  Eldership."  If  ministers  failed 
to  collect  assessments,  "they  shall  pay  said  assessments  at  their  own  expense." 

13th  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territory  Eldership. — A  belated  discussion  of  Eld- 
ership titles  occurred  at  the  session  of  the  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territory  Elder- 
ship in  1904.  It  had  been  debated  before,  but  was  brought  up  again  in  anticipa- 
tion of  "being  an  issue  at  the  General  Eldership  in  1905."  It  was  resolved  that 
"we  consider  the  term  'Eldership'  a  biblical  term,"  and  so  the  "delegates  to  the 
next  General  Eldership  were  recommended  to  cast  their  votes  for  the  time-honored 
title  'Eldership.'  "  The  Eldership  convened  with  the  church  at  South  Bethel,  three 
miles  south  of  Braggs,  Cherokee  Nation,  Ind.  Ter.,  on  Tuesday,  September  20, 
1904.  It  was  the  largest  of  the  thirteen  annual  sessions,  with  the  "best  prospects 
ever  witnessed."  The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by  C.  H.  Ballinger,  who  was 
elected  Clerk,  and  J.  W.  Bums,  President,  and  D.  J.  Philbin,  Treasurer.  Three 
newly-organized  churches  in  Oklahoma,  and  two  in  the  Indian  Territory  '"were  re- 
ceived and  recognized  by  the  Eldership."  Some  confusion  again  arose  over  the 
artificial  boundary  line  between  this  Eldership  and  that  of  Kansas,  as  the  church 
at  Falrview,  of  which  F.  C.  Buchanan  was  pastor,  "after  investigation  was  found 
to  be  in  the  bounds  of  the  Kansas  Eldership."  Ft.  Scott  Institute  was  represented 
at  the  session  by  AV.  E.  Kelly,  and  was  endorsed,  with  Findlay  College,  in  forcible 
resolutions.  Three  missionaries  had  been  partly  supported  in  the  territory  of  this 
Eldership  by  the  General  Board  of  Missions.  There  were  ten  fields  of  labor,  all 
supplied  with  ministers  of  whose  capacity  and  earnestness,  their  high  character  and 
trustworthiness  the  Eldership  had  no  doubt.  In  various  sections  there  was  a  de- 
pided  sentiment  in  favor  of  the  churches  of  God  as  a  body. 

14th  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territory  Eldei"ship. — As  the  territory  of  the  Okla- 
homa and  Indian  Territory  Eldership  was  very  large,  the  attendance  at  the  annual 
sessions  was  comparatively  small.  For  the  same  reason  the  work  was  so  divided 
that  the  sessions  were  much  like  the  joint  meetings  of  two  bodies.  And  the  busi- 
pess  between  sessions  was  transacted  by  two  Standing  Committees.  In  1905  the 
Eldership  met  near  the  center  of  the  territory,  at  Fairview,  Pottawatomie  county, 
October  12th,  J.  AV.  Bums  having  preached  the  Opening  Sermon  the  previous  even- 
ing. The  officers  elected  were  H.  W.  Allen,  President;  C.  H.  Ballinger,  Clerk;  D.  J. 
Philbin,  Treasurer.  Two  Standing  Committees  were  elected,  one  for  Oklahoma, 
and  one  for  the  Indian  Territory.  The  financial  question  was  one  of  the  most  dif- 
ficult that  the  Eldership  had  to  handle.  After  a  dispassionate  consideration  of  it.  it 
was  decided  that  two  of  the  ministers  should  be  "selected  to  travel  and  talk  and 
work  up  the  interest  of  finance  in  this  Eldership."  H.  AA'.  Allen  was  chosen  for 
Oklahoma,  and  C.  H.  Ballinger,  for  the  Indian  Territory.  Each  of  them,  however, 
had  also  a  charge.  The  "names  of  two  ministers  were  dropped  from  the  Min- 
isterial Roll"  because  they  failed  to  report.  Three  ministers  were  placed  on  the 
Superannuated  list.  E.  Marple,  who  lived  within  the  territory  of  the  Eldership, 
but  was  a  member  of  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership,  was  present  and  rendered 
service  which  was  heartily  appreciated.  There  was  much  interest  in  the  sittings, 
and  the  ministers  "were  revived  and  encouraged."  There  were  nine  fields  of  labor, 
to  four  of  which  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  had  either  ap- 
pointed men,  or  was  asked  to  assist  in  their  support. 

15th  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Teerritory  Eldership. — Occasionally  an  Eldership 
would  do  things  in  violation  of  the  General  Eldership  Constitution,  because  the 
provisions  of  said  instrument  were  overlooked.  This  was  the  case  in  1905 
when  the  title  of  the  Eldership  was  changed  to  read  "Oklahoma  Eldership  of  the 
Churches  of  God."  But  on  information,  the  action  was  treated  as  of  no  effect. 
The  Eldership  convened  at  Sunshine,  Dewey  county,  Okla..  August  30th.  H.  AV. 
Allen  preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  He  was  re-elected  President;  J.  AV.  Burns, 
Clerk;  J.  D.  Philbin,  Treasurer.  There  were  present  seven  teaching  elders,  four 
ruling  elders,  five  deacons  and  five  delegates,  all  full  members.  Three  new 
"churches  were  received  into  the  Eldership."      The  names  of  five  ministers  were 


The   Oklahoma   and   Indian    Territory    Eldership  735 

"dropped  from  the  Ministerial  Roll"  because  they  failed  to  report;  but  they  could 
be  "reinstated  as  the  Constitution  and  By-Laws  provide."  The  Financial  Agent 
for  .Oklahoma,  appointed  the  previous  year,  made  "an  encouraging  report,"  and  J. 
H.  Ciuiiming's  was  elected  for  the  ensuing  year.  Upon  recommendation  of  the 
Committee  on  Missions,  the  Eldership  proceeded  to  organize  a  Woman's  Missionary 
Society  by  electing  Martha  L.  Hickman,  President;  Hannah  McGrevv,  Vice  Presi- 
dent; Biilah  Carter,  Secretary;  Mary  Allen,  Treasurer,  and  Martha  L.  Hicknian, 
General  Organizer.  Provision  was  made  by  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  for 
one  Standing  Committee  of  five  members.  The  territory  for  mission  work  was 
divided  into  Eastern,  Central  and  Western  Oklahoma  mission  fields.  Besides 
these,  but  two  other  appointments  were  made,  and  "all  churches  unsupplied  to 
apply  to  the  Standing  Committee." 

16th  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territory  Eldership. — Providence  favored  the  Eld- 
ership as  to  the  health  and  lives  of  its  ministers.  But  during  the  year  1906-7,  one 
of  the  faithful  and  zealous  workers  verified  Richter's  thought:  "What  withers  on 
earth  blooms  again  is  heaven."  J.  F.  Summit,  ordained  by  the  Texas  and  Arkan- 
sas Eldership  in  1891,  was  appointed  to  a  charge,  with  J.  D.  Shoemake,  at  the  first 
Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territory  Eldership,  in  1892.  During  these  twenty-five 
years  he  lived  in  the  esteem  and  affection  of  his  fellow-ministers.  And  in  their 
bereavement  their  trust  in  God  prevented  the  thought  why  "the  skies  should  have 
such  a  surplusage  of  virtue,  and  the  earth  a  deficit."  Yet  they  mourned  the  loss: 
of  so  much  that  was  virtuous  and  noble.  Thus  in  somber  mood  the  Eldership  con^- 
vened  with  the  church  at  Garden  Grove,  near  the  line  between  Pottawatomie  and 
Lincoln  counties,  Okla.,  Thursday  morning,  October  17,  1907.  On  the  previous- 
evening  H.  W.  Allen  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon.  The  organization  was  effected 
by  the  election  of  the  venerable  B.  Ober,  President;  J.  \V.  Bums,  Clerk;  D.  J. 
Philbin,  Treasurer.  Thirteen  ministers  were  enrolled.  Anticipating  the  admis- 
sion of  the  two  Territories  as  one  State  in  the  Union,  the  boundary  lines  of  the  new 
State  were  declared  "to  be  the  boundary  lines  of  this  Eldership."  To  provide  for 
a  Superannuated  Ministers'  and  Widows'  "Fund  each  minister  was  required  to  pay 
$1.00  annually  and  take  one  collection  annually"  for  said  Fund.  Each  member  of 
the  churches  was  requested  to  pay  25  cents  annually  as  a  Home  Mission  Fund. 

17th  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Tenitoi-y  Eldership. — On  Saturday  evening  before- 
the  convening  of  the  Eldership  in  19  08,  the  Eldership  had  directed  that  the  session 
of  the  Ministerial  Association  should  begin.  This  gave  the  Sabbath  for  preaching^ 
and  three  days  for  the  discussion  of  topics  on  the  program.  The  place  selected 
was  Palestine,  Pittsburg  county,  Okla.,  September  3,  1908.  The  previous  evening^ 
B.  Ober  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon.  Nine  teaching  elders,  five  ruling  elders 
and  one  deacon  were  enrolled  as  members.  Four  new  churches  were  reported  and 
placed  on  the  Roll.  The  reports  indicated  that  the  Church  of  God  in  the  State  "is- 
growing  in  strength  and  favor."  To  secure  the  co-operation  of  "the  churches  on- 
the  fifty-mile  strip  of  Oklahoma  which  is  part  of  the  Kansas  Eldership,  and  to  con- 
fer with  the  Kansas  Eldership  with  a  view  of  obtaining  the  territory,  which  was 
once  a  part  of  this  Eldership,"  C.  H.  Ballinger  was  elected  the  representative  of 
the  Eldership  to  visit  the  said  churches  and  the  Kansas  Eldership.  The  mission 
work  in  the  Eldership  was  in  good  condition.  Moderate  in  sentiment  relative  to- 
the  cause  of  temperance,  the  Eldership  declared  it  to  be  "the  duty  of  every  Chris- 
tian to  abstain  from  intoxicating  drinks,  and  to  teach  others  by  word  and  action  to- 
abstain  from  all  drunkenness."  A  "helping  hand"  was  to  be  given  "to  destroy 
and  drive  out  the  curse  of  intemperance  from  our  midst."  A  memorial  was  also 
addressed  to  the  Governor  endorsing  the  efforts  making  to  suppress  the  sale  of  in- 
toxicants. The  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  1903  was  approved,  "with  the  prayer  that  all  an- 
tagonism between  contending  parties  may  be  put  down."  Leaving  the  "mission 
fields  to  the  misisonaries  as  appointed  by  the  General  Board  of  Missions."  the 
Eldership  appointed  pastors  to  six  other  fields.  Change  of  name  and  boundaries- 
was  referred  to  the  General  Eldership  in  1909. 

18th  Oklahoma  Eldership. — The  petition  for  change  of  name  and  boundaries 
addressed  to  the  General  Eldership  having  been  granted,  the  body  met  in  1909  as 
the  Oklahoma  Eldership,  with  its  boundaries  coterminous  with  those  of  the  State. 
This  action  brought  into  the  Eldership  by  transfer  from  the  Kansas  Eldership  J. 
W.  Bloyd  and  F.  C.  Melson.  The  session  was  held  at  Fair  View,  Pottawatomie 
county,  Okla.,  and  began  September  25,  1909.  The  Eldership  was  organized  by 
the  election  of  J.  W.  Bums,  President;  C.  H.  Ballinger,  Clerk;  D.  J.  Philbin,  Treas- 
urer.     After  the  organization  the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  by  H.  AV.  Allen^ 


73^  History  of  the   Churches  of   God 

from  John  xix.  30.  Appreciating  the  work  done  within  the  boundaries  of  the 
Oklahoma  Eldership  by  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership,  it  was  de- 
•clared  that  the  "missionary  interests  are  in  a  healthy  condition,"  and  "the  various 
churches  were  recommended  to  urge  the  interests  of  the  W.  M.  S.  and  effect  or- 
ganizations as  soon  as  possible."  All  ministers  were  required  to  make  quarterly 
reports  to  the  Chairman  of  the  Standing  Committee.  "The  churches  were  required 
at  once  to  report  the  number  of  members  they  have  on  the  Roll."  Appointments 
-were  made  to  six  charges. 

19th  Oklahoma  Eldei-ship. — A  Constitution  with  some  new  provisions  was  pre- 
pared and  adopted  at  the  session  in  1910.  The  title  of  the  body  is  the  Oklahoma 
Eldership.  The  boundaries  are  the  geographical  territory  of  the  State.  The  mem- 
l)ership  to  consist  of  all  ministers  having  a  license  from  the  Oklahoma  Eldership, 
together  with  all  the  ruling  elders  of  the  respective  churches  of  the  Eldership,  one 
elder  for  the  first  ten  members  or  fraction  thereof,  two  for  2  0  or  between  15  and 
20;  also  an  equal  number  of  lay  delegates,  all  of  which  are  to  have  equal  rights  in 
the  transaction  of  the  business  of  the  Eldership.  An  annual  meeting  is  to  be  held 
on  "Wednesday  on  or  before  the  full  moon  in  the  month  selected  by  the  Eldership, 
and  the  Opening  Sermon  shall  be  preached  immediately  after  the  organization." 
"Three  members  constitute  the  Standing  Committee.  A  Board  of  Trustees,  a  Board 
of  Missions,  a  Stationing  Committee  and  a  Judiciary  Committee  were  provided  for. 
Under  this  Constitution  the  Eldership  convened  with  the  church  at  Mount  Pleasant, 
Major  county,  Wednesday  morning,  October  12,  1910.  After  devotional  services, 
E.  M.  Hickman  was  elected  President;  C.  H.  Ballinger,  Clerk;  D.  J.  Philbin,  Treas- 
urer. The  Opening  Sermon  was  then  delivered  by  J.  R.  Montgomery.  The  pres- 
ence of  C.  Manchester,  Principal  of  Fort  Scott  Collegiate  Institute,  was  sincerely 
appreciated.  Collegiate  Institute  Day  was  approved.  The  Eldership  also  "re- 
joiced in  the  progress  made  in  securing  funds  to  meet  the  Carnegie  proposition, 
and  pledged  co-operation  with  President  Brown  in  this  important  work."  The 
Eldership  lamented  "the  disposition  in  many  places  to  compromise  our  spirituality 
for  a  form  of  godliness."  It  declared  that  it  "will  cling  to  the  old-time  religion, 
genuine  salvation."  That  there  has  been  too  much  yielding  to  compromise,  and 
that  the  Eldership  will  insist  that  the  ministers  "preach  the  doctrine  more  fully, 
leaving  none  in  doubt  as  to  where  we  stand."  They  would  not  appeal  to  the 
passions  and  the  pride  of  men,  but  to  the  reason.  There  was  some  implication  of 
■criticism  in  the  expressed  belief  that  the  Board  of  Missions  should  give  "a  more 
liberal  support  to  a  good  man  in  a  limited  field,  rather  than  small  appropriations 
over  a  widely  extended  field."  There  were  now  thirteen  fields,  but  two  were  not 
supplied.     A.  J.  Hill  was  the  General  Evangelist. 

20th  Oklahoma  Eldership. — A  well-attended  Eldership  session  was  held  in 
1911,  and  one  of  special  interest,  to  which  several  things  contributed.  It  was  held 
^ith  the  church  at  Bartlesville,  Okla.,  the  largest  church  in  the  largest  town  in 
which  there  was  a  church  of  God  organization,  and  located  in  the  fifty-mile  strip 
which  had  been  part  of  the  Kansas  Eldership  territory.  The  date  of  the  opening 
of  the  session  was  October  4,  1911.  C.  Manchester,  Fort  Scott  Collegiate  Insti- 
tute, Kans.,  gave  valuable  assistance  in  the  negotiations  with  T.  C.  Ferguson,  pastor 
■of  a  Free-Will  Baptist  church,  who  was  present  to  make  overtures  looking  toward 
union  of  the  churches  of  God  and  the  Free-Will  Baptist  churches  in  Oklahoma.  A. 
^.  Hill,  J.  D.  Henson  and  J.  W.  Bloyd  were  the  committee  to  which  the  proposition 
was  submitted,  and  Manchester  was  requested  to  serve  with  this  Committee.  The 
scope  of  the  negotiations  was  widened  so  as  to  include  the  churches  in  "Texas  and 
the  West."  The  conclusion  reached  with  Ferguson  was  to  "recommend  that  every- 
thing be  done  that  can  be  done  to  bring  the  two  bodies  into  closer  relationship; 
that  the  time  has  [not]  come  for  organic  union,  but  that  they  ought  to  work  more 
together  in  the  future  than  they  have  in  the  past,  hoping  and  praying  that  this  will 
lead  in  the  near  future  to  the  organic  union  of  the  two  bodies."  It  was  further 
decided  that  Manchester  should  attend  "the  Free-Will  Baptist  Association  that 
meets  Thursday  before  the  third  Sunday  in  October,  near  Liberal,  Mo.,  and  that 
this  Eldership  send  a  corresponding  messenger  to  attend  the  Free-Will  Baptist 
Convention  that  meets  at  Bruceville,  Texas,  Thursday  before  the  fourth  Sunday  in 
November."  A  free  exchange  of  preachers  and  members  between  the  two  bodies 
was  to  be  encouraged.  Manchester  was  also  authorized  to  represent  the  Eldership 
at  the  Free-Will  Baptist  Convention  at  Bruceville,  Texas.  There  were  at  this  time 
twenty-three  names  on  the  Oklahoma  Eldership  Roll  of  Ministers,  and  thirty-one 
on  the  Roll  of  the  Free-Will  Baptist  Roll.      Fourteen  ministers  attended  the  Elder- 


The  West  Virginia   EivDe:rship,    South  737 

ship,  two  ruling  elders  and  seven  delegates,  three  of  which  were  women.  The 
President  was  H.  W.  Allen;  Clerk,  J.  W.  Bumes;  Financial  Clerk,  J.  D.  Henson; 
Treasurer,  D.  J.  Philbin.  The  Constitution  was  changed  so  as  to  provide  that  "the 
Eldership  meet  on  Sunday  on  or  before  full  moon  in  the  month  selected  by  the  Eld- 
ership," the  Opening  Sermon  to  be  delivered  at  11  a.  m.,  and  the  business  session 
to  begin  the  Monday  following,  at  9  a.  m.  The  total  amount  received  by  the 
Treasurer  was  $63.20.  The  state  of  religion  was  reported  to  be  "good,  as  there 
seems  to  have  been  a  veritable  wave  sweeping  over  the  country  during  the  past 
year."  One  sermon  a  year  was  recommended  to  be  preached  by  the  ministers  on 
total  abstinence  from  all  alcoholic  liquors  as  a  beverage.  And  the  assistance  of 
the  body  was  promised  "the  officers  of  the  State  in  the  discharge  of  their  duty  in 
executing  the  laws  and  Constitution  of  our  State  in  reference  to  the  whisky  traffic." 
The  Eldership  was  grief-stricken  at  the  sudden  death  of  B.  Ober,  aged  nearly  88 
years.  His  death  had  occurred  September  26,  1911,  eight  days  before  the  Elder- 
ship convened.  Born  in  Pennsylvania  in  1823,  he  began  his  ministerial  labors 
when  about  twenty-two  years  of  age.  During  the  last  six  months  of  his  life  he  had 
preached  eighty-seven  sermons,  preaching  his  last  sermon  two  days  prior  to  his 
going  to  the  other  side  of  the  river. 

21st  Oklahoma  Eldership. — The  proposition  submitted  in  1911,  to  "amend 
the  Constitution  so  as  to  provide  that  the  deacons  be  members  of  this  Eldership  by 
virtue  of  their  office,"  had  been  deferred  until  the  Eldership  in  1912.  But  in  1912 
it  "was  referred,  without  prejudice  on  either  side,  to  the  General  Eldership  of 
1913,  for  said  Eldership  to  define  our  rights  regarding  said  question."  As  per 
action  in  1911,  the  Eldership  convened  with  the  church  at  Tlussellville,  on  Sabbath, 
July  21,  1912,  and  listened  to  the  Opening  Sermon  by  H.  W.  Allen.  On  Monday 
morning  Allen  was  elected  President;  J.  W.  Bums,  Clerk;  D.  J.  Philbin,  Treasurer. 
It  was  one  of  the  most  harmonious  sessions  many  of  the  members  had  ever  at- 
tended, making  a  most  favorable  impression  on  members  of  other  religious  bodies 
which  were  present.  The  various  publications  of  the  General  Eldership  were  com- 
mended, as  was  the  work  of  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  the  same.  Incisive  resolutions  were 
adopted  relative  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  calling  it  "a  formidable  monster," 
and  declaring  that  it  "would  thwart  governments  and  destroy  our  public  school 
system."  It  believed  "it  is  time  our  State  should  demand  that  all  Convent  schools 
and  secret  institutions  of  the  Catholic  Church  should  be  thrown  open  to  inspection 
by  a  board  appointed  by  the  Governor  at  least  once  a  year."  The  Mormon  Church 
the  Eldership  believed  to  be  "equally  as  detrimental  to  our  free  government,  and 
a  stigma  on  the  cause  of  Christ."  The  Standing  Committee  consisted  of  J.  D.  Hen- 
son,  J.  W.  Burns  and  H.  W.  Allen.  The  Eldership  Tabernacle  was  placed  in  charge 
of  A.  J.  Hill,  who  was  re-elected  State  Evangelist.  Five  ministers  were  appointed 
by  the  General  Eldership  Board  of  Missions,  and  endorsed  by  the  Oklahoma  Elder- 
ship. J.  D.  Henson  was  also  appointed  State  Evangelist,  and  eleven  other  min- 
isters were  assigned  to  charges. 


XXI.    THE  WEST  VIRGINIA  ELDERSHIP,  SOUTH. 


As  early  as  1885,  when  the  work  was  in  its  incipiency  in  the  territory  later 
included  in  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  South,  the  distance  to  the  annual  sessions 
of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North,  was  often  so  great  as  to  hinder  these  min- 
isters and  delegates  from  attending,  and  a  disposition  was  manifested  to  organize 
another  Eldership.  Mission  work  had  been  begun  there  by  W.  J.  Davis,  then  of 
the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  who  succeeded  in  organizing  one  church  in 
Roane  county,  one  in  Putnam  county  and  several  in  Jackson  county.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Ij.  F.  Muway,  who  also  had  considerable  success.  Then  came  T.  Woods, 
under  whose  labors  the  work  was  extended  into  Fayette,  Raleigh,  Summers  and 
Kanawha  counties,  embracing  altogether  a  succession  of  counties  from  Jackson,  on 
the  Ohio  River,  to  Summers,  near  the  boundary  line  of  Virginia.  Churches  were 
organized  in  all  these  counties,  and  men  were  being  called  into  the  min- 
istry who  were  still  less  disposed  to  travel  as  far  as  200  miles  to  an  Annual 
Eldership.  It  was  hence  determined  to  make  an  effort  to  organize  a  new 
Eldership.  To  do  this  in  an  orderly  manner  the  matter  was  brought  before  the 
West  Virginia  Eldership,  North,  as  its  session  held  at  Bellaire,  Ohio,  1894.  Said 
body  agreed  to  divide  the  territory  until  the  meeting  of  the  General  Eldership  in 

C.  H.— 25 


738 


History   of  the   Churches  of   God 


189  6.  The  titles  of  the  two  Elderships  were  to  be  respectively  the  Northern,  and 
the  Southern,  West  Virginia  Eldership.  The  ministers  laboring  or  living  in  the 
territory  of  the  new  Eldership  were  to  become  members  thereof,  if  they  so  desired. 
The  territory  of  the  proposed  Eldership  was  defined  to  consist  of  all  of  West  Vir- 
ginia south  of  the  little  Kanawha  River,  whose  confluence  with  the  Ohio  River  is 
at  Parkersburg.  Fourteen  ordained  ministers  of  the  Church  of  God  were  at  this 
time  laboring  or  living  within  the  territory  of  this  Eldership. 

As  agreed  upon,  the  new  organization  was  to  be  "a  temporary"  one  "until  they 
were  chartered  by  the  next  Eldership."  Nevertheless,  it  exercised  all  the  functions 
and  assumed  all  the  powers  of  a  duly  authorized  Eldrship.  The  first  meeting  was 
held  in  the  Grandview  Bethel,  Putnam  county,  beginning  October  26,  1894.  The 
following  ministers  were  present:  J.  M.  Allen,  B.  F.  Cash,  G.  R.  Felure,  B.  F. 
Howell,  W.  C.  Leonard,.  H,  W.  Marty,  J.  F.  McDonnan,  L.  F.  Murray,  R.  L.  Work- 
man and  G.  M.  Virgin.  Living  in  the  territory,  but  absent,  were  B.  H.  Bemam, 
W.  H.  Browder,  G.  Silman  and  L.  C.  Tyree.  The  delegates  were  W.  Y.  Matthews, 
R.  Coalman,  W.  A.  Higgabotham,  J.  A.  Higgabotham,  L.  W.  Matthews,  Joseph  Mur- 
ray, Thomas  Cooper,  S.  L.  Falls,  E.  B.  Bralham  and  E.  Haning.  An  organization 
was  effected  by  the  election  of  L.  F.  Murray,  President;  H.  W.  Marty,  Clerk;  W.  C. 


L.  F.  Murray. 

Leonard,  Financial  Clerk,  and  R.  Coalman,  Treasurer.  The  Opening  Sermon  was 
preached  by  J.  M.  Allen,  from  Ps.  xlviii.  12,  13.  Only  the  usual  routine  business 
was  transacted.  A  splendid  spirit  pervaded  the  body,  and  "love  and  harmony  pre- 
vailed throughout  the  entire  meeting."  The  ministers  were  sanguine,  and  "full 
of  zeal  and  courage,  and  went  to  the  fields  assigned  them  with  bright  prospects  of 
doing  much  good."  The  territory  was  large,  and  the  work  was  hard;  .but  the 
horizon  was  luminous. 

L.  F.  Murray,  first  Speaker,  or  President,  of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership, 
South,  was  a  native  of  Westmoreland  county,  Pa.,  where  he  was  born  September 
27,  1847.  He  was  inured  in  early  life  to  physical  hardships  and  toil,  receiving  but 
the  rudiments  of  an  English  education.  He  was  susceptible  to  religious  influences, 
though  it  was  not  until  the  Spring  of  1877  that  he  united  with  the  Church  of  God, 
becoming  a  member  of  the  church  at  Long  Run,  Greene  county,  Pa.  His  con- 
victions that  he  was  to  become  a  herald  of  the  gospel  of  the  Son  of  man  were  al- 
most simultaneous  with  his  conversion,  for  in  October  of  the  same  year,  when  the 
West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  held  its  annual  session  at  Center  Bethel  (Alverton), 
he  was  an  applicant  for  license.  His  application  was  favorably  considered;  a 
license  was  voted  him,  and  he  was  formally  ordained  by  John  HidtemelL     His  call 


The  West  Virginia   Elde^rship,   South  739 

meant  work.  He  asked  for  a  charge.  He  was  adapted  to  the  mission  field.  And 
though,  not  like  Fletcher,  who  rejected  the  Parish  of  Durham,  saying,  "There  is 
too  much  money,  and  too  little  labor,"  Murray  was  to  spend  his  early  life  in  the 
ministry  on  fields  where  work  abounded,  and  pay  was  limited.  His  first  field  to 
which  he  was  assigned  at  the  Eldership  which  ordained  him  was  the  Greene  County 
Mission,  Pa.,  including  Waynesburg,  Dotysburg  and  Rough's  Creek.  The  next 
year  he  was  sent  to  the  West  Virginia  Mission,  including  the  three  counties  of 
Jackson,  Roane  and  Putnam.  Thence  after  two  years  he  was  appointed  to  Marshall 
county,  W.  Va.,  which  he  served  two  years.  Prom  there  he  was  removed  to 
Venango  county.  Pa.,  in  the  Congress  Hill  region.  In  1884  he  was  elected  one  of 
the  lay  delegates  to  the  Wooster  General  Eldership.  After  serving  this  field  two 
years  he  spent  one  year  on  the  Harmony  circuit,  Pa.,  and  then  was  appointed  to 
West  Newton,  Westmoreland  county.  Pa.,  where  he  was  pastor  in  1887  when  the 
General  Eldership  held  its  session  there.  After  servihg  this  station  two  years  he 
requested  a  Transfer  to  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  and  removed  to  Jackson 
county,  W.  Va.,  where  he  spent  ten  years,  and  in  1890  he  was  President  of  the  Eld- 
ership, and  Treasurer  in  1891,  as  well  as  a  member  of  the  Standing  Committee. 
Knowing  his  zeal  as  a  missionary  and  his  executive  ability,  the  Eldership  gave  him 
charge  of  all  the  churches  south  of  the  Kanawha  River.  This  position  he  held  until 
the  organization  of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  South.  In  addition  to  being  the 
President  of  the  Eldership,  he  was  also  Chairman  of  the  Standing  Committee.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  first  delegation  sent  by  this  Eldership  to  the  General  Elder- 
ship. He  filled  well  every  office  of  trust  and  power,  and  had  the  confidence  of 
those  who  honored  him. 

2nd  West  A^irginia  Eldership,  South. — Every  prospect  for  the  progress  of  the 
new  Eldership  was  auspicious.  The  majority  of  the  ministers  were  men  of  experi- 
ence; the  territory  was  not  too  large  for  eflicient  co-operative  work;  the  doctrines 
of  the  church  were  favorably  received,  and  the  class  of  people  among  whom  the 
ministers  labored  were  easily  within  the  reach  of  a  humble,  devout  and  self-deny- 
ing ministry.  The  year  following  the  first  Eldership  was  rewarded  with  a  good 
measure  of  success.  As  the  General  Eldership  which  was  to  grant  the  new  Elder- 
ship a  charter  did  not  meet  until  1896,  the  body  was  as  yet  not  fully  habilitated 
when  it  convened  in  its  second  annual  session  at  Liberty,  Putnam  county,  Sep- 
tember 19,  1895.  The  membership  consisted  of  eleven  ministers,  eleven  delegates 
and  one  exhorter.  Five  ministers  and  one  exhorter  were  absent.  An  organization 
was  effected  by  the  election  of  W.  C.  Leonard,  Speaker;  H.  W.  Marty,  Clerk;  W.  H. 
Browder,  Financial  Clerk,  and  R.  Coalman,  Treasurer.  It  also  made  choice  of  its 
first  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership,  to  meet  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  in  May,  1896, 
to  ask  admission  into  the  union  of  Elderships  as  represented  in  said  body.  These 
were  L.  F.  MuiTay,  with  B.  H.  Berman  as  alternate.  Quite  an  interest  developed 
in  the  discussion  of  questions  to  be  acted  upon  by  the  General  Eldership.  The  de- 
cision was  unanimous  against  a  change  in  the  "name,  style  and  title"  of  Elderships. 
On  the  question  of  Life  Certificates  there  were  thirteen  affirmative  votes,  and  four 
negative.  The  matter  of  a  General  Eldership  Fund  out  of  which  to  pay  the  expenses 
of  all  delegates  appealed  strongly  to  the  weaker  Elderships,  and  those  farthest  re- 
mote from  the  stronger  churches  with  which  said  body  generally  met.  And  so  on 
this  proposition  the  vote  was  sixteen  ayes,  and  one  nay.  The  meager  salaries  re- 
ceived by  the  pastors  is  indicated  by  the  "financial  system"  which  was  adopted. 
This  provided  "that  all  ministers  receiving  $50.00  or  more  as  salary  shall  collect 
an  amount  of  missionary  money  equal  to  four  per  cent.  Those  receiving  less  than 
150.00  salary  shall  collect  for  missions  an  amount  equal  to  four  per  cent,  of 
$50.00."  The  number  of  fields  of  labor  was  eleven,  with  forty  preaching  places. 
Three  of  the  ministers  were  appointed  "General  Evangelists,  and  to  have  mission- 
ary privileges,"  the  latter  right  being  also  granted  to  two  of  the  pastors. 

3rd  West  Virginia  Eldership,  South. — The  prejudice  against  Constitutions  had 
passed  before  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  South,  was  organized.  At  its  first  ses- 
sion it  adopted,  with  slight  modifications,  the  Constitution  of  the  West  Virginia 
Eldership,  North,  as  its  organic  law,  pending  action  by  the  General  Eldership.  At 
the  session  in  1896  a  committee  was  appointed  to  "draft  Rules  of  Order."  The 
Eldership  held  its  third  session  at  Philo,  beginning  September  10,  1896.  On  the 
evening  of  the  9th  B.  H.  Bemam  preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  There  were 
present  eleven  ministers,  one  exhorter  and  seven  delegates.  L.  F.  Murray  was 
elected  President;  H.  W.  Marty,  Clerk;  W  .C.  Leonard,  Financial  Clerk.     While  the.- 


J74Q  History  of  the  Churches   of   God 

religious  condition  was  considered  "encouraging,  and  the  cause  advanced  during 
the  year  beyond  our  expectations;"  yet  there  was  this  discordant  note,  that  four  of 
the  ministers  had  united  with  other  Churches,  and  the  names  of  two  others  "were 
dropped  from  the  Roll."  On  temperance  the  action  taken  was  temperate,  "strictly 
instructing  our  ministers  to  teach  against  intemperance,  and  to  use  their  influence 
against  the  use  of  intoxicating  spirits  as  a  beverage."  The  Standing  Committee 
was  "impowered  to  receive  ministers  and  their  licenses  from  other  Churches,  and 
grant  them  licenses  from  this  body."  "The  thorough  education  of  our  ministers" 
was  recommended,  "especially  on  the  teaching  of  the  Apostles  as  found  in  the 
Scriptures."  As  a  help  to  this  end  it  was  determined  to  "hold  a  Ministerial  Asso- 
ciation every  three  months."  Ministers  on  "entering  their  fields  of  labor"  were 
directed  to  "enter  into  contracts  with  the  church  councils,"  which  contracts  were 
to  be  "filed  with  the  Standing  Committee  within  sixty  days  after  the  adjournment 
of  the  Eldership."  If  any  ministers  fail  to  do  so  "the  Standing  Committee  shall 
declare  the  work  vacant."     The  number  of  circuits  was  ten. 

4th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  South. — The  coincidence  of  a  dedication  and  an 
Eldership  has  not  been  infrequent.  The  church  at  Liberty,  Putnam  county,  built  a 
bethel  during  the  Summer  of  1897.  The  Eldership  in  1896  voted  to  hold  its 
annual  session  at  said  place,  to  begin  August  26,  1897.  The  church  arranged  for 
the  dedication  of  its  new  house  of  worship  on  August  29th,  when  T.  Woods  offici- 
ated. The  Opening  Sermon  of  the  Eldership  was  delivered  on  the  evening  of  the 
2  5th,  by  J.  M.  Allen.  Only  four  of  the  sixteen  ministers  were  absent,  and  eleven 
delegates  were  present.  The  Eldership  elected  L.  F.  Murray,  Speaker;  H.  W. 
Marty,  Clerk;  W.  C.  Leonard,  Financial  Clerk,  and  R.  Coalman,  Treasurer.  A  Con- 
stitution for  a  Woman's  Missionary  Society  was  prepared  by  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee and  approved  by  the  Eldership.  "No  member  of  the  Eldership"  shall  "be 
allowed  to  use  any  one's  name  to  speak  disrespectfully  of  them,"  was  one  of  the 
moral  laws  affirmed.  A  course  of  studies  of  four  years  was  to  be  prepared  "to  be 
pursued  by  the  older  ministers,  and  to  pass  an  examination  yearly."  And  "all  the 
-young  ministers,  and  those  about  to  enter  the  ministry,  should  take  a  course  of 
study  at  Barkeyville  Acadeniy,  and  if  possible  one  at  Findlay  College."  Com- 
mittees to  make  the  annual  examinations  in  189  8  were  appointed.  Of  the  eleven 
fields  of  labor,  four  were  missions.  W.  C.  Leonard  was  appointed  General  Evange- 
list. Fourteen  years  prior  to  the  session  of  this  Eldership  T.  Woods  "was  the  only 
minister  of  the  Church  of  God  in  that  county,"  over  which  fourteen  ministers  were 
appointed  as  pastors  in  1897. 

5th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  South. — "Pleasant  View  Bethel"  and  "Hills 
Valley  Bethel,"  six  miles  west  of  St.  Albans,  Kanawha  county,  may  be  identical. 
Both  names  are  used  for  the  place  where  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  South,  held 
its  annual  session  in  1898.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  on  the  evening  of 
August  29th,  by  G.  Silman.  Eleven  teaching  elders  were  present,  and  four  were 
absent,  and  four  delegates  were  present.  The  number  of  ministers  has  remained 
practically  stationary,  notwithstanding  the  licensing  of  some  every  year,  and  no 
deaths.  The  "dropping"  of  ministers  for  various  reasons  is  the  stereotype  way 
of  accounting  for  this  fact.  It  is  a  fact,  too,  which  must  have  an  undesirable  in- 
fluence on  the  body,  and  on  the  churches  it  represents.  Two  were  "dropped"  in 
1898,  one  because  "he  has  united  with  another  body,"  and  one  for  "not  complying 
with  the  Rules  of  Order."  Upon  reorganizing  the  Eldership  W.  C.  Leonard  was 
elected  Speaker;  H.  W.  Marty,  Clerk;  W.  H.  Browder,  Financial  Clerk.  The  state 
of  religion  was  reported  to  be  "good,  and  the  prospects  for  the  future  bright;" 
nevertheless,  two  church  properties  were  placed  in  the  hands  of  R.  L.  Workman  as 
agent,  "to  look  after  them."  Nor  were  the  "borders  of  the  Eldership  extended  as 
speedily  as  the  demand  for  Church  of  God  preaching."  It  is  quite  suggestive  that 
the  Eldership  deemed  it  necessary  to  prescribe  ten  Rules,  or  "By-Laws,  to  govern 
and  regulate"  the  conduct  of  "evangelists  and  pastors."  To  increase  the  efllciency 
of  pastors,  and  to  make  their  work  less  onerous,  a  rearrangement  of  the  circuits 
was  made  the  duty  of  the  Stationing  Committee.  Inviting  fields  were  thus  also  to 
become  subject  to  cultivation.  The  number  of  fields  was  thus  reduced  to  eight, 
two  of  them  missions.  L.  F.  Murray  was  granted  a  Transfer  to  the  Maryland  and 
Virginia  Eldership,  and  I.  D.  Cousins,  to  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North. 
"The  word  'exhorter'  was  stricken  out  of  the  form  of  local  license,  and  the  words 
'local  preacher'  were  substituted." 

6th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  South. — The  Eldership  had  felt  the  need  of  per- 


The  West  Virginia   Eldership,    South  741 

manent  Rules,  and  so  in  1899  considerable  time  was  spent  in  considering  and 
adopting  By-Laws.  It  was  an  opportune  time,  too,  for  all  the  ministers  were  in 
attendance  except  one.  The  meeting  was  held  at  Mt.  Tabor  Bethel,  Kanawha 
county,  where  the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  on  Tuesday  evening,  August  29, 
1899,  by  G.  Silman.  Thirteen  ministers  were  present  when  the  Eldership  was  or- 
ganized on  the  following  morning.  G.  E.  Edwards  was  elected  President;  H.  W. 
Marty,  Clerk;  W.  H.  Browder,  Financial  Clerk;  W.  C.  Leonard,  Treasurer.  The 
Eldership  was  composed  entirely  of  ministers.  Not  much  progress  was  made,  the 
reasons  assigned  being  the  smallness  of  the  churches,  and  their  poverty,  so  that 
"our  preachers  have  to  make  nearly  all  their  support  by  some  other  callings."  Mt. 
Tabor  church  was  "taking  the  lead  in  paying  its  preachers,"  having  paid  $70.00  the 
past  year.  Hence  the  fields  of  labor  were  often  small,  a  single  church,  so  as  to 
make  it  easier  for  the  pastors.  There  were  nine  fields  of  labor,  with  fourteen  ap- 
pointments. During  the  year  the  professions  numbered  87;  baptized,  24;  fellow- 
shiped,  66;  total  membership,  269.  The  ordinances  were  greatly  neglected,  as  only 
four  were  reported.  The  salaries  of  the  ministers  were  $347.16.  There  were 
nine  Sunday-schools  reported. 

7th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  South.^ — A  rather  tantalizing  dearth  of  in- 
formation characterizes  many  of  the  sessions  of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership, 
South.  G.  M.  Virgin's  case  had  been  referred  to  the  Standing  Committee  without 
recording  the  reasons.  The  Committee  "in  a  resolution  denounced  his  former 
course;"  but  because  "he  wished  to  withdraw  from  the  Eldership,  no  further  ac- 
tion was  taken  than  to  grant  his  withdrawal."  The  reason  for  his  withdrawal 
was  a  change  of  views  on  the  deity  of  Christ.  The  Eldership  convened  at  Grand- 
view  Bethel,  Putnam  county,  W.  Va.,  August  30,  1900.  The  Opening  Sermon 
was  delivered  the  previous  evening  by  G.  Silman.  Reorganization  was  effected 
by  the  election  of  G.  E.  Edwards,  President;  H.  W.  Marty,  Clerk;  W.  H.  Browder, 
Financial  Clerk;  W.  Y.  Matthews,  Treasurer.  There  were  four  fields  of  labor 
with  ten  appointments:  The  Grandview.  circuit,  Kanawha  circuit.  Liberty  circuit, 
Jackson  circuit,  and  Raleigh  Fayette  county  mission,  the  last  unsupplied.  R.  T. 
Ellis  was  appointed  Eldership  Evangelist,  and  all  "the  rest  to  have  missionary 
privileges." 

8th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  South. — There  seemed  some  doubt  in  1901 
whether  it  would  be  wise  to  continue  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  South.  The 
question  was,  therefore,  discussed.  When  it  was  decided  affirmatively  it  was 
natural  to  take  up  the  following:  "What  steps  should  be  taken  to  advance  the 
cause  of  this  Eldership?"  Two  other  practical  questions  received  special  atten- 
tion, viz.:  "Should  we  organize  C.  E.  Societies?"  "Should  we  organize  mission- 
ary societies?"  The  session  of  the  Eldership  was  held  at  Joe's  Run,  Jackson 
county,  W.  Va.,  beginning  August  29,  1901.  On  the  previous  evening  H.  W. 
Marty  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon.  There  were  only  three  ministers  present, 
and  eight  absent;  but  three  delegates  were  enrolled.  W.  C.  Leonard  was  chosen 
President;  H.  W.  Marty,  Clerk;  T.  M.  Pearsall,  Financial  Clerk;  W.  Y.  Matthews, 
Treasurer.  Questions  which  frequently  consumed  much  time  in  their  discussion 
were  made  topics  for  consideration  at  the  Ministerial  Association.  If  subsequently 
brought  before  the  Eldership  for  a  decision  little  time  was  consumed  in  debate. 
There  were  two  mission  fields  and  four  circuits,  all  supplied  with  pastors  but  one 
of  the  circuits.  There  were  only  168  sermons  preached  during  the  year,  and  the 
salaries  of  the  ministers  amounted  to  $60.95;  missionary  money,  $23.05.  G.  C. 
Thompson  was  appointed  General  Missionary. 

9th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  South. — On  the  evening  of  September  3,  1902, 
at  Grandview,  Putnam  county,  W.  Va.,  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  South,  con- 
vened to  listen  to  the  annual  Opening  Sermon,  delivered  by  R.  L.  Workman.  The 
following  morning  twelve  ministers  and  two  delegates  were  enrolled  as  presents 
They  made  choice  of  B.  F.  Cash  for  President;  H.  W.  Marty,  Clerk;  W.  H.  Browder, 
Financial  Clerk;  W.  Y.  Mathews,  Treasurer.  There  were  discussions  which  de- 
veloped differences  of  opinions,  "but  no  ill-feeling  was  manifested  toward  each 
other."  Perhaps  they  had  the  virtue  embalmed  in  the  saying,  that  "it  takes  more 
courage  for  a  man  to  admit  that  he  is  wrong,  than  to  insist  that  he  is  right." 
Nothing  was  more  fruitful  of  acrimonious  debate  as  the  question  which  at  this 
time  was  somewhat  epidemic:  The  wisdom  of  having  Stationing  Committees. 
The  General  Eldership  gave  a  favorable  opinion  later;  but  that  body  is  con- 
servative, and  allows  much  latitude  for  discussion.  "After  a  lengthy  discussion, 
a  resolution  was  passed  that  the  churches  employ  their  own  pastors  this  year,  on 


742  History   of'  the   Churches  of   God 

the  congregational  plan."  There  were  owned  by  the  churches  three  houses  of 
worship  and  one-fourth  interest  in  two  others.  Though  it  was  thought  the  year 
1901-2  "was  not  as  prosperous  as  it  should  have  been,"  there  was  an  increase  in 
the  number  of  sermons  preached,  the  aggregate  salaries  paid  and  the  amount  of 
missionary  money  received.  No  reasons  are  given  why  there  were  only  five  pro- 
tracted meetings  held,  and  one  ordinance  meeting,  or  why  the  number  of  profes- 
sions was  only  eight,  and  baptized  one. 

10th  West  Virginia  Eldei-ship,  South. — By  implication,  the  congregational 
system  was  abandoned  after  one  year's  trial:  "The  Stationing  Committee  in 
1903  made  but  few  changes  from  last  year's  work."  The  strength  of  the  Elder- 
ship is  seen  in  the  fact  that  there  was  no  field  of  labor  "which  could  support 
a  preacher  so  that  he  can  put  in  all  of  his  time  on  his  charge."  This  was  the 
terrible  handicap  to  the  work.  While  in  1902-3  the  ministers  preached  188  ser- 
mons, they  held  only  five  protracted  meetings,  three  ordinance  meetings  and  bap- 
tized four.  For  their  labors  they  received  $92.00.  The  session  of  the  Elder- 
ship was  held  at  Pleasant  View,  Putnam  county,  August  5,  1903,  when  the  Opening 
Sermon  was  preached  by  W.  H.  Browder,  from  II.  Tim.  iv.  2.  Theme:  "Preach 
the  Word."  Six  ministers  out  of  the  twelve  were  present,  and  three  delegates. 
George  E.  Edwards  was  chosen  President;  H.  W.  Marty,  Clerk;  W.  H.  Browder, 
Financial  Clerk;  G.  Silman,  Treasurer.  During  the  year  W.  M.  Miller  departed  to 
the  Father's  house,  and  his  loss  v/as  lamenetd  as  that  of  a  true  servant  of  the 
Master,  faithful  and  loyal  to  the  Church.  The  observance  of  two  ordinances  at  the 
close  of  the  session  was  a  special  feature. 

11th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  South. — The  West  Virginia  Eldership,  South, 
experienced  that  inward  states  of  its  members  affect  outward  relations.  Thus 
lives  which  should  be  in  unison,  like  Hamlet's,  become  as  "sweet  bells  out  of 
tune"  when  sorrow,  jealousy  or  other  passions  are  allowed  to  remain  within.  Or 
the  reverse,  as  where  the  devout  spirit  of  service  to  the  blessed  Lord  dominates 
every  power  of  the  soul  and  becomes  the  meeting-ground  of  opposing  views,  where 
they  fuse,  lose  their  opposition,  and  become  one  prevailing  force.  In  a  measure 
this  was  realized  when  on  October  13,  1904,  the  Eldership  assembled  at  Sugar 
Grove,  Kanawha  county.  The  previous  evening  the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached 
by  H.  W.  Marty.  The  officers  elected  were:  President,  G.  E.  Edwards;  Clerk,  H. 
W.  Marty;  Financial  Secretary,  W.  H.  Browder;  Treasurer,  R.  L.  Workman. 
These  were  all  ministers,  of  whom  eight  were  enrolled,  one  being  absent,  and  five 
delegates.  For  better  supervision  of  the  work  of  the  pastors  it  was  determined 
that  the  President  of  the  Eldership  should  "visit  each  circuit  every  three  months, 
and  assist  in  revival  work."  There  were  five  protracted  meetings  held,  with  52 
conversions,  30  fellowshiped  and  twenty-one  baptized;  175  sermons  were  preached, 
and  the  salaries  amounted  to  $176.60.  While  two  "promising  young  men  were 
ordained  to  preach,"  it  "pleased  God  in  a  wise  dispensation  of  his  providence  to 
remove  R.  T.  Ellis  and  G.  C.  Thompson."  This  was  a  "sad  bereavement;  but  there 
is  no  death  to  the  Christian,  but  only  the  changing  of  his  dwelling  place."  Ellis 
had  been  ordained  in  1895,  by  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  South;  Thompson,  by 
the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  in  1872.  "Nature  has  sentenced"  all  to  death, 
as  Socrates  said  to  him  who  told  him,  "The  thirty  tyrants  have  sentenced  thee  to 
death."     But  for  the  true  believer  there  is  no  death;  it  is  transition. 

12th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  South. — The  observance  of  the  ordinances  the 
last  night  of  the  Eldership  was  usually  a  service  greatly  blessed  to  those  who 
remained  to  participate.  The  first  evening  had  other  advantages.  But  the  Elder- 
ship in  1905 'listened  to  a  sermon  on  Tuesday  evening  on  the  ordinances  by  H.  W. 
Marty,  "after  which  they  were  observed,  which  was  indeed  a  blessed  season." 
This  was  followed  "by  the  ordination  charge,"  and  one  was  ordained  to  the  min- 
istry. The  ministers  and  delegates  gathered  for  the  session  on  Saturday  evening, 
September  3,  1905,  at  Mt.  Tabor,  Kanawha  county.  On  Sunday  morning  G.  Sil- 
man preached  the  Opening  Sermon.  On  Monday  morning  the  session  began,  with 
six  ministers  present,  four  absent;  three  delegates  present.  The  following  of- 
ficers were  elected:  B.  F.  Cash,  President;  H.  W.  Marty,  Clerk;  W.  H.  Browder, 
Financial  Clerk;  R.  L.  Workman,  Treasurer.  Two  were  licensed,  or  ordained,  and 
four  received  "local  license."  There  was  an  increase  in  funds,  as  the  salaries  of 
ministers  aggregated  $305.65,  and  the  missionary  money  reported  was  $20.00. 
While  77  made  a  profession,  only  23  were  baptized  and  37  fellowshiped. 

13th  West  Virginia  Eldei-ship,  South. — The  Clerk  of  the  Eldership  in  1906 
reported  the  "work  in  a  prosperous  condition."     A  few  items  confirm  this.     There 


The  We:st  Virginia   Eldership,   South  743 

were  five  Sunday-schools  reported;  254  conversions,  114  baptized,  143  fellow- 
shiped,  and  6  were  licensed  to  preach.  The  session  was  held  at  Philo  (Philaoh), 
in  Putnam  county,  August  29,  1906,  when,  at  7.30  p.  m.,  B.  F.  Cash  preached  the 
Opening  Sermon.  There  were  eight  fields  of  labor,  to  one  of  which  two  pastors 
were  assigned.  Nine  ministers  and  four  delegates  constituted  the  Eldership. 
Four  ministers  were  absent.  They  elected  B.  F.  Cash,  President;  L.  A.  Landers, 
Clerk;  W.  H.  Browder,  Financial  Secretary;  R.  L.  Workman,  Treasurer.  With 
fifteen  appointments,  there  were  only  five  ordinance  meetings.  While  "the 
shadows  were  falling  longer"  for  many  of  the  ministers  who  were  such  faithful 
watchmen,  there  was  an  evident  lack  in  doctrinal  teaching  and  in  the  observance 
of  the  ordinances.  The  records  show  little  interest  in  the  more  general  questions 
on  which  religious  bodies  generally  expressed  themselves.  Eighteen  ministers 
were  "dropped  from  the  Roll  from  1901  to  1907."  "Many  of  these  went  to  the 
denominations."  The  effect  of  so  many  defections  had  a  perceptible  influence  on 
the  work. 

14th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  South. — The  West  Virginia  Eldership  always 
emphasized  the  preaching  during  its  sessions.  And  quite  frequently  conversions 
were  reported.  The  younger  men  found  this  more  natural,  being  less  interested 
in,  because  less  acquainted  with,  the  business  which  required  attention.  They 
find  themselves  most  kindled,  quickened  and  stirred  by  the  humanity  which 
environs  them.  The  reports  call  attention  to  the  spiritual,  as  in  1907,  when  an 
item  is  conspicuous  that  "the  preaching  was  spiritual.  Christians  praised  God, 
and  sinners  asked  for  the  prayers  of  the  church."  The  session  was  held  at  the 
Pleaant  View  Bethel,  Putnam  county,  where  on  Wednesday  evening,  September 
18  ,1907,  the  members  heard  the  Opening  Sermon,  preached  by  B.  F.  Cash.  Ten 
ministers  were  in  attendance,  and  one  "local  preacher,"  eight  being  absent;  also 
four  delegates.  During  the  year  the  Standing  Committee  had  licensed  two,  but 
at  this  session  the  power  to  grant  licenses  was  taken  from  said  Committee.  The 
officers  of  the  session  were:  President,  B.  F.  Cash;  Clerk,  H.  W.  Marty;  Financial 
Clerk,  W.  H.  Browder;  Treasurer,  R.  Ti.  Workman.  A  Board  of  Missions  was 
created,  and  measures  were  considered  to  start  a  church  building  Fund,  as  there 
were  only  two  bethels  in  the  territory  of  the  Eldership.  There  were  eight  fields 
of  labor,  all  supplied  with  pastors.  Twenty-one  preaching  points  are  named  on 
the  different  charges.  The  membership  was  262;  the  number  of  sermons  preach- 
ed, 548;  aggregate  salaries,  $344.34;  conversions,  74;  baptized,  68;  fellowshlped, 
92;  Sabbath-schools,  13.  The  Eldership  developed  more  interest  in  Sabbath- 
school  work  and  in  the  preaching  of  the  common  faith. 

15th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  South. — There  was  inconstancy  in  a  variety  of 
items  in  the  reported  proceedings  of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  South.  Was  it 
inherent  in  the  character  of  the  people  of  a  section  long  slave-holding  territory,  or 
was  it  in  the  Eldership  itself?  It  is  seen  in  the  records  of  1908.  The  body  con- 
vened at  New  Richmond,   Putnam   county,  Thursday,   8.30   a.   m.,   September   10, 

1908,  having  listened  the  previous  evening  to  the  Opening  Sermon,  preached  by 
R.  F.  Bays.  Interest  in  the  work  of  the  Eldership  is  indicated  by  the  attendance 
of  twelve  of  the  fourteen  ministers,  and  five  delegates.  But  the  names  of  four 
were  dropped,  and  one  had  died — A.  Lambert.  He  was  ordained  at  the  Eldership 
in  1907,  and  thus  early  went  to  that  land  where  "all  that  we  have  willed,  or  hoped, 
or  dreamed  of  good  shall  exist."  The  number  of  conversions  the  preceding  year 
was  127;  baptized,  50;  sermons  preached,  761;  ordinance  meetings,  7;  total 
salaries,  $208.23;  Building  Fund,  $17.53;  missionary  money  collected,  $38.21. 
The  officers  of  the  Eldership  were:  President,  R.  F.  Bays;  Clerk,  H.  W.  Marty; 
Financial  Clerk,  W.  H.  Browder;  Treasurer,  R.  L.  Workman.  While  the  min- 
isters manifested  an  interest  in  the  publications  of  the  General  Eldership,  few 
besides  them  patronized  them.  Resolutions  commending  Findlay  College  were 
adopted,  and  all  the  interests  of  the  general  body  were  approved. 

16th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  South. — The  official  announcement  of  the 
meeting  of  the  Eldership  in  1909  was  that  it  "will  convene  in  the  bethel  at  Philo 
(Philoah),   Putnam   county,   on   Thursday   before   the   fourth   Sunday   in   August, 

1909.  This  was  August  22nd.  But  the  Clerk  of  the  Eldership  gives  the  date  as 
August  8,  1909.  There  were  present  eleven  ministers  and  seven  delegates. 
Three  ministers  were  absent,  one  was  dropped  from  the  Roll  and  one  had  died,  the 
President  of  the  Eldership  in  1908,  R.  F.  Bays.  He  was  ordained  in  1904.  The 
ministerial  life-battle  with  him  was  short;  but  there  was  a  victory-note  above  its 
clamor,  and  to  him  that  overcometh  there  is  "the  morning  star."     L.  A.  Landers 


744    ,  History  of  the   Churches  of  God 

was  chosen  President;  H.  W.  Marty,  Clerk;  W.  H.  Browder,  Financial  Clerk;  R. 
L.  Workman,  Treasurer.  No  layman  was  elected  an  officer,  nor  a  member  of  the 
Standing  Committee  or  Board  of  Missions.  The  number  of  conversions  during  the 
year  was  128;  fellowshiped,  108;  baptized,  48;  sermons  preached,  726;  total 
salaries,  $356.20;  membership,  368;  receipts  for  Building  Fund,  $27.75;  Mis- 
sionary Fund,  $38.56.  The  territory  was  divided  into  eight  circuits,  two  of  which 
were  left  to  be  supplied  by  the  Board  of  Missions.  At  the  Ministerial  Association 
among  the  questions  discussed  were  "The  duties  and  Responsibilities  of  a  Pastor," 
"Necessity  of  the  Spirit-filled  Life,"  "Does  our  Financial  System  in  regard  to 
Eldership  and  Missionary  Funds  correspond  to  the  Teachings  of  the  Bible?" 

17th  AVest  Virginia  Eldership,  South. — Conditions  in  the  West  Virginia 
Eldership,  South,  seemed  so  improved  that  at  the  close  of  the  session  of  1910  the 
ministers  were  "encouraged  to  do  more  the  coming  year,"  and  parted  in  confident 
hope  of  success.  The  session  was  held  at  Bays'  Chapel,  Kanawha  county,  and 
began  Thursday  morning,  September  15,  1910,  the  Opening  Sermon  having  been 
preached  the  previous  evening  by  H.  W.  Marty.  Nine  ministers  were  present,  and 
four  absent;  also  four  delegates.  While  the  total  salaries  had  fallen  to  $320.48, 
and  the  reported  membership  to  169,  31  were  received  into  fellowship;  there 
were  now  five  bethels  and  a  quarter  interest  in  a  sixth,  valued  at  $3,150.00.  Sun- 
day-schools were  held  at  ten  points.  The  organization  was  effected  by  the  elec- 
tion for  President  of  B.  F.  Cash;  Clerk,  H.  W.  Marty;  Financial  Clerk,  W.  H. 
Browder;  Treasurer,  L.  A.  Landers.  There  was  positive  action  taken  on  educa- 
tion, not  only  by  recommending  Findlay  College  and  Fort  Scott  Collegiate  Insti- 
tute; but  by  a  declaration  "that  in  this  progressive  age  we  see  the  need  of  an 
educated  ministry,  and  seeing  our  deficiency  as  an  Eldership,  we  would  urge  the 
brethren  to  make  every  possible  effort  to  better  qualify  themselves  for  their  work." 
The  observance  of  Advocate  Day  was  strongly  recommended.  There  were  seven 
fields  of  labor,  on  which  seventeen  preaching  points  were  named  by  the  Station- 
ing Committee. 

18th  AVest  Virginia  Eldership,  South. — Memories  of  the  first  West  Virginia 
Eldership,  South,  were  cherished,  as  the  body  met  at  the  place  for  holding  the 
session  in  1911.  They  were  not  like  Themistocles,  who  when  Simonides  offered 
to  teach  him  the  art  of  memory,  replied,  "Ah!  rather  teach  me  the  art  of  forget- 
ting, for  I  often  remember  what  I  would  not,  and  can  not  forget  what  I  would." 
The  session  was  held  with  the  church  at  Grandview,  Putnam  county,  one  of  the 
first  churches  of  God  organized  within  the  bounds  of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership, 
South,  and  the  first  in  the  great  Kanawha  Valley.  It  was  organized  by  W.  J. 
Davis  in  February,  1877.  Here  also,  in  October,  1894,  the  West  Virginia  Elder- 
ship, South,  was  constituted.  Grandview  is  in  Putnam  county.  The  date  of  this 
Eldership  was  August  31,  1911.  The  previous  evening  the  rain  prevented  the 
services,  at  which  time  B.  F.  Cash  was  to  preach  the. Opening  Sermon.  Eleven 
teaching  elders  were  present,  and  six  delegates;  six  ministers  absent.  L.  A.  Lan- 
ders was  elected  President;  H.  W.  Marty,  Clerk;  R.  L.  Workman,  Financial  Clerk; 
L.  A.  Landers,  Treasurer.  Clear  and  strong  resolutions  were  adopted,  commend- 
ing the  Church  literature  and  the  institutions  of  learning.  When  the  Stationing 
Committee  made  its  Report,  it  made  an  assessment  on  each  point  named  on  the 
six  fields  of  labor,  from  $50.00  up  to  $180.00,  and  aggregating  $615.00,  pre- 
sumably the  salaries  of  the  pastors;  but  if  so,  not  much  over  one-half  of  that 
amount  had  been  paid  the  year  then  closing.  There  were  now  eleven  Sabbath- 
schools.  The  ministers  had  preached  644  sermons  during  the  year;  there  were 
13.1  conversions,  40  baptized  and  75  fellowshiped;  total  membership,  211.  Ap- 
parently these  self-denying  ministers  had  the  task  of  Sisyphus,  to  roll  to  the  top  of 
a  steep  hill,  a  huge  stone  that  always  rolled  down  again.  Or  else  the  statistics 
are  incorrect. 

19th  West  Virginia  Eldership,  South. — At  least  on  temperance  as  a  civic  issue 
the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  South,  was  ready  to  take  definitive  action.  The 
amendment  of  the  State  Constitution  to  prohibit  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  in- 
toxicants was  to  be  voted  on  in  the  Fall.  It  created  quite  a  degree  of  interest 
in  the  churches  and  among  the  ministers,  and  the  discussion  at  the  Eldership  con- 
sumed much  time.  The  Eldership  met  in  one  of  the  most  southern  counties  in 
which  its  ministers  were  laboring,  some  50  miles  from  the  boundary  line  be- 
tween Virginia  and  West  Virginia,  at  a  point  called  Powellton,  Fayette  county,  on 
August  22,  1912.     The  evening  before  H.  W.  Marty  preached  the  Opening  Sermon. 


The  Arkansas  Eldership    (Colored)  745 

There  were  present  eight  ministers  and  five  delegates.  Three  ministers  were  ab- 
sent, and  five  "were  absent  and  dropped."  Balloting  resulted  in  the  choice  for 
President  of  R.  L.  Workman;  Clerk,  H.  VV.  Marty;  Financial  Clerk,  G.  A.  Hart- 
well;  Treasurer,  G.  W.  Good.  The  members  of  the  Standing  Committee  were  W. 
H.  Browder,  H.  W.  Marty  and  J.  W.  Martin.  The  number  of  charges  to  which 
pastors  were  assigned  was  seven,  with  nineteen  preaching  points.  The  number  of 
protracted  meetings  held  was  15;  conversions,  321;  fellowshiped,  142;  baptized, 
104;  ordinance  meetings,  11;  Sabbath-schools,  13;  total  membership,  344;  ser- 
mons preached,  676;  aggregate  salaries,  $231.80;  missionary  money  collected, 
$30.20;  Church  Extension  funds,  $3.80.  The  ministers  thus  laboring  in  the  midst 
of  untoward  conditions  must  have  lives  of  glad  freedom  which  have  no  fears  to 
taunt  and  no  defeat  to  dread.  They  trust  him  who  is  their  Ruler  and  Guide, 
doing  their  duty  with  hopeful  assurance  that  joy,  and  not  sorrow,  is  the  final  plan 
of  the  Almighty. 


XXII.     THE    ARKANSAS    ELDERSHIP  (COLORED). 


1st  Arkansas  Eldership  (Colored). — There  existed  one  exclusive  reason  for 
the  organization  into  a  distinct  Eldership  of  the  churches  and  ministers  of  the 
negro  race  in  the  State  of  Arkansas.  They  were  organized  into  churches  and 
converted  under  the  labors,  and  licensed  by  ministers  of  the  Texas  and  Arkansas 
Eldership,  and  from  the  beginning  had  been  a  part  of  said  Eldership.  But  this 
physical  contiguity  was  not  union.  They  could  not  amalgamate,  merge  or 
coalesce.  The  inherited,  ineradicable  antipathy  of  the  two  races,  intensified  by 
social  conditions,  made  a  division  inevitable.  It  had  virtually  existed  before,  and 
was  in  part  recognized  by  the  appointment  of  a  Standing  Committee  from  year  to 
year  to  look  after  the  interests  of  the  colored  churches  and  ministers.  But  the  di- 
vision was  actualized  in  1894,  when  ten  ministers  assembled  at  Zeaney  Chapel, 
McClone  Bottom,  Logan  county,  October  17,  1894,  and  organized  an  Eldership. 
These  men  were  A.  C.  Crowley,  Matt.  Bonds,  M.  Perkins,  R.  T.  Ellinpfberg,  W. 
Washington,  S.  A.  Wilkins,  Webster  Symbo,  J.  Johnson,  William  Smith  and 
Washington  Treavor.  They  elected  A.  C.  CroAvley,  Speaker,  and  M,  Perkins,  Clerk. 
The  Introductory  Sermon  was  preached  by  A.  C.  Crowley  in  the  evening  of  the 
first  day's  sittings,  under  appointment  by  the  Committee  on  Public  Worship,  one 
of  the  nine  committees  named  by  him  as  Speaker.  There  were  seven  fields  of 
labor,  to  which  eight  of  the  preachers  were  assigned,  and  "Rev.  A.  C,  Crowley, 
S.  D.  D.,"  was  designated  as  "Speaker  and  General  Missionary  and  Manager  of  the 
colored  part  of  the  Church  of  God."  The  Committee  on  Church  Literature  de- 
clared "that  the  Bible  be,  and  is,  the  literature  of  the  Church  of  God."  The  Com- 
mittee on  Education  affirmed  "that  education,  religion  and  honesty  be.  and  are,  the 
motto  of  this  fraternity  forever,  and  we  request  all  our  people  in  the  Church  of 
God  to  educate  their  children  according  to  our  motto."  In  March,  1896,  Crowley 
asked  "the  consent  of  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership  to  write  a  memorial,  or 
application,  to  the  General  Eldership  for  a  Charter  for  our  Eldership."  But  the 
Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership  suspended  Crowley,  and  declared  he  "was  not  in 
good  and  regular  standing."  The  Eldership  organized  by  him  was  repudiated,  and 
at  the  session  of  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership  in  189  6,  application  was  made 
"to  send  a  committee  to  organize  the  colored  ministers  and  churches  into  an 
Eldership."  This  petition  was  granted,  and  J.  M.  Howard  and  J.  J.  Stewart  were 
named  as  the  committee.  This  action  Crowley  resented  publicly;  but  as  he  had 
been  expelled,  the  churches  and  ministers  nearly  all  deserted  him,  and  refused  to 
recognize  his  authority.  The  General  Eldership  in  189  6  authorized  the  organiza- 
tion of  "The  Arkansas  Eldership  of  the  Churches  of  God  (Colored)."  Crowley, 
however,  was  persistent,  and  being  a  man  of  some  culture  and  strong  personality, 
kept  a  few  of  his  followers  together  for  several  years.  He  held  his  Eldership  at 
Mt.  Nebo,  in  1895,  and  Zeaney  Chapel  in  October,  1896. 

Not  recognizing  Crowley's  schismatic  course,  the  colored  ministers,  deacons 
and  delegates  who  were  loyal  to  the  legally  constituted  authorities  met  at  Zeaney's 
Chapel,  Logan  county,  Ark.,  November  11,  1896,  to  organize  an  Eldership  under 
the  authority  of  the  General  Eldership.  Those  present  were:  Ministers — Matt. 
Bonds,  Webster  Symbo,  Thomas  Lewis,  R.  T.  Ellingberg  and  E,  D.  DeGraftenreed. 
Delegates — J.    D.    DeGraftenreed,    Walker    Stokes,    L.    Batson    and    E.    W.    Webb. 


746  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

Deacons — Jeflf.  D.  DeGraftenreed  and  R.  W.  Smysers.  Organization  was  effected  by 
the  election  of  Matt.  Bonds,  Speaker,  and  Thomas  Lewis,  Assistant;  R.  T.  EUing- 
berg,  Clerk,  and  L.  Batson,  Assistant,  and  L.  Batson,  Treasurer.  This  organ- 
ization has  been  considered  the  first  Eldership,  and  the  official  enumeration  begins 
here.  It  was  organized  by  the  committee  of  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership, 
under  the  Charter  granted  by  the  General  Eldership.  The  session  was  held  in 
a  log  cabin,  16x16  feet.  The  Constitution  and  Rules  of  Order  of  the  East  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership  were  adopted.  In  addition  to  the  action  of  the  Texas  and  Ar- 
kansas Eldership  in  disfellowshiping  Crowley,  this  Eldership  also  "withdrew  fel- 
lowship" from  him.  The  state  of  religion  among  the  churches  represented  was 
"prosperous,  and  the  lookout  good  in  every  respect."  And  the  committee  closed 
its  report  with  this  ejaculation:  "Hallelujah  is  in  every  heart  since  we  have 
been  set  free  from  imposterism!"  The  body  declared:  "We  are  now  set  apart 
hy  the  order  of  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership  in  a  lawful  way,  and  in  a  lawful 
assembly,  by  the  committee  appointed  by  the  Eldership."  Matt.  Bonds  was  "rec- 
ommended to  the  General  Board  for  our  missionary."  The  use  of  Church  of  God 
literature  was  insisted  upon. 

2nd  Arkansas  Eldership  (Colored). — The  legal  and  orderly  organization  of 
the  new  Eldership  did  not  at  once  put  an  end  to  contention  and  strife.  The 
colored  race,  however,  has  always  yielded  readily  to  higher  authority.  But  in  this 
case  authority  above  both  Elderships  in  Arkansas  was  necessary  to  bring  order  out 
of  confusion.  To  this  end  the  Executive  Board  of  the  General  Eldership  decided 
to  send  its  President,  the  cautious  and  conciliatory  R.  L.  Byrnes,  on  an  official 
visit  to  Arkansas.  He  carried  with  him  the  official  Charter  of  the  Colored  Elder- 
ship, under  date  of  June  18,  1897.  After  "visiting  the  white  brethren  of  the 
Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership,  in  order  to  decide  a  question,  he  also  had  the 
colored  brethren  meet  with  them."  At  the  close  of  this  conference  Byrnes  de- 
cided that  "the  Eldership  of  which  Matt,  Bonds  is  the  Speaker,  is  the  only  legally 
constituted  and  recognized  Eldership  (colored)  in  the  State."  This  put  an  end 
to  the  machinations  of  Crowley,  and  brought  peace  and  harmony  where  there  wab 
discord  and  dissension.  Under  these  favorable  auspices  the  Eldership  convened  at 
Mt.  Nebo,  Ark.,  November  4,  1897,  when  Matt.  Bonds  delivered  the  Opening  Ser- 
mon. An  organization  was  effected  by  the  choice  of  R.  T.  Ellingberg,  Speaker; 
J.  D.  DeGraftenreed,  Clerk;  M.  Perkins,  Financial  Clerk,  and  E.  D.  DeGraften- 
reed, Treasurer.  There  were  eleven  teaching  elders  in  the  body,  two  having  been 
added  at  this  session.  Each  minister  was  required  to  pay  fifty  cents  into  the  Mis- 
sion Fund.  Money  was  needed  to  begin  work  in  Oklahoma,  which  the  Eldership 
resolved  to  do  after  carefully  considering  the  subject.  And  each  preacher  was 
required  "to  go  on  his  field  as  a  missionary  and  work  in  the  cause  of  the  Master 
like  soldiers  of  the  cross." 

3rd  Arkansas  Eldership  (Colored). — The  predominance  of  the  spiritual  ele- 
ment in  the  Arkansas  Eldership  (colored)  is  seen  in  the  order  for  religious  services 
and  a  sermon  at  11  o'clock  each  day,  and  in  the  evening.  With  a  few  alterations 
the  Eldership  acted  under  the  Constitution  and  Rules  of  Order  of  the  West  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership.  The  session  was  held  at  Zeaney's  Chapel,  beginning  Novem- 
ber 10,  1898.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by  the  Speaker  of  the  former 
Eldership,  R.  T.  Ellingberg.  He  was  re-elected  Speaker;  J.  D.  DeGraftenreed, 
Clerk,  and  M.  Perkins,  Treasurer.  At  11  o'clock  the  Eldership  adjourned  to  listen 
to  a  sermon  on  Rev.  xxii.  17,  by  J.  D.  DeGraftenreed.  The  old  Methodlstic  style 
prevailed,  and  at  least  two  spoke  at  these  and  the  evening  services.  Religious 
fervor  was  often  developed  to  a  high  degree  and  unconverted  persons  were  saved. 
There  were  five  fields  of  labor,  all  in  Arkansas,  and  to  each  a  pastor  was  assigned. 
Matt.  Bonds  was  continued  as  General  Missionary.  "A  strange  resolution  was 
discussed  and  adopted,"  is  the  Clerk's  way  of  introducing  the  following:  "No 
minister  of  this  Eldership  shall  be  allowed  to  hold  a  License,  or  Certificate  of 
Ordination  who  drinks  or  uses  intoxicating  drinks."  The  number  of  ministers 
was  eight. 

4th  Arkansas  Eldership  (Colored). — This  Eldership,  while  its  "Journal  is 
faithfully  made  out  in  our  ledger,"  never  trespassed  much  on  the  space  allowed  in 
The  Advocate  for  official  matter.  Besides,  its  business  was  limited,  and  lengthy 
resolutions  rare.  In  1899  only  routine  business  was  transacted.  The  session  was 
held  with  the  Mt.  Nebo  church.  Greenwood  P.  O.,  Sebastian  county.  Ark.,  and  began 
October  25th.  The  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  by  R.  T.  Ellingberg.  Balloting 
for  officers  resulted  in  the  election   of  Matt.  Bonds,   Speaker;    R,  T.   Ellingberg, 


The^  Arkansas  Eldbirship    (Cou)re^d)  747 

Clerk;  J.  D.  DeGraftem-eed,  Treasurer  and  Financial  Clerk.  During  the  year,  on 
April  5,  1899,  S.  A.  WiUtins  was  suddenly  discharged  from  the  ranks  of  the 
church  militant,  to  join  the  church  triumphant.  "He  was  an  excellent  preacher." 
The  name,  style  and  title  of  the  Eldership  had  been  changed  to  "The  Arkansas 
Eldership  of  the  Churches  of  God."  The  Life  Certificates,  according  to  action  of 
the  General  Eldership,  were  also  adopted.  The  Eldership  was  desirous  to  have  a 
delegate  at  the  General  Eldership  in  1899,  and  J.  D.  DeGrafteni-eed  was  elected 
at  a  "called  session."  Limited  finances  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  be  present. 
In  no  Eldership  did  the  pastors  labor  with  such  insufficient  support. 

5th  Arkansas  Eldership  (Colored).— The  churches  and  ministers  in  the  Ar- 
kansas Eldership  (Colored)  labored  under  serious  impediments.  They  were  few 
in  number,  poor  and  scattered,  and  worshiped  in  school-houses  belonging  to  the 
Tvhite  people,  in  groves  and  arbors,  and  in  private  houses.  Mrs.  Eliza  B.  Dupree, 
Topeka,  Kansas,  attended  the  Eldership  in  1900,  and  was  appointed  missionary, 
at  an  "allowance  of  $7  5.00  a  year  for  her  services."  The  session  was  held  at 
Zeaney's  Chapel,  5  miles  north  of  Paris,  Logan  county,  Arkansas,  and  began  No- 
Tember  13th.  The  following  officers  were  elected:  E.  D.  DeGraftenreed, 
Speaker;  R.  T.  Ellingberg,  Clerk;  J.  D.  DeGraftenreed,  Journalizing  Clerk;  Alex- 
ander Calwell,  Treasurer.  The  Eldership  had  been  taught  that  the  Communion 
should  be  observed  before  the  washing  of  the  saints'  feet.  Otherwise  it  was 
claimed  it  was  "altogether  one  in  doctrine  with  the  General  Eldership."  It  de- 
sired said  body  "to  grant  us  leave  to  wash  feet  after  Supper."  But  it  was  sub- 
mitted to  the  higher  body,  adding:  "If  not,  we  have  to  be  subject  to  the  body." 
The  work  was  being  extended  into  the  Indian  Territory.  Mrs.  Dupree  in  her  ca- 
pacity as  missionary  preached  at  Sparrow,  Pannamo  and  other  points.  She  "was 
fellowshiped  into  the  Arkansas  Eldership  (Colored),  and  her  Certificate  of  Ordi- 
nation granted  her  by  the  Kansas  Eldership  (White)  was  endorsed."  "A  strong 
resolution  was  adopted  in  regard  to  the  spread  of  the  gospel  and  the  organizing  of 
churches  of  God."     Nine  ministers  were  enrolled  at  this  Eldership. 

6th  Arkansas  Eldei-ship  (Colored). — By  1901  the  work  in  the  Indian  Terri- 
tory had  so  far  been  successful  that  a  circuit  could  be  organized.  The  Eldership, 
lience,  desired  that  its  boundaries  should  be  extended  so  as  to  embrace  its  work 
in  the  Territory.  Two  churches  had  been  organized  and  "were  received  and 
entered  on  the  Roll."  The  Eldership  convened  in  the  A.  M.  E.  stone  building,  Mt. 
Nebo,  Sebastian  county,  Ark.,  November  14,  19  01.  The  officers  elected  were: 
Matt.  Bonds,  Speaker;  J.  D.  DeGraftenreed,  Clerk;  R,  T.  Ellingberg,  Financial 
Clerk;  M.  Perkins,  Treasurer.  The  preaching  of  the  Opening  Sermon,  by  E.  D. 
DeGraftenreed,  on  account  "of  a  hindering  cause  the  previous  evening,"  followed 
the  organization.  Text:  Matt.  v.  14.  While  the  churches  were  willing  to  have 
a  woman  hold  revival  services,  the  church  at  Zeaney's  Chapel  "rejected  Mrs. 
Dupree  as  pastor  on  the  ground  of  being  a  woman."  And  the  Standing  Commit- 
tee took  action  that  "she  shall  not  be  pastor  of  any  of  the  churches  on  the  same 
ground."  The  total  amount  of  funds  received  by  the  Eldership  amounted  to 
■$33.05.  Ten  ministers  were  enrolled,  two  of  them  women — Mrs.  Dupree,  of 
Topeka,  Kans.,  and  Mary  Raban,  of  Kansas  City,  Mo.  Five  others  had  their  post- 
office  addresses  in  the  Indian  Territory,  and  three  in  Arkansas.  J.  D.  DeGraften- 
reed was  appointed  missionary;  Matt.  Bonds  was  named  to  the  General  Board  of 
Missions  for  appointment  as  missionary,  and  three  others  were  assigned  to  fields 
of  labor.  The  ministers  were  forbidden  "to  hold  office  in  the  church  until  they 
liave  paid,  or  secured,  their  Eldership  dues." 

7th  Arkansas  Eldership  (Colored). — The  work  in  the  Indian  Territory  was 
making  encouraging  progress  under  the  labors  of  Matt.  Bonds,  so  that  the  General 
Eldership  was  memorialized  to  extend  the  boundaries  of  the  Arkansas  Eldership 
so  as  to  include  at  least  a  part  of  the  Territory.  This  was  approved  by  the  Gen- 
eral Board  of  Missions.  In  1902,  at  the  Eldership  which  convened  with  the  church 
at  Zeaney's  Chapel,  Logan  county,  Ark.,  November  11th,  two  ministers  were  ap- 
pointed to  fields  in  the  Indian  Territory,  and  four  in  Arkansas.  The  Opening  Ser- 
mon was  delivered  by  W.  A.  Daniels,  R.  T.  Ellingberg  was  chosen  Speaker;  J.  D. 
DeGraftenreed,  Clerk;  E.  D.  DeGrafteni-eed,  Financial  Clerk;  AV.  A.  Daniels, 
Treasurer.  Ten  ministers  attended  the  session.  The  Eldership  made  a  special 
effort  to  secure  the  money  to  pay  its  assessment  to  the  General  Eldership.  With 
its  limited  means  the  Eldership  could  do  little  mission  work,  but  Matt.  Bonds  was 
continued  as  missionary  for  the  whole  territory,  and  recommended  for  additional 
support  to  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership.      Other  ministers  in 


748  History   of  the  Churches  of  God 

addition  to  the  six  assigned  to  charges  were  to  "receive  appointments  from  the 
Standing  Committee." 

8th  Arkansas  Eldership  (Colored). — The  missionary  spirit  was  further 
stimulated  during  the  year,  so  that  there  was  renewed  enthusiasm  when  the 
Eldership  convened  in  1903.  There  "was  an  increase  in  membership  this  year  of 
twenty-eight."  At  the  Eldership  "visitors  from  all  denominations  were  present 
at  the  session,"  which  was  held  with  the  church  at  Spiro,  Indian  Territory,  be- 
ginning on  November  4th,  and  continuing  to  the  9th.  One  minister  was  received 
from  the  A.  M.  E.  Church,  and  one  from  the  Missionary  Baptist  Church.  "The 
Eldership  stirred  up  the  little  village."  Each  church  was  represented  by  a  dele- 
gate. R.  T.  Ellingberg  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon.  Nine  teaching  elders  were 
present.  EJllingberg  was  elected  Speaker;  J.  D.  DeGraftenreed,  Clerk;  W.  A. 
Daniels,  Treasurer.  A  Woman's  Missionary  Society  was  organized,  and  "arrange- 
ments were  made  to  help  to  support  a  missionary."  The  question:  "Does  the 
New  Testament  give  a  woman  the  right  to  preach  the  gospel?"  with  other  "min- 
isterial subjects,"  was  "discussed  and  made  very  clear."  Minnie  Smyles  received 
license  to  preach.  Four  appointments  were  made,  two  in  Arkansas  and  two' 
in  the  Indian  Territory,  while  the  "Other  ministers  were  left  in  the  hands  of  the 
Standing  Committee." 

9th  Arkansas  Eldership  (Colored). — The  excellent  and  hopeful  mood  of  the 
Arkansas  Eldership  persisted  through  the  year.  And  while  the  session  of  1904 
"was  smaller  in  numbers  than  ever,  its  work  seemed  stronger."  The  meeting  was 
held  with  the  church  at  Mt.  Nebo,  Sebastian  county,  Ark.,  and  began  November 
7th.  R.  T.  Elllngberg  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  after  which  the  officers  were 
chosen,  as  follows:  R.  T.  Ellingberg,  Speaker;  J.  D.  DeGraftenreed,  Clerk; 
Alexander  Calwell,  Treasurer.  Some  time  was  spent  in  discussing  these  two  ques- 
tions: "Who  are  proper  subjects  for  baptism?"  "What  relation  does  baptism 
sustain  to  conversion?"  A  Missionary  Fund  was  created  "to  help  our  mission- 
ary in  his  labors  in  the  mission  work."  Every  minister  present  also  "vowed  to 
pay  to  the  Eldership  for  mission  work  from  $2.50  up  to  $10.00."  S.  P.  Peters 
was  the  choice  of  the  Eldership  for  appointment  as  missionary  by  the  General 
Board  of  Missions.  Four  fields  of  labor  were  supplied  with  pastors;  others  having 
"failed  to  report,  were  left  subject  to  the  action  of  the  Standing  Committee." 

10th  Arkansas  Eldership  (Colored).- — Without  fixed  Rules  for  its  governance, 
the  Eldership  in  1905  "adopted  those  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  for  the 
guide  of  the  session  of  the  Eldership."  The  meeting  was  held  at  Mt.  Nebo,  Se- 
bastian county.  Ark.,  November  8,  1905.  In  the  morning  the  Opening  Sermon 
was  preached.  At  the  afternoon  sitting  E.  D.  DeGraftenreed  was  chosen  Speaker; 
J.  D.  DeGrafteni-eed,  Clerk;  Alexander  Calwell,  Treasurer.  It  was  provided  that 
the  Standing  Committee,  consisting  of  R.  T.  Ellingberg,  J.  D.  DeGraftenreed  and 
S.  P.  Peters,  "write  up  a  Constitution  and  By-Laws,  and  Rules  for  the  government 
of  the  Eldership,"  and  have  it  printed  in  pamphlet  form.  S.  P.  Peters  was  rec- 
ommended to  the  Board  of  Missions  to  be  appointed  missionary  in  Arkansas. 
The  ministers  numbered  nineteen,  three  of  which  "failed  to  send  in  any  report.'* 
As  State  missionary,  S.  P.  Peters  received  "a  small  appropriation."  He  preached 
an  Ordination  Sermon  on  Sunday  evening.  A  Ministerial  Association  was  pro- 
vided for,  and  an  organization  effected,  a  meeting  to  be  called  by  the  Chairman  in 
August,  1906.  The  "Eldership  had  a  lovely  time,  and  did  its  business  very  de- 
liberately." 

11th  Arkansas  Eldership  (Colored). — The  ministers  being  required  to  "take 
and  pay  for  The  Advocate,  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  in  touch  with  the  religious 
work  throughout  the  bounds  of  the  different  Elderships  and  the  General  Elder- 
ship," seemed  to  produce  one  immediate  effect:  This  session  was  enlivened  with 
discussions  on  a  greater  variety  of  subjects  than  usual.  The  session  was  held  at 
Spiro,  Indian  Territory,  beginning  November  7,  1906.  T.  J.  Lewis  was  elected 
Speaker;  J.  D.  DeGraftenreed,  Clerk;  E,  D.  DeGraftenreed,  Treasurer.  Not  so 
precipitate  in  granting  licenses,  after  examining  three  applicants  it  granted  license 
to  one  and  referred  the  others  to  the  Standing  Committee  for  further  examina- 
tion. One  was  a  woman.  Most  of  its  indebtedness  to  the  General  Eldership  was 
paid,  and  it  made  "an  effort  to  settle  in  full  at  an  early  date."  Also  to  "raise 
$50.00  by  March  1,  1907,  to  meet  all  current  and  general  expenses."  The  divorce 
question  and  the  evils  of  divorces  were  discussed.  Also  the  temperance  question. 
It  resolved  "to  fast  and  pray  on  certain  occasions,  as  Jesus  taught  his  disciples." 
The  subject  of  rebaptism  came  up  in  this  form:      "Is  it  scriptural  to  rebaptize  any 


Ths  Arkansas   Eldership    (Coi^ored)  749 

one  coming  from  any  sectarian  Church  and  uniting  with  the  Church  of  God  if  hft 
or  she  had  been  baptized,  or  immersed?"  There  was  some  lack  of  stability  among 
ministers,  as  two  of  them  serving  charges  "left  the  bounds  of  the  Eldership  without 
notification."      And  two  licensed  women  followed  their  example. 

12th  Arkansas  Eldership  (Colored). — The  finances  of  the  Eldership  improved 
following  actions  taken  in  19  06.  With  the  collections  sent  in,  with  those  lifted  at 
the  session,  they  "gathered  enough  to  settle  all  current  and  general  expenses."  In 
answer  to  a  letter  from  M.  K.  Smith,  Treasurer  of  the  General  Eldership,  "an 
order  was  drawn  on  the  Eldership  Treasurer  to  settle  all  dues  to  the  Mission 
Board."  These  conditions  gave  a  hopeful  spirit  to  the  Eldership  which  convened 
with  the  church  at  Zeaney's  Chapel,  Logan  county.  Ark.,  on  Wednesday,  October 
23,  19  07,  and  on  said  evening  R.  T.  Ellingberg  preached  the  Opening  Sermon. 
Subject:  "Teach  us  to  pray."  S.  P.  Peters  was  elected  Speaker  on  Thursday 
morning;  J.  D.  DeGraftenreed,  Clerk;  T.  J.  Lewis,  Treasurer.  Eight  preachers 
were  absent,  "but  sent  in  their  reports,  with  their  prayers  and  alms."  If  there 
were  discussions,  "peace  and  harmony  prevailed  all  through  the  sessions."  "How 
to  study  the  Bible,"  was  under  discussion.  Also,  "How  to  be  a  successful  pas- 
tor." Two  of  the  five  charges  to  which  the  Eldership  assigned  preachers  were  in 
Oklahoma  (Indian  Territory) ;  but  some  fields  were  left  in  the  hands  of  the  Stand- 
ing Committee.      Studies  for  the  first  year's  course  were  adopted. 

13th  Arkansas  Eldership  (Colored) .—There  was  an  interchange  of  the  names 
Indian  Territory  and  Oklahoma  pending  the  Statehood  question  before  the  people 
-and  in  Congress.  The  Eldership  meeting  in  1908  was  published  to  be  held  at 
Spiro,  Oklahoma,  while  the  Clerk  reported  that  it  was  held  at  Spiro,  Indian  Terri- 
tory. Spiro  was  located  in  the  Indian  Territory,  which  became  part  of  the  State  of 
Oklahoma.  The  session  began  Monday,  November  10,  1908.  On  the  preceding 
Sunday  evening  the  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  by  S.  P.  Peters.  The  Eldership 
had  taken  the  name  of  the  Arkansas  and  Indian  Territory  Eldership,  but  with  the 
admission  of  the  two  Territories  into  the  Union  under  the  name  Oklahoma,  it 
petitioned  the  General  Eldership  to  change  its  title  to  the  "Arkansas  and  Oklahoma 
Eldership  (Colored)."  R.  T.  Ellingberg  was  elected  President;  J.  D.  DeGraften- 
reed.  Clerk  and  Treasurer.  For  legal  reasons  Certificates  of  Ordination  were  re- 
quired to  be  recorded.  The  names  of  two  ministers  were  dropped,  because  "they 
departed  from  the  faith."  More  attention  was  given  to  mission  work,  and  it  was 
decided  to  appoint  S.  P.  Peters  general  missionary,  "to  enter  the  field  January  1, 
1909,  and  to  be  supported  by  this  Eldership." 

14th  Arkansas  and  Oklahoma  Eldership  (Colored). — A  small  number  at- 
tended the  fourteenth  session  of  the  Arkansas  and  Oklahoma  Eldership,  "owing 
to  the  high  waters"  and  other  causes.  The  few  present  "transacted  all  the  busi- 
ness in  the  usual  way,"  leaving  certain  matters  in  the  hands  of  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee. The  meeting  was  held  with  the  church  at  Spiro,  Okla.,  beginning  with 
the  Opening  Sermon  on  the  evening  of  November  16,  1909,  by  R.  T.  Ellinberg. 
An  organization  was  effected  by  electing  S.  P.  Petei-s,  President;  J.  D.  DeGraften- 
reed,  Clerk;  R.  T.  Ellinberg,  Treasurer.  "A  grand  time  was  witnessed,"  as  the 
members  enjoyed  the  preaching  and  singing  and  praying  as  much  as,  or  more 
than,  the  business  transactions.  Mission  work  was  uppermost,  and  T.  J.  Lewis, 
while  appointed  to  serve  Spiro,  was  also  elected  missionary,  and  "recommended 
to  the  General  Board  of  Missions  for  appointment  as  missionary."  "Two  other 
mission  points  were  to  be  supplied  with  preachers  by  the  Standing  Committee." 
Absent  members,  or  those  who  failed  to  report,  were  instructed  to  report  to  the 
Standing  Committee,  whose  first  meeting  was  to  be  held  at  Spiro,  Okla.,  "on  Sat- 
urday before  the  second  Lord's  day  in  January,  1910."  Dues  for  the  Eldership 
were  also  then  to  be  collected,  as  a  better  system  of  raising  funds  was  being  en- 
forced. 

15th  Arkansas  and  Oklahoma  Eldership  (Colored). — There  was  more  of  a 
missionary  spirit  kindled  by  the  active  work  done  on  mission  fields  than  by 
speeches  and  resolutions.  At  the  session  of  1910  the  need  of  "more  missionaries 
all  the  time  to  spread  the  doctrine"  was  a  prominent  thought.  The  Eldership 
convened  with  the  church  at  Spiro,  Okla.,  November  16,  1910,  when  in  the  evening 
S.  P.  Peters  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  from  John  iii.  16.  Seven  ministers 
were  present.  A  minister  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Church  for  forty  years,  Vincent  Moi^an, 
was  received  and  granted  a  Certificate  of  Ordination.  Another  one  who  "had  de- 
parted from  the  faith,  John  Watson,  but  returned,  and  also  received  license.  The 
officers  elected  were  E.  D.  DeGraftenreed,  President;  J.  D.  DeGraftenreed,  Clerk; 


750  History  of  the:  Churches  of  God 

R.  T.  Ellingberg,  Treasurer.  The  Eldership  "elected  EUingberg  missionary  for 
the  mission  fields,  and  promised  to  stand  by  him  and  aid  him  in  the  work  for  the 
Master."  Six  other  ministers  were  "assigned  to  do  mission  work  in  Oklahoma  and 
Arkansas — S.  P.  Peters,  T,  J.  Lewis,  Alexander  Calwell,  J.  W.  Watson,  E.  D.  De- 
Graftenreed  and  Vincent  Morgan."  The  Eldership  appointed  pastors  to  two  fields, 
leaving  the  others  to  be  supplied  by  the  Standing  Committee.  The  ministers  re- 
mained at  Spiro  over  Sabbath,  and  had  preaching  three  times  during  the  day,  and 
Sabbath-school  at  9  a.  m. 

16th  Arkansas  and  Oklahoma  Eldership  (Colored). — The  Arkansas  and  Okla- 
homa Eldership  having  finally  adopted  the  Constitution  of  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership,  in  so  far  as  applicable,  now  worked  under  its  provisions.  It  convened 
with  the  church  at  Mt.  Nebo,  Sebastian  county,  Ark.,  on  Wednesday,  November  15, 
1911.  On  the  previous  evening  E.  D.  DeGraftenreed  preached  the  Opening  Ser- 
mon. J.  H.  Blanchard,  "a  minister  of  the  Missionary  Baptist  Church,  was  granted 
a  Certificate  of  Ordination,"  and  was  appointed  to  a  charge.  E.  D.  DeGrafteni-eed 
was  elected  President;  J.  D.  DeGraftenreed,  Clerk;  J.  A.  Narman,  Treasurer.  The 
work  generally  was  in  good  condition.  G.  W.  Harris  was  appointed  "missionary 
for  the  Eldership."  Two  ministers  were  assigned  to  circuits,  with  four  preaching^ 
points.  It  was  decided  that  "the  other  ministers  were  to  visit  other  places  and 
mission  points,"  as  the  Eldership  "believed  the  best  way  to  build  up  and  establish 
the  churches  of  God  within  its  bounds  is  for  each  preacher  to  labor  in  a  new 
field."  On  Sabbath  evening,  after  a  sermon  on  the  Ordinances,  two  of  them  were 
observed,  and  thus  closed  "a  delightful  session."  S.  P.  Peters  had  ended  his 
noble  warfare  since  the  session  of  1910.  He  had  been  a  devoted,  faithful  mem- 
ber of  the  Eldership  since  1903,  and  his  brethren  eulogized  his  character  as  they 
"bowed  in  submission  to  the  Lord  who  doeth  all  things  well." 

17th  Arkansas  and  Oklahoma  Eldership  (Colored). — Organized  work  was 
now  the  order.  A  Woman's  Missionary  Society  was  formed  in  October,  1911,  with 
a  view  of  co-operating  with  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  There  were  two  local  societies,  with 
37  members.  The  declared  object  was  "to  stimulate  Christian  giving,  to  help 
missions,  and  to  aid  the  Eldership  in  missionary  work."  A  Christian  Endeavor 
organization  was  also  effected  on  April  18,  1912,  with  40  members  enrolled.  So 
encouraged  was  the  minister  who  preached  the  Opening  Sermon,  Tuesday  even- 
ing, November  12,  1912,  at  Spiro,  Okla.,  that  he  selected  for  his  text  the  words: 
"Praise  Ye  the  Lord."  The  preacher  was  E.  D.  DeGraftenreed.  The  body  was 
organized  by  the  election  of  J.  D.  DeGrafteni-eed,  President;  A.  C.  Hull,  Stated 
Clerk;  J.  H.  Blanchard,  Transcribing  Clerk;  W.  H.  Allen,  Treasurer.  J.  H. 
Blanchard,  W.  M.  Bates  and  R.  T.  Ellinberg  were  elected  members  of  the  Standing 
Committee.  Twelve  ministers  were  enrolled.  "G.  W.  Hanis  was  endorsed  as 
missionary,"  and  appointments  were  made  to  four  fields  of  labor,  two  in  Arkansas 
and  two  in  Oklahoma.  The  Eldership  advised  the  ministers  and  members  of  the 
churches  "to  donate  as  liberally  as  possible  toward  the  support  of  G.  W.  Harris, 
missionary."  Each  minister  of  the  Eldership  was  instructed  "to  use  every  means 
of  grace,  and  work  and  pray  the  coming  year,  that  more  souls  may  be  saved,  and 
more  churches  of  God  may  be  established  within  the  bounds  of  the  Eldership." 
The  Temperance  question  was  discussed,  and  advanced  positions  were  taken 
against  the  liquor  traffic.  If  in  some  degree  hope  was  often  disappointed,  to  each 
of  these  God-fearing,  faith-inspired  ministers,  few  in  number,  "failure  was  a 
schoolmaster  of  the  soul,  teaching 

'Fearless  and  unperplexed 
When  I  wage  battle  next 
What  weapons  to  select,  what  armor  to  indue.'  " 


The  Colorado  Eldership  751 

XXIII.    THE   COLORADO   ELDERSHIP. 


Colorado  is  popularly  known  as  the  "Centennial  State,"  from  the  date  of  its 
admission  into  the  Union,  1876.  It  is  a  mountainous  State,  two-thirds  of  its  area 
being  mountain  ranges.  It  has  unusual  attractions,  having  a  salubrious  climate, 
and  its  mountain  ranges  being  noted  for  their  wild  beauty,  and  picturesque  parks 
which  they  enclose,  making  the  State  "the  wonderland  of  the  American  continent." 
Its  mineral  wealth  is  enormous,  while  its  attractions  for  the  agriculturist  are  in- 
ferior. The  eastern  section  belongs  to  what  earlier  was  known  as  "the  great 
American  Desert."  It  was,  hence,  not  a  State  toward  which  eastern  Church  of 
God  families  would  look  as  desirable  for  emigration.  Among  the  first  families 
of  the  Church  to  emigrate  thither  were  health-seekers,  who  learned  of  the 
country  as  possessing  a  tonic,  invigorating  atmosphere,-  where  they  could  re- 
cuperate their  wasted  energies,  if  not  improve  their  conditions  financially  and  re- 
ligiously. One  minister  from  the  Maine  Eldership  emigrated  thither;  one  from 
Ohio,  two  from  Iowa,  and  several  from  eastern  Kansas.  Besides,  in  1896  the  Ohio 
Eldership  licensed  W.  B.  Bowen,  of  Colorado.  These  ministers  at  once  began  to 
preach  the  doctrines  of  the  Church.  It  was  a  "field  ripe  unto  the  harvest,"  and 
the  seed  sown  brought  forth  fruit.  Several  churches  were  organized,  the  one  at 
Lamar  claiming  to  be  the  first.  With  several  churches  and  half  a  dozen  min- 
isters in  the  State;  with  prospects  of  success  very  encouraging,  and  with  a  vast 
stretch  of  unoccupied  and  largely  uninhabited  territory  between  the  Colorado 
brethren  and  the  churches  in  Kansas,  the  desire  was  natural,  as  expressed  by  one 
of  the  ministers,  that  "we  want  an  Eldership  in  Colorado."  Accordingly  by  con- 
certed action  "a  number  of  representative  members  of  the  Church  of  God  met  in 
session  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  an  Eldership  of  the  churches  of  God  in  the 
State  of  Colorado,  to  be  known  as  the  Eldership  of  the  churches  of  God  in  the 
State  of  Colorado."  With  no  respect  for  historical  data,  the  place  of  this  meeting 
is  not  given.  The  date  is  Feb.  14,  1898.  The  ministers  in  attendance  were 
Gardner  Swan,  who  "opened  the  session  by  reading  a  portion  of  Scripture,  fol- 
lowed by  prayer;  J.  R.  Hodges,  T.  J.  Loose,  J.  N.  Smith,  John  Smith,  Alonzo 
Beavers.  P.  L.  French  and  W.  B.  Bowen.  Besides  these  I.  H.  Gi-eene  was  labor- 
ing in  the  State,  and  was  represented  by  letter,  and  W.  D.  Greene  received  license. 
J.  R.  Hodges  was  chosen  Speaker,  and  T.  J.  Loose,  Clerk.  The  Constitution  and 
Rules  of  Order  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  were  adopted  as  the  organic 
law  of  the  new  Eldership.  Licenses  were  granted  to  the  ministers  present  and  to 
I.  H.  Greene.  1.  H.  Greene  and  AV.  D.  Greene  were  appointed  to  the  "North 
Colorado  work,"  and  Gardner  Swan  to  the  "Morgan  'county  work."  J.  N.  Smith 
was  made  General  Evangelist,  "to  open  up  new  points  in  the  State  of  Colorado." 
A  Standing  Committee  was  elected  consisting  of  J.  N.  Smith,  Gardner  Swan  and 
I.  H.  Greene.  A  called  session  was  agreed  upon,  to  be  held  in  June,  1898.  The 
approval  of  the  work  of  this  meeting  by  the  General  Eldership  was  requested.  In- 
stead, however,  the  Kansas  Eldership  annexed  Colorado,  and  most  of  the  min- 
isters of  the  Colorado  Eldership  joined  the  Kansas  Eldership,  thus  ending  what  ap- 
peared a  promising  enterprise. 


I 


DIVISION  III. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  GENERAL  ELDERSHIP. 


C.  H. — 2S» 


DIVISION  III. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  GENERAL   ELDERSHIP. 


I 


It  was  an  immense  step  from  the  form  of  Church  government  by  presbyteries 
or  elderships  as  taught  by  Winebrenner  in  1829,  in  his  "Brief  Scriptural  View  of 
the  Church  of  God,"  and  the  more  elaborate  form  as  found  in  the  Annual  Elder- 
ships and  the  General  Eldership.  In  1829  Winebrenner  acknowledged  no  govern- 
ing power  of  the  church  above  the  "presbytery,  or  eldership,  of  a  local  church." 
For  he  states  that  "a  presbytery,  or  eldership,  simply, ,  signifies  th«  elders,  or 
presbyters,  of  an  individual  church."  It  is  this  presbytery,  through  the  local 
Church,  as  he  then  taught,  which  governs  and  ordains  ministers,  and  whicii  ia  sub- 
ject to  no  other  authority,  and  to  no  rules  or  regulations  not  .found  in  the  Scrip- 
tures. By  what  process  of  reasoning. he  came  to  approve  and  advocate  the  larger 
ruling  bodies,  or  judicatories,  with  all  their  varied  powers,  as  seen  in  the  Annual 
Elderships,  and  now  to  be  vested  in  a  General  Eldership,  will  never  be  known. 
He  was  somewhat  secretive,  believing-  perhaps,  with  Eggleston,  that  "secretive'  men 
are  good  diplomatists."  While  he  doubtless-  dey,elopedtli,e  thought  and  plan  of  a 
General  Eldership  in  his  mind,  there  is  no,thing  in,  evidence  that  the  least  degree 
of  publicity  was  given  to  it  before  Winebrenner  proposed  it  at  the  .session  of  the 
Ohio  Eldership,,  on  Thursday  afternoon,  October  17,  1844,  when  quietly  a  reso- 
lution was  adopted,  declaring  "that  this  Eldership  will  agree  to  co-operate  ;witb 
the  East  and  West  Pennsylvania  Elderships  tcr  create  a  QeAeral  Ekiership  for  the 
transaction  of  all  business  of  a  general  nature.''-  -The  <East -Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship was  given  the  right  "to  name  the  time  and  place  af  holding  said  General  Bldi- 
ership."  Six  delegates;  were  at  once  elected.  From  the  Ohio  Eldership ,. Win©- 
bi-enner  went .  to  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  at  Bethany,  Westrnoreland 
county.  He  was  made  a  member,  of  the  body.  During  the  first  sitting  of  the  Elfl-* 
fership  he  was,  on  motion,  granted  "leave  to  bring  before  this  body  certain  reso^ 
lutions  passed  by  the  Ohio  Eldership."  A  resolution  was  thereupon  passed,  de--- 
claring  "that  this  Eldership  ..agree  to  co-operate  with  the  Ohio-  and  East  Pennsyl-f 
tania  Elderships  in  calling  and  ^holding  a  General  Eldership,.>to  transact  business 
of  a  general  nature."  Upoa  .Winebrenner's  motion  two  teaching  and  two  ruling 
elders  were  elected  by  ballot  "to  represent  this  body  in  the  General  Eldership."  A 
resolution  was  also  adopted,  that  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  shall  appoint 
the  time  and  place  for  holding  the  General  Eldership.  Wiii^torenn^r  then,  returned 
home  to  attend  his  own  Eldership,  which  convened  at,  Linglestown,  Dauphin 
county,  November  13th.  During  the  first  morning  sitting,  under  "new  items  of 
business  of  a  general  character,"  "Winebrenner  brought  before  this  Eldership  the 
actions  of  the  Ohio  and  West  Pennsylvania  Elderships. touching  the  propriety  of 
holding  a  General  Eldership  for  the  transaction  of  business  of  a  general  char- 
acter." Three  resolutions  followed:  to  agree  to  hold  a  .General  Eldership,  to  pro- 
ceed immediatelji^  yto  elect  delegates,  and  naming  Pittsburg  as  the  place,  and  May 
25,  1845,  as. the  time,  for  the  convening  of  the  delegates  tO;organize  the  proposed 
General  Eldership.  Remarkably  little  was  published  concerning  this  new  move- 
ment in  advance  of  the  meeting.  .And  .after  the  General  Eldership  had  become.^ 
fact,  and  it  had  done  its  work,  no  report  of  any  character  appeared  in  The  Gospel 
Publisher.  The.only  reference  thereto  was  an  announcement  on  June  18th  "that 
we  intend  as  soon  as  practicable  to  pubish  the  Journal  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
General  Eldership  in  pamphlet  form,"  and  on  June  2  5th,  that  "the  Journal  is  now 
ready  for  delivery."  Then  in  the  issue  of  July  2,  1845,  when  the,  Editor  discussed 
the  "Relief  Project,"  "to  relieve  the  Printing  Establishment  from  its  present 
embarrassed  condition,"  when  he  refers  to  "the  Journal  of  the  General  Eldership." 
On  August  13th,  a  disappointed  patron  of  the  paper  published  "severe  charges" 
against  the  Editor  of  the  General  Eldership  on  account  of  the  non-publication  of 
the  Journal  in  The  Gospel  Publisher.  He  states  that  since  the  session  of  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership,  no  doubt  a  majority  of  the  brethren  have  been  waiting ,  with 
anxiety  and  solicitude  to  see  or  hear  what  it  has  done.  He  insists  that  as  "it  is 
deeply  interesting  to  every  member  of  the  Church,  it  should  be  placed  within  the 
reach  of  all."     The  printing  of  the  Journal  in  pamphlet  form  he  considered  "au 


756  History   of  the   Churches   of   God 

imposition  attempted  to  be  practised  on  the  Church."  He  considered  this  course 
a  "violation  of  an  implied  contract  with  the  patrons  of  the  paper." 

The  delegates  to  organize  the  first  General  Eldership  "met  at  Pittsburg,  Pa., 
on  Monday,  May  26,  1845."  Whether  there  was  an  Opening  Sermon  is  not  re- 
corded. Nor  is  the  place  of  meeting  anywhere  more  definitely  indicated.  No- 
"where  is  this  item  on  record,  interesting  as  it  evidently  is,  and  the  more  so  as 
there  was  no  house  of  worship  in  Pittsburg  the  property  of  the  church.  But  it 
"was  known  that  Hickemell  had  been  preaching  in  a  fire  engine  house,  and  at  the 
iome  of  "Father  George  W.  Gray."  But  in  1890  this  lost  item  concerning  the 
General  Eldership  of  1845  was  supplied  in  the  obituary  of  "Father  Gray."  A  Hall 
had  been  engaged  in  which  to  hold  the  session  of  the  Eldership.  But  as  the  Hall 
liad  been  previously  engaged  for  part  of  that  week  by  another  party,  the  General 
Eldership  adjourned  to  the  private  house  of  "Father  Gray,"  and  the  sittings  were 
then  "held  under  their  roof." 

The  delegates  who  attended  the  first  General  Eldership  were  as  follows: 

East  Pennsylvania  Eldership — J.  Winebrenner,  David  Kyle,  E.  H.  Thomas  and 
George  McCartney,  teaching  elders.      John  S.  Gable  and  VVm.  Hinney,  ruling  elders. 

West  Pennsylvania  Eldership — Joseph  A.  Dobson  and  John  Hickemell,  teach- 
ing elders.      John  Farmer  and  Abraham  Sherrick,  ruling  elders. 

Ohio  Eldership— Thomas  Hickemell  and  Archibald  Megrew,  teaching  elders. 
Total  present:  Eight  teaching  elders  and  four  ruling  elders,  three  of  which  were 
substitutes.  There  were  eight  absentees.  These  members  of  the  first  General 
Eldership  were  all  originally  East  Pennsylvania  men.  Other  ministers  of  the 
Church  of  God  who  were  present  at  the  first  General  Eldership,  but  not  delegates, 
were  Jacob  Myers,  Daniel  Wertz  and  Emanuel  Logue.  When  the  Eldership  was 
constituted  by  John  Hickemell  and  E.  H.  Thomas,  it  was  organized  by  the  election 
of  "Bishop  John  Winebrenner,  Speaker;  Bishop  George  McCartney,  First  Clerk, 
and  Bishop  Edward  West,  Second  Clerk."  But  West,  by  special  request,  was  ex- 
cused from  serving,  and  "Elder  Thomas  Hickemell  being  the  next  highest,  was  ap- 
pointed in  his  stead."  After  appointing  a  Committee  on  Arrangements  and  a 
Committee  on  Order  of  Business,  the  Eldership  adjourned  "to  meet  at  8  o'clock 
to-morrow  morning."  On  the  Committee  on  Order  of  Business  were  Winebrenner, 
Megrew  and  Dobson.  "As  the  best  method  of  bringing  forward  and  disposing  of 
the  business  of  this  meeting,"  said  Committee  reported  in  favor  of  appointing  nine 
committees:  On  Constitution,  Journals,  Overtures,  Publications,  Resolutions, 
State  of  Religion,  Education,  Boundaries  and  Finance.  After  the  appointment  of 
these  nine  committees  the  Eldership  adjourned  until  afternoon.  When  the  Elder- 
ship re-convened  the  Committee  on  Constitution  reported  the  draft  of  a  Constitu- 
tion, which  was  at  once  read  and  its  consideration  Article  by  Article  begun. 
Articles  I.  to  V.  inclusive  were  amended  and  adopted,  when  the  Eldership  ad- 
journed until  Wednesday  morning.  At  this  session  two  resolutions  on  Slavery  and 
one  on  the  deeding  of  meeting-houses  were  read  and  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Resolutions.  The  remainder  of  the  sitting  and  the  afternoon  sitting  were  devoted 
to  the  consideration  and  amendment  of  the  Constitution,  and  also  the  sitting  of 
Thursday  morning.  When  this  work  was  finished  near  noon  on  Thursday,  the 
Eldership  proceeded  to  "organize  according  to  the  Constitution,"  by  electing  John 
Winebrenner,  Speaker;  John  S.  Gable,  Treasurer;  George  McCartney,  Journalizing 
Clerk,  and  Edward  West,  Transcribing  Clerk.  However  West  was  again  excused, 
and  E.  H.  Thomas,  "the  next  highest  on  the  list  of  suffrages  was  appointed  in  his 
place."  The  Constitution  was  formally  signed  by  all  the  members  of  the  Eldership 
enrolled.      It  consists  of  thirty  Articles,  the  provisions  of  which  are  as  follows: 

Art.  I.  States  that  the  General  Eldership  shall  consist  of  delegates  from  all 
the  Annual  Elderships  which  are  or  may  be  formed  within  the  geographical  terri- 
tory of  North  America;  the  ratio  to  be  one  teaching  elder  for  every  ten,  together 
with  an  equal  number  of  ruling  elders.  This  shall  be  the  ratio  for  the  first  ten 
years,  after  which  it  may  be  changed. 

Art.  II.  This  Article  provides  for  triennial  meetings  during  the  first  twenty 
years,  and  every  five  years  thereafter. 

Art.  III.  Provides  for  religious  worship  at  the  opening  of  each  session,  and 
fixes  a  quorum  at  two-thirds  of  the  members  in  attendance. 

Art.  IV.  The  Speaker  of  the  preceding  Eldership  shall  open  the  first  sitting; 
In  his  absence  the  oldest  minister  present.  Then  two  persons,  appointed  by  ac- 
clamation,  shall   constitute  the   Eldership,   after   which  there  shall  be  elected  a 


The  General   Eldership  757 

Speaker,  a  Treasurer,   and  two  Clerks,  viz.:    a  Journalizing  and   a  Transcribing 
Clerk.     They  are  to  hold  their  offices  until  the  next  meeting  of  the  Eldership. 

Art.  V.      Prescribes  the  duties  of  the  Speaker. 

Art.  VI.      Fixes  the  duties  of  the  Treasurer. 

Art.  VII.      Defines  the  duties  of  the  Journalizing  Clerk. 

Art.  VIII.      States  what  the  Transcribing  Clerk  is  to  do. 

ART.  IX.  Gives  to  the  General  Eldership  the  ownership  and  control  of  all 
the  public,  joint  and  common  property  of  the  body. 

Art.  X.  Places  all  publications  for  general  use  under  the  direction  of  the 
General  Eldership. 

Art.  XI.  Vests  in  the  General  Eldership  the  exclusive  right  and  duty  to  elect 
the  editors  of  all  newspapers  and  periodicals;  also  to  elect  a  Publishing  Com- 
mittee, a  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Printing  Establishment  and  Book  Concern,  and 
all  other  agents  necessary  to  carry  out  the  true  principles  of  co-operation. 

Art.  XII.  Provides  for  a  pro  rata  division  of  all  public  property  among  all 
the  Annual  Elderships. 

Art.  XIII.  All  orders  from  Annual  Elderships  for  their  share  of  the  public 
funds  must  be  signed  by  a  majority  of  their  respective  Standing  Committees. 

Art.  XIV.  Gives  to  the  General  Eldership  the  exclusive  right  of  fixing  the 
boundary  lines  of  all  Annual  Elderships. 

Art.  XV.  Prescribes  the  way  in  which  difficulties  arising  between  the  mem- 
bers of  two  or  more  Annual  Elderships  shall  be  adjusted. 

Art.  XVI.  Relates  to  controversies  and  disputes  between  members  of  the 
several  Annual  Elderships,  and  prescribes  the  method  of  settlement. 

XVII.  Makes  it  obligatory  on  every  person  desiring  to  be  an  accredited  min- 
ister in  the  Church  of  God  to  have  a  regular  license,  which  is  to  be  annually  re- 
newed by  the  Eldership  of  which  he  is  a  member. 

Art.  XVIII.  Denies  the  right  of  any  Eldership  to  receive  an  expelled  min- 
ister of  another  Eldership. 

Art.  XIX.      Provides  for  transfer. 

Art.  XX.  Fixes  five  years  as  the  period  during  which  a  minister  can  not  be 
a  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership,  except  in  new  Elderships,  or  where  it  is  un- 
avoidable. 

Art.  XXI.  Gives  the  General  Eldership  power  to  employ  missionaries  or 
agents  whether  they  are  members  of  an  Annual  Eldership  or  not. 

Art.  XXII.  Requires  all  persons  in  the  employ  of  the  General  Eldership  to 
have  credentials  of  their  appointment,  and  holds  them  accountable  to  the  officers 
of  the  General  Eldership,  or  if  members  of  Annual  Elderships,  for  their  moral  and 
religious  characters  they  are  amenable  to  their  Elderships. 

Art.  XXIII.  to  Art.  XXIX.  are  Parliamentary  Rules. 

Art.  XXX.  Provides  for  amendments  to  the  Constitution.  The  Committee 
which  drafted  this  Constitution  was  composed  of  Winebrenner,  Thomas,  Hickemell 
and  Dobson,  and  the  presumption  is  reasonable  that  it  was  the  work  of  Wine- 
brenner. It  does  not  appear  to  what  extent,  or  in  what  particulars,  the  first 
draft  as  reported  by  the  Committee  was  amended.  It  was  the  first  Constitution 
adopted,  as  neither  of  the  three  Annual  Elderships  had  as  yet  an  organic  law. 

"When  the  matter  of  electing  an  Editor  for  The  Gospel  Publisher  came  up,  It 
was  referred  to  a  Committee  to  receive  proposals.  James  Mackey  and  George 
McCai'tney  submitted  proposals.  The  first  ballot  resulted  in  a  tie.  The  matter 
was  then  deferred  until  Friday  morning,  when  McCartney  was  duly  elected.  An 
action  was  taken  to  secure  voluntary  contributions  "to  liquidate  the  cHims  against 
the  Printing  Establishment."  Provision  was  made  to  issue  "The  Gospel  Pub- 
lisher semi-monthly,  at  $1.00  per  volume  in  advance."  The  "Hymn  Book  now  in 
use"  was  "for  the  present  recommended  to  the  churches."  Two  thousand  copies 
of  the  Journal  were  ordered  printed  in  pamphlet  form.  A  "General  Book  Con- 
cern" was  favorably  recommended.  A  series  of  resolutions  reported  by  the  Com- 
mittee on  Resolutions  was  adopted,  to  wit:  Urging  "the  Bible  c^use  as  being 
emphatically  the  cause  of  God;"  "hearty  and  zealously  recommending  the  avoid- 
ance of  the  desecration,  by  the  brethren  of  the  Church  of  God,  of  the  Sabbath,  by 
traveling,  feasting,  sleeping,  working,  worldly  conversation,  etc.;"  declaring  that 
"it  is  the  unequivocal  and  decided  opinion  of  this  General  Eldership  of  the  Church 

of  God,  that  the  system  of  involuntary  Slavery is  a  flagrant  violation  of  the 

natural  and  unalienable  and  most  precious  rights  of  man,  and  utterly  inconsistent 
with  the  spirit,  laws  and  profession  of  the  Christian  religion;"   "cautioning  our 


758  History  of  the    Churchks  of   God 

brethren  of  the  Church  of  God  against  supporting  and  countenancing,  either  di- 
l-ectly  or  indirectly^  the  said  iniquitous  institution  of  involuntary  slavery;  and 
Should  any  of  our  ministers  or  members  ever  become  guilty  of  this  great  and  cry- 
ing sin,  we  do  most  earnestly  and  religiously  recommend  and  advise  that  all  such 
be  excommunicated  or  cast  out  of  the  Church,  and  denied  the  right  of  Christian 
fellowship  amongst  us;"  expressing  its  judgment,  that  "men  in  every  condition  in 

life should  come  forvi^ard  and  sign  the  pledge  of  total  abstinence,  and  strive 

to  advance  the  noble  cause  of  temperance;"  urging  united  effort  in  the  cause  of 
temperance  irrespective  of  creed;  expressing  sorrow  that  "there  are  yet  ministers 

of  the  gospel  who refuse  to  give  their  views  and  influence  in   favor  of  a 

cause  like  that  of  temperance,  which  is  so  closely  allied  to  that  of  Christianity;" 
declaring  it  "inconsistent  for  professors  of  Christianity  in  any  way  to  countenance 
the;  traffic  in  intoxicating  drink,  and  especially  to  assist  the  rum-seller  to  procure 
a  license  by  signing  his  petition;"  "that  we  consider  the  traffic  in  intoxicating 
liquor  as  a  drink  always  sinful  and  demoralizing  in  its  results,  and  that  no  man 
is  entitled  to  membership  in  the  Church  of  God  who  is  engaged  in  it."  Also  rec- 
ommending the  "deeding  of  meeting-houses,  parsonages,  etc.,  to  the  elders  of  the 
respective  churches,  to  be  held  by  them  in  trust  for  the  church,"  and  with  a  pro- 
visionary  clause  under  which  such  property  would  revert  "to  the  Annual  Elderships 
in  the  event  of  the  local  church  becoming  extinct."  G.  U.  Ham  was  "sent  to  labor 
in  Pittsburg,"  with  an  appropriation  of  $50.00  "out  of  the  funds  of  the  General 
Eldership."  One  General  Agent  was  elected  for  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  and 
one  for  Ohio  Eldership  "to  collect  money  for  the  Relief  Fund."  The  Speaker, 
Treasurer  and  Clerks  were  "constituted  a  Publishing  Committee,  and  are  author- 
ized to  do  all  they  can  towards  commencing  a  Book  Concern."  The  Board  of  the 
Printing  Establishment  was  given  autffiority  "to  locate  the  Establishment,  to  ap- 
point the  printer  or  printers,  and  to  have  discretionary  power  and  authority  to  fill 
any  vacancies  which  may  occur,  or  to  change  the  Editor  if  any  cause  should  arise." 
In  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion  statistics  are  given  as  fol- 
lows: East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  52  ordained  ministers;  West  Pennsylvania 
Eldership,  15  ordained  ministers;  Ohio  Eldership,  26  prea,chers.  Total,  93  or- 
ddined  ministers.  The  number  of  churches  and  preaching  places  about  500,  and 
the  whole  numbef  of  members  about  10,000.    •    •  • 

A  recommendation  was  adopted  appointing  "the  first  Lord's  day  in  August 
next  as  a  day  of  solemn  fasting  and  prayef  for  an  increase  of  able  ministers  of  the 
New  Testament;  for  the  revival  of  jpui-e  religion,  and  for  the  general  peace  and 
prosperity  of  the  Church." 

On  the  subject  of  Education  its  vital  importance  was  affirmed  "on  a  civil  and 
religious  point  of  view,"  with  a  recommendation  that  the  families  of  the  Church 
should  "have  their  children  educated  to  the  utmost  extent  of  their  ability." 

The  Eldership  adopted  a  resolution  "forming  itself  into  a  Domestic  and  For- 
eigji  Missionary  Society."     A  regular  Constitution  was  adopted. 

Boundaries  were  outlined  as  follows:  East  Pennsylvania  to  include  the  whole 
of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  Maryland  and  Virginia  east  of  the  Allegheny  moun- 
tains. West  Pennsylvania,  that  part  of  Pennsylvania,  Maryland  and  Virginia  west 
of  the  Allegheny  mountains,  with  that  part  of  the  State  of  Ohio  east  of  a  direct 
line  from  Lake  Erie  to  the  Ohio  river  along  the  line  between  Columbiana  and 
Stark  counties.  Ohio,  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Michigan,  except  that  part 
of  Ohio  contained  within  the  boundaries  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership. 

The  Eldership  "adjourned  to  meet  in  Pittsburg  on  the  last  Lord's  day  in  May, 
in  the  year  1848,"  . 

It  is  worthy  of  observation  in  connection  with  the  actions  of  the  General  Eld- 
ership on  Slavery  and  Temperance,  that  the  great  anti-slavery  reform  which 
started  upon  "a  bolder  and  wider  career  soon  after  1830,"  had  by  1843  "power- 
fully stirred  the  nation,  producing  strife,  bitterness,  divisions  and  mobs."  After 
1$43  the  question  of  slavery  entered  largely  into  political  action  in  primary  as- 
semblies, in  elections  and  in  halls  of  legislation,  while  the  Churches  were  at  no 
time  exempt  from  this  seriously-disturbing  influence.  John  Tyler's  accession  to 
the  Presidency,  whose  term  expired  in  1845,  intensified  this  spirit  by  the  incipient 
movements  of  his  administration  for  the  acquisition  of  Texas  and  other  slave  terri- 
tory in  the  south-west.  While  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion  reported 
only  a  total  of  93  ministers  of  the  Church,  yet  up  to  the  meeting  of  the  General 
Eldership  in  1845  the  total  number  licensed  by  the  three  Elderships  aggregated 
186. 


The   Ge:ne;ral    Ei.deesiiip  7.5.9 

2nd  General  Eldei*ship. — Apparently  a  grave  crisis  confrontetj  the  General 
Eldership  when  it  convened  in  the  bethel  at  Martinsburg,  Blair  county,  Pa.,  on 
Monday,  May  29,  1848.  The  Eldership  in  1845  had  adjourned  to  meet  at  Pitts- 
burg. The  Constitution  had  been  opposed  and  its  provisions  disregarded  to  some 
extent.  T.  Hickernell,  Indiana  Eldership,  "appointed  to  attend  the  next  General 
Eldership,"  states  that  "we  could  get  no  delegates  appointed  to  go  to  the  General 
Eldership,  although  it  was  hard  plead  for.  The  idea  is  still  held  that  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  General  Eldership  looks  too  much  like  a  Discipline;  that  a  link  is 
now  formed,  and  after  awhile  we  will  have  a  chain,  and  that  the  resolution  passed 
in  reference  to  the  licensing  system  savors  the  idea  that  no  minister  can  be  con- 
sidered an  accredited  minister  without  a  license  from  the  Eldership,  no  matter  how 
good  his  standing  and  character  may  be."  Yet  he  was  in  favor  of  having  "the 
general  system  of  co-operation  kept  up."  A.  HoUeins,  of  the  Ohio  Eldership,  de- 
clared that  "this  instrument  [the  Constitution  of  the  General  Eldership]  has  pro- 
duced considerable  contention  and  division."  His  main  objection  was  that  "it  is 
a  departure,  and  a  very  gross  departure,  from  original  principles;"  denounced  it 
as  "a  human  invention,"  and  that  no  "man,  nor  any  set  of  men  have  the  right, 
ecclesiastically,  to  legislate  a  law  for  the  'better  government  of  Christ's  house, 
and  the  declarative  glory  of  God,'  as  the  members  of  the  General  Eldership  pro- 
fessed to  do."  No  reply  was  made  to  these  attacks  on  the  Constitution  between 
January  1.5th  and  April  15th,  when  J.  H.  Hurley,  pastor  of  the  Dauphin  circuit. 
Pa.,  undertook  the  defense  of  the  Constitution,  and  made  a  caustic  answer  to 
HoUema'.  article.  Winebrenner  simply  noticed  the  change  of  place  for  the  holding 
of  the  General  Eldership,  from  Pittsburg  to  Martinsburg,  with  an  offer  to  pay  the 
extra  fare  to  Hickernell,  the  only  delegate  west  of  Pittsburg.  Hollems  replied  to 
Hurley,  concluding  with  the  words:  "Our  Constitution  is  from  the  King  him- 
self, and  on  it  we  intend  to  stand,  the  Lord  being  our  helper.  But  be  it  under- 
stood that  we  go  for  co-operation,  only  let  it  be  based  on  principles  that  are  more 
tolerable."  Even  after  the  General  Eldership  in  1848,  the  Indiana  Eldership  de- 
clared that  "we  can  not  believe  or  receive  any  law  or  Constitution  framed  ^y  any 
of  our  brethren  as  having  any  legal  authority  over  this  Eldership  in  tlje  transaction 
of  its  business." 

At  the  time  appointed  the  General  Eldership  convened  at  Martinsburg.  At 
9  o'clock  of  the  first  day  Winebrenner  "opened  the ^es,sion  with  worship."  J.  Ross 
and  J.  Keller  constituted  the  Eldership,  "whereupon  the  following  brethren  were 
found  and  reported  as  being  present,  viz.: 

East  Pennsylvania  Eldership — J.  Winebi-enner,  E.  H.  Thomas,  Jacob  Flake, 
Jacob  Keller  and  Joseph  Ross,  teaching  elders.  Joseph  Brenneman  and  J.  W. 
Mateer,  ruling  elders.  James  Mackey,  teaching  elder,  and  J.  S.  Gable,  J.  Kister,  A. 
Brenneman  and  D.  Markley,  ruling  elders,  were  absent.  Wm.  Mooney  and  David 
Kyle  were  substituted  in  place  of  two  of  the  absentees. 

West  Pennsylvania  Eldership— Jacob  Myers  and  J.  M.  Klein,  teaching  elders, 
and  John  Tinsman,  ruling  elder,  all  absent. 

Ohio  Eldership— No  delegates  elected. 

Indiana  Eldership — Thomas  Hickernell,  teaching  elder,  absent.  But  nine 
delegates  out  of  possibly  twenty-one  to  which  the  four  Elderships  were  entitled 
were  present.  Hickernell  in  a  communication  to  the  General  Eldership,  said: 
"The  removal  of  the  General  Eldership  from  Pittsburg  to  Martinsburg,  Blair 
county,  accounts  for  my  non-attendance."  "An  unexpected  circumstance  has  put 
it  out  of  my  power  to  meet  with  you  as  delegate,"  was  J.  S.  Gable's  reason  for 
being  absent.  But  he  suggested  that  "arrangements  be  made  for  at  least  one 
General  Superintendent  in  each  Eldership."  Winebrenner  editorially  made  no 
reference  to  the  conduct  of  the  Elderships  not  represented  at  the  session.  He 
simply  said:  "The  meeting,  though  small,  was  yet  pleasant  and  profitable."  But 
the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  at  its  session  in  October  following  required  its 
delegates  to  give  reasons  for  not  being  present  at  the  General  Eldership.  The 
Eldership  itself  adopted  a  resolution  in  which  it  spoke  of  the  "feelings  of  regret 
and  disappointment"  on  the  part  of  the  Eldership  and  church  at  Martinsburg  over 
"the  great  delinquency  in  a  considerable  part  of  the  delegates  chosen  to  attend 
this  General  Eldership;"  that  "they  have  left  it  to  a  handful  of  their  brethren  to 
bear  the  burden  and  responsibility,  and  expense  of  the  work  which  it  was  their 
bounden  duty  to  assist  in,"  and  urging  the  Annual  Elderships  to  "call  on  them  to 
give  satisfactory  reasons  for  this  failure  in  what  was  expected  from  them." 


760  History  of  th£  Churches  op  God 

Upon  proceeding  to  organize  the  Eldership,  Jacob  Flake  was  elected  Speaker; 
Joseph  Ross,  Treasurer;   E.  H.  Thomas,  Journalizing    Clerk,    and    Jacob    Keller, 

Transcribing  Clerk.  The  usual  committees,  eight  in  number,  were  appointed.  The 
Treasurer's  receipts  amounted  to  $45.23.  Of  this  sum  $21.00  were  paid  to  G.  U. 
Ham  on  his  salary  as  missionary  to  Pittsburg,  and  $24.23  to  Winebrenner  "on 
account  of  balance  due  him  for  publishing  the  Journal  of  the  General  Eldership  of 
1845."  This  left  a  "balance  due  to  the  said  brethren  from  the  Western  Elderships 
of  $38.97." 

The  revision  of  the  Constitution,  Article  by  Article,  was  taken  up.  Amend- 
ments were  offered  and  rejected,  and  "the  whole  was  agreed  to,  with  the  addition 
of  the  following  Article:  "The  General  Eldership  shall  have  the  privilege  to  re- 
view the  Journals  of  the  Annual  Elderships,  with  power  to  approve  or  disapprove 
the  doings  of  the  same,  and  also  to  give  its  advice  and  instruction  in  all  cases  and 
questions  which  may  at  any  time  be  submitted  to  them  for  their  decision."  Pro- 
vision was  made  for  compiling  a  Hymn-Book  containing  five  hundred  or  more 
hymns,  the  matter  being  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  committee  of  six  from  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership,  two  from  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  two  from  the 
Ohio  Eldership  and  one  from  the  Indiana  Eldership.  Winebrenner  was  requested 
to  be  the  publisher.  The  same  Committee  was  also  "requested  to  compile  a  Hymn- 
Book  for  the  use  of  Sabbath-schools."  A  committee  was  created  and  authorized 
"to  examine  the  Journal  and  papers  of  our  late  brother.  Elder  Joseph  H.  Bam- 
berger, and  to  prepare  any  parts  of  the  same  for  publication."  The  same  Com- 
mittee was  "appointed  to  collect  and  compile  Biographical  Sketches  of  the  first  one 
hundred  ministers  of  the  Church  of  God  for  publication,  and  that  the  Publishing 
Committee  be  authorized  to  publish  the  same." 

The  Missionary  Society  organized  in  1845  reported  that  "there  had  been  no  or- 
ganization of  the  Societies,  and  no  moneys  received,  except  what  came  from  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  [$21.00],  and  consequently  no  missionaries  were  employed 
by  them."  Winebrenner  offered  a  resolution,  following  a  preamble  which  declared 
that  "the  law  of  tithes  was  a  standing  ordinance  in  the  theocracy  of  ancient  Israel," 
and  that  it  "is  a  reasonable,  equitable  and  righteous  law,"  which  resolution  com- 
mended "to  all  the  churches  of  God  to  adopt  and  enforce  the  law  of  tithes,  as  the 
minimum  rule  of  duty  in  supporting  the  interests  of  Church  and  State."  This 
provoked  considerable  discussion,  after  which  it  "was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  seven 
to  two."  Flake  then  offered  "a  substitute,  which  was  unanimously  adopted." 
This  substitute  on  the  duty  of  giving  "to  the  poor,  to  support  the  ministry  and  to 
sustain  all  the  interests  of  the  Church  and  the  cause  of  Christ  in  proportion  as  the 
Lord  has  prospered  them."  The  resolution  recommended  this  plan  to  the  churches, 
and  asked  them  to  "remember  that  even  in  ancient  Israel  the  Lord  ordained  that 
one-tenth  of  their  produce  should  be  devoted  to  sacred  purposes,  and  that  under 
the  New  Testament  we  are  to  devote  at  least  that  much,  or  more,  to  the  cause  of 
our  God  and  Savior."  The  Committee  on  Education  was  directed  "to  make  out 
and  publish  a  list  of  a  series  of  books  for  the  use  and  study  of  young  ministers  for 
four  consecutive  years,  and  that  they  be  examined  in  their  studies  at  each  Annual 
Eldership."  The  first  Friday  in  October  was  recommended  to  the  churches  to  be 
observed  as  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer.  The  action  of  the  Ohio  Eldership  in 
"setting  off,  contrary  to  the  Constitution  of  the  General  Eldership  and  our  general 
plan  of  co-operation  an  Eldership  in  Indiana"  was  disapproved;  but  the  Eldership 
was  recognized,  and  was  empowered  "to  prescribe  its  own  boundaries,  including 
the  various  missions  in  Illinois."  The  churches  and  the  Annual  Elderships  were 
advised  "not  to  sanction  the  disorderly  steps  and  proceedings,"  of  "persons  in  the 
local  churches,  and  several  Annual  Elderships,  taking  in  hand  to  dissolve  their 
connection  with  the  bodies  to  which  they  belong  by  a  simple  act  of  resignation, 
without  giving  any  reason  for  such  a  course."  The  Eldership  adjourned,  after 
being  in  session  from  Monday  morning  until  Tuesday  evening,  to  meet  at  Pittsburg, 
Pa.,  on  "the  third  Lord's  day  of  May,  A.  D.  1851." 

3rd  General  Eldership. — Winebrenner  "left  home  for  Pittsburg,  to  attend  the 
General  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God,  on  Saturday,  May  17th,  and  went  as  far 
as  Churchtown."  He  and  Sandoe  remained  there  over  Lord's  day  "assisting  in 
holding  a  two-days'  meeting."  On  Monday  morning  they  were  joined  by  Thomas 
and  McFadden,  and  the  four  "set  out  from  there,  in  a  two-horse  private  vehicle, 
for  Pittsburg."  The  first  day  they  "went  as  far  as  Orrstown  and  held  meeting." 
They  made  no  stops  to  hold  meetings  after  leaving  Orrstown  until  they  reached 
Bethany,  Westmoreland  county,  Friday  afternoon.      There  Thomas  preached  in  the 


The  General   Eldership  761 

evening  of  May  23rd.  On  Saturday  they  journeyed  to  Pittsburg  via  West  Newton, 
where  they  arrived  about  noon.  On  Sabbath  they  "preached  in  different  places 
both  in  Pittsburg  and  Allegheny  City."  In  the  issue  of  The  Church  Advocate  of 
June  16,  1851,  in  which  appeared  the  Journal  of  the  Eldership,  Winebrenner  gave 
a  brief  account  of  doings  of  the  Eldership,  and  of  the  return  trip  of  himself  and 
party,  in  which  he  says:  "This  body  met  and  was  held  at  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  accord- 
ing to  appointment."  But  the  Journal  states  that  "Agreeably  to  appointment, 
this  body  met  in  the  Disciples'  meeting-house,  in  the  city  of  Allegheny,  Pa.,  on 
Monday,  the  26th  of  May,  1851."  A  resolution  of  thanks  was  adopted  for  the  use 
of  this  meeting-house.  However,  Winebrenner  corrects  himself  in  the  same  article 
in  which  he  states  that  the  Eldership  "was  held  in  Pittsburg,"  by  stating  that  "the 
sessions  were  held  in  the  Disciples'  meeting-house  in  Allegheny  City."  The  dele- 
gates enrolled  as  present  were  as  follows: 

East  Pennsylvania — Teaching  elders,  J.  Winebrenner,  G.  U.  Ham,  Wm.  Mo 
Fadden,  E.  H.  Thomas.     Ruling  elder,  John  Fausnocht. 

West  Pennsylvania — Teaching  elders,  John  Hlckemell,  Emanuel  Logue. 

Ohio — Teaching  elders,  A.  Hollems,  Henry  Murray.  Ruling  elder,  Samuel 
Metzler. 

Indiana — Teaching  elder,  Thomas  Hickemell.  Two  teaching  elders  and  six 
ruling  elders  from  East  Pennsylvania  were  absent;  one  ruling  elder  from  West 
Pennsylvania;  two  from  Ohio;  Iowa  Eldership  had  appointed  none,  and  the  one 
delegate  appointed  by  Michigan  was  absent.  Total  number  present  was  eleven, 
less  than  a  majority.  Thomas  Hickemell  was  elected  Speaker;  J.  S,  Gable,  Treas- 
urer; E.  H.  Thomas,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  G.  U.  Ham,  Transcribing  Clerk.  G. 
H.  Ball,  Corresponding  Messenger  of  the  Free-Will  Baptist  Church,  was  present, 
and  "was  received  as  a  full  member  of  this  body."  A.  D.  Williams,  of  the  Free- 
Will  Baptist  Church,  was  also  present,  and  was  "voted  a  seat  in  this  body."  Wine- 
bi-enner  was  appointed  "to  make  a  collection  of  Hymns  for  the  new  Hymn-Book, 
assisted  by  all  the  members  of  the  Hymn-Book  Committee."  Action  was  taken, 
declaring  the  "delegates  of  the  several  Annual  Elderships  be  amenable  for  their 
official  conduct  to  the  several  Annual  Elderships  of  which  they  are  members;"  "that 
the  General  Eldership  shall  possess  no  legislative  authority  in  matters  of  religious 
faith  and  practice;"  repealing  Article  XX.  of  the  Constitution,  and  inserting  as  a 
substitute  the  following:  "The  Annual  Elderships  shall  be  the  judges  of  the  quali- 
fications of  their  ministerial  delegates;"  and  Article  XXXI.  was  "so  altered  as  to 
read,  The  General  Eldership  shall  have  power  to  decide  and  advise  in  all  cases 
and  questions  which  may  at  any  time  be  submitted  to  them  for  their  decision." 

The  "Missionary  Board  reported,  that  having  no  means,  they  employed  no  mis- 
sionaries." The  churches  in  Athens  and  Meigs  counties,  Ohio,  were  "set  oft"  from 
the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  attached  to  the  Ohio  Eldership."  "The 
churches  and  brotherhood  in  Illinois"  were  "advised  to  erect  themselves  into  a 
new  Eldership."  Action  was  taken  looking  toward  the  endowment  of  one  or  two 
professorships  in  the  Free  Baptist  College  at  Chester,  Geauga  county,  Ohio.  It 
also  recommended  that  the  Committee  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  which 
had  matured  a  plan  for  a  College  be  "retained  by  this  body,  and  be  authorized  to 
open  books  and  solicit  subscriptions  of  shares  to  the  stock  of  Bethel  College."  The 
Eldership  declared  a  matter  which  "called  for  humiliation  and  reform,  and  to  be 
deeply  regretted,  that  there  is  great  inadequacy  of  ministerial  support,  and  to  con- 
sequent secularizing  in  the  holy  ministry."  It  also  approved  of  the  efforts  being 
made  by  "the  western  brethren  to  secure  a  Printing  Establishment  to  be  held  as 

the  property  of  the  whole  Church, and  locate  it  at  Wooster,  Ohio."       J. 

Winebrenner  and  E.  H.  Thomas  were  appointed  "delegates  to  the  next  General 
Conference  of  the  Free-Will  Baptist  Church."  It  also  expressed  the  hope  that  "the 
correspondence  now  commenced  may  result  in  a  more  intimate  acquaintance,  a 
firmer  friendship,  and  as  far  as  possible  a  mutual  co-operation."  The  Eldership 
adjourned  to  meet  at  Wooster,  Ohio,  the  last  Lord's  day  in  May,  1854. 

4th  General  Eldership. — The  Eldership  which  met  at  Wooster,  Ohio,  in  the 
Disciple  meeting-house,  on  Monday,  the  29th  day  of  May,  1854,  did  so  under  in- 
spiring conditions.  It  had  "abundant  cause  to  be  thankful,"  wrote  Winebrenner, 
"for  success  in  days  past  and  gone;  and  never,  does  it  seem  to  us,  did  the  harvest 
present  itself  more  invitingly  and  with  prospects  for  better  encouragement.  The 
Church  of  God,  if  her  ministers  and  people  have  a  mind  and  heart  to  work,  will  and 
must  triumph,  notwithstanding  the  creed-making  and  violent  opposition  around 
her."     It  was  still  slow  traveling  in  the  West,  as  it  took  delegates  from  Decatur, 


.762  History   of  the   Churches   of   God 

111.,  from  4  o'clock  p.  m.,  of  May  23rd,  till  6  o'clock  p.  m.,  of  the  26th,  to  reach 
Wooster,  Ohio.  When  the  Eldership  was  constituted  by  J.  Mackey  and  John  Hick- 
«i"nell,  the  following  delegates  were  found  in  attendance: 

East  Pennsylvania — Jacob  Keller,  A.  Swaitz,  John  Winebrenner,  Jesse  Hai- 
fleigh,  E.  H.  Thomas,  J.  H.  Hurley,  G.  U.  Hani,  teaching  elders.  S.  Knisley,  J.  S. 
Gable,  Christian  Foiniey,  Joseph  Ross,  A.  H.  Lung,  James  Mackey,  Levi  Diehl, 
ruling  elders.      Some  of  these  were  ministers  substituted  in  place  of  ruling  elders. 

West  Pennsylvania — John  Hickernell,  E.  Logue,  John  Tinsman,  teaching 
elders.      C.  Smith,  G.  Walters,  J.  Evans,  ruling  elders. 

Ohio — A.  Hollems,  H.  Murray,  Jacob  Myers,  J.  M.  West,  teaching  elders.  Sam- 
uel Metzler,  J.  Zimmerman,  J.  P.  Winebrenner,  Peter  Cmm,  ruling  elders. 

Indiana — Thomas  Hickeniell,  teaching  elder.      David  Neidig,  ruling  elder. 

Illinois — Jacob  M.  Klein,  teaching  elder.  Daniel  Wertz,  ruling  elder  (a  min- 
ister). 

Iowa  and  Michigan  Elderships  were  not  represented.  An  election  for  officers 
resulted  in  the  choice  of  James  Mackey,  Speaker;  Joseph  Ross,  Treasurer;  Jesse 
Haifleigh,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  Jacob  Myers,  Transcribing  Clerk.  A  Committee 
on  Rules  of  Order  reported  a  number  of  Parliamentary  Rules.  Ham,  a  very  ag- 
gressive type  of  man,  at  once  offered  a  resolution  to  amend  "the  first  and  seven- 
teenth Articles  of  the  Constitution so  as  to  read  'Churches  of  God,'  instead 

of  'Church  of  God.'  "  This  "was  not  agreed  to."  The  proposition  to,  endow  pro- 
fessorships in  Geauga  College,  adopted  in  1851,  was  withdrawn.  Thomas  and 
Winebrenner  gave  "their  reasons  for  not  attending  as  delegates  the  General  Confer- 
ence of  the  Free-Will  Baptist  Church,"  and  were  excused.  The  Committee  to  sell 
stock  of  the  institution  called  Bethel  College,  which  the  .East  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship proposed  to  build,  having  reported  that  "no  more  particular  efforts  to  carry 
out  the  object  referred  to  had  been  made,"  it  was  decided  to  "put  forth  increased 
•effort  to  effect  the  object  of  establishing  of  a  Seminary  or  College."  It  also  was 
recommended  to  "cordially  and  properly  adopt  any  plan  of  co-operation"  which 
the  Free-Will  Baptist  Church  might  propose.  The  Academy  located  at  Shippens- 
burg,  Pa.,  was  recommended. 

A  Petition  was  received  from  "a  Convention  of  German  brethren,  held  near 
•Orwigsburg,  Schuylkill  county.  Pa.,  praying  for  permission  to  establish  a  Ger- 
man Eldership."  Winebrenner  then  offered  preambles  and  resolutions  "highly  ap- 
proving of  their  benevolent  movement,"  and  that  the  General  Eldership  "will  most 
cordially  grant  them  their  petition,"  with  these  provisions:  1.  "That  they  will 
identify  themselves  with  this  body  and  co-operate  with  it  in  like  manner  as  the 
English  Elderships  do."  2.  "That  they  take  in  and  supply  for  the  pressent,  and 
until  this  body  shall  otherwise  direct,  as  far  as  they  can,  all  the  Germans  through- 
out the  United  States."  3.  "That  they  carry  on  their  operations  within  the 
bounds  of  other  Elderships,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  authorities  of  such 
Elderships."  Winebi-enner  and  Keller  were  appointed  delegates  to  assist  and  ad- 
•vise  in  the  organization  of  said  Eldership.  ,       „ 

A.  D.  Williams,  Corresponding  Messenger  of  the  General  Conference  of  the 
Pree-Will  Baptist  Church,  sent  a  communication,  which  "was  highly  appreciated." 
A.  Swartz,  T.  Hickernell  and  Jacob  Myei-s  were  appointed  Corresponding  Mes- 
sengers to  the  General  Conference  of  the  Free-Will  Baptist  Church.  The  resolu- 
tions on  Slavery  adopted  in  184  5  were  re-affirmed,  with  the  statement  that  "they 
were  understood  to  teach  our  uncompromising  hostility  to  slavery  at  the  time  of 
their  adoption,  and  that  they  still  express  our  unwavering  resistance  to  this  in- 
stitution in  any  form  of  its  representation."  And  that  "any  person  sustaining  the 
relation  of  master  and  slave  is  disqualified  for  membership  in  the  Church  of  God." 
A  resolution  in  favor  of  "ordination  with  the  imposition  of  hands  by  one  or  more 
.of  the  bishops  of  the  Church  of  God"  was  indefinitely  postponed,  and  referred  for 
discussion  in  The  Advocate.  The  proposed  translation  of  the  Scriptures  by  the 
American  Bible  Union  was  commended,  in  which  "the  exact  meaning  of  the  inspired 
text,  as  it  was  understood  by  those  who  were  acquainted  with  the  language  of  the 
original  Scriptures  at  the  time  they  were  first  written,  was  to  be  given  by  cor- 
responding words  and  phrases,  so  far  as  they  can  be  found  in  the  vernacular  tongue 
of  those  for  whom  the  version  is  designed."  The  "great  movement  of  obtaining 
prohibitory  laws  in  all  the  States  of  the  Union,  in  all  the  nations  of  the  earth, 
against  the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks  as  a  beverage,"  was  strongly  indorsed,  with 
a  pledge  "to  use  all  lawful  efforts  to  consummate  the  same."  The  location  of  the 
new  Printing  Establishment,  when  suflicient  funds  have  been  obtained,  was  to  be 


The   General    Eldership  763 

determined  "by  a  majority  of  the  members  of  the  Standing  Committees  of  the 
several  Elderships."  The  Board  of  Publication  was  directed  to  publish  a  Hymn- 
Book,  to  be  the  property  of  the  General  Eldership,  and  providing  for  the  disposal 
of  the  net  proceeds.  The  Standing  Committees  of  the  different  Elderships  were 
ins.tructed  to  appoint  two  persons  in  each  church  to  secure  subscriptions  for  the 
new  Printing  Establishment.  Free-will  contributions  were  requested  "to  aid  in 
the  education  of  Ting-Ing-Kavv,  a  young  Chinaman  brought  to  this  country  by  Bi-o. 
•Janies  Colder."  A  Board  of  Missions  was  appointed,  "consisting  of  one  member 
from  each  Eldership  represented  here."  The  appointment  of  two  missionaries  to 
Texas  was  recommended  to  the  Board  of  Missions. 

5th  General  Eldership. — Conditions  in  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  were 
of  the  most  irenical  character  to  human  eyes  when  the  General  Eldership  convened 
in  Harrisburg,  June  1,  18.57.  No  one  could  forsee  what  the  next  two  or  three  years 
held  in  reserve  to  mar  the  peace  and  threaten  the  unity  of  the  Church.  It  was 
Tiappily  hid  from  the  men  who  with  hopeful  hearts  greeted  each  other  in  the  finest 
house  of  worship  in  the  whole  territory  of  the  General  Eldership.  On  the  typical 
morning  of  June  1st  Winebrenner  called  the  assembled  elders  to  order,  and  A. 
Megrevv,  of  Iowa,  led  the  body  in  "the  usual  acts  of  worship."  On  motion  of  Wine- 
brenner, Megrew  and  D.  A.  L.  Laverty  constituted  the  Eldership,  when  the  follow- 
ing were  enrolled,  viz.: 

East  Pennsylvania  Eldership — Teaching  elders — John  Winebrenner,  J.  H. 
Hurley,  John  C.  Owens,  Abraham  Swartz,  Edward  H.  Thomas,  Jacob  Keller  and 
James  Colder.  Ruling  elders — A.  I,  Kauffman,  K.  A.  Moore,  D,  A.  L.  Laverty, 
Joseph  Ross,  John  S.  Gable,  Jacob  Miley  and  David  Spencer.  Laverty  and  Ross 
were  teaching  elders  substituted  for  ruling  elders. 

West  Pennsylvania  Eldership — Teaching  elders — A.  C  Raysor,  John  Hicker- 
nell  and  Seth  S.  Richmond.      Ruling  elders — Nohe  present. 

Ohio  Eldership — Teaching  elders — Lewis  Selby,  Levi  B.  Hartman,  John  S. 
McKee,  Thomas  H.  Deshiri  and  J.  M.  West.      Ruling  elders — None  present. 

Indiana  Eldership — Teaching  elder — Thomas  Hickemell.  Ruling  elders — 
None  present. 

Illinois  Eldership — Teaching  elder — Jacob  Bear.  Ruling  elder — George  W. 
Boyer. 

Iowa  Eldership — Teaching  elders — A.  Megrew  and  Henry  Murray.  Ruling 
elders — None  present. 

German  Eldership — Teaching  elder — Joseph  K.  Moyer.  Ruling  elder — 
Daniel  Loiidenschleger. 

The  organization  was  effected  by  the  choice  of  John  Winebrenner  for  Speaker; 
:Joseph  Ross,  Treasurer;  A.  C.  Raysor,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  D.  A.  L.  Laverty, 
Transcribing  Clerk. 

The  Eldership  proceeded  with  its  business  with  unusual  deliberation,  as  the 
first  day  was  taken  up  with  the  business  of  constituting  and  organizing  the  body, 
and  the  appointment  of  the  regular  committees  and  adoption  of  the  Rules  of  Order. 
■One  hour  of  the  morning  sitting  of  the  second  day  was  spent  "in  free  conversation 
on  the  state  of  religion." 

The  items  of  purchasing  a  Printing  Establishment;  the  claims  against  the 
old  Printing  Establishment;  the  appeal  of  Hawk,  of  Iowa,  and  "the  conversation 
oh  the  state  of  religion"  were  placed  in  the  hands  of  committees  of  one  from  each 
Eldership.  The  debts  of  the  Old  Printing  Establishment  were  an  indefinite  amount, 
as  the  Committee  reported,  and  the  claimants  were  not  all  known  to  the  Committee. 
Hence  it  recommended  that  a  committee,  consisting  of  John  S.  Gable  and  George 
Ross,  be  appointed  to  "dispose  of  the  matter  in  the  following  manner":  To  publish 
a  notice  in  The  Advocate  notifying  the  claimants  to  send  in  their  claims,  with  their 
vouchers,  and  that  the  Committee  determine  the  real  amount  of  indebtedness,  and 
divide  it  pro  rata  among  the  several  Elderships.  Joseph  Ross  appeared  before  the 
Committee  and  "freely  and  willingly  relinquished  all  his  claim."  His  claim  was 
"between  twelve  and  fifteen  hundred  dollars."  Winebrenner's  account  with  The 
■Gospel  Publisher  footed  up  $3,009.49,  and  it  was  proposed  to  have  "the  several 
Elderships  assume"  this  claim,  less  one-third,  which  Winebrenner  proposed  to 
"abate." 

On  the  Printing  Establishment  the  Committee  ascertained  that  Colder,  to 
wh6m  Winebrenner  had  sold  the  Establishment  and  transferred  The  Advocate,  was 

"willing  to  sell to  this  body  for  the  amount  it  cost  him."      But  as  "this  body 

has  no  funds  in  its  treasury"  the  Committee  recommended  that  the  Eldership  "take 


764  History  of  the   Churches  of   God 

the  Establishment  at  the  amount  it  cost  Colder,  and  leave  it  in  his  hands  until  the 
receipts  cover  that  amount."  A  committee  of  three  was  appointed  to  carry  this 
into  effect.  E.  H.  Thomas,  John  S.  Gable  and  George  Ross  were  appointed.  Colder 
was  then  elected  Editor. 

In  the  Hawk  case  the  Eldership  decided  that  "the  Eldership  of  Iowa  erred  In 
expelling  Bro.  Hawk  without  a  trial."  A  committee  of  three,  one  to  be  appointed 
by  "this  body,  the  Eldership  of  Iowa  another  and  Bro,  Hawk  a  third"  was  agreed 
upon  "to  settle  the  difficulties."  In  the  case  of  Felix  Hartman  the  appeal  was  not 
sustained,  but  he  was  referred  back  to  his  Eldership. 

The  Slavery  question  was  irrepressible.  Ober's  letter  was  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  Slavery.  This  Committee,  however,  reported  that  "we  deem  it  un- 
necessary to  take  any  further  action  at  this  time."  But  this  could  not  repress  dis- 
cussion, and  the  subject  monopolized  nearly  two  sittings  before  the  report  was 
adopted  and  the  Committee  discharged.  Colder  at  once,  in  the  same  issue  of  The 
Advocate  with  the  Journal,  published  the  actions  of  the  General  Eldership  in  1845 
and  1854,  the  former  sustaining  the  position  of  the  most  extreme  disputants  on 
"the  much  vexed  question"  against  any  concessions  to  the  pro-slavery  party. 

The  division  of  the  Ohio  Eldership  was  recommended,  and  the  boundaries  out- 
lined between  the  two  Ohio  Elderships  by  the  Ohio  Standing  Committee  were  con- 
firmed. The  State  line  between  Ohio  and  Indiana  was  made  the  western  boundary 
of  the  West  Ohio  Eldership. 

Because  "God  has  blessed  the  churches  during  the  past  year  with  rich  effusions 
of  his  Spirit  in  the  conversion  of  many  souls  and  the  building  up  of  the  member- 
ship," the  ministers  and  churches  were  "recommended  to  set  apart  the  last  Sabbath 
of  July  as  a  day  of  special  thanksgiving  and  praise." 

The  Committee  on  Temperance  lamented  "that  the  cause  of  temperance  in  this 
country  is  on  the  decline,"  and  "the  preachers  in  the  bounds  of  all  the  Elderships" 
were  directed  ''to  take  a  more  efficient  part  on  the  subject." 

The  question  of  the  imposition  of  hands  was  indefinitely  postponed,  as  having 
been  thoroughly  discussed  in  The  Advocate. 

The  publication  of  a  new  Hymn-Book  came  up  through  the  Committee  on 
Journals  of  1854.  Nothing  had  been  done  during  the  three  years  "but  the  employ- 
ing of  Bro.  Winebrenner  to  make  a  suitable  selection  of  hymns."  The  probable 
cost  of  the  work  was  given  at  $1,500,  and  the  Committee  recommended  that  this 
amount  "be  raised  by  subscription,  or  joint  stock."  Accordingly  "a  Stock  Com- 
mittee" of  members  from  all  the  Elderships  was  appointed,  and  a  committee  con- 
sisting of  John  S.  Gable,  Joseph  Ross  and  James  Colder  was  named  as  the  Publish- 
ing Committee. 

6th  General  Eldership. — In  the  shadows  of  the  events  of  the  political  contest 
upon  which  the  greatest  and  gravest  issues  of  the  century  were  suspended,  the 
General  Eldership  assembled  in  the  bethel  at  Upper  Sandusky,  Ohio,  on  Monday,. 
May  28,  1860.  "Business  of  the  utmost  importance  to  the  churches"  was  antici- 
pated. The  session  was  characterized  at  its  close  as  "one  of  the  most  pleasant,  in- 
teresting and  harmonious  we  have  held  since  the  organization  of  the  General  Eld- 
ership in  1845."  Winebrenner's  enfeebled  condition,  and  possible  preironitions 
that  this  might  be  his  last  meeting  with  the  highest  tribunal  of  the  Church,  had  a 
mellowing  effect,  and  served  to  chasten  the  asperities  of  debate.  He  opened  the 
session  "with  reading  Scripture  and  a  ministerial  address,  singing  and  prayer." 
The  address  was  "affectionate  and  able."  He  also  preached  on  Sabbath  morning, 
"a  solemn,  plain,  systematic,  sympathetic,  soul-melting  and  most  evangelical  dis- 
course," based  on  Jer.  xxxi.  18-20.  For  fervor,  pathos  and  power  this  sermon  ex- 
celled, and  was  memorable  in  the  history  of  the  General  Eldership. 

J.  H.  Hurley  and  J.  Haifleigh  constituted  the  Eldership,  when  the  following  en- 
rollment was  made: 

East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Teaching  elders — J.  Winebrenner,  E.  H» 
Thomas,  Jacob  Keller,  James  Mackey,  A.  X.  Shoemaker,  A.  Swai*tz,  J.  Haifleigh. 
Ruling  elders — Joseph  Ross,  J.  S.  Gable,  J.  Kennedy,  A.  I.  KaufFman,  D.  Shoe- 
maker, C.  Forney,  M.  Shelly.  For  absentees,  W.  McFadden,  G.  U.  Ham,  S.  Myers* 
E.  Shaeffer,  J.  F.  Weishampel  and  B.  F.  Beck  were  substituted. 

West  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Teaching  elders — J.  Hickemell,  S.  S.  Rich- 
mond and  E.  Jordan  (absent).  Ruling  elders — J.  M.  Domer,  P.  Loucks  and  E. 
Smith  (absent). 

East  Ohio  Eldership.  Teaching  elders— J.  S.  McKee  (absent),  M.  Beck,  L.  B. 
Hartman,  L.  H.  Selby.      Ruling  elders — J.  Beidler,  D.  Ridenour,  D.  Baker. 


The   Gene^kal    Eldership  765 

West  Ohio  Eldership.  Teaching  elders — T.  Hickemell,  R.  H.  Bolton,  J.  M. 
West.      Ruling  elders — J.  F.  Fox,  W.  H.  Reeme,  H.  Davis. 

Indiana  Eldership.  Teaching  elders — George  Thomas,  D.  Keplinger.  Ruling 
■elders — A.  B.  Slyter,  E.  Latta. 

Illinois  Eldership.  Teaching  elders — J.  H.  Hurley,  J.  M.  Klein  (absent).  Rul- 
ing elders — J.  Bare,  G.  W,  Boyer  (both  absent). 

Iowa  Eldership.      Teaching  elders — H.  Murray  (absent),  D.  Wertz,  F.  F.  Kiner. 

German  Eldership.     Teaching  elder — J.  Myers   (absent). 

The  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership  was  "admitted  and  recognized 
as  a  member  of  this  body,"  and  George  Sandoe  was  enrolled  as  teaching  elder. 
The  Michigan  Eldership  was  not  recognized,  "as  our  knowledge  of  their  member- 
ship is  much  limited."  A  Committee  was  named  to  pay  them  a  visit,  "with  dis- 
cretionary power  to  receive  the  Michigan  Eldership  into  this  body."  The  delegate. 
Elder  C.  C.  Linsley,  was  made  an  advisory  member.  J.  H.  Hurley  was  elected 
Speaker;  Joseph  Ross,  Treasurer;  J.  Haifleigh,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  R.  H.  Bol- 
ton, Transcribing  Clerk.  A  committee  to  "revise  and  amend  the  Constitution"  was 
appointed,  composed  of  Winebrenner,  J.  Hickemell,  D.  Keplinger,  L.  B.  Hartman 
and  D.  Wertz.  The  entire  thirty-eight  Articles  were  gone  over,  and  acted  upon; 
but  only  six  Articles  were  amended.  The  motion  of  Ham  to  change  the  title,  so  as 
to  read,  "The  General  Eldership  of  Churches  of  God,"  was  lost.  Another  "free  con- 
versation on  the  subject  of  religion"  was  a  feature  of  the  session.  The  Report  of 
the  Board  of  Publication  on  the  new  Hymn-Book  showed  that  the  total  expendi- 
tures for  compiling,  editing,  proofreading,  printing,  binding,  etc.,  including  also 
books  on  hand  and  sold  but  unpaid,  were  $7,728.43,  on  which  there  was  a  balance 
due  the  Board  of  $750.20. 

Revs.  S.  D.  Bates  and  D.  M.  Graham  had  been  appointed  by  the  General  Con- 
ference of  the  Free-Will  Baptists  "to  represent  its  fellowship  and  fraternal  regard" 
t<5r  the  General  Eldership,  and  the  former  presented  the  credentials  and  was  re- 
■ceived  as  an  advisory  member.  They  solicited  a  "response  by  delegate  to  the  next 
General  Conference"  of  said  Church.  J.  H.  Hurley  was  appointed  "Corresponding 
Messenger  to  the  next  meeting  of  the  General  Conference  of  the  Free-Will  Baptist 
Church." 

The  Printing  Board  reported  that  the  "cherished  hopes"  of  three  years  ago 
*'have  not  been  realized;"  that  by  the  end  of  a  year  and  eight  months  the  Editor 
had  become  "embarrased  for  want  of  funds"  and  the  paper  "was  stopped,  the  hands 
discharged  and  the  office  abandoned,"  thus  forcing  the  Committee  to  "assume  the 
responsibility  of  publishing  The  Advocate  under  their  own  immediate  control,  with 
all  its  liabilities,  amounting  to  the  sum  of  $1,334.00."  Additional  debts  had  to  be 
contracted  to  finish  the  last  volume,  bringing  the  indebtedness  up  to  $1,900.00. 
Thomas  had  been  made  Editor,  and  was  re-elected,  and  the  contract  for  three  years 
ratified.  On  Winebrenner's  old  claims  $797.25  had  been  paid  by  four  of  the 
Annual  Elderships. 

A  notably  long  and  trenchant  debate  was  precipitated  by  the  Report  of  the 
Committee  on  Slavery,  of  which  Ham,  the  fiery,  ultra  abolitionist,  was  Chairman. 
It  characterized  slave-holding  to  be  "man-stealing;"  "turns  human  flesh,  blood, 
hones,  sinews,  nerves  and  muscles  into  articles  of  common  merchandise;  sets  a 
price  on  souls,  morals,  religion  and  the  image  of  God,"  and  that  "all  who  per- 
petrate said  sin  are  classified  by  Paul  along  with  the  lawless,  disobedient,  ungodly, 
unholy  and  profane  sinners,  such  as  murderers  of  fathers  and  mothers,  man- 
slayers  and  whoremongers,  liars  and  perjurers."  The  mildest  of  its  eight  reso- 
lutions related  to  the  Texas  missionaries,  simply  deeply  "deploring  the  course"  of 
these  missionaries  on  the  subject.  Thomas  offered  a  substitute,  reaffirming  the 
resolutions  of  1845,  with  some  additional  sentiments  better  suited  to  existing 
•exigencies.  On  this  the  yeas  and  nays  were  called,  the  vote  on  substituting  the 
Thomas  resolutions  for  the  Report  of  the  Committee  standing  21  to  14,  and  they 
were  adopted. 

The  Committee  on  Publications  suggested  that  "the  time  has  come  when  a 
Sabbath-school  paper  should  be  published,"  and  advised  that  "a  suitable  person  be 
appointed,  under  proper  restrictions,  to  get  up  a  paper  for  the  Sabbath-schools  of 
the  Church  of  God."  The  adoption  of  measures  was  recommended  "to  encourage 
the  publishing,  under  sanction  of  a  revision  committee,  of  such  books  as  will  be 
suited  to  the  indoctrinating  of  our  children  in  the  truths  of  the  gospel  of  Christ." 
A  general  "Sabbath-school  missionary"  was  suggested.  The  Eldership  reaffirmed 
its  "confidence  in,  and  devotion  to,  the  principles  of  the  Maine  Law,"  and  "solemnly 


766  History  of  the   Churches  of   God 

protested  against  the  License  Law  as  an  outrage  upoja  the  intelligence  of  a,  civilized 
people."  In  only  general  terms  was  the  subject  of  education  acted  upon.  The 
General  Eldership  of  1860  adjourned,  and  the  labors  of  Winebrenner  in  the  highest 
ecclesiastical  body  in  the  Church  of  God  on  earth  were  finished. 

7th  General  Eldership. — The  personnel  of  the  General  Eldership  of  1863  was 
so  changed  as  to  look  like  a  new  body.  For  the  first  time  Winebrenner  was  not 
present.  Three  of  the  younger  ministers  were  in  the  East  Pennsylvania  delega- 
tion, and  four  new  names  were  on  the  lay  delegation.  An  equally  great  change 
was  noticeable  in  the  West  Pennsylvania  delegation,  though  the  tall,  erect  form 
of  John  Hickemell  was  seen  again  as  one  of  them.  The  three  Hickemell  brothers 
were  present,  representing  three  Elderships.  In  East  Ohio  changes  were  fewer. 
The  West  Ohio  delegation  was  increased,  making  some  changes.  The  ministerial 
delegation  from  Indiana  was  not  changed,  nor  in  Illinois.  The  Eldership  convened 
at  New  Brighton,  Beaver  county.  Pa.,  on  Monday,  June  1,  1863.  There  was  no 
Opening  Sermon;  but  after  "reading  of  Scripture,  ministerial  addresses  and  prayer 
by  Elder  J.  H.  Hurley,  Speaker,"  the  Eldership  was  "constituted  by  R.  H.  Bolton, 
Second  Clerk  of  the  last  Eldership."  "The  following  were  found  and  reported  ta 
be  in  attendance": 

East  Pennsylvania  Eldership — Eldei-s  E.  H.  Thomas,  A.  X.  Shoemaker,  J. 
Keller,  A.  Swartz,  D.  A.  L.  Laverty,  J.  C,  Owens,  B.  F.  Beck,  C.  H.  Foraey;  and 
Bros.  J.  Rife,  Dr.  Geo.  Ross,  Levi  Kanffman,  J.  B.  Coover  and  Jacob  HickemeU. 

West  Pennsylvania  Eldership — John  Hickemell,  J.  Hovis,  J.  M.  Domer,  J» 
Glenn  and  P.  Loucks,  ahd  Bro.  Belles. 

East  Ohio  Eldership — Elders  L.  B.  Hartman,  M.  Beck,  J.  S.  McKee  and  W.  H. 
Oliver. 

West  Oliio  Eldership— Elders  T.  Hickemell,  R.  H.  Bolton,  Geo.  W.  Wilson,  L» 
Ensminger,  W.  McComiiCk,  Jas.  George,  and  Bro.  J.  F.  Fox.  . ;  .;   -i 

Indiana  Eldership — Elders  George  Thomas,  ahd  D.  Keplinger. 

Illinois  Eldership — Eldei-s  J.  H.  Hurley,  J.  M.  Klein  and  Bro.  C.  Klinefelter. 

Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership — Not  represented.  •■ 

Iowa  Eldership — Not  represented. 

German  Eldership — Not  represented. 

Michigan  Eldership — Not  l-eipresented. 

Texas  Eldership— Not  representeid.  ,■'''.. 

The  organization  was  effected  by  the  election  of  Jacob  Keller,  Speaker;  J.  Rife,; 
Treasurer;  R.  H.  Bolton,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  C.  If.  Forney,  Transcribing  Cleyk, 
The  matter  of  receiving  the  Michigan  Eldership  was  at  once  taken  up,  ;wlie.n,  tae 
report  of  the  Committee  to  visit  said  Eldership,  appointed  in  1860,  was  received 
and  ratified,  thus  making  it  a  member  of  the  General  Eldership.  J.  H.  Hurley, 
appointed  Corresponding  Messenger  to  the  Free-Will  Baptist  General  Conferenpe, 
reported  "non-attendance  on  account  of  physical  inability."  For  the  first  time  a 
licensed  woman  minister  sat  with  the  Eldership  as  an  advisory  member,  viz. :  Mrs. 
Martha  Jane  Beecher,  of  the'  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  The  Committee  on  Sla- 
very had  its  duties  enlarged  so  as  also  to  be  a  Committee  on  the  State  of  the  Coun-j 
try.  In  this  double  capacity  it  reported  a  series  of  thirteen  resolutions,  declaring  its 
belief  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  is  founded  on  God's  ordinance,  and 
is  to  be  pr'eserved  inviolate;  that  thus  to  preserve  and  maintain  it  is  the  mission 
of  the  American  people;  that  all  its  subjects  owe  unqualified  loyalty  to  the  rightful 
authorities,  and  can  not  be  excused  because  of  doubts  as  to  the  wisdom  of  the 
policy  adopted;  but  conscientious  scruples  in  relation  to  bearing  arms  in  its  defense 
are  not  "a  justifiable  cause  for  impeaching  a  man's  fidelity  to  the  author  Qf  civil 
government."  It  rejected  "the  idea  of  the  right  of  revolution  under  a  democratic 
form  of  government."  In  "our  persistent  adherence  to  some  fiagrant  national  sin 
or  sins"  did  the  Committee  find  the  only  cause  for  "a  permanent  dismemberment 
of  the  American  Union,  or  the  complete  abrogation  of  our  present  form  of  govern- 
ment." The  "sacrifice  of  life  and  treasure  in  the  war  for  the  overthrow  of  the 
slaveholders  rebellion"  is  "obviously  the  result  of  God's  judgment  upon  us  for  our 
wickedness."  American  Slavery,  it  declared  as  "the  solemn  conviction"  of  the  Eld- 
ership, is  "the  operative  cause  of  the  present  rebellion,"  and  hence  it  is  demanded 
that  this  "unnatural  and  cruel  system  be  completely  abolished."  In  these  views  the 
Committee,  Swartz,  Wilson  and  M.  Beck,  were  fully  sustained  by  the  Eldership.  A 
"petition  from  brethren  of  the  Church  in  Maryland"  for  permission  to  organize  a 
Maryland  Eldership  was  first  negatived  because  "the  proper  preliminary  steps  were 
not  taken,"  and  later  the  Committee  reported  that  such  a  project  is  "inexpedient 


The   General    Eldet^ship  767 

at  this  time."  Weishampel,  who  had  engineered  the  project,  was  deeply  chagrined 
at  this  result,  which  with  other  humiliating  treatment,  he  declared,  has  "knocked 
out  of  me  all  the  ambition  I  had  to  work  for  the  Church."  The  Eldership  estab- 
lished a  precedent  when  it  refused  to  approve  the  action  "of  the  West  Ohio  Elder- 
ship in  receiving  an  expelled  member  of  the  East  Ohio  Eldership  into  full  member- 
ship in  their  body,"  and  declared  that  "the  action  is  null  and  void."  A  series  of 
resolutions  offered  by  C.  H.  Foraey  on  the  appointment  of  "a  corps  of  competent 
essayists  by  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Printing  Establishment,"  was  referred  to 
the  Committee  on  Resolutions,  viz. :  Svvartz,  Hurley  and  Oliver.  Said  Committee 
reported  favorably,  fixed  the  number  at  twenty-four,  selected  pro  rata  from  the 
different  Elderships,  to  prepare  articles  for  the  Essay  Page  of  The  Advocate,  and 
defining  the  rights  and  duties.  E.  H.  Thomas  submitted  a  preamble  and  resolution 
in  favor  of  "a  more  efficient  plan  of  itinerancy,"  on  which  the  same  Committee  re- 
ported, advising  the  appointment  of  a  committee  "to  mature  and  present  such  plan 
for  the  consideration  and  adoption  of  this  Eldership."  The  Report  of  the  Com- 
mittee was  adopted,  and  the  proposed  Committee  appointed.  Said  Committee 
"most  earnestly  urged  the  different  Elderships  to  keep  up  this  system  of  itiner- 
ancy;" recommended  that  the  Annual  Elderships  "appoint  at  least  one  member  of 
their  respective  Standing  Committees  to  travel  as  a  general  missionary  throughout 
their  bounds,"  and  prescribing  their  duties.  But  the  Eldership  "indefinitely  post- 
poned the  report."  While  the  publication  of  a  Life  of  Winebreimer  received  consid- 
erable attention,  and  the  Board  of  Publication  was  "authorized  by  the  East  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership  to  collect  material  and  publish"  the  same,  the  Board  reported 
that  it  "has  made  partial  progress  in  the  work.^'  The  General  Eldership  thereupon 
'^assumed  the  right  to  the  control  of  the  publication  of  the  intended  work."  The 
Eldership  was  conservative  on  the  subject  of  Temperance,  only  resolving  that  "we 
strongly  recommend  and  urge  the  ministers  of  the  Church  of  God  to  present  this 
matter  clearly  and  fully  to  the  people,  and  to  discountenance  the  use  of  alcoholic, 
vinous  and  fermented  drinks  as  a  beverage  under  all  circumstances."  A  "social 
ttieeting"  was  held  on  one  evening  of  the  session,  at  which  one  member  of  each 
Annual  Eldership  spoke,  according  to  previous  appointment,  "setting  forth  the  con- 
dition of  their  respective  Elderships." 

8th  General  Eldership. — For  the  first  time  in  its  history  the  General  Elder- 
ship convened  in  186  6  at  a  point  west  of  the  territory  of  the  three  Elderships  which 
composed  it  in  1845.  It  held  its  session  in  the  bethel  at  Decatur,  111.,  beginning 
on  Thursday,  9  a.  m..  May  31st.  There  being  no  Opening  Sermon,  after  "devotional 
exercises  were  conducted  by  Elder  J.  Keller,  Speaker  of  the  last  triennial  Eldership, 
R.  H.  Bolton  and  C.  H.  Forney  were  appointed  t6  constitute  the  Eldership."  The 
Roll  was  made  out  as  follows: 

East  Pennsylvania — E.  H.  Thomas,  J.  Keller,  A.  X.  Shoemaker,  C.  H.  Forney, 
J.  C.  Seabrooks,  H.  L.  Soule,  George  Sigler,  I.  Brady,  A.  H.  Long,  J.  S.  Gable,  J. 
Rife,  Dr.  George  Ross,  B.  F.  Mishey,  J.  C.  Owens. 

West  Pennsylvania — J.  Hickemell,  J.  M.  Domer,  P.  Loucks,  J.  Glenn,  E.  Smith 
and  J.  Blackstone. 

East  Ohio — M.  Beck,  L.  B.  Hartman,  J.  Durstine  and  W.  Gill. 
West  Ohio^ — G.  W.  Wilson,  G.  E.  Ewing,  W.  P.  Small,  J.  W.  Senseney  and  A. 
Rush. 

Indiana — J.  E.  McColley,  George  Thomas,  E.  Bryan. 

Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana — R.  H.  Bolton,  Geo.  Sandoe,  H.  Rupp  and  W. 
Booth. 

Illinois — J,  H.  Hurley,  R.  White,  J.  Bear  and  W.  H.  Reeme. 
Iowa — A.  Megrevv,  E.  Logue,  H.  Murray  and  J.  Huff. 
German — J.  F.  Weishampel. 
Michigan — C.  C.  Linsley. 

Texas — Represented  by  letter.  A  Committee  on  Credentials  was  appointed 
after  the  Eldership  was  constituted.  Balloting  for  officers,  A.  X.  Shoemaker  was 
chosen  Speaker,  he  having  been  nominated  against  A.  Megrew.  Authorized  to  cast 
the  vote  of  the  Eldership  for  Treasurer,  J.  Rife  was  elected.  Four  were  nominated 
for  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  R.  H.  Bolton  was  chosen.  Three  were  named  for  Trans- 
cribing Clerk,  and  P.  Loucks  was  elected.  Ross,  Forney  and  Megrew  were  ap- 
pointed by  the  Chair  to  report  Rules  of  Order,  which  were  unanimously  adopted  as 
reported,  and  became  permanent.  For  the  first  time  a  Committee  on  Business  was 
appointed,  which  reported  four  items — The  Church  Advocate,  The  Church  Hymn- 
Book,  A  Church  School,  and  a  Sunday-School  Paper.      When  the  Report  on  The 


768  JrllSTOKY    OF    THE    ChURCHES    OF    GoD 

Advocate  had  been  adopted,  Foi-ney  offered  resolutions,  "which  after  some  debate 
were  unanimously  adopted,  declaring  that  Thomas  be  continued  Editor;   that  an 
Assistant  Editor  be  elected;"  "pledging,  and  urging  upon  all  our  brethren  to  agree, 
to  use  all  our  efforts  to  give  greater  ettlciency  and  higher  literary  merit,  and  char- 
acter to  The  Advocate."      Forney,  Shoemaker,  Hartman,  Bolton  and  White  were 
nominated  for  Assistant  Editor  on  Friday  morning;  the  election  was  held  on  Sat- 
urday morning,  and  C.  H.  Forney  elected.      Thomas,  Gable  and  Ross  were  by  mo- 
tion continued  the  Board  of  Publication.     Dr.  Ross,  Book  Agent,  made  a  complete 
report  of  the  business  pertaining  to  the  Hymn-Book,  showing  that  in  three  years, 
1863    to    1866,    the   receipts   exceeded   the    disbursements    by    $1,266. 8b,    without- 
standing  accounts  of  $150.88,  and  books  on  hand,  $954.40.      He  recommended  the 
establishment  of  Hymn-Book  Depositories.     The  School  question  was  first  consid- 
ered in  Committee  of  the  Whole,  beginning  on  Friday,  and  was  never  so  thoroughly 
and  practically  discussed  before.     On  Tuesday  following  the  Committee  on  Educa- 
tion, to  which  the  matter  was  referred,  and  consisting  of  Ross,  Foraey,  Hartman, 
Logue  and  Fwing,  reported  in  favor  of  recognizing  Centralia  College,  and  provid- 
ing for  a  committee  of  inspectors  to  visit  Centralia  and  report  to  the  Executive 
Board,  which  shall  have  full  power  in  the  premises;  that  places  in  Ohio  be  nomi- 
nated for  competition  for  a  Central  College,  and  fixing  the  location  of  said  College 
in  the  place  raising  for  said  purpose  "the  largest  amount  exceeding  $30,000,"  and 
providing  for  "one  or  more  agents  to  secure  subscriptions  and  contributions  to  raise 
$60,000  endowment."     After  a  lengthy  debate,  the  Report  was  adopted,  after  per- 
mitting West  Pennsylvania,   Indiana  and   Illinois  to  compete  with   Ohio   for  the 
College.     The  Eldership  decided  to  authorize  the  Board  of  Publication  to  publish 
a  monthly  Sunday-school  paper,  to  begin  January  1,  1867;  named  it  "The  Church 
of  God  Sunday-School  paper,"  and  provided,  by  election,  for  a  "corps  of  editors  and 
contributors"  of  thirteen.     Daniel  Shelley,  of  Shiremanstown,  Pa.,  was  "elected 
Editor  of  said  paper  by  acclamation."     The  first  triennial  Report  of  the  Chicago 
Mission  showed  receipts  aggregating  $9,820.98  pain  in,  and  $1,816.00  unpaid  sub- 
scriptions; and  total  expenditures,  $10,494.64.   Ihe  important  question  of  delegates 
to  the  General  Eldership  was  debated,  on  a  resolution  affirming  it  to  be  "the  pre- 
rogative of  each  Annual  Eldership  to'determine  who  shall  be  its  representatives,  pro- 
vided that  such  representatives  are  eligible  to  election  in  any  one  of  the  Annual  Eld- 
erships by  the  provisions  of  its  Constitution;"  but  the  matter  was  indefinitely  post- 
poned.    F.  Marple's  letter,  "asking  the  sympathies  of  this  body  and  of  the  different 
Annual  Elderships"  was  referred  to  the  Board  of  Missions.     A  similar  letter  from 
B.  Ober  was  also  referred  to  said  Board.      But  Thomas's  motion  to  "recognize  the 
Texas  Eldership"  was  lost  on  a  yea  and  nay  vote.     The  "speedy  completition  of 
the  Life   of   Winebrenner  was   "earnestly  recommended."     A  resolution   on   uni- 
formity of  Eldership  titles,  making  all  in  the  singular,  and  a  minority  report  by 
Hai'tman,  changing  the  "name,  style  and  title  of  the  General  Eldership  so  as  to 
read,  'General  Eldership  of  Churches  of  God,'  "  were  laid  on  the  table.      So  was  a 

resolution  that  "in  the  ordination  of  ministers the  laying  on  of  hands  be 

practiced  by  the  Presbytery."  A  special  Committee  on  the  State  of  the  Country 
was  created,  consisting  of  Forney,  Glenn,  M.  Beck,  W.  P.  Small,  E.  Bryan,  R.  White, 
F.  Logue,  C.  C.  Linsley,  J.  F.  Weishampel  and  W.  Booth,  which  congratulated  the 
Eldership  and  Church  on  their  uniform  loyalty;  with  unfeigned  gratitude  recog- 
nized the  "intervention  of  divine  Providence  in  behalf  of  our  imperiled  institu- 
tions;" "rejoiced  in  the  enlargement  of  civil  liberty;"  "honored  and  cherished  the 
memory  of  the  wise  and  good  Abraham  Lincoln,"  and  expressed  its  belief  that  "all 
men  are  equal  before  God  and  the  law."  Thomas,  a  man  of  rare  constructive  and 
executive  powers,  proposed  an  amendment  to  Art.  XIV.  of  the  Constitution,  creat- 
ing "an  Executive  Board  consisting  of  five  members."  It  prevailed,  and  Dr.  Geo. 
Ross,  L.  Kauil'man,  P.  Loucks,  J.  Dui"stine  and  A.  X.  Shoemaker  were  nominated 
by  a  committee  of  one  member  from  each  Eldership,  and  elected.  The  new  Board 
of  Missions  was  Thomas,  Domer,  Hartman,  Bolton  and  Hurley.  The  German  Eld- 
ership having  "authorized  J.  F.  Weishampel  to  publish  a  German  paper,"  the  Eld- 
ership resolved  "that  he  have  the  privilege  of  publishing  such  paper,  the  same  to 
be  under  the  supervision  of  the  Board  of  Publication  the  same  as  the  Editor  of  The 
Advocate;"  but  disclaiming  "responsibility  for  any  liabilities  of  the  German  paper." 
Annual  Elderships  were  advised  to  have  their  Journals  published  in  pamphlet  form. 
Provision  was  made  for  the  preaching  of  an  Opening  Sermon  in  the  future,  the  Ex- 
ecutive Board  to  appoint  the  preacher.  The  same  Board  was  "instructed  to  apply 
to  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  for  an  Act  of  Incorporation  of  the  General  Eld- 


The   General    Eldership  769 

ership  of  the  Church  of  God  in  North  America."  The  Chicago  Mission  property 
was  ordered  deeded  to  the  Executive  Board.  Thomas  editorially  characterized  the 
work  of  this  session  as  "the  doings  of  the  most  important  General  Eldership  ever 
held  by  the  body,  the  benefits  of  whose  works  will  tell  gloriously  for  years  to 
come." 

9th  General  Eldership. — There  was  some  concert  of  action  in  the  election  of 
Speaker  of  the  ninth  General  Eldership.  There  were  two  teaching  elders  present 
who  had  been  members  of  the  body  at  its  first  organization,  in  184  5,  one  of  which 
had  never  been  its  presiding  officer,  though  a  member,  of  each  of  the  eight  sessions 
which  had  been  held.  These  were  E.  H.  Thomas  and  Thomas  Hickemell.  Thomas 
was  quite  feeble,  and  hardly  able  to  preside;  yet  there  was  a  concensus  of  opinions 
that  he  should  be  honored  by  an  election  to  the  highest  oflRce  in  this  highest  judi- 
catory of  the  Church.  The  Eldership  convened  in  Lancaster  City,  Lmca  t.r  county. 
Pa.,  the  church  being  under  the  pastoral  care  of  C.  H.  Foruey.  It  was  the  home  of 
J.  S.  Gable,  a  lay  delegate  to  the  first  General  Eldership.  The  date  of  the  meeting 
was  May  27,  1869.  The  first  regular  Opening  Sermon  was  preached  on  the  pre- 
ceding evening,  by  A.  X.  Shoemaker,  now  of  Illinois  Eldership,  and  Speaker  in 
1866,  on  "The  Commission."  Loiicks  and  Bolton  constituted  the  Eldership,  with 
the  following  enrollment  of  delegates: 

East  Pennsylvania.  Ministerial — E.  H.  Thomas,  J.  Keller,  A.  Svvartz,  D.  A.  L. 
Laverty,  C.  Price,  C.  H.  Forney,  J.  Haifleigh  and  G.  Sigler.  Lay — J.  H.  Chew,  Dr. 
Geo.  Ross,  J.  S.  Gable,  D.  Shelly,  S.  L.  Hershey,  J.  Speilman,  S.  Knisley,  J.  Rife  and 
W.  L.  Jones. 

West  Pennsylvania.  Ministerial — J.  M.  Domer,  P.  Loucks  and  J.  Hovis.  Lay 
— E.  Smith,  J.  Tinsman  and  D.  S.  Fox. 

East  Ohio.  Ministerial — M.  Beck  and  L.  B.  Hait-man.  Lay — J.  Durstine  and 
Wm.  Gill. 

West  Ohio.  Ministerial — T.  Hickemell,  W.  P.  Small,  G.  W.  Wilson  and  J. 
Richards.      Lay — John  Bolton,  H.  Creagor,  James  Fei'guson  and  John  Mann, 

Indiana.  Ministerial — J.  S.  Shock,  J.  Martin  and  E.  Bryan.  Lay — S.  Bell- 
man, C.  Bortner  and  G.  Kimes. 

Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana.  Ministerial — George  Sandoe,  W.  Booth  and 
S.  N.  Miller. 

Illinois.  Ministerial — A.  X.  Shoemaker,  J.  H.  Hurley  and  I.  E.  Boyer.  Lay — 
J.  A.  Shuler,  J.  H.  Forbes,  AV.  H.  Reeme  and  AV.  B.  Allen. 

Iowa.  Ministerial — J.  Lininger,  A.  Megi-ew  and  J.  C.  Kepford.  Lay — John 
Stoner,  J.  Huff,  J.  M.  Miller  and  J.  D.  Meads. 

Michigan.  Ministerial — R.  H.  Bolton,  J.  B.  AVhite,  J.  H.  Besore  and  C.  C. 
Linsley. 

German.  Ministerial — J.  F.  AVeishampel  and  A.  Snyder.  Lay — AV.  Klinger 
and  B.  Koch. 

Of  these  sixty-six  enrolled  sixteen  were  absent,  and  without  alternates  or  sub- 
stitutes. At  least  thirty-nine  of  the  fifty  were  natives  of  Pennsylvania  and  Mary- 
land. The  order  to  elect  a  Speaker  following,  J.  M.  Domer  and  E.  H.  Thomas  were 
nominated.  Domer  withdrew,  and  R.  H.  Bolton  was  nominated.  By  permission 
Bolton  withdrew,  and  a  motion  prevailed  "instructing  him  to  cast  a  ballot  for  the 
election  of  E.  H.  Thomas  as  Speaker  of  the  Eldership."  This  was  done,  and 
Thomas  was  declared  elected.  Under  like  instructions  J.  A.  Shuler  was  elected 
Treasurer.  M.  Beck  was  elected  by  ballot  the  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  Bolton 
under  instructions  cast  a  ballot  for  J.  D.  Meads  for  Transcribing  Clerk. 

By  previous  actions  of  the  respective  Standing  Committees  of  the  East  Penn- 
sylvania and  German  Elderships,  the  contentions  between  these  two  bodies  were 
brought  before  the  General  Eldership.  They  first  came  up  in  the  form  of  an 
amendment  to  the  Constitution  by  which  the  action  of  the  German  Eldership  in 
expelling  certain  members  of  the  Kimmel's  and  Auburn  churches  would  have  been 
validated.  This  was  laid  on  the  table.  Thomas  offered  a  resolution  which  pro- 
vided for  "proper  statements  by  the  parties  of  the  difficulties  for  the  purpose  of  ad- 
justment." This  having  been  done,  a  committee  was  named  "to  draft  a  form  of 
advice  to  be  given  in  the  premises."  The  report  of  this  committee  was  recom- 
mitted, and  again  reported  with  amendments,  and  provided,  that  the  German  Eld- 
ership had  erred  in  interfering  with  an  appointee  to  one  of  its  charges  by  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership;  forbidding  such  interference,  thus  virtually  throwing  open 
again  the  whole  German  territory  to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  whenever 
the  churches  desired  preachers  from  said  body.      It  also  reinstated  the  members  at 

C.  H.— 26 


yyo  History  of"  the   Churches  of   God 

Kimmel's  and  Auburn  which  had  been  expelled  by  the  German  Eldership.  In  addi- 
tion, a  separate  action  was  taken  correcting  the  impression  that  the  German  Elder- 
ship had  specific  boundaries,  and  declaring  "no  special  territory  shall  be  held  by 
the  German  Eldership,  and  that  it  shall  have  the  right,  as  granted  heretofore,  to 
operate  as  the  German  body  upon  all  fields  of  labor  within  the  bounds  of  English 
Elderships,  with  the  consent  of  these  Elderships." 

The  speedy  publication  of  the  Life  of  Winebrenner  was  recommended.  The 
change  of  the  name  of  the  Sunday-school  paper,  from  "The  Church  of  God  Sunday- 
School  Paper"  to  the  "Sunday-School  Gem,"  was  approved  as  an  obvious  improve- 
ment. The  action  of  1866  directing  that  Eldership  Journals  be  published  in 
pamphlet  form  was  rescinded,  in  view  of  the  enlarged  size  of  The  Advocate.  The 
brethren  in  Kansas  were  authorized  "to  organize  themselves  into  a  separate  Elder- 
ship." While  the  Executive  Board  had  been  authorized  "to  apply  to  the  Legis- 
lature of  Ohio  for  an  Act  of  Incorporation  of  the  General  Eldership,"  the  obtaining 
of  such  Charter  from  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  was  announced.  "Assess- 
ments to  create  a  Contingent  Fund  of  the  General  Eldership"  were  made  on  all  the 
Annual  Elderships  both  "for  the  present  indebtedness"  and  "for  the  ensuing  three 
years."  As  the  Evangelical  Alliance  was  to  meet  in  New  York  in  1870,  it  was  re- 
solved "that  Eldei-s  C.  H.  Forney,  K.  H.  Bolton  and  A.  H.  Long  be  appointed  dele- 
gates to  said  Convention." 

When  the  Committee  on  Journals  reported  the  "resolution  of  the  East  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership,  urging  the  General  Eldership  to  pass  a  constitutional  Article 
touching  the  itinerant  polity  of  the  Church,  and  declaring  it  to  be  fundamental  to 
the  existence  of  our  plan  of  co-operation,"  C.  H.  Forney  offered  a  milder  substitute, 
declaring  "the  intinerant  polity  of  prime  importance,"  but  that  the  "power  of  the 
Annual  Elderships  to  assign  their  ministers  to  their  respective  appointments  shall 
not  be  alienated."  But  the  Eldership  did  not  agree  to  this.  Then  Foraey  offered 
a  proviso  to  be  added  to  Art.  XXXVIII.  of  the  General  Eldership  Constitution, 
which  stated  that  "no  Article  or  Articles  shall  be  added,  annulled  or  so  changed  or 
amended  as  to  alter  the  existing  polity.  Constitution  or  Rules  of  the  Annual  Elder- 
ships, unless  it  shall  have  been  ratified  by  three-fourths  of  said  Elderships,  except 
in  case  three-fourths  of  said  Elderships  had  previously  instructed  their  delegates 
to  vote  for  said  Article,  Articles,  change  or  amendments."  But  this  was  also  voted 
down.  Then  "the  original  resolution  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  was  voted 
on,  and  was  defeated."  Later  Gable  offered  a  preamble  and  resolution,  declaring 
that  "the  itinerant  ministry  was  made  a  fundamental  principle  of  the  Eldership 
plan  of  co-operation,"  and  resolved  "that  the  principle  of  itinerancy  should  be  per- 
petuated inviolate."  To  this  Forney  proposed  an  amendment,  to  the  effect  declar- 
ing that  "we  regard  the  itinerant  polity  as  of  primary  importance  in  our  system  of 
ecclesiastical  co-operation,  and  that  the  final  power  reserved  now  to  the  several 
Annual  Elderships  to  assign  their  members  to  their  respective  appointments  shall 
not  be  alienated."  This  "carried."  And  then  the  amended  resolution  of  Gable 
was  voted  down  by  8  yeas,  and  33  nays.  The  proposition  of  the  Iowa  Eldership, 
that  the  General  Eldership  "meet  only  every  five  years,"  was  not  agreed  to,  as  was 
a  suggestion  from  the  same  Eldership  to  "reduce  the  ratio  of  representation."  To 
have  delegations  cast  their  "full  vote  in  the  absence  of  part  of  their  delegates"  also 
met  with  no  favor.  The  recommendation  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  that 
"in  these  days  of  ritualism  and  strong  tendencies  to  formalism,  we  earnestly  recom- 
mend our  ministers  to  cleave  with  full  purpose  of  heart  to  the  primitive  simplicity 
in  the  preaching  of  the  word  of  life"  was  fully  endorsed,  as  was  the  one  to  guard 
against  any  changes  "of  the  old  landmarks."  The  Eldership  was  not  willing  to 
endorse  a  quasi  presiding  Eldership,  nor  regular  traveling  evangelists,  as  it  voted 
down  resolutions  on  these  subjects.  It  also  vetoed  the  suggestion  that  the  churches 
of  God  hold  a  national  camp-meeting.  Indeed  the  Eldership  acted  as  significantly 
in  its  vetoes  of  various  innovations  as  it  did  in  its  affirmative  deliverances.  On 
missions  it  manifested  more  than  its  usual  aggressive  spirit.  During  the  twenty- 
four  years  of  its  history  the  General  Eldership  had  done  no  missionary  work,  save 
endorse  the  Chicago  enterprise,  and  it  had  no  missionary  funds.  But  at  this  session 
it  referred  a  number  of  letters  to  the  Board  of  Missions  which  required  more  active 
and  direct  efforts.  The  Board  reported  that  "it  had  no  direct  business,  or  business 
directly  under  its  control."  Hence  it  said:  "In  view  of  all  the  facts,  we  respect- 
fully recommended  to  the  body  the^  abolition  or  discontinuance  of  the  Board,  or  to 
commit  all  business  pertaining  to  general  missionary  interests  to  the  entire  control 
of  the  Board."      But  the  Eldership  was  not  ready  to  do  either,  yet  it  gave  its  Board 


The  General   Eldership  771 

work  to  do,  and  the  calls  from  Nebraska,  Kansas,  Missouri,  and  the  mission  to  the 
Freedmen  were  referred  to  the  Board.  The  new  Board,  consisting  of  R.  H.  Bolton, 
Dr.  Geoi-ge  Ross,  E.  H.  Thomas,  J.  M.  Domer  and  A.  X.  Shoemaker,  met  at  Lan- 
caster immediately,  and  appointed  A.  X.  Shoemaker  to  Chicago;  created  four  mis- 
sions, and  appointed  P.  K.  Shoemaker  to  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  D.  Keplinger  to 
Missouri,  and  George  Thomas  to  south-western  Iowa,  and  placed  the  Freedman's 
mission  into  the  hands  of  Thomas  and  Ross.  But  the  Board  had  no  means,  and 
no  authority  to  create  a  Fund,  and  had  to  depend  upon  responses  to  appeals  issued 
for  voluntary  contributions  for  each  of  the  fields  which  it  opened.  It  recommended 
that  the  Ohio  brethren  start  a  mission  in  Mansfield,  the  Indiana  brethren  at  Ft. 
Wayne  and  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  at  Reading  and  at  Harrisburg.  Ross, 
Gable,  Dui"stine,  Shuler  and  Rife,  all  laymen,  were  elected  as  the  Executive  Board. 

With  the  failure  of  its  two  college  projects  of  1866  before  it  the  Eldership 
gave  only  expression  to  general  sentiments  on  the  subject  of  education.  Thomas, 
Gable  and  Ross  were  elected  as  the  Board  of  Publication.  The  Eldership  granted 
permission  to  the  East  and  West  Ohio  Elderships  to  unite.  As  messengers  to  the 
Free-Will  Baptist  General  Association  the  Eldership  named  Forney,  Bolton  and 
Shoemaker. 

10th  General  Eldership. — A  peculiarity  of  the  tenth  General  Eldership  was  a 
preliminary  gathering  at  3  o'clock  p.  m.  on  the  day  before  the  session  opened. 
It  was  presided  over  by  J.  S.  Gable,  a  lay  representative  of  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership.  Brief  addresses  were  delivered  by  half  a  dozen  delegates,  and  also 
by  Prof.  Dunn,  Free  Baptist  delegate.  Both  A.  Swartz  and  G.  W.  Wilson,  prin- 
cipal and  alternate  to  preach  the  Opening  Sermon,  being  absent,  AV.  L.  Jones,  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership,  was  drafted  to  preach.  The  session  was  held  at  Mt.  Car- 
roll, Carroll  county.  111.,  beginning  on  Thursday  morning.  May  30,  1872.  The 
vacant  Presidential  chair  at  once  reminded  the  Eldership  of  the  death  of  E.  H. 
Thomas.  Jacob  Keller,  who  had  been  a  member  in  1869,  had  also  died  since  then. 
Suitable  memorial  services  were  held  on  Wednesday  morning  of  the  last  day  of  the 
session,  when  by  resolutions  the  Eldership  expressed  the  sense  of  its  great  loss  in 
the  death  of  these  eminent  men,  "inasmuch  as  they  were  both  strong  defenders 
of  the  truth,  as  well  as  able  counselors  and  active  workmen  in  the  church  of  God," 
and  also  "contributed  so  largely  to  mold  public  sentiment  on  the  fundamental 
truths  of  our  holy  religion."     The  Eldership  was  constituted  as  follows: 

1.  East  Pennsylvania.  Ministerial  delegates — B.  F.  Beok,  C.  H.  Forney,  G. 
Sigler,  W.  L.  Jones,  E.  D.  Aller,  J.  F.  Meixel,  J.  Kennedy,  H.  L.  Soule  and  J.  C. 
Seabrooks.  Lay — Dr.  Geo.  Ross,  J.  S.  Gable,  J.  D.  Schollenberger,  D.  C.  Kolp,  H. 
C  Demming,  I.  Frazer,  E.  J.  Foraey,  J.  Speilman  and  J.  H.  Chew. 

2.  German  Eldership.      Represented  by  letter. 

3.  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Ministerial — J.  M.  Domer  and  P.  Loncks. 
Lay — D.  S.  Fox  and  E.  Smith. 

4.  East  Ohio  Eldership.  Ministerial — O.  H.  Belts  and  S.  Lilley.  Lay — J. 
Dui*stine. 

5.  West  Ohio  Eldership.  Ministerial — T.  Hickemell,  J.  Richards  and  Ir. 
Ensminger.      Lay — E.  Messenger  and  M.  W.  Larcomb. 

6.  Indiana  Eldership.  Ministerial — J.  Martin,  W.  W.  Lovett  and  J.  Biunpus. 
Lay — J.  Simonton. 

7.  Michigan  Eldership.     Ministerial — A.  J.  Hull  and  J.  H.  Besore.     Lay . 

8.  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership.  Ministerial — Geo.  Sandoe,  R. 
T.  Sargent  and  AVni.  Booth.      Lay . 

9.  Illinois  Eldership.  Ministerial — M.  S.  Newcomer,  A.  X.  Shoemaker  and 
I.  E.  Boyer.      Lay — J.  A.  Shuler,  J.  Bailey  and  J.  Carper. 

10.  Iowa  Eldership.  Ministerial — R.  H.  Bolton,  A.  Megrew,  D.  Gill,  F.  F. 
Kiner  and  J.  D.  Meads.  Lay — H.  Funk,  J.  H.  Lighter,  John  Hecht,  B.  F.  Bolton 
and  V.  B.  Bean. 

11.  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership.      Ministerial — D.  Keplinger. 

Ballots  being  taken,  J.  M.  Domer  was  elected  Speaker;  R.  H.  Bolton,  First 
Clerk;  E.  D.  Aller,  Second  Clerk,  and  J.  A.  Shuler,  Treasurer.  At  5.30  the  Elder- 
ship adjourned  to  attend  as  a  body  the  decoration  services.  Knowing  that  Pi"of. 
Dunn  and  Dr.  Graham,  Free  Baptists,  were  delegates  on  an  important  mission,  and 
Prof.  Dunn  being  present,  C.  H.  Forney  offered  a  resolution  making  him  an  ad- 
visory member,  and  expressing  the  Eldership's  readiness  "to  receive  any  communi- 
cation he  may  offer  to  the  Eldership."  He  presented  his  credentials  and  delivered 
a  brief  address,  responded  to  by  Shoemaker  in  behalf  of  the  Speaker.      Prof.  Dunuj 


yyi,  History    of    The    Churches    of    God 

submitted  a  proposition  granting  to  ttie  General  Eldership  the  right  to  one  or  more 
professorships  in  Hillsdale  College,  Mich.,  the  Eldership  to  endow  said  professor- 
ships, and  thus  secure  the  use  and  privileges  of  said  institution  without  any  addi- 
tional cost  to  the  body.  This  proposition  was  committed  to  the  Comniittee  on 
Education — C.  H.  Forney,  B.  F.  Beck  and  M.  S.  Newcomer.  Said  Committee  rec- 
ommended the  acceptance  of  Prof.  Dunn's  proposition;  the  immediate  election  of 
one  professor,  and  that  the  professorship  should  be  catalogued  as  follows:      "First 

Professorship   of  the   Church   of  God    Professor   of 

An  endowment  of  $1,000  by  means  of  the  sale  of 
scholarships  was  recommended.  It  also  recommended  creating  a  Board  of  Educa- 
tion as  one  of  the  General  Eldership  Boards.  The  Report  was  adbpted.  The  Con- 
stitution was  amended  so  as  to  provide  for  a  Board  of  Education,  and  C.  H.  Forney, 
J.  M,  Domer,  R.  H.  Bolton,  Geo.  Ross  and  A.  X.  Shoemaker  were  elected  the  first 
Board  of  Education.  An  attempt  was  made  to  call  the  Professorship  "the  Wine- 
brenner  Professorship,"  but  it  failed.  John  A.  AVinebrenner,  son  of  Elder  John 
Wlnebrenner,  was  elected  professor.  Gable,  Shoemaker  and  Forney  were  named 
as  "a  committee  to  attend  the  next  session  of  the  Free-Will  Baptist  General  Con- 
ference." The  first  revenue  received  by  the  General  Eldership  from  The  Church 
Advocate  was  the  sum  of  $545.6  8,  paid  by  Dr.  Ross,  who  had  bought  the  Thomas 
contract  entered  into  in  1869.  He  also  became  the  Publisher  for  the  next  three 
years  under  a  new  contract.  There  was  also  a  small  surplus  from  the  "Sunday- 
School  Gem."  The  Report  of  the  Chicago  Mission,  by  Shoemaker,  showed  "whole 
amount  collected,  $18,257.32;  whole  amount  expended,  $20,663.10." 

A  petition  was  received,  "praying  this  body  to  grant  the  privilege  of  organiz- 
ing an  Eldership  in  Maryland."  This  petition  was  granted,  and  the  boundaries 
"be  fixed  to  run  along  the  line  between  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland,  to  the  Alle- 
gheny mountains,  and  along  the  line  of  said  mountains  through  "Virginia,  including 
all  of  Virginia  east  of  the  Allegheny  mountains."  Boundaries  were  fixed  for  the 
Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership,  so  as  to  "include  all  of  both  of  the  States  named, 
and  that  Iowa  Eldership  shall  continue  to  supply  those  now  supplied  by  it  until 
next  Eldership  at  least."  The  "boundary  line  between  the  Southern  Illinois  and 
Indiana  Eldership,  and  the  Indiana  Eldership,  was  changed  from  the  40th  parallel 
on  the  line  between  Ohio  and  Indiana  to  Union  City  on  same  line,  and  running 
due  west  through  .Williamsport  on  the  Wabash  river  to  the  line  of  Illinois  and 
Indiana." 

The  question  of  Eldership  titles  consumed  considerable  time.  C.  H.  Forney 
introduced  the  subject  by  preamble  and  resolutions,  declaring  in  favor  of  "uni- 
formity in  Eldership  titles;"  that  we  have  always  adhered  td  "the  singular  form 
of  the  word  'Church'  in  our  Eldership  titles,"  and  that  all  the  Elderships  should 
conform  to  this  practice.  Also  providing  that  hereafter  the  General  Eldership  "in 
granting  charters  to  new  Elderships  shall  specify  their  titles,  and  that  the  Elder- 
ships so  chartered  shall  be  required  to  adhere  to  such  titles."  The  resolutions 
were  discussed  at  length,  and  were  adopted  one  by  one,  when,  pending  the  motion 
to  adopt  as  a  whole,  the  Eldership  sitting  adjourned.  When  the  question  came  up 
on  Wednesday  morning  further  discussion  followed,  when  the  previous  question 
was  called,  and  on  a  yea  and  nay  vote,  the  preamble  and  resolutions  were  adopted 
by  40  to  12.  The  Constitution,  Art.  XX.,  was  then  amended  in  accordance  with 
the  action  taken.  Art.  XII.  was  also  amended  to  provide  for  a  Board  of  Educa- 
tion. Dr.  Ross  offered  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution,  making  "the  number  of 
members  of  the  Board  of  Missions  equal  to  the  number  of  Elderships  represented 
in  the  General  Eldership,"  which  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  36  to  16.  The  XlVth 
Article  of  the  Constitution  was  also  amended  so  as  to  elect  the  editors  of  all 
periodicals  for  one  year,  and  the  Board  of  Publication  to  elect  thereafter  annually 
until  the  next  General  Eldership.  The  Board  of  Missions  during  the  three  years 
had  in  its  employ  for  varying  periods  the  following  missionaries:  D.  Blakely,  S. 
V.  Sterner,  C.  B.  Konkle,  P.  K.  Shoemaker,  D.  Keplinger,  J.  S.  Moreland.  The 
Board  of  Missions  under  the  amended  Constitution  Avas  made  up  of  the  following 
members,  appointed  by  their  respective  Elderships:  J.  Kennedy,  P.  Loucks,  J. 
Durstine,  W.  P.  Small,  J.  Martin,  G.  Sandoe,  A.  J.  Hull,  A.  X.  Shoemaker,  R.  H. 
Bolton  and  D.  Keplinger.  The  Executive  Board  consisted  of  J.  M.  Domer,  A. 
Megrew,  J.  S.  Gable,  J.  A.  Shuler  and  R.  H.  Bolton.  The  Board  of  Publication 
consisted  of  Dr.  Geo.  Ross,  J.  S.  Gable  and  J.  A.  Shuler.  The  Speaker  was  directed 
to  cast  a  ballot  for  C.  H.  Forney  for  Editor  of  The  Advocate,  and  for  J.  H.  Red- 


The   General    Eldership  773 

seeker,  Editor  of  the  "Sunday-School  Gem."  A  resolution  was  agreed  to  that  an 
Assistant  Editor  of  The  Advocate  be  elected,  and  J.  M.  Domer  was  chosen. 

The  Eldership  pronounced  emphatically  against  countenancing  or  encouraging 
the  manifacture  and  use  of  intoxicating  drinks;  the  manufacture  and  use  of  do- 
mestic wines,  and  "hailed  with  great  satisfaction  the  enactment  of  the  legislatures 
of  the  States  of  Illinois,  Ohio,  Iowa,  Pennsylvania  and  others  upon  the  liquor  ques- 
tion." An  effort  was  made  to  reduce  the  ratio  of  representation  to  one  teaching 
elder  for  every  fifteen.  The  resolution  prevailed  at  the  sitting  on  Saturday;  but 
on  Monday  afternoon  it  was  reconsidered  and  defeated  by  a  vote  of  27  to  23.  The 
effort  failed  to  have  the  General  Eldership  meet  quinquennially.  A  resolution  was 
unanimously  adopted  authorizing  the  establishment  of  a  Book  Depository,  and  one 
in  favor  of  "a  monthly  paper  for  the  special  benefit  of  Sunday-school  teachers." 
J.  A.  Wiiiebreni?r,  G.  Sigler,  E.  J.  Forney,  M.  S.  Newcomer  and  J.  B.  Hartman 
were  appointed  'to  prepare  a  uniform  series  of  Sunday-school  lessons,"  under  an 
action  to  "edit  the  National  Series  of  Sunday-school  lessons  for  weekly  publication 
in  The  Advocate."  By  adopting  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  the 
Eldership  declared  in  favor  of  "a  general  Sunday-school  Convention  at  an  early 
date,"  and  then  appointed  a  committee  of  twelve,  one  from  each  Eldership,  to  ar- 
range for  it.  Expressing  strong  sentiments  in  favor  of  union,  peace  and  harmony 
between  Christian  people,  the  Speaker  was  authorized  "to  appoint  three  brethren 
to  attend  the  next  Free-Will  Baptist  General  Conference.  J.  S.  Gable,  A,  X.  Shoe- 
maker and  C.  H.  Forney  were  appointed.  An  interesting  sitting  was  held  to  hear 
reports  from  representative  delegates  from  all  the  Annual  Elderships  of  the  work 
and  prospects  within  their  territories.  Speaking  of  the  personnel  of  the  Elder- 
ship, the  "Mount  Carroll  Mirror"  said:  "The  members  of  the  Eldership  are  a  fine 
looking,  intelligent  body  of  men;  the  most  intelligent  body,  perhaps,  ever  as- 
sembled in  this  city." 

11th  General  Eldership. — Again,  as  in  1872,  the  Speaker's  chair  had  been  va- 
cated by  the  summons  of  the  death-angel.  Six  months  after  the  adjournment  of 
the  Eldership  over  which  he  presided  with  admirable  grace  and  dignity  he  laid 
down  his  robe  of  office  and  entered  into  rest.  The  morning  session  on  Saturday, 
May  28th,  was  fixed  for  holding  memorial  services.  In  its  resolutions  the  Com- 
mittee characterized  Domer  as  "a  model  Christian,  a  successful  minister  of  the 
gospel  and  an  able  defender  of  the  faith  of  the  Church."  P.  D.  Collins,  though 
never  a  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership,  was  also  suitably  remembered  as  "an 
active,  zealous  gospel  laborer."  He  was  elected  a  delegate  by  the  Maryland  Eld- 
ership. The  Eldership  had  selected  Smithville,  Wayne  county,  Ohio,  as  the  place 
of  meeting;  but  on  account  of  the  existence  of  small-pox  in  the  community  around 
Smithville,  greatly  exaggerated  by  rumors,  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  East 
Ohio  Eldership  changed  the  place  of  meeting  to  West  Salem,  Wayne  county;  but 
it  created  such  dissatisfaction  that  a  committee  was  appointed  to  investigate  the 
matter.  It  found  that  one  or  two  cases  of  small-pox  had  existed  "not  far  remote 
from  Smithville;"  that  reports  were  "incorrect  and  unfounded,"  and  that  while 
the  Standing  Committee  "acted  in  good  faith  and  with  the  best  motives,"  it  "should 
have  consulted  the  church  and  pastor  at  Smithville."  On  Tuesday  evening.  May 
25,  1875,  the  Eldership  met  in  the  Presbyterian  house  of  worship  at  West  Salem 
and  listened  to  the  Opening  Sermon  on  "Christian  Unity"  by  C.  H.  Forney.  On 
Wednesday  morning  when  the  Eldership  was  constituted  the  following  enrollment 
was  made: 

1.  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Teaching  elders — C.  H.  Forney,  G.  Sigler, 
B.  F.  Beck,  C.  Price,  D.  A.  L.  Laverty,  W.  L.  Jones,  A.  H.  Long,  J.  W.  Deshong. 
Ruling  elders — G.  W.  Seilhammer,  J.  S.  Gable,  S.  Knisley,  H.  C.  Demming,  S.  li. 
Hershey,  George  Ross,  J.  Kennedy,  A.  Hostetter. 

2.  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Ministerial — P.  Loucks,  J.  Grimm,  A.  O. 
Raysor,  B.  F.  Bolton.  Ruling  elders — D.  S.  Fox,  E.  Smith,  John  Abrams,  N.  Vanna/- 
man. 

3.  German  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegate — J.  F.  Weishampel.  Ruling 
elder — J.  S.  Gable,  representative. 

4.  East  Ohio  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — J.  S.  McKee,  G.  W.  Wilson. 
Ruling  elders — J.  H.  Anderson,  G.  W.  Ferguson. 

5.  Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — C,  L.  Amy,  P. 
D.  Collins.      Ruling  elders — J.  H.  Chew,  J.  H.  Christ. 

6.  West  Ohio  Eldership.      Ministerial  delegates — W.  P.  Small,  J.  W.  Auker* 


774  History  of   the   Churches   of   God 

man,  T.  Hickernell,  James  Neil,  AV.  H.  Oliver.      Ruling  elders — E.  Messenger,  John 
F.  Fox,  H.  Shuler,  T.  Koogle,  A.  Resh, 

7.  Indiana  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — J.  Martin,  J.  Bumpus,  E.  B. 
Bell,  J.  E.  McColley,  W.  W.  Lovett.  Ruling  elders — 1.  Schrader,  G.  M.  Ray,  James 
Brady. 

8.  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — George 
Sandoe,  AVm.  Booth,  R.  T.  Sargent  x.  Ruling  elders — J.  C.  Patton  x,  John  Miller, 
Martin  Baggs  x, 

9.  Michigan  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — B.  D.  Bright  x,  J.  B.  White,  W. 
Briggs  X,  A.  X.  Shoemaker,  representative.  Ruling  elders — J.  M.  Ireland,  A. 
Smith  X,  J.  A.  McFarland  x. 

10.  Illinois  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — W.  B.  Allen,  A.  X.  Shoe- 
maker, G.  S.  Petry.       Ruling  elders — J.  Bailey,  E.  Bear,  R.  Waters. 

11.  Iowa  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — A.  Megrew,  D.  Gill,  L.  F. 
Chamberlin,  R.  H.  Bolton.  Ruling  elders — J.  Snavely,  Isaac  WTiisler,  C.  W. 
Downs. 

12.  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — D.  Blakely  x, 
R.  H.  Bolton,  representative.      Ruling  elder — J.  C.  Ozias. 

Treasurer — J.  A.  Shuler. 

(Those  marked  thus  (x)  were  absent.) 

The  Nebraska  brethren  had  named  twelve  bearers  of  a  Memorial,  asking 
authority  to  form  a  Nebraska  Eldership;  but  no  one  was  present.  As  the  Consti- 
tution made  no  provision  for  "representatives,"  on  motion  of  C.  H.  Forney  they 
were  granted  the  rights  of  delegates,  except  the  right  to  vote,  though  out  of  forty 
votes  there  were  fourteen  against  the  motion.  Forney  also  moved  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  committee  "to  examine  the  Constitution  and  By-Laws,"  and  to  "suggest 
such  amendments  as  may  be  necessary  to  harmonize  them."  C.  H.  Forney,  C. 
Price  and  G.  W.  Wilson  were  appointed.  They  reported  an  amendment, to  Art. 
XVIII.,  reducing  the  number  of  members  of  the  Board  of  Missions  to  five.  Also 
amending  Art.  XVII.  so  that  no  member  of  the  Eldership  can  be  a  member  of  "more 
than  one  of  the  Boards  of  the  Eldership."  These  were  unanimously  adopted.  The 
Committee  also  reported  amendments  to  Articles  IV.,  V.,  VI.,  XII.  and  XIII.;  re- 
ported a  new  Article  relative  to  the  Board  of  Incorporation;  one  prohibiting  the 
doing  of  "any  official  business  without  the  presence  of  a  majority  of  any  Board;" 
amending  Art.  XIV.,  so  as  to  readopt  it  as  it  was  prior  to  1869,  and  making  editors 
■"subject  to  removal  by  the  Executive  Board."  Also  amending  Articles  XV.,  XVI., 
XXVII.,  and  inserting  a  new  Article  with  reference  to  the  Board  of  Education; 
striking  out  Art.  XXIX.,  and  amending  Art.  XXX.;  making  Articles  XXXI., 
XXXV.  and  XXXVII.  Rules  of  Order,  and  striking  out  Articles  XXXII.,  XXXIII., 
XXXIV.  and  XXXVI.,  and  inserting  a  new  Article  on  the  Itinerancy.  The  entire 
Report  was  adopted.  An  effort  was  made  by  George  Sandoe  to  amend  the  Report 
so  as  to  change  the  ratio  of  representation  from  one  for  every  ten,  to  one  for  every 
fifteen  licensed  ministers;  but  the  Eldership  by  a  vote  of  yeas  11,  and  nays  25,  re- 
fused to  change  the  ratio. 

The  Treasurer's  Report  showed  total  income  for  the  three  years  of  $4,547.59 
for  missionary  purposes.  The  Advocate  was  paying  its  way,  but  had  no  surplus. 
Blame  was  largely  placed  on  the  credit  system  under  which  the  paper  "was  losing 
quite  an  amount  annually."  H.  C.  Denmiing  made  a  proposition  to  take  the  pub- 
lishing of  The  Advocate,  put  it  on  a  cash-in-advance  system,  pay  all  expenses,  keep 
it  up  in  all  respects  to  its  existing  standard,  pay  the  Editor  $200.00  more  salary, 
and  "pay  $1,000.00  into  the  General  Eldership  treasury  at  the  expiration  of  three 
years."  The  Board  of  Publication  was  directed  to  make  the  best  contract  it  could 
in  its  judgment,  and  in  187  6  it  accepted  the  Demming  proposition,  except  the  extra 
$200.00  for  the  Editor,  which  was  refused  on  the  ground  that  the  income  would 
not  justify  it.  George  Sigler  offered  resolutions,  which  were  adopted,  providing 
for  Centennial  Celebration  of  1876.  They  called  for  "a  general  convocation  of  the 
Church  to  be  held  in  Philadelphia,  commencing  the  first  Wednesday  of  June, 
1876,"  and  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of  five  to  make  the  necessary  arrange- 
ments. 

The  missionary  interests  consumed  much  time.  Oregon  called  for  a  mission- 
ary. Nebraska  desired  more  missionaries,  as  did  Missouri  and  Kansas.  But  the 
Chicago  Mission  presented  the  most  perplexing  and  irritating  subject  with  which 
the  body  had  to  deal.  The  mission  had  proved  a  failure,  and  it  came  up  in  the 
Report  of  the  Committee  on  Overtures,  which  referred  "a  letter  from  Chicago  in 


I 


The    General    Eldership  775 

respect  to  the  mission  property  and  work  in  that  city"  to  the  Board  of  Missions. 
It  was  made  a  special  order.  Meanwhile  Shoemaker  made  his  report,  after  which 
the  Chicago  letter  was  read  and  considered,  developing  considerable  friction  and 
bad  feeling.  The  subject  was  under  consideration  for  three  sittings,  when  J.  Ken- 
nedy offered  a  resolution,  "recommending  the  sale  of  the  property with  a 

view  of  commencing  mission  work  in  some  other  part  of  the  city."  This  was 
agreed  to  by  a  vote  of  39  to  16.  This  question  and  several  others  into  which  a 
good  deal  of  personal  feeling  and  antagonism  entered  made  the  session  a  more  or 
less  unpleasant  one.  An  effort  was  made  "to  elect  a  corps  of  at  least  five  editors 
of  The  Advocate,  including  an  editor-in-chief."  The  subject  being  divided,  C.  H. 
Forney  was  elected  editor.  In  place  of  a  corps  of  editors,  it  was  agreed  to  elect 
an  assistant  editor,  and  H.  C.  Deniniing  was  elected.  J.  H.  Redsecker  was  chosen 
editor  of  the  "Sunday-School  Gem." 

When  the  Eldership  took  up  memorials,  it  agreed  to  grant  the  East  Ohio  Eld- 
ership "the  privilege  of  consolidating  with  the  West  Ohio  Eldership,"  although 
there  was  some  disposition  to  consolidate  it  with  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. 
The  memorial  from  Nebraska  for  privilege  to  organize  an  Eldership  was  agreed 
to,  and  the  "name,  style  and  title"  thereof  was  fixed  to  be  "The  Eldership  of  the 
Church  of  God  in  Nebraska."  The  boundaries  were  to  be  the  State  lines,  except 
that  "the  two  northern  tiers  of  counties  in  north-eastern  Kansas  shall  be  part  of 
the  Nebraska  Eldership  territory."  Lenawee,  Hillsdale  and  Monroe  counties, 
Mich.,  were  given  to  the  West  Ohio  Eldership.  "All  the  East  Ohio  territory  be- 
longing to  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  was  given  to  East  Ohio  Eldership." 

Indirectly  the  Eldership  affirmed  the  doctrine  of  the  conscious  state  of  the 
dead  by  giving  it  as  its  opinion  that  "it  is  inexpedient  to  license  any  minister  who 
will  openly  preach  and  defend  the  dogma  of  the  unconscious  state  of  the  dead." 
On  motion  of  A.  H.  Long,  "the  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Texas  was  re- 
ceived as  a  member  of  the  General  Eldership,"  and  the  names  of  the  delegates 
were  ordered  "entered  on  the  Journal."  Suitable  action  was  taken  to  secure  "a 
permanent  missionary  fund,"  and  bequests  were  invited  for  that  purpose. 

R.  H.  Bolton  presided  over  the  deliberations  of  the  body  as  Speaker  in  an  ef- 
ficient manner.  J.  A.  Shuler  was  re-elected  Treasurer.  H.  C.  Demniing  acted  as 
Journalizing  Clerk,  and  P.  Loucks,  Transcribing  Clerk.  The  Journal  was  ordered 
published  in  pamphlet  form.  George  Ross,  J.  S.  Gable  and  J.  A.  Shuler  were 
elected  the  Board  of  Publication;  B.  F.  Beck,  C.  H.  Forney,  A.  H.  Long,  M.  S.  New- 
comer and  Isaac  Frazer,  the  Board  of  Education;  R.  H.  Bolton,  J.  Kennedy,  P. 
Loucks,  A.  X.  Shoemaker  and  W.  P.  Small,  the  Board  of  Missions,  and  A.  Megrew, 
G.  Sigler,  D.  A.  L.  Laverty,  G.  Sandoe  and  A.  Svvartz,  the  Executive  Board.  Promi- 
nent members  of  this  Eldership  regarded  it  as  one  which  "will  in  all  time  stand 
out  prominently  as  one  of  the  most  important  and  efficient  meetings  of  the  body." 

12th  General  Eldership. — Sometimes  a  convention  of  any  character  seems  re- 
latively so  much  better  because  of  the  anticipation  of  unpleasant  things  which 
were  not  realized.  Accordingly  the  twelfth  General  Eldership  was  pronounced  by 
all  as  exceptionally  pleasant  because  the  strifes,  the  hot  antagonisms,  the  fierce 
•contentions  which  were  prophesied  by  some  gave  way  to  the  truly  "Christian  spirit 
of  love,  and  conciliation,  and  peace."  It  was  called  "all  in  all  the  best  General 
Eldership"  since  1863.  The  body  convened  at  Syracuse,  Kosciusko  county,  Ind., 
to  listen  to  the  Opening  Sermon  by  M.  S.  Newcomer,  on  Wednesday  evening.  May 
28,  1878.  The  text  was  Ps.  cxix.  130.  Theme — "Modern  Theological  Skep- 
ticism." On  Wednesday  morning  the  Eldership  was  constituted  by  J.  M.  Carvell 
and  W.  B.  Allen,  who  made  the  following  enrollment  of  delegates: 

East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Teaching  elders — G.  Sigler,  B.  F.  Beck,  J.  M. 
Carvell,  C.  H.  Forney,  D.  A.  L.  Laverty,  W.  L.  Jones,  I.  S.  Richmond  and  J.  A.  Mac- 
Dannald.  Ruling  elders — J.  S.  Gable,  I.  Frazer,  Dr.  George  Ross,  S.  L.  Hershey, 
S.  Myers  and  H.  J.  Forney. 

German  Eldership — J.  S.  Gable,  representative. 

West  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Teaching  elders — P.  Loucks,  J.  W.  Davis  and 
B.  F.  Bolton.      Ruling  elders — D.  S.  Fox,  S.  P.  P.  Young  and  E.  Smith. 

Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership.      Teaching  elder — L.  H.  Shelby. 

West  Ohio  Eldership.  Teaching  elders — J.  V.  Updike,  T.  Koogle,  J.  W. 
Aukemian,  T.  Hickemell,  J.  M.  Cassell  and  A.  Resh.  Ruling  elders — H.  Shuler, 
M.  Ritchie,  E.  Messenger,  G.  Metzler,  J.  B.  Neil  and  J.  F.  Fox. 

Indiana  Eldership.  Teaching  elders — W.  P.  Small,  J.  Bmnpus  and  J.  E.  Mc- 
■Colley.      Ruling  elders — J.  Movvei-y,  I.  Schrader  and  W.  A.  Gourley. 


yyd  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership.  Teaching  elders — W.  Booth  and  A. 
Miller.      Ruling  elder — John  Miller,  Sr. 

Illinois  Eldership.  Teaching  elders — M.  S.  Newcomer,  W.  B.  Allen  and  A.  J. 
Fenton.      Ruling  elders — D.  Palmer,  M.  Anderson  and  J.  Stare. 

Michigan  Eldership.  Teaching  elders — I.  M.  B.  Gillaspie,  J.  B.  White  and  B. 
D.  Bright. 

Iowa  Eldership.  Teaching  elders — R.  H.  Bolton,  J.  H.  Besore,  J.  Lininger 
and  H.  Mun-ay.  Ruling  elders — J.  H.  Lighter,  H.  Funck,  J.  Stoner  and  T.  M.  Cole- 
man. 

Nebraska  Eldership.      Teaching  elder — E.  D.  Aller. 

Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership.      Teaching  elder — C.  S.  Bolton. 

Texas  Eldership — Not  represented. 

Maine  Eldership — Not  represented. 

The  delegates  were  mostly  in  the  prime  of  life,  exceptions  being  found,  how- 
ever, in  both  extremes,  as  a  few  quite  young  men  and  a  few  aged  veterans  were 
present.  It  was  a  typical  Eldership  for  both  counsel  and  action.  By  ballot  the 
following  officers  were  elected:  Speaker,  C.  H.  Forney;  W.  B.  Allen,  Journalizing 
Clerk;  R.  H.  Bolton,  Transcribing  Clerk,  and  Isaac  Schrader,  Treasurer.  At  vari- 
ous stages  of  the  session  the  following  elections  were  held:  Editor  of  The  Advo- 
cate, C.  H.  Foi-ney;  Editor  of  "The  Gem,"  J.  H.  Redsecker.  But  as  he  resign?d 
later,  his  place  was  filled  by  the  election  of  G.  Sigler.  Board  of  Publication,  J.  S. 
Gable,  George  Ross  and  I.  Frazer.  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  M.  S.  Newcomer, 
J.  W.  Aukerman,  C.  H.  Forney,  R.  H.  Bolton  and  W.  P.  Small.  Executive  Board, 
J.  H.  Besore,  A,  X.  Shoemaker,  J.  Lininger,  J.  Bailey  and  T.  Koogle.  Board  of 
Missions,  P.  Loucks,  M.  S.  Newcomer,  G.  Sigler,  W.  P.  Small  and  R.  H.  Bolt/>n. 
Assistant  Editor,  M.  S.  Newcomer.  The  action  creating  a  Board  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sions was  taken  in  response  to  the  appeal  of  Dr.  J.  L.  Phillips,  Free  Baptist  mis- 
sionary to  India,  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership.  The  Committee  on  Mission 
Work  reported  "that  missions  in  foreign  lands  should  be  established  as  soon  as 
possible,"  and  approving  of  "the  initiatory  steps  taken  by  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  toward  the  establishing  of  a  mission  in  India,  or  the  joining  hands  with 
the  Free  Baptists  in  said  missionary  work."  But  the  Eldership  was  not  ready  for 
this,  and  referred  the  matter  to  a  new  committee,  which  reported  in  favor  of  "the 
creation  of  a  Foreign  Mission  Board,  with  which  the  Elderships  were  recommended 
to  co-operate  in  this  work,  and  that  we  establish  a  mission  in  India  at  as  early  a 
day  as  practicable."  This  was  adopted.  Mission  work  in  general  received  much 
attention,  not  only  during  the  regular  sittings,  but  several  evenings  were  devoted 
to  its  consideration,  and  to  the  Report  of  the  Board  of  Missions.  There  were  urgeit 
calls  from  Dakota,  Minnesota,  Wisconsin,  Oregon,  California,  Texas  and  Arkansas, 
in  addition  to  the  older  fields  in  Nebraska,  Kansas,  Missouri  and  Michigan.  The 
Board  regarded  with  favor  the  effort  made  by  the  Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership 
to  "introduce  the  ancient  gospel  in  England."  To  secure  the  necessary  means  the 
Board  proposed  "an  appeal  for  twenty-five  cents  from  every  member  of  the  Church 
of  God  in  the  United  States."  By  this  method  it  was  calculated  that  $7,500  should 
be  realized  annually.  However,  it  continued  the  former  plan  of  having  "a  mission- 
ary collecting  agent  in  the  field,  to  devote  his  whole  time  to  this  work."  W.  R. 
Covert  was  appointed  to  Crete;  Evan  AVilson,  to  Missouri;  J.  W.  Kager  and  C.  S. 
Kilmer,  to  Nebraska;  A.  L.  Nye,  to  "North  Nebraska  Mission;"  P.  Shaw,  to  Kansas, 
and  J.  A.  Smith,  to  Texas.  Upon  request,  the  publication  of  "a  monthly  Sunday- 
school  Journal"  and  "lesson  leaf"  were  authorized,  and  B.  F.  Beck  w.s  sele  ted  to 
edit  the  same.  The  discontinuance  of  the  "Kundschafter,"  the  German  paper  pub- 
lished by  Weishampel,  was  ordered.  The  Executive  Board  was  directed  to  appoint 
"a  suitable  person  to  write  the  history  of  Winebrenner;  also  "an  article  for  Mc- 
Clintock  and  Strong's  Cyclopedia."  Mi*s.  Elizabeth  R.  Gable  was  appointed  to 
write  the  former,  and  C  H.  Forney  the  latter.  The  "request  that  this  body  should 
take  steps  towards  procuring  or  erecting  an  institution  of  learning"  was  answered 
by  resolution  receiving,  "the  overtures  of  Prof.  Ege,  of  Mech 'nicsbura:.  Pa.:"  by 
expressing  appreciation  of  an  "offer  by  Dr.  Bates,  Ridgeville  College,  Ind.,  relative 
to  the  endowment  of  a  professorship  in  said  college,"  and  "looking  with  favor  on 
the  liberal  offer  of  the  President  of  Mt.  Pleasant  Institute,  Mt.  Pleasant,  Pa." 
Authority  was  given  to  "appoint  an  agent  to  solicit  subscriptions  towards  a  fund 
for  educational  purposes."  C.  H,  Forney  and  B.  F.  Beck  were  added  to  the  Board 
of  Publication  "on  the  item  of  a  smaller  hymnal."  "C.  H.  Foniey  and  M.  S.  New- 
comer were  appointed  to  attend  the    General    Conference    of    Liberal    Baptists." 


The   General    Eldership  '  'j'j'j 

While  the  questions  of  dividing  the  Iowa  Eldership;  organizing  an  Eldership  in  Ar- 
kansas, and  the  status  of  the  Maine  Eldership  were  brought  before  the  body,  its* 
Committee  on  Boundaries  reported  that  it  had  "no  report  to  make.  Not  anything 
came  before  us  which  needed  action."  The  Eldership  approved  of  the  celebration 
of  the  semi-centennial  of  the  organization  of  the  first  annual  Eldership,  and  placed 
the  matter  in  the  hands  of  the  Editor  and  Assistant  Editor  of  The  Church  Advo- 
cate "to  make  the  necessary  arrangements."  The  most  unpleasant  feature  of  the 
session  was  the  discussion  incident  to  the  contract  entered  into  in  1876  for  the 
publication  of  The  Advocate.  The  publishers  under  said  contract  found  them- 
selves forced  to  suspend  publication,  and  involved  the  Eldership  in  considerable 
loss.  Much  personal  feeling  manifested  itself,  very  much  aggravated  by  the  course 
of  the  "Kundschafter,"  which  persistently  assailed  the  Editor  of  The  Advocate,  and 
its  Editor  also  sent  documents  to  the  Eldership  for  distribution,  in  which  he  sought 
to  influence  the  votes  of  members  on  questions  involved.  A  Special  Committee, 
consisting  of  Sigler,  Newcomer  and  Lininger,  was  appointed,  which  reported  that 
the  publishers  of  The  Advocate  from  1876  to  1878  failed  to  receive  that  support 
they  had  reason  to  expect;  that  nevertheless  they  "showed  very  unwise  business 
management;"  that  the  contract  with  the  Board  was  "entered  into  voluntarily,  and 
ought  to  have  been  maintained  inviolably  to  the  close  of  the  term  specified  in  the 
contract;"  wholly  exonerating  the  Editor  of  all  responsibility  for  the  "failrre  of 
the  paper,"  and  censuring  in  strong  terms  the  course  of  the  Editor  of  the  "  'Kund- 
schafer,'  as  being  directly  opposed  to  the  common  courtesies  of  society,  and  par- 
ticularly derogatory  to  any  religion  suffering  the  infliction  of  such  wrong."  The 
report  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  51  yeas;  nays,  0;  excused,  3.  This  was  followed 
by  a  resolution  declaring  "that  this  body  enters  its  unqualified  protest  against  in-^ 
dividuals  sending  documents  to  its  delegations,  whose  aim  is  to  throw  a  shadow  of 
suspicion  on  the  lives  and  characters  of  individual  members  of  the  bodv."  The  Eld- 
ership called  attention  to  the  fact  that  "several  of  the  Annual  Elderships  have  vio- 
lated our  Rule  of  Co-operation  as  set  forth  in  Article  XXIX.  of  the  Constitution, 
prohibiting  members  of  one  Eldership  removing  into  the  territory  of  another  Eld- 
ership, or  laboring  within  its  territory,"  and  declared  such  violation  causes  trouble, 
and  holding  each  Eldership  "strictly  to  account  for  any  violations  which  may  occur 
hereafter." 

13th  General  Eldership. — Two  inter-denominational  events  which  marked  the 
General  Eldership  session  of  18  81  were  variously  commented  upon  by  the  dele- 
gates. Two  brethren  from  Idaville,  Ind.,  were  present,  who  were  identified  with 
a  body  known  as  the  "White  County  Conference  of  the  Church  of  God,"  State  of 
Indiana.  Said  body  had  formerly  belonged  to  the  German  Baptists,  but  withdrew 
in  1848.  Having  in  all  respects  the  same  faith  and  practice  as  the  Church  of  God, 
closer  fellowship,  if  not  organic  unity,  seemed  desirable  and  possible.  The  Free 
Baptist  Church  was  represented  by  Dr.  A.  D.  Williams,  of  Nebraska,  and  Dr.  D.  W. 
C.  Durgen,  President  of  Hillsdale  College,  Mich.  They  were  cordially  received, 
with  suitable  expressions  of  fraternal  regard.  They  were  reminded,  in  reply  to 
their  greetings,  that  the  Free  Baptist  Church  had  abandoned  feet-washing,  and 
thus  put  a  higher  barrier  between  it  and  the  Church  of  God.  The  force  of  this 
reminder  was  felt  by  Dr.  Williams,  who,  in  reporting  his  visit  to  the  General  Eld- 
ership in  "The  Morning  Star,"  spoke  in  terms  of  commendation  of  the  character 
and  work  of  the  Church  of  God.  The  body  met  at  Findlay,  Hancock  county,  Ohio, 
on  Tuesday  evening,  May  24,  1881,  when  George  Sigler,  of  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership,  delivered  the  Opening  Sermon.  Theme: — "The  Church  of  God  of  the 
Future."  The  Roll  of  members  as  made  up  by  the  Journalizing  and  Transcribing 
Clerks  was  as  follows,  presumably  only  those  present  being  enrolled: 

East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Teaching  elders — C.  H.  Foniey,  G.  Sigler,  D. 
S.  Shoop,  J.  M.  Carvell,  G.  W.  Seilhammer,  F.  L.  Nicodemus,  C.  Price,  A.  H.  Long 
and  J.  C.  Seabrooks.  Ruling  elders — J.  S.  Gable,  I.  Frazer,  D.  M.  Bare,  J.  H.  Red- 
seeker,  H.  J.  Foniey,  John  Clippinger,  S.  Myers,  A.  Hostetter  and  G.  D.  Shaefer. 

West  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Teaching  elders — J.  S.  Marple,  R.  L.  Bynies, 
S.  Woods,  B.  F.  Bolton  and  J.  AV.  Davis.  Ruling  elders — E.  Smith,  S.  P.  P.  Young, 
A.  Shontz,  G.  W.  Pritts,  D.  A.  Stevens  and  J.  B.  Henderson. 

Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership.  Teaching  elders — L.  H.  Selby,  S.  W.  Naill 
and  J.  A.  Saxton. 

West  Ohio  Eldership.  Teaching  elders — G.  W.  Wilson,  J.  M.  Cassel,  T. 
Koogle,  T.  Hickeraell  and  C.  N.  Belman.  Ruling  elders — D.  Hale,  H.  Shuler,  S^ 
Bolton,  S.  Kline  and  S.  Dickerhoof. 


'j'j%  History    of   the    Churches   of    God 

Indiana   Eldership.      Teaching  elders — W.  W.   Lovett,  J.  Bumpus  and  1.  W. 
Markley.      Ruling  elders — J.  Moweiy  and  H.  C.  Smith. 

Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership.      Teaching  elders — Geo.  Sandoe,  A. 
Miller  and  W.  Booth.      Ruling  elders — J.  Miller,  Sr.,  G.  Riipp  and  John  Snavely. 

Illinois  Eldership.      Teaching  elders — M.  S.  Newcomer,  S.  D.  C  Jackson  and 
AV.  B.  Allen.      Ruling  elders — M.  Anderson  and  J.  Stare. 

Michigan  Eldership.      Teaching  elders — A.  J.  Hull,  J.  B.  White  and  Sheldon 
Smith.      Ruling  elder — N.  Baim. 

Iowa  Eldership.      Teaching  elders — C.  L.  Wilson,  J.  H.  Besore  and  R.  H.  Bol- 
ton.     Ruling  elders — D.  Hoover  and  J.  H.  Bolton. 

Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership.      Teaching  elder — C.  S.  Bolton. 
Balloting  for  officers  resulted  in  the  election  of  M.  S.  Newcomer,  Speaker;  R. 
H.  Bolton,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  W^.  B.  Allen,  Transcribing  Clerk.      These  both 
refused  to  serve,  when  J.  H.  Besore  and  F.  L.  Nicodemus  were  elected.      The  Eld- 
ership  would  not  recognize  the  Treasurer  as  a   member  by  virtue  of  his  office, 
whereupon  I.  Sohrader,  Treasurer,  was  appointed  by  the  Standing  Committee  of 
the  Indiana  Eldership  a  lay  delegate.      The  "Sunday-School  Gem"  reported  a  net 
profit  of  $405.41  for  the  three  years.      The  Report  of  the  Book  Agent  showed  a 
net  balance  of  $3,812.63.      The  Editor  of  The  Advocate  made  a  financial  report 
of  unusual  length,  which  showed  that  the  net  income  of  the  paper  for  three  years 
was   $595.15,  the  first  surplus  reported.      The  Treasurer's  Report  gave  the  total 
collections   for  the   various   Funds   as   follows:      Missionary   Fund,   for   first  year, 
$1,184.22;    second   year,   $1,265.65;    third  year,   $856.78.      Contingent  Fund,   first 
year,  $95.61;  second  year,  $118.49.      Permanent  Missionary  Fund,  $450.00.     Per- 
manent Educational  Fund,  $200.00      The  publication  of  the  "Workman  Quarterly 
and  Lesson  Leaves,"  which  began  with  the  issue  of  January,  1879,  was  financially 
a  success,  and  the  Workman  Publishing  Company  offered  to  "turn  over  the  publica- 
tion with  its  subscription  lists  to  the  Eldership,  without  compensation,  and  entirely 
free  of  debt,"  which  was  accepted,  and  J.  Haifleigh  was  appointed  Business  Man- 
ager of  this  publication  and  of  the  "Sunday-School  Gern."     Editors  were  elected 
as  follows:      The  Advocate,  C.  H.  Forney;  Assistant,  M.  S.  Newcomer;   "Gem,"  G. 
Sigler;   "Workman,"  P.  Loucks;  Assistants,  W.  B.  Allen  and  W\  W.  Lovett.      The 
Editor  of  "The  Gem"  and  the  Assistant  Editor  of  The  Advocate  were  each  voted  a 
salary  of  $50.00  a  year.      The  former  was  also  voted  $50.00  per  year  for  each  of 
the  preceding  three  years.      A  number  of  serious  charges  being  preferred  against 
J.  F.  Weishampel  in  connection  with  the  publication  of  the  "Kundschafter,"  they 
were  referred  by  unanimous  vote  to  a  committee  "to  consider  his  course  in  all  its 
•details,  and  present  a  report  and  statement  of  facts  to  the  Eldership."      The  com- 
mittee reported  that  Weishampel  had  published  his  paper  in  violation  of  the  Rules 
of  Co-operation,  and  that  he  "made  one  of  his  papers  the  vehicle  of  fiagrant  abuse 
and  false  accusations."      It  also  condemned  the  German  Eldership  for  "failing  to 
•call  said  member    [Weishampel]   to  account,"  and  declared  it  to  be  "the  duty  of 
:said  Eldership  to  carry  the  actions  of  the  General  Eldership  into  effect,"  and  re- 
quired it  "to  exercise  the  necessary  discipline  over  the  member  of  said  Eldership 
who  is  still  violating  our  Rules  of  Co-operation,  and    who    has    been    and    still    is 
guilty  of  actions  deeply  repugnant  to  the  judgment  and  moral  sense  of  this  body." 
A  "permanent  General  Missionary  Secretary"  was  provided  for,  as  reported  by  a 
•committee  of  ten,  one  from  each  Eldership  represented.      The  school  project  came 
up  in  various  forms,  one  of  which  was  a  proposition  to  sell  to  the  General  Elder- 
■ship  the  High  School  at  Smithville,  Ohio.      These  various  propositions,   with  the 
whole  subject,  were  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Education,  consisting  of  C.  H. 
-Forney,  S.  D.  C.  Jackson  and  R.  L.  Byrnes.      Said  Committee  "recognizing  the  im- 
portance, and  that  immediately,  of  a  Church    school,"    recommended    "that    the 
Board  of  Education  be  instructed  to  make  arrangements  to  secure  at  once  a  suit- 
able place  for  said  school,  and  to  provide  whatever  means  may  be  required  for  the 
opening  and  working  of  the  same."      In  place  of  the  words,  "Board  of  Education," 
the  words,  "the  General  Eldership,"  were  inserted,  and  the  resolution  was  adopted, 
thus  laying  the  foundation  for  Findlay  College  on  Friday  evening,  May  30,  1881. 
Not  only  did  the  Eldership  by  resolution  express  its  gratification  in  having  Drs. 
Williams  and  Durgen  as  delegates  from  the  Free  Baptist  Church  present  during  its 
sittings;   but  it  elected  M.  S.  Newcomer  and  R.  H.    Bolton    delegates,    and    C.    H. 
Forney  and  W.  B.  Allen,  alternates,  to  the  next  meeting  of  the  Free  Baptist  Gen- 
eral Conference.      The  publication  of  a  Church  Hymnal  was  brought  up  in  the  Re- 
port of  the  Committee  on  Journals.      The  Committee  to  prepare  a  Hymnal  had 


The   General    Eldership  779 

decided  not  to  act  on  account  of  the  large  number  of  Church  Hymn-Books  on  hand, 
but  recommended  that  the  matter  be  referred  to  the  Board  of  Publication,  in  con- 
nection with  a  committee  to  be  elected.  This  was  agreed  to,  and  C.  H.  Forney, 
M.  S.  Newcomer  and  G.  Sigler  were  elected.  The  Board  of  Publication  consisted 
of  Isaac  Frazer,  J.  H.  Redsecker  and  D.  M.  Bare.  The  following  were  elected  a 
Board  of  Missions:  P.  Loucks,  R.  H.  Bolton,  W.  P.  Small,  G.  Sigler  and  M.  S.  New- 
comer. The  new  Executive  Board  consisted  of  T.  Koogle,  J.  H.  Besore,  W.  B. 
Allen,  C.  H.  Forney  and  George  Sandoe.  R.  L.  Byrnes,  J.  M.  Cassel,  D.  Blakely, 
J.  S.  Gable  and  J.  M.  Carvell  were  elected  on  the  Board  of  Education.  Said  Board 
was  "directed  to  secure  an  amendment  from  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  to  the 
Act  of  Incorporation  of  the  General  Eldership,  constituting  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion a  part  of  the  Board  of  Incorporation."  The  Eldership  in  the  State  of  Maine 
was  duly  recognized,  and  the  boundary  lines  of  the  State  were  made  its  boundaries. 
Permission  was  granted  the  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership  to  effect  a 
division  of  its  territory,  the  Illinois  part  to  consolidate  with  the  Illinois  Eldership; 
the  territory  in  Indiana  to  constitute  an  Eldership,  with  the  State  line  between 
Indiana  and  Illinois  as  its  western  boundary,  "all  other  lines  remaining  as  hereto- 
fore." The  brethren  in  Kansas  were  granted  the  privilege  of  organizing  an  Eld- 
ership within  the  boundaries  of  the  State.  Appropriate  action  was  taken  on  the 
death  of  Dr.  George  Ross,  of  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  He  was  characterized 
as  "one  of  the  most  efficient  members  of  this  body;  a  member  of  pure  Christian 
"Character,  of  rare  business  energy,  of  unimpeachable  integrity,  of  unwearied  in- 
dustry in  all  departments  of  Church  work,  of  amiable  and  affectionate  disposition 
■and  of  exemplary  fidelity  in  all  his  official  and  personal  relations."  As  one  of  the 
Assistant  Editors  of  the  "Workman,"  Alexander  Wiley  was  worthily  remembered 
iby  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  as  a  minister  of  "self-sacrificing  zeal  in  the  cause 
of  the  Redeemer,  whose  loss  to  us  is  his  eternal  gain." 

14th  General  Eldei*ship. — In  addition  to  the  regular  work  of  each  triennial 
session  of  the  General  Eldership,  the  one  to  meet  at  Wooster,  Ohio,  May  28,  1884, 
anticipated  the  discussion  of  sundry  questions  of  special  interest.  The  general 
mission  work  was  assuming  large  proportions;  the  great  work  of  building  the  Col- 
lege presented  an  entirely  new  subject  for  most  serious  attention  and  then  the 
impetus  given  to  the  movement  toward  some  form  of  active  co-operation  between 
Liberal  Baptists  made  it  impracticable  to  ignore  the  question.  But  the  fourteen 
Elderships  represented  had  chosen  delegations  composed  largely  of  their  ablest 
men.  The  Eldership  was  constituted  by  the  Journalizing  Clerk  of  the  session  of 
1881,  J.  H.  Besore,  and  the  enrollment  was  made  as  follows: 

East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — C.  H.  Forney,  G.  Sigler, 
C.  Price,  J.  B.  Lockwood,  A.  H.  Long,  J.  M.  Carvell,  D.  S.  Shoop  and  G.  AV.  Seil- 
hammer.  Lay  delegates — J.  H.  Redsecker,  D.  M.  Bare,  H.  J.  Forney,  S.  Knlsley, 
S.  L.  Hershey,  I.  F'razer,  D.  W.  Spencer  and  J.  H.  Abralxam. 

Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — W.  P.  Winbigler 
and  Wm.  Palmer.      Lay  delegates  . 

West  Virginia  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — W.  B.  Long  and  J.  C.  Cun- 
ningham.     Lay  delegates — N.  Vanaman  and  E.  Dowler. 

West  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — J.  W.  Davis,  R.  L. 
Byrnes,  W.  R.  Covert,  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw  and  J.  W.  Bloyd.  Lay  delegates — L.  F. 
Murray,  W.  B.  Elliott,  W.  H.  H.  McKlveen,  A.  Albert  and  J.  B.  Henderson. 

West  Ohio  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — W.  P.  Small,  T.  Koogle,  R.  H. 
Bolton,  J.  M.  Cassel,  G.  W.  Wilson  and  B.  F.  Bolton.  Lay  delegates— W.  H.  Oliver, 
H.  Shuler,  H.  Clay,  M.  Richey,  J.  AV.  Baker,  S.  H.  Addams  and  D.  Hale. 

Indiana  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — E.  Miller,  I.  AA".  Markley  and  \\. 
W.  Lovett.      Lay  delegates — I.  Schrader,  J.  Sinionton  and  J.  Moweiy. 

Southern  Indiana  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — E.  M.  Love  and  C.  T. 
McKee.      Lay  delegate — John  Miller,  Sr.  ' 

Michigan  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — C.  C.  Linsley,  AV.  Rice  and  J.  B. 
AVhite.     Lay  delegates — J.  M.  Ii-eland,  John  Partridge  and  I.  Strome. 

Illinois  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — M.  S.  Newcomer,  AV.  B.  Allen, 
•George  Sandoe  and  AV.  B.  Lewellen.  Lay  delegates — J.  Stare,  D.  Palmer,  M. 
Anderson  and  H.  Ishler. 

Iowa  Eldei-ship.  Ministerial  delegates — L.  F.  Chamberlin,  C.  L.  Wilson,  J.  H. 
Besore  and  J.  C.  Kepford.  Lay  delegates — John  Hutf,  H,  Mun'ay  and  B,  F,  Wood- 
cock. 


780  History    of    the  Churches    of    God 

Nebraska   Eldership.      Ministerial   delegates — E.  D.  Aller  and  W.  L.  Harris, 
Lay  delegates — James  O.  Laiighlin  and  Michael  Hoffer. 

Kansas  Eldership.      Ministerial  delegates. — E.  L.  Latchavv,  C.  B.  Konkel  and 
W.  H.  Cross.      Lay  delegate — Joshua  Good. 

Missouri  Eldership.      Ministerial  delegates — D.  Rlakely  and  C.  S.  Bolton.     Lay 
delegates — E.  Blackstone  and  E.  Wilson. 

Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership.      Ministerial    delegates — G.    T.    Bell,    J.    W. 
Riddle  and  B.  Ober.      Lay  delegates — D.  B.  Hale  and  J,  Beachem. 

Maine  Eldership — No  delegates. 

German  Eldership — No  delegates. 

The  question  of  the  eligibility  of  W.  Rice  was  raised,  as  he  had  not  been  a 
member  five  years.  He  was  seated  on  the  proviso  in  the  Constitution  that  such 
election  is  admissable  in  "cases  where  it  is  unavoidable."  Before  an  organization 
was  effected  C.  H.  Forney  submitted  a  proposition,  that  "no  one  shall  be  declared 
elected  unless  he  had  received  a  majority  of  the  votes  cast."  The  proposition  was 
later  submitted  as  an  amendment  to  Article  IV.  of  the  Constitution,  and  a  similar 
one  as  an  amendment  to  Art.  XI.  with  reference  to  "election  of  editors  of  the 
various  publications."  The  following  officers  were  elected:  Speaker,  George 
Sigler;  Journalizing  Clerk,  AV.  B.  Allen;  Transcribing  Clerk,  D.  W.  Spencer.  O.  B. 
Cheney,  President  of  Bates  College,  Me.;  O.  K.  Bacheler,  missionary  to  India, 
both  of  the  Free  Baptist  Church,  were  seated  as  advisory  members.  G.  W.  Ball, 
delegate  from  the  Free  Baptist  General  Conference,  was  accorded  the  same  privi- 
lege. Dr.  Cheney  in  his  address  before  the  Eldership,  stated  that  Prof.  Dudley,  of 
the  Free  Baptist  College,  Hillsdale,  Mich.,  was  also  appointed  a  delegate,  but  he 
failed  to  arrive.  While  the  West  Virginia  Eldership  had  been  organized  and  its 
delegates  enrolled,  it  had  as  yet  no  charter  from  the  General  Eldership.  As  soon 
as  the  committees  were  appointed  a  petition  was  presented  "asking  the  privilege 
of  organizing  a  new  Eldership  in  West  Virginia."  The  matter  was  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  Boundaries,  which  reported  favorably.  The  name  of  the  new  body 
was  fixed  as  that  of  the  "West  Virginia  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God,"  and  its 
territory  "Greene  county.  Pa.;  Belmont,  Jefferson  and  Monroe  counties,  .Ohio,  and 
all  of  West  Virginia  except  that  part  occupied  by  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Elder- 
ship." Allen  and  Newcomer  had  attended  the  Free  Baptist  General  Conference, 
as  delegates,  in  1883,  and  gave  an  interesting  report  of  their  visit.  This  was  fol- 
lowed by  addresses  by  Dr.  Cheney  and  Dr.  Bacheler,  to  which  the  Speaker  made  a 
suitable  response.  The  writing  of  the  Life  of  Winebrenner,  which  fifteen  years 
before  had  been  arranged  for,  had  not  yet  been  undertaken,  and  it  was  left  in  the 
hands  of  the  family  of  Elder  Winebrenner,  which  expressed  a  "willingness  to  un- 
dertake its  preparation."  The  Committee  on  Church  Hymnal  reported  its  work 
completed,  and  that  the  Hymnal  was  ready  for  sale  in  the  Winter  of  1881-2.  The 
Board  of  Education  reported  its  work  in  locating  Findlay  College,  and,  in  con- 
nection with  the  Executive  Board,  the  creation  of  the  Findlay  College  Corporatioa 
and  the  election  of  the  first  Board  of  Trustees.  The  work  extended  over  a  period 
of  five  months,  from  July  6,  1881,  to  February  25,  1882.  The  report  was  strongly- 
approved,  and  a  new  Board  elected  consisting  of  C.  H.  Forney,  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw, 
W.  B.  Allen,  R.  L.  Byrnes  and  J.  31.  CaiTell.  The  report  of  the  Editor  of  The 
Advocate  showed  a  net  balance  of  $1,634.55.  C.  H.  Forney  was  re-elected  Editor. 
The  Committee  on  Resolutions  submitted  a  resolution,  that  an  Assistant  Editor  be 
elected  who  should  also  be  editor  of  the  "Sunday-School  Gem,"  and  all  Sunday- 
school  periodicals,  which  prevailed.  Being  reconsidered  at  a  later  sitting,  when 
C.  H.  Foraey  submitted  a  new  proposition,  viz.:  that  said  action  "shall  not  go  into 
effect  until  such  time  as  the  Board  of  Incorporation  is  ready  to  start  a  Book  Store 
and  Printing  Establishment,"  and  that  until  then  the  present  arrangement  shall  be 
continued,  and  the  election  of  an  Assistant  Editor  under  the  proposed  consolida- 
tion to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Board  of  Incorporation.  This  was  adopted, 
and  M.  S.' Newcomer  was  elected  Assistant  Editor;  George  Sigler,  Editor  of  the 
Gem,  and  J.  H.  Redsecker,  Editor  of  the  Workman.  One  of  the  suggestions  of 
the  Editor  of  The  Advocate  was  to  authorize  the  necessary  steps  to  be  taken  to 
start  our  own  printing  establishment.  The  whole  question  was  referred  to  th^ 
Board  of  Incorporation,  which  was  instructed  to  "establish  a  Book  Concern  as 
soon  as  practicable."  The  Executive  Board  consisted  of  George  Sandoe,  J.  H.  Be- 
soi*e,  C.  Price,  W.  W.  Lovett  and  S.  L.  Hershey.  The  new  Board  of  Missions  was 
R.  H.  Bolton,  M.  S.  Newcomer,  W^.  P.  Small,  George  Sigler  and  I.  W.  Markley. 
1.  Schrader  was  re-elected  Treasurer.  The  new  Board  of  Publication  consisted  of 
1.  Frazer,  J.  H.  Redsecker  and  D.  M.  Bare.      The  suggestion  made  by  the  Board 


The   General    Eldership  781 

of  Pnblication  to  publish  "a  small  monthly  illustrated  paper,"  and  also  "Wine- 
brenner's  View  of  the  Church  of  God,"  was  approved,  and  the  revision  of  the 
latter  placed  in  the  hands  of  C.  H.  Forney,  G.  Sigler,  R.  L.  Bynies  and  AV.  B. 
Alien.  R.  H.  Bolton  and  C.  H.  Forney  were  chosen  as  delegates  to  the  Free  Bap- 
tist General  Conference.  Dr.  Ball  in  his  address  before  the  Eldership  "rejoiced  at 
the  unanimity  of  feeling  between  the  two  bodies  represented,  and  hoped  for  more 
of  the  same  spirit."  Actuated  by  the  same  feeling,  the  committee  to  which  were 
"referred  the  greetings  and  other  considerations  by  the  Free  Baptist  delegates  to 
this  body,"  recommended  "that  this  body  co-operate  with  the  Free  Baptist  Board 
of  Foreign  Missions,"  and  that  "some  person  be  appointed  who  sh^all  act  as  secre- 
tary and  treasurer,  and  shall  collect  funds,  conduct  correspondence,"  etc.,  with 
a  view  of  "sending  at  as  early  a  date  as  possible  a  missionary  into  the  foreign 
field."  This  was  adopted,  and  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw  was  appointed  Secretary  and 
Treasurer.  The  Eldership,  with  a  few  immaterial  alterations,  also  adopted  all  the 
items  "of  the  principles  declared  by  the  Convention  of  Liberal  Baptists  held  in 
Minneapolis."  But  it  failed  to  incorporate  them  in  its  Minutes.  The  Eldership 
recorded  its  "cordial  approval  of  the  work  written  by  Dr.  Forney  on  the  Christian 
Ordinances,"  and  also  requested  the  Board  of  Publication  to  issue  a  new  edition 
of  Bolton  on  the  Church  of  God.  The  Eldership  placed  itself  clearly  on  record 
"in  favor  of  constitutional  amendments  in  all  our  State  Constitutions  prohibiting 
the  legalized  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks."  In  the  resolutions  on  the  death  of 
three  former  ministerial  delegates,  the  Eldership  pronounced  P.  Loucks  "one  of 
the  ablest  counsellors,  and  purest  and  most  unselfish  members;"  A.  Swaitz  as  a  man 
among  us  who  had  "no  superior  as  a  clear,  logical  reasoner,  and  no  peer  as  a 
disputant  noted  for  forcible  statements,"  and  D.  A.  L.  Laverty  as  a  "life-long, 
tried  and  efficient  man,  always  ready  by  wojd  and  act  to  co-operate  with  the 
brethren." 

15th  General  Eldership. — The  triennial  meeting  of  the  General  Eldership 
is  always  an  event  of  more  than  ordinary  interest.  It  occupies  the  attention  of 
the  ministry  and  churches  for  from  six  to  eight  months  before  it  convenes.  Inter- 
ests are  under  its  control  which  concern  the  brotherhood  generally,  and  these  be- 
come subjects  of  discussion,  and  sometimes  of  official  action,  during  the  Summer 
and  Fall  of  the  preceding  year.  The  election  of  delegates  by  the  different  Elder- 
ships is  a  matter  calculated  to  awaken  interest.  There  are  ambitions,  if  not 
rivalries,  to  be  taken  note  of.  Questions  of  general  concern  are  matured,  changes 
In  methods  and  plans  are  proposed,  and  often  delegations  are  instructed  on  ques- 
tions of  special  interest  to  their  respective  Elderships.  In  this  way,  too,  publicity 
is  given  to  these  questions,  and  they  receive  consideration  by  other  delegations. 
There  have  been  instances  when  some  of  these  questions  have  been  discussed,  or 
specially  cited  to  the  attention  of  delegates-elect.  This  was  the  case  in  March, 
1887,  when  D.  M.  Bare,  an  East  Pennsylvania  lay  delegate,  addressed  an  open 
letter  "To  the  Delegates  of  the  General  Eldership,"  in  which  he  called  their  at- 
tention to  resolutions  which  had  been  introduced  at  the  meeting  of  the  Incorporate 
Board  in  June,  1886,  and  were  referred  to  the  General  Eldership.  They  pro- 
posed a  radical,  but  a  more  economical  and  efficient,  change  in  the  system  of  col- 
lecting funds  for  various  purposes.  The  body  convened  at  West  Newton,  West- 
moreland county,  Pa.,  May  24,  1887.  In  the  evening  by  reason  of  the  declina- 
tion of  C.  H,  Foi-ney  to  preach  the  Opening  Sermon,  and  his  alternate,  it  fell  to 
the  lot  of  George  Sandoe,  of  Illinois,  President  of  the  Executive  Board,  to  officiate, 
using  for  his  text  II.  Tim.  ii.  2.  The  session  was  a  short  one,  as  final  adjourn- 
ment took  place  on  Monday  evening,  about  10  o'clock,  May  30th,  having  in  that 
time  held  thirteen  sittings  of  about  three  hours  each.  The  Journal,  which  with 
two  exceptions  had  been  published  in  The  Advocate,  was  printed  in  a  supplement 
of  five  full  pages.  The  following  is  the  enrollment  as  the  Eldership  was  consti- 
tuted by  R.  H.  Bolton  and  I.  W.  Markley: 

East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Ministerial  Delegates — C.  H.  Forney,  D.  D., 
J.  M.  Carrell,  A.  H.  Long,  G.  Sigler,  B.  F.  Beck,  J.  B.  Lookwood,  D.  S.  Shoop, 
J.  W.  Deshong.  Lay — S.  Knisley,  J.  H.  Redsecker,  Samuel  Myers,  S.  L.  Hershey, 
D.  M.  Bai-e,  J.  C.  Forney,  J.  H.  Abraham,  J.  H.  Esterline. 

West  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — R.  L.  Byrnes,  W.  H. 
H.  McElveen,  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw,  J.  W.  Da^is.  Lay — S.  Hovis,  J.  Creager,  S.  Mc- 
Donald, P.  S.  Obley,  S.  P.  P.  Young,  L.  F.  Murray. 

Illinois   Eldership.      Ministerial  delegates — M.   S.   Newcomer,   George  Sandoe, 


782  History    of   the    Churches    of    God 

W.  I.  Berkstresser  ,  AV.  B.  Long,  W.  B.  Allen.  Lay — J.  Stare,  Jehu  Bailey,  D.  Pal- 
mer, L.  F.  Alexander. 

West  Virginia  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — N.  M.  Anderson,  W.  G. 
Steele.      Lay — E.  Dowler,  D.  Mackey. 

Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — G.  W.  Seilhammer, 
W.  Palmer.      Lay — J.  H.  Chew,  Daniel  Sigler. 

Southern  Indiana  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegate — I.  J.  Whisenand.  Lay — 
John  Miller. 

Ohio  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates— J.  M.  Cassel,  T.  Metzler,  W.  P. 
Burchard,  R.  H.  Bolton,  T.  Koogle,  C.  Winbigler.  Lay — D.  Hale,  M.  Richey,  E. 
T.  Vaas,  G.  H.  Ritchie,  B.  F.  Bolton. 

Indiana  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — I.  VV.  Markley,  J.  Bunipus,  Geo.  E. 
Komp.     Lay — I.  Schrader,  H.  C.  Smith,  LeAvis  Hai-tman,  J.  Mowei-y. 

Kansas  Eldership.      Ministerial  delegate — C.  S.  Bolton.      Lay — None. 

Iowa  Eldership.      Ministerial  delegate — J.  H.  Besore.     Lay — J.  Huff,  H.  Funk. 

German  Eldership.      Not  represented. 

Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership.      Not  represented. 

Maine  Eldership.      Not  represented. 

Missouri  Eldership.      Not  represented. 

The  Kansas  Eldership  had  also  elected  R.  T.  Sargent,  ministerial,  and  J.  N. 
Smith  and  N.  Hill,  lay  delegates.  The  German  Eldership  had  elected  a  lay  dele- 
gate— Chas.  E.  Quail.  Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership  had  chosen  two  ministerial 
delegates — B.  Ober  and  G.  T.  Bell,  but  no  delegate.  Maine  Eldership  had  made 
no  election.  The  Missouri  Eldership  had  elected  D.  Blakely,  ministerial,  and  Eli 
Blackstine,  lay  delegates.  The  Michigan  Eldership  is  not  on  the  list,  as  no  dele- 
gate was  present,  although  J.  B.  WTiite,  Wm.  Rice,  J.  M.  Ireland  and  J.  Partridge 
were  elected  delegates.  Illinois  Eldership  being  one  short  on  its  lay  delegation, 
Mary  Berkstresser,  a  licensed  minister,  was  substituted,  making  the  first  woman 
delegate  to  sit  in  the  General  Eldership. 

When  ballots  were  taken  for  oflacers,  T.  Koogle  was  elected  Speaker;  I.  \\\ 
Markley,  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  B.  F.  Beck,  Transcribing  Clerk.  After  the  Report 
of  the  Treasurer  was  audited,  I.  Schrader  was  elected  to  that  office.  An  effort  was 
made  to  introduce  the  "unit  rule,"  requiring  delegations  to  vote  as  one  on  all  ques- 
tions on  which  they  may  claim  the  right  so  to  do."  The  Eldership  did  not  take 
kindly  to  such  an  innovation.  The  resolutions  to  which  Bare  had  called  the  attention 
of  delegates  in  March  were  brought  up  by  a  Special  Committee  previously  ap- 
pointed, which  recommended  that  "each  year  in  June,  beginning  with  this  Elder- 
ship, the  Board  of  Missions  make  an  estimate  of  the  amount  of  funds  required  to 
carry  on  the  work  during  the  succeeding  year,  and  apportion  the  same  among  the 
several  Elderships."  These  amounts  the  Elderships  would  collect  in  their  own 
way.  This  became  the  fixed  plan  of  securing  funds  for  general  missionary  pur- 
poses. The  Treasurer's  Report  showed  receipts  for  missions  for  the  year  ending 
May,  1885,  $1,632.96;  the  year  ending  May,  1886,  $1,831.77,  and  the  year  ending 
June,  1887,  $1,504.40.  Parts  of  these  amounts  were  interest  on  Permanent  Mis- 
sionary Fund,  which  in  June,  1887,  aggregated  $7,677.80.  The  total  amount  of 
bequests  during  the  trienniuni  was  $1,835.00.  The  success  of  mission  work  in  the 
Indian  Territory  was  "most  gratifying,"  as  "359  members  of  the  Church  of  God 
were  enrolled,  and  seven  young  preacchers  were  raised  up  to  preach  the  gospel  in. 
the  Indian  Nation."  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw,  Secretary  and  Treasurer  of  the  Foreign 
Mission  Fund  reported  "total  cash  receipts  in  treasury  of  $515.75."  The  Report 
of  the  Board  of  Publication  stated  that  "The  Sunbeam"  was  started  in  January, 
1885,  of  which  Sadie  R.  Hemperly  was  editor  until  the  Fall  of  18  86,  when  Lydia 

A.  Foraey  was  elected.  AVinebrenner's  "Brief  View  of  the  Church  of  God"  was 
republished,  after  undergoing  extensive  revision  by  C.  H.  Forney,  R.  L.  Byrnes,  AV. 

B.  Allen  and  George  Sigler,  with  a  Preface  by  Forney.  The  net  profits  of  "The 
Sunday-School  Gem"  for  the  three  years  were  $482.92;  of  the  "Workman  and 
Lesson  Leaves,"  $536.83;  on  "The  Sunbeam"  there  was  a  loss  of  $10.97.  The 
Advocate  from  a  balance  in  1884  of  $1,634.55,  on  May  23,  1887,  showed  a  net 
balance  of  $3,094.78.  The  change  of  form  of  the  paper  was  agreed  upon.  The 
new  Board  of  Publication  consisted  of  D.  M.  Bare,  J.  H.  Redsecker  and  J.  C. 
Forney.  The  following  .were  elected  as  the  Executive  Board :  George  Sandoe,  J. 
H.  Besore,  S.  L.  Hei-shey,  T.  Koogle,  J.  H.  Chew.  Ballot  for  a  Board  of  Educa- 
tion resulted  in  the  election  of  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw,  C.  H.  Forney,  W.  B.  Allen,  J.  M. 
Cai-vell,  W.    I.    Berkstresser.       This    Board    approved    the    work    at    Barkeyville 


The   General    Eldership  783 

Academy,  and  favored  its  "earnest  prosecution,"  to  be  "tributary  and  auxiliary  to. 
the  College  at  Findlay,  Ohio."  The  new  Board  of  Missions  was  composed  of  M.  S^ 
Newcomei',  R.  H.  Bolton,  George  Sigler,  I.  W.  Markley,  R.  L.  Byrnes.  "C.  H,^ 
Forney  offered  a  series  of  amendments  to  the  Constitution,"  which  were  approved 
by  a  committee,  and  adopted  by  the  Eldership.  The  election  of  J.  R.  H,  Latchaw 
as  President  of  Findlay  College  was  ratified.  The  Committee  on  Education,. 
Forney,  Latchaw,  Schrader,  Alexander,  Newcomer,  Winbigler,  reported  two  items 
of  special  interest:  The  endowment  of  "The  Sabbath-school  Professorship  of  Sys- 
tematic Theology"  "by  the  contributions  of  Children's  College  Day,"  and  fixing 
"the  first  Tuesday  in  next  September  as  the  time  for  dedicating  Findlay  College. "^ 
The  first  triennial  report  of  "the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Publishing  House  and 
Book  Rooms"  was  made  by  the  Treasurer,  C.  H.  Forney,  showing  a  net  cash  bal- 
ance of  $289.04.  He  recommended  "that  the  Board  be  authorized  to  secure  real 
estate  for  a  Publishing  House,"  which  was  approved.  In  addition  to  the  Board  of 
Publication,  the  following  were  elected  to  constitute  the  Board  of  Directors:  J.  M. 
CaiTell,  George  Sigler,  C.  H.  Forney,  Samuel  Knisley.  Editors  elected  were: 
Church  Advocate,  C.  H.  Foi-ney,  D.  D.;  "The  S.  S.  Gem,"  Geo.  Sigler;  "Workman," 
J.  M.  Canfell;  "Sunbam,"  Lydia  A.  Forney.  The  Southern  Indiana  Eldership  was, 
"granted  the  privilege  to  unite  with  the  Indiana  Eldership."  A  strong  protest 
was  adopted  "against  the  publication  of  Sunday  papers."  Huff,  Lockwood,  B.  F. 
Bolton,  McKlveen  and  Ritchie,  Committee  on  Temperance,  secured  the  adoption 
of  a  resolution  declaring,  "That  all  kinds  of  license,  or  tax,  favoring  the  liquor 
traffic,  whether  high  or  low,  are  wrong  in  principle,  and  demand  the  opposition  of 
the  Church  and  good  men  and  women  everywhere."  The  plan  to  co-operate  with 
the  Free  Baptist  Church  in  Foreign  Mission  work,  adopted  in  1884,  was  reversed, 
and  it  was  agreed  as  "the  sense  of  this  body  that  when  we  enter  upon  Foreign 
Mission  work,  that  we  do  so  upon  territory  our  own,  and  relying  upon  our  own  re- 
sources." Of  two  former  members  of  the  General  Eldership  it  had  to  be  recorded, 
that  they  were  claimed  by  Death,  for  "Death,  cold  usurer,  had  seized  his  bonded 
debtors,"  in  the  persons  of  Daniel  Wertz  and  Thomas  Hickemell,  concerning  whom 
Chairman  Sandoe,  of  the  Committee  on  Obituaries,  reported  eulogistic  resolutions. 

16th  General  Eldership. — For  the  first  time  in  its  history  of  forty-five  years,, 
the  General  Eldership  crossed  the  Mississippi  River,  and  held  its  sixteenth  session 
in  1890  in  the  "Hawkeye  State."  Sixteen  Elderships  represented  in  this  supreme 
body  were  entitled  under  the  constitutional  Rule  to  one  hundred  and  two  dele- 
gates; but  as  late  as  May  21st,  the  names  of  only  eighty-seven  delegates  had  been 
reported.  These  consisted  in  large  "part  of  the  most  experienced  and  best  quali- 
fied and  trained  ministers  and  laymen  of  their  Elderships."  The  Executive  Board 
had  failed  to  appoint  a  minister  to  preach  the  Opening  Sermon;  the  pastor  of 
the  church  was  absent,  and  so  when  the  delegates  assembled  near  the  village  of 
North  Liberty,  Johnson  county,  Iowa,  on  th  evening  of  June  4th  John  Huff,  Iowa, 
lay  manager  of  pre-Eldership  interests,  "was  appointed  conductor  of  the  evening 
meeting,"  held  in  "the  meeting-house"  of  North  Bend  Church.  A.  H.  Long  led 
in  the  devotional  services;  Jacob  Lininger  "delivered  a  befitting  and  warm  wel- 
come in  behalf  of  the  Iowa  Eldership,"  after  which  the  "Conductor  introduced  re- 
spectively the  following  brethren,  who  delivered  responses:  T.  Koogle,  Dr.  C.  H. 
Forney,  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw,  A.  M.,  W.  B.  Allen,  AY.  R.  Covert,  W.  VV.  Lovett,  Geo. 
Seilhammer,  Geo.  Sigler,  C.  S.  Bolton,  J.  H.  Redsecker  and  D.  B.  Zook."  On 
Thursday  morning,  June  5th,  the  Eldership  convened  for  business,  and  was  "con- 
stituted by  B.  F.  Beck  and  I.  W.  Markley,  when  the  following  delegates  were  found 
to  be  members: 

East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — C.  H.  Forney,  D.  D.,, 
J.  M.  Cai-vell,  Ph.  D,,  Geo.  Sigler,  J.  W.  Deshong,  D.  S.  Shoop,  Geo.  W.  Getz,  B.  F. 
Beck,  A.  M.,  and  J.  H.  Esterline.  Lay — D.  M.  Bai-e,  J.  H.  Redsecker,  H.  S.  Burket,. 
S.  Knisley,  S.  Myers,  J.  T.  Fleegal,  A.  H.  Long,  F.  L.  Nicodemus. 

Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership.  Ministerial  deegates — G.  W.  Seilhammer- 
and  J.  A.  Saxton.      Lay^ — L.  H.  Selby. 

West  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — W.  R.  Covert,  W.  H., 
H.  McKlveen,  W.  B.  EUiot  and  T.  Woods.  Lay — J.  Kreeger,  D.  S.  Fox,  J.  B.  Hen- 
dei-son  and  J.  B,  Love. 

West  Virginia  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — N.  M.  Anderson  and  S.  B.. 
Craft.      Lay  delegates — N.  Vanaman  and  J.  Giinini. 

Ohio  Eldership.      Ministerial  delegates — T.  Koogle,  R.  H.  Bolton,  E.  Poling,, 


784  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

J.  R.  H.  Lat«haw,  A.  M.,  and  J.  M.  Cassel.  Lay — H.  Clay,  N.  AVhisler,  G.  W. 
Ferguson  and  C.  D.  Dunathan. 

Indiana  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — J.  Buinpus,  AV.  W.  Lovett,  I.  W. 
Markley.      Lay — I.  Schrader,  H.  C.  Smith,  L.  Hartman. 

Southern  Indiana  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — H.  H.  Spiher,  J.  S. 
Walls,  J.  AMnson.      Lay — J.  B.  Seneff,  Mai-y  Schelly. 

Michigan  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — Joseph  E.  Moffit,  J.  B.  White. 
Lay — None. 

Illinois  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — D.  H.  Riipp,  W.  B.  Allen,  C.  Man- 
chester, W.  I.  Berkstresser,  I.  S.  Richmond.  Lay — D.  Palmer,  J.  Stare,  H.  Ishler, 
John  Bernard,  Mary  Berkstresser. 

Iowa  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — J.  C.  Kepford,  M.  S.  Newcomer, 
J.  S.  Miller,  J.  Lininger.      Lay — J.  Huflf,  D.  Galagher,  W.  S.  Ayers,  J.  H.  Besore. 

Missouri  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — J.  M.  Klein,  W.  H.  Hickman. 
Lay — D.  Blakely,  J.  N.  Smith. 

Nebraska  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — C.  S.  Kilmer,  D.  B.  Zook. 
Lay^ — E.  D.  Aller,  J.  S.  Bi-eidenstine. 

Kansas  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — C,  S.  Bolton,  J.  C.  Fomcrook,  P. 
K.  Shoemoker.      Lay— Wm.  Miller,  W.  H.  Cross,  W.  T.  Turpin. 

Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership.  Ministerial  delegates — B.  Ober,  J.  W.  Rid- 
dle, D.  S.  Summit.      Lay — None. 

Maine  Eldership.      Not  represented. 

German  Eldership.      Ministerial  delegate — None.      Lay — Chas.  E.  Quail. 

Of  the  ninety  enrolled,  however,  seven  were  absent,  reducing  the  total  to 
eighty-three,  of  which  number  forty-eight  were  ministers  and  thirty-five  laymen. 
The  vote  for  President  resulted  in  the  choice  of  W.  W.  Lovett;  Journalizing  Clerk, 
W.  I.  Berkstresser;  Transcribing  Clerk,  F.  L.  Nicodemus.  John  Huff  was  at  a 
later  sitting  unanimously  elected  Treasurer.  The  Board  of  Misisons  was  called 
on  the  first  afternoon  for  its  Report.  It  showed  conversions  for  the  first  year, 
386;  baptized,  227;  fellowshiped,  3'54;  new  churches  formed,  12.  Missouri  f-r 
the  three  years  reported  "progress  slow  numerically,"  with  a  total  membership  of 
618;  organizations,  21;  ministers,  20.  The  summarized  account  for  all  the  fields 
for  three  years  was:  Conversions,  583;  new  churches,  27;  accessions,  656;  bap- 
tized, 425.  The  total  in  the  Foreign  Mission  Fund  reported  by  Latchaw  wis 
$1,135.96.  The  names  of  the  new  Board  of  Missions  were  M.  S.  Newcomer,  R.  H. 
Bolton,  George  Sigler,  AV.  B.  Allen,  J.  C.  Fomcrook.  Executive  Board  elected  was 
J.  H.  Besore,  T.  Koogle,  AV.  AV.  Lovett,  W.  R.  Covert,  B.  F.  Beck.  Board  of  Edu- 
cation— C.  H.  Foraey,  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw,  AV.  I.  Berkstresser,  D.  S.  Shoop,  J.  M. 
Cassel.  Board  of  Directors,  in  addition  to  the  Board  of  Publication — S.  Knisley, 
B.  F.  Beck,  Geo.  Sigler,  G.  AV.  Seilhammer.  Board  of  Publication — D.  M.  Bare, 
J.  H.  Redsecker,  J.  M.  Carvell.  A  Committee  on  Credentials,  on  motion  of  For- 
ney, was  for  the  first  time  created.  Also  a  regular  Committee  on  Business,  whose 
Report  named  twenty-six  items.  The  Treasurer's  Report  showed  receipts  to  have 
been:  For  year  ending  1888,  $1,403.72;  year  ending  1889,  $1,946.08;  year  end- 
ing 1890,  $2,573.88.  The  periodicals  reported  as  follows:  "Gem,"  net  gain, 
$128.69;  "Workman,"  loss  for  three  years,  $305.55;  "Sunbeam,"  loss  for  three 
years,  $39.97.  The  Advocate  reported  a  net  balance  of  $3,828.55.  Editors 
elected  were:  The  Advocate,  C.  H.  Forney,  D.  D.;  "Gem,"  George  Sigler;  "Sun- 
beam," Lydia  A.  Forney;  "Worltman,"  a  corps  of  five  editors,  with  J.  H.  Redsecker, 
Managing  Editor.  A  "communication  was  received  from  the  sisters,"  assigning 
reasons  for,  and  asking  for  the  privilege  of,  organizing  "a  Woman's  General  Mis- 
sionary Society."  It  was  signed  by  Sisters  Covert  and  Grimm,  West  Pennsylvania; 
Shaffer  and  Bolton,  Ohio  Eldership;  Schelly  and  Lovett,  Indiana  Eldership;  Hodge 
and  Ritchie,  Illinois  Eldership;  Jeffries  and  Besore,  Iowa  Eldership;  Aller  and 
Breidenstine,  Nebraska  Eldership,  and  Blakely  and  Fckart,  Missouri  Eldership. 
Also  as  "representative"  of  Findlay  College,  Mrs.  Latchaw,  and  of  the  General 
Eldership,  Mary  Berkstresser.  This  memorial  was  favorably  acted  upon,  amended 
as  follows:  "This  Society  shall  co-operate  with  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the 
General  Eldership  in  its  plans  of  work  and  the  appointment  of  missionaries,  en- 
deavoring to  work  harmoniously  with  it  in  the  advancement  of  a  common  interest, 
and  shall  submit  to  it,  for  its  approval,  a  complete  annual  report  of  the  work  of 
said  Society."  State  and  local  societies  under  it  were  to  be  organized,  and  a  com- 
mittee of  seventeen  was  named  "to  draft  a  Constitution  to  govern  said  Society." 


The   General    Eldership  785 

"Death,  with  terrible  tread,  has  entered  our  ranks,"  reported  the  Committee  on 
Obituaries,  "and  left  us  but  the  grave  and  the  glorious  example  of  Elder  George 
Sandoe.  He  was  an  able  minister  of  the  New  Testament;  clear,  sound,  logical  and 
convincing.  He  combined  the  elements  of  a  true  and  noble  manhood  with  a  con- 
scientious integrity  that  was  never  sullied  by  a  breath  of  suspicion."  Charles 
Manchester  was  authorized  to  publish  a  missionary  paper  on  certain  conditions. 
The  soliciting  of  funds  through  The  Advocate  was  forbidden,  "unless  authorized  by 
the  Eldership  of  which  the  individual  is  a  member."  The  College  was  heartily 
commended.  The  supreme  importance  of  unity  and  uniformity  was  forcibly  set 
forth.  The  prevalent  order  in  observing  the  ordinances  was  set  forth  as  that 
which  the  body  approved.  It  also  deprecated  any  tendency  to  introduce  any  change 
in  regard  to  posture  in  prayer,  and  insisted  that  the  custom  of  "kneeling  as  the 
true  posture  in  prayer"  be  maintained.  Transfers  are  declared  as  not  severing  the 
relation  of  a  minister  to  his  Eldership  until  deposited  and  received  by  another 
Eldership.  The  request  made  by  East  Pennsylvania  churches  in  Schuylkill  county 
to  have  the  Charter  of  the  German  Eldership  revoked  was  deferred  until  the  next 
General  Eldership,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  not  presented  in  regular  form.  Total 
abstinence  and  prohibition  were  strongly  endorsed.  The  appointment  of  a  min- 
ister to  Ft.  Scott,  and  General  Missionaries  to  Nebraska,  Missouri,  Indian  Terri- 
tory, Arkansas,  California  and  Oregon,  as  made  by  the  Board  of  Missions,  were  ap- 
proved. 

17th  General  Eldership. — The  session  of  the  General  Eldership  in  1893  was 
anticipated  with  unconcealed  anxiety.  On  May  31st  it  was  characterized  edi- 
torially as  one  "of  unusual  interest."  It  was  forecasted  that  "Grave  constitutional 
questions  will  demand  discussion.  Great  public  interests  are  in  jeopardy.  New 
lines  of  Church  activity  are  to  be  marked  out.  The  polity  of  the  Church  must  be 
defended  and  maintained  in  the  face  of  possible  defections;  or  else  important,  if 
not  vital,  principles  in  our  system  of  co-operation,  already  set  at  naught  by  a  few, 
will  have  to  be  abandoned  by  the  body.  And  some  of  these  questions  are  essen- 
tially of  such  a  nature  that  calm  and  unimpassioned  discussion  will  be  next  to 
impossible.  Perhaps  the  most  perplexing  of  all  the  questions  to  be  discussed  and 
acted  on  are  those  which  relate  to  Findlay  College."  In  retrospect,  on  July  19th 
the  Editor  said:  "The  General  Eldership  of  1893  was  a  thunder  storm!  It  was 
also  a  love-feast."  Being  held  in  the  College  Chapel,  Findlay,  Ohio,  on  account 
of  the  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  and  College  Commencement,  the  Eldership 
did  not  convene  on  the  usual  date  in  May,  but  on  Friday  morning,  June  23rd.  The 
Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  on  the  previous  evening  by  G.  W.  Seilhammer,  who 
took  for  his  text  John  viii.  1,  2.  The  Roll  of  delegates  was  read  by  W.  I.  Berk- 
stresser,  the  Journalizing  Clerk  of  1890,  corrected  and  amended,  as  follows: 

East  Pennsylvania — Revs.  C.  H.  Forney,  D.  D.,  Geo.  Slgler,  D.  D.,  D.  S.  Shoop, 
C.  I.  Brown,  B.  S.,  B.  P.  Betk,  A.  M„  Ira  MacDannald,  C.  Price  and  M.  M,  Foose. 
Lay  delegates — D.  M.  Bare,  AV.  D.  Diller,  S.  L.  Hei-shey,  Rev,  C.  C,  Bartels,  S.  Knis- 
ley,  S.  Myers,  H.  J.  Forney,  P.  L.  Rickabaugh. 

West  Pennsylvania — Revs.  R.  L.  Byrnes,  W.  H.  McKlveen,  S.  G.  Yahn,  Chas. 
Manchester,  A.  M.,  B.  D.,  J.  W.  Davis,  J.  Hickemell.  Laymen — J.  B.  Henderson, 
Jacob  Kreger. 

Maryland  and  Virginia — Revs.  G.  W.  Seilhammer,  J.  A.  Saxton. 

West  Virginia — Revs.  J.' S.  Mai-ple,  S.  B.  Craft,  N.  M.  Anderson,  Anderson 
Hinerman.      Laymen — 

Ohio — Revs.  E.  Poling,  T.  Koogle,  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw,  A.  M.,  D.  D.,  W.  P.  Small, 
G.  W.  Wilson.  Laymen — N.  Whisler,  H.  Clay,  G.  W.  Ferguson,  John  Cummins, 
S.  H.  Addams. 

Michigan — Revs.  J.  B.  White,  Wm.  Redding. 

Indiana — Revs.  I.  W.  Markley,  W.  W.  Lovett.  Laymen — I.  Schrader,  H.  C. 
Smith,  Li.  Hartman. 

Southern  Indiana — Revs.  W.  R.  Covert,  J.  Vinson,  H.  H.  Spiher.  Layman — 
J.  Groenendyke. 

Illinois — Revs.  W.  B.  Allen,  B.  S.,  J.  Bernard,  W.  I.  Berkstresser,  D.  H.  Rupp, 
Lay  delegates — Henry  Ishler,  Rev.  C.  F.  Rogei"s,  Isaac  White,  E.  A.  Fritter,  A.  B. 

Iowa — Revs.  M.  S.  Newcomer,  D.  D.,  J.  S.  Miller,  C.  L.  W^ilson,  A.  C.  Gamer. 
Lay  delegates — D.  Gallagher,  J.  L.  Kingston,  John  Huif,  Rev.  D.  S.  Guinter. 

Nebraska — Revs.  A.  Wilson,  D.  B.  Zook. 

Missouri — Not  represented. 

C.  H.— 26* 


7^  History    of    the    Churches   oe    God 

Kansas — Revs.  J.  C.  Fomcrook,  William  Miller.  Lay  delegates — Joshua 
Good,  Revs.  W.  T.  Turpin,  C.  S.  Bolton. 

Texas  and  Arkansas — Rev.  B.  Ober. 
Maine — Rev.  J.  I.  Brown,  M.  D.,  LL.  D. 

German — Not  represented. 

Rev.  Thos.  H.  Stacy,  Fraternal  Delegate  and  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the 
Board  of  Missions  of  the  Free  Baptist  Church,  was  seated  as  an  advisory  member. 
Also  Rev.  Chas.  E.  Hulbert.,  Field  Secretary  of  the  Committee  on  Christian  Unity. 

On  a  ballot  for  officers  the  following  were  chosen:  M.  S.  Newcomer,  Presi- 
dent; AV.  I.  Berkstresser,  Journalizing  Clerk;  Chas.  Manchester,  Transcribing 
Clerk. 

Reports  of  periodicals  showed  the  following  net  balances:  S.  S.  Gem, 
$620.81;  Workman,  $865.93;  Sunbeam,  $178.36  loss;  The  Church  Advocate, 
$5,344.72.  The  Treasurer's  Report  made  a  good  exhibit  of  the  various  Funds, 
showing  that  on  June  1,  1893,  the  various  Funds  stood  as  follows:  Permanent 
Mission,  $8,757.80;  General  Mission,  $900.60;  Pacific  Coast,  $107.50;  S.  S.  Gem, 
$565.72;  Freedman's  Aid,  $32.00;  Contingent,  $122.14.  The  Board  of  Directors 
of  the  Publishing  House  and  Book  Store  was  given  "discretionary  powers  to  pur- 
chase a  suitable  property  in  the  city  of  Harrisburg."  The  Trustees  of  Findlay 
College  presented  a  "Memorial  to  the  General  Eldership,"  which  stated  that  "the 
Board  did  continue  to  contract  debts  to  carry  on  the  school,  until  said  debt  ap- 
proximates $24,000.00."  It  also  advised  the  General  Eldership  that  unless  relief 
is  provided  and  co-operation  secured  the  College  with  all  that  pertains  to  it  would 
be  lost.  A  committee  of  one  from  each  delegation  was  selected,  to  which  the 
Memorial  was  referred.  This  committee  recommended  a  loan  to  cover  the  in- 
debtedness; the  putting  of  a  collecting  agent  in  the  field;  a  redistribution  of 
trustees,  and  directing  "each  minister  of  the  Annual  Elderships  to  collect  an 
amount  equal  to  one  dollar  or  more  from  each  member  on  his  field."  The  Board 
was  empowered  to  place  a  mortgage  on  the  College  property  in  order  to  secure 
means  to  pay  the  indebtedness. 

Clark  county.  Mo.,  was  "placed  within  the  boundaries  of  the  Iowa  Elldership." 
The  boundaries  of  the  Maine  Eldership  were  "made  to  include  the  territory  of 
Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire."  The  Indian  Territory  and  Oklahoma  Elder- 
ship was  chartered,  and  the  boundary  lines  of  the  two  territories  were  made  the 
boundaries  of  said  Eldership.  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  was  made  part  of  the  Southern 
Indiana  Eldership.  The  Oregon  and  Washington  Eldership  was  granted  a  charter, 
"to  include  the  boundaries  of  said  States."  "The  charter  and  vested  privileges  of 
the  German  Eldership"  were  revoked  and  withdrawn,  and  the  churches  of  said 
Eldership  were  to  become  identified  with  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership. 
Boards  and  editors  were  elected  as  follows:      Executive — W.  W.  Lovett,  T.  Koogle, 

B.  F.  Beck,  R.  L.  Byrnes  and  W.  R.  Covert.  Education — C.  H.  Forney,  J.  R.  H. 
Latchaw,  S.  G.  Yahn,  W.  I.  Berkstresser,  W.  P.  Small.  Publication — D.  M.  Bare, 
D.  S.   Shoop,   C.  I.  Bro^vn.      Missions — G.   Sigler,   M.   S.   Newcomer,  W.  B.  Allen, 

C.  Manchester,  D.  B.  Zook.  Treasurer,  J.  Huff.  Free  Baptist  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions,  J.  R.  H.  Iiatchaw;  Editors:  Advocate,  C.  H.  Forney;  Gem,  G.  Sigler; 
Workman,  D.  S.  Shoop;  Sunbeam,  Lydia  A.  Forney.  The  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.  was 
"recognized  as  an  agency  well  adapted  to  the  care  and  development  of  young 
Christians,"  and  the  Department  in  The  Advocate  devoted  to  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.  work 
was  approved.  C  H.  Forney  presented  the  request  of  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  for  "permission  to  change  its  name,  style  and  title  so  as  to  read,  'The 
East  Pennsylvania  Association  of  Churches  of  God.'  "  It  was  referred  to  the  Com- 
mittee on  Revision.  It  reported,  "that  the  Annual  Elderships  consider  and  vote 
upon  the  advisability"  of  the  change,  "with  instruction  to  report  to  the  next  Gen- 
eral Eldership."  The  subject  was  also  to  be  discussed  in  The  Advocate,  the  Editor 
to  lead  in  the  discussion.  Violations  of  the  General  Eldership  Constitution  were 
reported,  and  acted  upon.  The  most  important  provision  referred  to  was  the 
action  of  the  Ohio  Eldership  in  abolishing  the  itinerancy.  The  action  was  dis- 
approved, and  the  Ohio  Eldership  was  instructed  to  adhere  to  the  polity  of  the 
General  Eldership.  The  recommendation  of  the  Revision  Committee  to  substi- 
tute a  Life  Certificate  of  Ordination  for  the  annual  license  was  "referred'  to  the 
Annual  Elderships  for  action."  The  form  of  the  proposed  Certificate  was  agreed 
upon,  and  was  submitted.  The  action  of  the  Board  of  Education,  recommending 
"the  preparation  of  a  suitable  course  of  studies  for  adoption  by  the  various  Annual 


The   General    Eldership  787 

Elderships"  was  approved.  A  radical  innovation  submitted  by  the  Board  of  Mis- 
sions was  adopted,  viz.:  to  change  Art.  II.  of  the  Constitution  so  as  to  provide,  in 
addition  to  the  regular  delegation  from  each  Eldership,  that  "one  delegate  from 
the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society"  to  be  organized,  "duly  elected  by  the 
Society,"  be  granted  a  seat,  with  all  the  rights  and  powers  of  Eldership  delegates. 
To  this  Foreign  Missionary  Society  the  Treasurer  of  the  Foreign  Mission  Fund  was 
to  pay  all  moneys  in  his  hands,  and  the  Treasurer  of  the  Woman's  Missionary  So- 
ciety was  to  pay  over  "all  funds  in  the  treasury  collected  for  Home  Missions,"  to 
the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership. 

18th  General  Eldership. — In  1893  the  General  Eldership  adjourned  to  meet 
in  Muncie,  Delaware  county,  Ind.,  in  189  6.  But  the  church  at  Muncie  became  so 
scattered  and  weak  that  it  was  unable  to  entertain  the  Eldership,  and  it  became 
necessary  to  select  another  place.  But  there  was  no  specific  power  granted  in  the 
Constitution  to  any  officer  or  Board  to  make  a  change  either  as  to  the  time  or  place 
of  its  meeting.  "The  General  Eldership,"  says  the  Constitution,  "shall  meet  every 
three  years  at  such  time  and  place  as  shall  be  agreed  on  at  each  consecutive  Elder- 
ship." The  Executive  Board,  however,  decided  to  make  a  change  as  to  the  place, 
and  upon  petition  of  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership, 
Harrisburg,  Pa.,  was  selected.  W.  R.  Covert  was  a  member  of  the  Executive 
Board,  and  a  member  of  the  Southern  Indiana  Eldership  in  whose  territory  Muncie 
is  located.  He  objected  to  having  a  place  selected  outside  of  said  Eldership  terri- 
tory, and  being  outvoted  by  the  other  members  of  the  Board  he  resigned  his  mem- 
bership, and  also  sent  in  a  strong  protest  against  its  action,  with  a  "charge  of 
illegality  in  the  Board's  changing  the  place  of  holding  the  General  Eldership." 
The  Board  took  no  action  on  his  resignation,  as  "it  was  only  mailed  five  days  prior 
to  the  meeting  of  the  General  Eldership,"  but  referred  the  whole  document  to  the 
General  Eldership.  It  was  then  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  committee,  of  which 
C.  H.  Forney  was  the  Chairman,  and  Chas.  Manchester,  Secretary.  This  commit- 
tee's report  was  adopted,  which  declared  "that  it  is  within  the  constitutional 
powers  of  the  Executive  Board  to  change  the  place  of  holding  the  General  Elder- 
ship, and  we  recommend  that  the  action  of  the  Board  be  approved  and  ratified  as 
legal  in  fact  and  form."  But  the  opposition  to  the  change  whereby  the  session 
was  held  in  almost  the  extreme  eastern  part  of  the  territory  operated  against  a 
large  attendance.  It  was  inferred  that  the  object  was  to  reduce  the  membership 
to  a  minority  of  delegates  elected,  and  to  question  in  the  courts  the  legality  of  its 
actions,  as  a  similar  question  had  been  raised  in  the  Evangelical  Association.  On 
Wednesday  evening,  May  27,  189  6,  the  delegates  to  the  eighteenth  triennial  session 
of  the  General  Eldership  met  in  the  Fourth  Street  Bethel,  Harrisburg,  capital  of 
the  county  of  Dauphin  and  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  to  hear  the  Opening  Ser- 
mon, which  was  delivered  by  the  veteran  G.  W.  Wilson,  delegate  from  the  Ohio 
Eldership,  who  preached  from  Rev.  xiv.  6,  7 — "The  Gospel  Ministry,  Its  Attributes 
and  Benefits."  On  Thursday  morning,  after  "half  an  hour  spent  in  a  prayer  and 
praise  service,"  the  Eldership  was  constituted  by  the  Clerks  of  the  preceding  ses- 
sion.    The  enrollment  was  as  follows: 

East  Pennsylvania.  Ministers — C.  H.  Forney,  D.  D.,  D.  S.  Shoop,  G.  W.  Getz, 
B.  F.  Beck,  C.  I.  Brown,  B.  S.,  G.  Sigler,  D.  D.,  J.  W.  Deshong,  C.  C.  Bartels. 
Laymen — D.  M.  Bare,  S.  Knisley,  H.  J.  Forney,  H.  S.  Burket,  Levi  Kendig,  J.  F. 
Wiggins,  S.  L.  Hershey,  J.  Koser. 

West  Pennsylvania.  Ministers — R.  L.  Byrnes,  C.  Manchester,  A.  M.,  B.  D., 
S.  G.  Yahn,  W.  H.  McKlveen.  Laymen — J.  L.  Loucks,  J.  B.  Henderson,  G.  W. 
Datis. 

Ohio.  Ministers — T.  Koogle,  G.  W.  Wilson,  L.  Rothrock,  W.  P.  Buchard. 
Laymen — H.  Clay,  P.  J.  Gross,  W.  WTiisler,  A.  J.  Bair,  M.  K.  Smith. 

Indiana.  Ministers — W.  W.  Lovett,  Joseph  Bumpus.  Layman — J.  E.  Mc- 
Colley,  Jr. 

Illinois.  Ministers — W.  B.  Allen,  W.  I.  Berkstresser,  Mary  Berkstresser. 
Laymen — D.  Palmer,  H.  Ishler. 

Iowa.      Minister — D.  W.  Blakely.      Laymen — N.  Zeller,  J.  W.  Green. 
Southern  Indiana— Not  represented. 

Maryland  and  Virginia.  Ministers — G.  W.  Seilhammer,  S.  B.  Craft.  Lay- 
men— G.  W.  liipe,  J.  Ebaughi. 

West  Virginia,  North.      Ministers,  .      Layman — J.  C.  Beam. 

Missouri — Not  represented. 

Kansas.      Minister — J.  C.  Fomcrook.  J 


788 


History    of    the    Churches    of    God 


Nebraska.      Minister — A.  AVilson. 

Oregon  and  Washington.      Minister — J.  F.  Schoch. 

West  Virginia,  South — Not  represented. 

Michigan — Not  represented. 

Texas  and  Arkansas — Not  represented. 

Indian  Territory  and  Oklahoma.      Minister — E.  M.  Kirkpatrick. 

Fifty-three  delegates  were  enrolled,  thirty-two  being  teaching  elders,  and 
twenty-one,  ruling  elders.  The  Maine  Eldership  having  withdrawn  from  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership,  there  were  seventeen  Annual  Elderships  entitled  to  representation, 
with  a  total  representation  of  ninety-six.  R.  L.  Byrnes  was  elected  President;  W. 
I.  Berkstresser,  First  Clerk;  M.  K.  Smith,  Second  Clerk;  D.  M.  Bare,  Trei surer, 
but  declined.  Firidlay  College  was  in  such  a  critical  condition  that  the  Board  of 
Trustees  adopted  a  "Memorial"  to  the  General  Eldership,  asking  it  to  decide  the 
question  "whether  the  school  shall  continue  to  run,  or  shall  close,"  and  in  case  it 
was  to  continue,  "to  provide  ways  and  means  by  which  funds  in  cash,  or  absolute 
securities,  will  be  furnished  to  do  so."  This  the  Eldership  did,  and  insured  the 
continuance  of  the  College.  As  no  representatives  of  the  German  Eldership  ap- 
peared, the  action  of  1893,  revoking  its  Charter,  was  confirmed,  and  C.  H.  Forney 
was  reappointed  Attorney-in-fact  to  resume  the  law  suit  pending  in  the  courts  of 
Schuylkill  county,  Pa.  The  W.  G.  M.  S.  elected  five  "fraternal  deleg-'tes"  to  the 
General  Eldership,  which  were  present,  including  Clara  Landes,  appointed  Missi^^n- 
ary  to  India.  An  evening  was  granted  them  during  the  session  "in  which  to  hold 
a  missionary  meeting."  At  their  instance  the  Constitution  was  so  amended  as  to 
"admit  a  Woman's  Board  of  Missions,  consisting  of  five  persons,  elected  by  the 
W.  G.  M.  S.,  which  shall  act  con-jointly  with  the  regular  Board  of  Missions  on  all 
questions  relating  to  Foreign  Missions  and  to  the  Home  Mission  work  of  the  W. 
G.  M.  S."  The  financial  interests,  including  the  different  period'cals,  were  in  a 
gratifying  condition.  The  Treasurer,  John  Huff,  reported  Permanent  Mission 
]Fund,  $12,104.0.5;  General  Mission  Fund,  $1,503.06;  Foreign  Mission  Fund, 
11,200.00;  Freedmen's  Aid  Fund,  $40.00;  S.  S.  Gem  Fund,  $980.01;  Contingent 
Fund,  $53.71.  The  "Gem"  also  had  a  cash  balance  of  $651.47;  the  "Workman 
Quarterly,"  $1,313.28;  the  "Sunbeam,"  $357.75;  the  net  balance  of  The  Advocate, 
$7,188.57;  net  gain  of  the  Central  Book-Store,  $4,817.47.  Editors  were  elected 
as  follows:  The  Advocate,  C  H.  Forney;  "Gem,"  W.  A.  Laverty;  "S.  S.  Quarterly," 
D.  S.  Shoop;  "Sunbeam,"  Lydia  A.  Forney;  "Missionary  Signal,"  C.  Manchester; 
Assistant  Editor  of  The  Advocate,  S.  G.  Yahn.  The  different  Bo'^rds  were  elected 
as  follows:  Executive  Board — W.  W.  Lovett,  R.  L.  Byrnes,  B.  F.  Beck,  W.  H.  Mc- 
Klveen,  W.  B.  Allen.  Board  of  Education — S.  G.  Yahn,  Mai-y  Berksti-esser,  T. 
Koogle,  M.  K.  Smith,  J.  W.  Deshong.  Board  of  Directors — C.  H.  Forney,  H.  J. 
Forney,  J.  F.  Wiggins,  C.  C.  Bai-tels,  and  the  Board  of  Publication,  consisting  of 
D.  M.  Bare,  C  I.  Brown  and  D.  S.  Shoop.  Board  of  Missions — G.  Sigler,  C.  Man- 
chester, W.  I.  Berkstresser,  J.  C.  Forncrook  and  C.  H.  Forney.  The  latter,  after 
serving  to  near  the  close  of  the  Eldership,  resigned,  and  C.  C.  Bartels  was  declared 
elected.  The  Editor  of  The  Advocate  was  required  to  give  bond  in  the  sum  of 
$10,000.00.  T.  Koogle  and  M.  K.  Smith  were  appointed  Attorneys-in-fact  and  em- 
powered "to  enforce  settlement  with  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw,  Treasurer  of  the  Foreign 
Mission  Fund."  Pour  items  of  business  on  the  Journal  of  1893  were  acted  upon. 
The  first  was  the  "change  of  Eldership  titles."  C.  H.  Forney  offered  resolutions 
changing  "Church  of  God"  to  "Churches  of  God,"  and  "Eldership"  to  "Ass'^cia- 
tion."  C.  Manchester  led  the  discussion  in  opposition  to  the  second  amendment. 
The  vote  stood — ayes,  14;  nays,  39.  On  the  first  proposed  change  the  vote  was — 
ayes,  25;  nays,  20.  The  second  item  related  to  "Life  Ordination,"  which  was 
"postponed  for  three  years."  The  third,  "relating  to  the  General  Eldership  Dele- 
gate Fund"  was  negatived,  and  the  system  continued,  "that  each  Annual  Eldership 
pay  the  expenses  of  its  own  delegates."  The  fourth,  "the  change  from  the  itiner- 
ancy in  the  Ohio  Eldership,"  was  settled  by  said  Eldership  voluntarily  rescinding 
its  action  on  the  subject  after  a  year's  trial.  The  action  on  the  temperance  ques- 
tion declared  that  it  "does  not  deem  it  within  the  providence  of  this  body  to  dic- 
tate how  any  man  shall  vote,  yet  it  is  the  sense  of  the  Church  of  God  in  General 
Eldership  assembled  that  men  should  not  be  abettors  of  this  legalized  rum  traffic 
by  voting  for  a  man  or  party  that  stands  pledged  to  the  license  system;  and  we  do 
most  earnestly  urge  the  brotherhood  to  come  out  of  affiliation  with  the  corrupt  po- 
litical parties  that  sustain  the  evil."     On  the  use  of  tobacco  the  Eldership  spoke 


The  General   Eldership  789 

in  condemnation  of  the  "filthy  and  injurious  habit,"  and  ministers  are  to  abstain 
from  it,  or  "at  most  use  it  moderately,  and  that  our  licentiates  be  required  to 
abandon  the  use  of  it."  Covetousness  was  condemned,  and  "resistance  to  this  the 
greatest  sin  of  the  age"  was  advised.  The  cruelties  perpetrated  against  "our 
brethren  in  Armenia  by  the  relentless  Turks"  were  viewed  with  unfeigned  ab- 
horrence, and  the  sending  of  relief  to  these  sufferers  was  urged.  An  aggregate  of 
$2,020.00  was  assessed  on  the  Annual  Elderships  for  frontier  missions.  Two 
Annual  Elderships  were  chartered,  and  their  titles  fixed,  as  follows:  "The  Ar- 
kansas Eldership  of  the  churches  of  God  (colored),"  and  "The  Southern  West  Vir- 
ginia Eldership  of  the  churches  of  God."  Without  including  the  assessments 
made  at  this  Eldership,  the  Annual  Elderships  were  in  arrears  to  the  General  Eld- 
ership for  Contingent  Fund,  3782.17,  and  for  Mission  Fund.  $4,121.32.  One  of 
the  items  of  special  interest  at  this  session  of  the  General  Eldership  was  "the  pre- 
sentation by  Ralph  Laverty,  son  of  D.  A.  L.  Laverty,  deceased,  in  behalf  of  the 
young  men  of  the  Fourth  Street  church,  to  the  General  Eldership,  of  a  gavel  and 
block,  made  of  wood  and  stone  taken  from  the  Glades  homestead,  the  birthplace 
of  John  Winebrenner." 

19th  General  Eldership. — "The  General  Eldership  of  1899,"  is  the  testimony 
of  R.  L.  Byrnes,  "was,  if  not  superior  to,  the  equal  of,  any  in  the  history  of  the 
churches  of  God."  The  Annual  Elderships  elected  delegates  who  could  have  had 
no  superiors  as  faithful  representatives  both  of  themselves  and  of  the  interests  of 
the  churches  at  large.  Great  and  grave  questions  confronted  the  body,  the  solu- 
tion of  which  would  affect  all  the  churches  and  all  the  interests  under  the  care  of 
the  General  Eldership.  And  at  its  close  Byrnes  wrote:  "All  questiors  were  pre- 
sented fairly,  considered  carefully,  discussed  intelligently.  The  discissions  were 
singularly  free  from  bitterness  and  captious  criticism."  And  the  Editor  of  The 
Advocate  M'rote:  "A  spirit  of  loving  fraternity  prevailed.  Conclusions  reached 
were  accepted  in  good  faith,  and  the  deliberations  were  free  from  acrimony, 
asperity  and  virulence.  It  was  a  blessed  meeting,  one  which  the  members  will 
always  recall  as  having  reached  the  high  water  mark  of  generous  and  kindly  fra- 
ternal feeling."  The  session  was  held  at  Decatur,  Macrn  county,  111.,  and  the 
Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  on  Wednesday  evening.  May  31st,  by  D.  S.  Shoop, 
from  Acts  v.  20 — "The  Dignity,  Authority  and  Theme  of  the  Gospel  Ministry." 
On  Thursday  morning  M.  K.  Smith  and  W.  J.  Schaner  constituted  the  Eldership, 
when  the  following  enrollment  was  made: 

East  Pennsylvania.  Ministers — C.  H.  Forney,  D.  D.;  C.  I.  BroAvn,  Geo.  Sigler, 
D.  D.;  W.  J.  Schaner,  D.  S.  Shoop,  C.  D.  Rishel,  I.  A.  MacDannald,  C.  I.  Behncy, 
Lay  delegates — J.  F.  AViggins,  D.  M.  Rare,  J.  A.  Myers,  H.  J.  Forney,  A.  L.  Bier- 
bower,  L.  Kendig,  George  A.  Gamber,  S.  Knisley. 

West  Pennsylvania.  Ministers — J.  W.  Davis,  R.  L.  Byrnes,  S.  G.  Yahn,  G.  W. 
Davis,  T.  Woods.  Lay  delegates — J.  W.  Whisler,  Jas.  D.  Fox,  G.  W.  Byrnes,  W. 
H.  Guyer,  J.  L,  Updegraph. 

Maryland  and  Virginia.  Ministers — W.  H.  Engler,  S.  B.  Craft.  Lay  dele- 
gates— J.  Ebaugh,  M.  H.  Penn. 

Ohio.  Ministers — T.  Koogle,  E.  Poling,  Chas.  Manchester,  D.  D.;  L.  Roth- 
rock,  C.  T.  Fox.  Lay  delegates — M.  K.  Smith,  P.  J.  Grose,  A.  J.  Bare,  T.  W.  Bell- 
ingham. 

Indiana.  Ministers — J.  Bumpus,  J.*W.  Bloyd,  J.  E.  McColley,  Jr..  Lay  dele- 
gates— W.  J.  Beatty,  J.  C.  Lininger,  J.  D.  Anglin. 

Southern  Indiana.  Ministers — W.  R.  Covert,  H.  H.  Spilier,  J.  W.  Wampler. 
Lay  delegates — James  Groenendyke,  C.  P.  Diltes,  R.  M.  Pine. 

West  Virginia    (North).      Ministers — N.  M.  Anderson,  Nathan  Vanaman,  Jr.; 

B.  D.  Eden,  T.  F.  Harlison. 

Southern  West  Virginia.      Ministers — R.  L.  Workman,  H.  W.  Marty. 

Michigan.      Minister — Wm.  J.  McNiitt. 

Illinois.  Ministers — M.  S.  Newcomer,  D.  D.;  J.  Bernard,  W.  B.  Allen,  D.  H. 
Rupp.      Lay  delegates — L.  F.  Alexandei*.  John  Hainley,  F.  Hammer,  Monroe  White. 

Iowa.  Ministers — A.  C.  Gamer,  A.  E.  Kepford,  C.  L.  Wilson,  L.  F.  Chamber- 
lin.      Lay  delegates — H.  S.  Eberly,  D.  Gallagher,  W.  H.  Kepford,  G.  W.  Elliott,  J. 

C.  Forncrook. 

Nebraska.  Ministers — D.  B.  Zook,  A.  Wilson.  Lay  delegates — Richard 
Bellis,  Sarah  L.  Hinkley. 

Missouri.      Ministers — H.  \V.  Allen,  P.  L.  French. 


790 


History  op  the  Churches  of  God 


Kansas.      Ministers — J.   W.   Kingston,    AV.   H.   Cross.      Lay   delegates — W.   T. 
Tui-pin,  J.  V.  Whisler. 

Oregon  and  Washington.      Ministers — J.  F.  Schoch,  J.  W.  Force. 
Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territory.      Ministers — B.  Ober,  R.  D.  Duncan. 

Texas  and  Arkansas — No  report. 

Arkansas  (Colored).      Minister — J.  D.  DeGrafteni-eed. 

Of  those  enrolled  fifty-nine  were  teaching  elders,  and  thirty-two,  ruling  elders, 
a  total  of  ninety-one.  Eleven  were  absent;  there  was  one  substitute,  making  a 
total  membership  of  eighty-one.  The  election  for  officers  resulted  in  the  choice 
of  C.  T.  Fox,  President;  W.  J.  Schaner,  Journalizing  Clerk;  M.  K.  Smith,  Trans- 
cribing Clerk.  A  gavel  was  presented  to  the  President  by  Clara  Landes,  mission- 
ary in  India,  and  made  of  native  wood.  Boards  were  elected  as  follows:  Board 
of  Publication — D.  M.  Bai-e,  C.  I.  Brown,  D.  S,  Shoop;  Board  of  Directors — C.  H. 
Forney,  H.  J.  Forney,  I.  A.  MacDannald,  J.  F.  Wiggins;  Executive  Board — W.  B. 
Allen,  R.  L.  Byrnes,  H.  H.  Spiher;  Board  of  Misisons — Geo.  Sigler,  M.  S.  Newcomer, 
S.  G.  Yahn,  W.  R.  Covert,  Chas.  Manchester.  Upon  the  death  of  John  Huflf,  Treas- 
urer, M.  K.  Smith  was  elected  to  that  office  by  the  Board  of  Incorporation  June  15, 
1898,  and  was  re-elected  by  the  Eldership.  The  editors  elected  were  as  follows: 
The  Advocate,  C.  H.  Forney;  "Gem,"  W.  A.  Laverty;  "Sunbeam"  and  "Primary 
Quarterly,"  Lydia  A.  Forney;  "Lesson  Quarterly,"  D.  S.  Shoop.  The  "Missionary 
Signal"  was  ordered  to  be  discontinued.  Amendments  to  the  Constitution  were 
made,  changing  the  number  of  members  of  the  Executive  Board  from  five  to  three; 
substituting  the  words  "Certificate  of  Ordination"  for  the  word  "license;"  chang- 
ing Art.  XXVII.  so  as  to  read,  "No  person  shall  be  considered  an  accredited  min- 
ister in  the  churches  of  God  without  a  regular  Certificate  of  Ordination.  Said  Cer- 
tificate to  be  given  for  life,  subject  to  recall  for  any  cause  which  the  Eldership 
granting  it  may  deem  sufficient.  And  each  candidate  for  ordination  shall  be  put 
under  promise  to  surrender  his  Certificate  of  Ordination  when  demanded  by  the 
Eldership  with  which  he  is  identified."  Article  XIV.  was  amended  by  adding: 
"And  no  final  action  shall  be  taken  by  any  Board  without  the  presence  and  vote 
of  a  majority  of  its  members."  By  request  of  the  Board  of  Education  an  amend- 
ment was  adopted  discontinuing  said  Board.  The  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Book- 
store reported  a  net  gain  of  $5,442.49  during  the  three  years.  The  "Workman 
Quarterly,"  the  "S.  S.  Gem"  and  the  "Sunbeam"  added  $1,025.80  to  their  surplus 
in  1896.  The  net  income  of  The  Advocate  during  the  triennium  was  $2,261.34, 
and  its  total  net  surplus,  $9,449.91.  The  delinquencies  by  the  Annual  Elderships 
on  their  assessments  had  increased  to  $5,590.14  due  the  General  Mission  Fund, 
and  $1,212,05  due  the  Contingent  Fund.  On  three  items  actions  of  the  Board  of 
Incorporation  were  either  declared  illegal,  or  stricken  out  as  being  inadvisable. 
The  disposition  of  the  Eldership  was  to  hold  all  its  Boards  to  a  strict  account- 
ability. The  "Canteen  business  as  carried  on  among  the  soldiers  of  the  Govern- 
ment," the  Eldership  "regarded  as  an  evil  ruinous  to  thousands  of  the  noble  young 
men  sent  out  from  the  homes  of  the  country."  The  "enactment  of  a  law  by  which 
the  canteen  is  to  be  abolished"  was  a  subject  for  congratulation,  and  it  was  recom- 
mended that  the  Government  have  the  constitutionality  of  the  Act  of  Congress 
tested  in  the  Supreme  Court.  The  "organization  known  as  the  Anti-Saloon 
League"  was  strongly  endorsed.  A  somewhat  pessimistic  view  of  the  state  of  re- 
ligion taken  by  the  Committee  was  sustained  by  the  Eldership.  The  declension 
was  regarded  as  general,  and  as  affecting  pastors  and  people;  that  it  is  manifested 
in  the  "decreased  stalwartness  of  many  church  members;  its  subjects  seem  more 
effiminate,  less  aggressive,  and  more  indifferent  in  defense  of  'all  the  words  of  this 
life;'  unconverted  members  are  received  into  the  churches;  the  ordinances  of  God's 
house  are  ignored;  members  live  formal  lives,  not  to  say  ungodly."  There  are 
"too  many  pleasure-seeking,  mercenary  people  in  the  churches."  "The  abounding 
of  works  on  higher  criticism,"  the  increase  of  "clubs  and  societies,"  and  the 
"worldly  methods  resorted  to  in  carrying  forward  the  Lord's  work"  are  given  as 
causes  for  the  prevailing  spiritual  declension.  The  Permanent  Foreign  Mission 
Fund  was  increased  by  a  bequest  of  $1,000.00  by  Samuel  Eberly,  Mechanicsburg, 
Pa.  The  General  Eldership's  control  over  Annual  Elderships,  as  per  Article  XXIV. 
of  the  Constitution,  was  reaffirmed,  and  the  method  of  making  said  Article  prac- 
tical was  defined.  It  was  recommended  that  "the  imposition  of  hands  should  not 
be  a  part  of  any  ceremony  of  ordination." 

20th  G«aeral  Eldership. — The  session  of  the  General  Eldership  of  1902  was 


The   General    Eldership  791 

made  memorable  by  its  action  on  the  "Special  Report  of  the  Board  of  Missions"  on 
the  organization  of  a  Woman's  General  Missionary  Society  to  take  the  place  of  the 
one  organized  in  1890.  The  questions  raised  and  discussed  touching  the  latter  or- 
ganization for  the  preceding  two  years  had  created  considerable  friction  and  ten- 
sion, especially  west  of  Pennsylvania.  But  after  careful  thought  and  a  free  ex- 
pression of  sentiments,  the  Special  Report  of  the  Board  was  adopted  by  a  vote  on 
Roll  call  of  60  ayes,  and  4  nays.  The  solution  of  the  difficult  problem  seemed 
such  a  fortunate  one  that  there  was  quite  general  rejoicing,  except  on  the  part  of 
the  original  W.  G.  M.  S..  At  this  session  also  the  first  Report  of  the  "Central 
Printing  and  Publishing  House  of  the  Churches  of  God"  was  made,  an  event  which 
was  greatly  appreciated  by  the  General  Eldership  and  all  the  churches.  The  Eld- 
ership convened  at  Idaville,  White  county,  Ind.,  and  was  in  session  from  May  28th 
to  June  3rd.  On  the  evening  of  the  2  8th  Dr.  Charles  T.  Fox,  Pindlay,  Ohio,  de- 
livered the  Opening  Sermon,  from  Isaiah  VI.  1-8.  Theme — "A  Closer  Walk  With 
God."  On  the  morning  of  the  29th  W.  J.  Schaner  and  Charles  H.  Gatchell  were 
appointed  to  constitute  the  Eldership,  assisted  by  a  Committee  on  Credentials,  con- 
sisting of  Forney,  Yahn,  Manchester,  Newcomer,  Covert,  Heltibridle  and  Zook. 
This  committee  derived  its  importance  from  the  fact  that  there  was  a  new  basis  of 
representation.      The  Roll  was  approved,  as  follows: 

East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Ministerial — C.  H.  Forney,  D.  S.  Shoop,  C.  I. 
Brown,  C.  H.  Grove,  I.  A.  MacDannald,  F.  W.  McGuire,  W.  J.  Schaner,  G.  W.  Getz. 
Lay — D.  M.  Bare,  H.  J.  Forney,  William  A.  Myers,  A.  L.  Bierbower,  S.  Knisley,  C. 
E.  Quail,  J.  F.  Wiggins,  John  C.  Funk. 

West  Pennsylvania.  Ministerial — R.  L.  Byrnes,  S.  G.  Yahn,  J.  L.  Updegraph. 
Lay — George  W.  Stoner,  George  W.  Byi-nes,  W.  B.  Elliott. 

Ohio.  Ministerial — S.  Kline,  C.  T.  Fox,  T.  Koogle,  C.  H.  Gatchell,  J.  A. 
Witham.  Lay — E.  Poling,  M.  K.  Smith,  P.  J.  Grose,  J.  C.  Fomci'ook,  Charles  Man- 
chester. 

Indiana.  Ministerial — L.  A.  Lukenbill,  J.  E.  McCoUey,  Jr.;  A.  McClellan. 
Lay — W.  J.  Beatty,  J.  D.  Anglin,  J.  H.  Raber. 

Iowa.  Ministerial — A.  C.  Gamer,  G.  W.  Elliott,  E.  E.  Heltibridle,  D.  L.  Cox. 
Lay — C.  B.  Kepford,  F.  F.  Manchester,  L.  F.  Chamberlin,  E.  W.  Moyer. 

Illinois.  Ministerial — M.  S.  Newcomer,  J.  W.  Kingston,  J.  Bernard.  Lay — 
Monroe  White,  H.  J.  Miller,  Fred.  Hammond. 

Southern  Indiana.  Ministerial — W.  R.  Covert,  H.  H.  Spiher,  E.  M.  Love. 
Lay — J.  W.  Boyd,  J.  Groenendyke,  C.  Hartman. 

Maryland  and  Virginia.      Ministerial — T.  B.  Tyler.     Lay — J.  F.  Billmyer. 

Missouri.      Ministerial — J.  F.  Thomas,  G.  L.  Chapman. 

West  Virginia,  North.     Ministerial — N.  M.  Anderson.     Lay  . 

West  Virginia,  South.      Ministerial — R.  L,  Workman,  Joseph  Murry. 

Texas  and  Arkansas.      Ministerial — E.  Marple.     Lay,  . 

Oregon  and  Washington.      Ministerial — A.  Wilson,  J.  F.  Schoch.     Lay, 

Michigan.     Ministerial — J.  E.  Moffitt.     Lay,  . 


Arkansas  (Colored).      Ministerial — M.  Bonds.     Lay, . 

Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territory.     Ministerial — C.  H.  Ballinger.     Lay,  . 

Kansas.  Ministerial — A.  Miller,  P.  L.  French.  Lay — O.  A.  Newlin,  W.  H. 
Sheets. 

Nebraska.     Ministerial — D.  B.  Zook. 

Seven  of  these  were  absent.  Eleven  classed  as  lay  delegates  were  ministers. 
The  election  for  officers  resulted  in  the  choice  of  A.  C.  Gamer,  President;  W.  J. 
Schaner,  Journalizing  Clerk;  Charles  H.  Gatchell,  Transcribing  Clerk.  Later  Prof. 
M.  K.  Smith  was  elected  Treasurer.  During  the  preceding  three  years  the  Board 
of  Missions  had  spent  $4,477.79  in  the  support  of  mission  work,  and  reported  399 
conversions,  529  accessions  to  churches,  and  but  "few  churches  organized  because 
much  of  the  time  of  missionaries  was  spent  in  building  up  churches  which  had 
gone  down  for  want  of  care."  The  income  of  the  Board  was  $6,920.22  from  the 
General  Mission  Fund,  and  from  Annual  Eldership  collections.  S.  G.  Yahn,  A.  C. 
Garner,  J.  C.  Fomcrook,  C.  I.  Brown  and  J.  Bernard  were  elected  as  the  Board  of 
Missions.  The  Constitution  was  revised  so  as  to  make  the  General  Eldership  to 
consist  of  one  ordained  minister  for  every  eight  ordained  pastors,  and  for  every 
fraction  above  three-eights,  and  an  equal  number  of  elders,  except  ministers  are 
substituted  in  their  places.  Also  making  it  possible  that  the  Treasurer  may  be  a 
member  of  the  Eldership,  or  of  some  church  of  God,  or  a  bank,  firm  or  corpora- 


792  History    of   the    Churches    of    God 

tion.  And  provision  was  made  to  change  the  place  of  holding  the  sessions  of  the 
Eldership  upon  petition  of  a  majority  of  the  delegations  of  one-third  of  the  Annual 
Elderships.  The  title  of  the  presiding  officer  was  changed  to  President.  The 
Board  of  Incorporation  was  empowered  to  oversee  the  investments  made  by  the 
Treasurer.  The  Revision  Committee  making  these  recommendations  was  com- 
posed of  C.  H.  Forney,  S.  G.  Yahn,  C.  T.  Fox,  M.  S.  Newcomer  and  AV.  R.  Covert. 
The  editors  elected  were:  C.  H.  Forney,  Editor-in-Chief,  and  C.  I.  Brown,  Assist- 
ant Editor,  of  The  Advocate;  AV.  A.  Laverty,  of  the  "Gem;"  Lydia  A.  Foraey,  of 
the  "Sunbeam"  and  "Primary  Quarterly,"  and  D.  S.  Shoop,  of  the  "Workman 
Quarterly."  The  Treasurer's  bond  was  fixed  at  $2.5,000.00.  The  first  action  was 
taken  to  create  a  Church  Extension  Fund,  by  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to 
consider  the  question.  The  boundary  line  for  frontier  mission  work  was  fixed  as 
approximately  "the  western  and  southern  boundary  of  Iowa  and  the  Missssinpi 
river,"  east  of  which  no  missionaries  were  to  be  appointed  by  the  Board  of  Mis- 
sions. The  new  Executive  Board  consisted  of  Byrnes,  Spiher  and  Kline.  The 
Board  of  Publication  was  Bare,  Shoop  and  MacDannald.  In  addition  to  these 
three,  the  following  were  elected  as  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Publishing  House 
and  Book  Rooms:  C.  H.  Forney,  J.  F.  AVigsins,  H.  J.  Forney  and  C.  I.  BrowTi. 
Anticipating  an  early  decision  in  the  German  Eldership  case,  the  Eldership  author- 
ized the  Board  of  Incorporation  "in  the  name  and  in  behalf  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship to  take  whatever  steps  may  be  necessary  to  enforce  the  resoluticns  and  the 
actions  and  proceedings  of  the  General  Eldership  so  had  in  1893."  It  also  granted 
the  German  Eldership  "a  further  hearing  in  the  premises"  if  desired  by  it,  and  to 
that  end  it  agreed  that  a  special  meeting  of  the  General  Eldership  mi9;ht  be  called. 
The  body  "pledged  its  unconditional  opposition  to  the  whole  rum  traffic,  and  to 
lend  its  active  assistance  to  ^very  legitimate  effort  looking  toward  its  entire  sup- 
pression." The  state  of  religion  was  declared  to  be  "not  as  satisfactory  as  we 
would  desire  to  see  it;"  "the  gospel  as  lived  by  many  is  different  from  what  it  was 
in  the  days  of  its  beginning."  There  were  four  cases  of  "anpeils"  brought  before 
the  Committee  on  Appeals.  The  Indiana  Eldership  vs.  AA''.  R.  Covert,  who  was  ad- 
judged to  have  violated  Art.  XXIX.  of  the  Constitution  in  the  Idaville  church  case. 
But  the  boundaries  were  not  changed,  nor  the  Idaville  church  transferred  to  the 
Indiana  Eldership.  S.  P.  P.  Young,  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  appealed  fr-m 
an  action  annulling  his  Life  Certificate  of  Ordination.  The  appeal  was  dismissed. 
The  other  two  cases  were  compromised,  the  one  related  to  complaints  by  the  W. 
G.  M.  S.  against  certain  brethren  for  publishing  certain  articles  which  reflected  on 
the  work  of  the  Society.  The  questions  of  Sanctification  and  faith-heal'ng  were 
brought  up  on  a  document  presented  by  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  West  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership,  where  "very  destructive  schisms  have  been  caused  in  several  of 
our  churches  by  teaching"  these  doctrines.  The  Eldership  declared  clearly  against 
"the  so-called  second-work  sanctification  doctrine,  as  a  perversion  of  the  orthodox, 
scriptural  teaching  on  this  important  subject."  And  that  "faith-heiling  is  not  in 
harmony  with  the  practice  and  teachings  of  the  churches  of  God."  The  Ministerial 
Register  of  the  ordained  ministers  of  the  different  Annual  Elderships  contained 
four  hundred  and  seventy  names. 

21st  General  Eldership. — The  Ministerial  Register  of  1902  was  evidently  in- 
complete, as  in  1905  the  number  of  names  enrolled  in  the  Journal  of  the  General 
Eldership  was  four  hundred  and  eighty-two,  with  five  of  the  western  EHershi'^s 
not  reported.  The  German  Eldership  case  remained  .unsettled.  Renresentatives 
had  been  invited  to  attend  this  session  of  the  General  Eldership  with  a  view  "to 
adjust  all  matters  in  litigation  in  a  mutual  and  amicable  manner."  But  though 
representatives  were  present,  they  had  no  authority  to  agree  to  any  basis  of  settle- 
ment, and  accordingly  the  General  Eldership  reaffirmed  its  actions  of  1893  and 
1902,  and  "instructed  the  Board  of  Incorporation  and  its  Attornev-in-Fact.  C.  H. 
Forney,  to  take  whatever  measures  it  may  deem  proper  and  legal  to  enforce  the 
rights  and  authority  of  the  General  Eldership  in  the  premises."  The  Eldership 
convened  at  Mt.  Pleasant,  Westmoreland  county,  Pa.,  on  Wednesday  evening,  May 
24,  190.5,  when  the  Opening  Sermon  was  delivered  by  A.  C.  Gtmer,  from  John  x^ii. 
2i': — "Plea  for  Christian  Unity."  At  the  first  sitting,  on  Tiiursday  morning.  AV. 
J.  Schaner  and  C.  Fatland  constituted  the  Eldership,  assisted  by  C.  H.  Fomev,  C. 
T.  Fox,  H.  H.  Spiher,  R.  S.  Mackey  and  O.  A.  Newlin,  Committee  on  Credentials. 
The  official  Roll  was  made  up  of  the  following  delegates: 

East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.      Ministerial — C.  H.  Forney,  C.  H.  Grove,  I.  A. 


The   General    Eldership  793 

MacDannald,  F.  W.  McGuire,  G.  W.  Getz,  D.  S.  Shoop,  AV.  J.  Schaner.  Lay — D.  M. 
Bare,  J.  F.  Wiggins,  H.  J.  Forney,  H.  M.  Angle,  A.  L.  Bierbower,  S.  L.  Hershey» 
J.  F.  Hummel, 

West  Pennsylvania.  Ministerial — S.  G.  Yahn,  R.  L.  Byraes,  J.  L.  Updegraph. 
Lay — T.  S.  Woods,  George  W.  Byrnes,  W.  H.  Guyer. 

Maryland  and  Virginia.      Ministerial — L.  F.  Murray.      Lay — J.  F.  Billmyer. 

Ohio.  Ministerial — C,  T.  Fo.v,  T.  Koogle,  C.  H.  Gatchell,  J.  A.  Witham.  Lay 
— P.  J.  Grose,  S.  H.  Addams,  C.  N.  Belman,  M.  K.  Smith. 

Indiana.  Ministerial — H.  H.  Spiher,  L.  A.  LukenbilL  Lay — I.  W.  Markley, 
E.  Schumaker. 

Illinois.  Ministerial — J.  Bernard,  C.  F.  Rogers,  O.  B.  Huston.  Lay — D.  H. 
Rupp,  J.  S.  Walls,  R.  S.  Mackey. 

Michigan — No  delegate. 

Iowa.  Ministerial — E.  E.  Heltibiidle,  Conrad  Fatland,  L.  F.  Chamberlin. 
Lay — J.  W.  Green,  A.  C.  Gamer,  G.  W.  ElUott. 

West  Virginia  (North).  Ministerial — N.  M.  Anderson,  W.  R.  Covert.  Lay — 
J.  C.  Beam,  J.  W.  Mackey. 

West  Virginia    (South).      Ministerial — R.  L.  Workman. 

Missouri.      Ministerial — G.  L.  Chapman. 

Southern  Indiana — No  delegate. 

Kansas.      Ministerial — W.  E.  Tuttle.      Lay — O.  A.  Newlin. 

Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territory.  Ministerial — J.  W.  Bums.  Lay — J.  D. 
Fulson. 

Arkansas  Eldership   (Colored) — No  delegate. 

Texas  and  Arkansas.      Ministerial — None.      Lay — J.  D.  Henson. 

Nebraska — No  delegate. 

Oregon  and  Washington.      Ministerial — J.  F.  Schoch.      Lay — J.  C.  Garrigus. 

Former  German  Eldership.      Minister — J.  M.  Fahl.      Layman — Oscar  MengeL 

The  unusual  transaction  of  unseating  a  delegate  after  being  enrolled  occ'rred 
in  the  case  of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North,  when  at  the  sitting  on  the  fifth 
day  Covert  and  J.  W.  Mackey,  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North,  were  "unse"'ted  by 
action  of  the  Eldership."  Thirteen  of  the  lay  delegates  were  ministers.  T^-e  Eld- 
ership elected  C.  H.  Forney,  President,  who  made  the  innovation  of  "appointing 
C.  I.  Brown  Assistant  to  the  President  during  the  sittings  of  the  G<?neral  Eld-r- 
ship."  C.  H.  Gatchell  was  elected  Journalizing  Clerk,  and  W.  J.  Schan«r,  Trans- 
cribing Clerk,  and  M.  K.  Smith,  Treasurer.  Resolutions  submitted  by  C.  H.  For- 
ney called  for  the  appointment  of  a  "Judiciary  Committee,  Special,"  to  "inqu're 
into  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  Woman's  General  Missionary  S^^cietv  orsranized 
in  1903;"  "to  hear  all  grievances,"  and  "present  its  conclusions,  which  should  con- 
stitute a  good  and  reasonable  basis  for  general  co-oneration  in  carrying  out  the 
plan  agreed  upon  in  1902,  and  put  into  effect  by  the  Convention  at  Findlay  in 
1903."  These  were  adopted,  and  the  members  of  the  Committee,  as  selected  by 
the  delegations  represented  on  it,  were:  C.  H.  Forney,  I.  A.  MacDannald,  G.  W. 
Byrnes,  C.  T.  Fox,  I.  W.  Markley,  J.  S.  Walls  and  C.  Fatland.  The  W.  G.  M.  S. 
of  1900  had  kept  up  its  organization  and  continued  its  work  in  three  of  the  Annu  1 
Elderships,  and  in  India,  and  declined  10  conform  to  the  action  of  the  General  Eld- 
ership in  1902  as  carried  into  effect  in  1903  in  the  organization  of  the  new  W.  G. 
M.  S.  In  Ohio  and  Illinois  it  still  had  State  organizations  and  some  of  the  loc  1 
societies.  In  Iowa  it  practically  held  all  the  local  societies  under  its  State  W.  M. 
S.  The  Special  Committee  recommended  that  "the  Iowa  W.  M.  S..  t^gethr  vith 
such  W.  M.  Societies  in  Illinois  and  Ohio  as  may  so  desire,  shall  be  permittpd  to 
continue  to  support  Miss  Landes  and  her  co-laborers  as  heretofore,  and  meanwhile 
all  labor  for  general  co-operation,"  with  other  subsidiary  recommendations.  These 
were  all  adopted  with  one  voice,  and  there  was  common  rejoicing  over  wh'-t  was 
considered  an  equitable  and  final  adjustment.  This  action,  construed  in  line  with 
the  Constitution,  the  action  of  the  General  Eldership  in  1902,  and  the  Conventi'n 
of  1903,  with  the  approval  of  all  that  it  did,  meant  the  following:  1.  Thft  the 
W.  G.  M.  S.  of  1890  was  eliminated.  2.  That  the  support  of  Miss  Landes  was  to 
continue  as  provided  for  until  her  return  home  in  1906.  3.  That  her  reappoint- 
ment as  missionary  to  India  for  a  second  term  would  have  to  be  under  t^e  pro- 
visions of  the  Constitution  and  through  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  1903.  4.  That  bv  th~t 
time  "the  ultimate  unification  of  all  Woman's  Missionary  Societies"  under  the  W. 
G.  M.  S.  of  1903  was  to  be  effected.      Something  was  thus  yielded  on  both  sides, 


794 


History    of   the    Churches   of    God 


and  future  harmony  and  unity  supposed  to  be  secured,  and  it  was  resolved  "that 
this  final  action  shall  be  considered  binding  on  all  the  members  of  the  General 
Eldership,  and  upon  the  ministers  and  people  of  the  Annual  Elderships."     Changes 
in  boundaries  of  Elderships  were  made  by  including  St.  Louis  in  the  Missouri  Eld- 
ership; placing  the  Sodus  church,  Michigan,  into  the  Indiana  Eldership,  and  trans- 
ferring part  of  the  "strip"  in  the  Kansas  Eldership  to  the  Oklahoma  Eldership. 
The  following  editors  were  elected:      The  Church  Advocate,  C.  H.  Forney;  Assist- 
ant, S.  G.  Yahn;    "Sunbeam,"  Lydia  A.  Forney;    "S.   S.     Gem,"    W.    A.    Laveity; 
"Workman  Quarterly,"  D.   S.  Shoop.      The  new   Boards  elected  were:      Board  of 
Publication,  I.  A.  MacDannald,  C.  H.  Grove  and  H.  M.  Angle;   Board  of   Missions, 
A.  C.  Garner,  S.  G.  Yahn,  J.  Bernard,  C.  T.  Fox  and  G.  W.  Getz;  Executive  Board, 
R.  L(.  Byrnes,  F.  W.  McGuii-e,  L.  A.  Lukenbill,  E.  E.  Heltibridle  and  C.  F.  Rogers. 
The  Board  of  Missions  reported  considerable  work  accomplished.     It  had  approved 
the  Constitution  and  organization  of  the  new  W.  G.  M.  S.,  and  managed  with  good 
judgment  the  difficult  work  which  followed.      The  different  publications  were  in 
good  condition,  showing  net  balances  for  each  one.      Important  amendments  were 
made  to  the  General  Eldership  Constitution.      One  declared  that  the  "provisions 
of  this  Constitution  shall  be  considered  a  form  or  plan  of  government  of  a  general 
character"  to  extend  to  the  whole  Church  and  all  its  members,  societies  and  or- 
ganizations.    Another  granting  judicial  powers  to  the  Executive  Board,  and  pro- 
viding for  Appeals.     The  Treasurer's  Report  showed  a  balance  of  $11,304.05  in 
the  Permanent  Home  Mission  Fund;   $5,019.76  in  the  Permanent  Foreign  Mission 
Fund;    $983.12   in  the  General  Mission   Fund;    $778.29   in  the  Available  Foreign 
Mission  Fund.      Propositions  for  the  settlement  of  the  German  Eldership  case  were 
formulated  by  the  Committee  and  adopted;  but  they  were  not  agreed  to  by  the  rep- 
resentatives of  said  body,  nor  by  the  body  itself.     Authority  was  given  the  At- 
torney-in-Fact to  continue  the  suit  against  the  German  Eldership.     The  Executive 
Board  reported  a  "hearing"  in  the  case  of  "certain  allegations  made  by  M.  S.  New- 
comer, W.  R.  Covert,  A.  E.  Kepford  and  M.  B.    Newcomer,    reflecting    on    C.    H. 
Forney,  Editor  of  The  Advocate;   S.  G,  Yahn,  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Missions, 
and  C.  Manchester,   President  of  Findlay  College."      It  was  held  at  Findlay,  O., 
November   25,    1903.     The   decision   was   adverse   to   the   complaints,   the   Board 
affirming  nearly  all  the  prayers  of  the  defendants.      The  Eldership  placed  itself 
"uncompromisingly  against  the  liquor  traffic  in  its  every  form,"  and  pledged  itself 
"to  use  every  legitimate  effort  looking  toward  its  entire  suppression."     The  state 
of  religion  throughout  the  General  Eldership  was  "not  what  we  would  desire  to 
see."     The  reasons  given  were  these:      "Many  of  our  people,  in  a  measure,  are 
drifting  from  the  primitive  order  of  the  Church,  and  are  unwilling  to  follow  the 
path  of  true  piety  marked  out  by  our  forefathers,  allowing  the  pleasures  of  the 
world  to  be  more  attractive  to  them  than  the  church  and  its  privileges."     This  is 
"due  to  a  lack  of  consecration."     It  was  also  stated  that  "some  pastors  have  even 
separated  the  sacred   ordinance   of  feet-washing   from  the  Lord's   Supper."     But 
"in  other  places  much  has  been  done  to  advance    the    spiritual    interest    of    the 
churches,  and  to  awaken  a  deep  concern  for  the  doctrines  and  principles  as  taught 
by  the  churches  of  God."     The  Constitution  having  been  amended  so  that  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership  would  meet  once  every  four  years,  it  adjourned  to  meet  in  1909. 

22nd  General  Eldership.^ — In  1909,  for  the  second  time  in  its  history,  the 
General  Eldership  held  its  session  west  of  the  Mississippi  River,  in  the  State 
known  as  "the  Garden  of  the  West,"  and  named  from  the  Kansas  river,  Indian, 
"Smoky  Water."  It  is  the  central  State  in  the  American  Union.  It  was  believed 
at  the  time  that  this  first  quadrennial  session  would  "go  down  in  history  as  an 
epoch-making  Eldership."  Not  only  was  it  a  session  remarkable  in  spirit;  but 
some  of  the  actions  taken  were  to  an  extent  fundamental,  and  established  and  con- 
firmed principles  of  a  far  reaching  character.  It  was  an  Eldership  remarkable  for 
the  Christian  spirit  which  pervaded  it,  the  loving  fellowship  which  pulsated  in  all 
its  sittings,  the  unanimity  of  sentiment  which  developed  on  all  vital  questions, 
and  the  calm,  but  determined,  persistence  to  settle  finally  and  permanently  the 
questions  which  had  vexed  the  body  for  the  previous  six  years.  The  Eldership 
convened  at  Fort  Scott,  Bourbon  county,  Kansas,  when  "the  Opening  Sermon  was 
delivered  on  Wednesday  evening,  May  19,  1909,  by  Rev.  C.  H.  Forney,  D.  D., 
tiLi.  D.,  Harrisburg,  Pa.  Text:— Phil.  iv.  8.  Theme,  'The  Supreme  Things  in  the 
Believer's   Personal   and   Corporate  Life.'  "     The    Eldership    was    constitued    on 


The   General    Eldership  795 

Thursday  morning  by  W.  J.  Schaner  and  C  F.  Rogers,  appointed  by  acclamation, 
and  the  following  enrollment  of  delegates  was  made: 

East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Ministerial — C.  H.  Foniey,  D.  D,,  LL.  D.;  F. 
W.  McGuire,  C.  H.  Grove,  I.  A.  MacDaimald,  G.  W.  Getz,  W.  J.  Schaner,  A.  P. 
Stover,  J.  A.  Better.  Lay — H.  M.  Angle,  H.  J.  Forney,  Geo,  W.  Fox,  Hon.  C.  E. 
Quail,  Chas.  S.  Meek,  J.  F.  Wiggins,  A.  L.  Bierbower,  W.  A.  Myers. 

Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership.  Ministerial — L.  F.  Murray.  Lay — James 
E.  Smith. 

West  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  Ministerial — S.  G.  Yahn,  D.  D.;  R.  L.  Byrnes, 
D.  D.;  John  W.  Whisler.  Lay — Geo.  W.  Stoner,  J.  L.  Updegi'aph,  Wm.  Harris 
Guyer. 

West  Virginia  Eldership  (North).  Ministerial — N.  M.  Anderson.  Lay — J.  C. 
Beam. 

West  Virginia  Eldership  (South).  Ministerial — W.  M.  Browder.  Lay — L. 
D,  Taylor. 

Ohio  Eldership.      Ministerial — C.  T.  Fox,  Ph.  D.;   T.    Koogle,    C.    I.    Brown, 
D.  D.;  W.  E.  Turner.      Lay — P.  J.  Gi-ose,  M.  K.  Smith,  C.  F.  Raach,  Leroy  DeHayes. 
Indiana  Eldership.      Ministerial — L.  A.  Lukenbill,  J.  E.  McColley,  Jr.     Lay — 
W.  J.  Beatty,  J.  D.  Anglin. 

Illinois  Eldership.  Ministerial — J.  Bernard,  C.  F.  Rogers.  Lay — O.  B. 
Huston,  Monroe  White. 

Michigan  Eldership — No  delegates. 

Iowa  Eldership.  Ministerial — W.  N.  Yates,  D.  D.;  E.  E.  Heltibridle.  Lay — 
A.  C.  Garner,  W.  E.  Kelly. 

Nebraska  Eldership.      Ministerial — C,  S.  Kilmer.     Lay — Richard  Bellis. 
Missouri  Eldership.      Ministerial — J.  F.  Allman.      Lay — L.  E.  Mitchell. 
Kansas  Eldership.      Ministerial — J.  W.  Bloyd,  O.  A.  Newlin.     Lay — John  H. 
Gross,  W.  E.  Tuttle. 

Oklahoma  Eldership.  Ministerial — J.  D.  Henson,  H.  W.  Allen.  Lay — C.  H. 
Ballinger,  J.  W.  Burns. 

Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership.  Ministerial — D.  S.  Summit,  J.  H.  Whitting-. 
ton.      Lay — J.  R.  Ledbetter,  J.  T.  Shelby. 

Arkansas  and  Oklahoma  Eldership   (Colored).      Ministerial — R.  T.  Ellenberg. 
Oregan,  Washington  and  California  Eldership.      Ministerial — J.  Ganigus,  A. 
Wilson.      Lay — R.  A.  Slyter. 

Of  the  sixty-nine  delegates  enrolled,  five  were  absent.  The  election  for 
officers  resulted  in  the  choice  of  T.  Koogle,  President;  W.  J.  Schaner,  Journalizing 
Clerk;  C.  F.  Rogers,  Transcribing  Clerk.  On  account  of  certain  difficulties  exist- 
ing in  the  Oregon,  Washington  and  California  Eldership  a  Judiciary  Committee 
was  provided  for  and  appointed,  "to  which  all  matters  pertaining  to"  said  "Elder- 
ship were  referred."  It  consisted  of  C.  H.  Forney,  C.  I.  Brown,  A.  C.  Gamer,  R. 
L.  Byrnes  and  J.  Bernard.  This  Committee  recognized  the  Eldership  "chartered 
by  the  General  Eldership,"  "composed  of  all  ordained  ministers  of  both  factions 
and  other  members;"  appointed  "the  first  Thursday  in  October,  1909,"  and  Salem, 
Oregon,  as  the  time  and  place  for  the  next  session  of  the  Eldership  to  be  held,  and 
decided  "that  all  previous  troubles  and  difficulties  shall  receive  no  further  recog- 
nition." e 

The  Boards  and  Agents  and  Editors  elected  were  as  follows:  Executive  Board, 
R.  L.  Byrnes,  F.  W.  McGuire,  L.  A.  Luckenbill,  C.  F.  Rogers,  E.  E.  Heltibridle. 

Board  of  Missions,  C.  T.  Fox,  A.  C.  Gamer,  J.  Bernard,  G.  W.  Getz,  J.  L.  Up- 
degraph. 

Board  of  Publication,  C.  H.  Grove,  I.  A.  MacDannald,  A.  L.  Bierbower. 
Board  of  Directors  of  the  Central  Publishing  House  and  Book  Store,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  members  of  the  Board  of  Publication — C.  H.  Forney,  H.  J.  Forney,  J.  F. 
Wiggins,  H.  M.  Angle.  C.  H.  Forney  having  insisted  on  his  retirement  from  the 
editorship  of  The  Advocate,  S.  G.  Yahn,  Assistant  Editor,  was  elected  Editor. 
Editor  of  The  Sunbeam  and  the  Primary  Quarterly,  Miss  Lydia  A.  Forney.  Editor 
of  The  Workman  Quarterly  and  Lesson  Leaves,  D.  S.  Shoop.  Treasurer,  M.  K. 
Smith.  On  the  matter  of  writing  and  publishing  a  Church  History,  "the  General 
Eldership  most  earnestly  requested  Rev.  Dr.  C.  H.  Forney  to  write,  and  the  Board 
of  Directors  of  the  Publishing  House  and  Book  Rooms  to  publish,  a  work  in  one  or 
more  volumes  on  the  History  and  Doctrine  and  Polity  of  the  Churches  of  God." 

Despite  internal  troubles,  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  Religion  reported  "a 


796  History   of   the   Churches   of   God 

vigorous  growth  and  abiding  interest  in  our  Church  enterprises."  It  congratulated 
the  churches  on  "the  increased  number  and  the  character  of  our  young  men  pre- 
paring themselves  for  the  active  ministry."  And  it  "noted  with  profound  grati- 
tude the  growing  enthusiasm  in  the  Annual  Elderships  and  the  General  Eldership, 
and  the  determined  purpose  to  eliminate  all  disturbing  elements."  Eight  Articles 
of  the  Constitution  were  amended,  the  most  important  being  those  relating  to  ir- 
regularities in  teaching,  practice  or  polity,  and  to  controversies  between  members 
of  two  or  more  Annual  Elderships,  to  wit: 

Article  XXIV.  Section  2,  was  amended  to  read  as  follows: 

"That  the  method  shall  be,  upon  information  of  irregularities  in  teaching, 
practice,  or  polity,  furnished  by  an  Annual  Eldership  or  its  Stindin^  Commi*^tee, 
or,  in  the  absence  of  such  official  information,  upon  due  information  obtained 
otherwise,  for  the  General  Eldership,  or  its  Executive  Board,  to  express  its  judg- 
ment on  matters  thus  brought  before  it,  and  require  the  Annual  Eldership,  or 
Elderships,  involved  to  carry  said  judgment  into  effect." 

Article  XXV.'  was  amended  to  read  as  follows: 

"In  all  controversies  and  difficulties  arising  between  the  members  of  any  two 
or  more  Annual  Elderships,  the  Executive  Board  shall  have  original  jurisdiction; 
but  either  party  may  take  an  appeal  from  its  decision  to  the  General  Eldership, 
provided  notice  thereof  be  given  to  the  President  of  the  Board  and  to  the  appellee, 
within  thirty  days  after  the  rendering  of  such  decision." 

The  interests  in  the  hands  of  the  different  Boards  were  in  a  gratifying  condi- 
tion. "The  improved  condition  of  Findlay  College  in  all  its  interests  and  depart- 
ments" was  the  subject  of  hearty  congratulation.  But  as  increased  endowment 
was  highly  necessary,  the  "Eldership  invited  the  earnest  co-operation  of  all  the 
Annual  Elderships  in  a  determined  effort  to  raise  during  the  current  year 
$37, .500. 00  needed  to  secure  the  promised  contribution  of  $12. .500. 00  from  Mr. 
Andrew  Carnegie."  Home  and  foreign  mission  work  was  making  gra'ifvi^g 
progress.  Final  action  was  taken  on  the  unification  of  the  Woman's  General  Mis- 
sionary Societies  by  the  adoption  of  the  action  of  the  Commission  on  Unification, 
•and  also  a  series  of  resolutions  proposed  by  C.  H.  Forney,  President-Secr'^tary  of 
the  Commission.  This  ended  the  controversy  relative  to  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  so  far  as 
the  General  Eldership  was  concerned,  leaving  it  with  the  several  Annual  Elder- 
ships within  whose  territories  the  former  W.  G.  M.  S.  still  operated  to  some  extent 
to  put  the  final  actions  into  effect. 

Two  items  of  special  interest  were  reported  by  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the 
Publishing  House  and  Book  Store.  One  was  the  final  liquidation  of  the  debt  on 
the  property  of  the  Board,  located  at  329  Market  street,  Harrisburg,  Pa.  The 
other  was  the  increased  value  of  the  property,  from  $32,300.00  to  about  $75,- 
000.00.  So  that,  including  stock  and  machinery,  the  total  assets  of  the  Board 
approximated  $100,000.00. 

A  protracted  discussion  followed  the  Renort  of  the  Executive  Board  on  the 
case  of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North.  The  Board  decided  against  the  clain^s 
of  "the  Incorporated  West  Virginia  Eldership,  North,"  a  minority  of  the  Elder-hio, 
and  recognized  and  declared,  "the  boundaries  of  the  West  Virginia  Eldership, 
North,  to  be  the  same  as  fixed  by  the  General  Eldership  in  1896,  and  that  the  or- 
ganization of. any  other  so-called  Eldership  within  said  boundaries  is  hereby  de- 
clared to  be  a  violation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  General  Eldership,  and  is  hereby 
condemned." 

"That  if  such  organization  be  still  in  existence  it  is  hereby  form-^llv  enjoined 
from  continuing  as  such,  it  never  having  been  estnblished  by  the  General  Elder- 
ship, and  therefore  all  its  actions  are  necessarily  declared  to  be  null  and  void." 

The  Eldership  expressed  its  judgment  to  the  effect,  "that  money  raised  for  a 
specific  purpose  should  be  sacredly  held  and  used  for  the  purpose  specified;  and 
therefore  we  set  our  stamp  of  emphatic  disapproval  upon  the  actions  of  such  S  n- 
day-schools  as  observe  Children's  College  Day  and  appronriate  the  offering  of  the 
day  to  other  purposes  than  the  support  or  endowment  of  Findlay  College." 

Four  ministers,  who  had  at  different  times  been  delegates  to  the  General 
Eldership,  ended  their  earthly  careers  during  this  quadrennium.  A.  H.  Tx)ng,  of 
the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  "well  and  favorably  known  in  many  of  our 
Annual  Elderships  not  only  because  of  his  extensive  preaching,  but  also  through 
his  printed  sermons  and  numerous  tracts.  He  was  a  preacher  of  more  th^n  ordi- 
nary strength  and  power,  and  a  man  of  splendid  Christian  character.      He   min- 


The  General   Eldership  797 

isterial  life  which  extended  over  half  a  century,  was  a  gracious  benediction  to  every 
community  in  which  he  lived,  and  to  every  church  to  which  he  ministered  in  holy 
things.  In  the  holy  character  he  possessed  and  the  influence  he  exerted  he  left  a 
monument  more  enduring  than  brass  and  loftier  than  the  regal  structure  of  the 
pyramids,  which  the  flight  of  time  itself  shall  not  efface.  He  died  at  the  age  of 
85  years,  having  died  February  7,  1908. 

Rev.  G.  AV.  Wilson,  of  Findlay,  Ohio,  departed  this  life  February,  1906,  aged 
about  93  years.  He  was  well  known  throughout  the  boundaries  of  the  General 
Eldership.  He  was  the  oldest  minister  in  the  Ohio  Eldership,  and  probably  in  the 
Ceneral  Eldership. 

Rev.  Alexander  Miller  died  at  his  home  in  Bartlesville,  Okla.,  February  15, 
1908,  aged  about  72  years.      He  was  a  pioneer  preacher  in  Kansas. 

Rev.  David  Keplinger  died  about  March,  19  08,  at  the  Soldiers'  Home  in  Cali- 
fornia. He  was  eighty-four  years  old.  He  was  a  pioneer  preacher  in  Southeastern 
Kansas.  The  combined  ages  of  these  four  worthy  ministers  exceed  those  of  any 
other  four  of  the  more  than  two  thousand  ministers  ordained  by  Elderships  of  the 
churches  of  God.  The  sentiment  is  worth  impressing  upon  the  hearts  of  the 
living,  that  "the  safest  thing  that  a  Christian  can  do  is  to  die." 

23rd  General  Eldership. — For  the  third  time  in  its  history  the  General  Elder- 
ship was  entertained  by  the  "Mother  Church,"  Fourth  Street,  Harrisburg,  Pa. 
The  session  was  of  greater  length  than  usual,  beginning  with  the  Opening  Sermon 
on  Wednesday  evening.  May  15th,  and  closing  on  Thursday  night,  the  22nd. 
T.  Koogle  delivered  the  sermon,  from  Psalm  cxxxiii.  1.  Theme — -"Unity."  With 
sentiments  of  appreciation  of  the  merits  of  the  sermon  and  of  its  opportune  char- 
acter, the  Eldership  "ordered  it  to  be  published  in  The  Advocate."  On  Thursday 
morning,  the  16th,  Chas.  Manchester  and  W.  E.  Turner  were  selected  Clerks  to 
constitute  the  Eldership,  assisted  by  a  Committee  on  Credentials.  The  Eldership 
was  constituted  as  follows: 

East  Pennsylvania.  Ministerial — C.  H.  Forney,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  W.  N.  Yates, 
D.  D.,  D.  S.  Shoop,  S.  G.  Yahn,  D.  D.,  I.  A.  MacDannald,  D.  D.,  F.  AV.  McGuire, 
•C.  H.  Grove,  H.  F.  Hoover.  Lay  Delegates — H  M.  Angle,  G.  AV.  Fox,  C.  S.  Meek, 
"C.  E.  Bair,  H.  N.  Bowman,  AV.  A.  Myers,  A.  L.  Bierbower,  AV.  C.  Burtnett. 

Maryland  and  Virginia.  Ministerial — L.  F.  Murray.  Lay  Delegate — K.  R. 
Taylor. 

West  Pennsylvania.  Ministerial — J.  L.  Updegi-aph,  J.  AA^  AVhisler,  A.  B., 
W.  H.  Guyer,  A.  M.  I-ay  Delegates — G.  AV.  Stoner,  S.  Fulnier,  Lit.  A.  M.,  Robert 
Hill. 

West  Virginia  (North).  Ministerial — B.  D.  Eden.  Lay  Delegate— AA'illiam 
Headley. 

West  Virginia  Eldership  (South).  Ministerial — R.  L.  AVorkman.*  Lay  Dele- 
gate— G.  A.  Hartvvell.* 

Ohio  Eldership.  Ministerial — AV.  E.  Turner,  Chas.  F.  Raach,  A.  B.,  T.  Koogle, 
<5.  A.  Bartlebaugh.  Lay  Delegates — C.  T.  Fox,  Ph.  D.,  P.  J.  Grose,  S.  H.  Addams, 
Frank  Glasgow. 

Indiana  Eldership.  Ministerial — L.  A.  Lukenbill,  J.  E.  McColley.  Lay  Dele- 
gates— AV.  J.  Beatty,*  J.  D.  Anglin. 

Illinois.  Ministerial — J.  Bernard,  I.  S.  Richmond.  Lay  Delegates — C.  F. 
Rogers,  L.  F.  Alexander. 

Iowa.  Ministerial — Jesse  Huddle,  G.  AV.  Elliott.  Lay  Delegates — I.  N. 
Shearer,  A.  C.  Gamer. 

Nebraska.      Ministerial — R.   Bellis.*      Lay   Delegate — AValter  A.   Bence.* 

Missouri.  Ministerial — J.  F.  Allman,*  G.  L.  Chapman.*  Lay  Delegates — 
-C.  P.  Hale,*  S.  Van  Meter.* 

Kansas.  Ministerial — Chas.  Manchester,  D.  D.  Lay  Delegate — AV.  H. 
Charles. 

Oklahoma.  Ministerial — J.  AV.  Bloyd.  Lay  Delegates — AV.  L.  Fleet,*  L.  B. 
Burns.* 

Texas  and  Arkansas.      No  representation. 

Oregon,  Washington  and   California.      F.  Boyd.* 

Michigan.      No  representation. 

Arkansas  and   Oklahoma  Eldership    (Colored).      No   representation. 

(Those  marked  with  a  star  were  not  present.) 


798  History  of  the   Churches  of   God 

Forty-eight  of  the  enrolled  delegates  responded  to  their  names.  In  Intenseness 
of  interest,  if  not  in  portentous  distrust  concerning  the  future,  it  resembled  the 
session  of  1857.  But  when  final  adjournment  was  reached  the  delegates  dispersed 
with  reassured  confidence  and  with  closed  ranks,  determined  "to  go  forward  with 
a  steady  and  united  front."  The  officers  and  Boards  elected  were  as  follows: 
President,  J.  Bernard;  Journalizing  Clerk,  W.  E.  Turner;  Transcribing  Clerk, 
Chas.  Manchester;  Treasurer,  Farmers'  Loan  and  Trust  Company,  Columbia  City, 
Ind.;  Board  of  Publication,  C.  H.  Grove,  A.  L.  Bierbovver,  I.  A.  MacDannald. 
After  adjournment,  and  the  election  of  C.  H.  Grove  by  the  Executive  Board  to  be 
Editor  of  the  Workman  Quarterly,  C.  H.  Foniey  was  elected  on  the  Board  of  Publi- 
cation and  Grove  on  the  Board  of  Directors.  Executive  Board,  F.  W.  McGuire, 
C.  F.  Rogers,  G.  W.  Elliott,  J.  W.  Whisler,  L.  A.  Lukenbill;  Board  of  Missions, 
Charles  T.  Fox,  A.  C  Gamer,  J.  Bernard,  W.  N.  Yates,  J.  L.  Updegraph;  Board  of 
Directors  of  Publishing  House  and  Book  Store,  C  H.  Forney,  G.  W.  Fox,  H.  M. 
Angle,  H.  N.  Bowman,  C.  H.  Grove,  A.  L.  Bierbower,  I.  A.  MacDannald;  Board  of 
Church  Extension,  F.  W.  McGuire,  A.  C.  Garner  and  3.  L.  Updegraph. 

There  were  three  parts  in  the  deliberations  of  the  Eldership  of  absorbing  in- 
terest. Two  were  under  protracted  deliberation,  but  with  moderation  and  re- 
straint. They  were  considered  "with  closed  doors,  with  the  exception  of  the 
delegates  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.,  and  advisory  members  of  the  Eldership  and  all  mem- 
bers of  the  Church."  The  first  related  to  the  Funds  of  the  General  Eldership  and 
the  W.  G.  M.  S.  in  the  hands  of  the  Treasurer.  These  were  found  to  be  in  bad 
condition,  with  a  possible  loss  of  thousands  of  dollars.  Attorneys-in-fact  were 
appointed,  and  these  two  resolutions  adopted:  "That  all  funds  which  have  been 
secured,  and  shall  be  secured,  from  the  former  Treasurer  be  divided  pro  rata 
among  the  Funds  of  the  General  Eldership  and  the  W.  G.  M.  S.,  according  to  the 
proper  percentage  due  to  each  Fund."  And,  "That  the  Report  [of  the  Executive 
Board]  be  adopted  as  a  whole,  and  that  the  adoption  of  this  report  shall  not  be 
construed  as  accepting  the  bonds  which  the  Treasurer  holds  as  collateral  securities, 
and  which  have  been  named  in  the  report  of  the  Board." 

Following  the  election  of  the  Treasurer  another  resolution  was  adopted,  to 
wit: 

"Resolved,  That  the  said  Treasurer  when  elected,  in  conjunction  with  the  At- 
torneys-in-fact appointed  by  the  Incorporate  Board,  is  hereby  duly  authorized  and 
empowered  by  the  General  Eldership  of  the  Churches  of  God  to  make  full  and 
final  settlement  with  M.  K.  Smith,  whose  term  of  office  terminates  with  this  elec- 
tion, and  to  do  all  things  necessary  to  effect  such  settlement." 

The  second  item  related  to  the  Endowment  Fund  of  Findlay  College.  The 
Pro-Secretary  of  the  College  reported  the  "investments  of  the  Endowment  Fund," 
and  added: 

"In  the  above  summary  will  be  noticed  an  investment  contrary  to  the  By- 
Laws  of  our  Institution  that  has  caused  much  criticism  and  comment  in  the  past 
few  weeks,  and,  therefore,  deserves  special  mention. 

The  mistake  was  made  by  our  President,  who  has  labored  so  unceasingly  and 
against  great  odds  for  the  building  up  of  the  Endowment  Fund."  In  fact,  a  num- 
ber of  different  investments  of  this  character  were  made,  aggregating  a  large 
amount.  The  various  questions  involved  having  been  considered  at  some  lengthy 
the  matter  was  left  in  the  hands  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  which  decided,  that,  "as 
soon  as  possible,  a  complete  inventory  and  appraisal  be  made  of  all  assets  and 
liabilities  of  the  College,  and  that  the  Board  elect  two  of  its  members  to  carry 
out  this  recommendation."  The  Board  added  a  third  member.  It  also  appointed 
one  of  its  members  as  Attorney-in-fact  "to  institute  legal  proceedings"  against  one 
company  in  whose  bonds  investments  were  made  "contrary  to  the  By-Laws  of 
our  Institution,"  in  case  of  failure  to  fulfill  their  contract. 

The  third  part  was  the  "Memorial  Service"  on  Saturday  afternoon,  or  the 
unveiling  of  a  Monument  on  the  grave  of  Winebrenner,  erected  in  the  Spring  and 
paid  for  with  funds  contributed  by  churches  and  societies  of  different  Elderships. 
It  replaced  the  Monument  erected  September  23,  18  68,  and  paid  for  by  collections 
in  churches  of  a  number  of  Annual  Elderships.  This  service,  "owing  to  rain,  was 
held  in  Fourth  Street  Bethel  instead  of  the  Harrisburg  cemetery,  as  previously  ar- 
ranged. It  was  a  meeting  the  impressiveness  and  solemnity  of  which  we  shall 
pever  forget."     The  following  program  was  pre-arranged; 


The   General   Eldership  799 

"PROGRAM. 
Rev.  W.  N.  Yates,  D.  D.,  Presiding. 
Hymn — 'How  Firm  a  Foundation.' 
Prayer^ — -Rev.  Geo.  Sigler,  D.  D. 

Anthem — Selected  choir,  directed  by  Prof.  J.  R.  Swartz,  Organist  Fourth 
Street  Church  of  God. 

Oration — Rev.  C.  H.  Forney,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Editor  Emeritus  Church  Advocate. 

Hymn — 'I  Love  Thy  Kingdom,  Lord.' 

Benediction — Rev.  A.  C.  Gamer." 

Not  less  impressive  were  the  usual  Memorial  services,  at  which  "a  number  of 
addresses  were  made  on  the  lives  and  works  of  Rev.  B.  Ober,  Rev.  O.  B.  Houston, 
Rev.  H.  W.  Allen,  Rev.  M.  S.  Newcomer,  D.  D.,  Prof.  Enoch  A.  Fritter,  Dr.  C.  E. 
Quail  and  Brother  H.  J.  Forney.  These  brethren  were  all  earnest  and  efficient 
men  in  their  several  lines  of  work,  and  their  home-going  leaves  vacant  places  hard 
to  fill." 

Instead  of  sermons  on  the  evenings  after  the  Opening  Sermon,  there  were 
addresses  and  other  exercises  pre-arranged  by  the  Executive  Board.  Thursday 
evening,  the  Educational  Work,  with  address  by  W.  H.  Guyer;  Friday  evening,  the 
Woman's  General  Missionary  Society;  Saturday  evening,  Missions  and  Evangelism, 
with  J.  Bernard  and  Chas.  Manchester  as  speakers;  Monday  evening.  Young 
People's  Societies,  with  an  address  by  J.  E.  McColley;  Tuesday  evening.  Our  Church 
Literature,  address  by  S.  G.  Yahn.  For  1917  it  was  provided  "that  we  have  an 
evening  for  a  lecture  on  Sunday-school  work."  A  number  of  amendments  to  the 
Constitution  of  the  Eldership  were  adopted.  Provision  was  thus  made  for  a  Sta- 
tistical Clerk,  and  a  blank  form  of  annual  reports  was  adopted.  Each  Annual 
Eldership  is  required  to  collect  statistics  on  all  items  covered  by  this  statistical 
blank,  and  forward  the  same  to  the  Statistical  Clerk  of  the  General  Eldership  im- 
mediately following  each  Annual  Eldership  Besides  the  address  on  Young 
People's  Societies,  the  Eldership  rejoiced  in  what  has  been  attained,  and  urged 
the  organization  of  societies  in  all  churches  where  they  do  not  now  exist,  and  di- 
rected the  Annual  Elderships  to  use  all  their  influence  to  this  end.  It  especially 
urged  the  importance  of  the  Junior  work,  recommending  Junior  Societies  wherever 
possible,  and  declaring  it  to  be  the  sense  of  the  General  Eldership,  that  an  earnest 
endeavor  should  be  made  to  deepen  the  spirituality  in  all  societies. 

The  Report  of  the  Board  of  Missions  indicated  a  fair  degree  of  success  in  gen- 
eral mission  work.  A  half  dozen  houses  of  worship  were  built  in  the  four  years; 
twenty-nine  churches  organized;  over  one  thousand  accessions,  and  the  Board  paid 
in  salaries  $8,484.20.  Some  of  the  missionaries  labored  with  churches  organized 
years  before.  A  relatively  large  number  of  men  was  employed,  as  many  served 
but  brief  periods.  The  condition  of  the  periodical  publications  of  the  Eldership  was 
set  forth  in  favorable  terms  by  the  Board  of  Publication.  It  mentioned  with  dis- 
approval the  "Graded  Lesson  System,"  and  "most  earnestly  recommended  the 
continuation  of  the  Uniform  Lessons."  It  also  submitted  "the  advisability  of 
establishing  an  Intermediate  Quarterly,  if  there  is  a  sufficient  demand  for  it."  The 
Eldership  responded  to  this  suggestion  by  authorizing  a  "Junior  Intermediate 
Quarterly"  to  be  published.  The  following  Editors  were  elected:  The  Church 
Advocate,  S.  G.  Yahn;  S.  S.  Gem,  W.  A.  Laverty  (by  the  Board  of  Directors); 
Workman  Quarterly,  Lesson  Leaves  and  Junior  Intermediate  Quarterly,  C.  F, 
Reitzel;  Sunbeam  and  Primary  Quarterly,  Lydia  A.  Forney.  Reitzel  resigning, 
C  H.  Grove  was  elected  in  his  place  by  the  Executive  Board.  The  Report  of  the 
President-Treasurer  of  the  Printing  and  Publishing  House  and  Book  Store  gave 
evidence  of  reasonable  prosperity.  It  showed  receipts  for  the  four  years  of  $156,- 
09  5.47,  and  after  paying  all  bills  due  the  gains,  added  to  those  of  former  years, 
showed  $15,250.00  in  loans  and  investments,  and  $1,159.94  in  the  Treasurer's 
hands.  It  forecasted  enlargement  of  the  Printing  Establishment  which  may  cost, 
with  further  equipments,  from  $6,000.00  to  $8,000.00.  It  also  recommended  the 
appointment  of  a  Permanent  Church  Historian,  which  the  Eldership  approved. 

On  the  question  submitted  by  the  Oklahoma  Eldership,  asking  the  General 
Eldership  to  express  its  judgment  as  to  deacons  being  members  of  Annual  Elder- 
ships by  virtue  of  their  office,  it  adopted  the  following: 

That  while  we  continue  to  recognize  the  right  of  Annual  Elderships,  within 
reasonable  limits,  to  decide  who  shall  constitute  their  membership,  we  express  our 
judgment  on  the  question  submitted  as  follows: 


Soo  History  of  the  Churches  of   God 

1.  That  an  Annual  Eldership  should  be  composed  of  ministers  and  ruling 
elders. 

2.  That  ruling  elders  should  become  members  of  an  Annual  Eldership  by 
virtue  of  their  annual  election. 

3.  That,  so  far  as  possible,  the  number  of  ministers  and  ruling  elders  in  an 
Annual  Eldership  should  be  equal." 

The  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Boundaries,  which  was  sustained,  "author- 
ized the  forming  of  an  'Oregon  Eldership,'  whose  boundaries  shall  be  the  State 
lines  of  Oregon.  Also  the  forming  of  a  'Washington  Eldership,'  whose  boundaries 
shall  be  the  State  lines  of  Washington,  and  approving  their  Constitution  pre- 
sented to  the  Eldership.  The  churches  in  California  and  all  other  churches  not  in 
the  bounds  of  an  Annual  Eldership  are  to  be  under  the  control  of  the  Board  of 
Missions."  The  Eldership  declared  strongly  in  favor  of  National  Prohibition;  ap- 
proved of  the  "cold  water  movement,"  in  rejecting  the  use  of  intoxicants  at  recep- 
tions given  at  the  National  White  House,  and  expressed  its  appreciation  of  every 
law  having  as  its  object  the  suppression  of  the  business  of  shipping  intoxicating 
liquors  into  dry  territory.  It  urged  "Congress  to  adopt  an  amendment  to  our  Con- 
stitution granting  us  National  Prohibition,  and  to  this  end  it  pledged  its  influence 
In  favor  of  agitation  and  combination  of  influences,  in  order  to  bring  the  greatest 
possible  pressure  to  bear  upon  Congress  to  the  end  that  the  said  amendment  may 
be  soon  adopted." 

It  may  be  accepted  as  its  final  admonition  "that  we  seek  to  strengthen  the 
ties  which  bind  us  together  in  a  common  faith  and  purpose,  and  the  sacred  re- 
lationship of  a  common  brotherhood.  We  have  general  enterprises  which  are 
essential  to  the  continued  success  of  our  common  cause.  The  maintenance  and 
enlargement  of  these  enterprises,  in  turn,  depend  upon  the  harmonious  co-opera- 
tion of  all  the  Elderships.  And  this  co-operation,  in  its  truest  and  most  fruitful 
sense,  is  the  outgrowth  of  our  oneness  in  Christ.  For  this  let  us  labor  and  pray. 
And  with  the  Holy  Spirit  to  inspire  us,  and  the  voice  of  God  to  bid  us  forward,  in- 
creasing prosperity  and  usefulness  will  attend  us  in  the  years  that  are  yet  to  be." 


DIVISION  IV. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PRINTING  ESTABLISHMENT. 


C.  H. — 27 


DIVISION  IV. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PRINTING  ESTABLISHMENT. 


The  distinction  between  a  Publishing  House  and  a  Printing  Establishment  was 
not  recognized  by  the  Church  of  God  in  1833.  Perhaps  it  did  not  exist  in  the 
United  States,  as  the  two  had  not  as  yet  acquired  a  distinct  and  separate  character. 
The  printer  was  also  the  publisher.  The  Church  desired  to  publish  a  religious 
paper,  and  its  first  thought  to  the  realization  of  this  desire  was  the  securing  of  a 
Printing  Establishment,  a  place  fitted  up  with  cases,  type,  press  and  other  neces- 
sary materials  to  print  the  paper.  The  printing  press  is  much  older  than  the  news- 
paper, the  first  press  which  was  brought  to  the  new  world  having  been  installed 
in  the  City  of  Mexico,  in  1539;  but  the  newspaper  came  much  later,  and  was  closely 
connected  with  the  printing  establishment  or  plant.  In  1828  the  total  number  of 
newspapers  printed  in  the  United  States  was  85  2.  To  print  a  paper  by  contract, 
as  is  now  not  at  all  uncommon,  was  then  a  rare  exception.  The  religious  body 
that  would  have  its  own  paper  would  also  need  to  provide  for  the  printing  of  it 
on  its  own  press.  In  1833  few  of  the  religious  bodies  were  publishing  papers. 
"The  Library  of  Religious  Knowledge"  names  six  as  having  been  started  prior  to  . 
1833,  and  one  in  that  year.  It  would,  hence,  be  interesting  to  know  with  whom 
the  idea  originated  that  so  young  and  small  a  body  as  the  Church  of  God  was  then 
should  undertake  to  publish  a  paper.  The  records  do  not  inform  us.  It  is 
simply  stated  by  Dr.  George  Ross,  in  1880,  that  "year  after  year  the  matter  was 
agitated,  but  no  definite  action  was  taken  until  1833."  From  that  year  on  it  is 
not  so  difficult  for  the  historian  to  follow  the  development  of  the  idea  until  its 
fullest  realization  in  1901.  It  was  on  December  25,  1833,  at  the  fourth  Eldership 
in  East  Pennsylvania,  held  at  Middletown,  Dauphin  county,  that  "the  subject  of 
starting  a  Printing  Establishment  was  first  officially  acted  upon."  And  then  the 
fact  that  a  Printing  Establishment  was  to  be  installed  was  only  implied  as  being 
self-evident.  The  resolution  was  as  follows:  "That  we  deem  it  highly  important 
for  the  good  of  the  cause  of  God  to  establish  a  religious  paper."  But  after  agree- 
ing on  the  title  of  the  paper,  and  fixing  the  subscription  price,  a  committee  was  ap- 
pointed, consisting  of  J.  Winebrenner,  James  Mackey,  Joseph  Ross,  Jacob  Rupp 
and  S.  Boyer,  which  was  "to  locate  the  paper  and  purchase  type."  For  this  pur- 
pose the  necessary  funds  were  to  be  secured  by  collections  and  subscriptions 
through  the  ministers.  If  they  succeeded,  the  type  was  to  be  bought  and  the  first 
issue  of  the  paper  was  to  be  printed  and  published  March  1,  1834.  What  was 
done  by  said  date, -or  up  to  the  Eldership  held  at  Shippensburg,  Cumberland 
county,  December  13,  1834,  can  not  be  determined.  The  Committee  on  Journals, 
Wm.  Miller,  D.  Maxwell  and  J.  Mackey,  reported  the  item  as  found  on  the  Journal 
of  1833,  and  stated  that  "the  resolution  for  the  establishment  of  a  religious  paper 
had  not  been  carried  into  effect  for  want  of  sufficient  encouragement  to  warrant 
the  same."  The  Committee  also  "recommended  the  Eldership  to  make  renewed 
efforts  to  effect  the  purpose  aforesaid."  Acting  upon  this  suggestion  a  committee 
was  appointed,  consisting  of  J.  Ross,  J.  Winebrenner  and  Andrew  Miller,  "to  raise 
funds  for  the  purchase  of  a  Printing  Establishment."  This  Committee  collected 
$280.75;  borrowed  $764.63,  and  bought  a  press,  type  and  other  material,  so  that 
by  June  5,  1835,  the  first  number  of  the  paper  was  issued. 

As  there  was  only  one  Eldership  at  this  time,  all  this  work  was  done  by  it. 
The  Committee,  however,  were  personally  responsible  for  the  debt  created,  though 
the  Printing  Establishment  was  installed  by  the  authority  of  the  Eldership.  Ac- 
cordingly the  Eldership  held  at  Uniontown,  Md.,  November  2,  1835,  directed  that 
"the  printing  press  and  materials,  the  subscription  list  and  all  incomes  of  the 
Establishment  be  given  to  the  Printing  Committee  as  an  indemnity  to  them  for 
the  money  by  them  advanced."  Nominally  and  legally  the  Establishment  was, 
however,  still  the  property  of  "the  Board  of  Trustees;"  but  it  was  virtually  mort- 
gaged for  its  full  value,  and  its  liabilities  increased  with  no  augmentation  of  its 
assets.  It  seemed  to  have  been  "an  ill-fated  enterprise"  from  the  beginning,  as: 
Winebrenner  later  called  it,  and  instead  of  proving  a  source  of  income  to  be  used' for 


8o4  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

missionary  purposes,  it  involved  certain  brethren  in  heavy  losses.  But,  sanguine 
of  success,  the  establishment  was  continued,  and  efforts  were  renewed  to  reduce, 
or  liquidate  entirely,  the  debt  which  had  been  originally  incurred,  and  was  grow- 
ing. In  1837,*  when  the  Eldership  convened  at  Harrisburg,  two  actions  were 
taken.  The  one  was  the  appointment  of  "J.  Winebrenner  and  A.  Miller  to  solicit 
subscriptions  in  aid  of  the  Printing  Establishment,  to  be  paid  in  five  yearly  in- 
stallments, beginning  January  1,  1838,  to  pay  off  what  was  due  on  the  same."  The 
other  was  broader  in  its  scope.  It  named  Winebrenner,  A.  Miller,  J.  Ross,  Wal- 
born,  Mackey,  Flake  and  J.  S.  Kerr  as  a  committee  "authorized  forthwith  to  take 
measures  to  relieve  the  Printing  Establishment,  and  to  pursue  whatever  course 
they  may  think  best  in  relation  to  the  same."  Whatever  success  may  have  at- 
tended this  plan,  it  did  not  relieve  the  Establishment,  so  that  without  a  published 
report,  at  the  Eldership  at  Middletown,  November  11,  1838,  "the  Printing  Estab- 
lishment was  taken  under  consideration,"  and  Winebrenner  was  authorized  to  "go 
one  round  with  the  preachers  on  each  circuit  and  solicit  subscriptions  for  the 
Printing  Establishment,  and  for  a  Missionary  Fund."  Evidently  he  was  not  gifted 
with  the  hypnotic  power  of  the  modern  solicitor,  or  had  less  sensitive  subjects,  for 
conditions  at  the  Eldership  in  1839  had  not  improved.  The  session  was  held  at 
Shiremanstown,  Cumberland  county,  November  11th,  and  the  affairs  of  the  Print- 
ing Establishment  were  fully  discussed.  As  a  result,  "Jacob  Rupp,  Joseph  Ross, 
Andrew  Miller,  George  Riipp,  Sr.,  and  David  Lingle,  and  such  others  as  they  may 
see  proper  to  add  to  their  number,"  were  "appointed  a  Committee,  or  Board  of 
Trustees  of  the  Printing  Establishment."  They  were  "empowered  to  audit  and 
settle  the  accounts  of  the  Establishment,  and  after  liabilities'  are  ascertained,  to 
make  a  loan  for  the  payment  of  the  same."  And  a  second  time  they  were  granted 
the  right  to  "hold  the  Establishment,  with  all  its  assets,  as  their  security  for  the 
payment  of  the  loan."  This  Board  could  appoint  agents  to  collect  money,  and 
"control  and  manage  the  Establishment  and  its  finances  until  its  liabilities  are  dis- 
charged, and  then  the  Establishment  to  be  returned  as  the  property  of  the  Elder- 
ship." On  January  3,  1840,  this  Board  reported  the  indebtedness  to  be  $4,409.70, 
and  the  assets  consisted  of  $1,. 500. 00  unpaid  subscriptions,  $225.00  five-year 
pledges,  with  other  "availabilities"  to  the  amount  of  $518.95.  If  these  assets 
were  convertible  into  cash,  the  net  debt  would  have  been  $2,165.75;  but  they  were 
almost  worthless.  Of  these  liabilities  one  item  of  $2,718.12  was  a  debt  to  the 
Editor.  One  thing  which  seriously  militated  against  the  Establishment  was  the 
fact  that  from  the  first  issue  of  Vol.  I.  of  The  Gospel  Publisher  the  prospect  was 
prominently  held  before  the  readers  that  the  Establishment  would  make  money, 
replenish  the  Missionary  Fund,  and  that  these  "net  proceeds  will  be  applied  to  re- 
ligious purposes."  During  the  year  1841  and  1842  prospects  apparently  bright- 
ened, for  in  November,  1842,  the  Board  of  Trustees  reported  a  "total  gain  of 
$1,009.47  since  January  1,  1840.  An  agent  was  secured  to  collect  to  pay  off  the 
balance  of  the  debt.  But  this  was  only  a  rift  in  the  ever-lowering  clouds,  for  on 
February  20,  1843,  one  of  the  members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  stated,  that  by 
April  of  said  year  there  would  be  a  deficit  which  might  reach  $1,200.00.  In  No- 
vember of  said  year  an  earnest  plea  was  made  for  all  indebted  to  the  Establish- 
ment to  pay.  And  at  the  Eldership  held  at  Shippensburg,  November,  1843,  all 
the  members  pledged  themselves  to  collect  funds  to  pay  the  debt  on  the  Printing 
Establishment.  The  body  also  gave  assurance  that  it  would  "keep  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  the  Printing  Establishment  from  all  losses  which  they  might  sustain 
on  account  of  the  Establishment."  The  number  of  Trustees  at  this  time  was 
twenty-four,  which  was  increased  to  thirty-four  in  1844.  It  created  a  permanent 
"Relief  Fund,"  which  the  Eldership  approved  in  November,  1844,  "to  raise  funds 
to  liquidate  claims  upon  the  Printing  Establishment."  Winebrenner  was  appointed 
to  make  collections.  And  while  there  were  gains  reported  in  some  lines,  in  others 
there  were  losses,  so  that  by  January  15,  1845,  "the  Auditing  Committee  reported 
the  debt  of  the  Printing  Establishment  to  be  $4,042.42."  It  was  concluded  that 
"voluntary  subscriptions  alone  could  save  the  Establishment  from  dissolution." 
By  this  time  two  other  Elderships  had  been  organized,  and  these  were  appealed  to 
for  help  "to  raise  money  to  place  the  Establishment  on  a  free  footing."  In  October, 
1844,  the  Ohio  Eldership  responded  with  a  favorable  resolution,  followed  in  No- 
vember by  a  similar  action.  Subscriptions  were  reported  by  May,  1846,  of 
about  $2,520.00,  from  Ohio  and  East  Pennsylvania,  to  be  credited  to  the  "Re- 
lief  Fund."      On   December    12,    1845,   after   the   suspension    of   The   Gospel    Pub- 


The    Printing    Establishment  805 

lisher,  August  13,  1845,  the  Board  of  Trustees  announced  that  "the  Agents  have 
nearly  finished  canvassing  the  ground,  and  have  failed  to  raise  an  adequate  sum  to 
discharge  the  entire  debt  of  the  Establishment."  And  the  Editor  stated  as  a  rea- 
son for  the  suspension  of  the  paper  that  "the  Executive  Committee  have  become 
tired  borrowing  money  to  carry  on"  the  paper;  and  as  "the  subscribers  will  not 
pay,  it  therefore  must  of  necessity  stop."  The  blame  for  the  catastrophe  was 
placed  upon  the  patrons  of  the  paper,  through  whose  dereliction  a  larger  amount 
than  the  debt  was  lost.  How  much  of  the  $7,000.00,  which  the  Auditing  Com- 
mittee reported  as  having  been  "lost"  in  the  less  than  ten  years  The  Gospel  Pub- 
lisher was  nfinted  no  one  may  know;  but  while  the  members  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  finally  lost  considerable  (as  the  total  debt  in  August,  1846,  was  given  at 
$8,968.99),  after  years  of  contention  and  diligent  effort  "Winebrenner's  claims" 
were  liquidated. 

This  closed  out  the  Printing  Establishment  as  a  direct  Eldership  enterprise 
for  that  period.  It  was  prematurely  initiated;  but  it  must  be  conceded  that  the 
action  of  1833  was  by  far  the  most  important  taken  by  that  Eldership,  the  most 
far-reaching  in  its  effects  upon  the  future  of  the  Church.  Had,  however,  the  pro- 
ject been  deferred  five  or  ten  yeal's  the  evil  results  of  this  miscarriage,  with  the 
friction  and  enmities  engendered,  would  have  been  avoided.  And  also  the  unity 
of  feeling  and  sentiment  in  the  body  and  the  co-operative  zeal  and  spirit  of  aggres- 
sion would  have  carried  the  Church  to  greater  triumphs.  The  Evangelical  Asso- 
ciation was  considerably  stronger  when  the  first  steps  were  taken,  in  1816,  to 
establish  a  Publishing  House.  But,  says  Bishop  K.  Yeakel,  "it  was  soon  ascer- 
tained that  the  Association  was  yet  too  weak  to  support  such  an  institution."  It 
was,  however,  not  until  1836,  when  the  Association  numbered  about  7,000,  that 
the  "Christliche  Botschafter"  was  founded,  and  "the  coming  year  a  Publishing 
House  should  be  founded."  Their  English  paper  was  "ordered  to  be  published  by 
the  General  Conference  in  1847.  At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1821,  says  Ancel 
fl.  Bassett,  author  of  the  History  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church,  "there  was 
not  a  Methodist  newspaper  issued  anywhere  upon  the  continent."  "The  Metho- 
dist Protestant,"  the  first  paper  published  by  the  M.  P.  Church,  was  established  in 
1831.  It  was  in  1834  that  "the  Trustees  of  the  General  Conference"  of  the  United 
Brethren  Church,  as  per  instructions  by  the  General  Conference,  "secured  real 
estate  at  Circleville,  Ohio,  purchased  a  press,  type,  and  other  necessary  material, 
and  established  the  Publishing  House  of  the  Church."  "December  31,  1834  the 
first  periodical  publication  issued  from  the  Establishment"  was  printed — "The 
Religious  Telescope."  Conditions  under  which  these  periodicals  were  launched 
were  not  dissimilar  from  those  of  The  Gospel.  Publisher.  The  size  of  the  papers, 
the  price  and  the  number  of  subscribers  were  nearly  identical.  None,  however, 
bad  so  small  and  weak  a  constituency. 

That,  when  on  May  1,  1846,  The  Church  Advocate  was  issued,  it  was 
not  from  the  Printing  Establishment  of  the  Eldership  is  substantiated  by  cir- 
cumstantial and  direct  evidence.  Winebrenner  says,  in  his  "Editorial  Ad- 
dress," I  have  agreed  to  publish  the  first  volume  of  the  new  series  on  my 
own  responsibility."  The  standing  announcement  at  the  head  of  the  first 
column  of  the  first  page  was:  "Printed  and  Published  by  John  Winebren- 
ner, V.  D.  M."  In  a  brief  editorial,  "Delay  of  The  Advocate,"  he  says:  "Having 
bought  the  office."  And  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Printing  Establishment, 
in  the  last  number  of  The  Gospel  Publisher,  stated  that  "we  have  concluded 
to  wind  up  the  concern."  It  continued  to  be  Winebrenner's  Printing  Establish- 
ment, though  The  Gospel  Publisher  and  The  Church  Advocate  were  the  organ  of 
the  General  Eldership,  until  April  23,  18.57.  On  that  date  the  following  announce- 
ment was  made  editorially  by  Winebrenner:  "Since  the  foregoing  editorials  were 
written,  preparatory  to  the  next  volume,  we  have  quite  unexpectedly  sold  and 
transferred  the  good  will  and  Advocate  Establishment  to  Elder  James  Colder." 
In  the  issue  of  the  paper  of  May  1st,  J.  Colder  stated  he  had  "purchased  the  good 
will  and  fixtures  of  the  Advocate  Establishment."  The  General  Eldership  con- 
vened June  1,  1857,  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  when  "the  Committee  on  Purchasing  the 
Printing  Establishment"  reported  the  willingness  of  Colder  "to  sell  the  same  to 
this  body  for  the  amount  it  cost  him."  As  the  General  Eldership  had  no  funds, 
it  concluded  "to  take  the  Establishment  at  the  amount  it  cost  Colder,  and  leave  it 
in  his  hands  until  the  receipts  cover  that  amount,  after  which  the  entire  proceeds 
are  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  the  General  Eldership."     Colder  was  elected  Editor, 


8o6  History    of    the    Churches    of    God" 

"at  a  salary  of  $300.00  for  the  first  year,  and  $500.00  for  each  subsequent  year 
up  to  the  meeting  of  the  next  General  Eldership."  E.  H.  Thomas,  John  S.  Gable 
and  Dr.  George  Ross  were  "appointed  agents  of  the  General  Eldership,  as  the  Pub- 
lishing Committee  of  The  Church  Advocate."  It  was  shortly  after  this  that  Colder 
began  his  public  opposition  to  the  m'issionaries  and  their  course  in  Texas,  and  also 
got  into  an  infilicitous  controversy  with  AVinebrenner,  both  of  which  militated 
seriously  against  the  prosperity  of  the  paper.  As  a  consequence,  Colder,  on  Jan- 
uary 6,  1859,  suspended  the  publishing  of  The  Advocate.  He  also  gave  the  Board 
of  Publication  to  understand  that  it  was  responsible  for  the  debts  of  the  Estab- 
lishment. The  Board  would  not  furnish  funds,  but  decided  to  take  the  paper,  the 
Establishment,  the  debts  and  all.  The  total  indebtedness  was  $1,334.00,  "and 
not  a  dollar  in  hand  to  print  the  paper."  It  took  Colder's  place  in  the  contract 
with  the  General  Eldership,  and  then  made  the  same  contract  with  Thomas  to  print 
and  publish  the  paper,  except  the  matter  of  salary.  Thomas  was  to  take  the  Estab- 
lishment, with  all  liabilities  and  assets,  subscription  list  and  materials,  and  carry 
on  the  work,  paying  all  liabilities  and  receiving  all  the  income  for  two  full  years 
from  May  1,  1859.  At  said  date,  May  1,  1861,  he  was  to  deliver  up  the  Establish- 
ment clear  of  all  incumbrances  to  the  General  Eldership.  The  first  issue  of  the 
paper  under  this  contract  was  dated  February  10,  1859.  However,  the  estimates 
and  anticipations  on  which  the  contract  was  based  proved  erroneous,  so  that  by 
May  1,  1860,  the  debt  was  $1,637.38.  The  contract  had  one  more  year  to  run  when 
the  General  Eldership  assembled  in  1860.  Desiring  to  have  it  synchronous  with 
the  triennial  period  of  the  General  Eldership,  this  fact  was  set  at  naught,  and  the 
former  contract  was  extended  to  the  time  of  the  meeting  of  the  General  Eldership 
In  1863.  Thomas,  Gable  and  Ross  were  re-elected  as  the  Board  of  Publication. 
During  these  three  years  the  debt  was  reduced  to  $500.00.  The  former  contract 
was  renewed,  to  expire  in  1866,  and  the  old  Board  was  re-elected.  During  these 
three  years  prices  for  labor  and  materials  of  all  kinds  so  increased  that  instead 
of  reducing  the  debt  it  was  found  that  the  expenses  exceeded  the  income  by  $600. 
Indeed  so  threatening  were  the  indications  that  another  disaster  was  apprehended 
by  some.  In  the  most  heroic  spirit  Thomas  decided,  in  1868,  to  meet  the  storm 
which  seemed  to  be  brewing  by  doubling  the  size  of  the  paper  and  providing  "an 
entire  new  suit  from  head  to  foot."  And  while  it  did  not  succeed  in  wiping  out 
the  debt  on  the  Establishment,  it  was  the  forlorn  hope  which  ultimately  crowned 
the  breach  and  brought  victory  to  those  who  entered  into  Thomas's  labors.  It  was 
the  popular  thing  to  do,  and  the  results  showed  that  it  spelled  victory.  While  ihe 
debt  in  1866  was  about  $1,000.00,  in  1869  it  did  not  exceed  $1,200.00.  At  the 
General  Eldership  in  1869,  leaning  over  the  grave,  Thomas  submitted  a  proposi- 
tion, asking  for  a  new  contract  for  three  years.  But  he  proposed  to  pay  off  the 
entire  debt  the  first  year,  and  for  each  of  the  two  succeeding  years  to  pay  to  the 
Treasurer  of  the  General  Eldership  $300.00.  The  Eldership  accepted  the  proposi- 
tion, and  for  the  first  time  in  thirty-four  years  had  a  good  foundation  for  the  hope 
of  "revenue  for  religious  purposes"  from  the  Printing  Establishment.  Within 
less  than  four  months  of  the  ratification  of  this  contract  Thomas  was  soothed  to 
sleep  by  the  music  of  heaven.  But  under  the  law,  and  according  to  the  provisions 
of  his  Will,  the  Executor  claimed  that  the  contract  was  not  abrogated  by  Thomas's 
death,  but  that  the  Executor  took  his  place.  Though  not  agreeable  to  the  remain- 
ing members  of  the  Board,  they  acquiesced  in  this  view.  But  during  the  Winter 
following  the  death  of  Thomas  negotiations  between  Dr.  Ross  and  the  Executor 
resulted  in  the  transfer  of  the  contract  to  Dr.  Ross  for  the  consideration  of  $1,- 
500.00.  He  fulfilled  the  contract,  and  in  1872  paid  the  $600.00,  minus  a  small 
amount  paid  for  type  for  a  new  mailing  list,  to  the  General  Eldership.  He  was  also 
the  official  Publisher  of  the  paper  from  1870  to  1876.  The  material  of  the  old 
Printing  Establishment  was  of  very  little  value,  "consisting  of  an  old  and  useless 
hand  press  and  some  worn-out  and  antiquated  type,  neither  of  which  were  of  any 
use."  Thomas  had  his  own  Job  Printing  Plant,  and  the  presswork  was  done  by 
contract  in  another  Publishing  House. 

From  the  date  that  Thomas  became  publisher  of  The  Advocate  until  1901  the 
General  Eldership  had  no  Printing  Establishment.  And  even  from  1846  only  in 
name.  The  printing  was  done  by  contract  with  other  publishing  houses;  or,  as 
in  the  case  of  Thomas,  in  his  own  establishment.  The  first  outside  contract  was 
with  "The  Inquirer  Publishing  Co.,"  Lancaster  City,  from  1870  to  1874.  In  1874 
"The  Herald  Printing  and  Publishing  Co.,"  Carlisle,  secured  the  contract,  and  held 


The    Printing    Estabushm^nt 


807 


it  until  1876.  Then  "The  Farmers'  Friend  Publishing  Co.,"  Mechanicsburg,  had 
the  contract  for  two  years,  after  which  the  same  parties  and  "The  Harrisburg  Tele- 
graph Co.,"  held  the  contract  alternately  until  1901.  But  during  these  thirty-one 
years  of  exile  the  desire  to  have  a  Printing  Establishment  owned  and  controlled  by 
the  Church  was  not  extirpated.  It  was  being  quietly  nursed  in  the  mind  of  the 
Editor  who  succeeded  Thomas,  and  with  confidence  and  in  measured  terms  it  was 
occasionally  submitted  to  the  Church.  And  as,  after  1878,  a  surplus  began  to  ac- 
cumulate, the  purpose  of  using  it  to  establish  a  Printing  and  Publishing  House  was 
presented  in  stronger  terms.  In  the  issue  of  The  Advocate  of  February  4,  1880,  the 
Editor  again  took  up  the  strains  of  the  early  thirties,  and  in  an  editorial  on  the 
subject,  said:  "We  are  amply  strong  enough  to  have  a  good  Printing  Establish- 
ment." On  July  14,  1880,  under  the  caption,  "Our  Publishing  Interests,"  he  said: 
*'If  we  are  to  do  anything  special  during  this  semi-centennial  year  for  our  Publish- 


George    Ross. 


ing  Interests,  it  is  proper  that  the  particular  things  which  may  be  done  should  be 
pointed  out  and  discussed."  And  added:  "One  of  the  things  to  do  is  to  raise  the 
means  to  start  a  Printing  Establishment  of  our  own,"  with  such  arguments  in  favor 
of  the  project  as  appealed  to  his  judgment.  A  "Book  Concern"  was  originally 
associated  in  the  minds  of  the  brotherhood  with  a  Printing  Establishment  and  a 
paper.  And  so  when  Dr.  Boss  in  1877  opened  his  Bookstore  on  South  Third  street, 
Harrisburg,  it  was  anticipated  that  in  connection  therewith  there  would  soon  be  a 
Printing  Establishment.  It  was  the  headquarters  of  the  periodical  publications  of 
the  Church.  His  nearest  friends  believed  with  reasonable  assurance  that  only  his 
premature  death  prevented  this  consummation,  for  the  Lord  had  put  it  into  his 
heart  to  devise  liberal  things.  This  precedence  of  the  "Book  Concern"  appears  in 
the  official  action  of  the  General  Eldership  in  1884.  The  Committee  on  Book  De- 
pository reported  on  the  subject,  and  with  surprising  unanimity  the  Board  of  In- 
corporation, upon  recommendation  of  said  Committee,  was  authorized  to  establish 
a  Book  Concern  as  soon  as  possible.      Periodicals  were  to  continue  under  existing 


8o  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

management  "until  the  Board  of  Incorporation  shall  establish  a' Book  Concern  and 
Printing  Establishment."  Other  arrangements  touching  periodicals  which  were 
proposed  were  "not  to  go  into  effect  until  such  time  as  the  Board  of  Incorporation 
is  ready  to  start  the  Book  Store  and  Printing  Establishment."  The  proponents  of 
this  scheme  realized  the  difficulty  against  which  such  a  large  and  widely-scattered 
Board  would  labor  in  carrying  this  action  into  eft'ect.  But  they  had  a  year  to 
think  and  to  mature  plans,  for  the  Board  would  not  meet  until  June,  1885.  When 
it  did  meet,  June  16,  1885,  Editor  Forney  first  submitted  a  resolution,  declaring 
that  "it  is  expedient  on  the  part  of  the  Board  of  Incorporation  to  take  some  action 
at  the  earliest  day  practicable  touching  a  Book  Store  and  Printing  Establishment 
referred  to  this  Board  by  the  General  Eldership."  This  encountered  no  opposition. 
At  once  J.  H.  Redsecker  read  and  submitted  Editor  Forney's  preamble  and  resolu- 
tions, prepared  in  advance,  which  provided  for  "the  establishment  of  a  Publishing 
House  and  Book  Rooms  with  as  little  delay  as  the  importance  and  magnitude  of 
the  work  will  admit  of;"  that  they  "be  located  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.;"  that  "a  Board 
of  Directors  be  appointed  to  consist  of  the  Board  of  Publication  together  with 
two  other  brethren  to  be  elected  by  the  Board  of  Incorporation,"  and  prescribing 
the  duties  of  said  Board  of  Directors.  Considerable  discussion  followed.  It  was 
proposed  by  W.  B.  Allen  that  the  location  be  Findlay,  Ohio;  but  the  amendment 
was  lost  by  a  large  majority.  K.  H.  Bolton  submitted  an  amendment  that  the 
name  be  "The  Publishing  House  and  Book  Rooms  of  the  Church  of  God,"  which 
was  sustained.  One  other  ame^idment  prevailed,  making  the  elective  members  of 
the  Board  of  Directors  "four"  instead  of  "two."  One  more  step  was  at  once  taken. 
The  four  members  of  the  Board  were  elected.  The  tendency  to  scatter  the  Board 
became  at  once  apparent.  Of  the  ten  persons  nominated  one  was  from  Iowa,  two 
from  Illinois,  one  from  Ohio,  one  frOrn  Indiana,  one  from  West  Pennsylvania  and 
four  from  East  Pennsylvania.  Those  elected  were  John  Huff,  Iowa;  W.  W.  Lovett, 
Indiana;  C.  H.  Foniey,  East  Pennsylvania;  W.  P.  Small,  Ohio.  These,  with  Isaac 
Frazer,  J.  H.  Redsecker  and  D.  M.  Bare,  Board  of  Publication,  constituted  the  first 
Board  of  Directors.  The  first  duty  of  this  Board  was  to  rent  a  room  and  start  a 
Book  Store.  Following  this,  gradually,  as  the  judgment  of  the  Board  would  dic- 
tate, it  was  to  install  a  job  printing  office,  and  then  a  Printing  House.  The  Board 
was  also  authorized  "to  draw  on  the  Treasurer  of  the  General  Eldership  for  such 
amount,  out  of  the  Book  Fund,  as  may  be  necessary."  From  this  source  the 
Board  received  $2,900.00  in  cash  and  $4,162.00,  the  estimated  value  of  books  held 
by  the  Book  Agent,  and  it  made  a  loan  from  the  Book  Agent  of  $1,134.92.  The 
Board  as  constituted  never  held  a  meeting,  as  the  members  west  of  the  moun- 
tains failed  to  be  present.  The  work  rested  upon  the  members  living  in  the  terri- 
tory of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  They  were  united  in  purpose,  and 
worked  expeditiously.  In  seven  days  less  than  three  months  after  the  Board  was 
created,  on  September  9,  1885,  Editor  Forney  made  this  announcement:  "To-day 
the  first  step  in  this  enterprise  is  a  reality.  The  Book  Store  is  now  open.  At  No. 
335  Market  street,  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  the  Board  of  Directors  has  now  a  well-stocked 
Book  Store."  From  the  beginning  the  enterprise  was  providentially  favored  with 
a  good  measure  of  success,  for  from  September  9,  1885,  to  April  30,  1887,  the 
amount  received  from  sales  of  merchandise  was  $13,461.39.  The  members  of 
the  Board  then,  and  ever  since,  gave  their  time  and  labor  and  carfare  without 
remuneration. 

Larger  things  were  now  on  the  horizon.  To  prepare  for  these,  when  Treas- 
urer Forney  submitted  his  report  to  the  General  Eldership  in  May,  1887,  he  rec- 
ommended "that  the  Board  of  Directors  be  authorized  to  secure  real  estate  for  a 
Publishing  House  when  in  its  judgment  it  would  be  advisable."  This  was  granted. 
This  authority  was  renewed  in  1893.  The  Board  was  making  haste  slowly.  It 
acted  with  wise  deliberation.  It  kept  the  ultimate  purpose  ever  in  view.  April 
30,  1893,  it  was  said  editorially,  "Unless  the  General  Eldership  dissents,  we  pro- 
pose that  every  dollar  that  can  be  made  by  The  Advocate,  and  also  the  Book 
Rooms,  shall  go  into  a  fund  to  establish  a  Publishing  House."  As  the  Board  was 
almost  exclusively  dependent  on  income  from  the  Book  Store  and  the  various 
periodicals  for  funds  to  purchase  property  and  install  a  printing  plant,  it  acted 
in  a  spirit  of  prudence  and  circumspection.  Three  properties  on  Market  street, 
and  several  in  other  parts  of  the  city,  were  considered  at  different  dates;  but  no 
final  action  was  taken  until  at  a  meeting  of  the  Board  held  July  11,  1899,  when  a 
casual  remark,  reported  to  the  Board  as  to  the  probability  of  buying  the  property 


The    Printing    Establishment 


809 


at  329  Market  street,  led  to  the  adoption  of  a  motion  to  open  negotiations  for  its 
purchase.  A  committee  was  at  once  appointed  to  see  Edward  Stover,  the  pro- 
prietor, and  make  the  purchase,  at  a  price  left  within  the  discretion  of  the  com- 
mittee. On  August  1,  1899,  the  Agreement  of  Sale  was  signed  at  Hummelstown,. 
Dauphin  county,  near  which  town  Mr.  Stover  lived,  and  a  certain  amount  paid. 

By  this  act  the  Board -came  into  possession  of  a  very  valuable  property  at  a 
reasonable  price.      The  lot  has  a  frontage  of  2  6  feet,  6  inches,  on  Market  street,  and 


Central  Printing  and  Publishing  House. 

a  depth  of  210  feet  to  Blackberry  avenue.  Thereon  stands,  on  Market  street,  a 
four-story  brick  building,  with  a  depth  of  15  0  feet,  and  on  Blackberry  avenue  two 
three-story  dwelling  houses.  The  purchase  price  fixed  in  the  Agreement  of  Sale 
was  $32,300;  but  Mr.  Stover  generously  donated  $300.00.  By  April  1,  1900,  when 
the  Agreement  of  Sale  called  for  the  transfer  of  the  property  and  full  payment  of 
the  purchase  money,  the  Board  secured  a  loan  of  $15,000.00,  paid  Mr.  Stover  in 
full,  and  secured  a  clear  title.  Later,  to  provide  for  the  Life  interest  of  $2,300.00, 
the  Board  invested  $2,500.00  in  guaranteed  bonds. 


Sio  History   of  the   Churches   op  God 

The  degree  of  success  which  rewarded  the  labors  of  the  Board  inspired  con- 
fidence. The  Board  had  a  paying  business;  the  periodicals  reported  net  gains  each 
year  which  the  Board  controlled,  and  it  had  the  room  in  which  to  install  a  com- 
plete printing  plant.  Why  not  venture  a  little  further,  and  if  necessary  borrow 
a  few  thousand  dollars  additional  and  complete  the  Establishment  as  originally 
designed?  On  January  24,  1901,  a  special  meeting  of  the  Board  was  called  to 
consider  this  question,  and  after  thoroughly  canvassing  the  whole  question,  de- 
cided to  proceed  at  once  to  make  necessary  changes  on  the  first  floor  and  base- 
ment, and  purchase  the  machines  and  material  to  install  a  printing  plant  to  fully 
meet  the  requirements  of  our  own  publishing  interests,  the  same  to  be  finished  in 
good  time  to  print  No.  1,  of  Vol.  LXVL,  of  The  Advocate  of  July  3,  1901.  This  in- 
cluded the  following:  One  No.  9,  4-roller,  2-revolution  Cottrell  Press,  one  Brown 
Folder,  one  Wire  Stitcher,  one  Linotype,  one  Paper  Cutter,  one  Job  Press,  one  Per- 
forator, one  Proof  Press,  a  number  of  series  of  Job  Type,  General  Furniture,  one 
large  Imposing  Stone,  electric  motors  for  every  machine,  and  full  assortment  of 
cases,  cabinets  and  printers'  wood  furniture.  The  total  cost  was  $10,776.19.  The 
total  indebtedness  now,  less  cash  and  securities,  was  about  $21,000.00.  On  July  3, 
1901,  as  prearranged.  The  Advocate,  which  had  up  to  this  date  paid  nearly  $12,- 
000.00  toward  the  Publishing  House  and  Printing  Plant,  in  its  present  form,  was 
set  up,  printed,  folded,  trimmed  and  stitched  on  the  machinery  installed  and 
mailed  from  "The  Publishing  House  of  the  Church  of  God."  The  expectation  was 
indulged  by  the  Board,  that  by  May,  1909,  it  could  pay  off  the  debt  entirely.  But 
working  with  all  diligence  and  economy,  heartily  co-operated  with  by  the  General 
Manager,  W.  A.  Laverty,  it  was  announced  by  the  President-Treasurer  four  months 
in  advance  of  this  date,  January  1,  1909,  that  the  debt  was  canceled,  and  that  "the 
Board  of  Incorporation  now  had  a  clear  title,  in  fee  simple,  without  incumbrance, 
or  lien  of  any  character.  The  last  dollar  on  our  mortgage  was  paid  this  morn- 
ing." With  the  advance  in  real  estate,  the  value  of  the  entire  plant  now  was 
placed  at  "not  less  than  $100,000.00."  Since  then  there  have  been  added  a  large 
Job  Press,  a  Punching  Machine  and  a  Cleveland  Folder  and  electric  motors,  cost- 
ing about  $2,500.00. 

The  membership  of  the  Board  of  Directors  during  the  period  between  the 
■General  meetings  from  1884  to  191.3  was  as  follows: 

1885  to  1887: — I.  Frazer,  D.  M.  Bare  and  J.  H.  R«dsecker,  Board  of  Publi- 
<;ation;  C.  H.  Forney,  W.  P.  Small,  AV.  W.  Lovett,  J.  Huflf. 

1887  to  1900: — D.  M.  Bare,  J.  H.  Redsecker  and  J.  C.  Forney,  Board  of  Pub- 
lication; C.  H.  Forney,  J.  M,  Carvell,  G.  Sigler,  S.  Knisley. 

1890  to  1893: — D.  M.  Bare,  J.  H.  Redsecker  and  J.  M.  Carvell,  Board  of  Pub- 
lication; S,  Knisley,  B.  F.  Beck,  G,  Sigler,  G.  W.  Seilhammer. 

1893  to  1896: — D.  M.  Bare,  D.  S.  Shoop  and  C.  I.  Brown,  Board  of  Publica- 
tion; C.  H.  Forney,  G.  Sigler,  B.  F.  Beck,  S.  Knisley. 

1896  to  1899: — D.  M.  Bare,  D.  S.  Shoop  and  C.  I.  Brown,  Board  of  Publica- 
tion; C.  H.  Forney,  H.  J.  Forney,  J.  F.  Wiggins  and  C.  C.  Bartels. 

1899  to  1902: — D.  M.  Bare,  D.  S.  Shoop  and  C.  I.  Brown,  Board  of  Publica- 
tion; C.  H.  Forney,  H.  J.  Forney,  J.  F.  AViggins,  I.  A.  MacDannald. 

1902  to  1905: — D.  M.  Bare,  D.  S.  Shoop  and  I.  A.  MacDannald,  Board  of  Pub- 
lication; C.  H.  Forney,  J.  F.  Wiggins,  H.  J.  Forney  and  C.  I.  Brown. 

1905  to  1909: — I.  A.  MacDannald,  C.  H.  Grove  and  H.  M.  Angle,  Board  of 
Publication;  C.  H.  Forney,  H.  J.  Forney,  J.  F.  Wiggins,  A.  L.  Bierbower. 

1909  to  1913: — C.  H.  Grove,  I.  A.  MacDannald  and  A.  L.  Bierbower,  Board 
•of  Publication ;  C.  H.  Forney,  H.  J.  Forney,  J.  F.  Wiggins  and  H.  M.  Angle. 

Elected  in  1913: — C.  H.  Grove,  A.  L.  Bierbower,  I.  A.  MacDannald,  Board  of 
Publication;  C.  H.  Forney,  G.  W.  Fox,  H.  M.  Angle  and  H.  N.  Bowman. 

C  F.  Reitzel,  on  May  30,  1913,  having  resigned  as  Editor  of  the  "Workman 
Quarterly,"  C.  H.  Grove  was  unanimously  elected  in  his  place  by  the  Executive 
Board.  Having  accepted  the  position  it  was  necessary  that  he  should  resign  as  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Publication.  The  Executive  Board  on  July  4th  unani- 
mously elected  C.  H.  Forney  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Publication.  C.  H.  Grove 
was  elected  in  his  place  on  the  Board  of  Directors,  Forney  becoming  a  member  ex- 
olficio. 

In  1885  W.  F.  Becker  was  elected  Superintendent  of  the  Book  Store.  He 
served  in  that  capacity  until  January  29,  1889,  when  W.  A.  Laverty  was  elected, 
who   in    1901    was   promoted   to   General   Manager   of   the   Publishing   House   and 


Thk    Printing    Establishment 


8ii 


Book  Store.  His  continuance  in  this  office  to  the  present  is  the  best  evidence  of 
his  ability  and  integrity  which  the  Board  could  give. 

During  these  twenty-eight  years  the  number  of  different  persons  on  the  Board 
of  Directors  was  twenty-four.  Of  this  number  fourteen  are  living,  and  ten  are 
dead.  But  the  only  one  to  die  in  office  was  H.  J.  Fomey,  who  on  April  16,  1912, 
suddenly  "passed  through  the  dread  portal  of  Death"-  at  his  home  in  Penbrook, 
Pa.  In  his  stead  the  Executive  Board  elected  George  W.  Fox,  of  Piketown, 
Dauphin  county.  Pa.,  who  had  frequently  been  a  delegate  to  the  East  Pennsyl- 
vania Eldership,  and  was  three  times  elected  a  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership. 

Henry  J.  Forney  was  a  native  of  West  Hanover  township,  Dauphin  county. 
Pa.,  born  in  1833.  He  acquired  his  early  education  principally  in  the  common 
schools  of  his  native  county,  and  at  the  St.  Thomas  Institute,  Linglestown,  Dauphin 
county,  under  Prof.  John  Focht.  He  was  of  a  studious  disposition  and  a  great 
reader  of  periodical  literature.      Apt  to  acquire  knowledge  of  branches  then  com- 


G.    W.    Fox. 


\ 


"monly  taught  in  the  public  schools,  he  began  teaching  before  he  reached  his  ma- 
jority. But  in  1856  the  county  superintendent  of  Dauphin  county,  for  reasons  other 
than  literary  qualifications,  declined  to  give  him  a  certificate,  and  thus  diverted  the 
aspiring  young  teacher's  mind  into  that  business  career  in  which  he  was  so 
eminently  successful.  He  inherited  a  religious  disposition  from  his  mother,  and 
early  in  life  became  a  member  of  the  church  of  God  at  Linglestown.  Thence,  upon 
his  removal  to  Harrisburg,  he  transferred  his  membership  to  the  Fourth  Street 
•church,  and  later  to  Progress,  and  then  to  the  newly  organized  church  at  Penbrook, 
in  whose  fellowship  he  died.  For  many  years  he  was  a  ruling  elder  in  the  churches 
•of  which  he  was  a  member;  was  a  delegate  to  the  Annual  Eldership,  and  a  num- 
ber of  times  was  elected  a  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership.  He  was  of  a  resolute 
'disposition,  firm  in  his  convictions,  of  great  tenacity  of  purpose  and  conscientious 
In  his  search  after  truth.  His  wide  and  protracted  experience  in  business,  church 
•councils,  city  and  borough  councils  and  stockholder  in  various  interests  made  him 
specially  fitted  for  membership  on  the  Board  of  Directors. 


8l2 


History   of   The   Churches   oe   God 


George  W.  Fox  was  born  in  West  Hanover  township,  Dauphin  county,  Pa.^ 
April  12,  1852,  near  the  present  village  of  Piketown,  where  he  still  resides.  He  is 
a  descendant  of  one  of  the  original  Church  of  God  families  in  that  community, 
being  a  grand-son  of  Christian  Forney.  With  pious  parents  and  grand-parents,  he 
was  early  inclined  to  follow  in  their  footsteps.  He  was  converted,  baptized  and 
fellowshiped  at  the  age  of  .seventeen,  and  has  ever  since  been  an  active  worker,, 
having  been  an  elder  in  the  church  continuously  since  1889,  and  for  twenty-eight 
years  Superintendent  of  the  Sunday-school.  Like  so  many  other  elders  and  min- 
isters of  the  Church,  he  was  raised  on  a  farm.  But  he  taught  school  sixteen  terms, 
and  a  preparatory  school  for  teachers  for  five  terms.  His  training  for  this  work 
he  received  in  the  public  school  and  at  the  Linglestown  Academy.  Since  1880  he 
has  been  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business  at  Piketown,  and  when  in  1892  a  post- 
office  was  established  at  that  place  he  became  the  Postmaster,  a  position  he  still 
holds.      He  has  served  as  Justice  of  the  Peace  seventeen  years,  and  County  Auditor 


H.  N.  Bownian, 


three  years.  These  facts  indicate  the  ample  qualifications  he  possesses  for  the 
position,  of  honor  and  responsibility  in  the  General  Eldership  to  which  he  has  been 
elected. 

The  Office  of  Publication  prior  to  the  establishment  of  the  Printing  Plant  at 
329  Market  street,  Harrisburg,  had  been  at  a  number  of  locations.  In  1835  it  was 
in  "the  Editor's  Drug  and  Book  Store,"  Market  Square,  Harrisburg.  On  May  13, 
1840,  "the  new  Office  is  next  door  to  the  United  States  Hotel,  along  the  C.  V.  R.  R., 
Mulberry  street."  Then  on  April  1,  1841,  Weishampel  removed  it  to  Shiremans- 
town,  with  the  printing  plant.  In  December,  184  3,  the  Board  of  Trustees  voted 
six  to  five  to  return  to  Harrisburg,  which  was  done  between  March  6th  and  13th, 
and  the  Establishment  was  located  on  Mulberry  street,  between  Second  and  Third. 
When  Winebrenner  started  The  Church  Advocate  on  May  1,  184  6,  it  was  "edited, 
printed  and  published  on  Mulberry  street,  near  the  Railroad  Bridge,"  in  the  base- 
ment of  the  Mulberry  Street  Bethel.  The  next  imprint.  Vol.  XXL,  May,  1857, 
locates  the  "Office  on  Fourth  street,  opposite  the  new  Bethel,"  to  which  place  it 


The:   Printing   Establishment  813 

was  removed  April  2,  1857.  The  Office  was  continued  here  until  March  10,  1859, 
when  it  was  removed  to  "Brady's  Row,  Mt.  Joy,  Lancaster  county.  Pa.,  opposite 
the  Bethel."  Thence  on  May  12,  1859,  it  was  changed  to  "Brenneman's  Building, 
Center  Square,  Lancaster,  Pa."  On  May  9,  1861,  the  new  location  was  "next  to 
Hubley's  Grocery  Store,  Second  Story,  Center  Square,  Lancaster."  Again  on  Feb- 
ruary 9,  1865,  it  was  removed  to  "North  Queen  street.  West  Side,  Russell  Build- 
ing, second  story,  back  of  Cummin's  Daugerean  Room,  Lancaster  City."  May,  1870, 
it  was  found  in  the  "Inquirer  Printing  and  Publishing  House,"  North  Queen  street, 
Lancaster.  Thence  in  1874  it  came  back  to  its  original  home,  Harrisburg,  where 
it  has  ever  since  remained,  though  part  of  this  time  the  printing  was  done  else- 
where until  1901. 

Since  the  inception  of  this  work  in  1909  there  have  been  three  changes  in  the 
membership  of  the  Board  of  Directors  as  given  in  the  Frontispiece.  First  came 
the  death  of  H,  J.  Foraey,  and  the  election  of  Geo.  W.  Fox  as  his  successor.  John 
F.  Wiggins  not  having  been  a  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership  in  1913,  H.  N. 
Cowman  was  elected  in  his  place.  And  upon  the  resignation  of  C.  H.  Forney,  in 
"October,  1913,  S.  G.  Yahn  was  elected  by  the  Executive  Board  to  succeed  him. 
Henry  Nicholas  Bowman  is  a  son  of  John  and  Elizabeth  Bomnan,  life  long  friends 
and  supporters  of  Winebrenner,  who  became  acquainted  with  Winebrenner  when 
he  preached  at  Salem  (or  Stone)  Reformed  church,  near  Shiremanstown.  They 
united  with  the  first  organization  of  the  church  of  God  at  Walnut  Grove  school- 
house,  near  Oyster's  Point,  now  part  of  the  borough  of  Camp  Hill.  Henry  was 
born  on  August  4,  1840,  in  the  old  stone  house  in  which  he  still  lives,  in  Camp 
Hill,  East  Pennsboro  township,  Cumberland  county.  Pa.  He  was  converted  in 
1855,  during  a  revival  held  at  Camp  Hill  by  H.  L.  Soule,  and  was  fellowshiped  by 
the  church  at  said  place,  in  which  he  has  ever  since  been  an  active  and  influential 
member,  and  a  deacon  or  elder  for  over  thirty  years,  as  well  as  Suprintendent  of 
the  Sunday-school.  His  intellectual  training  he  received  in  the  common  school 
at  Camp  Hill  and  the  White  Hall  Academy  located  there.  When  a  Soldiers' 
Orphans'  School  was  established  at  White  Hall  Academy  he  had  charge  of  it  for 
some  years.  Much  of  his  time  he  has  devoted  to  farming  and  real  estate  business, 
holding  also  the  office  of  Register  of  Cumberland  county  for  one  term  of  three 
years,  and  having  been  a  justice  of  the  peace  for  thirty-three  years.  He  stands  de- 
servedly high  in  the  community  in  which  he  has  lived  from  childhood. 


DIVISION   V. 


HISTORY  OF   PERIODICALS  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


DIVISION  V. 


HISTORY  OF  "PERIODICALS  OF    THE  CHURCH. 


I.     THE    GOSPEIj    publisher. 

Religious  journalism  was  in  its  infancy  in  1835.  It  has  indeed  been  said  that 
"the  history  of  'newspapers'  as  such  does  not  commence  until  about  1820;"  but 
this  is  an  extreme  statement.  Had  it  been  limited  to  "religious  journals"  it 
could  be  endorsed,  although  about  a  half  dozen  such  periodicals  were  established 
prior  to  that  date.  Secular  papers  ante-date  the  religious  papers  by  more  than  a 
century.  "The  Herald  of  Gospel  Liberty,"  started  in  1808,  is  the  oldest  religious 
periodical  published  in  the  United  States.  Other  religious  papers  established 
earlier  than  The  Gospel  Publisher  were  these:  "The  Religious  Remembrancer," 
1813;  "Weekly  Recorder,"  1814;  "The  Boston  Recorder,"  merged  in  "The  Con- 
gregationalist,"  1816;  "The  Watchman,"  1819;  "The  Register,  1825;  "The  Ex- 
aminer," and  "The  Observer,"  1823;  "The  Christian  Advocate,"  and  "The  Morn- 
ing Star,"  1826;  "Reformed  Church  Messenger,"  1827;  "The  Christian  Standard," 
and  "The  Evangelist,"  1830;  "The  Methodist  Protestant,"  "The  Presbyterian 
Journal  and  Messenger,"  and  "The  Lutheran  Observer,"  1831;  "The  Religious 
Telescope"  and  "The  Western  Christian  Advocate,"  1834.  Between  1792  and 
1855  no  less  than  eighteen  newspapers  had  been  started  in  Harrisburg.  How  many 
were  cotemporaneous  may  not  be  known,  for  while  a  few  survived,  some  lived 
three  months,  some  four,  some  six  and  longer  and  then  suspended,  while  a  few 
became  permanent.  These  frail  barks  encountered  the  inevitable  rocks  sub- 
merged in  the  financial  waters.  Nearly  all  these  early  ventures  in  the  field  of 
journalism  were  of  unpretentious  size,  and  began  with  a  few  hundred  patrons,  or 
less.  These  are  facts  in  the  light  of  which  the  efforts  to  establish  a  religious 
paper  by  Winebrenner  and  his  co-laborers,  and  their  failures  and  successes,  are 
to  be  compared.  The  character  of  the  journalism  of  that  period  is  also  the  only 
true  standard  by  which  to  judge  the  work  of  Winebrenner,  Weishampel  and  Mc- 
Cartney as  editors.  The  functions  of  journalism  then  were  but  two-fold: — "to 
furnish  information,  and  to  comment  thereon."  In  the  exercise  of  these  functions 
the  religious  and  secular  papers  found  a  common  part  in  the  worldly  and  spiritual 
affairs  of  State  or  Church,  and  so  it  is  for  the  way  in  which  they  exercised  these 
functions  that  they  have  their  responsibility,  as  also  their  reward.  But  from  the 
first,  not  only  was  there  an  eagerness  on  the  part  of  individuals  to  enter  the  field 
of  journalism;  but  the  idea  of  a  religious  paper  for  a  Church  thus  early  secured 
a  sure  footing  in  the  history  of  the  modern  church. 

If  the  credit  of  originator  of  the  project  to  publish  a  paper  for  the  infant  or- 
ganization known  as  the  Church  of  God  is  to  be  attributed  to  Winebrenner,  as 
may  be  assumed;  it  is  equally  true  that  he  found  prepared  ground  in  which  to 
plant  the  seed.  The  public  inception  of  the  enterprise  dates  from  the  meeting  of 
the  General  Eldership  (now  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership)  at  Middletown, 
Dauphin  county.  Pa.,  which  convened  December  25,  1833.  On  Monday,  the  30th, 
quite  abruptly  the  matter  was  introduced  by  the  following  entry  on  the  Minutes: 
"On  the  subject  of  a  Printing  Establishment  the  following  action  was  had."  The 
first  resolution  follows:  "Resolved,  That  we  deem  it  highly  important  for  the 
good  of  the  cause  of  God  to  establish  a  religious  paper."  It  was  also  determined 
that  "the  paper  be  entitled  "The  Gospel  Publisher  and  Journal  of  Useful  Knowl- 
edge," and  that  it  be  "printed  and  published  on  a  medium  sheet,  at  $1.50  per 
annum,  if  paid  in  advance;  $1.75,  if  paid  within  the  first  six  months,  and  $2.00, 
if  not  paid  within  the  year."  In  addition,  "all  the  preachers  and  elders  were 
authorized  to  secure  subscribers,"  and  J.  W^inebrenner,  J.  Ross  and  William  Hinney 
were  made  "a  committee  to  draft  and  issue  a  Prospectus."  A  Printing  Committee 
was  appointed,  consisting  of  five  persons,  which  should  "locate  the  Establishment, 
and  commence  the  paper  by  the  first  of  March,  1834."  As  nothing  was  done  dur- 
ing the  year,  at  the  Eldership  held  at  Shippensburg,  Cumberland  county.  Pa., 
December  13,  1834,  the  Committee  reported  to  that  effect,  "for  want  of  sufficient 
encouragement  to  warrant  the  same."  and  added:     "Your  Committee  beg  leave  to 

C.  H. — 27* 


8i8  History   of  the   Churches  of   God 

suggest,  that  in  their  opinion  such  a  publication,  conducted  on  proper  principles, 
would  result  in  much  good  to  the  Church  and  cause  of  God."  And  so  it  urged 
that  "all  possible  means  be  immediately  resorted  to  for  the  above  purpose."  This 
was  evidently  done,  for  six  months  later,  on  June  5,  183  5,  the  first  number  of 
volume  one  was  issued  from  the  Printing  Establishment  of  the  Church  of  God, 
under  the  name  adopted  in  1833.  The  size  of  the  printed  page  of  Vols.  I.  and  II. 
was  15%xl0  inches;  number  of  pages,  4;  issued  weekly;  terms,  $1.50  per  annum, 
if  paid  in  advance.  It  had  between  four  and  five  hundred  subscribers,  only  five 
hundred  being  reported  on  December  26,  1839;  while  in  April,  1840,  the  number 
had  increased  to  eight  hundred;  it  gradually  decreased  again  on  account  of  non- 
payment of  subscriptions.  There  were  $3,000.00  due  at  the  latter  date.  The  list 
of  agents  numbered  forty-five.  John  AVinebrenner  was  the  Editor  until  April  1, 
1840,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  J.  F.  Weishampel,  who  served  in  that  capacity 
until  December  26,  1843.  His  successor  was  George  McCartney,  from  January  4, 
1844,  until  August  13,  1845,  when  the  publication  of  the  paper  was  finally  sus- 
pended, except  one  issue  on  December  12,  1845,  containing  the  Journal  of  the 
Annual  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  of  that  year,  and  also  the  "Proposals  for 
Publishing  a  semi-monthly  paper,  entitled  The  Church  Advocate."  The  only 
original  matter  in  the  first  issue  of  the  paper  was  one  editorial,  outlining  the  pro- 
posed Departments  and  general  character  of  the  paper,  and  a  short  letter  by  J. 
Flake,  congratulating  Winebi-enner  that  "The  Gospel  Publisher  will  soon  be  forth- 
coming." The  primary  object,  or  purpose,  of  publishing  the  paper,  said  Wine- 
brenner,  was  "to  furnish  our  patrons  weekly  with  the  best  and  most  interesting 
religious  news  of  the  day  and  age  in  which  we  live,  in  connection  with  the  diffusion 
of  general  knowledge;"  the  dissemination  of  gospel  truth,  and  to  secure  funds  to 
send  out  missionaries.  This  thought  of  "net  proceeds,  to  be  applied  to  religious 
purposes"  was  among  the  standing  announcements,  and  was  an  item  dwelt  upon 
editorially.  The  size  of  the  initial  number  was  continued  two  years,  when  it  was 
increased  to  19x13  inches,  and  published  semi-monthly,  at  $1.50  a  year.  A  very 
noticeable  change  was  made  in  the  form  and  size  of  the  paper,  beginning  with 
Vol.  v.,  January  3,  1840.  It  was  made  an  eight-page  paper,  9%x7%  inches,  and 
issued  weekly,  at  $2.00  a  year.  This  was  continued  two  years,  when  with  the  be- 
ginning of  Vol.  VII.,  it  was  enlarged  to  a  "sixmo"  or  a  twelve-page  paper,  with  the 
same  dimensions  of  the  page,  and  same  terms.  With  the  beginning  of  Vol.  VIII. 
it  was  reduced  to  eight  pages,  same  size  and  terms.  Volume  IX.  witnessed  a  slight 
increase  in  the  size  of  the  page,  being  ll%x9i/4  inches,  which  was  continued  until 
the  suspension  of  publication. 

That  an  English  paper  should  be  published  by  a  Church  so  largely  German 
was  not  according  to  the  usual  order.  The  Evangelical  Association  first  published 
a  German  paper.  The  importance  of  the  German  language  was  always  a  dominant 
thought  with  AVeishampel.  Soon  after  he  became  Editor,  in  July,  1840,  he  began 
to  devote  a  page,  more  or  less,  to  German  matter.  At  the  Eldership  in  1841  the 
question  of  publishing  a  German  paper  was  under  consideration,  but  it  was  de- 
ferred because  it  seemed  to  be  "rather  a  doubtful  undertaking."  Besides,  there 
were  "other  matters  upon  foot"  that  would  be  interfered  with.  The  constant  and 
large  losses  sustained  by  the  non-payment  of,  subscriptions  disposed  the  Board  of 
Trustees  in  November,  1843,  to  adopt  "the  cash  system."  After  a  brief  trial  it 
was  found  that  the  most  obvious  effect  of  this  policy  was  to  cut  down  the  number 
of  subscribers. 

The  editorial  work  of  Winebrenner  on  The  Gospel  Publisher  covered  a  period 
of  about  4  years  and  10  months;  that  of  Weishampel,  3  years  and  8  months,  and 
that  of  McCartney,  1  years  and  7  months.  Winebrenner  had  little  natural  taste 
for  editorial  work.  He  wrote  few  editorials  of  any  length.  He  was  too  much  oc- 
cupied with  other  duties  to  do  justice  to  himself  as  Editor,  or  to  the  paper.  There 
was  also  an  evident  lack  of  interest  on  the  part  of  the  pastors,  so  that  religious 
intelligence  was  limited  during  his  term.  Weishampel  was  a  man  of  an  entirely 
different  type.  He  was  a  practical  printer,  a  fluent  and  easy  writer,  and  possessed 
of  a  penchant  for  controversial  discussions. 

He  was  of  a  versatile  character,  and  could  write  on  almost  any  subject  with 
little  apparent  effort.  With  a  fertile  brain,  he  had  new  expedients  to  suggest  and 
plans  to  propose  for  the  accomplishment  of  desired  ends.  The  thought  of  a  cer- 
tain number  of  Assistant  Editors  was  suggested  by  him  with  a  view  of  popularizing 
the  paper.     Under  his   direction,   while  the   departments   of  the   paper   remained 


PEJilODICALS     OF     THE    ChURCH 


819 


about  as  outlined  by  Winebi-enner,  yet  the  character  of  the  contents  changed. 
There  was  less  space  given  to  secular  matters  and  to  general  religious  news,  and 
more  to  the  news  from  churches  of  God.  In  the  sphere  of  journalism  he  was  in 
his  element.  On  August  30,  1843,  he  announced  his  intention  of  resigning  the 
editorship,  which  he  did  later  to  take  effect  December  27,  1843,  at  the  end  of  Vol. 
VIII.  He  then  became  the  "Printer,"  and  in  that  capacity  contributed  articles  for 
the  paper.  But  his  inborn  proclivity  for  editorial  work  soon  mastered  him,  and 
he  conceived  the  thought  of  starting  a  paper  of  his  own,  possibly  foreseeing  the 
wreck  of  The  Gospel  Publisher.  This  project  he  matured  while  "Printer"  of  The 
Gospel  Publisher,  and  persuaded  Mackey,  who  aspired  to  the  editorship  when  Mc- 
Cartney was  chosen,  to  become  the  Editor  of  the  "Gospel  Messenger."  For  this 
violation  of  the  System  of  Co-operation  he  and  Mackey  were  arraigned  before  the 
Eldership  on  November  13,  1844,  charged  with  "starting  the  publication  of  a 
paper  called  'The  Gospel  Messenger'  without  the  consent  and  approbation  of  the 


J.  F.  Weislianipel. 

Eldership."  This  was  "held  to  be  irregular,  and  contrary  to  the  plan  of  co-opera- 
tion." Mackey  explained,  that  he  "neither  suggested  nor  planned"  the  project; 
but  that  he  accepted  the  editorship  "at  the  earnest  entreaty  of  Weishanipel,  and 
from  sympathy  towards  him."  However,  he  was  "dissatisfied  because  of  treat- 
ment received  in  relation  to  his  application  for  the  editorship  of  The  Gospel  Pub- 
lisher." He  had  also  withdrawn  from  "The  Gospel  Messenger."  His  action  was 
condoned,  and  his  license  was  renewed.  But  Weishanipel  was  not  so  ready  to  sub- 
mit, and  so  he  was  disfellowshiped  for  "contempt  of  the  Eldership,"  and  for  "un- 
just" and  "unfounded  charges"  against  the  Eldership  and  certain  ministers. 

Under  McCartney  the  paper  at  first  seemed  to  manifest  new  life.  It  was  less 
a  personal  organ,  and  secured  more  general  and  hearty  co-operation.  For  a  short 
time  it  received  commendations;  but  by  the  middle  of  the  first  volume  criticisms 
were  beginning  to  be  heard,  and  later  through  the  magnanimity  of  the  Editor  "con- 
demnatory" articles  were  even  published  in  the  paper.     A  degree  of  "embarrass- 


820  '  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

ment"  was  expressed  by  McCartney  on  January  17,  1844,  which  was  interpreted 
to  forecast  its  discontinuance  in  July,  1844,  on  account  of  the  "Gospel  Messenger." 
This  paper  was  drawing  away  some  patronage,  so  that  the  outlook  darkened. 
Winebrenner  took  up  the  matter  in  the  issue  following,  and  proposed  a  plan 
to  relieve  the  Establishment.  Others  followed;  but  no  material  results  were- 
realized.  Conditions  became  more  complicated,  so  that  a  year  later  "the  long- 
threatened"  suspension  was  announced  in  the  issue  of  August  13,  1845,  being  No. 
32  of  Vol.  X.  The  Eldership  which  convened  November  12,  1845,  appointed  a 
committee,  consisting  of  Winebrenner  and  McCartney  "to  publish  the  Journal  of 
the  Eldership,"  which  they  did  as  Vol.  X.,  No.  33,  of  The  Gospel  Publisher,  the 
last  issue  published.  Said  Eldership  also  "requested  the  Publishing  Committee  to 
commence  the  publication  of  a  paper  as  soon  as  possible."  This  ended  the  first 
chapter  of  religious  journalism  for  the  Church  of  God. 

II.      THE  CHURCH  ADVOCATE. 

In  the  last  issue  of  The  Gospel  Publisher  appeared  "Proposals  for  publishing 
a  semi-monthly  paper,  entitled  The  Church  Advocate,"  which  "the  Publishing  Com- 
mittee of  the  Eldership  have  agreed  to  publish,  as  the  organ  of  the  Church  of  God, 
in  lieu  of  The  Gospel  Publisher."  It  was  "intended  to  be  the  only  authorized 
organ  of  the  Church  of  God,  and  will  be  published  under  the  direction  of  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership  [now  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership],  so  that  all  the  churches 
and  Annual  Elderships,  which  adhere  to  the  plan  of  general  co-operation,  as  estab- 
lished by  the  first  General  Eldership,  will  be  equally  interested,  and  equally  en- 
titled to  a  proportional  share  in  the  proceeds  of  the  same."  The  price  fixed  upon 
was  "$1.25,  payable  always  in  advance,  or  within  the  first  three  months."  "The 
ruinous  credit  system,"  as  Winebrenner  called  it  with  exact  justice,  was  to  be  a 
historic  fact  only.  And  yet  before  the  close  of  the  first  volume  Winebi'enner,  for 
want  of  support,  had  to  "dwell  on  the  chagrin,  shame,  mortification  and  loss  of 
another  suspension"  as  an  argument  for  a  larger  subscription  list  and  more  prompt 
pay.  "Punctuality  is  the  life  of  business,"  said  Winebrenner,  in  August,  1846,  and 
when  the  first  three  months  had  passed,  he  stated  that  "more  than  one-half  of  the 
subscribers  have  forfeited  their  subscriptions  by  non-payment."  In  September, 
1847,  there  were  three  hundred  delinquents  in  debt  on  the  first  three  months  of 
Vol.  XI.,  and  three  hundred  and  forty  on  Vol.  XII.  "It  unsettles  our  business, 
and  runs  us  into  very  considerable  expense,"  W^inebrenner  said.  But  this  was  the 
Rule  established  by  the  Publishing  Committee,  and  Winebrenner  made  an  effort 
to  enforce  it.  It,  however,  was  gradually  relaxed,  and  then  virtually  suspended. 
No  "cash  system"  works  that  is  not  a  pay-in-advance  system.  This  Winebrenner 
fully  realized  by  1854,  when  before  the  close  of  Vol.  XVIII.  he  announced  that  it 
"was  now  finally  settled  that  with  the  new  volume  the  strictly  cash  system"  would 
be  enforced.  He  was  forced  to  this  by  the  heavy  losses  sustained,  which  fell  on 
him,  as  under  his  contract  the  receipts  were  his  up  to  and  including  reasonable 
salary,  and  he  had  to  pay  all  other  expenses.  It  cost  him  a  good  many  subscribers, 
and  did  not  increase  the  income.  In  reality  the  paper  was  his,  but  he  was  subject 
to  the  Board  of  Publication,  and  had  a  contract  with  it  in  1846  for  one  year,  which 
was  renewed  in  1847.  He  states  that  he  bought  the  Printing  Establishment  in 
1846,  and  was  "proprietor  and  conductor"  of  the  Establishment,  but  in  a  sense 
the  paper  was  not  his.  It  was  about  of  uniform  size  from  June,  1846,  until  he 
sold  it  to  James  Colder,  as  announced  April  23,  1857.  It  was  published  semi- 
monthly from  1846  to  June,  1852,  and  thereafter  weekly.  The  price  was  $1.25, 
paid  in  advance,  or  within  three  months,  for  Vols.  XI.  and  XII.  From  1848  to 
1852,  the  price  was  $1.00;  and  from  1852  to  1857  it  was  $1.50.  He  published  the 
paper  under  a  contract  for  the  first  year,  which  was  renewed  at  the  end  of  the 
year,  without  any  subsequent  mention  of  it.  And  while  there  were  constant 
losses,  and  the  paper  was  never  out  of  danger,  it  may  be  truly  said  that  Wine- 
brenner made  it  a  fixed  institution  of  the  Church.  He  put  his  heart  much  more 
fully  into  it,  and  labored  assiduously  to  make  it  a  success  financially  and  as  the 
organ  of  the  Church.  While  he  felt  that  "preaching  is  my  proper  calling,  and  not 
editing;"  yet  his  zeal  and  self-sacrifice  and  painstaking  efforts  as  Publisher  and 
Editor  are  clearly  in  evidence.  The  loss  of  subscribers  he  keenly  felt,  and  near  the 
close  of  different  volumes  his  pathetic  pleas  to  subscribers  not  to  stop  their  papers, 
and  to  former  ones  to  return  were  humiliating.  His  joy  at  the  growth  of  the  list  of 
subscribers  he  could  not  conceal.     The  original  list  consisted  of  from  500  to  800, 


Periodicals   of   the,  Church  821 

and  had  grown  to  some  1,400  by  1852,  when  it  again  began  to  fall  off,  but  some- 
what recovered  by  1857.  These  increases  in  the  lists  were  accounted  for  by  con- 
ditional promises  to  enlarge  the  paper,  as  in  1851,  should  500  new  names  be  fur- 
nished; or  in  1852,  when  an  increase  of  1,500  new  subscribers  was  the  condition 
upon  which  the  paper  was  to  be  published  weekly.  Premiums  were  also  offered 
at  different  times  for  new  subscribers.  In  1856  a  "new  dress"  was  the  proposi- 
tion, as  in  1857,  "new  type  and  a  larger"  paper,  for  500  new  subscribers.  Neither 
was  realized,  and  frankly  stated.  The  enlargement  in  1857  was  opposed  by 
Weishanipel,  the  "Printer,"  who  published  an  article  to  that  effect  without  the 
Editor's  knowledge.  Until  April,  1857,  the  paper  was  "printed  and  published  on 
Mulberry  street,  near  the  Railroad  Bridge,"  or,  as  incidentally  stated,  in  "the  base- 
ment of  the  Old  Bethel,"  whence  at  the  beginning  of  April,  1857,  it  was  "removed 
to  the  upper  story  of  the  Keystone  Machine  Shop,  opposite  the  new  Bethel  on 
Fourth  street."  Less  than  a  month  later,  on  April  23,  1857,  the  sale  of  the 
Establishment  and  paper  to  James  Colder  was  announced  by  Winebrenner  and 
confirmed  by  Colder. 

That  great  improvements  were  made  on  the  paper  by  Winebrenner  between 
1846  and  1857  is  evident  to  the  most  casual  reader.  And  they  were  made  against 
serious  difficulties  and  at  sacrifices  hard  to  estimate  at  their  full  strength.  Some 
of  these  grew  out  of  unavoidable  conditions,  such  as  delays  in  issuing  the  paper, 
as  No.  1,  Vol.  XL,  which  was  delayed  from  the  date  first  fixed,  April  1,  1846,  to 
May  1st;  by  various  ill-founded  criticisms;  by  the  wear  of  type  so  as  to  make  poor 
impressions,  and  various  other  causes.  The  unfavorable  effect  of  a  protracted  agi- 
tation to  "move  the  paper  West"  was  quite  perceptible.  It  began  in  1851,  and 
continued  for  six  years.  Harn  in  more  than  one  sense  was  an  agitator,  ambitious, 
restless,  resourceful.  He  had  cast  in  his  lot  with  the  West,  and  with  little  con- 
ception of  its  cost  in  different  ways,  on  May  9,  1851,  wrote  from  Wooster,  Ohio, 
"that  there  is  a  deep  and  abiding  anxiety  west  of  the  mountains  that  the  whole 
Printing  Concern  should  be  transferred  to  this  place.  We  advocate  an  entire  new 
Establishment,  owned  by  the  Church  at  large.  An  effort  will  be  made  at  the  com- 
ing General  Eldership."  Winebi'enner  was  forbearing,  patient,  moderate  and  dip- 
lomatic. Above  all  he  wanted  a  Printing  Establishment  and  a  paying  paper,  and 
he  was  tired  carrying  both.  He  did  not  antagonize  the  movement.  When  on  May 
26,  1851,  the  General  Eldership  met  at  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  it  spent  considerable  time 
on  the  proposition  Harn  had  submitted.  It  finally  decided  "highly  to  approve  the 
generous  ett"ort  of  western  brethren  to  secure  a  Printing  Establishment  to  be  held 
as  the  property  of  the  whole  Church;  and,  provided  sufficient  encouragement 
should  be  given,  we  recommend  to  the  Publishing  Committee  to  secure  such 
Establishment,  and  locate  it  at  Wooster,  Ohio."  On  October  1,  1851,  Winebrenner 
called  attention  to  this  resolution,  and  to  the  proviso.  He  desired  to  get  the  prop- 
osition out  of  the  mists  of  declamation  and  generalities  into  the  clear  light  of  facts. 
What  does  it  mean?  He  says:  "Now  to  enable  the  Committee  to  judge  whether 
such  encouragement  [sufficient]  has  been  given,  or  is  likely  to  be  given,  we  would 
here  state  the  substance  of  what  has  been  reported  since  the  General  Eldership." 
Harn  said  Ohio  has  subscribed  $500.00.  Logue  wrote  that  West  Pennsylvania  has 
subscribed  $1,050.00.  But  as  much  more,  Winebrenner  said,  would  be  needed, 
and  if  furnished,  "the  project  can  easily  be  accomplished."  For  "we  are  altogether 
favorable  to  the  project,  provided  there  is  general  co-operation.  We  think  the 
Church  ought  to  have  a  Printing  Establishment;  locality  is  a  minor  consideration." 
"All  Elderships  should  help."  Weishampel,  on  November  1,  1851,  opposed  the 
removal  to  the  West.  The  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  agreed  to  co-operate  with 
the  brethren  West  to  buy  a  new  Establishment  "on  condition  that  they  will  assist 
in  paying  off  the  old  debt."  This  the  West  was  not  ready  to  agree  to,  as  this 
meant  $2,705.46  more.  The  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  however,  "considered 
all  the  Elderships  bound  to  pay  Winebrenner's  claims."  The  Ohio  Eldership  In 
part  acceded  to  this,  as  in  October,  1851,  it  approved  the  efforts  being  made  for 
the  purchase  of  a  Printing  Establishment  to  be  located  at  Wocster,  Ohio.  They 
had  $570.00,  and  "expected  several  hundred  dollars  more."  In  1852  it  named  a 
collecting  agent  to  secure  more  subscriptions.  Meanwhile  West  Pennsylvania  Eld- 
ership approved  the  2  5-cent  plan  to  liquidate  AVinebrenner's  claims.  The  Indiana 
Eldership  at  first  stood  aloof  as  it  found  itself  "too  poor  to  assist  in  carrying  out 
the  proposed  project,"  and  so  resolved  to  remain  neutral.  This  in  answer  to  an 
address  to  Iowa,  Illinois  and  Indiana  on  the  subject  by  Winebrenner.     He  also,  in. 


S22  History  of  the  Churches   of  God 

January,  1852,  insists  on  conditions  being  fulfilled,  to  which  some  were  opposed. 
But  in  March,  1852,  the  Ohio  Standing  Committee  yielded,  and  agreed  "to  pay  off 
the  debt  first,"  and  "invited  Indiana,  Iowa  and  Michigan  to  co-operate  in  purchas- 
ing a  new  Printing  Establishment  and  paying  off  the  old  debt."  May  29,  1852,  the 
"Printing  Committee  agreed  that  when  $2,000.00  in  cash,  or  responsible  bonds, 
have  been  raised,  the  Board  will  proceed  to  purchase,  and  remove  to  some  point 
west  of  the  Mountains."  As  at  this  time  $1,100.00  had  been  subscribed,  Wine- 
brenner  said  "it  will  be  easy  to  raise  the  balance."  But  counsels  were  being  di- 
vided. January  10,  1852,  one  writer  opposed  removal,  and  advocated  two  papers. 
In  July,  1852,  Sandoe,  Illinois,  urged  payment  of  debt  through  the  25-cent  per 
member  plan;  but  he  advocated  locating  "the  new  Establishment  further  West  than 
just  west  of  the  Mountains."  A  Pittsburg  subscriber  advocated  Pittsburg.  Another 
from  the  East  named  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  The  agitation  was  continued  year  after 
year  with  no  decisive  results.  In  1854  the  General  Eldership  decided  that  "as  soon 
as  sufficient  funds  can  be  obtained  for  a  Printing  Establishment,  the  Executive 
Committee  shall  purchase  one,  and  locate  it  at  any  place  agreed  upon  by  a  ma- 
jority of  the  members  of  the  Standing  Committees  of  the  several  Elderships." 
The  Elderships  seemed  again  united  under  these  resolutions,  and  scores  of  agents 
were  appointed  from  East  Pennsylvania  to  Iowa  to  secure  subscriptions,  urged  on 
by  words  of  encouragement  from  Winebrenner.  Suddenly  the  course  was  changed 
by  the  interjection  of  the  new  Hymn-Book  question,  which  Winebrenner  was  com- 
piling, and  on  February  11,  185  6,  the  Ohio  Standing  Committee  resolved,  that 
while  urging  the  new  Printing  Establishment,  yet  it  did  "not  think  it  best  to  enter 
upon  the  project  of  starting  it  until  the  new  Hymn-Book  is  completed  and  pub- 
lished." The  Annual  Elderships  were  united  on  this  demand  for  the  new  Hymn- 
Book,  and  were  impatient  at  the  delay  in  its  publication.  Winebrenner  regretted 
that  both  plans  could  not  be  worked  together.  But  as  interest  became  somewhat 
stagnant,  and  the  time  for  the  General  Eldership  in  1857  was  approaching,  Wine- 
brenner was  constrained  to  make  calculations  for  the  next  volume.  He  therefore 
published  the  Prospectus  of  "Vol.  XXII.,  proposing  "to  issue  said  volume,  begin- 
ning April  30,  1857,  with  entirely  new  type  and  in  an  enlarged  form,"  "if  500  new 
subscribers  were  furnished."  But  in  the  last  issue  of  Vol.  XXL,  April  23,  1857, 
lie  announced  the  sale  of  "the  good  will  and  Advocate  Establishment  to  Elder 
James  Colder." 

There  was  no  election  of  Editor;  but  in  the  first  issue  of  Vol.  XXII.,  May  7, 
1857,  Colder  announced,  that  having  "become  the  proprietor  of  The  Church  Advo- 
cate, we  now  enter  upon  the  discharge  of  our  duties  as  Editor."  The  transfer  of 
the  Establishment  and  paper  to  Colder  was  unexpected.  But  Winebrenner  sold 
because  he  "wanted  to  sell;"  because  he  "had  a  chance  to  sell;"  because  he  "was 
weary  of  the  toils  and  perplexities  of  editorial  life;"  because  he  "had  no  reason  to 
believe  that  the  General  Eldership  would  be  prepared  to  take  it  off  our  hands  at  its 
next  meeting;"  because  "certain  brethren  were  not  satisfied  with  our  manner  of 
conducting  the  paper;"  because  he  "had  entirely  too  much  money  standing  out," 
and  because  he  "needed  more  time  to  finish  the  new  Hymn-Book,  selling  stock  of 
the  new  Collegiate  Institute,"  and  other  work.  He  was  Associate  Editor,  how- 
ever, for  a  short  time.  But  though  Winebrenner  had  no  reason  in  April  1,  1857, 
to  believe  that  the  General  Eldership  would  take  the  paper  off  his  hands;  yet  said 
body  bought  it  from  Colder  on  June  4,  1875,  "for  the  amount  it  cost  him."  The 
contract  of  sale  provided  that  the  Establishment  and  paper  be  "left  in  his  hands 
until  the  receipts  cover  the  amount  to  be  paid,  after  which  the  entire  proceeds  are 
to  pass  into  the  treasury  of  the  General  Eldership,  and  Brother  Colder  to  receive 
no  more  than  the  salary  agreed  upon."  This  was  "$300.00  for  the  first  year,  and 
5500.00  for  each  subsequent  year  up  to  the  meeting  of  the  next  General  Eldership." 
He  was  elected  Editor,  and  E.  H.  Thomas,  J.  S.  Gable  and  Dr.  George  Ross  were 
elected  the  Publishing  Committee.  Except  that  "an  entirely  new  stock  of  ma- 
terials for  the  office"  was  bought  for  the  first  issue  under  Colder,  no  change  in  size, 
form  or  price  was  made.  Prospects  were  so  favorable  that  as  early  as  August, 
1857,  Colder  stated  that  "the  subscription  list  is  larger  now  than  at  any  time  since 
the  commencement  of  the  paper,"  and  that  he  expected  to  be  enabled  "to  pay  off 
all  the  current  demands  of  the  office  for  this  year,  and  make  The  Advocate  the 
property  of  the  Church  at  large  at  the  close  without  a  penny  of  expense."  But 
the  winds  began  to  blow  contrary.  The  controversy  between  Colder  and  Wine- 
brenner over  the  Texas  Eldership  matters  divided  the  patrons  of  the  paper,  and 
portentous  clouds  were  seen  on  the  horizon.     The  Board  of  Publication  on  Novem- 


Periodicals   of   the   Church 


823 


ber  26,  1857,  issued  a  pathetic  appeal,  and  others  used  their  good  offices  to  avert 
a  failure  of  the  Establishment.  But  the  effort  was  fruitless,  and  after  editing  the 
paper  one  year  and  eight  months,  "because  of  embarrassment  for  want  of  funds," 
Colder  "stopped  the  publication  of  the  paper,  discharged  the  hands  and  abandoned 
the  office,  and  gave  the  Committee  of  Publication  to  understand  they  were  to  be 
held  responsible  for  the  debts  of  the  Establishment,"  which  amounted  to  $1,256.00. 
Colder  was  in  various  ways  well  equipped  for  an  editor,  and  possessed  the  advan- 
tages of  a  classical  education.  But  he  lacked  other  qualifications  which  made  him 
unfit  for  a  pilot  in  times  of  stress  and  storm. 

After  the  suspension  of  the  paper  by  Colder,  on  February  10,  1859,  the  Com- 
mittee on  Publication  resumed  its  publication,  having  bought  the  Establishment. 
It  arranged  with  E.  H.  Thomas,  a  member  of  the  Committee,  to  assume  "the  con- 
trol and   editorship,   assisted   by  James  Mackey,   as   Assistant,   or  Corresponding, 


E.  H.  Thomas. 


Editor.  The  debt  at  the  time  was  $1,300.00,  "without  a  dollar  to  carry  on  the 
paper."  This  was  increased  to  $1,637.00  by  the  end  of  the  volume.  The  contract 
with  Thomas  was  a  duplicate  of  the  one  with  Colder,  and  was  to  run  two  years. 
That  is,  Thomas  was  to  "take  the  Establishment  with  all  its  liabilities  and  assets, 
and  carry  forward  the  publication  of  The  Advocate  on  his  own  responsibility,  and 
receive  all  the  income  for  two  full  years" — to  the  end  of  Vol.  XXV.,  June  1,  1861. 
Then  to  deliver  it  over  to  the  Board  free  of  debt.  Thomas  at  the  time  lived  at 
Mt.  Joy,  Lancaster  county,  and  was  pastor  of  the  church.  He  had  bought  a  print- 
ing plant  there,  and  at  once  arranged  to  remove  The  Advocate  to  that  place.  March 
10,  1859,  the  first  number  was  issued  from  the  new  office.  He  threw  all  his  ener- 
gies into  the  new  sphere  of  activity  into  which  he  was  providentially  thrust.  And 
for  ten  weary,  vexing  years  he  labored  with  consuming  zeal  to  bring  the  paper  out 
of  the  quagmire  and  the  fogs  to  solid  ground  and  an  elevation  where  he  could  "see 


824  History  of  the  Churches  of   God 

the  clear  sky  through  and  beyond  the  clouds,"  as  he  wrote  a  few  months  before 
he  entered  that  other  life  beyond  the  veil.  How  this  happy  terminus  was  reached 
is  a  story  of  anxieties,  perplexing  problems,  criticisms,  vexations  and  hardships 
which  no  one  can  make  real  to  himself.  While  Thomas  received  his  "meed,  a 
friend's  esteem  and  praise,"  his  opposers  and  critics  were  never  slow  to  harass 
him.  As  soon  as  the  paper  of  March  10,  1859,  was  issued  from  the  Mt.  Joy  office, 
the  Illinois  Standing  Committee  "disapproved  of  the  course  pursued  by  the  Pub- 
lishing Committee  in  removing  The  Church  Advocate  office  from  Harrisburg  to  the 
village  of  Mt.  Joy."  Without  explaining  the  matter,  on  May  5,  1859,  Thomas  an- 
nounced the  removal  of  the  paper  to  Lancaster  City,  adding  that  it  is  "the  design 
of  the  Printing  Board  that  this  location  shall  be  permanent."  He  was  almost  con- 
stantly in  straights  on  account  of  the  debt,  and  often  referred  to  it,  inquiring  re- 
proachfully at  times  whose  it  is,  and  the  necessity  of  paying  it.  And  by  the  end  of 
his  second  year  it  was  reduced  to  "less  than  one-half."  He  offered  premiums  from 
time  to  time,  urged  greater  activity  on  the  part  of  ministers,  and  announced  im- 
provements in  order  to  increase  the  list  of  subscribers.  He  measurably  succeeded 
in  this,  for  by  1868  he  had  nearly  3,000  names  on  the  list  of  subscribers,  and  was 
ready  to  enter  into  an  agreement  in  1869  to  close  out  his  contract  by  June,  1870. 
While  Thomas's  first  contract  ran  to  June,  1861,  the  General  Eldership  renewed 
it  in  1860  to  extend  to  June,  1863.  Each  successive  triennium  it  was  renewed,  but 
in  1869  it  was  limited  to  one  year,  to  expire  June  1,  1870.  And  for  each  of  the 
two  succeeding  years  Thomas  was  to  pay  $300.00  to  the  General  Eldership.  He 
had  an  indomitable  purpose  to  succeed,  and  adopted  every  honorable  means  to  that 
end.  In  December,  1861,  he  suggested  the  enlargement  of  the  paper,  and  reduction 
of  the  price,  on  condition  that  1,000  new  subscribers  were  secured.  He  repeated 
his  proposition  in  January,  1862.  This  met  with  a  favorable  response  by  the  West 
Ohio  Standing  Committee,  other  official  bodies  and  a  number  of  influential  min- 
isters, while  a  few  came  out  in  opposition.  Thomas  generally  consulted  public 
opinion  on  any  change  he  was  disposed  to  make.  On  April  3,  1862,  he  stated  that 
only  "one-half  of  the  1,000  new  subscribers"  had  been  reported,  and  so  he  could  not 
reduce  the  price,  unless  the  full  1,000  should  be  in  by  May  1st.  He  modified  his 
proposition,  so  as  to  enlarge  the  paper  by  making  it  one  inch  longer;  by  striking 
oft"  all  who  were  in  arrears  three  years;  by  accepting  new  names  at  $1.00  cash,  and 
leaving  the  price  to  old  subscribers  at  $1.50  unless  a  new  subscriber  is  sent  in 
with  the  subscription,  until  the  1,000  mark  is  reached.  The  slight  enlargement 
was  made,  and  new  type  bought,  so  that  Vol.  XXVII.  was  pronounced  by  Thomas 
"the  largest,  neatest  and  most  interesting  volume  ever  issued  from  The  Advocate 
office."  But  the  War  cost  the  loss  of  subscribers  and  money.  Everything  was 
going  up  in  price.  The  position  of  The  Advocate  on  the  prosecution  of  the  War, 
the  abolition  of  slavery  and  other  questions  militated  against  its  prosperity,  so  that 
danger  again  threatened  the  frail  craft.  On  October  12,  1865,  Thomas  proposed 
a  change  in  the  form  of  the  paper,  if  not  in  size,  from  an  eight-page  to  a  four-page 
paper.  This  was  approved  by  the  following  Elderships,  or  their  Standing  Com- 
mittees: Michigan,  Indiana,  West  Pennsylvania,  East  Ohio,  Iowa,  Southern  Illi- 
nois and  Indiana,  and  Illinois.  There  were  individual  protests;  but  on  November 
23,  1865,  Thomas  stated  that  he  "settled  it  in  our  mind  to  considerably  enlarge 
and  otherwise  improve  The  Advocate."  And  in  February,  1866,  he  announced  a 
majority  in  favor  of  a  change  in  form  and  increase  in  size.  As  the  General  Elder- 
ship would  meet  in  May,  1866,  Thomas  was  doubtless  preparing  the  way.  The 
Illinois  Eldership  had  instructed  its  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  to  vote:  1. 
To  enlarge  the  paper.  2.  For  a  Board  of  Editors  from  different  Elderships.  3. 
A  change  of  form.  4.  To  bring  the  paper  West — to  Chicago.  There  was  a  spirit 
of  insubordination  among  some  in  Illinois.  They  assailed  The  Advocate  in  such 
terms  as  to  call  out  most  scathing  editorials.  R.  AVhite,  in  the  columns  of  The 
Advocate  was  permitted  to  do  this,  and  he  boldly  defended  the  proprsition  to  re- 
move the  paper  to  Chicago,  or  start  the  publication  of  another  Church  paper.  In 
March,  1866,  Thomas  announced  enlargement  and  change  of  form,  "with  the  con- 
sent of  the  Board  of  Publication."  On  May  3,  1866,  Vol.  XXXI.,  this  was  done 
as  to  size,  one  inch  being  added  to  the  length  and  one-half  inch  to  the  width,  with- 
out changing  the  rates.  Illinois  delegates  did  not  urge  their  instructions,  apd 
without  any  surface  opposition  the  old  contract  was  renewed  for  threa  yeirs, 
Thomas  re-elected  Editor,  and  C.  H.  Forney,  Assistant  Editor.  The  latter  was  to 
have  no  pay,  but  was  to  serve  by  way  of  preparation  for  the  editorship  in  case  of 
disability  or  death  of  the  Editor.      But  the  opposition  in  Illinois  continued  active, 


Periodicals   op  the;   Church  825 

and  in  June,  1868,  "the  initiatory  number  of  a  new  paper,  with  the  title  'The 
Church,'  made  its  appearance,"  published  at  Polo,  111.  But  it  was  short-lived. 
The  most  remarkable  change  Thomas  made  was  in  1868,  when  he  had  nearly  3,000 
subscribers.  Quietly  the  program  was  published,  that  if  the  3,000  were  guaranteed 
the  paper  would  be  enlarged  to  nearly  double  the  size  of  Vol.  XXXII. ,  and  the  price 
advanced  to  $2.00.  In  so  far  as  there  was  an  expression  of  opinion  it  was  "an 
almost  unanimous  verdict  in  favor  of  enlargement,"  and  on  April  16,  1868,  the  mat- 
ter as  to  "the  question  of  enlarging  The  Advocate  was  settled,  and  making  it  a  $2.00, 
pre-paying  paper."  Accordingly  Vol.  XXXIII.,  No.  1,  May  6,  1868,  was  issued  "with 
an  entirely  new  dress  for  the  first  time  since  1835,"  at  a  cost  of  $500.00,  and 
$40.00  a  week  more  than  before  to  publish  it."  It  was  an  eight-page  paper, 
19%xl4  inches  reading  matter  and  headline.  Thomas  was  enthusiastic,  yet  had 
his  doubts.  And  by  October  28,  1868,  he  made  earnest  pleas  for  help,  and  re- 
called the  "terrible  conflict  and  struggles  for  existence  our  Church  organ  had  had 
to  pass  through  for  thirty-three  years."  But  he  ventured  to  hope  that  "the  danger 
of  failure  is  over."  Anticipating  a  renewal  of  his  contract  and  re-election  as 
Editor  for  three  years  longer,  on  May  5,  1869,  Thomas  hopefully  began  Vol. 
XXXIV.,  referring  his  readers  to  "our  past  efforts"  as  the  "only  pledges  we  have 
to  make  for  the  future."  He  was  not  disappointed,  for  he  was  re-elected  Editor, 
and  the  contract  was  renewed  for  three  years,  with  this  modification:  tht  during 
the  first  year  the  balance  of  the  indebtedness  was  to  be  paid,  and  for  each  of  the 
two  succeeding  years  he  was  to  pay  $300.00  into  the  General  Eldership  treasury. 
C.  H.  Forney  was  re-elected  Assistant  Editor  under  the  action  of  1866.  But  the 
fatal  archer  had  marked  him,  and  less  than  four  months  after  this  last  contr  ct 
had  been  signed,  on  September  11,  1869,  at  4.18  a.  m.,  this  strong,  good,  loyal  man 
went  up  "the  shining  road  from  this  dimmer  sunlight  into  the  light  of  God." 

An  essential  change  in  the  relation  of  the  Editor  of  The  Advocate  was  auto- 
matically effected  by  the  death  of  Editor  Thomas.  He  was  Publisher  and  Editor, 
and  also  the  owner  of  the  Printing  Plant.  Under  the  Resolution  of  1866,  C.  H. 
Forney  was  elected  Assistant  Editor,  to  take  the  place  of  the  Editor  in  case  of  his 
disability  or  death.  Re-elected  in  1869,  when  the  Editor  died  he  succ  eded  to 
that  office;  but  the  Executor,  it  was  conceded,  took  Thomas's  place  as  Publisher 
and  Proprietor.  But  on  February  2,  1870,  G.  Ross  and  J.  S.  Gable,  the  other  two 
members  of  the  Board  of  Publication,  announced  that  the  contract  with  E.  H. 
Thomas  would  terminate  on  May  1,  1870,  and  that  Geo.  Ross,  hwing  bought  the 
contract,  would  be  the  Publisher.  This  was  put  into  effect  with  the  volume  be- 
ginning May  1,  1870.  The  Editor  then  was  only  Editor,  except  that  fcr  conveni- 
ence and  better  service  he  became  IBusiness  Manager  for  the  Publisher,  a  position 
he  has  ever  since  held.  Ross  carried  out  the  Thomas  contract,  and  in  May,  1872, 
paid  $600.00,  less  a  small  amount  of  special  expenses,  to  the  General  Eldership, 
the  first  surplus  that  body  received.  He  was  elected  Publi?her  in  1872,  and  con- 
tinued in  that  capacity  until  1876,  when  Thomas  and  Demming  became  Publishers 
and  Printers  until  July,  1878.  Since  then  the  Board  of  Public  ticn  has  been  the 
Publisher.  This  Board  has  always  faithfully  guarded  the  interests  of  the  paper. 
Its  members  have  changed  considerably,  to  wit:  187  5-8: — J.  S.  Gable,  George 
Ross,  J.  A.  Shuler.  1878-81: — J.  S.  Gable,  George  Ross,  I.  Frazfer.  1881-4: — I. 
Frazer,  J.  H.  Redsecker,  D.  M.  Bare.  1884-7:— The  same.  1887-90:— J.  C.  For- 
ney, D.  M.  Bare,  J.  H.  Redsecker.  189  0-3: — D.  M.  Bare,  J,  H.  Redsecker,  J.  M. 
Carvell,  1893-6: — D.  M.  Bare,  D.  S.  Shoop,  C.  I.  Bro^vn.  1896-9: — The  same. 
1899-1902: — The  same,  except  that  in  February,  1901,  Brown  resigned,  and  I.  A. 
MacDannald  succeeded  him.  1902-1905: — The  same.  1905-9- — I.  A.  MacDan- 
nald,  C.  H.  Grove,  H.  M.  Angle.  1909-13: — I.  A.  MacDannald,  C.  H.  Grove,  A.  L. 
Bierbower.  Of  the  nineteen  members  of  the  Board  during  these  thirty-eight  years 
seven  are  living. 

The  same  Editor,  with  successive  re-elections,  some  times  unanimous,  was  con- 
tinued until  July,  1909,  serving  three  years  and  three  months  as  Assist  nt  Editor, 
and  three  months  less  than  forty  years  as  Editor-in-Chief.  On  three  ocr-asions  he 
asked  to  be  permitted  to  retire,  and  in  19  09  positively  declined  re-elect-'on.  The 
size  and  form  of  the  paper  were  changed  three  times,  the  nr'ce,  except  from  1876 
to  1878,  when  it  was  $1.50,  remaining  at  $2.00.  The  large  size  adopt-^d  by 
Thomas,  19 1/2x14  inches,  was  continued  to  the  close  of  Vol.  LI..  July,  1887.  It 
was  then  changed  to  a  16-page  paper,  15x9 1/4  inches,  for  four  volumes  to  July, 
1891.  when  the  larger  size,  4-page,  form  was  aeain  used,  until  Ji'ly,  1901.  Then 
the  present  24-page  form  was  adopted,  12x7  V4,  inches.      It  was  upon  recommenda- 


826  History   of   the    Churches   of   God 

tion  of  the  Board  in  1899  that  this  form  was  determined  upon,  as  there  was  a  wide- 
spread desire  for  "a  book-form."  The  paper  suffered  another  short  suspension  in 
1877.  Ross,  as  Publisher,  had  made  the  paper  successful  from  1870  to  1876;  but 
there  was  not  only  a  persistent  demand  for  a  reduction  in  price,  but  a  belief  that 
such  a  course  would  largely  increase  the  subscription  list  and  prove  a  greater  suc- 
cess financially.  This  belief  was  shared  by  the  Printing  and  Publishing  Firm  of 
Thomas  and  Demming,  and  accordingly  Deniming  submitted  a  proposition  to  the 
General  Eldership  to  print  and  publish  The  Advocate,  same  size  and  quality  of 
paper,  at  $1.50  a  year;  pay  the  Editor  an  increase  per  year  of  $200.00  salary,  and 
at  the  end  of  two  years  pay  $1,000.00  into  the  Treasury  of  the  General  Eldership. 
And  while  the  Editor  declined  the  $200.00,  and  opposed  the  proposition,  it  was 
recommended  conditionally  to  the  Board  of  Publication.  In  the  Spring  of  1876  the 
contract  for  printing  and  publishing  the  paper  was  given  to  Thomas  and  Demming, 
the  terms  to  be  $1.50  cash.  The  list  had  grown  from  August,  1870,  to  May,  1873, 
by  the  addition  of  1,743  names.  At  this  time  the  subscription  list  numbered  nearly 
four  thousand.  To  enforce  the  cash  system,  the  manner  of  doing  which  was 
strongly  disapproved  by  the  General  Eldership  in  1878,  this  high  water  mark  was 
cut  down  to  twelve  or  fifteen  hundred,  and  has  never  been  reached  since.  The 
Publishers,  Thomas  and  Demming,  were  losing  money  with  their  reduced  list  of 
subscribers,  and  determined  to  quit.  Without  any  warning,  or  notice,  after  Feb- 
ruary 21,  1877,  the  paper  ceased  to  be  printed.  The  Board  stepped  in,  relieved 
the  Firm  of  its  obligation  to  pay  the  $1,000.00,  and  made  other  concessions,  so 
that,  beginning  May  2,  1877,  publication  was  resumed,  and  the  fifty-two  numbers 
of  the  volume  issued  by  the  end  of  June,  1878.  On  July  4,  1878,  the  General  Eld- 
ership again  became  the  Publisher,  through  the  Board  of  Publication,  and  advanced 
the  price  to  $2.00.  Other  matters  which  militated  somewhat  against  the  paper 
were  the  agitation  of  the  old  question  of  a  Corps  of  Editors,  and  the  revival  of  the 
project  of  another  Church  paper,  as  well  as  petty  jealousies  of  which  "there  is  a 
great  deal  among  otherwise  good  men,"  although  "of  all  the  passions,  it  is  that 
which  exacts  the  hardest  service,  and  pays  the  bitterest  wages."  On  March  23, 
1870,  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  adopted  a  reso- 
lution in  favor  of  an  appointment  by  the  Executive  Board  of  "a  Corps  of  Editors" 
of  which  the  then  Editor  was  to  be  Editor-in-Chief,  at  a  stated  salary.  Again  in 
1875  the  proposition  was  revived  at  the  General  Eldership.  Both  times  it  failed. 
In  December,  187  6,  there  was  considerable  dissatisfaction  in  the  West  because  the 
office  was  so  far  East,  and  it  required  much  time  for  papers  to  reach  subscribers 
in  the  extreme  West.  The  agitation  for  a  second  paper  was  started,  but  was  vig- 
orously opposed  by  the  Editor  as  a  suicidal  policy.  The  movement  soon  subsided. 
On  April  1,  1874,  editorial  announcement  was  made,  that  the  Office  of  Publica- 
tion would  be  removed  to  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  on  April  29,  1874.  It  has  not  been 
changed  since.  Yielding  to  the  demand  for  an  addition  to  the  Editorial  Staff,  the 
General  Eldership  in  May,  1872,  created  the  office  of  Assistant  Editor,  and  elected 
J.  M.  Domer.  He  died  November  15,  1872.  The  office  remained  vacant  until  1875, 
when  H.  C.  Demming,  of  the  firm  of  Thomas  and  Demming,  was  elected.  Assuming 
his  duties  July  28,  1875,  he  served  until  May  23,  1877.  Neither  of  these  gave  any 
material  aid  in  the  work  on  the  paper.  In  1878,  M.  S.  Newcomer  was  elected 
Assistant  Editor,  and  retained  that  position  until  the  Summer  of  18  85,  when  he 
resigned.  He  contributed  a  column  or  more  nearly  every  week,  being  a  forceful 
and  facile  writer.  Under  the  prospective  plan  of  an  Assistant  Editor  who  should 
also  edit  all  the  Sunday-school  periodicals,  but  which  has  not  yet  been  put  into 
effect,  J.  M.  Carvell  was  elected  Assistant  Editor  in  18  85,  but  never  entered  on 
his  duties.  From  1887  to  1890  T.  Koogle,  I.  W.  Markley,  W.  I.  Berkstresser,  and 
J.  H.  Besore  were  Editorial  Contributors.  The  same  office  was  filled  from  1890  to 
1893  by  W.  H.  McKlveen,  W.  W.  Liovett,  W.  I.  Berkstresser  and  M.  S.  Newcomer. 
And  from  1893  to  1896  by  W,  W.  Lovett,  B.  F.  Be<«k,  M.  S.  Newcomer  and  R.  L. 
Byrnes.  As  this  arrangement  proved  less  satisfactory  than  was  expected,  the  office 
of  Assistant  Editor  was  re-established,  and  on  February  13,  1901,  C.  I.  Brown 
entered  upon  the  discharge  of  its  duties,  and  continued  until  December  7,  1904, 
when  he  resigned,  and  the  following  week  S.  G.  Yahn  took  his  place,  serving  until 
July,  1909.  The  finances  continued  to  improve.  Except  the  nearly  $600.00  paid 
into  the  Treasury  by  Ross  in  1872,  there  was  no  net  gain  until  1881.  On  February 
2,  1879,  the  editorial,  "Possibly  Out  of  the  Woods,"  augured  financial  success. 
And  on  July  1,  1881,  there  was  a  reported  net  balance  of  $595.15.  This  nucleus 
continued  to  grow,  until  in  1909,  when  the  Editor  finally  retired  he  had  paid  nearly 


Periodicals   of   the   Church  827 

$15,000.00  toward  the  Printing  Establishment  and  Publishing  House,  and  turned 
over  to  his  successor  cash  and  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $2,472.01. 

A  number  of  changes  in  the  Departments  of  The  Advocate  were  made  during 
the  forty  years.  A  Sunday-School  Department  and  a  Department  of  Foreign  and 
Domestic  News  were  the  first  innovations,  introduced  in  1870.  A  rule  was  put 
Into  force  excluding  "personalities"  by  contributors  and  the  Editor.  In  1899  the 
General  Eldership  went  further,  and  closed  the  columns  of  the  paper  to  "contro- 
versies." In  July,  1896.,  the  Editor  arranged  for  a  new  Department,  conducted  at 
first  by  Mary  Berkstresser,  known  as  the  "Mission  Work."  It  was  previously  con- 
ducted under  another  name  by  R.  H.  Bolton.  Later  as  "The  Mission  Work,"  by 
W.  J.  Schaner.  On  March  8,  1893,  the  C.  E.  Department  was  started,  conducted 
by  that  sweet-spirited  minister  and  worker,  M.  M.  Foose,  until  his  death.  After 
C.  I.  Brown  became  Assistant  Editor  he  conducted  this  Department  with  excellent 
satisfaction.  Upon  the  election  of  S.  G.  Yahn  Assistant  Editor,  this  work  was  as- 
signed to  him,  and  was  performed  with  great  efficiency.  In  1899  the  General  Eld- 
ership excluded  Journals  of  Elderships,  Minutes  of  Ministerial  Associations,  S.  S. 
Conventions  and  C.  E.  Conventions  from  the  columns  of  The  Advocate.  The  sug- 
gestion of  "Advocate  Day,"  a  practical  movement  of  value  to  the  paper,  was  first 
officially  made  by  the  Committee  on  Education  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership 
in  1906.  It  named  the  first  Sunday  in  December.  It  was  followed  in  1908  by 
similar  action  by  the  Elderships  in  West  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio.  Such  devoted 
workers  as  C.  F.  Raach  and  C.  Manchester  wrote  it  up  in  a  vigorous  manner.  The 
General  Eldership  in  1909  established  the  day  for  all  the  Annual  Elderships. 

At  the  session  of  the  General  Eldership  at  Ft.  Scott,  Kas.,  S.  G.  Yahn,  of  the 
West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  was  elected  Editor  of  The  Advocate.  No  Assistant 
Editor  was  elected,  as  agreed  upon  in  1905. 

Sheiinan  Grant  Yahn  was  born  on  a  farm  near  North  Sewickley,  Beaver 
county,  Pa.,  February  5,  1867.  Like  many  other  country  boys  who  have  become 
famous,  he  was  born  minus  a  silver  spoon  in  his  mouth.  He  was  not  a  precocious 
youth;  but  was  always  a  good  learner.  He  received  his  preparatory  training  in 
the  public  schools,  and  at  the  North  Sewickley  Academy.  He  pursued  the  study 
of  the  languages  under  a  private  teacher,  followed  by  a  course  at  Curry  College, 
Pittsburg.  At  sixteen  he  joined  the  ranks  of  the  pedagogues,  and  from  his  six- 
teenth to  his  nineteenth  year  he  occupied  a  teacher's  desk  in  a  public  school-room. 
With  the  church  of  God  at  Slippery  Rock  (now  Lillyville)  he  received  his  early 
religious  instruction  in  the  Sunday-school.  Here,  too,  he  was  brought  to  a  per- 
sonal, saving  knowledge  of  Christ  as  his  Savior,  and  at  the  age  of  eighteen  became 
a  member  of  this  church.  Having  his  mind  favorably  directed  to  the  Christian 
ministry,  as  thousands  have  had  while  teaching  the  rudiments  of  education  in  a 
country  school-house,  he  began  at  this  early  age  to  give  special  attention  to  English 
composition.  He  wrote  for  the  local  papers  when  but  sixteen.  Later,  more  as  a 
discipline  than  for  pulpit  use,  he  wrote  extensively  in  the  way  of  sermonic  prep- 
aration, but  he  never  has  been  a  sermon-reader.  For  three  years  and  a  half  he  was 
joint  editor  and  publisher  of  the  "Missionary  Signal."  In  1893  he  wrote  and  pub- 
lished a  brief  "History  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership."  He  also  published 
two  smaller  pamphlets,  on  "Bible  Study,"  and  "The  Teaching  Function  of  the 
Churches  of  God."  In  1896  he  was  elected  by  the  General  Eldership  to  the  office 
of  Assistant  Editor  of  The  Advocate;  but  in  the  Fall  of  the  same  year,  having  de- 
cided to  retain  his  position  as  pastor  of  Mt.  Pleasant  church,  he  declined  to  serve. 
In  December,  1904,  the  Executive  Board  elected  him  to  that  office  to  fill  the 
vacancy  occasioned  by  the  resignation  of  C.  I.  Brown.  He  continued  to  serve  in 
this  capacity,  having  been  re-elected  in  1905  by  the  General  Eldership,  until  his 
elevation  to  the  higher  office  of  Editor.  Dr.  Yahn  was  ordained  to  the  gospel  min- 
istry by  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1886.  And  up  to  1909,  when  he  re- 
moved to  Harrisburg,  he  had  spent  twenty  years  in  the  active  work  of  his  calling. 
Of  these  twenty  he  was  pastor  of  the  Mt.  Pleasant  church  eighteen,  the  longest 
consecutive  pastorate  in  the  history  of  the  churches  of  God.  His  pulpit  services 
were  peculiarly  interesting,  forceful  and  spiritually  instructive.  He  was  a  success- 
ful pastor,  without  anything  phenominal,  having  exceptional  powers  to  lead  men 
to  Christ,  so  that  in  many  instances  he  was  instrumental  in  the  conversion  of  the 
second  generation.  His  sterling  worth  was  soon  recognized  by  his  Eldership,  in 
which  he  early  became  a  recognized  leader  by  reason  of  his  spotless  character,  his 
judicial  temperament  and  his  mental  equipment.      Thrice  he  served  as  President 


828 


History    of    the   Churches    of    God 


of  his  Eldership,  and  was  an  efficient  member  of  all  its  boards  and  committees. 
He  was  also  honored  by  six  successive  elections  as  delegate  to  the  General  Elder- 
ship. He  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  General  Board  of  Missions  in  1899,  and 
served  continuously  until  1909,  where  he  gave  evidence  of  a  clear  grasp  of  every 
question  and  a  singleness  and  persistence  of  purpose  which  always  go  before  pro- 
motion and  honor.  These  same  qualities  were  manifested  during  the  several 
terms  which  he  served  as  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Findlay  College, 
one  term  of  which  he  was  President  of  the  Board,  and  did  much  in  framing  iis 
policies  and  guiding  its  deliberations  to  wise  conclusions.  In  1905  the  College 
gave  deserved  recognition  to  his  literary  and  theological  scholarship  by  voting  him 
the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity.  Thus  he  came  to  the  office  of  Editor  exceptionally 
well  equipped  for  its  responsibilities  and  duties.     As  a  writer  he  has  command  of 


S.  G.  Yahn. 


a  good  and  expressive  vocabulary.  He  does  not  waste  words,  nor  deal  too  liberally 
in  qualifying  terms.  There  is  clearness,  directness,  force  and  unity  in  his  thoughts. 
He  is  a  thinker  and  a  teacher.  There  is  purity  of  style,  precision  of  terms,  per- 
specuity  of  expression.  He  discusses  with  growing  intelligence  the  larger  prob- 
lems and  interests  of  the  kingdom  of  God  without  any  assumption  of  superiority 
or  hints  at  pedantry.  And  as  the  basis  of  all  his  admirable  qualifications  there 
is  a  deeply  laid  substratum  of  true  nobility  of  character,  sterling  integrity,  a  ful- 
ness of  spiritual  life,  splendid  spirit  and  that  charity  which  suffereth  long  and  is 
kind. 

He  has  conducted  and  edited  the  paper  since  July,  1909,  with  purity  of  pur- 
pose, painstaking  industry,  rare  ability  and  commendable  caution.  He  is  the  first 
Editor  who  was  not  a  member  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  at  the  time  of 


Periodicals   of   the   Church  829 

his  elevation  to  that  responsible  office.  He  has  the  high  qualification  of  a  con- 
sciousness of  the  true  character  of  his  office,  as  having  charge  of  "the  most 
influential  agency  among  the  churches  of  God."  "It  has  done  more  than  anything 
•else  to  shape,  direct  and  encourage  every  enterprise  of  the  General  Eldership,  and 
to  teach  and  establish  our  ministers  in  the  faith  of  the  Church."  Under  his  man- 
agement, while  there  were  few  changes  and  other  innovations,  the  paper  has  been 
conducted  so  as  to  meet  universal  approval.  He  added  the  Department  of 
"Preacher  and  Pastor"  for  the  special  benefit  of  active  ministers.  Current  events 
throughout  the  world,  in  their  bearing  on  religious  questions,  have  been  discussed 
with  commendable  discrimination.  He  has  revealed  a  thorough  familiarity  with 
the  doQjtrinal  and  historical  theology  of  the  churches  of  God,  and  has  frequently 
done  the  churches  and  ministers  a  signal  service  by  the  lucid  and  illuminating  dis- 
cussion of  questions  pertaining  to  practical  Church  work.  As  a  special  object  he 
has  kept  in  view  the  support  and  furtherance  of  the  general  interests  of  the  body. 
The  W.  G.  M.  S.  controversy  having  been  ended  by  the  final  action  thereon  by  the 
General  Eldership  in  1909,  there  have  been  no  questions  of  controversy  to  disturb 
the  serenity  of  the  four  years  during  which  he  has  held  the  responsible  position 
of  Editor.  Under  the  contract  with  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Central  Print- 
ing and  Publishing  House  of  the  Churches  of  God,  the  financial  condition  of  the 
paper  was  good.  At  the  General  Eldership  in  1913  the  Editor  reported  a  balance 
of  $4,463.04. 

III.      THE   MONTHLY  PUBLISHER. 

The  passion  for  publishing  papers  developed  rapidly  during  the  first  half  of 
the  century  of  American  religious  journalism.  Scores  of  periodicals  were  pro- 
jected, or  actually  started,  for  which  there  was  no  reasonable  justification,  and 
they  soon  came  to  disastrous  ends.  One  of  these  was  "The  Monthly  Publisher." 
On  January  8,  1845,  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Board  of  Printing  Establish- 
ment issued  a  "Prospectus"  proposing  to  publish  "a  small  monthly  paper  in  octavo 
form,"  "for  the  benefit  and  accommodation  of  the  young,  and  such  persons  as  can- 
not afford  to  take  the  weekly  Publisher."  Eight  hundred  subscribers  were  to  be 
secured  before  beginning  its  publication.  The  terms  were  "6  6  2-3  cents  per  vol- 
ume, payable  always  within  the  first  three  months  of  the  year."  But  on  March  5, 
1845,  the  Committee  announced  that  the  "publication  will  not  be  commenced  for 
the  present,"  because  of  "not  getting  a  sufficient  number  of  subscribers,  as  well  as 
for  other  reasons." 

IV.      CHRISTLICHER   KUNDSCHAFTER. 

The  German  Eldership,  formed  in  1854,  at  its  first  session  in  October  ap- 
pointed J.  F.  Weishanipel  to  Reading,  Berks  county,  and  requested  him  to  become 
the  Editor  of  a  German  paper.  He  had  at  the  time  a  charge  in  the  East  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership,  which  favorably  recommended  the  proposed  paper.  On  Feb- 
ruary, 1855,  preparatory  to  taking  charge  of  the  Reading  Mission  in  April,  Weis- 
hampel  published  a  Prospectus  of  the  new  paper,  and  called  for  subscribers.  The 
name  adopted  was  "Christliche  Familien-Gast,"  to  be  published  semi-monthly;  a 
4-page  paper,  the  size  of  The  Advocate  of  that  date,  at  5  0  cents  a  volume.  But  on 
June  2,  1855,  he  announced  that  because  of  the  small  number  of  subscribers  the 
paper  "would  not  be  published  for  the  present."  He  wanted  not  less  than  400  sub- 
scribers. In  1860,  in  1863  and  again  in  1865  the  German  Eldership  adopted  reso- 
lutions, speaking  of  the  great  importance  of  "establishing  a  small  German  paper," 
and  urging  Weishampel  to  undertake  it.  This  he  was  entirely  willing  to  do  if 
there  would  be  sufficient  encouragement.  Accordingly,  on  September  18,  1866,  he 
stated  through  The  Advocate  his  willingness  to  try  it;  but  not  having  the  means, 
he  asked  for  donations  aggregating  .$200.00  for  type  and  other  materials.  The 
first  number  of  the  paper  was  to  appear  January  1,  1887.  V/hile  a  few  opposed 
the  project,  others  strongly  sanctioned  it.  It  also  had  the  approval  of  The  Advo- 
cate, and  the  General  Eldership  in  May,  1866,  gave  it  official  endorsement.  The 
German  Eldership  again  in  1866  authorized  Weishanipel  to  begin  the  work.  Some 
funds  were  received,  but  not  enough,  and  January  1,  1867,  passed,  but  no  paper 
had  been  issued.  The  German  Eldership  Standing  Committee  on  May  3,  1867,  de- 
manded, that,  as  there  was  "no  prospect  that  a  German  paper  will  be  published," 
the  money  sent  in  to  buy  type,  etc.,  be  placed  in  the  Missionary  Fund.  But  on 
November  21,  1867,  Weishampel  replied,  stating  that  "the  fate  of  the  proposed 
paper  is  not  finally  decided."   The  work  of  securing  funds  continued;  the  title  of  the 


830  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

paper  was  changed  to  "Christlicher  Kundschafter,"  and  on  April  4,  1869,  the  first 
number,  printed  at  Baltimore,  Md.,  was  issued.  From  Baltimore  the  office  was 
removed  to  Auburn,  Schuylkill  county,  Pa.;  thence  to  Orwigsburg,  in  1870,  and 
then  to  Lancaster,  Lancaster  county,  in  1873.  It  was  a  "neat  little  sheet  of  four 
pages."  Its  patronage  was  small,  as  in  1875  its  circulation  was  25  0;  but  it  at 
times  had  more  than  twice  that  number.  For  several  years  it  was  the  official 
organ  of  the  Evangelical  Mennonite  Church.  In  187  5  the  General  Eldership 
placed  it  under  the  jurisdiction  of  its  Board  of  Publication;  elected  Weishampel 
Editor,  and  made  him  amenable  to  its  Executive  Board.  Weishampel  was  well 
adapted  to  the  work.  He  was  a  ready,  if  at  times  acrimonious,  writer  and  com- 
,  poser  in  German  and  English;  a  practical  printer,  who  could  set  up  his  own  ar- 
ticles without  previously  writing  them.  There  was  a  vein  of  native  humor  in  him 
which  he  used  to  good  effect.  It  was  easy  for  him,  however,  to  get  into  "hot- 
water."  And  yet  he  was  generally  of  a  hopeful,  buoyant  spirit,  and  built  many 
castles  in  the  air.  But  when  he  felt  aggrieved,  or  believed  he  was  injured  by  an 
enemy,  he  was  unable  to  restrain  himself,  and  wielded  an  implacable  and  ma- 
licious pen.  This  occurred  in  1877,  and  was  kept  up  to  the  end.  A  charitable 
judgment  is  proper,  for  many  extenuating  circumstances  are  discernable.  But 
officially  these  could  not  be  so  fully  recognized,  and  so  his  course  was  condemned, 
first  by  the  Board  of  Incorporation  of  the  General  Eldership,  and  then  by  the  Board 
of  Publication,  both  of  which  requested  the  Executive  Board  to  take  action.  Feel- 
ing the  effect  of  this  official  action,  Weishampel,  on  September  29,  1877,  stated  to 
the  German  Eldership  that  he  proposed  "to  stop  the  'Kundschafter'  on  April  1, 
1878."  The  Eldership  was  not  favorable  to  this,  and  urged  the  continuance  of 
the  paper.  Weishampel  did  so,  printing  a  page  or  more  in  English,  so  as  to  reach 
the  ministers  and  brethren  in  English  Elderships.  The  General  Eldership  in  1878 
took  up  the  complaints  against  Weishampel's  course,  and  finally  ordered  his  paper 
to  be  discontinued. 

V.   THE  CHURCH  OF  GOD  SUNDAY-SCHOOL'  PAPER. 

It  was  at  the  session  of  the  General  Eldership  of  1860,  the  last  session  Wine- 
brenner  attended,  beginning  May  28th,  that  the  question  of  publishing  a  Sunday- 
school  paper  was  first  officially  mentioned.  A  committee  on  the  subject  was  ap- 
pointed, and  it  reported  favorably,  declaring  that  "we  think  the  time  has  come 
when  the  Sabbath-school  interest  among  us  as  a  people  requires  the  publication 

of  a  Sabbath-school  paper."     It  further  recommended  that  "a  suitable 

person  be  appointed,  under  proper  restrictions,  to  get  up  a  paper  for  the  Sabbath- 
schools  of  the  Church  of  God."  And  while  the  recommendation  was  adopted, 
nothing  further  was  done.  The  project  slumbered  for  six  years,  when  on  April 
19,  1866,  a  contributor  to  The  Advocate  wrote,  saying:  "The  want  of  a  Sunday- 
school  paper  has  no  doubt  been  long  felt  by  those  who  labor  in  our  schools."  "We 
have  sufficient  schools  and  scholars  to  sustain  such  an  enterprise."  As  the  meet- 
ing of  the  General  Eldership  of  1866  was  only  a  little  more  than  a  month  off,  "H" 
called  its  attention  to  this  proposition.  When  the  Eldership  convened  on  the  last 
of  May,  1866,  among  the  committees  appointed  was  one  on  a  Sunday-school  paper,' 
consisting  of  one  from  each  Eldership,  including  the  Board  of  Publication.  Said 
Committee  reported,  that  "the  Board  of  Publication  be  authorized  to  publish  a 
monthly  Sunday-school  paper,  to  commence  on  the  first  day  of  January,  1867." 
It  also  provided  for  collections  in  all  the  Sunday-schools  to  secure  the  means  to 
purchase  type  and  all  other  necessary  materials.  Before  the  paper  should  be 
issued  there  should  be  5,600  subscribers.  A  corps  of  Editors  and  Contributors 
should  be  appointed,  all  to  be  under  the  Editor  of  The  Advocate.  That  the  name 
of  the  paper  should  be  "The  Church  of  God  Sunday-School  Paper."  All  this  was 
adopted;  thirteen  contributors  were  elected,  with  D.  Shelley,  Shiremanstown, 
Cumberland  county.  Pa.,  as  Editor.  Thomas,  as  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Publi- 
cation, entered  upon  this  enterprise  with  the  vim  and  energy  of  a  youth.  Early  in 
the  Fall  he  outlined  his  plans  and  called  for  cash  and  subscribers.  Soon  the  voice 
of  the  pessimist  was  heard,  and  there  were  prophecies  of  failure.  Thomas  walked 
and  worked  by  faith  in  the  brotherhood.  On  November  15th  he  stated  that  "not 
half  the  amount  necessary  has  been  subscribed;"  but  that  he  had  resolved  that  the 
paper  shall  appear  on  the  date  fixed.  Only  $194.00  had  been  pledged,  and  2,020 
subscribers.  Gradually  Thomas  introduced  the  term  "Gem"  in  place  of  "Paper." 
He  was  sustained  by  the  faith  of  others,  and  heard  their  encouraging  words:      "We 


PdjriodicaIvS  of  the;   Church 


831 


only  need  general  co-operation  to  succeed."  The  Annual  Elderships  strongly  en- 
dorsed the  project  during  October,  and  Thomas  went  ahead.  On  November  29th 
$207.00  were  pledged;  but  he  wrote:  "We  have  now  negotiated  for  a  complete 
set  of  new  material  for  the  publishing  of  the  Church  of  God  Sunday-School  Gem." 
And  on  December  6th:  "We  have  now  reached  a  point  in  our  preparation  for  the 
publication  of  the  Sunday-school  paper  that  compels  us  to  proceed."  And  on 
December  13th:  "We  are  pushing  ahead  as  fast  as  possible  to  get  The  Gem  out 
at  the  appointed  time."  There  were  $211.00  pledged.  The  day  designated  by 
the  General  Eldership  came  when  the  paper  was  to  be  issued.  Shelley  Jiad  de- 
clined the  editorship.  There  were  but  $293.00  secured.  But  on  January  3,  1867, 
Thomas  announced  through  The  Advocate,  under  the  heading,  "S.  S.  Gem,"  "We 
have  now  sent  out  the  first  number  of  the  Sunday-school  paper  authorized  by  the 
General  Eldership."  There  were  2,175  copies  ordered  by  the  schools.  One  thing 
Thomas  regretted  touching  this  first  number: — That  he  failed  to  get  a  piece  of 
music  for  it.  At  the  close  of  Vol.  I.  Thomas  reported  receipts,  $1,125.03;  ex- 
penses $1,092.00.      But  there  was  still  a  balance  due  him  of  $158.53.     He  hope- 


J.  H.  Redsecker. 


fully  began  Vol.  II.,  having  made  special  mention  of  help  afforded  him  by  George 
Boss  and  J.  H.  Redsecker.  To  the  latter  the  editorial  work  was  gradualy  trans- 
ferred, as  in  the  beginning  of  July,  1868,  Thomas  had  become  very  frail.  On  De- 
cember 23,  1868,  the  anouncement  was  first  made  that  J.  H.  Redsecker  had  become 
Editor  of  the  "Gem,"  and  assumed  full  editorial  control  January  1,  1869. 

He  was  an  enthusiastic  and  successful  worker,  admirably  adapted  to  the  new 
position.  With  an  optimistic,  cheerful  spirit,  he  drew  other  workers  around  him,, 
and  the  list  of  patrons  rapidly  increased.  New  features  were  added,  such  as  pub- 
lishing portraits  of  deceased  or  aged  ministers,  and  other  pictures.  Thomas  con- 
tinued to  be  the  Publisher  up  to  his  death.  In  May,  1869,  the  General  Eldership 
elected  Redsecker  Editor,  and  also  in  1872,  1875  and  1878.  But  before  the  Elder- 
ship adjourned  in  1878  he  resigned  the  editorship,  but  continued  as  Publisher. 
During  his  first  year  as  Editor  the  amount  of  $131.00  still  due  Thomas  was  paid, 
and  on  January,  1870,  a  small  net  balance  remained  to  the  credit  of  "The  Gem." 
G.  Sigler  was  elected  as  Redsecker's  successor. 

He  entered  upon  his  work  in  January,  1879.  Sigler  was  born  near  Burketts- 
ville,  Md.,  June  9,  1834.      He  was  converted  in  1852,  and  was  baptized  by  Wine- 


832 


History    of    the    Churches    of    God 


brenner.  In  the  Fall  of  the  same  year  he  began  conducting  revival  meetings  near 
his  parents'  home,  but  he  hesitated  to  preach  because  he  felt  that  his  education 
was  too  limited,  and  he  failed  to  get  the  consent  of  his  father  to  go  to  an  academy 
to  pursue  his  studies.  He  w^as  licensed  to  preach  at  the  Eldership  held  at  Me- 
chanicsburg.  Pa.,  in  1854,  and  entered  on  his  first  charge  in  April,  1857.  Since 
then  he  has  been  in  the  active  work,  and  has  been  an  efficient  and  highly  appre- 
ciated preacher  and  pastor.  He  was  always  thoroughly  interested  in  Sunday- 
school  work;  an  efficient  and  popular  pastor;  devoted  and  loyal  to  every  interest 
of  the  Church.  His  work  on  the  "Gem"  was  always  appreciated,  even  if  he  did 
not  have  the  temperament  which  proves  magnetic  to  children.  His  administra- 
tion of  the  office  was  to  his  credit.  With  the  make-up  and  the  illustrations  he 
was  not  concerned.  During  his  incumbency  the  receipts  above  expenses  slowly  in- 
creased for  several  years,  reaching  an  aggregate  of  $405.41  in  three  years.      The 


G.  Sigler. 


■question  of  a  semi-monthly  issue  of  the  "Gem"  was  agitated  prior  to  Sigler's  elec- 
tion as  Editor,  but  received  no  support.  It  was  also  brought  before  the  General 
Eldership  in  18  81  and  agreed  to;  then  reconsidered,  and  voted  down.  The  Illinois 
Eldership  in  1883  instructed  its  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  in  1884  "to 
•endeavor  to  have  a  cheap  primary  paper  published  weekly  or  semi-monthly."  But 
without  awaiting  the  action  of  the  General  Eldership,  the  Board  of  Publication  in 
January,  1884,  "concluded  to  publish  the  'S.  S.  Gem'  twice  a  month,  beginning 
with  the  April  number."  This  action  the  General  Eldership  approved,  and  it 
gave  general  satisfaction. 

In  1896  a  new  Editor  of  "The  S.  S.  Gem"  was  elected  to  succeed  Sigler.  The 
reason  for  the  change  was  financial.  The  new  Editor,  W.  A.  Laverty,  was  the  Gen- 
eral Superintendent  of  the  Book-Store,  and  could  do  the  work  of  editing  the  "Gem" 
in  addition  to  his  other  duties.  He  had  been  a  member  and  worker  in  Sunday- 
schools  from  childhood,  and  had  qualifications  which  adapted  him  to  his  new 
■duties.     His  conduct  of  the  paper  commended  itself  so  to  the  General  Eldership 


PpZRIODICALS     OF     TIIK     ClIlRCH 


833 


and  the  Board  of  Directors  that  he  has  been  re-elected  successively  until  the 
present.  In  1905  and  1909  the  Board  of  Publication  gave  him  two  assistants  as 
Editorial  Contributors,  to  v^rit:  F.  W.  McGuire  and  Win.  Harris  Guyer.  Their 
work  has  been  well  received.  In  19  02  a  suggestion  was  made  at  the  General 
Eldership  that  "The  Gem"  be  published  weekly;  but  the  Board  did  not  receive  suf- 
ficient encouragement  to  undertake  the  extra  expense.  But  en  .lanuary  1,  1906, 
prospects  for  sufficient  patronage  were  so  fair  that  a  weekly  edition  was  printed, 
which  by  .lune,  1909,  had  reached  over  5,000  copies.  With  few  exceptions,  "The 
Gem"  has  had  a  small  net  gain  to  its  credit  each  year.  It  has  been  almost  wholly 
changed  as  to  its  contents  and  illustrations  since  the  first  issue,  and  is  a  popular 
Sunday-school  periodical. 


Ijavei'ty. 


VI.      THE  MONTHLY  PREACHER. 

Though  important  matters  went  very  wrong  in  1857-9,  Winebrenner  did  not 
throw  up  his  hands  in  despair,  nor  lose  his  nerve.  His  patience,  perseverance  and 
indomitable  will  enabled  him  to  take  things  easier  than  most  of  his  co-adjutors, 
and  to  seek  to  devise  new  enterprises  for  the  benefit  of  the  cause.  He  could  take 
criticism  and  weigh  it  well,  without  becoming  personally  resentful  when  it  was  an 
impersonal  issue.  These  traits  he  clearly  evinced  in  1858,  under  conditions  when 
it  would  have  been  easier  to  retire  than  to  start  a  new  enterprise.  He  conceived 
a  most  praiseworthy  enterprise  in  the  Summer  of  18  5  8,  and  announced  it  in  The 
Advocate  on  August  5th.  It  was  in  the  form  of  a  "Prospectus  for  publishing  a 
series  of  sermons  in  monthly  numbers,  at  $1.00  per  annum  in  advance,"  if  he 
could  secure  500  subscribers.  The  sermons  were  to  be  doctrinal  and  practical 
sermons  he  had  preached.  Colder,  Editor  of  The  Advocate,  spoke  of  the  project  as 
of  special  value,  saying:  "Something  of  the  kind  ought  to  have  been  done  long 
ago."  This  was  a  truth  widely  recognized.  On  October  14th  Winebrenner  had 
matured  his  plans  far  enough  to  change  his  "Prospectus"  so  as  to  name  the 
periodical  "The  Monthly  Preacher,"  and  as  a  sub-title,  "Or  a  Series  of  Doctrinal 

C.  H.— 28 


834 


History    of    the    Churches    of    God 


and  Practical  Sermons."  The  first  number  was  promised  for  January  1,  1859. 
His  relations  with  The  Advocate  Printing  Establishment  were  of  such  a  character 
that  he  contracted  with  Jolm  F.  Weishanipel,  Jr.,  Baltimore,  Md.,  to  print  and 
stereotype  the  work.  The  form  was  a  regular  octavo,  the  ordinary  book  size,  con- 
venient for  binding  and  permanent  preservation.  Had  Winebrenner  lived  to  con- 
tinue the  work  for  a  period  of  years,  it  would  have  become  a  System  of  Theology 
for  the  Church.  On  February  10,  1859,  AVinebi-enner  announced  that  "the  first 
issue  of  The  Monthly  Preacher  was  completed  and  sent  out  a  few  weeks  ago."  It 
contained  a  sermon  on  "The  Church  of  God  and  her  Ministry,"  and  part  of  one  on 
"The  Conversion  of  Multitudes  in  the  Last  Days."  J.  F.  Weishampel,  Sr.,  com- 
mended it  by  saying:  "A  more  important  work  than  the  Preacher  could  not  pos- 
sibly be  procured."  The  twelve  numbers  were  published  during  the  year,  con- 
taining thirteen  sermons,  written  in  the  style  of  an  able  and  lucid  expounder  of 
the  word  of  God.  The  last  three  sermons  were  on  Baptism,  Feet-washing  and  the 
Communion.  Winebrenner  had  a  number  of  extra  sheets  printed,  which  he  had 
bound  in  book  form,  with  the  title  of  "Doctrinal  and  Practical  Sermons."  The 
work  was  continued  one  year,  when  Providence  interfered,  and  later  in  1860  ended 
his  noble  warfare. 

VII.      THE  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  RECORD. 

This  proposed  periodical  had  its  unexpected  origin  at  the  General  Eldership  in 
1872,  though  the  need  of  such  a  journal  had  been  felt  and  canvassed  by  Sunday- 


school  workers  for  a  year  or  more.  At  the  Mt.  Carroll,  111.,  session  of  the  General 
Eldership,  when  other  publishing  interests  were  being  acted  upon,  George  Sigler 
offered  a  resolution,  which  was  adopted,  "instructing  the  Board  of  Publication,  if 
in  its  judgment  it  is  expedient,  to  publish  a  monthly  paper  for  the  special  benefit 
of  Sunday-school  teachers."  But  it  slumbered  for  more  than  two  years,  when  the 
Board  of  Publication  took  it  up  and  granted  authority  to  "the  brethren  to  publish 
a  Sabbath-school  Monthly."  On  August  11,  1874,  the  Board  decided  that  the 
title  should  be  "The  Sunday-school  Record,"  the  first  number  to  be  issued  January 
1,  1875.  It  also  elected  G.  Sigler  and  D.  A.  L.  Laverty,  Editors;  P.  Loucks,  W.  P. 
Small,  M.  S.  Newcomer  and  R.  H,  Bolton,  Associate  Editors,  and  D.  C.  Kolp,  Busi- 
ness Manager.  The  price  was  fixed  at  $1-00  a  year,  to  be  paid  in  advance.  Each 
number  was  to  have  the  International  Lesson,  and  lesson  leaves  for  each  Sabbath. 
It  was  to  have  24  pages.  The  contract  for  the  printing  was  awarded  to  the  Herald 
Printing  Co.,  of  Carlisle,  Pa.  On  October  7,  1874,  the  Business  Manager  publish- 
ed a  "Prospectus  of  the  new  Monthly  for  Parents  and  Teachers."  It  was  endorsed 
by  Iowa,  Indiana,  West  Ohio,  East  Ohio.  Kansas  and  Missouri,  Illinois,  West  Penn- 


Periodicals   oi^   the   Church 


835 


sylvania  and  Nebraska  Elderships.  A  favorable  preamble  and  resolution  was  of- 
fered at  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership;  but  it  was  stricken  out  and  one  intro- 
duced as  a  substitute,  referring  the  whole  matter  to  the  General  Eldership  in  1875. 
Because  of  this  action  the  Editors  resigned  on  November  25,  1874,  and  Associate 
Editors  followed.  On  December  23,  1874,  the  Business  Manager  announced  that 
"The  Sunday-school  Record  will  not  be  published  until  after  the  General  Eldership 
in  1875."  The  Business  Manager  reported  the  facts  to  the  General  Eldership,  and 
spoke  hopefully  of  the  prospects  of  success,  stating  that  there  were  nearly  200  sub- 
scribers enrolled  when  the  Editors  resigned.  The  expenses  had  been  $22.10,  which 
the  Eldership  ordered  to  be  paid.  No  request  was  made  to  the  Eldership  for  a 
renewal  of  the  authority  to  publish  The  Record,  and  no  further  action  was  action. 

VIII.      THE  WORKMAN  QUARTERLY. 

After  the  failure  of  the  project  to  publish  the  Sunday-School  Record  there  was 
a  disposition  to  yield  to  the  temptation  to  quit  enterprises  of  this  character.     For 


J.    M.     Carvell. 


nearly  three  years  matters  were  quiescent,  when  at  the  session  of  the  East  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership  in  October,  1877,  action  was  taken,  requesting  the  delegates  to 
the  General  Eldership  in  1878  "to  use  their  influence  to  have  published  a  Lesson 
Leaf,  to  be  called  "The  Church  of  God  Lesson  Leaf."  There  was  evolution,  a 
developing  progress.  Like  Disraeli  who  made  a  failure  of  his  first  speech  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  so  these  persistent  brethren  said:  "We  have  begun  several 
times,  many  things,  and  have  often  succeeded  at  last."  East  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship caused  the  failure  of  The  S.  S.  Record;  it  would  start  in  a  humble  way  some- 
thing that  would  succeed.  The  General  Eldership  did  not  resent  its  initiative 
in  the  new  venture.  It  went  beyond  its  petition,  and  generously  adopted  measures 
for  a  magazine,  with  B.  F.  Beck,  East  Pennsylvania,  for  Editor.  It  declared  that 
there  is  "a  pressing  necessity  for  the  provision  of  a  Teacher's  Manual,"  and  that 
"the  Board  of  Publication  be  directed  to  prepare  said  monthly  as  soon  as  possible." 
It  "authorized  B.  F.  Beck  to  edit  and  publish  a  monthly  Sunday-school  Journal  for 


836 


History    of    the    Churches    of    God 


teachers,  and  Lesson  Leaves. 
make  different  arrangements. 


But  on  doctrinal  grounds  it  was  deemed  wise  to 
The  Board  of  Publication  took  the  matter  up,  and 


Rodsecker  Business  Man- 
Wiley,  Assistant  Editors. 
It  was  to  be  a  monthly 
65  cents  for  ten  or  mdre 
and  on  January  1,  1879, 


about  the  beginning  of  September,  187  8,  it  elected  J.  H. 
ager;  P.  Loiicks,  Editor-in-Chief,  and  J.  M.  Carvell  and  A. 

The  name  selected  was  "The  Sunday-school  Workman." 
magazine,  with  lesson  leaves,  at  7.5  cents  a  single  copy; 
to  the  same  address.      Everything  progressed  favorably, 

the  first  number  was  published.  Some  had  doubts,  and  a  few  criticised;  but  the 
Annual  Elderships  approved  and  encouraged  the  project  without  exception.  The 
Editor  was  unusually  optimistic,  and  entered  on  his  work  with  vigor  and  zeal,  and 
for  two  and  one-half  years  labored  for  its  success  with  unabating  energy.  An- 
nouncement of  the  appearance  of  the  new  monthly  was  made  October  30th,  and 
the  Sunday-schools  responded,  some  "with  large  lists  of  subscribers."  At  the  end 
of  the  first  year  congratulations  of  the  Editor  and  Business  Manager  were  numer- 
ous. "It  was  more  successful  than  the  most  sanguine  had  anticipated.  It  de- 
serves success.      It  is  an  admirable  periodical,  and  is  fully  adapted  to  the  wants 


D.   S.   Shoop. 

of  teachers."  By  July,  1881,  the  number  of  subscribers  for  the  Workman  was 
800;  for  the  Lesson  Leaves,  10,000.  Loucks  was  re-elected  Editor,  and  W.  B. 
Allen  and  W.  W.  Lovett,  Assistant  Editors.  But  a  month  later  Loucks  resigned, 
"owing  to  afflictions,"  and  J.  H.  Redsecker  was  elected  in  his  stead,  with  J.  M. 
Carvell  as  Assistant  Editor.  Redsecker  was  a  business  man,  although  of  literary 
tastes.  Yet  he  was  better  adapted  to  the  editorship  of  the  Sunday-School  Gem 
than  The  Workman.  On  January  2  5,  1882,  Carvell  resigned  as  Assistant  Editor, 
and  J.  AV.  Miller  was  elected  as  his  successor,  who  served  one  year,  when  the  office 
was  discontinued.  On  March  3,  1886,  Redsecker's  resignation  as  Editor  took  ef- 
fect, and  J.  M.  Carvell  was  elected  to  the  office  of  Editor. 

The  Monthly  Workman  was  discontinued  with  the  number  for  December, 
1889,  and  instead  The  Quarterly  and  Lesson  Leaves  were  adapted  from  those  pub- 
lished by  the  American  Sunday-School  Union,  and  the  work  of  the  Editor  was 
mainly  one  of  oversight,  guarding  against  objectionable  matter  appearing.  Yet 
in  many  ways  Cai-vell  was  well  qualified  for  the  editorship.  He  was  held  in  high 
esteem,  was  a  laborous  student  and  a  consecrated  servant  of  the  Church.  Afier 
completing  his  academic  studies  he  took  a  post-graduate  course  at  Wooster  Uni- 


PeRIODICAI^S     01^    THE     CliURCH  837 

versity,  Ohio,  receiving  the  degree  of  Ph.  D.  His  tastes  were  classical,  and  he 
was  later  applying  himself  to  the  study  of  metaphysical  theology,  poetic  works 
and  polite  literature.  He  never  wrote  much,  but  he  was  a  vigorous  thinker,  and 
his  style  was  concise,  forcible  and  remarkably  pure.  Had  death  spared  him,  larger 
spheres  of  usefulness  would  have  opened  to  him.  The  arrangement  for  furnishing 
the  Quarterly  and  Lesson  Leaves  was  not  satisfactory,  and  it  was  also  published  at 
a  loss,  the  total  for  three  years  having  been  over  $300.00.  In  1890  the  General 
Eldership  directed  the  printing  of  a  Quarterly  and  Lesson  Leaves  by  the  Board  of 
Publication,  and  D.  S.  Shoop,  M.  S.  Newcomer,  AV.  H.  McKlveen  and  J.  R.  H- 
Latchavv  were  appointed  Lesson  Editors,  and  J.  H.  Redsecker,  Managing  Editor. 
The  publication  was  to  begin  October  1,  1890.  But  within  a  few  months  after  the 
appearance  of  the  first  number  all  resigned  except  Shoop  and  Redsecker,  and  so 
the  entire  work  of  preparing  the  lessons  devolved  on  Shoop.  This  was  done  in  a 
very  satisfactory  manner,  as  his  work  was  "of  a  very  high  order."  In  1893  the 
Board  recommended  that  "the  work  of  editing  the  Quarterly  and  preparing  the 
Lesson  Leaves  be  given  into  the  hands  of  one  person,"  and  that  Shoop  "ought  to 
be  continued  in  the  position."  The  Eldership  elected  him  Editor  of  the  Workman 
Quarterly  and  Lesson  Leaves. 

He  has  been  re-elected  at  each  successive  General  Eldership  since,  thus  hav- 
ing served  continuously  from  October,  1890.  This  confidence  expressed  in  Editor 
Shoop,  together  with  the  steady  increase  of  the  circulation  and  of  the  net  surplus 
income  is  the  strongest  evidence  of  his  eminent  fitness  for  the  position.  Changes 
for  the  better  in  this  periodical  have  been  made  from  time  to  time,  which  were 
appreciated.  It  has  also  been  enlarged,  and  the  lessons  differently  arranged.  In 
January,  1907,  The  Home  Department  Quarterly  was  started.  It  was  intended  for 
those  who,  from  whatever  cause,  are  unable  to  attend  the  sessions  of  the  Sunday- 
school.  This  Shoop  also  edited.  He  is  a  concise  and  cogent  writer,  and  his  style 
is  not  lacking  in  smoothness  and  elegance.  He  is  first  and  always  a  Bible  teacher, 
whether  in  the  pulpit  or  in  the  editorial  chair.  A  native  of  Shiremanstown, 
Cumberland  county,  he  was  converted,  baptized  and  fellowshiped  at  Newville,  same 
county,  at  the  age  of  17  years.  He  attended  Millersville  Normal  School,  taking 
a  three-year  course  preparatory  to  teaching.  But  becoming  convinced  that  he  was 
called  to  the  ministry,  he  was  ordained  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in 
1872,  and  diligently  served  a  number  of  charges  with  great  acceptance  and  good 
success.  He  has  been  honored  by  his  own  Eldership,  by  the  General  Eldership 
and  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Findlay  College  by  elections  to  official  positions.  Of 
unblemished  character,  nothing  in  his  whole  life  has  ever  been  a  silent  witness 
against  him.     His  purity  of  purpose  is  the  basis  of  his  purity  of  character. 

IX.      THE  SUNBEAM  AND  PRIMARY  QUARTERLY. 

To  make  The  S.  S.  Gem  satisfactory  to  the  higher  classes  in  the  Sunday- 
schools  its  literary  character  had  to  be  advanced.  This  left  the  smaller  scholars 
without  a  paper  suited  to  their  capacities.  The  need  of  a  small  paper,  with  simple 
stories,  thus  became  a  need  generally  felt.  To  this  need  the  Illinois  Eldership 
gave  formal  expression  in  October,  18  83,  when  it  resolved,  that  "as  The  Gem  is 
better  suited  for  more  advanced  scholars,  the  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership 
[in  1884]  are  requested  to  endeavor  to  have,  a  cheap  paper  published  weekly,  or 
semi-monthly,  for  the  little  folks."  The  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  Novem- 
ber, 1883,  expressed  its  sense  of  the  need  in  similar  terms.  These  sentiments 
were  echoed  by  the  Board  of  Publication  at  the  General  Eldership  in  1884,  de- 
claring that  there  is  a  demand  "for  a  weekly  illustrated  paper  for  the  very  little 
folks,  a  paper  about  6x8  inches."  The  matter  was  referred  to  a  committee  which 
"heartily  recommended  the  movement,"  and  asked  that  the  body  "authorize  the 
Board  to  publish  a  small  monthly,  illustrated  paper  for  the  small  children."  The 
Board  accepted  its  commission,  and  with  little  delay  proceeded  to  make  the  neces- 
sary arrangements  to  issue  the  first  number  by  January,  1885.  J.  Halfleigh,  the 
efficient  Business  Manager,  on  November  19,  1884,  announced  "A  new  Sunday- 
school  paper,  to  begin  on  January  1,  1885."  He  revealed  the  name — "Sunbeam" 
— and  gave  the  rates — 100  copies,  one  year,  $25.00;  10  copies  or  more,  at  the  same 
rate.  On  January  1,  1885,  the  new  periodical  was  issued,  and  on  its  title  page 
appeared  the  name  of  Sade  R.  Hemperly,  as  Editor,  a  member  of  the  church  at 
Middletown,  Dauphin  county.  Pa.  She  had  reluctantly  accepted  the  position,  and 
so  in  the  Fall  of  1886  she  prevailed  on  the  Board  of  Publication  to  accept  her 
resignation.     She  had  discharged  her  duties  well,  possessing  a  natural  aptitude. 


838 


History    of    the    Churches    of    God 


developed  by  training,  for  such  work.  The  Board  finally  succeeded  in  finding  her 
successor  in  the  person  of  Lydia  A.  Foniey,  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  who  at  once  entered 
upon  her  important  work.  She  has  been  continued  in  "the  position  of  Editor  ever 
since,  being  re-elected  without  opposition  at  each  General  Eldership." 

Gradually  a  desire  for  a  Primary  Quarterly  made  it  advisable  to  do  something 
to  supply  the  schools  with  such  a  publication.  For  a  few  years  this  was  done  by 
an  arrangement  with  the  American  Sunday-School  Union,  whereby  Church  of  God 
schools  were  furnished  its  Primary  Quarterly  with  the  imprint  of  the  Board  on  the 
cover.  There  was  no  secret  about  it,  as  the  fact  was  published  in  a  standing  ad- 
vertisement in  The  Advocate.  But  in  the  latter  part  of  1896  there  was  issued  a 
"Primary  Quarterly  by  direction  of  the  Board  of  Publication  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship of  the  Churches  of  God."  Of  this,  on  account  of  its  close  connection  with 
the  Sunbeam,  Miss  Foniey  was  also  elected  Editor,  and  has  been  re-elected  at  each 
General   Eldership   since.      Both   these   periodicals   have   been   enlarged   and   very 


Lydia    A.    Forney. 

much  improved.  Miss  Forney  had  special  qualifications  for  this  work,  and  she 
had  received  high  commendation  from  the  Board  and  the  General  Eldership.  She 
was  converted  at  the  age  of  twelve  years.  A  year  later  she  began  to  teach  in  the 
Sunday-school  at  the  Forney  school-house,  West  Hanover  township,  Dauphin 
county.  Pa.,  and  has  been  a  teacher  of  a  Bible  class  ever  since.  She  also,  as  early 
as  1871,  began  public  work  in  various  places,  making  addresses  at  Sunday-schools, 
conventions,  children's  meetings  and  like  gatherings.  Gifted  with  musical  talents, 
she  devoted  considerable  time  to  song  services,  furnishing  music,  vocal  and  instru- 
mental, at  various  gatherings.  For  all  these  and  many  other  labors  she  not  only 
had  native  talent  of  more  than  ordinary  degree;  but  she  spent  three  years  at  Mrs. 
Dixon's  Seminary,  Harrisburg,  and  took  a  four-years'  course  by  correspondence  at 
the  People's  College,  and  a  course  in  the  Chautauqua  Literary  and  Scientific  Circle. 
Also  a  special  course  of  Bible  studies.  She  began  teaching  in  her  third  year  at 
the  Seminary  as  an  Assistant,  and  then  four  years  in  the  public  schools.     She  had 


Periodicai^s   o^  the    Church 


839 


a  passion  for  vocal  and  instrumental  music,  and  took  courses  in  vocal  culture,  elo- 
cution, harmony  and  composition.  But  her  success  as  Editor  of  The  Sunbeam  and 
The  Primary  Quarterly  rests  upon  an  inborn  affinity  with  children  and  her  ad- 
mirable executive  powers. 

X.      MISSIONARY  SIGNAL. 

The  inception  in  1887  of  the  project  of  a  missionary  periodical  might  be 
traced  to  the  "Mission  Field"  Department  in  The  Advocate,  which  about  that  time 
was  conducted  by  C.  Manchester.  It  was  in  1888  that,  upon  application,  the  Board 
of  Incorporation  "deemed  it  advisable  to  appoint  C.  Manchester  as  Editor  and  Man- 
ager of  a  monthly  magazine."  It  had  the  endorsement  of  the  Illinois,  the  Ohio, 
the  Missouri  and  the  East  Pennsylvania  Elderships,  and  was  commended  by  The 
Advocate.  In  August,  1889,  the  Board  of  Publication  definitely  "authorized  C. 
Manchester  to  publish  a  monthly  Missionary  Magazine,"  he  also  to  be  the  Editor. 
In  1890  this  action  was  reported  to  the  General  E^ldership,  and  adopted.      But  the 


W.  J.  Schaner. 


character  of  the  new  periodical  was  further  thus  defined:  "To  publish  a  mission- 
ary paper."  By  September,  189  0,  he  had  "everything  ready  to  begin  the  work;" 
but  it  had  to  be  suspended  on  account  of  his  leaving  Illinois  to  take  charge  of 
Barkeyville  Academy,  Venango  county,  Pa.  On  December  21,  1892,  he  announced 
that  he  had  associated  S.  G.  Yahn,  of  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  with  him  as  his  Assistant,  and 
that  "The  Missionary  Signal,"  a  paper  16x11  inches,  would  appear  January  1, 
1893.  It  was  to  be  a  monthly,  with  the  office  of  publication  at  Barkeyville,  Ven- 
ango county.  Pa.,  the  subscription  price,  50  cents  a  year. 

Manchester  was  a  loyal,  faithful,  earnest  worker,  manifesting  the  deepest  in- 
terest in  all  that  pertained  to  the  furtherance  of  the  cause  of  the  Church.  At  the 
General  Eldership  of  1896  he  and  Yahn  offered  to  turn  the  paper  over  to  said  body. 
The  Committee  to  which  the  subject  was  referred  reported  that  it  should  be  placed 
under  the  control  of  the  Board  of  Publication,  and  continued  three  years  longer. 
Manchester  was  elected  Editor.  But  as  he  was  elected  later  by  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  Pindlay  College  to  the  Presidency  of  said  institution,  he  resigned  the 
editorship,  and  W.  J.  Schaner  was  elected    Editor    and    Business    Manager.       He 


840  History    of    the    Churches    oe    God 

changed  the  office  of  publication  to  Roaring  Spring,  Blair  county,  Pa.  At  the  ex- 
piration of  three  years,  the  General  Eldership  in  1899  decided  to  discontinue  the 
Signal,  which  was  done  with  the  issue  of  June,  1899.  The  "Mission  Field"  De- 
partment in  The  Advocate  was  revived,  and  Schaner  was  secured  to  be  the  Con- 
ductor. He  was  well  prepared  for  such  work,  and  would  have  succeeded  with  the 
Signal  if  there  had  been  a  constituency  to  support  it.  He  had  been  trained  at 
Barkeyville  Academy,  followed  by  a  theological  course  at  Findlay.  He  was  or- 
dained by  the  Ohio  Eldership  in  1887;  went  to  Illinois,  and  thence  back  to  Penn- 
sylvania, his  natal  State.  The  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  for  years  enjoyed  his 
services  as  Stated  Clerk,  and  elected  him  a  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership. 
Faithful  and  efficient  in  all  positions  he  occupied,  of  independent  judgment,  he 
served  the  body  with  conscientious  purpose. 

XI.      THE   COLLEGE   REVIEW. 

There  seemed  to  develop  about  1887  quite  an  extravagant  tendency  in  the 
brotherhood  of  the  churches  of  God  to  start  new  periodicals.  Several  of  these 
were  connected  with  institutions  of  learning  under  the  auspices  of  the  churches 
of  God.  Naturally  in  the  lead  was  Findlay  College.  It  came  before  the  Board  of 
Incorporation  through  its  Faculty  on  June  20,  1889,  and  received  the  approval  of 
said  Board  of  its  proposition  that  the  Faculty  and  students  have  the  privilege  to 
publish  a  College  paper;  but  the  matter  was  then  referred  to  the  Board  of  Publi- 
cation, which  "authorized  the  Faculty  and  students  to  organize  the  Review  Pub- 
lishing Company,  to  publish  'The  College  Review.'  "  President  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw 
was  elected  Editor.  The  first  number  appeared  August,  1889.  It  was  a  monthly, 
10x61/^  inches,  at  75  cents  a  year.  Annual  Elderships  commended  it,  and  in  1890 
it  was  endorsed  by  the  General  Eldership.  But  it  did  not  live  long,  for  its  last 
issue  appeared  November  4,  1891.  Under  different  auspices  "The  Ossarist"  was 
at  once  started.  It  was  published  by  the  College  Literary  Societies,  with  Elmer 
McCliire  as  its  first  Editor.  It  was  somewhat  more  successful,  and  had  a  longer 
life.  "The  College  News,"  a  more  modest  publication,  is  of  a  different  character, 
and  has  been  published  largely  as  an  advertising  medium  for  the  College.  It  has 
been  regularly  issued  since  1897.  It  is  under  the  control  of  the  President,  and  is 
printed  by  the  students.  Then  "The  Argus"  was  started,  under  the  control  of  the 
students,  with  frequent  changes  of  editors.  It  was  published  during  the  College 
year,  or  ten  months  in  the  year.  It  had  real  merit.  In  19  05  Barkeyville  Academy, 
Barkeyville,  Venango  county.  Pa.,  followed  the  example  of  Findlay  College,  and 
"The  Academy  News"  was  published,  with  the  Principal,  AVm.  Han-is  Guyer, 
as  the  Editor.  The  first  number  appeared  February  1,  1905.  With  his  ex- 
perience at  Findlay  College,  it  was  quite  natural  for  C  Manchester  to  desire  to 
have  a  paper  to  represent  Fort  Scott  Collegiate  Institute.  At  the  beginning  of  his 
first  year  as  Principal  he  began  the  publication  of  "The  Collegiate  Institute 
Record,"  which  he  edited. 

XII.      THE  FA3nLY  VISITOR. 

The  force  of  circumstances  induced  B.  Ober,  missionary  to  Texas,  to  enter  the 
field  of  journalism.  The  lines  of  communication  with  the  North  were  gradually 
closing  in  1860.  The  mails  became  uncertain.  The  Church  Advocate  antagonized 
the  position  which  Ober  and  his  fellow  missionary,  E.  Marple,  were  constrained  to 
take,  and  the  result  was  the  starting  of  "The  Union,"  published  at  Mt.  Pleasant, 
Titus  county,  Texas.  It  was  their  medium  of  defense  on  account  of  the  anti- 
slavery  principles  advocated  by  the  Church  in  the  North.  The  paper  was  well 
received,  and  soon  had  700  subscribers.  It  first  appeared  in  the  Spring  of  1860. 
But  "The  Texas  News  and  Family  Visitor"  had  preceded,  having  been  published  as 
a  prohibition  campaign  paper  in  1859.  The  office  was  located  at  Banham,  Fannin 
county,  Texas.  It  was  edited  and  published  by  Ober.  Under  the  name  of  "The 
Family  Visitor,"  Ober  revived  it  in  18  89,  locating  it  at  Paris,  Lamar  county,  Texas. 
In  18  87  Ober  also  begaji  the  publication  of  "The  Caddo  Gazette,"  in  the  cause  of 
prohibition,  but  a  local  secular  paper.  He  was  a  man  of  great  enterprises,  tact 
and  push. 

XIII.      OTHER  INDIVIDUAL  PAPERS. 

It  was  soon  after  this  that  what  have  been  called  "parish  papers"  began  to 
spring  up,  and  flourished  for  over  a  decade.  They  were  considered  very  service- 
able to  a  congregation.  Their  cost  was  not  considerable,  and  was  principally  paid 
for  by  the  advertisements  of  the  business  men  of  the  community.      More  general 


PERIODICAL'S    OF    THE     ChURCH  84I 

in  scope  than  "parish"  papers,  was  "The  Temperance  News,"  which  in  1883  C.  D. 
Rishel  launched  while  pastor  at  Chambersburg,  Franklin  county,  Pa.  It  was  a 
temperance  campaign  paper,  its  longer  continuance  to  depend  on  circumstances. 
"Bible  Truth"  was  published  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  in  1890,  by  Mrs.  M.  B.  Woodworth, 
with  Emma  L.  Isenberg  as  Editor.  Its  object  was  the  dissemination  of  her  dis- 
tinctive views,  and  incidentally  her  vindication  against  her  assailants.  In  1893  it 
come  under  the  control  of  H.  H.  Spiher,  of  Indiana,  who  was  its  Editor  for  several 
years.  A  German  paper,  partly  for  the  German  Eldership  churches,  known  as 
"The  Religious  Messenger,"  was  published  in  1898.  J.  M.  Fahl,  of  said  E'ldership, 
was  connected  with  it  as  Associate  Editor.  The  more  purely  "parish"  papers  were 
"The  Church  at  Work,"  edited  and  published  by  S.  G.  Yahn  while  pastor  at  Mount 
Pleasant,  Westmoreland  county.  Pa.,  a  four-page  paper.  Its  publication  began  in 
1894  and  continued  for  several  years.  "The  Mt.  Joy  Helper,"  which  C  I.  Brown 
published  and  edited  while  pastor  at  Mt.  Joy,  Lancaster  county,  a  four-page  paper. 
While  pastor  at  Shippensburg  he  edited  and  published  "To  the  Work,"  a  paper 
varying  in  size  from  four  to  sixteen  pages.  From  1897  to  1904,  I.  A.  MacDannald, 
pastor  at  Washington  Borough,  Lancaster  county,  edited  and  published  "The 
Church  Visitor."  It  had  been  preceded  in  1892,  for  a  few  months,  by  "The  Dia- 
dem," under  the  same  control.  "The  Little  Gleaner,"  a  four-page  monthly,  and 
"The  Monthly  Morsel,"  first  a  four-page  and  later"  a  sixteen-page  monthly,  were 
published  and  edited  by  C.  F.  ReitzeL  The  last  one  was  continued  six  years. 
Reitzel  developed  special  powers  as  a  writer,  and  could  have  become  a  popular 
editor. 


DIVISION   VI. 


HISTORY  OF  INSTITUTIONS  OF  LEARNING 


DIVISION  VI. 


HISTORY  OF  INSTITUTIONS  OF  LEARNING. 


A  century  and  more  ago  a  large  majority  of  the  colleges  in  the  United  States 
were  established  by  religious  denominations,  and  their  special  object  was  the  train- 
ing of  young  men  for  the  Christian  ministry.  But  religious  bodies  like  the  Church 
of  God,  the  United  Brethren,  the  Evangelical  Association  in  their  earliest  histories 
had  strong  prejudices  to  contend  against  with  reference  to  an  educated  minister. 
Very  few  of  their  ministers  had  educational  attainments  beyond  what  could  be 
reached  through  the  common  schools,  or  were  gained  in  private  study  after  enter- 
ing upon  their  ministerial  careers.  Their  habits  of  close  and  sustained  thinking, 
the  best  results  of  mental  training,  were  thus  formed,  and  this,  accompanied  with 
their  greater  zeal,  industry  and  activity  in  their  calling  gave  them  often  remark- 
able power  in  dealing  with  pulpit  subjects.  They  also  possessed  a  degree  of  spirit- 
uality, and  their  ministrations  awakened  such  deep  sympathetic  feelings,  or  had 
an  "unction,"  unknown  in  the  educated  ministry  of  other  bodies.  The  sermons 
of  this  latter  class  were  recognized  as  learned,  but  unspiritual,  as  indeed  were 
but  too  often  the  lives  of  the  ministers  themselves,  and  much  more  the  lay  mem- 
bership. Education  and  spirituality  and  piety  seemed  incompatible  to  these  de- 
vout, humble,  poor  country  folk.  Thus  a  decided  prejudice  against  a  collegiate 
training  for  ministers  came  to  have  a  deeply  rooted  existence,  which  had  to  be 
largely  eradicated  before  a  Church  could  hope  to  succeed  in  educational  work. 
Hence,  it  was  not  until  1845  that  the  first  definite  action  looking  toward  the  found- 
ing of  an  institution  of  learning  for  the  Church  was  taken  by  the  General  Confer- 
ence of  the  United  Brethren  Church.  Somewhat  more  German  than  the  United 
Brethren,  it  was  not  until  185  4  that  a  successful  effort  was  started  for  the  erection 
of  a  Seminary  or  College  for  the  Evangelical  Association.  It  is  hence  worthy  of 
note  that  the  ministers  of  the  Church  of  God  began  to  agitate  the  question  of  a 
school  at  so  early  a  date  as  1844.  Two  facts  contributed  to  this:  The  common 
school  system,  and  Winebi-enner's  scholastic  attainments  and  personal  interest  In 
the  mental  training  of  ministers.  His  scholarship,  adorned  with  simplicity,  mod- 
esty, spirituality  and  religious  fervency,  disarmed  prejudice  and  created  a  thirst 
for  higher  attainments.  But  he  was  forbearing,  conservative,  patient  and  moder- 
ate, willing  to  wait  until  conditions  were  favorable.  Yet  as  early  as  1836,  in  the 
columns  of  The  Gospel  Publisher,  he  began,  not  the  agitation  for  a  Church  College; 
but  the  sowing  of  seed  which  would  ripen  in  the  consciousness  of  a  need  for  an 
Institution  of  learning  for  the  training  of  ministers.  He  republished  articles  from 
his  exchanges  urging  Lyceums,  the  wider  diffusion  of  knowledge,  the  propriety  of 
female  education,  and  in  December,  1836,  two  columns  on  Oberlin  College,  by  the 
Financial  Agent  of  that  institution. 

The  first  specific  action  which  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  took  on  the 
question  of  a  Church  school  was  somewhat  too  stupendous  for  the  small  body  of 
people  of  limited  means  and  few  in  number. 

I.      BETHEL  COLLEGE. 

Winebreimer  christened  it  "Bethel  College,"  but  after  it  was  located  the  name 
was  changed  to  "The  Swatara  Collegiate  Institute."  The  first  definite  mention  of 
a  school,  singularly  enough  for  that  period,  was  when  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eld- 
ership in  November,  1844,  adopted  this  minute:  "This  Eldership  has  as  yet  no 
institution  of  learning,"  and  we  "recommend  Cedar  Hill  Seminary,  at  Mt.  .Joy." 
This  was  a  school  for  girls.  In  March,  1845,  Winebrenner  published  an  article  on 
Cedar  Hill,  by  "E.  C.  W.,"  which  revealed  Winebrenner's  interest  in  this  institu- 
tion, as  several  of  his  daughters  were  students.  The  seed  he  was  sowing  was  of 
slow  growth.  He  was  no  agitator,  no  extremist.  He  could  endure  trials,  count- 
ing them  "God's  vote  of  confidence."  Not  until  November  1,  1848,  did  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  speak  out  definitely  on  the  Church  school  que'^tion.  Then 
it  declared,  that  "it  is  desirable  that  we  should  have  an  Educational  Institution," 
and  appointed  a  "committee  of  five  to  consider  the  expediency  of  establishing  such 


846  History    of    the  Churches    of    God 

an  Institution,"  and  "report  in  1849."  This  Committee  consisted  of  Winebrenner, 
G.  U.  Ham,  J.  Flake,  A.  Swartz  and  E.  H.  Thomas.  On  October  31,  1849,  the  Com- 
mittee on  Education  reported,  advising,  "that  the  subject  of  an  Educational  Insti- 
tution be  agitated  by  all  means,  and  be  kept  before  the  minds  of  the  public."  The 
Committee  of  five,  of  1848,  had  not  had  a  quorum  when  called  to  meet;  but  in  May, 
1850,  Harn  made  a  report  in  which  he  suggested  three  points  for  consideration: 
1.  Is  it  necessary  and  expedient  to  establish  a  school?  2.  Have  we  the  means? 
3.  Where  should  it  be  located?  This  induced  the  Eldership  to  take  action  In 
October,  1850,  when  it  appointed  a  committee  of  twelve  to  consider  the  first  point, 
and  if  decided  favorably  "to  select  a  site  and  erect,  rent  or  purchase  a  suitable 
building,  and  commence  an  Institution  of  Education."  This  committee  was  di- 
rected to  report  through  The  Advocate.  It  did  so  on  December  16,  1850,  giving 
its  conclusions  and  recommendations  on  seven  points:  1.  That  the  Church  has 
ample  means.  2.  That  for  the  present  tbe  matter  of  location  be  left  open.  3. 
That  the  stock  system  should  be  adopted.  4.  The  name  to  be  Bethel  College, 
5.  That  there  be  a  Board  of  Trustees  of  forty  members,  two-thirds  of  them  mem- 
bers of  the  Church  of  God.  6.  Shares  of  stock  should  be  $10.00.  7.  That 
$20,000  of  stock  should  be  disposed  of.  As  the  session  of  the  General  Eldership 
would  be  held  in  May,  1851,  nothing  was  done  to  carry  these  conclusions  into 
effect  until  said  body  had  expressed  its  views.  It  took  favorable  action;  but  it  also 
cast  in  the  first  "apple  of  discord."  It  approved  the  plan  of  the  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership;  advised  that  "the  Committee  be  retained,  and  authorized  it  to  solicit 
subscriptions  and  sell  shares  of  stock  of  Bethel  College."  But  it  "recommended 
the  western  Elderships  to  endow  one  or  two  professorships  in  a  college  at  Chester^ 
Geauga  county,  Ohio." 

Another  element  of  division,  and  even  of  strife,  at  this  time  assumed  promin- 
ence. Several  brethren,  on  August  15,  1851,  announced  that  they  had  purchased 
property  in  Shippensburg,  Cumberland  county.  Pa.,  and  intended  opening  an  Acad- 
emy in  the  Fall.  Winebrenner  published  this  announcement  on  the  editorial  page, 
and  also  an  advertisement.  On  September  15th  he  called  attention  to  the  advertise- 
ment, and  commended  the  proposed  school,  which  opened  the  first  Monday  in 
October,  1851.  At  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  November  5,  1851,  Ham 
offered  a  resolution,  which  was  approved,  commending  the  Shippensburg  Institute, 
and  recommending  it  to  the  patronage  of  the  churches.  The  Ohio  Eldership,  en- 
couraged by  the  action  of  the  General  Eldership,  on  October  20,  1851,  declared  in 
favor  of  a  Seminary  at  Wooster,  Ohio.  Until  this  should  be  established  it  advised 
the  churches  to  patronize  Oberlin  College,  Ohio.  In  Illinois  a  "General  Council 
Meeting"  (the  Eldership  not  yet  having  been  organized),  held  December  1,  1851, 
expressed  itself  "in  favor  of  select  schools.  Academies,  Seminaries  or  Colleges 
established  on  Christian  and  purely  anti-sectarian  principles."  Until  October  23, 
1852,  everything  in  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  was  quiescent,  when  AVinebrenner 
was  appointed  "to  sell  scholarships  of  Bethel  College."  A  resolution  also  prevailed 
to  appoint  other  agents  to  solicit  donations  and  sell  scholarships.  With  only  a 
general  resolutin  in  favor  of  Education  in  October,  1853,  the  Eldership  again  ap- 
pointed Winebrenner  to  sell  scholarships.  The  same  year  the  West  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  called  attention  to,  and  recommended,  the  Shippensburg  Institute.  By 
this  time  Ham  had  secured  stock  in  this  Institute,  which  he  increased  until  in  De- 
cember, 1857,  he  owned  one-third  of  the  stock.  At  the  General  Eldership  in  1854^ 
the  action  of  said  body  in  1851  was  referred  to,  and  in  view  of  the  "want  of  effort 
to  carry  out  the  object  it  proposed,"  it  expressed  "the  hope  that  the  brethren  will 
go  ahead  and  establish  a  Seminary,  or  College."  It  also  suggested  "co-operation 
with  the  Free  Baptists,"  and  recommended  Shippensburg  Academy  meanwhile,  but 
preferred  a  College.  In  1855  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  recommended  the 
establishment  of  a  High  School.  With  this  absence  of  unity  and  these  towering 
obstacles,  it  challenges  admiration  when  in  January,  1856,  the  old  Committee 
manifested  signs  of  new  life.  It  met  at  Harrisburg  and  considered  the  question 
of  the  location  of  Bethel  College,  agreeing  in  advance  that  the  place  guaranteeing 
the  largest  amount  should  have  it.  Shippensburg  offered  $6,000.00;  Harrisburg, 
$7,000.00;  Middletown,  $8,000.00.  The  latter  won  the  prize.  At  once  the  sale  of 
stock  was  resumed.  AVinebi-enner  and  James  Colder  were  also  appointed  a  Com- 
mittee to  receive  proposals,  and  on  April  30,  1856,  the  President  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  Jacob  Rife,  invited  architects  to  prepare  and  submit  designs  and  speci- 
fications for  the  proposed  building,  under  the  name  of  "The  Swatara  Collegiate 
Institute,"   at  or  near  Middletown.      On   November    27,    1856,   proposals   to   erect 


Institutions   of    Learning  847 

the  building  were  solicited,  to  be  opened  on  December  9,  185  6.  On  the  same  date 
a  call  was  issued  for  the  payment  of  $1.00  on  each  share  of  stock  sold.  This  was 
repeated  on  December  16th,  for  $5.00  per  share,  as  the  main  building  was  to  be 
put  under  contract.  An  Act  of  Incorporation  was  passed  by  the  Legislature,  which 
Goveraor  James  Pollock  signed  in  April,  1856.  On  November  13,  1856,  the 
Trustees  announced  the  purchase  of  ground,  being  a  tract  of  more  than  three 
acres,  the  property  of  Stephen  Wilson,  located  on  the  hill  on  the  left  bank  of 
Swatara  Creek,  back  of  Portsmouth,  adjoining  Middletown,  Dauphin  county.  Pa. 
The  price  to  be  paid  was  $1,000.00.  The  building  as  designed  by  Mr.  Detto,  of 
New  York,  was  to  cost  $20,000.00,  of  which  $17,000.00  had  been  subscribed.  The- 
building  was  to  be  four  stories,  with  a  length  of  138  feet.  As  the  Proposals  were 
all  too  high  when  opened  on  December  16,  1856,  no  award  of  contract  was  made. 
This  marked  the  final  turning  point,  as  dissensions  now  developed  on  the  Board  of 
Trustees.  President  Smuller  resigned,  and  also  cancelled  his  stock.  The  meeting 
of  the  Trustees  and  stockholders,  called  for  June  23,  1857,  was  not  held,  as  there 
was  no  quorum.  The  General  Eldership  in  1857  gave  it  little  encouragement^ 
only  advising  "the  Elderships  East  and  West  to  exert  themselves  to  establish  at 
least  one  good  Institution."  On  July  2,  1857,  referring  to  the  called  meeting  of 
June  23rd,  Colder  said:  "We  now  look  upon  the  establishment  of  the  school  at 
Middletown  as  improbable.  Do  not  believe  it  will  be."  Colder  had  become  a 
stockholder  of  the  Shippensburg  Academy,  and  on  August  20,  1857,  announced 
that  a  stock  company  had  been  formed,  which  bought  in  all  the  stock  except 
Harn's,  and  that  the  holders  of  stock  were  chiefly  Church  members.  September 
17,  1857,  Colder  editorially  calls  the  Shippensburg  Institute  "our  Church  Schools," 
and  he  was  chosen  Principal.  On  September  22,  1857,  the  stockholders  of 
Swatara  Collegiate  Institute  resolved  to  "authorize  the  Trustees  to  sell  the  lot,, 
with  a  view  to  the  winding  up  of  the  whole  concern." 

Counsels  were  now  divided.  The  East  Ohio  Eldership  recommended  the 
Shippensburg  Institute  in  October,  1857.  The  West  Ohio  Eldership  considered 
"the  propriety  of  erecting  an  Institution  of  Education  to  be  located  within"  its 
own  boundaries.  Illinois  regarded  the  Shippensburg  school  as  "now  under  the- 
supervision  of  the  Church  of  God,"  and  recommended  it.  At  the  East  Pennsyl- 
vania Eldership  in  1857  Winebrenner  offered  a  resolution  to  purchase  the  Cumber- 
land Valley  Institute.  It  was  antagonized  by  the  friends  of  the  Shinpensburg 
Academy,  resulting  in  a  decision  that  nothing  could  be  done  for  either  in  view  of 
the  financial  panic  and  money  stringency.  With  Colder  in  control  of  the  Shippens- 
burg Academy  the  indications  were  favorable,  however,  to  its  becoming  in  fact  the 
Church  of  God  school.  But  bereavement,  with  other  causes,  determined  Colder  te 
resign  the  Principalship  in  April,  1858,  without  any  arrangements  to  continue  the 
school.  East  Ohio  in  October,  1859,  recommended  Oberlin  College  and  Shippens- 
burg Institute.  Iowa  advised  the  "establishing  of  a  good  school  within  its  terri- 
tory, under  the  government  of  the  Church  of  God."  In  1860  the  General  Elder- 
ship passed  by  the  subject  of  a  school. 

n.      MT.  JOY  ACADEMY. 

At  the  Eldership  in  October,  1861,  with  a  number  of  young  men  of  some  cul- 
ture in  its  ranks,  a  proposition  was  made  to  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  to 
sell  to  it  the  Academy  located  at  Mt.  Joy,  Lancaster  county.  A  committee,  con- 
sisting of  E.  H.  Thomas,  A.  Swartz  and  C.  H.  Forney,  was  appointed  to  confer  with 
Mr.  Moore,  the  Proprietor  and  Principal,  and  also,  in  conjunction  with  another 
committee,  J.  S.  Gable  and  J.  S.  Stamm,  to  visit  and  inspect  the  buildings.  The 
report  was  favorable,  expressing  the  opinion  that  "special  efforts  should  be  made 
to  purchase  or  establish  an  Institution  of  Learning,"  and  that  "the  prooosition  of 
Mr.  Moore  was  feasible."  Forney  and  Moore  were  made  the  Agents  of  the  Elder- 
ship "to  take  subscriptions  for  stock,"  and  report  to  the  Board  of  Incorporation. 
They  met  with  some  encouragement;  but  when  they  reported  to  the  Eldership,  in 
1862,  the  point  was  raised,  and  sustained,  that  "the  matter  of  establishing  an  In- 
stitution of  Learning  was  beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  this  Eldership."  But  as  the 
Eldership  believed  "that  we  should  have  an  Institutirn  of  Learning,"  it  urged  the 
subject  on  the  attention  of  the  General  Eldership.  The  General  Eldership  in  1863; 
simply  "deplored  the  want  of  an  Institute  of  Learning,"  and  "urged  special  effort 
to  purchase  or  establish  one."  "On  February  18,  1864,  Thomas  published  an  edi- 
torial on  a  "Church  School,"  declaring  that  "we  have  failed  so  far  for  want  of  co- 


848  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

operation,"  and  insisted  on  faithful  co-operation.  But  the  Church  was  not  yet 
prepared  for  it.  There  had  been  very  little  such  general  co-operation.  There 
were  jealousies,  animosities,  rivalries  and  sometimes  hatred.      And  "where  love  is 

not,  hate  too  often  is,  and  hate  is  ."      Illinois  in   1863  voted  in  favor  of 

getting  "a  location  for  a  High  School  under  our  own  control."  East  Ohio  Stand- 
ing Committee  in  April,  1864,  was  moving  "for  a  school  at  Smithville,  Wayne 
county,"  but  urged  the  East  and  the  West  to  join  in  the  enterprise.  It  appointed 
an  agent  to  canvass  the  Eldership.  It  decided  on  a  college  building  in  "the  form 
of  an  octagon,  with  three  floors;  selected  the  site,  purchased  a  lot  and  made  a  con- 
tract to  build.  The  Eldership  in  October,  1864,  endorsed  the  plan.  The  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1864  strongly  favored  a  College  "located  in  some  cen- 
tral, easily  accessible  place."  This  was  the  sentiment  now  in  Iowa.  Illinois 
changed  in  1864,  and  favored  "a  National  College  at  the  earliest  date."  In  Jan- 
uary, 186  6,  the  brethren  at  Upper  Sandusky,  Ohio,  inaugurated  a  plan  to  build  a 
college  at  said  place.  It  was  to  secure  subscriptions  and  donations  of  as  large 
an  amount  as  possible,  and  go  to  the  General  Eldership  in  May  of  that  year,  and 
make  a  bid  for  a  college  "for  the  whole  Church."  This  plan  the  West  Ohio  Stand- 
ing Committee  approved,  and  appointed  a  committee  to  visit  Upper  Sandusky  and 
canvass  for  funds.  Iowa,  East  Pennsylvania,  East  Ohio  and  West  Pennsylvania 
were  still  disposed  to  work  for  a  school  in  their  own  territory,  though  ready  to 
fall  in  line  for  one  each  in  its  own  territory  "for  the  whole  Church."  Thomas,  in 
November,  1865,  gave  the  signal  for  the  united  forward  movement  at  the  General 
Eldership  in  1866.  Rehearsing  the  resolutions  adopted  by  the  Annual  Elderships 
in  1865,  all  in  favor  of  a  school,  he  insisted  on  some  central  place,  where  the  whole 
Church  should  establish  a  first  class  Seminary,  with  a  Theological  Department, 
under  the  auspices  of  the  General  Eldership.  Illinois  Eldership  had  virtually  in- 
structed its  delegates  to  this  effect. 

III.      CENTRALIA  COLLEGE. 

If  with  prophetic  accuracy  some  seer  in  1836  had  written  a  forecast  of  the 
different  projects  of  the  Church  of  God  to  establish  a  college,  and  their  results  for 
the  following  thirty-six  years,  he  would  have  been  regarded  as  afflicted  with  a 
species  of  deceptive  vision.  But  in  1872  he  would  have  been  acclaimed  a  prophet, 
while  the  Church  would  have  been  stigmatized  with  pursuing  an  "ignis  fatuus"  that 
"bewitches,  and  leads  men  into  pools  and  ditches."  It  was  in  November,  1865,  that 
G.  E.  Ewing,  appointed  missionary  to  Kansas,  paid  his  first  visit  to  Nemaha  county, 
and  selected  Home  township  in  said  county  "as  our  future  home."  He  considered 
himself  very  fortunate  in  receiving  an  offer  to  donate  what  was  called  Centralia 
Collegiate  Institute  to  the  General  Eldership,  which  was  to  meet  May,  1866.  This 
property  consisted  of  an  unfinished  building,  a  number  of  lots,  together  with  the 
school  fund  belonging  thereto,  amounting  to  between  $7,000.00  and  $10,000.00, 
the  interest  of  which  could  be  used.  This  much  was  made  public  in  November, 
1865.  But  in  January,  1866,  Ewing  further  explained,  that  one  hundred  acres 
of  land  in  ten  ten-acre  lots,  in  the  suburbs  of  the  village,  would  go  with  the  college 
block,  as  well  as  four  separate  lots  in  the  village.  Also  that  already  "$2,044.47 
in  notes  secured  by  loan  on  real  estate- bearing  interest  to  conduct  the  college  had 
been  given  to  the  Board  of  Trustees."  A  boarding-house  was  needed,  and  toward 
this  several  hundred  had  been  subscribed.  The  proposition  was  not  very  favorably 
received.  It  was  too  far  west,  and  Church  work  had  not  made  much  progress 
there.  Even  Thomas  was  silent  until  May  24,  1866,  when  he  wrote  on  "The  Kan- 
sas College,"  stating  that  it  was  an  error  to  construe  his  silence  as  meaning  op- 
position. He  was  ready  to  colabor  with  the  majority  for  a  school  wherever  it 
would  be  located.  The  Proposition  as  published  by  Ewing  was  laid  before  the 
General  Eldership  in  1866  by  George  Thomas.  After  considering  it  in  Committee 
of  the  Whole,  it  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Education,  consisting  of  George 
Ross,  C.  H.  Forney,  L.  B.  Haitman,  E.  Logue  and  G.  E.  Ewing.  This  Committee 
reported  conditionally,  after  calling  attention  to  the  Proposition,  the  fact  that 
Centralia  is  in  the  extreme  western  borders  of  the  territory  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship, and  also  that  it  is  not  so  accessible  as  other  available  points  for  a  school 
centrally  located.  Hence  it  recommended:  1.  Recognizing  Centralia  Collegiate 
Institute  as  an  institution  of  the  Church.  2.  The  appointment  of  a  committee  to 
visit  the  school,  and  report  to  the  Executive  Board.  3.  The  Executive  Board  to 
appoint  a  Superintendent  for  the  Institution.      4.      Said  Board  also  to  secure  an 


Institutions   of   Learning  849 

additional  section  of  land.  All  this  was  adopted  by  the  General  Eldership.  The 
Committee,  E.  H.  Thomas,  George  Thomas  and  John  Huft",  visited  Centralia,  and 
made  a  favorable  report.  Ross  declared  it  to  have  been  a  wise  thing  to  accept  the 
Proposition,  he  having  been  there  with-  the  Committee.  The  Committee's  report, 
July  5,  1866,  stated  that  everything  was  found  to  be  as  reported  in  the  Proposi- 
tion; that  the  building  was  a  good,  two-story  frame  superstructure,  four-square 
weatherboarded,  but  not  plastered  nor  painted;  that  $500.00  would  finish  it,  but 
this  was  found  later  to  be  only  half  enough;  that  citizens  would  contribute  3500.00 
of  this  amount;  that  the  balance  should  at  once  be  raised  by  an  agent  appointed 
for  that  purpose,  and  that  a  Principal  should  be  secured  to  open  the  school  in  the 
Fall.  The  building  was  finished  in  time  for  A.  F.  Millard,  Principal,  of  Log  Chain, 
Nemaha  county,  Kas.,  to  open  the  school  in  December,  18  66.  L,  B.  Hartman,  East 
Ohio  Eldership,  was  employed  as  the  Collecting  Agent.  Thomas  spoke  in  en- 
couraging terms  of  the  school  in  several  editorials.  The  Elderships,  with  but  one 
or  two  exceptions,  endorsed  it  and  pledged  their  help  in  maintaining  it.  But  by 
1867  they  had  almost  nothing  to  say  concerning  it.  On  May  2,  1867,  the  newly 
elected  Principal,  J.  S.  Stamm,  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  reached  Cen- 
tralia to  take  charge  of  the  school.  In  March,  1868,  he  made  a  good  report  of  the 
first  year's  work.  But  by  August  5,  1868,  Thomas  lamented  the  state  of  things 
at  Centralia,  saying,  "It  is  now  on  the  verge  of  death;  but  it  may  possibly  be 
resuscitated.  Our  voice  is  raised  to  save  it."  August  19th,  in  a  second  long  edi- 
torial, he  pleaded  for  the  Institute,  as  "the  most  important  work  at  the  present 
time  that  the  Church  has  in  hand."  D.  A.  L.  Laverty  had  been  appointed  to  collect 
funds.  But  the  Elderships  in  1868  were  all  silent  except  Indiana,  which  favored 
Centralia  Institute.  Michigan  turned  toward  the  Free  Baptist  College  at  Hills- 
dale, Mich.,  as  again  in  1869.  On  August  26,  1868,  the  end  was  forshadowed  by 
an  action  of  the  Board  of  Incorporation  (for  Trustees)  of  the  Institute,  when  it 
decided  "to  suspend  definite  action  in  disposing  of  the  property,  in  order  to  wait 
action  of  the  Boards  of  the  General  Eldership  in  October,  1868."  The  Boards  were 
powerless  to  help,  and  Failure  was  written  over  the  project. 

There  was  one  cause  for  this  unfortunate  issue  in  the  attempt  at  the  same 
time  to  build  what  at  times  was  called  "the  second  College,"  or 

IV.      CENTRAL   COLLEGE. 

The  Committee  which  reported  favorably  on  the  Centralia  proposition,  also 
suggested  the  "nomination  of  places  in  Ohio  to  compete  as  to  funds  for  the  erection 
of  a  College  Building."  The  condition  was,  that  "the  place  raising  the  largest 
amount  above  $30,000.00  should  have  the  school."  Agents  were  also  to  be  put  in 
the  field  to  collect  $60,000.00  additional  for  an  Endowment  Fund.  But  early  in 
the  work  Illinois  announced  its  intention  to  enter  the  competition,  stating  that 
■"one  man  in  Decatur,  111.,  offers  $20,000.00  if  the  College  should  be  located  there." 
For  the  collection  of  the  Endowment  Fund  L.  B.  Hartman  was  also  secured.  Illi- 
nois Eldership  in  1867  appointed  a  committee  to  work  up  interest  in  favor  of  lo- 
cating the  Central  College  in  Decatur.  While  Iowa  still  recommended  Centralia 
Institute  in  1867,  it  also  regarded  "the  Central  College  as  of  vital  importance."  In 
January,  18  67,  Hartman  came  East,  but  devoted  most  of  the  Winter  to  evangelistic 
work.  He  did  not  again  resume  his  collecting  work,  but  resigned.  This  finished 
another  chapter  of  failures  to  secure  a  college  for  the  Church  of  God. 

V.      HILLSDALE  COLLEGE. 

Previous  to  1872  the  actions  taken  with  reference  to  Hillsdale  College  were 
only  recommendations  to  patronize  it.  No  overtures  from  the  Board  of  Trustees, 
or  the  President,  had  been  received,  and  no  applications  had  been  made.  The 
actions  of  the  Annual  Elderships  in  1871  were  in  the  main  of  a  general  character, 
such  as  insisting  on  increased  facilities  for  educating  the  children  of  the  Church 
and  to  prepare  young  men  for  the  ministry;  to  instruct  delegates  to  the  General 
Eldership  in  1872  to  secure  a  college  building  for  the  Church,  or  to  adopt  a  feasible 
plan  to  establish  a  Church  school.  But  the  East  Ohio  Eldership  directed  its  Stand- 
ing Committee  "to  purchase  or  build  a  college  building,"  and  report  to  the  Elder- 
ship. East  Pennsylvania,  through  its  Board  of  Education,  consisting  of  D.  A.  L. 
Laverty,  C.  H.  Forney,  Jesse  Kennedy,  George  Ross  and  Levi  Kauflfman,  organized 
"a  permanent  Society,  to  be  known  as  the  Board  of  Education  of  the  East  Pennsyl- 
vania Eldership,"  with  a  view  "to  the  ultimate  establishment  of  a  Church  school." 
C.  H. — 28* 


850  History    of    the    Churches    oe    God 

This  was  done  under  instructions  by  the  Eldership  "to  take  such  action  as  the 
Board  may  deem  necessary  for  the  purpose  of  securing  a  school."  An  Act  of  In- 
corporation was  to  be  secured  from  the  Legislature,  and  a  regular  Constitution  and 
By-Laws  adopted.  But  when  the  General  Eldership  met  at  Mt.  Carroll,  111.,  in 
May,  1872,  there  was  present  as  a  delegate  from  the  Free  Baptist  General  Confer- 
ence and  representative  of  Hillsdale  College,  Michigan,  Prof.  R.  Dunn,  who  sub- 
mitted a  Proposition  embodying  these  points:  That  the  General  Eldership  shall 
endow  one  or  two  professorships  in  said  College,  and  that  in  return  the  Church  of 
God  should  have  equal  use  of  the  buildings  and  facilities  of  the  College  and  all  the 
advantages  thereof  as  an  institution  of  learning.  The  Proposition  was  committed 
to  the  Committee  on  Education,  consisting  of  C.  H.  Forney,  B.  F.  Beck  and  M.  S. 
Newcomer,  which  reported  Prof.  Dunn's  plan  to  be  practicable,  and  recommended 
its  acceptance.  It  further  advised:  1.  That  one  professor  be  appointed,  to  be 
supported  by  an  endowment.  2.  That  a  Board  of  Education  be  elected  to  which 
the  matter  should  be  committed.  3.  That  a  Visiting  Committee  be  sent  at  once 
to  Hillsdale  to  investigate  matters.  4.  That  the  Professorship  should  be  called 
"The  First  Professorship  of  the  Church  of  God."  5.  That  the  General  Eldership 
elect  the  Professor,  whose  salary  should  be  $1,000.00  a  year.  The  entire  report 
was  adopted,  and  the  items  carried  into  effect.  J.  A.  Winebrenner,  son  of  John 
Winebrenner,  was  elected  Professor.  The  Committee  sent  to  Hillsdale  made  a 
very  favorable  report.  While  the  action  of  the  General  Eldership  was  generally 
approved,  there  was  some  opposition.  The  most  serious  hindrance  was  the  declina- 
tion within  a  month  by  Winebrenner  to  accept  the  Professorship.  But  in  the  Fall 
almost  with  one  voice  the  Annual  Elderships  approved  what  was  done.  The  East 
Ohio  Eldership  added:  "That  above  all  an  effort  should  be  made  to  establish  a 
school  of  our  own."  The  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  approved  the  plan  "as  a 
temporary  arrangement  to  prepare  the  way  for  a  college  under  our  exclusive  con- 
trol." The  Board  of  Education  proceeded  at  once  to  perfect  arrangements  to  raise 
.^10,000.00  to  endow  the  Chair,  and  named  R.  H.  Bolton  as  Collecting  Agent.  But 
to  its  call  for  pledges  there  were  but  three  of  $100.00  each.  There  was  so  little  in- 
terest manifested  that  the  miscarriage  of  the  project  soon  became  evident,  and  was 
abandoned,  and  the  Board  of  Education  so  reported  to  the  General  Eldership  in 
1875,  expressing  its  opinion  that  "the  arrangement  would  have  proved  beneficial 
to  the  Church,  and  would  have  paved  the  way  more  rapidly  for  the  securement  of 
an  institution  of  learning  under  our  immediate  and  sole  control." 

The  nine  years  following  the  action  of  the  General  Eldership  touching  Hills- 
dale College,  in  1872,  were  years  of  agitation  and  discussion  of  the  school  question. 
Beginning  with  1873  Eldership  after  Eldership  adopted  resolutions  urging  the  de- 
vising of  plans  and  means  to  establish  some  kind  of  an  institution  of  learning.  It 
was  declared  to  be  "a  growing  necessity."  Its  importance  was  emphasized  with  a 
variety  of  terms  and  phrases.  Pledges  of  help  were  repeatedly  made,  and  the 
urgency  of  the  matter  was  set  forth  in  strong  terms.  In  1874,  the  Fall  preceding 
the  next  General  Eldership  instructions  were  given  to  delegates  by  the  Michigan, 
the  East  Ohio,  the  Indiana,  the  West  Ohio,  the  Kansas  and  the  Illinois  Elderships 
to  urge  upon  the  General  Eldership  definite  action  in  the  matter.  Other  Elder- 
ships equally  interested  themselves  in  other  ways  calculated  to  influence  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership.  Thus  the  East  Ohio  Eldership  appointed  Jacob  Durstine  as  Agent, 
who  in  February,  1874,  under  instructions,  went  to  Hayesville  to  investigate  mat- 
ters relative  to  the  Vermilion  Institute,  a  Presbyterian  school  in  Ashland  county, 
Ohio,  which  was  for  sale.  The  Eldership  received  his  report,  and  recommended 
it  to  the  General  Eldership  as  a  desirable  property.  The  East  Pennsylvania  Eld- 
ership through  its  Board  of  Education  considered  the  question  of  buying  the 
Cumberland  Valley  Institute,  Mechanicsburg,  Pa.,  favorably  recommended  by  the 
Standing  Committee.  The  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  adopted  resolutions  to 
patronize  the  "Baptist  Institution  at  Mt.  Pleasant  until  we  have  a  school  of  our 
own."  The  way  seemed  thus  to  have  been  fully  prepared,  and  a  strong  enough 
public  sentiment  created,  to  justify  and  inspire  the  General  Eldership  in  1875  to- 
adopt  measures  to  establish  at  once  a  school  for  the  Church.  It  convened  at  West 
Salem,  Wayne  county,  Ohio,  May  25,  1875.  It  received  and  adopted  the  report  of 
its  Board  of  Education  on  the  Hillsdale  College  project.  Its  further  actions  were 
nerveless  and  irresolute.  It  "recommended  the  brethren  everywhere  to  send  their 
children"  to  the  Mt.  Joy  Academy,  at  Mi.  Joy,  Pa.,  and  it  "recommended  the  Insti- 
tution of  Learning  at  Hayesville,  Ohio,  to  the  consideration  of  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion."     Disappointed  as  were  the  Elderships,  they  were  not  discouraged.      In  Oc- 


Institutions    of   Lkakning  851 

tober  following  the  Illinois  Eldership  resolved  to  create  a  fund  to  establish  a 
school,  and  appointed  a  committee  of  three  to  act  as  trustees.  It  also  invited 
other  Elderships  to  co-operate  with  it,  as  if  the  General  Eldership  were  to  be 
ignored.  East  Ohio  did  not  continue  negotiations  for  the  purchase  of  the  Ver- 
milion Institute,  but  advised  that  steps  be  taken  to  buy  a  school  located  at  Ida, 
Hardin  county,  Ohio.  In  187  6  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  received  and  con- 
sidered adversely  another  proposition  for  the  purchase  of  the  Cumberland  Valley 
Institute.  It,  however,  declared  that  "an  institution  of  learning  for  the  Church 
is  an  imperative  necessity."  In  1877  with  one  voice  eight  Annual  Elderships  in- 
sisted on  immediate  steps  being  taken  to  build  or  buy  property  for  a  school  for  the 
Church.  Little  that  was  specific  was  urged;  but  it  was  a  general  expression  of  a 
deeply  felt  need.  But  the  hopes  thus  centered  in  the  General  Eldership  of  1878 
were  destined  to  be  disappointed.  For  reasons  hard  to  discern  said  body  at  its 
session  held  at  Syracuse,  Indiana,  simply  referred  "a  request  that  this  body  take 
steps  toward  procuring  or  erecting  an  institution  of  learning  to  be  under  its  con- 
trol" to  "the  Board  of  Education."  Said  Board  submitted  no  report,  but  the  Com- 
mittee on  Education  reported:  1.  "That  we  require  a  school  for  the  education 
of  our  ministers  and  people  under  our  control."  2.  Recommended  that  "the 
overtures  relating  to  the  Cumberland  Valley  Institute  be  received."  3.  That  "we 
look  with  favor  on  the  liberal  offer  of  Mt.  Pleasant  Institute."  4.  That  "we  ap- 
preciate the  offer  of  Rev.  S.  D.  Bates  to  endow  a  professorship  at  Ridgeville  Col- 
lege, Indiana."  These  items  were  adopted,  and  the  appointment  of  an  Agent 
authorized  "to  solicit  subscriptions  towards  a  fund  for  educational  purposes." 
Was  the  criticism  of  A.  D.  Williams  a  merited  one,  when  he  pointed  out  the  pro- 
ficiency of  the  body  in  passing  resolutions,  and  its  inefficiency  in  putting  them  into 
effect? 

But  the  Watchman  proclaimed  the  coming  dawn,  preceded  by  the  darkest 
hour.  Not  fainthearted,  the  Annual  Elderships  renewed  their  demands  that  "im- 
mediate steps  be  taken  to  secure  a  school."  With  greater  volume  was  this  voice 
heard  as  the  time  came,  in  1880,  to  elect  delegates  to  the  General  Eldership  in 
1881.  There  were  also  plans  proposed  by  several  Annual  Elderships  to  establish 
schools  in  their  territories.  In  1880  nearly  every  Eldership  joined  in  deploring 
the  fact  that  the  body  had  no  school,  and  in  demanding  action.  The  Advocate,  in 
editorials  and  contributed  articles,  discussed  the  school  question  vigorously  during 
the  first  half  of  the  year  1880,  being  the  semi-centennial  year.  This  brought  as 
the  first-fruits  favorable  action  by  the  Board  of  Incorporation  of  the  General  Eld- 
ership in  June,  1880,  which  suggested  further  agitation  on  three  points:  1.  The 
character  of  the  school.  2.  Probabilities  of  success.  3.  General  and  special 
consideration  of  plans.  This  revived  enthusiastic  discussion,  participated  in  by 
ministers  and  laymen  from  many  sections  of  the  General  Eldership  territory. 
Another  important  factor  was  a  convention,  called  by  C.  H.  Foniey,  President  of 
the  Board  of  Education  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  to  meet  in  Harris- 
burg  prior  to  the  convening  of  the  Eldership.  It  was  largely  attended.  After 
careful  consideration  of  the  school  question  it  declared  in  favor  of  proceeding  with- 
out further  delay  to  secure  a  school;  requested  the  Eldership  to  set  apart  one 
evening  for  the  discussion  of  the  school  problem,  and  petitioned  the  Eldership  to 
grant  permission  to  put  collectors  in  the  field.  The  Eldership  concurred  in  the 
entire  report  presented  to  it.  The  result  of  this  determined  and  spirited  agitation 
was  unusual  unanimity  on  the  school  question  when  the  General  Eldership  as- 
sembled at  Findlay,  Hancock  county,  Ohio,  May  24,  1881.  The  subject  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  Committee  on  Education,  consisting  of  C.  H.  Foniey,  S.  D.  C.  Jackson 
and  R.  L.  Byrnes.  The  Report  of  this  Committee  was  made  a  special  order  for 
Monday  afternoon,  May  30th.  The  Committee  "realized  the  importance,  and  that 
immediately,  of  a  Church  school."  It  advised  "that  the  Board  of  Education  ar- 
range to  secure  at  once  a  suitable  place  for  said  school,  and  to  employ  whatever 
means  may  be  required  for  the  opening  and  working  of  the  same."  Also,  granting 
authority  to  said  Board  to  employ  agents  to  canvass  the  churches  for  funds.  The 
Board  was  also  instructed  "to  visit  the  Academy  at  Smithville,  Ohio,  and  other 
places  and  institutions  immediately,  and  make  selection  of  a  place  to  locate"  the 
school.  The  first  item  was  condensed  by  amendment  to  read,  "That  the  General 
Eldership  proceed  to  procure  a  school."  The  report  was  adopted  item  by  item, 
and  everything  was  done  that  was  necessary  for  the  Boards  to  go  to  work. 


852  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

VI.      FINDLAY  COLLEGE. 

The  Board  of  Education,  which  consisted  of  K.  L.  Byrnes,  J.  M.  Cassel,  D. 
Blakley,  J.  S.  Gable  and  J.  M.  Carvell,  and  the  citizens  of  Findlay  and  Smithville, 
Ohio,  evidently  understood  that  "immediately"  in  the  Eldership  action  meant  "at 
once."  Both  towns  went  to  work  even  before  the  Eldership  adjourned,  to  inspire 
sentiment  and  secure  subscriptions  with  a  view  of  determining  the  location  of  the 
"College."  The  Board  also  lost  no  time,  for  on  July  6th  it  met  at  Smithville  to 
look  at  the  property  and  school  building  which  Prof.  J.  B.  Ebeiiy  offered  free,  ex- 
cept a  mortgage  of  $5,000.00,  which  the  Board  was  to  pay.  So  far  this  "was  the 
best  offer  ever  made."  Thence  the  Board  went  to  Findlay,  where  "a  town  meet- 
ing in  the  Court  House"  had  been  prearranged.  At  this  meeting  Findlay  submitted 
its  proposition,  which  was  to  pay  to  the  Board  $20,000.00  cash,  donate  10  66-100 
acres  of  land  worth  $10,000.00,  on  which  there  was  a  dwelling  house  valued  at 
$2,400.00.  On  August  1st  the  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Education  notified  the 
President  of  the  town  meeting  that  "the  Board  had  decided  to  locate  the  College 
Building  in  what  is  known  as  North  Findlay."  At  its  meeting  at  Findlay,  on  July 
8th,  the  Board  also  appointed  "four  Agents  to  solicit  and  collect  money  to  aid  in 
erecting  a  suitable  College  building  or  buildings,  and  in  furnishing  and  endowing 
the  same."  But  by  reason  of  actions  of  the  Executive  Board  at  its  meeting  at 
Findlay,  Ohio,  January  25,  1882,  the  Board  of  Education  ceased  to  be  a  factor  in 
the  work  after  that  date.  The  members  present  at  said  meeting  were  made  ad- 
visory members  of  the  Executive  Board,  which  consisted  of  T.  Koogle,  J.  H.  Besore, 
W.  B.  Alien,  C.  H.  Foniey  and  Geo.  Sandoe.  The  Annual  Eldership  sessions  had 
been  held;  all  had  acted  on  the  doings  of  the  General  Eldership  and  the  Board  of 
Education  in  July  and  August,  and  they  had  strongly  sanctioned  it.  This  inspired 
confidence  in  the  Collectors,  who  were  actively  at  work,  and  gave  the  Executive 
Board  fortitude  to  do  whatever  might  be  necessary  to  carry  the  mandate  of  the 
General  Eldership  into  effect.  It  was  found  necessary  under  the  statutes  of  Ohio 
to  create  a  Corporation;  draft  Articles  of  Incorporation;  name  Corporators,  and 
provide  for  the  election  of  a  Board  of  Trustees.  The  Corporators  named  by  the 
Executive  Board  were  J.  M.  Carvell,  R.  L.  Byrnes,  Isaac  Schrader,  T.  Koogle,  J.  M. 
Cassel,  A.  C.  Heck,  J.  C.  Strickler,  Geo.  F.  Pendleton.  It  drafted  Articles  of  In- 
corporation, to  which  the  Corporators  subscribed  and  were  qualified,  and  which 
became  the  Law  of  the  Board.  The  name  of  the  Corporation  was  "Findlay  Col- 
lege," and  its  duties  were  prescribed.  The  number  of  trustees  was  fixed  originally 
at  nineteen,  including  the  President.  The  Executive  Board  named  the  eighteen 
for  the  Corporators  to  elect.  It  also  designated  February  8,  1882,  as  the  date,  and 
Findlay  as  the  place,  for  the  first  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Incorporation,  which 
was  the  only  meeting  it  ever  held.  It  met  pursuant  to  appointment,  when  it  was 
lound  that  Hiram  Plank,  H.  Clay,  D.  Hale,  of  Ohio,  and  Jehu  Bailey,  of  Illinois, 
recommended  for  trustees,  declined  an  election.  All  the  others  nominated,  with 
four  others,  were  elected  the  first  Board  of  Trustees  of  Findlay  College,  as  follows: 
David  J.  Cory,  John  Ruthitiff,  A.  C.  Heck,  Samuel  Howai-d,  E.  G.  DeAVrlfe,  Isaac 
Steiner,  E.  P.  Jones,  J.  AV.  Aukerman,  Aaron  Blackford  and  Thomas  Mitzler,  of 
Ohio;  Isaac  Frazer,  J.  H.  Redsecker  and  D.  M.  Bare,  East  Pennsylvania;  Jacob  I. 
Stoner  and  J.  B.  Henderson,  West  Pennsylvania;  R.  M.  Paige,  Indiana;  John  Stare, 
Illinois,  and  John  Huff,  of  Iowa.  This  Board  of  Trustees  was  "forthwith  called  to 
order,"  after  having  "subscribed  their  names  to  the  Articles  of  Incorporation,  and 
the  oath  of  office  administered,"  and  effected  an  organization  by  electing  Isaac 
Frazer  President  Pro  Tem.;  Eli  G.  DeWolfe,  temporary  Secretary,  and  Elijah  P. 
Jones,  temporary  Treasurer.  After  the  appointment  of  certain  committees  and 
other  minor  items  of  business,  the  Board  adjourned  to  meet  in  Findlay,  on  Wed- 
nesday, June  21,  1882,  the  date  fixed  by  the  Executive  Board  for  the  "annual  meet- 
ing." At  this  first  annual  meeting  the  Board  adopted  the  By-Laws  and  elected  the 
temporary  officers  as  the  permanent  officers  of  the  Board,  with  the  addition  of  A. 
C.  Heck,  Financial  Secretary,  and  A.  Blackford,  John  Stare,  D.  M.  Bare,  T.  Koogle 
and  Isaac  Steiner,  Executive  Committee.  The  Treasurer  reported  "subscriptions, 
notes  and  cash  taken  by  collectors,  $41,017.56."  By  lot  the  eighteen  trustees  were 
divided  into  three  classes  of  six,  to  serve  respectively  one,  two  and  three  years,  and 
thereafter  each  class  three  years.  The  Board  also  issued  an  Address  to  the 
churches,  stating  that  the  cost  of  the  College  building  and  equipment  would  he 
$60,000.00,  and  that  $100,000.00  Endowment  Fund  would  be  required.  "Thus 
furnished,"  the  Board  added,  "it  will  be  placed  on  a  permanent  basis."     Hence. 


Institutions   of   Learning 


853 


*'large  gifts"  were  insisted  upon.  It  rather  depressed  the  spirits  of  the  churches, 
and  created  doubt  of  final  success.  But  it  was  felt  that  "confidence,  enthusiasm 
and  determination  were  the  leading  characteristics  prominent  in  each  member  of 
the  Board,"  and  that  "the  College  erection  is  a  certainty."  Had  there  been  a  true 
prophet  in  Israel  the  result  might  have  been  otherwise.  But  the  Board  had  re- 
solved in  June,  1882,  that  "we  will  erect  College  buildings  at  as  early  a  day  as 
possible;"  that  architects  were  to  be  consulted  with  a  view  of  securing  plans,  and 
that  as  soon  as  plans  were  adopted  "the  foundation  should  be  laid."  It  verified 
this,  when  at  a  special  meeting  held  October  18,  1882,  it  considered  plans  sub- 
mitted by  different  architects,  and  unanimously  adopted  those  of  M.  Rumbaugh, 
of  Mansfield,  Ohio,  at  an  estimated  cost  of  $50,000.00,  subject  to  changes. 

The  plan  adopted  gives  a  building  171  feet  8  inches  in  length,  by  107  feet  3 
inches  in  depth,  four  stories  high,  exclusive  of  attic,  and  including  basement. 
There  is  a  main  corridor  in  each  story,  running  the  entire  length  of  the  building, 
and  an  east  and  west  corridor  from  the  front  center  to  the  main  corridor  in  the 
first  story.  The  chapel  will  seat  800  persons,  and  is  on  the  west  center  of  the 
building,  and  extends  through  two  stories.      There  are  two   large  Society  rooms. 


Findlay  College. 

large  double  parlors,  offices  for  the  President  and  Faculty,  laboratory  in  the  base- 
ment, and  library  on  the  first  floor.  Proposals  for  erecting  the  building  accord- 
ing to  the  plans  and  specifications  adopted  were  asked  for.  But  when  the  Board 
met  in  special  session  March  6,  1883,  and  the  bids  were  opened,  they  were  found 
to  be  too  high,  and  were  laid  over  until  the  June  meeting,  and  the  Building  Com- 
mittee was  authorized  to  ask  for  further  Proposals.  Hope  was  being  deferred; 
patience  tried.  Already  in  December,  1882,  reports  had  gone  out  that  "the  first 
load  of  rock  has  been  delivered  for  the  foundation  of  the  College."  This  delay 
worked  discouragement.  Other  clouds  were  gathering.  Results  of  the  canvass 
for  funds  were  not  up  to  expectations,  and  for  six  months  no  agents  had  been  in  the 
field.  The  cost  of  the  building  produced  some  consternation.  It  became  real  to 
the  churches  that  a  stupendous  project  had  been  undertaken,  and  that  the  body 
might  not  be  equal  to  the  task,  and  yet  $50,000.00  in  notes  and  cash  were  in  the 
treasury.  But  when  the  Board  met  June  20,  1883,  and  accepted  the  proposals  of 
Pierce  and  Coleman,  Dayton,  Ohio,  "to, build  the  new  College  building  for  the  sum 
of  $49,000.00,"  and  took  other  actions  which  indicated  energetic  work,  the  clouds 
dispersed  and  the  churches  were  inspired  with  fresh  courage.  At  this  meeting  C. 
H.  Forney  was  elected  President  of  the  College.     While  the  special  meeting  of  the. 


854 


History    of    the    Churches    of    God 


Board  called  for  October  31,  1883,  was  not  held  for  want  of  a  quorum,  the  fact  was 
made  public  that  work  on  the  building  was  in  progress,  and  on  November  5th  two- 
thirds  of  the  foundation  walls  were  up.  Another  called  session  was  held  December 
5,  1883,  which  ended  the  work  of  the  year.  At  this  meeting  the  declination  of  the 
Presidency  was  received  and  accepted,  "notwithstanding  our  earnest  hope  that  the 
answer  would  be  different."  By  May  24,  1884,  when  the  Board  met  in  annual  ses- 
sion, everything  was  in  readiness  for  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone.  This  cere- 
money  was  performed  on  Sunday,  May  2.5,  1884,  when  the  Oration  was  delivered  by 
M,  S.  Newcomer.  A  statement  compiled  by  the  Financial  Secretary  showed  re- 
sources of  all  .kinds  to  have  been  $57, .534. 66,  and  $1,500.00  Endowment  Fund. 
Agents  were  again  "put  in  the  fields  of  the  several  Elderships  to  procure  funds  for 
the  completion  and  furnishing  of  the  College  Building."  The  building  was  "being 
rapidly  pushed  forward."  However,  as  funds  were  coming  in  slowly,  "contract 
work  was  suspended"  later  in  the  season.      At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  on  Novem- 


J.    R.    H.    Latchaw. 


ber  13,  1884,  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw  was  elected  President,  which  was  approved  by  the 
Executive  Board  February  1,  1885.  He  was  "authorized  to  take  possession  of  the 
house  on  the  College  Campus"  in  April,  1885,  and  have  general  supervision  of  the 
College  grounds.  Latchaw  was  well  equipped  for  the  Presidency  of  the  College. 
He  was  a  loyal  son  of  the  Church;  a  man  of  high  moral  character;  a  graduate  of 
Hillsdale  College  in  1881,  at  the  good  age  of  thirty,  and  had  the  experience  of 
several  years  as  Principal  of  Barkeyville  Academy.  He  seemed  to  have  an  impera- 
tive sense  of  duty  which  was  above  every  other  consideration,  so  that  no  flattering 
allurements  could  divert  him  from  the  path  indicated  by  his  conscience.  His  first 
acquaintance  with  the  representatives  of  the  Church  at  large  was  in  1878,  when 
he  was  an  advisory  member  of  the  General  Eldership.  A  complimentary  resolu- 
tion was  adopted,  commending  him  to  the  churches  for  aid  in  finishing  his  educa- 
tion. The  same  Pall  the  Iowa  Eldership  ordained  him  to  the  ministry,  and  at  their 
Ministerial  Association  he  was  on  the  Program  to  discuss  the  Necessity  of  Regen- 
eration.     After  his  graduation  he  went  to  Venango  county.   Pa.,  and  in  the  Fall 


Institutions    of    Learning  855 

united  with  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and  was  appointed  pastor  at  Barkey- 
ville.  In  1882  he  was  elected  Clerk  of  the  Eldership,  and  was  appointed  to  preach 
the  Opening  Sermon  in  1883,  and  also  elected  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership  in 
1884.  At  the  Commencement  at  Hillsdale  College  in  1890  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Divinity  was  given  him.  He  was  self-reliant  and  of  an  enterprising  spirit,  a  good 
instructor  and  an  able  minister  of  the  gospel.  In  his  position  as  Principal  of 
Barkeyville  Academy  and  President  of  the  College  all  these  qualities  appeared  to 
good  advantage.  On  May  15,  1885,  in  a  letter  of  considerable  length,  Latchaw  ac- 
cepted the  Presidency  of  Findlay  College.  In  this  letter  he  practically  outlined 
the  various  departments  of  the  College  and  drew  up  "the  curriculum  of  studies  for 
the  Academic,  English,  Normal  and  Preparatory  courses,"  and  made  other  valuable 
suggestions.  Being  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  (since  changed),  he  had 
a  controlling  influence  in  all  its  transactions,  and  was  accordingly  held  to  a  greater 
responsibility.  Urged  strongly  by  him,  the  Board  at  its  meeting  in  June,  1885,  ap- 
pointed a  large  number  of  collectors  to  "solicit  subscriptions  or  otherwise  secure 
such  additional  funds  as  are  necessary  to  complete,  furnish  and  liberally  endow 
the  College  and  put  it  on  a  good  financial  basis."  To  the  Departments  Latchaw 
suggested  the  Board  add  the  Theological,  Musical  and  Commercial.  At  this 
meeting  it  also  elected  members  of  the  Faculty,  in  addition  to  the  President,  who 
had  the  Chair  of  Ethics,  and  Mental  and  Political  Science,  as  follows:  W.  H. 
Wagner,  Hebrew  and  Sacred  Literature;  A.  C.  Redding,  Chemistry  and  Natural 
Science;  W.  B.  Allen,  Greek  and  Literature;  Miss  Lizzie  Grauel,  Preparatory  De- 
partment; Miss  Floi"ence  Moffit,  same  Department.  When  the  Board  met  on  June 
16,  1886,  the  Faculty  was  enlarged  and  rearranged,  so  that  it  consisted  of  ten 
members,  with  salaries  ranging  from  $480.00  to  $1,000.00  a  year.  And  while  the 
Prospectus,  issued  later,  gave  the  names  of  but  seven  professors,  six  other  pro- 
fessorships were  indicated  in  blank,  "to  be  filled  by  the  Board  of  Trustees  as  the 
necessity  of  the  case  requires."  This  was  promised,  however,  to  be  done  "at  the 
next  annual  meeting  of  the  Board."  The  sum  of  $15,000.00  was  yet  to  be  ex- 
pended in  "completing  the  building  ready  for  occupancy."  But  of  this  sum 
$6,000.00  was  already  provided  for.  So  that  the  Board  rejoiced  that  "light  is 
dawning;  land  is  in  sight."  Agents  were  to  be  put  to  work  to  raise  the  amount 
needed.  The  "Building  Fund"  was  given  in  the  Prospectus  issued  in  the  Summer 
of  1886  at  $60,958.66;  expended,  $44,325.69;  "visible  Endowment  Fund,  $17,- 
270.00."  These  assets  did  not  include  "grounds  and  buildings  other  than  the  Col- 
lege." The  assurance  of  the  endowment  of  a  Chair  by  the  widow  of  Daniel  AVertz 
was  put  on  record  by  the  Board,  in  addition  to  the  foregoing,  the  Chair  to  be  known 
as  the  "Wertz  Professorship."  In  anticipation  that  everything  would  be  com- 
pleted, the  Prospectus  was  published  and  the  opening  of  the  College  advertized  for 
September  1,  1886.  The  building  was  pronounced  "magnificent,"  "the  most  com- 
plete and  best  arranged  College  Building  in  the  Northwest."  The  absolute  need 
of  an  Endowment  Fund  was  now  insisted  on  in  the  editorial  columns  of  The  Advo- 
cate with  greater  vigor.  "No  college  can  possibly  live  without  an  endowment. 
Many  American  colleges  are  now  seriously  embarrasesd  for  want  of,  or  on  account 
of  too  limited,  an  endowment."  This  was  the  rock  to  be  avoided  now.  The  Col- 
lege opened  auspiciously,  so  that  on  September  15th  ninety-five  students  were  en- 
rolled, "and  more  to  follow."  "The  last  and  final  estimate  for  work  and  material 
on  the  College  building  was  received  and  approved  "by  the  Executive  Committee 
November  8,  l'S86,  amounting  to  $4,410.00.  A  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 
was  called  for  November  25,  1886,  at  which  time  the  "College  building  was  ac- 
cepted from  the  hands  of  the  Contractors,"  when  it  appeared  that  the  "total  of 
contracts"  was  $51,662.95,  on  which  a  balance  of  $11,038.39  was  due  the  Con- 
tractors. A  loan  of  $7,000.00  was  authorized,  secured  by  a  mortgage  on  the  Col- 
lege property.  The  balance  the  collectors  were  expected  to  secure  within  the  time 
for  final  payment.  The  College  year  closed  June  23,  1887,  with  a  Faculty  of 
thirteen  and  170  students  enrolled. 

The  equally  difficult  and  more  perplexing  problem  now  confronted  the  Board 
of  Trustees — to  conduct  the  institution  successfully  with  so  large  a  Faculty  and  so 
inadequate  an  endowment.  The  Editor  of  The  Advocate  renewed  the  agitation  of 
the  question  in  May,  1887.  And  the  Executive  Committee  "instructed  the  College 
Agents  to  turn  their  attention  mainly  toward  the  Endowment  Fund."  And  this 
especially  in  view  of  "the  sale  of  a  part  of  the  College  grounds  opposite  the  College 
for  $15,000.00."  It  was  also  proposed  that  the  endowment  of  a  Professorship  by 
the  Sabbath-schools  be  made  a  special  object.     This  was  approved  by  the  General 


856  History    of    the    Churches    oe    God 

Eldership  in  1887,  which  named  the  Chair  "The  Sabbath-school  Professorship  of 
Systematic  Theology."  It  also  fixed  the  day  in  June  on  which  the  Annual  Elder- 
ships were  called  upon  to  "urge  the  Sunday-schools  connected  with  the  churches  to 
observe  Children's  College  Day."  The  day  was  partly  a  growth,  as  such  days  were 
observed  by  a  few  churches  as  early  as  June,  1882.  And  in  1884  the  General 
Eldership  commended  it.  No  reports  of  receipts  were  made,  except  by  individual 
schools;  but  from  1884  to  1912,  both  years  included,  the  schools  throughout  the 
territory  of  the  General  Eldership  contributed  a  total  of  $31,554.05.  The  formal 
dedication  of  the  College  had  been  referred  to  the  Executive  Committee  in  De- 
cember, 1886;  but  it  was  referred  to  the  General  Eldership  in  1887,  which  com- 
mitted the  matter  to  the  Board  of  Education.  It  was  to  have  occurred  on  Sep- 
tember 6,  1887,  but  for  unpublished  reasons  was  deferred  to  June  20,  1888.  The 
Board  consisted  of  C.  H.  Forney,  W.  T.  Herkstresser,  J.  M.  Carvell,  J.  R.  H.  Lat- 
chaw  and  AV.  B.  Allen,  which  prepared  an  elaborate  program  of  songs,  hymns,  an- 
thems, prayers,  addresses  and  Dedicatory  Oration.  The  ministers  who  participated 
were:  Invocation,  R.  H.  Bolton;  Reading  Scripture,  B.  F.  Beck;  Prayer,  M.  S. 
Newcomer;  Address,  T.  Koogle;  Oration,  C.  H.  Forney;  Dedicatory  Prayer,  George 
Sandoe.  In  the  evening  the  President  was  inaugurated,  when  Latchaw  delivered 
his  Inaugural  Address,  and  J.  H.  Besore,  J.  M.  Cassel,  R.  L.  Byraes  and  J.  W. 
Aukerman  participated  in  the  exercises.  Already  in  July,  1887,  the  Board  of 
Trustees  began  to  be  embarrassed  for  lack  of  funds.  To  attempt  to  tide  matters 
over  it  rented  some  of  the  rooms  of  the  College  Building  to  the  School  Board  of 
Findlay  Union  School,  and  other  rooms  unused  to  students.  The  Executive  Com- 
mittee also  "borrowed  of  the  Permanent  Endowment  Fund  [in  June,  1887] 
$180.00,"  and  "authorized  and  required  the  Financial  Secretary  to  place  in  the 
hands  of  the  Treasurer  all  the  Endowment  cash  funds  for  the  use  of  the  Teachers' 
Fund,"  which  "shall  be  treated  as  a  loan  from  said  Endowment  Fund."  The  re- 
sult was  that  on  June  20,  1888,  when  the  Board  of  Trustees  met,  the  Treasurer  re- 
ported that  "there  is  in  the  General  Endowment  Fund  $44.70;"  "in  the  Permanent 
Endowment  Fund  $163.33."  As  a  school,  a  good  report  was  made,  the  enrollment 
having  been  246  as  against  169  the  first  year.  The  financial  conditions  of  the  Col- 
lege however,  were  beginning  to  awaken  concern,  and  to  restrain  giving.  The 
Board  had  realized  $9,500.00  from  the  sale  of  lots  prior  to  November  2.  1888;  but 
the  debt  on  said  date  was  $16,155.00.  Because  of  this  "constantly  growing  de- 
ficit" retrenchment  was  decided  upon  by  the  Executive  Committee  on  January  8, 
1889.  While  this  reduced  the  annual  deficit,  it  did  not  wipe  it  out.  Indeed  some 
years  it  increased,  as  in  1890,  when  it  was  $2,039.31.  Yet  the  income  was  grow- 
ing, as  for  several  years  a  collecting  agent  was  constantly  in  the  field,  until  the 
territory  was  thoroughly  covered,  and  expenses  nearly  equaled  receipts.  In  18S9, 
with  a  shortage  of  $1,652.53,  the  total  liabilities  reached  $7,101.67.  The  En- 
dowment and  General  Fund  now  aggregated  $45,621.15.  The  Executive  Commit- 
tee had  "borrowed"  $2,649.00  of  the  Endowment  Fund.  In  1890  the  Endowment 
was  $53,171.65,  and  the  total  debt,  $14,362.15.  There  was  a  disposition  to  trans- 
fer the  total  in  the  Children's  Endowment  Fund  to  the  General  Fund,  and  use  it. 
But  as  this  was  vigorously  opposed,  the  Executive  Committee  continued  to  "bor- 
row" from  it.  Thus  in  1891  it  "borrowed"  $1,539.00  from  the  Endowment  Fund, 
and  $1,051.00  from  the  S.  S.  Professorship  Fund.  The  debt  now  was  $17,204.00; 
the  Endowment,  $58,171.00.  The  Board  authorized  a  collector  to  be  put  in  the 
field.  It  also  directed  that  "stringent  inquiry  be  made  to  see  if  it  is  possible  to  de- 
crease the  expenses,  and  to  increase  the  income."  To  effect  the  latter  the  Presi- 
dent was  instructed  to  go  out  over  the  territory  and  to  the  Annual  Eldershins  and 
make  every  possible  effort  to  turn  the  tide.  But  confidence  had  been  so  shattered 
that  his  efforts  were  futile.  When  the  Board  met  in  1892  it  found  the  school  in 
fine  condition,  with  a  Faculty  of  nineteen,  of  which  eleven  were  salaried,  and 
eight  teaching  for  the  tuition.  But  the  deficit  reached  $4,199.62,  instead  of 
$1,623.63  in  1891.  The  debt  was  now  $20,086.18,  and  the  Executive  Committee 
had  borrowed  $1,643.38  from  the  Endowment  Funds.  The  Co-operative  Plan  was 
considered,  under  which  the  income  was  divided  in  proportion  to  salaries.  But 
still  the  debt  grew,  and  by  August  24,  1892,  it  was  $24,000.00,  and  the  Endow- 
ment, $56,912.67.  Discussion  as  to  the  failure  of  the  College  now  began  in  The 
Advocate.  It  was  conceded  that  a  point  had  been  reached  when  it  meant  a  "strug- 
gle for  the  existence  of  the  College."  Plans  to  "save  the  College"  were  not  want- 
ing; but  they  brought  very  limited  results.  In  July,  1893,  the  aggregate  of  all 
liabilities  of  the  College  were  given  at  $25,500.00;   the  total  Endowment,   $57,- 


Institutions   of    Learning  857 

468.19.  As  the  General  Eldership  convened  at  Flndlay,  June  23,  1893,  it  was  clear 
that  the  crisis  was  at  hand.      Latchavv  probably  realized  this  when,  on  December 

21,  1892,  he  resigned;  but  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  the  Executive  Committee 
he  withdrew  his  resignation.  Several  things  were  evident,  namely:  The  College 
was  organized  on  too  vast  a  scale.  The  expenses  were  too  heavy  for  the  churches 
to  bear  voluntarily.  The  spirit  of  the  College  was  changing,  so  that  it  could  hardly 
be  recognized  as  a  Church  of  God  institution.  As  a  consequence,  it  was  not  serv- 
ing the  churches,  as  the  young  men  who  graduated  nearly  all  went  to  other  re- 
ligious bodies.  As  the  trustees  were  under  the  law  held  personally  for  debts 
created  without  authority  of  the  General  Eldership,  it  became  practically  impos- 
sible to  get  men  of  means  to  serve  in  that  capacity.  The  illegal  action  of  the 
Board  in  "borrowing"  Endowment  Fund  money  forfeited  the  confidence  of  the 
brotherhood  in  the  Board.  Confronted  with  such  an  environment  the  Board  came 
to  the  General  Eldership  in  .Tune,  1893,  with  a  "Memorial,"  in  which  it  made  a 
circumstantial  statement  of  conditions,  and  then  virtually  threw  the  College  on  the 
hands  of  said  body,  refusing  to  go  on  any  further  except  as  specifically  empowered 
and  sustained  by  the  Eldership.  Here  was  a  task  compared  with  which  the  labors 
of  Hercules  were  child's  work.  The  "Memorial"  was  referred  to  a  committee'of 
one  from  each  Annual  Eldership,  and  was  composed  of  D.  S.  Shoop,  S.  G.  Yahn, 
J.  A,  Saxton,  J.  S.  Marjile,  H.  Clay,  W.  Reddins,  I.  W.  Markley,  H.  H.  Spiher, 
J.  Bernard,  A.  C.  Gamer,  A.  Wilson,  J.  C  Fomcrook,  B.  Ober  and  J.  1.  Brow-n. 
This  Committee  virtually  acquitted  the  Board  and  President  of  charges  of  ex- 
travagance, mismanagement  and  excessive  expenditures,  and  put  blame  on  the 
churches  for  a  want  of  liberality  in  supporting  the  College.  The  facts  as  to  the 
debt,  spending  Endowment  funds  and  other  items  through  which  confidence  was 
greatly  weakened  were  passed  over.  A  loan  of  from  $10,000.00  to  $20,000.00  was 
authorized,  secured  by  mortgage  on  the  College  property.  Under  this  new  com- 
mission the  Board  resumed  its  session  on  .July  1,  1893.  Latchaw  desired  permis- 
sion "to  withdraw  his  withdrawal  of  his  resignation  as  President,"  proposing  to 
take  a  position  on  the  Faculty  under  C.  H.  Forney  as  President.  But  this  posi- 
tion the  latter  declined,  and  Latchaw's  resignation  was  accepted,  and  he  was  elected 
Professor  of  Biblical  Theology,  and  AV.  N.  Yates  was  elected  Acting  President. 
Latchaw  stood  high  with  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and  it  adopted  a  series  of 
laudatory  resolutions,  and  in  the  General  Eldership  there  were  few  incidents  to 
show  that  his  services  were  discounted  by  reason  of  the  history  of  the  College. 
He  betrayed  no  consciousness  of  any  misdemeanor  in  office,  and  had  the  enthusiastic 
endorsement  of  the  Faculty  and  students.  But  events  speedily  culminated.  His 
pulpit  utterances  following  the  adjournment  of  the  Eldership  gave  evidence  of  a 
spirit  of  independence  incompatible  with  a  pcsition  on  the  Facultv.      On  August 

22,  1893,  the  Chicago  "Inter-Ocean"  announced  that  Dr.  Latchaw,  late  President  of 
Findlay  College,  renounced  the  authority  of  the  General  Eldership  of  the  Church  of 
God  and  left  the  Church."  This  he  had  done  in  a  sermon  in  the  College  Chapel  the 
previous  Sabbath  morning.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  the  Chair  of 
Biblical  Theology  was  declared  vacant.  There  were  other  defections,  and  some- 
thing of  a  spirit  of  insubordination,  so  that  the  Board  was  constrained  to  assert  its 
authority  over  the  members  of  the  Faculty,  and  diplomatically  advised  them  of 
possible  dismissal  if  they  failed  to  co-operate. 

It  was  under  these  formidable  conditions  that  a  young  man,  largely  trained 
under  Latchaw,  was  placed  at  the  helm  to  guide  the  ship.  It  was  William  Nelson 
Yates. 

Yates  was  a  native  of  Westmoreland  county.  Pa.  He  was  converted,  baptized 
and  united  with  the  church  of  God  at  Mt.  Pisgah,  in  said  county,  under  the  labors 
of  B.  F.  Bolton,  in  1874,  when  nine  years  of  age.  Until  sixteen  years  of  age  he 
attended  the  public  school  in  the  Winter  and  worked  on  the  farm  during  the  Sum- 
mer. He  began  to  preach  occasionally  in  1882,  delivering  his  first  sermon  on 
April  29th  of  that  year.  His  name  first  appears  as  a  delegate  to  the  West  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership  on  October  5,  1883.  In  the  Fall  of  1884  he  was  a  student  at 
Barkeyville  Academy,  and  occasionally  wrote  for  the  columns  of  The  Advocate. 
He  graduated  from  said  Institution  June  1.5.  1887,  in  the  College  Preparatory,  and 
the  Classical  course,  under  E.  F.  Loncks,  Principal,  successor  of  Latchaw.  In  De- 
cember, 1887,  the  Standing  Committee  granted  him  license  to  preach,  and  ap- 
pointed him  to  Pittsburg.  But  he  declined,  and  went  to  Findlay  College.  He 
was  also  given  a  place  to  preach,  four  miles  east  of  Findlay.  where  he  organized  a 
church  on  March  4,  1888.      In  September,  1888,  the  Ohio  Eldership  ordained  him. 


858 


HisioKY    OF    THE    Churches    of    God 


He  had  returned  East  in  November,  1888,  with  his  transfer,  and  was  again  ap- 
pointed to  Pittsburg.  In  the  Fall  of  1889,  the  Ohio  Eldership  received  his  trans- 
fer and  assigned  him  to  the  Front  Street  church,  Findlay.  This  position  he  held 
for  six  years,  until  after  his  election  as  Acting  President  of  Findlay  College,  in 
June,  1893.  He  was  graduated  from  Findlay  College  in  June,  1891.  He  had  al- 
ready gained  a  good  reputation  as  a  public  speaker,  and  more  than  once  received 
the  first  prize  in  oratorical  contests,  not  only  at  Findlay,  but  at  Columbus  and  other 
points.  But  upon  entering  on  his  duties  as  Acting  President,  as  a  young  man  of 
limited  experience,  Yates  accepted  a  burden  in  his  new  position  from  which  any  one 
might  well  seek  to  beat  a  retreat.  It  was  a  heritage  of  debt,  of  doubt  and  alien- 
ated confidence.  He  was  painfully  conscious  of  all  this.  But  he  went  to  work 
with  remarkable  vim  and  enthusiasm,  and  soon  measurably  rallied  the  disheartened 
forces  around  him.  The  Elderships  and  churches  had  been  appealed  to  for  $1.00 
per  capita  contributions.  It  seemed  so  easy  that  it  could  not  fail.  Yates  took 
hold  of  it  with  all  the  ardor  of  his  exuberant  nature.  He  sounded  the  alarm  on 
August  8,  1893:      "Something  must  be  done,  and  that  very  soon,  or  the  College 


W.     N.     Yates. 

must  be  lost  to  the  Church."  November,  1893,  "Now  or  Never!"  was  the  title  of 
a  strong  appeal.  He  soon  realized  that  the  $1.00  plan  would  never  save  the  Col- 
lege, and  began  to  urge  the  other  plan  endorsed  by  the  Board  of  Trustees  as  an 
alternative — the  issuing  of  $100.00  bonds  to  the  number  of  two  hundred.  And 
while  nearly  all  the  Elderships  endorsed  the  $1.00  plan,  some  regarding  it  as  "the 
best  possible  plan,"  the  Editor  of  The  Advocate  and  others  sustained  Yates  in  his 
insistent  call  for  contributions  of  $10.00  to  $500.00,  and  more  from  persons  of 
means.  Yates  was  persistent  in  calling  on  the  brethren  to  "show  your  confidence." 
Explained  "how  to  pay  the  debt."  Warned  that  "the  mortgage  could  be  foreclosed 
any  day."  As  it  became  evident  that  the  debt  was  still  increasing,  reaching  $26,- 
000.00  December  27,  1893,  others  joined  through  The  Advocate  in  the  chorus  of 
calls  to  "save  the  College."  It  became  a  hysterical  epidemic,  with  but  compara- 
tively little  cash.  For  by  January  16,  1894,  only  $4,499.32  had  been  received, 
which  would  little  more  than  cover  the  deficit  by  June,  1894.  This  was  published 
on  February,  1894,  and  called  out  the  comment  that  the  Church  was  in  "the 
darkest  hour  of  its  history."  In  the  Fall  of  1893  Yates  had  visited  a  number  of 
Elderships  personally  to  urge  the  $1.00  plan,  and  in  other  ways  work  up  interest 
and  secure  contributions.     He  resumed  his  canvass  in  February,  1894,  now  with  a 


Institutions    of    Lkakxixg 


^59 


new  plan,  to  wit:  To  have  the  different  Annual  Elderships  assume  each  a  portion 
of  the  debt.  So  much  was  he  encouraged  by  his  effort  that  in  April,  1894,  it  was 
announced  that  "the  pledges  are  well  up  toward  $24,000.00;"  that  "light  is  dawn- 
ing for  Findlay  College."  Zeal  was  somewhat  dampened  by  a  simultaneous  state- 
ment that  "the  shortage  at  the  College  from  1893  to  1894  would  not  be  less  than 
$4,000.00."  But  the  work  went  on,  and  on  May  30,  1894,  Yates  had  the  extreme 
satisfaction  of  stating  to  the  churches  that  the  total  amount  would  be  in  hand  by 
July  4,  1894.  The  Board  of  Trustees  June  20,  1894,  could  join  Yates  in  his  ex- 
clamation: "Praise  the  Lord!"  It  was  cheerfully  acknowledged  that  he  was 
"worthy  of  all  praise  for  his  untiring  efforts  and  sacrifice,"  and  the  Board  grate- 
fully put  on  record  a  tribute  to  his  "unceasing  efforts  by  which  he  has  accom- 
plished a  most  magnificent  work  in  the  matter  of  freeing  the  College  from  debt." 
At  this  meeting  it  also  elected  him  "Permanent  President."  The  debt  was  as- 
sumed as  follows:  East  Pennsylvania,  $5,500.00;  West  Pennsylvania,  $4,000.00- 
Illinois,  $3,000.00;  Ohio,  $5,000.00;  Indiana,  $1,000.00;  Kansas,  $1,000.00;  Iowa' 


Charles    T.    Fox. 

?3,088.09;  Maryland  and  Virginia,  $350.00;  Nebraska,  $116.00;  West  Virginia, 
$250.00;  Missouri,  $15.00;  Southern  Indiana,  $325.00;  Iowa  additional,  $185.00. 
Total,  $23,829.09.  As  the  expenses  were  still  exceeding  the  income,  the  appre- 
hension began  to  grow  that  another  debt  would  accumulate.  The  Executive  Board 
advised  strongly  against  this,  and  indicated  where  expenses  could  be  reduced,  and 
-even  vetoed  some  items  adopted  by  the  Board  of  Trustees.      And  on  November  5, 

1894,  the  Financial  Secretary  published  the  statement  that  he  estimates  that  the 
deficit  by  June  20,  1895,  would  be  $4,500.00.  On  March  19,  1895,  Yates  handed 
his  resignation  as  President  to  the  Executive  Committee,  to  take  effect  in  June, 

1895.  "My  reason  for  resigning  is,  that  it  is  impossible,  under  the  circumstances! 
for  me  to  conduct  the  work  successfully."  It  was  referred  to  the  Board  of 
Trustees  to  meet  in  June.  It  was  then  reluctantly  accepted,  with  a  testimonial 
to  his  valuable  and  efficient  services.  The  excess  of  regular  expenses  over  regular 
receipts  for  the  year  was  $3,043.01,  and  of  special,  $1,410.50,  or  a  total  shortage 
of  $4,543.51.      Already  the  practice  of  "borrowing"  Endowment  Fund  money  was 


86o  History  of  the  Churches  of  God 

resorted  to,  and  was  sustained  by  a  yea  and  nay  vote  of  nine  to  three.  The  Board's 
attention  was  called  to  the  statutes  of  Ohio,  which  "hold  the  individual  members 
liable  for  all  debts  incurred."  As  a  consequence  some  members  of  the  Board  re- 
signed, and  it  was  with  difficulty  that  their  places  could  be  filled.  Otherwise  the 
school  was  at  no  time  in  better  condition,  as  the  enrollment  in  all  Departments  wa& 
434,  "none  counted  twice."  Near  the  close  of  the  session  the  members  of  the 
Faculty  made  four  propositions  to  the  Board,  which  were  adopted:  1.  Prof. 
Chas.  T.  Fox  to  be  Acting  President.  2.  A  representative  man  to  be  put  iu  the 
field  to  collect  for  the  Endowment  Fund.  3.  Reasonable  amount  of  advertising. 
4.  The  Faculty  to  receive  for  compensation  the  income  from  tuition  and  Interest 
on  Endowment  Fund.  Prof.  Fo\  was  considered  "a  good  man,  and  one  who  will 
make  a  worthy  successor  to  President  Yates." 

The  new  President  was  not  a  stranger  to  the  College.  He  came  there  as  Pro- 
fessor of  Latin  and  German  in  1887,  having  been  a  member  of  the  Faculty  of 
Barkeyville  Academy  in  1886.  He  was  a  native  of  Westmoreland  county.  Pa., 
born  February  26,  1857,  and  spent  his  early  life  on  a  farm,  where  he  learned  the 
habits  of  industry,  perseverance  and  frugality  which  have  been  prominent  traits  in 
his  life.  He  was  trained  under  such  Christian  influences  as  to  make  virtue,  purity 
and  integrity  the  jewels  of  his  chafacter.  When  seventeen  years  of  age  he  left 
the  common  school  and  entered  Mt.  Pleasant  Institute,  near  his  home,  where  he 
remained  a  student  during  the  Spring  term  for  three  years,  and  the  whole  school 
year  of  1877-8.  In  1878-9  he  was  at  Bethany  College,  West  "Virginia,  and  thence 
he  went  to  Meadville,  Pa.,  and  became  a  student  of  Allegheny  College,  from  which 
he  was  graduated  in  18  85..  Before  entering  collece  he  had  taught  in  the  public 
schools  four  terms.  In  1885-6  he  was  Superintendent  of  Schools  and  Principal  of 
the  High  School  at  Linesville.  He  was  elected  to  the  Professorship  of  Latin  and 
German  in  Findlay  College  in  June,  1886;  but  in  1895  he  was  appointed  to  the 
Chair  of  Philosophy,  German  and  Latin.  In  1892  he  was  ordained  to  the  min- 
istry by  the  Ohio  Eldership.  Since  then  he  has  filled  positions  of  honor  and  trust 
in  his  Eldership  and  in  the  General  Eldership.  He  was  President  of  the  latter  body 
In  1899.  In  1901  the  degree  of  "Ph.  D."  was  conferred  upon  him  by  Findlay  Col- 
lege. In  1903  the  Executive  Board  elected  him  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Missions, 
to  which  position  the  General  Eldership  re-elected  him  in  1905  and  1909.  No  higher 
tribute  can  be  paid  to  Charles  T.  Fo\  as  a  man,  a  Christian  and  a  scholar,  than  the 
record  of  the  fact  that,  after  twenty-six  years  of  devoted  service  to  the  cause  of 
education  at  Findlay  College,  he  stands  unrivaled  in  the  esteem  and  affection  of  the 
Church  and  the  students  of  the  College.  As  the  enrollment  of  students  kept  up 
quite  well,  the  number  being  289  at  the  close  of  the  year  in  1896,  it  was  evident 
that  the  trouble  was  to  be  looked  for  elsewhere.  The  Board  of  Trustees  found  a 
"new  debt"  growing  to  considerable  proportions,  given  at  $7,496.70,  and  that 
several  hundred  dollars  more  than  this  amount  had  been  "borrowed"  from  the 
Endowment  Fund.  There  was  a  shortage  for  this  year  of  $2,312.12,  and  the  total 
Endowment  Fund  was  given  at  $33,213.40.  The  Board  had  met  at  Findlay,  May 
21,  1896,  but  having  no  quorum,  it  adjourned  to  meet  with  the  General  Eldership 
at  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  May  29th.  It  presented  a  Memorial  to  said  body,  submitting 
to  it  the  question  "whether  the  school  shall  continue  to  run,  or  shall  close."  If 
the  latter,  that  the  General  Eldership  must  "provide  ways  and  means  by  which 
funds  in  cash,  or  absolute  securities,  will  be  furnished  the  Board."  It  also  asked 
that  the  trustees  be  relieved  of  personal  liability  for  debts,  as  otherwise  it  would 
be  impossible  to  secure  trustees.  Ordering  the  school  to  be  continued,  the  Elder- 
ship not  only  granted  the  other  two  requests,  but  made  itself  responsible  for 
$2,000.00  annually  toward  the  running  expenses.  Collectors  were  to  be  kept  in 
the  field  to  solicit  cash  and  notes  and  pledges  for  the  Endowment  Fund.  The 
Board  decided  not  to  elect  a  President.  Fox  "repeatedly  refused  the  proposition 
of  the  Board"  to  serve  as  "Acting  President  at  such  a  salary  as  they  believed  they 
were  able  to  pay,"  to  which  position  he  had  been  elected  at  Harrisburg.  A  spe- 
cial session  of  the  Board  was,  therefore,  called  to  meet  at  Findlay,  Ohio,  July  15, 
1896,  at  which  time  Charles  Manchester  was  "elected  Acting  President  of  FindHy 
College."  He  was  also  elected  to  the  Chair  of  Philosophy,  Latin  and  Greek.  All 
such  actions  requiring  the  approval  of  the  Executive  Board  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship, and  said  Board  on  July  16,  1896,  disapproved  the  election  of  Manchester  as 
Acting  President,  but  approved  the  assignment  to  the  Professorship  named.  From 
the  former  action  the  Executive  Committee  took  an  appeal  to  the  General  Eldership 
in  1899,  in  case  the  Executive  Board  fails  to  reverse  its  action.     Several  resigna- 


Institutions    of    Lkarning  86i 

tions  of  members  of  the  Faculty  also  followed,  and  a  number  of  students  made 
formal  protest  to  the  Board  against  actions  taken  affecting  Professors  Loiicks  and 
Fox.  Conditions  were  such  as  to  call  forth  the  judgment,  that  this  was  "the 
darkest  hour  in  the  history  of  the  College."  The  "Church  had  the  College,  toward 
which  it  had  paid  about  $150,000.00,"  and  it  had  received  very  little  in  return, 
which  became  an  occasion  of  hard  feeling,  crimination,  contention  and  alienation. 
Yet  the  cry  was,  "It  must  be  saved  at  all  hazard."  Manchester,  in  September, 
left  Barkeyville,  Pa.,  and  went  to  Findlay  to  fill  the  Chair  to  which  he  was  elected, 
and  to  conduct  the  school  as  "Presidentof  the  Faculty."  The  enrollment  for  the 
Fall  term  was  "less  than  last  year,  or  former  years  for  some  time."  It  was  under 
such  difficulties  and  disheartening  conditions  as  these  that  Manchester  assumed 
control  of  the  School.  But  in  a  measure  he  was  reared  in  the  school  of  adversity, 
and  was  inured  to  trials  and  hardships.  He  was  a  native  of  Burnitt,  Winnebago 
county,  111.,  born  December  28,  1858.  His  elementary  education  was  secured  in 
the  country  schccl  of  Illinois,  Howard  county,  Iowa,  and  Pattawatomie  county, 
Kansas.  Amidst  privations  his  thirst  for  knowledge  became  his  chief  passion,  and 
he  turned  for  help  to  any  one  who  could  contribute  toward  the  realization  of  his 


■i 

M 

I 

■^1 

^^^■f. 

Charles  Manchester. 

ambition.  In  1875-6  he  attended  High  School  in  Irving,  Marshall  county,  Kansas, 
and  in  1877  he  entered  Park  College,  Missouri,  from  which  in  due  time  he  was 
graduated  with  honor,  being  Valedictorian  of  the  class  of  1883.  He  was  con- 
verted, baptized  and  fellowshiped  by  the  church  of  God  in  1876,  and  in  September, 
1878,  he  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Kansas  and  Nebraska  Eldership,  at  White 
Hall,  Kansas.  During  the  Summer  of  1883  he  preached  at  Peakville,  Missouri,  but 
In  September  he  went  to  the  McCormick  Seminary,  Chicago,  Illinois,  preaching  at 
Buda,  Illinois,  to  support  himself.  Thence  he  went  to  Oberlin  in  1884,  where  he 
•was  graduated  from  the  Theological  Seminary.  He  went  to  Barkeyville,  Pa.,  in 
1890,  and  was  pastor  of  the  church  there  until  1896,  and  Principal  of  the  Academy 
from  1892  to  1896.  He  resigned  the  latter  position  in  1896  to  go  to  Findlay 
College,  where  in  1897  he  was  elected  Acting  President.  Oberlin  Seminary  gave 
him  the  degree  of  B.  D.  His  Alma  Mater,  in  1887,  had  given  him  the  degree  of 
A.  M.,  and  in  1898,  that  of  D.  D.  He  was  a  man  of  tireless  energy,  of  heroic 
loyalty  and  of  unblemished  character.  He  was  possessed  of  that  Spartan  spirit 
which  has  made  many  a  life  sublime  and  grand.  Honesty,  purity  and  sincerity 
,so  adorned  his  life  as  to  put  it  out  of  the  power  of  truth  to  give  him  an  ill  char- 
acter. 


862  History   of  the   Churches   of   God 

.  In  July,  1897,  the  Report  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  made  it  clear  to  all  that 
"the  College  is  down  on  the  most  economical,  the  lowest  possible,  basis."  Al- 
though in  the  following  years  heavier  pressure  was  used  to  save  wherever  it  could 
be  done.  The  co-operative  plan  was  continued  from  year  to  year;  but  toward  the 
close  of  each  year  an  effort  was  made,  generally  successful,  to  make  up  the  deficit 
by  voluntary  contributions.  Collectors  were  generally  at  work,  the  Acting  Presi- 
dent often  so  serving,  with  the  special  object  of  increasing  the  Productive  Endow- 
ment Fund.  Income  to  meet  expenses  was  the  first  desideratum,  and  the  payment 
of  "the  new  debt"  would  help  to  this  end.  More  students,  too,  would  bring  in 
funds  to  pay  the  teachers,  the  number  in  January,  1898,  having  been  only  108. 
But  in  June,  1898,  it  was  cheerful  news  that  greeted  the  ears  of  the  friends  of  the 
College,  that  "for  the  first  time  in  its  history  it  has  lived  within  its  income,"  and 
that  "the  College  is  on  its  feet."  True,  the  "new  debt"  was  not  out  of  the  way, 
as  at  this  time  it  was  $8,827.35;  the  Endowment,  $47,382.31.  In  July,  1899', 
the  Memorial  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  to  the  General  Eldership  asked  for  au- 
thority to  place  a  mortgage  on  the  College  property  to  secure  a  loan  of  $10,000.00 
with  which  to  take  care  of  this  "new  debt."  It  also  requested  the  General  Elder- 
ship in  1899  to  "relieve  us  of  financial  responsibility  in  regard  to  continuing  Col- 
lege work,"  and  requested  it  to  "decide  whether  the  College  shall  continue  to  run 
and  if  so,  on  what  plan."  The  Board  had  become  quite  timid.  IVIanchester  had 
been  again  elected  Acting  President,  which  was  approved  by  the  Executive  Board, 
and  his  work  received  the  commendation  of  the  Board  of  Trustees.  The  auspicious 
beginning  of  the  Fall  term  of  1899  was  heralded  with  the  announcement  of  ad- 
ditional Productive  Endowment  of  $3,500.00,  "proceeds  of  two  life  insurance 
policies  carried  in  favor  of  the  College  by  Brother  Carrothers."  Other  events  cal- 
culated to  inspire  confidence  were  such  as  the  action  of  the  Iowa  Eldership  in  1900 
to  take  "steps  immediately  to  endow  a  Chair  in  Findlay  College;"  the  work  in  the 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  to  endow  a  Professorship,  toward  which  over 
$2,400.00  had  been  secured,  and  similar  movements  in  other  Elderships.  Except 
as  to  the  finances,  in  May,  1901,  the  College  was  reported  in  "excellent  condition." 
The  Endowment  Fund,  however,  had  reached  $62,000.00.  Manchester  was  now 
President  of  the  College  one  year,  and  the  conditions  at  the  College  were  normal 
and  healthy.  During  this  year  he  raised  $1,071.00  for  College  expenses.  The 
number  of  students  had  grown  to  285.  In  1902  the  amount  of  the  Endowment 
Fund  was  reported  as  having  been  increased  by  the  addition  of  $23,574.83.  Man- 
chester was  re-elected  President  "without  date."  This  last  point  the  Executive 
Board  did  not  consider  wise.  The  enrollment  for  the  year  ending  June,  1903,  was 
"269,  none  counted  twice."  When  the  Board  of  Trustees  met  in  June,  1904,  it 
was  gratified  to  learn  that  during  the  year  "the  enrollment  was  a  little  larger  than 
the  year  before,"  having  been  349,  and  that  there  was  but  a  small  deficit.  The 
Endowment  had  also  been  slowly  climbing  up  toward  the  mark  made  some  years 
before,  as  it  now  stood  as  follows:  Interest  paying,,  $53,936.9  0;  non-interest  pay- 
ing notes,  $32,013.85;  interest  paying  Scholarship  Notes,  $6,000.00;  non-interest 
paying  Scholarship  Notes,  $4,000.00.  Total,  $95,950.75.  Also  bequests  which 
will  realize  $36,000.00.  At  the  sitting  of  the  Board  on  June  15th,  "somewhat  un- 
expectedly President  Manchester,  after  eight  years  of  devoted  and  faithful  service 
at  the  head  of  the  College"  handed  in  his  resignation.  It  was  based  on  "the  many 
burdens  of  the  office;"  "the  work  that  came  to  him  in  addition  to  the  Presidency," 
and  his  preference  "to  be  a  pastor,  or  teacher  of  theology."  The  Board  accepted 
his  resignation,  giving  him  its  "unqualified  testimony  to  his  high  Christian  char- 
acter, his  supreme  and  unselfish  loyalty  to  the  interests  of  the  Church  and  his  un- 
tiring zeal  in  the  cause  of  education  during  the  eight  years  he  was  President  of 
Findlay  College."  "C.  I.  Brown  was  unanimously  elected  to  that  office  for  the  en- 
suing year,"  which  the  Executive  Board  approved.  Charles  Ira  Brown  was  born 
about  one  mile  east  of  Woodbury,  Bedford  county,  Pa.,  and  was  trained  under 
German  Baptist  influence,  his  parents  having  been  zealous  and  faithful  members 
of  said  Church.  One  brother  and  two  brothers-in-law  were  ministers  of  the  same 
faith.  Young  Brown,  however,  was  converted  when  attending  school  at  a 
Methodist  Seminary;  but  was  baptized  near  Woodbury  and  fellowshiped  in  the 
church  of  God  at  said  place  by  the  pastor,  James  M.  Waggoner,  in  the  Summer  of 
1886.  After  pursuing  the  branches  of  study  in  the  common  schools  he  went  to 
Dickinson  Seminary,  Williamsport,  Pa.,  where  he  further  prepared  himself  for  the 
ministry.  He  was  an  applicant  for  license  at  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in 
October,  1887,  but  not  for  a  charge.      Being  well  recommended  by  his  pastor  and 


Institutions   of    Learning 


86s 


the  elders  of  his  church,  before  which  he  had  preached  his  first  sermon  in  1886, 
he  was  at  once  licensed.  In  October,  1888,  he  had  finished  his  studies,  and  was 
ready  for  work.  His  first  charge  was  Camp  Hill,  Cumberland  county;  the  second, 
Mt.  Joy,  Lancaster  county,  and  the  third,  Shippensburg,  Cumberland  county.  He 
at  once  developed  staying  powers,  as  he  served  these  three  charges  the  sixteen 
years  he  was  in  the  pastoral  work  without  any  perceptible  diminution  of  power. 
He  was  early  a  man  of  typical  energy  and  activity,  and  became  a  leader  in  the  pro- 
gressive work  of  the  churches  he  served.  Activity,  energy  and  efficiency  are  gen- 
erally rewarded  by  promotion,  and  so  Brow-n  soon  found  his  reward  in  elections 
to  the  Boards  of  his  Eldership.  In  1892,  just  eligible  as  delegate  to  the  General 
Eldership,  he  was  elected  a  ministerial  alternate  to  the  said  body  in   1893.      By 


Charles  I.  Brown. 


reason  of  the  absence  of  one  of  the  delegates  he  became  a  member.  At  that  session 
he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Publication.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the 
General  Eldership  in  1896,  1899,  1902  and  1909.  He  was  elected  a  trustee  of 
Findlay  College  in  1896,  and  was  President  of  the  Board  for  several  years.  For  a 
number  of  years  he  was  Conductor  of  the  C.  E.  Department  of  The  Advocate,  and 
on  December  11,  1900,  he  was  elected  Assistant  Editor.  The  degree  of  "D.  D." 
was  conferred  upon  him  by  Findlay  College  in  1905.  In  1904  the  Board  of 
Trustees  elected  him  President  of  the  College,  and  on  December  13th  of  said  year 
he  was  inaugurated.  He  maintained  his  reputation  in  that  office  as  an  earnest, 
hard-working,  zealous  official,  exhibiting  special  energy  in  carrying  financial  pro- 
jects into  effect.  He  was  a  business  President  preeminently,  as  he  was  simply  the 
President,  the  most  of  the  time  since  his  election  holding  no  active  professorship 
and  doing  no  teaching.  His  predecessors  in  the  office  taught  sometimes  as  many 
as  seven  classes  each  day.      Two  powers  he  seemed  to  aim  to  bring  to  their  fullest 


864  History   of   the   Churciiks   of   God 

perfection:  The  art  of  expression,  and  the  power  of  persuasion.  The  former 
made  him  an  attractive,  epigrammatic  speaker  on  pulpit  or  platform;  the  latter 
gave  him  unusual  control  over  the  motives  of  men  so  as  to  secure  cheerful,  liberal 
giving.  Thus  equipped  and  consecrated  to  this  one  work,  and  released  from  the 
duties  of  the  class-room,  Brown  went  to  work  with  persistent  zeal  to  place  the 
College  on  a  substantial  basis  financially.  In  his  Inaugural  he  outlined  his  pro- 
gram, to  wit:  "To  increase  the  regular  Endowment  as  rapidly  as  possible,  so  that 
the  income  will  be  sufficient  to  meet  all  regular  expenses;"  a  "ladies'  dormitory 
and  a  gymnasium;"  to  secure  endowment  of  Chairs  of  Pedagogy,  of  Greek,  of 
Philosophy,  of  Physics  and  Chemistry,  of  English  Language  and  Literature.  To 
these  were  added  by  the  President  in  January,  19  05,  the  "ten-cent  plan"  for  the 
Day  of  prayer,  which  by  May,  1905,  brought  $526.87  into  the  College  Treasury. 
Also  the  "Annuity  Plan,"  to  raise  $10,000.00  to  replace  the  Endowment  money 
"borrowed"  and  spent,  and  to  lift  the  mortgage  off  the  College.  Also  the  prop- 
osition for  "a  living  endowment"  of  a  professorship,  or  the  payment  of  a  professor 
out  of  the  receipts  of  Children's  College  Day.  With  all  these  plans  in  operation, 
the  receipts  of  the  year  1904-5  were  $33,645.16;  the  expenditures,  $21,414.60,  and 
the  Secretary's  figures  for  the  Endow^ment  Fund,  $104,755.00,  with  an  enrollment 
of  342  students.  To  encourage  the  President  in  his  heroic  work  and  to  stimulate 
larger  giving,  C.  H.  Forney  submitted  a  proposition  to  make  himself  "personally  re- 
sponsible for,  and  to  guarantee,  the  endowment  of  the  President's  Chair  in  Find- 
lay  College."  In  October,  1905,  the  Board  of  Trustees  authorized,  in  harmony 
with  an  action  of  the  General  Eldership,  the  formation  of  "a  Living  Endowment 
Association,"  the  members  to  pay  annually,  as  they  would  determine,  from  $1.00 
to  $25.00,  for  the  benefit  of  the  College.  On  March  9,  1906,  the  Carnegie  Propo- 
sition, secured  by  the  President,  was  officially  reported,  to  the  effect  that  of 
$50,000.00  new  endowment  he  would  give  $12,500.00.  The  President  was  con- 
stantly supported  in  these  various  plans  by  The  Advocate,  and  had  the  active  sym- 
pathies of  the  brotherhood.  At  the  end  of  the  year  1905-6  the  ten-cent  plan  had 
brought  in  $728.35;  in  1906-7,  $853.00.  Withal,  there  was  a  shortage  nearly 
every  year  of  amounts  varying  from  $1,000.00  to  $2,500.00,  which  was  usually 
secured  during  the  Summer  months.  In  part  to  provide  for  this,  the  "Golden 
Chain"  was  devised  and  put  into  effect  in  1906.  It  was  composed  of  persons  agree- 
ing to  pay  $1.00  or  more  toward  "the  running  expenses  of  the  College."  In  this 
way  in  1908  the  President  hoped  to  make  up  the  shortage  of  "$1,700.00  before 
the  Board  meets  in  June."  And  while  the  amount  was  not  secured  by  that  date, 
It  was  by  September  9th.  In  June,  1908,  Manchester  reported  to  the  Board  of 
Trustees  the  realization  of  a  generous  gift  to  the  College  of  a  property  in  Findlay, 
to  be  known  as  "The  Henderson  Home,"  which  has  been  converted  into  a  Dormi- 
tory. Another  liberal  benefaction  was  reported  on  December  25,  1906,  being  the 
gift,  on  certain  conditions,  of  a  property  for  the  President's  Home.  It  was  officially 
reported  to  the  Board  in  June,  1907,  and  possession  was  given  in  September.  It 
was  valued  at  about  $7,000.00,  the  gift  of  George  Cari-others.  In  1907-8  the  num- 
ber of  students  was  405.  The  receipts  were  $33,539.29,  and  the  expenditures 
$29,234.61.  The  Endowment  was  given  at  $74,176.67,  interest  bearing;  $56,- 
900.00,  non-interest  bearing.  By  this  strenuous  method  of  gathering  means  the 
President  succeeded  in  increasing  the  Endowment  Fund  year  after  year,  and  meet- 
ing all  current  expenses.  And  these  expenses  were  steadily  increasing.  Thus  in 
1911  the  Report  of  the  Financial  Secretary  showed  that  the  receipts  for  the  year 
were  $63,837.86,  and  the  "expenditures"  $64,803.12.  But  included  in  this  ag- 
gregate were  some  $40,000.00  which  were  not  strictly  "expenditures."  The  tot^l 
interest  bearing  Endowment  Fund  was  given  as  $131,145.41,  and  over  $48,000.00 
as  non-interest  bearing.  The  pledges  toward  the  $37,500.00  to  meet  the  Carnegie 
Proposition  were  coming  in  so  slowly  up  to  1909,  that  few  outside  the  immediate 
associates  of  the  President  shared  either  his  optimistic  views,  or  his  fortitude.  But 
when  the  Board  of  Trustees  met  with  the  General  Eldership  at  Ft.  Scott,  Kansis, 
May  19,  1909,  President  Brown  informed  it  that  he  had  "in  notes  and  pledges 
about  one-third  of  the  amount  needed,"  and  urged  an  active  canvass  for  the  other 
two-thirds.  This  the  Board  heartily  approved,  and  at  once  employed  O.  A.  Newlin 
as  Field  Secretary.  Entering  at  once  upon  his  work,  and  enthusiastically  seconded 
by  the  President  and  cheered  on  by  scores  of  helpers,  and  hindered  by  many  more 
doubters,  the  work  was  energetically  carried  forward  for  over  two  years,  when  on 
January  1,  1911,  it  was  announced  that  "the  churches  and  friends  of  the  College 
have  raised  all  and  more  than  the  amount  asked  for  to  meet  Mi*.  Carnegie's  offer," 


Institutions   of    Learning 


865 


But  as  the  Henderson  Home,  valued  at  $4,000.00,  was  counted,  and  Mr.  Carnegie 
would  not  accept  that  as  part  of  the  $37,500.00,  another  effort  was  required  to 
raise  that  amount,  less  $500.00  in  hand.  But  by  April  26,  1911,  the  additional 
$3,500.00  were  secured.  Immediately  a  new  project  was  started,  to  raise  a  further 
Endowment  Fund  of  $25,000.00,  toward  which  in  1912  the  President  reported 
"more  than  $6,000.00  already  paid  or  pledged."  A  "Students'  Loan  Fund"  was 
also  begun,  for  which  $1,000.00  were  given  by  one  person.  The  endowment  of  a 
new  Chair,  that  of  "Religion  and  Education,"  was  submitted  to  the  Board  of 
Trustees  in  1912,  and  "authorized."      The  Henderson  Home  was  converted  into  a 


William  Hariis  Giiyer, 


Dormitory.  The  "receipts"  for  the  year  ending  June,  1912,  were  given  by  the 
Financial  Secretary  at  $51,953.30;  the  "expenditures"  at  $51,402.42,  with  many 
items  on  both  credit  and  debit  side  which  can  not  be  considered  as  properly  so 
entered.  The  interest  bearing  securities  and  notes  of  the  Endowment  Fund  were 
$136,914.13;  non-interest  bearing,  $48,100.00.  The  number  of  students  during 
the  year  1911-12  was  345,  of  which  18  were  in  the  Theological  Department.  One 
of  the  gratifying  features  of  the  College  was  its  good  moral  tone  and  spiritual 
atmosphere,  notwithstanding  the  absorbing  business  and  financial  activity.  To  this 
doubtless  the  College  church  and  the  Christian  Associations  of  the  College  con- 
tributed quite  materially.  The  primary  mission  of  the  College  was  conceived  to 
be  spiritual,  and  to  fulfill  said  mission  it  was  regarded  as  a  high  duty  of  Presi- 
dents and  Faculites  to  seek  to  deepen  the  spiritual  life  of  the  students  through 
religious  training  and  example,  as  well  as  through  intellectual  development. 

C.  H. — 29 


866  History  op  the  Churches  of  God 

At  a  special  session  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Findlay  College,  held  at  Fiud- 
lay,  Ohio,  April  2,  1913,  C.  I.  Brown  tendered  his  resignation  as  President  of  the 
College.  It  was  not  accepted.  But  at  the  regular  annual  meeting  of  the  Board 
at  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  in  May,  1913,  having  again  been  submitted  to  the  Board,  it 
was  accepted,  and  William  Harris  Guyer  was  chosen  Acting  President. 

Prof.  Guyer  was  elected  to  the  Chair  of  Theology  and  History  in  1912,  so  that 
his  elevation  to  the  Presidency  differed  in  this  respect  from  some  of  his  prede- 
cessors. He  is  forty-three  years  old,  having  been  born  at  Waterside,  Bedford 
county,  Pa.,  September  2,  1870.  He  spent  the  first  eighteen  years  of  his  life  on 
a  farm,  attending  public  school  in  Martinsburg  during  the  Winters.  His  parents 
removing  to  a  farm  near  Woodbury,  he  continued  to  attend  public  school  until 
about  eighteen  years  old,  when  he  entered  a  normal  school  at  Woodbury,  Pa.,  and 
the  following  year  one  at  New  Enterprise.  He  also  took  an  advanced  Normal 
course  at  Danville,  New  York.  He  taught  two  terms  in  the  public  schools.  He 
next  went  to  Barkeyville  Academy,  Barkeyville,  Venango  county,  Pa.,  from  which 
he  graduated  with  the  highest  grades  in  the  class.  He  then  spent  two  years  as  a 
student  at  Findlay  College,  where  he  finished  his  course  by  correspondence  in  1906. 
For  two  years  he  was  Assistant  Principal  of  the  Collegiate  Institute  at  Butler,  Pa. 
During  two  years  he  was  Principal  of  Barkeyville  Academy.  While  pastor  at 
Barkeyville  he  took  up  several  special  courses  at  Grove  City  College,  Mercer 
county,  Pa.  His  post-graduate  course  for  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  was  taken 
at  Findlay  College. 

Young  Guyer  was  converted  in  the  bethel  at  Woodbury,  Pa.,  under  the  preach- 
ing of  E.  Myers,  who  also  baptized  him  and  received  him  into  church  fellowship. 
Here  he  began  church  work,  teaching  a  Bible  class  and  leading  prayer-meetings. 

After  preaching  for  about  two  years,  Guyer  was  ordained  by  the  West  Penn- 
sylvania Eldership  at  Butler,  Pa.,  in  October,  1894.  The  years  of  his  active 
ministry  were  spent  in  the  West  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  Elderships,  including  a 
pastorate  of  four  years  at  Barkeyville  and  one  of  six  years  at  Alverton,  both  in 
Pennsylvania.  From  the  latter  pastorate  he  was  called  to  Findlay  College.  These 
facts  in  his  strenuous  life  mark  him  as  a  most  thorough  student.  His  library  is 
extensive  and  well  selected.  He  is  at  home  with  his  books,  and  reads  with  pleas- 
ure as  well  as  for  profit.  A  natural  talent  for  writing  has  been  so  developed  by 
careful  and  constant  practice  that  the  products  of  his  pen  are  received  with  much 
favor.  He  has  written  several  tracts  and  published  them,  and  also  three  books, 
namely,  "James  Arminius,"  "Our  Mothers^"  and  "Memories  of  Our  Old  Homes." 
As  a  preacher  he  is  instructive  and  impressive'.  His  thoughts  flow  freelv  and  are 
always  good.  His  illustrations  are  apt  and  his  voice  and  manner  of  delivery  are 
pleasant.  On  the  various  occasions  when  he  has  been  called  upon  for  pubic 
speeches,  his  addresses  have  been  clear  and  forceful.  He  is  a  creditable  repre- 
sentative among  the  churches  of  God.     He  has  splendid  social  qualities. 

Back  of  these  social  and  intellectual  qualifications  is  a  strong  Christian  char- 
acter and  a  noble  manhood.  Herein  are  the  principles  which  govern  his  diily  con- 
duct and  determine  his  decisions  in  the  problems  of  life.  His  heart  is  true  and 
loyal  to  the  doctrine  and  polity  of  the  churches  of  God,  which  he  has  been  taught 
from  his  childhood. 

VII.     BARKEYnLLE  ACADEMY. 

Barkeyville  Academy  was  located  in  the  village  of  Barkeyville,  Venango 
county.  Pa..  Its  beginning  was  natural  and  spontaneous.  It  had  two  elements 
as  its  origin:  A  local,  conscious  need  of  something  better  than  the  common 
schools,  and  a  poor  young  preacher  just  out  of  college.  He  was  importuned  for 
a  year  previous  to  come  to  Barkeyville  and  be  pastor  of  the  church  of  God  in  the 
village.  Between  his  arrival  and  the  Annual  Eldership  there  were  about  three 
months  of  enforced  inactivity.  It  was  at  this  juncture  that  the  thought  was  sug- 
gested that  he  might  open  "a  private  school  for  a  period  of  eight  or  ten  weeks." 
It  was  acquiesced  in  by  the  impecunious  young  preacher,  and  he  mapped  out  his 
program:  A  Fall  term  of  ten  weeks;  as  students,  children  of  from  fourteen  to 
sixteen  years;  nominal  tuition  of  $5.00  per  term.  As  for  a  place  to  hold  his  school 
the  use  of  the  house  of  worship  of  the  church  of  God  w^^s  obt'^ined.  These  pre- 
liminaries settled,  John  R.  H.  Latchaw  started  out  "with  a  small  passbook  and 
pencil  to  canvass  among  the  homes  of  the  people"  for  students.  In  a  few  days 
he  had  the  promise  of  seventeen,  which  he  considered  a  sufPcient  number  to  war- 
rant a  beginning.     The  school  opened  in  the  after  part  of  the  Summer  of  1881  with 


Institutions    op  Learning 


867 


twenty  students,  which  number  increased  to  over  thirty.  And  instead  of  children, 
alone  in  the  common  school  branches,  there  were  young  men  and  women  who  began 
the  study  of  Latin,  Higher  Mathematics,  English  Literature,  General  History,  etc. 
Mrs.  Latchavv  was  the  Assistant  Teacher,  and  Miss  Sadie  Hunsberger  and  Miss 
Sophia  Hummel  tutors  in  the  common  branches,  while  Miss  Heniietta  Hunsberger 
had  charge  of  the  Music  Department.  At  the  Eldership  Latchaw  was  appointed 
pastor  at  Barkeyville,  Hickory  Grove  and  Clark's  Mills.  This  gave  him  too  much 
work  to  justify  the  opening  of  a  Fall  term  in  1881.  The  Winter's  work  being  over 
there  were  renewed  importunities  for  another  term  in  the  Spring  of  1882,  which 
was  conducted  under  the  same  conditions  as  the  first  term.  The  enrollment  was 
over  fifty.  The  attendance  exceeded  expectations,  the  interest  in  the  school  deep- 
ened, and  after  a  regular  "commencement"  the  well-sustained  interest  became 
enthusiastic  for  the  school,  and  its  continuance  became  a  matter  of  necessity.  As 
additional  accommodations  would  be  needed,  Henry  Barkey  and  Abraham  Huns- 
berger provided  them.      The  regular  first  School  Year  opened  early  in  September, 


Barkeyville  Academy. 


1882.  Prof.  E.  F.  Loucks,  who  had  graduated  from  college  in  the  Summer,  was 
added  to  the  Faculty.  Larger  quarters  were  needed,  and  with  the  assistance  of 
brethren  in  Westmoreland  county  a  building  was  erected,  4  0x60  feet,  with  a  chapel 
which  had  a  seating  capacity  of  300.  The  school  continued  to  grow  and  prosper 
under  Latchaw,  having  gained  quite  a  reputation,  when  in  the  Summer  of  1884  he 
was  elected  President  of  Pindlay  College,  but  continued  at  Barkeyville  until  1885. 
His  successors,  as  nearly  as  can  be  determined  were  E.  F.  Loucks,  18  85-9;  J.  P. 
Bigler,  1889-90;  Charles  Manchester,  1890-6;  AV.  C.  Meyers,  189  6-7;  Ira  C.  Eakin, 
1897-1900;  G.  W.  Davis,  1900-1901;  H.  K.  Powell,  19  01-2;  W.  H.  Guyer,  1902-5, 
The  number  of  students  varied  from  sixty  to  one  hundred  and  forty.  About  one 
dozen  of  its  graduates  became  ministers  in  the  Church  of  God. 

Instead  of  remaining  a  local,  individual  school,  the  West  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship gradually  took  it  under  its  control.  Already  in  1882  it  placed  a  resolution 
on  its  Journal,  commending  "H.  Barkey  and  A.  Hunsberger  who  so  nobly  aided  in 
establishing  a  school  at  Barkeyville,  and  who  are  now  erecting  a  commodious, 
cchool  building." 


868 


History    of    the    Churches    of    God 


And  the  General  Eldership  in  1884  "recognized  the  work,"  however  limiting 
the  school  so  as  "not  to  be  above  the  grade  of  an  Academy"  and  to  be  tributary  to 
Findlay  College,  and  under  the  general  supervisory  authority  of  the  General  Eld- 
ership. A  regular  Board  of  Trustees  was  formed,  which  held  its  first  meeting 
June  25,  1884.  It  was  composed  of  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw,  E,  F.  Loucks,  H.  Barkey,  D. 
B.  Stoiier,  D.  M.  WaUlron,  A.  Huiisberger,  Christian  Fox,  G.  Mt  Wilson,  S.  A. 
Arnold,  J.  B.  Henderson.  To  this  Board  Barkey  &  Co.  deeded  the  Academy  prop- 
erty for  $1,000.00  less  than  its  cost.  This  created  a  debt,  for  the  payment  of 
which  a  canvass  was  to  be  made.  The  second  Sunday  in  May  was  designated  by 
the  Executive  Committee  as  a  day  to  quicken  interest  in  the  Academy.  While  the 
Board  succeeded  in  liquidating  the  debt,  adverse  winds  began  to  blow  about  1886, 
and  Loucks  stated  that  there  are  "grave  misgivings  with  reference  to  the  final  out- 
come to  Barkeyville  Academy."  But  the  Trustees  were  so  much  encouraged  that 
they  decided  to  erect  a  larger  building  for  a  Boarding  Hall,  at  a  cost  of  $3,054.71. 
The  regular  income  in  1886-7  was  $220.25,  but  this  was  required  for  the  ordinary 
expenses.  Hence,  the  debt  incurred  had  to  be  provided  for  in  some  other  way. 
The   conclusion   was  reached   to  sell   stock  and  scholarships.      The  title  was  then 


Fort   Scott  Collegiate  Institute. 

vested  in  the  Eldership,  which  accepted  the  property  and  made  persistent  and 
strenuous  efforts  to  surmount  the  difficulties  which  confronted  it.  And  while  Man- 
chester reported  a  "bright  outlook  for  the  future"  for  the  school  before  going  to 
Findlay,  by  19  06  the  obstacles  had  gradually  become  too  formidable,  the  school 
was  closed  and  the  property  disposed  of. 

VIII.      FORT  SCOTT  INSTITUTE. 

The  original  suggestion  of  establishing  an  academy  at  Fort  Scott,  Kansas, 
came  from  C.  Manchester,  in  1888,  and  was  made  to  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the 
General  Eldership,  which  reported  it  to  the  Board  of  Incorporation,  with  a  recom- 
mendation "that  Manchester  be  given  the  privilege  of  establishing  an  Academy  at 
Fort  Scott,  to  be  under  the  supervision  of  the  Board  of  Education  of  the  General 
Eldership."  The  Board,  however,  "deferred  the  matter  until  another  and  fuller 
meeting."  When  O.  A.  Newljn  was  sent  to  Fort  Scott  as  missionary,  he  began  a 
school  there  in  1901,  and  in  1902,  on  November  19th,  the  Fort  Scott  Institute  was 
founded  and  chartered,  with  the  following  Board  of  Trustees:  O.  A.  Newlin,  T.  H. 
Smalhvood,  J.  H.  Richards,  E.  B.  Keeling,  J.  V.  Whisler,  W.  H.  Sheets,  W.  E. 
Tuttle.  A  property  had  been  bought  and  paid  for  by  the  citizens  of  Fort  Scott  for 
.^1,700.00.      The  main  building  was  50x40  feet,  with  an  addition  25x20  feet. 

The  Academy  opened  October  21,   19  02,  with  the  following  Faculty:      O.  A. 


Institutions    of  Learning 


869 


Newlin,  Superintendent,  and  Professor  of  Theology;  C.  K.  ShoAvalter,  Professor  in 
College  Department;  Mrs.  O.  A,  Newlin,  Normal  Work;  Miss  Helen  Smith,  Music 
Department.  The  General  Eldership  in  19  02  gave  its  sanction  to  the  project,  ap- 
pending this  condition:  "That  said  school  shall  not  become  a  permanent  charge 
to  the  General  Eldership,  or  any  of  its  Boards."  The  Elderships  west  of  the 
Mississippi  River,  except  Iowa,  were  named  as  the  "patronizing  Elderships,"  which 
the  Principal  of  the  Academy  might  canvass.  In  other  Elderships  he  might  make 
appeals  to  friends  by  correspondence.  Newlin  and  his  successor  accordingly 
visited  Elderships  at  different  times,  and  canvassed  for  funds.  In  19  05  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership  again  approved  the  establishment  of  the  Academy,  declaring  that 
"its  record  had  confirmed  the  wisdom  of  the  undertaking  as  an  institution  of  the 
General  Eldership."  It  now  had  property  "worth  from  $3,000.00  to  $5,000.00." 
The  Eldership  approved  the  report  of  the  Board  of  Missions  in  making  Newlin  a 
General  Missionary  in  addition  to  being  Principal  of  the  Academy,  and  appro- 
priating $300.00  annually  for  four  years.  In 
1909  it  repeated  this  action  for  his  successor, 
increasing  the  appropriation  to  $400.00.  It 
also  required  the  deeding  of  the  property  to 
the  Board  of  Incorporation.  The  various  im- 
provements and  additional  buildings  increased 
the  value  of  the  property,  so  that  in  1906  it 
was  estimated  at  from  $5,000.00  to  $7,000.00, 
with  a  debt  of  $400.00.  The  enlargement  of 
the  Dormitory  at  a  cost  of  $6,000.00  increased 
the  debt  to  $4,000.00,  which  was  unprovided 
for  in  December,  1912.  The  school  was  quite 
well  patronized,  the  number  of  students  vary- 
ing from  51  in  1904,  to  100  in  1907;  but  fell 
to  43  in  1912. 

Newiin  was  born  in  "the  cornbelt  of  Illi- 
nois." He  was  brought  up  to  hard  work;  but 
with  a  genetic  desire  for  knowledge,  he  at- 
tended the  public  schools,  until  in  1897,  when 
as  a  young  man  he  entered  Findlay  College, 
and  by  perseverance  and  unremitting  industry 
he  worked  his  own  way  through  College, 
graduating  in  the  Ministerial  Course.  He  was 
at  once  appointed  missionary  at  Port  Scott, 
where  he  soon  saw  what  he  conceived  to  be 
"the  need  of  some  place  where  the  young  peo- 
ple of  the  Church  of  that  section  of  the 
country  could  secure  an  academic  education 
under  the  influence  of  the  Church."  He  has 
always  manifested  a  sincere  and  loyal  love  for 
the  Church  and  its  educational  interests  and 
institutions.  A  man  of  excellent  character 
and  fine  natural  powers,  he  is  capable  of  con- 
stant growth.  He  has  acquired  a  winning, 
popular  style  of  public  speaking.  His  descrip- 
tions are  often  glowing  and  fervid.     He  lays 

down  moral  and  religious  axioms,  based  on  the  divine  word,  as  a  foundation,  and 
then  proceeds  to  reason  out  the  practical  deductions.  He  deals  largely  with  the 
concrete.  With  his  vein  of  humor,  but  rather  his  intense  and  pathetic  descrip- 
tions, springs  of  deep  emotion  are  often  touched  by  his  pulpit  efforts.  His  services 
as  pastor  at  Fort  Scott  and  Principal  of  the  Institute  afforded  him  a  good  field  to 
develop  his  natural  and  acquired  powers.  It  was,  hence,  with  reluctance  that 
church  and  school  acquiesced  in  his  departure. 

Charles  Manchester  in  1909  was  elected  Principal  of  Fort  Scott  Collegiate  In- 
stitute, by  the  Board  of  Trustees.  His  experience  as  Principal  of  Barkeyville 
Academy  and  President  of  Findlay  College  gave  him  special  qualifications  for  this 
position,  so  that  a  member  of  the  Board  could  say:  "We  feel  a  no  more 
worthy  or  able  man  could  have  been  secured  than  Dr.  Manchester."  He  began 
his  work  at  the  Institute  with  his  characteristic  zeal  and  energy.  He  secured  ad- 
ditional property,  so  that  by  1912  the  total  estimated  value  of  the  Institute  property 


O.  A.  Newlin. 


8/0  History    of    tiih    Churches    of    God 

was  $10,000.00i  While  he  regarded  the  outlook  throughout  his  four  years  as 
President  as  quite  hopeful,  there  was  the  constant  embarrassment  of  the  need  of 
funds.  In  part  to  meet  this  a  Collegiate  Institute  Day  was  provided  for  by  auth- 
ority of  the  General  Eldership.  This  brought  in  a  total  of  $1,258.81.  Man- 
chester's dominant  thought  was  that  Fort  Scott  Collegiate  Institute  was  needed 
"to  give  young  men  and  women,"  in  the  southwest  of  the  General  Eldership  terri- 
tory, "an  opportunity  to  secure  a  liberal  education  under  Christian  influence." 
And  to  doubters  he  also  constantly  pointed  to  the  advantageous  geographical  lo- 
cation of  Fort  Scott. 

The  project  of  establishing  a  mission  school  in  the  Indian  Territory  was  agi- 
tated by  J.  W.  Chandler,  a  successful  missionary  among  the  Indians.  In  1886 
R.  H.  Boltcn  was  in  that  country,  and  in  a  conservative  manner  indorsed  the 
matter,  stating  that  about  $2,000.00  would  be  needed,  and  that  a  Charter  would 
be  required  from  the  Indian  Nation  Council.  This  he  succeeding  in  securing.  The 
Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership  in  1887  declared  it  to  be  an  urgent  need  to  locate 
a  school  in  the  Indian  Territory.  By  direction  of  the  Board  of  Missions  a  com- 
mittee visited  the  place  in  1888,  and  found  that  W.  N.  Littlejohn,  and  Sallisaw, 
Ind.  Ter.,  would  donate  20  acres  of  land  for  the  schood;  that  a  bethel  was  in  course 
<pf  erection,  w^hlch  .could  be  used  until  school  buildings  could  be  erected,  and  rec- 
ommended favorable  action  by.  the  Board.  To  this  the  Board  would  not  agree, 
but  it  instriicted 'the  Secretary  to  correspond  with  the  Woman's  Missionary  Society 
on  the  subject.  3njl89.2  J.  W.  Riddle,  doing  mission  work  in  the  Indian  Territory, 
hadthe  project  revived.  J.  B.  Pemberton  and  Henry  Peri-y  had  "built  a  house  at 
a  cost  of  $1,000.00,  ait  Redland,  Cherokee  Nation,  which  they  proposed  "to  give  to 
the  Church  free,  if  it  would  establish  a  mission  school."  Riddle  endorsed  it,  be- 
lieving that  "a  sJDlendid  school  can  be  inaugurated."  It  never  gained  sufficient 
support  to  make  it  feasible. 


DIVISION  VII. 


HISTORY    OF    MISSION    WORK    AND    MISSIONARY 

SOCIETIES. 


DIVISION  VII. 


HISTORY    OF    MISSION    WORK    AND    MISSIONARY 

SOCIETIES. 


The  missionary  idea  is  not  only  as  old  as  Christianity,  but  it  is  its  essential 
element.  Forms  and  methods  of  missionary  activity  have  varied  from  genera- 
tion to  generation;  yet  long  before  Mills,  Hall,  Judson  and  Newell  had  offered 
themselves  for  the  w^ork  of  Christian  missions,  from  1643  to  1808,  the  Churches 
had  put  forth  earnest  and  successful  efforts  for  the  conversion  of  those  in  their 
own  and  in  foreign  lands.  The  missionary  spirit  is  the  life  of  the  church.  Y6t 
one  generation  often  vaunts  itself  because  of  its  new  methods,  as  if  that  signified 
that  previous  generations  had  attempted,  or  accomplished,  nothing.  The  rebuke 
of  this  conceit  is  found  in  historical  facts.  When  in  this  revealing  light  one  con- 
templates with  swelling  pride  the  Babylon  he  has  builded,  the  rails  he  has  laid, 
the  cities  he  has  founded,  it  is  disconcerting  to  see  the  man  who  long  before  had 
done  the  same  things,  and  done  them  much  better.  In  the  past  two  decades  or 
more  it  has  been  often  proclaimed  that  the  Church  of  God  did  almost  nothing  for 
missions  prior  to  1890  compared  with  what  has  been  done  since.  This  applies  to 
foreign  mission  work  alone.  With  different  methods  the  results  prior  to  that 
year  far  exceeded  those  of  the  later  years.  Nor  was  the  Church  behind  other  re- 
ligious bodies  in  inaugurating  mission  enterprises  and  forming  missionary  or- 
ganizations, except  as  to  foreign  work.  The  mission  work  of  the  Church  began 
with  Winebrenner,  in  1825,  so  that  by  1830  churches  were  established  by  him  and 
his  colaborers  in  a  number  of  counties  in  eastern  Pennsylvania.  There  were  no 
missionary  organizations,  or  societies;  but  after  the  primitive  style  these  heralds 
of  the  cross  went  everywhere  preaching  the  word.  Now,  prior  to  1830  the  records 
of  but  five  Home  Missionary  Societies  in  the  United  States  are  known.  These  were 
the  Old  School  Presbyterian,  the  New  School  Presbyterian,  the  American  Home 
Missionary  Society,  the  German  Reformed  Board  of  Domestic  Missions,  and  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Domestic  Missionary  Society.  Between  1830  and  1840  the 
Church  enlarged  her  borders  by  the  labors  of  its  missionaries  so  as  to  include 
most  of  the  counties  in  eastern  Pennsylvania  now  occupied,  and  a  number  of 
counties  in  western  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio.  And  this  work  continued  with  un- 
abating  zeal  until  by  1880  to  1890  more  ground  was  covered  than  is  occupied 
to-day,  on  which  more  than  half  a  score  of  Annual  Elderships  were  organized. 
The  first  half  century  of  the  Church  was  the  period  of  greatest  power  and  most 
encouraging  results. 

But  methods  gradually  changed,  in  harmony  with  environment  and  the  spirit 
of  the  age.  These  had  their  effect  on  the  churches  of  God  and  their  ministry.  They 
imitated  the  methods  and  plans  of  other  bodies,  and  were  seldom  far  behind.  This 
the  data  at  hand  will  make  evident.  Between  1830  and  1840  five  Home  Mission- 
ary Societies  were  organized:  the  Protestant  Episcopal,  the  Reformed  Dutch,  the 
American  Baptist  and  Seaman's  Friend  Society,  and  the  Evangelical  Association. 
In  1853  the  Home,  Frontier  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the  United  Breth- 
ren Church  was  organized.  The  churches  of  God  and  the  Annual  Elderships  or- 
ganized societies  later,  although  action  was  taken  in  May,  1845,  when  the  General 
Eldership  adopted  this  resolution:  "That  this  Eldership  resolve  itself  into  a  Do- 
mestic and  Foreign  Missionary  Society."  But  mission  work  antedated  this  action. 
The  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  (known  as  the  General  Eldership  from  1830  to 
1835)  has  left  no  minutes  or  record  of  appointments  made  until  its  fourth  session, 
in  December,  1832,  when  "a  committee  was  appointed  to  arrange  the  preachers  on 
the  circuits  and  stations."  Five  appointments  were  made,  in  the  counties  of 
Cumberland,  Perry,  Lancaster,  York  and  Dauphin.  All  this  territory  had  been 
the  scene  of  missionary  labors,  and  parts  of  it  were  still  unoccupied  and  to  be 
reached  by  church  extension  work.  Before  this  all  ministerial  work  was  of  a  mis- 
sionary character,  as  each  minister  went  forth  on  his  mission  to  plant  churches 
and  enlarge  the  Eldership  as  organized  in  1830.  These  churches  clustered  into 
"circuits,"  and  some  of  them  in  1883  had  become  "stations."  Such  charges  by 
anticipation  were  recognized  in  the  Constitution  of  the  Eldership  adopted  in  .Jan- 
uary, 1831.  It  was  also  provided  in  Article  VII.  of  said  Constitution  that  "there 
shall  be  appointed  annually  one  or  more  missionaries,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to 


§74  History   of  the   Churches   of   God 

visit  destitute  places,  establish  churches,  form  new. stations  and  circuits."  Until 
September,  1836,  there  was  but  the  one  Eldership,  and  it  was  without  boundaries. 
It  had  the  United  States  for  its  territory,  and  could  send  missionaries  to  any  part 
of  this  territory.  It  gave  permission  in  1835  to  "the  brethren  in  Ohio  to  hold  a 
yearly  Eldership."  And  these  two  Elderships  granted  the  privilege  to  the  West 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  to  be  organized  in  1843.  In  1833  the  mission  work 
carried  on  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  had  enlarged  its  occupied  territory, 
that  in  addition  to  the  five  counties  in  the  State  above  named  there  was  a  "station" 
In  Philadelphia,  and  one  circuit  in  Juniata  county  and  one  in  Lebanon  and  Schuyl- 
kill counties.  The  work  meanwhile  had  been  extended  into  Maryland  and  Ohio, 
and  at  this  Eldership  in  1833  E.  West  was  appointed  to  "the  Maryland  circuit," 
and  D.  Maxwell  to  "the  Ohio  circuit."  Instead  of  Maxwell,  Joseph  Adams  went  to 
Ohio,  and  in  1834  reported  that  he  "left  the  churches  in  a  very  prosperous  condi- 
tion." In  1835  Thomas  Hickernell  and  Jacob  Keller  were  assigned  to  the  Ohio 
circuit.  The  latter  brought  the  petition  "from  a  meeting  of  Elders  in  Ohio,"  in 
1835,  requesting  the  privilege  of  holding  an  Eldership  in  Ohio."  Thus  through 
the  aggressive  and  enthusiastic  work  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  a  similar 
body  was  formed  in  Ohio  in  1836,  and  a  little  later,  by  the  co-operation  of  these 
two,  in  the  western  part  of  Pennsylvania.  In  November,  1838,  the  East  Pennsyl- 
vania Eldership  appointed  the  first  missionaries  to  western  Pennsylvania.  These 
were  John  Hickernell  and  E.  West.  Their  fields  of  labor  was  called  the  "Pittsburg 
Mission,"  but  embraced  a  large  territory  north  and  south-east  of  the  city.  The 
same  potent  missionary  spirit  pervaded  the  Ohio  Eldership,  so  that  by  1838  it  had 
four  circuits  and  one  mission,  and  lacked  a  minister  for  the  Pittsburg  Mission;  but 
in  1839  it  appointed  John  Hickeraell  and  Joseph  Dobson  to  said  Mission.  There 
is  no  record  prior  to  1838  as  to  the  methods  employed  to  secure  means  to  support 
these  missionaries;  but  the  Ohio  Eldership  in  that  year  resolved  "that  a  mission- 
ary fund  be  raised  by  subscriptions  and  collections,  for  the  purpose  of  sustaining 
missionaries."  It  appointed  Jacob  Keller  as  agent  to  work  up  this  fund.  An- 
nually public  collections  were  ordered  to  be  taken  by  the  pastors  in  both  Elder- 
ships, and  in  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  after  its  organization. 

The  Annual  Elderships  through  their  delegates  carried  the  same  intense  mis- 
sionary spirit  into  the  small  body  of  ministers  which  in  184  5  organized  what  has 
ever  since  been  called  "The  General  Eldership  of  the  Church  of  God  [or  Churches 
of  God]  in  North  America."  On  May  30th  it  resolved  "that  this  Eldership  resolve 
itself  into  a  domestic  and  foreign  missionary  society."  It  then  proceeded  to 
adopt  a  Constitution,  the  title  of  which  is:  "Constitution  of  the  Domestic  and 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the  Church  of  God."  The  first  Article  gives  it  this 
name.  It  was  further  provided  that  "any  person  paying  annually  the  sum  of 
fifty  cents,  or  upwards,  shall  be  a  member  of  this  Society."  "Any  person  paying 
the  sum  of  $5.00  for  five  years  in  succession,  or  the  sum  of  $20.00,  at  any  one 
time,  shall  be  a  life  member."  The  "members  of  the  Generil  Eldership  who  are 
members  of  this  Society  shall  constitute  the  Board  of  Missions."  All  the  ministers 
of  the  Church  of  God  were  made  "agents  to  get  members  of  the  Society  and  to 
receive  their  yearly,  or  life,  subscriptions,  donations,"  etc.  This  scheme  in  theory 
promised  all  the  needed  funds;  but  it  was  not  workable.  It,  however,  became  a 
pattern  for  Annual  Elderships  for  years  following,  and  they  made  strenuous  ef- 
forts to  put  it  into  effect  for  the  General  Eldership.  It  was  of  no  avail,  as  reports 
at  subsequent  sessions  of  the  General  Eldership  show.  Thus  in  1848  the  Board 
of  Missions  reported:  "There  have  been  no  organizations  of  societies,  and  no 
money  received,  except  what  came  from  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  to  wit: 
$45.23.  Consequently  no  missionaries  were  employed."  Strong  resolutions  were 
adopted,  urging  "the  brotherhood  to  give  largely  to  the  missionary  cause."  In 
1851  the  Board  in  laconic  terms  reported:  "Dear  Brethren: — Having  no  means, 
we  employed  no  missionaries."  In  1854  no  report  was  made.  The  Eldership  de- 
cided, however,  "to  appoint  a  Board  of  Missions  composed  of  one  member  from 
each  Annual  Eldership,  to  take  charge  of  all  missionary  operations  outside  of  the 
bounds  of  Annual  Elderships,"  each  Eldership  to  raise  funds  and  place  them  in 
the  hands  of  said  Board.  In  1857  there  was  again  no  report;  but  a  committee, 
consisting  of  E.  H.  Thomas,  T.  Hickernell  and  S.  S.  Richmond,  was  named  "to 
mature  a  plan  of  general  co-operation  in  the  mission  enterprise."  It  reported, 
that  it  be  made  the  duty  of  each  pastor  in  every  Eldership  to  solicit  ten  cents  per 
miember  for  General  Eldership  missionary  purposes.  Winebrenner,  Thomas  and 
•Colder  were  elected  as  the  Board  of  Missions.      In  1860  there  was  no  report  made 


Mission    Work    and    Missionary    Societies  875 

by  this  Board.  Not  having  lost  heart  through  these  repeated  failures,  the  Elder- 
ship proceeded  to  anaend  the  Constitution  adopted  in  184  5,  by  inserting  a  clause 
which  provided  that  "the  whole  Church  shall  be  regarded  as  a  General  Missionary 
Society,  and  each  local  church  as  an  auxiliary."  There  was  also  to  be  lifted  "an 
annual  public  collection  at  each  church  and  appointment."  In  1863  there  was 
the  stereotyped  report  of  "no  means,  and  no  missionaries  appointed."  An  appeal 
was  made  for  collecti<)ns.  In  1866  the  Board  reported  the  appointment  A.  X. 
Shoemaker  to  the  Chicago  Mission,  and  reappointed  him  at  the  session  of  1866. 
At  this  Eldership,  as  in  1860  and  1863,  a  Board  of  Missions  was  elected,  consisting 
of  five  persons,  viz.:  E.  H.  Thomas,  J.  M.  Domer,  L.  B.  Hartman,  R.  H.  Bolton, 
J.  H.  Hurley.      But  the  Board  did  nothing,  as  it  had  no  means. 

Thus  until  1869,  by  which  time  there  were  organized  eleven  Annual  Elder- 
ships, no  missionary  work  was  undertaken  and  sustained  by  the  General  Eldership. 
Possibly  there  were  two  reasons  for  this  unwelcome  fact:  1.  The  overlapping  of 
the  work  the  General  Eldership  purposed  to  do  and  that  which  the  Annual  Elder- 
ships were  doing.  2.  The  greater  activity  of  the  Annual  Elderships  and  their 
incessant  appeals  for  funds.  For  at  no  period  of  their  histories  did  the  Annual 
Elderships  labor  more  assiduously  to  "possess  the  land."  And  their  work  during 
these  twenty-four  years  resulted  in  carrying  the  banner  of  the  Church  into  western 
Ohio,  Indiana,  Michigan,  Illinois,  Iowa,  Missouri,  Nebraska,  Kansas  and  Texas  and 
Arkansas.  Yet  there  was  a  healthy  stimulus  in  the  actions  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship, and  its  plans  were  incorporated  in  Annual  Eldership  actions.  Nor  were  they 
lukewarm  in  seeking  to  put  into  effect  the  plans  of  the  General  Eldership.  While 
their  own  interests  were  naturally  regarded  as  paramount,  yet  they  gave  promi- 
nence to  the  interests  of  the  General  Eldership.  Thus  while  in  January,  1845, 
the  Standing  Committee  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  requested  pastors  and 
churches  to  see  to  it  that  "the  missionary  collection  ordered  by  the  Eldership  be 
punctually  lifted,"  in  October  at  the  session  of  the  Eldership  a  resolution  was 
adopted  directing  that  missionary  funds  be  raised  on  the  plan  proposed  by  the 
General  Eldership  in  May,  and  readopted  it  in  October,  1846.  And  also  in  May, 
1846,  Winebrenner  exhorted  "the  ministers  and  elders  in  every  church  to  go  to 
work  on  the  plan  recommended  by  the  General  Eldership,"  and  to  "send  in  the 
names  of  life  members  of  the  Missionary  Society."  He  insisted  that  the  mission 
cause  is  God's  cause.  It  was  this  in  the  beginning,  and  it  is  still."  Others  also 
strongly  sustained  the  action  taken  by  the  General  Eldership,  so  that  though  as  to 
results  the  delegates  were  "in  the  ranks  of  the  losing  side,"  yet  they  trusted  the 
God  to  whom  they  were  consecrated,  and  had  the  consciousness  that  they  had  en- 
riched the  world  and  performed  a  service  beyond  the  world's  ability  to  pay.  Thus 
"thev  that  stumbled  are  girded  with  strength."  The  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership 
consistently  aimed  to  carry  into  effect  the  plan  of  the  General  Eldership  until  it 
became  a  dead  letter.  In  February,  1847,  E.  H.  Thomas,  in  The  Advocate,  asked 
the  question:  "Have  all  the  churches  formed  Missionary  Societies  according  to 
the  plan  of  the  last  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership?"  The  church  at  Lancaster  had 
organized  one  January  1,  1847,  and  had  adopted  a  "Constitution  of  the  Missionary 
Society  of  the  Church  of  God  at  Lancaster,  Pa."  But  the  object  was  "to  sustain 
missionaries  employed  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership."  The  dues  were  12  1^ 
cents  each  quarter.  Elizabethtown  followed  in  April,  1847,  adopting  a  Constitu- 
tion similar  to  that  of  the  Lancaster  church.  Except  as  to  the  organization  of 
local  societies,  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  was  in  advance  of  the  General  Eld- 
ership. In  1840  it  took  action,  appointing  "a  Board  of  Missions  with  a  view  of 
carrying  out  a  system  of  Home  Missionary  operations."  It  had  power  to  appoint 
missionaries  anywhere.  The  members  were  William  Miller,  Edward  West  and 
Jacob  Keller.  To  secure  funds  each  pastor  was  instructed  "to  take  up  two  col- 
lections in  each  year  for  missionary  purposes."  In  1848  the  Board  received 
$138.28,  as  against  $90.37  in  1846.  In  1849  the  initial  steps  were  taken  to  send 
one  missionary  to  Illinois  and  one  to  Iowa.  As  all  the  funds  which  had  been 
gathered  before  were  needed  to  support  missionaries  within  the  territory  of  the 
Eldership,  pledges  were  called  for  to  support  these  prospective  missionaries  to  the 
West.  Winebrenner  said  this  is  "a  day  of  small  things,"  as  he  felt  the  churches 
and  ministers  lacked  in  liberality.  In  a  short  time  $114.00  were  secured,  when 
Winebrenner  earnestly  pleaded  for  "a  few  more  pledges,  and  we  can  sustain  a  mis- 
sionary in  the  West."  The  Board  this  year  also  received  $183.28;  in  1850, 
$241.42.  Without  waiting  for  the  General  Eldership  in  1851  to  take  action  on 
this  project  of  sending  missionaries  to  the  West,  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership 


876  History   of  the   Churches  of   God 

in  1851  completed  its  arrangements  to  send  one  missionary  to  Iowa,  three  ta 
Illinois,  and  one  general  assistant  in  Illinois  and  missionary  in  Indiana.  These 
were  A.  Megi-ew,  Iowa,  $300.00;  Illinois,  George  Sandoe,  $300.00;  J.  M.  Klein, 
$200.00;  Daniel  Wertz,  $100.00;  T.  Hickernell,  General  Assistant  and  Missionary 
in  Indiana,  $200.00.  The  Board  employed  Wm.  McFadden  as  the  Agent  to  collect 
funds.  It  required  $1,220.00  that  year  to  meet  all  of  the  Board's  obligations. 
The  earliest  suggestion  to  establish  a  mission  in  Texas  is  found  in  The  Advocate  in 
1852.  In  the  Fall  of  1853  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  acted  on  this  sug- 
gestion by  recommending  that  one  or  two  missionaries  be  sent  to  Texas,  and  a 
general  agent  placed  in  the  field  to  collect  funds.  As  was  common  then,  a  "pledge 
list"  was  at  once  started,  which  with  what  the  agent  collected  amounted  to 
$404.00  by  1854  when  the  missionaries,  B.  Ober  ami  E.  Marple,  were  to  leave 
for  their  distant  field  of  labor.  To  widen  and  deepen  the  interest  in  these  enter- 
prises the  Eldership  directed  that  each  church  should  "hold  a  monthly  prayer- 
meeting  to  pray  for  our  missionaries."  A  more  systematic  and  economical 
method  of  collecting  funds  seemed  necessary,  and  so  Winebrenner,  General  Mis- 
sionary, in  1855  proposed  a  plan  in  accordance  with  which  the  "Missionary  Board 
adopted  a  Constitution"  giving  it  authority  to  superintend  the  collection  of  mis- 
sionary funds.  It  at  once  directed  that  "every  local  church  shall  be  considered  a 
missionary  society,  and  every  minister  and  member  shall  be  a  contributor."  Ta 
assure  the  carrying  out  of  this  plan,  a  collector  was  to  be  appointed  in  each  church. 
Winebrenner  as  the  General  Collector  prepared  and  published  a  heading  and  form 
to  be  used  by  the  local  collectors.  Colder  endorsed  the  plan,  and  made  a  stirring 
appeal.  The  result  as  reported  to  the  Eldership  was  the  receipt  of  $441.66,  and 
in  1856,  $761.87.  The  Eldership  directed  that  "a  missionary  collector,  or  two, 
be  appointed  in  each  church  by  the  pastor  and  elders,  and  also  that  a  public  col- 
lection be  lifted  each  year  in  January  or  February  for  all  to  give."  In  1858  it  re- 
newed its  recommendation,  making  each  church  a  missionary  society,  and  "each 
minister  and  member  a  contributor."  A  "subscription  list  was  to  be  opened  at 
each  appointment."  This  plan  was  characterized  as  "an  excellent  missionary 
system,"  and  "abundantly  efficient."  But  results  were  disappointing,  as  in  1859 
the  Board  of  Missions  received  only  $265.74  through  these  agencies.  The  Elder- 
ship renewed  its  recommendation,  and  added  that  "any  preacher  who  fails  to  carry 
out  this  system  is  to  be  censured  by  the  Eldership."  But  where  criminals  are  the 
judge  and  jury  there  is  no  enforcement  of  the  law.  Yet  in  1862  the  Eldership  di- 
rected the  organization  of  what  had  been  called  "sub-societies."  It  considered 
itself  the  "parent  society,"  and  the  churches  were  to  be  auxiliary  societies.  The 
Constitution  made  "the  duty  of  all  the  churches  to  resolve  themselves  into  mis- 
sionary societies."  This  was  to  go  into  effect  on  and  after  January  1,  1863.  The 
project  of  sending  a  missionary  to  Nebraska  was  endorsed  at  this  Eldership. 
I.  E.  Beyer  was  secured  as  the  missionary,  and  $289.57  were  raised  to  support  him 
one  year.  In  1863  it  obligated  itself  to  pay  $300.00  annually  toward  the  Chicago 
Mission,  in  addition  to  the  $325.00  appropriated  to  missions  in  its  own  territory. 
With  the  starting  of  the  Philadelphia  Mission  in  1866  it  began  the  system  of  assess- 
ments, which  finally  became  its  permanent  financial  system,  as  also  of  the  General 
Eldership.  It  avoided  the  obnoxious  term  "assessment"  for  quite  a  while,  using 
instead  "apportionment."  A  committee  estimated  the  total  amount  of  missionary 
money  needed  during  the  year  1866-7,  and  "apportioned  it  among  the  churches." 
The  first  year  it  was  $1,955.00;  the  second  $2,750.00.  The  missions  in  the  West 
were  now  called  "frontier  missions."  In  1868  the  assessment  was  much  reduced 
because  the  plan  of  having  a  "missionary  meeting"  one  evening  at  the  Eldership 
proved  a  surprising  success,  as  individual  subscriptions  were  secured  amounting 
to  $1,400.00.  The  work  of  the  Eldership  in  1869  was  supplemented  by  the  organ- 
ization in  1870  of  a  "Sunday-school  Missionary  Society,"  with  a  plan  to  raise 
$300.00  annually,  with  "the  hope  of  increasing  it  to  $1,000.00  a  year."  This  was 
to  be  done  by  the  sale  of  "Life  Certificates"  at  $20.00  each,  and  by  inducing  all 
the  Sunday-schools  to  give  their  collections  the  first  Sunday  of  each  month  to  the 
S.  S.  Missionary  Society.  The  Society  was  organized  at  the  S.  S.  Convention  held 
at  Harrisburg,  which  was  honored  by  the  presence  of  Governor  Geai-y.  Six  life 
members  were  enrolled.  The  same  year  the  Eldership  ordered  monthly  missionary 
meetings  to  be  held  by  the  churches.  The  other  Elderships  in  the  main  followed 
the  example  of  East  Pennsylvania,  all  being  equally  energetic  and  enthusiastic, 
but  weaker  and  possessed  of  more  limited  means.  Thus  the  Ohio  Eldership  in 
1843  appointed  "Samuel  Metzler,  S.  Hollinger  and  Samuel  Scott  a  Board  of  Mis- 


Mission    Work    and    Missionary    SociETms  877 

sions  to  receive  and  pay  over  the  semi-weekly  collections,  donations,"  etc.  In 
1845  it  recommended  a  public  collection  annually  for  missionary  purposes,  to  be 
paid  to  the  Board  of  Missions.  In  1848  it  organized  the  "Missionary  Society  of 
the  Ohio  Eldership."  Its  Board  of  Missions  in  1852  received  $115.40,  and  it 
supported  in  part  two  "domestic"  missionaries.  The  object  of  its  Missionary  So- 
■ciety  was  "to  support  domestic  and  foreign  missionaries."  In  1854  the  receipts 
were  $296.29.  In  1855  a  committee  was  directed  to  prepare  a  new  plan  to  secure 
mission  funds.  It  maintained  the  society  idea,  but  incorporated  the  Life  Mem- 
bership principle,  under  which  notes  were  secured  on  which  interest  was  paid  dur- 
ing life,  or  until  the  principal  was  paid.  There  were  also  "dues"  received  from 
others.  This  became  the  permanent  policy,  and  when  worked  by  agents  duly  ap- 
pointed brought  good  results.  In  connection  with  this  it  had  the  first  distinc- 
tive woman's  organization,  called  "The  Ladies'  Missionary  Society."  After  the 
East  Ohio  Eldership  was  formed  it  continued  the  same  policy;  but  in  1862  it  "re- 
quired each  church  to  form  itself  into  a  sub-society,"  and  gave  directions  how  to 
raise  funds.  It  organized  the  "Missionary  Aid  Society  of  the  East  Ohio  Eldership," 
■of  which  all  the  ministers  were  ex-officio  members.  Any  other  person  paying  25 
cents  or  upwards  was  a  member  for  one  year;  persons  paying  $10.00  or  upwards 
were  life  members,  and  persons  paying  $100.00  were  honorary  life  members.  The 
ministers  were  instructed  to  work  up  this  plan.  What  was  known  as  "Article  7," 
being  the  seventh  Article  of  the  Constitution  of  the  General  Eldership  of  1845,  it 
was  insisted  upon  must  be  strictly  adhered  to.  The  "parent"  society  idea,  with  the 
"sub-societies"  was  a  growth  from  this  germ.  In  1866  the  East  Ohio  Eldership 
■established  a  foreign  mission  in  Canada,  without  so  designating  it.  It  then  had 
$1,360.00  in  Life  Memberships,  and  the  cash  receipts  were  $207.00.  To  get  into 
larger  towns  in  its  territory  it  began  missionary  work  in  Mansfield  in  1870.  To 
raise  additional  funds  it  resorted  to  per  capita  assessments,  making  the  annual 
amount  $1.00  for  the  men  and  50  cents  for  the  women.  The  West  Ohio  Eldership 
having  been  part  of  the  original  Ohio  Eldership,  when  it  was  organized  adopted  the 
East  Ohio  plan  in  the  main.  But  a  "Home  Missionary  Society"  was  organized  in 
1858,  through  which  $154.00  were  raised  the  first  year,  and  in  1859,  $325.00.  In 
1863  it  formed  the  "Missionary  Aid  Society  of  the  West  Ohio  Eldership,"  con- 
formed in  all  particulars  to  the  East  Ohio  Society.  Its  object  was  "to  sustain 
missions  in  West  Ohio."  It  was  proposed  by  these  measures  to  raise  $1,000.00 
from  1866  to  1867,  and  then  to  have  "one  minister  as  missionary  on  new  ground 
each  year." 

The  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  the  third  annual  Eldership  to  be  organized, 
did  not  fully  co-operate  with  the  General  Eldership  for  several  years.  Its  first 
move  to  raise  funds  under  Eldership  authority  was  in  1853,  when  each  pastor  was 
Instructed  to  collect  25  cents  per  member  for  the  Missionary  Fund.  It  soon  fell 
fully  in  line,  and  in  1856  instructed  a  committee  to  draft  a  Constitution  for  a  Mis- 
sionary Society.  In  1857  this  "Constitution  of  the  Missionary  Society  of  the 
West  Pennsylvania  Eldership"  was  adopted.  It  provided  for  a  membership  fee  of 
f  1.00  a  year.  In  1858  the  Eldership  resolved  itself  into  a  Missionary  Society,  and 
■declared  that  "we  regard  the  Church  of  God  as  a  great  Missionary  Society,  called 
upon  by  divine  authority  to  send  the  gospel  into  all  the  world."  The  Eldership 
was  to  be  the  "parent"  society,  and  each  local  church  an  auxiliary.  The  ministers 
were  directed  to  secure  subscriptions.  In  1865  it  began  gathering  money  for  a 
"Perpetual  Missionary  Fund,"  and  soon  had  $700.00.  In  1866  ministers  were  in- 
structed to  "urge  large  subscriptions  in  cash  or  notes  bearing  interest  for  the  en- 
dowing of  a  Mission  Fund  as  per  previous  plan."  It  started  a  "frontier  mission" 
in  1869  when  D.  Blakely  was  appointed  to  Missouri.  Its  first  effort  to  raise  funds 
by  apportionment  was  in  1870,  when  it  resorted  to  this  plan  to  raise  the  amount 
asked  of  it  by  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership.  The  Indiana  Elder- 
ship adopted  the  methods  of  the  Ohio  Eldership.  Local  missionary  work  was  at  first 
done  largely  by  T.  Hickernell  and  J.  Mai-tiii.  It  thus  extended  its  territory  south- 
ward until  the  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership  was  organized.  Its  largest 
domestic  missionary  enterprise  was  at  Port  Wayne,  in  the  interest  of  which  it  re- 
peatedly canvassed  the  churches.  When  in  1868  D.  Keplinger  removed  to  Mis- 
souri it  agreed  to  do  all  it  could  to  support  him  as  its  missionary.  In  1870  it 
directed  monthly  prayer-meetings  to  be  held  for  missions.  The  work  was  said 
to  have  "two  gratifying  features:  1.  A  more  determined  disposition  to  raise 
means;  and,  2.  A  readiness  to  seek  to  take  possession  of  the  principal  cities  in 
the  territory  of  the  Eldership."      It  had  less  machinery  and  fewer  organizations 


SjS  History   of  the   Churches   of   God 

and  plans  than  most  of  the  older  Elderships.  The  Michigan  Eldership  began  its 
missionary  operations  through  general  missionaries,  to  support  which  the  Eldership 
in  1853  directed  that  money  should  be  raised  by  taking  subscriptions  in  all  the 
churches  to  run  for  a  period  of  five  years.  Then  the  Board  of  Missions  was  in- 
structed in  1860  "to  adopt  measures  to  raise  mission  funds."  In  1867  it  organ- 
ized a  "Missionary  Aid  Society."  In  the  course  of  a  year  it  had  twenty-seven 
members,  making  $270.00.  In  1870  it  organized  itself  into  a  Missionary  Society 
and  adopted  a  Constitution  providing  for  life  members  and  other  details  similar 
to  those  in  Ohio.  But  its  means  were  always  too  limited  to  do  efficient  missionary 
work.  It,  however,  contributed  its  proportion  to  the  Chicago  Mission,  as  did  all 
the  western  Elderships,  some  of  them  giving  largely.  The  Illinois  Eldership  soon 
after  its  organization  began  raising  mission  funds  by  public  collections  at  each 
church  and  preaching  point.  But  in  1859  it  organized  "The  Home  Missionary  So- 
ciety of  the  Church  of  God  in  Northern  Illinois,"  to  "prosecute  Church  extension 
work  in  that  part  of  the  State."  This  became  a  general  Society  in  1861,  known 
as  "the  parent  Society,"  and  the  Eldership  directed  that  in  each  church  a  "Mission- 
ary Society  should  be  organized  to  aid  the  parent  Society."  The  latter  held  its 
sessions  at  the  annual  Elderships,  when  subscriptions  were  received  and  collections 
taken,  amounting  in  1863  to  $167.00,  and  in  1870  to  $180.00.  Extra-State  mission 
work  was  forcibly  urged  by  G.  Sandoe  in  1867.  There  seemed  a  providential 
opening  in  Minnesota,  which  J.  L.  Fasig,  who  had  removed  thither  from  Illinois, 
regarded  as  "a  fruitful  field."  Sandoe  insisted  that  "we  have  the  means,"  and 
suggested  the  old  method  of  "a  pledge  list"  through  The  Advocate  to  secure  the 
money.  He  headed  the  list  with  $10.00,  followed  by  R.  H.  Bolton  with  $10.00. 
In  1870  the  Life  Membership  feature  of  other  Elderships  was  incorporated  in  its 
system,  which  supplemented  its  other  agencies  to  such  an  extent  that  it  enabled 
the  Eldership  to  do  efficient  home  mission  work.  The  missionary  spirit  was 
characteristic  of  the  Iowa  brethren  before  the  Eldership  was  organized.  In  1849 
they  made  strenuous  efforts  "to  swell  our  pledges  in  order  to  sustain  a  mission  in 
Iowa."  Voluntary  subscriptions  were  urged  in  1850,  and  in  1851,  when  they 
made  a  request  that  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  "send  another  missionary" 
in  addition  to  A.  Megrew,  funds  were  to  be  "raised  in  each  neighborhood  to  sup- 
port the  latter."  In  1856  the  Eldership  decided  "to  form  itself  into  a  Missionary 
Society,"  and  created  a  committee  to  draft  a  Constitution.  The  pastors  were  re- 
quired to  preach  one  missionary  sermon  at  each  point  on  their  fields,  and  lift  a 
collection.  In  1859  the  sum  of  $380.00  was  secured  from  Life  Members  of  the 
Misisonary  Society.  In  1860  the  Eldership  obligated  itself  to  support  one  minister 
to  travel  as  a  misisonary  in  the  State,  and  made  a  call  for  the  man.  Outside  of  the 
State  it  was  also  ready  to  do  its  full  share,  giving  not  only  liberally  to  the  Chicago 
Mission,  but  projecting  missions  in  Missouri,  in  California  and  in  Minnesota.  For 
some  years  its  most  efficient,  though  expensive,  method  of  collecting  missionary 
funds  was  through  Agents,  two  or  three  being  assigned  annually  to  different  dis- 
tricts of  the  Eldership  territory.  These  brought  into  the  treasury  in  1866  ihe 
sum  of  $540.60.  Larger  amounts  were  secured  by  1868  in  notes  and  from  Life 
Members  in  the  Missionary  Society  of  the  Eldership.  At  the  extra  session  of  the 
Eldership  missions  was  the  absorbing  topic,  and  the  conclusion  was  reached  "to 
labor  to  extend  our  borders  and  to  occupy  as  many  new  points  as  can  be  served." 

In  1859  the  Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership  appointed  "a  Committee 
to  consider  the  best  and  most  available  means  to  raise  missionary  funds."  It  was 
concluded  to  appoint  one  man  in  each  church  to  collect  missionary  money  to 
support  one  or  more  missionaries  in  this  Eldership.  In  1864  a  "Missionary  Aid 
Society"  was  organized  on  the  Ohio  plan.  The  ministers  were  instructed  to  pre- 
sent the  claims  of  this  Society  to  the  churches,  and  to  collect  funds  at  each  ap- 
pointment for  it.  It  became  interested  in  a  mission  project  in  Richland  county, 
Wisconsin,  in  1867,  as  some  Church  families  had  located  there,  and  one  of  the 
ministers  proposed  to  join  them.  In  the  German  Eldership  there  was  no  disposi- 
tion to  adopt  the  new  methods  of  raising  missionary  funds.  It  had  its  Board  of 
Missions  as  early  as  1857,  of  which  George  lOmmcl  was  a  member.  He  bequeathed 
nearly  his  whole  estate  to  the  Eldership,  the  income  from  which  was  to  be  used 
in  missionary  work.  In  1859  it  did  resolve  "to  form  a  Missionary  Society,"  but 
it  was  not  an  active  org-inization.  At  times  a  strong  missionary  spirit  became 
evident,  yet  but  little  work  could  be  done  for  want  of  suitable  men.  The  territory 
lying  eastward  and  southward  was  good  ground  for  German  missions,  and  at  dif- 
ferent periods  men  were  appointed  to  open  missions  there;   but  the  territory  of 


Mission    Work    and    Missionary    Societies  879 

the  Eldership  early  began  to  contract,  and  nothing  in  the  way  of  Church  extension 
was  effected.  Its  most  auspicious  project  was  the  "Susquehanna  Mission,"  in 
1867,  to  which  A.  Snyder  was  assigned,  with  the  Eldership's  guarantee  of  $400.00. 
The  money,  besides  what  came  in  from  the  Kimmel  estate,  was  raised  on  the  floor 
of  the  Eldership  and  through  collections. 

The  year  1869-'70  marks  a  new  era  in  the  mission  work  of  the  Church  of  God. 
Up  to  that  date  domestic  and  frontier  work  was  done  by  the  Annual  Elderships. 
At  this  period  the  two  became  separated,  with  a  few  exceptions,  and  the  General 
Eldership  took  over  the  frontier  work.  The  Annual  Elderships  continued  mis- 
sion work  iu  their  own  territories  and  according  to  their  own  plans  and  methods. 
As  new  Elderships  were  organized  they  generally  followed  the  methods  of  older 
Elderships  from  which  their  first  ministers  came.  Thus  their  borders  were  en- 
larged, new  churches  organized  and  fields  of  labor  formed.  During  the  canvass, 
of  the  Elderships  by  the  General  Collecting  Agents  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the 
General  Eldership  an  effort  was  made,  which  was  temporarily  successful,  to  revive 
the  original  plan  of  forming  missionary  societies  in  every  church.  The  Elderships 
co-operated  with  the  Agents,  and  creditable  amounts  were  collected.  Many  of  the 
Elderships  had  a  General  Society  with  which  the  local  societies  co-operated.  And 
in  1882  the  Board  of  Missions  suggested  "that  one  General  Missionary  Meeting: 
be  held  annually  in  each  of  the  General  Missionary  Societies  organized."  The 
General  Missionary  Secretary  had  somewhat  of  an  oversight  of  these  Societies,  and 
gave  suggestions  for  these  meetings.  But  in  1887  the  General  Eldership  in- 
structed "the  Board  of  Missions  in  .June  each  year,  at  its  annual  meeting,  to  make 
an  estimate  of  the  amount  of  money  required  to  carry  out  the  work  for  the  suc- 
ceeding year,  beginning  with  November  1,  1887,  and  apportion  the  same  among 
the  several  Elderships."  While  the  idea  of  "assessments"  was  repugnant  to  some 
Annual  Elderships,  this  became  the  permanent  policy  of  the  Board,  each  Eldership 
collecting  the  "apportionment"  in  its  own  way.  The  Board  began  its  active  life 
in  1869.  At  the  General  Eldership  held  at  Lancaster,  Pa.,  in  that  year  it  seemed 
to  realize  that  it  was  an  abortive  and  superfluous  appendage  unless  a  change  be 
effected.  It  accordingly  suggested  in  its  Report  that,  as  hitherto  it  had  done  noth- 
ing, it  "be  abolished,  or  else  be  given  the  entire  business  pertaining  to  frontier 
mission  work  into  its  hands."  The  Eldership  adopted  the  alternative,  and  gave 
the  Board  all  the  power  it  asked.  It  at  once  appointed  four  missionaries.  A.  X. 
Shoemaker  to  Chicago;  D.  Keplinger,  Missouri;  George  Thomas,  South-western 
Iowa,  and  P.  K.  Shoemaker,  Kansas  and  Nebraska.  As  to  "domestic"  missions 
the  Board  said  it  "could  only  make  suggestions."  It  did  so,  advising  the  Fourth 
Street  Church,  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  "to  open  a  mission  somewhere  in  the  western  part 
of  the  city;"  that  a  mission  be  started  in  Reading  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship; one  in  Mansfield  by  the  Ohio  Eldership,  and  one  in  Indiana  by  the  Indiana 
Eldership.  The  method  by  which  the  Board  might  secure  the  means  to  support 
its  missionaries,  except  Shoemaker  who  collected  his  own  salary,  was  no  doubt 
suggested  by  the  offer  of  $25.00  by  one  brother.  The  Board,  therefore,  asked  for 
"free-will  offerings  to  the  Lord."  Since  1869  it  has  kept  missionaries  in  its  employ 
each  year,  sending  them  to  Missouri,  Nebraska,  Kansas,  Indian  Territory,  Okla- 
homa, Arkansas,  Oregon,  Washington  and  Colorado.  It  was  largely  through  these 
faithful  missionaries  that  Elderships  were  established  in  those  States.  Perhaps 
one  of  the  most  serious  difficulties  the  Board  had  to  contend  against  was  to  secure 
men  wholly  consecrated  to  mission  work.  Too  frequent  changes  of  missionaries 
resulted,  and  much  labor  and  considerable  means  were  wasted.  To  provide  means 
to  carry  on  its  work  year  after  year  until  the  apportionment  method  was  used, 
supplemented  by  the  income  from  the  "Permanent  Mission  Fund,"  the  Board  re- 
sorted to  one  plan  after  another.  In  addition  to  the  appeal  for  free-will  offerings 
used  in  1869,  it  fell  back  on  the  measure  adopted  in  1845  by  the  General  Elder- 
ship— a  25-cent  contribution  per  member,  which  made  the  giver  a  member  of  the 
General  Eldership  Missionary  Society.  Then  followed  these:  Each  Eldership  to 
collect  according  to  its  own  rules;  a  10-cent  offering  from  each  Church  member; 
a  $1,000.00  Fund,  apportioned  to  the  Elderships;  through  missionary  collecting 
agents  appointed  by  the  Board;  through  an  organization  of  sisters  in"  East  Penn- 
sylvania in  1873,  which  undertook  to  care  for  Nebraska;  General  Collecting 
Agents,  and  local  societies  organized  by  them;  special  offerings  by  Sunday-schools 
during  the  Raikes  Centennial;  offerings  in  all  the  churches  during  the  Semi- 
centennial year  of  the  Church.      By  these  methods  it  succeeded  in  raising  as  much 


88o  History  of  the   Churches  of   God 

as  $4,339.31  in  cash,  and  $761.00  in  pledges,  as  in  1875,  and  smaller  amounts  in 
other  years,  until  the  present  system   of  assessments  was  adopted. 

The  women  of  the  churches  came  to  the  front  as  a  distinct  factor  in  mission 
work  in  1S73,  when  on  February  24th,  Klizabeth  R.  Gable,  Lancaster,  Pa.,  pro- 
posed to  form  a  company  of  "ten  sisters  to  obligate  themselves  to  raise  $1,000.00 
for  the  support  of  two  ministers  in  Nebraska."  This  was  endorsed  by  the  Editor 
as  "an  excellent  proposition."  To  interest  others  in  addition  to  the  ten,  the  prop- 
osition was  modified  in  March,  so  as  to  permit  any  number  in  a  given  church  to 
combine  and  make  a  $100.00  contribution.  The  project  was  heartily  endorsed 
by  A.  X.  Shoemaker,  President,  and  R.  H.  Bolton,  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Mis- 
sions of  the  General  Eldership.  The  first  to  respond,  outside  of  Mrs.  Gable,  Mrs. 
J.  Kennedy  and  Mrs.  George  Ross,  the  originators  of  the  plan,  was  Mrs.  P.  Loucks, 
of  Alverton,  Pa.,  followed  by  Mi-s.  Win.  3IcFadden,  of  Harrisburg,  Pa.  In  Iowa 
the  scheme  was  worked  up  by  3Irs.  R.  H.  Bolton,  Mrs.  A.  Mcgi'evv  and  Mi-s.  John 
Huff.  By  May  1.5th  $900.00  were  secured.  When  the  Board  met  on  May  21st, 
the  formal  offer  of  $1,000.00  by  the  sisters  was  made,  and  cordially  received,  the 
Board  "recognizing  in  the  sisters'  missionary  movement  the  promptings  and  lead- 
ings of  the  Holy  Spirit."  The  Board  also  recommended  "the  organization  of  a 
Woman's  Home  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  with  one  President,  one  General 
Secretary  and  a  Board  of  Managers."  Joined  by  sisters  in  Indiana  and  one  or  two 
other  Elderships,  the  "promise  of  $1,000.00  was  more  than  kept  good."  It  seemed 
more  difficult  to  secure  the  $1,000.00  for  the  second  year,  so  that  when  the  Board 
met  May  21,  1874,  only  $600.00  had  been  secured.  This  the  sisters  said  would 
"support  the  work  in  Nebraska,"  and  they  "hoped  to  be  able  to  sustain  another 
missionary  on  some  other  destitute  field."  Other  sisters  enlisted  in  this  cause, 
as  Mrs.  J.  E.  McColley,  Indiana;  Lydia  A.  Forney,  Harrisburg,  Pa.;  Martha  Zeller, 
Iowa,  each  agreed  to  raise  $100.00.  So  confident  was  the  Board  that  the  sisters 
would  succeed  that  "it  committed  the  entire  State  of  Nebraska  to  the  Sisterhood, 
with  four  appointed  missionaries  to  sustain."  The  sisters  also  began  working  for 
a  "Permanent  Missionary  Fund,"  and  reported  some  contributions  and  pledges  In 
July,  1874.  The  sisters  in  quite  a  number  of  local  churches  were  now  at  work, 
co-operating  with  the  original  leaders.  They  considered  it  "the  most  noble  work 
our  sisters  have  ever  undertaken."  Naturally  the  idea  followed  this  movement 
that  missionary  societies  should  be  organized  in  the  local  churches,  with  a  general 
society  in  each  Eldership.  Here  was  the  genesis  of  the  later  and  more  complete 
system  of  Woman's  Missionary  Societies  and  the  Woman's  General  Missionary 
Society.  In  this  movement  the  Indiana  Eldership  took  a  leading  part,  as  at  its 
session  September  28,  1874,  it  adopted  two  resolutions  on  the  subject.  One  "sug- 
gesting the  propriety  of  organizing  a  Sisters'  Missionary  Society  in  the  respective 
churches  of  the  Eldership."  The  other  advising  that  a  general  society  be  formed 
"among  the  sisterhood  of  the  Eldership."  The  Eldership  elected  the  officers  of 
this  Missionary  Society,  thus  keeping  a  close  supervision  over  it.  Later  this  be- 
came the  State  Woman's  Missionary  Society.  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  had 
forty-one  Sisters'  Missionary  Societies  in  1879,  with  432  members,  which,  by  the 
assistance  of  the  Missionary  Agent,  S.  P.  P.  Young,  raised  $9,788.50  by  July  of 
said  year.  Each  pastor  was  "required  to  preach  a  sermon  in  favor  of  the  Sisters' 
Mission."  In  1882  the  Eldership  "granted  the  sisters  the  privilege  of  forming  a 
General  Missionary  Society,  and  of  holding  yearly  meetings."  This  Society  was 
also  "permitted  to  send  a  delegation  of  five  members  to  the  Eldership  to  represent 
its  interests."  In  East  Pennsylvanid  Eldership  the  "Sisters'  Eastern  Missionary 
Society"  was  organized  in  1879  "to  support  missionaries  in  Maine  and  other  sec- 
tions in  the  Eastern  States."  It  was  formed  under  the  supervision  of  the  Elder- 
ship, and  the  officers  were  elected  by  the  Eldership.  The  Illinois  Eldership  or- 
ganized a  Sisters'  Missionary  Society  at  its  session  in  1882,  electing  its  officers  and 
directing  it  to  "publish  its  method  of  raising  money."  These  Sisters'  Missionary 
Societies  in  many  places  were  either  the  General  Missionary  Societies  revived,  or- 
ganized by  R.  H.  Bolton,  I.  W.  Markley  and  others,  or  their  successors.  For  the 
General  Societies  were  too  loosely  and  imperfectly  organized,  and  by  1886  were 
rapidly  disintegrating.  Hence,  the  Sisters'  Missionary  Societies  under  Annual 
Eldership  control.  The  former  "had  been  organized  in  most  of  the  churches  of 
God  in  the  United  States;"  the  latter  were  more  limited  in  numbers  and  member- 
ship. They  gradually  changed  to  the  "Woman's  Missionary  Societies,"  which  first 
appeared  in  print  in  November,  1886,  in  connection  with  the  Illinois  Society.  And 
on  December  7,  1886,  the  Illinois  Standing  Committee  "suggested  the  propriety  of 


Mission   Work   and   Missionary    Societies  88i 

organizing  Woman's  Missionary  Societies  in  the  local  churches."  In  1887  said 
Society,  having  been  organized,  "requested  the  aid  and  sympathy  of  the  Eldership 
in  publishing  a  missionary  quarterly  in  the  interest  of  the  W.  M.  S.  of  Illinois." 
It  was  called  "the  State  W.  M.  S.".  The  name,  however,  was  not  generally 
adopted  at  that  time,  for  at  the  Ohio  Eldership  in  18  87  "an  evening  was  set  apart 
for  the  consideration  of  the  Sisters'  Missionary  Society's  Report  of  Findlay." 
This  Society  changed  its  title  to  Woman's  Missionary  Society  in  1888.  The  "Mis- 
sion Field,"  a  Department  in  The  Church  Advocate,  then  conducted  by  C.  Mau- 
chester,  quietly  encouraged  this  change  in  all  the  Societies.  He  submitted  the 
draft  of  a  Constitution  of  the  Woman's  Missionary  Society  of  Peaksville,  Mo.  The 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  188  8  directed  "all  the  churches  having  no  mission- 
ary societies  to  organize  at  once."  In  this  Eldership  the  sisters  worked  under  the 
order  established  by  the  General  Eldership  Agents,  and  in  close  co-operation  with 
the  Eldership.  It  was  not  until  April,  1893,  that  a  general  organization  was  ef- 
fected, known  as  "the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  Woman's  Missionary  Society." 
This,  slightly  changing  dates,  was  true  of  Societies  in  some  other  Elderships, 
though  "State  organizations"  were  advised  "if  only  six  or  seven  wokers  in  a  Staie 
were  present."  This  conception  disregarded  the  fundamental  principle  of  the 
State  organizations  being  representative  bodies,  upon  which  East  Pennsylvania 
strenuously  insisted.  In  Ohio  a  State  Woman's  Missionary  Society  was  organized 
on  September  26,  1889,  and  a  regular  Constitution  adopted.  The  Illinois  W.  M.  S. 
Constitution  was  closely  followed  by  the  Ohio  W.  M.  S.  and  other  western  Elder- 
ships. In  the  Kansas  Eldership  Woman's  Missionary  Societies  were  organized 
prior  to  1890,  and  was  preparing  to  organize  a  State  W.  M.  S.  in  the  Winter  of 
1889-90.  In  Kansas,  the  Standing  Committee  in  March,  1890,  appointed  four 
sisters  "organizers  of  Woman's  Missionary  Societies  in  the  State."  Missouri  also 
took  action  in  May,  1890,  to  "form  a  State  Woman's  Missionary  Society,"  putting 
the  word  "Home"  in  the  name. 

Woman's  Missionary  Societies  having  been  organized  in  nearly  all  the  Annual 
Elderships,  it  was  natural  that  when  the  General  Eldership  convened  at  North 
Bend,  Johnson  county,  Iowa,  the  organization  of  a  Woman's  General  Missionary 
Society  would  be  taken  up.  While  Women's  Missionary  Societies  were  organized 
as  early  as  1803,  the  idea  of  separate  organizations  for  women  did  not  generally 
commend  itself  until  much  later.  Especially  is  this  true  of  organizations  for  for- 
eign work.  The  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the  M.  E.  Church  was 
organized  in  1869;  that  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  1875;  of  the  Free  Baptist 
Church  in  1873;  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  1879;  of  the  Baptist  Church  in  1888; 
of  the  United  Brethren  Church  in  1875;  of  the  Evangelical  Association  in  1891;  of 
the  Methodist  Protestant  Church  in  1879.  And  while  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  the 
churches  of  God  was  not  organized  as  a  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  it  has  largely 
become  so.  The  harbinger  of  this  new  organization  is  found  in  an  article  by  C. 
Manchester  in  the  "Mission  Field"  in  The  Advocate  of  April  23,  1890.  He  was 
then  a  minister  of  the  Illinois  Eldership,  with  the  sisters  of  which  the  idea  of 
forming  a  W.  G.  M.  S.,  "as  we  henceforth  will  call  it  for  short,"  and  was  familiar 
with  their  plans.  A  "memorial"  was  sent  out  "to  ascertain  the  feeling"  on  the 
subject.  It  came  back  with  nineteen  signatures,  nearly  all  from  Ohio  and  Illinois. 
Each  State  W.  M.  Society  was  directed  "to  appoint  a  delegate  to  go  to  North  Bend 
June  5th,  to  present  the  Memorial"  to  the  General  Eldership.  The  Standing  Com- 
mittees of  "Elderships  where  there  are  no  W.  M.  Societies"  were  requested  "to  ap- 
point sisters  who  will  go  to  the  General  Eldership  for  the  same  purpose."  These 
directions  were  complied  with  by  several  Elderships  which  had  no  State  organi- 
zations, and  by  the  officials  in  other  Elderships  which  had  State  Societies.  The 
Memorial  was  presented  to  the  General  Eldership,  which  appointed  M.  S.  Noav- 
comei',  R.  H.  Bolton  and  C.  Manchester  "a  committee  to  consider  it,  and  report  to 
the  Eldership."  Also  a  Committee  on  Constitution,  composed  of  two  women 
from  each  of  the  Elderships  of  West  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Iowa,  Ne- 
braska and  Missouri,  with  Mary  Berksti-esser  "as  a  representative  of  the  General 
Eldership  and  Mrs.  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw  as  representative  of  Findlay  College."  The 
Committee  on  Memorial  reported  a  recommendation  "that  the  requests  and 
suggestions  of  the  Memorial  be  adopted."  The  Constitution  defined  the  "object 
of  this  Society"  to  be  "to  promote  an  interest  in  missions  among  the  churches, 
and  especially  among  the  women  and  young  people;  to  secure  systematic  con- 
tributions;   to   disseminate   missionary   intelligence,   and   to    encourage   the   grace 

C.  H. — 29* 


882  History  of  the  Churches  of   God 

of  giving."  A  corallary  would  be  a  missionary  periodical,  and  this  was  regarded 
now  as  "a  necessity."  By  "paying  $1.00  annually  through  an  auxiliary,  or 
directly  into  the  treasury,"  entitled  "any  woman  to  become  a  member."  To 
become  a  Life  Member  the  sum  of  $25.00  was  required  to  be  paid  either  at  one 
time,  or  in  installments  of  not  less  than  $5.00.  The  payment  of  $100.00  con- 
stituted a  woman  an  Honorary  Life  Member.  The  "voting  members  shall  con- 
sist of  the  officers  of  the  General  Society,"  which  were  a  President,  Vice  Presidents, 
the  different  Eldership  Presidents,  who  shall  be  Second  Vice  Presidents,  a  Record- 
ing Secretary,  one  or  more  Corresponding  Secretaries  and  a  Treasurer."  Provision 
was  also  made  for  a  Board  of  Managers,  to  "consist  of  the  officers  of  the  Society; 
the  trustees,  who  shall  be  chosen  from  the  Board  of  Managers,  and  the  delegates 
from  the  various  Societies."  This  Board  was  given  "power  to  establish  mission 
schools,  select  and  appoint  missionaries,  designate  their  fields  of  labor,  fix  their 
salaries,  appropriate  the  funds  of  the  Society  as  the  cause  may  demand,  working 
in  harmony  with  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership."  The  first  or- 
ganization was  as  follows:  President,  Miss  L.  A.  Forney;  Vice  President,  Mrs. 
Anna  P.  Shaeffer;  Recording  Secretary,  Mi.ss  Mary  Berkstresser;  Corresponding 
Secretary,  Mrs.  Ella  Jeffries;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  R.  H.  Bolton.  It  became  evident 
within  a  year  or  two  that  there  were  several  serious  defects  in  the  Constitution. 
These  were:  The  partial  abrogation  of  the  General  Eldership's  sovereignty  over 
the  W.  G.  M.  S.,  so  that  later  it  could  claim  to  be  rather  a  co-ordinate  than  a  sub- 
ordinate body;  also  the  possible  self-perpetuating  power  of  the  Board  of  Managers. 
Besides,  it  lacked  elasticity  for  want  of  a  truly  representative  element.  It  was 
sometimes  called  "undemocratic,"  "un-American."  In  these  features  were  hidden 
the  germs  of  subsequent  troubles  and  dissensions.  In  several  Elderships  Woman's 
Missionary  Societies  were  organized  which  could  not  become  members  of  the  W. 
G.  M.  S.  under  its  Constitution.  This  to  some  extent  hindered  that  general  co- 
operation which  all  desired.  The  W.  G.  M.  S.  also  was  not  quite  satisfied  with  its 
relations  to  the  General  Eldership.  In  1891  it  asked  that  the  General  Eldership 
Constitution  be  amended,  "admitting  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  into  said  incorporation." 
And  the  Board  of  Missions  instead  of  this,  recommended  "the  Board  of  Incorpora- 
tion to  take  the  necessary  steps  to  incorporate  the  W.  G.  M.  S."  The  amount  of 
funds  gathered  prior  to  1896  was  limited.  In  1892  the  Treasurer  reported 
$144.90.  It  had  a  Home  and  Foreign  Mission  Fund;  but  it  did  little  home  mis- 
sion work,  except  appropriate  $100.00  to  Fort  Scott  Mission  in  1894,  and  smaller 
amounts  to  other  points.  Its  Home  Fund,  hence,  increased  until  it  reached  nearly 
$2,000.00.  Its  attention  was  directed  to  the  foreign  work  in  1893,  when  the  Board 
of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  took  action,  approved  by  members  of  the  W. 
G.  M.  S.  present,  that  "the  entire  foreign  mission  work  of  the  Church  of  God  be 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S."  It  also  directed  the  Secretary  and  Treas- 
urer of  the  Foreign  Fund  of  the  General  Eldership  to  pay  over  to  the  W.  G.  M.  S. 
all  the  money  in  his  hands.  The  W.  G.  M.  S.  was  to  pay  into  the  treasury  of  the 
General  Eldership  its  entire  Home  Mission  Fund.  The  W.  G.  M.  S.  was  to  be 
entitled  to  one  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership.  And  while  these  actions  were 
not  accepted  by  the  W.  G.  M.  S.,  and  so  were  non-effective,  yet  the  providential 
trend  was  in  that  direction.  For  in  1894  J.  W.  Kingston  offered  himself  to  the 
W.  G.  M.  S.  as  a  candidate  for  the  foreign  field,  and  began  to  qualify  himself  as  a 
medical  missionary.  In  1895  it  decided  to  take  up  the  foreign  work  along  with 
the  home  work.  In  September  of  said  year  Clara  Landes,  of  Iowa,  having  dedi- 
cated herself  to  foreign  mission  work,  entered  on  a  regular  course  of  studies  at  the 
Brooklyn  Institute,  New  York,  for  a  course  of  preparatory  studies.  She  was  ac- 
cepted by  the  W.  G.  M.  S.,  and  approved  by  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General 
Eldership.  By  February,  1896,  arrangements  were  made  to  raise  an  "Outfit  Fund" 
to  provide  necessary  clothing,  bedding,  furniture,  a  small  library  and  medicine 
chest.  Miss  Landes  made  tours  during  the  Summer  and  Fall  through  nearly  all 
the  Elderships  from  Kansas  to  East  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland.  She  was  present 
at  the  General  Eldership  at  Harrisburg  in  1896,  when  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  asked  that 
the  Constitution  of  said  body  be  "so  amended  as  to  admit  a  Woman's  Board  of 
Missions,  consisting  of  five  persons  elected  by  the  W.  G.  M.  S.,  which  shall  act 
jointly  with  the  regular  Board  of  Missions  on  all  questions  relating  to  foreign 
missions,  and  to  home  mission  work  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S."  This  was  done.  Every- 
thing being  in  readiness.  Miss  Landes  left  her  Iowa  home  September  24,  1896,  for 
her  far  distant  field  of  missionary  work  in  India.      On  her  way  to  New  York  she 


Mission    Work    and    Missionary    Societies 


883 


stopped  over  to  attend  the  session  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  October 
28th  she  reached  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  where  she  remained  until  November  1st,  and 
then  proceeded  to  Boston,  Mass.,  where  she  boarded  the  "Armenian"  and  sailed  for 
Liverpool,  November  4th,  and  thence  to  Calcutta,  India,  from  which  point  she 
wrote  her  first  message  home,  on  December  22nd.  Her  record  as  a  devoted,  self- 
sacrificing,  efficient  missionary  in  India  is  worthy  of  highest  praise,  and  has  re- 
ceived strong  commendation  from  other  missionaries  in  India. 

Miss  Landes  was  born  near  Harmony,  Danville  township,  Des  Moines  county, 
Iowa.  Her  parents  were  devoted  Christians,  and  trained  their  children  in  the  ways 
of  virtue  and  piety.  She  was  converted  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  "the  only  convert 
of  a  Winter's  meeting"  held  by  A.  C  Garner.  The  meeting  was  not  a  failure.  An 
experience  when  sixteen  years  of  age  led  her  to  place  unusual  trust  in  supernatural 
influence  and  guidance  in  all  that  concerned  her,  for  when  "all  the  doctor's  reme- 


Clara  Landes. 

dies  were  exhausted,  she  was  cured  by  direct  answer  to  prayer."  She  became  al- 
most a  recluse,  as  "the  only  place  she  would  go  was  to  church."  Having,  how- 
ever, made  sufficient  progress  in  her  studies,  she  began  teaching  school.  She 
further  pursued  her  studies  at  Denmark  Academy,  Iowa,  and  in  1889  she  entered 
Findlay  College,  and  remained  several  terms.  In  1892  she  first  revealed  "to  her 
friends  what  she  felt  it  her  duty  to  do" — to  become  a  gospel  minister.      And  so  in 

1893  she  went  to  the  annual  session  of  the  Iowa  Eldership  and  applied  for  license. 
The  Committee  on  License  reported,  that  "after  a  thorough  examination  they  had 
found  her  deeply  impressed  by  the  Holy  Spirit  to  do  public  work  for  God,  and  that 
her  field  is  the  foreign  work."  "A  Certificate  of  Membership"  was  granted  her, 
and  that  "she  be  allowed  to  preach  the  gospel  within  the   Iowa  Eldership."      In 

1894  she  received  a  Certificate  of  Ordination,  and  was  appointed  to  serve  the 
church  at  Arthur,  Iowa,  in  1895,  as  pastor.  This  year  she  attended  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.,  held  at  Deweyville,  Ohio,  and  offered  herself  as  a  can- 


884  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

didate  for  the  foreign  mission  field.  It  was  decided  tliat  she  should  spend  a  year 
at  the  Union  Missionary  Institute,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  preparatory  to  leaving  for 
india.  During  the  Summer  of  1896  she  visited  many  churches  and  a  number  of 
Annual  Elderships,  and  spoke  on  the  subject  of  missions.  She  w^as  a  woman  of 
deep  consecration,  self-reliance  and  independence  of  judgment  bordering  on  wil- 
fulness. She  was  inclined  to  mysticism,  and  in  all  her  ways  and  work  depended 
more  on  superhuman  guidance  as  against  the  counsels  of  friends  or  the  dictates  of 
her  own  judgment.  Yet  she  was  extremely  modest  in  her  bearing,  and  most  ex- 
emplary in  piety,  and  became  an  efficient  missionary. 

It  was  not  because  the  Church  of  God  did  not  awaken  to  a  consciousness  of 
its  world-wide  mission,  or  its  duty  to  bear  the  gospel  message  to  the  heathen,  that 
so  little  was  done  prior  to  1896.  The  General  Eldership  at  its  first  session,  in 
1845,  adopted  this  resolution:  "Resolved,  That  this  Eldership  resolve  itself  into 
a  Domestic  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society."  The  Annual  Elderships  early  in 
their  history  took  similar  action.  Ohio  in  1848  adopted  a  "Constitution  of  a  Mis- 
sionary Society  whose  object  is  to  send  out  and  support  both  domestic  and  foreign 
missionaries."  And  in  1857  it  directed  ten-cent  offerings  to  be  taken  from  each 
member  of  the  churches  for  the  fund  James  Colder,  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eld- 
ership, was  raising  to  educate  Ting  Ing  Kaw,  a  young  Chinaman,  and  send  him 
back  and  support  him  as  a  missionary  in  his  native  country.  Considerable  sums 
of  money  were  secured  by  free-will  offerings  and  pledges  for  this  purpose  in  the 
years  from  1854  to  1857  from  the  churches  and  brethren  in  East  Pennsylvania, 
Maryland  and  West  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  Elderships.  The  East  Pennsylvania 
Eldership  in  1857  declared  that  "the  time  has  arrived  to  take  some  efficient  meas- 
ures to  sustain  a  missionary  in  heathen  lands."  In  1875  it  "commended  to  the 
Board  of  Missions  the  advisability  of  establishing  a  foreign  mission  at  as  early  a 
date  as  it  may  find  it  practicable,  in  connection  with  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 
of  the  Central  Association  of  the  Free  Baptist  Church  of  New  York  and  Pennsyl- 
vania." This  was  the  beginning  of  a  series  of  negotiations  with  representatives 
of  the  Free  Baptist  Church  which  continued  for  eighteen  years.  In  1876  Dr.  D. 
M.  Graham,  Free  Baptist,  was  present  at  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  and  de- 
livered overtures  for  co-operation  with  the  Society  of  said  Church.  To  those  the 
Eldership  responded,  that  it  would  "heartily  join  in  an  effort  to  promote  the  work 
of  the  Lord  in  foreign  lands,  as  it  felt  a  deep  interest  in  foreign  missions."  In 
1877  Dr.  Graham  revisited  the  same  Eldership,  with  Dr.  J.  L.  Phillips,  also  of  the 
Free  Baptist  Church,  a  returned  missionary  from  India.  The  Eldership  was  so 
favorably  impressed  with  their  pleas  that  a  committee  "recommended  that  this 
body  organize  a  Foreign  Missionary  Society."  This  was  agreed  to,  and  a  Board 
of  Foreign  Missions  was  formed,  which  was  innstructed  "to  bring  before  the  Elder- 
ship a  definite  plan  of  work  in  foreign  missions."  The  Board  consisted  of  five 
ministers  and  five  laymen.  Pliillips  was  granted  the  privilege  to  canvass  the 
■churches  for  funds  for  the  Board.  The  largest  amount  he  secured  from  any  one 
church  was  at  Middletown,  which  gave  him  $128.00.  Altogether  he  raised  during 
the  Winter  nearly  $1,000.00.  This  was  preparatory  to  the  meeting  of  the  General 
Eldership  in  187  8,  which  Phillips  attended.  Said  body,  after  hearing  the  in- 
spiring, earnest  addresses  of  Phillips,  decided  that  "we  immediately  proceed  to 
organize  a  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Church  of  God  in  North  America." 
With  this  Board,  consisting  of  C.  H.  Forney,  M.  S.  Newcomer,  J.  W.  Aukennan, 
K.  H.  Bolton  and  W.  P.  Small,  the  Annual  Elderships  were  to  co-operate.  In  1883 
the  Free  Baptist  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  elected  C.  H.  Forney  as  one  of  its 
members,  and  later  J.  R.  H.  Latchew  was  a  member.  He  was  appointed  in  1884 
hy  the  General  Eldership  to  be  Secretary  and  Treasurer  of  its  Foreign  Mission 
Fund.  Dr.  O.  B.  Cheney  and  Dr.  Ball,  Free  Baptists,  attended  the  sessions,  and 
strongly  urged  co-operation.  The  Eldership  resolved  "that  this  body  co-operate 
with  the  Free  Baptist  Church  in  foreign  mission  work."  This  was  considered  by 
Latchaw  and  others  as  "our  opportunity,"  as  it  gave  the  Church  the  privilege  to 
send  missionaries  into  the  Free  Baptist  territory  to  co-labor  with  theirs.  Lat- 
ohaw  was  instructed  to  write  up  the  subject  of  foreign  missions,  to  gather  funds, 
and  to  be  on  the  alert  "for  a  man"  to  go  to  India.  As  to  funds,  the  first  response 
came  from  Buda,  111.,  to  the  amount  of  $3.00.  Landisville  camp-meeting.  East 
Pennsylvania,  came  next,  with  $28.00.  The  different  Elderships  endorsed  the 
plan  and  promised  help.  Illinois  Eldership  in  1884  organized  a  Sisters'  Foreign 
Missionary  Society.  By  April,  1886,  LatchaAv  reported  the  receipt  of  $515.75.  In 
1887  Nen-ton  Hill,  of  Kansas,  offered  to  go  to  India;    but  on  account  of  his  ap- 


Mission    Work    and   Missionary    Societies  885 

parently  delicate  condition  the  Board  did  not  accept  him.  At  the  General  Elder- 
ship in  1890  Latchaw  reported  $1,162.00.  He  was  authorized  to  correspond  with 
the  Free  Baptist  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  with  a  view  to  securing  a  field  in 
India  apart  from  their  work  to  which  to  send  the  missionaries  of  the  Church. 
Though  so  far  very  little  had  been  accomplished,  the  Free  Baptist  Board  seemed 
not  discouraged,  and  in  1893,  through  its  representative,  Thomas  H.  Stacy,  sub- 
mitted propositions  for  co-operation  with  it  in  its  work  in  India.  Of  the  two 
submitted  the  Eldership  adopted  the  one  which  provided  "that  the  Eldership  of 
the  Church  of  God  shall  be  represented  on  the  Executive  Board  of  the  F.  B.  F.  M.  S. 
in  proportion  to  its  membership  and  contributions  to  the  foreign  work  compared 
with  the  membership  and  contributions  of  the  Free  Baptist  denomination."  It 
also  resolved  that  the  Eldership  enter  at  once  upon  foreign  mission  work,"  and 
named  J.  R.  H.  Latchaw  as  a  member  of  the  Foreign  Mission  Board.  The  Board 
of  Missions  was  given  supervision  of  the  work.  The  Board,  however,  decided, 
approved  by  the  Eldership,  "that  the  entire  foreign  mission  work  of  the  Church 
of  God  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Woman's  General  Missionary  Society." 

The  W.  G.  M.  S.  sent  out  Clara  Landes  as  its  first  missionary  to  India,  who 
began  her  studies  and  work  at  the  Free  Baptist  Mission  House  at  Midnapore,  India, 
about  January  1,  1897.  She  at  once  developed  an  almost  special  aptness  for  work 
among  the  heathen,  and  early  began  "itinerating,"  with  the  ultimate  purpose  of 
selecting  territory  which  should  be  exclusively  for  the  Church  of  God.  In  this 
she  co-operated  with  a  committee  named  for  that  purpose.  In  December,  1898, 
she  was  in  Ulubaria,  Subdivision  of  Howrah  District,  upon  which  she  finally  de- 
cided as  the  territory  for  the  Church.  This  was  approved  by  the  Joint  Board  of 
Missions  on  June  15,  1900.  Here  she  witnessed  the  baptism  of  the  first  convert 
on  May  3,  1900.  She  has  continued  her  woxk  in  Ulubaria  ever  since,  with  the 
exception  of  a  year's  vacation  at  the  expiration  of  her  first  term.  She  was  quite 
successful  in  her  work,  and  the  results  of  her  first  ten  years  of  faithful,  diligent 
work  were  most  gratifying. 

But  meanwhile  the  relations  between  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  and  certain  other  Wo- 
man's Missionary  Societies  became  more  or  less  strained.  The  Joint  Board  of 
Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  did  not  prove  as  successful  an  expedient  as  had 
been  hoped.  There  was  considerable  friction,  so  that  some  other  plan  was  sug- 
gested at  the  General  Eldership  in  1899,  but  the  plan  of  1896  was  continued. 
There  were  features  in  the  Constitution  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  which  made  it  prac- 
tically impossible  for  Societies  of  two  or  three  Annual  Elderships  to  join  it.  Then 
the  idea  of  subordination  to  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  was 
not  agreeable  to  some  of  the  leaders  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  Rather  a  spirit  of  inde- 
pendence prevailed;  a  disposition  to  claim  autonomy  for  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  Or  as 
later  asserted,  that  said  Society  is  a  co-ordinate  body  with  the  General  Eldership. 
This  developed  in  such  proportions  as  to  have  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  separately  in- 
corporated, and  to  amend  its  Constitution  so  as  to  relax  the  restraining  power  of 
the  General  Board  of  Missions.  There  were  serious  obstacles  to  co-operation  on 
the  part  of  several  Eldership  Societies.  This  was  true  of  the  W.  M.  S.  of  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership,  although  Lydia  A.  Forney,  of  said  Society,  had  been  the 
first  President  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  for  a  short  time,  when  she  resigned,  and  later 
the  Treasurer  for  four  years.  The  East  Pennsylvania  W.  M.  S.  framed  a  Consti- 
tution on  April  26,  1893,  and  was  fully  organized  at  the  Eldership  in  1894,  when 
Miss  Forney  was  chosen  for  President,  a  position  she  has  held  ever  since.  She 
has  also  for  many  years  been  Missionary  Organizer,  appointed  by  the  Eldership, 
and  has  labored  and  sacrificed  year  after  year  to  advance  the  interests  of  the  So- 
ciety, of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.,  and  of  missions  in  India.  Mrs.  Kate  C.  Wiley  was  the 
first  Secretary,  and  Mrs.  R.  H.  Thomas,  Treasurer.  These,  with  Mrs.  F.  W. 
McGuii>e  and  other  true  and  noble  women,  have  bom  the  burden  of  official  positions 
in  the  W.  M.  S.,  and  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  organized  in  1903.  The  W.  M.  S.  of  East 
Pennsylvania  Eldership  was  very  desirous  to  be  affiliated  with  the  W.  G.  M.  S.,  as 
was  the  W.  M.  S.  of  West  Pennsylvania  and  the  W.  M.  S.  of  Maryland.  Conditions 
were  embarrassing,  but  the  obstacles  to  union  seemed  insurmountable.  The  W. 
G.  M.  S.  would  not  amend  its  Constitution  so  as  to  receive  these  Societies.  But  on 
May  18,  1897,  the  W.  M.  S.  of  East  Pennsylvania  unanimously  asked  the  W.  G. 
M.  S.  to  be  received  into  organic  fellowship  with  it.  Conditions  were,  however, 
laid  down  which  rendered  such  union  "impossible."  Hence,  in  July,  1897,  this 
Society  requested  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  to  pe- 
tition the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  General  Eldership  to  grant  it  the  privilege  of 


886  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

nominating  a  person  or  persons  from  time  to  time  for  appointment  as  missionaries 
to  India,  and  to  guarantee  tlieir  support.  This  being  granted,  the  Society  was 
ready  to  accept  candidates.  On  September  4,  1900,  Miss  A^iola  G.  Hershey  was 
accepted.  She  was  requested  to  go  to  Pindlay  College  for  several  years,  when  the 
Joint  Board  of  Missions  would  appoint  her.  On  June  19,  1902,  A.  C.  Bowers, 
licensed  by  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1899,  and  Mi"s.  Bowei-s  were  also 
accepted.  This  was  in  harmony  with  Miss  Landes's  urgent  plea  to  the  General 
Eldership,  to  send  out  to  India  "more  missionaries,  two  men  this  Fall  with  their 
wives."  In  this  work  the  three  W.  M.  Societies  of  East  Pennsylvania,  West  Penn- 
sylvania and  Maryland  and  Virginia  Elderships  co-operated,  without  formal  or- 
ganic union,  as  there  was  no  disposition  to  organize  a  rival  W.  G.  M.  S.  either  in 
form  or  name.  "One  W.  G.  M.  S."  for  all  the  Elderships  was  the  rallying  cry  of 
the  workers  and  the  churches,  endorsed  by  Miss  Landes.  The  reasons  for  this  po- 
sition were  forcibly  set  forth  by  Miss  Forney  in  a  paper  on  "Reasons  for  co-opera- 
tion for  all  our  Missionary  Societies"  read  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S. 
in  1901.  No  action,  however,  was  taken  by  the  W.  G.  M.  S.,  "because  it  involves 
previous  action  by  the  General  Eldership."  Within  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  there  was 
also  less  harmony  than  was  desired.  The  cry  for  union  of  all  Societies,  hence,  be- 
came almost  universal,  and  the  manner  of  securing  it,  and  an  equitable  basis,  be- 
came absorbing  questions.  AV.  J.  Schaner,  Conductor  of  the  "Mission  Work"  in 
The  Advocate,  took  up  the  matter  and  calmly  discussed  it,  as  did  leaders  in  the 
General  Eldership  by  correspondence.  Schaner,  in  January,  1902,  stated  that  "W. 
M.  S.  of  East  Pennsylvania  is  not  a  part  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.,  the  obstacle  being  the 
basis  of  union."  In  March,  1902,  he  emphatically  urges  union:  "Let  the  W.  G. 
M.  S.  be  composed  of  the  W.  M.  Societies  of  all  the  Elderships,"  which  was  the 
original  design.  And  in  her  letter  to  the  General  Eldership  of  1902  Clara  Landes 
says:  "Oh,  that  I  could  do  or  say  something  to  help  bring  about  union."  This 
was  the  atmosphere  in  which  the  General  Eldership  convened  at  Idaville,  Indiana, 
on  May  28,  1902.  The  matter  pertaining  to  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  was  referred  to  the 
Board  of  Missions,  which  brought  in  a  unanimous  report,  in  which  it  recom- 
mended: 1.  That  a  convention  be  held  at  Findlay,  Ohio,  in  June,  1903.  2. 
That  said  convention  shall  consist  of  delegates  to  be  elected  by  each  Eldership  W. 
M.  S.,  in  number  not  greater  than  one-third  the  delegations  from  their  respective 
Elderships  to  the  General  Eldership;  but  each  Society  shall  have  at  least  one  dele- 
gate. 3.  That  it  shall  be  the  purpose  of  this  convention  to  organize  a  Woman's 
General  Missionary  Society,  adopt  a  Constitution  therefor,  and  fix  the  ratio  of 
representation.  It  further  defined  certain  rights  and  powers  of  the  proposed  So- 
ciety. The  discussion  was  participated  in  by  members  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.,  who 
were  made  advisory  members  of  the  Eldership  for  this  purpose.  When  the  yeas 
and  nays  were  called  on  the  motion  to  adopt  the  Report  they  stood:  Yeas,  60; 
nays,  4.  That  the  action  was  not  wholly  approved  by  some  members  of  the  W.  G. 
M.  S.  was  made  evident  before  the  final  vote,  and  was  emphasized  when  later  a 
resolution  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  27  to  26,  "instructing  the  Treasurer  of  the 
W.  G.  M.  S.  to  turn  over  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  General  Eldership  all  Home  Mis- 
sionary money  now  in  hand,"  which  was  $1,862.67.  Yet  this  was  the  identical 
action  approved  by  leading  members  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  and  the  entire  Eldership 
in  1893.  It  was  an  unavoidable  corallary  of  the  actions  touching  the  proposed 
W.  G.  M.  S.,  as  it  was  to  supercede  and  displace  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  1890. 

So  generally  was  this  action  sustained  as  a  wise  and  efficient  plan  for  the 
settlement  of  all  past  difficulties  and  for  united  and  harmonious  work  in  the  home 
and  foreign  field  that  the  positive  sailing  for  India  of  three  more  missionaries  was 
cause  for  congratulation.  The  Societies  co-operating  together  to  send  out  the 
three  additional  missionaries  went  to  work  with  added  zeal  and  coura£;e.  Money 
was  soon  collected  for  "outfit"  and  for  "voyage"  Funds.  And  by  October  15,  1902, 
A.  C.  Bowers  and  Mrs.  Bowers,  and  Viola  G.  Hershey  were  aboard  the  steamer 
•"Hanoverian"  in  Boston  Harbor,  ready  to  sail  for  Liverpool.  Thence  by  rail  to 
London,  whence,  on  October  31st,  they  began  their  long  voyage  to  Calcutta,  India. 
Thence  to  Midnopore,  and  to  Ulubaria,  which  they  reached  about  the  middle  of 
December,  where  they  "received  a  hearty  welcome."  Miss  Hershey  was  a  native 
of  Lancaster  county.  Pa.,  a  member  of  the  church  of  God  at  Landisville.  She 
was  a  young  woman  of  excellent  character,  which  had  for  its  chief  adornment 
a  meek  and  quiet  spirit  and  devout  godliness.  In  addition  to  her  home  and  com- 
mon school  training,  she  spent  nearly  two  years  at  Findlay  College  in  special 
studies  for  her  future  work  in  India.      She  was  a  lay  missionary,  having  never  been 


Mission    Work    and    Missionarv    Societies 


88;* 


ordained  to  the  ministry.  She  had  sufficient  self-reliance  to  brave  unflinchingly 
the  hardships  of  missionary  life  among  the  heathen.  And  she  had  a  strong  body 
and  good  health,  an  important  qualification  for  a  foreign  missionary  in  a  hot  cli- 
mate. Mrs.  Bowers  was  not  so  robust;  of  quiet  demeanor;  a  devout  Christian  and 
a  faithful  missionary's  wife,  ready  to  prove  herself  a  help-meet  to  her  husband  in 
heathen  lands.  Bowers  was  a  member  of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  and 
was  recommended  as  a  young  man  of  good  natural  talents,  fair  acquirements  and 
a  consecrated  life.  He  had  those  traits  of  character  which  made  him  resolute  in 
the  face  of  dangers  and  difficulties,  and  which  also  might  bring  him  into  conflict 
with  others  equally  firm  in  their  convictions. 

With  these  missionaries,  appointed  by  the  Board  of  Missions  upon  recom- 
mendation of  Societies  not  in  fellowship  with  the  former-  W.  G.  M.  S.,  working 
together  in  India,  it  seemed  an  auspicious  hour  for  the  Convention  to  meet  to 
frame  a  Constitution  and  organize  the  one  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  the  General  Eldership  in 
which  all  Eldership  Societies  would  be  represented.  While  there  was  quite  gen- 
eral approval  of  the  plan  proposed  by  the  General  Eldership,  there  was  some  op|)o- 
sition,  at  first  based  largely  on  the  action  respecting  the  Home  Fund  of  the  W.  G. 
M.  S.  But  it  was  reasonably  assumed  that  this  would  disappear  when  the  Con- 
vention would  meet  and  do  its  assigned  work.  By  May,  however,  there  were  fore- 
tokens of  more  or  less  serious  trouble,  as  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  was  called  to  meet  at 


A.  C.  Bowers  and  Wife,  Miss  Viola  G.  Hei-shey. 

Columbia  City,  Indiana,  but  a  few  days  before  the  convening  of  the  delegates  at 
Findlay,  Ohio,  where  "very  important  business"  was  to  come  up.  The  opposition 
was  led  very  largely  by  Mrs.  M.  B.  Newcomer  (nee  Berkstresser) ,  who  at  Columbia 
City  was  re-elected  President.  She  was  a  regular  ordained  minister  of  the  Illi- 
nois Eldership,  having  been  licensed  by  the  Standing  Committee  in  December, 
1880.  She  soon  thereafter  began  writing  for  The.  Advocate  in  the  way  of  a  re- 
porter of  news  of  Church  and  Eldership  work.  She  developed  a  vigorous,  clear 
style  of  expression,  and  soon  became  a  public  speaker  of  acknowledged  power  and 
logical  force.  She  was  for  a  time  Illinois  Eldership  Correspondent.  A  native  of 
Illinois,  she  spent  most  of  her  time  in  that  State.  She  was  a  regular  pastor  at 
Buda,  Charleston,  Martinsville  and  other  points,  and  the  assistant  of  her  husband 
on  other  charges.  In  1883  she  was  elected  an  alternate  ministerial  delegate  to 
the  General  Eldership,  and  was  also  chosen  to  deliver  the  annual  opening  lecture 
of  the  Ministerial  Association  of  the  Illinois  Eldership.  In  the  Fall  of  18  86  she 
became  a  student  at  Findlay  College.  In  1887  she  attended  the  General  Eldership, 
before  which  body  she  preached  one  of  the  evening  sermons.  In  1889  she  was 
elected  a  lay  delegate  to  the  General  Eldership  in  1890,  of  which  she  became  a 
member.  Her  excellent  character,  her  marked  abilities  and  her  qualifications  as 
a  public  speaker  and  leader  gave  her  prominence  and  influence  in  every  capacity 
she  was  called  to  fill.  Her  presence  at  Findlay,  though  not  a  delegate  to  the  Con- 
vention, was  felt,  in  that  she  could  do  much  to  make  or  mar  the  work  of  that  body. 
It  convened  on  June  12,  1903,  in  the  College  Chapel.  The  enrollment  of  dele- 
gates showed  that  seventeen  were  present,  to  wit.:      East  Pennsylvania,  5;   West 


888  History    of    the  Churches    of    God 

Pennsylvania,  2;  Ohio,  3;  Indiana,  Iowa  and  Illinois,  each  2;  Kansas,  1.  A 
temporary  organization  was  effected,  with  Mrs.  C.  M.  Ritchie,  of  Illinois,  Presi- 
dent; Mrs.  D.  C.  Konip,  Secretary,  after  which  Mrs.  Charles  Manchester  was  chosen 
President,  and  Mrs.  G.  W.  Stoner,  Secretary.  The  Committee  to  draft  a  Constitu- 
tion was  Miss  L.  A.  Forney,  Mrs.  R.  L.  Byrnes,  Mrs.  Huldah  Doyle,  Mrs.  D.  C. 
Komp,  Miss  Lessie  Landes,  Mrs.  C.  M.  Ritchie,  Mrs.  Abbie  Dean,  being  one  from 
each  Eldership  Society.  With  one  unimportant  amendment  the  Constitution  re- 
ported by  this  Committee  was  adopted  after  long  deliberation.  It  was  then  ap- 
proved by  the  Board  of  Missions.  Monday  afternoon  and  Tuesday  morning,  June 
15th  and  16th,  were  spent  in  the  organization  of  the  new  W.  G.  M.  S.,  which  con- 
sisted of  the  following  officers:  Miss  Clara  E.  Stare,  President;  Mrs.  Abbie  Dean, 
Vice  President;  Recording  Secretary,  Mrs.  Huldah  Doyle;  Corresponding  Secretary, 
Mi-s.  G.  W.  Stoner.  Board  of  Directors — 3Iiss  I/.  A.  Forney,  Mrs.  C.  M.  Ritchie, 
Mrs.  Charles  Manchester,  Mrs.  Alice  Geddes,  Miss  Clara  E.  Stare.  There  was  no 
disposition  to  disparage  the  work  of  the  former  W.  G.  M.  S. ;  but  with  exemplary 
generosity  its  successful  work  was  recognized.  However,  "in  the  union  of  all  our 
Societies,  according  to  the  plan  of  the  General  Eldership,"  it  "recognized  a  greater 


\ 


Rfrs.  M.  B.  Newcomer. 

force  to  carry  on  our  mission  work."  In  the  same  sentence  it  commended  "the 
great  sacrifice  that  our  missionaries.  Miss  Clara  Landes,  A.  C.  Bowers  and  wife, 
and  Viola  G.  Hershey  are  making."  Thus  the  work  outlined  by  the  General  Elder- 
ship in  1902  was  carried  into  effect  by  the  thorough  organization  of  what  said  Eld- 
ership in  advance  called  the  "Woman's  General  Missionary  Society,"  to  take  the 
place  of  the  former  W.  G.  M.  S.  The  Annual  Eldership  Societies,  or  State  Societies, 
were  not  disturbed  at  all,  only  their  allegiance  was  changed,  and  they  were  now  to 
co-operate  with  the  new  W.  G.  M.  S.  The  old  W.  G.  M.  S.  was  declared  to  have 
finished  its  work,  and  the  results  were  to  be  turned  over  to  the  new  W.  G.  M.  S., 
to  take  up  the  work  in  charge,  as  also  that  of  the  Societies  in  eastern  Elderships 
which  could  not  work  with  the  former  W.  G.  M.  S.  The  new  W.  G.  M.  S.  was  rep- 
resentative, modeled  after  the  General  Eldership.  Under  it  all  Societies  could 
work  satisfactorily.  This  result  had  been  long  and  earnestly  desired,  and  it 
merited  the  faithful  adhesion  and  co-operation  of  every  Eldership  and  every  State 
or  Annual  Eldership  Society.  The  brotherhood  endorsed  the  actions  taken  at 
Findlay  by  an  overwhelming  voice.      But  even  during  the  session  of  the  Conven- 


Mission    Work    and    Missionary    Societies 


889 


tion  there  was  visible  on  the  horizon  a  small  cloud  which  was  the  augury  of  the 
coming  storm.  One  of  the  delegates  from  Iowa  resigned  "as  a  member  of  the 
Standing  Committee,"  and  the  other  delegate  was  substituted  in  her  place;  but 
she  also  resigned  later,  and  both  ceased  to  co-operate  with  the  Society.  Mrs. 
Joseph  Rice,  of  Danville,  Iowa,  was  chosen  to  fill  the  vacancy  on  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee. An  earnest,  active,  loyal  woman  who,  with  others,  maintained  her  allegi- 
ance to  the  General  Eldership.  The  officials  of  the  former  W.  G.  M.  S.  at  once 
began  active  work  to  reform  their  ranks;  to  create  sentiment  against  the  new  W. 
G.  M.  S. ;  to  maintain  their  organization;  to  hold  western  Societies  in  co-operation 
with  it,  and  to  retain  possession  of  the  mission  field  in  India.  In  this  they  were 
so  far  successful  as  partly  to  divide  the  Ohio  State  Society;  to  capture  a  few  So- 
cieties in  Illinois,  and  to  hold  the  Iowa  State  Society.  But  even  in  "Iowa  there 
were  many  loyal  members  and  ministers,  who  were  not  in  sympathy  with  the 
actions  of  the  former  W.  G.  M.  S."     All  other  "State  organizations  of  W.  M.  So- 


Mrs.  Clara  M.  Ritchie. 


cieties  fell  in  line  with  the  new  W.  G.  M.  S."  Also  all  the  Elderships,  except 
Iowa,  which  was  divided.  Clara  Landes,  either  of  her  own  volition,  or  through 
home  influences,  declined  to  accept  the  appointment  from  the  new  W.  G.  M.  S.,  and 
to  turn  over  to  it  the  work  in  India,  and  cast  in  her  lot  with  the  former  W.  G.  M. 
S.  And  before  the  middle  of  December,  1903,  "the  President  of  the  former  W.  G. 
M.  S.  ordered  Clara  Landes  to  give  the  new  missionaries,"  regularly  appointed  be- 
fore the  new  W.  G.  M.  S.  was  organized,  and  welcomed  to  Ulubaria,  India,  in  1902, 
"notice  that  they  must  vacate  the  mission  home  in  India,  and  seek  a  home  else- 
where." They  accordingly  removed,  and  temporarily  located  at  Chandernagore, 
Bengal  Province,  India,  while  selecting  a  permanent  field  for  future  work  in  ac- 
cordance with  instructions  from  the  W.  G.  M.  S.,  in  August,  1904.  Bogra  District 
was  finally  selected,  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  Province  of  Bengal,  with  an  area  of 
1,359  square  miles,  about  200  miles  north  of  Calcutta.  The  town  of  Bogra  had  a 
population  of  5,000,  and  there  they  established  their  headquarters.     Bowers  and 


.8go  History    of    the   Churches    of    God 

Mi's.  Bowers,  and  Miss  Hershey  reached  Bogra  in  February,  1905,  and  since  then 
have  continued  their  work  in  that  District,  though  IJovvers  proved  unfaithful,  and 
in  the  Fall  of  1907  accepted  work  under  the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union, 
of  Boston,  Mass.  During  the  Winter  of  1903-4  the  lines  became  clearly  drawn, 
and  one  of  the  most  acrimonious  controversies  began  that  was  ever  conducted  in 
any  ecclesiastical  body  in  recent  years.  To  gain  better  vantage  ground  in  the  fight 
the  former  W.  G.  M.  S.  secured  a  legal  Charter  from  the  State  Department  of  Illi- 
nois. In  April,  190  4,  it  instituted  legal  proceedings  "to  prevent  the  General  Eld- 
ership W.  G.  M.  S.  from  using  its  name  and  collecting  money  under  its  name."  In 
Illinois  one  of  the  most  devoted  and  efficient  supporters  of  the  new  W.  G.  M.  S.  was 
Mrs.  Clara  M.  Ritchie,  of  Warrensburg. 

She  was  a  native  of  Illinois.  Raised  a  Congregationalist,  and  at  her  con- 
version, when  fifteen  years  old,  joined  said  Church.  Three  years  later  she  was 
immersed  and  united  with  the  Baptist  Church.  At  the  age  of  twenty-two  she  be- 
came acquainted  with  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  God,  and  in  1871,  with  her 
husband,  she  became  a  charter  member  of  the  Fairview  church,  and  a  few  years 
later  she  and  her  husband  were  instrumental  in  organizing  a  church   of  God  in 


*i  Miss  Mary  Witsaman. 

"Warrensburg.  For  a  numbers  of  years  she  was  a  school  teacher.  She  always 
possessed  a  missionary  spirit.  At  North  Bend,  Iowa,  in  1890,  she  assisted  in  the 
organization  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.,  and  was  a  trustee  for  many  years,  and  at  various 
times  was  a  member  of  its  Board  of  Missions,  as  in  189  6  when  Clara  Lande«  was 
sent  to  India.  In  1903  she  became  a  member  of  the  new  W.  G.  M.  S.,  and  was 
elected  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Directors,  a  position  she  has  since  held.  She 
was  equally  active  and  prominent  in  organizing  the  Illinois  W.  M.  S.  in  1886.  Of 
versatile  talents,  she  has  for  twenty-five  years  been  active  in  the  journalistic  field. 
She  rendered  excellent  service  in  behalf  of  the  new  W.  G.  M.  S.  not  only  in  the 
Illinois  Eldership,  but  in  Missouri,  Kansas,  on  the  Pacific  Coast  and  elsewhere. 

In  June,  1904,  the  first  formal  "effort  was  made  by  the  Board  of  Missions  of 
the  General  Eldership  to  end  the  unfortunate  controversy."  The  Board  mani- 
fested a  strong  disposition  to  go  the  fullest  length  consistent  with  loyalty  to  the 
General  Eldership's  action  in  effecting  harmOny  and  causing  "a  cessation  of  hos- 
tilities." But  results  of  the  most  limited  ch?.racter  were  possible.  The  old  W. 
G.  M.  S.  was  determined  to  maintain  its  organization  and  continue  its  work  in 
India.  As  the  General  Eldership  was  to  meet  in  1905,  the  thoughts  of  all  were 
turned  to  that  body  for  a  solution  of  the  perplexity  problem.      The  Iowa  Eldership 


Mission    Work    and    Missionary    Societies 


891 


-fnok  official  action,  petitioning  said  body  "to  set  apart  a  special  time  during  the 
took  official  action    p  b      deliberate  consecration  of  the  relative  merits  of 

.^'^  .^wrievances  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  1890  relative  to  the  acts  or  actions 
Tthe  GeL\  El^e  hill  or  any  of  its  Boards  or  Agents."  Instead  however. 
oLr.nnfe  brief  discussion,  a  committee  was  created,  consisting  of  C.  H.  Forney 
^nd  I  rMLDlLTof  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership;  C.  T.  Fox  of  Ohio;  G. 
W  B;«;es,  of  West  Pennsylvania;  I.  W.  Markley,  of  Indiana;  J.  S.  Walls,  of  Illi- 
noif  and  C  Fatland,  known  as  the  Judiciary  Committee,  Special,  which  was  to 
nre^ent  "what  in  its  judgment  would  constitute  a  good  and  reasonable  basis  for 
general  co-operation  in  carrying  out  the  plan  agreed  upon  in   1902.  and  put  into 


Miss  Leah  Becker. 

effect  by  the  Convention  at  Findlay  in  1903."  There  was  no  receding  from  the 
position  taken  in  1902.  The  Committee's  Report  recognized  the  right,  under 
Article  XVIII.  of  the  Constitution,  of  the  Missionary  Society,  or  Board  of  Missions, 
of  any  Eldership  to  employ,  send  out  and  support  foreign  missionaries;  but  under 
such  rules  and  regulations  as  may  be  approved  by  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the 
General  Eldership.  Under  this  Article  it  granted  the  Iowa  W.  M.  S.  and  certain 
local  societies  in  Illinois  and  Ohio  to  continue  to  support  Clara  Landes  and  her  co- 
laborers,  "all  meanwhile  laboring  for  general  co-operation."  The  Home  Fund  was 
also  directed  to  be  paid  back  to  the  former  W.  G.  M.  S.  so  as  to  remove  this  "griev- 
ance." Suggestions  looking  toward  ultimate  union  in  co-operation  with  the  So- 
ciety organized  in  1903  were  also  made.  The  Report  was  unanimously  sustained. 
It  did  not  result  in  the  peace,  harmony  and  union  expected,  though  most  mag- 


892 


History    of    the    Churches    of    God 


nanimous  in  its  provisions.  It  was  soon  misconstrued,  largely  misapprehended, 
and  became  the  occasion  for  the  renewal  of  the  strife  in  a  more  virulent  form' 
though  it  secured  the  approval  of  every  Annual  Eldership.  The  most  radical  mis- 
conception was  that  it  gave  a  new  lease  of  life  to  the  former  W.  G.  M.  S. ;  that  it 
gave  it  official  recognition,  and  that  the  General  Eldership  now  had  two  W.  G.  M. 
Societies.  Under  this  misapprehension  the  old  W.  G.  M.  S.  accepted  A.  B.  Cham- 
berlin  as  "a  candidate  for  the  foreign  field"  in  1905,  and  in  June,  1907,  reported 
his  appointment  and  the  reappointment  of  Clara  Landes  as  missionaries'  to  India. 
This  the  Board  of  Missions  disapproved,  unless  they  would  co-operate  with  the 
W.  G.  M.  S.  of  1903.  Though  they  would  not  agree  to  do  this,  the  former  W.  G. 
M.   S.    employed   them   and   sent  them   out.      Miss   Landes   arranged  to   return   to 


A.    E.    Myers. 

America  on  a  vacation,  leaving  India  the  19th  of  April,  1906,  and  reaching  Van- 
couver May  29th.  Because  of  the  indisposition,  and  even  opposition,  of  the 
former  W.  G.  M.  S.  to  formulate  a  practicable  basis  of  unification  of  the  two  So- 
cieties, on  April  25,  1906,  a  "Commission"  was  appointed  to  do  this  work,  com- 
posed of  the  members  of  the  Judiciary  Committee,  Special,  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship of  1905.  It  met  at  Findlay,  Ohio,  June  12th.  A  Basis  of  Union  was  agreed 
upon,  and  was  signed  by  all  the  members.  It  was  reported  to  the  Board  of  In- 
corporation, every  member  of  which  was  present,  and  after  a  few  minor  changes 
the  Roll  was  called,  and  every  member  voted  for  its  adoption.  It  was  then  to  go 
to  the  Societies  for  approval.  But  as  the  Board  of  Missions  had  adjourned  to 
meet  at  Danville,  Iowa,  to  confer  with  Miss  Landes  and  the  Board  of  Managers  of 


Mission    Work    and    Missionary    Societie^s 


893 


the  old  W.  G.  M.  S.,  it  was  placed  in  its  hands.  Before  this  meeting  the  basis  was 
approved  by  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  1903.  It  was  dis- 
approved by  the  Board  of  Managers  in  actions  submitted  to  the  Board  of  Missions: 
"We  cannot  endorse  the  plan  submitted  by  the  Commission."  It  expressed  a 
"readiness  to  confer  with  the  representatives  of  the  Society  of  1903."  Three  mem- 
bers of  said  Society  being  present,  conferences  were  held,  but  were  fruitless.  Dis- 
cussions in  The  Advocate  were  resumed,  and  every  phase  and  aspect  of  the  sub- 
ject canvassed  from  the  view-point  of  loyalty  to  the  General  Eldership.  The  Com- 
mission resumed  its  work,  and  its  conclusions  were  generally  approved.  All  the 
Annual    Elderships    adopted    resolutions   in    unison    with    the   propositions   it    sub- 


H.  W.  Cover. 

Tuitted.  Its  final  actions  were  sent  out  by  the  President  Secretary  from  Harris- 
burg,  Pa.,  December  22,  1908,  and  every  item  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  6  to  1. 
They  were  approved  by  the  Executive  Board  of  the  General  Eldership;  submitted 
by  that  Board  to  the  General  Eldership  at  Fort  Scott,  in  May,  1909,  and,  together 
with  "The  Final  Action  on  the  Missionary  Question,"  were  adopted  by  yeas,  63; 
nays,  0;  absent,  5.  This  officially  eliminated  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  1890,  and  re- 
quired all  Woman's  Missionary  Societies,  local  and  State,  to  unite  with  the  loyal 
Societies  and  co-operate  with  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  the  General  Eldership. 

This  unsettled  condition  from  1903  to  1909  militated  seriously  against  the 
foreign  mission  interests.  And  as  the  time  was  approaching  for  Miss  Hershey  to 
return  home  on  furlough  it  became  a  matter  of  concern  what  to  do  to  continue 
the  work  in  Bogra,  India.      But  at  the  meeting  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  W.  M.  S. 


894 


History   of   the  Churches  of   God 


in  October,  1907,  the  offer  of  "Miss  Leah  Becker  to  become  the  companion  of  Mis* 
Hei'shey,  was  accepted,  she  having  been  in  India  for  nine  years.  This  in  a  measure 
filled  the  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  capricious  defection  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bowers- 
in  1907.  In  June,  1908,  Miss  Mary  Witsaman,  of  South  Milford,  Ind.,  ap- 
plied to  the  Board  of  Directors  for  appointment  as  missionary  to  India,  and  was 
accepted. 

Miss  Witsaman  was  converted  at  the  age  of  seventeen  years,  and  at  once  began 
to  work  for  the  Master.  Her  education  was  obtained  in  the  common  schools  of 
Indiana,  and  at  two  institutions  of  higher  learning  from  which  she  held  certificates. 
In  other  ways  she  availed  herself  of  all  possible  privileges  for  self-culture.  Being 
impressed  as  early  as  1906  that  foreign  mission  work  was  her  sphere  of  Christian 
endeavor,  she  surrendered  her  will  to  the  divine  will,  and  began  preparation  for 


Mi's.  C  I.  Bi-own. 

her  chosen  calling.  After  touring  to  a  limited  extent  among  the  churches,  assist- 
ing in  gathering  funds  for  an  outfit  and  the  voyage,  she  sailed  for  Inaia  the  latter 
part  of  October,  1908,  reaching  Calcutta  Friday,  November  13th,  and  the  follow- 
ing Monday  proceeded  to  Bogra.  Mrs.  Becker  returned  to  the  United  States  in 
1909,  and  united  with  the  church  of  God  at  Mt.  Joy,  Pa.,  having  formerly  been  in 
fellowship  with  the  Christian  and  Missionary  Alliance.  She  expressed  a  desire  to 
return  to  India  as  a  missionary  for  the  churches  of  God.  She  was  accepted  by  the 
W.  G.  M.  S.,  and  on  November  12,  1910,  "sailed  for  far-away  India  to  again  take 
up  the  missionary  work."  Miss  Hershey  expressed  a  desire  to  have  a  furlough  of 
one  year,  beginning  in  the  Spring  of  1910;  but  she  agreed  to  defer  her  return 
another  year,  until  her  term  of  service  should  expire.  Miss  Becker  having  arrived 
at  the  Mission  Station  in  India,  Miss  Hershey  made  all  necessary  arrangements, 
and  on  February  12,  1911,  embarked  for  her  native  land,  landing  in  San  Francisco, 


Mission    Work    and    Missionary    Societies  895 

California,  April  13th,  reaching  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  April  22nd.  She  spent  a 
y^ar  and  six  months  in  America;  not  a  year  of  rest,  but  largely  a  year  of 
activity  and  mission  work.  At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of 
the  W.  G.  M.  S.  June,  1911,  Aaron  E.  Myers  made  application  to  go  as  a  mission- 
ary to  India.  He  graduated  at  Findlay  College  in  the  class  of  1911.  He  was 
accepted,  but  was  directed  "to  pursue  a  course  of  special  study  for  one  year."  He 
was  a  member  of  the  church  of  God  at  Elizabethtown,  Pa.,  and  had  been  ordained 
to  the  ministry  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership.  An  unassuming  young  man 
of  exceptional  character,  with  fair  natural  talents,  of  robust  health,  he  gave 
promise  of  usefulness  in  his  new  field  of  labor.  In  the  Spring  of  1912  Howard  W. 
Cover,  native  of  Highspire,  Dauphin  county,  and  pastor  of  the  church  of  God  at 
Columbia,  Lancaster  county,  made  known  his  determination  to  enter  the  foreign 
mission  field.  A  graduate  of  Findlay  College,  for  three  years  pastor  of  the  church 
at  Columbia,  he  was  qualified  intellectually  and  spiritually  for  mission  work. 
Being  of  fine  physique,  there  was  promise  of  ample  strength  for  the  self-denials 
and  hardships  of  life  as  a  missionary  in  India.  On  Tuesday,  October  22,  1912, 
his  marriage  to  Viola  G.  Hershey  was  celebrated  at  the  home  of  the  bride's  parents. 


Mi-s.  O.  B.  Huston, 

Long  Villa  Farm,  near  Landisville,  Lancaster  county.  Pa.  Farewell  services  pre- 
paratory to  sailing  were  held  at  Harrisburg,  Highspire,  Elizabethtown,  Landisville, 
Lancaster  and  Philadelphia.  On  October  31st  the  three  missionaries  boarded  the 
steamship  George  Washington  and  sailed  for  Cherbourg,  France;  thence  overland 
through  France  and  Switzerland  and  Italy,  where  on  December  4th  they  embarked 
for  Colombo,  South  of  India,  and  reached  Bogra  on  New  Year's  Day,  1913. 

During  these  ten  years  of  unremitting  care  and  disinterest  labors  on  the  part 
of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.  organized  in  1903,  there  were  encouraging  indications  of  success 
in  the  foreign  field.  At  home  evidences  of  confidence  multiplied  year  by  year.  Un- 
exampled harmony  and  unanimity  of  sentiment  prevailed  in  the  Society,  and  a 
spirit  of  earnest  co-operation  spread  throughout  the  Elderships.  Much  of  this  was 
due  to  the  judicious  management,  as  well  as  to  the  mild  and  gentle  temperament 
of  the  leaders  in  the  work.  There  were  few  changes  in  the  personnel  of  the  So- 
ciety and  its  Board  of  Directors.  It  had  but  three  Presidents  in  the  ten  years. 
Miss  Clara  E.  Stare  served  in  that  capacity  from  1903  to  1909.      She  was  a  native 


896  History  of  the  Churches  op  God 

of  Decatur,  111.,  whose  father  was  a  prominent  layman  of  the  Church  in  that  State. 
Mild  and  of  a  domestic  disposition,  she  possessed  those  virtues  which  invite  friend- 
ship and  affection,  but  do  not  so  much  dazzle  the  public  eye.  Only  because  she 
declined  to  serve  longer,  notwithstanding  importunities  from  all  quarters,  was  her 
successor,  in  the  person  of  Mi-s.  C.  I.  BroAvn,  elected  in  1909.  Susan  Hoffman 
Brown,  wife  of  Dr.  C  I.  BroA\ai,  "who  went  at  noontide,  when  life  is  so  full"  to  the 
hetter  country,  served  only  about  four  months.  She  died  September  9,  1909,  and 
was  buried  near  her  childhood  home,  at  Woodbury,  Bedford  county.  Pa.  She  was 
a  woman  of  fine  character,  of  excellent  judgment,  of  good  talent  and  of  Christlike 
spirit.  For  some  years  prior  to  the  organization  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.,  of  which  she 
became  President,  she  was  prominently  identified  with  the  foreign  mission  work 
in  East  Pennsylvania.  In  1903  she  was  one  of  the  five  delegates  from  the  East 
Pennsylvania  W.  M.  S.  to  the  Convention  to  organize  the  new  W.  G.  M.  S.  Prom 
that  date  to  the  close  of  her  beautiful  and  useful  life  she  ceased  not  to  do  her  full 
share  of  the  work  of  the  Society.  On  January  5,  1910,  the  Executive  Board  of 
the  W.  G.  M.  S.,  by  correspondence,  elected  Mrs.  O.  B.  Huston  President  of  the 
Society  and  of  the  Executive  Board.  The  wife  and  widow  of  a  faithful,  loyal  min- 
ister of  the  Illinois  Eldership,  she  had  years  of  training  for  Christian  work.  She 
had  proved  her  fitness  for  her  new  position  by  her  diligence  and  efficiency  in  the 
discharge  of  her  official  duties.  Her  work  in  connection  with  the  Illinois  W.  M.  S. 
and  local  societies  where  her  husband  was  pastor  recommended  her  for  higher 
positions. 


DIVISION    VIII. 


HYMNOLOGY. 


C.  H.— 30 


DIVISION   VIII. 


HYMNOLOGY. 


"The  divine  spirit  of  poesy,"  says  Shenvood  in  "The  History  of  the  Cross,"  is 
"incarnated  in  large  portions  of  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures,  and  in  the  genius 
of  such  men  as  Milton,  Dante,  Watts,  Cowper,  Toplady  and  the  Wesleys,  and  which 
has  found  expression  in  many  grand  old  hymns  of  the  Christian  Church."  By  the 
sacred  songs  of  these  renowned  men  a  hymnology  slowly  accumulated  through  the 
centuries  as  a  priceless  inheritance  to  the  church.  Great  has  been  the  influence 
of  these  sacred  songs  on  the  tastes,  the  devotions,  the  religious  sentiments  and  the 
spiritual  development  of  the  church.  Pre-eminently  the  Christian  religion  is  the 
religion  of  music  and  song.  Paul  speaks  of  the  singing  of  psalms  and  hymns  and 
spiritual  songs  in  such  a  way  that  his  words  have  been  by  some  interpreted  to  place 
these  compositions  on  an  equality  with  canonical  Scriptures,  including  all  Chris- 
tian hymns  which  grow  out  of  the  word  of  God.  They  have  ^een  at  least  the 
poetic  medium  through  which  to  give  expression  to  the  devotional  feeling  of  Chris- 
tian hearts.  This  is  eminently  true  of  the  hymns  of  Doddridge  and  Watts,  the 
Wesleys,  Luther,  Knox  and  scores  of  others.  Many  of  them  possessed  rare  lyrical 
excellence,  and  breathed  the  religious  fervor  of  believing  hearts,  and  became  ex- 
pressive of  the  varied  Christian  experiences  of  millions  of  devout  souls.  Hym- 
nology relates  to  the  hymns  and  sacred  lyrics  composed  by  authors  of  a  particular 
country,  or  period,  or  of  authors,  or  of  any  particular  Church.  Modern  English 
hymnology  has  been  regarded  as  "the  beginning  of  a  new  dispensation  in  the  Chris- 
tian church."  Watts  is  recognized  as  its  founder,  and  the  most  prolific  authors  of 
sacred  song  are  found  in  a  cycle  of  seventy  years  of  which  he  is  the  center — 
1713-1783.  About  two  hundred  other  hymnists  have  made  contributions  to  hym- 
nology in  small  quantities,  though  of  such  a  character  that  the  church  will  not  suf- 
fer their  hymns  to  die.  Hymnals  are  a  little  over  four  hundred  years  old,  for  it 
was  in  150  5  that  the  Unitas  Fratum  (Moravian  Church)  was  the  first  to  publish  a 
hymn-book  in  the  Bohemian  language,  which  contained  versions  of  old  Latin 
hymns,  together  with  many  original  compositions,  mostly  by  John  Huss  and  Bishop 
Luke,  of  Prague,  who  was  the  editor.  These  hymns  were  a  power  in  the  Church 
and  in  the  land;  gave  public  life  to  worship;  were  familiarly  sung  by  nobles  and 
peasants  in  their  homes,  and  they  set  forth  the  gospel  in  strains  which  captivated 
the  hearts  of  thousands  in  the  Catholic  Church.  The  first  English  edition  of  the 
Moravian  Hymn-Book  was  printed  in  the  United  States  in  1813.  In  other  Churches 
hynin-books  were  at  first  generally  published  by  individual  publishers,  or  firms. 
This  was  true  of  the  United  Brethren  Church.  Its  first  hymn-book  was  published 
in  this  way  in  1807,  and  the  first  English  hymn-book  ordered  by  its  General  Con- 
ference was  published  in  1849.  The  same  incidents  are  a  part  of  the  history  of 
the  Evangelical  Association.  Its  first  hymn-book  was  published  by  John  Walter 
in  1810.  In  1816  a  large  work  was  compiled  under  authority  of  an  Annual  Con- 
ference, and  accepted  by  the  General  Conference. 

Winebrenner  followed  in  the  steps  of  these  pious  men,  though  he  published 
his  first  hymn-book  relatively  much  earlier.  In  1825,  before  churches  of  God  were 
organized,  he  published  a  song-book  entitled:  "A  Prayer-meeting  and  Revival 
Hymn-Book;  or,  a  Selection  of  the  Best  Psalms  and  Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs 
from  Various  Authors,  and  for  the  Use  of  Social  Prayer-meetings  and  Revivals  of 
Religion."  An  epitome  of  the  nature  of  the  work  in  which  he  was  engaged  is  re- 
vealed in  this  title.  It  was  "entered  in  the  Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania, 
1825."  It  was  a  pocket  edition,  and  its  popularity  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  in  1848 
Winebrenner  issued  the  tenth  edition,  and  it  continued  to  be  the  only  hymn-book 
of  the  Church  until  1859.  It  was  the  private  property  of  Winebrenner.  He  was 
one  of  the  best  compilers  of  hymn-books  of  the  century.  As  early  as  1841  an 
effort  was  made  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  and  the  Ohio  Elderships  to  buy  the 
stereotype  plates  of  this  hymn-book.  It  was  what  now  is  called  "a  monopoly,"  of 
which  all  the  profits  went  to  Winebrenner.  The  desire  prevailed  to  secure  this 
"monopoly"  for  the  Church.  Under  official  actions  by  these  Annual  Elderships 
subscriptions  were  taken  for  a  Fund  to  buy  the  plates.      Slow  progress  was  made^ 


9O0  JIlSTORY    OF    THE    ChURCHES    OF    GOD 

•and  so  in  1849  Winebreiiner  published  "a  new  and  improved  edition  of  the  German 
and  English  Revival  Hymn-Book."  Again  in  1853  another  edition  was  issued, 
although  the  General  Eldership  in  184  8  directed  that  a  committee  should  be  ap- 
pointed to  compile  a  new  hymn-book,  combining  with  it  a  Sunday-school  hymn- 
book.  The  Ohio  Eldership  in  1843  had  already  taken  some  steps  to  the  same  end. 
it  created  "a  committee  of  nine  to  act  with  reference  to  the  preparation  of  a 
Church  Hymn-Book."  This  was  done  after  the  plan  to  buy  from  Winebrenner 
the  plates  of  the  Revival  Hymn-Book  had  failed.  Winebrenner  was  not  averse  to 
the  Ohio  idea;  but  he  insisted  that  the  three  Annual  Elderships  should  work  to- 
gether; that  a  joint  committee  should  be  appointed.  Under  the  caption — "Co- 
operation Defended" — he  wrote  two  editorials  which  would  apply  at  any  time  when 
there  were  divided  counsels.  It  developed  into  a  somewhat  sarcastic  and  virulent 
controversy,  as  it  largely  hinged  on  the  matter  of  net  proceeds  which  should  go  to 
the  Church  to  be  used  in  supporting  missions.  But  in  July,  1844,  Ohio  yielded, 
and  asked  for  a  Joint  Committee.  In  1848  the  question  was  not  agitated  at  the 
General  Eldership.  But  in  1851  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership  took  up  the 
matter,  and  declared  that  "we  need  a  selection  of  hymns  approved  by  the  General 
Eldership,  and  published  under  its  authority."  The  same  year  the  General  Elder- 
ship "appointed  Winebrenner  to  make  a  collection  of  hymns  for  the  new  hymn- 
book."  The  project  lay  dormant  for  three  years,  when  in  1854  the  General  Elder- 
ship directed  the  Board  of  Publication  to  publish  a  hymn-book,  to  be  the  property 
"of  said  body."  Winebrenner  began  its  compilation,  but  he  was  not  expected  to 
do  the  work  without  remuneration,  and  the  Board  had  no  means  even  to  pay  him 
the  $300.00  promised  for  his  part  of  the  work.  In  July,  1855,  he  reported  that 
"the  manuscript  was  partly  completed;  but  there  are  no  funds  to  proceed." 
August,  1855,  it  was  announced  that  the  new  hymn-book  project  was  "still 
slumbering."  It  was  estimated  that  the  first  edition  would  cost  $2,000.00.  In 
November,  1855,  a  pro  rata  division  of  this  amount  was  made,  as  follows:  East 
Pennsylvania,  $716.66;  West  Pennsylvania,  $300.00;  Ohio,  $444.44;  Indiana,  Illi- 
nois and  Iowa,  each  $179.63.  If  these  amounts  were  promptly  raised  the  book 
could  be  off  the  press  in  the  Spring  of  1856.  This  was  not  done,  and  the  matter 
went  over  to  the  General  Eldership  of  1857,  when  the  progress  made  was  reported, 
and  the  statement  made  that  "now  only  the  means  are  wanted."  After  considering 
sundry  plans  to  secure  the  means,  an  apportionment  of  $1,500.00  was  decided 
upon,  as  follows:  East  Pennsylvania,  $600.00;  West  Pennsylvania,  $200.00; 
Ohio,  $350.00;  Indiana,  $100.00;  Illinois  and  Iowa,  each  $125.00.  As  the  Elder- 
ships at  once  proceeded  with  their  work  after  the  Fall  sessions  of  1857,  Wine- 
brenner and  the  Board  of  Publication  resumed  their  labors  with  renewed  diligence. 
The  work  was  to  be  ready  by  May  1,  1858.  But  delays  followed.  May  11,  1858, 
Winebrenner  announced  that  "I  have  partly  finished  compilation  and  indexes;" 
but  it  was  not  until  a  meeting  of  the  Revision  Committee  in  October,  1858,  when 
Winebrenner  "presented  the  manuscript  to  the  Committee."  The  Committee 
"highly  praised"  the  work.  Winebrenner  stated  that  he  had  used  "great  pains  to 
get  up  a  superior  and  standard  work,"  which  no  competent  critic  could  call  in 
question.  Waiting  for  funds,  in  March,  1859,  George  Ross,  member  of  the  Board, 
announced  that  the  "issue  of  the  Hymn-Book  in  a  few  months  is  a  fixed  fact." 
May  12th  another  bulletin  announced  that  "400  pages  are  already  stereotyped." 
July,  1859:  "The  Hymn-Book  will  soon  be  ready  for  delivery."  But  patient  ex- 
pectancy was  so  wrought  up  that  when  the  Illinois  Eldership  convened,  October  1, 
1859,  it  put  on  record  on  its  Minutes  that  "a  stray  copy  of  the  new  Church  Hymn- 
Book  found  its  way  to  our  Eldership."  The  Eldership  was  "highly  pleased." 
Ohio  said:  "It  more  than  meets  our  expectations."  This  was  the  common  senti- 
ment. The  first  edition  of  1,984  copies  was  exhausted  by  New  Year's,  1860,  and  a 
second  edition  of  1,515  was  printed  in  January,  1860.  Winebrenner  deserves  the 
highest  praise  for  the  almost  perfect  work  he  did  in  the  preparation  of  the  manu- 
script of  this  Hymn-Book.  It  is  true  that  some  of  the  hymns  are  "perfectly  frigid 
versification,"  and  others  only  "versified  doctrine;"  little  blame  attaches  to  the 
compiler,  for  such  defects  are  found  in  all  hymn-books. 

The  Church  Hymn-Book  with  all  its  superior  features  did  not  retain  its  popu- 
larity long.  As  early  as  1875  the  General  Eldership  heard  and  heeded  the  "de- 
mand for  a  hymnal,"  or  a  "Church  Hymn-Book  with  suitable  music."  A  great 
change  had  come  over  the  spirit  of  the  churches;  an  age  of  whims;  a  capricious, 
hysterical,  frivolous  age.  It  demanded  frequent  changes,  some  of  the  popular 
song-books  lasting  only  a  few  years.      Few  of  them  had  new  hymns  which  had  in 


Hymnology  901 

them  the  breath  of  immortality.  Their  standard  of  poetry  was  not  exalted.  Sher- 
wood criticises  them  as  "containing  too  much  'gush,'  'sentiment,'  human  passion 
and  machinery.  There  is  less  Christian  doctrine,  or  serious,  pious  thought  in 
them,  less  of  the  divine  flavor,  and  richness,  and  depth  and  varied  experiences." 
They  do  not  compare  with  those  rare  and  inspired  hymns  of  Watts,  and  Cowper, 
and  Toplady,  and  the  Wesleys,  which  are  found  in  all  our  best  Church  Hymn-books, 
and  which  have  contributed  so  largely  to  the  edification  and  spirituality  of  God's 
people  in  ages  past.  It  was,  however,  the  cry  for  music  with  the  hymns  which 
created  the  demand  for  a  new  song  book.  Hence,  the  resolution  considered  by 
the  General  Eldership  in  187.5  ordered  "the  Board  of  Publication  to  compile  and 
publish  a  Hymnal,  or  the  Church  Hymn-Book  with  music."  While  it  failed  ol 
adoption,  the  question  would  not  rest,  and  in  1877  the  Illinois  Eldership  and 
several  others  instructed  their  delegates  to  use  their  influence  in  favor  of  publish- 
ing a  Church  Hymnal.  It  was  considered  an  "absolute  necessity,"  as  the  Church 
Hymn-Book  was  being  displaced  by  popular  music  books.  As  a  result  of  this  per- 
sistent and  general  agitation  the  General  Eldership  in  187  8  appointed  C,  H.  Foniey 
and  M.  S.  Newcomer  a  committee  to  be  added  to  the  Board  of  Publication,  and  in- 
structed them  to  provide  a  Hymnal  for  the  use  of  the  churches  of  God.  Later,  in 
1881,  George  Sigler  was  added  to  the  Committee.  Becoming  impatient  of  delay, 
in  October,  1879,  the  Executive  Board  called  attention  to  the  action  of  the  General 
Eldership.  In  June,  18  80,  the  Incorporate  Board  did  the  same,  and  desired  to 
know  why  the  Board  of  Publication  failed  to  carry  into  effect  the  action  of  1878. 
Annual  Elderships  took  up  the  subject  in  the  Pall  of  1880.  But  the  members  of 
the  Committee  were  quietly  at  work,  and  on  December  7,  1881,  it  announced  that 
it  had  "completed  its  work,  and  the  book  is  in  the  hands  of  the  printer."  February 
22,  1882,  the  new  Hymnal  was  ready.  The  verdict  on  the  work  of  the  Committee 
was  "generally  very  favorable." 

Winebreuner  had  some  talent  for  poetry.  Not  only  as  a  judge  of  good  re- 
ligious poetry;  but  also  as  a  writer  of  hymns.  He  wrote  a  dedicatory  hymn  which 
was  used  when  the  Lancaster  bethel  was  dedicated.  In  18.55  he  published  a  dedi- 
catory hymn:  — 

"On  bethel's  solemn  ground. 

Great  God,  we've  met  to-day. 
To  dedicate  this  house  to  Thee; 

To  preach,  to  sing  and  pray." 

And  a  little  later  another:  — 

"Here   stands   another   bethel." 

He  also  wrote  an  "Eldership  hymn":- — • 

"Indulgent  God  of  love  and  power. 
Be  with  us  at  this  place  and  hour; 
Smile  on  our  souls,  our  plans  approve. 
By  which  we  seek  to  spread  Thy  love." 

His  hymn  on  baptism  is  partly  hortatory:  — 

"People  of  the  living  God, 
Walk  the  way  that  Jesus  trod; 
Down  into  the  water  go. 
Be  baptized,  your  faith  to  show." 

One  of  his  revival  hymns  was  an  earnest  prayer:  — 

"Spirit  of  God,  Thine  influence  shed 

On  us,  and  all  around; 
Hallow  this  place,  and  bless  Thy  word, 

Make  every  heart  to  bound." 

A  prayer-meeting  hymn  was  a  devout  prayer:  — 

"Teach  us,  O  Lord,  aright  to  plead 

For  mercies  from  above; 
O  come  and  bless  our  souls  indeed 
With  light  and  joy  and  love." 


go2    ■  History    of    tfie    Churches    of    God 

He  also  wrote  a  hymn  on  Feet-washing:  — 

"The  Church  of  God  believes  it  right 

To  think  and  do  as  Jesus  bade. 
When  on  that  dark  and  doleful  night 

He  gave  His  law,  and  plainly  said." 

Not  less  than  a  dozen  of  these  hymns  were  put  in  The  Church  Hymn-Book; 
but  only  the  last  one  is  in  "The  Church  of  God  Selection  of  Spiritual  Songs." 

J.  W.  Weishampel  had  a  vein  of  poetic  sentiment,  and  wrote  some  very  good 
verse.  Two  of  his  productions  are  found  in  The  Church  Hymn-Book.  The  one  on 
Feet-washing:  — 

"Behold!  our  blessed  Lord 

Met  with  His  chosen  band, 
And  said  to  them  in  act  and  word: 
'Keep  this,  my  plain  command.'  " 

It  then  rehearsed  in  rhyme  the  incidents  in  John  xiii.  The  other  one  is  on 
'The  Heavenly  Reunion,"  with  a  sprightly  chorus:- — 

"Ye  saints  of  God  below, 

Lift  up  your  longing  eyes; 
And  let  your  thoughts  to  glory  go. 

Away  beyond  the  skies." 

His  earliest  published  hymns  appeared  in  The  Gospel  Publisher,  when  In  1840 
he  became  its  Editor:  — 

"When  Jesus  left  his  Father's  throne, 
Where  he  in  brightest  glory  shone." 

In  184  8  he  published  in  The  Advocate  one  of  his  best  poems  on  "The  Institu- 
tion of  Washing  the  Disciples'  Feet."  It  had  some  similarity  to  Emerson's 
Threnody,  considered  one  of  the  finest  productions  of  this  versatile  genius. 
Another  one  the  same  year  on  "The  Existence  of  God"  has  recognized  merit.  One 
on  "The  Expiation,"  in  1852,  is  quite  superior: 

"In  the  morning  of  creation  ifwas  said  by  God  and  prophet, 
That  the  world  should  know  redemption,  by  a  sacrifice  divine." 

He  published  a  number  of  camp-meeting  and  prayer-meeting  hymns  in  Ger- 
man when  he  was  Editor  of  The  Kundschafter.  In  humorous  vein  was  his  lyric 
on  "The  Red  Shirt."  One  of  his  last,  and  the  most  pathetic  of  all  his  poems,  was 
headed:      "How  is  it  Now?"  "on  the  happy  death  of  E.  H.  Thomas":  — 

"By  the  side  of  the  bed  where  the  sick  saint  lay." 

It  has  been  well  said  that  "poetry's  future  is  immense."  And  this  is  true  of 
the  churches  of  God.  There  have  been  many  of  its  ministers  who  have  essayed  to 
write  poetry.  This  is  natural,  for  poetry  is  the  strongest  part  of  what  is  called 
religion,  because  "in  the  very  broadest  and  grandest  sense  that  can  be  given  to  the 
words,  poetry  is  religion."  Besides,  the  diffusion  of  the  poetic  talent  is  more  gen- 
eral than  is  frequently  supposed,  and  if  there  are  few  poets  of  high  distinction, 
there  are  many  versifiers  of  more  than  mediocre  ability.  One  of  the  earliest 
writers  of  the  Church  who  sought  publicity,  after  Winebrenner  and  Weishampel, 
was  AVilhelm  Bauenneister,  a  German  preacher.  In  1841  he  published  a  poem  of 
eleven  stanzas,  entitled,  "A  Pilgrim":  — 

"Arm  ist  hier  mein  stand  und  leben, 

Leidensroll  und  oft  betrubt; 
Doch  min  Gott  had  es  gegeben, 

Weil  er  mich  so  sehr  geliebt." 

He  was  followed  in  1849  by  two  ministers  of  widely  divergent  tastes  and 
temperaments.  S.  B.  Howard  was  argumentative  rather  than  poetic.  He  lacked 
the  power  of  poetic  imagery.     He  wrote,  "Where  is  Wisdom?" 

"Tell  me,  ye  pilgrims  of  earth. 

Ye  sages  learned,  or  sons  of  mirth, 
Ye  men  of  wealth,  or  fame  renound — 

Tell  me  where  wisdom  may  be  found." 


Hymnology  903 

The  other  was  H.  L.  Soule,  a  Perry  county,  Pa.,  farmer's  boy  with  exceptional 
poetic  powers.  This  was  revealed  in  song  and  sermon,  in  his  hunger  for  classic 
poetry,  in  his  descriptive  faculty.  But  he  was  not  disposed  to  write  poetry,  but 
appeared  twice,  at  least,  in  print.  In  1849  he  wrote  "Lines  on  the  death  of  Sister 
Megrew":  — 

"Weep  not  for  her,  Jehovah  saith, 
For  I  will  take  her  by  a  stroke; 
Bow  to  the  scepter  of  my  power, 
And  be  submissive  to  thy  lot." 

In  1852  he  wrote  a  fine  poem  entitled,  "Ode  to  Death,"  which  has  some  re- 
semblance to  passages  in  Dante's  "The  Vision." 

In  1851  John  A.  Plowman,  a  matter  of  fact  man,  published  a  "Baptismal 
Hymn":- — 

"In  the  writings  of  the  gospel  an  ordinance  we  find, 
And  in  the  third  of  Matthew  this  ordinance  enjoined; 
Enjoined  on  all  believers  who  witness,  like  the  Son, 
Who  came  and  was  baptized  by  his  forerunner  John." 

In  1855  James  Colder  published  a  "hymn"  to  be  used  at  a  "Musical  Festival" 
held  at  Mt.  Joy,  Pa.,  February  5,  1855:  — 

,  "We  come,  O  God,  thy  praise  to  sing, 

And  name  thy  goodness,  rich  and  free; 
With  heart  and  life  we  tribute  bring — 
May  it  acceptance  find  with  thee." 

And  in  1858  he  composed  a  hymn  doubtless  to  be  used  in  the  Sabbath-school, 
entitled 

"A  Song  of  Welcome." 
"Welcome,  friends,  welcome  all, 

Whom  here  to-day  we  meet; 
Your  presence  fills  our  hearts  with  joy. 

And  makes  our  labors  sweet. 
Awhile  we  leave  our  happy  homes, 

And  to  this  lovely  place. 
With  joy  in  every  heart  we  come, 
A  smile  on  every  face." 

Three  years  earlier,  in  1855,  Geo.  W.  AV'ilson  published  his  first  poem:  — 
"The  Returning  Sinner." 
"What  a  wretch,  O  Lord,  am  II 
Made  of  earth,  and  born  to  die; 
Must  endure  eternally 
Peace  or  endless  misery. 
Thou  to  me  a  law  hast  given, 
Berfect  as  the  light  of  heaven; 
But  against  the  law  I  sin — 
Most  rebellious   I   have   been." 

He  did  not  re-enter  the  domain  of  prosody  until  1880,  when  he  published 
"From  Shore  to  Shore."     A  few  months  later,  December  29,  1880,  he  published 

"Memorial  of  Dr.  George  Ross." 

"Awake!  Awake!  of  muse  of  sacred  song, 

An  elegy  prepare  of  this  sad  news! 
Put  on  thy  mourning  habit,  dark  and  long; 

A  solemn  dirge  to  sing;  do  not  refuse! 
Hark!  from  the  East  the  mournful  news  we  hear 

Of  one  that's  fallen  by  the  hand  of  death! 
A  man,  a  Christian;   yes,  a  brother  dear. 

His  soul  surrendered  with  his  mortal  breath." 

There  was  good  sentiment  in  it,  but  as  poetry,  open  to  criticism.  Wilson  was  a 
reasoner;  he  was  not  a  poet.  Yet  beginning  again  to  woo  the  muses  in  19  02,  he 
published  a  half  dozen  poems  in  as  many  months.  He  continued  at  intervals  to 
publish  his  poetic  productions  during  1903,  numbering  nearly  one  dozen.     There 


904  -  History    op    the    Churches    of    God 

Was  nothing  frigid  or  dull  about  them.  They  were  sententious,  strong  in  expres- 
sion and  elevated  in  conception.  But  they  were  mainly  versified  doctrine.  He  was 
a  vigorous,  trenchant  writer,  and  probably  no  reader,  and  less  a  student,  of  poetry. 
In  July,  1906,  the  shadows  were  growing  long,  and  in  that  month  he  published: — - 

"Reflections  on  the  Near  End  of  This  Life." 
"A  few  more  steps  below,  and  then 
My  earthly  race  is  run; 
So  near  the  end  of  life,  that  when 
My  work  will  all  be  done, 
'   ■  ■  I'll  go  to  my  eternal  rest. 

With  all  the  ransomed  and  the  blest." 

This  was  his  last  contribution,  and  on  February  6,  1907,  he  went  to  that  land 
of  which  in  its  closing  couplet  he  sang:  — 

"And  by  a  living  faith  I  see 
My  rest,  my  home  eternally." 

In  1861  another  poet  of  the  younger  generation  of  preachers,  who  had  little 
taste  for  fiction  or  poetry,  was  tempted  to  clothe  his  thoughts  in  rhymes.  He  had 
done  so  years  before  to  read  to  near  associates  to  a  much  greater  measure;  but  In 
1861  he  gave  to  the  public  a  poem  entitled:- — 

"There  Shall  be  No  Night  There." 
"Rejoice,  O  ye  children  of  sorrow,  rejoice. 
For  a  time  will  soon  come,  saith  Jehovah's  voice, 
-  -  Wherein  there  shall  be  neither  day,  nor  yet  night. 

But  the  darkness,  now  thick,  shall  be  flooded  with  light.". 

This  was  followed  by  the  song,  adapted  to  some  popular  music  often  heard 
5ome  years  before,  entitled:  — 

"The  Saints'  Rest." 
"Far  away  in  glory 

Where  the  angels  sing, 
In  their  heavenly  beauty 
With  their  King, 
/  Are  the  holy  mansions 

Where  the  saints  shall  rest 
...  Free  from  cares,  forever  blest." 

Chorus:  — 
"Then  to  the  Father, 

Jesus  their  King, 
Unceasing  anthems 

They  shall  sing; 
For  the  blood  that  bought  them 
And  the  grace  that  saved, 
Bringing  them  to  heaven,  their  rest.'" 

This  was  followed  in  December,  1861,  by 

"The  Unfading  Choice." 
"No  time  so  fair  that  will  not  wear 

Upon  our  natures  frail; 
So  golden  morns  which  grace  adorns. 
Will  soon  with  age  be  pale. 

"Oh,  then  in  youth  walk  in  the  t^ruth, 

Prepare  for  worlds  on  high; 
Hear  Wisdom's  voice,  and  make  the  choice. 

That  crowns  you  when  you  die." 

Evidently  his  lute  broke,  for  its  sounds  were  not  heard  thereafter,  though  for 
many  years  Editor  of  The  Advocate,  and  a  copious  writer. 

And  now  after  a  lapse  of  years  "young  Lochinvar  comes  out  of  the  West,"  in 
the  person  of  M.  S.  Newcomer.  The  hymnody  peculiar  to  him  was  characterized  as 
a  rule  by  emotional  and  rhythmical  language.      It  was  not  mere  rhyme,  but  was 


Hymnology  905 

often  strikingly  metrical.  It  was  artistic  in  form,  subjective  and  meditative.  Much 
of  his  poetry  which  appeared  in  print  was  not  intended  for  singing,  but  consisted  of 
odes  of  a  good  degree  of  beauty  and  power.  He  first  appeared  in  print  on  January 
28,  1880,  with  a  poem  entitled  "The  Hour  Cometh,"  written  on  the  accidental  death 
of  a  Christian  brother  in  Missouri.  It  contains  some  noble  strains.  He  wrote  the 
Semi-Centennial  Hymn,  used  at  the  services  held  at  Philadelphia,  which  was  "auth- 
orized to  be  sung  by  every  congregation  at  the  Memorial  services  in  October."  He 
wrote  a  "Poem"  which  was  read  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  Findlay  College 

in  1884: — 

"Rising  temple,  speed  thy  glory! 

God  has  set  thy  pillars  fair, 
'Neath  the  gild  of  song  and  story. 

In  the  secret  place  of  prayer. 
Thou  art  but  the  milestone  speaking 

To  the  rushing  flood  of  years. 
As  we  hasten  thou  art  keeping 

Record  of  our  hopes  and  fears." 

The  mixing  of  his  metophors  was  one  of  the  defects  of  Newcomer's  poetry;  but 
the  literary  expression  was  quite  superior.      In  March,  1897,  he  published 

"The  Day  is  Breaking." 
"The  stars  are  fading  from  the  sky. 
The  purple  glints  the  golden  light; 
Tears  can  not  dim  the  wakeful  eye. 

Which  sweeps  the  breaking  vault  of  night. 
They  are  not  dead!     Though  now  they  seem 
Merged  in  the  pledge  of  Summer's  dream: 
The  day  is  breaking,  let  me  go!" 
Many  of  his  poems  were  published   in   "Golden   Gleanings."      Some  of  these 
were  like  the  blast  of  a  trumpet,  while  others  were  on  subjects  which  gave  "the 
wide  horizons  grander  view."     He    was    ambitious    to    fill    a    larger    place    in    the 
hymnody  of  the  Church,  and  on  the  Committee  to  publish  the  Hymnal  he  expressed 
a  desire  to  write  a  number  of  hymns.      But  the  book    being    a    "Selection"    of    a 
hymnal  published  by  Scribner  &  Co.,  with  no  alterations  except  the  insertion  of  a 
dozen  hymns  on  Feet-washing,  this  could  not  be  done.      However,  the  Hymns  Nos. 
830  and  832  were  written  by  him. 

Another  Illinois  minister  composed  and  published  a  few  poems  in  1889.  J. 
Bernard  was  moved  to  write  in  verse  on  the  Johnstown  flood,  a  task  which  de- 
manded talent  of  a  high  order. 

"The  Conemaugh  Wail." 
"The  waters  rushed  through  the  Conemaugh 

Swifter  than  the  eagle  flies; 
Many  to  untimely  deaths  did  go 

Under  the  surging  tides. 
And  many  wept  in  the  Conemaugh 

When  so  many  to  untimely  deaths  did  go." 

In  August  of  the  same  year  he  wrote  "Rachel  Weeping  for  Her  Children."     A 

month  later  he  wrote:  — 

"Hero  of  Calvary." 

"Thou  hero  bold  of  Calvary, 

Lift  high  thy  crimson  shield; 

To  all  proclaim  thy  victory, 

Make  all  thy  foes  to  yield." 

Bernard  had  the  two  angels  of  sincerity  and  conscience  to  guide  him  in  his 

poetic  dreams,  but  powers  of  imagery  were  not  developed. 

An  ode  to  the  steamship  "Furnessia,"  caught  in  a  storm  at  sea,  on  which  T.  W. 

Bellingham  was  returning  to  the  United  States,  inspired  him  to  write,  in  January, 

1896: — 

"After  a  Storm  at  Sea. 

"Furnessia,  thou  brave  and  gallant  ship. 

On  thee  we  stand,  and  patiently  do  watch  and  wait. 

Until  the  star  of  hope  shall  rise  and  sit 

Across  the  pathway,  bringing  blessings  while  we  wait." 

C.  H.— 31 


go6  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

It  has  been  said  that  without  meter  and  without  form  there  can  be  no  poetry; 
but  these  alone  do  not  constitute  poetry.  As  the  religious  element  predominated  in 
Bellinghani  he  excelled  in  writing  hymns.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Ohio  Eldership. 
In  September,  1897,  he  published:  — 

"Power  From  on  High." 
"The  Savior  of  men,  who  on  Calvary's  tree 
Purchased  redemption  for  you  and  for  me, 
Rose  from  the  grave  triumphant  and  brave. 
And  now  reigns  in  glory,  the  sinner  to  save." 

On  a  few  occasions  A.  P.  Stover,  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  ventured 
into  the  field  of  poesy.  For  the  issue  of  The  Advocate  of  January  2,  1901,  he 
wrote:  — 

"The  Closing  Century." 
"The  years  have  come,  the  years  have  gone, 

And  many  changes  have  been  wrought; 
The  men  of  brains  and  thrift  have  done 
That  which  of  old  the  fathers  thought." 

He  wrote  a  hymn  to  be  sung  at  the  services  incident  with  the  preaching  of  the 
Opening  Sermon  of  the  Eldership  in  1901  at  Mt.  Carmel,  Pa.,  when  he  was  pastor. 

L.  B.  Hai'tniaii,  of  Ohio,  had  the  poetic  temperament,  but  was  deficient  in  the 
facilities  which  must  accompany  it.  He  published  a  poem  suggested  by  his  sermon, 
"The  Trilogy,"  to  be  sung  to  the  tune — Chestnut  Hill:  — 

"The  work  of  God  you  see. 

Divided  by  the  Lord; 
So  made  of  parts  just  three. 

According  to  his  word. 
To  each  of  these  an  ordinance  stands. 
Mid  Zion's  walls,  by  Christ's  commands." 

In  1876  he  published,  in  lighter  vein, 

"Voices  of  the  Storm." 
"I  love  to  hear  the  rattling  rain 
Beat  wildly  on  my  window  pane, 
And   echo   back   the   night's    refrain 
When  day  is  lost  in  night." 

J.  Dennis,  of  Maine,  wrote  some  verses  in  1874,  one  on 

"Washing  Feet." 
"Oh,  that  my  Lord  would  count  me  meet 
To  wash  his  dear  disciples'  feet." 

W.  N.  Yates,  a  few  times,  while  minister  in  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  composed  poems 
which  were  well  received  by  the  readers  of  The  Advocate.  Gifted  with  the  power 
of  vision,  of  imagination,  and  of  easy  expression,  were  his  tastes  in  the  line  of 
poetry  or  hymn-writing,  he  would  stand  equal  with  the  best  in  the  Church.  In 
May,  1901,  he  published  a  short  poem  in  two  parts:  "The  Preacher's  Sunday 
Morning" — "The  Preacher's  Monday  Morning."      The  latter  reads: 

"The  holy  day  is  past.      Some  hearts  believed 
The  story,  and  put  their  faith  in  Jesus  Christ. 
But  scattered  here  and  there  is  a  doubting  Thomas, 
Who  declares  he  never  will  believe  until  he  sees 
The  sermon  practiced.     So  now,  dear  Lord, 
Help  me  this  week  to  live  in  such  a  way 
That  in  my  body  may  be  seen  the  marks 
Of  this  same  Jesus.     Until  the  doubter. 
Seeing  Christ  in  me,  may  cease  to  doubt, 
And  call  him  Lord." 

E.  Tatman,  of  Indiana,  essayed  to  write  some  hymns  for  publication.  The  first, 
"A  Dream  of  the  Last  Day,"  lacked  in  the  metrical  element,  and  gave  no  evidence 
of  adequate  powers  of  imagery  for  so  awe-inspiring  a  subject.  When  he  appeared 
in  the  role  of  a  hymnist,  in  December,  1899,  it  was  in 


Hymnou'Gy  907 


"A  Call  to  Duty." 
"Zion's  walls  are  falling. 

Many  watchmen  are  asleep; 
Jesus  he  is  calling, 

Go  and  feed  my  sheep. 
Will  you  go,  my  brother? 

Or  will  you  stay  at  home? 
Shift  your  duties  on  another. 

And  let  the  sheep  still  farther  roam!' 


Better  was  his 


"I  Am  Crucified  With  Christ." 
"I  am  standing  at  the  cross, 

Down  by  the  Savior's  side; 
The  world  to  me  is  dross. 

With  Christ  I'm  crucified." 

H.  W.  Kiiizaii,  of  Illinois,  who  was  licensed  in  1898,  began  the  publication  of 
hymns  nearly  a  year  earlier,  on  November  17,  1897,  on  "A  Resurrected  Hope."  In 
some  of  his  hymns  were  found  flowers  of  literature  most  fragrant.  He  seemed  to 
possess  a  picture  gallery  of  pure  imagination,  stored  with  lofty  and  lovely  images. 
He  never  desecrated  his  high  powers,  nor  burned  incense  before  unhallowed  shrines. 
His  second  poem,  December  8,  1897,  was:  — 

"The  Beautiful  City." 
"I  hear  of  a  beautiful  city 

With  streets  that  are  paved  with  gold; 
With  walls  that  are  of  jasper. 

And  wonders  yet  untold. 
They  say  this  city  lies  over 

Death's  dark  and  gloomy  way, 
And  that  'tis  heaven  so  glorious. 

One  bright,  eternal  day." 

He  also  wrote  "Christmas,"  and  a  touching  sonnet  about  "my  little  boy,  climb- 
ing on  my  knee,"  saying,  "Papa,  sing  for  me  to-day."  And  possibly  out  of  a  sadder 
heart  was  born  the  elegy,  "Only  a  Lock  of  Hair,"  which  was  "worth  to  him  more 
than  gems  or  gold."  His  "Memories  of  Childhood"  touches  a  responsive  chord  in 
every  heart.      Prominence  was  given  in  The  Advocate  to 

"Am  I  Contented?" 
"I  dream  by  day;  yes,  fondly  dream. 

And  as  I  dream  I  ask: 
Am  I  contented  with  my  lot. 

Each  toilsome,  irksome  task? 
Life's  sunshine,  is  it  bright  enough. 

Or  would  I  change  its  hue? 
Am  I  contented?      This  I  ask 

Each  hour  the  long  day  through." 

With  equal  power  of  penetration  he  wrote  "Mother,  Home  and  Heaven,"  "I 
Shall  Rest,"  "  'Tis  Night,"  "He  is  Risen,"  and  "At  the  Window,"  and  a  half  dozen 
more. 

During  the  period  Kruzan  was  making  his  contributions  to  the  Church's  hymn- 
ody,  three  other  poets  for  a  day  shone  in  the  ecclesiastical  skies.  The  first  was  H. 
D.  Boiighter,  a  student  at  Findlay  College,  who  published,  April  5,  1899, 

"A  Voice  From  Heaven." 
"There  comes  to  man  in  accents  sweet. 
The  voice  from  God  the  heart  to  greet; 
Oh,  listen  to  the  strains  of  love, 
Descending  from  the  throne  above." 

W.  W.  Anderson,  West  Pennsylvania,  on  May  10,  1899,  gave  to  the  readers  of 
The  Advocate 


9o8  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

"Then  and  Now." 

"With  trembling  soul  I  used  to  sing: 

'Simply  to  thy  cross  I  cling'; 

But  now  on  solid  rock  I  stand, 

And  walk  with  Jesus  hand  in  hand." 

The  President  of  Pindlay  College  in  1900,  C.  Manchester,  sought  to  illustrate 

the  dictum,  that  "the  poets,  better  than  any  other  moral  teachers,  lead  us  to  'tne 

great  in  conduct,  and  the  pure  in  thought.'  "      He  wrote  other  poems,  but  on  March 

21,  1900,  he  published 

"Four  Tests." 

"We  ask  for  honor  and  power. 

But  shrink  from  drinking  their  cup. 
We  go  to  Jesus  the  Master, 

To  ask  for  a  place  higher  up. 
We  long  to  sit  at  his  right  hand, 

We  want  his  glory  and  fame. 
But  shun  the  path  of  the  Master, 

Who  went  to  glory  through  shame." 
"Faith  in  the  Coming  of  Christ"  was  the  subject  of  a  poem  by  H.  D.  Mclntyre, 
January  22,  1902:— 

"I  see  the  golden  city  with  unbeclouded  eyes, 
I  see  the  holy  angels  descending  from  the  skies; 
I  hear  the  voice  of  Jesus  that  summons  home  his  blessed, 
Farewell,  farewell  to  death  and  grave,  we  enter  into  rest." 
In  November,  1900,  B.  D.  Eden's  name,  of  West  Virginia,  appears  as  a  poetical 
contributor.     As  a  prose  writer  he    manifested    certain    attractive    peculiariiies. 
There  was  a  cheerfulness  and  vivacity  in  his  pulpit  discourses  which  prepared  his 
readers  for  piquant  poems  from  his  pen.     His  first  contribution  was 

"Sin  vs.  Grace." 

"What  is  this  that  makes  me  lame, 
That  burns  my  soul  with  lasting  shame, 
And  makes  me  dread  that  precious  name? 
Sin!" 
'       He  wrote  "Advocating  The  Advocate,"  and  "Too  High,"  also  in  the  interest  of 
The  Advocate,  both  about  the  Holidays  of  1900.     Three  years  later  he  again  took 
a's  his  theme:      "Take  The  Advocate."     But  on  March  30,  1904,  he  selected  a  theme 
better  suited  to  metrical  versification,  and  wrote 

"My  Grace  is  Sufficient  for  Thee." 
"When  the  burden  of  my  soul 

Called  for  the  sighs  and  tears, 
Jesus  heard  my  humble  prayer. 
He  took  away  my  fears." 
C.  D.  Rishel  when  pastor  at  Carlisle,  Pa.,  in  1895,  put  his  Christmas  thoughts 
In  poetic  phraseology  in  a  lyric  called 

"Farewell  Old  Christmas  Day." 
"Yes,  Christmas  comes,  and  Christmas  goes, 
'         ' '.,'  Like  Autumn  winds  and  Winter  snows; 

'■■■■'"■■' ''^  '■  Like  rippling  brooks  and   ringing  bells, 

The  glorious  news  it  always  tells. 
■''"'  ''  •'•  It  tells  us  of  a  Savior's  love, 

Who  left  his  mansions  far  above; 
Who  came  with  good  intent  to  earth. 
To  give  to  man  immortal  birth." 
A  new  name  appeared  among  the  poets  in  June,  1901.     Forney  O.  Eafcin  wrote 

"God  in  Nature." 
"God  made  the  lilies  fair, 
i"  And  every  flower  that  blooms; 

-i:    .  The  birds  are  from  his  care. 

He  decked  them  all  with  plumes." 


Hymnology  909 

And  two  years  later  he  published 

"The  Church  Tramp." 
"A  tramp's  a  man  without  a  home, 
So  far  and  near  his  feet  do  roam; 
No  aim  in  view,  he  wonders  on. 
He  begs  a  crust,  and  then  is  gone." 

In  the  next  eight  years  more  than  that  many  new  aspirants  for  poetic  laurels 
came  into  the  open.     Chas.  T.  Ishler,  of  Illinois,  May  13,  1903,  wrote 

"Courteousness." 
"The  verdure  of  earth  comes  forth  in  its  season, 

The  trees  rise  forth  from  the  sod; 
The  entire  universe  reveals  infinite  reason. 

Because  back  of  all  is  the  infinite  God." 

F.  W.  Whittington,  of  Arkansas,  on  June  1,  1904,  published 

"Our  Departed  One." 
"We  sat  with  her  when  dying. 
And  tenderly  held  her  hand; 
And  listened  with  eager  yearning,  '  '  ' 

To  catch  the  words  she  said.''./    -    ,■ 

During  1905  and  up  to  March,  1906,  W.  H.  Engler,  of  Maryland,  published 
eight  poems,  of  different  metrical  forms.      The  last  was  a  heart-prayer: 

"Stay  Thou  With  Me." 
"Stay  thou  with  me,   blessed   Savior, 

While  my  days  are  passing  by; 
For  I  see  the  shadows  near  me. 

And  the  night  it  draweth  nigh." 

One  of  the  pioneer  missionaries  to  Texas,  E.  Marple,  much  later  in  life  ven- 
tured into  the  inviting  realm  of  poetic  composition.  He  published  two  hymns,  one 
on  January  24,  1906,  on 

"The  End." 
"When  the  evening  shades  of  life  are  come,  ' 

And  life's  work  is  nearly  done, 
Through  many  days  of  toils  and  cares 
From  the  days  of  youth  they  were. 
Even  down  to  hoary  hairs, 
But  how  sad  the  end  is  here." 

The  other  was  "An  Evening  Song,"  which  he  sang  February  17,  1909.  He 
was  far  more  of  a  logician  than  a  poet. 

T.  M.  Coleman,  of  Iowa,  on  May  2,  1906,  without  "the  electric  flame  of  the 
poet's  genius,"  composed  and  published  a  readable  poem,  with  a  chorus,  on 

"Christ's  Second  Coming." 
"Our  Savior  is  coming  once  more  to  the  earth. 
And  coming  with  power  to  cleanse  it  from  death; 
All  sin  will  be  banished  and  death  flee  away. 
With  joy,  then,  and  gladness  we'll  hail  the  glad  day. 
A  day  long  expected  and  loved  by  his  saints, 
O  glory  hallelujah!   he  heard  their  complaints. 
And  banished  their  sickness,  sorrow  and  pain. 
And  nothing  can  hurt  them,  or  grieve  them  again." 

Geo.  M.  Hubne,  West  Pennsylvania,  on  May  30,  1906,  gave  to  the  public  a  pro- 
duction entitled:  — 

"The  Lord  Bless  Thee." 
"How  shall  he  bless  thee? 
Not  with  earth's  vain,  empty  blessing, 
Joys  that  fade  in  their  possessing; 
Not  with  earth's  poor,  scanty  treasures; 
But  with  blessings  of  him 
Whose  light  can  not  fade,  nor  dim." 


9IO  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

A  lyric  poem,  of  rather  exalted  sentiment,  was  published  by  J.  VV.  Kingston, 
Ohio,  in  January,  1902:  — 

"Mother's  Grave." 
"Step  lightly  here,  for  sacred  clay 

Enriches  well  this  place,  and 
Makes  it  bear  a  force  that  is  not  seen. 

'Tis  not  such  clay  as  turns  from  ploughman's  share; 
But  such  as  well  compounded 

Holds  in  its  solution  a  ruby  pearl." 

Oa  June  13,  1907,  Findlay  College  observed  its  "Silver  Jubilee,"  on  which  oc- 
casion S.  G.  Yahn,  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  delivered  the  "Jubilee  Ad- 
dress." He  closed  it  with  a  poem  of  three  stanzas,  of  which  the  first  is  quoted 
here: — 

"As  we  calmly  view  the  bygone  years. 
And  the  pathway  marked  by  toil  and  tears, 
God's  guiding  hand  we  plainly  see. 
In  this,  the  year  of  jubilee." 

As  a  close,  careful  thinker  he  shines  with  a  luster  he  could  not  acquire  as  a 
poet,  for  he  is  numbered  with  the 

"Men  who  possess  opinions  and  a  will; 
Men  whom  desire  for  office  does  not  kill; 
Men  whom  the  spoils  of  office  can  not  buy." 

The  author  of  "Burning  Themes,"  O.  A.  Newlin,  then  of  Fort  Scott,  Kansas,  is 
the  author  of  what  might  be  called  a  sermon  in  rhyme,  which  has  been  well  com- 
mended.    It  is 

"The  Passion  of  Christ." 
"For  three  full  years  our  Savior  trod 
The  dusty  plains,  to  work  for  God; 
Without  a  pillow  for  his  head. 
No  sumptuous  table  for  him  spread." 

He  has  poetic  ideals,  and  has  given  to  the  public  other  productions,  of  greater 
poetic  merit. 

While  this  limited  hymnology  of  the  ministry  of  the  Church  of  God  lacks  the 
merit  to  make  an  epoch,  it  has  in  its  measure  fulfilled  the  true  conception  of  the 
aim  of  poetry:  "To  console  the  afflicted;  to  add  sunlight  to  daylight  by  making 
the  happy  happier;  to  teach  the  young  and  gracious  of  every  age  to  see,  to  feel,  to 
think  and  therefore  to  become  more  actively  and  securely  virtuous." 


DIVISION  IX.  -I 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


DIVISION  IX. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


Bibliography  is  a  science  which  deals  with  the  description  of  books,  including 
details  of  authorship,  editions,  dates,  etc.  It  is  not  necessarily  general,  or  ex- 
haustive. It  may  be  restricted  to  a  language,  to  an  age,  to  a  country,  or  to  a 
Church,  or  subject.  With  this  liberty  the  Bibliography  of  the  Church  of  God  will 
be  limited  to  books,  pamphlets,  sermons,  tracts  and  like  publications  of  ministers 
of  said  body  in  so  far  as  they  have  been  reviewed  or  advertised  in  its  periodical 
publications.  As  nearly  as  may  be  they  will  be  arranged  chronologicaly  under  the 
names  of  their  authors. 

I.  Winbrenner,  J.  A  Compendium  of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism;  or,  Method 
of  Instruction  in  the  Christian  Religion,  as  the  same  is  taught  in  the  German  Re- 
formed Church  and  schools  in  North  America.     A.  D.  1822.     47  pages. 

Prayer-Meeting  and  Revival  Hymn-Book.  German  and  English.  A.  D.  1825. 
The  title  was  changed  in  later  editions,  a  number  of  which  were  published,  as  this 
was  the  Hymn-Book  in  use  by  the  churches  of  God  until  1859. 

A  Brief  View  of  the  Formation,  Government  and  Discipline  of  the  Church  of 
God.  A.  D.  1829.  English  and  German  editions.  Under  authority  of  the  General 
Eldership  of  1884,  a  new  edition  of  500  copies  was  published,  revised  by  a  com- 
mittee appointed  by  the  General  Eldership,  consisting  of  G.  Sigler,  C.  H.  Forney,  R. 
L.  Byrnes  and  W.  B.  Allen.  50  cents.  Introduction  to  the  Revised  Edition  by  C. 
H.  Forney. 

Christian  Baptism.  A  sermon  deivered  by  Elder  John  Winebrenner  at  Harris- 
burg,  Pa.,  August,  1830,  on  the  occasion  of  his  own  baptism.  A  revised  edition, 
with  Introduction  by  C.  H.  Forney,  was  issued  by  the  Board  of  Publication  of  the 
General  Eldership  in  1873. 

A  Reference  and  Pronouncing  Testament,  with  a  Gazetteer.  "Ready  for  de- 
livery" April  29,  1836. 

Sermon  on  Baptism.  Preached  in  the  City  of  Lancaster,  Pa.,  on  a  Baptizing 
Occasion,  in  the  Bethel  of  the  Church  of  God,  on  the  17th  of  December,  1842.  A 
new  edition  was  published  by  the  Board  of  Publication  in  187  8. 

Winebrenner  on  Regeneration.  A  series  of  sermons  delivered  in  Lancaster, 
Pa.,  in  July,  1844,  on  What  Regeneration  is  Not.  The  Nature  and  Properties  of 
Regeneration.  The  Causes.  The  Inconclusive  Evidences.  The  Conclusive  Evi- 
dences.     The  Necessity  of,  from  the  Scriptures  and  from  the  nature  of  Things. 

In  connection  with  I.  D.  Rupp  he  published  The  History  of  Religious  Denomi- 
nations in  the  United  States.  And  J.  Winebrenner  &  Co.,  published  a  Second  and 
Improved  Portrait  Edition  of  this  work  in  1847.  He  wrote  the  "History,  Doctrine, 
Polity  and  Statistics  of  the  Church  of  God"  for  this  publication. 

J.  Winebrenner  &  Co.,  also  published  "Wandering  Souls"  and  "A  Pronouncing 
and  Pictorial  Bible  and  Theological  Dictionary." 

A  Pamphlet,  "History  of  the  Church  of  God,"  as  contained  in  The  History  of 
Religious  Denominations,  published  in  1848. 

In  July,  1848,  he  began  the  compilation,  under  authority  of  the  General  Elder- 
ship,' of  "Biographical  Sketches  of  the  First  One  Hundred  Ministers  of  the  Church 
of  God." 

"The  Law  of  Tithing,"  a  reproduction  in  pamphlet  form  of  a  series  of  editorials 
on  the  subject.      Issued  in  1848. 

In  1853  he  published  "a  choice  collection  of  Church  Tunes,"  "a  Christian 
Library  of  Music,"  entitled,  "The  Seraphina."  A  new  edition  was  published  by 
George  Ross  in  1862.      The  music  was  in  "round  and  patent  notes." 

The  sermons  published  in  monthly  issues  in  1859,  as  "The  Monthly  Preacher," 
were  published  in  book  form  in  1860,  under  the  title  of  Doctrinal  and  Practical 
Sermons.  Also  simultaneously  "The  Christian  Ordinances,"  6ne  sermon  on  each  of 
the  three  Ordinances. 

In  1859  he  completed  the  compilation  of  The  Church  Hymn-Book,  and  superin- 
tended its  publication. 

"Letter  on  Slavery,  and  Various  Rejected  Articles  Addressed  to  .J.  Colder"" 
were  published  in  pamphlet  form  in  1858. 


914  History    of    the    Churches    of    God 

II.  Flake,  Jacob,  in  1844  published  "The  Christian  Miscellany."  It  was  a 
duodicimo  volume,  bound  in  colored  muslin,  containing  a  brief  Biography,  and  short 
treatises  on  doctrinal  and  practical  subjects.      Price,  37i/^  cents. 

III.  Harn,  G.  U.  A  sermon  on  Washing  the  Saints'  Feet  was  elaborated  by 
Ham,  in  184  6,  into  an  80-page  booklet,  32  mo.  form.  Price,  2.5  cents.  He  left  un- 
finished at  his  death  valuable  manuscript  of  a'niuch  larger  work  on  other  subjects. 

IV.  Bamberger,  J.  H.  As  was  the  more  general  practice  among  ministers  in 
earlier  years,  Bamberger  kept  a  "Journal  of  his; Life."  This,  with  Miscellaneous 
Writings,  Outlines  of  Sermons,  etc.,  was  published  by  Winebrenner  in  1849,  after 
Bamberger's  death,  by  authority  of  the  General  Eldership.      It  had  342  pages. 

V.  Weishjunpel,  J.  F.  Weishampel  took  up  the  unfinished  "Biographical 
Sketches  of  the  First  One  Hundred  Ministers  of  the  Church  of  God,"  which  Wine- 
bi-enner  began  in  184  8,  and  completed  the  compilation  in  May,  1858.  It  was 
printed  in  September,  1858,  with  this  title:  "The  Testimony  of  One  Hundred  Wit- 
nesses," a  volume  of  250  pages;  price,  50  cents.  Between  1857  and  1860  Weis- 
hampel published  a  sermon  in  a  neat  pamphlet  entitled,  "Revivals  and  Revival 
Measures,"  which  was  "intended  to  remove  the  objections  to  those  measures  in  the 
minds  of  many  who  oppose  them." 

VI.  Myei-s,  J.  "Chronicles  of  American  Fanaticism,"  published  in  October, 
1855.  In  1860  he  issued  in  pamphlet  form  "A  Missionary  Sermon,"  or  "The  Gos- 
pel Sphere."  In  1866  he  completed  the  translation  of  "An  Explanation  of  the 
Apocalypse."  m  -  .  . 

VII.  Swartz,  A.  The  work  entitled,  "The  Trial  of  Mr.  Pedo-Baptist,"  was  the 
outcome  of  a  debate  on  baptism,  a  book  of  300  pages,  published  in  October,  1856, 
and  considered  "a  valuable  work."      Price,  7  5  cents; 

VIII.  Stewart,  Ellen,  In  May,  185  8,  Mrs.  Ellen  Stewart  announced  the 
preparation  of  an  Autobiography.  It  appeared  in  June,  1859,  entitled,  "Life  of  Mrs. 
Ellen  Stewart,  together  with  Biographical  Sketches  of  other  Individuals;  also  a 
Discussion  with  two  Clergymen,  and  Arguments  in  favor  of  Woman's  Rights,  with 
Letters  by  herself  on  different  Subjects."      16  mo.;  250  pages. 

IX.  Mai-ple,  E.  In  1859  he  published  in  a  pamphlet  "The  Difference  Between 
the  Church  of  God  and  the  Disciples."  In  1868,  "The  Doctrine  and  Polity  of  the 
Church  of  God  briefly  but  plainly  stated,  with  its  Relation  to  American  Slavery." 
In  July,  1900,  he  issued  his  work,  "The  Two  Sabbaths,"  "a  successful  refutation  of 
the  old  Jewish  Sabbath  under  the  New  Dispensation"  (B.  Ober).  In  1903  a 
finished  manuscript  on  "The  Immortality  of  the  Soul."  This  is  a  biblical  and 
scientific  investigation  of  the  Immortality  of  the  Soul  against  the  Soul-sleeping 
Theory  and  Material  Infidelity.  Also  "A  Brief  History  of  the  Ancient  Religions, 
with  a  Scientific  Solution  of  the  Resurrection." 

X.  Hartman,  L.  B.  In  1860,  he  delivered  a  sermon  on  the  Ordinances,  which 
he  enlarged  and  published  with  the  title,  "The  Trilogy  of  Gospel  Ordinances."  It 
is  "a  critical  exposition  of  their  nature  and  harmony,  setting  forth  and  elucidating 
the  Bible  clairrs  and  authority  for  classing  Feet-washing  among  them."  In  1882 
he  published  "The  Two-fold  Foundation  of  Christian  Life."  It  was  an  Annual  Ser- 
mon, 14  pages.  In  1898  appeared  his  work,  "Divine  Penology,  The  Philosophy  of 
Retribution,  and  the  Doctrine  of  Future  Punishment  Considered  in  the  Light  of 
Reason,  Science,  Revelation  and  Redemption." 

XI.  Byei-s,  D.  S.  The  Illinois  Eldership  in  1860  made  the  only  public  record 
of  a  pamphlet  published  by  Byers.      It  repudiated  part  of  Its  contents. 

XII.  Owens,  J.  C.  The  General  Eldership  in  1863,  through  a  committee,  ex- 
amined the  manuscript  of  a  "Bible  Question  Book  for  Sunday-schools"  submitted  by 
Owens.  It  approved  it,  and  directed  the  Publishing  Committee  to  secure  and  pub- 
lish it.  The  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  in  1864  took  up  the  matter,  and  pub- 
lished it  under  the  title  of  "A  Scriptural  Compendium  for  Sabbath-Schools."  "An 
excellent  little  book." 

XIII.  Kiner,  F.  F.  He  was  the  Chaplain  of  the  Fourteenth  Iowa  Regiment 
of  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  in  1863  published  "One  Year's  Soldering."  Cloth,  255 
pages,  16  mo.,  50  cents.      He  also  published  "The  Bible  Expositor." 

XIV.  Thomas,  E.  H.  In  1865  Thomas  published  "The  Church  Record,"  a 
splendidly  arranged  blank  book  in  which  to  keep  complete  records  of  a  local  church. 
While  authorized  by  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  it  was  the  personal  property 
of  Thomas.  In  June,  1903,  a  new  edition  was  published  by  direction  of  the  Board 
of  Publication,  it  having  become  the  property  of  the  Board. 

XV.  FlowTiian,  J.  A.     "A  Sermon  on  the  Institution,  Form,  Administrator, 


BiBUOGRAPHY  915 

Subjects,  Mode,  Design  and   Benefits  of  Baptism"   was  published   by  Plowman  in 
1866. 

XVI.  Bolton,  R.  H.  The  first  attempt  at  authorship  by  Bolton  was  in  1861, 
when  he  published  "Plain  Theology;  or.  My  Reasons  for  being  a  member  of  the 
Church  of  God;"  45  pages;  price,  12  cents.  "Review  of  Rev.  C.  C.  Gould's 
Pamphlet  entitled  'John's  Baptism  not  Christian  Baptism,'  and  of  J.  H.  Beckvpith's 
'Immersion  not  Baptism.'  "  A  pamphlet  of  15  pages;  price,  15  cents,  published  in 
1866.  He  also  published  a  pamphlet  about  the  same  time  with  the  title  "Church 
Book,"  "a  very  interesting,  exegetical  and  critical  little  work."  Bolton's  Semi- 
centennial Sermon  in  1876  was  a  defense  of  the  Doctrine  and  Polity  of  the  Church 
of  God.  This  he  revised  and  enlarged,  and  published  by  authority  of  the  Board  of 
Incorporation  of  the  General  Eldership  under  the  title  of  "Plea  of  the  Church  of 
God"  a  booklet  of  76  pages.  It  reached  its  fourth  edition,  when  in  1884  the  Gen- 
eral Eldership  directed  a  new  issue  of  1,000  copies  to  be  published.  "The  Bible 
Student's  Guide  in  Church  Matters"  was  published  in  1868.  In  1877  he  issued  a 
small  Tract  on  the  name  of  the  Church,  entitled,  "The  Church  of  God."  "Bible 
Students'  Assistant"  was  published  in  187  8.  His  pamphlet  on  "Sanctification" 
was  published  by  the  Board  of  Publication  in  1879. 

XVII.  Wilson,  G.  AV.  "The  Qualifications  and  Duties  of  Ministers  in  order 
to  Efficiency"  was  an  Opening  Sermon  delivered  in  1866  before  the  Ohio  Eldership, 
of  which  1,000  copies  were  ordered  printed. 

XVIII.  Stamm,  J.  S.  "A  Sermon  on  Christian  Self-Examination,"  published 
in  1868;  36  pages,  20  cents.      "A  very  able  discourse"   (The  Advocate). 

XIX.  Marston,  C.  C  "Wandering  Pilgrim,"  a  pamphlet  of  59  pages,  pub- 
lished June,  1869.  "It  delineates  very  beautifully  the  life  and  history  of  the 
prophet  Elijah." 

XX.  Owen,  W.  O.  He  published  in  a  neat  pamphlet  the  dedicatory  sermon 
preached  at  Shippensburg,  Pa.,  November  13,  1870,  entitled,  "The  Glory  of  the 
Church." 

XXI.  Ross,  George.  He  was  a  publisher  rather  than  an  author.  He  re- 
published prior  to  1875  "The  Seraphina,"  "Das  Christliche  Gesang-buch,"  "Die 
Verordnung  Des  Fuszwashens,"  "Das  Haus  Gottens  und  Dessen  Zugehor,"  by 
Winebi-enner.  In  1880  he  published  "Biography  of  Elder  John  Winebrenner,"  of 
which  he  was  the  author.     It  is  a  pamphlet  of  22  pages. 

XXII.  Ijong,  A.  H.  In  1877,  a  Tract  on  "Baptism,"  printed  by  the  Board 
of  Publication.  In  1878,  a  volume  entitled,  "Popular  Sermons,"  of,  which  he  pub- 
lished 600  copies.  In  1905,  a  Tract  on  "Scriptural  Baptism,"  and  one  on  "The 
Ordinance  of  Washing  the  Saints'  Feet." 

XXIII.  Sigler,  George.  "Centennial  Thanksgiving  Sermon,"  preached  at  a 
union  meeting  at  Philadelphia,  1876.  Sermon  on  "Washing  the  Saints'  Feet,"  in 
1879.  A  Tract  on  Feet-washing,  published  by  George  Ross  between  1875  and 
1878.  A  Semi-centennial  Sermon  on  "The  Church  of  God  in  1880,"  delivered  in 
the  Fourth  Street  Bethel,  Harrisburg,  Pa.  In  1901  he  wrote  a  series  of  articles 
for  The  Advocate,  which  in  1902  he  republished  in  an  attractive  pamphlet  of  65 
pages,  entitled,  "The  Holy  Spirit  Grieved."  Price,  cloth,  50  cents;  paper,  25  cents. 
In  1910  a  Tract  on  "Christian  Citizenship."  Commendatory  resolutions  were 
passed  by  different  Elderships  on  these  publications. 

XXIV.  Brown,  J.  I.  "History  of  the  Church  of  God  in  Maine,"  of  which 
2,000  copies  were  printed  by  direction  of  the  Maine  Eldership,  in  18^0. 

XXV.  Ober,  B.  He  published  about  this  time  a  pamphlet  of  32  pages  on 
"Errors  of  Divine  Healing;  An  Investigation  of  Modern  Inspiration  and  Divfne 
Healing;  also  an  Essay  on  Conversion."  Price,  20  cents.  Another  pamphlet  was 
on  "The  Evil  Effects  of  Popery  and  Church  Divisions." 

XXVI.  Mills,  H.  He  published  his  "Biography"  in  pamphlet  form  about 
1880. 

XXVII.  Jackson,  S.  D.  C.  In  1881  "Sermons,"  a  pamphlet  of  21  pages,  con- 
taining three  sermons,  entitled,  "The  New  Song,"  "Who  can  be  Saved,"  and  "The 
Importance  of  Ministerial  Culture."  The  last  was  "delivered  by  request  before  the 
Ministerial  Association  of  Illinois." 

XXVIII.  Richmond,  I.  S.  In  1882  he  published  in  book  form  fourteen  "lec- 
tures" delivered  at  various  times  and  places,  containing  102  pages,  and  entitled, 
"Lectures:  Theological  and  Historical."  In  1888,  "Lectures  on  Pilgrim's  Pro- 
gress."    In   1899,  "Waymarks  in  Sacred  History,"  a  book  of  390   pages.      "It  is 


9i6  Ihs'ioKv    (;]■    riiic    Ciiuiuiiiis   of   God 

terse,   clear,  comprehensive"    (Advocate).      These   wcrks   were   highly   commended 
by  the  Illinois  Eldership. 

XXIX.  Newcomer,  M.  S.  In  1872-3  he  had  a  discussion  on  secret  societies  in 
The  Advocate  with  ii.  W.  Wilson.  These  were  published  in  1873  by  C.  H.  Forney, 
in  a  pamphlet  of  92  pages,  with  the  title,  "Discussion  on  Secret  Societies."  J. 
Mackey  congratulated  him,  in  an  appended  letter,  on  his  "masterly  and  well-timed 
attack  upon,  and  exposition  of,  the  evils  of  Secret  Societies."  In  18  85  he  published 
a  "Proposition"  to  issue  "A  Book  of  Poems"  of  from  250  to  300  pages.  Price, 
$1.00,  in  plain  muslin.  His  "Lectures  on  Preaching"  were  delivered  before  the 
Illinois  Eldership  in  October,  1886,  and  1,000  copies  were  by  request  of  the 
Eldership  published  by  the  Board  of  Publication  in  a  pamphlet  of  50  pages. 
"Golden  Gleanings"  appeared  in  1891,  being  made  up  of  original  poems,  extracts 
of  prose  writings,  etc.  Many  of  the  poems  have  exceptional  merit.  In  1903  he 
published  a  small  "Treatise  on  the  Church  of  God."  Pamphlet,  price,  10  cents. 
The  "Opening  Sermon,"  a  pamphlet  of  17  pages,  was  preached  before  the  Iowa 
Eldership  in  1906.  He  prefaced  a  "Note,"  stating  that  "the  following  sermon 
created  a  great  sensation."  Criticisms  were  decidedly  adverse  by  "three-fourths 
of  the  auditors." 

XXX.  Winbi}»ler,  Charles  F.  An  address  on  "The  Church  and  Ministry  in 
Earnest,"  delivered  before  the  Ohio  Ministerial  Association  in  1887.  A  sermon 
on  the  theme,  "What  is  the  Proper  Action  of  Baptism?"  Published  in  1887.  In 
189  4  a  longer  sermon:  "What  is  Christian  Baptism,  and  to  Whom  Should  it  be 
Administered?"  In  1901  he  gave  to  the  public  a  work  on  "Christian  Science  and 
Kindred  Superstitions."  Cloth,  12  mo.,  $1.00.  In  1909  he  published  an  ex- 
haustive treatise  on  "Suggestion:  Its  Laws  and  Application."  It  gives  in  forcefu,! 
terms  the  "principle  and  practice  of  Psycho-Therapeutics." 

XXXI.  Bartlebauj2fh,  G.  A.  In  1884  he  prepared  and  published  a  Pictorial 
Chart,  2  feet,  9  inches  by  2  feet,  suitable  for  framing,  entitled,  "The  Way  to  Ruin 
and  the  Path  of  Life."      It  illustrates  the  narrow  and  the  broad  way. 

XXXII.  Sohoch,  J.  F,  Gathering  his  material  while  on  a  tour  to  the  Holy 
Land,  he  published  "From  the  Hudson  to  the  Jordan,"  prior  to  the  General  Elder- 
ship of  1887,  which  commended  it  as  a  work  which  "will  prove  to  be  a  considef- 
able  addition  to  our  literature." 

XXXIII.  Rishel,  CD.  In  1887,  and  for  several  consecutive  years,  he  pub- 
lished a  "Year  Book  of  the  Church  of  God,"  of  nearly  100  pages.  Price,  50  cents. 
"An  excellent  production."  In  1890  appeared  a  pamphlet  of  84  pages,  entitled, 
"The  Life  and  Adventures  of  David  Lewis,  the  Robber  and  Counterfeiter."  In 
1899  he  published  a  "Church  Directory  for  Cumberland  County,  Pa." 

XXXIV.  fitont,  A.  P.  In  1888  he  published  "A  Map  of  Palestine,"  giving  the 
"Journeys  and  deeds  of  Jesus."  Also  a  "Worker's  Map  of  Palestine,"  and  a 
"Chronology  of  Christ's  Life." 

XXXV.  Foi-ney,  C.  H.  In  18  83,  by  direction  of  the  Board  of  Publication, 
he  collated  and  edited  his  editorials  on  trine  immersion,  feet-washing  and  the 
Love  Feast,  and  published  them  in  book  form,  under  the  title,  "The  Christian  Ordi- 
nances," a  book  of  198  pages.  "Clear  in  statements,  strong  in  argument,  true  to 
history,  in  harmony  with  the  divine  word,  and  worthy  a  place  in  every  library  as  a 
standard  authority  upon  the  subject  upon  which  it  treats"  (General  Eldership  in 
1884).  Price,  80  cents.  "Riches  of  Christ,"  published  in  1890,  was  the  Opening 
Sermon  preached  at  the  East  Pennsylvania  Eldership  of  said  year.  "Christianity 
and  the  College,"  published  by  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Findlay  College,  was  the 
"Dedicatory  Oration"  of  that  institution,  which  took  place  June  20,  1888.  "The 
Philosophic  Basis  of  Ordinances"  Avas  published  by  C.  I.  Brown  in  1906.  It  is  in 
two  parts.  Part  I.  treats  of  the  three  Ordinances  as  to  their  philosophic  basis, 
being  "an  indirect,  but  conclusive,  proof  that  Feet-washing  is  a  divinely  instituted 
Ordinance."  Part  II.  discusses  "the  Bible  Doctrine  of  Sanctification."  It  is  a 
book  of  93  pages,  bound  in  cloth  and  in  paper.  "It  is  a  strong  book"  (Yahn). 
"The  discussion  of  the  Ordinances  is  largely  on  new  lines,  and  is  a  convincing 
argument  in  favor  of  the  faith  we  profess  on  these  debated  questions"  (Advocate). 
He  revised  and  edited  "Jewett  on  Baptism,"  republished  by  D.  M.  Bare. 

XXXVI.  Hanson,  E.  F.  In  1884,  he  published  a  work  on  "Demonology;  or, 
Spiritualism,  Ancient  and  Modern."  It  contained  valuable  information.  Pages, 
310.      He  was  a  member  of  the  Maine  Eldership. 

XXXVII.  Wiley,  Alexander.  In  1878  he  published  "Vol.  I.,  Part  I.,  Ser- 
mons," twelve  in  number,  being  the  first  issue  of  his  "Literary  Productions"  "after 


Bibliography  917 

vacating  my  place  in  the  active  ranks  of  the  ministry."      He  died  about  two  years 
later,  aged  35  years,  5  months  and  19  days. 

XXXVIII.  Yahn,  S.  G.  "Bible  Study,"  a  small  work,  1887.  In  1899  his 
Opening  Sermon,  "The  Teaching  Function  of  the  Churches  of  God,"  was  published 
in  a  16-page  pamphlet  by  Win.  H.  Guyer.  In  1893  he  published  "A  Brief  History 
of  the  West  Pennsylvania  Eldership"  "during  the  past  fifty  years,"  of  53  pages. 
It  was  valuable  as  a  historical  hand-book.  Findlay  College  celebrated  its  "Silver 
Jubilee"  June  13,  1907,  and  Yahn,  as  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  de- 
livered the  Address,  which  was  published  as  "Series  IV.,  March,  1908,  of  Findlay 
College  Bulletin  of  Information." 

XXXIX.  Keitzel,  Charles  F.  He  was  a  prolific  writer  and  publisher.  He 
began  in  1900  with  an  8-page  Tract,  "Bible  Name  for  God's  Church,"  of  which  he 
sold  20,000  copies,  at  25  cents  per  hundred.  In  1902  "Robert  Woodknow's  Dif- 
ficulties in  Finding  a  Church  Home"  was  published,  with  an  Introduction  by  C.  H. 
Forney.  It  was  the  most  popular  book  yet  published,  the  fourth  edition  haying 
been  issued.  In  1904  appeared  "The  Head  Covering  for  Women,"  a  clear  pre- 
sentation of  the  subject  in  a  12-page  pamphlet.  Also  "I  Don't  Believe  in  Mis- 
sions," a  4-page  Tract,  nearly  10,000  copies  were  sold.  "The  Sheathed  Sword,"  a 
sermon  delivered  March  14,  1897,  before  the  Col.  P.  B.  Housum  Post,  No.  309, 
G.  A.  R.,  Chambersburg,  Pa.  In  1905  appeared  "A  Message  to  the  Churches,"  a 
4-page  Tract,  6,000  copies.  Also  "Sin:  Its  Results — Its  Cure,"  a  booklet  of  64 
pages,  bound  in  cloth  and  paper.  "Church  and  State,"  in  paper  and  cloth  binding, 
was  published  in  1907,  and  has  been  revised  and  enlarged  for  the  third  edition. 
A  booklet  of  32  pages,  13th  thousand.  "Paul's  Conversion,"  of  which  1,500  copies 
were  sold  in  a  year's  time,  appeared  in  1911.  The  story  is  "told  in  couplets,"  and 
is  fascinating  and  instructive. 

XL.  McGuire,  F.  W.  A  facile  writer,  McGuire  has  been  doing  the  Church 
excellent  service  with  his  pen.  He  and  Reitzel  were  collaborators  for  awhile  in 
1898  in  issuing  Tracts.  Reitzel  had  a  small  printing  office,  and  did  the  printing, 
while  McGuire  furnished  the  manuscript.  In  this  way  they  issued  these  Tracts: 
"The  Washing  of  the  Saints'  Feet,"  "The  Church  of  God,"  "Five  Points  on  the 
Mode  of  Baptism,"  "God's  Name  for  God's  Church,"  and  "Ye  Must  Be  Born  Again." 
In  1902  McGuire  published  in  pamphlet  form,  "Take  Heed  to  Thyself,"  a  Bacca- 
laureate Sermon  delivered  at  the  Millersville  Normal  School.  In  1904,  two  Tracts: 
"The  Sabbath,"  and  "The  Church  of  God:  What  is  It?"  Each  was  sold  at  25  cents 
per  dozen.  "Paul's  Confession,"  Opening  Sermon  of  the  East  Pennsylvania  Elder- 
ship, published  in  1898.  "Oranges  and  Razors,"  a  33-page  pamphlet,  of  which 
the  formative  idea  may  be  suggested  by  the  thought:  "Nothing  but  true  love  is 
able  to  reform,"  found  on  the  title  page.  In  March,  1907,  he  published  "The  Man 
Without  a  Soul,"  a  7  9-page  booklet,  in  which  in  admirably  written  sentences  and  in 
logical  arrangement  he  proves  the  "conscious  immortality  of  the  soul." 

XLI.  Stover,  A.  P.  "Three  Lectures  on  the  Sunday-School,"  in  which  three 
topics  are  treated  in  a  careful  and  instructive  manner.      Published  in  1900. 

XLII.  Newcomer,  Mrs.  Mai-y  B.  "In  Memory  of  Rev,  W.  I.  Berkstresser,"  a 
fine  booklet  of  59  pages,  "written  and  arranged  by  his  Sister."  "Auto-Biography 
and  Memorial  of  Rev.  M.  S.  Newcomer,  D.  D."  Arranged  by  Mrs.  Mai-y  B.  New- 
comer, 1911. 

XLIII.  Walls,  J.  S.  "In  Memory  of  Elder  W.  B.  Allen.  Written  and  ar- 
ranged by  his  Friend."      A  booklet  of  42  pages. 

XLIV.      Wilson,  A.      "Origin  of  the  Church  of  God,"  1901. 

XLV.  Miller,  vSamuel.  He  published  three  fair-sized  pamphlets  "for  free  dis- 
tribution:" "Recollections  of  the  History  of  the  Origin  and  First  Organization 
of  the  Church  of  God  in  North  America,"  in  1895.  "A  Tract,"  which  "briefly  sur- 
veys the  creation  of  man,  the  violation  of  God's  Law,  the  restoration  of  man  and 
free  salvation,"  in  1902.  "A  Tract,"  "Religion  in  the  Home  and  in  the  Family  " 
1904. 

XLVI.  A  Committee  of  the  W.  G.  M.  S.,  Miss  L.  A.  Forney,  Mrs.  D.  C.  Komp 
and  Mrs.  C.  Manchester,  prepared  and  published  "A  Course  of  Studies  on  India"  in 
1910,  72  pages,  illustrated. 

XLVII.  Newlin,  O.  A.  "Burning  Themes  and  Heavenly  Manna,"  issued  in 
1902,  is  a  book  of  236  pages,  best  cloth  binding,  with  a  variety  of  topics:  Tem- 
perance, Card-playing,  the  Social  Dance,  Fairs,  Divine  Healing,  and  the  Joy  rf 
Harvest,  the  Passion  of  Christ,  the  Alpha  and  Omega,  etc.  A  cheaper  and  smaller 
edition  was  also  published.      "Union   Revival   Meetings:    How  to  Promote  Them  " 


9i8  History  of  the   Churches   of   God 

1911,  2 0-page  pamphlet.  Another  pamphlet  containing  three  sermons,  and  three 
booklets  of  Poems,  issued  in  1911.  The  poems  are  called  "Devotional,"  "numer- 
ous" and  "Nature  Poems." 

XLVIII.  Bellingham,  J.  W.  In  November,  1897^  "Hymns  and  Poetic  Gems," 
a  booklet  whose  contents  were  "written  at  different  times  during  the  first  years  of 
his  ministry." 

XLXIX.  Woodvvoi'th,  Mrs.  Maria  B.  A  Book  of  Sermons,  published  in  1902. 
She  had  also  published  a  Hymn-Book,  to  which  "additions  of  soul-stirring  songs" 
was  made  in  1911. 

L.  Covert,  AV.  R.  In  1902  he  published  "Synopsis  of  Lectures  on  the  Prob- 
lems of  the  Phenomena  of  Matter,  Mind  and  Magnetism."  Price,  25  cents.  "A 
vigorous  thinker"  (The  Advocate). 

LI.  Lovett,  W.  W.  A  4-page  Tract,  "containing  seventeen  reasons  why  the 
Churches  of  God  practice  Feet-washing  as  an  Ordinance."      Price,  15  cents  per  100. 

LII.  Gable,  J.  W.  "Spiritual  Counsels  and  Encouragement"  was  published 
in  1907.      "A  thoughtful  work,  can  be  read  with  spiritual  profit." 

LIU.  Kingston,  J.  W.  In  1902  he  prepared  a  Book  of  Forms  for  Ordinance 
Meetings,  Marriages,  Burials,  etc.,  which  was  approved  by  the  Illinois  Eldership, 
and  published. 

LIV.'  Guyer,  Wm.  Han-is.  In  1910  he  published  "James  Anninius,"  in  which 
he  discussed  his  early  life,  the  revolt  against  Calvinism,  his  teachings,  and  his  char- 
acter and  works.  Cloth,  75  cents;  paper,  35  cents.  This  was  followed  in  1911  by 
"Our  Mother,"  and  by  "Memories  of  Our  Old  Homes."  Both  bound  with  decorated 
covers.  Price  of  the  former,  30  cents;  of  the  latter,  50  cents  and  35  cents.  Both 
books  are  written  in  admirable  spirit,  and  must  deepen  the  love  of  children  for 
their  mothers,  and  awaken  a  sense  of  the  true  relation  of  the  Home  to  the  Church 
and  the  State. 

LV.  Kipe,  Samuel  A.  September,  1911,  "Some  Fundamental  Questions  Re- 
lating to  the  Churches  of  God  and  Their  Doctrines,  and  Their  Scriptural  Answers." 
It  is  in  the  form  of  questions  and  answers,  the  latter  being  mainly  quotations  from 
the  Scriptures. 

LVI.  Hershey,  Viola  G.  Near  the  sunset  of  the  year  1912,  there  came  from 
the  press  of  The  Central  Printing  and  Publishing  House,  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  a  splen- 
did, profusely  illustrated  volume  entitled,  "Glimpses  of  Bogra,"  India,  with  an  In- 
troduction by  Lydia  A.  Foi-ney.  Price,  $1.50  net,  printed  on  fine,  calendered  paper, 
ornamental  cloth  binding.  It  contains  excellent  portraits  of  Viola  G.  Hershey  and 
Howard  W.  Cover,  who  were  married  just  before  sailing  for  India. 


'i  ir 


INDEX. 


Page 

Academy  News,  The, 840 

Adams,  Wm.,  death  of 568,  570 

Allaman,   Sister  L.,   death  of, 581 

Allegheny,   church   in 198 

Allen.  W.  B.,  dfath  of -.  533 

Altoona,    work    begun    in , 95 

Alverton,  church  work   commenced  in  51 

Anderstown,   Church   Organized 28 

Anderson,  W.  H.,  death  of 348 

Anderson,  D.  L.,  death  of 367 

Anderson,  W.  W.,  Poetry  of. 907 

Anglemire,    A.,    death    of 442 

Angel,  E.,  death  of 483 

Annville  Bethel,  when  built. .....l 61 

Appier,  Elias,  death  of 642 

Argus,  The 840 

Arkansas,   work  in,   1900-05 260 

Arkansas,   work  in,    1905-10 269 

Arkansas,  first  work  in 171,  229 

Arkansas  and  Indian  Territory, 

work  in 182 

Arkansas  Eldership  (Colored). 

First    Session, 745 

Second    Session, 746 

Third    Session, 746 

Fourth  Session, 746 

Fifth    Session 747 

Sixth  Session, 747 

Seventh    Session, 747 

Eighth  Session, 748 

Ninth  Session, 748 

Tenth    Session, 748 

Eleventh  Session, 748 

Twelfth  Session, 749 

Thirteenth  Session, 749 

Fourteenth    Session, 749 

Arkansas  and  Oklahoma  Eldership 

Fifteenth    Session, 749 

Sixteenth  Session, 750 

Seventeenth    Session, ; 750 

Arnold,  J.  E.,  death  of, 193,  353 

Assembly    The  Indiana 256,  265 

Auburn,    first  organization   in 73 

Aukerman.  J.  W.,  death  of, 574 

Bakeyville  Academy 866 

Baltimore,  preaching  in 59,  224 

Baltimore,   church  organized  in 72 

Bamberger,  John  H.,  author 914 

Baptism,  Lay,  99 

Baptismal   Regeneration,   discussion 

of, 146 

Baptism    and    Church    Fellowship  378 

Bare,  M.  G.,  death  of 532 

Barkey,    Henry,    death   of 414 

Bartlebaugh,  G.  A.,  author 916 

Bauermeister,  Wilhelm,  Poetry  of....  902 

Bays,  R.  F.,  death  of 743 

Bear,  Jacob,  death  of 530 

Beecher,  Martha  Jane,  licensed, 400 

Beck,  B.  F.,  death  of, 365 

Becker,  Miss  Leah,  missionary  to 

India 891,  894 


Page 

Beidler,  John,  death  of 566 

Bell,  G.  T.,  death  of 606 

Bellingham,  J.  W.,  Poetry  of 905 

Bellingham,    T.    W.,    author 918 

Beneficial    Society 354 

Beneficiary   Fund 357 

Bequests,     265,  371,  564,  571 

Bequest  by  J.  Ross, 357 

Bequest  by  Sister  Ridenouer, 359 

Bequest   by  Anna   Myers, 565 

Bequest  by  John  Miller 374 

Bequest  by  Jacob  Simonetti 374 

Bequests,    .$1000,    West   Pa., 409,  420 

Bequest   by   Mrs.   Hill, 579 

Bequest  of  William  Snodgrass 581 

Bequest,  Lucy  Kryder 587 

Bequest  of  John   Sweden 639 

Bequest  by   Samuel   Eberly 790 

Bequest  for  a  house  of  worship 544 

Berkstresser,  W.  I.,  death  of 533 

Bernard,  John,  Poetry  of 905 

Bethel  College 845 

Board  of  Finance,  E.  Pa.  E 375 

Bolton,  R.  H.,  author 915 

Bomberger,  J.  H.,  death  of 78 

Book  Store 354 

Book  Concern,  establishment  of 780 

Booth,   William,   death  of 440 

Borgner,  Henry,  death  of 357 

Boughter,  H.   D.,   Poetry  of 907 

Bowser,   Solomon,   death  of 534- 

Bowers,  A.  C,  missionary  to  India...-  886 
Bowers,  Mrs.  A.  C,  missionary  to 

India 886 

Boyer,  I.  E.,  death  of 481 

Bible,  New  Version  of 191 

Bible    Truth 841 

Bittle,  Henry,  death  of 484 

Blakely,   D.,   death  of 675 

Blough,  C.  H..  death  of 361 

Brady,  Israel,  death  of 193,  350 

Bratten,  ,  death  of, 616 

Brennamon,  Joseph,  death  of 125 

Brief    View    of    the     Church,     first 

published    35 

Briggle,  John,  death  of 571 

Broad  Top  Mounatin,  Church  organ- 
ized   64 

Brown,  John,  death  of 350 

Brown,  Isiah  T.,  death  of, 359 

Brown,  Mrs.  C.  I.,  President  W.  G. 

M.     S., 894,  896 

Brown,    J.    I.,    author, 915 

Brumbaugh,  C.  S.,  death  of 674 

Burch.  W.,  death  of 476 

Burchard,  W.   P.,   death  of, 583 

Byers,  D.  S.,  author 914 

Cambria  County,  beginning  of  work  in    64 

Camp  Hill  church,  first  organization  39 

Camp-meetings,  first ^ 34 

Camp-meetings,    in    1830-5 43 

Camp-meetings   in    1835 46 


•920 


HlSTORV    OF    THE     ChURCHES    OF     GOD 


Page 

•Camp-meetings  in  1840 56 

Camp-meetings  in   1840-45 57 

Camp-meetings   in    1849 75 

■Camp-meetings   in    1850-55 96 

Camp-meeting,  The  Model 97 

Camp-meetings   in    1855-60 110 

Camp-meetings   in    1860-65 120 

■Camp-meetings  1865-70 149 

€amp-meetings    1875-80 176 

Camp-meetings    1880-85 193 

Camp-meetings 209 

■Camp-meetings    in    1890-5 220 

€amp-meetings   in    1895-1900 238 

Camp-meetings   in    1900-1905 252 

•Camp-meeting    Association 374 

Canada  West,  mission  in 153,  390,  877 

•Canton,  O.,  work  began  in. 166 

California,  first  work  in,  205,  216,  231,  238 

•Carlisle    bethel    sold 196 

■Carnegie  Endowment  proposition,  371,  376 

•Carr,  Sister  N.,  death  of 581 

Carvell,  J.  M.,  death  of, 36i 

Cassel,  J.  M.,  death  of 575 

Catechism,  contention  on 146 

Central   College,   849 

Centralia   College 848 

Chamberlain,  A.  B.,  missionary  to 

India 892 

Chamberlain,  D.,  death  of 569 

Chambersburg,  burning  of  house  of 

worship    in 121 

Chaney,   Thomas,   death   of, 600 

Chicago  Mission,....121,  151,  168,  174,  201 

338,  774. 

Children's  Day  introduced 208 

Choirs  and   instrumental   music 148 

Christian  Endeavor  Movement 208 

Christlicher  Kundschafter 829 

Church  Advocate,  The    820 

Church  at  Work,  The 841 

Church  Extension,  Board  of,  first...  350 
Church     Extension     Fund,     General 

Eldership 792 

Church — First    organization 21. 

Clay,    Wm,    death   of, 124,  513 

Clearfield  County,  first  work  in 160 

Clippinger,  P.  H.,  death  of 159 

Clouse,  C.  W.,  death  of 665 

Colder,    James,    95 

Colder,  J.,  charges  against, 333 

Colder,     J.,     charges     against     and 

expulsion 334,  335 

Colder,  James,  Poetry  of, 903 

Coleman,  T.  M.,  Poetry  of 909 

College  Review,  The 840 

College  News,  The 840 

Collegiate    Institute    Record,    The...  840 

Collins,  P.  D.,  ordained,  death  of.. 335,  638 

Collins,    P.    D.,    death    of, 189,  173 

Collins,  J.  W.,  death  of 364 

Colorado,  work  began  in, 183 

Colorado,  emmigration  to 205 

Colorado,  first  preaching  in 216 

Colorado,    work    in    1890-95, 231,259 

Colorado,    work    in    1895-1900 267 

Colorado    Eldership 751 

Columbia,  mission  began, 160,  187 

Commission  on  Unification  of  W.  G. 

M.    Societies 370,  371 


Page 

Constitution,  first,  E   Pa.  E 328 

Corbin,   S.  G.,  death  of 365 

Coulter,   G.   W.,   death   of 350 

Couch,  W.  E.,  death  of 728 

Cover,  H.  W.,  missionary  to  India,  893,  895 

Covert,   W.   R.,   author 918 

Crawford,  Samuel,  death  of 125 

Creeds,  discussion  of 128 

Criswell,  W.  H.  H.,  death  of, 412 

Dakota,  first  preaching  in.  216 

Davis.  W.  J.  death  of 415 

Davis,  C.  R.,  death  of 452 

Debates,     99,  126,  142,  172,  178 

Decatur,  house  of  worship  in 112 

Debates    and    Discussions 205,  206 

Debates  in  1885-1890 217,  233 

Debates  in  1890-1895 231 

Debates  in  1895-1900 249 

Debates    in    1900-1905 262 

Debates  in  1905-1910 267,  278 

Debates    in    1910-1913 288 

Dochterman,    Benjamin,    death    of....  376 

Deeds  of  Church  Property,  action  on  372 

Delaware,  missionary  to 59 

Delcamp,  D.,  death  of 569 

Dennis,  J.,  Poetry  of 906 

Depravity,  Infant 179 

Depravity,  Total,  discussion  of 147 

Deshiri,   T.   H.,   death   of, 193,  525 

Diadem,    The 841 

Dickerhoof,  S.,  death  of 583 

Dickson,  H.  J.,  death  of 592 

Dobson,  J.  A.,  death  of 575 

Divorce,  discussion  of 369 

Domer,  J.  M.,  death  of, 158,  405,  773 

Donaldson,  bethel  built 162 

Doubling  Gap,  bethel  built, 162 

Drummond,  G.  W.,  death  of 678 

Duncannon.  bethel  built 162 

Dunn,  G.  E.,  death  of 699 

Eakin,   Forney,   O.,   Poetry  of 908 

East  Ohio  Eldership,  The 

Twenty-third.  385 

Twenty-fourth,  386 

Twenty-fifth,  386 

Twenty-sixth,  387 

Twenty-eighth,  387 

Twenty-ninth,    388 

Thirtieth,  389 

Thirty-first,  389 

Thirty-second, 390 

Thirty-third,    390 

Thirty-fourth,  -. 391 

Thirty-fifth,  391 

Thirty-sixth 392 

Thirty-seventh,    392 

Thirty-eighth 392 

Thirty-ninth 393 

Fortieth,    393 

East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  work  in 

1880-188.5 196 

1885-1890 215 

1890-1895 222 

1895-1900, 247 

1900-1905 253 

1905-1910 275 

1910-1913 280 


Index 


921 


Page 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  The 

First,  313 

Second,    316 

Third,  317 

Fourth,  317 

Fifth         317 

Sixth,   318 

Seventh,  318 

Eighth,  318 

Ninth,  319 

Tenth,  319 

Eleventh   320 

Twelfth,  320 

Thirteenth,    .-. 321 

Fourteenth,  321 

Fifteenth,    321 

Sixteenth,    322 

Seventeenth,  323 

Eighteenth,  323 

Nineteenth,  324 

Twentieth,  325 

Twenty-first,    325 

Twenty-second    326 

Twenty-third,  327 

Twenty-fourth,  328 

Twenty-fifth,    329 

Twenty-sixth,  329 

Twenty-seventh, 330 

Twenty-eighth,  331 

Twenty-ninth,  331 

Extra  Session, 332 

Thirtieth,  333 

Thirty-first,  334 

Thirty-second,    335 

Thirty-third 336 

Thirty-fourth,     337 

Thirty-fifth,  338 

Thirty-sixth 338 

Thirty-seventh,    339 

Thirty-eighth,  340 

Thirty-ninth,    341 

Fortieth,    342 

Forty-first,  342 

Forty-second,   343 

Forty-third,  .'. 343 

Forty-fourth,  344 

Forty-fifth,    344 

Forty-sixth,  345 

Forty-seventh,    346 

Forty-eighth,    346 

Forty-ninth,    347 

Fiftieth,    348 

Fifty-first,    348 

Fifty-second,  349 

Fifty-third,    350 

Fifty-fourth,    351 

Fifty-fifth,    352 

Fifty-sixth,    353 

Fiftv-seventh,  354 

Fifty-eighth,  355 

Fifty-ninth,  356 

Sixtieth,  356 

Sixty-first,    357 

Sixty-second,    358 

Sixty-third,    359 

Sixty-fourth,     359 

Sixty-fifth 360 

Sixty-sixth,    361 

Sixty-seventh,  362 

Sixty-eighth,  362 

C.   H.  -31* 


Page 
East  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  The 

Sixty-ninth,  363 

Seventieth,    S64 

Seventy-first,   365 

Seventy-second,  366 

Seventy-third,    366 

Seventy-fourth,    367 

Seventy-fifth,  367 

Seventy-sixth.  368 

Seventy-seventh,  369 

Seventy-eighth,    370 

Seventy-ninth,   371 

Eightieth,    372 

Eighty-first,    373 

Eighty-second,  374 

Eighty-third,  375 

Eighty-fourth 376 

Eden,  B.  D.,  Poetry  of 908 

Education,  Board  of 352 

Electioneering,    ..343,  346,  359,  369,  370,  414 

Elders,    Life 356,  375 

Eldership,  organization  of  the  first,  44,  313 
Eldership  Titles,  ....108,129,149,233,329, 
343,  344,  384,  385  ,386 
Elizabethtown,  building  of  bethel, ....61,  93 
Elizabethtown,    Winebrenner's    first 

preaching    in 29 

Ellis,  Alfred,  death  of 674 

Ellis,  R.  T.,  death  of 742 

Elliott,    John , 315 

Engler,  W.  H.,  Poetry  of, 909 

Ensminger,  Lyman,  death  of 580 

Eshleman,  Elias,  death  of 366 

Evangelical  Association,  division  of  219 
Evans,  John  W.,  death  of 648 

Faith,  Articles  of,  E.  Pa.  E 341 

Faith   Healing 179,  217 

Fasting  76,326 

Feetwashing  178 

Federation  of  Churches 219 

Fenton,  A.  J.,  death  of 530 

Flgard,  Wm.,  death  of 353 

Findlay,  O.,  first  preaching  in 88 

Findlay  College,  foundation  of 778 

Findlay  College 852 

Flake,  J.,  author, 914 

Flake,  Jacob,  death  of 125 

Fleegal,    Simon    death   of 355 

Fleagle,  Benjamin,  death  of 642 

Fleagle.  Samuel,  death  of 640 

Florida  Church 216 

Foose,  M.  M.,  death  of 235,  363 

Foreign   Missions 347 

Forney,  C.  H.,  Life  and  Work 289 

Forney,  C.  H.,  Poetry  of 904 

Forney,  C.  H.,  author.. 916 

Forney,   Christian  T.,   death  of, 124 

Forney,  H.  J.,  death  of 377,  811 

Forney,  Miss  L.  A.,  author 917 

Fort    Scott    Collegiate    Institute 868 

Fort    Scott    church    organized    and 

work    in, 213,  215 

Fort  Wayne  Mission.  154.  167,  174,  184,  200 
Fort   Wayne   Mission   property  sold     443 

Fourth   Street,   bethel   '?uilt 93 

Franklin,  organization  of  Church  in  199 
Free    Baptist    Church,    Cooperation 

with,    in    Foreign    Missions 884 

Freedmen's    Mission, 151,  171 


y22 


History   of  the   Churches   of   God 


Page 
Free  Will  Baptists  and  the  Church 

of  God 45,  432 

Frederick  County,  Md.,  church  in 59 

Fredericksburg,       organization       of 

Church  at 37 

Frizbee,  G.  W.,  death  of, 676 

Fulton,   Irvin,   death   of 420 

Gable,  J.  S.,  death  of, 193,  351 

Gable,  J.  W.,  author 918 

Garrett,  H.  A.,  death  of 502 

Garrison,  Z.,  death  of... 439 

Gaskill,  S.  M.,  death  of 564 

Gault,   Moses,   death  of 193 

General  Eldership,  first  action  on,  322,  380 
General        Eldership,        Opposition 

to    It 380,  381 

General  Eldership,  The 

First    Session 755 

Second  Session 759 

Third    Session 760 

Fourth  Session, 761 

Fifth    Session, 763 

Sixth   Session, 764 

Seventh  Session 766 

Eighth   Session 767 

Ninth   Session 769 

Tenth  Session 771 

Eleventh  Session 773 

Twelfth    Session, 775 

Thirteenth  Session, 777 

Fourteenth  Session 779 

Fifteenth  Session 781 

Sixteenth  Session 783 

Seventeenth  Session 78.5 

Eighteenth   Session 787 

Nineteenth  Session 789 

Twentieth  Session 790 

Twenty-first  Session 792 

Twenty-second    Session 794 

Twenty-third    Session 797 

German   Eldership 195 

German  Eldership,  Suit  against.. ..372,  373 
German  Eldership,  The, 

Preliminary  Convention, 541 

First 543 

Second,    543 

Third,     544 

Fourth,     544 

Fifth,    544 

Sixth,    544 

Seventh,    544 

Eighth, 545 

Ninth, 545 

Tenth,    545 

Eleventh,  545 

Twelfth,  546 

Thirteenth 546 

Fourteenth,    547 

Fifteenth,    547 

Sixteenth,   548 

Seventeenth,  549 

Eighteenth, 549 

Nineteenth,    519 

Twentieth,  550 

Twenty-first, 550 

Twenty-second  550 

Twenty-third,  551 

Twenty-fourth,  551 

Twenty-fifth,  551 


Page 
German   Eldership,  The. 

Twenty-sixth,  551 

Twenty-seventh, 552 

Twenty-eighth,    552 

Twenty-ninth, 552 

Thirtieth,    553 

Thirty-first,  553 

Thirty-second,    553 

Thirty-third,   553 

Thirty-sixth,  554 

Thirty-seventh,   554 

Gill,  David,  death  of 478 

Gillaspie,  E.  B.,  death  of 491 

Goldsboro,  church  organized 62 

Goldsboro.    bethel    built    in, 93 

Gospel  Publisher,  establishment  of....  52 

"Gospel    Misionary," 322 

Gospel  Publisher,  The 817,  820 

Grand  View,  Bethel  dedicated,  1880  198 
Grand    View,    Church  organized  at, 

1880 198 

Greene   County,  first  church  in 72 

Green  Street  Church,  Harrisburg,....  160 

Greene  County,  Pa.,  work  in, 165 

Green.brier,  Church  organized 199 

Grissinger,  W.  J.,  death  of 374 

Gleaner,  The  Little 841 

Guthrie   County,   Iowa,   work  begun  202 

Guyer,  Wm.  H., 918 

Hackenberger,  H.,  death  of 361 

Haifleigh,  Jesse,  death  of 36.5 

Hamblin,  A.    death  of 592 

Harmony,   Church  organized  in 52 

Hancock,  County,  O.,  first  preaching 

in 69 

Hanna,  J.,  death  of 450 

Harn,,  G.  U., 99,  321 

Harn,  G.  U.,  death  of, 125 

Harn,  G.  U.,  author, 914 

Hanson,  E.  F.,  author 916 

Harrisburg,      Churches      in,      prior 

to  1820 12 

Harrisburg      Religious      Conditions 

in  1820 12 

Hartman,  Felix,  death  of, 544 

Hartman,  Peter,  death  of 566 

Hartman,  L.  B.,   Poetry  of, 906 

Hartman,  L.  B.,  author, 914 

Hay,  Israel,  death  of 374 

Heaskins,  Jas.,  death  of 500 

Herman,    S.   E.,    death   of 368 

Henson,  R.  H,  death  of 523 

Hepler,     Jacob     M.,     Speaker     first 

German    Eledrship, 541,  550,  553 

Hepler,  Jacob  M.,  death  of 543 

Herr,   David  B.,  death  of 366 

Hershey,  Miss  Viola  G.,  Missionary 

to  India 886 

Hershey.  Viola  G.,  author 918 

Hicks,  death  of, 603 

Hickernell,  Thomas,  death  of 572,  783 

Hickman,  W.  H.,  death  of 481 

Hickernell,  John,  ordained 319,  394 

Hickernell,  J.,  death  of 417 

Hickernell,  Thomas,  ordained 317 

Hilsher,  Ayers  L.,  death  of 350 

Hillsdale   College 849 

Hinney.  Wm.,  death  of, 125 

Hoerger,  S.,  death  of, 409 


Index 


923 


Page 

Hollems,   A.,    death   of, 473 

Hoover,  J.  C,  death  of 578 

Hostetter,  John  S.,  death  of 125 

Houston,  George  M.,  death  of, 371 

Hovis,   John,    death   of, 420 

Howard,  S.  B.,  Poetry  of 902 

Hulme,   Geo.   M.,   Poetry  of 909 

Hunter,  John,  death  of 355 

Hunter,    M.    J.,    death    of 367 

Huston,  O.  B„  death  of 539 

Huston,    Mrs.    O.   B.,   President   W. 

G-    M.    S 895,  896 

Hymnal,    The    Church, 778,  780 

Hymnal,  The  Church 901 

Hymn  Book,  The  Revival 899 

Hymn  Book,  The  Church 900 

Ida  Grove  Bethel,,  la 228 

Ida  County,  Iowa,  first  work  in 202 

Idaho,  work  in, 261,  267,  285 

Idaho,  families  of  Church  in,  1890-95  231 

Idaville  Church,  Indiana 256 

Illinois,    first    missions    in 84,  325 

Illinois,  first  house  of  worship 112 

Illinois,   work   in    1890-95 ...^..  227 

Illinois,   work  in  1905-10 '._.  271 

Illinois,  work  in   1910-13 283 

Illinois,   work   in,    1895-1900 243 

Illinois,    work   in,    1900-05 257 

Illinois  Eldership,  The. 

First,    509 

Second,    511 

Third, ;;;:;;;;  sn 

Fourth,    512 

Fifth,    512 

Sixth, 512 

Seventh,    513 

Eighth, '     513 

Ninth,  514 

Tenth,  514 

Eleventh,  514 

Twelfth,     '".;"."  515 

Thirteenth,  516 

Fourteenth, 516 

Fifteenth 517 

Sixteenth,   517 

Seventeenth,  518 

Eighteenth,  518 

Nineteenth,  519 

Twentieth,    "  519 

Twenty-first,  ...'".'"''  520 

Twenty-second,   520 

Twenty-third 52o 

Twenty-fourth,    '  521 

Twenty-fifth,    .'"  521 

Twenty-sixth,     \  52i 

Twenty-seventh '....'"  522 

Twenty-eighth,  \  522 

Twenty-ninth,    523 

Thirtieth,    523 

Thirty-first,  ""'~"''^^.  524 

Thirty-second,    524 

Thirty-third,    525 

Thirty-fourth,  526 

Thirty-fifth,  526 

Thirty-sixth,  '  527 

Thirty-seventh,    528 

Thirty-eighth,    "__  528 

Thirty-ninth,    529 

Fortieth, 529 


Illinois    Eldership,    The, 

Forty-first,  530 

Forty-second,  530 

Forty-third,  531 

Forty-fourth,    531 

Forty-fifth,    532 

Forty-sixth,  533 

Forty-seventh,   533 

Forty-eighth,    533 

Forty-ninth,    534 

Fiftieth,  534 

Fifty-first,   '..  535 

Fifty-second,  535 

Fifty-third,    "  535 

Fifty-fourth,   537 

Fifty-fifth,  537 

Fifty-sixth,    533 

Fifty-seventh,  533 

Fifty-eighth,  539 

Fifty-ninth, 539 

Sixtieth, 549 

Illinois,  first  missionaries  to 876 

Indiana  County,  began  work  in 64 

Indian  Territory 215 

Indiana,  work  in  1890-95 226 

Indiana,    work   in    1900-10 272 

Indian  Territory,  work  in  1880-85.-..  204 

Indian  Territory,  work  in  1900-05....  260 

Indian  Territory,  1905 268 

Indiana,  work  in,   1900-05 243,  256 

Indiana,  work  in,  1910-1913, 283 

Indiana  Eldership,  South,  end  of 256 

Indiana  State  Mission,  formed 379 

Indiana     Eldership,     movement     to 

form 380 

Indiana  Eldership,  The, 

First,    425 

Second,    427 

Third,    427 

Fourth,    427 

Fifth,  ;;;;;;;;  428 

Sixth,    428 

Seventh, 423 

Eighth, 428 

Ninth,  429 

Tenth,    429 

Eleventh,  429 

Twelfth, "Z  429 

Thirteenth 430 

Fourteenth,    430 

Fifteenth,    430 

Sixteenth,     431 

Seventeenth.    431 

Eighteenth,  431 

Nineteenth,    431 

Twentieth,    433 

Twenty-first,    433 

Twenty-second 433 

Twenty-third,  433 

Twenty-fourth,  ,  433 

Twenty-fifth,    .' 434 

Twenty-sixth 434 

Twenty-seventh,    434 

Twenty  eighth,  435 

Twenty-ninth,    435 

Thirtieth,  .435 

Thirty-first,  "Z'"l  435 

Thirty-second, .-...j  •  435 

Thirty-third, 437 

Thirty-fourth,  .„  .437 


924 


Ill^T;;KV     OF    THE     CHURCHES    OF    GoD 


Page 
Indiana   Eldership,    The, 

Thirty-fifth,  438 

Thirty-sixth.  438 

Thirty-seventh 439 

Thirty-eighth.    439 

Thirty-ninth 439 

Fortieth,    440 

Forty-first,  440 

Forty-second 441 

Forty-third.  441 

Forty-fourth 442 

Forty-fifth.    442 

Forty-sixth, 442 

Forty-seventh,   443 

Forty-eighth 443 

Forty-ninth 444 

Fiftieth,  444 

Fifty-first,   445 

Fifty-second,    445 

Fifty-third,    445 

Fifty-fourth 446 

Fifty-fifth 446 

Fifty-sixth,    447 

Fifty-seventh, 447 

Fifty-eighth,  4*7 

Fifty-ninth 448 

Sixtieth,  448 

Sixty-first,  449 

Sixty-second 449 

Sixty-third,   450 

Sixty-fourth,  451 

Sixty-fifth, 451 

Sixty-sixth,   452 

Sixty-seventh,    452 

Inspiration,    verhal, 361 

Iowa,  first  church  organized  in 71,  324 

Iowa,   first   mission   in 84,  325 

Iowa,  work  in  1870-75 271 

Iowa,  worlf  in  1905-10 271 

Iowa,    work' in,    1890-95 227,242 

Iowa     1910-13, 284 

Iowa,  missionaries  to 330,  876 

Iowa,  work  in,  1900-05 257 

Iowa,  Missionary,  first  appointment 

of 380 

Iowa  Eldership.  The. 

First,    453 

Second.    455 

Third    455 

Fourth 455 

Fifth,    455 

Sixth,    ' 456 

Seventh,  456 

Eighth,     456 

Ninth,  457 

Tenth,    457 

Eleventh 458 

Twelfth,  458 

Thirteenth,  458 

Fourteenth,  459 

Fifteenth, 460 

Sixteenth, 460 

Seventeenth,    460 

Eighteenth,    461 

Nineteenth,  461 

Twentieth,    462 

Twenty-first,    462 

Twenty-second,   463 

Extra    Session 463 

Twenty-third,  464 


Page 
Iowa   Eldership,   The, 

Twenty-fourth,  464 

Twenty-fifth,    464 

Twenty-sixth,     465 

Twenty-seventh,   465 

Twenty-eighth,  466 

Twenty-ninth,  466 

Thirtieth,    466 

Thi^y-first,  467 

Thirty-second,   467 

Thirty-third, 467 

Thirty-fourth,    468 

Thirty-fifth,  468 

Thirty-sixth,  469 

Thirty-seventh,    469 

Thirty-eighth,    470 

Thirty-ninth,  470 

Fortieth,    471 

Forty-first,  471 

Forty-second,   472 

Forty-third,  473 

Forty-fourth, 473 

Forty-fifth,    474 

Forty-sixth,  474 

Forty-seventh,  474 

Forty-eighth,    475 

Forty-ninth,    476 

Fiftieth,  476 

Fifty-first,   477 

Fifty-second, 477 

Fifty-third,    478 

Fifty-fourth 478 

Fifty-fifth,  479 

Fifty-sixth,    479 

Fifty-seventh,    480 

Fifty-eighth,   481 

Fifty-ninth,   481 

Sixtieth,    482 

Sixty-first,  483 

Sixty-second 483 

Sixty-third 484 

Sixty-fourth,  484 

Sixty-fifth,  485 

Ishler,  Charles  T.,  Poetry  of, 909 

Itinerancy,    discussion    of,    126,  146, 

233,  341, 363 

Jackson,  S.  D.  C,  author 915 

James,  Thomas,  death  of 586 

.Tones,  W.  L.,  death  of, 369 

Jones,  J.  W.,  death  of 372 

Jordan,  Edward,  death  of 410 

Kahler,   C,   death   of, 373 

Kansas  Eldership,  The. 

First,  689 

Second, 691 

Third,  692 

Fourth,    692 

Fifth,    693 

Sixth,   693 

Seventh,    694 

Eighth,  694 

Ninth,  695 

Tenth,    695 

Eleventh,    695 

Twelfth.  695 

Thirteenth,  596 

Fourteenth,  696 

Fifteenth,    697 


Index 


925 


Page 
Kansas  Eldership,  The 

Sixteenth,  697 

Seventeenth,  698 

Eighteenth,    698 

Nineteenth,  698 

Twentieth,  699 

Twenty-first,  699 

Twenty-second,   699 

Twenty-third, 700 

Twenty-fourth 700 

Twenty-fifth,  700 

Twenty-sixth,  701 

Twenty-seventh, 701 

Twenty-eighth, 702 

Twenty-ninth,    702 

Thirtieth,    .' 703 

Thirty-first,  703 

Thirty-second, 704 

Kansas,  first  worlc  in 156 

Kansas    and    Nebraslca,    worlt     in, 

1870-75,     169 

Kansas,  first  church  of  God,  minis- 
ter in, 171 

Kansas,  first  bethel  in , 181 

Kansas  Eldership  organized,  1881,  203,  204 

Kansas,   work  in.    1880-85 203 

Kansas,    work    in    1885-90 215 

Kansas,    work    in    1890-95 228 

Kansas,    work   in    1895-1900 239 

Kansas,    work    in    1900-05 259 

Kansas,    work    in    1905-10 269 

Kansas,    work    in    1910-13 28.5 

Kansas  and  Missouri  Eldership. 

First    Session, 628 

Second    Sesion, 630 

Third    Session, 630 

Fourth  Session 631 

Fifth    Session, 631 

Sixth  Session, 632 

Seventh    Session, 632 

Eighth     Session, 632 

Ninth    Session, 633 

Tenth    Session...... 633 

Keefer,  D.  W.,  death  of 360 

Keller,  Jacob,  death  of 771 

Kentucky,  first  work  in,  171,231,241,268 

Keplinger,   David,    death   of 702,  797 

Kimmel's,   bethel   built, 93 

Kimmel,  George,  death  of, 15S,  547 

Kimmel  Estate,  164 

Kiner,   F.   F.,   author, 914 

Kiner,  F.  F.,  death  of 478 

Kingston,  J.  W.,  author, 918 

Kingston,   J.  W.,   Poetry  of 910 

Kipe.   Samuel  A.,   author, 918 

Kipe,  J.  W.,  death  of, 648 

Klein,  J.  M.,  death  of 473,  511,  674 

Kline,  S.  E.,  death  of 373 

Kline,  Adam,  death  of 585 

Knisley,  Samuel,  death  of 367 

Komp,  Mrs.  D.  C,  author 917 

Konkel,  William,  death  of 632 

Konkel,  C.  B.,  death  of 691 

Kreger,   C,   death  of, 419 

Kruzan,  H.  W.,  Poetry  of 907 

Kyle,  D.,  death  of 527 

Landisburg,    first   church    organized 

in,    38 

Landisville,   church   organized, 60 


Page 

Lancaster,  organization  of  church  in  30 

Lancaster,    bethel    built, 60 

Lambert,    A.,    death   of, 743 

Landes,       Clara,       Missionary       to 

India,    237,882 

Laughlin,  Joseph  G.,  death  of 623 

Laverty,  D.  A.  L.,  and  Shippensburg 

Academy,    327 

Laverty,  D.   A.   L.,   death  of  353,781 

Laymen's    Association, 374 

Lear,  G.  W.   death  of, 533 

Linn,  H.  M.,  death  of, 560 

Linglestown,  first  preaching  in, 22 

Linglestown,    first    organization    of 

church  in, 22 

Linglestown,  2nd  bethel  built, 162 

Linierger,  J.,  death  of, 476 

Linsley,  C.  C,  death  of, 505 

Lisburn,  great  revival  in, 27 

Lisburn,    first    church    organized    in  28 

Lockwood,  J.  B.,  death  of 365 

Logue,  E.,  death  of, 463 

Lookingbill,  P.,  death  of 64.5 

Long,    A.    H.,    author, 915 

Longenecker,  E.  A.,  death  of, 530 

Long,  A.  H.,  death  of, 373,  796 

Loucks,   P.,  death  of, 193,  781 

Love,  E.  M.,  death  of, 4.5^ 

Lovett,  W.  W.,  author, 918 

Machlin,  James  F.,  death  of, 125 

Mackey,  James,  ordained, 317 

Mackey,  James,  death  of, 348 

Maine,    work    in, 164 

Mancnester,  C,  Poetry  of, 90S 

Manchester,    Mrs.    C,    author, 917 

Mahaska  County,  Iowa,  work  begun, 

Mansfield    Mission, 154 

Mansfield    Mission,    Ohio, 165,  174,  184 

Marple,   E.,  ordained , 39T 

Marple,   E.,  Poetry  of, 909 

Marple,   E.,   author, 914 

Marston,   C.   C,  author, 915 

Maryland,  beginning  of  work  in, 40 

Maryland,    work   in,    1890-95, 23 

Maryland,  work  in,  1895-1900, 246 

Maryland,  work  in,  1900-05, 254 

Maryland,  work  in,  1905-10, 275 

Massachusetts,    215,  221 

Massachusetts,  work  in, 687 

Mateer,   B.,   death  of, 348 

Material  conditions  in  the  beginning 

of  the    19th   Century, 4 

Maxwell,    David, 315 

Maxwell,    death   of, 158 

Maine  Eldership,  The, 

First    Session, 683 

Fifth    Session, 684 

Sixth   Session, 684 

Seventh    Session, 684 

Eighth  Session 685 

Nir.th    Session, 685 

Tenth    Session, 685 

Eleventh    Session, 685 

Twelfth  Session, 685 

Thirteenth  Session, 686 

Fourteenth    Session, 686 

Fifteenth    Session, 686 

Sixteenth  Session, 686 

Seventeenth    Session, 6ST 


926 


History   of   the   Churches   of   God 


Page 
Maine  Eldership,  The, 

Eighteenth  Session, 687 

Nineteenth    Session, 687 

Twentieth    Session 687 

Twenty-first    Session, 688 

Maryland  and  Virginia  Eldership,  The, 

First    Session, 634 

Second    Session, 637 

Third    Session, 637 

Fourth    Session, 638 

Fifth    Session, 638 

Sixth   Session, 638 

Sixth     Session, 639 

Seventh    Session, 639 

Eighth    Session, 639 

Ninth    Session, 640 

Tenth    Session, 640 

Eleventh  Session, 641 

Twelfth  Session, 641 

Thirteenth  Session, 641 

Fourteenth  Session, 642 

Fifteenth    Session, 642 

Sixteenth  Session, 643 

Seventeenth    Session, 643 

Eighteenth    Session, 643 

Nineteenth  Session, 644 

Twentieth    Session, 644 

.    Twenty-first    Session, 641 

Twenty-second  Session, 645 

Twenty-third  Session, 645 

Twenty-fourth    Session, 645 

Twenty-fifth    Session, 645 

Twenty-sixth  Session, 646 

Twenty-seventh   Session, 646 

Twenty-eighth    Session, 647 

Twenty-ninth  Session, : 647 

Thirtieth    Session, 647 

Thirty-first    Session, 648 

Thirty-second   Session, 648 

Thirty-third    Session, 649 

Th'rty-fourth    Session, 649 

Thirty-fifth    Session, 649 

Thirty-sixth  Session, 650 

Thirty   Seventh   Session, 650 

Thirty-eighth    Session, 650 

Thirty-ninth    Session, 651 

Fortieth    Session, 651 

Forty-first    Session, 652 

Mechanicsburg,       organization       of 

Church    in, 30 

Megrew,    A.,    death    of, 475 

Meixel,  J.  P.,  death  of, 372 

Mendota,  Illinois,  church  organized,  201 

Messenger,  N.  H.,  death  of, 710 

Metzler,  Thomas,  death  of, 576 

McColley,  Mrs.  Elizabeth,  death  of,  443 

McElroy,   Wm.,   death  of, 189,  639 

McFadden.   Wm.,    death   of, 125 

McGuire,  F.  W.,  author, 917 

Mclntyre,  H.  D.,  Poetry  of, 908 

McKinney,    ,    death   of,....  710 

McNutt,  J.  H.,  death  of, 503 

McNutt,  S.  L.,  death  of, 506 

Michigan  Eldership,  The, 

First,    486 

Second,    487 

Third,  488 

Fourth,  488 

Fifth, 488 

Sixth,   489 


Page 
Michigan    Eldership,    The, 

Seventh, 489 

Eighth,  490 

Ninth,  490 

Tenth,    490 

Eleventh,  490 

Twelfth,  491 

Thirteenth,   491 

Fourteenth, 491 

Fifteenth,    492 

Sixteenth,   492 

Seventeenth, 493 

Eighteenth,  493 

Nineteenth,    493 

Twentieth,    494 

Twenty-first, 494 

Twenty-second,   494 

Twenty-third,  494 

Twenty-fourth, 495 

Twenty-fifth,    495 

Twenty  sixth,  495 

Twenty-seventh,   496 

Twenty-eighth,    496 

Twenty-ninth,  497 

Thirtieth,    497 

Thirty-first,     498 

Thirty-second,    498 

Thirty-third, 499 

Thirty-fourth,    500 

Thirty-fifth,  500 

Thirty-sixth,  500 

Thirty-seventh, 501 

Thirty-eighth,    501 

Thirty-ninth,  501 

Fortieth,    502 

Forty-first, 502 

Forty-second,   502 

Forty-third,     503 

Forty-fourth,    503 

Forty-fifth,    504 

Forty-sixth,    504 

Forty-seventh,  504 

Forty-eighth,    505 

Forty-ninth, 505 

Fiftieth,  505 

Fifty-first,   506 

Fifty-second,    -.1 506 

Fifty-third 506 

Fifty-fourth,  506 

Fifty-fifth,   507 

Fifty-sixth,    507 

Fifty-seventh,  507 

Fifty-eighth, 508 

Fifty-ninth,  508 

Michigan,  work  in,  1900-05,....227,  243,  256 

Michigan,   work  in,   1905-10, 272 

Michigan,   work  in,   1910-13, 284,  241 

Middletown,    church    organized, 28 

Middletown,  first  organization  at,....  40 

Middletown,    second   bethel   built,....  162 

Millennium 179 

Miller,  Alexander,  death  of, 797 

Miller,   Andrew,   baptism   of, 25,  314 

Miller,  Andrew,  death  of, 158 

Miller  Church,  organization  of, 25 

Miller,    Jacob    J.,    death   of, 159 

Miller,  J.  J,,  death  of, 465 

Miller,  T.  T.,  death  of, 620 

Miller,   Samuel,  author, 917 

Miller,  Samuel  N.,  death  of, 609,  615 


Index 


927 


Page 

Miller,  W.  M..  death  of, 742 

Millerite   Excitement   in   1843, 55 

Mills,  H.,  author, 915 

Milmine,   church   organized,    1883,....  202 

1880,    202 

Ministerial    Associations, 177,  194,  221, 

237, 251 

Ministerium,  E.  Pa.  E., 368,  370 

Minnesota,   work   in, 183,  257,  26],  878 

Minnesota,   work  begun   in, 156 

Mission   Work,    1875-80, 791 

Missouri,  work  begun  in, 551 

Missouri,  work  in  1880-85, 169,  182 

Missouri,    work    in    1880-1885, 203 

Missouri,  work  in,  1890-95 229,  259 

Missouri,    work   in,    1895-1900, 241 

Missouri,  work  in,   1905-1910, 270 

Missouri,    work    in,    1910-13, 286 

Missouri  Eldership,  The, 

First    Session, 669 

Twelfth   Session, 670 

Thirteenth  Session, 671 

Fourteenth    Session, 672 

Fifteenth    Session, 672 

Sixteenth  Session, 672 

Seventeenth    Session, 673 

Eighteenth    Session, 673 

Nineteenth    Session, 673 

Twentieth    Session, 674 

Twenty-first    Session, 674 

Twenty-second  Session, 674 

Twenty-third  Session, 675 

Twenty-fourth    Session, 675 

Twenty-fifth    Session, 675 

Twenty-sixth  Session, 676 

Twenty-seventh   Session, 676 

Twenty-eighth    Session, 676 

Twenty-ninth    Session, 677 

Thirtieth    Session, 677 

Thirty-first    Session, 677 

Thirty-second   Session, 678 

Thirty-third  Session, 678 

Thirty-third  Session, 678 

Thirty-fourth  Session, 679 

Thirty-fifth    Session, 679 

Thirty-sixth  Session, 680 

Thirty-seventh   Session, 680 

Thirty-eighth    Session, 680 

Thirty-ninth  Session, 681 

Fortieth    Session, 681 

Forty-first    Session, 681 

Forty-second    Session, 682 

Missionaries  to  India, 377 

Missionary    Signal,    The, 839 

Missionary  Society,  The  first, 874 

Missionary  Society.  Ohio  Eldership,  .  877 

Missionary  Society,  Ladies, 877 

Missionary  Society,  East  Ohio  Elder- 
ship,     .' 877 

Missionary  Society,  West  Pa.  Elder- 
ship       877 

Missionary  Society,  First  Foreign,....  877 
Misionary    Society,    Indiana    Elder- 
ship,      877 

Missionary  Society,  Michigan  Elder- 
ship,     878 

Mission  School.  Indian  Territory,....  870 
Missionary    Society,    Illinois    Elder- 
ship,      878 


Page 
Missionary  Society  .Southern  Illinois 

and  Indiana  Elderships, 878 

Missionary  Society,  Iowa  Eldership,. ..878 

Mission   Work,   Wisconsin, 878 

Missionary   Society,   German   Elder- 
ship,      878 

Mizner,  G.  W.,  death  of, 663 

Mt.  Carroll,  111.,  church  organized  in  71 
Mt.  Carmel  church,  organized  in,  164, 188, 

221 

Mt.  Carmel,  work  begun  in, 160 

Mt.    Joy,    church   organization   in,....  37 

Mt.  Joy,  new  bethel  built, 163 

Mt.  Joy  Academy, 847 

Mt.  Joy  Helper,  The, 841 

Mt.   Laurel  bethel,   Pa., 222 

Mt.  Pleasant,  Pa.,  bethel  built  in,....  165 

Moffitt,  E.,  death  of, 491 

Moody    Meetings, 175 

Moore,  Susanna,  death  of, 688 

Montana,    work   in,    1905-10, 268 

Monthly    Publisher,    The, 829 

Monthly  Preacher,  The, 833 

Morgan,   Jesse,    death   of, 411 

Morsel,  The  Monthly, 841 

Morrison's    Coves,    bethel    built, 162 

Moss,  T.  A.,  death  of, 661 

Mourner  s    Bench, 65, 127 

Mullenix,   W.   H.,    death   of, 158,465 

Mumma,  D.  H.,  death  of, 376 

Murray,  H.,  death  of, 474 

Myers,  A.  E.  missionary  to  India,  892,  895 

Myers.  J.,  author, 914 

Myers,  J.,  death  of, 566 

Nagle  Street  Church,  Harrisburg,....  160 

Naill,    S.   W.,    death   of, 193,353 

Nebraska,   work  commenced  in.   111,  156, 

170,  202 

Nebraska  Eldership, 181 

Nebraska,  work  in   1880-1885, 203 

Nebraska,  work  in,  1885-1890, 215 

Nebraska,  work  in,   1890-1895, 228 

Nebraska,  work  in,  1895-1900, 238 

Nebraska,  work  in,   1900-1905, 258 

Nebraska,  work  in,  1905-1910, 268 

Nebraska,  work  in,  1910-1913,.. 284 

Nebraska,   first   Missionary, 876 

Nebraska   Eldership,   The. 

First    Session, 652 

Second    Session, 654 

Third  Session, &54 

Fourth    Session, 655 

Fifth    Session, 655 

Sixth   Session, 655 

Seventh    Session, 656 

Eighth  Session, 656 

Ninth    Session, 657 

Tenth    Session, 657 

Eleventh    Session, •. 658 

Twelfth    Session, 658 

Thirteenth  Session, 658 

Fourteenth    Session, 659 

Fifteenth    Session, 659 

Sixteenth  Session, 660 

Seventeenth    Session, 660 

Eighteenth    Session, 660 

Nineteenth    Session, 660 

Twentieth    Session, 661 


928 


History    of    the    Churches    of    God 


Page 
Nebraska  Eldership,  The 

Twenty-first    Session, 661 

Twenty-second     Session, 662 

Twenty-third    Session, 662 

Twenty-fourth    Session, 662 

Twenty-fifth    Session, 663 

Twenty-sixth    Session, 663 

Twenty-seventh   Session, 664 

Twenty-eighth    Session,  664 

Twenty-ninth    Session, 664 

Thirtieth    Session, 665 

Thirty-first  Session,.... 665 

Thirty-second     Session, 666 

Thirty-third    Session, 666 

Thirty-fourth  Session, 667 

Thirty-fifth    Session, 667 

Thirty-sixth    Session, 668 

Thirty-seventh    Session, 668 

Thirty-eighth    Session, 668 

Neely,  J.  W.,  death  of, 626 

Neil,   Joseph,   death   of, 450 

Neil,  James  .death  of, 576 

New  Brunswick,  188,  195,  214 

Neidig,    David,    death    of, 125,  612 

Newcomer,  Mrs.  A.  C,  death  of, 476 

Newcomer.  M.  S.,  aiithor, 916 

Newcomer,   M.   S.,   Poems   of, 904 

Newcomer,  M.  S.,  death  of, 485,  540 

Newcomer,  Mrs.   M.  B  ,  author, 917 

Newlin,    A.    O.,    author, 917 

Newlin,  O.  A.,  Poetry  of, 910 

Nicodemus,  death  of 247,  363 

Nobler,  J.  C,  death  of, 592 

North  Bend,  Iowa,  work  commenced 

in, 71 

North  Bend,  Iowa,  bethel  built, 85 

Ober.   B.,   ordained, 396 

Ober,  B.,  death  of, 737 

Ober,  B.,  author, 915 

Ohio,  first  work  in, 45,  317 

Ohio,    first    work    in, 49,  50 

Ohio,   work   in,    1890-1895, 225 

Ohio,    work   in,    1895-1900, 244,  255 

Ohio,   work   in,    1905-1910, 273 

Ohio,   work  in,   1910-1913, 283 

Ohio  Eldership,  The, 

First,    377 

Second,    377 

Third,    378 

Fourth, 378 

Fifth, 378 

Sixth,   379 

Seventh, 379 

Eighth,    379 

Ninth, 379 

Tenth,    380 

Eleventh,    380 

Twelfth, 381 

Thirteenth,  381 

Fourteenth, 382 

Fifteenth, 382 

Sixteenth,     382 

Seventeenth,    383 

Eighteenth,  383 

Nineteenth,    384 

Twentieth,    384 

Twenty-first.    385 

Twenty-second,     385 

Twenty-third,  385 


Page 

Oklahoma,   first  work  in, 229,  240 

Oklahoma,  work  in,  1900-1905, 260 

Oklahoma,  work  in,   1905-1910 269 

Oklahoma,  work  in,  1910-1913, 287 

Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territory  Eldership 

First    Session, 729 

Second    Session, 730 

Third    Session, 730 

Fourth    Session, 731 

Fifth    Session, 731 

Sixth   Session, 731 

Seventh    Session, 732 

Eighth  Session, 732 

Ninth,   Session, 732 

Tenth    Session, 733 

Eleventh  Session, 733 

Twelfth    Session, 733 

Thirteenth  Session, 734 

Fourteenth    Session, 734 

Fifteenth    Session, 734 

Sixteenth    Session, 735 

Seventeenth    Session, 735 

Eighteenth  Session, 735 

Nineteenth    Session, 736 

Twentieth    Session, 736 

Twenty-first    Session, 737 

Oliver,  W.  H.,  death  of, 582 

Ordination,  discussion  of, 100,108 

Ordination     of     ministers     in     the 

Church  of  God,  first, 35 

Ordinances,  private  observance,  dis- 
cussion   of, 128,  148,  179 

Ordinances,   reversal   of  order  of....     375 
Ordination  by  laying  on  of  hands, 

35,  378,561,  790 

Ordination,  Life  Certificate  of, 786 

Oregon,  first  work  in, 171,  183 

Oregon,  work  in, 215,  231,  238 

Oregon    Eldership, 238 

Oregon,   work  in,   1900-1905, 261 

Oregon,  work  in,   1905-1910, 268 

Oregon,  work  in,   1910-1913, 280 

Oregon,  contentions  in, 285 

Oregon  and  Washington  Elderships,  The, 

First    Session, 719 

Second    Session, 720 

Third    Session, 720 

Fourth    Session, 721 

Fifth    Session, 721 

Sixth  Session, 721 

Seventh    Session, 722 

Eighth    Session, 722 

Ninth    Session, 723 

Tenth    Session, 723 

Eleventh    Session, 723 

Twelfth    Session, 724 

Thirteenth  Session, 724 

Fourteenth     Session,. 724 

Fifteenth    Session, 724 

Sixteenth   Session, 725 

Seventeenth    Session 725 

Eighteenth    Session, 726 

Nineteeath    Sessic"    , 726 

Twentieth   Session,...  _„.. 727 

Twenty-first    Session, 728 

Twenty-second  Session, 728 

Twenty-third     Session, 728 

Ossarist,    The, 840 

Owens,  J.  C,  death  of, 193 

Owens,  J.  C,  ordained, 322 


Index 


929 


Page 

Owens,  J.  C,  death  of, 352 

Owens,  J.  C,  author, 914 

Owen,  W.  O.,  author, 915 

Palmer,  Wm.,  death  of, 366 

Park  County,  Ind.,  first  church, 87 

Parliament    of    Religions, 219 

Pattan,  Richard,  death  of, 593 

Pentecostal    Meetings, 129, 150, 176, 194 

209,  221,  252. 
Perseverance    of    the     Saints,    dis- 
cussion   of, 128 

Peters,  S.  P.,  death  of, 750 

Philadelphia    church    work    in, 73, 151 

Philadelphia,    Mission    in, 876 

Philhower,  A.  W.,  death  of, 652 

Pipe  Creek  church,  organized  1884,     199 
Pittsburg     Mission,     beginning     of, 

51,  319,  378 
Pittsburg,  first  house  of  worship  in, 

72,  153 

Pittsburg,    work    in    1880, 198 

Pittsburg,  Church  property,  sale  of,     412 

Plagiarism    263 

Plowman,  John  A.,  Poetry  of, 903 

Plowman,   John   A.,   author...... 914 

Preaching    by    Women, 101, 108,  129 

President's    Chair,    Pindlay   College, 

Endowment  of, 370 

Pressler,  Jacob,  death  of, 577 

Puttstown,  church  organized  in, 63 

Price,  C,  ordained, 321 

Price    C,  death  of, 368 

Price,  John  G.,  death  of, 348 

Printing  Establishment, 354,  803 

Pritts,  M.  S.,  death  of, 408 

Rawhouser,  J.  death  of, 478 

Raysor,  A.  C,  death  of, 193 

Rebaptism,    discussion    of, 67,  100 

Record,    The    Sunday    School, 834 

Red    Hill,    bethel    built, 74 

Red  Hill,  church  organized, 63 

Redding,  Wm.,  death  of, 504 

Rees,  J.,  death  of, 405 

Reitzel,    C.    F.,    author 917 

Resh,  Abraham,  death  of, 193,  568 

Reunion,  E.  Pa.  E., 254 

Revival  Hymn  Book,  pablication  of,  43 

Revival,  great  in  1857-1858, 109 

Richmond,    S.    S.,   author, 915 

Richards,   James,   death   of, 193,  315 

Richmond,  S.  S.,  death  of, 193,  350 

Rickabaugh,  Peter  L.,  death  of, 377 

Riddle,  J.  W.,  death  of, 240 

Rilett,  John,  death  of, 470 

Rishel  C.  D.,  Poetry  of, 908 

Rishel,  C.  D.,  author, 916 

Roaring  Spring  bethel  built, 162 

Robert   Raikes,    Centennial, 191 

Rogers,   M.    D.,    death   of. 503 

Rohrerstown  church  building  erect- 
ed,     161 

Ross    Joseph,  death  of, 125 

Ross,  George,  death  of, 193,  350,  779 

Ross,  John,  death  of, 357 

Ross,  George,  author, 915 

Rothrock,   L.,   death  of, 588 

Royer,   John,    death   of, 649 

Rupp,   J.,   death  of, 554 

Rupp,  H.,  death  of, 532 


Page 

Sabbath,   discussion   of^ 145 

Sanborn,    Wm.,    death   of, 365 

Sanctification,  discussion  of, 147,  217 

Sandoe,    Geo.,    death    of, 528,  785 

Sargent,  R.  T.,   death  in, 694 

Schock,  J.  F.,  author, 916 

Schuylkill  County,  Pa.,  work  started 

in,    42 

Seabrooks,   J.   C,   death   of, 368 

Second-Work    Sanctification, 172 

Secret   Societies,   Iowa   Eldership,....     454 

Secret    Societies,   76,    384.    395,    398,   427, 

436,    456,    458,    487,    544 

Secret  Societies,  Ohio  Eldership,  380,  381 

Selby,  L.  H.,  death  of, 646 

Semi-Centennial,    190 

Seneff,   Jacob   B.,   death  of, 623 

Seilhammer,  G.  W.,  death  of, 364,  646 

Sharp,    Francis   A.,    death   of, 724 

Shaw,  P.,  death  of, 657,  692 

Sheckler,  J.  M.,  death  of, 672 

Sheldon,    S.    S.,   death   of, 722 

Sherbon,   J.   B.,   death  of, 473 

Shippensburg,  new  bethel  built, 161 

Shippensburg   Institute, 104 

Shippensburg,    organization    of    the 

church,    32 

Shoemaker,  A.  X.,  death  of, 530 

Shober,  G.  W.,  death  of, 417 

Shope,  David,  death  of, 373 

Shoop's  church  doors  closed  against 

Winebrenner,  16 

Sigler,    George,    author, 915 

Simons,   S.,  death  of, 619 

Slavery,   action   on, 380 

Slavery,   agitation  of, 68,  81,  103,  459 

Slavery,    debate    on, 326 

Slavery,   action   on, 327,  330 

Slippery  Rock,  organization  of, 52 

Slyter,  A.  B.,  death  of, 487,658 

Small,  W.  P.,  death  of. 263 

Small,  W.  P.,  death  of, 582 

Smith,  W.  A.,  death  of, 536 

Smith,   J.   F.,   death   of, 417 

Smith,  W.  S.,  death  of, 371 

Smith,   Samuel,   death  of, 372 

Smithville,      Lancaster      Co.,      Pa., 

bethel  built  in, 92 

Snavely,  M.  F.,  death  of, 456 

Suavely,  M.   F.,  death  of, 106 

Snavely,   J.   R.,   death   of, 460 

Snavely,  Joseph  Ross,  death  of, 125 

Snyder,  A.,  death  of, 368 

Sons  of  Temperance,  organized, 67 

Soul-Sleeping,    discussion    on, 148 

Soule,  H.  L.,  Poetry  of, 903 

South  Dakota,  first  work  in,  171,  181,  241 
Southern    Indiana    Eldership    unites 

with    Indiana    Eldership, 448 

Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership. 

First,    609 

Second 609 

Third.     610 

Fourth -  610 

Fifth,    611 

Sixth,   611 

Seventh,    611 

Eighth,  612 

Ninth 612 

Tenth,    613 


930 


History   of   thi-:   Churches   of   God 


Page 
Southern  Illinois  and  Indiana  Eldership. 

Eleventh 613 

Twelfth,    613 

Thirteenth,  614 

Fourteenth,  614 

Fifteenth, 61.5 

Sixteenth,   615 

Seventeenth,    615 

Eighteenth,     616 

Nineteenth,    616 

Twentieth,    616 

Twenty-first,  616 

Twenty-second,   617 

Twenty-third,    617 

Twenty-fourth,    617 

Southern  Indiana  Eldership,  The, 

First,    618 

Second,    619 

Third,  6^'J 

Fourth,    519 

Fifth,    620 

Sixth,    62) 

Seventh,     62D 

Eighth,     621 

'     Ninth,    621 

Tenth,    622 

Eleventh,  622 

Twelfth,  623 

Thirteenth,  62,^ 

Fourteenth,  623 

Fifteenth,    623 

Sixteenth,   624 

Seventeenth,    624 

Eighteenth,    625 

Nineteenth,    626 

Twentieth,    626 

Twenty-first, 626 

Twenty-second,   627 

Twenty-third,  627 

Sowers,    Elias,    death    of, 373 

Speece,    J.    M..    death    of, 357 

Spiritual    Conditions    at    the    begin- 
ning of  the  19th  Century, 5 

Stark,    Eli,    death    of, 665 

Stamm,    J.    S.,    author, 915 

Stamm,  J.  S.,  death  of, 348 

Stanton,    P.,    (colored),    ordained,....  324 

Stanton,   P.,    death   of, 357 

Stare,  Miss  Clara  E.,   1st  President 

of  W.  G.  M.  S.  of  1903, 888,  895 

Stated    Clerk,    office    created, 342 

Statutory    Prohibition,    first    battle,  79 

Statistics,     1900, 252 

Steele,  W.  G.,  death  of, 708 

Steiner,  Isaac,  death  of, 577 

Sterner,    S.   V.,    death   of, 676 

Stewart,   Ellen,   author, 914 

Still,  Thomas,  death  of, 361 

St.  Louis,  work  commenced  in, 155 

Stone.  Geo.,  death  of, 478 

Stone  church,   doors  closed  against 

Winebrenner,    16 

Stoney  Creek  Valley,  work  begun  in  162 

Stouffer,  J.  M.,   death  of, 361 

Stouffer,  A.  O.,   death  of, 402 

Stout,   A.    P.,    author, 916 

Stover,  A.  P.,  author, 917 

Stover,  A.   P.,   Poetry  of, 906 

Strawbridge,  Jacob,  death  of, 193 

Stringfellow,  J.  W.,  death  of, 450 


Page 

Suedberg,    bethel    built, lei 

Summitt,  J.  F.,  death  of, 735 

Sunday    School    Gem,    The, 830 

Sunbeam  and  Primary  Quarterly,....  837 
Sunday   School   Missionary   Society, 

E.    Pa.    E., 876 

Sunday    Schools,    first   organized   in 

the  Church  of  God, ! 65 

Sunday   School   Conventions,   begin- 
ning  of, 157,  195 

Sunday   Schools   organized   prior  to 

1800,     4- 44 

Sunday  Schools,  First  National  Con- 
vention   of, 44 

Sunday   School   Missionary   Society, 

organization    of, I6O 

Swank.    John    W., 361 

Swartz,   A.,   author, 914 

Swartz,   A.,  death  of, - 352,  781 

Tatman,    E.,   Poetry   of, 906 

Temperance    News, 841 

Tennessee,  preaching  in,  231,  241,  268,  284 
Texas   Eldership,  action  of,  W.   Pa. 

E.  on, 399 

Texas,  first  church  organized  in,....     102 

Texas,  first  house  of  worship, 103 

Texas,    missionaries    to,    81,  102,  329,  330, 

876 

Texas  EHership,  organization  of 103 

Texas,  work  in  1880-1885, 205 

Texas,  work  in,  1900-1905, 261 

Texas,  work  in,  1905-1910, 269 

Texas    Eldership,    The, 

First    Session, 589 

Second    Session, 590 

Third  Session, 590 

Fourth    Session, 590 

Fifth    Session, 591 

Sixth   Session, 592 

Seventh    Session 592 

Eighth  Session, 592 

Ninth    Session, 592 

Tenth    Session, 592 

Eleventh    Session, 593 

Twelfth    Session, 593 

Thirteenth  Session, 593 

Fourteenth    Session, 593 

Fifteenth    Session, 593 

Sixteenth  Session, 594 

Seventeenth    Session, 594 

Eighteenth    Session, _ 594 

Nineteenth    Session, 594 

Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership,  The, 

Twentieth,    595 

Twenty-first,    595 

Twenty-second,   595 

Twenty-third.    596 

Twenty-fourth,  596 

Twenty-fifth,    597 

Twenty-sixth 598 

Twenty-seventh,    598 

Twenty-eighth,    598 

Twenty-ninth,    599 

Thirtieth,    599 

Thirty-first,    600 

Thirty-second,   600 

Thirty-third,  601 

Thirty-fourth,  601 

Thirty-fifth,  602 


Index 


931 


Page 
Texas  and  Arkansas  Eldership,  The, 

Thirty-sixth,  602 

Thirty-seventh,    602 

Thirty- eighth,  603 

Thirty-ninth,    603 

Fortieth,    603 

Forty-first, 604 

Forty-second,   604 

Forty-third, 604 

Forty-fourth,  60.5 

Forty-fifth,    605 

Forty-sixth.  605 

Forty-seventh,   606 

Forty-eighth,    606 

Forty-ninth.    606 

Fiftieth,  607 

Fifty-first,    607 

Fifty-second,     607 

Fifty-third.    508 

Fifty-fourth,    508 

Fifty-fifth,  508 

Theaters,     and     Church's     attitude 

towards,  65 

Thomas,  E.  H.,  author. 914 

Thomas,  E.  H.,  death  of,  158,  342,  391,  771 

Thomas,  E.  H.,  ordained, 319 

Thomas,  George,  death  of, 189,  437,  633 

Thompson,   G.  C,  death  of, 742 

Thorpe,  J.  R..  death  of, 651 

Tiffin,  churcli  organized  in, 88 

Tinsman,  John,  death  of, 413 

Tithing,     76,  359,  575 

Tobacco,    memorial    vs.    use    of    by 

Sisters,  327 

Total   Depravity,   discussion  of, 126 

Travis,  J.,  death  of, 405 

Troy  Grove,  church  organized, 87 

Tucker,  John,  death  of, 357 

Union    Church, 236,  611 

United  Brethren  Church,  schism  in,  218 
Union    with    Free    Baptist    Church 

discussed,    77 

Unleavened    Bread, 433 

Unfermented    Wine 437,  445,  526 

Union  with  Shelby  Conference  Sep- 
arated   Baptists, 610 

Union  with  White  River  Conference 

Separate  Baptists, 610 

Union       with       Sitka       Conerence 

Church    of    God, 625 

Union  of  Missouri  Eldership  and  the 

Presbytery  of  the  churches  of  God  680 

Union,    The, 840 

Van,   N.   I.,   death   of, 419 

Vance,  Wm.,  death  of, 480 

Vanderpool,  John,  death  of, 600 

Virginia,  missionary  to, 59 

Virginia,  houses  of  worship  built  in  91 

Virginia,    work    in, 163,  246,  2.54 

Virginia,    work    in, 274 

Virginia,    work    in, 281 

Visitor,  The  Church,  841 

Visitor,    The    Family, : 840 

Voting  at  Political  Elections, 378 

Walborn,   John,  death  of, 315 

Walnut  Grove  Camp  Ground, 371 

Walters,  J.,  death  of, 439 

Ward,   H.   W.,   death   of, 666 


Page 

Warren.  A.  J.,  death  of, 576 

Washington  Bethel,  when  built, 61 

Washingtonian   Movement, 67 

Washington,    emigration    to, 205,  230 

Washington,     State     of,     work     in, 

1890-95,     231,  238 

Washington,     State     of,     work     in, 

1900-1905,     261 

Washington,     1905-1910, 268 

Washington,     1910-1913, 280,  285 

Weishampel,   J.    F.,    author, 914 

Weislaampel,  J.  F.,  Poetry  of, 902 

Weishampel,  J.  F.,  death  of, 551 

Wenrick's,      doors     closed     against 

Winebrenner,    16 

Werner,    James,    death   of, 582 

Wertz,    D.,    death    of, 470,  783 

Wertz,  Martha,  J.  B.,  death  of, 480 

West,  J.  M.,  death  of, 193 

West  Newton,  bethel  built, 91 

West  Ohio  Eldership,   The, 

First,    556 

Second,    557 

Third,  557 

Fourth,  557 

Fifth,    558 

Sixth,    558 

Seventh,    559 

Eighth,  559 

Ninth,     560 

Tenth .561 

Eleventh,    561 

Twelfth,     562 

Thirteenth,  562 

Fourteenth,    563 

Fifteenth,    563 

Sixteenth,   563 

Seventeenth, 564 

Eighteenth, 564 

Nineteenth,    565 

Twentieth, 565 

Twenty-first,  566 

Twenty-second,   567 

Twenty-third,  567 

Twenty-fourth,    568 

Twenty-fifth,    568 

Twenty-sixth,    569 

Twenty-seventh,    570 

Twenty-eighth,    570 

Twenty-ninth,    571 

Thirtieth,    572 

Thirty-first,     572 

Thirty-second,    573 

Thirty-third,  574 

Thirty-fourth,    574 

Thirty-fifth,    575 

Thirty-sixth,  576 

Thirty-seventh,    576 

Thirty-eighth,    577 

Thirty-ninth,    577 

Fortieth,    578 

Forty-first,    578 

Forty-second,    579 

Forty-third.     579 

Forty-fourth,    580 

Forty-fifth,    581 

Forty-sixth,    581 

Forty-seventh,   582 

Sixty-eighth,     583 

Sixty-ninth, 583 


932  HlSTOKY     OF     THE 

Page 

West  Ohio  Eldership,  The, 

Seventieth,   584 

Seventy-first,    585 

Seventy-second 585 

Seventy-third,    586 

Seventy-fourth,    587 

Seventy-fifth,   587 

Seventy-sixth,    588 

West  Penna.,  beginning  of  work  in,  50,  51 

West  Pennsylvania,  work  in,  1890-95  224 

West        Pennsylvania        Eldership, 

1895-1900,    245 

West        Pennsylvania        Eldership, 

work  in,  1900-1905, 255 

West        Pennsylvania        Eldership, 

work  in  1905-1910, 274 

West        Pennsylvania        Eldership, 

work   in,    1910-1913, 282 

West  Pennsylvania  Ejdership,  Move- 
ment   to    form, 379 

West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  origin 

of,    322 

West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  The, 

First,    394 

Second     - 394 

Third,  - 395 

Fourth,     395 

Fifth,    395 

Sixth,   396 

Seventh, 396 

Eighth,    396 

Ninth,    -: - 397 

Tenth,    397 

Eleventh,    - 398 

Twelfth,         398 

Thirteenth 398 

Fourteenth,    399 

Fifteenth,    399 

Sixteenth,   400 

Seventeenth,    400 

Eighteenth,     400 

Nineteenth,    401 

Twentieth,    401 

Twenty-first,    402 

Twenty-second, 402 

Twenty-third,     402 

Twenty-fourth,    403 

Twenty-fifth,    403 

Twenty-sixth, 404 

Twenty-seventh,    404 

Twenty-eighth,    404 

Twenty-ninth,    ..- -  405 

Thirtieth,    405 

Thirty-first,    405 

Thirty-second,    406 

Thirty-third, 406 

Thirty-fourth,    406 

Thirty-fifth, 407 

Thirty-sixth, 407 

Thirty-seventh,    408 

Thirty-eighth. 408 

Thirty-ninth, 408 

Fortieth, 409 

Forty-first,    409 

Forty-second,    410 

Forty-third, 411 

Forty-fourth,    : 411 

Forty-fifth,    412 

Forty-sixth,    412 

Forty-seventh,   413 


Churches   of   God 

Page 
West  Pennsylvania  Eldership,  The, 

Forty-eighth,    413 

Forty-ninth,    414 

Fiftieth,     414 

Fifty-first,    414 

Fifty-second,    415 

Fifty-third,    415 

Fifty-fourth,    ,...  416 

Fifty-fifth,   417 

Fifty-sixth,    417 

Fifty-seventh,  418 

Fifty-eighth,  418 

Fifty-ninth,   ^ 419 

Sixtieth,    419 

Sixty-first,     420 

Sixty-second,    420- 

Sixty-third,    421 

Sixty-fourth,    421 

Sixty-fifth,     422 

Sixty-sixth,   422 

Sixty-seventh,    423 

Sixty-eighth,    -  423 

Sixty-ninth,    424 

Seventieth,   424 

West  Va.,  first  church  organized  in,  72 

West  Va.,  work  in, 165,215,224 

West  Va.   Eldership,   organized, 409 

West  Virginia  Eldership,   North. 

First    Session, 705 

Second    Session, 707 

Third    Session, 707 

Fourth    Session, 708 

Fifth    Session, 708 

Sixth     Session, 708 

Seventh    Session, 709 

Eighth  Session, 709 

Ninth    Session, 709 

Tenth    Session, 710 

Eleventh    Session, 710 

Twelfth    Session, •. 710 

Thirteenth  Session, 711 

Fourteenth    Session, 711 

Fifteenth    Sesion, 711 

Sixteenth   Session, 712 

Seventeenth    Session, 712 

Eighteenth    Session, 712 

Nineteenth    Session, 713 

Twentieth    Session, 713 

Twenty-first    Session. 713 

Twenty-second  Session, 714 

Twenty-third    Session, 715 

Twenty-fourth    Session, 716 

Twenty-fifth    Session, 717 

Twenty-sixth  Session, 717 

Twenty-seventh   Session, 717 

Twenty-eighth    Session, 718 

Twenty-ninth    Session. 718 

West  Virginia  Eldership,  South, 

First    Session, 737 

Second    Session, 739 

Third    Session, 739 

Fourth    Session, 740 

Fifth    Session, 740 

Sixth   Session, 740 

Seventh    Session, 741 

Eighth    Session, 741 

Ninth    Session, 741 

Tenth    Session, 742 

Eleventh    Session, 742 

Twelfth    Session, 742 


Index 


933 


I  age 
West  Virginia  Eldersliip,  South, 

Thirteenth    Session, 742 

Fourteenth    Session, 743 

Fifteenth    Session, 743 

Sixteenth    Session, 743 

Seventeenth    Session, 744 

Eighteenth    Session, 744 

Nineteenth    Session,. 744 

White,  J.   B.,   death  of, 507 

White,  S.,  death  of, 527 

Wliisennand,  J.,  death  of, 451 

Whisler,  I.,  death  of, 472 

Whittington,   F.   W.,   Poetry   of, 909 

Wiley,   A.,  author, 916 

Wilson,  A.,   author, ! 917 

Wilson,  George  W.  Poetry  of, 903 

Wilson,   G.   W.,    author, 915 

Wilson,   G.  W.,   death   of,.- 585,  797 

Wilson,  James,   death  of, 613  ■ 

Wilkins,  S.  A.,  death  of, 747 

Wiley,  Alexander,  death  of,.... 193,  350,  779 

Wine,    unfermented, 347,  354 

Winbigler,    W.    P.,    death    of, 356, 643 

Winebigler,  C,  author, 916 

Winebrenner,    birth    of, 6 

Winebrenner,    conversion    of. 7 

Winebrenner,  call  to  the  ministry,..         8 
Winebrenner,  his  call  to  the  church 
in    Harrisburg, 8 

Winebrenner,    ordination    of, 9,  314 

Winebrenner,  complaints  against,....       13 
Winebrenner,    relation   with    the    R. 

Church,    severed, 19 

Winebrenner,    his    changes    of    doc- 
trinal   views, 42 

Winebrenner,  his  baptism, 43 

Winebrenner,  discussion  with  Nevin       67 
Winebrenner  and    Harn    Missionary 

tour,    89 

Winebrenner-Colder  controversy,  103, 124 

Winebrenner,  life  of, 130 

Winebrenner,    his    last    sermon, 131 

Winebrenner,  death  of  wife  of, 136 

Winebrenner,  death  of, 335,  387 

Winebrenner,  John,  Monument  to,..     377, 

430, 515 
"Winebrenner,   author, 913 


Page 

Winebrenner,    John,    Poetry    of, 901 

Wisconsin,  work  commenced  in, 157 

Wisconsin,    preaching   in, 261 

Witsaman,  Miss  Mary,  missionary  to 
Woman's         General         Missionary 

Society, 880 

Woman's  Missionary  Society,  State, 

Indiana  Eldership,  880 

Woman's         Missionary         Society, 

W.  Pa.,  Eldership, 880 

Woman's         Missionary         Society, 

Ohio    Eldership, 881 

Woman's         Missionary         Society, 

Kansas  Eldership,  881 

Woman's         Missionary         Society, 

East    Pa.,    Eldership, 881,  885 

Woman's         Missionary         Society, 

Missouri  Eldership, 881 

Woman's         Missionary         Society, 

Illinois    Eldership, 880 

W.  G.  M.  S.  of  1890,  organized, 881 

Woman   Suffrage, 469 

Women,  Missionary  work  by, 880 

Women  and  the  Ministry,  236,  371,  400,  401 

W.  G.  M.   S.   1903,  action  on, 370 

Wood,  Edward,  death  of. 395 

Wood,  W.  S.,  death  of, "  673 

Woods,    S.,    death   of, 416 

Woodbury,    Bedford    Co.,    Pa.,    first 

house  of  worship   in, 73 

Woodworth,  Mrs.,  Maria  B.,  209,  210,  237, 
241,  356,  440,  444 

Woodworth,  Mrs.  M.  B.,  author, 918 

Workman    Quarterly,    The, 835 

Work,  To  the  841 

India,    451,  890,  894 

Wooster,  O.,  first  church  in, 70 

Wooster,  Ohio,  first  bethel, 88 

Wright,  J  .C.  death  of 710 

Yahn,  S.  G.,  author, 917 

Yahn,  S.  G.,  Poetry  of, 910 

Yambert,  John  A.,  death  of 460 

Yates,    J.    C,    death   of,. 417 

Yates,  W.  N.  Poetry  of, 906 

Young,    Alfred,    death    of, 375 

Young    Peoples    Movement, 192,  220 

Y.  P.  S.  C    E.,  1895-1900,  252,280,325 


Date  Due 

,  .  , 

''^^^^ 

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"Kiiim^ 

p^ 

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